Riviera Beach is moving to limit building heights in its urban core and part of Singer Island.
Developers drawn to the coastal city tend to pursue the tallest projects possible, Development Services Director Clarence Sirmons told City Council members at their Nov. 4 meeting.
Under the current rules, owners of property in the downtown area can apply to build up to 20 stories. Affordable housing incentives can increase building heights to 25 stories.
The new plan would take into account approved and rising projects including the 25-story Oculina twin-tower luxury condominiums by Forest Development on the northern edge of Riviera Beach and the 20-story Gallery at Marina Village apartment complex by the Related Group of Miami and partners on the south end.
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The plan would establish a more predictable framework for building heights and take into account the surrounding neighborhoods, said Nicole Plunkett, of Cotleur & Hearing consultants.
The plan does not change allowable heights along the oceanfront.
“We want to look a developer in the face and say, ‘This is where our council and community feels that the maximum heights are appropriate,’” Sirmons said.
The plan creates five zones:
Zone 5: Downtown high-rise
Maximum of 20 stories or 250 feet
Shown in purple on the map, this includes
- The Marina Village Center, where the city is pursuing a public-private redevelopment with Forest Development.
- A section of Broadway near 20th Street, where Forest is planning a high-rise on land it is buying from the city that was once home to a Miami Subs and where Sonnenblick Development has a residential building on the drawing board for public land.
- The northeast corner of Blue Heron Boulevard and Broadway, where Exact Capital is developing an 18-story apartment complex as part of the Riviera Gateway project on land it is acquiring from the city.
Zone 4: Urban center
Maximum of 12 stories or 150 feet
Shown in dark orange, it includes around the Port of Palm Beach and along parts of Broadway.
This is the only new height limit in the plan, Plunkett said.
Zone 3: Downtown mid-rise
Maximum of eight stories or 102 feet
In light orange, this includes property north of the marina village and on the western edge of Singer Island near the Blue Heron Boulevard bridge.
This zone would cover the property where New York-based Continuum is proposing the 25-story Singer Island Gateway.
Zone 2: Neighborhood transition
Maximum of four stories or 54 feet
In yellow, it buffers many of the residential areas.
Zone 1: Neighborhood preservation area
In green, this zone would retain the development rules in place in the low-rise neighborhoods. Many of these areas have a maximum height of 35 feet.
Learning from other cities
Planners studied West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami as they considered the recommended limits for Riviera Beach.
“We’re not suggesting the city of Riviera Beach should replicate any of these cities,” Plunkett said. “We’ve used the city’s own planning policies as the foundation for our recommendation.”
Council Member Glen Spiritis praised the plan. “Thank you for listening to the public when they came to your meetings,” he said.
Council members did not make any changes to the draft. Next, it will go to the Planning and Zoning Board and then back to the City Council for enactment.
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
