Non-Historic Design Guidelines

The Miami River Greenway Signage Design Specifications and Guidelines provide detailed requirements for signage directing people from surrounding neighborhoods to the publicly accessible Greenway. The sign types specified within the guidelines are elements of an  exterior wayfinding program designed as part of the Miami River Greenways project. These signs are installed along exterior public walkways and parks adjacent to the Miami River.

The Waterfront Development Plan guides the future development of properties along the Miami River. This document provides an overview of the Miami River Design Guidelines, public charter requirements, and resources for applicants. This plan provides applicants with information to help facilitate an efficient and timely review process and to assure that all projects are built in compliance with design standards and public charter requirements for waterfront public access. 

All Proposed Developments are required to comply with the Miami 21 zoning requirements. Search by property address for applicable zoning requirements via the Zoning Interactive Map. Access Miami 21 code requirements by clicking on the Zone link located in the Zoning tab. The following is a list of additional standards and code excerpts pertaining to Waterfront Development. The City of Miami reserves the right to expand on this list as is applicable on a project by project basis.

All Waterfront Properties

• Florida State Statutes
  • Chapter 342: Waterway and Waterfront Improvement
• Charter of the City of Miami
  • Chapter 29 – Landfills and Waterfront Improvements
  • Subpart A, Section 3 (mm)(ii), (iii) and (iv) – Parking Lot and Side Yard Setbacks
• Miami 21
  • Section 3.11 – Waterfront Standards
  • Appendix B Waterfront Design Guidelines
• Miami Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan
  • Coastal Management

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Boulevard Streetscape Beautification Master Plan and Façade Standards serve to advance the overall vision established by the local community to redevelop the area both physically and economically. This document focuses on three (3) primary components which constitute an important part of the overall community revitalization efforts:

• Creation of a beautification master plan for the MLK corridor itself which will serve as a blue print for future roadway improvements along the length of the corridor. The focus of these standards is to fast track the design and implementation of the streetscape improvements along the corridor while maintaining a meaningful and consistent theme throughout. The Beautification Master Plan includes: The illustrative Master Plan, Existing and Proposed Cross-Sections, Concept Sketches of the Corridor, Typical Crosswalk and Intersection Layouts, Public/ Private Relationship Layouts, linear park design alternatives, streetscape element palette, technical layout, and opinion of probable construction cost.

• Establishment of specific design standards for façade improvements which will aid local property owners in enhancing the physical characteristics of their properties. These standards are not intended to restrict design, but rather to establish an envelope in which the character of the neighborhood will be emphasized through quality architectural design. The facade standards portion of this report will include specific design standards for architectural façade improvements such as roofs, walls, color, lighting, signage, windows, doors, trim, security, transparency, building frontage, building materials, building scale, mechanical equipment screening, on-site parking screening, and architectural articulation.

• Historical Designation Reports for potential historic sites that played and continue to contribute to the history and character of the neighborhood. These reports will be submitted to the State for the consideration of establishing several historic properties along the corridor as official state designated historic sites. 

The Southeast Overtown/ Park West Community Redevelopment Plan guides the future development as defined within the boundaries of the Southeast Overtown Park West Community Redevelopment Area promoting the elimination of slum and blight conditions through rehabilitation, conservation and redevelopment of neighborhoods. This goals and principles of these plan aim to create a high quality urban standard of living.

The Grand Avenue Vision Plan was created to guide the redevelopment along the neighborhood's prominent “main street” corridor thru the Village West Coconut Grove community. This plan is a consensus document supporting the neighborhood’s inherent virtues, cultural character, historical precedent and need for redevelopment.

The  plan, as a component of the West Grove Restoration Project and building upon the recommendations of the Coconut Grove Planning Study (1996-7) and ongoing student work at the University of Miami School of Architecture, seeks to provide an overall framework for revitalization. It is guided by a set of strategic goals, arrived at through public meetings and workshops held with local residents, property owners, and stakeholders. These include:

• Building upon ongoing local efforts to revitalize and restore the avenue as a successful “Main Street” for the surrounding West Grove community.
• Reinforcing the community’s historic and cultural identity as a Caribbean island district, unique to the South Florida region.
• Providing guidance in the revision of current zoning regulations to ensure an attractive pedestrian environment, diverse in use and activity.
• Developing urban design guidelines that promote an active, safe, and pleasurable pedestrian environment while accommodating the needs of development and respecting the surrounding residential community.
• Nurturing the development of locally owned businesses by providing choice and flexibility in the range of available retail and commercial space.
• Attracting and retaining a diverse and balanced mix of residents by providing a range of housing options that is both competitive with other choices in the market and compatible with the avenue’s “Main Street” character. 

The vision of the Coral Way Beautification Master Plan and Design Standards is to provide a mix of living, working, shopping, and entertainment in a historic and tropical atmosphere, embracing an urban lifestyle and complimenting the existing tree canopy.

The main objective of this plan is to create a vision for the beautification improvements in the public right-of-way and establish design guidelines for private development which are consistent with the SD-23 Coral Way Overlay District Ordinance. The ordinance intends to preserve the character of Coral Way and emphasize its importance as gateway into the City. The objective is to ensure that future redevelopment activity respects the unique character of Coral Way and complements the scale and variety of uses along the corridor.

