Special Announcement

Tuesday, September 5, 2006, 1 p.m. east side of City Hall, 7 N. Dixie Hwy., L.W., Florida

Don't forget to vote!

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

Great News!

We have made another step into the 21st Century. The September 6, 2006 PZHRPB agenda and related staff reports are available now on the City's website. Click here for the direct link to the 2006 Planning and Zoning Board agendas. The packet is a series of .pdf documents. I was able to download the agenda page itself and all the related attachments were downloaded at the same time. So, you don't need to be online in order to review the packet. I'd be interested in knowing if you are successful in your attempt to download and view the packet. I have Adobe Acrobat Professional - if you have the regular version, try it and let me know if it works for you.

This has been a long time in coming and I want to thank our busy staff for taking the time in setting this up. It is important to have as much information as we can have regarding the work of our Board readily accessible to the public.

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

Our City:

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

The Constitution of the United States of America

Bill of Rights

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

On Politics...

Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour


Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason. ~Author Unknown


All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field. ~Albert Einstein


Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~Plato


Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right. ~H.L. Mencken, 1956


Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. ~Nikita Khrushchev


George Washington is the only president who didn't blame the previous administration for his troubles. ~Author Unknown


Truth is not determined by majority vote. ~Doug Gwyn


An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry. ~T.S. Eliot


Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy. ~Ernest Benn


We have, I fear, confused power with greatness. ~Stewart Udall


Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel. ~John Quinton


A conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after they're dead. ~Leo Rosten


The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning. ~Adlai E. Stevenson


I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them. ~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952


Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country - and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians. ~Charles Krauthammer


Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks. ~Doug Larson

Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have elections is to find out if the polls were right? ~Robert Orben


Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you. ~Author Unknown


Conservatism is the policy of make no change and consult your grandmother when in doubt. ~Woodrow Wilson


I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. ~Charles de Gaulle


Politicians say they're beefing up our economy. Most don't know beef from pork. ~Harold Lowman


He didn't say that. He was reading what was given to him in a speech. ~Richard Darman, director of the Office of Management and Budget, explaining why President Bush wasn't following up on his campaign pledge that there would be no loss of wetlands


Mankind will never see an end of trouble until... lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power... become lovers of wisdom. ~Plato, The Republic


If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates. ~Jay Leno


Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party. ~Winston Churchill


If God had been a Liberal there wouldn't have been Ten Commandments, there would have been Ten Suggestions. ~Malcolm Bradbury, After Dinner Game, 1982


History is gossip but scandal is gossip made tedious by morality. ~Oscar Wilde


The politicians were talking themselves red, white and blue in the face. ~Clare Boothe Luce


Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. ~Ronald Reagan


Politics, n: [Poly "many" + tics "blood-sucking parasites"] ~Larry Hardiman


If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal. ~Emma Goldman


How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America? ~Author Unknown


We have plenty of Confidence in this country, but we are a little short of good men to place our Confidence in. ~Will Rogers


American youth attributes much more importance to arriving at driver's-license age than at voting age. ~Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, 1964


Politics - I don't know why, but they seem to have a tendency to separate us, to keep us from one another, while nature is always and ever making efforts to bring us together. ~Sean O'Casey


A politician should have three hats. One for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits out of if elected. ~Carl Sandburg


One ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end. If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark, its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself. Political language - and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists - is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time, one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase - some jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno or other lump of verbal refuse - into the dustbin where it belongs. ~George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," Shooting an Elephant, 1950


Before you can begin to think about politics at all, you have to abandon the notion that there is a war between good men and bad men. ~Walter Lippmann


The qualities that get a man into power are not those that lead him, once established, to use power wisely. ~Lyman Bryson


During a campaign the air is full of speeches - and vice versa. ~Author Unknown


Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. ~George Jean Nathan


Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least. ~Robert Byrne


Political campaigns are designedly made into emotional orgies which endeavor to distract attention from the real issues involved, and they actually paralyze what slight powers of cerebration man can normally muster. ~James Harvey Robinson, The Human Comedy, 1937


A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman thinks of the next generation. ~James Freeman Clarke, Sermon


Politics are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times. ~Winston Churchill


In golf, you keep your head down and follow through. In the vice presidency, you keep your head up and follow through. It's a big difference. ~Dan Quayle


Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed. ~Mao Zedong

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

Notes from Philadelphia - Policy Link Conference - Advancing Regional Equity

Just happened to be consolidating files on my computer and I found this summary of the sessions I attended in Philadelphia last year. This was a trip sponsered by the CRA - about 9 of us went from Lake Worth. I thought it would be a good idea to post these notes here. Of particular interest now are the items concerning inclusionary zoning. This is one of the keystones in the recommendations that we will soon be reviewing as offered by the Affordable Housing Task Force.

Some of these are fairly short hand and may not make much sense, but here goes:

May 23, 2005

Land Use, Power and Policy Session:

Spatial Mismatch – Brooking Institution – Racial divide, work somewhere where you don’t live, long commuting times – examples – many – Milwaukee and D.C.

