Coral Gables commission stamps a final OK on controversial Miracle Mile rezoning
After a brief but politically tinged debate, Coral Gables commissioners gave their final stamp of approval Tuesday to a controversial measure designed to spur redevelopment on ailing Miracle Mile while capping the height of new buildings to protect the signature street’s modest scale.
The 4-1 vote, the second required approval for the zoning change, follows an initial “yes” vote on March 9 by the same margin. The measure will lift on-site parking requirements for new construction on the Mile to promote expansion or redevelopment of the often-obsolete one- and two-story shops that dominate the shopping street, increasingly plagued by vacancies.
The newly enacted four-story cap represents a reduction in height over the six stories allowed under rules in force on the street for years, but the elimination of the on-site parking requirement could make it easier for small-lot owners to redevelop while preserving their property rights, city planners say.
Vice Mayor Vince Lago was the lone “no” vote for the second time. Lago will face off against fellow commissioner Patricia Keon in a race for mayor next month to replace the retiring Raul Valdes-Fauli. Also running for the seat is Gables activist and serially unsuccessful candidate Jackson “Rip” Holmes, who opposed the “remote parking” measure and said after Tuesday’s vote it will “destroy” Miracle Mile.
The hearing on the proposed changes, the result of a compromise forged by commissioners in a public workshop last month based on an alternative devised by Commissioner Michael Mena, drew just a few public commenters. Two of them are candidates for Keon and Lago’s commission seats in a crowded field for the upcoming election.
The tenor of Tuesday’s hearing was significantly toned down compared to the dozens of often-angry residents who spoke remotely at several public hearings once the ordinance came before the commission last year. The Mile measure was part of a broader update of the city’s stringent zoning code that was approved earlier. But the proposed Mile rules were split off to allow additional public input and debate.
During Tuesday’s debate, Commissioner Patricia Keon, who is running for mayor, emphasized that the new plan for the Mile “is not an upzoning.”
“It doesn’t increase the density and it doesn’t increase the height,” she said.
Lago, who had unsuccessfully pushed an alternative to reduce allowable building capacity on the street in addition to height, punched back.
“By approving this today, you are allowing a piece of property that without parking could only go to two stories and could now go to four stories,” he said. “You are allowing it to double in height.”
There were no other comments by other commissioners, and a vote was taken shortly after.
Separately, the commission unanimously approved an upzoning request for an anomalous, single-family section of the city’s Crafts Section, which abuts downtown. Residents and property owners on the two-and-a-half block section, arguing that encroaching large-scale development from downtown meant their area was no longer compatible with single-family homes, asked for an upzoning so they can sell for redevelopment.
The new zoning approved by commissioners allows residential buildings no taller than four stories facing the historic San Sebastian Apartments on University Drive. The new zoning for streets on the north half of the neighborhood, which faces taller and more-intensive commercial buildings, will carry a newly approved designation that allows buildings up to seven stories and a combination of residential and commercial uses.
Some activists and preservationists opposed the Crafts Section upzoning, but that debate was significantly less contentious than the Miracle Mile zoning tussle, which produced an unusual demonstration outside Gables City Hall.
A large-scale development boom in and around the city’s downtown has become by far the biggest issue in April’s elections. Voters’ mailboxes have been flooded with candidates’ mailers and attack ads paid for by largely anonymous political action committees that focus mostly on development issues.
This story was originally published March 23, 2021 at 5:39 PM.