Miami Beach's City Commission on Thursday approved at least eight measures targeting Florida's Live Local Act — including one that lays the groundwork for a legal challenge to the 2023 state law. One measure directs the city attorney to work with Miami's counterpart on arguments against the law, though neither city has filed a lawsuit yet. Others support repealing or amending the act in Tallahassee (including giving cities "inclusionary zoning" power), require the city manager to alert commissioners to new Live Local applications, and order infrastructure-impact studies in the Sunset Harbour neighborhood.
The law lets developers build bigger than local zoning allows if 40 percent of units are income-restricted (households earning up to 120 percent of area median income) for at least 30 years. This week developer Russell Galbut scrapped three Live Local towers in the city — including a 42-story Alton Road plan he reduced to 19 stories — though he called the act "the salvation of Miami Beach." Nine applications remain pending, proposing 577 income-restricted and 697 market-rate units.
Why it matters
This fight decides what gets built in Miami Beach neighborhoods — and whether any of it actually relieves the rents Malayalee families pay. Watch whether the cities move from legal groundwork to an actual lawsuit.
