SURFSIDE, FLA. (WSVN) - A battle continues to brew in Surfside over what’s being built at the site of the deadly condominium collapse, and despite the developers’ announcement that they will be changing some of the plans, families of the victims are still upset.
Families of the victims of the June 24, 2021 collapse peacefully protested outside Surfside Town Hall on Wednesday before commissioners met for a final vote on future development at the site of the tragedy and Surfside memorial.
“Is this normal? is it normal for 98 people to get killed in a place they called home and have to rally for respect?” said Martin Langesfeld, who lost his sister and brother-in-law in the collapse.
The victims’ families have been fighting for a memorial on 88th Street and have been meeting with commissioners and the developers. They have voiced their concerns about the placement of a garbage collection area and a loading dock for the new luxury condo that will be built in the same location.
“Having the trash go here, whether you’re pushing it back a few feet or not, that’s still having trash hooks exactly where our family was killed,” said Langesfeld during a meeting.
During Wednesday evening’s meeting, one commissioner made a motion to approve the plan with the following condition: to move the loading dock and sanitation area to the southwest corner if the building, closer to 87th Street, which is what the victims’ families want.
However, it has to be approved by Surfside, Miami-Dade County and the Florida Department of Transportation.
The meeting became heated at times, with Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger at one point admonishing audience members for disrupting.
“If you’re going to disrupt this meeting, I’m going to clear this room. You can all watch it from the other room, and you will come in here and speak one at a time,” he said.
The structure that is being built is expected to be a 12-story tower.
“Before you do any traffic modifications, you need to ensure that that is properly engineered and properly is consistent with a certain level of standards that is set forth that’s meant to control safety in the travel ways,” said Surfside Town Manager Hector Gomez. “The county has standards, as well as other standards.”
On Tuesday, the developer of the new tower that will go up at 8777 Collins Ave. proposed modifications to its plan, stating they are doing so because of new town guidelines.
According to the new proposal, trash collection would be relocated to the basement of the new building.
However, it appears the loading dock and service area aren’t being moved, and that doesn’t sit well with the families of the victims, who believe it’s too close to the location of the memorial.
“That’s exactly where my sister and her husband were were killed,” said Langesfeld.
Developers said they have added more restrictions, trying to limit the amount of movement onto 88th Street, including on and around the dates of the anniversary of the tragedy.
But the victims’ families say it isn’t enough, and they want the commissioners to tell the developers to redesign their plans again.
“For a developer to present his plans to FDOT, with the loading docks and the trash trucks located on Collins Avenue — like many buildings are already on Collins Avenue — why continue to inflict pain on us?” said Langesfeld.
Ninety-eight people died when the Champlain Tower South building collapsed.
“The previous commission, over one year ago, voted to make 88th Street entirely a memorial. What does this mean? Closed off for everything other than emergency vehicles,” said Langesfeld. “How is it possible that Mayor Shlomo Danzinger secretly flies to Dubai and then comes back after meeting with the developer in his house and these plans go underwater?”
At around 11 p.m. on Wednesday, the commission meeting took a brief recess following the public comment section. Commissioners had not yet voted.
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