Neighborhood Conservation Districts (NCDs)

February 12, 2019 - FLR Presentation  

A presentation was given on Tuesday, February 12th at a Sunshine Meeting which was held to discuss the NCD-2/3 Floor Area Ratio Study as well as the proposed FLR legislation options. The presentation along with a map of the minimum lot size after diminishment can be found on our archived NCD page. 

June 19, 2018 - FLR Research  

The Planning Department would like to remind all NCD-2 and NCD-3 stakeholders of the upcoming Planning, Zoning, and Appeals Board (PZAB) meeting on Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at 6:30 P.M. at City Hall. The proposed legislation will be presented to the board and all members of the public are welcome to attend and share their thoughts.    

The PZAB will be presented with a number of FLR solutions for the NCDs. In preparation, the Planning Department would like to share some of the research used by staff to base the recommendations proposed to PZAB. The research consists of 281 building permits that have been issued for residential construction in Coconut Grove (NCD-2 and NCD-3) since 2012. 

June 11, 2018 - Upcoming PZAB Meeting

The Planning Department has been working diligently to finalize legislation for the upcoming public hearing. The legislation will be presented at the next Planning, Zoning, and Appeals Board (PZAB) meeting on Wednesday, June 20, 2018.

The NCD amendment will be presented and all members of the public are welcome to come to City Hall for the PZAB meeting to share their thoughts on this item.

April 25, 2018 - Public Meeting Update

The Planning Department will hold a fourth public meeting to discuss revisions to the Neighborhood Conservation Districts zoning overlays (NCD-2 and NCD-3) in Coconut Grove on Saturday, April 28 at Armbrister Park - 4000 Grand Ave, Miami, FL 33133 – from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The Planning Staff will be discussing the proposed language to be heard by the Planning, Zoning, and Appeals Board (PZAB) on Wednesday, May 2, 2018 and City Hall. Hope to see you there!

April 20, 2018 - Public Meeting on Saturday, April 28

The Planning Department will hold a fourth public meeting to discuss revisions to the Neighborhood Conservation Districts zoning overlays (NCD-2 and NCD-3) in Coconut Grove on Saturday, April 28. The location will be determined and announced in the next couple of days. This meeting is an additional opportunity for residents, and other stakeholders, to voice their ideas and goals on the proposed legislation rewrite. The legislation will be presented at the next Planning, Zoning, and Appeals Board (PZAB) meeting on Wednesday, May 2, 2018.  

April 13, 2018 - PZAB and City Commission Agendas

The Planning Department is pleased to announce that proposed new legislation for the Coconut Grove NCD is publicly noticed for the PZAB meeting on April 18. The meeting is scheduled to start at 6:30 at City Hall. The proposed legislation has been scheduled for City Commission on April 26. 

April 4, 2018 - PZAB Meeting: Staff to Request a Continuance

The Planning Department has been working diligently to finalize legislation for public hearing. Last week the Department received significant public feedback that warrants additional revision to the NCD policies. For this reason, staff will be requesting a continuance this evening at the Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board meeting. The NCD will be discussed because it has been publicly noticed; as such, all members of the public are welcome to come to City Hall for the PZAB meeting to share their thoughts on this item. 

March 30, 2018 - DRAFT Minimum Lot Sizes Map

Notable changes since the hand-drawn version:

The area encompassed by the 20,000 sqft. minimum lot size has expanded in the south Grove.

The area of 5000 sqft. minimum lot size has expanded in the center Grove.

In both cases, these minimum lots sizes will replace the criteria 4 and 5 under section 5.3.1 of the written code. We will retain the minimum 100 foot lot width requirement for lots of 20,000 sqft. or larger.

March 16, 2018 - DRAFT Legislation

Below is the updated DRAFT of the Coconut Grove NCD proposed language. Since we posted the last draft, we have made a number of changes based on feedback we have received via email and many meetings with individuals and groups. The core of the document remains unchanged from our presentation on January 27th, but we have concentrated on making the document understandable and enforceable. 

We still intend to take this commission on the 26th of April. However, we will go to PZAB on the 4th of April rather than the 26th of March. Regarding the timing: we want to be deliberate and incorporate suggestions and comments for as long as possible, but we also want to proceed quickly in order to implement the changes. So, we want to push to get on the agenda for the 4th of April. However, we also intend to still consider minor modifications to the document and will continue to meet with you to incorporate changes even after we have published the version that will be presented.

