Currently: Pennell Marine

Exploitative overdevelopment is when developers and the city work a deal to change the zoning for the benefit of developers, not the current residents. They have perfected this task that relies on having as little community participation as possible. 

Wildlife lives here that’s going to be chased out. How would 600+ more cars in and out every day affect the peaceful living and property values of the homeowners nearby? How do residents feel about existing gridlock being compounded by 10 times the existing density? 

Vista Clara is yet another exploitative overdevelopment project in Deerfield Beach that was snuck inside a community right past the neighbors. It all starts with the red flag of a rezoning request! 

Four years after this article came out, they haven’t broken ground yet, and the neighbors have been kept in the dark about this project and it’s potential significant hazards to pedestrian and traffic safety, and destruction of home value, and gridlock between and MLK Blvd. and Federal Highway, along NE 2nd St.

Vista Clara has 326 units & will be at Pennell Marine on North River Drive, bordering homes on NE 1 St Ave & NE 5 St., just west of Dixie, north of NE 2 Street. A traffic study shows Vista Clara will generate 1,775 trips a day. 

This huge apartment complex inside of a small, closed in neighborhood with very limited access, somehow received approval from the City of Deerfield Beach, despite the obvious conflicts of interest, hazards to pedestrian safety, hazards to traffic safety, and dramatic escalation of current, existing gridlock, particularly in and NE 2nd St and around Deerfield Beach elementary. Get down from there.

This could add more than 600 cars to that cul-de-sac if each apartment had less than two cars.

There will be more than enough cars in that complex to line up all the way from Vista Clara to the new Chick-fil-A on US1 & NE 2nd St and back again.

We are the unified residents in District One and District Two in Deerfield Beach, Florida, fighting Chicago Developer "Centrum Realty and Development" (aka CRD Federal, http://centrumrd.com/about, owned by the Slavin Family, http://centrumrd.com/contact).

Both close-knit communities are suffering from Centrum’s attempts to destroy our historic, 100-year-old neighborhoods with their Vista Clara and Axis Project apartment housing tracts. Our fine city officials voted in their favor, and rejected the residents' pleas. The residents are now collectively suing the City of Deerfield Beach for that decision. [Donate Here: https://gofund.me/acf251e7].

We're represented by the legendary attorney Robert Sweetapple: https://www.sweetapplebroeker.com

The developers are represented by Dennis Mele of Greenspoon Marder: https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/dennis-mele-a-one-man-environmental-scourge-6465004

You don’t find South Florida communities like ours often. Our ancestors grew up together as neighbors, and they're still neighbors in the cemetery here. Deerfield Beach is unique that way and when you get pissed off at these decisions and move away, you can’t ever be part of that type of multi-generational community again. When you get to be part of it, it’s very special. We care and we’re not going anywhere, and we are definitely not done here.

Allowing rezoning here for the AXIS Project would cause a pivotal change, setting a precedent and forever changing the face of Deerfield Beach along Federal Highway. Now is our only opportunity; if we give up, the AXIS Project would be the first of many apartment rows that completely cut out local business and realtors- they do their own in-office ads and renting, like at a dorm, all up and down Federal Highway.

This legal battle to reverse that by having certain commissioners' votes disqualified is our only chance to stop it.

The rezoning is intended by the City to accommodate to the AXIS Project, a massive development that threatens our neighborhood’s safety and well-being. It introduces significant risks, including dangerous traffic on a 45mph road with a single gated entry, and delivery access directly across from a new Chick-fil-A entrance. 

The project also increases density and building size five-fold, which benefits the Chicago Slavin Family's business, Centrum Realty and Development, but harms our community. We need your support to reverse this decision and protect Deerfield Beach.

Contributing to our GoFundMe helps pay for our legal fight and shows the judges that the community stands united against this over-development. Every donation counts, even a dollar. Please spread the word on social media and via email.

Help save Deerfield Beach from becoming another overdeveloped area like New Boca and New Pompano!

[Donate Here: https://gofund.me/acf251e7]

Commissioner Parness had a legitimate question when he asked the people in attendance at the 11/6/24  commission meeting, “Who bothered to even attend the Broward County Land Use Amendment meetings?” It’s a very fair question. There are two reasons nobody in the audience raised a hand.

Broward County COVID-19 lockdowns began March 19, 2020 when the county issued a stay-at-home order shortly after Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in Florida on March 13, 2020. Travel outside the home was prohibited.

1. Nobody attended because nobody knew about it. We weren't notified, and no one saw a single sign. 
2. Even if people had known about it, attendance by the public was prohibited, not just by the state, but also by the county.

At some point in mid 2021, a developer stapled this paper to an invitation to help plan their new apartment building and mailed it to residents. 

That is how everyone learned about the zoning change.

FDOT traffic studies occurred during Covid lockdown too.

Let’s not forget that there is video of the developers’ attorney confirming the fact that this Broward County Land Use Change did not consider Chick-fil-A when determining approval. Deerfield Beach deerfield beach overdevelopment and rezoning traffic pedestrian safety risk reduction danger