Update on Grove Isle construction plans
As you know, the neighbors at Grove Isle are not happy about the island's developer's plans to add a fourth, 18 story tower to the island. The plan is to add an additional building, the size of one of the existing buildings which will require demolition of the hotel, spa, restaurant.
Construction will have to be brought to the island via the current fragile bridge or through barges. A diagram is shown here, please click on it for a larger version.
The new building looks nothing like the other buildings and current residents of Grove Isle feel that the construction will not only hurt property values, but it will distrupt life for years to come. Many residents believe that two to three years of severe disruption and inconvenience with many tens of thousands of tons of material being moved either by land or by sea requiring thousands of heavy truck movements and/or barges and dredging having a significant negative impact on the ecology of the marine environment, including manatee habitat.
Of course traffic is an issue while construction is being done.
The "Preserve Grove Isle" group has made legal progress with the city; currently the plan is on hold for further review. This gives everyone, including residents in the North Coconut Grove and Coconut Grove in general, time to regroup and understand the situation as it is believed that in the long run, the project will affect all of the Grove, not just the island.
Residents on the island are against all high density development on the island and they now plan to bring their concern to local home owner associations and groups.
If your neighborhood or group would like to get involved, please email: savegroveisle@outlook.com.
As for reaching out to others, this is the info of those that Preserve Grove Isle would like you to contact to fight the project:
CITY OF MIAMI
Mayor Tomas Regalado: tregalado@miamigov.com
3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida 33133
District 2 Commissioner Marc Sarnoff: msarnoff@miamigov.com
3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida 33133 305-250-5333
Assistant City Manager: Alice Bravo (abravo@miamigov.com)
Planning Director Francisco Garcia: fgarcia@miamigov.com
444 SW 2nd Avenue, 3rd Floor
Miami, Florida 33130 305-416-1470
General Number for Planning Department: 305-416-1400
Assistant Director: Luciana Gonzalez (LGonzalez@miamigov.com)
Zoning Chief: Paula De Carolis (pauladecarolis@miamigov.com)
Zoning Administrator Irene Hegedus: ishegedus@miamigov.com
444 SW 2nd Avenue, 4th Floor Miami, Florida 33130 - 305-416-1491
Land Development, Chief Antonio E. Perez (AEPerez@miamigov.com)
444 SW 2nd Ave 3rd Floor Miami, FL 33130
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENV PROTECTION
Pamela Sweeney 305-795-3486
Biscayne Bay Environmental Center
Biscayne.Bay@dep.state.fl.us
MIAMI-DADE DERM
Sean McCrackine 305-372-6789
mccras@co.miami-dade.fl.us
TROPICAL AUDUBON SOCIETY
Laura Reynolds 305-667-7337
Susan Shapiro
biscbaycoalition@tropicalaudubon.org
Construction will have to be brought to the island via the current fragile bridge or through barges. A diagram is shown here, please click on it for a larger version.
The new building looks nothing like the other buildings and current residents of Grove Isle feel that the construction will not only hurt property values, but it will distrupt life for years to come. Many residents believe that two to three years of severe disruption and inconvenience with many tens of thousands of tons of material being moved either by land or by sea requiring thousands of heavy truck movements and/or barges and dredging having a significant negative impact on the ecology of the marine environment, including manatee habitat.
Of course traffic is an issue while construction is being done.
The "Preserve Grove Isle" group has made legal progress with the city; currently the plan is on hold for further review. This gives everyone, including residents in the North Coconut Grove and Coconut Grove in general, time to regroup and understand the situation as it is believed that in the long run, the project will affect all of the Grove, not just the island.
Residents on the island are against all high density development on the island and they now plan to bring their concern to local home owner associations and groups.
If your neighborhood or group would like to get involved, please email: savegroveisle@outlook.com.
 |
| New proposed building. |
CITY OF MIAMI
Mayor Tomas Regalado: tregalado@miamigov.com
3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida 33133
District 2 Commissioner Marc Sarnoff: msarnoff@miamigov.com
3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida 33133 305-250-5333
Assistant City Manager: Alice Bravo (abravo@miamigov.com)
Planning Director Francisco Garcia: fgarcia@miamigov.com
444 SW 2nd Avenue, 3rd Floor
Miami, Florida 33130 305-416-1470
General Number for Planning Department: 305-416-1400
Assistant Director: Luciana Gonzalez (LGonzalez@miamigov.com)
Zoning Chief: Paula De Carolis (pauladecarolis@miamigov.com)
Zoning Administrator Irene Hegedus: ishegedus@miamigov.com
444 SW 2nd Avenue, 4th Floor Miami, Florida 33130 - 305-416-1491
Land Development, Chief Antonio E. Perez (AEPerez@miamigov.com)
444 SW 2nd Ave 3rd Floor Miami, FL 33130
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENV PROTECTION
Pamela Sweeney 305-795-3486
Biscayne Bay Environmental Center
Biscayne.Bay@dep.state.fl.us
MIAMI-DADE DERM
Sean McCrackine 305-372-6789
mccras@co.miami-dade.fl.us
TROPICAL AUDUBON SOCIETY
Laura Reynolds 305-667-7337
Susan Shapiro
biscbaycoalition@tropicalaudubon.org
posted by Tom Falco at 5:00 AM
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19 Comments:
This is amazing. How much more development will city officials allow. I am sure such a large group of residents will have to be heard by the mayor and commissioners. As a long term resident of the Grove, I remember the original project almost didn't happen. How can the city allow for more development after 30 years of changes in zoning laws??? Someone must be getting grea$$$ed.
