Neighborhood Conservation Districts (NCDs)
The NCDs are zoning overlays. A
zoning overlay is defined by the American Planning Association as “a zoning district which is applied over one or more previously established zoning districts, establishing additional or stricter standards and criteria for covered properties in addition to those of the underlying zoning district” (Peroperty Topics and Concepts, 2017). Section 3.12.2 of
Miami 21 states that the intent of NCDs is:
preserve unique and distinctive neighborhoods that exhibit a certain defined character worthy of protection, such as physical features, design characteristics, and recognized cultural or historical identity. The Neighborhood Conservation District provides additional regulations or design guidelines for new construction, major alterations and additions to existing Buildings, in order to protect, enhance and perpetuate the value of the neighborhood conservation area. It is further intended that such districts and the regulations adopted for them shall be in accord with, and promote the Miami Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan (Miami 21, 3.12.2 (a)).
There are three Neighborhood Conservation Districts within the City of Miami. NCDs 2 and 3 are located within Coconut Grove. NCD 2 occupies the area nearest Douglas Road MetroRail Station, bounded by SW 32 Avenue to the South and Charles Avenue to the East. Much of the remainder of Coconut Grove is located within NCD 3. The NCDs are comprised of several distinct, unofficial neighborhoods.
Members of the Coconut Grove community have expressed concerns about NCDs
directly to staff as well as providing feedback at public meetings. Comments from the community have included (but are not limited to) grave concerns about housing affordability, lot coverage, residential density, tree preservation, public noticing, and property rights. The Planning Department has determined that the need exists to modify NCD regulations in response to these concerns.
Updates
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 are provided below.
Floor Area Ratio Study Presentation
NCD 2-3 Lot Size Overlay Map
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. The
information can be viewed
here.
June 11, 2018 -
Update on 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 currently proposed language can be viewed
here.
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 - 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. The currently proposed language can be found
here.
April 13, 2018 - Update on 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 online version of the legislation is a bit difficult to read
- this is due to technical issues in the software used to upload the material. A copy with the clean layout can be viewed
here.
If you are curious about the changes that have been made to the current policies, the Planning Department has prepared annotations to the existing NCD policies, which can be found
here. These annotations start on page 6 of the PDF document and are made in red font within the margins of the document. The annotations either refer to the proposed new policies in instances where the old policies have been carried over in some form or they provide context relevant to public comments that have been received by the department.
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.
Click
here for a larger version of the draft map.
Please note, this is a large file.
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:
- 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:
- 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.
- The public benefits created too much density.
- Lot diminishment rules that relied solely on
the map are too permissive.
- Regulations for Carriage houses / Granny Flats /
Accessory Dwelling Units are too permissive.
- 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.
- Business Improvement District masterplan implementation.
- 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.
Coconut Grove Conservation District Draft Legislation
- March 16, 2018
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.
Click
here for a larger version of the draft map.
Current 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:
- T-3O: New
standards for the T-3O neighborhood.
- 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.
- Trellises and Gazebos: language about trellises and gazebos to further
define locations and types allowed.
- Renovations: Standards for
removing the warrant requirement for partial demolition of homes being
renovated
- 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.
Below is a link to the current draft legislation as of February 9,
2018. Not all of the provisions are finalized as we are still working
with the Zoning Office to ensure that the entire code is legible and
enforceable.
Coconut Grove Conservation District Draft Legislation
- February 9, 2018
If you
have any comments, please send them to planning@miamigov.com.
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.
Click here to view the presentation summarizing the recommendations for
NCD revisions.
A
full report
is now published 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.
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.
Workshop Information
- October 14, 2017
Report
Executive Summary
Full Report
Map of NCD Respondents
by Neighborhood
Presentation
NCD Workshop 1
Handouts
Public Workshop 1
Handout
NCD2 Photo Study
NCD3 Photo Study
Map
NCD 2 and 3 Neighborhoods Map