FORT LAUDERDALE — Basketball courts on Fort Lauderdale Beach have been a hot topic for months.

They are set to be replaced by pickleball courts as part of an over $3 billion Bahia Mar redevelopment plan. Developers said it is a partial selling point for luxury residences across the street, as CBS News Miami previously reported.

Residents call plan gentrification of beach

"We just feel it's a gentrification of the whole beach of this area," said Leo Lorenz.

Lorenz has led the fight to save the courts. He wants them to stay exactly where they are and launched a petition with more than 8,000 signatures. The group has claimed that moving the courts feels racially motivated, but city officials and developers said that is not the case.

"It's what these courts here represent, they've been he

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