Miami Officials to Vote on Banning Most Parking Waivers for New Development

This proposal touches coveted neighborhoods in the Magic City that are experiencing a development boom. The Metrorail runs through Overtown, Brickell, Downtown Miami and Coconut Grove. A shorter line, Metromover, serves Miami’s greater downtown area. 

Currently, developers can reduce the size of a parking lot by 50 percent if they make a donation to a public transit fund. If a building is smaller than 10,000 square feet, developers can ask to have the requirement waived altogether. Developers typically seek waivers to make space for additional housing units, retail stores, and offices.

Under the proposed plan, these provisions would be eliminated, forcing developers to allocate more space to parking than currently required.

But some exclusions would remain. Developers could still request to have parking reduced by 30 percent through an exemption — no longer thanks to waivers, per current rules.

It’s also unclear whether the proposal would affect projects already underway. Much of the proposal is a simple copy and paste job of the current rules with only changes crossed out. Miami City Manager Art Noriega, who put forth the application, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Parking requirements in Miami range widely by building use and neighborhood types, otherwise known as transect zones. 

Miami city’s planning, zoning and appeals board is slated to vote on the measure Feb. 2. 

The proposal comes as Northerners have flocked to Miami since the start of the pandemic. In the last year, Florida’s population grew by 211,196, the largest number of new arrivals to any state during that time, except for Texas, according to the latest United States Census Bureau data.

Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.