Reso 2021-3170 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

(IIliw cW Executive Summary I. Project Overview Early in 2019, an inconsistency was discovered between the City's Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code. Although the discrepancy only affected the Town Center Overlay (TCO) –an area which encompasses land located west of Collins Avenue from the north side of 172nd Street to the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard— the discovery led to an animated community debate about density, building height and development character, not only as it pertained to the Town Center, but to the future and the identity of the entire community. The debate exposed community differences and mistrust of the local government, but it also revealed a regrettable incidence of miscommunications, misunderstandings, and even misinformation surrounding the issues at stake. In the process, it also became clear that many voices were not being heard in the discussion, producing an incomplete and imbalanced picture and potentially hindering the decision-making process. The City Commission decided to enact a 1 -year moratorium and zoning in progress resolution effective in the entire TCO area. This gave the Commission a margin of time to contemplate the best course of action. The resolution passed in September of 2019. Subsequently - having ascertained that the discrepancy impacted the southern portion of the Town Center most immediately - the Commission pursued a solution for that area by approving an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan, dividing the TCO into new Town Center South and North Overlay areas and adding density and intensity measures to the Town Center South Overlay (TCSO). The City Commission also realized that establishing the Town Center North Overlay (TCNO) offered a rare opportunity to create a new vision for that new area, based on community input. To this end, the Commission directed the project team of Calvin, Giordano & Associates, Inc. (CGA) to facilitate a public engagement process and to offer recommendations for the TCNO. This [draft] report summarizes the process and the resulting recommendations. 2. Process Highlights The process was designed to achieve three goals: • Maximize inclusiveness and transparency. • Gain insight into a range of opinions. • Offer balanced, neutral and legally defensible recommendations. The project team clearly understood that achieving consensus on the issues concerning the Town Center North (or, indeed, on any Citywide issue) was not among the purposes of the public engagement process, because there is no single "public" in Sunny Isles Beach. Instead, the aim was to listen to and gather input from the community's wide spectrum of stakeholder interests, to find balance among their disparate perspectives, and to help the City Commission reflect their decisions back so that participants can see how their concerns were considered. The process conducted by CGA consisted of S main interrelated tasks. `.. Mobilization: This task included the project kickoff meeting, preparation of the Public Engagement Plan (PEP) and launch of the engagement strategy, and stakeholder meetings with residents, landowners, developers, activists, and elected officials. 2. Snapshot of the Present: This task ?jt o involved gathering and analyzing information about the present conditions in the Town Center, including pertaining to population, development, housing stock, policies and regulations, mobility, services and environment re -Envisioning the Town Center North Overlay 112/28/2020 11