Comm. Sanchez requests date change for Miami 21
"It is our mandate from the people to focus 100 percent on the budget crisis," said Comm. Sanchez in a letter to the mayor.
There were two budget workshops scheduled weeks ago by Sanchez's office so, unlike other years, when they go into budget meetings in September the Commissioners will be educated and knowledgeable about the budget issues and will have had a chance to ask hard questions of the administration, and will be able to knowledgably address the financial crisis that the City is in and deal with the out-of-control salaries and pensions. He considers that the highest priority.
In all reality, it was a slimy decision on the mayor's part to have a Miami 21 meeting in the dead of summer when many interested parties are out of town. On the other had, the Commissioners' budget workshops do not involve the public, the public budget meetings are in September when most people are back in town.
posted by Tom Falco at 3:00 PM
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36 Comments:
Tact aside, Grape, Joe considers the budget the highest priority, and weeks ago had scheduled a budget workshop for the same day the Mayor just scheduled the special meeting on Miami 21. Really makes you wonder where the Mayor's priorities lie.
The Mayor's priorities lies in his "legacy"
With the Stadium out of the way (legacy 1) he wants to make sure he gets Miami 21 through the door (legacy 2)
However I will always remember legacy three, John Timoney and the FTAA Riots
These budget meetings happen every August that is why the commission "takes off". It is no different this August- its just a political year and Sanchez and Regalado want to make it sound like they are doing more for the budget. They are the same commissioners that approved all of the spending last year- HMMMM how there short term memory is gone...
Miami 21 has been WAITING for 6 months. Why has it taken soooo long to come to a vote...
Anon 6:58, actually, Joe Sanchez was the only Commissioner who voted against last year's budget.
Miami 21 is a dog. 600 pages of mistakes. Typical of Manny Diaz. The City during his eight years as mayor is facing a $118 mil deficit and instead of trying to find solutions Manny wants to waste more money on a scheme that will cost the taxpayers millions more.
Michelle N
Yet he was also the only Commissioner to propose to raise taxes this year.
Miami 21 will make this City a better place for everyone, it just needs an opportunity. Instead of complaining, take your time and do a comparison between what exists today and what Miami 21 proposes. You will clearly see the difference!
What 'public outcry' did you hear over this? If anything the code hearing is loooong overdue, and everyone I've spoken to is excited that we may finally implement this visionary plan. Please come out and show your support! This is about more than just Diaz's legacy - this code will help our city become a walkable, livable place. It will protect our neighborhoods from bad development decisions, while requiring active streets and hidden parking!!! Go Miami 21!!
Why do I feel that the last two comments came from the Mayor's office?
The public outry was about 25 emails I alone received and maybe the few hundred emails that Joe Sanchez recieved and I guess the other commissioners received complaints, too. I know this all for a fact.
I know that most of the public is for the Mayor's boondogle.
Not true. He did not suggest raising taxes this year.
He did more then suggest, He moved a motion to raise the cap and add flexibility.
It was voted down since the budget was not even released so it should not be moved without even seeing it.
There would be no need for a Miami 21 or any major change in Miami’s Zoning Code (especial one as complicated as Miami 21) if our Mayor and some Commissioners respected our Zoning Code and did not vote to authorize all of the many illegal spot zoning over the years to accommodate their developer pals. It’s a good thing that the public was able to prevent the efforts of the City to approve the first draft of Miami 21 so that we could study it and discover all of its many shortcomings. I suggest that we delay reviewing Miami 21 and any other significant proposal like the Virginia Key Master Plan until after the November elections. The present administration has had 8 years to damage our city and we would appreciate them taking the next 5 months off and giving us a break.
Harry Emilio Gottlieb
Why is any support for Miami 21 confused with support for the Mayor?? Read the code, this is about the type of city we want Miami to become. Get over the politics and your dislike of Manny Diaz. I'm an architect who works under the existing code and knows plenty of people who support this important effort.
This is something we need, regardless of your political opinion of where the code comes from. (Not to mention that has nothing to do with the SUBSTANCE of the document.) More empty criticisms of the code from people who have not even tried to understand it.
Only 3 1/2 months left Harry! I have been counting
I am glad your an architect with Miami 21 in place you will have plenty of work.
However knowing many architects many who are in the AIA disagree with Miami 21. For one Miami 21 is too big, there are certain places were it cannot work, the plots are too small. The uniformity of Miami 21 is its downfall. My house plot is not very wide, therefore under Miami 21 I would have to essentially cut my house in half and build my driveway and garage in the backyard. Leaving my 3/2 into a 1 1/2 and 1.
Also Miami 21 is hindered on trolly car changing many roads in order for the trolly car to pass. What if there is not a trolly car?
