Congratulations. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Let's uh it's six o'clock. Let's go ahead and get started, please. I'd like to uh go ahead and call the meeting to order. I'd like to ask everybody to please silence their phones
and uh beepers if you have any. Good evening. This board is comprised of seven members. Four members of the board shall constitute a quorum and an affirmative vote of four members shall be necessary for the adoption of any motion. If only four members of the
board are present, an applicant may request to be entitled to a continuence to the next regularly scheduled meeting of the board. If a matter is continued due to lack of quorum, the chairperson or secretary of the board may set a special meeting to consider such matter.
In the event that four votes are not obtained, an applicant except in the case of a comprehensive plan amendment may request a continuence or allow the application to proceed to the city commission without a recommendation. Pursuant to resolution number 2021-118,
the city of Coral Gables has returned to traditional in-person meetings. However, the planning and zoning board has established the ability for the public to provide comments virtually. For those members of the public who are appearing on Zoom and wish to testify, you must be
visible for the court reporter to be sworn in. Otherwise, if you speak without being sworn in, your comments may not have evidentiary value. Lobbyist registration and disclosure. Any person who acts as a lobbyist must register with the city
clerk as required pursuant to city code. As chair, I now officially call the city of Coral Gables planning and zoning board meeting of July 2nd, 2025 to to order. The time is 6 pm. Jill, if you please uh call the role.
Robert Behar, present. Armando Bello, that's Alex. The wrong Bello. Alex. Alex Bello. I'm so sorry. Present. Close enough though. Savalinski here.
Nester Mendez present. Felix Bardau here. Javier Salman. Ais here. Notice regarding exparte communications. Please be advised that this board is a quai judicial board which requires board members to disclose
all exparte communications and site visits. An exparte communication is defined as any contact, communication, conversation, correspondence, memorandum, or other written or verbal communication that takes place outside a public hearing between a member of the
public and a member of a quai judicial board regarding matters to be heard by the board. If anyone made any contact with a board member regarding an issue before the board, the board member must state on the record the existence of the exparte communication in the party who
originated the communication. Also, if a board member conducted a site visit specifically related to the case before the board, the board member must also disclose such visit. In either case, the board member must state on the record whether the exparte communication and or
site visit will affect the board's ability to impartially consider the evidence to be presented regarding the matter. The board member should also state that his or her decision will be based on substantial competent evidence and testimony presented on the record today.
Does any member of the board have such a communication and or site visit to disclose at this time? No. No. No. Swearing in. Everyone who speaks this evening must complete the roster on the podium. We ask that you print clearly so the official records of your name and
address will be correct. Now, with the exception of attorneys, all persons physically in the city commission chambers who will speak on agenda items before us this evening, please rise to be sworn in. Thank you. Zoom platform participants, I
will ask any person wishing to speak on tonight's agenda item to please open your chat and send a direct message to Jill Mendez stating you would like to speak before the board and include your full name. Jill will call you when it's your turn. I ask you to be concise for
the interest of time. phone platform participants. After Zoom platform participants are done, I will ask phone platform participants to comment on tonight's agenda item. I also ask you to be concise for the interest of time. First, we have the approval of the
minutes of the March 12th, 2025. Motion to approve. We have a motion to approve. Is there a second? Second. Sue made a second. Any discussion? No. Call the role, please. Alex Bello, yes.
Su Kolinski. Yes, Mr. Mendez. Yes, Felix Part. Yes, Robert Behar. Yes. A set. Yes. The procedure that we'll use for uh tonight is the following. First, we'll have the identification of the agenda item by Mr.
Caller. Then we'll have the presentation by the applicant or agent, presentation by staff, and then we'll go ahead and have a public comment in chamber first, Zoom platform, and then phone line platform. Then we'll go ahead and close the public comment. Board discussion, motion,
further discussion if needed, and second of motion. Then board's final comments and a vote. Um, first uh before we get started, what I'd like to do is I'd like to thank two members of the board that are not with us anymore. That is Chip Withers who's in attendance with us
tonight and Julio Gabrielle for all their devotion, time, and dedication that they have provided the board. their leadership will be missed. Um I would also like to welcome we have two new board members tonight. Uh Nester Mendez
uh appointed by Vice Mayor Anderson and Alexander Busello appointed by Commissioner Lara. I would like to ask each appointment to please tell us a little bit about yourself. Um if you don't mind, Nester, if you go first. Sure. Uh my name is Nester Mendez. Uh I
recently moved to Cables in uh 2020. Um, I served uh previously on the uh transportation advisory board. Uh, I was uh Vice Mayor Ronda Anderson's appointment on that. Um, I was asked to serve on the uh planning and zoning
board. So, I moved over to this board. Um, I'm a practicing attorney. My practice is at um one Alhambra. So, my I work here. I live here. Um, and I've been looking for any way to give back to this community. Thank you. Welcome. We
appreciate it. Welcome back. Thank you. I was going to say not a new member, a returning member. I'm Alex Mouselo. Sorry, this is a little close. I'm Alex Bello. I have been born and raised in Corables. I have served on this board. I've served on the mayor. I have the pleasure of serving on the mayor advisor
board currently. I've served in the code enforcement board. So, any way I can give back to this community, I'm I'm all in. So, um quite frankly, I I this is not not don't tell the other boards, but this is definitely my favorite board to serve on. So, thank you and look forward to serving with you guys the next couple
years. Thank you. Um, also I'd like to uh welcome openly uh Commissioner Regalado who's with us today. Thank you very much for coming as well as city city manager Peter and my understanding is we also have with us uh the vice
mayor Anderson on Zoom with us. That's correct. Thank you. Um, what I'd like to do first, uh, is pass the gavl over to my vice chair. If you would accept. I'll accept it. Um,
I would like to go ahead and make a recommendation for the appointment of the board member that we have as a whole. I would like to nominate Alice Bravo. Um, we have many projects that are coming up before us and a lot of them
have to do with traffic and planning concerns. Um, the reason Alex Bravo uh that I recommend is because she's a veteran engineer, civil engineer with over 25 years of experience in transportation planning and design. She previously
served as director of Miami Day County's Department of Transportation and Public Works. She's was the deputy city manager of the city of Miami where she oversaw six departments including planning and zoning, real estate management, and capital improvements.
She has overseen significant projects including Miami Day County strategic uh area rapid transit smart and she also did oversaw the Port of Miami tunnel public private partnership the P3
the 95 express lanes and the reconstruction of major Palmetto expressway interchange and several transitoriented development projects. Miss Bravo can bring her experience and expertise on these subjects to the board by providing her insight and vehicular
and planning issues regarding projects. May Yes, please. I'll second that motion. That's an incredible resume. We have a second. Second. Okay, we have a first and a second. Any other discussions? No discussion. I close it. Can can Jill
Joe can you please call the role? Nester Mendez, yes. Felix Partardo, yes. Robert Behar, yes. Alex Bello, yes.
Zolinsky, yes. AB, yes. Thank you. If we're done, I will pass it back to you, Mr. Sher. Thank you. Uh, proceeding forward, we have the first item on the agenda which is F1. Mr. Culler, would you please read it into
the record? Yes. F1, an ordinance of the city commissioner of Carl Gables, Florida, amending the future land use map and mixeduse overlay district map of the city of Carl Gable's comprehensive plan pursuant to zoning code article 14
process section 14-213 comprehensive plan text and map amendments and smallcale amendment procedures sections 163.3187 Florida statutes from commercial lowrise intensity to commercial high-rise
intensity. Integrate the University Station rapid transit district overlay for blocks 155 and and 156 Carl Gable's Riviera section part A tract a replat of Coral Gables Riviera section part 8
which are the properties bounded by South Dixie Highway Cabaro Boulevard and turn street providing for repeal of provision severability clause and providing for an effective date. Mr. Mr. Chairman, there's a uh related
item which is F2 which is the ordinance. I'd like to read that in as well and that we hold we would hold a public hearing on both items but then we would vote on them separately. Understood. Item F2, an ordinance of the city commission of Carl
Gables, Florida, providing for map and text amendments to the city of Carl Gable's official zoning code pursuant to zoning code article 14 process section 14-212 zoning code text and map amendments by one amending article 2 zoning districts
to create section 2-48 University Station rapid transit district overlay for promoting use of mass transit facilities and pedestrian activities. ities along transit corridors and near multimodal stations. Two, amending appendix A, sight specific
zoning regulations to remove inconsistent site specifics. Three, amending article 14 process section 14-204 transfer development rights to expand transfer development rights TER's
receiving sites to the University Station Rapid Transit District O overlay. and four, making zoning district boundary changes from mixeduse MX1 to mixed use 3, MX3,
and including within the University Station rapid transit district overlay boundary for blocks 155 and 156, Carl Gable's Riviera section part A and tracked a replat of Carl Gables Riviera section part 8, which are the properties
bounded by South Dixie Highway, Cabayro Boulevard, Madruga Tur turan streets and to create the university station rapid transit district providing for repeal of revision severability clause codification providing for an effective
date item F1 and F2 public hearing. Thank you. Afternoon. Jennifer Garcia, planning and zoning director. Um I'm going to present the item and then we're going to have uh our guest speaker um to speak as well. Yes. Thank you. Peteria,
city manager. Uh good evening chair, board members. Thank you very much. I would like to welcome our our county commissioner Raquel Raw here. She's uh here concerning our the the RTZ our RTC
regulations. Um she is a wealth of information on that. uh she's highly experienced and and uh and very dedicated to to promoting the transportation and uh and some of the and some and a lot of the mobility
aspects that that we're dealing with along the rapid transit zone. So, with that, I would like to have our plan director present and then we're certainly here and the commissioner is here to to uh to discuss the issue and certainly answer answer questions uh
concerning uh the RTZ county regulations. So, with that, u you're most welcome. Thank you, Mr. Manager. Welcome, Commissioner. It's a pleasure. So, if I could have a PowerPoint,
please. Thank you. Um so, See, so this all started in May. Um the Miami County uh is proposing to what is this echoing? What's that? Uh Miami County uh adopted on for reading um expansion of the RTZ
or the rapid transit zone um called Gables University Station sub zone. Um in that um already approved by the county is that University Station is considered a community urban center. Um, but what this ordinance is doing is
proposing um actual regulations in a in a sub zone for this area. My voice is going in and out. I apologize. On the phone a lot with residents this morning and afternoon, so my voice is kind of leaving me. Um but in this ordinance um it is granting the county regulatory
jurisdiction um over this specific area of our city as it specifies allowable uses um and as well as development standards criteria and review um of these uh developments in this sub zone. So um as a reaction to the county um the
city is proposing an overlay district. We have many overlay districts in our city um throughout um you know um North P overlay district as well as the design innovation district. There's many overlay districts that we have in our cities. It's not a uncommon um way of
planning in our city. Um so the overlay district that we're looking at is between Cabayto on the south side um obviously US1 and up to Turin and then um Maduga um on the south side. So, as you can see from this aerial
looking um southwest um you can see that the Thesis Hotel is on the very south part of this overlay district. The Gables One Tower is just next to that. The shopping center shopping center is in the middle and there's some low-rise uh TGI Fridays and their properties that
are just uh to the north of Turin, sorry, north of Madrup, I believe. This is looking uh south you can see the TJI Friday's low uh commercial areas on the very uh left side of the slide. You can see university uh shopping center in the
middle and you can see the more taller buildings of university u Miami sorry university of Miami Gables one tower as well as the sale of the deer on the very right side. So the current future land use map shows that the thesis hotel is a
mixeduse zoning or mixeduse land use and the rest of the properties there are commercial lowrise intensity and the zoning right now for the for the thesis is MX3 and their main properties are MX1. The request that the city has right now
again as a reaction to the county is to change the comprehensive plan land use map and mixeduse map as well as a zoning map and then zoning code text amendments. I'll go through those right now. So right now um the future land use map as I said shows mixed use um for the
south parcel which is the thesis hotel and the commercial lowrise that'll be changed to commercial highrise to allow additional height next to the metro station. And then the mixeduse overlay district map of our comprehensive plan would include this new overlay district. You
see those three overlay districts in our comprehensive plan right now. the North Ponds mixeduse overlay, the north the design innovation district, and this will be the third one which will be the university uh overlay district. And the zoning map changes would include
changing MX1 to be MX3 again to allow that extra height. Um no increase of F and no increase of density for that map change. So this is showing a massing what that would look like. The existing is that top map. You can see the top image. You
can see that pinkish color. um is right now the MX1 or the commercial low-rise uh massing with the darker pink being the as of right um height and then the light pink being the Mediterranean bonus on the bottom of the slide is a proposed so if it's changed to commercial
high-rise or MX3 you can see that massing um is much higher and um again no change in density and no change in um intensity with these map changes. So looking at comparison between um what we allow now in our zoning code and what
RTZ proposed by the county and then what our uh mixed use overlay district is on the far right column. So the review of our current um process would be any property in this area would have to request a change of land use and zoning
as we saw a more than a year ago with the university shopping center. So require a change of land use, a change of zoning as well as a conditional use mixeduse site plant. The proposed RTZ with the county would require the special exception and review and
approval. The city's proposing a more expedited review um for a faster um board of architects review to give them certainty that they can go through the process um without any large hurdles. uh current height is 45 feet for those MX1
properties and 150 ft for those MX3 properties. The proposed um county is 150 ft just because they're saying within a quarter mile the highest building highest building is the Ables one tower which is 50 ft. Um the theis
hotel property is already in mix 3. So what's proposed today in the overlay district would be 120 ft and that would that would not allow Mediterranean bonus height but would allow a couple stories two stories uh based on additional open space with open space for a maximum
height of 147 ft the density remain the same would be 125 units an acre um the F uh right now is 3.5 but also 1.5 for the site specifics the proposal is to eliminate that to be more consistent with the conference
more consistent with the county's uh no limitation F to have 3.0 zero and then with Mediterranean bonus that'll be additional 0.5 and then use of TDRs as you know TDR is only allowed in our CBD and our North Ps uh mixeduse district as
well as our design innovation district. This would be a proposal to expand the receipt of TVRS to be expanded to this district. The setbacks um are similar to what they are right now which is 20 ft on US1. Um the proposed county ordinance is zero
ft. Um what we're proposing today for the overlay district is to retain that 20 feet on US1 as well an additional 25 feet on the rear of those larger properties which is the thesis the gables one tower as well as the uh university shopping centers and they're
so deep. Um it also gives more space for that narrow street on the back. Um open space is similar 10% on the ground level is our underlining requirement and we're not changing that. uh the stepbacks. Um
as you know right now 45 feet required 10 feet step back. Um the county of course doesn't have any step back requirements. Um but we would repeat the same stepbacks at 45 ft for any area that's base residential and then allow for a 100 foot step back sorry 100 ft to
step back 30 feet facing US1. That's a more broader um more important thoroughare. And the parking um as you know we it depends on the number of bedrooms um that we have in our current regulations. The county is proposing um zero parking residential units as well
as some um parking requirements for commercial and non-residential units non-residential spaces. Um the city is proposing as overlay district is to require parking except for around for um restaurant and retail uses um as well as 50% reduction for the remaining uh
required parking for the area for the building. Um in addition to that also waving 25% if they provide a parking plan um via remote parking or available um transit passes or whatnot. So timeline is we are here today at
planning board. We hope to go to commission in first reading in August and second reading would be determined at that time. So we mailed out notices within 1500 feet as required by our zoning code and that was mailed out once. We posted the
property a couple weeks ago and we we posted the website as well. Um and you see advertised as required by code. Uh South T's application is consist of the comp plan as it does uh promote development near transit stops and transit stations along transit corridors
and does comply with the finance effect that should be located in your staff report um and recommend approval. Thank you. Thank you commissioner. Yes. Um so first and foremost it's a pleasure to be here. Um
just a little background on the RTZ for those of you who haven't followed it. Um, we were talking earlier about Alice Bravo. Uh, when she sits on your board, she'll be able to speak uh specifically about the nodes. So, when Miami date county started its urban planning in the
1970s, ramping up to what would be the buildout of the metro rail before they created the TIFF, they decided that we would have the creation of urban centers. Um, and those urban centers would take 10 to 15 years to create. And
the first spots that were dedicated for those were what later became the metro rail nodes. Right? So you have 27th, 37th, Gables all the way to Dland. For those of you who remember that um I was there for the ribbon cutting of the Dland station. It was the end of the
line because our Miami Dade ended uh back in Dland. Um now it's very different. So when we went back um to look at what eventually became the RTZ, one of the things that we dealt with it, it had taken 25 years to do the first
node. The first node being 27th and 37th, which are both in district 7. Um the fact that it took the county 27 25 years to do it. Um and that we were using it as an opportunity to refresh the metro rail stations and to really
reconsider um what the liner of South Dixie Highway was going to be. Um so we started u meeting with different people about the RTZ. Um I was initially very critical of the RTZ because it did not give municipalities any time to match
our zoning code. So we spent about a year and a half um we carved out certain areas and one of the things that I insisted that be part of the RTZ ordinance was giving municipalities two years um to meet us at our zoning point.
