Miami commissioners voted 4-1 last week in favor of an ordinance that would essentially force developers to build more parking.
“This is not a pedestrian and bicycle city,” Commissioner Manolo Reyes said. “we don’t have a mass transit system, period.”
Reyes went on to complain that people were parking in front of his house due to a lack of parking space.
Commissioner Joe Carollo also spoke in favor of the ordinance at the meeting. He has previously called developers “greedy” for wanting to build less parking.
The vote was on a first reading of the ordinance. The new rules will become law after a vote on a second and final reading.
Developers will be required to build the full amount of parking required by zoning, unless they can get a commission vote to allow a reduction for their specific project. Parking reduction waivers by city planners for projects near transit stops will no longer be permitted.
Commissioners are going against a recommendation of a Miami zoning task force, which recommended further reducing minimum parking requirements.
They also overrode the Planning and Zoning Board, which voted against the plan. One member of that board called the proposal “garbage.”
Requiring more parking will make housing even less affordable to build in Miami, and smaller developments might become completely unviable, advocates say.