Miami Beach voters overwhelmingly approve six ballot questions
Miami Beach voters overwhelmingly approved six ballot questions on Tuesday, supporting changes related to real estate, candidate residency requirements and a new park name in South Beach.
Among the changes coming to the city are new incentives to convert apartment hotels to residential buildings, a new community health center on Alton Road as part of a land swap, and a requirement for voters to approve the “vacating” of public streets to allow developers to increase density.
Here is a rundown of the results:
▪ 82% of voters approved the renaming of a newly opened 3-acre public park in South Beach as “Canopy Park.” The park, built between Alton Road and West Avenue from Sixth to Eighth streets, was one of the public benefits promised in a development agreement for the construction of the Five Park condo tower next door.
▪ A new requirement for the city’s Board of Adjustment was approved by 79% of voters to include at least one architect. Previously, the appointed board consisted of two citizen members at-large and five members who could represent any of the following professions: law, architecture, accounting, financial consultation and general business. Now, an architect will be mandatory on the board.
▪ Residents voted 94% in favor of a new requirement that candidates submit physical proof of their residency. Political candidates in Miami Beach were already required to have lived in the city for at least one year prior to qualifying to run in an election, but the approval of this measure adds an extra requirement by mandating that candidates submit physical proof of their residency.
▪ Voters passed a measure with 71% support to give owners of apartment hotels in the South of Fifth neighborhood an incentive to convert to full-time residential buildings in exchange for the ability to develop more square footage and units. Apartment hotels, which have a mix of apartment units and hotel rooms, are banned in a large area of the South of Fifth neighborhood, but there are seven that were approved before the ban came down last year.
▪ 62% of voters approved increased density in part of South Beach to allow developers to build a mixed-use structure at 710-720 Alton Road, the current site of a community health center that city officials say is in disrepair. The developers have agreed that, if the referendum passed, they would build a new and improved community health center at nearby 663 Alton Road.
▪ A referendum passed with 78% support to require a citywide vote before the city can “vacate” streets or other public property to allow developers to increase the density of their projects. Vacating a street means a city turns over control of a public roadway to a private property owner. The referendum addresses what some city officials say is a loophole that has allowed developers to increase the density of their projects without voter input.
This story was originally published August 23, 2022 at 8:41 PM.
