Surfside commissioners approve luxury condo plan next to future Champlain Towers memorial

The Surfside town commission voted 3-2 on Wednesday night to accept the plan of a 52-unit luxury condo to be built where the Champlain Towers South collapsed and adjacent to a street designated as the site of a memorial.

The vote came after a nearly six-hour emotional meeting that included insults, expulsions and police intervention.

Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger, Vice Mayor Jeffrey Rose and Commissioner Fred Landsman voted in favor. Commissioners Nelly Velasquez and Marianne Meischeid voted against.

At the heart of the issue: whether to allow Dubai-based developer DAMAC International to use the end of 88th Street as a construction staging area, potentially delaying the construction of the memorial, and to permanently share the portion of the roadway with garbage trucks and other heavy machinery coming in and out of the new condo.

But the motion for approval came with a laundry list of conditions, mandating that the developer submit a revised plan with changes sought by several families of the 98 people who died in the June 2021 condo collapse.

These adjustments include:

▪ Relocating the condo’s access point for garbage pickup and a loading dock from 88th Street, where the memorial is set to be built, to Collins Avenue.

▪ Moving the condo’s construction staging area access from 88th Street to Collins Avenue to fast-track the construction of the memorial that could otherwise take years to complete.

These changes are subject to the approval of Miami-Dade County and the Florida Department of Transportation. If they aren’t accepted, said Landsman, the developer would get the green light to carry on with its plans.

“What’s the point of not letting them come back here?” Velasquez asked Landsman.

‘I shouldn’t be begging for this memorial’

Last year, Surfside’s town commission issued a resolution calling for a permanent memorial to occupy the entire street-end directly north of the property, and to close the roadway to traffic with the exception of emergency vehicles.

David Rodan, a Surfside resident whose younger brother was killed in the collapse, argued during the public speaking portion of Wednesday’s meeting that the memorial didn’t need to share the end of 88th Street with the condo’s truck traffic.

He said that out of 28 properties on Collins Avenue, 16 have truck access toward the state road (Collins Avenue is also SR A1A), and encouraged the developers to find a way to relocate the entrance and exit for heavy machinery.

“I shouldn’t be begging for this memorial,” Rodan said. “We want the memorial as soon as possible.”

READ MORE: Remembering the victims of the Surfside tower collapse

Martin Langesfeld, whose sister Nicole Langesfeld, her husband and two cousins were killed in the tragedy, said it all comes down to one thing: respect.

“We are tired of being here. ... It hurts,” he told reporters outside of Town Hall before the meeting. “We are simply asking for respect.”

At the meeting, Langesfeld echoed Rodan’s sentiments

“Try to find a way in putting the loading dock on Collins Avenue; the building right next door did it,” Langesfeld said, addressing the developers. “Why do they keep hurting us and not try to work together?”

Mayor has three people removed

While the Surfside commissioners who voted in favor of the condo’s plan argued that the plan on the table was a good compromise, commissioners Velasquez and Meischeid weren’t convinced.

Despite the developer’s offering the city a donation valued by the firm at $1.5 million for the construction of the park where the memorial would be built, Velasquez said she wasn’t swayed by the developer’s plan and encouraged the firm to give the money directly to the town.

Danzinger called out Velasquez several times for speaking out of order. He also had two members of the public removed for speaking out of turn, and a third, he said, for making obscene and threatening gestures. Police also had to intervene when speakers with opposing views argued during a recess.

READ MORE: Champlain site builder said state requires loading dock near memorial. FDOT cries foul

“I need you to behave,” Danzinger told Velasquez after he said she spoke out of turn while a representative of the developer was speaking.

Meischeid focused on a Federal Emergency Management Agency flood map that wouldn’t allow for the condo to be built as proposed. A town official said the developer is requesting the federal agency to update its flood map with the hopes that the project can move forward.

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READ MORE: Surfside commissioners vote to pursue collapse memorial, tighter building inspections

The town’s Planning and Zoning Board voted, 4-1, on Aug. 31 to send a proposal, which included using 88th Street as an access point for garbage pickup and a loading dock, to the Town Commission with a favorable recommendation. That recommendation was based in part on statements by the developers that the Florida Department of Transportation had told them to keep trash and loading facilities off of Collins Avenue. The state agency has said that it never gave such an instruction.

Developer pleased with outcome

DAMAC international said Thursday in a news release it was pleased with the commission’s vote.

“The divisiveness surrounding this submission is unfortunate,” the firm said. “We believe the conditional approval of the site plan establishes a new way forward towards better collaboration between all stakeholders.”

A federal investigation into what caused the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South is ongoing. In June, the National Institute of Standards and Technology issued a preliminary summary that identified weaknesses in the L-shaped building’s pool deck as the likely origin of the collapse, echoing Miami Herald reporting.

Miami Herald staff writer Aaron Leibowitz contributed to this report.