| | | | | | | | |  | Town of Miami Lakes
Memorandum | |
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| | | | | | | | | To: | Honorable Mayor and Town Council
| | From: | Alex Rey, Town Manager
| | Subject: | Dunnwoody Lakes Utilization of Mobility Fee
| | Date: | 6/7/2016
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| | | | | | | | | Recommendation: |
It is recommended that the Town Council adopt the attached resolution authorizing use by the Dunnwoody Lakes residential development of the Mobility Fee Ordinance rather than the existing traffic concurrency determination under the 2011 Development Agreement. |
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| | | | | | | | | Background: | The attached resolution would accept the request by Lennar Homes, LLC, property owner and developer of the Dunnwoody Lakes residential development to utilize the provisions of the Mobility Fee Ordinance (adopted in April 2016) rather than the existing traffic concurrency determination under a Development Agreement signed in 2011.
In 2011, the Town via Resolution 11-883, entered into a Development Agreement with the then property owner of the parcel at the northwest corner of NW 87th Avenue and NW 154th Street. Among other provisions, the Development Agreement granted a traffic concurrency determination, subject to certain roadway improvements identified in a traffic study as necessary to achieve the adopted levels of service to Town roadways (detailed below). In November 2015, the Town Council adopted Resolution 15-1336 endorsing the potential use of alternative mitigation for traffic concurrency, including any that might result from the Alternative to Concurrency Study that the Town was undertaking at the time. The Alternative to Concurrency Study's ultimate recommendations led to the adoption of the Mobility Fee Ordinance.
The Mobility Fee Ordinance provides that "... a property owner with an existing transportation concurrency determination or determination of vested rights may voluntarily, subject to acceptance by the Town, choose to forego that previous determination and instead by subject to the Mobility Fee Ordinance." Lennar Homes, the property owner of that portion of the aforementioned property that has been approved for a residential development of 256 single family homes and 226 townhouses, has made such a request, and the proposed resolution would constitute the Town's acceptance of that request.
The calculated amount of the mobility fee due at current rates for this development is $657,807.53.
Staff finds that the payment by the property owner of the mobility fee will be of greater benefit to the Town than the improvements identified to meet concurrency under the terms of the 2011 Development Agreement. Those improvements, specifically, were as follows:
- construction of an additional southbound left-turn lane at NW 82nd Avenue and NW 154th Street (see Exhibit A);
- construction of an exclusive westbound right-turnlane at NW 82nd Avenue and NW 154th Street (see Exhibit A);
- construction of an exclusive eastbound right-turnlane at NW 82nd Avenue and NW 154th Street (see Exhibit A);
- construction of an additional eastbound through lane on NW 154th Street from NW 79th Court to NW 77th Court (see Exhibits B and C);
- Construction of an additional southbound left-turn lane at NW 154th Street and NW 79th Avenue (see Exhibit C); and,
- Construction of an exclusive northbound right-turn lane at NW 138th Street and NW 87th Avenue.
In addition to the above improvements, the property owner (current and former) has been or is responsible for additional improvements to transportation infrastructure. Already completed are dedication of the right-of-way necessary for the construction of NW 87th Avenue and reimbursement to the Town for construction of NW 154th Street that the Town has already undertaken. Additionally, the property owner is responsible for completing construction of NW 154th Street to 60 feet west of NW 89th Avenue prior to issuance of the first building permit, and to complete landscaping of NW 87th Avenue adjacent to its property (including medians). These improvements are above and beyond the mobility fee, and are obligatory regardless of whether this resolution is adopted.
The reasons that the payment of the mobility fee, rather than construction of these improvements, will be more beneficial to the Town are many and compelling. Included among those reasons are:
- The Town in July 2015 held a Transportation Summit, and an extensive planning process stemming from that event, to find solutions to transportation and mobility issues. The results of this process were integrated into the Town's new 10 year Strategic Plan, where mobility was identified as the top priority for the Town to address. NONE of the improvements identified above were identified as improvements needed to enhance the Town's mobility.
- Partly as a result of the transportation planning process described above, the Town has shifted focus to a strategy utilizing complete streets, and a long term of goal of utilizing multi-modal mobility, rather than focusing only on vehicle travel, and the improvements identified above would significantly damage those goals;
- the strategy of road widening in general, in Miami-Dade County, around the country and around the world, has proven to be a failure for addressing traffic congestion issues; in fact, the available evidence suggests that it tends to worsen congestion by encouraging more driving and making alternative ways of getting around (i.e. walking, biking, transit) more difficult or essentially impossible. That is case with the improvements identified under the Development Agreement.
- Miami-Dade County has specifically studied one of the improvements - the additional left turn lane from southbound NW 79th Avenue to eastbound NW 154th Street - as unnecessary and of no significant impact to congestion;
- There is insufficient right-of-way currently existing to construct most of the identified improvements, particularly when assuming that existing swales should be replaced and that sidewalks along arterial and collector roads should be widened, as the Town has determined they should through the transportation planning process discussed above. Based on data submitted by the property owner and additional analysis by staff, constructing these improvements would require acquiring or taking (i.e. through eminent domain) of twelve fee on the north side of NW 154th Street east of NW 82nd Avenue, taking about 10.5 feet from three single family properties on the south side of NW 154th Street west of NW 82nd Avenue, taking about 9.5 feet on the south side of NW 154th Street between NW 79th Court and NW 77th Court; and taking about ten feet on the the west side of NW 79th Avenue north of NW 154th Street. Given that these private properties are all already developed, these acquisitions and/or takings could be expected to extremely expensive and time-consuming, and would wreak havoc on their existing developments as landscaping, parking areas and other site features are taken and demolished.
- Based on data submitted by the property owner, constructing the improvements identified by the Development Agreement would result in removal of AT LEAST nine mature street trees.
- Most importantly, accepting payment of the mobility fee rather than construction of the improvements identified in the Development Agreement would allow the Town to begin to move forward with the transportation and mobility vision and plans developed through our extensive planning process, whereas the Development Agreement improvements would thwart those plans and repeat the mistakes of the past.
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