A faithful Transit Miami reader recently attended a zoning change hearing for a proposed mixed-use tower called Civica Tower, located at 1050 NW 14th Street in the Civic Center district. According to the reader, Miami’s Planning Advisory Board didn’t event question the developers new proposal, allowing an additional 650 parking spaces beyond the 800 gratuitous spaces already granted. The justification? The developers are nixing the tower’s hotel component to provide more retail and office space.
This utter lack of vision made on behalf of the city is unacceptable. Not only is there ample transit coverage in the district (three Metrorail stops, a myriad of Metrobus lines), there are newly planned trolley routes aimed at making one of Miami’s densest employment centers more walkable, transit friendly, and urbane. This decision, which follows a long standard of poor choices in the city, will continue to undermine the transit investment meant to improve the area, and the city at large.
Shame on the PAB.
4 Responses to Parking Allowances Go All To Hell In Civic Center District
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Thanks you for this excellent comment. This makes the Obama’s emphasis on rapid transit and public transit laughable. We take the money, but in practice Florida, and especially Miami, Coral Gables, etc. are run as someone said (sorry,I lost the source) “by the developers and for the developers”. Again, another reason why Miami-Dade will always be a second-rate metropolitan area.
In reality, the parking ratios pursuant to the City Code have been extremely deficient. Go to the buildings on Brickell during the weekends, and you will see that there is simply not enough parking. The County has squandered our Mass Transit Plans, so, what do you expect. Developers aren’t going to risk building a project with minimal parking when they have no idea when Mass Transit will actually be a reality in Miami..
Actually the parking ratios used in our CITY center are akin to those you find in a suburban strip mall. As someone who lived on Brickell I never found a parking problem. There is no reason for buildings so close to transit to provide excessive parking.
What do we expect people to do? Take transit. If there is deficient service on your route then you should demand better transit service from elected officials. It is this type of backward car-centered attitude that keeps people in their cars. Downtowns belong to people not cars.
Here Here.