There will be a status hearing Tuesday morning about the lawsuit against the controversial WaWa gas station and convenience store that is planned on Grand Avenue across from G.W. Carver Elementary School.
More than 120 people attended the last status hearing in April via zoom and Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman acknowledge that there was a lot of engagement in the “interesting” and “important” case. Since then, the city’s attorneys, joined by WaWa and the developer, have tried unsuccessfully to throw out the lawsuit on technical grounds and attack the complaint as frivolous and intentionally misleading.
They have not been able to.
The lawsuit contends that the City of Coral Gables sidestepped its own rules, violated its own process on major land use and zoning decisions when it greenlighted the Wawa without public notice or input on 1.7 acres slated for affordable housing 17 years ago when the property was deeded by the county to the Lola B. Walkers Homeowners Association Foundation for $10.
Know more: Judge says lawsuit against Coral Gables Wawa deal is ‘important,’ good to go
After years of stops and stalls, Miami-Dade threatened to take the land back. As part of a legal settlement to keep the land, the city did, indeed, agree to the project in secret and with no notice to anybody. Neither school officials nor parents of children at Carver Elementary were ever told about the gas station going up 300 feet from classrooms in apparent disregard for EPA guidelines that recommend at least 1,000 feet. There were no public meetings.
Maybe public hearings would have made the project more palatable to parents.
Last month, city staff, someone from Miami-Dade School Board Member Maritere Rojas and county staffers from Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado‘s office met to discuss the placement of two crosswalks on Grand Avenue. The Wawa, it seems, wants to sell Doritos and M&Ms to the kids at Carver. Some parents mentioned that it would be better for the traffic into and out of the gas station to come from U.S. 1 rather than Grand and City Attorney Miriam Ramos said she would reach out to the developer — they weren’t there at the meeting. But nobody believes Wawa will change the front of their new convenience store that is already approved.
Instead, they are moving forward with construction even as the lawsuit continues. In April, only one day after the city election, developers cut down two decades-old oak trees even though they were urged to save them.
The status hearing Tuesday starts at 9 a.m. and can be watched on zoom here. Meeting ID: 91626591581. You can also call 786-635-1003.
Status hearing on lawsuit against Coral Gables WaWa across elementary school added by Ladra on
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