NORTH SHORE LOCAL HISTORIC DISTRICT - TATUM WATER EXPANSION:

AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, AMENDING THE LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS OF THE MIAMI BEACH CITY CODE; AMENDING SECTION 118-593, “HISTORIC PRESERVATION DESIGNATION”; AMENDING SECTION 118-593(E), “DELINEATION ON ZONING MAP”; AMENDING SECTION 118-593(E)(2), “HISTORIC PRESERVATION DISTRICTS (HPD)," BY EXPANDING THE BOUNDARIES OF THE NORTH SHORE HISTORIC DISTRICT TO ADD THE NORTH SHORE HISTORIC DISTRICT TATUM WATERWAY EXPANSION GENERALLY BOUNDED BY 77TH STREET ON THE SOUTH, HAWTHORNE AVENUE AND CRESPI BOULEVARD ON THE WEST, 87TH STREET ON THE NORTH AND TATUM WATERWAY DRIVE AND BYRON AVENUE ON THE EAST, AS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED HEREIN; PROVIDING THAT THE CITY’S ZONING MAP SHALL BE AMENDED TO INCLUDE THE NORTH SHORE HISTORIC DISTRICT TATUM WATERWAY EXPANSION; ADOPTING THE DESIGNATION REPORT ATTACHED HERETO AS APPENDIX “A”; PROVIDING FOR INCLUSION IN THE LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS OF THE CITY CODE, REPEALER, SEVERABILITY, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

HISTORY
On September 9, 2014, the Historic Preservation Board directed Planning Department staff to prepare formal Historic Designation Reports for the proposed designation of the North Shore and Normandy Isles local historic districts, with modified boundaries.

At the September 10, 2014 City Commission meeting, the Mayor and City Commission discussed the proposed North Shore and Normandy Isles Local Historic Districts and denied the designations.

At the July 13, 2016 City Commission meeting, the Mayor and City Commission discussed the possibility of creating local historic districts within the boundaries of the North Shore and Normandy Isles National Register Districts and directed the Administration to begin the local designation process for the boundaries recommended in the draft North Beach Master Plan.

On October 11, 2016, the Historic Preservation Board reviewed a Preliminary Evaluation and Recommendation Report relative to the possible designation of the North Shore Historic District and directed staff to prepare a Formal Designation Report for the North Shore Local Historic District, with boundaries as recommend in the draft North Beach Master Plan.

Pursuant to Section 118-591 of the City Code, The City Commission was advised of the action of the Historic Preservation Board via LTC, and as part of a progress report on the demolition moratorium, presented at the October 19, 2016 City Commission meeting.

On December 5, 2016, the Mayor and City Commission modified the boundaries for the proposed North Shore Historic District by removing the portion of the district along Tatum Waterway Drive and Crespi Boulevard.

On September 25, 2017, the Mayor and City Commission adopted Resolution 2017-30013, reaffirming Resolution No. 2016-29608, which adopted the North Beach Master Plan as drafted by Dover, Kohl & Partners and commits to the implementation of the entirety of the Plan. The Resolution adopted on September 25, 2017 contains the following ‘Whereas’ clause:

WHEREAS, consistent with the Plan, the Mayor and City Commission now feels that it would be in the City's best interest and desires to include the Tatum Waterway area into the North Shore Local Historic District, and continue to create development regulations for the districts that reflect the character of these neighborhoods, while taking into consideration resiliency and sea level rise.

On October 10, 2017, the Historic Preservation Board reviewed an historic designation report for the proposed North Shore Local Historic District (attached), consistent with the boundaries as modified by the City Commission on December 5, 2016 (See MAP 1 in the attached Historic Designation Report). At this meeting, the Board transmitted the historic district designation to the Planning Board and City Commission with a favorable recommendation, and directed staff to prepare a preliminary evaluation expanding the North Shore Local Historic District to include the area along Tatum Waterway/Crespi Boulevard as identified in the North Beach Master Plan.

On November 21, 2017, the Planning Board reviewed the designation report and unanimously approved a motion (7 to 0) to recommend approval of the designation of the proposed North Shore Historic District.

On December 13, 2017, the Mayor and City Commission unanimously approved the designation (7 to 0) of the North Shore Historic District on first reading public hearing and scheduled the second reading public hearing for January 17, 2018.

