The bad news out of the Coral Gables Commission meeting when the expansive Mediterranean Village development was approved Tuesday, albeit with some downsizing: The height variance allowing developers to go
two stories higher than the code permits could very well set a precedent that will give the city a hard time denying other developers the same thing.
The good news is that it was a first reading, rushed to a vote only 12 days before an election that actually usher in a new majority on the commission dais. That means it can be undone after the next meeting, which is after the election on April 14. The height variance might not make it through a second reading.
Neither former Commissioner Ralph Cabrera, who is running for mayor, nor many of the commission candidates — including Ariel Fernandez, Enrique Lopez and Jeannett Slesnick — would allow Agave Ponce LLC to build something with habitable space above the 190.6-foot limit allowed in the city.
Read related story: Huge Coral Gables development pushed before election
“I’m not going to let these guys have a height restriction variance. Absolutely not,” Cabrera said. 
“It’s unreasonable. It’s unnecessary.”
Apparently, even the developers agree. They said at the meeting Tuesday that they could live within the 16-story height restrictions. So why on Earth did Mayor Jim Cason and Commissioners Frank Quesada and Pat Keon insist on 19 stories?
Some observers and candidates feel that, at least in the case of Cason, the $10,000 he’s received so far from the developers for his campaign may have had something to do with it. At the mayoral debates, Cabrera has raised concerns about those contributions and others from special interests that seem to be hell bent on turning Coral Gables into the next Brickell.
He is not alone.
“Here’s how many stories contributions can buy. Coral Gables is for sale,” said Lopez, 
who is the sole challenger to Quesada, whose campaign finance reports show way above half of them are developers and real estate investors. But Lopez just got a tremendous boost to his underfunded campaign by one thing: That second hearing. Lopez, if elected, would undo Quesada’s vote to approve the height gift.
“Absolutely. This can change from here until the cows come home,” Lopez told Ladra.
“The key is not the project, it’s the precedent we’re setting. Why are we opening the door? Publix has a project in the pipeline for an 18-story complex. And we now have a 19-story benchmark,” Lopez said. “What do we do next? Twenty-two?”
Both Fernandez and Slesnick told Ladra they would not approve anything over 16 stories. “I would scale it back more,” Fernandez said. Slesnick told me she was “astounded” by the vote. Ladra is pretty certain Rip Holmes wouldn’t approve a height variance either, but let’s face it, this won’t make a difference for him. It could for the other candidates.
The proposal that got preliminary approval 
Tuesday is smaller than the original design. It’s gone from 1.2 to 1.05 million square feet, from five to four towers. The entrance to the hotel was moved away from Ponce de Leon. And the movie theater was scrapped. Those changes allowed for more setbacks where there were basically none.
“We even got a park out of them on the ground floor,” said Commissioner Vince Lago, although it’s ludicrous to believe that parks proposed on the top floors add any amenities to the general public.
Lago told Ladra that he thought the developers”made big concessions” that improved the project and eased his concerns, but he voted against it because it included the increase over the city’s height limitation and he didn’t like the precedent it would set.
“Developers are going to come and say ‘You gave them that and we want that, too,'” he said.
Not if the commission changes April 14th.
There are several scenarios that would guarantee this project is scaled back to 16 stories:
Cabrera winning the mayoral seat is key, since Cason seems 
to be the main $10,000 cheerleader for the project. But then he still needs one of the two commission seats to also go his way. Because Commissioner Billy Kerdyk, who is termed out and had his last vote this week, is also going to be replaced and he was already a no vote. So that would need to be replaced by another no vote. Which is basically anyone but Tony Newell and Sandra Murado.
Or he would need Lopez to beet Quesada.
Wouldn’t it be nice to get all three?
Tuesday’s vote, in fact, is the biggest boost for Lopez and the greatest argument for a clean sweep that Ladra has seen in this election. Anyone who thinks development is moving too quickly in Coral Gables has a clear way of slowing it down: Vote Cason and Quesada out and elect anyone but Newell, who is backed by Quesada, and Murado, who is backed by Cason and even, reportedly, has an endorsement from the mayor coming out soon.
This isn’t over, folks. The developers don’t get their 19 stories unless the voters let them on April 14th.
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