A proposed development on an oceanfront stretch of Miami Beach is dividing neighbors and because of the large scale of the project it needs voter approval on election day in one week.
A developer has big plans for the strip of beachfront property on the northern end of Miami Beach, but some people living there are not interested.
"We shouldn't have to sacrifice north beach's future for one development," Kirk Paskal said.
Developer Sandor Scher disagrees.
"While the rest of Miami Beach has prospered and grown, North Beach has really been left behind," Scher said.
Ocean Terrace stretches two blocks, from 73rd Street to 75th Street. There are some blighted buildings and some nice ones too like the St. Tropez, where Bill Vitale lives.
"It is a great building," he said, adding, "If you look around I suppose I would have to agree that it maybe does not fit the rest of the neighborhood."
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The developer's plan is for a hotel, condominiums and shops, with one of the buildings as high as the St. Tropez.
The scale of it will be out of place, create congestion, and change the charm of this area, say some residents.
"That building was a mistake by a lot of people's standards and you know the whole neighborhood does not have to fall based on one mistake," Paskal said.
But the oceanfront strip will rise said Scher, in a variety of ways.
"Reducing traffic, creating parking and revitalizing historic hotels that have fallen into disrepair and bringing them back to their glory from 1940," Scher said.
Carol Housen also lives in the St. Tropez and is in favor of the project.
"He is going to preserve something that needs to be preserved and tear down what needs to go down and I think in life there is a balance and I don't find what they are building to be too big," she said.
Residents in Miami Beach will decide the issue. Election Day is next Tuesday, and the developer needs 50 percent plus one to move forward with his project.
