Miami-Dade lets construction go on amid COVID-19. Some cities are banning it anyway.
Since the town of Surfside issued a ban last month on all construction except for emergency repairs, some of the feedback has been harsh. About 10 homeowners have asked for permission to continue with ongoing work, saying it can be done without risking the spread of COVID-19.
But so far, despite state and county leaders giving builders the green light to forge ahead with projects, the little oceanfront community of Surfside hasn’t budged.
“I care about our families and our neighbors more than I care about construction projects,” Eliana Salzhauer, a recently elected Surfside town commissioner, said during a virtual meeting March 31.
Other municipalities in North Dade — including Golden Beach and Sunny Isles Beach to the north of Surfside and Key Biscayne to its south — have also taken measures to try to limit or ban construction in recent weeks.
Larger cities like Miami and Miami Beach have let it continue mostly unabated while trying to enforce social distancing rules at work sites. But momentum may be building in the other direction.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said he’s heard from many residents who want construction sites closed. He said city administrators are considering a shutdown, but are still seeking clarity on a statewide stay-at-home order that “supersedes” local authorities.
Gov. Ron DeSantis later said cities could enact stricter measures, confusing local officials. On Monday, Suarez was leaning toward a closure with exceptions for emergencies.
“It’s hard to argue that they’re essential,” Suarez said. “Obviously, it’s a big industry in our community, but every single industry in our community has been impacted.”
Miami Beach officials have also discussed the possibility of putting a hold on all non-essential construction, Mayor Dan Gelber said, though they haven’t acted on it yet.
“There have been some discussions about limiting the ones that are going on,” he said.
A spokeswoman said the city has ordered two sites to temporarily stop work due to a “lack of social distancing,” and shut down eight others for working without permits.
“New interior construction permits are not being issued and we are continuously performing social distancing checks on active construction sites,” the spokeswoman said.
Gelber said city officials have done 250 site inspections based on complaints they’ve received, calling the city’s response “aggressive.”
But cities that have gone a step further and shut down construction sites have met backlash from builders and the residents who rely on their work.
The president of The Shul in Surfside, Steve Dunn, asked town officials during the March 31 commission meeting to consider letting his synagogue continue with a major expansion. Dunn said he was working on a plan to enforce social distancing at the site, provide protective gear to workers, and keep workers out of commercial areas.
“The Shul has a very substantial commercial project that has been interrupted,” Dunn said. “What I would ask is, if a case-by-case scenario is going to be considered for the residential properties, that likewise our case be considered.”
But the commission wasn’t moved by his case, nor by the pleas of homeowners. There are over 2,300 active building permits in Surfside, according to town officials, and for now, Salzhauer said, they should all be put on hold except for emergency repairs.
“Everyone has an equal right and an equal hardship here,” she said. “We’ve only been doing this for two weeks. People in other countries have been doing this for months. Suck it up for a month, then we can revisit this.”
Only one other municipality in Miami-Dade County has issued a blanket ban on construction akin to Surfside’s: Golden Beach, an affluent community at the northern tip of A1A that has banned almost all visitors from entering in response to the novel coronavirus.
The town consists entirely of single-family homes, meaning it doesn’t rely on the construction industry as much as Miami or Miami Beach. Still, Mayor Glenn Singer said he has heard many complaints about the move.
“I’ve had numerous contractors contact me, homeowners contact me saying, ‘I’ve got to get my job done,’” Singer told the Herald. “It’s not about my job or this job, it’s about the community as a whole.”
Golden Beach announced March 16 that construction sites must be closed, and even revoked all active building permits so that it is now illegal to be present at a site.
“The frustrating thing is that the other cities are now starting to see the light,” Singer said, referring to those that have restricted construction more recently. “This could have been done three weeks ago and it seems like Dade County is behind the ball.”
On Friday, the island village of Key Biscayne — which, like Golden Beach, has moved to restrict visitor access — ordered all construction at multi-family buildings to stop by Monday at 6:30 p.m.
Mayor Mike Davey said he wasn’t aware of any major ongoing projects, but that he got calls from condo managers who were “feeling inundated with construction workers.”
If you have a broken pipe in your apartment, Davey said, fix it. But “this isn’t the time to remodel your kitchen,” Davey said. “Now is the time to sit tight.”
Other cities like Sunny Isles Beach, which is brimming with oceanfront condo towers along Collins Avenue, have treaded more lightly while still trying to discourage construction.
Last Wednesday, city officials sent an email to condo managers and boards “strongly urging” them to limit projects at multi-family buildings to essential work only. Officials said they had heard from many residents about non-essential work taking place at condos.
“While we are not ordering construction to cease, we urge condominiums to limit the work to only what needs to be completed for the safety of residents,” the email said.
City Manager Christopher Russo told the Herald on Monday that he expects the city to issue a new emergency order this week to formally limit construction in occupied residential buildings.
He said his administration, much like Miami’s, is still seeking more guidance from DeSantis on whether the city is authorized to shut down projects entirely and declare construction non-essential.
Multiple major condo projects are ongoing in Sunny Isles, including at The Estates at Acqualina and the Turnberry Ocean Club.
“We’re still working on what we can do to limit or at least put in more safety measures on new construction,” Russo said.
At the county level, Mayor Carlos Gimenez has resisted calls for a construction shutdown, even after work on two major projects — a $300 million Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines headquarters building at the Port of Miami and a University of Miami UHealth Care center in North Miami — was delayed indefinitely due to uncertainty about COVID-19.
One of Miami-Dade’s leading builders, Sergio Pino, issued a public plea last Tuesday for the construction industry to shut down sites entirely and prevent an outbreak of coronavirus among their workers.
But Gimenez said during a virtual press conference later that day that construction can still be done safely. It remains on his list of “essential” businesses exempt from a countywide stay-at-home order, he said, because of “the jobs that it’s creating.”
“They’re taking our warnings very seriously,” Gimenez said, adding that Miami-Dade police have conducted hundreds of inspections to make sure workers are staying six feet apart and following county protocols. “If we see that there are problems with construction sites, we will shut them down individually.”
Miami Herald staff writers Rene Rodriguez and Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.
