The super developers behind 500 Alton, an ambitious development plan that focuses on what would become Miami Beach's tallest building, knew their plan didn't meet city codes. But, hey, it's only local government and they're super developers. There's ways of getting around those things, but it's quite possible things could get a lot tougher for those developers. The plans could go to a public referendum.
See also: 500 Alton: All the Details on South Beach's Proposed Tallest Building
Related and Crescent Heights's plans for 500 Alton call for a 50-story residential tower with units starting at $2 million. The problem? The current height limit for the area are set at just 75 feet and seven total stories.
They could get around that with a vote from a supermajority of the city commission and approval form the design and planning boards.
However, things could get a bit more complicated. The parcel of land they've assembled, which stretches from 500 to 700 Alton Road, could be considered one separate parcel or three separate parcels depending on the interoperation of city laws. To build that 50-story building they'd need to pool together the development rights from all three plots of lands.
According to the Miami Herald, City Attorney Jose Smith thinks that because those three separate lots are separated by public roads they can't be considered a single parcel. So it would not be legal to pool all three lots' development rights together.
Thanks to the Save Miami Beach campaign of the '90s, changing such rules require a city-wide referendum.
Basically, the civic history of Miami Beach is scattered with several laws and referendums that prevents (or at least makes it really, really hard for) developers from building giant-ass condo buildings wherever they please.
Even if that referendum passed, the developers would still need to get past the city commission and two boards.
Though, the Herald points out that to get around that law the city of Miami Beach could just hand over the two public roads to the developers. We're sure that would go over well with local activists.
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