Planners Seek To Restrict Park West Commercial Growth

By Yeleny Suarez
Miami planners want to restrict commercial growth on nearly 280 acres of the city’s Park West neighborhood to enhance its redevelopment potential.

The changes, proposed by the Community Redevelopment Agency and recommended by planning and zoning officials, would increase the intensity of future projects.

"Limiting the freedom of what can be built (would exclude) unappealing parking lots and suburban designs that are incompatible with the community," said Luciana L. Gonz·lez, Miami Planning Department special projects coordinator.

"This new legislation will promote primary pedestrian pathways, which require retail and service space on ground floors," she said, "requiring projects go through design review for anything that is built and promoting a compact urban core which fosters urban neighborhood and commercial area reinvestment."

The zoning changes keep with the city’s comprehensive neighborhood plan, based on a 2004 study calling for the following guidelines for Park West development:

NA minimum 2,000 residential units and a maximum of 4,500.

NA minimum 500,000 square feet of commercial space to no more than 1.2 million square feet.

NA minimum 80,000 square feet of office space and a maximum of 100,000.

The proposal is slated for discussion May 26 by the city commission.

Parcels included in the proposal are bounded by Interstate 395 on the north, Northeast Second Avenue to the east, Northeast Fifth Street and Northeast Sixth Street to the south and Northwest First Avenue to the west, said Community Redevelopment Agency Director Frank Rollason. The area surrounds but does not include Miami Arena.

"This is a joint deal," he said, "between the city’s planning and zoning and the South East Overtown Park West CRA planners (and ties in) with future goals."