Council to Developer:
Go Back to Original Plan
Grove Council Insists Metrorail Project Conform to 1998 Proposal

Now, the proposal is 1.5 million square feet – six times that of the original —and has two buildings reaching heights of 32 stories.

By Bonnie Schindler

Nearly an hour after the proposed close of its regularly scheduled August 1 meeting, the Cocoanut Grove Village Council passed a resolution to force the developer of the 27th Avenue Metrorail site project to stick to the original proposal he made to the county eight years ago.

“I am tired of [proposals first being approved and then] being changed,” said Councilperson Ron Nelson in reference to the project, which has changed height specifications at least three times since developer Carlos Rua proposed it.

In 1998, Miami-Dade County Transit recognized “the value of Metrorail stations as viable access points to focus on urban density, growth and activity,” as stated on its Web site. With this goal in mind, the Joint Development Program was born. And 14 projects were proposed and presented with the intention of connecting entertainment and housing spaces adjacent to bus and rail lines.

The original Coconut Grove Metrorail project proposal included 14- and 10-story buildings, as well as a single-story grocery store, according to Felice Dubin, a council representative. Rua’s bid to the county was approved in 1998, but the plan has veered sharply since it was first approved.

Dubin said that despite its original project proposal, a signed lease was turned in to the county that reflected two buildings at 19 stories in height and a supermarket. Now, the proposal is 1.5 million square feet — six times that of the original — and has two buildings reaching heights of 32 stories. The third building is still proposed as a one-story.

The footprints of the building – the area of land the structures will occupy – remain the same, but the buildings have mysteriously sprouted height, said council member Michelle Niemeyer.

“There is a missing piece,” council member Martin Zilber said. You cannot just have something in a lease without a formal approval, he added.

“I’d like to see us get more information and then take some definitive action on it,” Niemeyer said, following a flurry of statements from Zilber and council members David Collins and Gary Hecht.

“I want to see if this thing is kosher in the first place,” added Hecht, who is wary of voting on something without seeing full documentation that states the height change was legal.

Jim McMaster said he and other residents have unanswered questions too, like why the lease does not reflect the original plan of a 14-, 10- and a single-story development.

“Something is going to be built, but do what is fair for the community and the developers,” he said.

The 5-4 decision, with Council Chair Marc Sarnoff the deciding vote, does not necessarily mean the council opposes the project, Vice Chair Yvonne McDonald said. Instead the vote represents the council questioning the two 19-story towers written in the lease, she explained.

But one resident, Chris Alger, said she does not care how tall the buildings are because there is still a process that needs to take place. The coupling of both retail and residential spaces to the Metrorail is an integral and important part of modern cities, she said.

“The idea behind transportation is to help stop urban sprawl,” as well as reduce highway congestion, she said.

The 22-mile rail system runs from Kendall through South Miami, Coral Gables and downtown Miami, to the Civic Center, Jackson Memorial Hospital area, to Brownsville, Liberty City and Hialeah. It also connects Miami-Dade to Broward and Palm Beach counties via filter buses, as stated on the Miami-Dade Transit Web site.

“I know one purpose of the Metrorail was to have development around to allow people to use mass transit, but Metrorail really doesn’t go where people want to go,” Tom Falco, a blogger for CoconutGroveGrapevine.com, wrote in an e-mail to the SunPost. “The development will do nothing but add traffic and congestion to the area.”

Storming the podium, Rocio Bueno-Vollrath, a resident who said she would be directly impacted by the project, said the planners have it backward. She said they are bringing people to the Metrorail, instead of placing it in an urban place.

She claims developers will try to buy out her and her neighbors, citing a rumor that Rua had offered Alger $1 million for her house — a rumor Alger said is untrue.

“We have our roots here,” Bueno-Vollrath said of the home she and her husband bought. “We are going to be here until we die.”

Zilber acknowledged Bueno-Vollrath’s passion, but told her and other residents at the meeting to take the issue to their commissioners.

Concurring, Collins added, “I don’t think this is an issue [for] the Cocoanut Grove Village Council.” 

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