By Coral Gables Gazette staff
The University of Miami is asking Coral Gables for substantially more room to grow: greater development capacity, permission for enrollment to rise to 17,500 students and the ability to put a hospital of up to 100 beds in part of its campus without a separate conditional-use review.
On Wednesday, the city’s Planning and Zoning Board will cast the first public recommendation vote on that six-part request, beginning a formal review that will ultimately require two votes by the City Commission. The package includes changes to the Comprehensive Plan and zoning code, expansion of the university’s Multi-Use Area, amendments to its campus master plan and a rewrite of its development agreement with the city.
The Gazette first reported on the scope of the proposal in June when the university’s filing reached the city’s Development Review Committee. That reporting detailed UM’s request to introduce hospital use on the Coral Gables campus, replace the 6.8 million-square-foot development cap with FAR 1.0, expand the Multi-Use Area and reclassify three university-owned parcels along Ponce de Leon Boulevard and Levante Avenue. Wednesday’s hearing moves that same package from technical review into its first public recommendation vote.
Together, the changes would establish the framework governing how much UM can build, where higher-intensity uses can go and how the university can grow over the coming decades.
City planning staff is recommending approval of the full package.
What UM is asking for
The most significant numerical change is to the amount of development permitted on the Coral Gables campus.
UM wants to raise the maximum floor area ratio, or FAR, from 0.7 to 1.0. FAR measures the amount of building floor space permitted in relation to the size of the property.
The change would eliminate the campus’s current fixed ceiling of 6.8 million square feet. The city previously told the Gazette that a FAR of 1.0 would permit approximately 10.5 million square feet of total campus development — about 3.7 million square feet more than the existing limit.
The proposed development agreement also would increase maximum permitted student enrollment from 13,000 to 17,500, a 4,500-student increase.
The amendments would permit hospital use within the campus Multi-Use Zone for the first time. A hospital containing more than 100 beds would require a separate conditional-use review; one with 100 beds or fewer would not face that additional use review. City staff describes the change as creating the potential for a community-serving hospital serving students, faculty, staff and surrounding residents.
Retail permitted within the Multi-Use Zone also would increase from 15 percent to 20 percent.
None of those changes approves a particular future building. Individual projects would remain subject to the applicable development, design, infrastructure and permitting reviews.
A larger footprint along Ponce de Leon
The proposal also would expand the university’s Multi-Use Area by nearly 14 acres along Ponce de Leon Boulevard.
The expanded designation would include the existing Central Energy Plant and extend southwest to Red Road and northeast to the Mahoney-Pearson Parking Garage, while excluding properties not owned by the university. City staff describes the Ponce de Leon and U.S. 1 corridor as the campus edge intended to absorb ancillary and potentially higher-intensity university uses while limiting those activities near established residential neighborhoods.
Three university-owned properties that do not currently carry campus land-use and zoning designations also would be brought into the university framework.
The parcels at 1530 Levante Ave., 5827 Ponce de Leon Blvd. and 5855 Ponce de Leon Blvd. would change from Commercial Low-Rise Intensity to University Use on the city’s Future Land Use Map and from Mixed-Use 1 to University Campus District zoning. City staff notes that UM already owns all three properties.
The university’s existing Campus Transition and Buffer areas along surrounding residential neighborhoods would remain unchanged.
Rewriting the city’s agreement with UM
The package also would amend and restate the development agreement between Coral Gables and the university, first adopted in 2010.
In addition to increasing permitted enrollment and replacing the square-footage ceiling with FAR 1.0, the agreement would require UM to convey the Lee Lincoln Parcel to the city for development as a public park.
The university’s annual payments to the city under the agreement would increase by 4 percent each year. UM also would take over management of 70 metered parking spaces, including ADA spaces, on campus streets and improve the western portion of Levante Avenue to install and operate additional parking meters.
City staff describes the park conveyance as recognition of the proposed increase in development intensity and enrollment, saying the property would provide public open space and an additional buffer between campus activity and an established residential neighborhood.
