Coral Gables staff is studying the War Memorial Youth Center parking lot as a possible alternate dog park site, though neither that location nor the contested 520 University Drive parcel has been selected.
Community Recreation Director Fred Couceyro told commissioners Tuesday, Aug. 25, that the city manager's office directed the feasibility work, the Gables Gazette reported. Couceyro said he expects to bring results back to the commission by late September or shortly thereafter.
"We're not asking for any action. We're not recommending any action," Couceyro said, presenting the item as informational only.
No commissioner asked a question or commented before the meeting moved to public input. No vote was taken.
The feasibility review comes as two court challenges target the University Drive proposal. The University Green Neighbors Association and resident Jose Val Cohen filed a petition for writ of certiorari on Aug. 6 asking Miami-Dade Circuit Court to quash Ordinance 2026-25, the zoning change commissioners approved 3-2 on July 7, 2026. That ordinance removed two 1972 conditions applying to 520 University Drive: one limiting the site to overflow parking for the Coral Gables Library and War Memorial Youth Center, and another requiring the parcel to revert to single-family zoning if the overflow-parking use ended. The ordinance did not itself approve a dog park; it expanded the permitted use to include a public park while retaining overflow parking as a permitted use, according to the Gazette's earlier reporting. A separate civil lawsuit filed Feb. 12 challenges Resolution 2025-452, adopted in November 2025, which directed staff to move forward with dog park development at 520 University Drive.
Lynn Guarch-Pardo, speaking for the neighbors association at the Aug. 25 meeting, said a circuit judge has ordered the city to respond to the certiorari petition. She argued the commission item should have been continued while the case is pending.
Still, Guarch-Pardo signaled openness to compromise. "We also look forward to working with the city on an alternate site, whether at the university center, at the youth center's west lot by Segovia, or elsewhere," she said.
Couceyro also presented results from the city's public-input process, which gathered 355 responses through a Feb. 19 community meeting, a 30-day written-comment period, 37 emails and two petitions totaling 317 signatures. The petitions and signatures are separate from the 355 counted responses. Of those counted, 249 supported the park, 101 opposed it and five were neutral. Eleven respondents were identified as nonresidents.
The original concept plan for 520 University Drive, developed by Assistant Director of Public Works for Greenspace Management Deena Bell-Llewellyn, divides the roughly 39,840-square-foot triangular parcel into two natural-sod large-dog areas and one artificial-turf small-dog area, with nine benches and a 25-foot native landscape buffer.
Guarch-Pardo said Resolution 2025-452 called for a 30- to 50-foot landscape buffer from adjoining single-family homes, larger than the 25-foot buffer in the concept plan. The resolution text was not available for review.
Resident Maria Cruz questioned the city's spending on outside counsel. Court filings identify Holland & Knight attorneys as counsel for the city alongside the City Attorney's Office. The cost of that representation has not been disclosed.
A complicating factor for the alternate site: the Youth Center itself is the subject of a separate legal dispute between the city and the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center Association over a 1958 deed restriction and a reverter clause. On June 2, 2026, the commission paused litigation efforts while discussions continue. The commission also directed the city not to pursue major capital improvements requiring the Youth Center to close unless the deed restriction is modified.
