Planning and Zoning Meeting - Regular Meeting

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

The Coral Gables Planning and Zoning Board approved the University of Miami's request to amend its development agreement, extending the term to 30 years, increasing the student enrollment cap, and allowing for a 1.0 Floor Area Ratio. The plan also includes conveying a 5.5-acre parcel to the city for a passive public park and permitting a hospital of 100 beds or less within the multi-use zone.

About this meeting

Government Body
Planning and Zoning Meeting
Meeting Type
Planning And Zoning Meeting
Location
Coral Gables, FL
Meeting Date
August 12, 2026

Transcript

187 sections

2:16 – 2:37Speaker 15

Testing 1, 2, 3. Thank you. Testing audio for YouTube. Testing audio for YouTube. Testing audio for YouTube. If the audio is good, then go ahead and mute it. Testing 1, 2, 3. If the audio is good, just go ahead and mute it.

36:38 – 36:50Speaker 3

I'm going to call the meeting to order.

36:50 – 38:38Ignacio Alvarez

The time is now 6.02. I please ask that you silence all your phones and beepers. Good evening. This board is compromised of seven members. Four members of the board shall constitute a quorum, and the affirmative vote of four members shall be necessary for the adoption of any motion. If only four members of the board are present, an applicant may request and be entitled to a continuance to the next regularly scheduled meeting of the board. If a matter is continued due to lack of quorum, the chairperson or secretary of the board may set a special meeting to consider such matter. in the event of four votes are not obtained, an applicant, except in the case of a comprehensive plan amendment, may request a continuance or allow the application to proceed to the City Commission without a recommendation. Pursuant to resolution number 2021-118, the City of Coral Gables has returned to the traditional in-person meetings. However, the Planning and Zoning Board has established the ability for the public to provide comments virtually. For those members of the public who are appearing on Zoom and wish to testify, you must be visible to the court reporter to be sworn in. Otherwise, if you speak without being sworn in, your comments may not have evidentiary value. Lobbyist registration and disclosure. Any person who acts as a lobbyist must register with the city clerk as required pursuant to city code. As acting chair, I now officially call the City of Coral Gables Planning and Zoning Board meeting of August 12, 2026 to order. The time is now 6.04. Jill, please call the roll.

38:39Speaker 5

Ignacio Alvarez.

38:42Speaker 5

Robert Behar. Present. Alice Bravo. Present. Jane McGlashan.

38:48Speaker 5

Felix Pardo. Present. Gonzalo Sanabria. Here. Alex Micello.

38:55 – 40:08Ignacio Alvarez

Notice regarding ex parte communication. Please be advised that the board is a quasi-judicial board which requires board members to disclose all ex parte communication and site visits. An ex parte communication is defined as any contact, communication, conversation, correspondence, memorandum, or other written or verbal communication that takes place outside a public hearing between a member of the public and a member of the quasi-judicial board. regarding the matters to be heard by the board. If anyone made any contact with the board member regarding any issue before the board, the board member must state on the record the existence of the ex parte communication and the party who originated the communication. Also, if a board member conducted a site visit specifically related to the case before the board, the board member must also disclose such visit. In either case, the board member must stay on the record where the ex parte communication and or site visit will affect the board member's ability to impartially consider the evidence to be presented regarding the matter. The board members should also state that his or her decision will be based on substantial competent evidence and testimony presented on the record today. Does any member of the board have such communication and or site visit to disclose?

40:20 – 41:25Ignacio Alvarez

Swearing in. Anyone who speaks this evening must complete the roster on the podium. We ask that you print carefully so the official records of your name and address will be correct. Now, with the exception of attorneys, all persons physically in the city commission chamber who will speak on agenda items for us this evening, please rise to be sworn in. Zoom platform participants. I'll ask any person wishing to speak on tonight's agenda item to please open your chat and send a direct message to Jillman in this stating you would like to speak before the board and include your full name. Jill will call you when it's your turn. I ask you to be concise for the interest of time. Phone platform participants. After Zoom platform participants are done, I'll ask phone participants to comment on tonight's agenda items. I also ask you to be concise for the interest of time. Can I have approval of the last board's minutes?

41:25Speaker 4

Motion to approve. Second.

41:29 – 41:58Ignacio Alvarez

Aye. The procedure we'll use tonight. First, we'll identify identification of the agenda item by Mr. Caller, presentation by the applicant or agent, presentation by staff, Then I'll open it to public comment, first in chamber, second on Zoom, and lastly on phone. We'll then close public comment. We'll have board discussion, and then we'll entertain a motion, a discussion, and a second on such motion. And then board's final comments, and lastly, vote.

41:58Felix Pardo

Mr. City Attorney, can you please read the first item?

42:00 – 42:50Gonzalo Sanabria

May I? Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, one second. I do want to make a disclosure, if you'll allow me. Yes. Okay. I was, back in 2008, chairman of the board of directors of doctors hospital and i was also a member of the baptist hospital foundation i'm sorry you didn't hear me okay i was a the chairman of the board back in 2008 of doctors hospital of directors and also i was one of the treasurers of baptist hospital systems That's in the past and I just want to disclose it in case it comes up as a negative because I have no conflict of interest in this case and I think it's I need to disclose it just in case for everybody's sake. Thank you. Mr chairman.

42:51Ignacio Alvarez

Thank you. Any other comments by the board.

42:56 – 43:08Speaker 4

I have one comment, Mr. Chair. I have an unforeseen personal matter I have to attend to. I have to leave around 7 a.m. Perfect. I mean, 7 p.m. Oh, nice.

43:10Speaker 13

Mr. Chairman, there are six. I'm sorry.

43:18Speaker 7

Mr. Chair, for me, I have a hard stop at 8 o'clock just to put it on the record.

43:23 – 49:01Speaker 13

Well, I'll try to read quickly. There are six items that have to be read into the record, so we'll have one hearing on all of those items. The last item is a legislative item. It is related to, in general, to development agreements, but it's not specific to this particular applicant. So we'll read that one separately when we get to it. But there's a lot here, so everybody just kind of relax while you listen to my wonderful voice. Okay. E1, an ordinance of the City Commission of Carl Gables, Florida, amending the comprehensive plan of the City of Carl Gables pursuant to expedited state review procedures in Section 163.3184, Florida Statutes and Zoning Code Article 14, Process Section 163. 14-213, comprehensive plan text and map amendments. One, to increase the maximum floor area, FAR, for the university campus land use category. Two, to include hospital use and increase retail use within the multi-use zone. And three, to modify the boundaries of the university campus multi-use area to include this central energy plant building and extend... Southwest to Red Road and Northeast to Mahoney Pearson Parking Garage, excluding properties that are not owned by the University of Miami, providing for repealer provision, servability clause, codification, and effective date. Item E2, an ordinance of the City Commissioner of Carl Gables, Florida, requesting amendments to the future land use map of the City of Carl Gables comprehensive plan pursuant to zoning code article 14 process section 14-213 comprehensive plan text and map amendments. and small-scale amendment procedures, Section 163.3187, Florida Statutes, to change from commercial low-rise intensity to university use for Lot 3, less the southwest one-half Lots 4 and 5, and Lots 14 through 17, Block 192, Riviera Section 14, Section Revised Platte, Carl Gables, 1530 Levante Avenue, 5827 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, and 5855 Ponce Leon Boulevard, providing for repeal of provisions, severability clause, and an effective date. Item E3, in ordinance of the City Commission of Carl Gables, Florida, providing for a text amendment to the City of Carl Gables official zoning code, pursuant to zoning code article 14, process section 14-212, zoning code text and map amendments by one, amending article 16 definitions to clarify health center and relocate the university campus frontage definitions to appendix d university campus district ucd two amending appendix a site-specific zoning regulations section a-89 to remove inconsistent site specifics for the properties owned by the university of miami three amending appendix d university campus district ucd to update increase the permitted square feet to floor area ratio FAR of 1.0 with a FAR definition to redefine the university campus frontages and revise associated performance standards to include hospital use and revise the other allowed uses with related requirements to the campus subarea table and update other requirements, providing for repealer provision, severability clause codification, providing for an effective date. Item E4, an ordinance of the City Commission of Carl Gables, Florida, making zoning district boundary changes pursuant to zoning code article 14, process section 14-212 zoning code text and map amendments for a mixed use one MX1 to University Campus District UCD for a lot three less the southwest one half. lots 4 and 5 and lots 14 through 17 block 192 riviera section 14 section revised plat carl gables 1530 levante avenue 5827 ponce leon boulevard and 5855 ponce leon boulevard and to modify the boundaries of the unit First, the campus multi-use area overlay district to include the central energy plant building extends southwest to Red Road and northeast to Mahoney Pearson parking garage, excluding properties that are not owned by the University of Miami, providing for repealer provisions, severability clause, and providing for an effective date. Item E5, an ordinance of the city commissioner, Carl Gables, Florida, amending and restating The City of Carl Gables and University of Miami Development Agreement, adopted by Ordinance Number 2010-31 on 9-28-2010, pursuant to Zoning Code Article 14, Section 14-217, Development Agreements for the University of Miami Carl Gables Campus, providing for a Peeler Provision Severability Clause and providing for an effective date. Item E6, a resolution of the City of Carl Gables, Florida, requesting conditional approval Review pursuant to Article 14, Process 14-203, Conditional Uses and Appendix D, University Campus District, UCD, for the University of Miami Campus Master Plan to reflect Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Amendments, Providing for Appeal and Provision, Servability Clause, and Providing for an Effective Date. Items E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, and E6, public hearing.

