Home Depot will say what suits its needs

BY MARC SARNOFF
One Grove Alliance

Last Thursday, the Miami City Commission voted 4-1 to place a class II permit on all C-1 zoned commercial properties in Coconut Grove over 50,000 square feet. This means that a city administrator will review the plans for design and either approve them or ask for different designs. It by no means restricts size or the scope of a project or what the retailer will sell or how. It will not apply to Home Depot since they are grandfathered in to plans filed the day after the Planning and Zoning Board voted to recommend the city limit ''Big Box'' retailing in C-1 (the Grove), to 70,000 square feet with the additional requirement that any retailer above 55,000 square feet must obtain a class II permit.

Home Depot was there to argue against the Planning and Zoning Board's recommendation and did so by claiming it was a permitted use in C-1, the least restricted commercial development the city permits. Lawyers and lobbyists are interesting creatures who say what they must to achieve their clients' needs.

For instance, when Home Depot wanted to build a store in Miami-Dade County, they addressed the county zoning board to achieve designation as a warehouse so they could build in Industrial 1 (IU-1). The same lawyers, the same store, but this time Home Depot was calling itself a warehouse that belonged in an Industrial zoned area of the county. In Home Depot's own words, in a letter to the Miami-Dade zoning department: ``The Home Depot -- A Wholesale Warehouse. In design and operation, a Home Depot is an industrial warehouse, consisting of approximately 100,000 square feet, in which building supplies and material are available to contractors as well as the general public. According to our client, the professional business contractor trade constitutes a substantial amount of the sales volume of a typical Home Depot. . . . Many of the eight major sections within all Home Depots are the types of uses that are generally permitted within the IU-1 (Industrial) zoning district. These eight major sections include: lumber; building supplies; plumbing supplies; electrical supplies; cabinet shops; hardware; gardening supplies; paint and wall coverings; and fans.''

Home Depot goes on to state: 'Unlike most commercial uses, the bulk of the building and supplies and materials within a Home Depot facility are `warehoused' because they are not physically accessible to the general public. The Home Depot's warehouse storage area consists of inaccessible shelving that is located above the building supplies stored at ground level out of reach of the Home Depot's customers. In excess of 50 percent of the volume of a Home Depot is devoted to such warehousing.''

As to wood and the use of wood in its stores, the Home Depot represented: 'The Home Depot wood department is not like a hardware store in a BU district, since Home Depot's lumber is available in large sizes and quantities and can be cut to order. Thus, this area is more similar to a `lumberyard' in an IU-1 district than a BU use.''

BU is a designation for Business district akin to the Commercial 1 permitted uses by the city of Miami. Home Depot has one use for the city of Miami and one use for the County of Miami-Dade. There is truly only one use to a Home Depot.

If there was a level of communication between our elected city officials and the county, it would have learned of Home Depot's representations that without reservation or doubt the Home Depot belongs in an industrial section of the county. It is an industrial warehouse, because it is intended to be an industrial warehouse.

The lipstick does not change the animal. Home Depot is not a permitted use for C-1, but it is a permitted use for industrial. We are now left to defend the Grove from the onslaught of the warehouse, in a different venue and with an impartial judge, there the Home Depot will face the true test of whether it is the industrial warehouse it claims to be. For those who love the Grove and all it's intended to be (not some land grab deal to continue to build vertical) stay the course and defend our village.

Lawyers and lobbyists do what they do, just remember they have been doing it for a long time in Miami. Eventually they will be on record saying directly the opposite representation their client now needs, and here you have it.

We have said it all along, Home Depot and their attorneys will do and say what they have to when it suits their needs and we can only wonder why the city officials are turning a blind eye to their blatant misrepresentations.

Sarnoff is chairman of the One Grove Alliance. To reach the group, call 786-302-5352 , or visit thegrovefirst.com.

Want to know what your neighbors are up to? Check out one of these meetings.

• The One Grove Alliance will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club, 2990 South Bayshore Dr. The association includes all areas within Coconut Grove.

• All Grove Crimewatch will meet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Virrick Gym at Elizabeth and Day. Voice your concerns, meet with your neighborhood police officers, get crime statistics, view photos of repeat offenders in our area. Call 305-442-9235 or visit www.grovecrimewatch.org.

• The Village of Center Grove will meet at 7 p.m. May 18 at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club, 2990 S. Bayshore Dr. The association includes areas between Southwest 27th to 32nd Avenues and U.S. 1 to South Bayshore Dr. Agenda items include the Home Depot issue. Call 305-442-9235 or visit www.vocg.org.

Neighborhood Views is a weekly column allowing neighborhood and homeowners' associations to tell readers what's happening in their corner of South Florida. News of meetings, issues and events is welcome. Pictures in jpeg format are also welcome. Submissions should be about 200 to 300 words. Send items and pictures to homeownernews @herald.com

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