Lake Worth Beach City Limits: 2007-11-25

Monday, December 3, 2007

College Park Holiday Home Tour 12/8

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Upcoming Commission Meeting - 12/04/07

There are some interesting items coming up on next Tuesday City Commission agenda. I will be attending the Lake Worth Democratic Club Holiday Gala at the Lake Worth Golf Course and the time conflict will prevent me from attending. If you happen to go, there are some issues to keep in mind. I put clouds around the items in the agenda that I have singled out for special mention.

The first one is a presentation from Sun Recycling on their activity at the land fill. This is an issue where the company had asked for permission to stage some debris there after hurricanes and the like. It was thought to be only on an emergency basis, but apparently more activity has been going on there. I am sure the Commission will have many questions, or at least they should.

Another item is one that appears on the consent agenda. This one would almost double the deposit required to open an account and begin utility service. The back-up material says that an adjustment hasn't been made in 21 years. Late fees would also increase and be based upon 1.5% of the outstanding balance. It is a pretty exhaustive series of changes and I don't think it should be on the consent agenda. What is disappointing is that if the item is not pulled, then public comment is not possible and then the Commission goes ahead - making an important decision(s) without the benefit of the public. This has to be changed!

I am sure one item that will get a lot of undeserved attention will be the amendment to the Development Agreement with Greater Bay Group, LLC to accommodate changes in the scheduling and work program for the pool refurbishment. I might have time to do more analysis on the item and make a separate post prior to the meeting, but from what I have seen the changes are fairly perfunctory.

Also, in the nothing new category, for the third time the density allowed by the Gateway Zoning District will be up before the Commission. The Planning Board has recommended no less than three times that the maximum density be 30 units to an acre and the Community Redevelopment Agency concurs with that recommendation. The entire zoning district is designed to discourage the use of cars and be pedestrian /transit friendly. It is what the Mayor of Vancouver, B.C. terms "eco-density". Instead of the density of the zoning district being in question, it has ended up being a density issue on the Commission - if you know what I mean. This change will allow up to 30 units an acre for affordable housing and provide more of an economic stimulus for the redevelopment of the corridor. Or, we can choose the status quo and think we are doing the world a big favor - which we wouldn't be.

And, finally and coincidently, there is another item on the agenda that relates to parking and allowable redevelopment in the downtown area. That is the change of the parking space fee to those who are not providing parking on their property (a good thing) to one half of what the City is charging now. I was on the committee that is described in the letter as working on the issue back in 2004 (seems longer ago than that). Then Commissioner Egly is the one that put forward the motion to increase the fee $5,000 per space higher than the Committee, or the CRA or the Planning Board's recommendation. It has been pegged at $15,000 per space since then. If anyone wants to move into a vacant storefront, they can do so without paying the fee, as long as their required parking is not 10% higher than what was there before. If it is higher, they need to pay the $15,000 per space they are not providing.

There are a couple of concerns here that merit discussion. The City does need to create a sizable parking fund for future parking facilities in the downtown. The thought is that the current $15,000 fee is a disincentive for anyone wanting to intensify the existing uses downtown. There have already been some businesses (Rotelli's, for example) that have paid the full fee. Is it fair to them now that they are in to lower the fee? Do they deserve a rebate? By decreasing the fee, we are making it easier to intensify existing uses in the downtown - is that something we want to do? We need to discuss this. I personally worry that the former Lake Theater (most recently the contemporary art museum) would be vulnerable to conversion to a nightclub, or similar use. Is the current fee an obstacle to that? If so, we should probably continue it or have two categories of fees - one that would encourage businesses we do want in the downtown and one for businesses we want to discourage.

I happened to be downtown last night around 8:30 p.m. and had to drive around a lot to find a space (about 15 minutes). There was the valet parking stand on South J Street - I understand they are using public spaces. Didn't they work out an arrangement with the First Baptist Church for parking? I will put together an e-mail to the Mayor and Commissioners about my concerns since I can't attend.

The back-up on the parking item appears below. Remember to click the image for more detail.

Some Holiday Cheer...

Singer is Don Mclean - famous for "American Pie".

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Milestones this Week: Personal and Otherwise

It was a busy week on many fronts for me and some significant happenings on the part of the City as well. Here is a quick summary of the happenings:

I'll be starting Karaoke at Club A. J.'s on South J. Street (east side, behind L'Anjou) next Wednesday night from 9 p.m. until 12 a.m. The deal was sealed this week. And NEWSFLASH - I will no longer be at the Mad Hatter doing Karaoke. Come by and see me at Club A.J.s - we will have a lot of fun!
Monday night I was the guest of Drew Martin on the Martin Hour. This was streamed from the newly re-vamped Lake Worth Talk.com studios. (Great work Jim!) We talked/debated the positives and negatives of the Hometown Democracy initiative. I hope you had a chance to hear it. From the reviews I have heard, people thought it was informative and thought that it was great that a civil discussion could take place on the topic.
I registered on the Lake Worth Media discussion board and will be posting under the name "TruthMatters", when and if the urge comes over me.
Last night, I ended up visiting TooJay's for a sandwich and bumped into NOW (National Organization for Women) member Justine Postal. She is the one that did the endorsement interviews for the last election cycle. It was good to see her again. Then, at the next booth, Trip Cioci and Jennifer Marcel were both enjoying dinner. Both are very active in the Lake Osborne neighborhood.
We found out that the City has $4 million parked in a fund that has been temporarily shut down by the State of Florida. It seems that some government agencies have used the fund as an interest bearing account to store funds before they are utilized. Some agencies became concerned about the quality of the fund since it consists mainly of mortgage-backed securities. Some rather large units of government were closing out their accounts, thus prompting the hold being placed on the fund. One can only hope that the 10% of the City's total budget is safe and will remain whole!
Finally, through reports in the local press, it seems that County Commissioner Mary McCarty "went off" on Lake Worth. Her outburst revolved around the negotiations between the City and the County taking over our Fire Department and the increased cost that it would mean for the County (even though no one knows the final figures). She actually said something to the effect of "Let Lake Worth burn." - which prompted a response from Mayor Clemens, essentially asking for an apology. In his e-mail to Mary McMarty, he referred to "my city and my citizens". Jeff, you're a great guy, but I do not consider myself one of "your" citizens - fellow citizen, yes. Let's try to assert the city's goals and objectives here and not make this some sort of a personal confrontation between elected officials.