The zoning board\u2019s 7-to-2 vote came after a contentious two-hour hearing<\/a> that produced strong opinions for and against the high-rise project.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s vote, as city rules allow. The issue is set for public discussion on Tuesday, Nov. 4.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s five elected leaders need to weigh in.<\/p>\n \u2018It doesn\u2019t fit\u2019<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s Susannah Bryan reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s much too close to neighboring buildings.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a good-looking building,\u201d resident John Spear told the zoning board members. \u201cJust make it lower. It\u2019s too tall for the residents. It\u2019s going to shade the neighbors. I don\u2019t care how good looking it is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is so overbuilt for the size of the property,\u201d said Sue Dorman, a beachfront resident for 54 years. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t fit in our neighborhood, at all, and it\u2019s setting a really bad precedent.\u201d<\/p>\n Supporters praised the project for its elegant, modern sophistication, and said it is far superior to the deteriorating vacation rental property it would replace.<\/p>\n One hotbed of citizen opposition to the Amalfi project is the Dolphin Isles Homeowners Association<\/a>, where 88% of members voted to oppose the project in its current form.<\/p>\n The association\u2019s president, Allen Zeman, is an elected member of the Broward School Board and a long-time Fort Lauderdale resident.<\/p>\n Tensions flare<\/p>\n Tensions flared at the Oct. 15 zoning board meeting as Stephanie Toothaker, Amalfi\u2019s lobbyist, questioned the legitimacy of the Dolphin Isles election that produced the overwhelming outpouring of anti-Amalfi sentiment.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not even sure who voted,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Zeman said the HOA used two-step verifications to ascertain the accuracy of the votes and said he was \u201coffended\u201d by Toothaker\u2019s insinuations of a rigged vote by homeowners.<\/p>\n Toothaker emphasized a pro-Amalfi vote by a beach civic group, the Central Beach Alliance, which supported it by a 224 to 171 vote.<\/p>\n Zeman dismissed that vote as \u201chooey\u201d because many alliance members live far south of the Amalfi site. \u201cGive me a break,\u201d he told the zoning board.<\/p>\n Herbst said \u201cprocedural concerns\u201d prompted him to seek a commission review of the zoning board\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Herbst also told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board that he was troubled by zoning board vice chairman Shari McCartney\u2019s enthusiastic support for the project right before the vote.<\/p>\n Days later, McCartney was hired to be Fort Lauderdale\u2019s new city attorney.<\/p>\n Both zoning board members who voted against the Amalfi project are appointees of Commissioner Steve Glassman, whose District 2 includes the beach.<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A high-end luxury development planned for Fort Lauderdale beach is causing a high degree of tension among beach-area…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[2853,249,251,250,114,482],"class_list":{"0":"post-31907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-editorials","9":"tag-fort-lauderdale","10":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","11":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-opinion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Broward](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/tfl-l-school-cell-board-1015-6.jpg\")
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.<\/p>\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/TFL-L-Amalfi-flyer-01.jpg\")
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)<\/p>\n