By Coral Gables Gazette staff
The Coral Gables City Commission will confront a packed agenda Tuesday, Feb. 10, led by a high-stakes, quasi-judicial appeal of a proposed nine-story mixed-use development at 110 Phoenetia Avenue that has drawn neighborhood opposition and raised broader questions about how the city applies its architectural and zoning standards.
The commission will also debate whether the city can regulate gas-powered leaf blowers amid ongoing quality-of-life complaints, vote on a proposed ban on electric bicycles on sidewalks, and review funding shifts tied to downtown infrastructure and development services.
Development appeal at 110 Phoenetia Avenue takes center stage
The headline item is a time-certain appeal at 2 p.m. of a decision by the Board of Architects Special Masters upholding design approval for a nine-story mixed-use project at 110 Phoenetia Avenue.
The proposed development includes residential units, ground-floor live-work space, a private school component, structured parking, and a central courtyard and paseo. Supporters argue the project complies with city regulations and uses approved design incentives intended to encourage higher-quality architecture.
Opponents, however, contend the scale and massing are incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood, threaten significant trees and garden-style character, and stretch the intent of Coral Gables’ zoning and conservation overlay standards.
Because the matter is quasi-judicial, commissioners will review the case based on the existing record rather than new testimony, weighing whether the Special Masters correctly applied city code.
The outcome could carry implications well beyond a single site, signaling how aggressively Coral Gables will scrutinize large projects seeking bonuses and design exceptions in transitional areas.
City explores authority to regulate leaf blowers
In an item Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson has sponsored, commissioners will take up a policy discussion on whether Coral Gables can regulate or restrict gas-powered leaf blowers.
Residents across the city have long raised concerns about noise, air pollution, and quality-of-life impacts associated with commercial landscaping equipment. Several Florida cities have attempted to limit or ban gas blowers, only to encounter state preemption laws that restrict local authority.
City staff is expected to outline what regulatory options, if any, remain available under state law and whether Coral Gables could pursue limited controls or incentives without running afoul of state restrictions.
While no vote is anticipated, the discussion is likely to draw public interest as neighborhoods continue to push for quieter and cleaner alternatives.
Proposed ban on electric bikes on sidewalks heads for final vote
An ordinance on second-reading would prohibit electric bicycles from operating on city sidewalks.
The measure would formally define e-bikes in the city code and place them under existing traffic and pedestrian safety rules. City leaders have cited growing concerns about faster motor-assisted bicycles sharing narrow sidewalks with pedestrians, particularly in busy commercial corridors and residential areas.
If approved, riders would be required to use bike lanes or roadways, aligning e-bikes more closely with traditional bicycles and other motorized devices.
Mobility Hub funding and development services review
Commissioners also will consider a proposed funding shift tied to the city’s Mobility Hub Project.
The item would reallocate approximately $5.5 million, including $3 million from Parking Fund reserves and $2.5 million from a federal HUD grant, toward the downtown transportation initiative. The project is intended to improve circulation, parking efficiency, and access within the central business district.
Paired with that discussion is a time-certain update at 11 am on the city’s Development Services Study, which is examining permitting timelines, staffing levels and overall efficiency in the development review process.
With construction activity continuing across Coral Gables, the review is expected to address ongoing concerns about delays, workload pressures and how the city manages growth.
Construction rules and tree protection also on agenda
Commissioners will also take up a first-reading ordinance proposing changes to construction and demolition regulations. The measure includes new standards for fencing, visual barriers, and site practices aimed at improving safety and aesthetics in neighborhoods affected by building activity.
Another discussion item focuses on tree protection and construction site practices, including erosion controls and preservation measures — a recurring concern as redevelopment accelerates in several parts of the city.
This Post Has 7 Comments
Leave the leaf blowers alone. They are EVERYWHERE in this county, state, country; you can’t escape them. Banning them will lead to an increase in landscaping costs for each homeowner. And please keep in mind, that they are also used to gather the shrubbery together to be picked up by hand.
Another construction site. 80% of residents have said no more construction but Lago and his puppets continue to support more concrete. You will be remembered by the leadership that destroyed Coral Gables. Lago needs to be fired.
The opportunity to fire Lago last year came and went. And instead, to the detriment of the city, he was rehired. I read so many comments against him, and I wonder who voted for him in the last election? He’s a despot
and an embarrassment on the dais, and has irreparably damaged the Coral Gables we knew and loved.
He was voted back in because there was no one worthy of the job running against him. Menendez was the worst of 2 evils. Coral Gables needs someone in this city who is competent enough to run in the next election….
I have lived in the City of Coral Gables for 32 years. I have been a member of the Coral Gables Woman’s Club for 25 years. I am opposed to the development which is planned next door to the Woman’s Club property as it is completely out of place in the neighborhood. East Ponce is very low rise and residential and to suddenly allow a 13 story building at 110 Phoenetia Avenue is out of prospective for the area. This is not Ponce de Leon Blvd. It is EAST Ponce de Leon Blvd.
Our club house celebrated 100 years in 2023. Our Centennial. Much of our income is derived from renting our historic building so we can maintain the building to City standards while supporting our Coral Gables Children’s Dental Clinic since 1939. https://coralgableswomansclub.org/dentalclinic/ With this development, our business will be affected by both construction dust and use of all our “free parking” surrounding our building. Not only that, but the Garden of the Lord will be destroyed. There are very old trees in the garden and some plants that are not replaceable and NOT movable according to the expert I know and talked to about it. Living in Coral Gables, I have to obtain permits to remove trees, and only if they are diseased. Why is it a developer can come in and just destroy everything with no plan to replace it?
This project is too large and too dense for the neighborhood. It is not in harmony with the surrounding North Ponce neighborhood. The developer purchased this parcel zoned as Institutional/Religious and now is seeking a variance to build here. This area is under a commission-funded study for historic designation.
This neighborhood is protected under the zoning code, Section 2-404 North Ponce Neighborhood Conservation District Overlay (NPCO). The density of this proposed project will have an adverse impact on the historic landmarks surrounding the area, specifically the nationally and state recognized Coral Gables Woman’s Club and the Douglas Entrance.
It will be destroying “historic green space, “The Garden of Our Lord,” deemed a cultural landscape by two nationally recognized prominent UM School of Architecture professors which it does not have plans to replace. (A playground for the school not accessible to the public doesn’t cut it.)
The commission needs to STOP this project from moving forward.
We hear you but the Mayor and commission are deaf to anything the residents say and want. This is disgusting what they want to do to the Garden Of Our Lord and should not be allowed. YOU NEED TO HEAR US NOW. NO, NO AND 1000 TIMES NO !!! This project must be cancelled and you muslt hear us. As one person said. YOU WORK FOR US !!!
Not the developers and their donations and political support.
The bottom line is that the 110 Phoenetia Avenue project is INCOMPATIBLE with the surrounding neighborhood. The destruction of the Garden of Our Lord is an absolute travesty. The impact on the Coral Gables Women’s Club is more than troubling. These are changes which are eliminating facets of our city which make it special.
But the current majority on the commission don’t care. Just try a remove a tree on your own property! However the elimination of a rare garden doesn’t seem to cause any concern to our those who should be protective of it. The rules don’t apply equally when there are ulterior motives behind their actions (as in pleasing the developers who are financing their campaigns or lining their pockets.) Sadly, this has become a Coral Gables which is unrecognizable to the city we’ve loved. INCOMPATIBLE DEVELOPMENT, aided an abetted by the commission, will always be INCOMPATIBLE and damaging to the neighborhood and its residents, who are being sacrificed for the almighty dollar.