Miami Beach commissioners take steps to reduce Ocean Drive noise

Miami Beach commissioners, frustrated with the proliferation of multi-passenger golf buggies that ferry tourists around South Beach while blaring loud music, asked the city’s Neighborhoods Committee Wednesday night to look into ways to reduce noise on Ocean Drive.

Last year the city commission voted to ban alcohol sales on Ocean Drive from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m., and earlier this year the commission approved a series of measures proposed by the Ocean Drive Task Force that included upgraded lighting, increasing police and having restaurant and bar owners address the size and design of café umbrellas that residents complain have created a “tunnel effect” along Ocean Drive.   

But longtime neighborhood activist Mitch Novick, the owner of the Sherbrooke Hotel on Collins Avenue said the task force recommendations didn’t go far enough to reduce noise in the area, which is largely zoned for mixed-use entertainment. He told the commission the city should do more to reduce noise, which he says has caused a deterioration of the neighborhood. Novick said that last weekend there was a shooting, and several assaults in the area including a stabbing in the exclusive South Pointe neighborhood adjacent to Ocean Drive where condos have been selling for about $2,000 per square foot.    

Commissioners like Ricky Arriola seemed to agree with Novick that more needs to be done to address the noise issue, asking the Neighborhoods Committee to look into the issue. “Let’s start with something we can control,” Arriola said.