1. Beautification Master Plan

   With the assistance of the City and the stakeholders, the consultant team developed a Beautification Master Plan based on qualitative input gathered during the public involvement process and quantitative data collected during on site inventory and analysis of the corridor. The resulting Beautification Master Plan includes typical layouts for the various elements that make up an urban corridor. These elements include: sidewalk treatments, crosswalk design, gateway design, corner layouts, lighting, landscape, art in public places, and street furniture.
   
   

2. Design Standards

   The Design Standards codify the master plan by establishing specific guidelines for urban, streetscape and architectural elements along Coral Way. These Standards address improvements within the public right-of-way, and improvements to abutting structures including building layout, building uses, facade treatments, building materials, public/ private spaces, and parking. The elements of the Design Standards are as follows:

• Urban Components: The urban components separate the typical cross section of a corridor into different areas: building, transition area, sidewalk, landscape verge and buffer area. Each of these spaces are designed with the other in mind, assuring a cohesive design for the corridor.

• The Regulating Plan: A major component of the Design Standards is the Regulating Plan. This plan is essentially a map that dictates the type of development which should occur along the corridor based on the intended street character. The Regulating plan subdivides the corridor into distinct Zones based on the intended development intensity. Each Zone has its own set of standards which govern the layout and appearance of each structure and specific streetscape components.

• Streetscape Standards: Govern the placement and selection of furnishings, fixtures, plantings and hardscape.

• Urban Standards: Govern the placement of buildings, locations of parking and proposed use within buildings by level and proximity to the public realm.

• Architectural Standards: Govern the building materials and configurations of the major building components, including roofs, openings, walls, elements and signage. 

The Lemon City/Little Haiti French Creole Design Standards are intended to respect the architecture associated with Haiti characterized as “French-Creole”, a unique mixture of cultural traditions that reflect French and Spanish building traditions. Haiti, occupied by both the Spanish and the French, is also fiercely independent and with its own vernacular traditions synthesized a unique architectural type.

Buildings within the area described in these guidelines shall be built to respect this culture, tradition, and architecture. The following guidelines will help to produce an aesthetic cultural identity:

1. Buildings shall be designed with the Caribbean climate in mind and complementing the Caribbean-French Creole designed facades reminiscent of the Haitian culture and community’s desired appearance.
2. Chain link fencing shall not be placed in the first layer adjacent to NE 2nd Avenue; unless it is of a temporary nature.

The Overtown Folklife Village Master Plan includes a set of design guidelines intended to guide the conservation and redevelopment of the African American culture within the traditional village center boundaries in the Overtown neighborhood. These design guidelines serve to compliment the overall vision in the Overtown Folk Life District.

The Arts and Entertainment District CRA Streetscapes were developed to create a unified vision centered around the Performing Arts Center. These visual exercises unify the Performing Arts superblock with other projects including the Burle Marx Biscayne Boulevard improvements and private redevelopment of surrounding parcels.

Midtown Miami West Master Sign Package was envisioned to integrate the design qualities and functional wayfinding requirements of a regional activity center designed to support big box retail, other mixed-use activities, and parking. The intent of the District’s Master sign package is to:

1. Move pedestrian and vehicle traffic in and out of the District safely and efficiently.
2. Promote safe and efficient pedestrian traffic within the District.
3. Promote efficient vehicle circulation to and from the parking garages within the District.
4. Identify the District to motorists along Interstate 195.
5. Create a unique identity for the District which distinguishes it from other parts of the City. 

Midtown Miami Design Guidelines for Urban Design are meant to establish the appropriate standards for buildings and streetscapes creating a mid-town neighborhood hub of Miami. The standards are divided into 2 separate sub-districts, Midtown East (27.1) and Midtown West (27.2), which divides the Buena Vista yards into two activity zones.

The Off Street Parking Design Standards and Guidelines were created to enhance Miami-Dade County's landscape Code and further landscape areas of surface parking within the City. These standards are intended to mitigate and buffer some of the negative results from surface parking by ensuring that off street parking is designed, constructed, and maintained to provide safe, convenient parking and pedestrian movement to and from parked vehicles. Additionally, the deign and construction of all required and/or provided parking stalls, access aisles, driveways, paving, curbing, wheel stops, drainage, and markings shall further be in accordance with the City's engineering standards for design construction.

The Miami River Greenway Regulatory Design Standards and Guidelines were created to establish a unified set of design standards for the future development along the Miami River Corridor. This document describes how public and private development along the river should create a public corridor within a mix of current and future uses and activities.

The Greenway runs along the rights-of-way of both North and South River Drives, primarily linking people and places along the river together and serving as a primary unifying element for the corridor. The Miami River Greenway is an integral part to the success of the overall Miami River Corridor’s development success. The Greenway Corridor is comprised of four integral parts:

• Public right-of-way

• Private development

• Riverwalk

• Connectors from right-of-way to the riverwalk

The Village Island West Architecture and Urban Design Guidelines were created to implement the Village West Island and Charles Avenue Neighborhood Conservation District’s intent for a Caribbean Cultural District based on the early settlers to Coconut Grove. This neighborhood is a reminder of the seminal contributions made by black Bahamians who immigrated to the South Florida area from Key West and the Bahamas. The boundaries included in the Village Island West encompass a large area of that early 19th and early 20th century settlement and the style of architecture for new buildings should reflect the native building traditions and rich legacy of the original pioneers.