Marina Lofts Wins Approval; Rain Tree Will Be Moved - Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach - News - The Daily Pulp

This project consists of 960 apartment units and will have three TOWERS. One will be 33 stories and two will be 28 stories high. It will also require the removal of a 100+ year old rain tree. Click title for link to the New Times article which summarizes last night's Ft. Lauderdale City Commission meeting. Click here for an earlier article from New Times citing reasons that the project shouldn't be approved. Be sure to check out the architecture of the buildings.

Now, we had to listen again, at last night's City Commission meeting, how Lake Worth decided to be a "lo-rise" city in the election held in March. I'll have more comment about that when I post the video of that portion of the meeting. But since when was it decided, and by whom, that a four story building is a "lo-rise" building and that having a portion of a building with six stories is considered "high rise?" To use a favorite term of Commissioner McVoy, it is "disingenuous" to suggest that a six story building is somehow a "high rise" when the frame of reference for "high rise" buildings here are found in the downtowns of West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. This is the image residents have when they hear the words "high-rise" - they don't think of a six story building. This is why the vote and the "yes" campaign for the height limitation was misleading and confusing to voters. 

And there is no good place to address this, so I will do it here. There is also a blogger who insists that there was agreement at a meeting January 26, 2012 about 45 feet in height east of Federal, along Lake and Lucerne between the Planning and Zoning, Historic Resource Preservation Board and the City Commission. The meeting being referred to is known as the "Tri-Meeting." The meeting was a work session and no vote was taken. There was talk of consensus on many items during what turned out to be a long meeting. And, guess what? As reported in a previous post, there was no audio record of the meeting so no one can verify what actually happened. I do not remember coming to consensus on this issue and I know that the Historic Resource Preservation Board always recommended that the maximum height be 65 feet east of Federal as it was consistent with the historical pattern of development in that area.

And lets not let the matter of our Champion Tree go wanting for comment given the 100+ year old rain tree that is being moved as part of this Ft. Lauderdale project. As late as this Monday, I confirmed that the issue with the property owner and the city over the disposition of the Champion Tree has yet to be resolved and that the city's "legal eagles" are trying to find a way out of the morass. I'll let you know more as I find additional information.