My God, I've Been So Unfair to Coral Gables! (Not)

I'm sure that some folks think that I was a bit overboard in my comments on Coral Gables. Well, it does turn out that after over a year's debate, the brave city commission decided in July to let a small portion of the city test out the possibility for 90 days (yes - opening up a 90 day window for permit application) that, with the strict supervision of the City Architect and Board of Architects, metal roofs might not cause the complete collapse of property values.


In the Spirit of Fairness, I'm including link to the whole 6 page metal roof ordinance - with enough Whereas clauses and referrals back and forth to committees with significant review and public hearings on almost a dozen occasions to make you think that it was the work of the Comintern at its most bureaucratic.

By the way - a trellis (yeah, like for flowers) is an accessory use in Coral Gables, permitted only with the approval of the city architect. The same with fountains - yes, want to put one of those little lion-head fountains on your back porch - get a permit and hope that the city architect doesn't think it's too down-market if you bought it at Target.

You need a permit to paint your house, and must go through the Review Board if you don't use a pre-approved color , or if (horror of horrors) you want to use more than one color on the outside of your house. Here's the link to the "approved colors" page and here's a link to the brochure on "So You Want to Paint Your House" - really - explaining why a permit is necessary to ensure that your painting project is "safe, legal and in accordance with building and zoning laws and ordinances."

And - I just love this -- why have declarations of restrictions on your subdivision (and worry about maintaining them) when the City will adopt specific standards for your subdivision right into the Zoning Code, including in several cases, specific directions for where houses can be placed on specific lots. Not to mention, in one case, a requirement in the zoning code that a property owner obtain permission from all waterfront property owners in the subdivision before building a boathouse. Think I'm making this up? Here's the link.