49:03 – 1:11:52Speaker 12

Thank you, Mr. College. Mr. Chair, members of the board, Jeffrey Bass is my name. 1515 Sunset Drive in the city of Coral Gables is my address. It's my great privilege to be before you this evening representing the University of Miami. I promise to go as quickly as I can, but not as quickly as Mr. Collar just did. If I go too quickly, please let me know so that I slow down. We have a lot of ground to cover. We're going to try to keep our presentation very high level and hopefully interesting with things that may be surprising to some of you, but which are important for all of you to know. And I've tried to tailor my presentation so that it's not repetitious. with the thorough, comprehensive, and detailed presentation you're going to get from staff on each of the parts in the kit that is before you this evening. I'm joined by Robert Vail from the General Counsel's Office, by by Alicia Corral and Ricardo Haran from within our campus planning departments. By way of just a brief background, it was my great privilege to represent the University of Miami in 2010 when we adopted the development agreement that we're seeking to amend this evening And part of my presentation this evening is going to place that within its historical context and highlight for you some of the great things that we were able to accomplish through that development agreement and how the applications before you this evening build upon it. I've divided my presentation into three parts. The first, as I mentioned, is to provide some vitally important historical context about what a development agreement is. Why does one have one? What's the legal basis for a development agreement? What is the purpose of this development agreement? The second part, I'm going to talk a little bit about our existing development agreement and how it came to be. and what it does. And the third is going to be why we're amending it now and how we're amending it this evening, and that's what's before you. I'm going to start where I usually end, and that's to tell you that you have before you a thorough staff report for recommendation of approval that finds every one of our applications satisfies the applicable standards in your codes. when we end I'm gonna ask you all to recommend approval on each and every one of our applications and send us forward to the City Commission with your recommendation of approval so if I get so rushed and forget to ask you at the end I'm asking you now that that that's why we're here so I'd like to take a moment to highlight some of the particular accomplishments changes that have occurred as a result of the development agreement that we now have A lot of what we see on the campus now actually was built. The newer things were all built after the development agreement. And I dare say the development agreement was directly responsible for our ability to build as beautifully as we did and as efficiently as we did. With the adoption of the development agreement, we ushered in a new regulatory regime on the campus. And we changed how people moved around the campus. And through a series of incremental actions, we were able to really change how people moved around our campus and how people came and left from our campus. I'd like to highlight some of those because the numbers are important. First, under President Shalala, we eliminated freshman resident cars on campus. That alone had a significant effect in reducing the amount of roadway trips on the adjacent network. We initiated the Hurricane Shuttle, and I'm quite proud to report that This year, we've had 463,000 people ride on our hurricane shuttle. So from a mobility standpoint, when you look at pre-development agreement, post-development agreement, and you look at the existential changes that were brought about by the development agreement, 46,000 people riding something in the nature of a transit shuttle at the time was remarkable in a town like this where we don't really use transit. And I think that that number is really, really important. We have a freebie system running. And I want to be careful how I report this. In the last academic year, we had 19,900 freebie rides. That's not riders. Those are rides. And so when you take the 463,000 and you take the 19,000, you start to see how we are able to manage traffic in a very successful and elegant way while still building out the premier university. I'd like to say the premier university. In the state of Florida recognized by the AAU and our in our newfound membership. They are something we're extremely proud of We Developed a rigorous assigned parking lot program. We realized that we could quite effectively regulate trips by where we assign Parking when I was in law school there you would drive around and around and around looking for a spot hunting and pecking and each one of those was it was a trip in and out on the roadway network that exists no more hasn't for some time and you're assigned a lot, you park in that lot, so there's no need to circulate looking for parking. We built a long talked about internal road that had been in the plan for some time to take a lot of our internal maintenance trips off of the adjacent roadway network and internalize them. We conduct annual traffic counts on the adjacent roadway and we do a regional traffic study and a methodology that we worked out with the city that we report to the city every five years through a rather extensive and expanded boundary. A signature aspect of this development agreement, and we're going to talk about it, we're going to show you slides, and there's no way for me to overstate it, so I'm going to say it a couple of times. When this development agreement is consummated, the University of Miami will convey to the city a parcel of land that we call Lee Lincoln, but it's the parcel of land across from West Lab. It's over five acres, and when conveyed, it'll be called Centennial Park to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of these two great institutions. And when we convey it, we're going to place it within the context of the existing parks in the city and show you just how significant it is in terms of size, green space, and buffer between West Lab, the university, and the adjacent single-family neighborhood. So with that, I'm going to start rolling through a PowerPoint very quickly. Again, if I go too quickly, please let me know. So could I have the PowerPoint or whatever the phrase is for the PowerPoint? We're good. Okay. I'll do my best. key terms of the development agreement. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this because they're broken down and your city staff is going to present them one by one. But I think it's important to note at the time that we entered into the existing development agreement, state law only allowed a 20-year development agreement. State law has now been amended to allow for a 30-year agreement. And so one of the occasions for this amendment is to conform the development agreement with state law and have a 30-year term on it. We will transfer the Lee Lincoln site to be named Centennial Park. We have a robust series of community programs that I'm going to highlight very briefly. There's an annual payment as part of the development agreement. We also have before you amendments to the comprehensive plan and the zoning code. The development agreement addresses student enrollment and how we mitigate as the number of our students go up. We're going to clean up and transfer some of the parking spaces in and around the campus. And we have an amendment to our master plan. before the development agreement we have some people here of a vintage similar to mine who remember what it was like before the development agreement then we operated for those of you in the planning space under one of the first planned area developments or the Coral Gables version of a PUD called the UMCAD the University of Miami campus area development it was a very cumbersome way to regulate a campus of this size and When we adopted the 2010 development agreement, we brought about a new regulatory regime, as I mentioned, with a new zoning code, which I'm going to talk about. And we sunset the UMCAD because it served a useful purpose. It outlived that useful purpose. And we moved to a zoning district that was in recognition of the way that the campus was built, should be built. and was designed to facilitate smoother and more efficient review by the city when the university wanted to build within the campus. The amended and restated development agreement really updates what we've done. It extends it for the 30-year term. It eliminates some stale provisions and hopefully will ensure the continued success and vitality of the university until 2056. So a little history. The University of Miami And the University of Miami Metro Station was the first metro rail station built in the metro rail system. In 1972, I think that was before Mr. Collar came to the county attorney's office, but not too much before. In 1972, this is important because I think it's really how we got to where we are is really important. In 1972, this community came together and passed the Decade of Progress bonds. They were at the time nationally known as an experiment in pioneering in metro government. What would metro do? And we came together and we passed this very significant bond so that we could build metro rail and make significant infrastructure improvements. And Governor Graham was here for the groundbreaking. You know, we collected these pictures for the archives. And really, this was a very early commitment at the university, by the university, by the community for transit and a recognition that the university has a geographic endowment by being located next to the metro rail station. Now, the urban planners then knew that this investment would be meaningless. unless we increase density within walking distance to the transit, because otherwise people would just be driving around like they were doing before. So there was a very early recognition, and we're now seeing it. Like after all these years, we're seeing these buildings going up in the corridor. That is the result of planning that began in the 70s, and it's a very exciting time to be alive now and seeing it come to fruition. So when we looked at the UMCAD, And we started thinking about a modern era for how to regulate the campus. When we sat down then with Charlie Seaman, may he rest in peace, who was then the special outside counsel for the city, we talked about an organizing principle for how we would regulate the campus and how we would govern it going forward. And we recognized, quite importantly, that we sit right adjacent to