A new park and ride lot on SW 127th Avenue, designed to serve Kendall Drive bus passengers, is being planned by Miami-Dade Transit.
Commuters currently use open bus bench- es to await Route 88 buses and the recently added Kendall Cruisers that feature driver prioritization to extend green traffic lights at key intersections to help maintain 12-minute service frequency.
Planned for a June 2014 opening, the new lot will accommodate approximately 166 vehicles on land shared with Florida Power and Light overhead transmission lines. It would become the third lot opened for passengers using the Kendall Drive bus route.
The 2.80-acre lot is planned on three land parcels totaling 3.40 acres owned by FPL just south of Kendall Drive on the east side of SW 127th Avenue opposite a Home Depot center.
FPL has an existing easement for its over- head transmission lines and at Miami-Dade Transit’s request, is seeking a variance for the property’s use to permit the park and ride facility in an EU-1 estates zoning category.
FPL also has requested non-use variances to permit zero lot and street designations of trees, waiving landscaping regulations for temporary or permanent irrigation, permission for a greater sod area than required and other non-usages.
Ron Connally, development supervisor for Zoning Hearings and Administrative Review, said Miami-Dade’s Transportation Department had notified his office of the new request in cooperation with FPL about a year ago.
A public hearing before the Community Zoning Appeals Board (Community Council 11) is scheduled for the FPL application on Tuesday, July 17, at 7 p.m., in the Kendall Village Center Civic Pavilion, 8625 SW 124 Ave.
With onboard Wi-Fi service, Cruiser Route 288 provides free parking at the West Kendall Transit Terminal, 9155 SW 162 Ave., and at a second lot at Kendall Drive and SW 150th Avenue. Weekday eastbound Cruiser service begins at 5:28 a.m. with 20 eastbound trips from West Kendall to Dadeland North Station, ending at 9:21 a.m.
Connally said details of the FPL applica- tion for the July 17 Community Zoning Appeals Board agenda should be available one week before the hearing at www.miamidade.gov/business/zoning/asp.
