Miami's Historic and Environmental Preservation Board voted 5-0 late Tuesday, July 21, to reject a challenge to the tree-removal permit for the Adela II development beside Legion Memorial Park. The decision leaves the permit in place, allowing the project at 645 NE 64th Street to move forward.
The board did not approve the permit unchanged. Its motion accepted a revised planting plan and added a commitment to try to preserve a prominent live oak identified as tree 25, near Northeast Seventh Avenue and Northeast 64th Street, if Public Works and other agencies with jurisdiction approve. Board members called the oak a signature tree and pressed the applicant to redesign utilities or street work around it.
What changed at the hearing
The appeal was filed by the Sierra Club Miami Group after the city issued intended decision BD25-009418-001 on June 16. After a lengthy dispute over whether the group had standing, a nearby Sierra Club member came forward and the board heard the merits.
City staff said the application covered the removal of dozens of hardwoods and palms, including five live oaks. One live oak on the development site is planned for relocation into Legion Park. Staff also said one tree inside the park leans toward the site and would be removed, a point opponents argued made the permit an unusual case of private construction affecting a public park.
By the end of the discussion, the applicant and city staff clarified that four live oaks were otherwise slated for removal. Preserving tree 25 would reduce that number to three. The final motion conditioned preservation on approval from Public Works and any other affected department or utility, including fire and water infrastructure reviewers.
The developer also voluntarily offered to strengthen the replacement plan by using larger-caliper southern live oaks, bald cypress and gumbo limbo trees. City staff had recommended denying the appeal after reviewing an arborist report, root exploration, tree-condition assessments and multiple versions of the landscape plan.
Why residents objected
Local 10 reported before the hearing that residents were fighting the proposed removal of 46 trees, including five large oaks, and that the mitigation plan called for 103 new trees. Opponents said mature canopy cannot be replaced quickly by nursery trees and questioned whether the project had shown that no feasible design could save more of the existing trees.
The hearing reflected a wider surge in Miami tree-permit appeals. Board members repeatedly pushed the applicant and city staff to show exactly why each large oak could not stay or be moved rather than treating replacement planting as an automatic answer.
What happens next
The applicant's attorney said the development team would return to Public Works and other reviewers to explore keeping tree 25 in place. If those agencies reject that option, the permit approved by city staff and upheld by the board still authorizes its removal.
Adela II is planned as a six-story mixed-use residential project on a 3.25-acre assemblage immediately south of Legion Park. Earlier city-review materials described up to 337 homes, ground-floor commercial space, public parking and pedestrian connections to the park. The July 21 vote resolved the tree appeal before the board, but the promised attempt to save the corner oak remains an open implementation question.
Sources: City of Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board special meeting video; City of Miami Legion Memorial Park directory; Miami Today project review.
