3 - NBCRA Finding of Necessity (Dated 4-23-19)Finding of Necessity
Proposed North Beach Community Redevelopment Area
City of Miami Beach
Prepared by
April 23, 2019
Finding of Necessity for a Potential North Beach CRA
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary................................................................................................ 3
Legal Requirements............................................................................................... 9
Street Layout, Parking Facilities, and Roadways................................................... 11
Faulty Lot Layout ................................................................................................. 14
Unsanitary or Unsafe Conditions ......................................................................... 15
Deterioration of Site or Other Improvements...................................................... 16
Inadequate and Outdated Building Density Patterns........................................... 18
Residential and Commercial Vacancy Rates......................................................... 20
Fire and Emergency Medical Service Calls............................................................ 22
Florida Building Code Violations .......................................................................... 23
Diversity of Ownership......................................................................................... 22
Appendix – Additional Information...................................................................... 24
Finding of Necessity for a Potential North Beach CRA
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Executive Summary
The North Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach has lagged the redevelopment, revitalization,
and economic growth experienced throughout other parts of the City. There have been
numerous efforts by the City to promote growth and change in North Beach, most recently
including the North Beach Master Plan, the Ocean Terrace Plan, the West Lots Plan, as well as
other citywide planning tools such as the Transportation Master Plan and planning initiatives
focusing on sustainability, economic development and land development regulation
amendments.
A Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) is a tool created pursuant to State Law which
designates an area for redevelopment and authorizes the governing body to exercise certain
powers to implement redevelopment. The North Beach area is an district which would benefit
from the public and private investment that accompanies CRA designation. The City of Miami
Beach has significant experience with redevelopment success through implementation of CRAs:
the Miami Beach Redevelopment Agency was created in 1973, followed by two of the most
successful CRAs in the State of Florida, the South Pointe Redevelopment Area and the City
Center/Historic Convention Village Community Redevelopment Area.
Pursuant to the direction of the Miami Beach City Commission, the City Administration has
implemented steps to conduct a Finding of Necessity (FoN) to evaluate the North Beach area for
designation as a Community Redevelopment Area. The Community Redevelopment Act of 1969,
Florida Statutes Chapter 163, identifies fifteen (15) criteria indicative of blight within a
community, of which two (2) must be present to conclude that an area is blighted. Nine of these
criteria were found in the North Beach area:
•Predominance of defective or inadequate street layout, parking facilities, roadways,
bridges, or public transportation facilities.
•Aggregate assessed values of real property in the area for ad valorem tax purposes have
failed to show any appreciable increase over the five (5) years prior to the finding of
such conditions.
•Faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility, or usefulness.
•Unsanitary or unsafe conditions.
•Deterioration of site or other improvements.
•Inadequate and outdated building density patterns.
•Fire and emergency medical service calls to the area proportionately higher than in the
remainder of the county or municipality.
•Greater number of violations of the Florida Building Code in the area than the number
of violations recorded in the remainder of the county or municipality.
•Diversity of ownership or defective or unusual conditions of title which prevent the free
alienability of land within the deteriorated or hazardous area.
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This firm has conducted research as well as site visits to confirm the presence of blight in the
area, as defined by Florida Statutes. This document includes supporting information for each
criterion listed here, with visual, descriptive, and/or research-based information that supports
the finding of blight.
The proposed boundaries of the North Beach CRA are identified on the map on the following
page:
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Figure 1: Proposed Boundary for a Community Redevelopment in North Beach
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Our evaluation identified the following blight conditions, which are detailed in the appendices to
this report:
Predominance of defective or inadequate street layout, parking facilities, roadways, bridges
or public transportation facilities.
