“It’s a disaster”: First Live Local Act proposal in Surfside riles up small coastal town

A proposal for Surfside’s first Live Local Act project with an 11-story building in an area capped at four floors has riled the coastal municipality.

Two developers want to build Ocean Walk Residences & Hotel with 33 residential and hotel units on the 0.3-acre site at 250 95th Street, according to an application filed in November. The applicants are an affiliate of the site owner, New York-based Postal Realty Trust led by Andrew Spodek, and an entity called Ocean Walk Surfside LLC, registered to an attorney in downtown Miami.

The site, now home to an 8,000-square-foot post office, is on the west side of Collins Avenue.

Designed by Plus architecture firm, the building would consist of 13 four-bedroom units, seven efficiencies, two one-bedroom units and 11 hotel rooms. It will have a rooftop deck.

“I think it’s a disaster,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said of the Live Local Act. “I think the Florida politicians that decided to destroy the fabric and composition of small towns by this developer-driven initiative is outrageous.”

Under the Live Local Act, developers can build bigger projects than a site’s zoning permits if they designate 40 percent of units for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income. The below-market units have to be for rent and remain income-restricted for at least 30 years. Developers also can bypass public hearings to obtain approvals administratively.

The proposal doesn’t specify how many units would be affordable.

Across South Florida, developers have seized on the law with a flurry of projects, but proposals for some small coastal Miami-Dade towns have touched off a firestorm.

In barrier islands such as Surfside, Bay Harbor Islands and Bal Harbour, “the Live Local Act does not give enough weight to the traffic impacts,” said Surfside resident Michael Karukin. “It also does not give enough weight to what many comprehensive plans refer to as capacity in infrastructure.”

Aside from concerns over additional strain on already congested roads, Ocean Walk opponents cited potential issues with crowded schools, and an erosion of the town’s right to determine its own growth and development fate and preserve its small-town feel.

“It takes me about 15 minutes to go 1 mile,” said Surfside resident Robert Lisman. “Surfside was designed to be a small family town, not like Sunny Isles Beach or Miami Beach.”

Also a thorn for opponents: The developers propose underground parking, which the town banned in 2024, except for sites on the east side of Collins Avenue, according to the developers’ letter of intent. But in the letter, they invoke Senate Bill 180, state law passed last year that prohibited local governments from enacting “more burdensome” development regulations. The law was passed in the aftermath of several hurricanes as a way to remove roadblocks to reconstruction efforts.

Surfside’s underground parking prohibition “directly impedes the redevelopment of the property,” the developers’ attorney, Graham Penn, wrote in the letter. The ordinance “is therefore unenforceable and the applicant will be employing underground parking in the development.”

Opponents argue that Live Local only applies for sites zoned as commercial, industrial and mixed-use. The Ocean Walk development site’s zoning doesn’t fit under the state law, said Karukin, a former Surfside commissioner. Because of this, the proposal “should be rejected outright,” he added.

Penn, Postal Realty and Oren Lieber, the attorney listed as manager of Ocean Walk Surfside, didn’t respond to requests for comment. It’s unknown whether Postal Realty will partner on the project or sell the site to Ocean Walk Surfside.

Fabián Basabe, a state representative whose district includes much of coastal Miami-Dade, argued that Live Local isn’t a “rubber stamp” for projects. The law and Senate Bill 180 are meant to address the need for affordable housing, “while intentionally preserving local authority” and giving cities “meaningful tools” to review and implement projects.

Town staff members are working on the initial review of the application and will then proceed to more technical reviews, Mario Diaz, acting town manager said in a statement.

As for the developers’ invocation of Senate Bill 180 regarding the underground parking ban, “the town views these positions as legal arguments” and not “settled conclusions,” Diaz said.

In Bal Harbour, Surfside’s neighbor to the north, Whitman Family Development’s proposal for a Live Local Act project at its luxury Bal Harbour Shops led to an uproar. The project would add 275-foot buildings with 600 units, a 70-key hotel and 46,000 square feet of retail. Bal Harbour and Whitman have been locked in litigation over the project.

While opponents to Live Local projects tend to agree with its concept to incentivize development of below-market rentals, they take issue with its broad inclusion of all localities across the state, regardless of their own quirks.

“It would be like putting up a 50-story affordable housing building on Fisher Island,” Burkett said, referring to the exclusive residential island. “Would that be a good idea, too?”

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