Coconut Grove residents will get their chance to shape the future of the neighborhood's tree canopy when the City of Miami holds a public workshop on Thursday, Aug. 20, from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Hangar at Regatta Grove, 3385 Pan American Drive.
The workshop is one of five the city is hosting across all commission districts as part of a broader rewrite of Miami's tree ordinance. The city said in its official announcement that residents are invited to learn about proposed updates, ask questions and share feedback on what works, what doesn't and how the rules can better protect the urban canopy.
The revision comes at a charged moment. Miami's Historic and Environmental Preservation Board has faced at least 14 tree-removal appeals since January, compared to just one in all of 2025, according to Coconut Grove Spotlight reporting. The surge forced the city to expand HEP Board meetings from monthly to twice monthly.
The strain was on full display July 22-23, when the board held an eight-hour hearing on eight appeals before a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 people. It ran eight hours. The board did not adjourn until roughly 2 a.m.
"The fact that we were there until 2 a.m. is a glaring spotlight that this is not working," Genevieve Apaza, whose appeal of a tree-removal permit on Irvington Avenue was the only one granted that night, told the Coconut Grove Spotlight after the July hearing.
The city's newly formed Tree Ordinance Advisory Committee is expected to recommend changes to the permitting process in early 2027. How the public workshop feedback will interact with the advisory committee's work is unclear from available city communications.
Separately, as we reported July 28, Grove activist Andy Parrish called on the Miami City Commission to fix the NCD-3 zoning code's tree-protection language, which a 2019 court ruling rendered unenforceable. As of July 28, District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo, who represents Coconut Grove, had not publicly responded to Parrish's call for a code amendment. Pardo's office has not publicly commented on the ordinance revision workshops.
Residents do not have to attend only their own district's session. The full schedule:
- District 1: Tuesday, Aug. 11, Miami Police Benevolent Association, 2300 NW 14th St.
- District 3: Wednesday, Aug. 12, Shenandoah Park, 1800 SW 21st Ave.
- District 5: Thursday, Aug. 13, Legion Park, 6447 NE 7th Ave.
- District 4: Wednesday, Aug. 19, Manolo Reyes Park, 6030 SW 2nd St.
- District 2 (Coconut Grove): Thursday, Aug. 20, The Hangar at Regatta Grove, 3385 Pan American Drive
All sessions run 6 to 9 p.m. The Hangar is adjacent to Miami City Hall at 3500 Pan American Drive.
