Sunday, November 10, 2013

Proposed ordinance aims to balance preservation, revitalization | www.palmbeachdailynews.com

Vote coming Wednesday by the Town of Palm Beach on a zoning change to the Royal Poinciana area of Palm Beach. The City Council has moved the meeting location to the Society of the Four Arts auditorium to accommodate the crowd. Click title for link to article. Here's a bit:
One concern expressed by some town residents is that the proposed ordinance might entice developers to consolidate smaller lots and to use its higher residential-density threshold (up to 13 units per acre, as opposed to a maximum of six under existing code) to “max out” profits.
But no development eligible for the PUD-5 could exceed 1.5 acres in size, Zoning Administrator Paul Castro said in an interview last week. The Royal Poinciana Way Committee, which crafted the ordinance and recommended its approval by the Town Council, installed the 1.5-acre limit “because they did not want the PUD-5 to get too big, like a CityPlace,” Castro explained.
If the proposed ordinance passes, applicants could not seek variances to get around the lot-size rule. Nor could they seek variances to exceed either the building-height limit of 43 feet or the maximum lot coverage of 70 percent.