The street layout in the area is faulty in a number of ways, many of which were identified in
Section2oftheNorthBeachMasterPlan.Thisincludestheone-waystreetpattern,characteristic
of major roadways, as well as mobility challenges in the area. Additionally, only one roadway
connects the North and South ends of the City, and only one roadway connects the area to the
mainland to the West.Publicparkingisinadequate,with theparkingdeficit demonstrated bythe
recent Walker Parking Study commissioned by the City. Addressing parking needs is a priority
goal of the North Beach Master Plan. Unlike other parts of the City, there are no City-owned
parking garages in the area, and manyprivate parking lotsin North Beachare poorly maintained.
The“TownCenter”coreofNorthBeachhas90%parkingoccupancy,andthelackofloadingzones
along Collins Avenue creates traffic backups and pedestrian safety challenges.
Trafficcountsintheareaarehigh,roadwaysaresignificantlycongested,andNorthBeach’smajor
thoroughfares operate at failing Level of Service (F) during peak periods. The forecasted traffic
volumes in 2025 and 2035 are projected to grow at a higher rate than in Mid Beach and South
Beach, and North Beach is an area afflicted with significant vehicle-pedestrian conflicts.
Connectivity is a challenge, especially to Parkview Island, at the Indian Creek and 71st Street
intersection, to the Normandy Fountain area and between Collins and Harding Avenues. Public
Transportation is heavily utilized, with additional improvements in the planning stage.
Faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility, or usefulness.
One of the findings in the North Beach Master Plan was that the prevalence of small lot sizes in
the North Beach Town Center pose an obstacle to redevelopment and revitalization. This also
creates a challenge to lot assemblage, which is necessary in order to achieve efficient land areas
that attract feasible investment and redevelopment. The challenges in attracting investment in
this area are part of the reason that voters have approved zoning incentives like FAR and density
increases, but the zoning envisions higher intensity and larger-scale full-block development. The
number of small lots in the Town Center is antithetical to full-block redevelopment; as such, a
significant amount of effort is needed to aggregate property, which may not be financially
feasible without additional tools, namely, a CRA.
Unsanitary or unsafe conditions.
Weidentifiedanumberofsanitationandsafetyrelatedconditions.Theseincludedover757Code
violations within the proposed boundaries in 2018, of which 205 were sanitation related. Calls
for service due to unsafe conditions were disproportionately higher than other parts of the City
and included shorting/arcing electrical equipment, malicious false alarms, extraction of victims
from vehicles, HazMat investigations, natural vegetation fires, and passenger vehicle fires.
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According to the City’s Transportation Master Plan, 71st Street is one of the traffic corridors with
thehighestdensityofvehicularcrashesintheCityinvolvingabicyclistorpedestrian.Additionally,
the North Beach Master Plan identifies how the area is susceptible to flooding and sea level rise.
Deterioration of site or other improvements.
An on-the-ground inspection of the properties within the proposed CRA boundary identified
significant deterioration of buildings, sites, and property. This includes crumbling concrete,
broken windows, cracked pavers and tiles, and derelict property. Unmaintained vacant lots were
observed, including a number of unsecured buildings that are not boarded up, with exposed
electrical conduit and unshielded from the elements.
Inadequate and outdated building density patterns.
There exists an erratic scale of buildings in the target area in both height and density. As
properties become aggregated and redeveloped, this problem may become more apparent until
redevelopment of the Town Center occurs on a district-wide scale. The goal of the City and that
of the community (as validated in the FAR referendum) is to develop the area with much greater
intensity. This inconsistent building scale and lack of continuity was observed and documented
as part of this analysis but was also highlighted asa salient issue in the North Beach Master Plan.
Residential and commercial vacancy rates higher in the area than in the remainder of the
county or municipality.
This firm conducted research both online, analyzing data through CoStar and Loopnet, as well as
manual survey of real estate and vacancies in the target area. CoStar identified nine (9) vacant
properties in the area, measuring 36,382 square feet. The in-person inspection identified those
properties, as well as an additional 12 vacant properties, measuring 23,000 square feet. There is
currently a total of 60,000 square feet of vacant retail space in the proposed boundary,
representing some 6.6% of the 904,000 total retail square feet. This is higher than the Citywide
vacancy rate of 6.2%, and the Countywide rate of 3.9%.