Right. The other thing is that there isn't really um a punitive aspect to the RTZ. When the RTZ was first considered, the idea is if the cities didn't do this, X would happen, right? It doesn't have that. Um I've always thought that the best thing
to do would be to go to the cities and prove this concept. Um at least in my district, that's what I focused on. I've always wanted it to include uh interlocals, but that's a very difficult um thing. Um, however, I can tell you that when South Miami was considering
what to do with Sunset Place, um, we had this conversation and they actually met us at our zoning. So, Sunset Place and also the property across from Sunset Place, which is the government center, um, does meet all the RTZ requirements
and then some. Um, so there was no need to bring those properties into the RTZ and we're actually because we have a library there. We worked on that project and we're going to be building a new library and they're also like Core Gables investing in the underlying. Um,
we've used the nodes now as examples of a proof of concept. When we first started talking about the RTZ, one of the most pic issues was the zero parking requirement. And that is not to say that someone is going to build something without parking. That is to say that the
county is allowing the developer to decide what parking works for them. And Link is a prime example of that. It's now going into phase three. Um in phase one of link, 67% of the residents there do not have cars. They have parking, but
those units do not come with that parking. That parking is extra, you know. And when you look at the zone, one of the ways that I explain it to people is I am a dog lover. If I was moving into an apartment that didn't allow Sam to come, I would not live there. If I
felt the same way about my car, which I do not. I live in the rapid transit zone. I would not move into a building that did not have a parking space, right? I live in a home with two other adults. We share an electric Fiat and we live in the RTZ. I am the only county commissioner that lives in the RTZ, but
it really is a different mindset. Um, the other thing that we tried to explain to our municipalities is that there was eventually going to be a redevelopment because a lot of the areas along this corridor are old 1980s parking lots, right, where you have the parking lot
facing South Dixie Highway and then you have the building in the back. And the idea was to bring those buildings forward with the RTZ and to create a step down so that you actually have less density as you go into those residential areas as opposed to continue to encroach
upon those residential areas and to amass people along the corridor in the hopes that they would be using public transportation. Link and Grove uh station have both proved that people are interested and living there to use public transportation. As you'll recall,
uh one of the one of the projects that I inherited that we've actually helped uh and doubled down on um is the South Miami Metro Rail Station, which was Vox. Um, when I started at the county commission, one of the issues that we had in South Miami is we had a lot of M
students that were cutting up houses, living 8, nine, 10 in a house. Uh, Vox was student housing, which was very palemic at the time, and everyone thought that the world would end if we did student housing at a Metro Rail station. We're now working on Vox 3. It's been very successful. It's really
curtailed the use of housing by students in the residential areas. And once again, over 75% of those students use public transportation. So, um, the proof is in the pudding in terms of the RTZ, and this is an opportunity for Corey
Gables to start meeting us at that level. As you saw in the presentation, it does not meet all of the RTZ uh requirements, but I believe that it is a good start. And I think that you should start somewhere. And I know that there's always push back when we make these
changes. Uh but the alternative is live local and we have to be honest about that and live local gets stronger and stronger every legislative term. So as much as we get push back um for making
changes to our comprehensive master plan, I think we also have to be cognizant that the alternative involves no public comment, no community benefit, no conversation about anything else. Um
so I think it really is an opportunity um for us to look at this corridor and try to envision the future and also answer the need for housing. So there is a need for housing. There is a need for housing in the corridor. I can tell you that we're committed to continue
investing in the metro rail. We've worked on almost all of the stations. Our last one is South Miami, but we have we did we redid 37th. We just reopened um we we did 37th, we just reopened 27th. Um and obviously we're working on
Dayland North and Dayland South. And now we have the busway. So that when you add it to the underlying, you know, one of the things that this area has is it already has a pedestrian bridge. So the pedestrian bridges I think were a good investment when they were made a little
ahead of their time maybe. But now that we have the underlying and something to go to, not just metro rail, I think we're going to see a tremendous use um and a real desire uh by people who want a 15minute city, right? Um and
understand the concept from a planning perspective of a 15-minute city that are going to come to this area in order to do that. Um my drafting of this item um really is very different uh from what has been presented um to the RTZ at this
point. It includes an interlocal, it includes um chapter 33, which is what we used at Grove Central. Um so I' I've done my best to include as much as possible. Uh and I'm always here um to help the city beautiful and I hope that
you will consider their proposal. I think it is thoughtful and an important first step. Happy to answer your questions. Thank you. Any questions from the board? Not at this point. Will you be here a little later? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Sure.
Thank you. Jennifer, any other uh No. How many speakers do we have on this item? Six in chambers and in Zoom. Okay. Can you start please with the
chamber? Um, hi. My name is Lisa Detor. I live at 10 Aragon Avenue, sweet 1405, just down the street. But they also have a property in the area that we're discussing directly behind. But um I've been involved I've lived in Coral Gable
since 1991. Lived in Miami few years before that and I've seen so much growth. I I'm not against growth, but I am against the incredible rise that we're having in our neighborhoods. I don't frankly see the push to bring so
many new people into the city. These certainly aren't livable um workforce places unless you make over $100,000, then you qualify. But I don't know anybody who works in a restaurant, etc. that makes that kind of money. I know
this isn't live local right now, but that's the option as was mentioned before if we don't like rapid transit. I personally don't see why in this city that we pride ourselves in the city beautiful. What exactly does that mean?
Does that mean we have a lot of trees? Does that mean we we prohibit excessive growth and keep it beautiful like that? Or is this like a population contest? So, in this particular area, I've been involved in the last couple years going
to town halls for the the area university center. The neighbors made it very clear to the developer, the owner of that property, and the lawyer, etc. Everybody that was there, we made it very clear that we weren't happy with eight stories. We would like seven.
There were plenty of town halls. I saw the angry owner storm out after the meeting one time and then they they delayed anything more and then they came back. Well, sorry you don't like it. We're going rapid transit because then we can do what we want. Their project is
to bring I don't know how many units now they have scheduled, but thinking they'll be mostly rented to students and they won't need cars. I I know from just my place that I rent out that usually my tenants have a park. So, and also the
use of public transportation along the US one corridor only goes from here to there. It doesn't go north south. So, people are going to be using Ubers or something like that. It's still traffic. You're asking in this particular area of the proposed overlay we were talking
about um for single family homes, which is pretty much everything to past sunset from US1 and you're asking for highrises to bring that much more population to that area. Traffic's already very difficult since the thesis came in um to
negotiate. The U of M building has been vacant for a while. So that doesn't even count for current transportation needs or traffic needs. So I think what I'm trying to say is I don't know what the big push is to increase our population. I'm originally from Los Angeles and I
always compare when people say, "Oh, where you from?" I don't say Miami, I say Coral Gables because I'm very proud and I compare that to Beverly Hills. People, everybody knows where Beverly Hills is. Beverly Hills also has a workforce thing, but they certainly on
their main corridor, which is Santa Monica Boulevard off of Wilshire going all the way to downtown. They certainly don't allow any building other than homes on the residential side of Santa Monica Boulevard. I don't see why we have to be so different and what the
importance is of making this corridor so tall and frankly not not within the perspective of the rest of the gables. Thank you. Thank you. Just a question if I may. When you refer to University Center, are you referring to where the Fridays is that shopping center? Yes.
More more known for Bagel Emporium. Correct. Thank you. Thank you, Kathy. And I'm sorry I couldn't make out your last name. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you guys. Um
I assume that if you if you could please state your name and address for the Kathy Burnwight and I live at 6304 Cabayo Boulevard and I am obviously affected by this project which is one
block from me. I am more concerned, however, about this huge high-rise initiative and creeping south to the waterway and the Gable's waterway project. There
is being proposed nine stories across from my house, my child's house who was raised there and my grandchild who's living there now. And you put these huge buildings in
that small area where uh they're proposed now on this um in this building north of the thesis. What are you going to say to the Gables Waterway Project when they want to put 13 stories and 11
stories and nine stories in the residential neighborhood? Oh, we just allowed the county to do it, so we're going to allow Coral Gables to do it. So, I think it's really important that we stop the spread of brickalization
of the US1 corridor. You have highrises at 27th, at 37th, and at South Miami. You can walk to South Miami in less than half a mile. You can walk to the Douglas
Metro Station in less than two miles. So, you do not need this. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Chip Withers, Mr. Weathers, welcome. Welcome. Thank you for having me here. A lot of old faces. Well, I shouldn't say a lot of
old faces. A lot of familiar faces. Thank you. New faces. I apologize. So, um, here we go again. A lot of people think Chip Withers, 704 Hardy Road, Cargus, Florida. Um, I was brought home in the house I live 73 years ago. So,
I've been living in the house there for 73 years. 11:04 Hardy Road. You're welcome to stop by anytime. So, here we go. This this is although in the the the rapid pace this issue has
developed in the last couple of weeks. It really started in I think it was 1893 the world's fair where the city beautiful movement actually was kicked off. It was probably one of the most influential parts of George America's uh life. And the whole reason for the city
beautiful movement was that the urbanization of the traffic and the cities pushed cities to think about opening up open spaces and putting in planned communities. Felix Felix knows this. And um what what
happened was some cities like San Francisco and Cleveland um really tried to develop the idea but really really kind of fell flat on their face. There's basically three cities in America today. Shaker Heights, Ohio,
Washington DC, and Carg Gables, Florida is still use that city beautiful concept as their northstar. So the issue that that I saw for 30 years sitting on in this role as the planning zoning board or the city commission was that we love the integrity that we have built in
protecting our residential neighborhoods. um saying that we are in a position right now where we've been looking at this 600 pound gorilla known as the you know the US1 corridor and and Commissioner Regalado who's a real hero
in my mind um respect her a great deal she's um she's uh she's been there she's fought the fight and uh personally I want to say thank you for for your hard work and in bringing this issue and really trying to protect the sanctity of some of the cardio's neighborhoods
through this rapid transit zone. I don't see a whole lot of issues out there. We have basically three competing municipalities. We have the city car gables which we are trying to protect our zoning code. We have the live local which is right
around the corner from us that I don't know how much you know we've discussed this. I've discussed it and we've been told by our city attorney that we don't have a whole lot of options and and and slowing that down. And we have an opportunity now, it looks like, to to maybe negotiate and try to uh work this
out with the county to to at least maybe not get the entire loaf of bread, but a part of the loaf of bread. So, I support the initiative. I support the fact that we are acting in in haste to get this done. Uh I I support county and and
working with us and and hopefully we'll come to a resolution on this this evening. So, thank you again for your time and welcome back, Peter. It's it's good to see you as always and um city attorney, city clerk, it's great to see you as well. So, thank you very much. Thank you for coming.
Betty, Dr. Betty Mortonson. Could I ask you to lower the microphone? Thank you. Hello, my name is Dr. Betty Morton. I live on the 1200 block of Adana. I am basically in the little area that
they call South Gables. The reason I am coming to talk is very simple. Nobody is has looked at the life safety issues, life safety problems that these two
giant uh constructions cause. We're thinking of increasing the density, increasing the number of people, increasing the number of cars because this is Miami. Everybody drives right along Dixie and right along
Cababaya. Right now, we have a major problem with the thesis. We were told many times by all the engineers that it would not increase our traffic. It would not delay us going. I am one of many doctors, nurses, and emergency personnel
that live in the South Gables area. When a couple of minutes increases, when we are called and uh we have to instead of get to whichever hospital we're coming from in five minutes, it takes us 25, 30 minutes.
