East Kendall Community Council 12 begins the year with a busy Zoning Appeals Board agenda on Jan. 6 that includes an enrollment expansion at the Alexander Montessori School Red Road campus and a new Publix package store at a long-established storefront site on Miller Road.
The initial public hearing for 2015 on four items is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 6 at the Civic Pavilion, 8625 SW 124 Ave., proceeded by election of a council chair and vice-chair.
The Alexander School, located at 6050 SW 57 Ave. (near the University of Miami) seeks an unusual use to permit increased enrollment of 59 pupils over its present limit of 270. The enrollment maximum was established when the school was granted permission for new construction of a 10,000-square-foot two-story building for elementary students.
The application also asks for non-use variances to permit school buildings and canopies with setbacks less than those required from property lines, permission for parking within 25 feet of the right-of-way on SW 57th Avenue (Red Road) and larger signage.
One of the oldest Montessori schools in Florida, the Alexander School was established in 1963 in a then-unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County by Beverley and Jim McGhee Sr. who sought to improve educational standards for their children, according to the school website.
While her husband, Jim, passed away four years ago, Beverley A. McGee, holder of a BS and MS in Education, and founder and co-director of the Montessori Teacher Training Institute, remains active as superintendent of the four campuses today.
Her son, James A. McGhee II, administrator of the Alexander schools since 1993, is an American Montessori Society consultant, serves as secretary on the Board of the National Independent Private School Association (NIPSA) and on the boards of directors of the Association of Independent McGhee has been an administrator since 1993.
New liquor store sought for Publix on Miller Road
As part of its new Publix Store construction at 9420 SW 56 St. (Miller Road), the Lakeland-based corporation is seeking a special exception to permit a liquor package store at the site, one of the oldest Publix locations in the Kendall area.
A new Publix supermarket on the seven-acre property, expected to open in 2015, replaces one of the last of the wing-roofed exteriors that marked its stores. The Miller Road Publix has become a fixture at the Miller Heights Shopping Center since a mid-1960s opening.
The application to be heard Jan. 6 is necessary for location of a liquor store less than the required distance from Blue Lakes Elementary School, 9250 SW 52 Terr., and religious facilities in the immediate neighborhood.
Two additional hearings set for Jan. 6 include:
Manuel J. Menendez Trust seeks a zoning change from RU-4L (Limited Apartment House) to RU-4M (Modified Apartrment House) and a special exception to permit a new plan for multi-family residential development on a 2.9-acre site at 6950 SW 40 St.
Ricardo and Liliana Del Cueto have applied for non-use variances to permit a garage and guest house and swimming pool in front of a residence at 9490 SW 99 St.LTC-Chevrolet-Colorado