the metro rail next to the US 1 corridor, and that this is a place where we should really leverage the investment for Metrorail. So the multi-use zone was designed to recognize, and we have an application before you to expand it, designed to recognize and capitalize on our incredible proximity to Metrorail. The regulation was envisioned for the university to be able to develop in its interior core easily. And the quote for that quid was highly regulated perimeter that was very restrictive and protected the single family residential neighborhoods around us. And through this bubble plan, if you will, we then turned that into the effective three zones of the campus that serve as the framework for our regulations. where we have a transitional buffer, we have a buffer area, we have a transition area, and we have a campus core. And many of our signature buildings that have been built since the development agreement are located within the campus core. And they were able to be built and reviewed efficiently by the city because they're nowhere located near single family residents. They're not viewable from the public realm. They are completely internal to the campus. And that was recognized when we put the zoning code together that would allow us to move forward with these types of beautiful buildings. Now, this is the Lenar Foundation building, not within the campus core, but sits right on the Ponce corridor. This was made possible by the 2010 development agreement and the zoning code that we put into place then. And it's one of the proudest things that I've accomplished in my career. It's an ability for people in our community to have access to great academic medicine without having to drive to downtown to do it. and and and we know how important health care is and we know how Important the ease of access to health care is so you don't lose an entire day with your family when you go to the doctor You could do that right here in Coral Gables and we've built these magnificently modern housing student housing Developments, you know, we have the lakeside village here we built the the Murphy architectural studio at the School of Architecture and We built the indoor practice in the campus core. And we built the Frost Institute for Chemical and Molecular Science, I think I got that right, right in the heart of the campus, as well as the Knight Performance Center. So these are just some of the buildings that we've been able to build relatively quickly, relatively invisibly, but magnificently within the core of the University of Miami campus. Nothing that's before you this evening is going to alter that essential structure of the buffer transition and core that is the UCD district and of course the newest addition of the family the Centennial Village magnificent if you haven't seen them I know you should Lee Lincoln let me let me focus on Lee Lincoln because I previewed that or Centennial Park we're going to convey this to the city the university will keep an easement over it making sure that It stays a public park for passive recreation to ensure that for future generations. I'd like to emphasize what a buffer. That's Lee Lincoln from the property appraiser's website. When you look at that in scale and in context relative to all the rooftops that surround it, you can see this is not just a simple little gesture or a rounding error. In fact, when you look at Lee Lincoln and the size of Lee Lincoln and you compare it to the existing parks within the city, it will be the biggest park in the city, excluding the golf courses and the other mixed use recreational. But when you measure Lee Lincoln against the other parks, You can see just how significant this gesture is and that serves to further buffer and mitigate the development that takes place on the campus and protect the sanctity of the single family residential neighborhoods that are adjacent to it. I'll highlight these very quickly. It was an important part of the 2010 development agreement. We're carrying them forward. I'm pleased to share them with you. A lot of people don't know about them. If there are people watching on Zoom, we're all very proud of them and we encourage and welcome the residents of Coral Gables to come. We have an annual meeting where we sit down, the leadership from the university and the city. We've learned over the years relationships are best when people speak freely and openly. And this is one time for the institutions, the great institutions, to sit down and talk freely and openly about each of their initiatives and hopes and how we could do better to promote the respective relationships. We have a lecture series, the UM lecture series, six lectures a year featuring members of our faculty and distinguished speakers, all free to the public. A life can change with an internship. And in recognition of that, we developed the Gables Fellows Programs to create an internship, particularly for those interested in public administration, to come and work at the city for free, gain some experience, and hopefully do some good work for the city while they're there. We have our renowned Frost School of Music. We have a concert series where we put on four concerts a year free for residents of the city of Coral Gables. We have cultural programming, and we have a Meet the Docs lecture series, quarterly lectures from leaders within the School of Medicine on issues that are important for people to understand with respect to their health and healthcare in general. We have a great athletics ticket program for the residents of Coral Gables. Buy one, get two. I feel like I'm selling mattresses when I say this. It's buy one, get two. Buy one ticket, get two free tickets for a home football game, and we have a Coral Gables Day. And then we give out a thousand free tickets for men's and women's basketball, baseball, limit of two tickets per household. It's our It's our honor to do this. We're proud to share our great sports teams with the community, and we encourage the community to come. That was a part of the old development agreement. We did a little inventory. Everybody thought those programs were great and should be carried forward. And so we're quite pleased to carry them forward. Turning now to the applications that are before you, I'm just going to summarize at a very high level because Jennifer is going to go through it in great detail. We're seeking to shift how we regulate the campus from a square footage to an FAR. Regulatory mechanism and we're seeking an far of 1.0. I'll show you in a second That's about the lowest far in the city when you compare it to the other districts We are seeking to change some of the permitted uses within the campus. We're seeking to allow a hospital within the multi-use area, that's the area where Lennar is that fronts the metro rail, of 100 beds or less as a permitted use. We have no plans to build one, but this is a 30-year agreement and we would like the opportunity to do so. We have an application to modify some of the antenna heights, again, within the campus core. We're not increasing the permitted heights of our buildings, the maximum permitted heights. And then the multi-use area, so some of you may know we've picked up some properties to the south, down Ponce, up to the church on the corner of Red, and we own a good amount of land now that we didn't previously in 2010. It fronts on Ponce and is perfectly suited to have retail development within it. Some of it has retail now. So we're seeking to expand the multi-use zone from Red Road up to the south side of the Mahoney Pearson Garage. So that's part of our application as well. I mentioned this before I guess our highlighting wasn't the best color looking at this but our FAR is 1.0 that we're seeking and you can see it compared to the FAR that is allowed you know within the other zoning districts within within the city and you can see we're the lowest of the low there quickly these are our map amendments these reflect some of the properties that we've picked up that we didn't own previously the the comprehensive plan map amendment and the zoning code map amendments travel hand in glove you know they're one in the same so you can see the zoning code map amendments the same as as the comp plan map amendments two of these properties that are outliers one is a central energy plant that sits behind all in our foundation and the other is the extension of the multi-use area up by the Mahoney Pearson garage as I mentioned I talked about the MAP amendment. We have a corresponding text amendment. The text amendment conforms the FAR to 1.0, adds the hospital, as I mentioned, and increases the amount of retail in the multi-use sub area. Again, that's retail in the Ponce Corridor, supporting the university, ancillary to the university. Right now, the only retail we have in that whole area is a Walgreens that nobody could see inside of the Lennar Foundation, so you can get your prescriptions filled After you go to the doctors there The zoning code text amendments track as I said before the the comprehensive plan amendments We have some site specifics that were cleaning up that govern the church site They were relative to the height of the steeple and things of the church were eliminating those that's part of cleanup for the site specifics and adjusting the definition of a health center to allow for the hospital use and then consolidating some of the frontages Megan will I'm sorry Jennifer will go through the more of the details there we simplify the frontages nothing to in any way alter the protections that are afforded to the single-family residents to the north that frontage stays exactly the same student enrollment part of the development agreement we will report and address mitigation right now that number is set at 13,000 students over the next 30 years we'd like to increase that to 17,500 that's part of the amendment again no plans to go there now but over the next 30 years that could very well happen there's a bunch of parking resources on the campus that are internal to the campus and some that are directly supportive of the campus. As part of the development agreement, the city will transfer those spaces to the university and the university will be able to manage them thereafter. And I went very, very quickly, lastly I'll leave you, this is Lee Lincoln, which will be something that for generations, for generations, will mark the legacy of what these two great institutions were able to accomplish together. I thank you for your time. I hope I didn't go too fast. We'll be here and able to answer any questions that you have. And it's great seeing you all again, and it's great seeing some of you. Thank you.

