OLD BUSINESS  5.

COMMITTEE MEMORANDUM

HISTORY:

This item was referred to the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee at the April 11, 2018 City Commission meeting. 

At the April 20, 2018 Finance and Citywide Projects Committee, the Committee discussed the issue of ground floor storefront vacancies throughout many of the major commercial corridors in Miami Beach. There was discussion on ways to create registries to track vacant properties along with possible incentives to help landlords lease out their properties. 

The Committee asked that City Staff research potential ways to address ground floor storefront vacancies and to create a catalogue of number of vacancies among major corridors.

The following counts were concluded: 

41st Street:                                                     8 vacancies

Lincoln Road (100 block - 1100 block):         23 vacancies

Washington Avenue (5th-15th Street):          55 vacancies

Ocean Drive:                                                 10 vacancies

North End (63rd to 70th Street):                    21 vacancies 

Attached is a full list of the addresses and corresponding photos for each of the five districts that were assessed. 

ANALYSIS:

City staff is currently reviewing and researching background information for each of the vacant storefronts. This includes cross-referencing each address with the City's BTR registry along with vetting each address through property appraiser and Sunbiz to determine ownership. 

Once staff collects the necessary contact information for each vacancy, staff will begin to survey the owners to determine why their property has remained vacant, and to see if there are any mitigation efforts on the part of the City which may help to reduce vacancies. This information will allow City staff to properly address and recommend a set of interventions for reducing ground floor storefront vacancies within the commercial corridors. 

Additionally, State Statue does not provide legislative authority to impose ad valorem taxes on property owners with vacant storefronts. Therefore, we could not impose a vacancy tax on empty storefronts without the approval from State legislature.

The City could potentially create a vacancy registry and collect an annual fee that would offset the cost of the registry and any Staff time accounted for managing the platform. The City Administration is researching other fee structures and potential opportunities that would help mitigate storefront vacancies while maintaining the public streetscape adjacent to the property. 

CONCLUSION:
City Administration is requesting that this item be further discussed once the research and subsequent outreach to property owners has been completed.