Mega-mall on the way with no solutions for Broward traffic

A mega-mall has been in planning for more than two years and still offers no solution to the traffic that could clog Broward’s roads.

Frustrated and concerned, Broward County officials have hired a traffic expert to see whether the developers underestimated the number of cars that would stream onto Broward’s roadways if American Dream Miami mega-mall is approved early next year.

The mall, which would be one of North America’s largest theme park malls, is planned just two miles south of the Broward County line.

Broward County’s requests for help from the developers have been largely rejected over the 2½ years in a series of letters and meetings between Broward and MiamiDade officials and the development team. The gigantic mall, one of the largest development projects in South Florida history, is inching toward approvals in Miami-Dade County, along with an adjacent Graham Companies project with thousands of homes and commercial space.

The vacant acreage where they would rise is in an unincorporated pocket of northwest Miami-Dade County, just south of Broward’s city of Miramar.

Broward officials recently hinted they’d take their plea to court, if a traffic expert they hired finds that Broward’s roadways would be overburdened by traffic from the developments.

“Broward County staff are disappointed with the response,” Broward Planning and Development Management Director Josie Sesodia wrote in a recent letter to Miami-Dade County. “We do not agree that a land use change of this magnitude, so close to the county line, will not generate new traffic impacts in Broward County.”

She warned that the county could “exercise appropriate legal remedies” to make sure the traffic is taken care of.

An expected 70,308 cars would hit the roadways to and from the proposed American Dream Miami

mall, the developer’s traffic analysis found. A combination theme park-water parkshopping mall, with an indoor ski slope and submarine rides, American Dream is expected to attract 30 million visitors a year.

Broward officials say businesses and property owners in southwest Broward will have more traffic on already overcrowded roads, and Broward taxpayers will be stuck with the bill to expand roadways and modernize traffic signals because of it.

Broward County asked that the developer pay to complete the Miramar Parkway link from Southwest 184th Avenue to U.S. 27. A major east-west throughfare, Miramar Parkway ends at 184th Avenue, a bit west of Interstate 75. Plans call for it to be extended to marry up with Pembroke Road to its north. Pembroke Road then would be extended west to connect to U.S. 27.

If the roads connected to U.S. 27, a major north-south route, drivers could use U.S. 27 as an alternate route between the counties, Broward officials said, arguing that Florida Turnpike’s Homestead extension will be clogged with traffic from American Dream.

Broward also sought $1.1 million from the developer for a fiber optic communications network to improve traffic signal timing at nine intersections on Miramar Parkway from Southwest 143rd Avenue to Southwest 184th Avenue. Broward also wanted mass transit facilities specifically for its bus connections.

“The two things we focused on are traffic and transit,” Sesodia said. “I think it’s very important to recognize that American Dream would likely attract employees from south Miramar and other parts of south Broward, and how those folks would get to work would be very important.”

Miami-Dade is requiring mass transit and roadway improvements, including signals, additional lanes and turnpike interchange work, all within the county borders.

Developer’s attorney Joseph Goldstein declined to comment on Broward’s requests for help handling traffic. He said he’s setting up a meeting between Broward officials and Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, attorney for International Atlantic, developer of the mall. International Atlantic is an affiliate of Triple Five, owner of some of America’s largest malls.

The developer will be required to designate “at least three” bus bays for Broward at the mega-mall’s transit hub, Miami-Dade assistant planning Director Jerry Bell said.

But no roadwork in Broward has been justified by the expected traffic, Bell wrote to Sesodia. The development team also “respectfully disagree[s] with Broward County’s assertion that these improvements are necessary or appropriate,” Goldstein wrote in his Nov. 13 letter to Sesodia.

Bell said the plans are still under negotiation. No final hearing date has been set. Goldstein said he expects a vote in early 2018. The timeline calls for a vote by March 12, unless Miami-Dade County obtains an extension from the state.

The developers need Miami-Dade’s permission to change the allowable uses of the land.

The American Dream Miami would rise on 174 acres between Florida’s Turnpike Homestead extension and Interstate 75 south. The developer proposes building up to 3.5 million square feet of retail space, 1.5 million square feet of entertainment space, up to 2,000 hotel rooms and 1.2 million square feet in “back of the house” non-public square footage.

Starting at 180th Street, the Graham Companies’ 340 acres run between the same two highways, to a southern boundary that lines up with 170th Street. The proposal is for up to 3 million square feet of business, 1 million square feet of commercial/retail and 2,000 rental apartments.