Click title for link to New Times' article by Lake Worth resident Gail Shepherd from February 8, 2010 entitled: "Why Cara Jennings May Be the Healthiest City Commissioner in Florida" This is nothing but a pure fluff piece trying to show that Commissioner Jennings continues to be Lake Worth's living combination of Mother Teresa and Eull Gibbons.
First, let me say that I support urban agriculture, local produce and sustainable practices in the production of food. I draw the line at bees, chickens and ducks, but produce plants are fine in the backyard, perhaps even the front yard. It's better than dried out St. Augustine grass or miscellaneous weeds. That is not the issue I have with what goes on in the 800 block of North "C" Street - a property that carries a single family land use designation.
The city is governed by a Zoning Code, which corresponds to different areas of the city. The above map is the future land use map that appears in the City's Comprehensive Plan. It shows that Commissioner Jennings' property carries a single family land use designation. To find out what is meant by single family, you refer to the definitions section of the Zoning Code. The definition for family appears below:
In short, any group of more than three people living together is not considered a "family." The zoning district most associated with a single family future land use designation is SF-7. This is the "intent" of that district.
You can have one single "family" per household - period. There are other very limited uses as this is our most restrictive zoning district.
No where does this zoning district allow "boarding houses" - as is apparently described pretty accurately in the article by Ms. Shepherd. This is the definition of "boarding houses" as contained in our Zoning Code.
So, City Commissioners are many things in addition to being our elected representatives. They serve as models of behavior. Reading the article, you get the sense that Ms. Shepherd thinks it would be great if all of us could live in such a manner. And in a Utopian world, it may be an ideal. However, what would it be like if these "boarding houses" spring up - one on every single family zoned street in the city? That would amount to intensification of use in our single family neighborhoods - something that Commissioner Jennings vocally and actively opposes at every turn. A certain four acre parcel on Sunset Drive comes to mind. Commissioners also sit in judgment of many property owners on other requests and, indirectly, through being the ultimate policy maker on top of the city's organizational chart. That is: in charge of code enforcement, zoning and planning. This is also the same Commissioner that stomped on other people's property rights in limiting height across the board in Lake Worth to three stories.
What is the fix? If Commissioner Jennings thinks this is such a good idea, she should propose that these "boarding houses" or "Community-Oriented Anarchists Collective Homes" be written into the Zoning Code so that they would be allowed throughout the city - apparently "by right" and not with any licensing or oversight. Or, lest anyone think that rules that apply to them do not apply to a sitting City Commissioner, she should cease and desist the "boarding house" in this location and find somewhere it is actually allowed within the city. Or, if she chooses to continue this operation, then she should be cited and taken through the code enforcement process.
I hope this was not too "vituperative" Ms. Shepherd.
![Dr. W. H. Cotton’s ode: “Oh, My Lake Worth, Florida!” [circa 1920].](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yhHyCn84ZIQ/WezjlEL-0tI/AAAAAAAAPZ4/CzkhriK6zpEJJ3d9Je1495d49gIhnMlxACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/LakeWorthPioneers.JPG)
