Victory for the City of Lake Worth and the crucial role of our late good friend, Loretta Sharpe: She rallied the City to fight back

You can really think of the "height" issue as something that had been brewing for ten years. It finally ended yesterday by three judges who made the decision. They made a decision without even having a hearing. They didn't have to. It was an easy case.

Remember the "master plan" process that cost the City over $1.2 million in taxpayer money, lasted eight years and ended up with the development community so confused that no new commercial investment happened in the City? Maybe that was the real goal of the hilariously named 'Respectful Planning' PAC?

That is behind us now and it is clear what can and cannot be built in our downtown. The maximum height limit is 45 feet and 65 feet if it is a hotel in the hotel district with more than 50 units, either a stand-alone version or one that is part of a mixed-use project. Period. End of story.

I remember when the petitioners were successful in getting the referendum put on the ballot. It came at a time many of us were tired of the group that played "we-will-never-be-happy" games with our City. We were weary. But there was one resident that wasn't going to take it anymore. That was our late good friend, Loretta Sharpe. I remember her calling me, in a very persistent way, and convinced me forming a PAC called "Friends of the Gulfstream" to oppose the height limit referendum was a good idea.

Greg Rice joined the effort too, along with other people that were tired of the lies and half-truths that regularly circulated around this city related to development or redevelopment. Regardless of how we got to where we are now, though failing at the ballot box, Lake Worth found a way to be a friend of the Gulfstream Hotel. This building on the National Register of Historic Places is also the tallest building on our waterfront on the most prominent piece of property in the City.

It is finally going to get the respect it deserves in the form of sensitive rehabilitation and the creation of a quality place city residents and those visiting the City of Lake Worth can enjoy.

Thank you for your desire to never quit, Loretta. This is your victory too and we can't forget that.