Homeowners Embrace Mixed-Use Proposal

By Yudy Pineiro, The Miami Herald

Jun. 8–The Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations board said Monday it will support a developer who wants to build a mix of offices and affordable townhomes in a largely commercial area in West Kendall.

Landowner Pedro Camejo plans to build a three-story, 25,000-square-foot building and 11 $200,000 townhomes on two acres of land at the northwest corner of Southwest 59th Street and 135th Avenue. The land is now squared in by offices, a Florida Power & Light facility and some townhomes.

The homeowner associations’ support could sway the final decision of the West Kendall Community Council, which voted 3-2 on June 1 to defer the developer’s application until its next meeting.

Mixing commercial and residential did not make sense to council member Thomas Schramm, but it did to council member Frank Irizarry, who argued the council needs to think more progressively as less land is left to develop.

‘The cry in Miami-Dade County is ‘Don’t move the urban development boundary line, ‘ so you must turn to infill development and this is what it is," said Claudette Waters, an attorney representing Camejo at Monday’s KFHA meeting.

Municipalities across Miami-Dade County have approved similar developments in recent years that offer a mix of shops, offices and townhomes.

"They seemed to feel a mixed-use project was a strange animal," she said. Lawrence Percival, vice president of KFHA, said the council is not to blame.

"This is the first type of application of this sort that comes to West Kendall," he said. "They’re not familiar with it. This is the future."

He said the developer was doing the right thing by reaching out to the community, and hoped the council would take that into account when homeowners appear at the July 6 meeting at Arvida Middle School, 10900 SW 127th Ave.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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