Sunny Isles Beach commissioners direct administrative updates to East Side development 'bonus' program

At a workshop, the City of Sunny Isles Beach commission directed staff to pursue four administrative steps to update the city's development bonus program that governs density and floor-area-ratio (FAR) increases for East Side parcels.

The direction follows a presentation by planning consultants Caitlin Forbes and Jeff Cadems of Complete Cities Planning Group, who reviewed how the city's participation-unit system has been used to buy FAR and described inconsistencies between the city's land development code and its comprehensive plan. "This work is not optional. The city currently has a zoning in progress that cannot be lifted until the bonus program is addressed. And we cannot do so without direction from this body," said Amy (staff member), introducing the topic.

Why it matters: The commission heard that the city's bonus framework lets developers buy increments of FAR (participation units) and that those fees were last formally updated in 2018. Consultants and staff told commissioners that the comp plan and the code are not consistent on maximum intensities and densities; that participation-unit fees have historically risen (from about $72,000 pre-2015 to $100,000 in 2015 and $200,000 in 2018); and that those fees are paid at master-permit time, which results in lags between permits and fund receipts. Caitlin Forbes said the consultants' goal is "to ensure a legally defensible bonus program and to ensure that consistency is included between the comp plan and the code as it relates to maximum intensity and density."

Key direction and next steps: Commissioners generally agreed on four administrative actions staff will pursue and return…