Residential vacancy rates measure 23.0% within the proposed boundary compared with a
Countywide residential vacancy rate of 11.4%.
Fire and emergency medical service calls to the area proportionately higher than in the
remainder of the county or municipality.
Fire and emergency medical service calls are disproportionately higher than in the rest of Miami
Beach. Furthermore, as previously indicated, calls for emergency services due to unsafe
conditions are disproportionately higher than throughout other parts of the City, for conditions
such as shorting/arcing electrical equipment, malicious false alarms, extraction from vehicles,
HazMat investigations, natural vegetation fires, and passenger vehicle fires.
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Greater number of violations of the Florida Building Code in the area than the number of
violations recorded in the remainder of the County or municipality.
Of 2,696 total building violations reported Citywide during a test period, 605 of the building
violations occurred in the proposed CRA boundary. The concentrated hotspots in North Beach
for these types of violations are within the proposed CRA boundary.
Diversity of ownership or defective or unusual conditions of title which prevent the free
alienability of land within the deteriorated or hazardous area.
There is significant diversity of ownership in North Beach, although some assemblage has begun
to take place in the Town Center.However, thereremainsmanysmaller, historicbuildings,many
of which are condominiums, that would be difficult to assemble. The North Beach area includes
4,321 properties that are not condominiums, which are owned by some 3,549 property-owners,
further demonstrating a diversity of ownership that may prove difficult to overcome for
successful redevelopment.
Conclusion
Although as little as two conditions of blight must be present in order to designate an area as
“blighted,”thisanalysishasidentifiedthepresenceofnine(9)outof15conditions.Despitepublic
andprivate initiativesand interest,theNorth Beach areahaslonglaggedthe redevelopmentand
economic success experienced by other areas of Miami Beach. The City has implemented
thoughtful planning strategies through community engagement, resulting in the North Beach
Master Plan, the West Lots Plan, the Ocean Terrace Master Plan, and the Transportation Plan,
which have identified initiatives that could successfully revitalize North Beach, provided that the
necessary tools for implementation are present. Designation as a Community Redevelopment
Area is one of the most effective government tools for such implementation, as demonstrated
by the previous success achieved by the City of Miami Beach with previous Community
Redevelopment Areas.
Thisfirmfindsthattheconditionsofblight,asdefinedbyFloridalaw,arepresentintheproposed
target area, and that the subject area is appropriate for designation as a Community
Redevelopment Area.
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Legal Requirements
Section 163.340, Florida Statutes, establishes the requirements for a CRA Finding of Necessity.
This firm’s analysis examined the criteria enumerated below and, accordingly, it is our final
recommendation that the finding of blight exists.
Slum Determination - Chapter 163.340 (7), Florida Statutes (1 condition must be present)
(7)“Slum area” means an area having physical or economic conditions conducive to disease,
infant mortality, juvenile delinquency, poverty, or crime because there is a predominance of
buildings or improvements, whether residential or nonresidential, which are impaired by reason
of dilapidation, deterioration, age, or obsolescence, and exhibiting one or more of the following
factors:
(a)Inadequate provision for ventilation, light, air, sanitation, or open spaces;
(b)High density of population, compared to the population density of adjacent areas within
the county or municipality; and overcrowding, as indicated by government-maintained
statistics or other studies and the requirements of the Florida Building Code; or
(c)The existence of conditions that endanger life or property by fire or other causes.
Blight Determination - Chapter 163.340 (8), Florida Statutes (2 conditions must be present)
(8)“Blighted area” means an area in which there are a substantial number of deteriorated or
deteriorating structures; in which conditions, as indicated by government-maintained statistics
or other studies, endanger life or property or are leading to economic distress; and in which
two or more of the following factors are present:
(a)Predominance of defective or inadequate street layout, parking facilities, roadways,
bridges, or public transportation facilities.
