North Beach residents rally on Ocean Terrace, October 28, 2015.
whether the vision to transform North Beach into
a haven for the jet-set aligned with the values of
North Beach residents.
Over the summer months, members of
the community joined together and attended
various meetings at City Hall and throughout
Miami Beach to express their concerns and
help educate the general public about the
proposal. An online petition attracted supporters
with the concept of a progressive North Beach
development that stayed within the limits of the
existing FAR. These residents joined together to
become the core of a powerhouse get-out-thevote campaign that started gaining momentum
by September.
Voters Have the Power
In 1997, residents formed a movement called
Save Miami Beach to help slow the proliferation
of high-rises in the city. The referendum placed
the power of upzoning squarely in the hands
of the voters. Activists at the time gathered
over 6,000 signatures to put a measure on
the ballot item which would require voters to
approve increases in FAR for properties along
the Miami Beach waterfront. That measure
won by a substantial majority. In 2004 voters
approved an expansion of the original charter
amendment, requiring voter approval before
increasing FAR anywhere. A coalition of
activists including the North Shore Historic
District Neighborhood Association, residents
of Ocean Terrace, and neighbors helped lead
the campaign that made history when voters
rejected the upzoning, which would have
significantly altered the look and feel of historic
Ocean Terrace in Miami Beach.
As the November 3rd election approached,
the developer’s organization intensified its
promotion of the conceptual condo-hotel design
through an aggressively funded ad campaign,
a slick website and media events supporting
the upzoning effort. Simultaneously, residents
opposed to the measure coalesced into a group
calling itself Save Ocean Terrace. It seemed a
lop-sided duel, considering that the grassroots
coalition of neighborhood activists had only
individual, small donations to fund their
efforts, vs the significant capital resources of a
company that had already invested over $70
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THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE
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