Zoning code ‘mistake’ in Coral Gables could make millions for developers

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Coral Gables officials have admitted to making a mistake in February when a rewrite of the zoning code meant to clean up inconsistencies actually increased height and density in an area known as the Biltmore Section.

Whoooooops.

Now the city is trying to fix the error — but their hands may be tied.

On Wednesday, the planning and zoning board will consider an amendment that removes the use of the Mediterranean bonus to increase height, but just that — and only for half the affected area. The southern half. Because there is apparently already some kind of development in the pipeline on the northern half and the city fears that it could be sued in court.

“Once you give someone more FAR, or buildable area, then to take it away, there’s a potential for a lawsuit by the property owner who loses those rights,” said Commissioner Rhonda Anderson, who had a Sunshine meeting about this last month.

Double whoooooops.

The changes in the Biltmore Section just west of City Hall by the Granada Golf Course were supposed to be a simplification and reorganization, City Manager Peter Iglesias told Ladra Tuesday. Taking it from MF-2 to MF-4 (multi-family) was in keeping with the city’s comprehensive land use plan, he said. At the meeting in February, Planning Director Ramon Trias told the commission there would not be any height increases as a result.

Read related: Coral Gables residents urge reversal of upzoning for some of the Biltmore section

He was wrong. Calculations show significant height increases. One building’s maximum allowed height would go from 45 feet to 77 feet. Nine buildings would be allowed to go from 70 to 97 feet and another ten from 150 feet to a maximum of 190.5 feet.

That is 17 stories. Already at 150 feet, it’s about 13 stories.

“Yeah, there was a glitch,” Iglesias said. “We gave some bonuses that should not be given, and we’re trying to bring it back down to 150 feet.”

Anderson told Ladra that Planning Director Ramon Trias had asked her to sponsor an original item for the P&Z board to rescind the zoning changes for the whole section that was changed, or four blocks. But the owners of one of the properties “complained that they were going to lose some development rights,” the commissioner said.

Sources say this is the Greenway Condos at 730 Coral Way that was deemed unsafe with structural issues in the garage just days after the collapse of the Champlain Towers in Surfside earlier this year. Several sources told Ladra that the owners of the 3-story, 11-unit building already have a contract with the sale pending and an offer that is 20% higher than before the zoning changes. Las malas lenguas also say that at least one developer and lobbyist came down hard on City Hall to carve out the northern half of the Biltmore Section and keep the higher density so they can redevelop that site.

Enrique Bernal, a Valencia condo resident who was at Anderson’s Sunshine meeting, says the changes, which include the Mediterranean bonus to increase height, will drastically affect his neighborhood.

“This so-called mistake in zoning has already caused an avalanche of developers trying to buy all they can,” Bernal said. Some residents wonder if it was really a mistake or if it was done intentionally to benefit a group of land owners and their teams. After all, Trias is an experienced, award-winning urban planner and the lobbyist for one of the properties that will be redeveloped was on the working group for the zoning rewrite.

That would be the garden apartment building at 719 Biltmore Way, next to the historic headquarters of the Junior League Miami.

JLM President Angela Carrillo wrote in a letter Monday that property is under contract to be developed.

A Florida corporation called 719 Biltmore Way Management LLC was formed in May by Gables architect and developer Willy Bermello the same day as he formed another corporation called BAP Development Group. Lobbyists Gus Cabrera and Mario Garcia-Serra, who was a zoning rewrite working group member, registered with the city in June to lobby for “development approvals” for the property and for BAP Development.

“This is clearly something that developers are taking advantage of that should only have been a temporary error,” Carrillo wrote.

“JLM has significant concerns about expanding the zoning to allow for a very large development immediately next door to our HQ building,,, We have major concerns about what could happen to the foundation and structural integrity of our HQ.”

“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,” Carrillo wrote in her letter, adding that she will be speaking before the P&Z board.

The Coral Gables Neighbors Association and the Biltmore Condominiums Coalition, a group of condo associations and owners, are also asking the city to correct the entire mistake and rollback the zoning for the entire area.

Attorney David Winker, who represents Preserving Biltmore Section, a group of condo owners and condominium associations, said it is an issue with notice and public participation. His clients were never told their properties would be upzoned.

Read related: What’s the rush? Residents urge Coral Gables leaders to listen, slow upzoning

“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’s obviously a selective remedy and it’s not equitable,” said Biltmore resident Sheryl Gold about the half-baked solution.

The planning and zoning board meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 405 Biltmore Way. This item is set for 6:15 p.m. certain and the meeting can also be seen on Zoom here.

  Coral Gables development, Rhonda Anderson