Art Of Upzoning: Miami Developer Wins Approval For 17-Unit Project On Duplex Site

In this episode of The Peter Zalewski Show™, urban planner Anne-Christine Carrie of Miami21zoning.com explains how she entitled 17 parking-free units without needing Florida's Live Local Act.The weekly podcast The Peter Zalewski Show™ features interviews with South Florida business leaders focused on real estate, finance and the economy.The program - hosted by Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ - is broadcast live every Wednesday at 4 pm (Miami time) at MiamiCondo.Club and on Peter Zalewski’s social media accounts to watch the free live broadcasts.The objective of the show is to deliver straight talk, share institutional knowledge and provide data-driven analysis on the macro and micro economic forces shaping the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.Episode OverviewIn the Jan. 14, 2026, episode of The Peter Zalewski Show™ podcast, host Peter Zalewski interviews urban planner Anne-Christine Carrie of Miami21zoning.com about the complexities of the planning, zoning and entitlements process in South Florida real estate development.Carrie—a former city employee turned private consultant—detailed how she successfully argued that high traffic congestion near a project site justified the elimination of all parking spaces for a 17-unit development on a standard duplex lot.The podcast discussion centered on the specific strategies investors can leverage—from Florida’s Live Local Act to traffic studies—to bypass political hurdles and unlock hidden density in an increasingly rigid regulatory environment.During the 63-minute episode, Carrie highlighted the need for due diligence when dealing with planning, zoning and entitlement issues. She explained how a regulatory error by a city nearly cost a client their business.Carrie recounted an incident where a municipality attempted to shut down a long-standing crematorium, claiming the use was no longer permitted.By manually reviewing years of physical ordinances, she discovered a clerical error where a city employee had accidentally shifted the letter "P"—signifying "Permitted"—into the wrong column during a digital code update.The discovery forced the city to retract the violation, highlighting that digital zoning maps often contain inaccuracies that can only be uncovered through examination of original statutes.For cash-strapped unit owners facing the financial burden of the Florida Condo Association Financial Cliff, Carrie suggested that the path forward may lie in land entitlement rather than renovating Vintage buildings that are at least 30 years old.She advised owners facing hefty special assessments to investigate the "upzoning" potential of their land rather than paying for aesthetic repairs.Carrie said developers prioritize maximum density over existing structures.By entitling a condo project’s land for a higher unit count, associations can theoretically increase the property's buyout value by as much as 50%, offering a financial exit strategy that outweighs the cost of preserving a decaying asset.