Commission advances UM's 30-year campus agreement
Plus a new city manager, a dog park detour, and a police review.
Late August in the Gables is usually slow meetings and long afternoons. This week ran the other way, so here is what actually moved.
The City Commission voted 4-0 on Tuesday to advance the University of Miami's proposed 30-year development agreement. Thirty years is a long horizon for any city. It reaches well past the terms of everyone who voted for it.
The Gazette's editorial board argues the city has not shown the deal is fair. The point is not that the campus should stop growing. It is that a commitment this long needs a clear public accounting first.
The vote advances the agreement. It does not finish it. A hearing still lies ahead, and that is usually where the terms get tested in public. If you live near campus, or drive through it every day, that is the meeting to watch for.
City looks at a new home for the dog park
The long argument over a dog park on University Drive may be heading somewhere new. City staff told commissioners on Aug. 25 they are studying whether the park could fit in the War Memorial Youth Center parking lot instead.
That is a study, not a decision. Still, it is the first real sign the city is looking past the original site after months of debate.
If you have thoughts about parking, noise, or where dogs should run, an early feasibility review is the stage where they land best.
Joe Gómez will be the next city manager
Deputy City Manager Joe L. Gómez has been appointed as Coral Gables' next city manager. He takes over when Peter Iglesias leaves the role in January.
This matters more than most personnel news. The city manager runs daily operations, from permits and trash pickup to how parks and police are staffed. Big projects and budget choices move through that office first.
Gómez already works inside the building, which usually makes a handoff smoother. What changes is who sets the priorities for the staff you actually deal with.
A judge gives the city 30 days on the dog park zoning
The zoning change at 520 University Drive is also being fought in court. A Miami-Dade circuit judge found the challenge cleared an early threshold and ordered the city to respond within 30 days.
That settles nothing on its own. It means the case moves forward instead of getting tossed out at the start.
So two tracks are now running side by side. City staff are pricing out a different location, while a judge asks the city to defend the zoning it already approved.
Police to review testimony claims in a development fight
The fight over the Garden of our Lord development proposal has taken a sharper turn. Coral Gables police will investigate claims that false testimony was given in connection with the project.
That is unusual. Development disputes normally stay inside hearing rooms, zoning files, and long public comment lines. A police review pulls this one somewhere else.
Nothing has been proven or decided. For now it is a live review attached to a proposal that neighbors have already spent months contesting.
A bike tour of the city's parks and green spaces
- When
- Sunday, September 20
- Where
- Coral Gables Museum
The Coral Gables Museum has a bike tour of the city's parks and green spaces coming up next month. It is a decent way to see how much of the Gables was laid out around shade, water, and open land.
After a summer of arguing about where a dog park belongs, a slow ride past the parks we already have seems fitting. Registration details are on the museum's event page.