The Graham Companies is in the planning stages to bring an integrated senior village to Miami Lakes.
The company held a publicly advertised workshop on February 28 to discuss the proposed project, and on March 21, received a recommendation of approval for a land use change and a re-zoning from the Town’s Planning and Zoning Board.
The recommended land use change and re-zoning was for about 9.5 acres of the approximately 15 acres required for the senior village. The application goes to the Town Council for first reading on April 18.
Approval was conditioned by the Planning and Zoning Board on limiting development to 220 apartments on the site, and providing the Town a traffic study indicating that the new development would produce less traffic than the company’s vested rights on the parcel. The Graham Companies agreed to both conditions.
The senior village would include 220 age-restricted apartments in four 4-story buildings, a 4-story assisted living facility with a maximum of 100 beds, a 4-story skilled nursing facility with a maximum of 80 beds, and a community/activity center for the benefit of the Town’s elderly population.
The history of Miami Lakes as a model master-planned community is well documented with its successful integration of residential, retail, office and industrial land uses.
As originally conceived, The Graham Companies’ master plan did not include integrated senior living, a concept that evolved after the master plan was designed in 1960, and one that continues to evolve today. The proposed senior living complex arose from input received over the last decade from members of local government, the Elderly Affairs Committee, and many Miami Lakes residents.
In evaluating the possible development of the senior village, The Graham Companies identified the approximately 15-acre parcel bordering Graham Dairy Lake and fronting on Commerce Way as the only possible location to accommodate the project.
This parcel is ideally located as it has access on Commerce Way, is compatible with the surrounding residential developments on the lake, and is close to parks and shops. However, the parcel is currently in the land use map as Industrial and Office (I/O) and zoned IU-C which permits many uses including office, industrial, hotels, motels, apartment hotels and technical trade schools, among others.
The Graham Companies seeks to change the land use on approximately 9.5 acres to Medium-High Residential and zoning to RM-36, therefore requiring Council approval.
In considering the impact of continuing to build out the land around Graham Dairy Lake, The Graham Companies believes the senior village option is best for two principal reasons. First, if traffic is a primary concern, this proposed use will add some traffic to a congested area, but traffic engineers estimate that only an additional 90 AM peak-hour trips and 123 PM peak-hour trips would be generated by the senior village, about the equivalent of one 40,000 square-foot office building.
If developed using current zoning,, the land will readily support 175,000 square fee of office with 875 parking spaces, like the buildings that exist today at Governor’s Square.
Second, if a person is an aging resident who would like to stay in Miami Lakes, or if a person is an area resident managing the care of an elderly parent or relative and would like to keep them close to home, the senior village would provide housing options and senior service synergies currently not available in the Town.
It has always been the Graham Companies’ intent to develop the land around Graham Dairy Lake as evidenced in the existing master plan. Now, as the company faces the expiration of its vested rights, an opportunity to amend and improve development options is available.
Vested rights are development rights that were granted to the company years ago, and subsequently renewed various times because of the company’s investments in the Town’s infrastructure including roads, utilities, schools and parks.
As the expiration date nears, the company will either move forward with the senior village, or will continue to make additions to its commerce park. If the land in question is developed commercially, the opportunity to add an integrated senior living village to the Town will go away as there are no other land parcels in the Town large enough to accommodate such a development. This truly offers a unique opportunity for the Town.