What happens? People die. Doctors can't get to the heart attacks and people die. nurses can't help the stroke patients and they are now stroked or incapacitated. We need to stop, slow down and think
about what this is going to mean. Any one of us could have a stroke. Any one of us could have a heart attack, a a fatal problem without the you the ability of we doctors, nurses, and and emergency personnel to get to the
hospitals. Everybody's going to suffer. I'm not just talking about Coral Gables. I'm talking about Miami Day. We service Baptists. We service South Miami Hospital. We service Mercy. And a few minutes makes a major difference in
someone's life or death or ability to resolve a stroke. So think you guys are in a very unique ladies also in a very unique position to save someone's life. It may be yours. It may be your family members. It may be one of the citizens
of Coral Gables or Date County. So, think very seriously. This is Miami. Nobody takes the metro because the metro goes up and down. It has no tributaries. It has nothing else. So, to make more
density means more cars, more people coming in, us not being able to do our job, which is to save people's lives. This is imperative, folks. Any one of us could have that problem. Two of my colleagues who were not in Miami. They
were in their 40s. One died of a heart attack. The other one died of a of a stroke complications. Had they been in this area where we are able to still maneuver, it might not have happened. But if we increase the density, those of
us in the South Gables are landlocked. We cannot get out. Dixie Highway is a variable parking lot and now you're going to increase the density there and in Coral Gables. Think about it guys, ladies. These are our lives. You are in
a unique position to help save lives. Please think about this before you increase the density. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Denise Corvo. Hi, my name is Denise Carvalo. I live in 6308 Cabalo Boulevard. I have been here
before to tell what we think and say that we are against the mark which is going to bring a bunch of new students from from University of Miami to live in the neighborhood. H and now and and and
I was happy to see that you guys heard our message that we didn't have a traffic study. we didn't have structure to have all these people come over and live in our neighborhood and increase uh in like
onethird the amount of people that live there just by that building alone. Uh so now I got a really big surprise to realize that it went to the county and we had no no notice. We had a notice
from the city of Coral Gables that said to us that they were doing a counter proposal for the county uh legislation that was not going to talk to the the people of the city was not going to hear our points and they are all counting on
all those people using the metro rail. Please stand up and say who who used the metro rail to arrive here today. If you can please direct all comments to the sorry I but I wanted to make a point here. Nobody uses the metro rail. Nobody
will ever use a metro rail if it continues to be that way. So you expand first the metro rail uh please uh uh commissioner sorry you need to please uh expand the
metro rail to other areas and then build and we have a very big traffic problem already and at least if you are allow this bigger than it was before denied
please don't use any don't don't let anyone have cars, no parking. If nobody has parking, they're going to have to use some of the bicycles. They're students. They're not committed to the city of Miami. They are there for a four-year term and they're going to
leave. They are not citizens of the city. And u Gable's waterway is our biggest concern. It's an environmental uh issue, a really big environmental issue. We are very of of our canal and
this will ruin our canal because if you accept all that and Gable's waterways is on the vicinity it's like adjacent to all these you're going to accept uh Gable's waterways under RTZ under
whatever and it's not something that is going to be a long-term uh good thing for our city. It's going to be bad for our city. It's going to ruin a single family neighborhood, a calm single family neighborhood. That's
Riviera and and and South Gables. I live there. It's been 10 years that I lived there. I I knew uh the 45 ft height that was on the on the on the code. I never
expected this to be changed like that in a snap in a in a signature. This is really really concerning. I have an apartment in Miami Beach 7330 Ocean Terrace. They wanted to build
something on the side of it. It took years and lots of talks with the neighborhood to be allowed. We gained so much from it. Those TDRs, those TDRs don't come to our neighborhood. They go somewhere else. We lose our sky for a
building like that. We lose, we increase the density of our neighborhood and we don't get anything of that for that. So that's something really, really, really bad. Okay, that's all. Thank you very much for hearing. Thank you, ma'am.
David Hartnett. Good afternoon. My name is David Hartnett and I am the lawyer and son of Kathern Hartnett who lives at 510 Marmore in Coral Gables which is four blocks north of Hardy Road just on the
east side of the canal and Rivier Drive. Could you provide your office address for the record? My office address is 8900 Southwest 107th Avenue, sweet 301 and I live at the home at 510 Marmore two days a week and my family has been
living in Coral Gables for 95 years. I grew up in that neighborhood. I've seen the changes that have happened and I echo much of the sentiments that have been here today and we really appreciate I live down in Pinerest the other time and we really appreciate Commissioner
Regalatto's leadership to a lot of these issues. Nevertheless, I urge the board and the city commission when it travels to them to consider a couple things. I've watched as this corridor development has
occurred and when it went up at 37th Avenue, I distinctly remember the comments from all the officials from the city of Coral Gables, which was, "We don't have any control over that. That's the county. It's their land, their say right on the metro rail." Now,
we're talking about what you do have control over and the zoning. I urge I I don't know enough about the land use and the zoning issues between the county and the city, but I do urge the city to do what it can and if this proposal is
about maintaining control over the zoning, that's one thing that I would urge the city to do. There are a couple of other things that I would um articulate which is is if I heard correctly about the development that's
ultimately going to be proposed at the complex which was is the Friday's Bagel Emporium. Um the 10-story building which used to house the Hurricane Center that now is University of Miami or whatever it is next to the Thesis Hotel. If I
heard correctly, they're proposing a compromise with the county that would be a zoning height of height of 120 feet. If I got that right, that's probably 10 stories. Then you're talking about roofs. And then when you get to tradeoffs that I've seen in the zoning
over the last four, five, six, seven years, particularly when it gets up to the commission, the next thing you know, as um was articulated, it sounds to me like it won't be 10 stories. It'll be 11 12 with some trade-offs, some public land use openings and some art given to
the city that you can post around the city and walk around. for the time that I've lived in this area, which is my whole life basically, and before that, city of Miami, Miami date county, of
which my mother's father was mayor of Miami. Um, we've never been a commuter town. And respectfully, those who want to make it that because of population control, it's not going to change here in the city of Miami. From the time I've
grown up, they've talked about and they put in the metro rail from the 40 East Coast Railway and now it's there. People still own course down in the Dayland area, the building that went up that's along the corridor just south of the last Dayland station,
if I understand correctly, that that building, which has been up for two years now, is still unrened by 10 or 20 or 30%. Um that's next to the lot that they just tore down where the KFC was, which is just s south of where Shorties is, of which is going to be another
building that's going to go up right by dayland, which if I understand it is going to be there. We're already faced at Red Road in US1 to the westbound of Coral Gables, right in that area with a 22 to 30 story building that's going to go up that's going to increase the
population there as well. I think anybody who articulates that it's going to that these buildings are going to somehow create affordable housing in that area is um grasping its
straws because I don't see it. The developers are going to come in. They're going to build highrises and they're going to sell them at three, four, $5,000 a month apartmentwise and they're going to be 500 to$2 million units at best at the beginning. Why? Because this
is Coral Gables. One of the beauties about Coral Gables is what has gone on forever, which was the maintaining and not seating control over zoning. And the reason the people live in the
city of Coral Gables is because of the strict zoning and building codes that we have. And every time there's an encroachment where the buildings go higher and then they go a block over and then the next developer comes and says, "Well, you see, they did it down the block, so now I'm entitled to it."
That's what these people are talking about and I believe that's what the community would articulate in whole if it was posed to them. Um, the last thing that I would say is is that I read the proposal in the staff memo and there are
a couple things here which are key to what if I understand it is the county's development plan which is in theory this is all supposed to create more affordable housing for the increase in the population community well
the words that the staff is using is may and I would respectfully submit I have never seen a study read it in the Herald or heard it articulated in the meetings that I now have started to watch with more frequency either here or even at the commission where there
has been any articulation that affordable housing is coming to the city of Coral Gables than those buildings that are going up or that the buildings that just went up at 37th Avenue much less the one at 27th Avenue. So, I would urge I I don't know enough about all the
zoning and I actually came here for the water management one, but I would urge this board to do what it can to maintain as much control and recommend to the commission to keep as much control over all the zoning rights we have, all the building rights we have, and how we
regulate them here in the city of Coral Gables. not unlike or very much like what they're trying to do down the village prank where my other home is. So, thank you for your time. Thank you, sir, for coming. Daniel
and he's going to need to be sworn in. Thank you. Hi, my name is Daniel Malay. I live at 1205 Maraposa Avenue, 433. I am quite literally facing the University Center development and what used to be
TJ Fridays. I wasn't around when I was here, but now I have to go after him. Hope I can be as articulate. Um, I have no disagreement that development needs to be done. My opposition is to
the scale with which it's being done. Anything that has that is done needs to be done thoughtfully and purposefully and with consideration to real world impacts. Everyone's talked about oh the traffic, the health, the appearance of corables, but there's some things that
are systemically and fundamentally wrong with trying to build up so high in these areas. So I have a simple question. Where do you turn left? Has anyone looked at the map and seen where you turn left out of that whole stretch to go south on Dixie? There is
one light, one two-lane road that turns left. All this traffic will try and go to that light causing huge backups or that alternatively they'll go down to the Sanford light where it has how many roads is it? Madruga which leads into
Anata August Street and Miami Homestead Avenue which is in front of the school all lead into that intersection which is already a busy busy intersection with people going south. So just fundamentally there's no it's not built to handle the kind of stress these giant
buildings will do. Just using the mark as an example, they wanted to do 60% of all their traffic on Madruga Avenue or Madruga Court, the road behind. It's a 300% increase. That
was one single building, which made it 2,700 trips a day on that road, which is more barely more than Alley Street. So that was a single building, not counting all the other ones combined. And on top of that, there the loading
docks for these buildings. There's nowhere on that street that you can lo pull into a building physically. They they may note in their own study that the trucks cannot turn right into these buildings. So what the trucks will do is park on the street to load and unload. So again, fundamental
problems with trying to build these giant buildings in these tiny areas that are not designed for these. And also to address the use of the metro. I am someone that uses the metro. I told you I live right behind the building. I work downtown. I'm a perfect
example of it. I still need my car. Everything except going to work I have to drive to because even going to Aldi one stop down. Three broken elevators one on one of my trips. So, can you imagine an elderly person
trying to go in their grocery shopping using the metro trying to haul all the groceries up and down the stairs across two bridges where we have three different elevators broken on each bridge and the station. So, it's it's not feasible that just just assume, hey,
we're on the metro line. Everyone's going to use a metro for everything because it just does not work that way. I am a resident there. I see it. So, let me tell you as someone who sees live lives there and sees what happens from a practical and realistic standpoint.
As I said, I still have to drive. When I leave in the morning to take my daughter to school, half of our parking garage is leaving at the same time to go to work themselves. We live on the metro, but these people do not work because the metro only goes north south. Very restricted. There's only so many places
to go and it'll become less the more you build because again using the mark as an example, the current square footage for retail on the University Center shopping street is 58,000 square feet. Their proposed
retail was 19,000 square feet. So doing the mixed use and trying to squeeze all this in reduces the amount of retail and shop being available to residents. So then you now have to go further to anything else because it's just not there because
they've tried to squeeze they squeezed out the bigger box stores that have more stuff to make little boutiques or tiny little cafe restaurants that now have to go out for further for more things. So just because they've done it other places does not mean it works here. We
cannot say, "Hey, look, they're doing construction down there. That's great. They're developing. Let's do it here, too." Without looking at how it actually impacts just the fact that they're building and having this idea that, "Oh, you're on the metro means everyone will use the metro." Does not mean the reality of the situation is what you
envision it or perfect scenario it is. So, I want to again um emphasize that I am not opposed to development. I just want to scale it way back and not have these giant buildings that do not fit the the the area in any way.
Thank you. Thank you, sir. Roger Kogan. Good evening. Uh, my name is Roger Kogan. I live at 1127 Avenue and like Chip, I've been living on that block for 65 years. I have to tell you that like most of everybody
else here, I am not opposed to development. I remember when the uh food fair was at University Center when I used to go there with my mom. All right, that just wanted to tell you I am very familiar of that shopping center. I'm also familiar when they built Gable's
Tower when I was going to West Lab. I used to ride my bike from Westlab to my house and stop and watch the construction every day while that building was going up. Again, I'm not against development. I understand what's happened to the
shopping center over the years and that's fine with new development, new people coming in. There's no problem. It's the scale that we're talking here. As a person that's lived in that area, as I mentioned, 65 years, I can tell you
exactly how the traffic patterns are. I don't care what traffic study says, I have personal experience, life experience. And the only way, like the previous speaker said, if you want to make a left turn now because of the all
the from the thesis development, the only place you can go is to the corner by the junior high school. may not Oh, I'm sorry. I thought that was my phone. Uh to make a left turn. Now, you
have a bunch of roads leading into that. You have the kids going to junior high school in the morning and in the afternoon with the buses. Uh it's a complete disaster. If you add more density, more traffic, that's just one of the issues.
Another issue is future development. If you allow this in, how about the university waterway project there? Like another speaker previously said, they're gonna point to that and say, "Hey, how about us?" That's what happened down on the Carl Gables waterway. If you remember when we tried to when the city
tried to fight that new building going up, the developers said, "Hey, they built one." And you know what happened there? The courts ruled in their favor. All I'm saying is do not seed the zoning to the s to the county because what
we're going to end up with is something that we're all going to hate. And remember, once this building is built, it's not coming down. It's going to be permanent and we're all going to have to live the consequences. Like I said, I'm a homeowner there, grew
up there. And also, you have to remember is that there's no sidewalks on Hardy. There's no sidewalks on Madruga. There's no sidewalks on Carabolero and we're gonna and there's no sidewalks on Toron. I don't care what the developer says. If
you go to JC Park in the morning or afternoon, all you have to do is look at all those people with their children in their strollers walking, riding their bikes, whatever. You're going to have a mess. Your people are going to get hit.
