[Action Alert]: No on Single-Family Upzoning

Dear Neighbor:

An ordinance to upzone single-family neighborhoods proposed by Commissioner David Suarez is going to be reviewed on Dec 17th at 2pm Land Use Committee.

The ordinance as proposed would increase heights for new homes around the city while fundamentally weaken the public process for the review of new construction single-family homes that contain an understory in Miami Beach.

On Wednesday, November 20th, the Miami Beach Commission will hear item R5AG, which is proposed by Commissioner David Suarez and supported by the Planning Director. The goal is to ‘streamline’ processes…

While the Commissioner claims that the proposal is driven by his concern regarding flooding of existing single-family homes, he fails to acknowledge that the Design Review Board Process is an important step for neighborhood review of new construction. The review process offers neighbors the opportunity to review plans and provide input, and helps to ensure compatibility under the zoning code.

Imagine, the house next door to you being knocked down without even receiving a notification or information about what will be built. That is what will happen if R5AG is passed!

How could we strip neighborhoods of the current review and input process which helps to ensure compatible new construction?

If they strip our single-family neighborhoods of public review, what will they take away next?

To download the agenda item with details, click here.

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Dear Mayor and Commission I ask that you oppose R5AG, Commissioner David Suarez's proposal that will increase heights in single-family neighborhoods and reduce neighborhood review for new single-family construction with understories. Miami Beach has a long history of good design and architecture, as well as community input and review. By stripping away the review of understories - which are many of the new homes being built - we would be removing an important component of the public review process that makes our city a desireable place to live, work and play. Passing height increases without fully studied plans and neighborhood input is the wrong thing to do. It weakens residents right to know. I urge you to vote NO on R5AG, and look at other ways to streamline review processes - particularly within the building department - while keeping the review process and established heights in place for the benefit of the community.