Zoning change will allow taller buildings near Miami-Dade transit routes

Developers have more incentive to build closer to transit routes after Miami-Dade commissioners approved looser zoning rules for some bus and rail corridors outside city limits.

Wednesday’s vote established the zoning rules for a broader change commissioners approved last year to the county plan that governs growth across Miami-Dade. The new rules generally apply within a half-mile of the stretches of the 25-mile Metrorail system that sit outside city limits as well as the 55 miles of corridors designated for future transit routes as part of Miami-Dade’s 2016 SMART Plan study. For areas within city limits, municipal zoning limits would still apply.

The zoning changes are designed to boost growth within the zone and put new residences closer to mass transit.

Developers authorized to build three-story buildings under current zoning rules generally could go as high as six stories under the new rules, according to the legislation and zoning officials. Commissioners have approved a new rapid-transit bus line for the South Dade SMART corridor, and the Northeast SMART corridor includes existing Brightline train tracks.

The legislation was sponsored by Commissioner Esteban “Steve” Bovo, who is running for Miami-Dade mayor in 2020. He also sponsored the 2018 ordinance that created a new tax zone around Metrorail and the SMART corridors, which diverts some new tax revenue from the county’s regular budget to transit projects.

“Thank you,” Bovo said after the latest legislation passed without discussion.

The one No vote came from a rival in the 2020 mayor’s race, Daniella Levine Cava. She said she supported larger buildings next to transit systems, but that Bovo’s ordinance went too far in allowing six-story buildings in single-family neighborhoods and loosening some rules outside SMART corridors.

“I support up-zoning on the transit corridors,” Levine Cava said, but “it needs to be nuanced by location. ... Public input was needed along the corridors, which never happened.”

This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 6:53 AM with the headline "Zoning change will allow taller buildings near Miami-Dade transit routes."