Lobbyist hints at a bait and switch for a smaller project

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Developers of a mixed use project on Ponce de Leon Boulevard in Coral Gables want the city to let them add nine stories to the Ponce Park Residences on the corner of Malaga Avenue by changing the zoning limit from seven floors to 16 stories, more than twice as tall as allowed.

Oh, and they want part of University Drive given to them. And an alley, too.

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It may be two years away, but newly-minted Coral Gables Vice Mayor Mike Mena just lost any chance he had to be re-elected in 2023.

No, it’s not just because of the condescending matter in which he dismissed resident-driven ideas from newly-elected Commissioner Rhonda Anderson, who proposed amending the zoning code to require approval and notice for “as of right” commercial developments. The Gables Insider correctly called Mena’s arguments mansplaining. It was also pathetic.

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Newly-elected Coral Gables Commissioner Rhonda Anderson is already delivering on her campaign promises, proposing sweeping changes to the zoning code at her first commission meeting Tuesday.

Anderson sent Mayor Vince Lago and her colleagues a memo on May 4, just over a week after winning the April 27 runoff, detailing a bunch of suggestions that include making certain zoning changes go before the commission, as well as a moratorium of sorts on the Mediterranean bonus that allows developers more intensity for Mediterranean designed projects.

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Not much more than a month after Coral Gables commissioners approved an upzoning of Miracle Mile — and before the election runoffs and a new commission is installed — the first building is being demolished.

The corner of LeJeune and Miracle Mile, where Randazzo’s Little Italy once was, has been turned into a pile of rubble. The sight sent Gables residents into a tizzy as they envisioned a six story building take its place.

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A group of parents and Gables residents suing the city to stop the construction of a Wawa on Grand Avenue had their first hearing Friday — and got their first victory of sorts.

Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman didn’t dismiss the case, as the city’s attorneys wanted. Both City Attorney Miriam Ramos and their outside counsel, Holland and Knight attorney Annie Gamez, were there.

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