And as a person, and uh if you want to ask Mr. weathers. He sees me every afternoon riding my bike around the block. I can't tell you how many close calls I've had right now since the thesis gone up missing, not being hit by a car. Okay. And also Uber pickups, Uber
drop offs. They're using the parking at JC Park. They're not going into the building at all. They're not going into the valet area at all. Also for I can also want to talk about the circle there, the traffic circle. I'll be happy
to send pictures over to uh the um board here. I three years ago a car uh car carrier went around that circle, couldn't make it, drove right through it. I have the photos in my phone if anybody wants to see it. Took down the
shrubbery, took down the street signs, called the city of Carl Gable's police. non-emergency gave them the license number of the car carrier. Nothing happened. This has gone on and on and on. I would ask you to check public works and ask them how many times they had to replace the foliage
and the signs there at that circle at Cabalero and Hardy. Uh it's quite a few I can tell you from personal experience. So all these issues I just uh oh one final thing just to inform you. Um,
Chip, did you get a notice in the mail? You did, but a lot of people on Manatee did not. And that you have to take in consideration my next door neighbor on the opposite side of the street didn't get a notice. They knew had no idea about this. So, I'm saying is yes, you
followed the law by setting out so many feet. But this affects everybody in the university states area on east on east side of Mayan, west side of Mayanada, the same on Hardy. So I would advise uh just a recommendation in the future
extend it because everybody uses may not and Hardy is going to be affected in that neighborhood. Uh thank you. Thank you sir. Victoria Willer. Sorry I was going to ask if there's anybody else. Yes. And then we have four speakers on
Zoom. Okay. Thank you. Hello. I'm Victoria Weller. Um I just got off at a 10-hour flight from Europe and I came because this is an important issue. As a young Could you state your address, please for uh 128 Adana? Thank you. Um as a younger member of the
community, let's get you sworn in since you came later. You're right. Yes, I do. Okay. Hi. Did I I accomplished all prerects? Okay. Perfect. Awesome. As a younger
member of the community, um I've grown up in Coral Gables. Uh I love Coral Gables and one of the beauties of Coral Gables is the aesthetic appeal to it and I'm in a unique position in my life right now as a young adult that I can
afford to buy property. Um, and one of the places that I look into is Coral Gables because I think it's beautiful. I if I wanted to live in an urban, you know, high-rise area, I would. Um, it's not. I want the community. Uh, and
I understand moving forward development is important and it'll happen, but I I agree with the previous speakers that scale is uh key here. And um living in that community for so many years, the traffic even with the c theis what that
gentleman said before about the traffic circles is very true. I can no longer you know drive to the park and I use the park. I play tennis. Um because I I guess the Uber driver use it. Um I can tell you I use the street right in front
of the thesis and it is backed up for cars. I use my horn more often than not or I take the little gap that's where the waterway is, that little gap through that uh parking lot. And you know, with the developing coming in, that's not
even an option for me in the future. Um what I'm saying is that this is this will affect everyone in the residential neighborhoods because traffic needs to continue to float forward. And if it can't because US1 is overly congested, and let's be real, it
is. Um, they'll take the back roads of the neighborhoods. And those neighborhoods, one of the appeals to them is that, you know, people walk around. There's a sense of community. And if you take that away because there's more cars, there's more traffic, there's more people, because the density
is increased because we're putting 10 stories buildings or higher. Um then you know you take away the appeal of the beauty and the aesthetic or what I find unique about Coral Gables which is like it's green it's you know city beautiful
for a reason. So I think you know you guys have an opportunity to listen to us and also decide moving forward what the best way to go forward with what the city you know what you guys intended to be but it would affect and I think scale
is important to consider in this collection. Thank you. Thank you and welcome back Henry Pierro. Hi. Um, my name is Henry Panera. I live at 1215 Aduana Avenue, basically two blocks away from uh the affected area.
Um, I want to ask a couple of questions um and leave you with an anecdote. So, why is it that all of these type of zoning changes seem to happen and and seem to occur during the dead of summer?
Why do we get notifications while I was out on vacation? I just barely got back for this. Is this designed on purpose? I'm just asking the question and I want you guys to do a if you would if you
just make your comments and statements and we'll note your questions and then at that point if anybody on the board will take that up and answer it, we'll take it at that time. Okay. take it as a rhetorical question. And and and I'll
I'll now fill in my theories. I I think that this is done on purpose so that there is less attendance, less participation. I was on a uh group chat with my neighbors and a lot of them were
out. I just managed to make it in for this this my my question is are you guys asking yourselves the question of why these major zoning changes are happening
in the dead of summer? Why it always feels like it's happening with very low little notification which I think is something that some others have brought up. just asking the question. I want you guys to really look at it as neighbors.
I if if your neighbors are being affected by this, would you listen to them? Would you take it to heart? I I feel like
there's a concerted effort to get this passed and I would like you guys to ask the right questions of all those that are in favor of this. That's that's number one.
So why are we doing why is the the the theory behind all of these developments is that it is going to be transit oriented development and it's going to spur people to use the
metro rail and uh all sorts of um traffic uh transit. Well, I have never seen a study. We have multiple developments that have been put in place. The PO,
the buildings further on um uh further up north on US1 uh but uh closer to Coral Gables High. No study has been done since any of these buildings has been erected to show
an increased use in the metro rail by the people that live there. Why hasn't that been done? I would like to understand that I if if why why don't we test the theory that is driving all of this? If we are a data
oriented society, if we've got cameras everywhere, if we're measuring the traffic going through one location and another, why can't we get that data? Why can't we see the effectiveness of these
theories? We have multiple data points that are being ignored. That's the second question. The third point that I want to make is an anecdote that I want to share from a month or a month or so ago. At the PO
building, there was a graduation ceremony or some type of graduation party being held. I came home at 11 something at night with my family. I tried to turn into Cava to Cavayo.
I could not turn in the everything was back completely backed up. My point is I had to go back and double back and use a side street cost me several minutes.
My point with this is that the impact of these developments is not being quantified. I'm an engineer by training. I want to see quantification that we have the tools to test these
theories out. The reality is that it is not driving the uh use of the metro rail. The truth is it is impacting the neighbors directly. That's it. Thank you, sir.
Jill, anybody else in chambers? No. Okay. How many do we have in Zoom? Uh, so far four. Okay. Please call the first person. Mr. Senior, can you please open your camera? You like me to go to the next? Yes,
please. I think he's If he comes back, we'll uh take him before connected. He's connected. Okay. Can you hear us? There you are, sir.
A little frozen, but you're there. Mr. Chairman, if it's possible, we would need to swear these. Yes. As long as we can see them. Sir, would you raise your right hand, please, so you can be sworn in?
Jill, if we can, let's move to the second person and if uh he's able to figure out his internet, we'll circle back. David Woodbury. Are you having the issue with the second person also? Seeing on the camera he Okay, now he
unmuted himself. Okay, David, can you hear us? Mr. Woodbury, are you there? You're muted. Mr. Mr. Woodbury, we can't hear you. Jill, is it a problem with the city's
internet or equipment or access? So, it's Could we try the third individual? Sure. And then we'll keep those other two people in mind, please. Julie, third speaker was Julie, but she's no
longer on. Okay. And I also have Maria Cruz. Could we put Mrs. Cruz on, please? M. Cruz. Mrs. Mrs. Cruz, are you there? Just for the record, this has worked in
the past. We seem to be have a problem tonight. Jill, is it possible to maybe have these people I know without being video there will be any evidentary value but maybe we can get them on uh sound only without
video and that may help going through unmute it. They have access. It's not coming through. Okay. Can we get it person maybe to help out? Well, I I might suggest that we move on with the proceeding and then we can we
can open it back up when they when they come back up. I would agree with that. Um while we're waiting for them, I'd like to ask um Jennifer a question if I may, please. There's been a lot of discussion about
what the county is doing and there's been discussion about what we're trying to do. Can you talk about the RTZ as it relates to the county only if the city doesn't implement its own?
In other words, what's the radius of the RTZ for the county? I believe it's a quarter mile for the uh community urban center. Um the DEPA center for example is a metropolitan urban center it's a little bit wider or
larger um circle but South Miami and the University Station is a university sorry is a quarter mile okay so for the county we're talking about a quarter mile radius from I guess the entrance to the metro
station. So so the RTZ actually if you look at the map goes along the entire smart corridor. However, it is not as of right. The properties have to come in to the RTZ. So that's where you get the confusion, right? Okay. So, so that's
why I said like the RTZ has existed as an overlay, but the properties have to come in one by one. And if a property repairs, whatever. Sorry. And if a property has to come in, is it automatic? No. What's the requirement
for? Um so there is there is a process by which they they come in and it has to be brought to the board of county commissioners. It goes to first reading. Uh it goes to committee and then it goes to second reading and there there could be delays in that process. Right. Um and
the commissioner of the district is normally involved in it. And what the city is now trying to do, my understanding, is to be very specific with three or four specific addresses
that would be in the RTZ as with the cities. So what the city is looking at doing is looking at the zone around the current property that has requested to come into the RTZ because what the RTZ item does once a property
comes in it also creates a small overlay. So the city is looking at a similar overlay footprint and that footprint is not the quarter mile radius that it's no it's smaller. a little bit smaller, but the RTZ actually overlays
everywhere where the smart plan goes, the RTZ follows it. Understood. Thank you for the clarification, Jill. Do we have um anybody back up? Let's try again with Mr. Senior. Let's
try one more time with all three, please. And if not, do we have anybody on phone? We have three people on phone, but they haven't indicated they wish to speak. Okay, let's try those three. If not, I'll go ahead and close it for public comment. If they're able to resolve
their issue, then we'll take it up at that time. Mr. Senior I think we have David on. David, can you hear us? Mr. Chairman, I think we should go on and if they able to resolve, we we open
it up again. That's I agree at this point. Um, let's go ahead and move forward. I'm going to go ahead and close it for public comment. If those three individuals are able to figure out what it is, I will go ahead and open it up for them to speak. How about if they put
a a call-in number? Maybe it's a a Zoom issue. It's It's in there. That's why I asked Felix, would you start us off? Um, I'd like a little clarification. A little confused with the whole premise
mic. Good. Thank you. Thank you, sir. I'm a little confused with the premise. We had a project that came before us uh a while ago and it was a certain project to
develop there on the property where uh the existing shopping center is. So as far as ownership etc it's still the same. It's only the the uh design
constructs that are being changed through this uh through this specific university transit uh district uh change. Correct.
The the way I Jill I mean Jennifer sorry want to Yeah. So, so the former Mark project um has expired. Expiration for the board of architects um approval has already expired. Um I think after this board, they went to the county and
rallied the county to create an overlay, not overlay, but a expansion of the RTZ legislation to be able to incorporate that property into that specific project went to the county. Yes. To request this
at that time, correct? Did they go to the live local also? No. But they could to the city. Sure. Yeah. Chair, if I if I may, what what is the I apologize. May I I hadn't finished yet. Please continue. Um, so
understandably, we had been looking at a specific project that had gone to the board of architects that had a certain design. So that's out the window. I haven't seen anything from them since it came to the before this board last year, early last year. Right. So, so basically
the change of zoning that they're requesting, they were requesting at that time from the city of Coral Gables, right? is is null and void uh because they were able to let's say for the use of a better word and I don't mean to
offend anyone to absurf that specific request and then continue and ask for this part specific uh project. So if that's the case, um from what I understand, Commissioner,
um the nodes that are existing on the corridor, um are complemented by the busway, which in fact uh Alicia Brao, who was an excellent engineer and was in charge of that at one time in her many
uh capacities over the years, uh was was augmenting and then finishing and and this complimentary bus service that was being attached to that and she was basically in charge of doing that uh to be able to have those those uh
components of the bus service uh to be able to um complement uh these particular stations. So my first question from a conceptual standpoint and and I know how powerful um your your
seat is and your position and your knowledge is of all these different things. Um would it be first of all uh difficult to request a a better specificity of the complimentary bus service from
this particular station mass transit station that goes in one direction as was uh was addressed a couple times where it could be more useful you know to the city. For example, many years ago through Billy Kurdike, um
the trolley system that was created has helped substantially over the years where it's been copied by many municipalities throughout the the county. The wrership is incredibly high because it's incredibly efficient.
Obviously, it's the right cost, but that I think would be very important. The second thing is the Do you want me to answer the transit one? I'm going to ask you two other things because I I know you could talk and chew gum.
There's no doubt about that. But I I I think uh Commissioner that the smart corridor concept the negative the negative which I have seen and I've seen other commissioners like in district 8 um Mr. Higgins. Yes. Yeah.