1:11:54Ignacio Alvarez

Thank you so much.

1:12:03 – 1:23:40Speaker 2

Good evening. Jennifer Garcia, planning and zoning director. Can I have the PowerPoint, please, and the clicker? So as you know, we have six requests from the applicant, comprehensive plan changes, zoning code and map amendments, as well as the development agreement with the University of Miami and a conditional use review. So as you know, where University of Miami is, it is pinpoint between US 1 and Red Road, south or I guess east of San Mauro. That's a view looking northwest. I said there's six requests that you'll be making your commission on for today. Comprehensive plan text and map amendments, small scale map amendments, as well as zoning code text amendments, map amendments, and then the University of Miami development agreement, and then a change to their comprehensive plan, campus master plan. So the comprehensive plan textments include three changes, changing the allowed floor area ratio from 0.1 to 1.0. For those who are familiar with Coral Gable zoning, 1.0 is your maximum FAR for special use zoning. The other change would include a hospital use within that multi-use zone, that zone that's along Ponce de Leon, and also to increase the retail use from 15% to 20%, again, along the Ponce de Leon and within that multi-use area zone. Comprehensive plan map amendments would include adding those properties that have been acquired by the applicant. I think there's three properties. There are long ponds back up to Levante, and that would be changing the land use from right now the commercial low-rise intensity to then be university campus land use of the nation. and also to expand that multi-use area subcategory of our comprehensive plan to go north up to just south of the Mahoney Pearson parking garage to include the central energy plant building that's along the waterway behind on our building and then south to Red Road. The zoning code text amendments are many of them. They are, of course, included and strike to an underlying within your packet. But to summarize it, it would be to remove the existing 6.8 million square feet of developments and changing that to be regulated by a floor area ratio. So then it would not be, it would be 1.0 FAR, like I said, very similar, exact same as special use zoning, which is approximately 10.5 million square feet around the 241 acres, that's University of Miami. Also to increase that retail use to 15%, from 15% to 20%, again, in that multi-use zone, to add the hospital use and those related requirements along the campus area, table with a conditional use review required if that hospital would be more than 100 beds. If it's less than 100 beds then it would be, sorry 100 or less, it would be administrative approval. And then also some changes to the university campus frontages. So right now they have extensive amount of frontages and this is reducing it and simplifying it for review purposes. They have some frontages that are interiorly illustrated, I guess, within the interior of their campus. Frontage is D and E. This is consolidated. Frontage A is that frontage that's all along the north side, next residential. It's not changing. And this is basically to change those frontages that are mostly along Ponce de Leon, the frontage C, and to have a 20-foot setback and to allow more engagement and more activity towards Ponce de Leon. Again, that's in your packet and strike through and underline. Also to permit antennas to exceed 10 feet of the permitted height within the campus core or actually specifically within the university multi-use area as well. So that is not going to conflict with our current allowance of 120 feet in our zoning code to a maximum 200 feet so that that tower cannot exceed at 200 feet. And then also updating requirements related to our design manual. Our design manual that we have right now at the University of Miami is very outdated. It hasn't been updated in recent years. It's been a burden for the applicant as well for the Board of Architects to guide them with design. So that's been changed as well. And then also definitions to clarify the definition of health center to include hospitals. And then moving all those frontage, I just talked about frontage A, B, and C, moving them from the definitions and including them instead within appendix D, which is where all the university regulations are just for ease of review and for, again, ease of review and so it's all together together. and then also amending Appendix A to take out some inconsistent regulations. And the zoning map amendments would, again, include the three properties that are along Ponce, south of Santa Mara, that would change it from MX1 to be University Campus District. And also to expand the multi-use area north to just south of the parking garage, and then also the center energy plant behind Lennar, and then south to Red Road. So the development agreement has a lot of public benefits that are included with it, a lot of programs, tickets, other things. Those are not changing. They're keeping that within the development agreement. But what is changing is the increase of student enrollment from the current cap of 13,000 to now be 1,700, 500 students of undergraduate students. And then also to convey that land that we just talked about, the Lee Lincoln parcel, to the city to remain in the public park. And that would be a 5.5 acre piece of land that's located northeast of the campus. Also to update the square footage to be floor area ratio of 1.0. revise the payment schedule to include an annual increase of 4% and then transfer some parking spaces that are currently managed by the city to be managed then by the university as they are internal to their campus and also to make some improvements on Levante to be able to install meters and have proper parking on that street. And the last request is a conditional use for the campus master plan. So this is another diagram. You can recognize it. The buffer is that green line that's buffering the single family neighborhood to the north and west from the university, between the university and single family residences. There's a transition zone shown in orange-yellow. and that's a transition zone between the buffer. The buffer has very limited uses. I think it only has one building on it. It's a very limiting zone. The transition zone does also have limitations, but does allow for more buildings and more square footage. There's no proposed changes for the buffer or the transition area. The core, as you can see, is shown in red. It's the majority of the campus. It's further and pulled away from the residential area. And then you see that red area along Ponce de Leon. That is that multi-use zone. So the campus has a unique approval process. As I said, there's three zones, the campus core area. And within that, they are allowed to make changes in buildings and square footages and move buildings around and demolish buildings. And all that is done administratively. But when they increase the square footage of the campus core area or, of course, a use that's considered conditional use, they have to go through the conditional use public hearing process, which is why we're here today, because they're increasing the intensity within the campus core area. The campus transitional area does have a little more restrictions as far as what they could do administratively. If they increase the total floor area, if they increase the number of buildings, if they increase the height of any buildings or structure, or a use is found to be conditional, then they'd have to go through the public hearing process. If they are proposing changes in the campus transition area that doesn't have either of those four requests, then it'll be approved administratively. And the campus buffer area, which is that green area that's 75 feet along the perimeter of the campus, can't really change much of anything. The egress and ingress into the campus, if that changes, if there's any new surface parking spaces or, again, A use that's considered to be conditional would require the public hearing process. If they're changing anything else, which I'm not sure what else they could change, it would be administrative approval. So the approval process here between what is conditional use and what's administrative is not being changed today. That's in our zoning code, and that review is not changing. But what we are requesting, what the applicant is requesting is conditional use because they are increasing the intensity of the campus core area. So you have the whole chart in your application today. It is amending the campus master plan, proposing expansion of that multi-use area on the map and the proposed future land use and map amendments are showing on that map. And they're revising the development chart, which is where they keep tabs of all their buildings throughout the campus, demolished buildings, planned buildings, existing buildings. And then they're also including some minor amendments to the development chart from recent projects and changes that have happened during permitting. Sometimes square footage might grow or shrink during permitting, so they're making those changes in the charts before you. So if you could buy DRC back in June of this year, they had their neighborhood meeting in February of this year. And here we are before you with for planning zoning board in August. So they had sent out property owners, letters to property owners within 1,500 feet of the entire campus boundary. So it was a lot of mail notice. We have not received any emails, any e-comments, any phone calls, or any letters of any public comment to date. So those letters were sent out twice, the neighborhood meeting as well as for this meeting for tonight. The property was posted three times, twice for DRC and then once for this meeting. The website was posted three times and the newspaper advertisement was done once for this meeting for tonight. So staff has reviewed the six requests and we found it to be consistent with the comprehensive plan for the goals, objectives and policies of our comp plan and that's laid out for you in the staff report before you. and staff approval as we find it does comply with the findings of fact also laid out in your staff report. Thank you.

1:23:42Ignacio Alvarez

Thank you so much. I'll open up to public comment. Do we have any speakers?

1:23:49Speaker 5

Yes. Mrs. Maria Cruz?

1:24:06 – 1:33:26Speaker 6

Mrs. Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road, since 1976. I have a few comments. You know, my age, I guess we get confused. The first comment I have is very interesting that something this significant we're talking about in August, where most people know that in Coral Gables, We don't even have two commission meetings in the summer because most people are not here. And the next commission meeting is almost at the end of August because people are not here. And we're dealing with important things when people are not here to get letters, to be told about it, to have comments, because that way we do it and we move it along. And like the mayor says, as long as we have the votes, we can do it. Starting with the student enrollment. Okay. Beginning with the student enrollment. I, we just received the development agreement for the year 24-25. We received it July 7th. And by the way, there was no, meeting in 2025. So this business that we meet every year, 2025, there was no annual meeting. The report for the 2024-25 annual meeting was given to the Commission July 7, 2026, not 2025. OK, that report says that for the purpose of this agreement, the baseline student enrollment is 10,000. Even when student enrollment reaches 12,000, the university should submit a report for review and approval by the city. I'm going to be asking for that report because I asked and nobody knew what I was talking about. Okay? There has to be a proposed plan that address the unmitigated traffic impact caused by an increase in student enrollment between 12 and 13. 13 was not here, okay? If and when the university agrees, listen to this, that if and when student enrollment on the UN campus exceeds 13,000, there's a plan. So there's nothing says here that it's 13,000 because they haven't done Anything that is in this that was presented July 7th. Now we're going from 10,000 baseline to 17,500. You know, pretty soon you'll be 40. Because if we double every year, it'll be... And please do not get confused with the fact that, oh no, they have to come ask and they have to amend. It's a done deal. If they come and ask, they get. Because once again, as long as they have the votes, it happens. Okay? Now we go to the hospital. It's very interesting. It says we need the hospital for a community-serving hospital. Okay, for students, staff, faculty, and surrounding residents. We have a hospital right next to the university. It's called Doctors. a full-service hospital from emergency room to ICU. There is a hospital there. If any student needs a hospital, all they have to do is go on the other side of the street. So this business of needing a community hospital is a way to make more money. It's a way to keep the people from going to the Jackson because, you know, some people do not want to go to that area, and that is wrong. Okay, it also says that you need lodging. Of course, if you're going to have a hospital, you're going to have to have a hotel for the company, for the people that come with people that go to the hospital. And you also need a conference center. I'm reading from the staff report. I'm not making this up. There's a conference center. Not long ago, because, I mean, less than 50 years ago, because, look, I've been there since 76, we were told that we were going to have a convocation center. This was the use of the university, convocation center. Then it became, oh, wait, basketball. Yes, it was for basketball. And guess what? There was a limit to how many seats there could be there. Lo and behold, it was built. and there was a plan for more seating. The residents argued. How come? Oh, no, no, there's not going to be any more seating. Oh, yeah. Then they came back and asked for more, and they got more seats. Okay? So that's the way it works. So now we have the Wasco Center. It's not a convocation center. It's not for basketball. It's for anybody who can pay it. If you want the whatever awards, if you want the home, whatever it's called, you know, they sell things. Anybody who can afford to pay it can rent that place. It's not for the use of the university. So now we have a conference center on top of the Wasco Center. Okay? All right. Now, a hospital, 100 beds. But if we need more, we can come back and ask. So hello, you will get them, OK? Now, the university is very generous. They're going to get 4% more. Well, they're getting how many parking meters? If you add all the money, how much are we getting more? They're getting all the profit from the parking meters. Now, I don't know how many of you live around this area. I saw Mr. Iglesias come in, and I guess in Granada they don't have traffic. But let me tell you, when there are events at the Wasco Center, when the people are coming into Lenore, when people are coming in anywhere there, we cannot get out of our homes. I can tell you, today, today, and not all the students are in yet, today at 4 o'clock, I was going to go someplace and I went back in and parked again because the traffic was so bad. The traffic, they want you to know there is parking abatement. Yes, the students do not have to park in a neighborhood The whole time that the students were away, we had parking on Miller Road around the church. As soon as they started coming, there's no parking anymore. Today, at 630, when I opened my door, there were cars parked already in front of my house, on the other side by the church, because they come and park, and then they walk to the university. But they had parking there. Now, I love it when I heard that the university is the largest employer in the city. I wonder if anybody has taken the time to find out how many employees live in the city, because it doesn't do me any good if they were there and then they go someplace else to spend money or something else to live, okay? And let me tell you, the icing on the cake, the real icing on the cake. We're going to have a hospital, a conference center, a hotel. We already have the Lennar. We already have the Wasco. And guess what? There's a letter. that was written to Ms. Garcia from the Assistant Director of Public Works Transportation that says very clearly, the Cedar-Corrigan Public Works Department reviewed the University of Miami's submitted traffic statement associated with the proposed amendment to their campus master plan. Based on the justification set forth in the university's traffic statement and consistent with Appendix D of the zoning code, the Public Works Department agrees that a traffic impact study is not warranted at this time. Who are you kidding? Somebody needs to go drive and see what happens to the people that live there when they cannot get out of their houses. And it's not one day a year. It's any time there's anything going in the university. It's every day after 4 o'clock. It's every day at 9 o'clock. It's not, and there's no need for a traffic study. I wonder who does the employees that get paid for the city of Coral Gables, who do they work for? Do they work for the residents or do they work for the university? I'm sorry. This is really bad.