The whole project and is on the precipice and should be pushed off. Miami needs a better code however you dont change out your tire when you are just running low on air. Miami needs to FIX its code enforcement officers and attitude. FIX the fact that if they want to put a big building they just go into their pockets.
Read the Code? Please. The latest draft of Miami 21 is 600 pages of mush. Even AIA members and zoning attorneys with 20+ years of experience are shocked. It is a mess.
Read Miami 21? You will find sections inserted by lobbyists that will make several property owners multi-millionaires at the expense of their neighbors. How were lobbyists able to insert language into Miami 21? The entire process is suspicious.
1,000's of occupied properties will be at risk of demolition if Miami 21 passes. How will that help Miami's tax base?
Close minded people like yourselves never want to give anything new a chance. You are so concerned about your 7 blocks that you care nothing about the city itself. That's why we need people with vision in our city, not people that want to take the city back.
Again, I have been working under the current disaster of a code for many years and know that there is no fixing it. Miami 21 will allow for the type of pedestrian friendly urban planning that the current code outlaws. As with any code rewrite, there will be non-conformities, but that doesn't mean the code is at fault. The non-conformities come from 60 years of bad planning under the existing code. What is the alternative? Accept bad planning and architecture as a fact of life living in Miami? Yes, the new code would not allow garages to be placed front and center on your lot, but is that a bad thing?? I look forward to the day when that type of house has gone the way of the dodo. Not to mention, the code allows non-conformities to continue to exist. It doesn't mean you will have to demolish your house. The regulations will apply to NEW construction. All the rest of us with non-conforming houses will be grandfathered in. What is the harm in that?
We need Miami 21 because we need a new code. The existing code is done. It doesn't protect the citizens of this community from bad development decisions (like no transition to residential neighborhoods), and doesn't allow for the sort of pedestrian accommodations (like active street-fronts and hidden parking)that we need to have a functional, walkable city.
It's all great until it affects your house.
My house is on a small plot. It's also an old house from the 20's. Therefore in the case of a bad hurricane that a large percentage needs to be rebuilt. It would be ordered demolished under Miami 21 and a new house put in its place. On a wide plot its not so bad however on a narrow plot its horrible. You would be living in a hallway.
The code needs to be rewritten, and all of these non-conformist; by the way are a majority of people who can barely pay for their homes and are elderly. What of them?
My house is also from the 1920's - and it is non-conforming under the current code!! (As are most pre-1950's structures still standing around Miami.) They have been through plenty of hurricanes and never had to be demolished and rebuilt. Additionally, as most pre-1950's houses can attest, on the standard 50' wide lot, the garage can be accommodated in the rear. The setbacks required would not make the house narrow (as suggested by the last comment.) In fact, the removal of the garage from the front of the house will give more room for actual living space (over garage space). Miami 21 uses our historic building types as the model for the code. They accommodate the car, but relegate it to a less prominent position. A win-win. Imagine a neighborhood with houses that face the street with front porches (like our bungalow or med-style houses) rather than a large garage door. That's what the code is trying to return to.
Many of you do not realize that you might be forced to demolish your home under Miami 21. If a fire or hurricane damages it. In order to build a new home on your site you might have to pay $800,000. That is $6,000 per month in payments. The current Code lets you keep your $275,000 home and your $1,300 per month payments.
This is a Citywide issue.
Let's first have a meeting of all Planners both past and present for the City of Miami. These would include the plans for the CRA, the Downtown Development Authority, the "neighborhood revitalization strategy area", the enterprise zone, the "spot" zoning, the
stimulus projects, the neighborhood comprehensive plan, the Marlins Stadium and of course last but not least Miami 21. Did you notice I left out the affordable housing plan for the City of Miami? That's because Miami 21 has completely left this required component out of its housing element. Look towards the last pages of Miami 21 and you will find reference to the affordable housing. Amazed that there is no inclusion? This is called exclusionary planning. That means the City of Miami is to factor in affordable housing and not just workforce housing. How about a visit to Mr. Ron Book of the Homeless Trust who can assist us with a look at all of those individuals who may end up living in a closed corrections institution instead of affordable transitional housing. In case you are wondering Miami 21 might as well be called "TRUMP" towers. It is a whole hog pure redevelopment illegal zoning overlay and perhaps connected to the plans for the new port tunnel. Again, the reality show is on. You cannot ignore the revitalization components of your planning for existing taxpayers. P.S. Has anyone heard of eminent domain? Consider Miami 21 eminent domain redevelopment overlay without any concurrency. Go figure! The hogs are on the loose!
Miami 21 would not make anyone demolish their home!! This is a falsehood perpetuated by people who simply do not understand (or care to understand) the code. According to the code, not only will you be allowed to rebuild in case of a hurricane (a provision City Planners included to allay public fears on the issue), but you would be able to build what you had previously!
