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JULY 27 - AUGUST 2, 2010
TJ Maxx at Greenery Mall gets community support
BY RICHARD YAGER
A
coming marriage of Greenery Mall and a sixth TJ Maxx store in the Kendall area proved a happy occasion for
area homeowners. The East Kendall Zoning Board on July 21 learned meetings with ownership and nearby residents successfully worked out an agreement that will replace a proposed supermarket with a department store in the mall’s largest vacated space of 47,000 square feet, formerly occupied by a Circuit City electronics outlet. “It’s a happy ending for us and we congratulate Greenery Mall for working with homeowners who didn’t want a supermarket there,” declared Elizabeth Hubbart, representing the Tara community of homes at 7811 SW 90 St. Joined by Holly White, president of East Kendall Homeowners Association and Continental Park’s HOA, the two leaders represented homeowners vigorously backing a “No Supermarkets at Greenery Mall” campaign last November. More than 700 signatures on petitions from a half-dozen homeowner associations in the mall’s neighborhood and Continental Park objecting to noise, traffic, safety and security hazards of a major food chain location were submitted to the Planning and Zoning staff. The board, however, voted Nov. 4, 2009 to allow a grocery or supermarket, citing a down-time economics for adjoining small stores whose owners benefit from an anchor presence, and asking HOA leaders to meet with the mall ownership to resolve issues. On July 21, attorney Stanley B. Price, representing the mall’s ownership, announced TJ Maxx’s projected occupancy, contingent on removing a covenant restriction barring a “junior department store over
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GREENERY, page 4
Sunkist Estates gets park after 62 years
$5 park parking fees slated to start Oct. 1 BY RICHARD YAGER
W
Neighbors A.G. Sheeler and Gayle Bainbridge check Sunkist Park plan. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– BY RICHARD YAGER
O
ne of Kendall’s older communities is getting its first public park. Just under an acre in size, Sunkist Park will serve surrounding homes in a Sunkist Estates neighborhood that dates back to 1948, according to its oldest residents. “I should know,” claimed A.G. Sheeler, who with his wife walked across the street to see the dedication for the tiny park at 8401 SW 64 St. that’s bordered by a CSX freight rail line. “Yes, the Sheelers do know,” laughed Gayle Bainbridge. “They built the first home in Sunkist Estates and I was next,
just across the street. We’ve been neighbors a long time.” Bainbridge and the Sheelers were on hand July 21 when Miami-Dade County Commissioner Carlos A. Gimenez headed groundbreakers wielding gold-painted shovels into a small earth pile, symbolic of the restrained development sought by Sunkist residents. “The folks here didn’t want any special equipment. Their aim was to keep the park a small, quiet place for passive use,” said Howard Gregg, deputy director of the Miam-Dade Parks –––––––––––––––––––– See
SUNKIST, page 4
eekend and holiday parking will begin costing $5 per vehicle at six MiamiDade County parks, including five most often used by Kendall residents. The charges go into effect Oct. 1 at the Kendall Soccer Park on SW 127th Avenue, Tropical, A.D. Barnes, Indian Hammocks, and Larry and Penny Thompson parks, as well as the soccer field area of Amelia Earhart Park in Hialeah. Fees will be collected from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends and holidays. “It pains us to do it,” said Doris Howe, communications manager for the Parks Department. “Economic pressures since the first sharply reduced budgets two years ago are forcing us to seek revenues because all parks are operated by tax revenues, continually affected by foreclosures, reduced state funding and other factors of the current downturn that limit or cut municipal budgets.” Parking fees are not new, she added, noting that Crandon Park on Key Biscayne, Haulover, Greynolds, Bayfront (Homestead) and Matheson Hammocks parks have charged parking fees “dating back to the 1970s.” Fees at the six new park areas will be collected by some mechanical means yet to be determined, she said. Expansion of parking fees to the six parks was approved by the Miami-Dade County Commission for inclusion in the 2009-10 fiscal year but will not be implemented until the start of the new fiscal period, beginning Oct. 1, she stated.