Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing And Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sunset Drive owners tell board preservation needs incentives, offer TDR alternative
Summary
Several Sunset Drive property owners and their lawyers urged the Planning and Zoning Board to add incentives—such as a transfer-of-development-rights program—so owners can reinvest in and preserve the historic main-street character while development rights increase nearby.
Multiple property owners and their counsel urged the board to protect Sunset Drive's main-street character by pairing any limits on height with financial incentives that let owners rehabilitate buildings.
Joe Halequa, who said he and his family own several properties on Sunset Drive, told the board: "The plan is great. I think we all know there is a glaring issue with how it treats the eastern portion of Sunset Drive." He warned that preserving facades without incentives could leave buildings empty and deteriorating.
Attorney Jerry Proctor, representing South Miami Corporation, and other property owners repeated the call for incentives and massing studies, saying the draft map and text left Sunset Drive's south side at a competitive disadvantage compared with nearby parcels that benefit from taller envelopes. Adam Freeman of Bayside Office Center LLC said an incentive program is necessary because a four-story limit "doesn't pencil out" for reinvestment and will leave storefronts vacant.
Attorney Javier Avino proposed a narrowly targeted transfer-of-development-rights (TDR) or ‘‘sunset drive buffer area bonus’’ that would let owners sell unused floor area to redevelopments elsewhere in the TSDD, with revenue earmarked for public improvements on Sunset Drive. Several speakers offered to share massing studies and draft language with staff.
