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Council advances multiple rezonings and conditional-use permits for multifamily and TOD projects
Summary
The Hialeah City Council advanced several rezoning and conditional-use items, including approval on second reading of a mental-health facility expansion and first-reading approvals or scheduling for multiple large multifamily and transit-oriented development projects along the East 20th Street corridor and other sites.
The Hialeah City Council approved and advanced multiple land-use and zoning matters affecting properties across the city, including an expansion of an existing mental-health facility and several proposed multifamily and transit-oriented developments.
On second reading the council approved a land-use amendment and rezoning request for property at 1760 East First Avenue to allow an expansion of an existing mental-health facility from 34 beds to 74 beds. Attorney Javi Vasquez presented the application and told the council that the request is part of a series of entitlements for the facility expansion.
The council also considered a cluster of transit-oriented development (TOD) rezonings and related first-reading zoning applications for multiple parcels fronting East 20th Street and adjacent blocks. Melissa Tapanas, representing MG Developers, presented a conceptual rendering for a TOD-oriented project fronting 20th Street and the rail overpass; she described the project orientation to the city-owned “High Line” and noted the project frontage and site context.
Bill Riley, representing multiple applicants, and other applicants described several multifamily projects seeking rezoning, conditional-use permits and variances. One presentation described a multi-building TOD totaling 559 units on 5.6 acres fronting East 20th Street. Other first-reading items included special-use permit requests and variances for projects named or described in presentation material as Sienna Park (a multifamily development), Lago Bello Residences (78 residential units with commercial/mixed-use component and a proposed Univida medical/wellness center), and another multi-building application proposing roughly 176 residential units with associated variances.
Developers and their representatives noted they had worked with city staff and that several applications had earned staff recommendations. The council approved a number of these items on first reading and set second-reading public hearings for March 11, 2025. Where the planning and zoning board had recommended denial of a particular lot-split/duplex proposal (Item 16J, 560 East Seventh Avenue), council members later overturned the planning-board denial by majority vote and scheduled first reading for March 11, 2025; in that instance the council requested that updated renderings and final plans be filed for the record before second reading.
Several speakers during the zoning portion emphasized design details, parking strategies and façade treatments. For example, an applicant described facade treatments for a parking garage and murals lining building faces as part of an effort to raise design quality for a proposed development.
The council’s actions advance multiple large housing projects through the city’s review process; most items approved at first reading will return for public hearing and final action at the March 11, 2025 meeting, at which additional public comment and final votes will be recorded.
