Planning board backs text rewrite of Transit Supportive Development District, sends recommendation to commission

The City of South Miami Planning and Zoning Board on Aug. 13 voted to recommend a comprehensive rewrite of the Transit Supportive Development District (TSDD) zoning text to the City Commission, while reserving mapping and concurrency reviews for later steps.

Planning consultant Mark Albers (Corradino Group) told the board the rewrite aims to simplify and centralize regulations, protect neighborhood compatibility and direct density toward the South Miami Metrorail station. "We're putting it all in one place," Albers said, describing a single chapter approach that consolidates permitted uses, parking, building form and bonus programs. He said the draft establishes a minimum residential density of 50 units per acre, a base maximum density of about 150 units per acre and a bonuses menu that can raise allowable intensity in limited cases toward roughly 200 units per acre.

Albers described bonuses tied to public benefits including open space (15% for an open space bonus), affordable and workforce housing, condominium tenure assurances, higher sustainability performance (LEED Silver/Gold/Platinum equivalents) and additional on‑site parking. He also outlined new, broader use categories (retail, professional, entertainment, civic) and three new categories intended to support local commerce—artisanal occupations, limited automotive boutiques, and ancillary warehousing—while limiting outside storage and nuisance uses.

On parking, Albers said the code would simplify rates and apply conservative discounts for transit and shared‑use (roughly a 20% discount for transit), and add clearer requirements for bicycle and scooter parking. Building‑height and transition rules were emphasized: the draft includes edge rules that limit the last 75 feet of a property abutting single‑family neighborhoods to no more than four stories (50 feet) and uses stepbacks and floor‑to‑floor averages to manage scale.

Board members probed subjective design language, the treatment of nonconforming uses, and narrow downtown blocks where a 10‑story bonus‑maximum could be controversial. Several members urged clearer mapping and three‑dimensional visuals for public comprehension. The consultant and staff said mapping, concurrency and state/county reviews will follow the text work and that some items—such as pedestrian bridges across US‑1—would require outside agency approvals or creative funding approaches (for example, impact‑fee offsets or in‑kind construction), not a code fix alone.

After questions, the board voted to forward the text amendment to the City Commission for first reading and transmittal. The recommendation is text‑only; mapping of districts and a detailed concurrency analysis will arrive in subsequent hearings.