On March 7, 2018, at the request of Commissioner Ricky Arriola, the City Commission referred the subject ordinance to the Land Use and Development Committee and the Planning Board (Item R9J).

The subject ordinance pertains to the existing lots located on the west side of Collins Avenue, between 79th and 87th Streets. All of these lots, commonly referred to as the “West Lots”, are City owned and zoned Government Use (GU).

In 2017, the City Comprehensive Plan was amended to change the current Future Land Use Map (FLUM) category of the west lots from RM-1 to Public Facility (PF). Additionally, the Public Facility (PF) portion of the Comprehensive Plan was amended to allow for commercial uses as a permitted use. This change brought previously approved uses (e.g. Ocean Rescue) into compliance with the comprehensive plan, and provided more flexibility for future uses.

Additionally in 2017, Sec. 142-425(d) of the City Code, pertaining to waivers for GU properties, was amended to provide the City Commission the authority to consider waivers for certain private uses located on the west lots. Specifically, for private uses approved by the City Commission for a period of 10 years or less, the City Commission is now able to consider a waiver of development regulations. Prior to this amendment, GU waivers on the west lots were limited to government facilities/uses, cultural organizations and not-for-profits.

Currently, the only exception to this GU waiver provision is the design review processes. The mandatory requirement for Design Review Board (DRB) review was put in place in the 1990’s in order to ensure that permanent buildings and projects located on GU sites went through a comprehensive public review process. This provision was never intended for temporary or ‘pop-up’ uses, which are short term in nature.

In order to provide more flexibility for future temporary and ‘pop-up’ uses on the west lots, including the proposal for the North Beach Yard, a minor revision to Sec. 142-425(d) of the City Code is proposed. As noted in the attached draft ordinance, in addition to being able to waive all other development regulations, the City Commission would have the discretion to consider a waiver of the design review processes. As drafted, this discretion to waive the design review processes would only apply to the west lots.

It is important to note that even if the Commission should decide to consider granting any development waiver for a future project on the west lots, including a potential waiver of the DRB process, two public hearings would still be required (at the Planning Board and the City Commission). Both of these public hearings would be noticed to all surrounding property owners.