I don't see how they will be able to fit one more building on that tip of the island. i hope it doesn't flip over!
I wouldn't want to be in the developer's shoes. What a risky undertaking right before the high-end luxury market goes into a tail spin. Plus, and this is a big plus, he picked the wrong people to piss off. The grove isle and north grove residents are a tough group. Many retirees with lots of time and money on their hands. I remember what happened with the related group and their plans for Mercy Hospital.
Did i just read this correctly??? Sea grass and manatees? Oh boy, that development ain't never gonna break ground. Seems like sea weed and big mammals will be the winners in this one. Those two are game changers. I guess grove isle people just dodged a huge missile. Too bad not all buildings have this kind of protection from over construction. I guess it pays off to live next to the water (besides the lovely view). One thing is to build inland and the other is to do a repeat of brickell key.
HAHAHA, ANONYMOUS 12:14. IT IS GOING TO SINK AND MAKE FOR A GOOD DIVING REEF! :-). WON'T HAVE TO PAY RIDICULOUS TOLL TO GO INTO KB.
As a long time neighbor I think the residents of the island have been lucky enough to pay millions in property taxes over the past 20+ years. I feel they have earned the right to be heard and in this case, hopefully, have this project stopped. Good Luck!
What a cool picture of Biscayne bay. I noticed there is no helo pad in mercy hospital. They can probably land the rescue helicopter or a blimp on top of the proposed new building.
Not only will they build it but they will also build a huge boat dock and they are planning on adding more land like in dubai.get ready grove.money talks bullshit walks
That new construction will be a nightmare for the island and for the neighborhood. Further down Bayshore Drive, we will all have a headache for the next few years with multiple new construction projects.
After hearing much about this lately, I went into the save grove isle website which is very well put together. They retained legal counsel who wrote a legal memorandum. It seems to me, that although the developer purchased a piece of land, he will not be able to build according to new laws and changes in zoning ordinances. It seems.like the devloper was able to almost pull a fast on on the residents and found a city official, no longer employed by the city, to give them a nod of approval. The residents were never aware or notified of this project. Seems they were purposely kept in the dark.
They now seem to have put the development process on hold. Many residents complain about bullying tactics on behalf of the developer. Nothing surprising there.
good case study on how the law has been bent over and twisted in favor of luxury condo developers, particularly in the last couple of years.
Has anyone looked into the legal, zoning and environmental issues that these developments have successfully been able to side step? Stadiums. Luxury condos. The city is still broke and these projects don't seem to have provided any financial help. Roads are ruined, trash everywhere, overburdened infrastructure, traffic jams. This city has become a free for all, first the drug lords, now the politicians and developers. Certainly this is Paradise Lost. Miami news should look into this.
Open your eyes. Everyone is saying there is no inventory of condos. I doubt that. A ploy to raise prices. We are fools to buy into that baloney. We are to blame of we go into another local recession. I drive evenings not on us1 and get on 95. 80% of those supposedly sold out condos are empty. Lights out. Many investors but not many residents. What a crock!
What happened to the Related group and their plans for the Mercy Hospital property was the housing crash and recession. Locals cannot be too vigilant.
Not necessarily was it the housing bubble. It is my understanding he was going to also build office space and that is not allowed by zoning laws. The bubble burst probably drained financial and operational resources or they thought it wasn't worth engaging in more legal battles. Remember the related group was deep underwater 'cuz of all the projects they went into.
What happens when those in power don't listen to constituents? what happens when local government takes the side of BIG business?
What happens when government employees have 100% job security and are not held responsible for ineptitude? What happens when people are not sufficiently informed about the coming and goings of their city officials and employees? Can't blame developers for trying to make money. The problem is they already know that they can make money by having local government look the other way. Somehow tax payers always are left picking the tab for this S***.
I HEARD THE DEVELOPER IS IN CONVERSATIONS WITH DON SHULA ABOUT OPENING A STEAK HOUSE ON ONE SIDE OF THE ISLAND AND AN OUTLET MALL ON THE OTHER. THEY ARE ALSO GOING TO ADD 5 ACRES IN WHICH THEY WILL BUILT A DOGGIE PARK TO APPEASE ALL THE GROVE RESIDENTS. TO APPEASE CURRENT GROVE ISLE RESIDENTS, HE'S GOING TO PUT A FRESH COAT OF MATCHING PAINT ON THE EXISTING TOWERS.
Most developers don't do anything for the surrounding neighborhoods or residents. I don't see why this case would be any different. I don't think he can add any more land to the island or open it to the public.I guess you were just being sarcastic. Once the developer sells or builds, he's gone. No wait, once he gets a permit all the promises made tend to evaporate.
I'm against the construction, but what a bunch of hypocrites. Where were all of these people when they built the buildings they currently live in. NIMBY as usual.
Anonymous @5:22PM:
"Where were all of these people when they built the buildings they currently live in. NIMBY as usual."
Many of 'these people' were probably still in school, in their mama's belly or maybe still just an idea in someone's mind.
Anonymous 5.22. I know where all the hypocrites were while construction was going on......they were living elsewhere. What is the point you are trying to make? Even if the owners were on the island while the rest was being developed, they did not have to deal with an island that is 100% fully occupied and staffed with residents, workers, visitors and guests. Some of them surely moved in way after the project was completed. As a matter of fact my cousin moved to Grove Isle in 1993 after Andrew. And I take offense at you labeling him as a hypocrites!
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