Open letter from Ken Russell regarding NCD
Hi Neighbors,
If you’ve walked around and seen the scale of development these days, you know that the city code is not working in our single family neighborhoods.
On Thursday, January 24, as your Commissioner, I’m sponsoring legislation to control over-development in Coconut Grove. It’s an improvement to a portion of our code called the Neighborhood Conservation District (NCD). Some say that the code doesn’t need a change— that it just needs to be enforced. I can tell you that is wrong. The current language is vague, loopholes prevail, and the limits are just too high. The other argument against this amendment is that it will lower our property values. This is also untrue. Grove properties are valuable because of the neighborhood charm and lush tree canopy. The new wave of over-development threatens both. A level playing field with some controls in place will ensure our future values. These changes have already been approved by our Planning Zoning Appeals Board. Two approved readings at City Commission and it will become part of our code.
If you’d like to attend City Commission and speak for or against this code amendment, First reading of PZ.9 will be heard at 5 pm at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive. Public comment specifically for this item will be taken up at that time. If you are not available then, we will also be taking public comment at approx 9:30 am and 2 pm.
As always, you can write my office at krussell@miamigov.com and your recommendations will be considered. I am open and flexible to input that will make this a document of the community with consensus from my colleagues and amendments between first and second readings. Thank you for the hundreds of emails and calls I have already received to date.
You can see the current NCD, as well as the proposed changes at this link.
Your Commissioner,
Ken Russell
posted by Tom Falco at 7:00 PM
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6 Comments:
Please also encourage residents to attend and speak at the February 5th HEPB meeting at City Hall at 3:00 when FIU, Miami Dade County and Arquitectonica will be seeking approval for a demolition permit for the Coconut Grove Playhouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Their plan will demolish the entire Playhouse, with the exception of the front facade, and will replace it with a parking garage, retail space and an office building with a theater "room" with only 300 seats! Come out, be heard and protect our neighborhood, Coconut Grove!
https://www.facebook.com/events/2022912281335167/?ti=cl
This is an important meeting for anyone concerned about the future of Coconut Grove to attend. The PZAB over-whelming approved of this draft back in June. There are opposition groups out there who are trying for yet another deferral (deferred twice, continued 3 times since last April. Those seeking deferral yet again clearly have the intent of stopping the changes by death by a thousand cuts. The NCD concept is not new,it has just failed, due to not just lax enforcement, but vague code which makes enforcement impossible. Interestingly, some of the most vociferous opponents seeking delay or to kill the changes do not live in or even own property in Coconut Grove, even to the extent of living in Ft. Lauderdale or as far south as Palmetto Bay. One has to question the motives of these individuals and if short term financial gain drives some of the opposition. The other problem is the huge amount of false and misleading information out there. A first reading of the PZAB approved legislation from June is necessary to clear the air with facts, get public comment on record and at least level the playing field for further dialogue before a second reading. Show up and be heard; but listen and learn the facts. Nothing will be 'locked in stone' after this reading. But we'll all be on the same playing field, hopefully. Facts matter.
In other words, if you want a modern home to your liking, you will have to buy a lot in other parts of the Grove, and hence property values will remain higher in the neighborhoods with fewer restrictions. Lucky for them, but not so much for us. I guess not everyone wants to sacrifice their property values in the name of preserving their history, but apparently those from the "rest" of the Grove think that we in the "West" Grove should do so. That's nice of them to encourage us, don't you think?
No, I don't think it's so nice. I think they should let us decide for ourselves. Ask yourself this question: "Is a black community strengthened more by a home that represents someone's idea of Bahamian architecture, or by a home that has been chosen and designed by its occupants?".
The only people who will be interested in buying in the West Grove will be those who are skilled at going before the HEP board... namely commercial developers (with skilled attorneys behind them) who know how to get CRA grant money and how to get the densities increased on their property via upzoning.
