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Committee forwards revised Washington Avenue residential-incentive package, asks staff for caps and lot-size tweaks
Summary
The committee directed staff to refine a Washington Avenue residential-incentive overlay and forwarded the package with changes — including raising the maximum unit size to 1,500 sq ft, exploring a corridor-wide unit cap and reducing the minimum lot size to 6,500 sq ft — so it can proceed to commission first reading.
The Land Use & Sustainability Committee on May 26 advanced a revised Washington Avenue residential-incentive ordinance to the city commission for first reading with a set of staff-directed amendments designed to balance feasibility and protection of neighborhood character.
Tom, planning staff, summarized the key technical changes in the revised ordinance: maximum building height for non-transient residential was reduced from 100 feet to 75 feet; setback requirements were modified to move buildings farther from properties near Flamingo Park; and a maximum unit-size requirement was added. He told the committee the administration remained supportive of the incentive approach to encourage mixed-use redevelopment.
Commission discussion focused on several guardrails and feasibility questions. Commissioners asked whether lot aggregation could be limited to avoid monolithic development; staff said the draft included a 13,000-square-foot minimum but no maximum aggregation and agreed to examine a reduced minimum to enable smaller boutique projects.
On unit size, staff had proposed a 500–550-square-foot minimum and a cap in the 1,300-square-foot range to discourage ultra-luxury units; committee members asked staff to test feasibility with developers and recommended increasing the cap to 1,500 square feet. Commissioners also discussed a corridor-wide cap on the total number of units built under the incentive to limit speculative land-value escalation; staff will recommend a cap number for the commission (a working figure of 250 units was discussed during the committee conversation).
Commissioner Magazine framed the overlay as a tool to reshape Washington Avenue’s retail and residential character, calling for proactive engagement with property owners and developers to ensure the ordinance produces deliverable projects. “If demand stays constant or rises, the only thing that can be done to bring down prices is more supply,” the commissioner said, arguing that context-sensitive incentives can catalyze housing that supports local retail.
The committee approved moving the ordinance to first reading with the requested changes and asked staff to return with firm recommendations on the corridor cap, minimum-lot adjustments and parking-zone exclusions prior to first reading.
