Title
An Ordinance of the City Commission of Coral Gables, Florida, creating Section 62-101, Chapter 62, Article III, of the City of Coral Gables Code to prohibit excavations on Miracle Mile and Giralda Avenue in the Streetscape area; providing for a repealer provision, severability clause, codification, and providing for an effective date.
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The Miracle Mile and Giralda Avenue Streetscape Project (“Streetscape Project”) will transform the City’s main street and a one-block stretch of Giralda Avenue known as “Restaurant Row” by widening sidewalks, installing pavers, installing landscaping, incorporating public art, improving drainage, providing decorative street lighting, furniture, and wayfinding signs. The Streetscape Project is estimated to cost $21.6 million funded by the City and assessments from the properties directly on Miracle Mile and Giralda Avenue, as well as the adjacent properties that are within one-half block of the directly fronting properties.
In order to protect the City and property owners’ investment in the Streetscape Project and to maximize the public benefit provided by the Streetscape Project, it is necessary to prohibit excavations on Miracle Mile (from Douglas Avenue to Le Jeune Road) and Giralda Avenue (from Galiano Street to Ponce de Leon Boulevard).
The proposed ordinance amends Chapter 62, Article III of the City Code to create section 62-101 to prohibit excavations without an excavation waiver granted by the City Commission, except for emergency situations as approved by the public works director, on the areas of Miracle Mile and Giralda Avenue improved as part of the Streetscape Project.
The proposed ordinance also creates a private right of action, including a claim for three times the amount of damages, against any person, except the City, that performs work on or making excavations in violation of the provisions of the section.