It would be nice if we could indeed pass legislation to try and keep the West Grove black, but since we can't, let's not pretend that that's what is happening. That kind of legislation existed before the 1970s in the form of segregation laws and Jim Crow zoning. We shouldn't limit what kind of houses can be built in the West Grove any more than we should limit who can now live in the West Grove.
Charles Avenue was one of the first streets where black people could own land in South Florida. Don't the remaining descendants of these settlers deserve equal property rights as their white neighbors, rather than "special protections" passed by their white neighbors?
Have you ever heard the saying "a rising tide lifts all boats"? This could be taken to mean that rising property values throughout Coconut Grove should benefit everyone who is still lucky enough to own their home, regardless of their ethnicity or neighborhood. I guess it could depend on how long your anchor line is. If your anchor line is too restrictive, it is bound to break. Ask yourself this: would tight anchor lines stop the tide from rising? I would guess not. I would guess overly tight anchor lines would be good at separating boats from their anchors (and their owners).
What about those of us in this game of demolition musical chairs, who are still living in old houses? Will we be sentenced to live in prisons of our own making, in the name of protecting our heritage?
I am not asking anyone to take a particular stance regarding these NCD amendments, even though I am obviously against them, and am against this specific amendment in particular. It can be intimidating for the average person to try and read through the legal jargon, but I wanted to try and educate as many neighbors as I could about this one particular item. At the least I would like all of my neighbors in the West Grove to be informed of what is potentially happening, because we cannot expect mailed notices from the city regarding such zoning changes, even though we can always count on receiving our property tax bills.
At 5 PM today in Miami City Hall, public comments will be heard regarding this agenda item. Usually each member of the public is only given two minutes to speak, if we are given the chance to comment at all. As usual, residents of the West Grove will most likely not be well represented. Many residents from other parts of the Grove WILL show up to voice their support for passing ALL the new amendments, even those that effect US in the NCD-2 and NOT them.
Whether you find yourself in favor or opposed to any of the amendments in the link above, I encourage everyone from the West Grove to attend the Commission Meeting and speak up, so that residents of other neighborhoods will stop trying to speak for us.
The link only shows the proposed changes not the current NCD which contains the critical language prohibiting lot splitting this is in A.3.6 The intent of the single family district is to protect the low density tree canopied nature of the district, single family sites are to remain single family sites except by warrant. The criteria for a warrant was originally to ensure the express intent of the district which is stricken by this proposal.
Regarding the enforceability of that language:
In HOLLADAY ,v.CITY OF CORAL GABLES 382 So.2d 92 (1980:
Under the law at the time this action was filed, as evidenced by the Zoning Code as amended by said Ordinance No. 2262, what the plaintiffs sought to do with respect to this parcel was clearly and expressly prohibited.
That ordinance was a proper exercise of police power as the earlier similar ordinance relating to fifty-foot lots was so regarded in King v. City of Coral Gables, 363 So.2d 389 at 392 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978),[3] where the court said:
The obvious intent of the Ordinance was to prevent developers, etc., from coming into Coral Gables, tearing down existing residences on large lots, and then building more residences on smaller lots.
At least 10 lot splitting attempts in the south Grove have been stopped since 2016 by contesting what developers wanted to do on the basis of this language. Coral gables has no problem enforcing the code on which our single family code A.3.6 is based. The proposal has only very general subjective language (not court tested) about criteria for a warrant. With a Waiver those numbers on the map can be reduced by 10%. If the city does not enforce the existing code with important legal precedents why would anyone expect that they will flaunt the vague language in the proposal?
The golf course going ice hockey is being held up via a simple straight forward inexpensive lawsuit complaint. IF certain Grove residents want real action/power they could consider a GO-FUND proposal to ALL concerned Grove residents and FRIENDS OF THE GROVE to pay an attorney to file a focused complaint and request a hold on all future construction activity OUTSIDE the law or these ordinances (NCD), PZ.9, etc., etc., & etc.. Do not allow these banana republic, greedy myopic mentalities to CONTINUE to destroy our unique community. J.S.
Contrary to Mike March I think the new NCD code is not good enough specifically because city rules are not enforced equally.
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