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Commissioner’s Message

City of Fort Lauderdale • District IV

hope you are having a great summer. As you know, on July 17, a private
contractor doing construction near Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport damaged a
I42-inch water main that supplies raw water from the City's wellfields to the Fiveash
Water Treatment Plant, which is the primary supplier of water to the City. To repair the
line, the water supply from the wellfields was shut off while repairs were undertaken.
Unfortunately, the redundant system was not operating effectively. We have repaired
both the primary and the redundant system. Furthermore we continue to invest
significantly in upgrading our infrastructure and working to ensure that our redundant
system are always working so we do not face this again. This only underscores the
urgent need to focus on our infrastructure and we are doing just that.

Lockhart and Fort Lauderdale Stadiums
After six months of work, The City Commission unanimously selected Inter Miami’s
proposal as the preferred and first ranked proposal, thereby authorizing the City to
commence negotiations for a Comprehensive Agreement with Inter Miami,
encompassing therein the development, improvement, design, construction, and
Dr. Ben Sorensen occupation of the property. Under the terms of the 50-year agreement, Inter Miami will
Vice Mayor
District IV Commissioner fund the Lockhart renovation project, at a cost estimated at $60 million, and will
operate and maintain the site while the city retains ownership of the property. Beckham
will build a parking garage, and 30,000-square foot training center with gym,
classrooms, dining facilities, medical and rehab space for his professional and farm
teams. For the public, four regulation size soccer fields that can be used for other sports
will be built, as well as a dog park, a running trail, field maintenance building,
playground and public park space.

Las Olas Marina- Beach Development
On July 9th, the City Commission approved the development located on the Intercoastal
Waterway at 151 Las Olas Circle. Some of the substantial number of the Las Olas
Marina project are: The new extensive landscaping along the promenade will include
192 new trees and approximately 6,400 new shrubs and other plantings. The
promenade will complete the Las Olas Circle connection from south of the Las Olas
bridge to the north of the Las Olas Bridge, providing a significantly improved
continuous pedestrian connection along the Intracoastal Waterway. Besides, 68 boat
slips, spanning up to 7,000 linear feet of dock space to accommodate both mega-
yachts and smaller vessels. Also, 24,401 square feet of marina services building,
including a 2,543 square foot casual restaurant, a 1,499 square foot ship store, a
1,100 square foot dock master’s office, a 3,349 square foot boat broker’s office,
9,065 square feet of office space for the marine industry, and a 6,845 square foot
captain’s lounge. Overall, the Las Olas Marina project will not only help modernize our
City but it will also accelerate our local economy by creating new jobs and promoting
tourism and marine industries.
City of Fort Lauderdale’s Proposed Budget
for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020.
The FY 2020 total proposed operating budget for all funds is $830,774,017 including
balances and transfers. This is approximately $45.8 million more than the FY 2019
Adopted Budget of $785,015,992 or a 5.8% increase.

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