Coral Gables agrees to ‘go back to drawing board’ after judge shreds Wawa approval

Coral Gables will reconsider options for property near G.W. Carver Elementary School after a judge overseeing a lawsuit criticized the city’s change in original plans to allow a Wawa.

Following a defeat in court, the city of Coral Gables has decided to reconsider controversial plans for a Wawa gas station across the street from an elementary school.

Commissioners want to examine all options for the property at the northeast corner of Grand Avenue and U.S. 1, including a revision of the Wawa design, revisiting the previous plan for a restaurant or even reverting to the original goal of affordable housing or a combination of housing and local businesses.

“The City wishes to seek a stay of the litigation in order to allow for time to explore a resolution to this matter,” City Attorney Miriam Soler Ramos said following a meeting closed to the public at City Hall.

The grass-roots organization suing the city to stop construction of the Wawa convenience store and six-pump gas station is adamantly opposed to the gas station. The Gables Accountability Project (GAP), made up of residents from the surrounding Gables and West Coconut Grove neighborhood and parents of students at G.W. Carver

Elementary School, argues that the last thing the area needs is another gas station, a magnet for pollution and dangerous traffic.

Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman called the gas station “blatantly illegal” in his ruling last week upbraiding the city attorney and city manager for usurping their authority as they rushed through approval of the Wawa project with no public input or the usual city oversight. He also chastised the city for its “disingenuous”

portrayal of the change in the site plan from restaurant to gas station as a “minor modification.”

Hanzman upheld GAP’s lawsuit and rejected the city’s attempt to dismiss it,

so the city asked Thursday for 60 days to discuss how to move forward outside of court. GAP had been requesting discussions for more than a year, but the city would not engage, calling the suit frivolous. Former Mayor Raúl Valdés-Fauli called GAP’s concerns “laughable” and some commissioners said the Carver parents were racist.

“Let’s slow things down, bring all parties to the table and find an amicable solution,” Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago said in an interview with the Herald.

The parties include Wawa, a 750-store chain based in Philadelphia, and

NICK SWYTERMiami Herald file Parents picking up children at George Washington Carver Elementary School on Grand Avenue. The school is located across the street from the would-be site of a controversial new Wawa gas station and convenience store, but construction has paused.

Miami Herald file Before Miami-Dade elects a new sheriff, county commissioners must determine the scope of the office’s authority, especially over the police department. A new memo on a committee agenda for Jan. 12 lays out the questions commissioners should answer before the 2024 elections for sheriff, tax collector and election supervisor.