Don Chen – Smart Growth America

• Example of sprawl school in South Carolina, in the middle of now where, no connection to housing, transit, etc. Seeds of sprawl.
• Need to rehab urban schools.
• Denver – FasTracks – coalition of urban and suburban municipalities in providing transit solutions
• Something wrong in the Philadelphia area – population increase of 3% and new sewers increase 22%. Spawns sprawl, money going to new suburban locations while urban and other existing infrastructure suffer.
• Higher Density – in clusters, much more environmentally friendly, better watershed protection, less land consumption.

Myron Orfield

• Twin City Regional Government Fair Housing Law – still a problem with the disenfranchised
• Black and Latino suburbanization – 25% of U.S. population in distressed suburbs
• Housing discrimination
• Steering – present and increasing
• Discrimination in sales and rentals, mortgage lending – increasing
• Values drop in areas, residents, instead of gaining equity receive debt – not building wealth
• Poor move in, schools lose
• Formerly integrated areas maintain value better
• Racial inequalities not being addressed – a big issue
• Cities and older suburbs need to get together and work jointly to solve the problem

David Rusk

• Portland Metropolitan Regional Government as compared with Camden, N.J.
• Portland is substantially more integrated economically and less segregated
• Has Urban Growth policy – now under attack by property rights movement – must redefine the issue in “smart growth” terms – now in the terms of the “land speculator”
• Housing policy – new single family developments required to supply 10% to 50% multi-family housing, depending on location
• Camden N.J.
• $150,000 tax base per poor family, 3,000,000 tax base per others
• Detroit
• Most segregated metro area in the country
• Black families’ homes 40% less value than white family with same income.
• 6% of total 5 county metro region tax base
• We are now going through a period of the greatest transfer of wealth from white heirs ever – blacks are not benefiting – they are receiving a legacy of debt instead – Blacks excluded from transfer

Laurie Weakee

• Sacred Alliance for Grass Roots Equality – Albuquerque -Pueblo Indians
• Petroglyph National Monument – fight against incursion of roads into area.
• “Framing and Messaging”
• “Power will always adjust”

General discussion –

• State Courts are where the fight is being fought now and there have been some successes especially with school equality in funding.
• 1968 Fair Housing Act is not being enforced, but it is still a good law

Transit Oriented Development – Monday p.m.

• Transit growth outpacing other modes of transportation
• District that should be considered is greater than just the area around the station, must consider ½ mile area
• Demographics show continued increasing demand

Mary Bethel – Bethel New Life – Pulaski Transit Village

• www.bethelnewlife.org
• High School Mosaic Appliqué
• Day Care Center
• Employment Center
• Six commercial storefronts
• Green Building

Bruce Watts – Portland Transit Authority

• Not a TOD expert
• Role of transit agency in a TOD alignment
• Important to “land bank” – construction staging areas an opportunity
• Zoning framework important
• Station location

General discussion

• Mixed income important to TOD concept
• Challenge is how to make and keep housing affordable
• Property tax variables??

Tuesday a.m.

Double Bottom Line Session

Robert Milborne – Columbus, Ohio

• Double bottom line – good economically and good for community
• Business leadership very important, especially with recent elections
• Business leadership important for policy change
• Where is business leadership?
• More diverse and democratic form of business leadership
• More going on in non-profit sector
• Non-profits much more competitive now, looking more like private enterprise
• Need for business leadership advancing quickly
• Lessons:
• Ways to accomplish business leadership – emphasize regional issues – business responsive to these, not as much local
• Transit – how people get to work
• School Reform – education reform
• Arts community needs
• Downtown redevelopment
• Getting to leaders is a one-by-one process, need a champion to lead the way – makes job easier
• Contributions from larger employers in creating community wealth and self sufficiency
• Business leaders are engaged in community development – part of their job description now, trend is there and getting better at it

Bob Harris – Pacific Gas and Electric

• Utilities heavily invested in community health already, that’s where their infrastructure is – urgent sense here
• Infrastructure costly to build
• Use facilities that are already established – discourages sprawl
• Double bottom line for them is that utilities need customers
• In order to do well, must have a positive image with customers
• Goodwill is created by giving back to community – good corporate citizen
• Utilities understand the interplay between social equity, businesses and government
• Incentive comes to the utility in the form of the need to provide service to everyone
• In California, there is a constitutional reason – empowers municipalities to provide their own utility service I not satisfied with service – there is competition for service

General discussion

• Three “E’s”
• Economy
• Environment
• Social Equity – transit times to employment
• Investors are looking at corporate responsibility
• Especially minority business inclusion, workforce development and diversity
• Inclusion means investing in low wealth communities
• Unfortunately, many community “inner sanctums” (i.e., the ruling elite) are attempting to manage diversity without becoming diverse – must gauge how serious these people are to the goal.
• By nurturing leadership, they think that creates competition for themselves, not their perceived interests
• More and more, customers are driving these changes in corporate responsibility
• Proportional representation on Boards of Directors is not as important (important to some, however) as creating more impact by community involvement
• Inner-City neighborhoods represent a large market and companies are beginning to understand
• We can never under estimate our influence on what goes on in the world
• Corporations understand the bottom line
• There are two definitions of equity
• Justice and impartiality
• Value of property or interests over those claims against it
• Does one have to err on the side of social equity, no – equity is equity – represents an investment in community
• www.bayalliance.org (family of funds that invest in neighborhoods, communities – not charity – an investment)
• Investment is a partnership with shared rewards and shared risks – each “side” must put something up of value
• The question is open whether one should expect a return – it depends on the nature of the issue you are attempting to address
• Race in America is something that needs to be addressed and not swept under the rug
• How do we share the first (corporate) bottom line?
• Whose responsibility is that? Look in the mirror first – what can you do to help the situation?
• What help do you need? Who can you call on?
• Enlightened business leaders are a needed component – need a champion to take initiative
• Hard to find, difficult to replace
• Community foundations have leadership potential
• Framework of “Social Investment Policy” – ordinance?
• “Place matters, race matters.”
• Institute for Race and Poverty (www.irpumn.org/website)

GIS (Geographic Information Systems) as a Tool

Dataplace website

The Providence, R.I. Plan

• Independent of government, but gathers information from all government sources
• Focus is parcel based information – on over 42,000 parcels of property within the City of Providence
• Tells who lives there (all of their qualities) in pictures and maps
• Big Brother warning
• Integrity of data important – powerful and influential tool
• Relevant at low level of geography – at the parcel level
• Three keys
• Safety
• Jobs
• Education
• If you don’t have all three, you have nothing, cannot build a community without these
• Work closely with Police Department, monitoring day-to-day capacity
• Where the hotspots are and how to address them
• Enables efficient scheduling of officers and patrols
• Data security and integrity important at all levels – user and provider
• Possible to add community collected data, on website, for other studies and statistical efforts
• Difference between asset and deficit data.
• Asset – community strengths
• Deficit – community weaknesses
• There is a slant towards asset data
• Center for American Progress (Google)

Inclusionary Zoning Session

• Definition – Percentage of affordable housing in a given project, required through land development regulations
• 1^st successful attempt – Montgomery County, Maryland

Josh Williams – Washington, D.C. Union Leader

• Residential boom within the District of Columbia
• Would generally think this would be a positive as it provides more tax revenues and helps maintain and increase salaries of public workers
• However, housing costs are increasing so quickly that middle and low income persons are priced out of the market
• Relocation almost always results in increased commute times
• Many times, if they do leave, they lose their jobs – residency requirement for municipal employees
• Housing costs are increasing 4 times faster than income, 3 times more for rental units

Julie Miles – New York City

• Affordable housing crisis
• Those that rent are paying more than 50% of their income
• Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to rezone large swaths of former industrial properties along the east river to high density residential (complete with views of Manhattan) prompted their campaign
• No provision for worker/lower income households
• Policy change after election resulted in “inclusionary” provision within rezoning ordinance
• Enabled a collation of all affected persons and groups to make change happen
• Recent success in that two large scale rezonings gained a 25% and 33% inclusion factor
• Now, working towards a City-wide policy
• Voluntary program through density bonus provisions
• Units are permanently affordable
• Lessons learned:
• Trouble with parochial nature of New York politics
• Faith community a key asset
• “Protests” – generated much media attention, but did not have to be relied upon too much

Doug Shoemaker – Bay Area Region (CA)

• Central city genesis, now seeing progress in outlying areas
• Work behind the scenes, providing support for a group of affordable housing providers and builders
• Regional Advocacy coalitions in 9 counties
• 60% of the bay area’s growth spread over 40 jurisdictions
• Inclusionary zoning is most effective in large projects. Having 20% affordable units in a two unit complex doesn’t mean much
• They estimate that throughout the region a range of 6 to 12,000 units over the next five years

Nicholas Brunick

• Four Catch phrases for Inclusionary zoning
• “There ought to be a law” an “Yes, in your backyard”
• “Place Matters” and “All politics is local”
• “Implementation is the name of the game”
• Once the ordinance has passed, the game has just begun
• “Need for on-going constituency” – gains made can be overturned or lost

General Discussion

• Inclusionary zoning generally benefits the upper end of those in need of affordable housing – it generally does not serve the medium, low and very low income communities
• There is a need for flexibility in affordable standards – to reflect changes in income and housing types over time

Wednesday a.m.

The Wal-Mart Affect

Frontline (ABC) Video on Wal-Mart organization

Moderator

• Wal-Mart is the model for other retailers – a “way of thinking”
• Prices low, labor costs low
• No unions – now perceived as a threat
• Fear of the demise of local retail – it’s happening
• City of Los Angeles and other communities now require economic impact stucy
• Wal-Mart aniticipates community subsidies – TIF, tax exemptions, etc.
• Other communities have crafted “Community Benefit Agreements”

Greg LeRoy (Good Jobs First)

• Wal-Mart has extensive saturated traditional retail markets
• Now going after Urban markets – “poverty markets”
• Last place left to expand
• The entire nation is over-built – grossly over-built – in retail space
• 12% of regional malls are in “gray field” status – plenty of “ghost boxes” – big box retail that is empty due to corporate obsolescence
• Minority areas are under-retailed
• Wal-Mart is locked into a rural footprint – gigantic parking field
• Wal-Mart is going to be there – so, how do we shape and change the brand?
• Proliferation of stores – created by vas government subsidies, direct and in-direct
• $1,000,000,000 worth of subsidies nationwide
• Hidden safety net costs – for poverty level ($9/hour) wages
• Average store has 200 employees
• They depend on $420,000 in various forms of federal social assistance
• Wal-Mart’s goal is 300 new stores a year
• Much of the local government subsidy comes from the “collective civic self-image” – sense of worthlessness
• Sets communities up for giving away the store
• The Prize is a Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart’s prize is access ot the market
• Communities must drive a hard bargain!

Leslie Moody – Union Representative – Denver Area

• Her example: 60 acre urban in-fill site, urban renewal zone
• Brownfield, rezoned for transit oriented development
• Original agreement banned big-box retailers
• Area – Alemeda Square – a depressed area
• Community pushing hard for retail
• Turned out they were talking to Wal-Mart, even inlight of agreement
• Loan of $25 million over 25 years to be paid back to City
• Most Wal-Marts don’t last 15 years
• Blighted area in 192, owner still asking $70/foot, existing Asian business community threatened to be pushed out
• Access to grocery important
• Asked the City – What are they doing to make the best deal?
• Learned about the “Power of the Paper” – Freedom of Information Act request
• Proved that it was a bad deal for Denver
• Site Fights
• How cities put together development deals
• New Mayor – Changed tune
• By July 2004, the deal died
• Major convincing issues – quality of life, cities looking like suburbs
• Must frame community benefits/impacts

Rev. Joseph Kyles – Westside Chicago

• Reputation for now business as usual in area
• Retailers traditionally move-in and move-out, taking from community
• Alderman (strong force in Chicago) wanted to bring Wal-Mart in
• Didn’t have potential loss of small business, there weren’t any
• Locked out of construction jobs through union
• Already a polarized community
• People came out of the woodwork when Wal-mart showed up
• A good thing
• 300 new jobs? – attitude of “who cares” – more important as a framework for how to deal with other developers
• “Community Promise” - part of deal with Wal-Mart
• Capacity building for the future
• Small contractors, leveraging monies from Wal-mart with other sectors
• Hired minority female general contractor for demo, etc. – had a clear understanding of community
• Knew about history of using subsidies, didn’t require all the money for anew community center, just that it had to be a major supporter of it
• Store not built – deal not done yet

General Discussion

• www.mainstreet.org National Trust for Historic Preservation
• www.newrules.org

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

Update from 8/16 PZHRPB Meeting

I'd like to take the opportunity to share what happened at our last Wednesday night's meeting. It was a fairly light agenda, but some important items came from it. So, here are the highlights of what happened (this is not meant to be an official report):

• We made some minor adjustments in the way that auto repair shops are regulating in our HIC-1 and HIC-2 zoning districts.
• We recommended that the City Commission (actually re-affirmed our previous recommendation) increase the maximum density allowed in the Gateway zoning districts (along 6th Ave. S. and 10th Ave. N.) to 30 units to an acre. When the Commission heard this on second reading in December of last year, the Chairman of the CRA made a plea to the Commission that the maximum density be lowered to 20 units to an acre. Subsequently, the CRA realized that in order to create incentives for the redevelopment off both corridors a maximum density of 30 units to an acre would be a good idea. This word came to us in a letter from the CRA. So, on Wednesday we re-affirmed our original decision and sent to the Commission for their consideration. The CRA also requested that we look at establishing more opportunities for retail uses (beyond the restrictive list that is part of the ordinance now) - that will take more study and we will wait for staff to come up with some alternatives. We'll let you know when that discussion will take place.
  
• We approved the site plan and community appearance request for Lago Valare - the project on the southwest corner of Palmway and Lake. This was after many rounds with staff, board and public comment. I have highlighted the progression of design related to this project in previous posts. This is how it finally came out - the vote was unanimous, with the public in attendance at the meeting giving appreciative comments. The big changes are the use of cast stone along much of the base of the building, reduction in tower height, elimination of the individual gables above the balconies and an entrance feature on the northern facade. It will make a nice addition to our downtown . Now we just have to find someway to deal with the properties immediately around this site - but perhaps this will inspire them.

The other item, that was not on our agenda, but was in our packet, was the group of recommendations from the Affordable Housing Task Force (AHTF). Vice Chairman Spinelli had asked for that to be included in our materials for discussion for this past meeting. I had missed the discussion at the previous meeting due to a scheduling conflict, so I wasn't entirely sure how to handle the review of the recommendations. We started at the end of our regular meeting in somewhat of a workshop format. Many, but not all, of the members of the AHTF were there in the audience but they really were not prepared (no fault of their own) to make a presentation. The atmosphere started to get very adversarial in tone with comments coming from Lisa Maxwell and Phil Spinelli of the PZHRPB. At that point, I suggested that we discuss the recommendations in more of a "roundtable" format and give the AHTF an opportunity to make a presentation which would show the basis for many of their recommendations. Hopefully, we will be able to do this in a constructive, non-adversarial way so that we are able to focus on what is best for the City. I will make that clear when we convene again.

The workshop meeting of the PZHRPB will be Wednesday the 23rd, 6 p.m. at the Suffleboard Court building. Hope to see you there.

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

Reality and the Beach

Hysteria - "behavior exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess"

FACTS:

18 acres of City owned beach property (I have heard up to 19 acres, but this is a conservative figure).

43,560 square feet to each acre.

18 acres X 43,560 square feet = 784,080 square feet of land area

Size of new building to contain ballroom and retail/restaurant space: 40,000 square feet (two stories)

Approximate size of that building's footprint: 20,000 square feet

Percentage ground coverage of that building to the overall site: 20,000/ 784,080 = 2.5 percent of total site area

Property to be leased (City retains ownership) for a period of 20 years.

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

Highlights from Harvard Executive Education Course - Urban Housing and Mixed Use Development

*************WORK IN PROGRESS**************

I thought that this would be a good place to share some of the information brought back from the class I attended about two weeks ago. Haven't had the time until now to summarze my notes from session. The "teacher" was Johannes Van Tilburg, an architect/developer that is based in Santa Monica, CA and has a lot of Southern California experience in the design and development of urban/mixed use projects.

Now, I am not sure how best to the his as I have 24 pages of notes from the two day class - and the last of the second day was only regarding the presentation of our imaginary redevelopment project. I think what I will do is hit the highlights and give some description of the items I scanned that were part of the class materials. (If you could read my handwriting, I would just scan my notes and post them here) Add to that the fact that Mr. Van Tilburg jumped around a lot during the presentation of the material and you have somewhat of a jumble. And I will be inserting applicable Lake Worth materials as a comparison. Anyway, here it goes:

• Transportation in Los Angeles is almost 60% single passenger vehicle. (According to the Metropolitan Planning Organization of Palm Beach County, about 84% of South Floridians travel alone in their work commute)
• Los Angeles has something called "slug lanes" which are essentially a form of structured hitch hiking - people who want rides line up for rides with those who have room in their car - they are either dropped off by someone else or leave their car in a park and ride lot.
• The new transit system in Los Angeles is justification for development approvals - without access to transit or, at a minimum a transit plan - a project will not received approval from thee locality (usually with state over-sight)
• Air rights over transit station are more and more common - transit oriented development (TOD)
• Sprawl (see picture below of the Continental US at night - remember to click to enlarge - if you are interested in seeing even more detail, you can go to National Geographic's website)
• 76% of Los Angeles' residential development pattern is single family at an average density of 6 units an acre (Lake Worth's single family zoning district is designed to be a maximum of 7 units an acre, but is built out at less than that), 19% is multifamily and 5 % are rural estate. The Los Angeles range for density is 6 to 130 units to the acre. Given a density of 6 units to an acre, the need for land doubles every 40 years - amounting to 1.2 million acres a year (nationally). The current aveage L.A. commute time of 1.5 hours a day round trip to work amounts to 7 1/2 working weeks in the automobile (390 hours a year!).
  
• According to the Lake Worth Comprehesive Plan (see existing land use chart) - 78% of the total resdential acreage within the City is single family - the remainder is made up of multifamily and hotel uses.
• Mr. Van Tilburg then went into examples of how increasing the density can be accomodated in the existing urban lot configuration. He has promised electronic copies of these and I will let you know when I receive them.
  
• University of Florida, Bureau of Economic and Business Research - Florida Population Projections - report
  
• Wood frame construction (with some steel framing) is required in construction of buildings up to five stories - earthquake/seismic considerations.
• City of Pasadena uses an "architectural approach" to project approval - adopted a mediterrean revival standard - red tile roofs, modelled after City Hall.
• Concept of "Boulevard Buildings" - Paris and Amsterdam examples
  
• 
  

WORK IN PROGRESS

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

The Live Show with Jim Stafford on LakeWorthTalk.com

I made my first appearance on the Live Show last night. You can hear the re-run of the interview here. Check out the site too - Jim does a good job at hosting a nice forum for commenting on things Lake Worth.

Thanks to those who asked some great questions - hope I responded adequately. If you want to follow up on any item, or a new topic, feel free to do so here. We really need to use all the tools that there are to encourage participation in our local government.

Thanks again - Jim Stafford - for the invite and thanks to all those that listened!

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

Assorted E-mail Conversations re: Beach Negotiations

I thought you might be interested in the following e-mail thread regarding the concern regarding the possibility of a hotel on the beach. This concern was raised after our first day of negotiations. Subsequently, one of the agreed upon terms was that no residential or hotel use be built on the beach. Here it is: (my responses in bold)

Hello Paul,

A few points that some of us believe should be addressed before a contract is decided upon. We consider these to be very important.

1. Is the drawing to scale? The developer said yes but that is not good enough. We need to be sure that the commission and the public see an accurate drawing before the commission is asked to make a decision.

2. The elevations of the building need to be written into the contract. "Two stories" stated verbally is not sufficient. How many feet in elevation?

3. I have sent a request to Wes, asking for clarification about the possible implications of a zoning change, specifically whether a hotel could then be built on the beach. Please make sure that this is addressed before a zoning change contingency is written into the contract.

Thank you,

Laurie Decker
Annabeth Karson

Hello Wes,

After the beach negotiation meeting today, a concern is being raised that a change in zoning could allow a hotel to be built on our beach. Please address the possible zoning changes that could allow this to happen. I hope you will agree that this needs to be discussed before a zoning change contingency is included in the contract with the developer.

Wes, please address the possibility of the developer building a hotel on our beach from the zoning perspective.

Thank you.
Annabeth Karson
Laurie Decker

Well, if we were to craft language that allowed hotels on the beach, that would be possible. Technically speaking. That would probably entail a land use plan change (reviewed by the State of Florida and also would entail a major change to our zoning regulations). I cringe at the thought. The concept of residential (I place hotels as a quasi-residential use) was completely ruled out after the last (circa 1998+ or -) attempt. It just would not happen politically (a prediction with 99.9% assurance) and I am sure that Palm Beach would have something to say about it too. And, nothing that happened today would indicate that was a possibility.

No one in their right mind, and I include myself in that group (please back me up on this!), would allow that to happen. Perhaps that is why nothing has been changed related to zoning on the beach in that the fear of such a prospect prevents any action that would allow something that we would actually want on the beach.

A cold day in H-E-double toothpicks comes to mind...

I repeat...nothing happened today that would indicate that was even a remote possibility.

Wes Blackman

How can the size of their ballroom work without a hotel? It can't. Partitioning to hold multiple weddings? That's ridiculous, don't you think? Why would we need a ballroom to hold 500-650 people? Can you imagine the traffic jam for events??? Will PB go for that?

ld

You would be surprised about the demand for covered, air conditioned space that can accommodate a large group of people. Add our location of the Atlantic Ocean beachfront and demand would increase, independent of a hotel. In our area, it really would not rely on a hotel to "feed" the need. Many times, instead of holding multiple events at the same time, partitioning allows for set up of another function while another is going on. I think, and this is based on some experience, that it would be a rare time when all four areas (if there are that many) are being used at the same time. You could always condition such a use so that operationally it could not have more than X (2,3, or 4) functions going on at the same time. You could also condition such an operation so that large events (singularly or collectively) occur only in the evening when the parking demand for beach related use is at it lowest.

When we as a City create a list of permitted uses for the beach, it could exclude hotels by not listing them as permitted uses. Also, there are many hotels in the area that don't have adequate ballroom facilities and may want to supplement their offerings with an off-site location such as a ballroom at the beach. It may also provide opportunities for revenue sharing with the City if the revenue gained from such a venue is beyond a certain amount.

Anything proposed there would have to meet the Countywide traffic performance standards - meaning a traffic study would have to be reviewed and approved by Palm Beach County. Again, the hours of operation would be looked at as it related to peak hour traffic and the projected peak hour demand for such a facility.

There have been many times that I have been a part of large Lake Worth related events that had to be held in West Palm Beach or unincorporated Palm Beach County since the City didn't have access or its own facilities to accommodate such numbers. The City could strike a deal for priority scheduling for events, etc. It really is not that far out as you may think.

If the primary source of traffic is "off island", I don't see Palm Beach having a great concern over the use of such a facility.

I think if you contemplate this a while, the prospect will seem more within the realm of the possible, without many harsh impacts.

We can discuss this more and I am sure we will, as a community, before it would come to pass. In the process, we would identify areas that might need additional controls. Please realize that we can only allow a hotel to built by including it as a permitted use or a conditional use. If it isn't there, no hotel.

I'd appreciate knowing your thoughts once you think about the prospect for a while.

Wes Blackman

Thanks for replying . . .

Also, there are many hotels in the area that don't have adequate ballroom facilities and may want to supplement their offerings with an off-site location such as a ballroom at the beach. It may also provide opportunities for revenue sharing with the City if the revenue gained from such a venue is beyond a certain amount.

We know this, Denise has researched it. But it's my understanding that the city is not asking for revenue sharing, only $500,000. I think this is a huge mistake that we'll regret for two decades, if this project comes to fruition.

LD

I also think that we aren't asking for much in return for use of the beach. And, there didn't seem to be any support from the negotiating team for any kind of escalating clause over time, which amazed me. (Ed note: There is a max CPIU increase of up to 5% after the first year)

Wes

Are you only amazed?? I'm on the verge of apoplexy, to quote Howard Cosell.

What on earth are they thinking?? Do you think we're going to walk away from millions? Could we (THEY) possibly be that desperate for a building?

I happen to live in the out-skirts of Apoplexy, a large and thriving metropolis within my being. Perhaps exposure has diluted its affect over time. LOL - where did that come from?

I do not understand the mind set of those that represent our fair City. Somehow, we always must have our hat in our hand, two cents in our pocket and are pressed to the wall for last minute decisions. Plus, we never adequately realize the assets that we posses that others would either only dream of or beg for. To hear Paul Boyer talk today, he was interested in just getting one check for one amount ($500,000) and not looking for complications, like formulas or revenue sharing clauses.

You would be hard pressed to find a municipality with 18 acres of property with essentially dual water frontage, in Florida or the east coast, period. We should be in the cat bird's seat, but we are just looking for table scraps. And to think this is a 30 + year odyssey further perplexes the already perplexed.

Are you planning to mention these issues to Paul or the attorney? Or Corey? Or to ask them what their rationale is for being so poverty-minded?

I hope to have the opportunity. (I did bring this up during the second day of discussions)

Wes

And if you know about the potential overflow of events from the area hotels, you should also know the prices they charge for venues that don't open onto the Atlantic.

Denise has claculated a conservative estimate of revenues that a ballroom that size could generate and it's huge.

Of course, we probably won't make them show us their financials for the next twenty years, so they can continue to mislead us about how much they're making. Not our business, right? Don't ask for too much or they might walk away from the sweetest deal that ever fell into their laps.

And as developers go, they don't seem to be too crafty. It's terribly embarrassing that they're besting us at the negotiation table.

Hi Wes,

Thanks for the quick response. I appreciate your opinion that the political will to allow a hotel on the beach does not exist at this time. However our question was about the zoning. You write that allowing a hotel would entail "major" changes to the zoning. Would these major changes necessarily be more "major" than needed to allow the current beach proposal?

The rest of the beach has hotels or condo buildings on it, so why would the State of Florida not approve the change? And why would Palm Beach have anything to say, especially considering their beach has hotels as well?

With the wrong city commission, we can never be sure that the concept of a hotel could not come back. I thought the concept of a 50,000 sq ft structure on the beach was also completely ruled out after the "last attempt". So much for that.

Does a hotel require the same zoning as residential? (Can you build a hotel in a multi-family neighborhood?) Or does a hotel require commercial designation?

I am glad to know that the idea makes you cringe. Our question, however, is about the zoning:

Would the zoning changes that would allow for the current beach proposal also allow for a hotel on the beach?

Hope this can be answered with something akin to a yes or no, and why.

Thanks again.

Annabeth

Would the zoning changes that would allow for the current beach proposal also allow for a hotel on the beach?

NO

Would these major changes necessarily be more "major" than needed to allow the current beach proposal?

YES

The rest of the beach has hotels or condo buildings on it, so why would the State of Florida not approve the change?

Because they would require an analysis regarding the need for essentially converting our "Preservation, Recreation and Open Space" district into a quasi commercial/residential zoning district that would require a modification to the future land use designation which underlies the property. It would be perceived that we are taking out land that was predominantly used for public recreational purposes and initiating a change which would allow a substantial (not ancillary) quasi-commercial use. I am not saying that this is impossible - the sun "could" rise in the West tomorrow, but the probability of that is extremely remote. I consider such a notion (allowing hotel uses on the beach) in that category. They may also have issues regarding the intensification of development allowed on the beach which is in a coastal high hazard area.

As with any question like this, this is an opinion of what is possible or probable. It is only my opinion and much of my opinion is also based upon on what I see and perceive as the public and political will not to have a hotel at our beach.

Does a hotel require the same zoning as residential? (Can you build a hotel in a multi-family neighborhood?) Or does a hotel require commercial designation?

Hotels are treated in both ways in terms of what zoning districts in which they are allowed. There are what I refer as quasi-commercial uses, but also have a multi-family residential quality to them. Many times they would be permitted through a permitted by "special use " approval, which involves meeting a higher standard(s) than other uses permitted by right within the same zoning district. I could walk you through our zoning regulations and show you how hotels/motels are regulated in both our commercial and multi-family residential districts if you want.

I thought the concept of a 50,000 sq ft structure on the beach was also completely ruled out after the "last attempt".

There are currently no regulations within our PROS zoning district that allow for any use other than open air recreational uses. In order to accommodate anything different out there than what is there we need to establish regulations that deal with the proportion of the site that can be covered by impermeable surface (ground coverage) and by building (building coverage), setbacks, proportion of the site that can dedicated to any use other than recreational use, etc. If this has been a twinkle in the eyes of Lake Worth for over 30 years, you would think that somewhere along the line these changes would have been made to the zoning regulations that relate to this property. The fact that those changes haven't been made tell a lot about the difficulty of doing anything there - politically - than what is there now.

Again, my opinion.

Wes Blackman

There should be a whole series of reporting requirements (audited financials) that could be used as a basis for revenue sharing. Also, part of our sharing should be an almost "right of first refusal" on the use of those facilities. We should take the stand that this is essentially ours, but when we are not using it, other people can use it.

I will mention this, but as moderator it is a bit out of an impartial and functional role.

Wes

Thank you for all the comments. The clarification is appreciated.

Annabeth

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

I'm back!

Had a great time in Boston. Got to spend some time with my Dad early on, saw a cousin in the Boston area (had a lobster fest there, yummmmmmy) and then the rest of the time I stayed in Cambridge. I attended a class on Urban Housing and Mixed Use Development for two days. About 14 people in the class, from all over the country - one from Louisiana and he had some interesting input regarding the Katrina rebuilding effort.

The class was facilitated by Johannes Van Tilberg of Van Tilberg, Banvard & Soderbergh, AIA - he is based in Santa Monica and is both architect and developer. I have plenty of examples of his work (some of which was built on 50 x 150 lots - they could almost be air-lifted from California to Lake Worth!) and will be putting them in an electronic format - posting them here. Unfortunately, Blogger is having trouble right now with the uploading of photos, so as soon as that is resolved you'll be able to see some examples.

One of the class projects was to split into four groups and go around Cambridge and scout out a potential site for redevelopment. We then made a presentation on feasibility, issues and a financial pro-forma. The amazing part of that was that three of the four groups independently chose the same site - a Harvard-owned parking lot on Church Street. We all had different approaches. Educational and entertaining. Cambridge is notoriously difficult when reviewing and considering projects for approval - that is the main reason nothing is being built or redeveloped. Harvard Square is a great student. younger crowd retail area and the empahsis is definitely pedestrian.

They enjoyed my stories of Lake Worth and I showed them this website for them to get an idea of the types of projects that we are seeing here. By the way, the three story townhouse is a model that is being used around the USA. We are definitely not alone.

I really can't wait to upload some of the images here, but will have to wait until the Blogger issue is fixed. That is also delaying another post regarding one of our mixed-use projects on the corner of Lake Worth Road and Boutwell Road - that and I do have to work for a living - my dogs need food!

I did get back yesterday afternoon, but had a scheduling conflict so I was unable to attend most of the PZHRPB meeting - started it, but had to leave after the presentation on the pier. I understand that the Board approved a very nice law office project just to the north of the CVS building - two story with parking, for the most part, concealed and underneath the second floor.

That's all for now. More is on the way, just wanted you to know that all is well and you will be hearing more soon.

Oh, and Delta redeemed themselves on the way back. No problems at all.

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

Where am I? Still in Lake Worth, I think!

Wow. We made it through the week - what with the negotiations on the beach (which finished a day early - thank you very much), the special City Commission meeting regarding the City's negotiating team recommendation and then the Master Plan meeting - the last two over-lapping each other last night.

I'll be reviewing the week in more detail, but for know I want to tell you a little story about Delta airlines and Orbitz. This all transpired this morning.

If things had gone as planned, I would be in western Massachusetts with my father right now. My flight to Boston was scheduled to leave PBIA around 11:30 a.m. and a cab ride around 10 or so seemed about right. But, there was something I couldn't shake regarding my flight arrangements. So, I went to Orbitz (how I bought the ticket) and they said that I was leaving SATURDAY - not FRIDAY. Now even in my foggy state of mind I could figure out something was wrong. I had e-mailed myself the itinerary, with a copy to my Dad and it said Friday - that was only from this past Wednesday. Someone had changed my reservations between then and this morning.

I won't bore you with all the gory details, but between Orbitz (who said they notified me by e-mail, which they didn't) and Delta (who cancelled the flight and re-booked me on a 6 a.m. Saturday morning flight - they even had me "checked-in" and suggested I go to the airport to change my flight if I wanted), we finally got to the point where I am now leaving around noon on Saturday. This is unfortunate in that I will have less time with my father, but I can still make my class (Urban Housing - Mixed Use Development) that begins on Monday. It did give me some time to catch up on things today that would've had to wait until I got back, so it wasn't a total loss.

By the way, Delta did call me about an hour and a half before my originally scheduled flight and told me it was cancelled. Which would have been about the time that I was in the cab heading for the airport ("My bags are packed, they're ready to go, the taxi's waiting, he's blowing his horn"). No offer to compensate, etc. Just beware and check many times before you plan on taking a flight, especially with Delta. I hear that they are canceling flights when they are not full and putting you on the next available flight (like 6 a.m. on a Saturday) to ensure that they have a full plane. Saves on gas expense, I guess.

Anyway, more on what happened Lake Worth-wise once I have some quiet time up north.

Oh, the Commission did move on the beach with Greater Bay - more on that later too.

Just a few words: Trust, but verify. - Ronald Reagan

Never thought I'd be quoting him.

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

Update - Lago Valare S/W corner of Palm Way and Lake

I'd like to give you an up-date on this project. I have posted twice before on this and now I really think we are getting somewhere. I'd like your opinion too.

In between everything else going on this week, we had time to meet with the developer and architect on Wednesday. The two versions here are the result of a lot of work on the behalf of staff and the applicant's architect. They will present these at our meeting on August 2nd for information only. They will appear on the PZHRPB agenda for a final decision at our August 16th meeting.

I happen to prefer Option 1 (above) - the one with the more plain roof treatment along Palm Way. The vertical treatment along the northern (Lake Avenue) facade designates the entry to the building and helps with breaking up the facade with a little more visual interest. I think the gable roofs over the other balconies are not needed.

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"