City staff recommends approval
Planning staff reviewed the package against the standards in the Coral Gables Comprehensive Plan and zoning code and concluded that the applications meet those requirements.
The staff report argues that the additional development capacity would support UM’s long-term growth in academics, research, student housing, healthcare and related institutional uses while continuing to direct higher-intensity construction toward the campus core and away from surrounding residential neighborhoods.
Staff also concluded that the amendments are not expected to reduce adopted levels of service for roads, utilities or other public infrastructure, although future projects would undergo project-specific reviews of transportation, water, sewer, stormwater, emergency services and other capacity.
The report’s formal recommendation is approval.
A separate citywide change would allow 30-year agreements
A seventh item on Wednesday’s agenda is listed separately from the six UM applications.
Proposed by the city rather than the university, the zoning-code amendment would increase the maximum initial term of development agreements throughout Coral Gables from 20 years to 30 years, bringing the city’s code into line with Florida law.
The city describes that change as procedural and administrative. By itself, it would not approve a development, authorize a new use or change permitted density, intensity or building height.
The timing nevertheless places the citywide amendment before the Planning and Zoning Board on the same night that UM’s long-term development agreement is being considered.
What happens Wednesday
The Planning and Zoning Board is not the final decision-maker.
For each of the six university items, the board will hear presentations from city staff and the applicant, take public comment, deliberate and vote on a recommendation. The applications then go to the City Commission for two public hearings. Dates for those hearings have not yet been set.
The university held a neighborhood meeting on the proposal Feb. 4. For Wednesday’s hearing, the city mailed 2,327 notices to property owners, including nine sent internationally.
The hearing marks the first public vote on a package that would govern far more than any single UM building. It would establish the development capacity, land-use rules, enrollment level and hospital authority under which future projects could proceed.
How to weigh in
The Planning and Zoning Board meets Wednesday, Aug. 12, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Community Meeting Room at Police and Fire Headquarters, 2151 Salzedo St.
Residents may attend in person or participate through Zoom. Those unable to use Zoom may listen and participate by telephone at 305-461-6769 using meeting ID 837 8870 9513.
Written comments may be submitted through the city’s e-comment system at coralgables.com/pzb or by email to planning@coralgables.com. The deadline for written comments is the close of business Tuesday, Aug. 11.
University of Miami already is operating a hospital on its campus. The Lennar Center bills Medicare and private insurance for use of a hospital facility. Patients sign a form stating that for any procedure performed there.
The Lennar Center is not a hospital, it has no overnight facilities. Office visits, diagnostic services, blood lab facilities, and treatments take place there, but there are no patients staying overnight, and the Center doesn’t function overnight. A 100 bed hospital would generate more traffic and create much more intrusive and intensive activity than the Lennar Center does or ever would, because it is not a hospital.
Thank you very much for your excellent reporting.
No more buildings should be allowed on campus. The amount of traffic is already extreme around and near the university. Blue road does not need 4,500 additional students driving over the speed limit and not respecting the yield signs. Some times it feels like we live on an expressway instead of in coral gables.
I agree that student (and staff and faculty) often drive recklessly down San amaro and don’t respect the yield to pedestrian signals even with the new stop signs on some of the cross walks. I have been in the pedestrian crossing with a stop sign and drivers have blown right through notwithstanding. I think that adding road bumps will and or actual stop lights is the only thing that will stop this and it should be a condition of approval for the added traffic. Someone is going to get killed if the traffic around San Amari isn’t slowed down.
I could say the same about crossing US 1 at South Alhambra. It’s not that UM staff or students are worse drivers than anyone else, it is that they are the majority of the traffic much of the time. The closest calls I’ve seen in this locale are drivers w/UM parking decals doing the wrong thing (interesting enough it’s always looked more like a staff member than a student).
With one particular and important exception, I’m in agreement with what UM is asking.
