Trolley settlement between Gables and developer will be discussed at Tuesday’s commission meeting
A longstanding dispute over a controversial city trolley garage built in Coconut Grove’s historic black neighborhood without consulting residents may get settled by the Coral Gables City Commission on Tuesday. The commission will consider approving a settlement that would have a developer build a trolley depot underneath a proposed high-rise condominium project at 301 Altara Ave., near the Village of Merrick Park. The developer, Henry Torres, is the president of the parent company of the trolley company, Astor Trolley, LLC. It would mean the city’s trolley system would never use the facility in the 3300 block of Douglas Road in the West Grove — a trolley garage built in the Grove, which is part of Miami, to be used by the Gables. This outraged neighbors who didn’t know about the garage because a public hearing was never held. This led to lawsuits, and federal investigators found that Miami-Dade County and the cities of Miami and Coral Gables violated the landmark Civi