Winston Churchill - "There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion."

This is a re-post from June 2006 which summarizes many of the basic facts surrounding the Sunset property - which is currently subject of a lawsuit initiated by citizens to force the item to a referendum. The initial ruling is being appealed by the City. The League of Cities and the City of Boca Raton have filed amicus briefs on the matter. I repost this now due to the fact that when this blog experiences heavy volume, it always shows up as one of the more popular posts. You can find other posts regarding the process and my take on the court's ruling under the "Lawsuits" tab on the right side of the page.

I have added some graphics from the original application package that you may have not seen before.

In reference to Lady Hereford's article in the Neighborhood Post on June 21, 2006 here a few facts related to the Sunset Drive annexation, land use plan change and rezoning application:

• The property was an unincorporated "enclave" - surrounded on three sides by the City of Lake Worth.
• "Enclaves" are discouraged by the State of Florida in that they promote the inefficient distribution of municipal services, resulting in wasted tax dollars.
  
• What surrounds the subject property is the Murry Hills condominium complex which carries a zoning designation of MF-30 (allowing multi-family development at 30 units to the acre). The Murry Hills property is more than two times the size of the subject property.
  
• The property was annexed into the City in November of 2005.
• The City and the owner of the property entered into an annexation agreement in November of 2005.
• The property, if it remained in the County, could be developed to at least 9 units to the acre and consist of many potential uses, including rental apartments. The City would not have any authority to control the development of the property if it remained in the County.
• The Planning Board held at least three public hearings on the application by the property owner - encouraging and soliciting public input to identify neighborhood concerns.
• The identified concerns were incorporated into the Annexation Agreement that runs with the land, not just with the current property owner.
• The City of Lake Worth has the following residential land use designations: single family residential, medium density residential and high density residential.
• Medium Density residential allows MF-20 and MF-30 zoning districts as implementing that land use category. There is no zoning category allowing density between SF-7 and MF-20.
  
• The property is sandwiched between MF-30 and SF-7 zoning districts.
• The Annexation Agreement allows the property to be developed to a "maximum of 40 units" roughly 10 units per acre.
• After a thorough review of the application, the Planning Board recommended on a 5-2 vote to approve the annexation, annexation agreement, land use plan change and rezoning.
• The City Commission voted 3-2 to transmit the land use plan application to the State of Florida for their review.
• The State of Florida Department of Community Affairs did not issue an "Objections, Recommendations and Comments" letter, even after a significant amount of material against the land use plan change was also submitted for their review by opponents.
• The City Commission approved the land use plan change request at second reading on June 6, 2006.
• Any project contemplated for the property still must go through site plan and special use review in order to be built. The claim that the City approved a 40 unit townhouse development is incorrect.

These graphics date from late 2005 when the project was last before the Planning and Zoning Board.









Note that the total number of units was reduced in the final decision by the City Commission, limiting the number of units through the development agreement to a total of 40.








Note that this is just an illustrative site plan. If the project stays as townhomes, it would be the subject of a special use permit application that would be heard before the Planning and Zoning Board. That has not happened to date.