Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Beach: Let's Talk Building Height

This has been a while in coming, but do you recall back to the City Commission meeting of June 5, 2007? That's the one that the Commission considered the three ordinances that are part of the current (?) petition drive. Those in attendance were treated to a lengthy presentation by Commissioner Jennings regarding the placement of the building 75 feet from the seawall/east side of the sidewalk and her concept of "managed retreat" and how much of building on the Greater Bay illustrated site plan was east of the Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL). I have covered the intricacies of the CCCL in a previous post.

Prior to the Commission's discussion, I spoke about how construction is possible eastward of the CCCL (one only needs to look at the large condo development south of the City's beach property, in the Town of Palm Beach, to see the possibility). The Department of Environmental Protection administers the program. Please refer to the previous post for the applicable links.

One of Commissioner Jennings other "beefs" was about building height. She graciously provided her Power Point presentation to me and this post addresses her concerns graphically - using some of her same images. You would think that an elected official would try to stay true to the facts, but her slant on reality comes through clearly in her presentation.

The conclusion here is that the height of the building can go up to 50 feet, with architectural elements (a tower similar to the original 1920s structure) and the impact of the height depends on the type of roof - something that Commissioner Jennings failed to mention. Hmmmmm.

So, below is how our Commissioner from District 2 presented her version of the zoning change impact:



Of course, she shows the building as being all 60 feet tall. Not the architectural features- the whole building. And, she includes, subtly, an indication of a possibility of additional height by her use of a "+" as an alternative to the "-". She also assumes a FLAT roof design - the worst of the alternatives in terms of height impact. See image below - this would NOT be allowed by the Beach and Casino zoning district:


Below is an excerpt from the actual wording as contained in the Beach and Casino zoning district. Note that it clearly indicates a difference between "two habitable stories" being limited to 50 feet and architectural features (non-habitable space - but perhaps an area to hide mechanical equipment) limited to a maximum height of 60 feet. This is done to allow a tower architectural feature as found on the original version of the Casino building.


The last sentence above refers to the definition section of the Zoning Code for an explanation of how height is measured. The defininition below appears in that section:


Note that the definition identifies a number of alternative roof styles and different ways of measurement applied to each. The point of measurement for the likely style of roof that will be used for the Casino building will be either a gable or a hip style. The graphic below illustrates the common sorts of roof styles.


So, according to the definition, the height for a flat roof would be measured to the highest point of the roof - the top of the parapet. What would be allowed for a flat roof is indicated below. Remember, that architectural features could add another 10 feet in height, in the form of a tower or similar device.


Now, what is being discussed for the new Casino building is that the roof will be a hip or gable design - not a flat roof. So that means that the average height between the peak and the eave of the roof is the maximum height - 50 feet. Which means that the exterior wall will be less than 40 feet. Maybe between 40 and 45 feet?? We will see with the final design which will be reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Board. So the apparent height of the building will be less than the MAXIMUM of 50 feet. Again, architectural elements would be allowed 1o feet in additional height and be subject to the same measurement standards.

But, anyone that is automatically against this project would project another reality.


Remember, elections for the District #2 Commission seat will be in November of 2008.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Awarded Best Sentence in Entire Proposed Budget Document

"The organizational exploitation prevalent in Lake Worth's culture will be decimated as reform is introduced at all levels."

Page 27, Proposed 2007-2008 Budget Document, City Manager's Service Level Narrative

Sunday, August 5, 2007

City Re-Organization as Contained in Proposed Budget

To accompany the 8/5/07 Truth Matters show on Lake Worth Talk.com


The above is the organizational chart from the adopted 2006-2007 budget.
The following charts are from the proposed 2007-2008 budget.



May 13, 1993

That was a special day for me. I gave a presentation before the Town of Palm Beach Town Council when they were considering approval of the private club at Mar-a-Lago. It is also the day that I first met Donald Trump, who I worked for for ten years in bringing about the changes at Mar-a-Lago necessary for a private club. I also did a lot of work related to Trump International Golf Course with permitting and construction supervision.

I thought you might be interested in a transcript of my presentation that day. I am also providing a record of the entire meeting through this link. Ultimately, the 3-2 vote of approval by the Town Council led to the preservation and restoration of Mar-a-Lago and renewed its rightful place atop the Palm Beach social circuit.

Here it is:


Saturday, August 4, 2007

Mars and Venus Take Five...


I caught my kids taking a cat nap (?) this afternoon, both in similar comfortable positions. Mars is on the couch; Venus is on the floor. These are the dog days of summer.