1:33:31Speaker 5

E.J. Martinez, and he'll need to be sworn in.

1:33:38Speaker 12

If I may, Mr. Chair, just briefly, I just wanted to keep track. Is there a limit on the time for speakers?

1:33:44Ignacio Alvarez

Mr. Kohler, if we can start.

1:33:48 – 1:34:36Speaker 13

Since we've collected the entire, all of them together, some of these things are legislative, some of them are quasi-judicial. So we have to keep that in mind when we dealing with time frames for people that are speaking since everything that they're speaking to goes to all six items so if it becomes repetitive with the next speaker we we can certainly ask the speaker not to repeat what's been previously said they can simply say I agree with everything that the previous speaker said they're welcome to add something additional and we can judge on a case-by-case basis how much time will be needed. How many speakers do we have? Oh, one more? Oh, okay.

1:34:37Speaker 5

Mr. Martinez?

1:34:49 – 1:35:47Speaker 11

Yep. I'll be fast. I'm just a restaurateur that lives in Coral Gables, but I love UM alumni. I live on Paradiso Avenue, other side of Granada. So the park for me is, you know, UM is like our second home. We're always there. It's great. So I wrote a note because I sell subs and pizza, so this is not me. But like the deed and the restrictions that UM has on the park is what my question is because they're kind of conflicting. You have like a passive park and a public park, and they're two different things. So right now I see it as a passive park. Like it's a park. It's there. There's a sidewalk. There's some grass. You can enjoy it. You can sit under a tree. But a public park is different. A public park can mean you can put a track around it with grass, which will require bathrooms at one point, and lights. And that's, I guess, the question is why UM has these restrictions on that park.

1:35:50 – 1:36:15Speaker 3

This is something that maybe we should answer. But a passive park? you know, that's open to the public. It's not to do anything on that land. It is gonna stay, my understanding from the information I read, it's gonna stay just a green area. Nothing will be built on that land, on those five and a half acres.

1:36:16Speaker 11

Right, so like the deed says public park and the easements say, like the UM has restrictions on that.

1:36:23Speaker 3

Because you, public park, you have to open it to the public. not that you're going to do any type of structures, anything like that.

1:36:34Speaker 11

Okay. That would be a passive part.

1:36:39Speaker 3

If you could.

1:36:41Speaker 13

You need to speak into the mic so that the corporate. Same question. I just asked.

1:36:46Speaker 3

And then what we could do, Mr. Chairman, we could wait for Mr. Bass to rebuttal and answer those questions.

1:36:54Ignacio Alvarez

Got it. Yeah, if you want to finish up and then we can have Mr. Bass come up.

1:36:57Speaker 12

No, no, no, you're good. Are you done? Yeah, it was just... Can you state your full name? But we're going to lose some people, so... Can you state your full name for the record, please?

1:37:07Speaker 11

Eugenio Martinez. Do you need the address or no? 720 Paradiso Avenue. Perfect.

1:37:18 – 1:38:16Speaker 11

Yeah, no, that was it. It was the park and the deed restrictions and why you am still like... giving it to you right but they're still gonna tell you you're a um supporter i love you okay i mean look i don't want to we already talked about it so like the square footage and everything is is you know how much like 20 percent how many square feet is is the increase that you guys are getting i don't want to go back and forth with you yeah just so so the square footage is X amount of square feet, 20% of retail. The hospital is the hospital. I get it. You put it behind the whatever. But you do have ponds, and you have all that expanded retail, which is 20% of however many hundred thousand square feet you get. That's a lot of retail. So those are my two concerns. The rest is, it is what it is. Cocaines. Thank you.

1:38:21 – 1:39:18Speaker 12

Just a super brief rebuttal because I know where time is of the essence Yeah, so it is going to be passive The goal is to keep Lee Lincoln as it is now but to make it open to the public So the language was open to the public, but we want to make sure that it stays a passive green recreational area I'll just state from our perspective and the conversations we have with the city no physical improvements no bathrooms no lights that green passive park that that's that's the goal there and then the square footage you know we shift to the far I don't know but but I want to make it clear the retail along ponds is is to serve and be ancillary to the university we're not putting in something to compete with Dayland station right like this is to have University serving retail so that our students can basically Accomplish everything they need to accomplish without having to get in their car and cross us water leave We ask for your favorable recommendation.

1:39:19Ignacio Alvarez

Thank you Thanks You need to leave oh Mr. Chairman Hold on one second.

1:39:29 – 1:39:54Speaker 4

I want to commend the university. I think this is a wonderful plan and a thoughtful plan and developed to take advantage of the location of the metro station. And so I think this plan is a benefit to the community and to the university. And as the university does well, I think that's a benefit to our community. Can I move to approve all the items together?

1:39:54Ignacio Alvarez

Just let me make sure there's no other public comment. There's no public? No more speakers. So let's close public comment and I guess open up for board discussion.

1:40:01Speaker 4

motion to approve all the items together.

1:40:03 – 1:40:14Gonzalo Sanabria

Mr. Chairman, before we go, we have some comments. Please, let's not rush into it. That's what we're here for, right? Deliberate.

1:40:17 – 1:40:43Gonzalo Sanabria

Mr. Bass, will you stand up, please, sir? Mr. Bass, you're a top professional now as you were a top professional 20 years ago when I was a chairman of the Miami-Dade County Planning Board. And Mr. Collier can attest to that. He is definitely impressed with your presentation. Now, you haven't lost the beat. UM should be proud of having you on board.

1:40:44Gonzalo Sanabria

Let's go over some of the details. 100-bed hospital.

1:40:52 – 1:41:24Speaker 12

that a capped number I'm gonna answer it in keeping with the compliment that you just gave me so as a permitted use it would be a cap if we wanted to do more than that we would have to go through the conditional use approval process notice and a hearing and come before your boards and get an approval But the ability to build 100 beds should that day come would be a permitted use.

1:41:25Gonzalo Sanabria

Would you explain to the board and the people listening in what a conditional use approval process is, please?

