Eastside Ridge Project in Miami's Little Haiti Facing Possible Setback
The Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board will be asked whether it wants to reconsider its May 2019 vote on the project re-zoning.
A controversial project in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood that’s been pushing for city approval for four years could lose even the little ground it has gained so far.
Eastside Ridge has stalled in front of a planning board that’s echoed Little Haiti residents’ concerns that the development will gentrify the city’s poorest area and unravel its community fabric.
The Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board is tasked with separately voting on Eastside Ridge’s future land use map change and re-zoning. It doesn’t need to approve the items, but only to vote them up or down as its role is advisory to the City Commission, which has final say.
The board has stopped the project from proceeding by deferring decision on the land use change. It voted on the zoning in May 2019, but now it will be asked whether it wants to walk back this decision.
If the measure passes, it would be a significant blow to Eastside Ridge, as it would be set back two years in the process and lose the only vote it’s obtained in that time.
Planning board member Anthony Parrish is to ask his colleagues whether they are willing to consider rescinding the zoning vote. If they agree to reconsider, then the rescission item will be placed for a vote at a following meeting.
Parrish, who is among Eastside Ridge’s most vocal critics on the board, argues the zoning decision should be rescinded on two issues.
First, it was erroneous because a vote on the land use map change should come first, he said.
Also, city code binds the board to vote the same way on both the zoning and land use, meaning it can’t vote one up and the other down. The planning board tied on the zooning vote, which means under city rules this item goes to the commission with a recommendation to deny.
Because the board has to vote the same way on both items, it’s now bound to also deny the land use change, Parrish argues.
“Once the zoning change was deemed a nay, now the planning board is locked into voting nay on the future land use map change. Why/? Because a yes vote would result in a contradiction,” Parrish said. “A vote without a legitimate alternative is a sham vote.”
Attorneys for Eastside Ridge developer SPV Realty LC didn’t immediately return a request for comment. SPV Realty is represented by Bilzin Sumberg partner Vicky Leiva and Lydecker | Diaz partner Stephen Hunter Johnson in Miami.
SPV Realty first submitted its Eastside Ridge proposal in summer 2016 for review by city staff members, who deemed it met development regulations.
Eastside Ridge has been pending in front of the planning board since 2018 as members keep voting to defer it, stopping it from moving on to the commission.
The proposal is for 5 million square feet of real estate that breaks down to a maximum of 3,300 apartment units, 240 hotel keys, 300,000 square feet of offices, and 500,000 square feet of shopping.
It would rise on a 22-acre site SPV Realty owns on the southeast corner of Northeast 54th Street and Second Avenue, replacing existing Design Place apartments.
The board has stalled the project because it’s pushing for more affordable housing in the development, and for SPV Realty to hold more community meetings and outreach.
Leiva and Hunter Johnson have pushed back, saying they held 37 discussions before the coronavirus pandemic and two on Zoom this year.
At the Dec. 2 meeting, they came back with a project changed to appease opposition. They reduced heights from 28 to 20 stories, added 75 affordable units, and vowed to relocate all current Design Place households in the new project at the same rental rates they pay now.
Deign Place isn’t officially designated affordable housing but, at roughly $1,350 a month for a one-bedroom unit, it offers some reprieve from the high cost of living in Miami.
The planning board on Dec. 2 deferred a decision for at least the sixth time. It asked for more outreach in Little Haiti, although it appeared excited by SPV Realty’s new proposal to accommodate Design Place residents.
“This is the first time I heard about” this, Parrish said. “This is a promising sign, and that is the tradeoff they should have made from the get-go.”
SPV Realty last year tried to push through a vote by suing the city for a writ of mandamus that would compel the planning board to make a decision, voting the project either up or down.
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