On December 18, 2017, the Historic Preservation Board reviewed a Preliminary Evaluation and Recommendation Report relative to the possible expansion of the North Shore Historic District and directed staff to prepare a Formal Designation Report for the North Shore Local Historic District Tatum Waterway Expansion. The possible expansion area is generally bounded by 77th Street on the south, Hawthorne Avenue and Crespi Boulevard on the west, 87th Street on the north and Tatum Waterway Drive and Byron Avenue on the east.

On January 17, 2018, the Mayor and City Commission adopted the designation (7 to 0) of the North Shore Historic District on second reading public hearing.

On March 12, 2018, the Historic Preservation Board transmitted the proposed North Shore Historic District Tatum Waterway Expansion to the Planning Board and City Commission with favorable recommendation (7 to 0).

HISTORIC DESIGNATION PROCESS
The process of historic designation is delineated in Sections 118-591 through 118-593 in Subpart B of the Land Development Regulations of the City Code (Chapter 118, Article X, Division 4). An outline of this process is delineated below.

Step One: A request for designation is made either by the City Commission, the Historic Preservation Board, other agencies and organizations as listed in the Land Development Regulations of the City Code, or the property owners involved. Proposals for designation shall include a completed application form available from the Planning Department.

Step Two: The Planning Department prepares a preliminary evaluation report with recommendations for consideration by the Board.

Step Three: The Historic Preservation Board considers the preliminary evaluation to determine if proceeding with a designation report is warranted.
The designation report is an historical and architectural analysis of the proposed district or site. The report:

1) describes the historic, architectural and/or archeological significance of the property or subject area proposed for Historical Site or District designation;
2) recommends Evaluation Guidelines to be used by the Board to evaluate the appropriateness and compatibility of proposed Developments affecting the designated Site or District; and
3) will serve as an attachment to the Land Development Regulations of the City Code.

Step Four: The City Commission is notified of the Board’s decision and the initial boundaries proposed for designation. Within 60 days of the vote of the Historic Preservation Board to direct the Planning Department to prepare a designation report, the City Commission may, by a five-sevenths vote, deny or modify the proposed request for designation.

Step Five: The designation report is presented to the Historic Preservation Board at a public hearing. If the Board determines that the proposed site or district satisfies the requirements for designation as set forth in the Land Development Regulations of the City Code, the Board transmits a recommendation in favor of designation to the Planning Board and City Commission.

Step Six: The Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the proposed designation, and shall consider the proposed historic designation as an amendment to the Land Development Regulations of the City Code and, subsequently, transmit its recommendation to the City Commission.

Step Seven: The City Commission may adopt an amendment to the Land Development Regulations of the City Code by a five-sevenths majority vote, which thereby designates the Historic Preservation Site or Historic District after one (1) public hearing for a parcel of land less than ten (10) contiguous acres or after two (2) public hearings for a parcel of land that is more than ten (10) contiguous acres.

PLANNING ANALYSIS IN RELATION TO ORDINANCE CRITERIA
1. In accordance with Section 118-592 in the Land Development Regulations of the City Code, eligibility for designation is determined on the basis of compliance with the listed criteria set forth below.

(a) The Historic Preservation Board shall have the authority to recommend that properties be designated as historic buildings, historic structures, historic improvements, historic landscape features, historic interiors (architecturally significant public portions only), historic sites or historic districts if they are significant in the historical, architectural, cultural, aesthetic or archeological heritage of the city, the county, state or nation. Such properties shall possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling or association and meet at least one of the following criteria:

(1) Association with events that have made a significant contribution to the history of the city, the county, state or nation;

(2) Association with the lives of persons significant in the city's past history;

(3) Embody the distinctive characteristics of an historical period, architectural or design style or method of construction;

(4) Possesses high artistic values;

(5) Represent the work of a master, serve as an outstanding or representative work of a master designer, architect or builder who contributed to our historical, aesthetic or architectural heritage;

(6) Have yielded, or are likely to yield information important in pre-history or history;

(7) Be listed in the National Register of Historic Places;

(8) Consist of a geographically definable area that possesses a significant concentration of sites, buildings or structures united by historically significant past events or aesthetically by plan or physical development, whose components may lack individual distinction.

(b) A building, structure (including the public portions of the interior), improvement or landscape feature may be designated historic even if it has been altered if the alteration is reversible and the most significant architectural elements are intact and repairable.

