A long and complicated item on the Coral Gables Commission agenda for Tuesday has some residents worried that the city is trying to sneak some zoning changes in only two weeks after a controversial move to increase heights on Miracle Mile was temporarily stalled.
But Vice Mayor Vince Lago and Commissioner Pat Keon both assured Political Cortadito that the other proposed zoning changes recommended by noted architect designers Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk to clean up and update the code are the only ones that will be considered.
Keon called it “housekeeping” and said the commission approved the clean up in 2017 to resolve conflicting items and “some of the recurring zoning issues we were having.” One example: The city should have specific zoning guidelines for mixed use developments which have both commercial — usually on the ground floor — and residential space, she said.
“It shouldn’t have to go through all these land use changes because we’re going to have a lot more of these in the future,” Keon said.
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Lago separated the sections in the code about using floor area ratio and remote parking to possibly allow height/density increases along the City Beautiful’s main street, so a second reading — it passed 4-1 last month, with Lago against — will not come back to the commission until December. And, first, the city must meet with opponents and address their concerns about a proposed 6-story hotel on Miracle Mile. That government in the sunshine meeting, which will be online as well, is scheduled for Nov. 30.
“People had so many questions about the Mile and there were some misunderstandings,” Keon told Ladra, adding that a second change to a residential island in a sea of commercially zoned properties will also get a second reading in December after more discussion.
People might have more questions on Tuesday. Especially if they got a text from perennial candidate and downtown property owner Jackson “Rip” Holmes, who warned about the commission “approving 16-story buildings for Miracle Mile.”
Keon is in favor of the changes, which would allow Terranova to build a six or seven-story hotel on the Mile because it has accumulated a bunch of properties and can use that frontage together. She says it would activate the street. She also says remote parking already exists in the city code and that, with the COVID pandemic causing some people to switch to work from home permanently, more existing office parking will become available.
What will be discussed Tuesday is a resolution to urge the Miami-Dade Commission to approve a ban on certain types of landscaping fertilizer that runs toxic chemicals off into the bay and is blamed for the recent fish kills.
The meeting starts at 9:15 a.m. and will be broadcast online. Watch this space for an update.
Coral Gables considers zoning changes Tuesday — minus Miracle Mile heights added by Ladra on
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