Laughable traffic study should be thrown out
Anti-development activists against recent upzoning in Coral Gables lost in last month’s elections when every single one of their candidates got beat in their respective races, including former Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick who lost the mayoral bid to former Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli by 187 votes.
Now, they may lose again on Tuesday, when commissioners are set to take the final vote on a controversial development near the historic Coral Gables Elementary School that wants variances to more than double the allowed density.
It will be the first real test for the new commission on the issue that defined the election.
Read related story: Mike Mena (read: developers) win Gables race, as expected
The 33 Alhambra project will raze a number of two-story apartment buildings along Navarre and Minorca avenues, Galian Street
and Alhambra Circle and replace them with a mixed-use complex with retail and residential rental units in 10 floors. It got approved 4-1 at first reading in December. Want to guess who was the sole dissenter? The answer is Slesnick, who isn’t there anymore. That might be why the lawyer for the developer asked to table the second hearing last January, after more than 60 people showed up to speak against it. Attorney Zeke Guilford asked for time to see if the developer could make some compromises to address community concerns, but it’s obvious they were just stalling until after the election. It’s not a coincidence it’s coming up at the second meeting since. Because the compromise they’ve come back with is hardly really a compromise.
Maybe it’s even a bait and switch. Maybe the plan was always for 146 units, which is still more than twice the 56 allowed under current zoning guidelines. By giving the inflated 184 originally in the plans, this may seem like a relief to some. But not to all.
Residents have signed a petition saying it’s still too big. 
They are expected to show up. And that’s why the city is having this item at 5 p.m. time certain instead of during the day, to facilitate the working class families that live around there who are upset about the disingenuous “compromise” and who want to balk publicly at the traffic study that says the project will only bring 58 new car trips during the morning. Laughable.
Read related story: In Coral Gables election, only a sweep will change the course
Ladra suspects that this new commission — what? With a land use attorney on it and all — is poised to approve this project, even thought it will dwarf the two story historic elementary school and cast a shadow as well as a traffic nightmare on that whole neighborhood and even though they will hear from dozens
of residents who will beg them to reconsider.
But let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. They did the right thing by moving this discussion to 5 p.m. Perhaps they will do the right thing and force the developer to downsize even further. Certainly twice the number of units normallly allowed should still be a win, no? Instead of trying to maximize their profits with efficiencies and one bedrooms, maybe they could increase the number of two-bedroom units in what is a desireable neighborhood for young families and bring the size down?
At the very least Coral Gables Commissioners should demand a valid traffic study that might give them more gravitas when they approve this, as well as grounds for some impact fees to pay for more police officers, since there’s such a shortage.
Because taking this traffic study at face value will show us that developers really did win in last month’s elections.
New Coral Gables commission faces first development test added by Ladra on
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Agree, so far so good on Mena, despite my initial skepticism. But also agree – the jury is still out. He’s certainly better than Quesada. Anytime he starts out with his patented, “this one’s a tough one,” you know he’s going to stick to the residents. Just ask Maria Cruz or the neighbors of 33 Alhambra project.
When will you give Commissioner Mena a fair shake? He stood up to the developers today and fought very hard for the residents (despite the ultimate outcome, he and Lago opposed it). He seems to be a good addition and a reasonable person. You keep calling him a land use attorney which is not even true – he is a commercial litigator. I’m glad I voted for him.
Cynthia, I agree that he made sense Tuesday and I will mention it when I write a follow up on that project’s vote (working on it). He does seem reasonable at the two meetings so far and I could have been wrong about him. Three key words: Could have been. Jury is still out.
But I had good reason to belive he would be the rubber stamper I thought he was going to be. I could have sworn I saw his bio somewhere as a land use attorney, but it does now say that at Akerman, where he is partner, he is a litigator whose practice focuses on all aspects of commercial and real estate litigation with an emphasis on business disputes, business torts, real estate litigation and commercial foreclosures. So not land use, perse, but still the construction and real estate business, which he admitted he was involved in during one of the debates. Kudos to that. And maybe he is right and that knowledge and experience WILL serve him and the residents well on the commission. Seems to be so far.
But there is no doubt that he came out of nowhere, without even serving a day on a committee or board, and had a well-funded campaign with a lot of real estate invesment/developer money. Do I expect him to be as much of a guardian against over development as Jeannett Slesnick was (albeit ineffective because she was always in the minority)? No. Hopefully I will be surprised.
But thanks for the correction. Duly noted.
Love, Ladra
Scrape the entire Gables planning & zoning charter! Let’s just make it open season on random building at will…