Ordinance 99-3171 ORDINANCE NO. 99-3171
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY
COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH,FLORIDA
AMENDING THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH,
FLORIDA, AMENDING CHAPTER 118 ENTITLED
"ADMINISTRATION AND REVIEW PROCEDURES",
SECTION 118-262 ENTITLED "REVIEW OF DESIGN
REVIEW DECISIONS" BY ELIMINATING THE MAILED
NOTICE REQUIREMENT FOR REVIEWS OF DESIGN
REVIEW BOARD DECISIONS; AMENDING SECTION 118-
537 ENTITLED "REHEARINGS AND APPEALS" BY
ELIMINATING THE MAILED NOTICE REQUIREMENT
FOR APPEALS OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION BOARD OR
JOINT DESIGN REVIEW BOARD/HISTORIC
PRESERVATION BOARD DECISIONS; PROVIDING FOR
INCLUSION IN THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI
BEACH,FLORIDA; REPEALER; SEVERABILITY; AND AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the Code of the City of Miami Beach specifies certain procedures to be
followed in the review or appeal of Design Review Board, Historic Preservation Board or Joint
Design Review Board/Historic Preservation Board decisions, including the requirement that mailed
notices be sent to all property owners within 375 feet of a property which is the subject of a review;
and,
WHEREAS,the City Commission deems it advisable to streamline the review process and
limit appellant's financial responsibility for the mailed notice requirement by eliminating said
requirement.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY
COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA:
SECTION 1. That Section 118-262,entitled "Review of design review decisions" of Chapter 118,
entitled "Administration and Review Procedures", of the Code of the City of Miami Beach, Florida
is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 118-262. Review of design review decisions.
(a) The applicant,or the city manager on behalf of the city administration, or an affected
person or,in the case of historically significant buildings,Miami Design Preservation League
and Dade Heritage Trust may seek review of any order of the design review board by the city
commission, except that orders granting or denying a request for rehearing shall not be
reviewed by the commission. For purposes of this section, "affected person" shall mean
either(i)a person owning property within 375 feet of the applicant's project reviewed by the
board, or(ii) a person that appeared before the design review board(directly or represented
by counsel), and whose appearance is confirmed in the record of the design review board's
public hearing(s) for such project. The review shall be based on the record of the hearing
before the design review board, shall not be a de novo hearing, and no new, additional
testimony shall be taken. The request shall be in writing shall be by or on behalf of a named
appellant(s),and shall be submitted to the historic preservation and urban design director on
or before the twentieth day after the date of rendition of the board's order. However, in the
event that a petition for rehearing is filed pursuant to section 118-261,the time for filing a
request shall be on or before the twentieth day after the date of rendition of the board's order
on the petition. Within 30 days of receipt of the request,the historic preservation and urban
design director shall place the request for review on the city commission agenda. The city
commission shall set a date and time for a hearing. The hearing shall be set for a date which
is within 45 days of receipt of the request for review by the director. Notice of the review
shall be according to section 118-254, except that there shall be no requirement for mailed
notification regarding the subject review.
SECTION 2. That Section 118-537, entitled "Rehearings and appeals" of Chapter 118, entitled
"Administration and Review Procedures",of the Code of the City of Miami Beach,Florida is hereby
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 118-537. Rehearings and appeals.
* * *
(b) Appeals.
(1) The applicant,the owner(s)of the subject property,the city manager, Miami Design
Preservation League, Dade Heritage Trust, or an affected person may appeal the board's
decision to a special master appointed by the city commission. For purposes of this section,
"affected person" shall mean either. a person owning property within 375 feet of the
applicant's project reviewed by the board,or a person that appeared before the board(directly
or represented by counsel), and whose appearance is confirmed in the record of the board's
public hearing(s) for such project. The appeal shall be based on the record of the hearing
before the board, shall not be a de novo hearing, and no new, additional testimony shall be
taken. The appeal shall be in writing shall be by or on behalf of a named appellant(s), and
shall be submitted to the historic preservation and urban design director on or before the
twentieth day after the date of rendition of the board's order. However, in the event that a
petition for rehearing is filed pursuant to subsection(a), above, the time for filing an appeal
to the special master shall be on or before the twentieth day after the date of rendition of the
board's order regarding the petition. Within 30 days of receipt of the appeal, the historic
preservation and urban design director shall submit the appeal to the special master who shall
set a date and time for hearing the appeal. Notice requirements for the hearing shall be
identical to the notice requirements for the original decision upon which the appeal is based,
except that there shall be no requirement for mailed notification regarding the subject appeal.
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SECTION 3. REPEALER.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances and all sections and parts of sections in conflict
herewith be and the same are hereby repealed.
SECTION 4. INCLUSION IN CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH.FLORIDA
It is the intention of the City Commission,and it is hereby ordained that the provisions of this
ordinance shall become and be made part of the Code of the City of Miami Beach as amended; that
the sections of this ordinance may be renumbered or relettered to accomplish such intention; and that
the word "ordinance" may be changed to "section" or other appropriate word.
SECTION 5. SEVERABILITY.
If any section,subsection,clause or provision of this Ordinance is held invalid,the remainder
shall not be affected by such invalidity.
SECTION 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Ordinance shall take effect on the 27th day of February , 199 .
PASSED and ADOPTED this 17th day of February , 1999.
