Miami Beach considers suing state over bill to allow Fontainebleau water park
Miami Beach officials are weighing legal action against the state of Florida over legislation that lets the Fontainebleau hotel bypass a city board to build a controversial water park.
At a meeting Wednesday, city commissioners grappled with the implications of battling the state in court if and when Gov. Ron DeSantis signs HB 399 into law.
Multiple options remain in play.
The City Commission voted to have City Attorney Ricardo Dopico explore the merits of a lawsuit. If he believes one is warranted, he would then bring it to Mayor Steven Meiner, who would either make a decision himself on whether the city should sue or call an emergency commission meeting within 24 hours to discuss it further.
“I am disappointed that our zoning laws were preempted,” Meiner said during Wednesday’s meeting. “We should be making the decisions, and it’s increasingly being taken out of our hands.”
At the same time, city officials will move forward with a new attempt to bring the Fontainebleau to the table — even after the state representative who filed the bill acknowledged that he had worked directly with a lobbyist for the hotel on an amendment to allow it to circumvent the city’s Historic Preservation Board.
The commission voted to have Meiner, along with the city attorney, city manager and representatives of the Mid Beach Neighborhood Association, negotiate with the Fontainebleau over the details of the project, which involves adding water slides and cabanas to the iconic hotel’s pool deck.
Fontainebleau lobbyist Ralph Andrade said Jeffrey Soffer, the hotel’s billionaire owner, would be open to such a discussion — though Andrade said he was hesitant to call it a “negotiation.”
“They are willing to meet with the city, meet with the community, engage, and try and come up with a solution,” Andrade said.
The state legislation was formally presented to DeSantis on Wednesday. If he signs it into law by April 2, it will take effect immediately. The Miami Beach City Commission voted Wednesday to urge the governor to veto it.
Commissioner Alex Fernandez, who proposed authorizing a lawsuit, told the Miami Herald after Wednesday’s meeting that city officials are “standing firmly with our residents and remain open to resolving this in good faith.”
“My resolution preserves our legal options if necessary, while making clear that any solution must protect our residents’ voice in the process,” Fernandez said. “I hope the Fontainebleau will act in good faith by dropping the preemption and accepting the seat being offered at the table.”
READ MORE: Florida lawmakers clear path for Fontainebleau water park despite opposition
Officials didn’t discuss the city’s potential grounds for a lawsuit. Commissioners said repeatedly during Wednesday’s meeting that the city attorney could pursue alternative legal options short of filing a lawsuit, though they wouldn’t say what those might be, citing concerns about revealing strategy.
At one point, Commissioner David Suarez said that, based on a phone call he had with the city attorney the night before, it appeared that the chances of the city filing suit were “probably not good.”
Without the state’s intervention, the Fontainebleau water slide project would have required Miami Beach’s Historic Preservation Board to approve several variances from city zoning rules, given the hotel’s historic status. The project did not need approval by the full City Commission.
Still, the hotel faced an uphill battle amid an uproar from neighborhood residents, who cited concerns about traffic, noise and preservation of the hotel’s historic character.
The amendment to HB 399 allowed up to 20% of the area of any “large destination resort” to be redeveloped without a vote by a local board, only requiring administrative approval by the city.
The bill passed Friday, the final day of the legislative session. Hotly contested language regarding Miami-Dade County’s urban development boundary was removed, but a proposal to strip the language benefitting the Fontainebleau narrowly failed.
Florida Senate President Ben Albritton told reporters after the session concluded that DeSantis had “input” on the final version of the bill, though he declined to elaborate. Soffer, the Fontainebleau owner, has made substantial political donations to DeSantis in the past.
During their discussion Wednesday, Miami Beach commissioners noted that any lawsuit against the state could possibly be met with retaliation from the governor. The city has millions of dollars in appropriations in the state budget that “could potentially be cut,” said Suarez.
As part of their conversation on next steps, commissioners asked the city’s lobbyist in Tallahassee to inform the governor’s office that they are trying to reach an agreement with the Fontainebleau.
The message to Tallahassee, Suarez said, should be that “we’re trying our best to come to a compromise.”
