The City Commission is attempting to push an illegal and drastic change that would slash the maximum allowable Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for single-family homes from 0.72 down to 0.50—effectively chopping the potential size of your new or renovated house by nearly a third. This proposal isn’t some minor code tweak; it imposes an across-the-board limit that will hurt everyone, from longtime residents to new neighbors, destroying the Surfside market.
What does that mean for you and your neighbors? Picture a typical Surfside lot of around 6,000 square feet. Under current rules (0.72 FAR), you could build or expand up to approximately 4,320 square feet of living space. If the Commission gets its way, that drops to 3,000 square feet—a whopping 30% decrease. On bigger lots, the loss is even bigger. This affects condo owners too, who will be affected indirectly from a cratering Surfside market.
For a typical lot of 5600 square feet, the new rule will lose homeowners more than $1,500,000 of value. Even for homeowners that do not plan to rebuild and maximize their returns, but simply plan to sell, this move will crater their property values hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Why Property Values Will Crater
At the current market of more than $1,000 per square foot for every new construction, homeowners will lose millions of dollars in future sales and rebuilds. By cutting allowable living area by 20–30%, your property’s market value can drop by even more than 20-30%, because new buyers don’t want to hassle with tight constraints or spend money on a teardown that can’t be rebuilt the way they’d envisioned, thus lowering the liquidity and pool of available buyers, cratering the market.
Evidence of Downzoning Disasters
Other communities that rushed to shrink building sizes under the banner of “neighborhood character” discovered the unintended consequences: sharp declines in property values and tax revenues, along with legal battles from outraged residents. In one Florida municipality, a similar FAR rollback triggered a flood of lawsuits under the Bert Harris Act, costing the city millions in legal fees and settlements—on top of the decline in the tax base. And once property values start to dip, the domino effect kicks in: lower resale prices, fewer new buyers, more abandoned redevelopment plans, and a less vibrant local economy.
Surfside has always been an attractive, growing destination, but this proposed FAR change could undermine the very foundation of our real estate market. By tightening the space you’re allowed to build, the City Commission is threatening to suffocate Surfside’s long-term property values—and punishing homeowners who invested here in good faith.