On February 7, 2017, the Town Council of the Town of Miami Lakes directed the Town Manager to explore potential revisions to the Land Development Code (LDC), and to return to a workshop with recommendations. The request followed in the wake of an active development cycle that brought to light concerns over quality design and compatibility of development. The Council's direction was to identify codifiable design standards that would provide staff the tools needed to promote quality design without interrupting the timeliness of the development review process. The workshop was held on October 24, 2017 and the proposed ordinance is reflective of discussion held at that meeting.

As it currently stands, Section 13-304 of the Town's LDC's provides little in the way of specificity regarding desired architectural standards and neighborhood compatibility. The proposed ordinance addresses the use of recognizable architectural genre, building scale and massing, façade treatments and materials, windows and doors, pedestrian scale, and other ancillary features. Multifamily, commercial, and Industrial development requiring site plan review are subject to the new provisions and all require staff level review for compliance. Final authority is reserved to the Council for those applications requiring public hearing. The proposed ordinance also provides for an appeal procedure.

On October 24, 2017, the Local Planning Agency recommended approval of the ordinance without modification. The attached ordinance has since been updated to include the definition of key terms. For a fuller description and analysis of the proposed ordinance, please see the Staff Report and Analysis attached to this memorandum.