{"id":87225,"date":"2025-12-17T22:00:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T22:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/87225\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T22:00:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T22:00:07","slug":"fort-lauderdale-now-says-basketball-courts-by-beach-might-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/87225\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lauderdale now says basketball courts by beach might stay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fort Lauderdale\u2019s beachfront basketball courts might end up staying right where they are after a fierce outcry has city leaders rethinking a plan to switch them out for pickleball courts.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, commissioners were expected to approve a controversial proposal<\/a> to move the basketball courts to another part of the sand. Some mistakenly thought it was a done deal. But after hearing from critics, the commission agreed to delay the vote.<\/p>\n

Leo Lorenz, a Fort Lauderdale resident who has helped lead the charge to save the basketball courts, said he considers the deferral of the vote a big win for his side. But no one is letting up, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to keep on hitting and pushing until we know it\u2019s set in stone,\u201d he told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to let up. It\u2019s not settled. There\u2019s going to be another vote. The city has the power. It\u2019s their land and they can dictate what they want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale has already said yes to a developer\u2019s $2 billion plan<\/a> to build a five-star resort and four condo towers on city-owned land at Bahia Mar, home of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. Developer Jimmy Tate, whose company owns the 100-year lease on Bahia Mar, has teamed up with the Related Group to build the project.<\/p>\n

In January 2024, the city made another deal with the developers to convert the basketball courts that sit across from Bahia Mar into two public pickleball courts by January 2027. As part of the deal, the Bahia Mar Community Development District plans to contribute up to $1 million for off-site improvements.<\/p>\n

The public didn\u2019t know about the plan to demolish the basketball courts until the city posted a small sign near the courts in late April. That sign sparked an uproar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Critics have blasted the city on social media and at public commission meetings. More than a dozen critics showed up again on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up on this beach,\u201d resident Tracy Powell told commissioners. \u201cThe basketball courts across from Bahia Mar are part of the fabric that has always been a part of this place. Once those courts are gone<\/a>, there\u2019s no way to bring them back.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Rodstrom Jr., a lifelong resident whose mother served on the Fort Lauderdale commission and whose father served on the county commission, made his own urgent plea.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re giving a developer who has already gotten so much from our community even more,\u201d he said. \u201cWe gave them a public piece of land for almost nothing. And then we gave them the air rights. And now we\u2019re giving them part of the beach. You have the ability to change this contract. Public land, guys. Please just take care of our public land.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FortFort Lauderdale\u2019s basketball courts by the beach, shown Wednesday, are reportedly among just two oceanside courts in the country. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Swayed by the arguments, Mayor Dean Trantalis suggested delaying the decision to give the city time to work with Bahia Mar to come up with a new plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure this issue is ripe for a decision tonight,\u201d he said.\u00a0His next comment prompted applause from the audience: \u201cLet\u2019s just leave the basketball courts where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trantalis said he was worried the state might not allow the city to build new pickleball courts east of the coastal construction line.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose basketball courts are built east of the coastal construction line. If we tear them up, we have to get the state\u2019s permission to build east of the coastal construction line. That\u2019s always a challenge. We have to have clarity on that before we go anywhere further.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Ben Sorensen quickly agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need to keep the basketball courts exactly where they are,\u201d he said, prompting more applause.<\/p>\n

\"ThreeThree women walk by the basketball courts on Fort Lauderdale beach on Tuesday. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Commissioner Steve Glassman argued the city could run into legal problems if it failed to comply with the agreement made in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just concerned about the timeline on these agreements,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m concerned about pushing things back, back, back. I\u2019m just concerned about any bit of risk we might be facing. The agreement said we have three years (from January 2024) to get all of this done. And now we only have 12 months left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, the city possesses the authority to substitute and replace certain improvements based on certain costs, permitting and other factors, City Manager Rickelle Williams told the commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018other factors\u2019 could be public opinion,\u201d Trantalis said, gesturing to the audience. \u201cWhen the public speaks up we need to listen. There\u2019s an opportunity here to compromise. Let\u2019s see what we can work out. My experience with the developers is that they\u2019re reasonable people. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll come up with some solution that will work for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the district commissioner, Glassman said he plans to meet with the developer after the holidays.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not want to be putting the city in a legal position that we lose,\u201d he told the Sun Sentinel on Wednesday. \u201cIt\u2019s great to just play to the crowd, but we have to rely on facts and we have to be smart. My fear is this goes so far south that we\u2019re going to end up with pickleball and absolutely no basketball. If we push and we lose, we could lose the basketball courts. A lot of people are not considering the consequences here. We could lose the basketball courts. Be careful what you wish for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tate was not at Tuesday night\u2019s meeting, but said he heard about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intent of the Bahia Mar Community Development District and the intent of the developers is to build community,\u201d Tate said. \u201cWe need to better understand why (people don\u2019t like the plan) and we need to come up with a better solution. We\u2019ve always been about building consensus. Like everything, we\u2019re going to find a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fort Lauderdale\u2019s beachfront basketball courts might end up staying right where they are after a fierce outcry has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,28,249,251,250,114,266,109],"class_list":{"0":"post-87225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-broward-county","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-fort-lauderdale","11":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","12":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-social"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87225","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=87225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}