Miami-Dade County is headed back before a City of Miami planning board this week, seeking permission to move forward with its development plan for the Coconut Grove Playhouse – a necessity that gives critics of the plan another chance to object.
County officials are asking the Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board (PZAB) to grant five exceptions and four zoning waivers so they can restore the playhouse’s 1926 façade, construct a new 310-seat theater behind it, and build a parking garage next door.
The county has been here before. PZAB previously approved the county’s plan in 2018, but that approval expired, requiring a new application and a return visit on Wednesday. The city’s planning director and his staff are recommending approval.
“The restoration, expansion, and master planning of the Coconut Grove Playhouse will reactivate a historic cultural facility, benefit the area by continuing to provide a service to the community, and is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood,” city officials wrote in their evaluation of the county’s application.
Neighbors living within 500 feet of the playhouse would beg to differ.
“Everyone has seen that the majority of that historic structure has been demolished. We think that’s unfortunate, but it’s already happened,” West Grove resident Courtney Berrien told members of the Coconut Grove Ministerial Alliance on Saturday.
“Going forward, the playhouse will be redeveloped. That’s a good thing. But we want it to be redeveloped in a way that will lead to community health and well-being, and we think it’s extremely important that the playhouse also uphold the historic nature of the surrounding community.”
Berrien was speaking on behalf of Preserve the West Grove, an organization that represents residents who live behind the playhouse on Charles, William, and Thomas Avenues. Berrien and others say the county’s plan will push unwanted traffic and commercial activity into their quiet neighborhood of single-family homes.
READ MORE: Legal battle continues to block restoration of Coconut Grove Playhouse
“We think the current plans are essentially a large shopping mall,” Berrien said.
As part of its plan, the county wants to place the new theater at the center of an open-air plaza with 2,600 square feet of retail space, 3,800 square feet of food and beverage space, and 30,600 square feet of office space.
The plaza would connect to the formerly segregated Black neighborhood behind it – a design element meant to address past discrimination but which residents say will result in commercial intrusion.
Ironically, neighborhood residents are asking the county to install a tree-lined barrier between their homes and the new playhouse, to separate their community from the playhouse that Black residents were once forbidden to enter.
They are suggesting that the way to make amends (for past discrimination)… is have bars and the garbage that comes with restaurants, and the noise, all of that spilling out onto single family residential homes,” Berrien said
“What we would like to see instead is a barrier, in the form of a gate, landscaping, things that are reasonable, that would look aesthetic, that look nice with the overall look of the property, to protect those residents. We don’t want the commercial frontage spilling out into the neighborhood.”
In addition, Preserve the West Grove is asking the county to conduct a traffic study. Neighbors fear their streets will become the locus for ride-sharing programs.
“We want the county to do a traffic study and to work collaboratively with residents to come up with a traffic mitigation plan that is appropriate for the small community that we are living in – single family homes, narrow streets,” Berrien said.
“The traffic study is very important to us, and that would include the modern effects of Uber and other forms of transportation that might be trying to pick up people in the neighborhoods.”
The City of Miami could require the county to undertake such a study, but city staff says the study isn’t needed.
“The Planning Director, after reviewing the facts of the application, has determined that a traffic study shall not be required,” city officials wrote in their analysis.
Likewise, the county isn’t asking PZAB members to comment on the overall concept and design of the new playhouse complex, with its open-air plaza and pedestrian promenades.
“We would emphasize that the County’s plans for the project have not materially changed since the 2018 approval,” Ashlee Thomas, the interim director of the county’s Department of Cultural Affairs, wrote last week in an email to Preserve the West Grove.
Instead, the county is seeking PZAB’s permission to increase the maximum lot coverage, from 50% to 62.4%, and reduce the project’s green space, from 30% to 14.9%. In addition, the county wants the city to relax its rules so it can install impervious pavement throughout the complex and construct a 30-foot driveway.
The PZAB meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at City Hall. The county’s playhouse application is fourth on the agenda.
This story was originally published in the Coconut Grove Spotlight, a WLRN News partner.
