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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSubmittal-Public Comments Submitted Online for the April 9, 2026 City Commission MeetingApril 9, 2026-Online Public Comments -Miami City Commission Meeting Online Public Comment Report for April 9, 2026, Regular City Commission Meeting April 9, 2026 2:28 PM MDT Public Comment motero@miamigov.com First Last Street Nam Nam Addre e e ss Sam a nth a Agenda Public Comment Item Reco rded Date Good morning. My name is Samantha Wilson. I'm a Miami native, resident of Coconut Grove. I was here on April 1st with over 70 ppl but our voices were not heard due to lack of quorom. Which is why I'm confused as to why this is still an item on the agenda.I'm a real estate professional. I believe in growth... but smart growth. Not recklessness destruction disguised as growth. I'm here today because this ordinance alarms me — and it should alarm every single person in this room. Miami's Transfer of Development Density program IS supposed to support affordable housing. But this amendment does the total opposite. By dropping the minimum project size from 200 units to just 70, we are making PH. 1 it dramatically easier for affordable housing density to be sold off to Luxury developers — #19014 developers who are not required to build a single affordable unit in return. Not one. That Review isn't a Loophole. It's an outright scam. And the people who Live here wilt feel it every single Apr 2627 /Approv day as we already do. More density without a single dollar invested in the streets, 09 Wilso S e - sidewalks, trees, and transit that are already strained. No parking requirements for new 2026 n Baysh Current units — piled on top of a neighborhood that is already choking on traffic. If you just walk 8:04a ore Dr Invento outside this building, you'll notice that the concrete is broken along the marina, and m ry City- patched up with tiles that do not even match. Myself and our neighbors already go around MDT Owned picking up trash on a regular basis. This City is poorly executing basic responsibilities and Lands yet wants to increase density. What makes this worse is that no one has even studied whether the existing TDD program is working. We are being asked to expand a program with zero accountability and no data. That is not responsible governance. At minimum, I urge this board to adopt D2's Language protecting NCD-2 and NCD-3 zones in Coconut Grove. Better yet — reject this proposal entirely until we have real data and real infrastructure investment. Coconut Grove deserves better than this. Do not add more stress to our streets and to our residents who have to deal with constant construction noise and congested streets. Please remember that you are public servants and not just developer servants. Geor da 3843 PZ. 1 I am a Coconut Grove resident and Licensed urban planner (Ph.D., AICP). I respectfully Apr ge Guia Kumq #18838 request denial of Item 18981 on the following grounds: 1. No evidentiary basis. The 08 uat Zoning WHEREAS clauses cite no study, no data, and no named changed condition. Florida 2026 Avenu Text - Statute 163.3174 requires this Board, as the Local planning agency, to demand data and 6:20p e, Afforda analysis. That standard has not been met. The City's own study does not support this m Coco bLe program. The 2020 FILL Affordable Housing Master Plan — the only housing needs MDT nut Housin assessment the City has ever commissioned — recommended an Innovation Fund, not a Grove g Units density transfer mechanism. The existing TDD program has never been evaluated for LegisLat outcomes. 2. Zero affordability at receiving sites. The ordinance states directly that density ion and transfers require no affordability provision at the receiving property. 3. The NCD protection Maps is one-sided. Subsection iv protects Neighborhood Conservation District properties as TDD/T receiving sites only. It provides no protection to NCD-adjacent West Coconut Grove parcels DR acting as sending sites. NDZ — the newly eligible sending geography — is entirely absent from that provision. West Grove can export its development rights with no canopy protection, no community benefit, and no infrastructure condition attached. 4. No cumulative impact analysis exists. Seven density instruments have been Layered on Coconut Grove since 2017. The 2021 Master Plan predates five of them. Individual project traffic studies do not model interaction effects across simultaneous instruments. Miami's TCEA designation exempts the City from modeling infrastructure capacity — it is a waiver, 19177 Submittal -Public Comments Submitted Online for the April 9, 2026 City Commission Meeting First Last Street Nam Nam Addre e e ss Agenda Item Public Comment not a finding. I request denial, a TDD program evaluation, and a cumulative impact study before any expansion is approved. Reco rded Date PZ. 1 #18838 Zoning Text - Afforda Apr 3752 09 Baral Kumq ble I support carving out the Neighborhood Conservation Districts (NCD's) to protect the 2026 Chris Housin oto uat community from the proposed weakening of this Ordinance 7:34a Ave g Units Legislat ion and MDT Maps TDD/T DR DI. 3 #19111 I support the proposal to install aeration stations in Wagner Creek/Seybold Canal as a Discuss dean -up solution to improve water quality. At the same time it is crucial to identify the 1000 ion - NW Fast sources of contamination and deal with them, otherwise the pollution continues. Any Apr North Cleanin vessel, whether traversing the river or stationary, needs to have a plan for sanitation that 09 Judit does not include dumping waste into the river. Marina operators certainly contract with 2026 Paul River g h sanitation providers. The service fees should be automatically applied to any boater using 8:26a Drive Solutio that facility on any day. Public embarkation points should also require service fees for m Unit ns - sanitation with documentation required. It's a starting point anyway. Perhaps a dean water MDT #121 Miami taskforce can develop policy that is better or more easily implemented. Any such policies River would certainly be helpful to the dean -up effort. Commi ssion DI. 3 #19111 Discuss ion - 631 I'm a Spring Garden resident and I live on the canal. I strongly support Commissioner Apr Fast NW Gabela's proposal to fund aeration systems for the creek. E. coli levels are extremely high 07 Cleanin Em Moor Seven and