By Coral Gables Gazette staff

A community meeting convened to discuss additions to an overlay zoning district the City of Coral Gables is proposing to counteract the county’s Rapid Transit Zone (RTZ) reverted to a familiar style for what has become Coral Gables governance, with political accusations, mudslinging and emotions boiling over at points.

The meeting took place at the new Fire Station No. 4 on Sunset Drive in the evening of April 7 and drew numerous residents who live near the RTZ zone and would be directly impacted by new development. The meeting was also available on Zoom with close to 20 residents watching throughout.

City frames overlay as its last option 

Planning and Zoning Director Jennifer Garcia opened the meeting by walking residents through the origins of the RTZ, including the University of Miami Metrorail Station subzone established last year. She explained the city is now proposing to expand its local overlay district to include additional properties around the Mahi Canal.

Although city officials repeatedly framed the overlay as the city’s best, and possibly last, option to retain some control over development, several residents expressed frustration over projects like The Mark (that will be located on what is currently the University Shopping Center) and the broader pace and scale of growth near their neighborhoods.

City officials emphasized that the RTZ, created by Miami-Dade County to encourage transit-oriented development, allows property owners to opt into county jurisdiction effectively bypassing local zoning. City Manager Peter Iglesias described the implications bluntly.

“If they go the RTZ route, that’s basically a Dade County building inside Coral Gables,” Iglesias said. “We don’t control the uses… we don’t control the signage… from a zoning perspective, they’ve taken over certain areas.”

The overlay district, he said, is designed to offer developers an alternative that keeps projects within city review while still allowing increased density. The goal, according to both Iglesias and Mayor Vince Lago, is to preserve local standards and retain millions in impact fees that would otherwise go to the county.

Lago, who described the overlay district as “RTZ lite,” detailed those tradeoffs, noting that projects opting into the RTZ could mean the loss of roughly $6 to $7 million in fees tied to parks, mobility, police, fire, and public art. “If they go the RTZ route, we neither get the money nor control the setbacks, the signage, the height or the design,” he said.

The mayor also stressed the legal reality facing the city. “We are preempted,” Lago said. “Anybody that tells you we can change the RTZ is not telling you the truth… we have to negotiate, because if not, they can circumvent us entirely.”

Residents question strategy — and push for alternatives

But that framing drew sharp pushback from several residents, including Sue Kawalerski, a former member of the city’s Planning and Zoning Board. She questioned both the city’s past actions and its current strategy. She suggested the city should challenge the county more aggressively and even floated the idea of working directly with county officials through the RTZ process.

“I would advocate for residents to ask the county to take this as an RTZ project,” Kawalerski said. “We can go to the county and ask for a better project, because this commission won’t do it for us.”

Exchange between officials and resident escalates

Her comments triggered a heated exchange with Iglesias, who called them “completely incorrect” and then said she was embarrassing herself. Kawalerski and Iglesias had a history going back to last year. At one meeting in 2025, the city manager  showed an 18-minute video montage highlighting Kawalerski’s confrontations with staff, fellow board members, and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado.

The city manager looked ready to continue berating Kawalerski, but was then interrupted by the mayor who referenced her removal from the Planning and Zoning Board.

“She was removed… because she accosted and disrespected a county commissioner,” Lago said. He also dismissed the notion that the county would offer more favorable terms than the city’s negotiated overlay. “The idea that you’re going to get a better deal from the entity that created the RTZ is nonsensical,” Lago said.

Several residents defended Kawalerski and her behavior at the referenced meeting last year.  “I didn’t think at all that Sue was disrespectful. I was there, I saw everything,” said one resident, who went on to say that city officials were too deferential to county officials. 

Commissioner Melissa Castro, who appointed Kawalerski to the Planning and Zoning Board, was also at the meeting and spoke. She challenged the notion that the city’s hands are tied.

“When somebody tells me there’s nothing I can do… I’m going to ask, how are you fighting this?” Castro said. “I will fight for you guys… (he overlay district) would be my plan B.”

A broader divide over how to confront the RTZ

Beyond governance and legal arguments, residents also raised quality-of-life concerns, including environmental impacts along the canal. Questions about manatee protection and potential marina uses were addressed by staff, who said commercial boat operations would not be allowed and that additional environmental review requirements are already in place.

Still, by the meeting’s end, it was clear that while the overlay district may represent the city’s preferred path forward, it has done little to quell resident concerns or the growing friction between officials and segments of the community over how best to confront the realities of the RTZ.

The tension underscored a broader divide that surfaced repeatedly throughout the evening: whether the city should accept the constraints of county and state preemption or attempt a more confrontational approach.