But Gables Village planned area development seems to have no opposition
UPDATED: On the eve before final approval of a proposed planned area development that will take up an entire city block in the Biltmore Section, a group of Coral Gables residents have asked the city commission to reverse the change made earlier this year that allowed upzoning near the area.
One thing apparently has nothing to do with the other — except timing.
Sue Kawalerski, president of the Coral Gables Neighbors Association, told Ladra that the group had opposed the Gables Village project at first, “then rescinded it in favor of the project.”
Read related: What’s the rush? Residents urge Coral Gables leaders to listen, slow upzoning
MG Developers plan to turn 13 properties of mostly small, multi-family units into a grouping of Mediterranean-themed buildings from two to four stories in height, with pedestrian walkways and public space in between and 48 residential units — 24 flats, 4 lofts, 16 townhouses and 4 duplexes.
City staff found the application to be compatible with the multi-family housing in the area.
There will also be ground parking for 92 vehicles — and 60 bicycle storage spaces! The project — bounded by Malaga, Hernando, Santander and Segovia — is within walking distance of the War Memorial Youth Center, the Coral Gables Library and even downtown Coral Gables.
Kawalerski did not say why the CGNA decided to support this project, which seems outside of the area that got upzoned earlier this year. Tuesday’s approval is the second reading and there is only one card filled out for someone to speak on it.
But the organization’s memo on Monday says that residents of the Biltmore II Condominiums Coalition — specifically around Biltmore Way, Coral Way and Valencia Avenue — were not properly notified of the controversial upzoning approved earlier this year.
Read related: Another Coral Gables project reaches for the sky despite new zoning limits
More importantly, Kawalerski notes, the city’s planning director recently admitted to having mischaracterized the changes to the commission that voted on them.
“Planning Director Ramon Trias, admitted during a Sunshine Meeting on this issue, that the city made a ‘mistake’ when it falsely represented to the commission that the up-zoning would not increase building heights or density,” reads a memo to the commission from the CGNA Monday.
“Those false statements were relied upon by the commission to be true and accurate before a vote to approve the new zoning code.”
Attorney David Winker, who represents Preserving Biltmore, a group of condo owners and condominium associations, said his clients never expected to be upzoned.
“Commissioners and city staff repeatedly promised that this was a ‘zoning update’ not an upzoning. Despite those promises, the Biltmore Section was in fact upzoned,” Winker said. “City staff has admitted that the upzoning was a ‘mistake’ that needs to be corrected, but is now back tracking after developers and their lobbyists have gotten involved.
“This is an important precedent and the city needs to do the right thing and deliver what it promised to residents, which was no increase in height,” Winker said.
It would be a different commission if any change is made. Since that upzoning was approved in February, voters elected two new commissioners and made Vince Lago the mayor. All three had cast themselves as holding the line on development and upzoning.
“Anything less than a complete reversal of the February zoning changes and a reversion to the zoning previously in place for the entire Biltmore Section is unacceptable,” the group’s letter states.
“The CGNA expects the city to take this action posthaste.”
The issue will come up at Wednesday’s planning and zoning meeting at 6:15 p.m. time certain (read: time more or less) at City Hall, 405 Biltmore Way. It will also be streamed on Zoom here.
CGNA wants residents to advocate for:
- Reversal of all changes in the Biltmore Section approved in February
- Restoration to original density, FAR, height and setbacks
- Removal of the Mediterranean bonus for all properties in the Biltmore Section, not just those south of Bilmore Way
- Elimination of the MF-4 zoning district and re-establishment of the MFSA and MF-2 zoning districts in the Biltmore Section
- Increased transparency and public notice to neighbors
Apparently even the attempt to correct it has been messed up — maybe by another “mistake” — by excluding part of the neighborhood, including where the historic headquarters of the Junior League of Miami.
JLM President Angela Carrillo will be speaking Wednesday at the P&Z board meeting.
“We are taking a strong stand against the intentional omission of our block in the rezoning and requesting that the changes be put back in place to not allow for additional height in this area,” she said in a letter.
Coral Gables residents urge reversal of upzoning for some of Biltmore section added by Ladra on
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