One of the myth's being propagated by the CAUT PAC...

...is that $9.6 million of the bond issue will go to improve the Park of Commerce "on privately owned land the city does not own, in order to attract private development."

To show you just how wrong that is, I am taking a page out of the 1998 Comprehensive Plan that shows the existing "use" of land. After all, all that we know that is the city of Lake Worth is built on land. A large portion, larger than you would imagine, is devoted to streets. Check this out.

After single-family houses which take up 35% of the total amount of land within the city limits, the next highest percentage of land use is that devoted to rights-of-way or 27%. Believe it or not, more than a quarter of the total acreage in the city is either streets, alleys, sidewalks etc. These are public roads, for the most part owned by the city and dedicated to the public. So this also applies to the Park of Commerce. The property the city/public owns there consists of roads. In order to provide drainage and better access to our future diversified tax base, that property made up of public right-of-way needs to be improved. It is misleading to say that the city doesn't own land in the Park of Commerce. We all do.

It should be noted that Boutwell Road is currently a county road that will be transferred over to Lake Worth during its reconfiguration. Some of the funds will be designated for right-of-way acquisition, which will add to the total of city land.

It is also that same 27% of all the land within the city that will be the recipient of the proceeds from the Lake Worth 2020 bond issue. Some streets will be repaved, others will be rebuilt entirely with new water, sewer, storm sewer and sidewalks. Be careful about what you read or what some people tell you.