Comment by Yours Truly Under Public Comment at the August 17, 2021 Regular City Commission Meeting re The Gulfstream Hotel

"I’m offering this public comment to urge fellow Lake Worth Beach residents to voice their support for the Gulfstream Hotel rehabilitation project this coming Thursday night (8/19). There is strong public support for the redevelopment of the entire block where the historic hotel sits. It was in March of 2020 that Question 3 appeared on the ballot, just before the pandemic hit. I’d like to remind you that it was both a Presidential Preference Primary and Uniform Municipal Election in Palm Beach County. A total of 4,365 people voted on Question 3 which would allow any future construction to be to a height of 87 feet, which corresponded to the height of the historic hotel. It was a large turn-out for a municipal election. The “yes” votes carried the day by 81.82% of the votes cast. The lowest percentage of yes votes in any precinct was 73.4 percent.

Mayor and City Commissioners, that is what is called a mandate. The voters of Lake Worth Beach realized that to save our Gulfstream Hotel, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, new development would need to happen on the block. This will create the economic engine that restores and provides a beneficial use for the community and its foreseeable future. The historic hotel will once again take its rightful place as a centerpiece of hospitality and commerce that it was meant to be.

We as a community are concerned about saving endangered species. Let me introduce to you an endangered species that the Lake Worth Beach community wants to preserve and cherish. As an early 20th Century Florida Boom era hotel, the Gulfstream Hotel is one of few examples left. There are many reasons for this as the expectations of the traveling public have changed over the years for larger rooms and more amenities. As a certified urban planner, specializing in historic preservation, I’ve been witness to, and have been the undertaker for, demolition of too many historic hotels from that era. We need only look to West Palm Beach. It lost two historic waterfront hotels in the Pennsylvania Hotel and the Hotel George Washington. 

To those 3,408 people who voted “yes” on Question 3, I urge you to submit a public comment for Thursday’s meeting in support of preserving the Gulfstream Hotel in the manner it deserves.Thank you!"