Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Harry Emilio Gottlieb is on TARGET on ZONING. By Geniusofdespair

Let’s agree that zoning codes need to be respected and supported. They were designed to benefit the community with planned smart growth. They must not be arbitrarily altered to suit every developer that promises the moon and the stars.

In a letter to the editor of the Miami Herald Harry said:

It’s only natural for developers to request upzoning of a recently acquired property because that instantly increases its value and virtually guarantees the ability to maximize profits.

It’s tragic that citizens have to constantly fight every upzoning battle in an effort to preserve their neighborhood.

It’s about time that we had a more level playing field for this never-ending sport.

Individuals should be offered a public zoning advocate or ombudsman to help them preserve their neighborhood and quality of life that they have worked hard to achieve.

Perhaps there’s another alternative:

Let’s relieve our commissioners of the tediousness and stress of having to study all those boring rezoning requests and having to debate the issue, since they will never make everyone happy.

Let’s agree that zoning codes need to be respected and supported. They were designed to benefit the community with planned smart growth. They must not be arbitrarily altered to suit every developer that promises the moon and the stars.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Except, as is the case in Miami with the Miami 21 code, the up-zoning was basically baked in to the process. Also community involvement had to be reestablished, to be part of the process again. It took a loooong fight by dedicated people from Miami Neighborhoods United to prevail, sort of.

Anonymous said...

Uh, we're talking about the City of Miami. There are rules and masterplans and zoning in place. And then there are lobbyists and developers and elected officials who are not interested in governing in the public interest. Instead of first asking how the public might benefit, they ask who benefits, how they can benefit. And no amount of community protests or Miami Herald or Eye on Miami editorials can change that. Maybe the newly elected commissioner in District 2 could change that.

Anonymous said...

A former mayor of Miami Beach is one of the biggest lobbyists for developers. The city ensured anything can be built because the noise ordinances are subjective and you can pay the city fees for parking that you don't have onsite. The city will also hire an engineer which will later contradict the city's own missing codes. The citizens would have to hire lawyers to draft their own rules to fight the lobbyist drafted rules.

Anonymous said...

Sounds just as much like South Miami as it does Miami Beach. Developers rule in South Miami...

Anonymous said...

REdland Community Council 14 (Comm. Cava-Moss-Dist. 8 & 9) is doing a pretty good job in zoning, but sometimes they--CC 14 Board Members) overlook the community input (citizen participation) and agree with Planning Dept recommendation which some times does not study the area. (The CDMP is just a guide)-----Upzoning does not help already trended areas.
Smart Growth & preserving existing zoning codes are critical & need respect & support.

Anonymous said...

"Zoning by checkbook".