(b)Aggregate assessed values of real property in the area for ad valorem tax purposes have
failed to show any appreciable increase over the 5 years prior to the finding of such
conditions.
(c)Faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility, or usefulness.
(d)Unsanitary or unsafe conditions.
(e)Deterioration of site or other improvements.
(f)Inadequate and outdated building density patterns.
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(g)Falling lease rates per square foot of office, commercial, or industrial space compared
to the remainder of the county or municipality.
(h)Tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land.
(i)Residential and commercial vacancy rates higher in the area than in the remainder of
the county or municipality.
(j)Incidence of crime in the area higher than in the remainder of the county or municipality.
(k)Fire and emergency medical service calls to the area proportionately higher than in the
remainder of the county or municipality.
(l)A greater number of violations of the Florida Building Code in the area than the number
of violations recorded in the remainder of the county or municipality.
(m)Diversity of ownership or defective or unusual conditions of title which prevent the free
alienability of land within the deteriorated or hazardous area.
(n)Governmentally owned property with adverse environmental conditions caused by a
public or private entity.
(o)A substantial number or percentage of properties damaged by sinkhole activity which
have not been adequately repaired or stabilized.
Additional information regarding the existence of the conditions of blight are provided on the
following pages.
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Street Layout, Parking Facilities, and Roadways
Thestreetlayoutintheareaisfaultyinanumberofways,
many of which were identified in Section 2 of the North
Beach Master Plan. This includes the one-way street
pattern characteristic of major roadways as well as
mobility challenges in the area. Additionally, only one
road connects the North and South ends of the City, and
only one road connects the area to the mainland to the
West. Public parking is inadequate and is a priority goal
of the North Beach Master Plan. The parking deficit is
further demonstrated by the recent Walker Parking
Study. Unlike other areas of the City, there are no City-
owned parking garages in the area, and many private
parking lots are poorly maintained. The Town Center has
90% parking occupancy, and the lack of loading zones
along Collins Avenue creates traffic backups and
pedestrian safety challenges.
Traffic counts in the area are high, and roadways are
significantly congested. The traffic volumes in 2025 and
2035 are projected to grow at a higher rate than in Mid
and South Beach, and North Beach is an area with
significant vehicle-pedestrian conflicts. Connectivity
poses a challenge, especially to Parkview Island, and also
at the Indian Creek and 71st Street Intersection, to the
Normandy Fountain area and between Collins and
Harding Avenues.PublicTransportation is heavilyutilized
but under-provided.
Figure 1: The North Beach Master Plan identified
one-way streets as an issue.
Figure 2: the NBMP identified Mobility as a significant challenge and need.
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The existing condition in the proposed CRA includes deficient pedestrian safety and
connectivity. Contrary to the City’s Modal Prioritization adopted by Resolution of the City
Commission in 2015, the streets in the North Beach area are currently designed to prioritize
vehicles over pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transit. North Beach streets lack pedestrian
safetyamenities,suchaswide sidewalkswithapathclearofobstructions,pedestrian curbramps
that meet ADA standards, an adequate number of pedestrian crosswalks that are signalized or
enhanced with flashing beacons, and the area does not have protected bicycle lanes.
The intersection of Indian CreekDrive/Abbott Avenue is a critical intersection in the North Beach
roadway network that is substandard and lacks capacity. Currently, six (6) southbound lanes
(three (3)on Indian CreekDrive andthree (3)onAbbott Avenue)are constricted toonlythree (3)
southbound lanes along Indian Creek Drive. This intersection is a source of frequent congestion
in North Beach. Additionally, the major thoroughfares in North Beach (i.e. Collins Avenue,
Harding Avenue/Abbott Avenue/Indian Creek Drive corridors) currently operate at a failing Level
of Service (F) during morning and afternoon weekday peak periods. In addition to the County
Figure 5: Blighted Parking Lot Figure 6: Congestion due to lack of loading zones
Figure 4: Google Map showing congestion Figure 3: Traffic backup between Normandy Island and the
Town Center
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transitservice,theCityprovidestheNorthBeachTrolleyLoopwithservicethatextendsfrom88th
Street to 65th Street and which serves 71st Street and Normandy Drive.
