Surfside considers rule change aimed at collapse site. Would it be ‘gift’ to developer?

After the collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside killed 98 people almost two years ago, scrutiny of the building’s history unearthed a series of controversial decisions and lax oversight by local governments.

At the building’s inception in 1981, the town granted an exception to its 12-story height limit to allow a penthouse floor. Decades later, in 2014, officials in neighboring Miami Beach ceded a street to developers of an adjacent condo tower, allowing vibrations from its construction to move closer to the Champlain property line.

It’s not clear whether those decisions ultimately contributed to the collapse. But now, as developers pursue a new luxury tower at the oceanfront site, Surfside officials are under pressure from victims’ family members and the public to ensure the project is safe, transparent and sensitive to the tragedy.

They’ve already faced some critique. Earlier this year, Mayor Shlomo Danzinger was condemned by some victims’ family members for failing to disclose a meeting in Dubai with the site’s billionaire owner, Hussain Sajwani. Danzinger said he was there to advocate for a memorial at or near the site, as the families have called for.

Now, a proposed zoning change that is tailored to the former Champlain property is raising fresh concerns.

The item would effectively exempt Sajwani and his team at DAMAC Properties from a code provision that forces some developers in Surfside to deploy a “wedding cake” design, which sees buildings become narrower as they get taller by sloping inward — part of the town’s attempt to maintain space and sunlight between buildings.

One product of that provision is Arte, the pyramid-shaped tower where Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner recently sold a condo for $17 million.

Under the town code, the wedding-cake rules don’t apply to the north side of the former Champlain Towers site because it fronts a street — 88th Street — and not another building.

But town officials say the south side of the property doesn’t appear to qualify for the exemption. The south side abuts the land Miami Beach ceded in 2014, formerly a 50-foot-wide street known as 87th Terrace that was dug up and turned into a 10-foot walkway.

“We are reviewing this matter further, but our preliminary research suggests classifying 87th Terrace as a [street] frontage is questionable,” officials wrote in a memo to the developers late last year.

Normally, that would mean the developers must apply for a variance from the code and state their case during the town’s approval process if they want to avoid the rule.

But the proposed change would remove that burden by adding language that says sides of oceanfront buildings that abut “a public access easement at least 10 feet wide” are exempt from the wedding-cake provision.

Town Manager Hector Gomez said at a commission meeting Tuesday that the former Champlain site is the only property known to be immediately affected.

In an interview Thursday, Gomez said the developers didn’t explicitly ask for the change, but did request clarification on the language.

“That is an ambiguity we’re seeking to define,” he said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for DAMAC — which paid $120 million to buy the property at 8777 Collins Ave. — said the company rejects any suggestion that a backroom deal may have been cut, related to zoning or otherwise, during the mayor’s visit to Dubai last year.

“DAMAC wishes to set the record straight and strongly objects to any inference that something unprincipled transpired when the Mayor visited the Chairman of DAMAC on his way to Israel to visit his son last October,” spokesperson Niall McLoughlin said.

McLoughlin added that the company “extended a lunch invitation” when it learned Danzinger was coming to Dubai and didn’t pay for his airfare or accommodations.

“In no way was any favor discussed or exchanged and any attempt to disparage the company will not be tolerated,” McLoughlin said. “Over the last six months DAMAC has had a number of discussions with the Town in respect to interpretation of multiple clauses of its zoning regulations as part of preparing its planning application.”

After the Herald requested public records related to the mayor’s trip, the town said in February that none exist.

Elected officials voice concerns

Commissioners were initially split on the zoning proposal Tuesday but voted unanimously to defer it to a meeting next month after some officials voiced concerns.

“I expect applicants to follow the code we have,” Commissioner Marianne Meischeid said. “I don’t know why we would change anything to accommodate a specific entity.”

Town Attorney Lillian Arango emphasized that the change would not constitute “spot zoning” — a legally questionable practice of carving out zoning exceptions for certain properties — because it would apply equally across a zoning district along the east side of Collins Avenue, where the maximum building height is 120 feet.

Regardless, Meischeid said, “it will still be a benefit to this property ... so I’m not comfortable with it.”

The change would require two rounds of approval to take effect.

Danzinger said he would have been willing to approve the item on first reading and ask town staff for an analysis of the impacts before a final vote. But he said he, too, has reservations.

“I don’t feel comfortable if it’s just for one property,” he said.

Vice Mayor Jeff Rose said he supports the change in the spirit of “clarifying and cleaning up some of that ambiguity” in the code.

Commissioner Fred Landsman added that Miami Beach, not Surfside, decided to vacate 87th Terrace, which “affected our ability to consider it a street.”

“Do we allow Miami Beach to dictate Surfside? I don’t think we should,” Landsman said.

Developers’ plans are unknown

The extent of the potential benefits to DAMAC was not immediately clear.

If the change is approved, the developers could build straight up along the south end of the property instead of deploying a wedding cake design. That would grant them more room for valuable units on the upper floors.

At the same time, the change would increase a current 10-foot setback requirement at the southern property line to 20 feet, according to town zoning attorney Tony Recio. Calculations by the Herald found that the building’s maximum allowed square footage may be similar whether the change is approved or not, although exact numbers are difficult to determine without the developer’s plans.

It’s not clear exactly what the developers want to build. DAMAC has said it plans to build ultra-luxury condos, but has yet to file an application with the town or release renderings.

Eliana Salzhauer, a former town commissioner, said the proposal has the appearance of a favor to the developers.

“This zoning correction is a gift to the one property in town that’s actually impacted by this,” she said.