The Broward County Commission has shot down a proposal that would have cleared the way for a property owner to put up warehouses on and near environmentally sensitive land, some of which has been home to a colony of African vervet monkeys since the late 1940s.
Dozens of residents and advocates showed up at Tuesday’s County Commission meeting to voice opposition to the proposal that would have stripped local environmental protections from the mangroves east of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
The property owner “had hoped to build warehouses to store trinkets for distribution to retailers,” County Commissioner Beam Furr said. “But the land is labeled environmentally sensitive, and the Dania Beach City Commission has already voted 4-1 against lifting that designation.”
Dania Beach Mayor Joyce Davis was among the speakers at Tuesday’s County Commission meeting. “This is not a question of being anti-development,” she said. “This is a question of the highest and best use of these lands.” Warehouse construction would not be the best use, she said.
That left county commissioners with what appeared to be an easy decision: All eight commissioners present at Tuesday’s meeting voted to protect the mangroves and block the warehouse development.
A sign is posted outside the Vervet Project in Dania Beach on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. It’s a sanctuary for vervet monkeys on land east of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The sanctuary opposes a proposal that would have stripped local environmental protections from land near the sanctuary. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
But mangrove protection advocates are not declaring victory, and the property owner is not conceding defeat.
Port 1850 LLC, owned by Shlomo Melloul, can still push forward seeking permits because the parcel he owns is designated for commercial use.
“They can vote whatever they want, but I have the right to get a permit,” Melloul said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “My lawyers and lobbyists are on top of it.”
Attorney Edwin Stacker, who spoke on behalf of the property owner at Tuesday’s meeting, said the property, which was purchased about six years ago, had been marketed and sold for commercial use.
“Nothing is being compromised by removing that (environmentally sensitive) designation because we have to satisfy all of the necessary environmental permits,” he said. “There is a need for additional warehouse space between (Port Everglades) and the airport.”
Missy Williams, who runs the nearby Dania Beach Vervet Monkey Project, was thrilled with the commission’s decision and vowed to continue fighting to protect the mangroves.
About 40 African vervet monkeys live in a protected area of mangroves “a stone’s throw away” from where the warehouses would go up, Williams said. The warehouses would not displace the monkeys, but Williams said it could have affect their quality of life.
“They would have to create a road to get to the warehouse,” she said. Between that, permanent traffic noise and at least temporary construction disruptions, she said, there’s no real way to tell how the monkey population would be affected.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.