A high-end luxury development planned for Fort Lauderdale beach is causing a high degree of tension among beach-area residents — and this fight is far from over.
The contours of this controversy should be very familiar. Once again, Fort Lauderdale residents are up in arms about what they see as a city much too eager to kowtow to developers’ demands.
On Oct. 15, the city’s Planning and Zoning Board approved the project, known as Amalfi, which would rise to a height of 240 feet, the equivalent of 24 stories, on State Road A1A south of Oakland Park Boulevard.
The zoning board’s 7-to-2 vote came after a contentious two-hour hearing that produced strong opinions for and against the high-rise project.
That might have been the last word on the project, but for one city commissioner. Commissioner John Herbst wants the city commission to review the zoning board’s vote, as city rules allow. The issue is set for public discussion on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Herbst made the right call. A decision this important on a defining project on the beachfront should not be made solely by nine unelected political appointees. The city’s five elected leaders need to weigh in.
‘It doesn’t fit’
Area residents who oppose the project, some of whom have lived on the beach since the 1970s, say it is simply too high and wildly out of character with its seaside surroundings. Worse, they fear, the 240-foot-tall behemoth will set a precedent and will become the standard for future development proposals.
East of the Intracoastal Waterway, developers can build up to 120 feet by right, but they can request a conditional use permit to double the height to 240 feet, the Sun Sentinel’s Susannah Bryan reported.
Nearby buildings include the Auberge Beach Residences, with one tower standing 180 feet high and a second at 240 feet, and The Palms, with 32-story twin towers that stand more than 300 feet high.
The unique, cantilevered Amalfi would have 39 large luxury units with parking in an underground garage on a lot slightly less than one acre. In addition to the height, a concern expressed by some residents is that it’s much too close to neighboring buildings.
“It is a good-looking building,” resident John Spear told the zoning board members. “Just make it lower. It’s too tall for the residents. It’s going to shade the neighbors. I don’t care how good looking it is.”
“This is so overbuilt for the size of the property,” said Sue Dorman, a beachfront resident for 54 years. “It doesn’t fit in our neighborhood, at all, and it’s setting a really bad precedent.”
Supporters praised the project for its elegant, modern sophistication, and said it is far superior to the deteriorating vacation rental property it would replace.
Elected county-wide, Allen Zeman is a Broward School Board member and a homeowners’ association leader fighting a controversial luxury high-rise condo project on Fort Lauderdale beach.
One hotbed of citizen opposition to the Amalfi project is the Dolphin Isles Homeowners Association, where 88% of members voted to oppose the project in its current form.
The association’s president, Allen Zeman, is an elected member of the Broward School Board and a long-time Fort Lauderdale resident.
Tensions flare
Tensions flared at the Oct. 15 zoning board meeting as Stephanie Toothaker, Amalfi’s lobbyist, questioned the legitimacy of the Dolphin Isles election that produced the overwhelming outpouring of anti-Amalfi sentiment.
The lobbyist, known for her skill at swaying city officials on development projects, said residents were allowed to send in their ballots days after the HOA discussed the project, which she claimed was highly irregular.
“I’m not even sure who voted,” she said.
This flyer urged Fort Lauderdale residents to attend an Oct. Planning and Zoning Board meeting to oppose the Amalfi project. (courtesy, Dolphin Isles Homeowners Association)
Zeman said the HOA used two-step verifications to ascertain the accuracy of the votes and said he was “offended” by Toothaker’s insinuations of a rigged vote by homeowners.
Toothaker emphasized a pro-Amalfi vote by a beach civic group, the Central Beach Alliance, which supported it by a 224 to 171 vote.
Zeman dismissed that vote as “hooey” because many alliance members live far south of the Amalfi site. “Give me a break,” he told the zoning board.
Herbst said “procedural concerns” prompted him to seek a commission review of the zoning board’s approval.
After watching the meeting video, he said the interim city attorney seemed to caution board members that the city could be sued unless the project was approved.
Herbst also told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board that he was troubled by zoning board vice chairman Shari McCartney’s enthusiastic support for the project right before the vote.
Days later, McCartney was hired to be Fort Lauderdale’s new city attorney.
Both zoning board members who voted against the Amalfi project are appointees of Commissioner Steve Glassman, whose District 2 includes the beach.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board includes Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.