2. The proposed North Shore Historic District Tatum Waterway Expansion is eligible for historic designation as it complies with the criteria as specified in Section 118-592 in the Land Development Regulations of the City Code outlined above.

Staff finds that the properties listed as contributing within the proposed North Shore Historic District Tatum Waterway Expansion possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling or association for the following reasons:

The Planning Department has surveyed the 105 buildings located within the boundaries of the proposed North Shore Historic District Tatum Waterway Expansion and has found that 68 of these buildings satisfy the requirements of Section 118-593(a) of the Land Development Regulations of the City Code. The contributing buildings, which possess integrity of their original location, are mainly examples of modest Post-World War II tourist hotels, apartment buildings, and commercial buildings that constitute a distinctive built environment of resort architecture. The proposed North Shore Historic District Tatum Waterway Expansion owes much of its character to the repetition of similar building types and styles within a compact space. The largely multi-residential development grew up almost entirely after World War II, and its planning was largely designed around garden oriented apartment buildings emphasizing the simple modern architectural motifs of mid-century America.

(a) Further, staff finds the proposed historic district to be eligible for historic designation and in conformance with the designation criteria for the following reasons:

(1) Association with events that have made a significant contribution to the history of the city, the county, state or nation.

The majority of contributing properties within the possible historic district expansion area directly reflect the turn of events in America following World War II. 87 of the 104 buildings within the possible historic district expansion were constructed between 1942 and 1965. Unprecedented development followed the American success in WWII when new resort hotels and residential resort architecture were contemplated. Development during this time was on a scale never before seen in South Florida. This event redefined the evolution of resort architecture in Miami Beach and Florida.

Furthermore, Miami Beach played a significant role as a training site and redistribution center for the U.S. Army-Air Forces during World War II. After the war, many veterans who had trained as recruits in Miami Beach returned here to vacation or to make their home.

(3) Embody the distinctive characteristics of a historical period, architectural or design style or method of construction.

The apartment buildings that characterize much of the built environment of the proposed North Shore Historic District exemplify the plasticity and transparency of Moderne architectural styling and the later Post War Modern movements, featuring cubic massing and large glass casement windows which cross-ventilated each unit and were sheltered by projecting concrete eyebrows. Exterior catwalks and outdoor stairways predicted the more functional building types of the postwar period. Often, two buildings were mirrored, or turned at angles in order to create common garden spaces, and better take advantage of the southern exposure. On the interior, a combination of bedrooms and studio apartments featured dinettes, dressing rooms, and streamlined kitchens.

As the district urbanized, it developed an architectural character calibrated to its resort identity, its modest means and its speculative planning. Beginning in the late 1930s, the district was more intensively developed with modern garden apartment building types that sponsored a corresponding urban culture in both the civic and commercial realm. These buildings were adapted to both the narrow lots and local environment conditions with patios, surrounding gardens, porches, loggias, flat roofs with broad overhanging eaves and exterior staircases and catwalks.

These new types, multiplied in large numbers, produce a densely built environment where low-scale buildings allow landscaping to moderate the urban frontages. The scale of architecture along the Tatum Waterway is largely consistent, a product of the fact that a relatively small group of architects constructed much of the area in a short period and literally gave shape to the district. These architects defined a new direction of mid-century modern design in Miami Beach. Their buildings, conditioned to the environmental forces of a hot and humid climate as, well as to the need to distinguish buildings within a competitive environment, led to a daring and unexpected expression of modern themes.

(7) Be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The properties located within the proposed North Shore Local Historic District Tatum Waterway Expansion are located within the North Shore Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 18, 2009.

(8) Consist of a geographically definable area that possesses a significant concentration of sites, buildings or structures united by historically significant past events or aesthetically by plan or physical development, whose components may lack individual distinction.

Nearly 65% of the 105 buildings located within the proposed North Shore Historic District have been found to possess architectural and historical significance.

In view of the foregoing analysis, staff recommends that the proposed expansion of the North Shore Local Historic District, to include the Tatum Waterway area, be approved.

PLANNING BOARD REVIEW
The Planning Board is scheduled to review and transmit the proposed Ordinance Amendment on March 27, 2018. The Administration will advise the City Commission of the Planning Board recommendation at First Reading.

UPDATE

The subject Ordinance was approved at First Reading on April 11, 2018, with no changes.