At the January 17 regular meeting, Council members approved The Graham Companies’ preliminary plat application, consistent with the approved site plan for the completion of Town Center and consistent with the Town Center Zoning District unanimously adopted by the Council on September 1, 2015.
The project includes ground floor retail on Main Street with six floors of residential above, another five story residential building, nineteen three-story townhouses and an office building on approximately 18.65 acres. Significant additional parking will be provided with two structured parking facilities as well as 72 on-street parking spaces incorporated into the plan.
The Town Center development has been a goal of the Town’s strategic plans for more than a decade. Councilmember Luis Collazo cast the only no vote on the item.
Lawmakers rejected a second application to construct a 120-unit residential project located on a 2.57 acre parcel located at 15800 N.W. 77 Court citing compatibility and traffic issues. The applicant’s position was that the proposed development was consistent with the Town’s adopted land use code. The plan was rejected even after town staff recommended approval, the developer agreed to pay a mobility fee of $138,149, and displayed building plans to include pedestrian and bicycle improvements of the right-of-way consistent with Miami Lakes’ greenway and trails master plan.
Council members wanted to table the item to give the developer time to offer a watered down version of the plan to appease residents, but the applicant’s attorney rejected the deferral request by Vice Mayor Tony Lama.
In casting the only favorable vote on the project, Councilmember Frank Mingo said, “By our town standards, they have a legal right to build. I don’t want the Town to go through another legal battle that we most likely will lose.”
In other town council news:
• Lawmakers deferred an ordinance to place a six-month moratorium on establishing marijuana dispensing organizations and medical marijuana treatment centers within the town, in order to consider and weigh changes to the town’s land development Code needed to suitably register and accommodate these centers within Town boundaries. In November, Florida residents approved a ballot measure for medical marijuana to expand the medicine to people suffering from cancer, HIV, and Parkinson’s disease.
• Council members deferred an ordinance to place a six-month moratorium on the approval of permits to install telecommunication towers and equipment in the Town’s public rights-of-way. The abeyance gives Town officials a chance to weigh the changes to the land development code needed to suitably accommodate the structures within the town’s boundaries, while complying with new state and federal laws allowing cellphone towers.
• Council members approved a resolution to name the Town’s dog park K-9 Cove, which is located at 14048 Palmetto Frontage Road.
• Council members approved a resolution authorizing the Town Manager to pursue funding for Legislative priorities for 2017-2018.
The Town is seeking a total of $3.9 million for capital improvement projects such as $1 million for canal bank stabilization project, $65,000 for the West Lakes Drainage Improvements, $328,600 for the Lake Sarah/Lake Hilda Drainage improvements, $1 million for the 59th Avenue Extension project and $1 million for the N.W. 87th Avenue ramp to State Road 924 extension west to the Homestead of the Florida’s Turnpike Project.
• Lawmakers awarded a contract to Metro Express Inc. in the amount of $91,300 for Hutchinson Road Drainage improvements.
• Council members approved Mayor Manny Cid’s recommendation to allow homeowners’ pending cases that were not resolved during the Lien Amnesty program to go to the Hearing Master for re-evaluation, where extraordinary circumstances did occur, but in no event the maximum reduction will be not less than 70 percent of the current lien amount.
• Council members approved Cid’s proposal that 100 percent of the impact fees from the proposed American Dream Mall project stay in Northwest Miami-Dade County to alleviate traffic flow and public services.
Later, at a special meeting, council members approved a resolution to ask the county to keep the impact fees in the area.
Last week, Cid went before the Miami-Dade County Commission to relay the town’s position of the proposed developments west of I-75. “We are requesting that 100 percent of the impact fees stay in Northwest Miami-Dade County to mitigate any potential impact, and that the Town receive a percentage of recurring annual revenue derived from the development to pay for our Strategic Transportation Initiatives/Mobility plan,” Cid said.
The Commission approved the transmittal of the $3 billion American Dream Miami project to the State for further review. The project will be back before County Commissioners for final approval in March or April.
• Council members approved Lama’s proposal to plant a tree in honor of the late Penny Lambeth, a longtime resident, preservationist and public relations executive. Lambeth was also a board member of the Neat Streets Miami/Community Image Advisory Board. Lama said the county would like to partner with Miami Lakes to memorialize her contributions to both entities.
She was 74.