Miami puts new code into effect
Miami 21 is intended to streamline the approval process as well as improve the built environment, says Luciana Gonzalez, the city’s Miami 21 project manager. If development projects meet all of the regulations and use requirements, they should be able to move directly to getting building permits, she notes.
The code includes seven types of urban core — with building height limits from 8 to 80 stories — mostly concentrated downtown and near the waterfront. Corridors of urban core also stretch throughout the city, placing mixed-use areas within walking distance of most neighborhoods.
The Miami 21 initiative began in June 2005, and the code was mostly written in two years, according to Marina Khoury, project manager for Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, the planning consultants. But politics associated with approval and implementation took up most of the last three years, Khoury says.
A flurry of about 50 mostly small development applications arrived in the days prior to implementation, according Gonzalez. These projects are grandfathered under the old code, but they must obtain building permits within a given period of time — generally 180 days, she explains.
The city has been training staff to deal with the new code since December, Gonzalez says. About 15 zoning regulators and 40 code enforcement officers will oversee the code. In addition, about a dozen project managers who are in charge of city capital improvements will be required to abide by the code.
Miami 21 won a Driehaus Award from the Form-Based Codes Institute early this year. Visit miami21.org for more information.