Listed below are some of the main issues that have been brought to our attention and how we have addressed them:

1. Some community members have expressed a desire to keep two Districts v. one Coconut Grove NCD.Our position is that the issues in Coconut Grove as it pertains to land-use regulations are more similar than they are dissimilar. We also had very strong support from participants in the public meetings for having one Coconut Grove district overlay. That being said, we have made changes based on the suggestions:
   • We have incorporated and strengthened all of the language from NCD-2 and improved provisions for enforcement in West Grove.
   • We have expanded the “Intent” section of the re-write to address concerns for both the former NCD-2 and NCD-3 areas.
   • We have further developed the minimum lot-size map. The map roughly coincides with recognized Grove neighborhoods. A variety of minimum lot sizes will preserve the variety of neighborhoods.
2. The new standard required too much greenspace and the new regulations make development impossible due to buildings being too limited. We met with a variety of designers, homeowners, and developers pushing back on both building volume limitations and greenspace requirements. Our responses are:
   
   • Building volume regulations remain unchanged. We believe the proposed reductions are reasonable and consistent with the historical character of Coconut Grove.
     • However, we have allowed design flexibility to encourage porches and outdoor spaces. Single-story porches that do not interfere with tree-canopy will not count against the lot coverage, (Though they still are not considered greenspace and greenspace requirements must still be met).
   • Greenspace requirements remain unchanged for large lots, but we found problems for lots less than 10,000 sqft. Therefore, we have reduced the greenspace requirement for smaller lots to 40% for T3-R. This will mean they can still be developed whereas the 50% requirement made that very difficult by our own additional studies.
3. The public benefits created too much density.
   
   • We reduced maximum density with public benefits in T4 from 150 units / acre to 65 units / acre.
4. Lot diminishment rules that relied solely on the map are too permissive.
   
   • We have incorporated a number of additional criteria that apply to lot diminishment.
5. Regulations for Carriage houses / Granny Flats / Accessory Dwelling Units are too permissive.
   
   • We propose limiting the units to lots greater than 7500 sqft. and allowing them on historically designated properties.
6. Improve Enforcement. While the zoning text amendment cannot address many of the concerns of enforcement we have:
   
   • Consolidated NCD-2 and 3 which simplifies the code and simplifies enforcement for zoning and code compliance.
   • Reformatted the document to match Miami 21. This also simplifies enforcement for both zoning and code compliance.
   • Additionally, we are working to improve enforcement for environmental, historic, and zoning issues through staffing.
7. Business Improvement District master plan implementation.
   
   • The BID has worked with an urban design team to suggest incentives for Greenspace / Open spaces in the form of courtyards and pedestrian passages. We have incorporated suggestions for the T5 and T6 districts which encourage more open space but do not increase height.
   • We have incorporated all of the suggestions from the BID Master Plan that pertain zoning rules.
8. Roof Extensions are excessive.
   
   • Have limited them from 400 sqft. to 200 sqft. and no longer allow them along the perimeter of the building. This will limit the visual impact for any roof access element and prevent overuse of roofs while still allowing easy placement of equipment. Rooftop placement of equipment allows for increased greenspace at the ground level.

This the bulk of the changes between the published drafts. We are still working on additional language about greenspace in rights-of-way.

February 16, 2018 - DRAFT Minimum Lot Sizes Map and Proposed Public Meeting Dates

This map is a draft which illustrates 4 minimum lot sizes for Coconut Grove NCD:

• 5,000 sqft. in West Grove
• 7,500 sqft. generally in the majority of the NCD
• 20,000 sqft. areas (roughly corresponding with the prior SD-18 and 18.1 overlays)
• 40,000 sqft. lots which are along portions of the coast.

Overall, this reduces the number of lots which may be split, while also largely resulting in similar lot sizes that were allowed under the previous method of staff analysis based on properties in the surrounding areas. Only lots double these numbers, i.e. 10,000, 15,000, 40,000 and 80,000 respectively may be split.

We will create these boundaries more exactly in our GIS system next week and prepare additional analysis about which lots will be able to be split in the future.

