A chorus of angry critics packed a town hall meeting Tuesday night to tell Fort Lauderdale officials what they think of a plan to remake Galleria mall into a site with nine buildings, all 30 stories high.

Bottom line: They don’t like it. Some hate it. And most want the city to stop it.

But under the Live Local Act, a new state law that aims to boost affordable housing throughout Florida, the city will have little ability to do so. The rules of the game have changed. The law now allows developers to bypass the normally required public hearings and zoning approvals as long as at least 40% of the residential units qualify as workforce housing.

Under current plans , the developer plans to build 3,144 rental apartments on the 31.5-acre site. Of those, 1,273 apartments would be reserved for

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