LIVE LOCAL ACT
neighborhoods from the oversized scale of the contemplated new projects.
In both cities, officials say they’re applying the brakes to considering developers’ applications under the law for real estate projects including affordable homes — possibly in violation of the statute — while they sort out its implications and press state legislators to clarify or revise the law’s zoning clauses. That official posture represents a rare public resistance to the Legislature’s increasing tendency to approve developer-friendly laws that gut local zoning, environmental and tenant protections in a practice called “preemption.”
Weston, another city in Broward County, already has taken its own preemptive action. After the Legislature in March passed the housing bill the governor signed into law, the city commission on June 20 passed the first reading of an ordinance that would require a public hearing for development proposals involving affordable housing.
LOCAL OFFICIALS LEFT WITHOUT INPUT IN LAW
The money promised from the law, which earmarked $711 million in funding for various state housing programs, has yet to flow. The Florida Housing Finance Corporation, a state agency that manages the programs, has not yet released rules for competitive funding but said it will open applications Oct. 1.
But developers are already racing to figure out if they can take advantage of the zoning override provisions, consulting with land-use attorneys who have been putting out the word to recruit business, lawyers and business groups say, and approaching municipalities with preliminary development plans.
In South Florida, the Doral and Hollywood proposals are among the first to surface publicly statewide — and the first to run into what some experts say could be a wave of public opposition, as projects are submitted to counties and cities for approval.
Officials and residents say the Live Local law means they can’t say “no” or scale back plans by a developer who wants to build towers in the middle of a warehouse district or a low-scale downtown district, no matter how disruptive or how little sense it makes. Some complain that legislative authors of the act, championed by Republican Senate President Kathleen Passidomo of Southwest Florida, did not consult with county or municipal officials or developers specializing in affordable housing, or rejected their input when it was offered.
The reaction has been especially furious in Doral.
An overflow crowd packed a confrontational townhall meeting earlier this month to grill a developer over his Live Local Act colassal construction proposal. The plan calls for five new 10- and 12story towers with 623 new apartments and 44,000 square feet of commercial space on the trafficclogged southwest corner of Doral Boulevard and Northwest 97th Avenue.
Audience members booed and groaned out loud as the developer, Edward Abbo of Aventurabased The Apollo Companies, tried to downplay the effect of his proposed towers on the low-scale neighborhood.
A LITTLE BRICKELL ON A DORAL CORNER?
“We’re up in arms against the size of the project,” Costa del Sol association president Jim Ferguson said in an interview after the meeting. “It’s too high and too close to our property line, and there are traffic issues at an already congested intersection. There are no 12-story towers anywhere within a mile or two from here. So you would have a little Brickell on the corner there. It’s just crazy.”
The meeting came a week after the Doral town council, reacting to increasingly angry pleas from residents, unanimously approved on first reading a six-month moratorium on accepting or processing Live Local affordable housing development applications, even after Apollo’s attorney, Joseph Goldstein of powerhouse law firm Holland & Knight, issued a barely veiled threat to sue the city. The council has set a second and final vote on the moratorium on
Aug. 23.
Critics, including Doral Mayor Christi Fraga, say Apollo’s proposal would cram way too much development into a corner of Doral Boulevard and Northwest 97th Avenue never meant for it.
Abbo’s proposal would set aside 250 units, or 40% of the total, as workforce or affordable housing as defined by the state. That 40% portion is the threshold under the new law to override local zoning. The law applies in all commercial, industrial and mixed-use districts, but exempts areas zoned only for residential construction.
Fraga noted that, under Live Local, the Apollo development proposal provides no opportunity to Doral, as it normally would, to negotiate if a developer wants more height or density than allowed by existing zoning to ensure a project scale compatible with the surroundings. Instead, under the state law a developer can go as high as the tallest building in a one-mile radius within the local jurisdiction, and match the density of the densest allowed local zoning.
The act essentially tries to force the city to accept whatever the developer proposes, Fraga said, so long as the plan conforms to other aspects of local zoning rules, such as setbacks. Because the law also bars cities from prohibiting residential projects in industrial zones, she said it could also threatens the city’s economic and employment backbone — its extensive warehouse districts. Land speculation could cause prices in warehouse districts to rise, making continued industrial use economically unfeasible.
And putting housing in an industrial zone, Fraga said, seems questionable at best — especially if it puts people struggling to meet rent payments far from transit, work and shopping.
“This is the epitome of what local preemption is,” Fraga, who proposed the moratorium, said in an interview. “This truly can change the characteristics of a neighborhood that can completely challenge the quality of life of our residents. It overrides measures we have in place to protect that.
“My goal is not to be sued,” the Doral mayor said. “But I saw the uproar in the community and had to do something. My goal is to protect this community.”
During the special council meeting called to consider the moratorium, Doral city attorney Valerie Vicente said planners and administrators need the time to figure out how to process Live Local applications, interpret ambiguous language in the state law and consider how best to revise the zoning code to mesh with its requirements and protect residents.
“The city has been left grappling how to implement this statute,” Vicente said. “A lot has been left to interpretation. It’s such a significant impact for the city that it has to be done in a careful manner.”
In a subsequent letter to Doral officials, attorney Goldstein urged the council not to give final approval to the moratorium, which he argues would be illegal. He said the city has no choice under the new law but to approve Apollo’s project within 120 days of formal application.
Developer Abbo, during the townhall meeting, said he’s willing to work with residents to allay their concerns, though most appeared unpersuaded.
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