Downtown Palmetto Bay Gets First Seeding

On Monday June 21, Palmetto Bay's Village Council approved two projects that will be the first "seeds" on what hopes to become a thriving downtown district.

Atlantico at Palmetto Bay will be the first to break ground. The project will be located at the northeast corner of Franjo Road and SW 180 Street and consists of a five story, mixed use development with 271 residential units, 7,010 square feet of ground floor commercial/retail space and accessory parking. The pedestrian-friendly project features interior, interconnected public walkways, widened landscaped sidewalks, a civic plaza and twice the amount of required open spaces.

The other project is the future Somerset K-8 Academy, slated for development on vacant land east side of Franjo Road roughly between East Hibiscus Street and Guava Street.  The project had originally come before The Village for approval in 2011 and then in 2014, a settlement between the two parties approved a K-12 charter school for 1,400 students. Monday night's item reduced that number down to 1,000 and cut down the maximum grade level from 12th to 8th grade through the negotiations of Councilman Tim Schaffer and Village Manager, Ed Silva. During public comments, Village resident Bev Gerald asked for a hard cap of 1,000 in perpetuity, a condition to which the applicant agreed to incorporate in the approval documents.

I am proud of my Village and continue to be civically active through my participation in the former Downtown Redevelopment Task Force, the Palmetto Bay Partnership and through direct conversations with our Village leaders and management.