To the Editor:
Another outrageous lot-splitting looms on June 4 at Miami City Hall and the city’s Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board (PZAB) needs to hold the line.
PZAB is often our last hope to combat over-development and lot-splitting in Coconut Grove. Our canopy, green space and culture is a major draw to people across Miami, and a major reason many of us stay here.
We need boards like PZAB and HEPB (Miami’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board) to preserve the character of our neighborhoods and city.
But developers plan on these boards caving, granting waivers to the code, regardless of public opposition or even common sense. They buy up big lots with plans to split the lots often against code and city recommendations.
We just witnessed this on a 21,000-square-foot single-family lot (4055 Poinciana Ave.), discussed at PZAB on May 21. This property, initially three smaller lots, was rezoned in 1947 as a single-family lot.
The lot was recently purchased by 4055 Poinciana Avenue LLC, which wants to revert the zoning back to original designation. That’s right folks! They want to roll back time 78 years, creating three 7,000-square-foot lots totally out of scale with the existing neighborhood.
The city staff got it right, denying the request for a waiver as inconsistent with the size of adjacent lots, listing seven points that did not comply with existing code, with only one in compliance.
The developer response? Bring in former Miami Planning Director Francisco Garcia, who resigned in 2020, but is now a consultant with the Euclid Group, representing the developer.
By a vote of 8-1, PZAB deferred a decision to June 4, pending another review by the city of the scale, architectural detail and landscaping.
By our count, only two or three PZAB members appeared ready to support the city and deny the split. The rest were swayed by the obscure stats, false narrative and future promises of great things in small packages.
We need to protect our green space, stop the lot splits and don’t let empty promises to build attractive homes and squeeze a few trees into narrow lots (prevail).
The June 4 PZAB meeting is our chance to get more residents to the meeting. What is coming here will eventually come to you. It’s been happening for decades and the changes are permanent and generational.
It is time to fight back, once again. If you agree, please attend the June 4 meeting and speak up.
John and Debbie Dolson
Coconut Grove
Our green spaces are disappearing by the minute here in Florida. We need to hold on to whatever we have and add to them, not continue to add concrete and hardscaping. Why do we need more homes in the Grove? What is the rationale? It will only out more burden on our infrastructure, the maintenance of which is straining City and County budgets. Why not let green spaces act as ecosystem service areas, filtering our water, cooling our homes and yards, and providing habitat for wildlife.