New housing could bring 4,000 new residents to Gables. 03/31/05 By Yeleny Suarez Developments in the pipeline in Coral Gables could add 2,133 housing units and boost the city's population of 43,216 about 10%. The 67 developments in process - part of a countywide boom of more than 100,000 new housing units - include 40 commercial projects, some of which include housing.  Burgeoning development has helped increase total property values in Coral Gables 10% to 11% a year over the past three years, and City Manager David Brown says there is no reason values should not grow another 10% this year. Present values are $9.2 billion, up from $8.2 billion a year ago. "Development is doing very well. I don't have reason to believe planned developments will not be materialized," Mr. Brown said. "The city has grown into a corporation-tenant business mix with a good pedestrian flow." The city's Planning and Zoning Department lists 40 commercial projects in the works as of March 1 that include 1,323 residences at a projected cost of $89.6 million.  Of these, 20 are in preliminary phases, eight in permitting and 12 under permit. The largest project, at $46 million, is at City National Bank, 2701 S LeJeune Rd. Plans call for demolition of a bank building and parking lot and construction of two office buildings. Meanwhile, 27 residential projects are expected to add 810 units. Two projects in permitting are to include 244 units, 14 with permits are to include 355 and 11 in preliminary phases are to include 211. Few of the projects require city commission action, said Vice Mayor Ralph Cabrera, because most of them adhere to existing code. "If you build something as of right, you do not have to go to the commission," he said. "This means the buyer checks out the zoning and builds accordingly and then goes before the preliminary review board and then the board of architects."  The city, he said, has very little vacant land, most of which has been held for many years by the McBride family. Mr. Cabrera said the McBrides own a lot behind David William Hotel, 700 Biltmore Dr.; a triangular spot in a residential area; and a lot at Ponce de Leon parallel to South Dixie Highway and Riviera Drive. Most of the city's commercial development is actually redevelopment, said Dennis S. Smith, assistant director of building and zoning. "All the people involved in projects are moving very expeditiously forward," Mr. Smith said. "They are moving right into construction drawing, which is a good indication they are going to go forward with the project." Mr. Brown said the city is working on rewriting the zoning code and comprehensive land-use plan to make sure residents are protected from growth. "By rewriting the zoning code to be completed by the end of the year," he said, "we are making sure the future growth structure supports parking, traffic flow and fire protection."

The Miami Herald Coral Gables, Fla., Trying to Curb McMansions RISMEDIA, April 29 ? (KRT) ? If Coral Gables city city leaders have their way, home builders in Coral Gables will lose five percent of their allowable square feet of coverage for single-family dwellings. But contractors can regain that space if they design a home in a way that would minimize massing and make it more congruent with other houses in the neighborhood. City commissioners -- who have complained for months about the construction of what they call "monster homes" or McMansions -- gave preliminary approval Tuesday to new, interim regulations, which also give the board of architects more power in forcing design changes. The measure must still go through a public hearing next month before becoming official. And residents and developers alike will have another opportunity to provide input on the issue at the next zoning code rewrite hearing on May 18. Planning and zoning board members denied a similar proposal to regulate the size of single-family homes last month after the majority of speakers present opposed it. But, on Tuesday, nobody spoke against the measure proposed by Assistant Building and Zoning Director Dennis Smith. Resident after resident urged commissioners to pass it. "I'm a 'monster house' survivor," said Isabel McCormick, a resident of the 1500 block of Alegriano Avenue, about a two-story home built next to hers five years ago. "One of the things that bothers me most about the house is that it is about five feet away from my fence. I am living next to the Berlin Wall. If I sit in my back yard, all I hear are the two air conditioning units and all I see is the huge concrete wall going up two-and-a-half floors." She said, and others agreed, that the current code puts too much emphasis on setbacks and aesthetics on the front of a home and not enough on the sides and rear. Smith's proposal does provide incentives for builders to increase setbacks along the side and rear of a home site. It also decreases the maximum allowable height for a two-story home from 34 to 29 feet. The new rules would also provide standards to guide redevelopment of single-family properties with residences that fit into the fabric of the neighborhood, he said. They also give the board of architects the power to require design changes rather than just recommend or suggest them. Those changes -- which could be a reduction in the building heights, more traditional and simpler roof types, a reduction in the area of a second floor or architectural details that minimize the massing -- would allow a builder to "buy back" the five percent reduction on buildable square footage on any single family lot, currently 35 percent. "In no case can anybody gain back more than five percent," Smith said. The option of forcing a setback on the second floor was scrapped after the planning and zoning board expressed concerns that the measure, in and of itself, would not fix the problem but rather create a cookie cutter effect, something leaders don't want. "This is really a design-based solution," Smith said. Because planning and zoning board members also had an issue with homes nonconforming to code and having to be built differently in the case of a hurricane or tornado, there is a provision that says the city commission can allow a home to be rebuilt as it was. Mayor Donald Slesnick, who has led the charge against the oversized homes, said he would like to see something address the issue of interior courtyards with pools. "They need to have enough land to build them on," he said. Zeke Guilford, who spoke against the measures proposed last month, sat quietly in the back of commission chambers and did not oppose the new interim regulations. He told The Herald later that he thought Smith had been able to strike a balance between the rights of builders and the desire of longtime residents to preserve their neighborhoods. "Dennis did an excellent job crafting some revised regulations that really maintain people's property rights and give them incentives to do some of the things I believe will help some of the issues concerning the residents," said Guilford, a prominent zoning attorney who is often before the commission on zoning and land-use issues. Copyright © 2005, The Miami Herald Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: editorial@rismedia.com