TONIGHT: Joint meeting of HRPB and P&Z: Recall what the mayor said, “Encourage. Educate. Don’t legislate.”

Before we get to what the mayor said,
two things worth noting.

The first is on this blog last week noted an upcoming Recreation Advisory Board (RAB) meeting tonight. THAT IS INCORRECT!

There is no RAB tonight.

The meeting was cancelled. This month’s RAB was moved to last week, prior to this year’s Christmas Parade. The RAB regularly meets on the third Wednesday of the month per the City’s website. Stay tuned for the meeting date and agenda in January.

And secondly there is a public policy debate going on right now in Gainesville. This most certainly will have significant ramifications on this City of Lake Worth, specifically all the damage done by hardwood and shade trees prior to, during and post-Hurricane Irma.

Going forward the Lake Worth Electric Utility, road design guidelines and public safety will continue to be a major focus. As noted many times on this blog, many in this City love trees and as reported by reporter Cindy Swirko at The Gainesville Sun it’s no different in Gainesville, 


“People talk about trees, are interested in trees, love trees,” Andreu said. “It can be very emotional. Spiritual, even. People engage in trees at all different levels.”


Michael Andreu, as reported by Cindy Swirko, “is an associate professor of the University of Florida’s School of Forest Resources and Conservation.”

Note: Hurricane Season begins once again on June 1st, 2019. And that tree you love so much now could become a public safety hazard in less than six months. It could take out a power line, break apart sidewalks, snap water and gas lines, and block a road needed for emergency access.


Now back to the mayor. . .

And Mayor Pam Triolo went on to say, “We cannot legislate our way out of every problem.”

Continue reading to learn more about what happened at the Lake Worth City Commission last October and how the Sunshine Law comes into play.

At the end of this blog post is the agenda for this week’s meeting of the Historic Resource Preservation Board (HRPB) and Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Board.

And what happens at this joint meeting will make it to the City Commission. And then hopefully to a work session. A productive one.

Two months ago at the Commission one could have called this public meeting a “clash of visions” between the City staff and the City Commission. The message from the Commission and the public in attendance last October was very clear: Put the stick down and start using some carrots instead.

Two days following that Commission meeting on October 16th put up this blog post titled, “IN CASE OF EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS”.

And then asked if it was time to “Break Glass” here in the City. No. You can put the hammer down.

Those ‘clashes’ of vision is one that makes the case for eliminating the Sunshine Law, or at least changing it in some way. It is a radical idea but one that’s brought up from time to time.

Because elected leaders and volunteer board members cannot communicate about issues outside a public meeting — specifically issues that may come up for a vote at a later time — many times members of the elected Commission and members appointed to volunteer boards think they are on the same page. But they’re not. And at other times people think they are not on the same page. But they are.

And then sometimes all hell breaks loose.

Maybe this week will be a reboot of some sort. Because the topics discussed at the joint HRPB and P&Z workshop will come before the City Commission.

You may want to attend this joint workshop on Wednesday. The agenda is below.

To look over the entire agenda and backup, click on this link and scroll down for the December 19th “Agenda Package” to download.

Here is the brief version of tonight’s workshop:


Joint Workshop.
City Hall Commission Chambers.
Dec. 19th, 6:00.

• Roll call and recording of absences
• Pledge of Allegiance.
• Agenda: Additions, deletions, reordering and approval of agenda.
• Planning issues.
• Presentation and discussion regarding the Lake Worth Major Thoroughfares Design Guidelines (see below).
• Public comment (3 minute limit).
• Board member comments.
• Adjournment.

Explained. Major Thoroughfares Design Guidelines:

“The current set of design guidelines for the major thoroughfares of the City of Lake Worth are nearly 20 years old and are not consistent with new Land Development Regulations (LDRs) adopted in August 2013 or the newly adopted City Comprehensive Plan, which went into effect June 2018.

“In order to develop a current set of design guidelines for the major thoroughfares, which include Lake Avenue, Lucerne Avenue, 10th Avenue North, 6th Avenue South, most of Federal Highway, Dixie Highway and Lake Worth Road, the City collaborated with the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to oversee the procurement of a design consultant to draft an updated document.”