Mayor Vince Lago and City Manager Peter Iglesias defended the city’s handling of Somerset Gables Academy’s proposed use of the War Memorial Youth Center during the Sept. 29 City Commission meeting, emphasizing that no final agreement was reached and the school never used the property.
But one answer from Iglesias conflicts with language in a 2023 email previously reported by the Gazette.
When Lago asked Tuesday whether Somerset had ever received approval to use the Youth Center, Iglesias answered: “No, they did not, mayor.”
In July 2023, however, Community Recreation Director Fred Couceyro wrote to Iglesias and other city officials: “We gave them approval to use the field for PE class. However, they wanted much more use than that. They wanted after school for sports teams, etc.” Pasted text
The available correspondence does not establish what Couceyro meant by “approval,” whether any formal authorization had been issued or whether Somerset ever acted on it. The city has maintained that no contract, lease or operational agreement was executed, that Somerset was never granted access to the property and that the school never used the field. Pasted text
Resident Tom Wells raised the issue during public comment, telling commissioners that emails showed city officials had worked with Somerset on a possible arrangement despite restrictions governing the Youth Center property.
Lago argued that the emails showed discussions, not an approved agreement.
He said Coral Gables operates under a strong-manager form of government and that when residents contact him about something requiring city action, he forwards the matter to the city manager for consideration.
Iglesias confirmed that residents connected to Somerset had approached the city.
“Mayor, they reached out to us,” Iglesias said. “There were residents that had students there and they reached out to us.”
Emails show talks moved beyond an initial request
The Gazette reported last week that the 2023 correspondence went considerably beyond an initial inquiry.
Following a July meeting between Lago and a Somerset parent, the parent thanked the mayor for his “support and assistance” with the school’s request. Lago then contacted Iglesias about arranging an August meeting.
The emails show officials discussing physical-education use, after-school sports, a possible memorandum of understanding, rental rates and a facility permit. By Aug. 17, Couceyro told a Somerset parent that, after discussions with city officials, “a standard Facility Rental permit will work and going to Commission is not needed.” Pasted text
During this week’s meeting, Lago emphasized that the proposal “never even made it to commission discussion.”
That is consistent with the administrative path described in the emails, but the correspondence shows that avoiding a Commission vote was itself discussed. When Couceyro asked in August whether staff could proceed with a rental application permit, Deputy City Attorney Stephanie Throckmorton replied that they could move forward with the city manager’s approval. Pasted text
The Youth Center differs from an ordinary city facility because the property is subject to a reverter clause and other restrictions governing its use.
Lago pointed during the meeting to schools using other city parks, including Phillips Park and Kerdyk Park. Iglesias said such arrangements had been occurring “for decades.”
“It is not the first time,” Lago said. “It’s been happening for decades.”
But Somerset Gables Academy is also subject to restrictions arising from its own 2012 expansion. A recorded declaration says the school “shall not file any request” to use the War Memorial Youth Center for physical education or scholastic activities and prohibits organized charter-school activities in the Youth Center’s parking lots and open areas. The city’s 2007 Youth Center resolution separately lists the athletic field as unavailable for rent, while also giving city officials some discretion over nonprofit use and usage policies. Pasted text
Lago and Iglesias did not address those distinctions when comparing Somerset’s request with school use of other city parks.
Public-records lawsuit goes unmentioned
Neither Lago nor Iglesias addressed a separate development tied directly to the emails: a public-records lawsuit filed by the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center Association against the city.
The Association made three public-records requests in January seeking records concerning its relationship with the city, Somerset and the Youth Center. The Somerset-specific request, filed Jan. 26, sought records concerning any effort by Somerset or Academica to use, share, lease or otherwise access the property, along with communications involving the deed, reverter clause and restrictions that might affect the school’s plans. Pasted text
The Association alleges that the city failed to produce responsive records and that deficiencies in its search process prevented the Association from obtaining records it sought. It says it independently obtained emails that should have been responsive to its requests.
Those allegations have not been adjudicated.
The lawsuit was filed Sept. 18. Documents show the city was served Sept. 29, the same day Lago and Iglesias discussed the Somerset emails during the Commission meeting.
Neither mentioned the pending litigation or the Association’s allegations concerning the city’s handling of the records requests.
The city’s position remains that Somerset never received final authorization to use the Youth Center and never used the property. The emails establish, however, that officials discussed how such an arrangement could work, considered rental terms and a permit and, in Couceyro’s words, at one point had given approval for PE use.
What happened between those discussions in August 2023 and the city’s ultimate decision not to proceed remains unclear from the available correspondence.
