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MInutes 02-15-23 - Special De Jesus, Maylee From: Turkin, Thomas Sent: Monday, February 13, 2023 5:08 PM To: De Jesus, Maylee Subject: Fwd: Draft of Town Place Concerns I believe this constituent wants this read into the record. Get Outlook for iOS Thomas Turkin GST V OA,. City Commissioner- District III El City Commission ��. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 310 I Boynton Beach, Florida 33425 "� r Physical Address: 100 E.Ocean Ave. I Boynton Beach, Florida 33435 ,� �c- B TurkinT@bbfl.us I ® boynton-beach.org/ T°" © II Li Follow us on • Please be advised that Florida has a broad public records law and all correspondence to me via email may be subject to disclosure.Under Florida records law, email addresses are public records.Therefore,your e-mail communication and your e-mail address may be subject to public disclosure. From:Thomas Devlin<tpdevlin@bellsouth.net> Sent: Monday, February 13, 2023 5:06:35 PM To:Turkin,Thomas<TurkinT@bbfl.us> Cc: Penserga,Ty<PensergaT@bbfl.us> Subject: Draft of Town Place Concerns Tom. Here is a quick draft, consolidating the Town place concerns voiced in Nextdoor conversations In the form of an email to be sent to the clerk to read into the record. Dear City Clerk, my name is Thomas Devlin. I reside at 2840 SE. 1st Court, Boynton Beach, FL 33435 and I ask that you read this into the record of the commission meeting of 3/15/2023. The following is a consolidation of comments from residents in NextDoor conversations relative to the current proposed Town Place project. Many are opposed to the project some are for the project and the Majority of resident have concerns about the project moving forward without their issues being considered and addressed.They are as outlined below. The residents of Boynton Beach approved the original Town Place with the idea that the downtown area would be a modern "Town Square" of old where people shop eat, maybe even go to the movies, although nobody goes to the 1 movies since Covid, but where the community can come relax see and hear bands and enjoy the many recreational amenities and festivals to be held in the area. There is wide spread agreement, Noone wants Boynton Beach to look like or become Atlantic Avenue in Delray or Boca Raton. All wish that Boynton Beach retain its town feeling,the name is"Boynton Beach"for a reason. A Central issue is traffic, both on Boynton Beach Blvd, Ocean Ave. and Secrest. Many expressed difficulty getting to the library or the beach with the current traffic. Being only they are only a couple miles west they feel like traffic study is required to reduce transit time to and from the beach. Along the same lines, it is felt that the density is too high in that 930 units with 1.5 cars would be an additional approximately 1500 cars on the road impacting traffic increasing accidents, insurance rates, etc.. The density allowed should be consistent with approved traffic and existing infrastructure. It is consensus that the number of floors are too high, making the area look like a canyon or valley.The number of Floors should be restricted to no higher than City Hall. There needs to be sufficient public parking garages on the north and south to accommodate out of the immediate area residents to use the City Hall, Library,Cultural Center,attend events at Centennial Park and along Ocean Avenue. It is also requested that sufficient street parking and handicap parking be available on the street for quick and easy access or for those that have difficulty walking but don't qualify for handicap. Additionally, priority should be given to Constructing the parking lots first.Such that, construction workers can use said parking and not use residents daytime parking for use of City Hall, library Park, and other facilities. It is imperative that with so many surrounding units within walking distance that it not appear that the public areas are front row and private to TownePlace residents and open to the general public The design should be in keeping with the intent of making downtown a destination and not a bedroom community. There was a thought of a possibility the area looks something like a central park New York City, with a large,wooded green space in the middle of town with buildings surrounding. As opposed to hustle and bustle of Delray, Boca, Lake Worth,West Palm and keep Boynton beach what It is a small beach town Feel. Again, relative to height the corner of Secrest in Boynton Beach Blvd.Should not obscure the view of City Hall and the park just to the north such that unless people were looking for it they wouldn't know it was there.As demonstrated by Ty Penserga's Facebook post about a WPBAF news segment about a mother and daughter traveling east on Boynton Beach Blvd.The child pointed out the building„asked what it was.When told it was the City Hall and library.The child told the mother she wanted to go and get a library card. If a building exists on that corner,the north east section of it should be tapered to not obscure the view of City Hall. A question was raised as to the impact on public safety. what is needed is to create a thriving active downtown environment? Several people are in favor of the project with the developers considering more commercial space and possibly less density of units. Given that ratio of business failures and vacancies that exist relative to other projects in the immediate vicinity, and Riverwalk Plaza and Boynton one„There was also general concern about this project. Is there a need for additional 2 commercial and residential units?Another example being the high-rise Casa Costa, which is nowhere near capacity and has been there several years Aesthetics:the buildings picture look like a prison complex. Appears designed to cram as many units possible.Again the height is in question and something should break up the silhouette of the view. There should also be a bit of a public plaza space. Instead of taking the building all the way around the road, people use this area,some portion of it should be walkable and public use. Consideration needs to be made that when building right up to the roadside, it precludes any future expansion of the road if density is to increase need to plan for future,the city should maintain an easement that can be reclaimed later to possibly add turn lanes on Brighton and Secrest. Examples of this can be seen at the Post Office and Church at the same intersection.Additionally the intersection of Woolbright and Seacrest at the cemetery. Both intersections could desperately use an eastbound right turn lane but are prevented from doing so by previous development. Traffic for many again is difficult to intolerable. Want No higher density projects considered without a plan to improve the traffic,throughput and walkability. Indicated the rebuilding of Woolbright Bridge at 95 worked wonders. Boynton BB and Gateway are planned by the county are those improvements in time to coincide with the project? Walkability and green space of the project area were mentioned often. Along with the project in regards to walkability,there are serious issues to be addressed. Secrest is the main thorough fare for the neighborhoods, but walking down along Seacrest in general is dangerous because of the frequency of neighborhood blocks.Suggest improve lighting, like street lamps in the front of City Hall and down Secrest from Gateway to Woolbright,an Gulf Stream Boulevard. It would vastly improve the safety, comfort of pedestrians attempting to walk day or in the evenings and be protected from cars. SE. 1st St. is not an alternative for pedestrians.There is no sidewalk consider adding one. For the commission the majority of comments were that any tax base increases in revenue, should be returned to residents,for beautification of the city such as dedicated street clean up and street cleaning. To the commission,a general point was made with all of the new projects in town there is a concern about water and its continued availability. It has been stated that we have plenty of water, however other locations such as California, Colorado and elsewhere assumed they had plenty of water until they didn't. How will the addition of the new units at Riverwalk Pierce town place and the federal highway project impact future water supply. What evaluations have been done. Considering 3/4 of the stores at Casa Costa are vacant and it's very difficult to run retail businesses without street level parking never mind that there's parking behind the stores some small service businesses like UPS and the nail salon do well, but it's very difficult for others And it would not be a good idea to replicate what already isn't working in the city in another location. How would project address? There needs to be a balance in what's reflected in Boynton Beach a resort recreational community where people live work and retire. Many people feel development is done without traffic in mind and defeating the purpose of the above. Again residents want a quiet recreational beach town where people can live relax work Enjoy recreation and retire. How Does the project support those goals? How does the project fit in the version 2020 plan? 3 Again how is traffic considered?With the apartments near old Boynton and other locations often residents have to make a right turn and make a U-turn, which could be the case in the mornings with residents trying to get to 1-95 I would appreciate commission and project developer feedback to share with neighbors. Sincerely, Tom Devlin Regards, Tom Sent from my iPhone 4