In 2014, the City of Miami Beach engaged Walker Parking Consultants to perform a Parking
Demand Analysis for North Beach. The Study found that there are 20,859 total parking spaces in
the area, of which 65% are private and on-street parking accounts for 27%. Only approximately
6% of the spaces were in city-owned and operated surface lots and that there are no parking
garages operated by the city in the study area.
In the Town Center, there were a total of 9,817 parking spaces.
On-Street 758
City Lots 676
Private Garage Open to the Public 428
Private Lot Open to the Public 11
Private Spaces 7,944
Threegrowthscenarioswereconductedfortheanalysis,utilizinggrowthratesof2.5%,3.9%,and
6.8%, and included any known developments applied to the observed parking demand for the
Town Center core.
Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3
Demand Adequacy Demand Adequacy Demand Adequacy
2015 8,999 197 9,028 168 9,086 110
2016 9,054 142 9,115 81 9,241 -45
2017 9,110 86 9,205 -9 9,407 -211
2018 9,168 28 9,299 -103 9,584 -388
2019 9,227 -31 9,396 -200 9,773 -577
2020 9,288 -92 9,497 -301 9,975 -779
2021 9,350 -154 9,602 -406 10,190 -994
2022 9,414 -218 9,711 -515 10,420 -1224
2023 9,479 -283 9,824 -628 10,666 -1470
2024 9,456 -260 9,942 -746 10,928 -1732
Source: Walker Parking Consultants
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Faulty Lot Layout
One of the findings of the North Beach
Master Plan was that the prevalence of
small lots in the Town Center poses a
challenge to redevelopment and
revitalization is. This impedes lot
assemblage, which in turn creates
efficient land areas that can attract
feasible investment and
redevelopment.
The challenges in attracting investment
in this area are part of the reason that
voters have approved FAR and density
increases, and zoning in the Town
Center reflects that, but the zoning
envisions higher intensity and larger
scale full-block development. The
numberofsmalllotsintheTownCenter
is antithetical to full-block
redevelopment; as such, a significant
amountofeffortisneededtoaggregate
property, which may not be financially
feasible without additional tools, such
as those provided through the CRA
mechanism.Figure 7: The NBMP identified ownership and layout as an impediment
to revitalization
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Unsanitary or Unsafe Conditions
Weidentifiedanumberofsanitationandsafetyrelatedconditions.Theseincludedover757code
violations within the proposed boundaries in 2018, of which 205 were sanitation related. Calls
for service due to unsafe conditions were disproportionately higher than other parts of the City,
includingreasonssuch asshorting/arcingelectrical equipment,maliciousfalse alarms,extraction
of victims from vehicles HazMat investigations, natural vegetation fires, and passenger vehicle
fires.
71st Street is one of the traffic corridors with the highest density of vehicular crashes in the City
involving a bicyclist or pedestrian. Additionally, the proposed boundary area is vulnerable to
flooding and sea level rise, as identified in the North Beach Master Plan.
Figure 8: Unsanitary and unsafe conditions were observed within the proposed CRA boundaries
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Figure 9: Heat map of code violations (red=hotspots)
Deterioration of Site or Other Improvements
An on-the-ground inspection of the properties within the proposed boundary identified
significant deterioration of buildings, sites, and property. This includes crumbling concrete,
broken windows, cracked pavers and tiles, and derelict property. Exposed electrical conduit was
observed, as well as unmaintained vacant lots. There are a number of buildings that are not
boarded up or secured, and are exposed to the elements.
