Broward commissioners defer Dania Beach land‑use amendment after environmental, process concerns

The Broward County Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously deferred action on a proposed amendment that would remove roughly 3.5 acres from the county’s environmentally sensitive lands (ESL) map for a 5.23‑acre parcel in Dania Beach.

Commissioners voted to reschedule the item for the first commission meeting in January after public speakers and staff raised questions about local notice and environmental risk to wetlands and mangroves near the site.

The item would have removed about 3.5 acres from a 21‑acre ESL site (map label 136) to allow development on a 5.23‑acre parcel, Port 1850 LLC’s attorney said. Edwin J. Stacker, representing the property owner, told commissioners the Broward County Planning Council had unanimously recommended approval and that state agencies including the Department of Environmental Protection and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had returned “no comments, no issues, no concerns.”

But residents and nearby property representatives urged more local review. “Please do not set it for public hearing,” resident Brenda Lee Shallowfore said, asking commissioners to defer so the City of Dania Beach could convene and offer an official opinion. Shallowfore told the commission she lives in Dania Beach and asked for “due process” for the city and its elected officials to consider the proposal.

Attorney John Jorgensen, representing a nearby vervet monkey sanctuary operated by Dr. Misty Williams, said the sanctuary is located about a quarter mile from the proposed project and expressed concern about potential impacts. He said Dania Beach intends to discuss the matter at an upcoming meeting and supported postponing county action until the city had an opportunity to weigh in.

Planning Council staff member Barbara Blake Boyd told the commission that staff could not support the proposed amendment “due to concerns regarding sea level rise, stormwater management, and the protection of natural resources, including wetlands and mangroves,” and described a broader process issue. She said the council is preparing a text amendment to the county plan to better align the natural resource map‑series updates with licensing and permitting reviews and expects to bring that proposal to the Planning Council in December for transmittal to state review agencies in January or February.

County staff and members of the public also noted the city of Dania Beach had scheduled an agenda item to discuss the matter on Oct. 28, which several commissioners cited as a reason to delay until the county could receive the city’s input before setting a county adoption hearing.

The commission’s vote to defer was unanimous; the board recorded no individual vote tallies in the public record for the action. The item will return to the commission calendar at the first meeting in January unless the county officer schedules it earlier with additional materials.

The commission’s discussion prompted Planning Council staff to say they will pursue a procedural change that would require licensing and permitting information be provided on a regular basis to the natural resource map series process, a change staff said would reduce future conflicts between permit reviews and map amendments.