More on the Chapel-by-the-Lake highrise condo story...

In just over two weeks, the condo proposed for the Chapel-by-the-Lake site will go before the West Palm Beach planning board for a zoning change. The project will go once again before the city commission which voted unanimously for the project last year. The group that opposes the project scored a procedural victory in that the city of West Palm took advice from an attorney that was incorrect as reported by Eliot Kleinberg in last Sunday's Palm Beach Post. Mr. Kleinberg also interviewed a Florida Atlantic professor who said:

And he [Frank Schnidman] said this case is by no means rare.

“Procedural problems are the most common reason that the development approval process is delayed,” Schnidman said.

The Post editorial today continues to support the project and they offer this justification: 

We agree that it’s unlikely any commissioners will be changing their minds. Nor should they at this point. As we’ve said previously, given that First Baptist Church intended to sell the property regardless, the City Commission did the best it could to fulfill its responsibility to demand a project that balances private profit and public benefit. That was evidenced by the long months it took for the developer to win commission approval.

But again, expediency cannot be a fall back for circumventing the process — intentional, or no — that allows for residents to make their voices heard.

Opponents who have staunchly fought against the condo project from the beginning, most assuredly will continue to do so before the planning board later this month.

That’s fine. And city leaders are wise to encourage that part of the process this time around, even if the planning board for some reason does not approve of this latest version.