in QGI, right? 8 and N, right? And and then one of the things that she was concerned on a project in her district, which is almost at the end of the line near Homestead in the highway, was that basically um most of those people there, their single family homes are much
closer to the to the uh the uh the smart corridor and and she was very concerned about the impact of basically um upzoning the properties that were within that distance, the thousand thought I
think it was if memory serves me right and therefore upzoning those areas without any type of public hearing process andor uh an understanding of the compatibility issues that were there and she was uh in a particular
uh case she was able to win the day for the residents in that case I would think that the second step as far as the bus corridor component to be able to make it more usable able for the residents of
Coral Gables would be uh the possibility of finally resolving the Cabayto intersection because it's almost a um hypotenuse triangle there and it it becomes a funnel effect that uh people
can't get out as has been stressed by many of the neighbors here today. That's been going on for a long time. It's only gotten worse with uh the two large projects that were built there. So uh I know that we're at the mercy of do DOT
but I think that it's it's essential that that finally gets resolved uh with with some type of mechanism that through engineering that can be uh hopefully addressed and then the third item is that
if uh when you look at the the uh these corridors I don't see anywhere and I don't know if you have any objection of carving ing out a larger component of it uh where you could carve a larger component, you know, to provide parks,
you know, for the people that would live in this area. So many of these um students that would be going to the University of Miami um may not have cars, but they have recreational needs. And we have uh very little large
recreational spaces. these little pocket parks are maybe essential for you to walk your dog there and and back but not to use them. Would would you address the the concept? Of course. So, I'll start with the last one um first. Um one of
the things that we're looking at at this corridor is obviously the investment that we're making in the underline. The underline phase three is very different from underline phase 2 and underline phase one just because of the amount of space that we have. Um, so a lot of the
park concerns and a lot of the outreach that we did in this area was to the programming on underlying phase three. So underline phase 3 in the city of Corables, for example, includes a dog park because that's one of the issues that kept coming up when we were meeting with Core Gable's residents um at the
underline. We're also um in the M area near this site. Um we're we have a little bit further down the Baptist one that we just broke ground on. Um so that's uh the Baptist the Baptist I think it's the Pine the Pine Rockland
Garden there. And then we also have an an outdoor amphitheater that's going to be created because the underlying in this part of the Gables creates a complete reshuffleling of the parking spaces and actually is going to have large spaces. Um in this area also will
have a little bit further down uh the micro forest. So the micro forest are uh more green space, storm water retention, green infrastructure because that part of uh the empath actually floods a lot and that's one of the things that we
took into account uh the natural reservoir that occurs there and putting the micro forest there. So the the one thing that we have considered in all this this area here is um requiring developers to do bike lanes uh
pedestrian walkways, right? Um and that's throughout this entire corridor including part of underlying um phase two. So that's first thing first thing there in terms of the green spaces and and the parks. Um the second part of
your request in terms of the intersections um is important. Right now Stacy Miller is our new director of transportation. She used to be FD do secretary for district 6. So we're very excited about what she brings to the
county. Uh we have been working on the bus way that you mentioned intersection by intersection with FOT. Actually, the intersection at 136 has taken over seven months to figure out uh because they can be very challenging. Um I am always open
to helping with intersections. Um our team recently redid the intersection um in Mass Academy uh on the Rick and Backer because we had asked the school district a million times and we just went and we did we redid it. Um, so if you want to look at Cavayo, I'm happy to
work with Pete, you know, and and bring Stacy and the team in to look at it and see what can be done. Um, when we get requests for traffic calming or traffic um uh re uh um realignment, it has to be
approved by the municipality first and then sent to the county. We cannot take on the request without the approval of the county commissioner or at the at the minimum the manager. So, always happy to to do that and we've been called in on a few intersections. Um, and we get called
in on a lot of pedestrian crossings. Uh, and we're happy to help with those. The only thing I would say about the PED crossings is more and more we're finding them just not to be effective. So, we've been asking FOT to provide us with different tools, right? Um, just because
the nature of Miami is such unfortunately that people see yellow and they go faster, not slow down. It's a challenging I know it's a challenging situation, but it's one that we deal with all the time. Uh, but that's always on the table. So, we're always here happy to help with whatever
intersection. Um, the only thing that I would add to that is usually we get a lot of requests for stop signs. Um, the the district does put a limit on how many stop signs we can use in certain areas because it just slows down
traffic. Um but the county does have an overlay and we are looking at um actually slowing down the speed in all residential areas. So that's something that we're currently working on that would that the board actually passed
unanimously about six months ago. Um now in in terms to um what happens through when you when you have the RTZ development right um the RTZ and how it works really is like I mentioned we have
the overlay and then the different sites come in. when those sites come in, the commissioner of the districts makes certain requests, right? Um, in this particular RTZ application, this is the first one that comes to the county that includes an interlocal and the use of
chapter 33 and that is by design. Um, that was my my request uh to the board. I want the city of Corables to have a seat at the table and to be able to weigh in. It is the same um the same vehicle that we used for growth central
when we did it with the city of Miami. So this is actually the first non-governmental owned property to come in with a request of an interlocal and participation uh by a city. I actually came before the city uh when I submitted
u the RTZ um application the the first time um and I have met with all of them about it and this is a byproduct of a lot of those conversations. Um in terms of the transit um I think we need to clarify a point. While the metro rail as
currently constructed only goes from one end to another have been several investments that change the the way that the metro rail works. You mentioned the trolley and one of the things that we're working on at the county right now is once again giving the municipalities
more flexibility in terms of county connectivity. I'm working on an item that actually forces the cities um to work on having joint trolley stops. So, for example, in the city of Cory Gables and the city of Miami, when you get to
37th Avenue on the city of Miami trolley, you have to get down at one site at the city of Miami 37th and you have to cross 37th Avenue to now get on the Cory Gables trolley and continue your route. So, we're actively working to bridge those gaps so that we can have
a more unified trolley system and we're not we're not being ridiculous with like a few feet. Um, so we're working on that. The other thing is I um sit on the board of Tri Rail. I'm currently the vice chair. I was the chair for several years. Um Tri Rail actually goes all the
way to West Palm and it meets at the Mick. You can take the metro rail to the Mick and you can take the Tri Rail there all the way uh to West Palm. I also uh was very proud to open Miami Central Station. You can take the Metro Rail to Miami Central Station and now you have a
direct um all the way uh to West Palm. And you can also take the metro rail to the Halia station where you can connect with Tri Rail again. So one of the things that we're doing is not only are we looking at connectivity separate and aside from uh the buses which we are
connecting and the trolleys but we're also connecting all other systems. Um now in July we launched our one ticket uh app. This is a tri county app that allows you to buy tickets for all three
counties um on the same platform and gives you the schedules for all three counties. And if you visit the link at Douglas, one of the things that they incorporate in their design that I think um allows so many of their users to use public transit is they actually have
boards with all the current times for the metro rail for the metro mover. They have a ride share drop off point. They have tri rail. They have Bright Line. And they have the ways that you can connect there. And they're also pushing out the app when it rolls out now in
July. So, um, we are working on the Flagler now. So, we're working on Flagore. We're we're working on the Coastal Link. Um, these are all transit projects that the county is working on in the hopes of undoing the 20 years where we were not working on transit
projects. So, Commissioner, since you have a hand in in what you want and what you don't want, um, one of the things that I'm very concerned with also is from a visual impact, uh, these people have been living in their neighborhood, single family homes for years and years
and years, and they're they're pretty expensive homes, and all of a sudden, the last thing you want to do is look through your kitchen window and see, you know, this behemoth there. 100%. And that's why my item said that it could not it would not and cannot be taller or
cannot be taller than what was already approved by Core Gables. Core Gables approved the thesis. Um there's a series of buildings that are a lot taller than what my you know what this RTZ item states. Um and that's by design. Um not
making a judgment call on what has been approved by the city beautiful. uh but I specifically limited this development to its surrounding areas and it has to be compatible with its surrounding areas and actually smaller than what has
already been approved. The one thing that we do uh do not have in the city of Coral Gables is stepping down, you know, when when the height is at a certain point, especially it's not so much toward US1 the corridor itself, but it's
more toward the residential area. I mean that's just common sense. The city of Miami has it and the there should be absolutely no reason why this could not be implemented here. The RTZ has a step. And the second part is that having a landscape having a landscape buffered area um
continuous area there where you know fully mature trees can grow uh abuing that area. not now but uh within years where they can get up to 40 50 feet in height that would really giving them the space to do that I think would be uh
very good to be able to buffer uh the negative impact right so the landscaping um is always something that I include in all my applications right so that this would be no different obviously you want to buffer um again we're very early in
this process um on the county side so we'll see we'll see what happens um as we go to committee and as it moves forward. Um but the idea was that the Cory Gables could also mirror some of this and start having those conversations and those are all
requirements that you can also um discuss with staff uh and you know make recommendations towards. I have one final question for you and then one for our attorney. So the the final question is when you when you look at the timing uh
you know it was very overwhelming to receive this package on a Friday afternoon and you're going through hundreds of you know not only this application but other things and unfortunately I read everything and I'm looking at this and I'm saying wait a minute am I misunderstanding? Are you
under a timetable uh crunch? In other words, from your your first motion to your second one, is there a four month limit or did I misread that? Um the timing on the city side is not
something that I control. I can tell you that this item went to first reading, right? On the county side, right? This item went to first reading and now goes to committee and then goes before the full board. So, yes, that item is already moving through the county commission, right? But you still have
access to be able to um amend it. Yeah, we still we have we still have the public hearings, you know, it still has the final reading. It just had the first reading. The the only time that we can't speak on an item is when it goes to first reading. So, there'll be an opportunity at committee and at the
second at the second reading, right? because of the the thing is that the rest the the devil's in the details and there are a lot of details in there where I found uh many cons uh discrepancies u within our own staff's you know
whatever and maybe it's because they're they're trying to do too much you know in a short period of time. Are you are you speaking to what was presented here that Cory Gables or or the item that is before the county commission because they're two different things. No. And the the Coral Gables component, what I
wanted to make sure is that there's enough time to vet this properly at the city of Coral Gable's side, you know, to make sure that everything, you know, works well and we get all the kinks out of this. I I can't speak to the timing
of of the of Cory Gables. I really can't. I don't I have no way of knowing like how I guess Yeah. Do you want to speak to the timing? Yeah. Um Yeah. So, um, after we were, um, given notice that the county moved forward and have us for treating, um, in May, um, we reacted as
quickly as we could to try and research and look what was being proposed. Um, highlight our concerns, discuss them with you, um, have a a more or less complete draft of our ordinance, what we would do for overlay district within our city. Um I don't know if that answers
your question or not but as you know our our our process is plan zoning commission for first and second reading you know their their count their county um process a little bit different until the public hearing today. I mean there there there are many items there um in
in your component that I think has to be uh looked at by this board you know before taking a final action on something like that. So I I right the only thing that I would add I mean the the developer has opted
to um to go with the county. I think that it's I think it's important that the city of Cory Gables is giving another option. One of the questions that was mentioned before is what are the options? These are privately owned parcels right? their options are Core
Gables, right? Or whatever municipality, RTZ, if they're within the smart zone, or live local. They they can move within those options however they please. We have nothing to do with that. Um, all we can do um is respond to their requests.
So, in terms of the timing, that's what I'm saying like in in terms of the of the timing, there's there's really we we can we have our process. Core Gibbles is now initiating their process. Um, but this is not a county owned parcel.
So, this at this point is the city driving the bus or or is the county or the developer? Which which one of the three? Well, the the developer um initially chose the city of Corables and went
through a process uh with Cory Gables um for a period of time. I don't know how long that was, but I know that you all saw the project. Um, and now they've they've made the request to use the RTZ. To date, that is my understanding of the
situation. Right. The city is now offering an alternative. I do I have no way of knowing how that alternative will be received by anyone in in that overlay district. There's no way that we would know that.
Okay. Thank you, Uh Mr. uh attorney, my last question which is um precedent any other project outside of this zone cannot be uh pulled in or used as a you
know this is a precedent for that particular project. This is a concern a good concern that was raised by neighbors and and I just want to make sure that you're in agreement with that. Well, the point of precedent is precedent is only precedent if a board
says it's precedent. So, I can't tell you that just because one area was developed, does that serve as precedent for another area? It's only precedent if a board believes it to be precedent. And sometimes
it's not viewed as precedent. It's viewed as a separate entity or issue. I can say that with regard to what's before us, the county has their own process.
I think it's the city's desire to say, well, we'd like to try to match you as close as possible so that we could keep the process within the city rather than having rather than seeding the zoning jurisdiction to the county. We won't
have a choice. The county's position is we can take jurisdiction because under our home rule, this is their argument. I'm familiar with it because I was an assistant county attorney for 36 years. So, I understand that they they believe
that they have jurisdiction to take these areas relating to Metro Rail and they can take jurisdiction and while the county will have a while the city will have a seat at the table in the decision-making process, there will be other seats. Besides a city seat, the
city is trying to convince the county that hey, we've got a process. We are close but not exact, but some of the places that we're different on have a rational basis why they're different.
And we're hoping to show the county even though you've got a public hearing next Tuesday where once it's if it's approved at that public hearing then it goes to the county commission for final adoption. So they're on a on a track I
don't know how long they'll be but they're moving. So the the city wants to try to say to the county, listen, before you make that decision, give us a chance to come up with a process that will
come very close to what you're trying to accomplish, right? And that's why the commissioner is here. That's why the commissioner is here. And that's that's why there is a certain urgency to the application
chairman. Those are all the comments I have. What what I'd like to do I was informed that the Zoom the reason it's not working is because the city needs to restart it. What I'd like to do is take a brief break so the city can restart the Zoom and uh there's people that are
waiting to speak. Um so what I'd like to do is take a short break, maybe about five minutes. I if it takes longer so the city can restart their Zoom and we can listen to those people. Thank you. Everyone on Zoom, please make sure you
use the Zoom link 870 9513 5 minute break. Again, it's just to make sure we have more participation. And Mrs. Cruz, thank you for coming and your dedication. It's
always nicer to see you in person. Good It was because on the same page you have I don't run that part. No, that's okay. I appreciate this. Um, what I would do is I would go to
Jill, who's the secretary, ask her that question. She's she's with the staff. Thank you. I'll take a shot. They're They're working on it. They're working. Thank you. Hi. How you doing? I
I'm trying to Yeah. No, I'm handling the Zoom along with the ICT CGTV. Do you need something that maybe staff could assist? Okay. Are maybe test test. testing. This is a Zoom test. This is an
audio test. Yeah, the audio is working. We can hear you. All right, sounds good. Recording stopped. should be what is it planning many It's this one. Yeah, it's the old one.
That one gives you access to that. So, wow. You live here for so long. You really can open up again. You want me to starting I did not hear. Did you hear something?
Maybe they were not affect recording in progress. This is my email also. Okay. R L A this would just be a different
shame. mute myself. Hello. Can you hear me? This is our zoom test. Yeah. So, just to see. Yes, we can hear you. Thank you for your
patience. I can show you right here and see you. Okay, perfect. What? There's actually um the employee room here. We have access to Jill has the card to get you in there. And they have those by the cup, those
cur cups or whatever they call them. So, next break I'm doing coffee. Have you noticed like every now and then the air conditioning comes on, it gets like really freezing in here. Oh, I was just gonna say
after that trip technical issues. If everybody will Okay, there we go. Our microphones are working. If everybody would please have a seat. Um, I've been told that we've resolved the issue with Zoom and we will go ahead and get
started. Um, what I'd like to do is open up the public comment for a little bit first and I'd like to ask Miss Maria Cruz if she would please uh come up and speak. She needs to be sworn in. If you would raise your right hand, please.
