Barred from requiring green roofs, Miami Beach weighs fee breaks to encourage them

Miami Beach can’t make developers put gardens on their roofs, so city staff want to pay them to do it. A memo for Tuesday’s Land Use and Sustainability Committee proposes waiving some city fees for buildings that add green roofs or “living walls” of plants on their facades.

Under draft code language in the memo, a property with a green roof or living wall approved by the city’s environment and planning directors would owe no concurrency mitigation fees. Mobility fees could be cut in half if at least 50% of the roof is planted.

A mandate isn’t on the table. The memo says SB 180, a state law, keeps the city from requiring green roofs on new buildings. A separate memo on the same agenda says tougher open space and landscaping rules for private property would likely run afoul of the same law, which bars rules more restrictive than the ones already on the books.

Since 2019, a city ordinance has required new buildings to have a “sustainable” roof, which can be a white, cool, solar, metal or green roof. Planted roofs are the costliest choice: the memo puts the industry average at about $120 a square foot, and $160 for a living wall. Owners of existing buildings can already get up to $17,500 in matching grants for a green roof through the city’s Private Property Adaptation Program, when it fits the building, according to the memo.

Staff also floated public workshops and city web pages on green roofs, but said they would need more staff and would have to wait for the 2028 budget.

Other green items on the agenda

The committee will also see a list of ideas for city buildings and streets from a two-year-old referral on “forward-leaning” resiliency rules: permeable paving grids in city parking lots, properly sloped swales that hold stormwater, and giving more of the right-of-way to drainage and bikes than to cars. And it will review a draft “Resilient Parks Checklist” of 59 features, such as living shorelines and native plants, that the city could post on each park’s web page.

Commissioner Tanya K. Bhatt sponsored the green roof, resiliency and parks items. The committee meets Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 3 p.m. in the City Hall Commission Chamber, 1700 Convention Center Drive, and on Zoom. If the committee agrees, staff recommend the City Commission send a draft fee ordinance to the Planning Board.