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Mayor’s Message continued

In 1989, the city and county were attempting to redevelop With this traffic limit looming, we need to have a
the beach — moving away from the heyday of college community conversation much like the one that occurred in
Spring Break that left much of the central beach blighted 1989. Where do we go from here? Are we allocating the
and decaying. The city had a vision to turn the beach into precious remaining trips as best as possible? Is it possible
something special with high-class hotels and better to pick and choose or must we accept whatever comes
amenities. They saw it as improving the beach for local first? And what happens when we reach the limit?
residents while also attracting a better mix of tourists.
We need to think of ways to improve traffic on the beach.
But officials back then were also concerned about how Are there ways to improve mass transit, perhaps with shuttles
redevelopment of that scale would affect travel on A1A. As from places like the Galleria Mall? This is where we need to
a result, they established a system of evaluating how much get creative, because I agree with many others that we
additional traffic each new development would bring, They certainly don’t want any more cars on Fort Lauderdale beach.
assigned a trip count through some algorithm based on the
It is a critical time for Fort Lauderdale, both downtown and
number of dwelling units and the type of use, be it hotel or on the beach. The decisions we make today will have a
residential. In doing so, they set a cap on the number of
lasting impact for decades to come. I’m committed to
new peak-hour trips permitted on the barrier island.
finding ways for us to grow smartly and maintain our sense
That number was a 3,220 additional “trips.” I’m not sure of community.
how they arrived at that number back then, but it was
Sincerely,
supposed to ensure A1A remained drivable. Well, 30
years later, the Florida Department of Transportation says
Dean Trantalis
A1A is a failed road even though there are still trips
Mayor, City of Fort Lauderdale
available for additional development projects However, we
are about to hit that magical limit. Once it’s reached, there
can be no more building on the beach.
There are just 334 trips left to be allocated, and projects
currently under review would take away all but 58.
Where did the trips go over the last 30 years? Beach
Place, the W, the Conrad, the Ritz Carlton, Jackson Tower,
Las Olas Beach Club, the Hilton are among the projects. In
addition, some developers are sitting on large blocks of
trips for projects that have been approved but they have
not built — like Bahia Mar and El Ad.

The question is what now?
What do we do about important public improvements such
as parking for North Beach Village at the old Natchez lot
or an upscale, expanded marina off Las Olas Boulevard?
These projects likely would generate additional traffic that
would have to be accounted for. So, if we reach the 1989
cap, we’d face some serious questions.
And despite the new hotels built and the civic
improvements undertaken, there remain spots along the
beach that are blighted, such as the Bahia Cabana
property. Again, we are about to be at the point where the
city would be prohibited from approving more
redevelopment.

12 The Landings & Bay Colony