Seas Rising, Sewers Collapsing, & Ft. Lauderdale Has Approved 22K Hotel/Residential Units Since 2012

In one of the toniest parts of town, millions of gallons of toxic sewage escaping from a broken sewer main spilled into a nearby river for nine days straight. Two days after it was fixed, the same pipe opened again just a block north. As the sewage spewed by the barrel, fouling yards and the air and driving people from their homes in the Rio Vista neighborhood, Fort Lauderdale commissioners signed off on yet another new hotel.

Though the city’s sewer pipes are bursting around them, Fort Lauderdale’s city leaders continue to approve major developments, putting ever-more pressure on a sewer system at the breaking point after years of neglect. Some residents have urged city leaders to “take a pause” and let the city’s water and sewer system catch up to the building boom. “We don’t want what happened to Rio Vista to happen to us,” said Rosie Kurlander, a beach resident who urged commissioners to vote against the hotel. “The pipes are old and failing. They’ve had pipes break down all over the city. I think we’re in a crisis situation..... I really feel like we’re on the cliff here.”

The 12-story hotel on the beach, approved late Tuesday in a 4-1 vote, would have relied on a decrepit clay sewer pipe in use since the 1960s. But after last-minute negotiations, the developer agreed to pay an estimated $55,000 to replace a 200-foot section of pipe that lies beneath the property, just south of Las Olas Boulevard near A1A.

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In recent years, Fort Lauderdale officials have come under fire for continuing to approve high-rise towers on the beach and downtown while sea levels rise and sewer pipes collapse. Since 2012, Fort Lauderdale has added or approved nearly 22,000 hotel and residential units downtown, according to an October update from the city’s Urban Design and Planning Division. On the beach, the city has added or approved more than 4,800 residential and hotel units since 1998. In their zeal to spur development downtown and on the beach, the city eased rules at least a decade ago to allow many developments in these areas to proceed without a vote of the city commission. City staff can sign off on them unless the developer is seeking a rezoning or waiver of the rules.

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https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-ne-hotel-sewage-fallout-fort-lauderdale-20191220-7zl2zdfwibhg7ickftrwnxhhrq-story.html