Palm Beach City Council approves draft comprehensive plan

With approval from the Palm Beach City Council, everything is ready for a final review in November, before being sent to the state for review.

Palm Beach is nearing the end of the comprehensive plan drafting process, after the City Council approved a handful of changes to the most recent draft at its Oct. 15 meeting.

The Council’s 5-1 vote, which Julie Araskog opposed, clears the way for the document to be finalized during its Nov. 13 review in its capacity as a local planning agency and development review committee of the city. Once approved, the state will review the plan for 60 days. The council will vote on it one final time after state approval.

The city’s approval came after a heated two-hour discussion, during which some council members opposed removing policies that have remained unchanged for decades, including a 23-year-old policy that limits coverage for batches of commercial and public projects at 75%. and 40%, respectively.

Although the policy has been in the comprehensive plan since 2003, city planner Jennifer Hofmeister-Drew said the city has rarely followed it.

This created a system in which the city unknowingly allowed businesses to violate the plan for years, as it was common practice to allow developers to build beyond lot coverage limits by requesting a variance from the plan. zoning code.

The developers should have “made a change in the text of the compensation plan,” Hofmeister-Drew said.

To address this issue, city staff recommended removing the policy from the draft plan while retaining the boundaries in its zoning code. This way, the city could continue to practice its current process without violating its plan.

“We cannot treat every lot the same because some lots are of lower quality due to the very nature of the time when the city was developed over 100 years ago,” she said. declared.

Araskog said she wasn’t comfortable abandoning a policy that has been in place since 2003. She also argued the boundaries could serve to protect the city when revising its zoning code.

Yet none of her colleagues agreed with her, no matter how much she valued her 23 years of adherence to the plan.

His opposition to its removal fueled his vote against approving the project.

‘The square footage thresholds of the municipal services statute will be reintroduced in the final version

Tuesday’s discussion also saw the reinstatement of the long-standing “municipal service” threshold for large businesses in the governing documents, upon the recommendations of city staff.

At the Sept. 11 council meeting, city staff proposed removing from the plan the square footage thresholds that determine which businesses must prove they “serve the city.” They argued that by addressing the thresholds through the zoning code, the city would have greater flexibility to set specific square footage limits based on each neighborhood and business type.

Still, during the Oct. 15 review, some council members expressed support for maintaining the current plan’s threshold requiring businesses larger than 3,000 square feet in most zoning districts and larger than 4,000 square feet squares in the Worth Avenue district, thereby demonstrating that they “serve the city.” “.

“I have heartburn about changing things that have been on the books forever,” said President Bobbie Lindsay.

Araskog said the thresholds “absolutely need to be there” and argued they would provide critical protection while the city undergoes review of its zoning code.

However, support was not unanimous, as members Lew Crampton and Bridget Moran favored city staff’s 9/11 recommendation.

“The point is we don’t need to decide thresholds now, go through the regulatory process and see what really fits,” Crampton said.

Even if it was a mistake, Crampton said, he would still vote in favor of the plan.

Council members debate level of service in transportation section of plan

Mandated under the state’s Community Planning Act, a new comprehensive plan is required every seven years to ensure local government is in compliance with state law.

The plan includes 12 areas of intervention:

Future land use
Transportation
Accommodation
Historic preservation
Public safety
Infrastructure
Leisure and open space
Coastal management.
Conservation.
Property rights.
Capital improvements.
Intergovernmental organization.

Each element has its own goals, objectives and policies which, after ratification, will serve as the basis for future regulations and legislative decisions.

Another policy that sparked debate at the Oct. 15 meeting was the level of service standards for the city road.

Under Florida law, a municipality cannot deny development because of its impact on traffic, Hofmeister-Drew said. However, if a development project is anticipated to lower a road’s service level below the plan’s standard service level, then developers must “contribute” to a public-private traffic mitigation effort. , she said.

This could take the form of an investment fund that a company contributes to, Hofmeister-Drew said.

However, these do not currently exist. Planning, Zoning and Building Director Wayne Bergman said his department and Public Works will compile a list of transportation projects that a potential developer could contribute to.

Araskog said the plan should not set a service level lower than a “D” grade.

“I’d rather see D, which really helps us figure out how to get to a (LOS)D, but again…we can force them, under state law, to give us money to mitigate (traffic),” Araskog said.

While city staff did not disagree with Araskog’s assessment, they noted that the city has not implemented these capital projects.

During public comment, planning attorney James Crowley warned the council that changing the level of service does not alleviate the road’s current deficiencies. Additionally, the state has established strict guidelines regarding the project cost-sharing process.

“You look at rush hour travel” and its impact on traffic, “and you only pay that percentage,” he said.

Crowley warned that if the city sets a high standard of service, it could end up excluding small, local businesses considering a place in Palm Beach.

“You exclude people who are more moms and dads. National developers can afford to have someone like me negotiate a project-sharing agreement, he said.

Bergman suggested that the level of service standards reflect current conditions. That would mean giving a handful of city roads a grade of E or F, the two lowest grades.

This sparked reactions from both Araskog and Moran. They argued that the city should not establish an “F” level of service, even though that is the reality.

“I don’t want to say my goal is F,” Moran said.

Hofmeister-Drew noted that the low rating would not remain the norm, as the plan also contains a policy requiring the city to improve the level of service on “F”-rated roads.

Additionally, the city will be able to review and modify the plan’s standards once staff develops a capital fund for traffic mitigation and traffic improvement projects, Bergman said.

Council agreed, although it chose to reword the policy to require the city to improve the level of service of a road if it is rated “E” or “F.”

Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at Palm Beach Daily Newswhich is part of the USA TODAY Florida network. You can reach him at [email protected].

With approval from the Palm Beach City Council, everything is ready for a final review in November, before being sent to the state for review.

‘The square footage thresholds of the municipal services statute will be reintroduced in the final version

Council members debate level of service in transportation section of plan

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