Spotlight 209-260519 list version

Good morning. What we’re covering in today’s Spotlight:

The Battle to Save Miami’s Trees
A New Challenge to Bonus-Height Development
A Recap of Last Week’s Commission Meeting

Miami Residents Mobilize to Save Trees

As tree removal permits accelerate across the City of Miami, tree advocates are urging residents to challenge proposed removals by filing appeals – a time-consuming process that reflects the public’s growing concern about the loss of tree canopy.

By Jenny Jacoby

Chris Pruett, a certified arborist of 15 years, grew up under the lush tree canopy on Irvington Avenue – a narrow, close-knit street in the South Grove lined with palms, oaks and strangler figs.

“For the most part, people valued the trees and designed their homes around them,” he said, remembering the Coconut Grove he knew 40 years ago.

Pruett recently moved back to Irvington Avenue where he watches over many of the same trees he got to know as a child – only now with the eye of an arborist.

New Lawsuit Targets Grove Bonus-Height Developments

The legal challenge — like a similar lawsuit focused on The WELL — centers on whether Miami officials unlawfully allowed developers to lock in three extra stories under a repealed zoning provision, as well as a separate claim that one of the projects is barred from any bonus-height allowance because of existing restrictions under the city’s Miami 21 zoning code.

By David Villano

A second lawsuit challenging Coconut Grove’s controversial “bonus height” ordinance is now targeting two nearby eight-story residential projects planned along Southwest 27th Avenue, with one of the developments also facing a claim that it was never eligible for the added height anyway because it abuts a single-family neighborhood.

The lawsuit, filed in March by a group calling itself NCG Rightway Inc., expands the legal fight over a short-lived 2023 zoning provision that temporarily allowed some properties near transit hubs to rise from five stories to eight.

A separate challenge, filed last fall, targets similar bonus-height allowances tied to The WELL, a proposed eight-story luxury condominium project on Tigertail Avenue in Center Grove.

A Commission Recap: Traffic, Trees and Voter Turnout

The City Commission agreed to address traffic problems on eight Grove streets, established an advisory committee on trees, scheduled a voter referendum on the city’s election calendar, and deferred a decision on $450 million in new bond funding.

By Spotlight Staff

The Miami City Commission approved traffic calming devices last week to slow traffic on seven streets in the South Grove, and on Elizabeth Street near Bird Avenue, where neighbors have been complaining for years (read more: What About Us?).

In the South Grove, the city is asking the county to waive concurrence (the approval of affected property owners) for traffic calming installations on Crawford Avenue, Poinciana Avenue, El Prado Boulevard, Malaga Avenue, Barbarossa Avenue, Woodridge Road, and Battersea Road. See a map of the proposed locations here.