ATTEST: MAYOR
741,uit,),( %kat)... •
CITY CLERK
APPROVED AS TO
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1st reading 1/20/99 & FOR EXECUTION
2nd reading 2/17/99
OF
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CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
.3ITY HALL 1700 CONVENTION CENTER DRIVE MIAMI BEACH,FLORIDA 33139
ittp:\\cim iam i-beach.fl.us
COMMISSION MEMORANDUM NO. 14-1-9
TO: Mayor Nelsen O. Kasdin and DATE: February 17, 1999
Members of the City Co mission
•
FROM: Sergio Rodriguez '`
%
City Manager /
SUBJECT: Second Rea s ing - An Ordinance of the Mayor and City Commission of the
City of Miami Beach,Florida Amending the Code of the City of Miami Beach,
Florida, Amending Chapter 118 Entitled "Administration and Review
Procedures", Section 118-262 Entitled "Review of Design Review Decisions"
By Eliminating the Mailed Notice Requirement for Reviews of Design Review
Board Decisions; Amending Section 118-537 Entitled "Rehearings and
Appeals" By Eliminating the Mailed Notice Requirement for Appeals of
Historic Preservation Board or Joint Design Review Board/Historic
Preservation Board Decisions; Providing for Inclusion in the Code of the City
of Miami Beach, Florida; Repealer; Severability; and an Effective Date.
RECOMMENDATION
The Administration recommends that the City Commission, upon second reading public hearing,
adopt the proposed amending Ordinance.
BACKGROUND
At the City Commission meeting of September 23, 1998,the consideration of an amendment to the
City Code which would eliminate appellants' financial responsibility for any mailed notification
requirement or eliminate,entirely,any mailed notification requirement was referred to the Planning
Board at the request of Commissioner Simon Cruz. Upon referral, Planning Department staff
drafted two alternative amendments,one which would eliminate appellants'financial responsibility
for any mailed notification requirement and place that responsibility with the City,and another that
would eliminate the mailed notice requirements entirely.
The Planning Department and City Attorney's Office concluded that if the mailed notice
requirement for DRB appeals was eliminated, then a similar amendment eliminating the mailed
notice requirements for appeals of Historic Preservation Board or Joint Design Review
Board/Historic Preservation Board decisions should also be enacted. To that end, Planning
Department staff drafted an amending ordinance that would eliminate the mailed notice
requirement for such appeals of Historic Preservation Board or Joint Design Review Board/Historic
Preservation Board decisions.
AGENDA ITEM ZS-F
DATE 2- 1-1
At the December 15, 1998 Planning Board meeting, the Board voted 7-0 to recommend approval
of the ordinances eliminating the mailed notice requirement entirely, as they believed that shifting
this responsibility from the appellant to the City's Planning Department staff was unacceptable.
A combined ordinance, reflecting the Planning Board's recommendation to eliminate the mailed
notice requirement for both the Design Review Board, and the Historic Preservation and Joint
Design Review Board/Historic Preservation Boards was unanimously approved by the City
Commission at its January 20, 1999 meeting.
ANALYSIS
The impetus for the proposed ordinances is the perception that affected persons are being
discouraged from filing appeals of a decision of the Design Review Board (as well as the Historic
Preservation Board and Joint Design Review Board/Historic Preservation Board)because of the
potential costs associated with the mailed notice requirements. A similar argument was the
motivation for the reduction of fees associated with appeals of board decisions,which was adopted
by the Commission earlier this year.
Currently,the Land Development Regulations(LDRs) require that for appeals of decisions of the
Design Review Board,the Historic Preservation Board and the Joint Design Review Board/Historic
Preservation Board, a description of the appeal, and the time and place of such hearing be posted
on a sign on the property,and advertised in a paper of general paid circulation(generally the Miami
Herald Neighbors Section)not less than 15 days prior to the public hearing date. Additionally,the
LDRs require that notice of the appeal shall also be given by mail to the owners of record of land
lying within 375 feet of property, and that the mail notification requirement is the responsibility
of the appellant(see Attachment 1 for text of ordinance).
The proposed amending ordinance would eliminate the mailed notice requirements entirely for
appeals of the Design Review Board,the Historic Preservation Board and the Joint Design Review
Board/Historic Preservation Board respectively. Of course,posting a notice on the subject property
and advertising the appeal in the newspaper would still be required. As other methods of
notification regarding such appeals would still be used,eliminating the mailed notice requirement
for these appeals should not cause a significant problem in notification to the public. The
elimination of this requirement has been determined by the City Attorney's Office to be acceptable
with regard to legal requirements.
CONCLUSION
The proposed amendment which is before the Commission today, would eliminate the appellants
responsibility for the mailed notice requirement for appeals of Board decisions, without unduly
shifting that responsibility to City staff, by eliminating the requirement altogether. Therefore,
based on the foregoing, the Administration recommends adoption, upon second reading public
hearing,of the proposed amending ordinance to Section 118-262 and Section 118-537 of the Land
Development Regulations of the Code of the City of Miami Beach, Florida.
S \DG\RL\r1
T:\AGENDA\1999\FEB 1799\REGULAR\1376CMM2.W PD
ATTACHMENT 1
Sec. 118-254. Decision of design review board.
(b) Not less than 15 days prior to the public hearing date, a description of the request, and the
time and place of such hearing shall be posted on the property on a sign of no less than 11
inches by 17 inches, and advertised in a paper of general paid circulation in the
municipality;notice shall also be given by mail to the owners of record of land lying within
375 feet of property. The mail notification requirement shall be the responsibility of the
applicant: Additionally, courtesy notice shall also be given to any state nonprofit
community organization which has requested of the director in writing to be notified of
board hearings. The board shall approve, approve with conditions or deny applications.
* * *
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