Surfside to carve out Champlain site in zoning change after push by collapse survivors
Facing pressure from former residents of the Champlain Towers South, Surfside commissioners said during a particularly heated and noisy meeting Thursday that they would back off plans to restrict what could be built on the site of the collapsed condo building.
Heading into Thursday’s meeting, the town was considering a zoning proposal that would limit the number of units that can be built on the site where the former 12-story condo tower once stood — a concept that frustrated and angered former residents and victims’ families hoping to see a windfall from a sale of the property.
“We are as a group making a special concession here,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said Thursday night. “They can rebuild back precisely what they had.”
The proposal, which would reduce the number of units per acre from 109 to 65 on all east-facing properties along Collins Avenue, is part of a town-wide overhaul of the zoning code commissioners began drafting last year. Another proposal being considered would tweak a provision in the code about how oceanfront properties are measured when calculating density, effectively reducing the size of the Champlain Towers South property from nearly 1.9 acres, as prescribed in the code, to 1.3 acres.
Though crafted prior to the June 24 collapse, the proposed zoning rewrite drew criticism in recent weeks from survivors of the collapse and the judge overseeing efforts to sell the property at 8777 Collins Ave. in order to compensate survivors and the estates of the 98 people who died in the building failure. The condo tower had 136 units.
“We are disturbed by your decision of lowering the square footage,” said Marcelo Peña, who owned a seventh-story vacation condo in the Champlain Towers South. “We want our square footage. It has been several months and nobody from this city has done anything for these survivors. We urge you to reconsider and give us what is ours.”
On Friday, the judge overseeing the class-action lawsuit filed by the victims of the building collapse said he was pleased that the town of Surfside was retreating from its plan to decrease the density of the valuable oceanfront property.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman said he was grateful to the town that it was not going to take any action that would “negatively affect the value” of the property, so that the upcoming sale could maximize compensation for victims’ losses. So far, an initial bidder has offered $120 million for the land but other bids are expected this fall. A luxury condo project is envisioned for the property.
Hanzman said his goal is to distribute proceeds from the property sale early next year.
Thursday’s dramatic zoning workshop was the first time commissioners addressed the criticism at a public meeting. The workshop was one of several organized since last year, and drew a full room of residents, many of whom survived the collapse. They applauded one another, interjected in the discussion and audibly responded to comments made by commissioners.
No vote has been scheduled on the zoning proposals.
The meeting quickly grew contentious as survivors and residents spoke out from the audience, prompting a shushing by Burkett on more than one occasion.
Judge Hanzman has led the charge urging Surfside not to rezone the property, which he said would decrease the site’s value in a planned sale to a private developer for a luxury high-rise project. Late last month, 76 residents of Champlain Towers South signed a letter sent to the commission calling the proposed rezoning “insensitive” and asking that the town allow a building of at least equal square footage to be built at the site.
“It would be morally wrong to reduce the value of the land and the possible compensation to all the survivors and victims,” the letter, dated Aug. 30, said. “The crucial zoning modification to increase the value of our land is in your hands. We, as a united group, ask that you do the right thing given these circumstances.”
Surfside’s elected leaders have said the purpose of the zoning change is to address what they see as overdevelopment in town. Some, like Burkett and Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer, said tightening the zoning code was one of their campaign promises before taking office in 2020. They say they don’t want Surfside to look like Sunny Isles Beach, where tall buildings cast shadows on the sand and create an environment they say detracts from the small-town feel of the community immediately north of Miami Beach.
During the meeting Thursday, Salzhauer said Hanzman was using the victims of the collapse as “a Trojan horse” to “crack open our code and exploit the last little bit of paradise in South Florida.”
“Ninety-eight people lost their lives. That impacts the value of the land, not the zoning code,” she said. “The end result is going to be something that does the entire town a service, that preserves Surfside. We are not going to let this tragedy undo the entire town of Surfside.”
Burkett said the proposals would not diminish the value of the land because developers could build larger, more luxurious units and sell them for more. But he said he understood how the zoning changes could be perceived as having a negative impact on the sale.
“I think on the face of it that’s what it would appear to anybody. When you go from 109 to 65 it sounds like you’re getting less but the reality is you’re just getting different,” Burkett told the Miami Herald prior to the workshop. “The size of the box, if you will, remains the same but the number of units within that box is less.”
The zoning changes emerged as a contentious issue in August, when Hanzman said he was “beyond shocked” that Surfside would consider reducing the size of the Champlain Towers South property.
The conflict has lingered, with the court-appointed receiver for the condominium association telling Hanzman at a Sept. 1 court hearing that the apparent “lack of clarity” about the zoning of the property may devalue the land because potential buyers will have to guess what they will be allowed to build there.
Burkett said Thursday that he was offended by residents who said the original zoning change proposal hurts victims of the Champlain Towers.
“That is so far from the truth it’s outrageous,” Burkett said. “It makes me want to scream.”
The town’s final decision to carve out condo property eventually drew applause, not grumbles, from the survivors who attended the meeting.
“I have lost everything. Now I am a renter. Now am I going to pay $3,500 a month plus a mortgage? We need a quick resolution,” said Susie Rodriguez, who was not in her Champlain Towers South condo at the time of the collapse and is now renting in downtown Miami. “I think we got that tonight.”
Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this story.
This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 9:40 PM.
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