Figure 11: Crumbling eyebrow along Collins Avenue Figure 10: Vacant lot on Collins Avenue
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Figure 14: Dilapidated Building Figure 15: Vacant hotel property along Collins Avenue
Figure 13: Vacant building exposed to the elements Figure 12: Fenced in vacant lot on Harding Avenue
Figure 16: Broken Tiles Figure 17: Dilapidated Property
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Inadequate and Outdated Building Density Patterns
The target area is characterized by an erratic scale of buildings in both height and density. As
properties get aggregated and redeveloped, this issue may become more apparent until
redevelopment of the Town Center occurs on a district-wide scale. The intent of both the City’s
and residential community (as validated in the FAR referendum) is to redevelop the area with
much more intensity. The erratic scale of buildings was observed and documented as part of this
analysis, but also identified in the North Beach Master Plan.
Figure 18: Alley conditions Figure 19: Exposed electrical
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Figure 20: The NBMP identified the need to address building scale to improve walkability
Figure 22: High density residential adjacent to low rise
multifamily buildingsFigure 21: AT&T facility in multifamily neighborhood on
Harding Avenue
Figure 23: Erratic building scale near and along 71st Street
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Residential and Commercial Vacancy Rates
According to ESRI, residential vacancy rates are 23.0% within the proposed boundary compared
with a Countywide residential vacancy rate of 11.4%.
This firm conducted both online research through CoStar and Loopnet, as well as an on the
ground, manual survey of building vacancies in the target area. CoStar identified nine (9) vacant
properties in the area measuring some 36,382 square feet. The in-person inspection identified
those properties,as well as an additional 12 vacant propertiestotaling 23,000 square feet. There
iscurrentlya totalof60,000 squarefeet of vacant retail space intheproposed boundary,of 6.6%
of the 904,000 total retail square feet. This is higher than the Citywide vacancy rate of 6.2%, and
the Countywide rate of 3.9%.
Figure 244: Proposed CRA Retail Real Estate Market
Figure 25: Vacant Retail space identified in CoStar
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Vacant Retail Spaces Included in CoStar
1.666 71st Street 7,600
2.701 71st Street 700
3.1101 71st Street 3,000
4.7145 Abbot Avenue 2,750
5.6782 Collins Avenue 2,040
6.7100 Collins Avenue 550
7.7300 Collins Avenue 12,652
8.7426 Collins Avenue 5,200
9.7441 Collins Avenue 1,890
Total 36,382
Vacant Properties Not in CoStar but Identified during Photo Survey
1.6960 71st Street 1,500
2.216 71st Street 5,000
3.6980 Carlyle Avenue 1,369
4.7443 Collins Avenue 1,000
5.7424 Collins Avenue 3,000
6.7405 Collins Avenue 1,000
7.7314 Collins Avenue 1,000
8.7319 Collins Avenue 1,200
9.7349 Collins Avenue 1,000
10.235 Collins Avenue 2,400
11.7124 Collins Avenue 1,000
12.740 71st Street 3,937
Total 23,406
Total Vacant Space 59,788
Total Space 904,000
Vacancy Rate 6.6%
Citywide Vacancy Rate 6.2%
Countywide Vacancy Rate 3.9%
Finding of Necessity for a Potential North Beach CRA
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Figure 26: Vacancy along 71st Street
Fire and Emergency Medical Service Calls
Fire and emergency medical service calls are proportionately higher than in the rest of Miami
Beach. Furthermore, as previously mentioned calls for service due to unsafe conditions which
were proportionately higher that other parts of the City included shorting/arcing electrical
equipment, malicious false alarms, extraction of victims from vehicles HazMat investigations,
natural vegetation fires, and passenger vehicle fires.
