Regular City Commission Meeting 9/7 @ 6 p.m.

Click title for link to agenda and back-up information.  Be warned that the back-material amounts to over 100 megabits of data, which even on a cable modem takes some time to download - good luck if you are on a slower connection or dial-up.

There might be a third page to the agenda, but it isn't in the packet on-line.  Also, when did it become policy that there is no public comment on consent agenda items?  It used to be if a Commissioner wanted an item pulled, then those items allowed public comment.  Did this change?  It actually should be this way:  If anyone from the Commission OR the public has a question on an item, wants their opinion known or for whatever other reason wants to make a comment, they should be able to.  This would require the public to have the ability to pull an item for discussion.  But that might resemble democracy too much.

The separation of the Planning and Zoning and Historic Resource Preservation Boards has finally made it on the agenda.  Click here and you can read the back-up for just that item.  This is interesting on a number of levels.  First of all, the staff is presenting this, but not recommending it due to the extra burden that it will put on staff and is anticipating that overtime of approximately $10,000 will be needed to cover the additional staff time needed.  Really?  The new board will be made up of seven members plus two alternates.  There is not a requirement that one live in a historic district and only five of the members have to be from professions that actually would have experience in historic preservation or similar backgrounds.

The Board only will have to meet quarterly - it can meet more often if necessary.  No criteria are given for when it would "be necessary."  This leaves potential applicants in a lurch since they wouldn't be sure when in the future their applications would be heard and it may hold up their projects' timeline.  This sort of delay could hamper someone trying to be heard.  A bad idea and one that may make people question whether it is worth owning a historic property.

This is part of our land development regulations - which aren't going to be done until June 2011.  This creates another level of uncertainty for anyone owning property in Lake Worth - regardless of whether or not it is historic.  What regulations do you go by in the meantime?  Right now our zoning code/land development regulations do not reflect what is in our Comprehensive Plan in terms of height limitations and other details and our Comprehensive Plan still is in a state of limbo.  Would you want to come in with any type of project in Lake Worth given the uncertainty of this regulatory environment?  The answer is "no" which apparently is just fine according to the make-up of the City Commission now  and the constitution of the Planning and Zoning Board.

This is just another extension of the "de-facto" moratorium on redevelopment that we have in Lake Worth.  Who is going to pay the city's bills in the future?