Miami 21 will protect our neighborhoods from bad planning decisions and keep bad development from occuring next to them. Not to mention it allows for more public involvement than the current code. I live off of Coral Way, behind a monster parking garage that would never be allowed under Miami 21. I don't know much about what it says about affordable housing, but I was able to read the code and make sure these bad planning decisions do not get approved. Go Miami 21!!
Miami 21 is bad. Yes I know we spent Millions of dollars on it however it is something that effects everyone and should be reworked WITH the residents. This is not about compliance but about working with residents. To many times have people of Miami been swindled due to the politicians making sure that what they think is better for the people.
No more.
Thankfully there has been a Commissioner that brought Miami 21 to the residents. And started an uproar. Miami 21 was a back door deal that residents were told how great it was. Geez...
One of the biggest errors in this admittedly flawed process is the lack of Vision.
First there is Vision, thru master planning, then you write the code to correspond to the approved Vision.
M21's City implementation process, did not account for this required step and now is the proverbial cart before the horse running in circles......
Where in Miami 21 does it call for demolishing anything? We are all grandfathered in- that is why Miami 21 is so important, because it will keep more hi-rise/big box stores out of Miami!
Miami 21 keeps what I love about the Grove intact, but also Shenandoah, Wynwood and Morningside, too.
Anon. Miami 21 is bad....let me guess that commissioner was Regalado...a/k/a Mr. No. Gee.. I wonder if he becomes mayor how he's going to get any plan approved??? He's so used to saying no that he'll probably vote against himself.
You can't stop progress!!!
This is not about prohibiting hi-rises in Miami, it is about master planning a city's vision and then evolving the zoning code to entitle that vision. Issues of Compatibility between zones including transitions in scale, density and intensity....in conjunction with and improving existing and future development. It is here were the proposed M21 code still falls short. Miami is not a white button down collar city. Nor is it homogenized milk, where a corner lot should be treated the same as an infill lot and as a waterfront lot.
Last anon: Miami 21 iIs a code rewrite, not a masterplan. It isn't responsible for determining what t-zone should go where (not as a first step). What the code does is provide a better mechanism for making those transitions, and translate the existing zoning categories into new categories. Now, over time we can go master plan neighborhood by neighborhood, rather than a long, unwieldy master plan process for the whole city. If we thought the code rewrite was tough, imagine the process of taking and granting property rights across the entire city. The longer we wait to implement the code, the longer it will take to make the transitions we know we need. The vision for the city we need is written into the DNA of the code: compact, walkable streets with active streetfronts and a more fine grained increment of development ( the 3 to 5 story buildings we lack). Determining how these transitions occur will be the next step after implementation.
Miami 21 does demand how neighborhoods will look WITHOUT the benefit of a Master Plan. Almost all experts state a Master Plan should be done before a new Zoning Code.
If someone owns a home that is considered non-conforming by Miami 21 and it is damaged by fire or a storm then the City might demand that home is domolished rather than repaired because of Miami 21's new stronger rules. The cost to build a new 3,000 sq ft home might be $600,000 or more while the cost to repair damage could be far less.
Miami 21 is government telling you how to spend your money. Many people will refuse to invest in Miami. Property values will go down.
1. The City cannot and will not require anyone to demolish their home. That is a blatant lie. Non-conformities are a reality of zoning. They exist currently and are grandfathered in. No one is required to demolish anything.
2. As an urban planner I think you are mistaken to believe that "all experts state a master plan should be done before the code". This is simply not true, and is even less true of a city the size of Miami. Please show what city of our scale has had a master plan that changed the zoning of individual lots. It doesn't happen. The code provides the vision and the mechanism to produce the Master Plan. This is not a small subdivision, but an existing regional municipal center. Besides that, a master plan would not even touch upon issues related to how things look, which is the responsibility of the code. Your 'experts' should tell you at least that much.
Miami 21 is a form based code. Miami is being used as a test case so the consultant can make huge fees selling this "smoke and mirrors" new age puffery to first Miami then other cities.
Miami 21's consultant's website (DPZ) shows this code has never been used on anything larger than a small pasture. Miami has 400,000 residents and many more stakeholders when you count communters and businesses. This is an experiment that has cost the taxpayers dearly already. Send it back to get stakeholder input. Not the input of connected insiders but the input real live taxpayers.
It takes more than 2 weeks to come up with 118 million dollars! But how about we start with not letting the police and fire drive their vehicles home to Florida City or Broward County everyday on the city taxpayer's dime. 2.50/ gallon x 25 miles/ day x 5 days/ week x 52 weeks a year x over 100 vehicles + decreased life of car, oil changes, tires, etc = WOW that's a big number!!!
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