Proposed public meeting dates:
Planning, Zoning, and Appeals Board (PZAB)-Wednesday, March 21, 2018
City Commission-Thursday, April 26, 2018

The week of February 19, 2018 will be our final opportunity to incorporate comments which will appear in the version going before the Planning, Zoning, and Appeals Board (PZAB). Please email us your feedback no later than Saturday, February 24, 2018.

February 9, 2018 - Draft Legislation

The Planning Department has been working to incorporate several items based on the feedback from the January 27th meeting:

1. T-3O: New standards for the T-3O neighborhood.
2. T-3R: Specific provisions for when T-3R properties may have 15% additional space on the 2nd floor in exchange for planting mature trees between the building and street.
3. Trellises and Gazebos: language about trellises and gazebos to further define locations and types allowed.
4. Renovations: Standards for removing the warrant requirement for partial demolition of homes being renovated
5. Design flexibility for tree preservation: Formalize staff process in place of the waiver procedure for reviewing and allowing building footprint flexibility when accommodating existing trees.

January 30, 2018 - Proposed Revisions to Legislation

The Planning Department held its third public meeting to discuss revisions to the Neighborhood Conservation Districts zoning overlays (NCD-2 and NCD-3) in Coconut Grove on Saturday, January 27, at Frankie Shannon Rolle Center. Eighty people attended the event. Jeremy Calleros Gauger, the Deputy Director for the Planning Department, presented proposed changes to the NCD-2 and NCD-3. These changes are intended to respond to feedback from residents and activists who have expressed concerns, ideas, and insights about the neighborhoods. Conceptually, the legislation is intended to address the preservation of the Grove’s historic, physical, and social character. To do this, the strategies employed by the legislation aim to better protect existing tree canopy and incentive more trees, create conditions for affordability, and preserve the historic heritage of Coconut Grove. 

November 14, 2017 - October 14 Public Workshop Report

A full report is available based on data collected from the public workshop on October 14, 2017. This report summarizes findings from public feedback at this event. This report will be presented at a meeting of the Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board (PZAB) on Wednesday, November 15 at 6:30 PM.

November 8, 2017 - Lot-Diminishment Legislation

Legislation presented to the Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board (PZAB) on July 31, 2017 was continued and is scheduled to be heard again at PZAB on November 15, 2017. This is the same legislation that was presented at the NCD workshop on October 14 and October 28 at Armbrister Park by the staff of the Planning Department. No changes have been made to the public record for this legislation.

Many members of the public have offered a great deal of feedback regarding the issue of lot diminishment (also referred to as “lot-splitting”), lot coverage, tree canopy, and F.A.R.—all of these are issues germane to the legislation scheduled for hearing by PZAB on November 15. Around 70 people attended both workshops at Armbrister Park. Surveys from both workshops were administered. Staff has only been able to analyze data from the first workshop. Data from the second workshop is still being recorded.

At this time, it is very clear that there are many strong opinions about the legislative matter scheduled for hearing on November 15. For this reason, staff will recommend a continuance for a future date to allow for a review of all the data collected from the public workshops. The item will not be withdrawn because it has already been advertised.

October 14, 2017 - Workshop Information 

On October 14, 2018 Planning staff from the Planning Department conducted a workshop from 9:30 to 12:30 at Armbrister Park in Coconut Grove. This workshop was conducted because of recent concerns about the Neighborhood Conservation District (NCD) 2 and 3 zoning overlays voiced by residents who live in the area. These concerns have primarily fallen along the lines of concerns about tree canopy, the diminishment of lots, housing affordability, public notice procedures, property values, and property demolition. There are instances in which these issues unavoidably are intersected, for example, for a property owner who owns a large building site and wishes to diminish it to several small lots (i.e. the original plats from the early 1920s), and to develop those smaller lots as individual homes for resale. In cases like these, the issue of lot diminishment (often referred to as “lot-splitting”), tree canopy, and housing affordability come to the fore immediately. At the same time, many of the workshop participants expressed concerns over procedures used by the City for approving permits.

At its heart, the NCD intends to conserve neighborhoods. During the October 14 workshop, a good deal of time was spent working with participants trying to discern what the community wants to conserve. Participants clearly value a sense of uniqueness of Coconut Grove that is manifest in its historic legacy, architectural variety, cultural diversity, natural aesthetic, walkable character, and access to the water. The two most highly ranked priorities was tree canopy and the affordability of housing. Moving forward, the community desires a revised NCD policy that advances these treasured qualities of Coconut Grove and engages the entire community.