Calls for service due to unsafe conditions are higher in the proposed boundary, representing a
disproportionally high percentage of total calls Citywide:
o 31% of calls for Shorting/Arcing Electrical Equipment
o 44% of Malicious/False Alarms
o 50% of Extraction of Victims from Vehicles
o 75% of HazMat Release Investigations
o 38% of Natural Vegetation Fires
o 31% of Passenger Vehicle Fires
Diversity of Ownership
There is significant diversity of ownership in North Beach, although some assemblage has taken
place in the Town Center. However, there remain many smaller, older and historic buildings,
many of which are condominiums that would be difficult to assemble. The North Beach area
includes 4,321 properties that are not condominiums, with 3,549 owners of those 4,321
properties,further demonstratingadiversityof ownershipthat mayposedifficultyfor successful
redevelopment.
Figure 25: Vacancy along Collins Avenue:
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Florida Building Code Violations
While the total number of Building Violations in the Proposed CRA Boundary were 605, out of
2,696 citywide, the hotspots in the North Beach area for these types of violations are in the
proposed CRA Boundaries.
Figure 27: Heat Map showing location of building code violation hotspots (red)
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Appendix – Additional Information
The following systems, reports and data were utilized in the development of this finding of
necessity and are available upon request.
ArcGIS Online
ESRI Business Analyst
CoStar
Loopnet
Microsoft Access
North Beach Master Plan (2016)
Ocean Terrace Master Plan (2018)
West Lots Plan (2018)
Miami Beach Transportation Master Plan
Miami-Dade Transit Development Plan FY 2018
2014 through 2018 Miami Beach Property Tax Rolls (Miami-Dade Property Appraiser)
Building Code Violations (City of Miami Beach)
Code Violations (City of Miami Beach)
Fire/Emergency Service Calls (City of Miami Beach)
2017 compared to 2018 Crime Statistics (City of Miami Beach)
Attached to this report as Exhibit A is the Finding of Necessity Criteria Tracking Document which
contains notes and observations regarding the criteria that was observed in the area that is
consistent with the blight criteria established in Chapter 163, Florida Statutes.
Exhibit A
Potential North Beach CRA Finding of Necessity – Criteria Tracking Document
Figure 1: Proposed Boundary for a Community Redevelopment in North Beach
Finding of Necessity for a Potential North Beach CRA Criteria Tracking Document
Summary of Blight Criteria
Predominance of defective or inadequate street layout, parking facilities, roadways,
bridges, or public transportation facilities.
•Street Layout – Only one road in from each direction.
o 2.36 NBMP – One-Way Streets
o 2.14 NBMP – Mobility
o Only one road connects the north and south ends of the City.
•Public parking supply is inadequate and a deficit is demonstrated by the Walker Parking
Study. Increased parking supply is a goal of the North Beach Master Plan (NBMP).
o Zero City-owned garages
o 1,267 public parking in surface lots (676)
o 5,678 public parking spaces on-street (758)
o 20,859 total parking spaces in North Beach, of which majority are private (7,944)
o Town Center has 90% occupancy
o Many parking lots are poorly maintained
o Lack of loading zones – double parking exists in 73rd & Collins district
•Roadways are significantly congested
o Traffic Counts
o Google Maps/Traffic Screenshots
o Transportation Master Plan – Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County
o 2025 and 2035 traffic volume projected to grow 1.4% annually, compared to 1.0%
in Mid Beach and South Beach.
•Connectivity
o Parkview Island
o Intersection of Indian Creek and 71st Street
o Collins Avenue and Harding Avenue
•Public Transportation
o Heavily used but inadequate service levels
o Bus service is planned from the Northside Metrorail station to the convention
center along JFK Causeway. Does this indicate deficit of transit?
o Collins Express Trolley from 88th Street to 65th Street, including 71st Street and
Normandy Drive.
Finding of Necessity for a Potential North Beach CRA Criteria Tracking Document
Faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility, or usefulness.
