BUT ANY REZONING MUST PRESERVE CHARACTER AND AUTHENTICITY
Editor's Note: We have known Bill Fuller for more than a decade. He is by far the most responsible developer in Miami. This week, we received an open letter from him, urging Little Havana stakeholders to demand more from the City of Miami before it upzones a portion of the neighborhood. Bill is a visionary who understands preservation, walkability and authenticity. He urges City leaders to slow down and do more to protect the authenticity of Little Havana, so speculators do not build out-of-scale development. We note that some of our town planning friends support the pending upzoning as is. Our publishing of Bill Fuller's letter is not a blanket endorsement of everything he is suggesting, but the essence of his ideas is brilliant -- so we are publicizing his careful thoughts here:
Dear fellow stakeholders,
We are at a critical moment that will forever impact the
future of our beloved Little Havana.
Before we rush into upzoning and historic designation
recently initiated by the City of Miami, we should slow down and carefully
study all of the impacts on existing and future: residents, buildings,
businesses, scale and way of life.
Any designation of historic preservation or upzoning should
come in tandem with a “conservation district” overlay that will prescribe the
look and feel of future developments surrounding historic Little Havana.
As stakeholders who love everything Little Havana is and can
be, we must make sure that future developments are consistent with the context
and character of the neighborhood.
An overlay, that will preserve what is good and improve what
needs to be enhanced, must include strong guidelines that regulate:
· The
architectural style of new developments
· The size,
scale, style and character of public spaces
· Mixed-use
development that encourages ground floor retail with residences above
· Land use
in a way that preserves the walkable urban fabric that has served the
neighborhood for a century
· Out of
scale uses, such as superblock developments that vacate streets, or supersized
retail sites that that destroy the very urban flavor that has made the area so
desirable to investors
Little Havana is a neighborhood known throughout the world.
Locals and visitors alike adore it for arts, culture and
authenticity.
Adaptive re-use, properly-scaled infill development and
growth that accommodates a healthy range of household incomes are not only
welcomed, they should be encouraged by legislation that accommodates them
without ruining the neighborhood’s diverse flavor.
While there certainly is room for national retailers, they
should not be allowed to destroy Little Havana’s world-renown character by
building standard, off the shelf suburban buildings with seas of parking for
their drug stores, banks and restaurants.
The City of Miami’s landmark Miami 21 zoning code was passed
with the explicit intent of preserving all the wonderful human scale, unique
architecture and mainstreet business corridors that make its diverse
neighborhoods unique.
Sadly, since Miami 21, the City’s most famous street – Calle
Ocho – has been violated by a parade of suburban-style, boring buildings that
do nothing to preserve and enhance the beloved historic character of Little
Havana.
Soon, another development by a national company
headquartered hundreds of miles from Miami will build a suburban, drive-through
monstrosity on Calle Ocho. This bank, on the corner of SW 12th Avenue and
SW 8th street, will have nothing in common with the architectural style and
scale that made Calle Ocho the spiritual heart of the city.
These suburban developments destroy the very authenticity
that draws artists, entrepreneurs, innovators, startup restaurants and visitors
to Little Havana.
A well-crafted overlay must be created within Miami 21 and
it must have teeth enough to prevent the remaining good city blocks from being
destroyed.
Several established media sources have reported that a group
that operates car dealerships has assembled a lot of land in the part of Little
Havana that the City of Miami is fast tracking for an upzoning.
Car dealerships create jobs and commerce. They have their
place in greater Miami. No one is saying otherwise.
But can you imagine a huge car dealership -- with its sea of
asphalt to display cars and accommodate customers, street trees savagely clear
cut to open a view to the giant showroom and architecturally obscene compound
of repair bays, body shop and more – taking up several blocks in our
newly-minted residential historic district?
This is not a case of wanting to impose Coral Gables-like
zoning and beautification standards on the proud working class neighborhoods of
Little Havana.
This is simply a matter of drawing the line and demanding
that horrifically out of scale superblock developments do not destroy our
neighborhood.
City leaders would not dare allow a giant auto dealership,
or super warehouse club retailer in any of the dozens of historic and
significant neighborhoods that define our diverse Miami.
So why should Little Havana’s people get second- or
third-class treatment by imposing a monstrosity that would destroy livability
for several blocks in every direction?
But a car dealership or other quality-of-life crushing
superblock development will soon be a reality if we do not push the City of
Miami to place a use restriction on developments that endanger the vision have
for our preserved and re-energized neighborhood.
We support logical progress. But we must ask our city to
slow down, so we stakeholders can determine exactly what the strategy is being
considered. We must determine whether it is a holistic approach for the
neighborhood, or tweak to benefit only a few deep-pocketed investors.
I have not seen one developer or champion of the upzoning
come forward to explain its holistic benefit to our community.
I strongly support historic preservation. But I fear a
proposed historic district, without considering the entire neighborhood, is a
smoke screen created to placate skeptics while deflecting our attention from
the true core issue of a city rushing to upzone a neighborhood coveted by
speculators.
As stakeholders that have worked hard to preserve Little
Havana’s authenticity, I do not believe we can support a rush to upzone.
I urge you to stand united in our demand for a holistic
rezoning plan that preserves the character of the neighborhood we so dearly
love.
Sincerely,
Bill Fuller
Miami native, preservationist, investor in adaptive re-use
buildings and vigilant activist to preserve the heritage and authenticity of
Little Havana
Bill Fuller
