The Miami Lakes Town Council rejected a developer’s request to defer his final plat to build five homes in Loch Ness following residents’ entreaties to protect their small neighborhood from over development and traffic congestion.
At last week’s regular meeting, council members unanimously rejected Comar Ventures Corporation’s building plans for the five homes, including two two story-houses, on 1.7 acres of property at 7242 Loch Ness Drive.
Lawmakers initially granted the developer’s request for a deferral since the original attorney and architect couldn’t attend the meeting due to personal issues, and it would’ve given Comar Ventures Corporation a chance to meet with the Loch Ness Homeowners Association and its Architectural Control Committee to assuage any more concerns about the project.
An attorney representing the corporation said the applicant meet with some residents and scaled back on the site plans to ease their concerns and comply with the neighborhood’s code.
According to the attorney, the developer proposed to build five homes instead of six, including two story homes at 28 feet in height, whereas the town’s code allows 45 feet.
Comar Ventures Corporation initially planned to build three story homes on the site, which is eight times the average size of a property in Loch Ness and is 1.2 acres larger than the old homes built in the 1970s and 1980s, the attorney said.
To address the community’s traffic concerns, the developer planned to covert one of the lots into an internal drive on the cul-de-sac to alleviate the congestion on Loch Ness Drive.
But council members and residents were concerned the Loch Ness Architectural Control Committee didn’t officially approve the new plans, and neighbors disputed the attorney’s claim his client meet with them in a series of meetings to address their concerns.
After hearing from residents following the approval for a deferral, council members rescinded their decision and rejected the development plans.
The applicant can request another hearing on his plans in six months.
In other Town Council news:
• Council members gave their final approval for an ordinance to amend the town’s land development code to allow for hedges to be eight feet tall along property lines where a single family or a two family property shares that property line with a single family or a two family property of two of more stories.
Councilmember Manny Cid sponsored the measure.
• Council members gave their initial approval for an ordinance that would allow a developer to pull a building permit for a project before the final plat is recorded by Miami-Dade County.
The proposed legislation would expedite a developer’s building project and simultaneously add revenue to the town.
Under the current code, a developer has to wait between six months to a year to record a final plat by the county’s Clerk of the Court before they can commence construction.
Developers must provide Miami Lakes proof that their cadastral maps were on record in order to pull a building permit following approval first by the town and then Miami-Dade County.
Councilmember Tony Lama’s proposal would eliminate the recording requirement and allow a developer to commence a project with certain conditions.
They include for permanent buildings to be used as single family homes or town homes, building permits for up to 25 percent of the total number of lots in the proposed subdivision have been approved by the county while waiting for the final plat to be recorded; a letter signed by the property owners has been submitted to the town requesting the construction of home prior to the recording of the final plat; no certificate of occupancy, certificate of completion or their functional equivalents would be issued for any home until after the final plat is recorded, except that a temporary certificate of completion may be issued for any building to be used as a model home; and the buildings or homes can’t be occupied until the final plat is recorded.
The county has a similar code that covered Miami Lakes developments before incorporation in 2000 but the town phased it out when creating its own land development code.
A public hearing and final vote on the ordinance is scheduled for October.
• Lawmakers approved a resolution for a five-year storm water interlocal agreement with Miami-Dade County for canal maintenance services. The cost of the services is estimated at $160,000 a year.
• Council members approved a resolution for a Neighborhood Matching Grant that will create a balanced landscaping design, complimenting the beautification efforts made by the Town along N.W. 154 Street by planting palms on the north side of the intersection adjacent to the Shula’s Golf Club. The total project cost is $22,610 of which the Town will contribute $5,000.
• Lawmakers approved a resolution for the town manager’s recommendation to negotiate an agreement with the first ranked bidding company, Tanko Street Lighting, for a LED Street Light Conversion Program to include street light fixtures purchases and installation ($365,000), and defer the option to purchase the monitoring system ($144,000) until grant funding sources are secured.
• Council members approved a resolution to authorize the town manager to apply for, and if awarded, execute an agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation for the agency’s Highway Beautification Council Grant in an amount of $100,000 with the town’s matching the amount.
The Beautification grant would expedite the town’s Beautification Master Plan which includes planting new trees and enhancing landscaping around the N.W. 154 Street northbound and southbound exits and improving the hardscape median area underneath the Palmetto Expressway underpass and N.W. 154 Street.
• Lawmakers approved Councilmember Nelson Rodriguez’s Hope for Heroes project, which urges state legislatures and senators to take action supporting cancer presumption from firefighters, Rodriguez, a Coral Gables firefighter, said 33 percent of Miami-Dade firefighters have been diagnosed by some type of cancer, including brain, throat, lung and testicular cancer.
• Council members approved Mayor Michael Pizzi’s proposal to adopt local laws to strengthen protection for children from convicted child molesters.
Pizzi is proposing to amend the town’s law that registered sexual offenders are prevented from living near the town’s parks and schools and modify it to include all the neighborhood pocket parks as well as beach parks.