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Miami Beach United recommends a "no" vote on these three ballot items due to the flawed use of the "vacation" of Alton Road to increase the FAR for the 300 Alton Marina Park Redevelopment project. Elected officials have taken it upon themselves to decide the density/size of the tower, which we believe is a misinterpretation of the City Charter. Although there are 3 ballot questions about the project, missing is a fourth ballot question that allows the voters to decide whether the allowable FAR for this project should be increased.  (FAR, or Floor Area Ratio, is the calculation used to determine the maximum allowable square footage that can be built on a particular plot of land, based on the size of that plot and the rules governing how large a building can be in that zone of the City. For instance, if the plot of land is 10,000 square feet and the allowable FAR is 2.0, the developer could build up to 20,000 square feet.) 

The Commission has resorted to this unfortunate tactic four times in recent years, and it appears to be becoming normalized, which is a terrible and dangerous precedent; what’s to prevent the Commission from using this tactic of vacating a street to increase FAR for virtually any commercial development project ever proposed? The use of “vacations” by the Miami Beach Commission has grown from vacating small alleyways to more recently include major thoroughfares. The City Charter requires that increases in FAR be approved by voters, and while the City Attorney has provided an opinion that “vacations” are legal, they appear to violate the language of the charter on FAR increases.  

Miami Beach United recommends a "yes" vote on this item, which gives the opportunity to restore our iconic historic buildings to their original interior layouts and floors without per-project voter approval, and allows for character-of-place adaptive re-use. For instance, a historic building that was several stories high, but which had their interior floors demolished prior to 1997 to become a nightclub, could now restore those interior floors to become office space. Legislation to encourage creative, adaptive re-use of our existing historic buildings is to be encouraged, as these buildings are significant contributors to creating the special and unique architectural feel that helps define Miami Beach.  As building needs have adapted to the changing times, so too have their interior usage of space; now it is time to give those buildings the option to return to a more useful interior layout.  Additionally, re-using existing buildings is a far more environmentally-friendly way to encourage thoughtful development, rather than demolishing and building something new, and working towards improved resiliency is an on-going goal of the City of Miami Beach.  

Miami Beach United recommends a "yes" vote on this item, supporting the proposed expansion of the Wolfsonian, a cultural anchor and true gem in the crown of Miami Beach. The facility already borders the troubled MXE District including Ocean Drive, and its new vision and expanded footprint will go a long way to increasing the community offerings that could be a critical component of the proposed re-imagining of Ocean Drive/Collins/Washington as the Cultural and Arts District of Miami Beach, and help regain control of our city's brand.

Miami Beach United recommends a "no" vote on this item s proposed. While the intent is a good one, as currently written, this item is too vague and could easily be manipulated by new developments, when the item was clearly proposed to help existing older buildings to retrofit their facilities to bring them up to modern needs and standards. As written, this does nothing to preclude the possibility of new developments exploiting the loopholes created herein to gain additional FAR. As we have learned, poorly written ballot items can result in significant unintended consequences with which the community is not in agreement, or didn't realize could be a possibility. A recent and glaring example of this was the request for additional FAR in North Beach Town Center, which the voters approved, but after approval, developers came back insisting that they needed yet more height in order to maximize the newly-permitted FAR.

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However, it is not recommended to wait that long to request a VBM Ballot, so if you are interested in this option, request it ASAP via this link.

See detailed information about schedules, locations, and ballot drop boxes information in English and in Spanish.

More information about voting on Election Day can be found here.