Spotlight 202-260424

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

The Departure of Two Longtime Grove Residents
A New Complaint over Sidewalk Closures
A School Fence Drawing Negative Attention
The WELL’s Traffic Study
A Neighborhood Briefing on Old Smokey
Where We’ll Be: An Events Calendar

A Village Remembered: Two Grove Neighbors Say Goodbye

Attorney Tucker Gibbs and stonemason Josh Billing – two Grove personalities who left town last month – look back at the neighborhood where they came of age, raised a family, and made a life.

By John Dorschner

Shortly before he moved out of Coconut Grove, Tucker Gibbs paused at his front door.

“Wait a sec,” he told a reporter, dipping a scoop into a bucket of bird feed and scattering it in his yard, where a peacock, chickens and their little ones were pecking around.

He waved at the lushly landscaped yard, with a garden curated by his wife, Mary Ann, over decades. “It’s going to be tough to leave this place,” said Gibbs, 71, a Grove attorney who was born and raised in the village.

That’s exactly the sentiment of Josh Billig, 68, a master stonemason who’s lived in the village for almost six decades. “Not easy, to be sure,” he said.

Residents Question City Oversight of Construction Closures in the Grove

A new complaint tied to a high-profile Coconut Grove project is raising safety concerns — and renewing questions about how Miami enforces its rules on public right-of-way use.

By David Villano

A newly filed complaint over construction conditions near Coconut Grove Elementary School is raising concerns about pedestrian safety — and scrutiny of how the City of Miami oversees the use of public streets and sidewalks during private development.

The complaint, submitted to city officials last week by Grove resident Paris Wallace, on behalf of the civic group Center Grove Neighbors, targets an active construction site at the intersection of Florida Avenue, Grand Avenue and Matilda Street — part of the high-profile Ziggurat development — where the group alleges multiple violations of state, federal and city requirements governing traffic control and pedestrian access.

Neighbors Oppose New School Fence Cover in Center Grove

A new dark blue fence cover installed along Oak Avenue behind Coconut Grove Elementary School has upset nearby neighbors, who now “wake up to a stingray.”

By Jenny Jacoby

Last week, Patti Highfield stepped out the front door of her Oak Avenue home – as she has for more than seven years — and locked eyes with a cartoon stingray.

The smiling stingray is a part of a new fence cover that lines the back perimeter of Coconut Grove Elementary School – much to the chagrin of neighbors who border the school property.

“I thought, well, that’s really large and intrusive, it can’t be permanent. But it was,” Highfield said.

The WELL Traffic Study Clears Key Threshold — But Only Barely

A Miami-Dade traffic review found that automobile trips generated by Terra Group’s proposed Center Grove project would fall just under the threshold for triggering a more extensive traffic analysis — though questions were raised about several assumptions used to reach that conclusion.

By David Villano

A traffic study prepared for Terra Group’s proposed eight-story luxury condo The WELL Coconut Grove concludes that the development would add fewer than 100 new vehicle trips during each of the two daily peak hours — a finding that allows the project to be classified as having minimal traffic impact under Miami-Dade County guidelines.

But the project achieved that classification only after a series of adjustments and assumptions that drew scrutiny from the county’s outside reviewer.

The study, prepared by David Plummer & Associates and obtained by the Spotlight through a public records request, analyzes traffic expected from the mixed-use project planned for the corner of Tigertail Avenue and Mary Street.

Residents Get First Look at Old Smokey Class Action

In the first community meeting since the Old Smokey toxic exposure litigation was certified as a class action, attorneys walked residents through the levels of potential involvement and urged them to pressure city officials to settle the case.

By Jenny Jacoby

More than 75 people gathered at Christ Episcopal Church on Tuesday to learn how they might be affected — and what comes next — following a recent class-action ruling in a long-running lawsuit over toxic ash exposure in the West Grove tied to a former city-owned garbage incinerator known as Old Smokey.

“The strong turnout reflects how deeply this issue continues to affect our families,” said Carolyn Donaldson, a plaintiff in the case and one of the meeting’s organizers. “For many, this is not just a legal case, it is about recognition, dignity and justice for generations who have carried this burden.”

The lawsuit alleges that area residents were exposed for decades to toxic, cancer-causing substances — including dioxins and arsenic — through clouds of billowing ash, as well as contaminated soil left behind after nearly 50 years of incinerator operations.

Where We’ll Be – A Grovite’s Calendar

From Curtain Calls to Cannonballs

Dive in! Pools are opening, dogs will soak and shake, and there are plenty of rooms where laughter or music will loosen things up. The Grove feels like it’s in mid-splash—loose, social, a little unpredictable. (Can a dog do a cannonball?)

So don’t stay dry. Take the plunge somewhere—into a crowd, a conversation, a pool, a ridiculous dog gathering, a room where friendships start and spread. Dogs shake it off without a second thought; people take a little longer, but it works the same way. Show up, get immersed, and let the ripple effect handle the rest.