Friday, August 3, 2007

Highlights from Tom Twyford's Presentation at the Lake Worth Lagoon Symposium

You know, my favorite presentation of the Symposium held in May was Tom Twyford's. If you have been around here a while, you might remember Tom from his segments he did for Channel 12 News called "Tight Lines". He's the Executive Director of the West Palm Beach Fishing Club, which was founded in 1934.

His presentation gave a great historical perspective on the importance of recreational fishing to the area's early development and quality of life. His pictures clearly showed the popularity of this pastime. It made me realize that due to misuse and abuse of this resource - through run-off from the C-51 canal, sewage outfalls, etc. we essentially eliminated recreational fishing as part of what our region has to offer. The good news is that fishing is coming back, especially around areas that have been enhanced or restored with Mangroves (our Snook Islands being a prime example).

What I want to do here is present the essence of his talk with some of the images he used. I'll make some commentary here and there. Below is the abstract of his presentation:

Keynote Address – Expanded Transcript - Lake Worth Lagoon Symposium

This was such a fantastic opening to the Symposium. It was the keynote address and it was given by Duane E. De Freese, Ph.D., Vice President of Research, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute. You can find their website at the following address: www.hswri.org

His address is significant in that it identifies the importance that the Lake Worth Lagoon has to our immediate region, but also the importance it has as a national resource. Dr. De Freese talks about the importance of public awareness of this resource and role surrounding communities can play in the sharing of information in the protection and restoration of the resource. He mentions how land use decisions cannot be made without balancing the needs and the impact to the estuary. He also clearly defines the Lake Worth Lagoon as an urban estuary.

I present it here just so that it is accessible as possible. You can go to the ERM website for all of the abstracts and presentations made at the Symposium. Remember, click on the images and they will be revealed in a new window, in a larger format, for easier reading. Highlighting is mine.



Follow-up: Lake Worth Lagoon Symposium

Expect a lot of posts coming up regarding the Lake Worth Lagoon Symposium held in May by Palm Beach County Environmental Resource Management (ERM). I have visited their website and collected many presentations that were made the day of symposium. As a reminder, ERM is also in the process of creating a 2007 up-date to the Lake Worth Lagoon Management Plan. You can click here for a link that will take you directly to their website for more information on the Management Plan update.

And, finally, there is another planning effort underway by a number of agencies, including the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, League of Cities, Metropolitan Planning Organization, Inland Navigation District, among others which will be looking at the redevelopment and planning issues surrounding the Lake Worth Lagoon. More on this effort later.

If you want to browse through the Symposium presentations, please click here for direct access to the ERM website. I will be highlighting presentations made at the symposium in this blog, but they will be samplings and not the entire presentations.

Hooray!! Better Late than Never...

Look at what's on Tuesday night's agenda! This is a follow-up from the June 19, 2007 meeting where the Commission discussed the need to have a fact sheet put out containing information on the beach redevelopment project. My concern is that this is coming very late - almost a year after the City entered into the agreement with Greater Bay to redevelop the beach. I say this because, according to the transmittal memo issued by the Interim City Manager, the soonest that this could go out in the utility bills would be November of this year. The development agreement was executed in October of last year.

In the mean time, due to the void of information coming from the City, enterprising individuals have filled the vacuum with frightening visions of what would be physically built at the beach, the fiscal implications and environmental consequences resulting from the project. This spread of misinformation manifested itself at resident's front doors and grocery store parking lots in the form of petition gathering efforts to repeal the land use and zoning changes made necessary to enable the project to go forward.

I am not inferring that everyone involved in the signature gathering effort was doing this. One gentleman who came to my door was well-informed and concerned about getting the information right (Fate played a role). We had a long and frank discussion. However, I have heard that there were others that used the opportunity of not having the correct information to create realities that didn't or that will not exist.

One wishes that this information could have gotten out from the City - the final, official source of facts related to the project - much sooner. I attempted as best I could to do the same through this blog, but that really cannot take the place of an official pronouncement from the City itself.

Below, find a portion of the City Commission agenda for next Tuesday night and images of the transmittal letter and, most importantly, the list of facts that are proposed for the official publication. We can be sure that the usual suspects will be there to debate the facts presented, but "facts is facts."







You might want to click on the last page especially and bring it up in a new window for easier reading. But, I would also highly recommend that you print it out and keep in your pocket or purse. Make some additional copies and give it to those people who may have been given the incorrect information while being solicited for their signature on the petitions.

Or, you can click here for the entire item as stored on the City's website (in .pdf form).