I do. Thank you, ma'am. Mrs. Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road. I am sorry that I had to come in like this. I have a sister in the hospital. That's why I was zooming and I could
hear the people talking, but you all could not hear them. So, I'm here. got in the car, came here because this is important. The first comment I have is it's interesting our city, the people that represent us, they've been talking
to the commissioner, they've been talking to Miami date, they have been talking to the residents. We have not been asked. We nobody has said, "Okay, how about you? What do you want? What do you want us to say on your behalf?" No,
they're cutting deals without talking to us and then this is what we're proposing. No, we are the taxpayers. We're the people that they represent. They should listen to us first before they propose anything because guess what? We may be agreeable. We may not
be. They need to hear us first. Let me tell you, this is the same thing that has happened with the uh waterway and the bridges because you know what, Mommy? They decided this is how we're going to do it and forget about what the people want. You know what? We have a
vote. We have a voice. We pay taxes. They need to listen to us. That's number one. Number two, I'm mesmerized. I almost 80 years old. I'm going to get in my car, go to Metro Rail, park there, get on Metro Rail, get off Metro Rail,
go on the PE the mover, then you know I'm going to go to West Palm Beach, connect with this and that and the other thing. How many of people that live in Coral Gables is going to do that? If not, what? We're gonna get on the trolley to get to the bus. Come on,
guys. This is a city where most of us have cars. We expect to go without driving our car. When I get in my car, like today, if I had to wait for Metro R mover, I couldn't have made it here. You know, we this city, our residents are
car driven. We're not going to get on the bus with strangers. Oh, God forbid me. What if they have COVID or what if they have some disease? I'm going to sit next to a stranger. Think about our population. You know what? I'm almost 80 years old. I can tell you I would not do
it. And most of our elderly will not do it. That's bananas. Number two, the University of Miami should be responsible for their housing. I remember Bill Haret telling me many moons ago because it's been so that the
University of Miami had an agreement with the city about the number of people that they could enroll. I guess we forgotten that or we have agreed to disregard it. So now we we have to make
possible for those students to be housed here because the university doesn't provide the housing that they need. It's our job now. And you know what the interesting part is? Most of the students that come to university whether they pay out of pocket or they take
loans or they get grants, they're paying upwards, I hear of $80,000 a year. And they are they need affordable housing. You know why? Because they live by themselves and they don't work. So you know what? We have to provide affordable
housing for them. Explain that one. And the third one is any of us that live near the University of Miami and I live half a block. When they tell University of Miami students, do not drive. Go by my house, look across the street, and
look at all the plates from New Jersey, North Carolina, whatever, whatever. They're not the residents. They're the students. They park in front of our homes. They disregard. I'm telling you, our neighborhood is full of student
housing. We have so many houses that house students that have five, six cars in front of their ho their houses. Enough is enough. Now, I I was I'm telling you, I was driving and taking notes, okay? We're compared to South
Miami. We're not South Miami. We're not South Miami. And that area is not a business area. We're infringing on the residents, on the people that bought their homes to have a nice home in a beautiful city. City beautiful. And now
we're going to make it easy for the people that are transient because University of Miami are not residents. They're transient. They come, they be here for some time, and then they leave. And we have to accommodate him. It's not right. It's not fair. This is not
something that we want. And I bet you that if you were to ask most of the residents, they would tell you it is not a problem. We should not have to be providing housing for and and I every time I hear is student housing, student housing.
That's not our business. When let me tell you when some of these big buildings were built, they were not student housing. There were going to be rentals, but not student housing. And God forbid. Yeah, they were student housing and we were lied to. Enough is
enough. You all represent us. Come on. You know what? First of all, the city should not be talking on our behalf without asking us what we want. That's number one. Somebody needs to let the our commissioners know that nobody talks
for me before they tell me it. Give me a chance to talk about it. That's number one. Number two, the university needs to step up to the plate. They instead of building, you know, they keep building, build housing. Do it or restrict the
number of out oftowners that come here because you cannot provide housing. You know, don't tell the the parents, oh yeah, you can there's buildings that you can rent. No, parents should know that when they go to university, the university should look after their kids.
I'm sorry. Wrong is wrong. Thank you. Thank you for coming, Miss Cruz. And Jill, how many people do we have on Zoom? We have a few that had signed up. So, I'm I'm going to try this again. We only
had two. We had two. Miss Cruz came. So, we have two people. Let's call those two individuals. Mr. Senior and David. Mr. Senior, can you please um Could you call David the next individual? He's
not connected. He's not connected. So, we only have Mr. Senior. Hello. Yes. Hi. How are you? Um, if you would like uh to be sworn in, we need to see you. You can still uh speak if you like without being seen.
Mr. Senior, we can see you now. Can you We can't see you now. His mic is crossed off. Your mic is muted, Mr. Senior. Mute. Now I can hear you. Yes, sir.
Okay. So, you wanted to uh to swear me in only if we can see you and we can't. So, check your camera. If not, he has his finger on the camera. Is your finger on the camera, sir?
Oh, maybe. I'm sorry. That's okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. If we can now just turn the camera to you. That was pretty good. Supposed to be looking that way. It's okay. Maybe you can just turn towards
the camera. Wait, wait a moment because it's hard for me otherwise. Um, sir. Okay, I got If you would please raise your right hand. Yes. Do you swear or affirm the testimony of us here should be the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth. So hope beyond. You've been sworn in. Yes, I do. Thank you. I do. Yes. Go ahead, sir. Okay. I've been here. Okay. Uh I live at
at 612 Center Street, which is uh you know, two block from Hardy and a block off from from re from uh Um well not bad about uh everything on the street but anyway the
traffic here is horrendous you know at times is it hardly it's it's like a snake going through the hole you you turn right and then when it goes to it makes the snake goes to the left when
you try to make a left at at the US one you know I used to do it for the thesis is don't do it because you're not going to accident you know so now the best point is next to the marks
once a thousand people or more are going to be living in that building you know I can see nothing I mean it's the traffic is horrendous you can't just in the developers they do the building and they go they don't live here but the people
that have made coral gables the way coral gave us this other residents. I living here since 1961, okay, in this area and I love it, but it's getting difficult by the day. you
know, we just, you know, big a fight with with the state, with the county, but the last live been living, you know, how can they change all the rules, you know, when when I remember when when President Reagan came to to Miami when
he was president and he saw the metro, his comment was, "Oh, that's a white elephant that they've done here." Like a waste of money. Okay. Well, you know, was like that for a bunch of years. You know, that was getting low, but you
know, that's not that soon be to the detriment of the people that live in the area. you know it's you know the traffic is bad you know how can you you know that mean this world lot like like the march we're talking about
about four probably about three 400 more people living in that small area you know it's just uh you know the people that live south like I do you
know are affected are affected You know, it should, you know, we got to see how we can fight this. It's just not fair that outsiders can dominate what gets done on the city. And by outsiders, I'm talking the state,
the county, okay, the developer. Thank you, sir. Thank you for to have their own was very hard. Okay. Well, thank you so much. No, thank you. Thank you for bearing with us. for
letting me talk. Okay. Thank you, sir. Um Jill, the other gentleman, David, is not on anymore. Correct. That is correct. Okay. Block. Was he on before? Yes. Okay.
And that's the last person. Correct. Okay. After this, gentlemen will go ahead and public hearing. Was was this already signed up from before? Yes. Phil said that this
gentleman was signed up from before. We send various messages to She's coming through now. Uh your microphone is muted. If you could please unmute. Can you hear us? Yes. Thank you. If you like to be sworn
in, we do need to Oh, in San Francisco. Perfect. Right. Sorry. That's okay. Could you raise your right hand, please? Yes. Thank you. Do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth of hope beyond?
Yes. Thank you. Go ahead, please. Um, I have a question because one, somebody in the meeting, a commissioner, could you state your name and address for the record, please? Oh, sorry. It's um Pat Parker, 720 Coral Way, Coral Gables, Florida. Thank you. Um yeah, I have
lived in South Gables on Sunset and on Portio and my family's lived on South Alhamra and what the developers are getting away with is really a big problem. And one of the commissioners or somebody on your
day has said that when the people from the mark didn't get their way, they went to Miami Dade and got this overlay done. That's not fair. It's um manipulative and it's not
what Coral Gables if Coral Gable says no, it's no. And if you can then go to the D County and get Coral Gables overridden, I think Coral Gables has to make a stand on that. That's not fair. And everybody I know said the traffic is
absolutely horrendous. when they were doing the PO of your traffic study said it would have no effect on traffic. And I spoke at that time and I said even a kindergartenner knows that if you have that many people and it's going to affect traffic. It's been terrible. And
that tiny little park we you know for the waterway they tried to put in town houses and we were concerned about the garbage pickup and stuff affecting the children in the park. Now, I don't think anybody can park in the park and it's very dangerous for children and other
people. I think Coral Gables has to take a stand and not be bullied by Day County or more bullied by a developer who can run to Day County and get your overturned. They want to do 8 feet, you said seven feet, and now what have they
accomplished? They've accomplished maybe 13 feet. Um, so I think we have to really look at that as a city, as a commission that we can't be bullied by even Day County. We're part of Day County, but we're are our own
municipality. And Coral Gables has always been of the people, for the people, by the people, and somewhere we got lost. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you for your comments. I'm going to go ahead and close again for public
comment. Um, Sue Uh, thank you. Uh, and thank you, uh, Commissioner Regalado and Anthony. It's good seeing you in a different context. Um, but I have some questions for the commissioner if I if I might.
Thank you so much. Of course. Um, it's I think you mentioned that I the the the developer is Landmark, I believe, right? Landmark out of Athens, Georgia. And of course, we know Landmark because they uh created the Vanera project. It is student housing. They're a student
housing developer. Uh so they came and lobbied you to get this u get this on the commission agenda. They made a request uh to be considered for the RTZ. Okay. And you sponsored the legislation to make that happen. So as the sponsor
of this legislation, can you slow down this process? because you're hearing tonight residents that have no idea what's going on in their neighborhood and how it's going to affect them. Number one, it's summertime and a lot of those residents that are going to be directly affected aren't even around.
Can you as the sponsor of the legislation slow the process down? I have already put in this process already started. I came before the commission and I think that that's important. Um, I came before the commission before this started, um, and explained to them and
answered all of their questions regarding this application and that was like, yeah, if you can Yeah, if you can get June 10th. Um, so again, I mean, we we had a discussion about it. We've
talked about it in the past. I met with Corey Gables when the RTZ was put in. As I mentioned earlier, the RTZ had a two-year period in which the municipalities um had to consider doing these overlays and and figuring out if they were going
to change their comp plan. Um so the the process has already started and that was my point earlier to to Felix, the process has already started. Um, I think that it's it's great that Corey Gables is considering making changes to their
comp plan and I've been um happy to meet with them and discuss with them all the different options that they have and like I mentioned this is the first RTZ that comes with an interlocal where the city gets a seat at the table. So, um I
I have no regrets as to how we have entered to this point. I really have done everything um to have Cory Gable's participation just like I did with South Miami and just like I've done with all of my cities. Um all right. Uh but you're hearing tonight residents that
are saying first I heard about this was within a couple of days. So now you're actually hearing from the people that are going to be directly impacted. Forget the commission. Forget the city administration. I hear from people all the time and I'm happy to sit here and listen to them and I spoke to them
during the break and we're happy to receive their calls and their emails, but um if we were to stop a governmental process just because someone says that they did not know about it, government would not function and you should know that as a county employee. So, so I mean
you're going to take these comments and say tough luck. No, we have a public hearing and we welcome them to attend the public hearing at the county and they have their right to speak here. They have their right to speak to the core gable's commissioner. The manager is sitting here. Um there's plenty of
opportunities to speak to all the stakeholders. The only time where they will not be allowed to speak to stakeholders is if this developer decides to go live local and then we're all out of the conversation. Okay. So the answer to my question is no. You are not going to slow down the process. Your
your characterization is incorrect and I disagree with you. Okay. We can agree to disagree, but that that's what I heard. Uh but let me ask you something. Um, you were talking about the smart plan and you were talking about the the impetus for creating RTZ zones, rapid transit zones was because the county was going
to create all these fantastic transit ways, whether it be more rail, bus, rapid bus, uh, Kendall was going to be a east west corridor. But I didn't say that. I said that the nodes were created
in the 1970s with a plan and that the county in this area did build the metro rail. The rapid transit zone is an attempt to utilize existing investments in transit. And if you would listen to our county meetings, you would hear that my fellow commissioners complain about
how this district in particular has more access to transit than any other district. There are districts that don't have any access to transit. And that's why the rapid transit zone was created in order to incentivize people to use transit so that the county can then um
take into account and comply with the promise that was made when I was 10 years old. So what happened you when I was a child and with the half penny uh really is out of my hands. I just try to do the best that I can with the tools that we have been given. Okay. So, a lot
of a lot of residents were saying, you know, you're you're asking people to use a metro rail system that goes from Delland station to basically downtown and the offshoot to the airport. Okay. Your one of your fellow commissioners,
Oliver Gilbert, was quoted as saying, "We misplanned. We told the public that it would cost x amount of dollars and we were we were wrong by it's going to cost triple the amount. We have we have no money. I'm paraphrasing one of your commissioners.
Okay. Oliver Gilbert, who was the chair of the county commission, made it a priority to do the north corridor, which was promised when the half penny was done. That is currently in the NEPA study, as are other transit plans. The federal government was for many years
only funding smart starts. Even that funding has now been paralyzed. And if you've been following the state budget, uh we actually have issues with the match that was provided by FDOT originally for the Northeast Corridor, which goes all the way to Aventura. So I
don't think that you can make a blanket statement, whether you're quoting Oliver Gilbert or not, about a 35-year process. Okay. So, but you make a great point. There's really no money to build transit at this point in time. So we're stuck at this point in time with bus rapid
transit system that's going to connect to the metro rail basically a north south quarter corridor no money for east west or whatever. Okay at this point in time well at this point in time the county has several NEPAs and the NEPAS are funded there are projects that we're moving forward with but they take a long
time you know the county has also invested in lots of other options that do require people to make connections as do all forms of transportation. I don't think that you can assume that there's one form of transportation, but to your point, one of the reasons that we're
investing in the RTZ is to have users where they can walk to these stations and use transit. That's the entire point. Okay. So, so to that point, um I I don't know. Do you still sit on the TPO, the trans transportation?
Yes. And I am the chairman of bicycle and pedestrian safety. Fantastic. Okay. So to your point, it's kind of like the the cart before the horse. We're forcing all these people into a dense area to use metro rail that isn't going to be expanded for 10, 20, 30, 40 years. Okay?