1:41:34 – 1:43:00Speaker 12

Sure, and if I may, but I do want to make sure we don't lose any members. So a conditional use is a use that is presumptively allowed in a location. but requires a public hearing with public notice so that the public can come out, know about it, and have an opportunity to make sure that in that location that use does not have any adverse impacts. There is no guessing about where we would, if we were going to build a health care facility, it would be in the multi-use area. It would be in the area approximate to the Metrorail fronting US-1 where we have Lenard. And so the way the zoning code is written, the only place that we could have a 100-bed hospital would be on that Ponce frontage. And correct me if I'm wrong, but the zoning code amendment condition added by staff would be that hospital would have to have ingress and egress directly onto Ponce. So that if there were to be a healthcare facility, it would be on Ponce in the multi-use area with ingress and egress from Ponce. If we were to go above 100 beds, and ask for a conditional use, we would have mailed notice, like every other application. People would be able to come out and look at it. They'd be able to argue for or against it. Your staff would review it, furnish a recommendation, and there'd be a vote of this body and then perhaps the commission thereafter in the event that a conditional use approval were sought.

1:43:00 – 1:43:16Gonzalo Sanabria

So to be crystal clear, as you just stated, as I understand it, The cap would be at this moment 100 beds or less. Should you want a further increase in the number of beds, you have to go with a conditionally used process, correct?

1:43:16Speaker 12

Spot on correct.

1:43:17 – 1:43:36Gonzalo Sanabria

Okay, so that's crystal clear for everybody to understand. The other question that I have for you, and I feel this is a reasonable FAR, you had a .70 FAR in the past on your previous development, correct? And you're requesting a 1.0 FAR, correct?

1:43:37Speaker 12

We weren't regulated by FAR previously, but that's what it noodled out to be if you did the math.

1:43:43 – 1:44:17Gonzalo Sanabria

Correct. Even though you're literally under the RTC district, which will allow you to hire, so that's a very reasonable FAR request in my point of view. Let's go over your park statements. 5.6 acres. We've heard testimony from other people, from the public, saying that They're for it. They're not for it. They want to make it passive and things like that. Now, when you said the following, you say you want to make sure there's a passive park. Is that through a deed restriction?

1:44:18 – 1:44:30Speaker 12

We have a deed restriction and an easement to make sure that the university has a say that this not turn into something other than a passive park.

1:44:31Gonzalo Sanabria

Well, let me ask you this. The language in that deed restriction, do we know it?

1:44:37Speaker 12

It's not final, but yes.

1:44:39 – 1:45:48Gonzalo Sanabria

It's not final. I think that deed restriction needs to be a little bit more open to conversations about it. Because, for example, let's say a city decides that that could be an amphitheater area. It might violate that deed restriction. but it still be a benefit to the city. There's a little bit of a conflict there in terms of, I know that it will be a last thing to be conveyed to the city, okay? So you have to go through all these other approvals before that park, 5.6 acres, is deeded to the city, which is a bonus, and I appreciate that. But it may be so restricted that the city may not even be able to use it in a way that it may apply to its Parks and Recreation Board agenda. So I'd like you to be a little more flexible, a little more open-minded as you process these approvals to deal with the city to try to get an arrangement that's conveniently applicable to both sides. If that's okay with you, Mr. Bass.

1:45:48Speaker 12

I'll always keep an open mind.

1:45:50Gonzalo Sanabria

Thank you, sir. With that said, I'm okay for approving the application.

1:45:56 – 1:46:09Shane Mcglashen

Thank you, Gonzalo. Shane? Just a few very basic questions. So I understand there's an FAR increase request and a student enrollment increase request, but does UM have any current plans to build based on the FAR increase right now?

1:46:12Shane Mcglashen

And if building is going to happen, it'll have to go through the campus master plan approval process, right?

1:46:19 – 1:47:38Speaker 12

So let me answer that. as accurately as I can so this is a 30-year agreement right so this is to govern us for the next 30 years we we do have plans to build I can't tell you that we have any plans what we have to build like right right now but we're nowhere near hitting what we're allowed to build now under the existing development so this is the reason that you have a development agreement is to give certainty to a property owner so that they can make their infrastructure improvements to govern over a long horizon without worrying that five years from now somebody's going to say, yeah, no, we were good with that then, but we're not good with that now. So the answer to your question is we have no immediate need or plans to build up to the 1.0, but we reasonably foresee that over 30 years we could. We have no present imperative to increase the student enrollment, but over the next 30 years we could. And the same is true with the hospital. I want to make it quite clear. None of these imposes an obligation on us to do it. It gives us the assurance so we can make investments in our future that if we want to do it one day, we would have the ability and the capacity to do it. Did I answer your question?

1:47:38Shane Mcglashen

Yeah, no, no, absolutely. And then, but if there is new... Oh, that's the part I didn't get to.

1:47:43 – 1:48:11Speaker 12

I knew I missed a part of it. So if there's something new... The existing regulations that Jennifer highlighted in the approval process applies with the campus. So if there's something new in the campus core that satisfies the obligations under the UCD district for the campus core, like those beautiful buildings I highlighted that all came through the campus core, if they satisfy the standard, they're within the FAR, they comply with the height, those are administratively reviewed.

1:48:12 – 1:48:42Shane Mcglashen

they're in the transition area and they trigger those thresholds they'd be conditional use approvals and they're not going to happen in the transition area so the campus zoning district regulations as they have been working for the last 10 years are going to continue forward unchanged okay and I think you already answered my last question but there's no plan to increase the enrollment today no okay it's just at some point in the future 30 years okay those are all my questions I appreciate your presentation I think it's a great plan and I would approve it thank you thank you mr. Pardo

1:48:47Ignacio Alvarez

I was going to go this way.

1:48:49Speaker 5

Go for it. Mr. Pardo, can you speak into the mic, please? No, but it's kind of far from you. Sorry.

1:48:59Speaker 13

They're getting prepared.

1:49:04Speaker 3

And I won't say anything about HB4 Beauty again.

1:49:08 – 1:49:58Felix Pardo

Look out, Robert. So... Full disclosure, I wear my University of Miami ring proudly. Same time being a resident of Coral Gables, I'm always concerned with what the impact is of any and all development, especially with single-family residential. I looked at the applications, 156 pages. By the way, Jeff, and because I've known him so long, I think I can call him Jeff. you did a very good job in putting your application together, and in fact, you actually checked off comprehensive plan map amendment large scale.

1:49:59Shane Mcglashen

You are correct, large scale.

