“I knew people in there, and yes I have friends who did make it out. She apologized to the people who felt emotional about the memorial. So we have to follow their guidelines.”Īt one point, Planning and Zoning Board Chair Carolyn Baumel said “You cannot load or unload anything on the face of Collins Avenue, period.” “It's whatever their law says because it's their arterial roadway. “They honestly do not care what anybody else says or does on their road,” Galvin said. James Galvin, a representative for DAMAC, also spoke at the meeting, saying the developer was also only following FDOT regulations. “When it comes to FDOT.they do not want any loading or staging on Collins Avenue that would impact that arterial highway if there is a way to accommodate it on a secondary roadway,” said Gomez. 31 meeting that FDOT officials said they did not want garbage collection along Collins Avenue. The developer and top town officials, including Town Manager Hector Gomez, told those at the Aug. “It doesn’t matter how luxury a building may be. “Placing the garbage facilities adjacent to the memorial is an act of malice and disrespect for all of us,” said Pablo Langesfeld. The wife of one of his cousins who died was Nicky Langesfeld, the daughter of Pablo Langesfeld who also spoke at the meeting. “I'm outraged to see that the proposed plan for the new building is taking so much of 88th Street, a street that was a sign for a memorial, which is not much, but is all that we will ever have permanently to honor, to go there, to remember, to connect to our loved ones,” said David Rodan, who lost four relatives when the Champlain Towers South building collapsed on June 24, 2021. 11, 2022, I wrote a resolution that passed to make 88th Street, in its entirety, from Collins until the beach, a pedestrian memorial closed to vehicular traffic except for emergency vehicles." “Everyone can understand what a memorial is, and what it means to respect people - that 88th Street needs to be sacrosanct,” former Surfside Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer told the board. The full commission will take up the recommendation at its September 27 meeting. 31 when the developer presented its design plans that included the controversial garbage pickup and loading dock on 88 th Street.ĭespite the public outcry, the board voted 4−1 to recommend approval of the developer’s plans to the town commission, causing more strain and stress. The latest source of contention erupted at the Surfside Planning and Zoning Board on Aug. They will cost an average of $25 million each. It plans to build 52 luxury condo units that range in size from 4,000 to 9,000 square feet. Instead, the proposed memorial will be designed for, and built on, 88 th Street.ĭAMAC International purchased the 1.8-acre site for $120 million after a former Florida Circuit Court judge approved the sale as part of a settlement with victims’ families and property owners. In recent months, some families of victims have been at odds with the developer over a planned memorial site, pleading over the summer to have it on the grounds of the collapsed building. A federal probe of the cause - looking at two dozen different scenarios - may not be completed until 2025. The contentious back−and−forth represents just the latest battle among relatives of the condo collapse victims, town officials, and the developer.Įmotions have been running high ever since the 12−story beachfront condo suddenly collapsed on June 24, 2021. Related coverage – Critics question Surfside mayor's relationship with Dubai developer history, pointed the finger at the Florida Department of Transportation for forcing it to build the loading dock on 88 th Street in Surfside.įDOT officials later told WLRN and other media outlets that it never made any such recommendations to the developer in connection with a loading dock or garbage collection. Tensions only grew more intense when DAMAC International, the Dubai−based developer seeking to build a luxury condo building on the site of one of the worst building failures in U.S. Plans to include garbage collection and a loading dock on the same street as a proposed memorial site for the 98 people killed in the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside have angered and outraged relatives of some of the victims, along with former and current elected town officials.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |