Delores Key - Lake Worth Economic Development Manager 03/15 by High Noon in Lake Worth | Blog Talk Radio

Join your host, Wes Blackman, as he welcomes Delores Key to the High Noon in Lake Worth studios. Ms. Key is the Economic Development Manager in the city of Lake Worth's Sustainability Department. She recently presented an item to the City Commission which paves for the way for the city to establish an Enterprise Zone. We will explore the implications and possibilities during the show.  Click here for information on Ms. Key's professional background.

Click title for link to show in between noon and 1 p.m. for the live show.  Leave questions to have answered during the live show as comments below.  Click title after the live show to listen to an archived version.

Lake Worth CRA Wins National Diversity Award

LAKE WORTH, FL. -   The Lake Worth Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and the Lake Worth NSP2 Consortium have been recognized by the National League of Cities and the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials (NBC-LEO) at the 2013 City Cultural Diversity Awards for the remarkable Lake Worth NSP2 Consortium Affordable Housing Program. The CRA won first place in the 25,000-100,000 population category.  In total,seven cities were honored on March 11th 2013 for implementing programs that enhance and promote cultural diversity in communities. The City Cultural Diversity Awards recognize municipal programs that encourage citizen involvement and show an appreciation of cultural diversity. Cities honored for 2013 are: Fort Worth, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; Lake Worth, Florida and Hermiston, Oregon. In addition, three cities were honored as runners-up: Tempe, AZ; Coral Gables, FL; and District Heights, MD.

The City Cultural Diversity Awards program was established in 1995 by the NBC-LEO to promote cultural diversity in community governance through citizen and community participation. Winning cities are selected from a pool of applicants and are grouped according to population.

In 2009, the Lake Worth NSP2 Consortium (led by the Lake Worth CRA and made up of 20 community based organizations and local companies) was awarded $23.2 million as part of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant authorized under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act. These funds were used to purchase over 100 foreclosed and abandoned properties and provide rehabilitated or brand new housing to revitalize a culturally diverse area of the city.

"It is always satisfying being recognized for the hard work you do but this Award is special to us at the CRA. We strive, with our consortium partners, to reach out to those who voices may not always be heard. Our mission includes building and strengthening our diverse community," says Joan Oliva, Executive Director of the Lake Worth CRA.  "On behalf of our Board, Staff and many consortium partners we are thankful for the opportunity to provide much needed housing and jobs in our City and hope we can continue these efforts for years to come." 

PARROT COVE MEETING NEWS RELEASE

PARROT COVE NEIGHBORHOOD  ASSOCIATION GENERAL MEETING

MONDAY, MARCH 18

BELIEVERS’ VICTORY CHURCH at LAKESIDE & 10th AVENUE NORTH

7:00pm

Karen Vaughn will be the guest speaker at Parrot Cove's meeting on Monday, March 18th, at 7 p.m.   Karen is the Planning and Preservation Manager for the City of Lake Worth.  She has a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and is nationally certified through the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).   Karen has 23 years of experience in land planning and development and worked in New Orleans under a 2-year FEMA Katrina recovery grant helping the southern parishes with Comprehensive and Resiliency planning.  Before that she managed the Planning Division of the City of Pacific Grove, California.  Karen will be speaking about the National Historic Preservation Act, the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Buildings, the Seven Aspects of Integrity, and Historic preservation myths.

Kelly Christensen, the City’s Preservation Planner, will also be on hand to discuss the History of the North East Lucerne and Old Lucerne districts.   In addition, Kelly will talk about the architectural styles found within those districts and the COA process for proposed development and improvement projects.

Everyone is welcome to attend - you don't have to be a resident of Parrot Cove or an Association member.

Lake Worth voters approve cap on downtown building heights | www.palmbeachpost.com

Never totally happy, the "Yes" voters on building heights find something to be upset about.  I am not sure which is worse - sour losers or sour winners.

Let's step back a bit and look at what the "Yes" signs insinuate:  That the height limit applies to all of Lake Worth, instead of just a portion of the downtown area and that a "No" vote is for a "high rise" city.  Both of which are untrue.  In reality, both sides want Lake Worth not to follow the pattern of local municipalities and have excessively tall buildings in the downtown area.  The difference is that the "Yes" voters wanted heights controlled in the Charter and the "No" voters were comfortable with those regulations being limited to the Comprehensive Plan and the Land Development Regulations.  In one spirited exchange with a key "Yes" voter yesterday, I ended up suggesting that their position would ultimately "upload" the Land Development Regulations to the Charter - which would be form of "Hometown Democracy," part of Amendment 4 that failed on a statewide basis a couple years ago.

All that I can say is that it is at least over and now perhaps we can finally finish the process the city started 8 years and $1.2 million ago (and counting) and get a coherent set of regulations together that will guide the redevelopment of Lake Worth and put the city on a path toward a brighter economic future.

Click title for link to PBP article.

Results 3/12/13

Lake Worth - Question 1 - Elections in March
17 of 17 Precincts Reporting
Percent - Votes
YES 58.94% 1,329
NO 41.06% 926
Total Votes 2,255

Lake Worth - Question 2 - Building Height
17 of 17 Precincts Reporting
Percent  - Votes
YES 55.91% 1,286
NO 44.09% 1,014
Total Votes 2,300

Gulfstream Hotel: A Red Herring in Lake Worth's Building Heights Referendum - Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach - News - The Daily Pulp - Page 2

Feh, another corner heard from.  Click title for link.

Daily Affirmation #18 - "Vote Yes - Perpetually Postpone our Potential."

