The City of Doral is NOT telling residents the truth about development.

The City of Doral is not only lacking transparency, but the Officials and Staff are NOT telling residents the truth about development

By: Doral Community Coalition

Article paid for and approved by Doral Community Coalition

In our last article discussing the subject of development, “More Residential High Rises?  Expansions of Mixed Used Projects?

Why is the city not transparent in its communications?”, we expressed our concerns about the lack of transparency in the communications to the residents regarding upcoming zoning changes and high-rise construction on 41^st and 97^th.

The DCC believes in facts and therefore investigated the case of the OASIS at Doral project and made public record requests to verify what was already evident.  Once those records where received our concerns where confirmed, the City and the Mayor deceived the residents.  In fact, according to emails from the City received by public records requests (PRR) the staff in the city has been guiding the developer of this project since early February 2023, weeks before the meeting with residents in March.

As mentioned in the April article, there is a process prior to an official and legal application being filed with the city.  Part of this process is having the support of the Mayor and key staff members (in Planning and Zoning and Legal) supporting the project.  Once this support is given the applicant/developer will be guided to ensure their formal application will go smoothly and ultimately approved by council.  While this same project was brought to the previous administration, it was not given any support and therefore never moved forward to staff or pre-application.  But, as we know, the administration has changed, and several of the same staff who approved the massive developments during the 2014-1016 years in Doral, are now back and supportive of more high-density development in our city. 

Let’s review the events of the last few months:

During the months of January through April, many emails and meeting have taken place regarding this project moving forward.  For the Mayor to have stated to the residents that there is NO application is disingenuous at best.  We want to make this very clear, there is no law that states the City of Doral and its staff must help developers change zoning, or move projects forward.  This project is moving because it has the green light from the Mayor’s office and staff has been asked to follow up.  One of these staff members is the newly rehired Julian Perez, who is a big supporter of high-density downtown areas. 

Residents must continue to be vigilant and inform themselves on what these changes will bring to the entire City.  Ask yourselves why the City changed the focus of the Charrette in March to ONLY focus on the area east of 87^th?  Why didn’t they want to discuss the entire Boulevard as stated in the first invitation to the residents.  Why discuss the beautification of an area that has already been approved and almost complete?  Be careful of promises made, such as the promise of a “beautiful project” for our main roads when the massive building on Doral Blvd was built, known us 8800 AMLI.  The same staff members recently rehired made many promises during those years of development approvals in Doral.  Let’s not repeat the history that took place in 2014-2016! 

“If a man deceives me once, shame on him; if he deceives me twice, shame on me.”  – Edgar Allan Poe

The DCC believes in facts and has provided copies of all the documentation that was received in the PRR for every resident to read and draw conclusions, visit our website: www.doralcommunitycoaliton.org and review all documentation.