And if we did force them to use metro rail, guess what they're saying to us? Guess what the TPO is saying? They're not using metro rail. Headline headline. Transit ridership has declined steadily. So all the TPO
studies, these are studies from TW 2022 all the way up to this year. That includes that includes buses and it is not true of metro rail actually metro rail is being used more now than ever because of the development in part of the rapid transit zone and the investment that we have made in
upgrading our stations which I don't know what I'm reading here then because I have a preandemic to current study here and it says that levels of ridership are down 14 to 26% that includes co I know it includes CO. This is this is
2019. CO started in 2020. But the decline that you're talking about includes CO. If we can if we could allow the commissioner to answer the question correctly because I don't think this is okay. There's a there's a point I'm getting to because we're pushing RTZs
and yet we have no why are we pushing RTZs when there is no transportation plan to allow these people to go wherever they want to go. Respectfully, the RTZ item was passed over four years ago and is the law on the books for the
county and has been the marker for a comprehensive master plan. So as far as any issues with the RTZ, respectfully that ship has sailed. Okay. So, so again the TPO uh again all all studies from TPO you said on the TPO it says the
transit use decline attributed to Uber and taxi use by age group. The biggest groups that you're trying to attract to an RTZ which would be a student countywide studies. Sue that is not district 7. Pardon me. That is not district 7. That is the entire county
and there are parts of the county that have no transit as you yourself just pointed out. If I may, Mr. Chair, that may not be a factual evidence. So, I don't know if that's should be continued to push on something that the commissioner is is saying to to the board member. That's not factual. I
think we should respect. Well, all I'm doing all I'm doing is quoting from uh the transportation. You can have this. I can put it into the record. You can put anything on record and be not factual. But that's a countywide. Are you saying that the transportation planning organization which the commissioner sits
on is creating false document? That's countywide. We're not talking about countywide. We're talking about district 7. Okay. Those are different facts. Very different. Okay. Okay. Uh fair enough. But by the way, I do have a breakdown of the Douglas station. And the Douglas station has gone up 2%. Okay. Has gone
up. It was under construction. Pardon me. It was under construction. No, I It was closed for eight months. I I understand that, but it's only gone up 2%. So, we're not seeing a massive amount of people going to use Metro Rail. And the TPO says in fact ridership, we were shuttling them to
Grove station because the Douglas station was closed because we were repairing it. Okay. All right. So, um so in other words, um what happened? What happens um at the meeting next week, Tuesday? It's a public meeting. Uh the
county committee has a public meeting next week, Tuesday at 9:00 am. How are we notifying the residents direct directly affected about that meeting that's happening less than a week from now? The county has no changes in its notice requirements. We always have committee on the same week. All RTZ
items always go to transit. They have been published. We have told people about it. There's no Okay. So just just one thing is if if you have an issue that is with the county
and the overall then that would be something to bring up and actually attend that transportation meeting at 9 in the morning and bring up your issues. Well well it's not my issues it's the resident's issues. Let them go then but they don't know they don't know the
meeting's happening. I I s Sue I understand but but I think in this process in our process I'd like to deal with what is the city's issue. Okay. Which is important as opposed to what the county's issue is. Okay. All right. Okay. All right. Uh chairman. But with
with that said, what is the what is the city of Coral Gables going to do between now and Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. to notify the impacted residents that that is going to be their only opportunity to speak to the county? What is the city going to do? It is not their only opportunity. They will also have second
reading. I've discussed this with residents over the phone through emails. Um I've sent them links of where they could attend this meeting. I'm not sure what else you think we should do as a staff person for city of Coral Gables, but they are of course welcome to join the meeting on Tuesday
at 9:00 a.m. Okay. And who's representing the city of Coral Gables at this meeting? We'll have our um intergovernmental affairs manager there. Okay. So, uh we're going through this process. Are we doing this for not because the
commission is going to do it anyway? Are we here just because I have no way of knowing what the commission is or is not going to do. It's a process. Okay. But the commission voted unanimously with two absent members uh unanimously for this. Right. At first reading. Yes. But we cannot
discuss it at first reading and that's why we have a committee process. Okay. And commissioners usually vote for each other's projects. Uh so it's probably going to be another unanimous vote, wouldn't you say? I have no way of knowing that. Okay. So let me ask you this. Are we wasting our time here, Sue?
That's inappropriate. I'm sorry. That's you're crossing the line there. It's not it's not for this. If there is if residents have an issue with the county, they need to go to their district commissioner and voice their opinion. If they have an issue with the city,
there's appropriate channels within the city to voice your opinion. Also, our job on this board here today is to listen to all the evidence and at the end make a determination based upon what you feel is the correct thing or not.
I'm not saying that you're right and I'm not saying that you're wrong, but to interrogate somebody as if they're on trial to me is just not appropriate. Well, I I'm sorry you don't like my line of questioning, but we need answers because we haven't gotten them. Okay.
The the residents, we're we're here to protect the residents. Okay. We're not here to protect anyone else except the residents. Respectfully, Sue, I am elected by the residents and I also represent the residents and I'm happy to discuss with them whenever they want to. I'm glad you do.
It's just so if you have any specific concerns and and by the way, you're asking me about an item that isn't even on the agenda. I'm here to help you navigate an item on the agenda that is a potential change to your comp plan that seeks to mirror the RTZ. I'm not here to
discuss the RTZ item that is before the county commission. That will occur on Tuesday and you're welcome to attend. Okay. But be but because you have all this knowledge, I'm asking you things like the smart planet RTZ to have some information. I'm just not in the mood to
be bered by you at 8:34 in the evening. Well, I'm sorry if you feel I'm berating you. I don't I I didn't intend to do that and I'm not doing that. You don't have a question. You're just making a statement and you're um you can you are within your right to make your statement. It's just that you have other
board members that actually have questions and we can we can do that and then you can go back to saying whatever you would like but I would like to answer their question. So unless you have a specific question I I I will move on and I did have a specific question at the beginning and I think the answer was no. So thank you. Thank you Sue. Um
Robert, thank you Mr. Sher Commissioner. welcome and I apologize for the uncomfortable situation that you were putting you through. First and foremost, I want to express my gratitude to you for your commitment and
willingness to work with the Corora Gables limiting the height to 120 of the of the Gables RTZ sub zone to 120 ft where 150 ft could be possible and limiting the area of the distance
from the station to those four particular properties. one which is already completed, built and and not, you know, further than we could possibly go. Thank you. Let's be very clear while
we're here tonight. There was a project that came to this board last year, which my firm was the architect at the time. I'm no longer the architect to that project. That project was an eight-story building
with a maximum height of 96 feet fronting US1 direct connection to the Metro station with a bridge that linked the station to the site via the pedestrian bridge. Three of the board members of this board voted to deny the
project. Three I had to recuse myself because it was my project. Three board member voted to deny the project. Three voted for the project and we know where they are. I mean this it's clear because of that decision because the
application failed. It opened the door to property owners to say, "Hey, we have the option in Miami date county to either go to the RTZ because of the proximity to the Metro or in the worst case scenario, we could go live local
and that will be detrimental because we cannot control that. Before I finish and give my opinion, I want to ask a couple questions to Jennifer and and one recommendation that I think
of Jennifer, you we're we are creating a 25 foot rear setback buffer, landscape buffer because all these property are in excess of 300 ft. Yes, I verify because the property I was working with is in
excess of 300. So essentially you're going to get a 25 foot linear part buffer abing the residential. Correct. Correct. I do I I tried to go through this over the weekend. I read a lot of it and I
understand the majority of it. There was one that I missed, you know, that I you brought up a good point today that maybe maybe we could look at it. You're you're or we're proposing the Gables is proposing that on US1 property project
fronting US1 at 100 ft you step it back 30 feet. Right. Correct. 100t up in the air vertical. Right. My recommendation would be that
that setback, the step back, let's call it, it would be more advantageous to do it maybe in the back area, not so much on US1 because US1 is a very wide road. So I I much rather have the height
on US1 and not so much on the back side. And I think that could make, you know, more sense. That's what I mentioned, Robert. Okay. So, that's exactly what I mentioned. And that So, you meant by the step down. Yes. In the back. So, I you
know, so that would be look those those are the two only, you know, question and comments that I have. In closing, if we don't approve this tonight, we will end up with a county's RTC's
regulation, which will be at a minimum 150 ft with a much wider distance from the station or even worse, like I mentioned before, we could be end up with a lift local
project, which none of us, including one of the architects on this board, will want to see there. It's only you and me. Okay. I didn't want to name you, but but so to me, I think this is something that we must take care of it tonight and I
will be prepared to make a motion to approve this in the Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I want to say, Alex, are you chairman? And I want to say echo your thoughts. First of all, Commissioner, I want to thank you for being here and send my regards to your dad. He's he's a good friend of ours.
Um, I just had a simple question because a lot of the questions I had have been answered. Um, you had mentioned that the Gables, what you're seeing from the Gables is a good first step. What What is it that you would like to see more of, less of? How have you guys had any communications? We did. We had several meetings. You know, we've been more than
happy to meet with staff and and talk to them the same way that we did with South Miami and the same way that we do with all the cities. In terms of what was the intent of the RTZ and what we would like to see, um, I disagree with the parking Um, and and it's when we say that the
county does not require parking, what we're saying is that we're allowing the developer to determine whatever parking they need based on whatever model they have. We have yet to have an RTZ that does not have parking. It just depends on who they are building for and why.
Um, like I said, in the case of Vox, they decided to use the Metro Rail parking because it's student housing that they decided would not have parking. So, they have access to the parking lot at the Metro Rail station, but that's where it begins and it ends.
So, I I think it's important to give people flexibility. Um, they're all building different products along the corridor. Uh, and that's been one of the reasons that u developers have chosen the RTZ. So um I think the elimination
of the po is good. I mean to the point that was made earlier about the setbacks obviously if you start with so many setbacks you you start limiting the amount of area that you can build in and that's what gives you the extraordinary
height because if you can't build out you just go up. So I would I just I caution them to just be concerned you know be mindful of that. Um uh but I I think this is I think it's a good first step. I mean I can tell you the
application that is before us now is is smaller than what we're discussing because we're saying that it can't be bigger than the thesis. Um how big is the thesis if I'm sorry to interrupt you how tall thesis is 125 ft but the um Gables one tower is 150 ft. Right. So um
but but I think that the overall intent of the overlay um is to start having this conversation right in terms of what what can be done and what this corridor can look like utilizing Cory Gables as opposed to the county or um to Robert's
point live local which doesn't have any of these limitations and there will be time if this is not quote unquote accepted to amend it change it to at least I guess have some sort of compliance or Um or is it is Tuesday the deadline is like if the city were to submit if we were to approve this motion
and it carries is there still time to change the parking if that's something that's still an issue further down the road or Right. So this is only the first meeting we're having this plan zoning board. It would go to commission with approval of this board um in August in the second reading and later August.
Yeah. So that that's your process. Again I think you know we're we're confounding two issues right? One thing is the current application that's before the county commission on one parcel. Right now, what we're talking about is an overlay district um that includes this
parcel and what Cory Gables is looking at doing in order to change its comp plan for that footprint. Two separate things. Thank you, Nester. Thank you for coming uh and answering all these questions. Um I I I think I I
echo uh Mr. sentiment. Um, and listening to the resident's concerns, um, I think, uh, we're at we're at a point here where, um, we're we're at most restrictive versus preeemption. Um, and where the
metro rail was built way before its time, um, and the county puts basically the cart before the horse, I think the RTZ and and and the county and and the the county failed to develop timely with that very very
forwardthinking project. Um I feel initiatives like the RTZ are the attempt to write that wrong. Um and therefore uh given that the RTZ as you said is is done and and and we have to deal with what with the laws on the books. Um,
I I I would and I and I think I echo a lot of the sentiments of the the people that spoken here tonight where um, you know, I grew up in in downtown in the roads. Um, I'm used to development and and using the the the the Montreal and the metro rail um, and people moved to
Coral Gables to kind of get out of that, but it would be naive for us to think that the development with the growth of the city. No, I don't think anybody saw the growth um 30 years ago to what it is today. Um and and and anybody who drives on US1 um can tell you that when US1 was
built, it wasn't built for the amount of people that we have or the cars. Even taking away 50% of the cars, I don't think it's it's going to, you know, suffice. Uh so I would rather Coral Gables have some sort of input instead of just
being taken completely out of the equation. And I know it's it's taxing on the residents to think that there's going to be these these buildings going up um to service a mass transit, but I think that that's the point is to there is people we do like to drive cars, but
the point is to get them to use mass transit, whether it be students, whether it be people working downtown, whether it be people uh going to Palm Beach. Um I I I have a cousin who has we have a lot of family in Palm Beach and he takes the rail every time he goes up there and he lives a block away from Venetian
Pool. So, um there are people willing to do it. Um I I think uh the the adage if you build it, they will come. Um is is appropriate, but I think uh our input. It would be great to have some kind of input instead of having a developer um
cut us out or just go live local. So, I again I I echo these sentiments and something is better than nothing at this point. So, thank you. Um we've heard a lot here tonight. Um, I want to start by saying thank you. Um,
you took the time to come and listen to us, whether it was good or it was bad, but you took the time to come and I think that's part of the process. I come from the school board. No words. Um, but but I do recognize that. Um,
I think we're at a point within the city that we need to look at what our options are and if we don't make our own path forward or have some input into the decision, it can only be worse.
