Commission gives final approval to controversial rezoning on Miracle Mile
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 fourstory 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’s and Lago’s commission seats in a crowded field for the upcoming election.
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-ahalf block section, arguing that encroaching largescale development from downtown meant their area was no longer compatible with single-family homes, asked for an upzoning so they can sell for redevelopment.