Planning board backs Sunnyside redevelopment, adds conditions and covenant requirements

The Planning & Zoning Board on Aug. 12 voted unanimously to recommend a package of land‑use changes and a planned‑development approval for Sunnyside West Miami LLC, clearing the way for a multi‑phase residential development on the Sunnyside trailer park site at 6020 and 6024 Southwest Eighth Street.

The board voted 5-0 to transmit a comprehensive‑plan amendment to create a new “corridor residential” future‑land‑use category, voted 5-0 to rezone the consolidated property to implement that category, and voted 5-0 to approve a special‑use permit / planned development that ties the proposal to a site plan and conditions the developer must meet before building permits can issue.

Why it matters: the proposal would replace the trailer park with a unified development the city says is intended to support commercial activity along Eighth Street while adding housing, open space and buffers for adjacent single‑family neighborhoods. Staff and the applicant told the board the parcel has been flagged in the comprehensive plan for redevelopment since 2005 and that a coordinated set of text changes was necessary because the site currently carries several inconsistent plan and zoning designations.

Key details: the applicant’s special‑use application as presented to the board requests a plan development order to permit a development comprising 575 residential units, about 13,790 square feet of ground‑floor commercial and about 29,000 square feet of public open space including a park at the rear of the property. City staff told the board the site covers roughly 7.89 acres (8.18 gross acres including part of a street). The corridor residential category in the materials shown to the board caps residential density…