After months of threatening legal action, Coral Gables commissioners this week decided to pause plans to take their ongoing Youth Center-related dispute to the courtroom. At least for now.
The 4-1 decision is like a bucket of cold water for the escalating tensions between commissioners and members of the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center Association, a civic organization that calls itself a watchdog for the city-funded youth center.
Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson returned to the dais with a different idea: Instead of taking the association to court, Coral Gables should halt any of the city’s pricey future renovation plans for the center, which could potentially require it to temporarily shutter, until the property’s deed is stripped of its reverter clause. In a deal made decades ago, the association had gifted the property to the city, and the clause allows for the return of the property to the association if the city is found to break its end of the deal…