The project that Robert spoke about that at one time he was involved, which is the mark, the board in essence turned it down. they went and said, "Okay, we're just going to go live local." I don't know if it's so much as what was
spoken about here that to do student housing, you're giving them affordable housing to those people. I think the key when you look at certain projects is for student housing, you have a certain amount of units in a common area. And
that allows you to get within the percentage that you need to be able to do the live local Uh this is not live local. This is No, no, right. But what I'm saying is the the points that we have bad is the live local is is a worse alternative that
we're getting to. Um and and and what I would add to that analysis is in this corridor the top of workforce which is 120 AMI is under market rate significantly under
market rate. Okay, that that's the issue. So you when you place when you talk about workforce housing and then the price point for 120 AMI and you spread that along the county in many places, it's above it's above market
rate. So it doesn't work in this corridor. It is significantly below. May I interject for a second? Yes. Sorry. I I just have one question. If a developer does decide to go live local, what input do are they required to take
from the residents, from the city, from the county? It's an administrative it's an administrative process, right? And I think that that's something that needs to be conveyed to the residents that if if a developer does go for let's call it the nuclear option. Um whatever they
come and they say and it's just we're at the behest of the developer and him complying with live local. Right. So so live local creates a statutory compliance but it has a two-fold loss. Not only do you not have input or control over the density and intensity
but you also lose the tax base. Correct. Um and going forward the I'm looking at it not as a spec the way I'm looking at it is not a specific project that's before us but the RTZ
that's before us there's been a lot of talk about the mark or other projects when those projects come before us that's when I will look at those projects um I I echo and my sentiment is the same as Robert as far as a step back if
that's possible And what Felix said, that makes a lot of sense to me. I don't know if it's doable or if it's possible, but if but if it is, that does make sense. What I like about it is if I'm looking at the quarter mile distance, I'm including a lot of other projects. And one of the
projects that was mentioned is the Gable's waterway. The way the Gables is looking at it right now, it does not include the Gable's waterway project. That's not to say that they cannot come before us and ask. Anybody can come before us and ask.
It's up to us and it's ultimately up to the commission to make that determination, not not just us. Um, I do know that the properties that we're looking at behind it are commercial
property, which is a four-story apartment building that is behind. Yes. Multif family. It's multif family. It's four story believe so that's there and then behind that is also multif family and I think the area is own duplex.
So to me, in a way it makes sense. I would like it to be able to be stepped down in the back as opposed to the front the way Robert said if possible. But I am in support of moving this forward. And I think, you know, unfortunately
there's a meeting that's going before the transportation on the 9th. I think if we don't act now, we may not be able to act. And I think that's very important. That's my that's the way I read it. And that's my understanding. Mr. Sherman, someone to interrupt you. It's five minutes to nine. We must take
a quick extension. Is there a Let's do that. Is anybody like to make a motion to extend the meeting past 9? I'll second. We have a movement. For how long? For how long? Just to take into consideration that I I don't think we can get to the rest of the We we're not This is just I think so to to to
conclude this this item. So I suggest 9:15. So 9:15 is your motion, Alex. A second. Second. Everybody in favor say I. I. I. Thank you. Sorry about that. Um, so for those reasons, and I'm sorry I
lost my train of thought a little bit, but you supported the but for those you supported the application. But but for those reason, oh, the fact was that come to transportation in the 9th, we're not going to have a say as to what we can do.
Um, you did say that you were here and you spoke and you gave uh you spoke with the city. I assume you spoke with previous city managers. They didn't bring it at any point before us. You know, I'm glad we have Mr.
Andius with us as city manager because he understood that it was important and to bring it forward right away. And for that, I do thank you. Um, That's really my comments. Then, Mr. Chair, I'm gonna
make a motion to approve. I would like to put if we can the step back instead of being on US one be on the back of the property closer to the residential. So, just to be clear, right now the way it's drafted, it's 45 ft and then 10 foot
step back that we have everywhere else. But you're saying step back, but you you're saying like the massing, you want the massing towards the road, towards the front, right? More than massing. Yeah. Right, Felix. Correct. Okay. So, I'll make a motion for that. Jennifer, you understand the motion? Yeah. Just to
clarify, right now as a way drafted today, there's a 10 foot step back above 45 ft in the back. Then you could go up to 100, right? You could go up to 120 on the back. Yes. We're seeing have a step back. So, what I create an additional
step back at 100 ft. Instead of doing it on the front, do it on the back. You're not changing. You're not losing anything. Just put it on. Massive. It's a massing it's a massing issue and that is on the first item which is F1 that we're taking up first. Those changes
I'll second the motion. Okay. Well the F No, I think it's the F2 that's going to have the amendment with the step back. Right. So right now we're doing the F1. So we have to have a motion on F1. F1 is the comp plan amendment. Correct. So
Robert, I'll make a motion to approve. We have a second. Where would the step back uh come into play in this item or the next item? Let's talk the next one. Let's talk about that. The step back at the next item. We have a motion. We have a second. Any other discussion? I'm sorry.
Who's the second? I was one one question. Yes, sir. Um my concern right now is that the footprint is specific and it's smaller. You said correct? No. The
application that is before the county commission is just one parcel. One parcel. It's one parcel. But the graphics that we were shown, right, the RTZ the RTZ covers all of it, but the
county is considering one parcel. However, what it's the but the issue is the overlay district. The overlay district, right? So, it's the creation of an overlay district is the match. So, this is not about Your motion is for the
entire district. The motion was being presented to us. Those only the application. No, no, no, no. We're not dealing with the application. The county is at the county. We're dealing with the city of Corable, you know. Yeah. Which it encompass those four specific
property. One which is already built really is not a, you know, doesn't apply to that one. That's what I wanted to make sure because we're talking about two different things. We're we're talking about 1150, 1190, 1250, 1320,
and 1350. Those are the four addresses that we're applying this to. I don't care I mean what the county is doing. Perfect. That's clear. Second thing on on this particular to our city
attorney on this particular uh issue that we have right now this uh motion I wanted to make sure that do we express our concern about the
improvement what should be an improvement to Cavayto and US1 which is the choking point of this entire neighborhood. Does that go in now or would that be in the second application? I think I think
it should be in F2, right? F1 is really just overarching and that really should be on project specific because we we put conditions right on projects. Robert, what I wanted to make sure was that we didn't miss the boat by voting on this and and missing. Okay, fair enough. And
I've got one question. If we pass this, can the county still trump our overlay? Yes. Yes. County the county has home rule. Okay. So, regardless of what we do, that's the position I should say that's the position of the county. Okay.
So, regardless of they've taken that position, by the way, on other uh station projects where they've essentially taken jurisdiction on. Okay. So regardless if we vote this in, the county can come and say, we're the
developer chooses, the developer chooses what path they take. And the point of the county has always been meet us at our zoning. We prefer that the developer choose as long as you have something that's comparable. And like I said, that's what happened in South Miami. The
South Miami Sunset Place did not come to the county to to be included in the RTZ. They worked it out with South Miami. Um, and that's happened all over the county. But I could tell you because the the density is still be limited to 125 units
per acre. Right. Okay. Right. I did a quick massing study. You're never going to reach the potential height on the buildings because of the massing limitation. Right. Okay. I I just I just I just want to know if I want to get it clear. We
vote on this and um the developer for the waterway project says, "We're going to bypass Coral Gables alto together. Let's not even bother filling out an application. Let's go to the county." Can that happen? No. Because they're outside of the envelope of of the of the
node. What if this of this item? This item. This item is just of course they could bypass coral one at a time. So the court reporter can please. So, so in other words, no matter what we do here, the count count the developer can bypass Coral Gables
altogether and go direct to the county because now the county says, "Yeah, okay. Apply for an RTZ uh zone development. You don't have to even deal with those Coral Gables people. The county doesn't go for years. This has been an option. For four years, this has been an option.
For four years, this has been an option. an option that has been taken up by many many parcels all over Miami date county in several districts including my own. So okay but but now they're saying commissioner now they're saying the first opportunity in Coral Gables this is now a great opportunity in Coral
Gables this Cory Gable this opportunity is available countywide m Mr. Mr. Chairman, I think there's some confusion. I think the commissioner is speaking about one thing. Sue is speaking about another. Correct. The waterway project, which is on the other side of the canal, but I'm looking at it
on Google Map. That is over 1,320 ft away. Why is that important? That's a quarter of a mile, correct? It it is that that project is in what is our RTZ overlay, but there has not been an item
brought to include that in the RTZ. Everything along the entire corridor is in the county's RTZ. Everything along the smart path. So everything is is available to those developers just like live local is available to them by
virtue of having a commercial about the smart smart quarter, right? Only the smart quarter. Yeah. The RTZ is only the smart cord. Commissioner, it's fair to say that the further you get away from a hub or a station, the less density you are allowed. Is that fair to say? So, if you get half a mile or a
mile away from I guess Dadeland station, which would be still considered to be RTZ. That is correct. It is it is it is about distance, right? So, so I guess the closer you are, the more density you get. the further you are, the less and one issue that has not been brought up but comes up all the time. The RTZ does
not include residential. It it only includes commercial because that's that's another that's another issue that comes up all the time, right? So, the zoning you can't take an R1 and port it into the RTZ just like you can't take an R1 and port it into live local.
Right? So, there there is an underlay of of zoning. There would have to be an upzoning at the municipal level in order to qualify for the parameters within the rapid transit system. So is that the the the Gables waterway project which what is the zoning on that? MX1 I think mixed
with MF3 and 45 foot height limit four stories at one part but the other part is it's a mix. It's a mix of mixeduse as well as multif family. Yes. Multifamily mixuse that's all game for live local for RTZ
and for whatever Cables decides to do. So we have a motion we have a second. Any other discussion? Let's call the role please. Jill Felix Partardo. Yes. Robert Behar. Yes. Alex Bello. Yes. S
Kolinski. No. with a caveat that this is u uh a waste of time. Nester Mendez, yes. Avi, yes. Make a motion on F2
with the proposed so with a uh the step back to be additional step back on the 100T back side the back side. Read it specifically into the record please. the the proposed
30 foot step back instead of being on US1 for it to be on the rear of the properties for those deep for those deep for those properties. Yes. At 100 ft at 100 ft. We have a second by Alex. So there are
two step back on the back side. There's two step back. There's one at 45 ft. I didn't hear the first and the other one at 100 ft. Okay. And and I would like to uh condition that. Are we in discussion or We are in
discussion. Sorry. We're in discussion. So in discussion um again the intersection of Cavayto and US when I when I looked you know when I looked at the um staff observation they basically said
that because there wasn't an increase was disappointed because they basically said there. In conclusion, this is the memorandum from our public works director. Uh, last
paragraph. In conclusion, because the proposed zoning change does not alter the currently permitted residential density of 125 units per acre, the increased building height and potential additional square footage achieved through amendments to the future land
use plan and zoning plan and the application of transfer development rights will not result in a decline in the level of service for public infrastructure below the minimum standards established by the city's comprehensive plan. Mr. Mr. Chairman, I
think it's important that we put an an improvement component observation correctly done by professionals to look at that intersection which has been a a problem forever. But is that even one I'm not disagreeing
with you but I don't know if that is before us. I think that comes if we could do that here project comes or is that a project specific that is responsible to address those concern which are very valid concerns which isn't that what we're doing right now.
No, we're attorney as as your as your county commissioner um I'm happy to work with the manager looking specifically at Cavayto. We don't need um we don't need an actual project in order to look at Cavayto. The the issue is that when you
look at zoning, you're looking at the green book and what FD do considers an FDC street. It's very different from what you and I experience while we're on the intersection. It's two different
standards. So even if you were to consider some limitation to the overlay, that limitation would be written by the FOD standard, which it's very circular. Um, we're happy I'm happy to work, you
know, if if the if the commission and the manager want us to look at Cavayto, we're happy to work together and look at Kawedo and see what can be done. I mean there there's no if if you have a street that you believe is near failure. There's no need to necessarily wait for
a development in order to address whatever that issue is. We can address that issue through a request from the city and I'm happy to do that. Commissioner, if you give your commitment and you will do that, we will get the the manager to do that with you. I think the residents will be very pleased and happy about it. It it is it
is a bottleneck and just two projects that were already built there just uh made it substantially worse and being a level level F road for DOT it doesn't make it any better. So when and and and the only thing that I could tell you to that is whenever we have those
conversations we're limited because eminent domain no longer allows us to take you know and to widen the roads and but when development does come to those areas then you can request an easement for a widening if a widening is determined to be one of the solutions or
to change the configuration of the lanes. Those are all things that can occur once the property owners come and request something of the city or the county, but we are limited um in our ability to take in order to resolve congestion and street failure. Mr. Part
will be happy to work with the commissioner, the DOT and and our public works department to see what we can do to uh minimize the impact of the problem at that at that intersection. Okay. Thank you. We have a motion. We have a second. Any other discussion? I I have a question.
Uh Commissioner, can we have some kind of in assurance that what is being uh discussed here will end up in the actual plan of that developer? What do you mean the stepbacks we're talking about? Right. We're talking about the massing towards the front
right now. We're talking about legislation the city is doing for the overlay district that we're proposing to be consistent with what the county is proposing. Yeah. But we're not controlling where the developer will go. They may come to the county. Sorry. They may go to the county or they may go to the city. No, no, I'm not talking about
that. We're talking about your your proposal and Mr. Felix uh proposal to have um it will be as part of our regulations, but we cannot control if they go directly to the county. We're hoping
that those three property will go through the gables, our proposed RTZ program and and our recommendations are going to go to the commission anyway where they may tack on other things or even take our own commission, right? They can tack on or take off. And
remember, we're going to have a a a member of the city corables at those county commissions. At that time, that person is the one that say, "Hey, we have this regulation. Can you try following those regulations?" We have,
we're limited on time right now. We have a motion. We have a second. I'd like to call the role, please. Robert Behar, yes. Alex Bello, yes. Kolinski, no.
Mr. Mendez, yes. Felix Pardo, yes. A staff, yes. Thank you again. Thank you again. We need a motion for deferral of the balance of the commissioner. Please say hello to your father, Thomasito. Thank you.
Thank you. Um it's the time I have right now is 9:08. So we have time to make a deferral. I make a a motion to defer all the other items onto the next available meeting. What's the date and time of the next meeting? I don't know. Are we are
you going to renotice that or are we Oh, you will. Okay. Yes, it's August 13th. August 13. Okay. And and I wish that you would calculate the amount of time that you think because there are a couple of items there that may go along. So if you put them all the same one, then you
don't have any time for if something else is coming new, maybe that have to be for the following meeting. We How many items we got coming? Three. This is three. Yeah, three that we're deferring, right? So, those are the first three. And if if you calculate like Mr. Part
said, calculate time, maybe we could add a couple more. If not, I don't think they're big items. I went through it. Very simple. Just don't want them all lumped in there. So, we have a motion to defer. Who second, please? Alex is on a roll tonight.
You can do it first and second. Everybody in favor to defer say I. I. I. Anybody against? Thank you. Is there a motion to adjurnn? I move. We have I'll second. Two new people. Alex
second. Everybody in favor to adjurnn say I. I. I. Thank you very much everybody. Have a nice night.