Design board approves 3-story Baptist Health rehabilitation facility in South Miami

The City of South Miami Development Review Board voted to approve DRV-2024-025, a revised site plan and landscaping for a three-story, 92-bed Baptist Health rehabilitation facility at 6201 Southwest 72nd Street, at the northwest corner of Sunset Drive and Southwest 62nd Avenue.

Staff presented the application and recommended approval with conditions including compliance with three previously adopted resolutions, final-plat approval (which will provide a single folio and address prior to certificate of occupancy), corrected zoning district identification on building permits, revised landscaping and bicycle-space illustrations, an erosion and construction control plan, and a tree-removal permit to be issued before any zoning approval for building permits.

James Williams, representing the applicant, summarized the project and recent revisions, saying the building will be a state-of-the-art rehabilitation facility with 92 beds, a two-level parking garage and staffing sized to meet short-term rehabilitation stays. Williams described steps taken after the June 18 review: "We developed an arborist report," met with board members and updated the landscape plan, and located utility and service elements to accommodate large trucks. He told the board the proposed emergency generator will be placed in a level-2 sound-attenuating enclosure and read manufacturer data showing it would produce "71 to 75 decibels of sound at a distance of 23 feet"; he said the generator would normally run only for short test periods or during utility outages.

Board members pressed the applicant on landscape and scale issues. Board member Mariano Carrel (landscape architect) flagged a duplicated plant symbol on sheet L200 and urged the drawing be corrected to avoid contractor errors; he also questioned the practicality and survival of relocating very large live oaks and pointed to a potential gap between county mitigation calculations and the applicant's proposed mitigation payment. "If you were to calculate based on Miami-Dade County and based on the number of trees that have been removed in sizes, the applicant would have to pay roughly between $100,000 and $140,000 to the tree trust fund, and they only pay now $11,000," Carrel said, noting the project follows code but raising the mitigation difference as a city-policy issue.

Board member William Horst Smith said he found the building "very discouraging" in scale and questioned whether the design sufficiently considered existing street trees on Sunset Drive. He said he remained skeptical about the generator-noise analysis based on his experience with another hospital site and voiced concern about audible testing at early-morning hours.

Board member Rebecca Cruz said she appreciated the applicant's responses and revisions but would have preferred a "softer," greener approach amid the substantial visible concrete; she nevertheless moved to approve the project "with staff comments and board member comments." The motion was seconded and called for a vote.

The board voted to approve the application with the conditions outlined by staff. In the record, the individual votes were recorded as Miss Carra — yes; Miss Smith — yes; Miss Cruz — yes; and the chair voting yes. The board also approved minutes from its June 18 meeting, set its next meeting for Aug. 6 and adjourned.

Next steps for the applicant include final-plat approval and issuance of the tree-removal permit and building permits that reflect the revised zoning and landscape submissions before proceeding to certificate of occupancy.