Spotlight 226-260717

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

Miami’s Tree Advisory Committee
A New Garden in the West Grove
The Playhouse: Next Steps
Voices: Is the Grove Losing its Soul?
Where We’ll Be: Keeping Cool

Editor’s Note: The Spotlight welcomes two new reporters to its editorial team this week. Sinclair Holian will be reporting on issues of gentrification and development in Coconut Grove. Anita Li is our new government accountability reporter.

Both are Report for America corps members. They join the Spotlight through our partnership with Report for America, a national program that places journalists in local newsrooms. Make a donation to support Anita and Sinclair’s work, and Report for America will match it dollar for dollar.

Miami Begins Review of Tree Rules as Removal Battles Intensify

With appeals surging and trust in the city’s permitting process fraying, a newly appointed advisory committee will spend the next eight months rethinking Miami’s tree ordinance.

By Anita Li

After nearly two years of increasingly bitter battles over tree removals — and the city rules governing them — a newly formed citizens advisory committee convened for the first time Monday to begin reviewing one of Miami’s most contentious environmental regulations.

The city’s Tree Ordinance Advisory Committee — created by the City Commission a year ago in response to mounting public outcry over tree removals and the city’s permitting process — launched on Monday what is expected to be an eight-month review.

The process will include public workshops, online feedback submissions and committee meetings before the panel presents its recommendations to the City Commission by next March.

New Legacy Garden Opens in the West Grove

As development presses into the West Grove, the Legacy Garden Initiative seeks to preserve the neighborhood’s identity.

By Sinclair Holian

A new community garden opened at The Barnyard on Wednesday, bringing fresh produce and a revitalized gathering space to the longtime West Grove community center.

Environmental nonprofit ECO Planet Earth unveiled the garden as part of its Legacy Gardens Initiative, a program that installs raised garden beds equipped with water-recycling technology to promote food access, sustainability and environmental education in underserved communities.

West Grove, Coconut Grove’s historic Black neighborhood, has experienced increasing redevelopment in recent years, with new construction and rising property values contributing to the displacement of some longtime residents.

What’s Next for the Playhouse?

With final zoning approvals in hand, Miami-Dade County is preparing to submit Phase 2 construction plans for the Coconut Grove Playhouse to the City of Miami to obtain a building permit for the long-stalled project.

By Don Finefrock

Now that the Miami City Commission has blessed its plan for rebuilding the Coconut Grove Playhouse, Miami-Dade County is preparing to submit building plans to the city and recruit a general contractor to begin construction of a new theater.

The Miami City Commission voted unanimously July 9 to approve the zoning exceptions and waivers the county needed to move forward with the $59 million project.

The county said the vote will allow it to begin Phase 2 of the project, including the restoration of the playhouse’s 1926 facade, the construction of a 310-theater behind it, and the addition of a 289-space parking garage on the surface lot next door.

The Grove’s Invisible Class

As Coconut Grove attracts more wealth and attention, one longtime resident wonders whether its greatest loss isn’t its history, its tree canopy, or its buildings — but the quiet disappearance of the people who gave the neighborhood its soul.

By Charles Dundee

There is something I have been reluctant to admit. I don’t feel unwelcome in Coconut Grove. I feel invisible. Those are two very different things.

Where We’ll Be – A Grovite’s Calendar

Keeping Cool in Miami

Keeping cool during the hottest part of the year tops our agenda this week. As luck would have it, Coconut Grove has a new public pool – the Verneka Sturrup Silva Aquatic Facility in Elizabeth Virrick Park on Plaza Street, where you can swim laps, join a water aerobics class, or hear your kids squeal as they get splashed in the pool’s playground. We’ve got some other recommendations for chilling this week, so read on…

Your calendar continues…