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Mayor’s Message

Dear neighbors,

he first part of 2023 has been marked by significant progress on some major
initiatives at the city, including a new police station, new water treatment plant,
Tplans for a park at DRV PNK Stadium and upgrades to Las Olas Boulevard.
In March, the City Commission approved the construction of a new police station.
This has been in the works since voters approved a bond issue for the project
in the spring of 2019. The current police station was built 60 years ago. It has
grown out of date given the needs of modern law enforcement and is too small to
accommodate the size of the city’s current police force.
Dean Trantalis Voters understood the need when they made their decision on the bond issue.
MAYOR Shortly after the bond issue was approved, the city retained AECOM to design
City of Fort Lauderdale the new station. The police station will be three stories and will include a parking
dtrantalis@fortlauderdale.gov
garage and indoor firearms range. It will be built on the existing site with the current
building demolished at the end of construction. We have hired Moss & Associates to
undertake the work. The plan is to break ground soon and move in by late 2024.

A month before the police station decision, the commission finalized plans to build
a new water treatment plant — a decision that will be important to our residents for
generations to come. Like our police station, the existing Fiveash water treatment
plant has reached the end of its lifespan after 70 years of use. It needed extensive
upgrades, would not withstand the impact of a major hurricane and could not
provide our community with clear drinking water.
City Hall, 8th Floor The city spent the last several years researching our options of continuing to repair
100 N Andrews Ave Fiveash or pursuing new construction. We also investigated what type of treatment
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311
system would make the most sense. We landed on a public-private partnership for a
new plant as the best option to pursue.
We are harnessing the talent of world-renowned experts to build and operate a
top-of-line plant that will produce crystal clear water that exceeds current drinking
water standards. The new plant will be located next to our existing well fields at the
executive airport. The new water plant should take about 42 months to design and
build, with operations beginning in late 2026.
There has been a lot of buzz recently around the final pieces of the city agreement
with David Beckham’s Inter Miami soccer team. The agreement signed in 2019
Office Contact resulted in the construction of DRV PNK Stadium as well as the location of the team’s
Melissa Whiddon
training facilities and corporate headquarters next to our executive airport.
District 1 Commission Assistant
mwhiddon@fortlauderdale.gov It has been a real boon for Fort Lauderdale. DRV PNK has become a great spectator
954.828.5033 sports-entertainment opportunity for our citizens, attracting thousands of fans
regularly to home games and bringing international attention to our community.

Even after Inter Miami completes its permanent stadium in Miami, they will keep
their training and corporate operations here and locate their minor-league team
here. They also started a program on site to train and recruit the best young players
from throughout South Florida.

The deal came at no cost to our taxpayers. Rather, Inter Miami invested some
$165 million to build the facilities. They even went above and beyond the written
agreement. They built a second stadium to accommodate local and regional high
school athletic events and championships. They also have been faithful community

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