A chorus of angry critics packed a town hall meeting Tuesday night to tell Fort Lauderdale officials what they think of a plan to remake Galleria mall into a site with nine buildings, all 30 stories high.
Bottom line: They don’t like it. Some hate it. And most want the city to stop it.
But under the Live Local Act, a new state law that aims to boost affordable housing throughout Florida, the city will have little ability to do so. The rules of the game have changed. The law now allows developers to bypass the normally required public hearings and zoning approvals as long as at least 40% of the residential units qualify as workforce housing.
Under current plans, the developer plans to build 3,144 rental apartments on the 31.5-acre site. Of those, 1,273 apartments would be reserved for workforce housing over the course of 30 years. The project also calls for a 170-room hotel along with new shops and restaurants.
“The statute kind of ties our hands,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said at the start of the town hall meeting. “If a developer says they’re going to build affordable housing, then you have no say over what the rest of the project is going to be like. It doesn’t even allow the matter to go before the planning and zoning board, let alone the City Commission. It’s all done at the administrative level.”
Trantalis told the audience he called the special forum to give residents a chance to learn more about the project as well as the Live Local Act.
“I will be honest with you,” Trantalis said. “I have nightmares thinking about this project. We do not need another 3,200 units plopped right there in the middle of our community. We have directed city staff to find any opportunity to downsize this project and make it compatible with the neighborhood. That’s their mandate.”
A crowd of more than 200 residents packed into the Coral Ridge Yacht Club for what turned into one long and fiery vent session. Nearly 300 more were watching online.
One by one, residents grilled Trantalis with obvious fury.
“Why in the world do you guys want 3,200 rental units?” one man asked the mayor after accusing him of backing the controversial project.
Trantalis was in the midst of responding when the man interrupted.
“Do you want to kill this thing?” the man asked. “And if you do, how do you kill it? That project is a nuclear bomb. It really is.”
The mayor maintained his composure, saying: “I let you talk, please let me finish. The idea tonight was for all of us to get an idea of what Live Local is about and why we must comply with that statute.”
The mayor added: “We also wanted to talk about what the community wants to see at the Galleria site. What people don’t want is this,” he said, pointing to a rendering of the project. “What people don’t want is overdevelopment. I get that message.”
The testy exchange was just one of many that punctuated the standing-room-only meeting. The developer and his team did not attend.
One woman wanted to know if the project calls for low-income housing.
The short answer: No.
Fewer than half the units would be reserved for workforce housing for people making anywhere from 80% to 120% of the county’s area median income, Trantalis said.
Based on the current median income of $96,200, renters eligible for the workforce housing apartments would be making from $76,960 to $115,440 a year.
“You can earn up to over $100,000 and still qualify,” Trantalis said. “We’re not talking about people who earn $20,000 a year. We are talking about people who are middle class.”
At several points, Trantalis attempted to calm the crowd.
“I think in the end this could be a win-win for everybody,” he said. “The amount of intense development so far does scare a lot of people. It scares me. To add 3,200 units on such a small site raises a lot of questions.”
Trantalis told the audience he had not yet met with the developer, but plans to do so soon.
Several residents said they were worried about the traffic gridlock such a massive project would bring.
The mayor assured them the city would do it all it could to address that challenge.
“Keep in mind that this project is going to dump anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 car trips on the roads every day,” Trantalis said. “So let’s use whatever leverage we have to squeeze this project down to a more manageable size. We will do our best to see what we can do to try to downsize the project.”
One man asked whether the city was planning to file a lawsuit challenging the Live Local Act.
“As a commission we have not discussed that,” Trantalis said.
The man had a follow-up question. Can Fort Lauderdale outright reject the developer’s proposal, even if it gets the city embroiled in a lawsuit?
The mayor had this to say: “Let’s see if we can work with the developer. Litigation gets us nowhere. All it does is get us a compromise. I’m not an advocate of doing nothing. That site has been neglected for so long. We need to see something happen there.”
One woman in the crowd agreed.
“Litigation does nothing except make the lawyers rich,” she said. “It costs the taxpayers a lot of money. It’s a waste of time. We need to have a really wonderful mall here, because everyone has to go to Boca or down to Aventura.”
Trantalis said that was one of the goals.
“Let’s work together to make that happen,” he said. “We’re trying to improve the site. I think most people in this room want to see some change at the Galleria mall. Tonight is the first step. Tonight is the beginning of the process.”
One man asked whether the city could get the developer to come up with a more modern design.
“The buildings look like blocks,” he said. “Can we at least start looking at what the aesthetics are?”
The mayor responded with a tongue-in-cheek joke.
“This isn’t beautiful?” he said with a laugh. “I’m always an advocate for better design. I hear you. As the process continues, we will do our best to try to encourage them to make sure they have a good design.”
Vice Mayor John Herbst, the district commissioner, was watching from the front row.
He stood up to explain that very few malls make money anymore.
“We all buy things from Amazon,” he said. “I haven’t been in a mall in five years.”
Herbst thanked the mayor for calling the town hall meeting. Like the mayor, Herbst said he has not yet met with the developer. And like many residents, Herbst said he found out about the project from the newspaper.
“I’m just as unhappy about how all this is unfolding as you are,” Herbst told the crowd. “You asked us what the plans are. We don’t know. Forget what the architecture is going to look like. It ain’t that. Whatever you’re seeing up there is just a concept.”
Herbst said he believes the project will change over time.
“I think this is the starting point of a conversation,” he said. “I hope this is the starting point of a conversation. We’d all love to see a Bal Harbour.”
Herbst predicts the developer will come back with a new plan.
“And that’s when we negotiate,” Herbst said.
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan