City to consider lifting tough parking rules

An initiative to loosen Miami’s restrictive parking requirements advanced to the city’s Planning and Zoning Board.

The zoning code, which dictates a minimum of 1.5 parking spaces for every residential unit, is seen as restrictive by small developers and urban activists. Amending the code would enable developers to build more small-scale condo projects served by public transportation in the city’s core.

On Thursday, a proponent of the measure, Miami Commissioner Francis Suarez, was instrumental on generating enough support from fellow commissioners to move the measure to the board for review next month, according to the Miami Herald.

The proposal has wide support from property owners and developers and merchants in areas like Little Havana, where there are pockets of space that remain undeveloped because of restrictive zoning, the report said. [Miami Herald] – Jennifer White Karp