South Miami voters to have two local issues to decide on their 2020 ballots

South Miami voters will decide two local questions on their November ballots about lessening land-use restrictions and moving the city’s general election from February to November.

Differing opinions on the questions come from the citywide debate between progressive development and traditional preservation of residential areas.

Commissioner Josh Liebman, who sponsored both ballot questions, said he was surprised to see the questions make it to

the ballot. For years, Liebman’s been pushing for these changes, but both have been continually barred by other commissioners.

In July, the commission voted to add both questions to the Nov. 3 ballot. The referendum to move the election date passed 4-1, and the land-use question passed 3-2.

What voters will see on the ballot:

▪ Should ARTICLE II, SECTION 6. D. of the City Charter be amended to change voting requirements to make land use and development regulations less restrictive Citywide from a unanimous 5 out of 5 to a super-majority of 4 out of 5 votes?

▪ Should the City Charter be amended to change the month and day, when the City of South Miami holds its general elections, from February of each even year to the date of the national elections of each even year commencing in 2022 by amending ARTICLE V, SECTION 2. A., resulting in 9-month extension of current elected official’s term and with the intention of increasing voter turnout and decreasing the cost of the general elections?

Voting “yes” on the first question will make it a bit easier to pass zoning changes. Zoning changes sometimes relate to building density, such as adding extra stories to house more people, or changing restrictions on how certain land within the city limits can be used. To change zoning in most parts of South Miami, a project currently needs approval from all five city commissioners. The referendum would change the requirement to only four out of five.

One glaring issue Liebman has with the current five-out-of-five requirement is that it gives one commissioner the power to vote against a project and kill it entirely.

“It puts all the power in one person’s hands and gives someone essentially veto power and allows one person to control commission,” Liebman said, “and I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t think that’s democratic.”

He added that the five-out-of-five requirement has deterred some developers from proposing projects in South Miami because of the difficulty in getting approval.

In 2018, two major projects in the downtown area faced the five-out-of-five roadblock. The Sunset Place redevelopment project and the Winn-Dixie mixed-use project — adding an apartment complex to the existing grocery store — faced strong opposition. Liebman explained that in order to move forward with these two projects developers had to campaign in the August election to change the requirement.

“They knew that they weren’t going to be able to get five votes,” Liebman said. “It was such a problem that those two groups had to literally get involved in an election and influence an election, I believe for the better, to bring their projects forward.”

Jeffrey Bass, a land use attorney for the Sunset Place and Winn-Dixie projects, said the five-out-of-five requirement is extreme and unusual. He said he’s never worked with another case like it.

“All great cities require the ability to adapt and respond to the flux and flex of urban life and its complexities. All great cities require dynamism to remain vital and relevant,” Bass said.

In August 2018, South Miami voters approved a change to the charter requiring four out of five votes for parts of the downtown commercial area. The referendum on November’s ballot will expand the four-vote requirement across the whole city, including residential areas.

Those against the change fear that more liberal requirements will open the door for excessive development in the city, especially in the residential areas.

Commissioner Walter Harris said he’s been coined the “archenemy of excessive development.” Harris voted against adding the land use referendum to the ballot in July, and said while he’s not strongly opposed to the change he worries what kind of development it will encourage and how that will impact those living in residential areas.

“They don’t want their neighbors to be built up,” Harris said. “It’s all money, it’s not quality of life.”

Harris said changing the five-out-of-five requirement is laying groundwork for more business development and the potential for expanding the downtown area.

Antoinette Fischer, 70, a longtime resident and retired citizen activist, is a staunch opponent of the referendum changing the land use requirement. She said that requiring a unanimous vote for projects is the residents’ only protection against excessive development.

“We have a rubber stamp commission. For us residents who live in single-family homes, the only protection we have is that one commissioner might vote against,” Fischer said. “It might sound undemocratic, but it’s our last and best protection against high density development in our neighborhoods.”

Election date change

The second question on the ballot is whether to change South Miami’s general election from its current date in February to the same day as national elections in November.

Liebman, who sponsored the ballot question, said moving the date would increase voter turnout and decrease the election cost to the city.

In South Miami’s general election in February 2,175 people voted for mayor and two commission seats. In the 2018 midterm election, 5,928 people voted, according to Miami-Dade County election reports. During the last presidential election, 5,913 people voted.

“We should be elected by a majority of the majority, right?” Liebman said. “We’re elected by the majority of a minority.”

The change would extend the terms of Mayor Sally Philips along with commissioners Harris and Luis Gil by nine months.

Philips said she supports changing the election date because it will drastically increase voter turnout and decrease cost, but she does see some drawbacks for candidates.

She said that with a November election local candidates will be competing against national issues for voters’ attention. She worried that some of the local issues and candidates will get lost in national politics.

“I already have about three signs in front of my house supporting different people,” Philips said. “A fourth sign is going unnoticed.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 6:00 AM.