However, increasing the university’s enrollment by 33% is an invitation to chaos on more way than one in the UM’s neighborhood. If by chance the City’s commissioners are considering favorably UM’s request, they should make it conditional to one single factor: that’s increasing significantly the requiments for admission — making UM an institution of academic national ranking and not only sports.
No worries. It will pass because underhanded crooked Lago and Lara’s PAC were paid off. They received $25,000 and never disclosed it. They will vote anyway. Disgusting CG leadership.
The discussion about the University of Miami’s proposed expansion should not be reduced to traffic complaints, irresponsible drivers or allegations about local politics. Those concerns should be addressed through appropriate safeguards and enforcement, but the larger question is whether UM will have the capacity to remain a leading university while serving a rapidly growing region. Coral Gables deserves to be home to one of the finest universities in the country—and, indeed, in this hemisphere.
Size alone does not determine the quality of a university. However, South Florida is experiencing substantial growth in population, investment and economic importance. UM must invest and evolve if it is to remain at the forefront of education, research, healthcare and innovation. Its long-term development plan should give the university room to grow while directing that growth thoughtfully, protecting nearby neighborhoods and ensuring that infrastructure keeps pace.
Higher education is also changing dramatically. Students increasingly combine classroom instruction with remote and technology-enabled learning. That does not eliminate the need for a strong physical campus; it changes what the campus must provide. Modern laboratories, collaborative spaces, advanced technology, student housing and flexible learning environments are essential to attracting outstanding students and faculty. A carefully managed increase in enrollment can also allow UM to extend its educational reach and respond to the needs of a growing metropolitan region.
The proposed ability to expand healthcare services is equally important. Florida’s population is both growing and aging, which will place increasing demands on physicians, nurses, medical researchers and healthcare facilities. UM should be positioned to respond. A well-planned hospital or expanded medical presence could serve not only students, faculty and staff, but also the surrounding community.
UM’s contribution extends well beyond medicine. It is a dynamic institution with important programs in engineering, business and economics, architecture, the arts, music, marine science, nursing, healthcare and many other fields. Its graduates become the professionals, entrepreneurs, researchers, educators and caregivers who strengthen our economy and sustain our community. Many will remain here, build their lives here and be available when our region needs their expertise and care.
Supporting UM’s growth does not mean approving every future project without scrutiny. Each development should still be evaluated for design, infrastructure, transportation, environmental impact and compatibility with surrounding neighborhoods. The university should be a responsible partner, and the city should insist on transparency, good planning and enforceable commitments. The proposed public park, continued neighborhood buffers and project-specific reviews described in the plan are examples of how institutional growth and community interests can be aligned.
The bottom line is that UM must continue expanding its educational, research and healthcare capabilities if it is to remain relevant and aspire to be among the best universities in the country. When that growth is undertaken carefully and thoughtfully, Coral Gables and the entire South Florida community will benefit.
On point comment! The advantage of having a world-class university at our door steps is a blessing that we should not take for granted. As far as traffic, UM has increased the number of on-site campus housing and many students don’t drive and depend on ridesharing sources. I share concerns with over building, but those concerns are simply not applicable here.
They should not be permitted to have an emergency room.
They shouldn’t be permitted to build it at all!
I am a proud UM graduate, with serious health problems which are very competently managed by UHealth specialists, but we don’t need another hospital in such close proximity to Doctors Hospital, and nearby South Miami Hospital.
And this entire process has taken place with no public input by those who will be most affected, the residents of Coral Gables.
I walk and drive along Ponce de Leon, and there needs to be a re-design to slow traffic (I know at rush hour it is at a standstill, but other times, there is speeding and weaving in and out, and this needs to stop). In short, UM needs to demonstrate its willingness to be a good neighbor by (1) encouraging biking/public transit/walking to campus; (2) not using huge bully buses as shuttles; (3) working actively with the City to get safer conditions on Ponce and other adjacent streets and at crossings on U.S. 1; and (4) having all parking on campus (meters should be for guests and they need to stop using space under the train – except for Metro parking, this area should be green space).
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