pose real health and environmental concerns. We have two small children and are 2026 mett e th very concerned about water quality. The pilot program showed about an 80% reduction, 11:43 Solutio Street proving this solution works. This is a practical, high -impact investment for our community. am Rd ns I urge you to support this item. MDT Miami River Commi ssion 2831 I'm concerned about development plans in Coconut Grove and the potential use of low S income building credit transfer to increase construction in the area. It seems to me that 1/ Apr Baysh PH - too much additional capacity may destroy the character of the Grove by modify the 09 Alex ore Dr PUBLI canopy structure and increasing car traffic to problematic levels and 2/ creating a problem andr Sche 2026 C for business struggling to hire personnel locally due to rising housing costs (an irony rer 7:22a e #1004 HEART considering the credit transfer for luxury units would reduce low income housing capacity m NGS in adjacent areas?). This could be a recipe for disaster and tarnish Miami image overall. MDT Miami Please carefully consider the situation and prevent problems linked to uncontrolled and , FL too fast real estate development for Miami. Carl Mun 3220 PZ. 1 My comments: I'm here today on RE.8 and PZ.1. First, I support RE.8. Investing $15 Apr os oz Matild #18838 million in affordable housing and parks in District 2 is the right use of these funds and an 09 a Zoning important reinvestment back into the community. On PZ.1, I want to raise some serious 2026 street Text - concerns. First, PZAB has not yet heard this item. More than 50 residents showed up to 7:04a Afforda speak at the scheduled meeting — during Holy Week, on the first day of Passover — and First Last Street Reco Agenda Nam Nam Addre Item Public Comment rded e e ss Date Miami ble the meeting was canceled. Their voices have not been heard. At a minimum, this item m , FL Housin should be sent back to PZAB for proper public vetting. Second, Neighborhood MDT 33133 g Units Conservation Districts must be explicitly removed and protected. These districts exist to Legislat preserve neighborhood character and should not be indirectly impacted by new density ion and tools. More broadly, this is part of a larger issue. We keep introducing individual zoning Maps changes and density incentives without a dear, shared vision. Where is the master plan? TDD/T What do we want Miami to look like in 10 years? In 25? How do we get there? What DR infrastructure is required to support that growth? Because right now, residents are experiencing the downside —noise, sidewalk closures, construction traffic — without a dear understanding of the tong -term plan. We need to stop playing whack -a -mote with policy and get serious about solving affordability in a coordinated, thoughtful way PZ. 1 #18838 Zoning Text - Apr 3094 Afforda Please protect the NCDs that were put into place with a purpose and with the backing of 09 ble the neighborhood of Coconut Grove. The creation of density "credits" and shuffling them Carl Ronc Indian 2026 Housin around is a scheme as old as corruption is in Miami. Please hear the voices of Coconut os ajolo a 7:27a Street g Units Grove residents and protect this beautiful environment and city we hold so dearly dose to Legislat our hearts. Thank you. ion and MDT Maps TDD/T DR DI. 4 #19095 Discuss Apr ion - 09 234 Downto Axel Bruc 2026 ne 3 wn Request that the downtown resident have more said over dda since we paying 58 percent. k 7:31a street Develo m pment Authorit MDT y (DDA) PZ. 1 #18838 Zoning Text - 3148 Afforda Apr Brun 08 Alex sw ble er This is our back yard, not theirs. There's a place for development, of course, but it's not in 2026 andr 27th Housin a Gonz Ave g Units the NCDs! 8:22a alez apt 4 Legislat ion and MDT Maps TDD/T DR Rob Crap 3229 PZ. 1 To the Mayor and City Commissioners: Subject: Public Comment — Urging the Carve -Out Apr ert sey Mary #18838 of NCDs from the Affordable Housing TDD Amendment I am submitting this public 08 street Zoning comment as a resident of Maison Grove to urge the Commission to protect our local 2026 Text - zoning laws and explicit community protections from being overridden by the proposed 9:26a Miami Afforda Affordable Housing TDD Amendment. Zoning codes exist for one primary reason: m FL ble predictability. When a family buys a home in Miami, they do so trusting the rules of their MDT Housin neighborhood. Neighborhood Conservation Districts (NCDs) aren't just arbitrary lines on a g Units map —they are a promise made by this city. They represent a promise that the unique Legislat scale, character, and voice of our communities wilt be protected. This proposed TDD First Last Street Reco Agenda Nam Nam Addre Item Public Comment rded Date ion and amendment breaks that promise. While we all recognize the need for affordable housing, Maps pasting that label on a policy doesn't change what the text actually does. This amendment TDD/T acts as a backdoor for hyper -density. It allows developers to purchase air rights and dump DR massive, out -of -scale luxury projects directly into our protected neighborhoods —without adding a single affordable unit on -site. Furthermore, the procedural tactics used to advance this bill are deeply concerning. The fact that this amendment bypassed the PZAB meetings tells us everything we need to know. Legislation that is genuinely good for a community doesn't need to hide from public scrutiny. I know exactly what happens when the Commission allows these loopholes to pierce our neighborhoods. My single-family home sits directly next to a project called "The WeLL" Because of a similar loophole —one that promised "transit -oriented" benefits —I now get to watch a 123-foot concrete tower rise over my backyard. It will be filled with multi -million -dollar condos and massive private parking garages. The transit benefit was a fiction, and my community is the one paying the price. If you pass this amendment without protections, you are sending a dear message: you are declaring that no neighborhood in Miami is safe, and that local zoning can be overridden by the highest bidder at the expense of your constituents. You have the power to fix this right now. I strongly urge you to honor the promise of our zoning code. Explicitly carve out Neighborhood Conservation Districts from this amendment, or vote NO. Sincerely, Robert Crapsey Resident of Maison Grove End of Report