1:50:02 – 2:02:09Felix Pardo

I think there's a little boo-boo on the staff thing where it said it was a small scale. No, it's a large scale. The reason is because with an FAR 1.0, you're looking at a 15 percent increase of what's there now. So, over the years, and I know you knock down buildings, you add buildings, et cetera. That's fine. And I understand and I like the concept of having the buffering going around. That's great. I thought that there would be, and I didn't understand, if the 1.0 also included the Lee Lincoln Park. parcel yeah I mean just for clarification I'm not through the chair if I may know I made the conveyance that would not that would not be part of the camp okay so that that's not included in the 10 million square feet no when your calculation for the 1.0 FA okay thank you thank you Jeff so when you look at the neighborhood meeting that I read there I kept going through the notes and And it said that there was a neighborhood meeting on February the 4th, 2026. And it was furnished to the city, but it's not in our report. I don't know how many people were there. I don't know what the comments that were made. There are no signatures. It's not there. It's just missing. The same as the Exhibit E of the original development agreement, which is highlighted in our I wanted to see what it was, you know back You know 26 years ago whenever it was The zoning code text amendment on page 111 is interesting One of the things is that when you built it used to be that when you built hospitals You needed to provide a certificate of need for any hospital And that was struck by our Florida legislature, struck down 2019, and then they went back in and also took out other exceptions in 2021. But there's still a certificate of need required for hospices, nursing homes, and skilled nursing. And staff was silent on any of those requirements, which are part of the development of any component of a hospital that still exists in the state statute to Florida. So that was a little troubling. And the reason is because you have to analyze the need that there is for that particular component of the hospital within a radius. The radius could be 10 miles, whatever it is. But I mean, I think it should have been included here to make this a little bit better for future expansion of the hospital. And you are 100% correct, Mr. Bass, that you said specifically that as long as it's less than 100 beds, you don't have to front onto the Ponce Corridor. It's only once you go beyond 100 beds for ingress and egress only. The parking payments component, I think it's already been discussed by Mrs. Cruz. That's just part of the horse trading, et cetera, that the city has been going through with the university. And one of the things I can't understand is the traffic statement from Public Works is very disturbing. Because it seems to be routine that Public Works goes out of their way to say, we don't need a traffic study. I would like them to next time say, we do need a traffic study to see what the real numbers are. Because if you drive around Coral Gables, just from your home to your office, it has become a challenge. And the infrastructure is not there. Of course, we don't have to worry about concurrency because that was gutted many years ago. In understanding this extremely complex thing that we're supposed to vote on, and I can't vote on it just because I like the University of Miami, which I do. I have to understand because I feel like I have a responsibility to protect the neighbors that are going to be impacted by this development that's going to be developed over 30 years. And I think that that is more than reasonable for all of us to look at. I don't understand why such a complex and large application has never come before this board before, where it would have at least gone into two meetings to go over, ask questions, and look at this thing. I don't understand why the rush. If staff has been working with the university for a prolonged amount of time and negotiated this over time, I think that an explanation of those negotiations and how they came up with the final recommendations would be important for us to understand to be able to vote on it. To say that the comprehensive plan amendment complies is laughable for one reason. You're changing the comprehensive plan. You're changing the limit, the ceiling of what the underlying zoning has. The other thing that is super disturbing, I think, is that there is very little in the future, there's very little contributions or input from the surrounding neighbors that are going to be living for the next 30 years with specifically those issues created by that impact for the next 30 years. The specific transition areas. that are, I think, 275 feet, almost the length of a football field. But there's no definition in our packet that explains what the transition area is. Is it volume? Is it density? Is it score footage? Is it landscaping percentage? It's blank. How can you vote on something that you don't understand because it hasn't been provided to us? Is it that President Reagan said? Trust and verify. Once you approve this, there's no coming back here because everything is going to be done administratively with not only no input from us, but no input from the neighbors that are impacted. The campus approval process, specifically that we saw, is 100% administrative. It's the people that work for the city, the people that work for the university, the applicant, and there's no input there with the neighbors. Having a meeting of this importance in the dead of summer is counterintuitive to bringing people in so everybody can have input. I know about the mailings. I know that they went out. But I'm sorry that didn't make it for me. If we look at the comments that Mrs. Cruz made, they're also the concerns I had. I think that the university, over the years since I was there, and I would stroll down the asphalt paved walkways that we had with someone that we became good friends, Dr. Henry King Stanford. I will never forget that he was really trying to get the university from a beautification standpoint to become what it is today. It is an incredible facility. My concern now is the 800 pound gorilla in the room, the hospital, the intensity. ambulances. I mean, hospitals are hospitals. And the campuses of hospitals are very different than what has been created at the Lennar Center. Lennar Center is beautiful. It's very approachable by the people that go there to seek medical attention. It's fantastic. But I don't know when that tips over to the ambulances, the mad dash and that kind of thing. I understand that it's facing Ponce. But Ponce also is a roadway system parallel to U.S., as we call it, useless one. And it doesn't take much to congest that. Just take a look at when there's a basketball game or a concert or anything at the convocation center. It immediately chokes, and then people start going through the side streets. I have more concerns than that. I'll limit my time, but I just, you know, this is another application that's coming before us that it doesn't matter what the concerns are. We're just going to go through with it. I would vote for it if I could have a reasonable answer to the concerns that I have. But how can you do that while we're right here just chomping at the bit here? I don't understand that. And I just don't feel comfortable approving something that I have a lot of doubts with. And I love the University of Miami. But I think that they're doing what they need to do, and I understand that too. But I just hope that they could take a breath and defer this and come back and get it really right where these concerns are completely answered. And I'm not taking, Jeff, I'm not taking anything away from your presentation, which as always, Mr. Sanabria was correct, always superb. That was great. But I have concerns, and I know that I'm not just talking. All right. Thank you. Thank you.

2:02:14Speaker 3

The only thing I will agree with Mr. Potter is that we're both proud alumni of the University of Miami.

2:02:22Felix Pardo

Did you graduate?

2:02:23 – 2:06:31Speaker 3

Oh, absolutely. And furthermore, I am going to say it, and we have another one. I am a proud recipient of the Centennial Medal for Architecture, one of 100 medals that, you know, My colleague here, Ms. Bravo, got another one for engineering. I got one for architecture. So I'm very proud. And for full disclosure, I am. I'm going to tell you something. I am extremely proud that we have a world-class university here in our city. The University of Miami, it's a transformation that has happened since I graduated many, many years ago. and I'm not going to tell you what year because I know you did before me, but it's unbelievable. And I see it because my wife and I walk through the campus at least two nights a week. And I think they've done a fantastic job. I want to address first is the increase of students. And I want to compare because right now we have I think the number was 13,000, and we want to increase to 17,500. I would like to know in comparison to other world-class universities, because I do consider the University of Miami a world-class university. And I will venture to say that that number, even at the 17,500, we will be way below every other university's throughout the United States and throughout the world. So I think this is something that is... And by the way, that's over 30 years. Insignificant. To me, that's nothing. The increase of FAR, I don't see one problem whatsoever with the increase to a 1.0 because that is... minimum in comparison to what the amount of land the university has and everything being done in the core of the campus, which from the periphery of the campus, you don't see any of these buildings. You know, I think they've done a fantastic job. The hospital, And I tell you, unfortunately, I was a regular patient at the Baskin Palmer, which is an incredible facility, probably one of the best in the world. Unfortunately, I did suffer four detachment of my retina. And I was lucky enough to have Boston Palmer in our backyard. And now when I go twice a year to check, it's at the Lennar. And for them to be able to offer a minimum hospital consistent of 100 beds or less, I think that it's nothing that is going to affect The neighborhood, nothing that's going to affect what is there. On the contrary, you know, it is some ponds. It is fronting ponds still young, facing the most, what did you refer, useless one. It is the most, you know, congested area which is the least impacted to the resident. Because at the end of the day, if you're talking about ambulances, well, doctor hospital is in the middle of the residential. This is going to be completely away from the residential area. NEIGHBORHOOD. THE 4% INCREASE, I JUST WANT TO, WHAT DO WE GET CURRENTLY FOR THE CITY? BECAUSE IF MY UNDERSTANDING IS CORRECT, WE DON'T GET, AND THIS MAYBE JENNIFER OR EVEN MR. BASS COULD ANSWER, DO THE CITY GET ANY PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE AS A PAYMENT OR THAT 4% IS GOING TO BE NEW TO US? OKAY?

2:06:35Speaker 2

4% will increase every year.

2:06:37Speaker 3

Yes. Do we get any...

2:06:40Speaker 12

That's new, right?

2:06:41Speaker 2

That's new. Yes. Right now. It's locked that. Thank you 1Million. Thank you.

2:06:46 – 2:07:35Speaker 3

Yes. Okay. And finally, I will end up, I think the park. Will be a fantastic asset to the city. I do, I do, it will be the, if not the largest 1 of the largest, but I do want to make sure that. It stays a passive park. WHEN YOU CONVEY TO THE CITY, SAYS AS A PASSIVE PARK, AND I WOULD SAY, YOU KNOW, A DOG PARK, BUT NO, BECAUSE WE ALREADY HAVE A CONTROVERSY OVER THAT. JUST AS A PASSIVE PARK WOULD BE GREAT. I THINK THAT WOULD BE A GREAT BUFFER TO THE RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD ON THE OTHER SIDE OF GRANADA THERE. SO, LISTEN, I AM 100% IN FAVOR. CONGRATULATIONS AND CONTINUE TO DO SUCH A GREAT JOB. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

2:07:41 – 2:09:22Speaker 7

I'm glad and thank you, Chair, for bringing me last so I could listen to everybody's comments. I live a block north of the university, on the other side of the golf course. And listening to this whole project, as a resident, I don't have any negative concerns. I know that the hospital still needs to get approval from the state and everything else. Like you mentioned, they need a certificate that it's needed. So it's not going to be automatic. But I like the idea of the hospital because look what FIU is doing. FIU has their own hospital. And this is a business where everybody's competing for students. So I get the whole hospital concept. I like that the parking is being turned over to the city. It's going to be a buffer. You're not going to have what we're seeing also going back to FIU. ALL THESE RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS POPPING UP ON THE SWEETWATER SIDE. I UNDERSTAND THAT THE UNIVERSITY NEEDS TO GROW. IF WE WANT TO HAVE A WORLD CLASS UNIVERSITY, WE NEED TO ALSO WORK WITH THE UNIVERSITY TO ALLOW THEM TO GROW TO UPDATE. I'M NOT A URM GRADUATE. I'M A FIU GRADUATE. I'M A PUBLIC SCHOOL GRADUATE. But I also like going to the school. I like going there to events. And I like everything the university has done so far. We need to give them the space to continue doing that over the next 30 days, 30 years. So after listening to everybody's comments, I really don't have, I'm going to vote yes to this proposal.

2:09:24 – 2:10:09Ignacio Alvarez

you don't i'm gonna thank you i'm gonna keep mine short i'm i'm also a florida panther in the sense of fiu so i'm not a um alumni but i am a canes fan um i couldn't agree more with my my board members i think this sets the university up for for lack of a better word, greatness over the next 30 years. And the park is by far an incredible asset. I myself have used the park many times. I have a little girl, so sometimes we go play soccer, whatever it may be. So I use the park, honestly, almost on a monthly basis. My only question is the neighborhood or the resident meeting. How many residents showed up? I'm just curious because I know one speaker brought that up.

