No consequence for wrong bets on development, by gimleteye

What happens when zoning decisions result in bad developments or developments that alter original agreements with the public: in other words, when citizen objections to original zoning decisions are verified by the outcome of bad developments?

Nothing.

Yesterday, the Miami Herald editorial page praised the Chamber of Commerce for acknowledging that something must be done about the lifeless downtown core of Miami. The head of Macy’s in Florida used a Chamber of Commerce luncheon to level criticism against the failure to take care of downtown development.

Wow. There's a stunner.

Massive condo developments are nearing completion, but downtown Miami will still be an empty canyon. One weekend night I drove through downtown: it was so empty you could roll a bowling ball straight down any given street. How dead is downtown Miami at night? Police cruisers outnumber people.

Even condos completed in the past decade are mostly empty: they serve as placeholders for investors, wherever they originate.

The new zoning master plan, Miami 21, could help in the future. But what a disaster has been made of the built landscape in downtown Miami. Catering only to condos, for the foreseeable future downtown Miami will be mostly hospitable to vulture funds.

Yesterday the Miami Herald reported that the Village of Merrick Park now wants to “drive traffic” to the high end mall that pledged, in its permitting stages, would not need a “hotel”.

Today, the Herald reports that Boca Developers, one of the largest condo developers in the state, is negotiating the block sale of unsold units in buildings recently completed or under construction.

In real estate and investing in general, one investor’s distress is another’s opportunity. And what if the public is harmed, as a result?

Nothing.

That is why the most interesting story in the Miami Herald is the referendum on Key Biscayne, today, in which citizens may vote to require that zoning changes in their community be subject to a popular vote.

The Herald reports: “Democracy at its best,'' said Max Puyanic, a member of Preserve Our Key Biscayne, which headed the referendum effort and sent out the campaign mailer. ``There is some unhappiness with the way things are being done out here by the people that live here.''

But members of the Village Council, whose zoning power would be taken away if the amendment passes, disagree, saying the measure puts complex issues in the hands of uneducated voters and would require frequent, impractical village-wide votes.
The village sent out a letter to residents, and took out ads urging them to vote against it.

''It's going to be, in the long run, a disaster,'' Mayor Robert Vernon said.

Vernon, who called the amendment ''too broad,'' also said he was concerned that special interests, instead of a Village Council under the advice of experienced staff, would decide low-turnout zoning elections.

''You have an elected body here,'' Vernon said. ``If you don't like what they're doing, you don't reelect them.''

Of course, since developers control local legislatures, the outcome of zoning decisions is virtually predetermined.

It is another reason to support with money and your signature the state-wide referendum called Florida Hometown Democracy. The referendum, if enough signatures qualify, would place on a state-wide ballot the same question: whether or not voters should be allowed to vote on major changes to comprehensive development master plans for their communities.

The builders and Chamber of Commerce are resolutely opposed to this measure, because they know that the public is much tougher than elected officials who owe their offices to campaign contributions from the development lobby.

Without sufficient funds to collect signatures, Florida Hometown Democracy may only live on in communities like Key Biscayne, or, Miami where bad development decisions have finally raised the ire of voters.