A bill currently making its way through the Florida Legislature has drawn contempt from City of Miami Beach leaders who say it would threaten the area’s iconic Art Deco architecture.
The Legislature is considering an expansion of 2023's Live Local Act, which offered incentives for developers and eased regulations for new residential construction if they included at least 40% workforce and affordable units.
But from the start there had been controversy over its preemption of local ordinances — and now Miami Beach leaders say its new version could endanger the soul of the city and "transform South Beach into Manhattan."
“100 years in the making of Miami Beach,” said Mayor Steven Meiner at a news conference on Tuesday. “It’s why so many people walk up and down these streets.”
Live Local Act already allows for new developments to be as tall as what is allowed within a one-mile radius of the site, bypassing local height, density or floor area ratio limits. According to the city that could mean modern towers as tall as 50 stories in some locations.
The proposed bill would expand new definitions of zoning in a way that could open up for development a majority of the city, including areas smaller apartments — many of them in the Art Deco style — that have housed long-time residents.
And while the version of the bill moving through the House in Tallahassee makes exceptions for historic buildings and neighborhoods — a Senate version does not.
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The proposed legislation in the Senate, Miami Beach leaders say, would open the door to a “bulldozing” of century-old structures that drive the city’s tourist economy.
“This bulldozing, gentrification bill would give developers the power to tear down our two-and three story apartment buildings, Art Deco and (Miami Modern) buildings,” said City of Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez. “The very buildings that give Miami Beach its soul.”
Critics of the Live Local Act have already found fault with its ability to provide for groups such as three and four-person families with sole income earners being average salary workers like firefighters, paramedics, and educators.
While the House version offers protections for a historic district that is listed in the National Register of Historic Places before the year 2000, the Senate version of the expansion only protects structures that are themselves in the register. Only a handful of the city’s Art Deco buildings have such self-designations, according to Commissioner Kristen Rosen-Gonzalez.
“This new language takes away [historic district] protections“ said Fernandez. “This would transform South Beach into Manhattan.”
Miami Beach leaders said they are fearful that the Senate version will take precedence over what they see as the more favorable House version of the bill. The proposal must be approved in both chambers with identical language before advancing to become law.
The bill has passed its third reading in the Senate. In the House, it has yet to have a second reading.