2:10:19 – 2:10:34Speaker 2

So, on page 154 of your packet is a summary of the neighborhood meeting that happened on February 4th. It started at 6 p.m. Is there a number in here as far as how many attended the meeting, Mr. Bass?

2:10:36Ignacio Alvarez

And it could be off memory. I don't need an official.

2:10:40 – 2:11:08Speaker 12

Yeah, I would... I don't know if there's a number in there. I was there. And I would send it. Ms. Cruz was there. Flanagan who was here earlier he was there I'd say there was probably about 15 people maybe 15 to 25 people that were there maybe three spoke you know raise your hand to speak several came to see me after to ask you know questions but it was it was it was nicely attended

2:11:09 – 2:11:20Ignacio Alvarez

because I know one of the residents brought a concern that since it's the summer, a lot of residents are in town, but to my understanding, school is back, and for the most part, I think everyone's back in town. Public school has started, university has started.

2:11:21Speaker 12

And if I may, let me just clarify for the record, if there's any insinuation that this was held like under cover of darkness, school is back in session.

2:11:27 – 2:11:38Ignacio Alvarez

That's what I was getting at. Thank you. So yeah, just not to echo the same thoughts as my colleagues, I'm in complete favor of this myself. So thank you. I guess if we have a motion.

2:11:39Speaker 4

Motion to approve all the items.

2:11:41Ignacio Alvarez

Do we have a second? Second.

2:11:43 – 2:12:14Speaker 13

Mr. Chairman, we're going to have to vote on each item separately. I will take that motion as one, as separate motions for each item. Some of these are comprehensive plan items, and some of them are text amendments, and some of them are approvals. So let's start with E1. There's a motion to approve E1 in accordance with the recommendations of the department.

2:12:16Speaker 3

We have a motion and a second. And a second.

2:12:19Speaker 5

I'm sorry, who seconded? Motion to approve? Alice Bravo? Yes. Shane McClashen?

2:12:33Speaker 5

Gonzalo Sanabria?

2:12:37Speaker 5

Ignacio Alvarez? Yes. Robert Behar? Yes. Alex Bucello?

2:12:42 – 2:13:03Speaker 13

Yes. Item E1 passes. Next item is E2. There's already a motion, and I don't know who seconded, but, oh, okay. So this is, again, on the Comprehensive Plan Amendment, so we need to take a vote on that.

2:13:05Speaker 5

Jane McGlashan?

2:13:09Speaker 5

Gonzalo Sanabria?

2:13:12Speaker 5

Ignacio Alvarez?

2:13:16Speaker 5

Robert Behar? Yes. Alice Bravo? Yes. Alex Mucello?

2:13:20Speaker 12

Yes. Mr. Collar, if I could just confirm, all of these are a motion to approve consistent with the staff recommendations?

2:13:29 – 2:13:49Speaker 13

Yes. The motion is consistent with department recommendations on each of these items. Thank you, Mr. Bass. Item E3, there's a motion and a second. In accordance with department recommendations, we need a vote on this item. This is on the text amendment.

2:13:52Speaker 5

Felix Pardo? Felix Pardo?

2:13:58Speaker 5

Gonzalo Sanabria?

2:14:01Speaker 5

Ignacio Alvarez? Yes. Robert Bejar? Yes. Alice Bravo?

2:14:06Speaker 5

Shane McGlashan?

2:14:09Speaker 5

Alex Bucello.

2:14:09 – 2:14:21Speaker 13

Yes. There's a motion on E4, which is to approve in accordance with department recommendations. We've had a second, so we need a vote on E4.

2:14:23Speaker 5

Gonzalo Sanabria.

2:14:25Speaker 5

Ignacio Alvarez. Yes. Robert Behar. Yes. Alice Bravo. Yes. Jay McGlashan. Yes. Felix Pardo.

2:14:35Speaker 5

Alex Bucello.

2:14:35 – 2:15:01Speaker 13

Yes. Item E5, okay, that E4 was on the zoning code text and map amendments. E5, there's a motion and a second. This is the actual development agreement. And the motion is to approve in accordance with department recommendations. We need a vote on E5.

2:15:02Speaker 5

Ignacio Alvarez? Yes. Robert Behar? Yes. Alex Bravo? Yes. Jay McGlashan?

2:15:10Speaker 5

Gonzalo Sanabria?

2:15:12Gonzalo Sanabria

I'd like to make a comment before we conclude all the agreements that we're about to approve.

2:15:17Speaker 13

But we have more to go. But I still want to make a comment. Sure. I just want everybody not to leave the room.

2:15:24 – 2:15:45Gonzalo Sanabria

That's all. That Mr. Bass has agreed to meet with the city manager's office in Parks and Recreation to work out the language... Of the deed restriction of that passive park to an amenable is amenable to both parties. So that comes to an agreement. That's the statement. You may you say you're open to that. Correct?

2:15:48 – 2:16:13Speaker 12

said I will always keep an open mind but obviously that's a client decision at the end of the day but I will go to any meeting the big smile and I'll be there early I'll bring treats and we'll see if we can hammer out something we'd like to have an open-door policy and communicate with the city manager's office and Parks and Recreation just not to be a stickler but oh yes lawyers no fun but I got to speak to I got to go through the attorney's office yes

2:16:20 – 2:16:46Speaker 13

okay so that's six e6 right that was six one e6 e6 is on the this is the conditional use review we have a motion in a second that'd be approved in accordance with department recommendations yes Alice Bravo yes Jim McGlashan yes Felix Pardo

2:16:47Felix Pardo

This is a change to be in compliance?

2:16:53 – 2:17:22Speaker 13

This is the, it's a resolution requesting conditional use review process, conditional use appendix D, the university campus district for the University of Miami campus master plan to reflect what the comprehensive plan and zoning amendments have approved. the university campus district, which is a conditional use. Right. Okay. Thank you. No.

2:17:24Speaker 5

Gonzalo Sanabria? Yes. Alex Russello?

2:17:27 – 2:17:38Speaker 13

Yes. Okay. Item E1 through E6 passes, but we do have an item E7, which I think can be quickly handled if we have...

2:17:39Speaker 3

Okay. So we're done with the University of Miami?

2:17:42 – 2:17:54Speaker 13

Yes, okay, but this does deal with development agreements. So they might be interested in. Because, but you just want to stay for the whole show. I understand Mr. sure.

2:17:54Speaker 3

We're going to lose 2 board members. If there's something that. We're losing two board members now.

2:17:59Speaker 13

I think these are technical amendments to be consistent with state law.

2:18:04Speaker 12

This will be five minutes, but we need you guys to get them to travel together with the development agreement to the commission. So if we deferred this this evening, that would be bad.

2:18:12Speaker 3

We lost one board member.

2:18:13Speaker 13

Yeah, I think that... 15 minutes. All right, let's go. I think staff can explain this quickly.

2:18:20Speaker 7

I'm sorry, counselor. You're supposed to read it first into the record? Yes.

2:18:26 – 2:18:57Speaker 13

the right we need to thank you. He seven in order to see Commissioner called gables Florida providing for text amendments to the city called gables official zoning code by amending Article 14 process section 14 dash 217 development agreements to amend the maximum duration of development agreements and certain requirements to ensure consistency with state statutes, providing for repeal or provision severability clause codification providing for an effective date E7 public hearing.

2:18:57Speaker 3

Do we have any public comment, Mr. Chair? Do we have any public comment?

2:19:02Speaker 3

I'll make a motion to approve.

2:19:05Speaker 13

Second. Okay. Is the motion in accordance with department recommendations?

2:19:15Felix Pardo

Yes. Okay. ALIGNED WITH THE STATE MANDATE.

2:19:18Speaker 13

THIS IS ALIGNED WITH STATE LAW. SO IT'S REALLY JUST A TECHNICAL HOUSEKEEPING MEASURE.

2:19:27Speaker 3

WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND.

2:19:29Speaker 5

MR. MCCLASHAN.

2:19:34Speaker 5

GONZALO ZANABRIA. YES. IGNACIO ALVAREZ.

2:19:39Speaker 5

ROBERT BAYHART. YES. ALEX BUZALO.

2:19:44Speaker 7

MR. CHAIR, MOTION TO ADJOURN.

2:19:46Ignacio Alvarez

Second. All in favor? Aye. Meeting adjourned.

This transcript was automatically generated from the official public meeting video and is presented unedited. It reflects remarks made on the public record by elected officials, staff, and public commenters. Transcript accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.