The City of Miami Beach Land Use and Sustainability Committee received a Public Works analysis on Oct. 16 that concluded the city’s sewer infrastructure along Alton Road between Fifth and 15th streets does not have sufficient capacity to reliably accommodate substantial new demand from proposed Live Local Act projects.

The Live Local Act provides developers certain administrative entitlements if applications meet statutory requirements, potentially limiting some local review; however, committee members and staff emphasized that projects seeking administrative approval must still demonstrate adequate water and sewer capacity. The Public Works memo analyzed several parcels and a sewer-capacity model and concluded that the existing collection and pump-station infrastructure in the study area could not reliably absorb a substantial increase in residential units without public improvements.

Planning and Public Works staff noted that three previously referenced sites used in the sewer analysis have already been built (including a hotel and other developments) and that three proposed projects on Alton Road could add “well over 500 units” combined if all were developed under Live Local entitlements. Planning Director Tom (referred in the memo) and Public Works staff said that if a Live Local application requires more capacity than the infrastructure provides, the applicant must fund required public improvements or otherwise the project would not qualify for administrative approval and would need to return to the public process for planning-board and historic-preservation review.

Committee members raised the stakes of the finding given the Live Local Act’s preemption of some local discretionary review. Commissioner Joseph Magasin, who referred the item to the committee, said the analysis underscores the need for local alternatives for property owners who are considering invoking Live Local preemptions. “We have a lot that is proposed that essentially exceeds the existing capacity for what our city can handle,” Magasin said.

City attorneys and staff explained procedural safeguards: if a permitted project exceeds permitted infrastructure capacity during construction or at final inspection, it would not receive a final certificate of occupancy until required corrections or public improvements are made. Staff also described inspection checkpoints and stop-work authority for major inconsistencies with approved plans.

The committee continued the item for further work and asked staff to return with options for parameters and alternatives that property owners could offer the city as alternatives to invoking Live Local preemptions; no administrative approvals were granted at the Oct. 16 meeting.