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ORDINANCE RELATING TO THE INFILL HOUSING INITIATIVE PROGRAM; AMENDING SECTIONS 17-121, 17-122 AND 17-125 OF THE CODE OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA; INCLUDING IN THE PROGRAM PRIVATELY-OWNED PROPERTIES LOCATED OUTSIDE OF THE INFILL TARGET AREAS; PROVIDING SEVERABILITY, INCLUSION IN THE CODE, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE

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WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners (�Board�) created the Miami-Dade County Infill Housing Initiative Program pursuant to Ordinance No. 01-47, as amended and codified in chapter 17, article VII of the Code of Miami-Dade County (�infill housing program�); and
WHEREAS, the purpose of the Infill Housing Program is to increase the availability of affordable homes for very low, low and moderate income persons (�qualified households�), maintaining a stock of affordable housing, redeveloping urban neighborhoods by eliminating the blight of vacant lots and dilapidated or abandoned properties, equitably distributing homeownership opportunities currently within certain infill target areas as defined below, and generating payment of ad valorem taxes; and�
WHEREAS, the infill housing program further encourages the redevelopment of vacant, dilapidated or abandoned property through the sale or transfer of County properties to qualified developers and the inclusion of privately owned vacant, dilapidated or abandoned properties; and�
WHEREAS, through the infill housing program developers are required to build single family homes to be sold to qualified households; and
WHEREAS, the infill housing program permits private property owners to include their properties in the infill housing program, which allows the County to increase the supply of affordable housing that is available to the residents of the County; and
WHEREAS, currently the infill housing program only permits the inclusion of privately owned properties that are located within an infill target area and that are suitable for the development of no more than four single family homes, attached or detached; and
WHEREAS, the Code defines the term infill target areas as �[t]he areas of the County designated as the Urban Infill Target Area (UIA), as defined in�Section 33G-3(26) of the Code, and the Targeted Urban Areas (TUA), as defined in�Section 30A-129(2) of the Code. In addition, Infill Target Areas shall include those portions of Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Areas not otherwise covered under the UIA and TUA; and any geographic locations in Miami-Dade County which are designated by the Federal Government as empowerment zones shall be included in the definition of TUA at the time of such designation;� and
WHEREAS, this Board believes that restricting the location of privately owned properties to the infill target areas also limits the number of affordable housing units that can be built in the County through the infill housing program; and
WHEREAS, accordingly, this Board desires to amend the infill housing program to also permit the inclusion of privately owned vacant, dilapidated or abandoned properties located outside of the infill target areas,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA:
Section 1. Section 17-121 of the Code of Miami-Dade County, Florida, is hereby amended to read as follows:1
Sec. 17-121. Title; Purpose.

This article shall be entitled, "The Infill Housing Initiative Program." Its purpose is to increase the availability of affordable homes for very low, low and moderate income persons, maintain a stock of affordable housing, redevelop urban neighborhoods by eliminating the blight of vacant lots and dilapidated or abandoned properties, to equitably distribute homeownership opportunities within >>, and in some cases outside of<< the Infill Target Areas, and generate payment of ad valorem taxes. The Infill Housing Initiative Program shall encourage the redevelopment of vacant, dilapidated or abandoned property through the sale or conveyance of County property to qualified developers and the inclusion of privately owned vacant, dilapidated or abandoned properties located [[in]] >>within and outside of<< the Infill Target Areas. The community development corporations and developers shall be required to develop affordable single-family homes to be sold to very low, low and moderate income eligible person or eligible households. Although the Infill Housing Initiative Program is primarily designed to create affordable homeownership of single-family homes, the County under limited circumstances may at its sole discretion permit developers to rent these homes to qualified very low, low or moderate income families.


Section 2. Section 17-122 of the Code of Miami-Dade County, Florida, is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 17-122. Definitions.


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(i) Infill Parcel. A parcel of surplus County-owned land included on the County�s affordable housing inventory list established in accordance with Section 125.379, Florida Statutes, or privately owned land, which is located within >>or outside of any<< [[infill target area]] >>Infill Target Area<< and is suitable for the development of no more than four single family homes (attached or detached).

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Section 3. Section 17-125 of the Code of Miami-Dade County, Florida, is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 17-125. Development.
(a) Private Property Owners. The County may encourage private property owners to redevelop their properties as infill housing through forgiveness of County liens as identified in section 17-126 of this article or through the availability of construction loans. Subject to the availability of funding, the County may provide construction loans to private property owners who are determined to be eligible for such funding. In order to participate in the Infill Housing Initiative Program, each private owner authorized to participate in the Infill Housing Initiative Program shall abide by all the pre-development, development, and qualifying an eligible household described herein. The County Mayor or County Mayor�s designee shall approve a Private Property Owner to develop their private property[[,]] located [[in]] >>within or outside of<< the Infill Target Areas, for the Infill Housing Program and allow the maximum amount of time provided by the Program to develop and sell such property. If not, the Private Property Owner will not be eligible to receive program incentives and the lot may be removed from the Infill Program. Each Private Property Owner shall record in the public records one or more covenants or declarations of restrictions in a form approved by the County as set forth in Section 17-124(d).

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Section 4. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or provision of this ordinance is held invalid, the remainder of this ordinance shall not be affected by such invalidity.
Section 5. It is the intention of the Board of County Commissioners, and it is hereby ordained that the provisions of this ordinance, including any sunset provision, shall become and be made a part of the Code of Miami-Dade County, Florida. The sections of this ordinance may be renumbered or relettered to accomplish such intention, and the word �ordinance� may be changed to �section,� �article,� or other appropriate word.
Section 6. This ordinance shall become effective ten (10) days after the date of enactment unless vetoed by the Mayor, and if vetoed, shall become effective only upon an override by this Board.

1 Words stricken through and/or [[double bracketed]] shall be deleted. Words underscored and/or >>double arrowed<< constitute the amendment proposed. Remaining provisions are now in effect and remain unchanged.