The Miami Beach Planning Board recently approved two proposed ordinances that would amend the city’s comprehensive plan and zoning code to ban casinos. the city commission unanimously voted for the two “future land use element” mandates stating, “All casino and gambling operations are hereby prohibited in any land use category within the city of Miami Beach.”
City officials took the action following the failure of state lawmakers to pass far-reaching gambling bills that would have approved a new gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe and also authorized commercial casinos in South Florida. Mayor Philip Levine said, “Casinos are great for cities that have a challenging future, that don’t have a real vision. But when you have a city like Miami Beach, why try to fix something that’s not broken?”
Attorney Alex Heckler, representing the Fontainebleau, opposed the proposed casino ban. He said the city had not conducted an economic impact study as required by the city charter, and added a casino ban could hurt the city, especially if Malaysian-based Genting Group ultimately is allowed to develop a $3 billion destination casino at the former Miami Herald complex it purchased in 2011 for $236 million.
Heckler told Planning Board members, “We urge you to consider the bigger picture. Consider the impact of a super-sized casino on the other side of I-395 causeway and what it would do if there was gaming on one side of the causeway and not the other side. Consider the impacts to our city’s resort tax collections.” Planning Board member Jeffrey Feldman responded, “I ask Fontainebleau and their lobbyist to take that message back to the state and fight the expansion of gaming in our county. You guys are owned by billionaires who can fight this. Stop it from coming to the Genting site. And then we can rest a little bit easier.”
Currently, gambling in Florida only is allowed at parimutuel facilities and Indian reservations. The next legislative session is scheduled to begin on January 9, 2018.