Lake Worth looking at ways to ease beach parking difficulties | www.palmbeachpost.com

Yet another legacy from the Stanton-knows-best era.  I know people who have tried to use the meters and end up paying $12 to park - meaning to pay only for an hour so they can eat at Benny's.  Others don't pay at all and don't seem to get tickets - yet.  The instructions would have the same usefulness if they were in Chinese.  Click title for link.

Daily Affirmation #17 - "Vote Yes - Other Palm Beach County municipalities will enjoy taking advantage of your choice."

There is no room at the Inn.

STATE of the CITY Address

Date: March 11th, 2013
Location: Lake Worth Casino
Ball Room, 10 South Ocean Blvd.
Lake Worth, FL 33460
Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Harry's weighs in...

Irony of Ironies

This letter from the Respectful Planning Lake Worth PAC was sent to all residents of Lake Worth Towers - which happens to be the tallest building in the city LOOMING over single family neighborhoods.  In fact, the building might be able to be seen from the Chair of the PAC's house - maybe even her backyard. Oh, my, the invasion of privacy!

The letter doesn't ask the question where those seniors would live if building heights were limited to 35 and 45 feet when the building was constructed.  By the way, both Palm Beach and West Palm Beach are older than Lake Worth and both exist on the Lake Worth Lagoon.

All Rise! Comes this now from one of our elected officials, one with a Ph.D. no less

The following missive sent in response to "misleading" Vote No signs:

From: Christopher McVoy [mailto:CMcVoy@LakeWorth.org]
Sent: Friday, March 08, 2013 3:33 PM
To: Jaene Miranda (CEO of the Central Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce)
Cc: Howard Willie (Reporter for the Palm Beach Post)
Subject: Signs - Accurate or Misleading?

Hi Jaene,

Thank you very much for talking with me. I appreciate that the Chamber may take positions that I do not agree with from time to time. What I was not aware of when I called was the actual text on the signs in front of the Chamber (I had not zoomed in).

Unless you can explain to me how voting "No" will, as stated on the sign, "Help Lake Worth Stay Lo-Rise," I respectfully ask that the signs be immediately removed. I have no problem with signs that say vote No, but these signs are deliberately misleading and need to go.

Please let me know how this will be addressed. I would be appreciative of hearing back today!

Thanks Jaene y saludos,


Christopher McVoy, Ph.D.
City Commissioner, District 2, Lake Worth

Commissioner "Doc" McVoy, let me attempt to offer an explanation that you seek by "zooming in."  Being a man of science, I am sure that you appreciate facts and empirical data.  Let me share some of just that with you:

• The "Vote Yes" signs that sprang up like mushrooms include the phrase "Keep Lake Worth Low-Rise."  
• This statement means that people that support a "Yes" vote recognize that in early 2013 the city of Lake Worth is currently "low-rise."  This is true even though Lake Worth has eight or so buildings that are clearly over 55 feet and a cluster of buildings that height or higher east of Federal along Lake and Lucerne Avenues.
• The opposite of "yes" is "no".  So if a "yes" vote is for a low-rise Lake Worth, then the vote "yes" sign implies that a "no" vote is for a high-rise Lake Worth.  This is deliberately misleading as the measure on the ballot does not cover the entire city of Lake Worth - only a very small area which includes what could be referred to as our downtown area (the vote "yes" signs imply that the entire city would remain low-rise if a "yes" vote prevails) 
• An existing provision in the city charter states that buildings east of Dixie Hwy can be built up to 65 feet and up to 100 feet west of Dixie Hwy.  This has been part of the city charter since 1996 and it was the product of an affirmative vote by the majority of the electorate at that time.  Since that time, only two buildings have been built that are at or close to 65 in height.  Even with those two limited examples, the "yes" camp believes that the city of Lake Worth is a "low-rise" city in early 2013.
• Even with these provisions in place, despite two exceptions to the contrary, those liberal city charter allowances for maximum height have not produced a "high-rise" city.
• The Comprehensive Plan has already been amended to reflect the ballot measure's maximum height of 45 feet between Dixie and Federal.  There would be no change required to the Comp Plan if a "no" vote prevails, so this large part of the central downtown area would remain "low-rise" - true to the new "no" sign's claim.
• In the area east of Federal, along Lake and Lucerne, we already have a cluster of "high-rise" buildings that might average around thee 65 ft. mark.  These buildings have been there for a long time - one is on the National Register of Historic Places - and was one of the first major buildings built on the city's waterfront.  Yet, even with this cluster of "high-rise" buildings, according to the "yes" camp, Lake Worth is still a "low-rise" city.  An addition to that historic property or a few other buildings at that height, with required parking and meeting other development regulations might approach 65 ft. - but only if they are hotels which would be over 50 units and they meet all other requirements.  Anything not being a hotel or a hotel having less than 50 units could only be built to 45 ft. - thus keeping nearly all the area east of Federal "low-rise" and consistent with the proposed charter amendment.
• So, in conclusion, the "yes" sign is intentionally misleading and designed to spread fear that Lake Worth will somehow instantly become a "high rise" city if the "no" vote prevails.  
• It then follows that a "no" vote will preserve Lake Worth essentially as it is, with the opportunity for new development, jobs and tourist dollars in an area that is already "high rise" in character and that has been historically "high-rise."

Daily Affirmation #16 - "Vote Yes - Make LW less than what it is & has always been!"

WPEC-TV CBS12 News :: News - Top Stories - Pros and cons: Lake Worth height limit vote

Interview that appeared on air yesterday.  Who's that on the bike?  Click title for link.