Miami

New Game

Slim zoning board majority tells developer to start over

By Erik Bojnansky

Herschel Haynes came to the Miami Zoning Board with one mission: to represent the Hadley Park/Model City Homeowners Association and oppose three future residential buildings in his single-family neighborhood.

The chairman of the city board, though, hardly gave him the chance.

“We are not going to have a public hearing,” said zoning board Chair Juvenal Pina. When Haynes tried to say something at one point, Pina cut him off. “No sir, we’re done.”

In the end, however, the board narrowly rejected Biscayne Housing Group’s request for a one-year extension to obtain a building permit by a 4-to-3 vote Monday.

Attorney Ines Marrero-Priegues said her client wanted more time to obtain a building permit. “They were just asking for two more months,” she said.

In October 2006, the city board approved the zoning needed to build Uptown Place, a condominium complex that was to consist of 60 residential units, 3,800 square feet of retail and 102 parking spaces on three parcels near Northwest 52nd Street and 17th Avenue.

Hadley Park residents felt the Uptown project was out of scale for the single-family neighborhood and appealed the decision. “It was too big,” said Haynes, president of the Hadley Park/Model City Homeowners Association. But the Miami City Commission backed the zoning board, affirming the zoning increase in April 2007.

Six months later, Uptown’s developer, Sergio Concepcion, sold the land to Biscayne Housing Group, headed by Gonzalo de Ramon and Michael Cox. Instead of a condominium, Biscayne Housing wanted to build affordable housing for senior citizens, Marrero-Priegues said. The new developer even planned to shrink the towers from eight to seven stories.

Haynes said the change in use and change of developers means the project needs to be started from scratch. “This is actually a new project,” he said.

Zoning Board member Bret Berlin agreed. “It seemed like it was a brand-new project. It has a new owner, new developer and [a new use],” he said after the meeting.

Marrero-Priegues said the property merely “changed hands.” De Ramon said his company even has a commitment from the state for funding.

Four zoning board members voted against the extension: Berlin, Miguel Gabela, Cornelius Shiver and Charles Garavaglia. Voting for the extension: Pina, Jorge Luis Lopez and Joseph Ganguzza. Angel Urquiola and Ileana Hernandez-Acosta were absent.

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