Design board recommends approval for 75‑unit multifamily project at 6914 SW 62nd Ave after design and landscape concerns

The City of South Miami Design Review Board recommended approval of a special‑exception site plan for a proposed multifamily building at 6914 Southwest 62nd Avenue after staff found the project meets the Transit Supportive Development District (TSDD) standards and the board debated details of garage access, density calculations and landscaping. Mark Alvarez, the city’s planning consultant, told the board that staff had reviewed massing, open‑space (10% required and achieved), parking provision (about 128 spaces) and architectural standards and concluded “we do recommend that this would be approved and we look forward now to presentation from the applicant.”

Applicant representative George Navarro and design lead Diego Sierra described a six‑story, 75‑unit residential building that steps down to three stories at the property edge to transition to adjacent single‑family homes, uses underground parking to reduce visibility, and provides lanai units facing the neighborhood. Several board members said the site is tight and pressed the team on three garage entrances facing a residential edge, the practicality of turning radiuses for the underground ramp, and whether the project respects a 75‑foot buffer referenced in the code. Staff responded that split‑zoning density is combined across the parcel and that the project’s overall density is below the applicable maximum and that the proposed habitable liner of lanai units screens the parking. Board member Mariano Corral also pressed the applicant on tree removal and mitigation, saying he could not support the submission as presented due to landscape coordination and specimen‑tree replacement concerns; the board nonetheless moved to approve with conditions and follow‑up at commission.