HomeMy WebLinkAboutR5B AND C Washington Ave ResidentialWashington Avenue Residential
Simple, Common-Sense Urban Planning
Current Conditions
Vacant & Neglected Properties
Vacant & Neglected Properties
Vacant & Neglected Properties
Vacant & Neglected Properties
Vacant & Neglected Properties
Vacant & Neglected Properties
Vacant & Neglected Properties
Vacant & Neglected Properties
Vacant & Neglected Properties
Vacant & Neglected Properties
Vacant & Neglected Properties
Vacant & Neglected Properties
The Problem
●Washington Avenue has lots of retail and hotels
●Very few people actually live there full-time
●When tourists leave, the street goes quiet
●Empty streets = struggling businesses + safety issues
●The State steps in when cities don’t build enough attainable housing
Miami Beach has not delivered a major attainable housing project since the 1990s.
New Construction (2017-2025)
What Is Mixed-Use?
●Shops and restaurants on the ground floor
●Apartments/condos above
●People live where they shop and eat
●This is how real neighborhoods are built
Great cities don’t separate living, shopping, and working —cities like Barcelona, London,
and New York City build mixed-use neighborhoods by design.
Why Mixed-Use Works
●More residents = more “eyes on the street”
●Safer streets, day and night
●Businesses get customers year-round
●Higher-quality retail replaces low-quality uses
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only
when, they are created by everybody.”
—Jane Jacobs
We’ve Seen This Work in Miami Beach
●Sunset Harbour
●South of Fifth
●These areas improved because people live there
●Same idea here, just much lower scale
Single use zoning is a thing of the past. We should reject single-use planning that
prioritizes cars, megaprojects and spot zoning over people.
What Is Actually Changing
●Residential height: 50 ft → 75 ft
●Hotels: 75 ft → 50 ft
●Extra height only if the building is residential and car-free
This encourages attainable housing for the “forgotten middle,” not more transient hotels.
75 ft max (with 25 ft
bonus height)
75 ft max (with 75 ft
bonus height)
Who This Is For
●The “forgotten middle”
●Young professionals, families, retirees
●People who want to live in Miami Beach without needing
a car
●Creates a live-work-play ecosystem
“The real crisis in American cities is the forgotten middle —people who earn too much to
qualify for affordable housing, but not enough to afford market-rate housing.”
—Professor Richard Florida
Designed for Car-Free Living
●No required parking for these projects
●Parking drives up rent and increases traffic
●Buildings must include bike/scooter stations
●Connects to public micro-mobility (transit,
trolleys, bikes, walkability on Wash Ave)
Fewer cars = more affordable housing + safer
Streets
18 percent of car-owning U.S. residents indicated that they were "strongly interested"
in living car-free, and another 40 percent said that they were open to it
(2025 Survey Conducted by Arizona State University)
Built-In Safeguards
●Only non-transient residential qualifies —no hotel conversions, no short-term rentals
●Minimum lot size prevents overbuilding
●Incentives are temporary (removes speculation)
●Projects must be permitted by 2032
●If it doesn’t work, it expires automatically
●The City stays in control
Neighborhood Protections Stay
●Setbacks still apply
●Buildings must fit the surrounding context
●Historic Preservation Board review required
●No automatic approvals
Most importantly, this protects neighborhoods from out-of-context spot zoning for
ultra-luxury glass towers.
This Is Commission-Driven Planning
●The City sets the rules
●No special zoning for specific properties (spot zoning)
●This is real urban planning
●It is high-level policy written by the Commission
Developers follow the rules —they don’t write them.
Better Than State Preemption
●The Live Local Act (LLA)overrides local zoning when cities block attainable housing
●One-size-fits-all preemption reduces local control
●This plan delivers attainable housing through City policy, not State override
●Infill housing reduces urban sprawl and protects Miami-Dade County’s wetlands and
farmland by building where infrastructure already exists
Smart local planning is better than preemption and urban sprawl.
Broad Support
●Supported by City Administration
●Unanimously recommended by the Planning Board
●Supported by Miami Beach United, SoBe Safe and ADNA
●Supported by Washington Avenue BID
This is not controversial planning —it’s consensus planning.
Final Takeaway
●Plan first. Build second.
No spot zoning. No developer giveaways.
●Housing where it belongs
●Rules set by the City
●Neighborhoods, not speculation
“When cities fail to provide housing for the middle class, they push people out —not
because they want to leave, but because they have no choice.”
—Richard Florida