•2.4 NBMP – Small lot sizes characterize the Town Center
•Voters have approved density and FAR increases, and the Town Center core has been
rezoned to incentivize development, but the zoning envisions higher intensity and larger
scale block development than currently exists. This zoning favors half- and full block
development projects, but the preponderance of smaller lots in the Town Center is
antithetical to such redevelopment. Therefore, significant effort is needed to aggregate
property, which may not be financially feasible for smaller scale investors.
Unsanitary or unsafe conditions.
•There were 757 code violations in 2017/2018 within the proposed CRA boundary:
o 205 for sanitation
o 277 for Code violations
o 119 for property maintenance
o 127 for zoning violations
•Flooding and sea level rise (NBMP)
•Calls for service related to unsafe conditions are proportionately higher in the proposed
boundaries than elsewhere in the City.
o 31% of all calls for shorting/arcing electrical equipment
o 44% of malicious/false alarms
o 50% of extraction of victims from vehicles
o 75% of HazMat release investigations
o 38% of natural vegetation fires
o 31% of passenger vehicle fires
•71st Street corridor is one of the City thoroughfares with the highest density of vehicular
crashes and crashes involving bicyclists or pedestrians.
Finding of Necessity for a Potential North Beach CRA Criteria Tracking Document
Finding of Necessity for a Potential North Beach CRA Criteria Tracking Document
Deterioration of site or other improvements.
Finding of Necessity for a Potential North Beach CRA Criteria Tracking Document
Finding of Necessity for a Potential North Beach CRA Criteria Tracking Document
Inadequate and outdated building density patterns.
•Scale comparisons, as depicted in the NBMP, are erratic and incohesive.
•There is an erratic scale of buildings in the target area both in height and density. If
properties are aggregated and redeveloped on a piecemeal basis, this problem may
worsen unless redevelopment of the Town Center can take place on a districtwide scale.
The goal is to redevelop the area with heightened intensity.
Residential and commercial vacancy rates higher in the area than in the remainder of the
county or municipality.
•Commercial Vacancy Rates
o CoStar identified nine (9) vacant properties within the proposed boundary, totaling
36,382 square feet.
o Photo survey of the target area identified an additional 12 properties, totaling
23,406 square feet.
o Vacancy data:
Total target area vacant space – 59,788 square feet
Total target area retail space – 904,000 square feet
Target area vacancy rate – 6.6%
Citywide vacancy rate – 6.2%
Countywide vacancy rate – 3.9%
•Residential Vacancy Rates
o 11.4% residential vacancy rate in Miami-Dade County
o 23.0% residential vacancy in the proposed CRA boundary
Finding of Necessity for a Potential North Beach CRA Criteria Tracking Document
Fire and emergency medical service calls to the area proportionately higher than in the
remainder of the County or City.
•The fire and emergency medical service calls are proportionately higher than in the
rest of Miami Beach - 4.8% compared with 4.0% Citywide.
•Calls for service due to unsafe conditions are higher in the proposed boundaries
o 31% of all calls for shorting/arcing electrical equipment
o 44% of malicious/false alarms
o 50% of extraction of victims from vehicles
o 75% of HazMat release investigations
o 38% of natural vegetation fires
o 31% of passenger vehicle fires
Finding of Necessity for a Potential North Beach CRA Criteria Tracking Document
A greater number of violations of the Florida Building Code within the area than the number
of violations recorded in the remainder of the County or municipality.
•While the total number of building violations in the Proposed CRA boundary was 605,
out of 2,696 citywide. However, within North Beach, these types of violations are
concentrated within the proposed CRA boundary.
Diversity of ownership or defective or unusual conditions of title which prevent the free
alienability of land within the deteriorated or hazardous area.
•Significant diversity of ownership exists in North Beach; however, some assemblage has
begun to take place in the Town Center. Nevertheless, there remains many smaller,
historic buildings, many of which are condominiums—all characteristics that serve as
barriers or impede the assembly of lots.
•North Beach
o 11,175 properties – majority of multiple owners are condominium owners
o 4,321 properties that are not condominiums
o 3,549 property owners