It happened so fast. So quietly. So sneakily.
There’s going to be a Wawa gas station and convenience store with six pumps built in front of GW Carver Elementary School in a historic district of Coral Gables instead of the restaurant promised 10 years ago or the affordable housing promised 10 years before that.
Parents, teachers and administrators at the school say they did not know about this new proposal until it was a done deal. And now, naturally, they are outraged. It’s not the best idea to put a giant gas station across the street from an elementary school. It’s not the best use for that land, either.
Oh, did we mention this is in the historic McFarlane Homestead District, settled by Bahamian pioneers who built the coral rock structures that make the Gables famous, otherwise known as Black Gables? Of course it is.
The city blames Miami-Dade County. The county blames the city. The Miami-Dade School Board seems to have been asleep at the wheel. What we know for sure is that the parents of students at Carver are getting screwed.
Dozens of them spoke remotely online during Tuesday’s Gables Commission meeting, taking up most of the hour set aside for public comment. They also spoke at a meeting in October with many of the same concerns.
It’s not just about the traffic and how kids will be less safe walking to and from school. It’s not just about the easy availability of junk food and sugary sodas and cigarettes. It’s not just about the eyesore of a Wawa in front of a historic school and the missed opportunity to build something better.
It’s about life and death.
“Benzyne is a cancer causing toxin that is emitted from gas pumps,” said a woman who works as an emergency room physician and envisions accidents with pedestrians at the site.
‘The CDC recommends that children not play near due to the increased risk of childhood leukemia.”
She also said that there are studies that indicate a strong link between childhood obesity and schools that are next to convenience stores.
Parents and teachers were angry that the city pushed through the project without the normally required public hearing and with a commitment to expedite the review and approval process. The Wawa doesn’t even have to pay impact fees. They complained about the indifference they were met with. They want the commissioners, the county, the school board, Superman, anyone to take action to prevent the project from moving forward and find “a suitable replacement.”
An online petition has more than 1,220 signatures already, and climbing, but everyone says there’s nothing they can do.
They have been pretty much ignored. Dismissed is actually a better word. And City Attorney Miriam Soler Ramos said that their complaints did not constitute a public hearing because the city promised not to have a public hearing as part of the legal settlement.
“It was part of a settlement agreement with the city and we were pushed aside,” said Vice Mayor Vince Lago, who, at least, defended the peoples’ right to be heard. “We have our hands tied.”‘
Funny, those are the same words, hands tied, used by newly-elected Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado when Ladra asked her about it.
Like the county and city couldn’t sit down again and renegotiate?
In 2003, the county gave the land to the Lola B. Walker Homeowner’s Association for $10 to build affordable housing. At the time, it was worth $8 million. Today, well, you can imagine. Sound familiar? Didn’t former Commissioner Audrey Edmonson just fire sale a bunch of “surplus” county land for the same bargain price? Wonder if we’ll get more Wawas instead.
Anyway, the association entered into a partnership with Redevco — which was already redeveloping some of the homes in the Black Gables in an agreement with the city — to build a mixed use retail and affordable housing complex called Bahamian Village. You know, to honor the history of the area, which The Florida Trust for Historic Preservation named one of the state’s “11 to Save” threatened historic properties. It would have a community center for the residents of the Black Grove, many of whom are still descendants of those Bahamian pioneers.
But they took too long. A reverter clause in the gift to the association said the county could take it back if the HOA didn’t do anything with it. Then, there was a lawsuit. They were chomping at the bit to get that land back. Then, suddenly, in some secret legal settlement, the county gave up if the city promised to expedite the process for the Wawa development and bypass some requirements, including impact fees and any public hearings where residents could voice their concerns.
¿Como?
It smells like someone is getting paid off. Las malas lenguas say the residents of the LBW association got lump sum checks for their signatures in approval. And Gables Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli actually tried to cut residents and parents off at the October meeting because “the lobbyists are here” to talk about legislative priorities. He said the Village of Merrick Park had no negative effect on Coral Gables High and this would be the same.
¡Que descaro!
The Carver PTA has hired attorney David Winker to fight the decision and get the city to renegotiate. Because, well, he says it better than Ladra but basically, it’s a slippery slope.
“The bottom line is that a $10 million piece of prime real estate on U.S. 1 that is public land was given to a 501c3 public charity for $10 in exchange for a promise to build affordable housing. The fact that this somehow morphed from much needed public housing to a gas station is incredibly troubling,” Winker said.
“There are so many things wrong with this situation- lack of public notice, lack of public participation, dangerous level of traffic in a student pedestrian area, selling beer, wine, cigarettes and vapes and junk food across from an elementary and middle school,” he added.
“Coral Gables isn’t allowed to grant zoning changes through a private contract in order to avoid public notice and participation — there is a process for all this and Coral Gables didn’t follow the process,” Winker said, hitting it on the nose. Because tomorrow the Wawa could be in front of your school or your house if the city can do this.
“But probably the most bothersome part of this whole situation is the lost opportunity for everyone to work together to build something special.”
Oh, you mean like the “Bahamian Village” sold to everyone?
Last month, the Miami Dade School Board approved Board Member Maria Teresa Rojas‘ initiative that criticized the City of Coral Gables for its failure to notify the school, its administrators and the school system’s superintendent of the plans to build a six-pump gas station within just 300 feet from the entrance to GW Carver Elementary School. It reads:
“Unbeknownst to the School Board and our District, a local municipality recently permitted the development of a substantial commercial project in a residential neighborhood which will directly impact two of our public schools. Of greater concern is the fact that there is no evidence that the Board or the District had been formally notified of the approval of this proposed commercial development project that could bring significant and potentially objectionable activities within 1000 feet of a nearby public school. When such commercial establishments are approved by local authorities without input from the local school community, parents, students, teachers and school-site administrators, the parties can often feel that the safety, health, and well-being of the school community, their pedagogical interests and perspectives were not properly considered. In addition, once such commercial projects are established, such projects can have unintended consequences, impairing the fabric of the local school community and disrupting an established school environment due to its proximity to minors.
Moreover, the approval of this commercial development arose from a court-approved settlement of litigation between the municipality and the developer, so therefore, the municipality was apparently not legally required to provide the School Board and the Superintendent with any formal notice of the approval of this project. By the time the School Board and the District, school site administrators, and parents learned of this municipality’s approval of the commercial project that will have a significant and potentially adverse impact on two of our schools, it was too late for the School Board, the Superintendent, and the school community to have any meaningful input in the process and to voice their concerns to the municipality.”
Miami-Dade School Board Member Maria Teresa Rojas
In the end, the gas station is being built because it’s part of a settlement. No joke. And does Wawa know what a branding hit its taking with this? Has anyone reached out to them? Do they know they are so hated and unwelcome?
Again, the settlement is with the county, which works for the residents. If the residents want the county to renegotiate, wouldn’t that be the right thing to do? Or is the Gables already beholden to the developers?
At the October meeting, Vice Mayor Lago indicated that there would be no harm with more public notice for people to know what’s going on. “There is no issue with more eyes on a project,” he said.
But Valdes-Fauli disagreed. “Yes, there is, in this case,” he said.
