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Minutes 06-30-04 MINUTES OF THE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD WORKSHOP HELD IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2004 AT 6:30 P.M. Present: Lee Wische, Chair Sergio Casaine, Jr., Vice Chair William Cwynar Roger Saberson Mike Friedland, Alternate Absent: Woodrow Hay Steve Myott Jose Rodriguez Mike Fitzpatrick, Alternate Mike Rumpf, Planning & Zoning Director Dick Hudson, Senior Planner I. Call to Order Chairman Wische called the workshop to order at 6:35 p.m. and declared a quorum was present. II. Evaluation and Appraisal Report Issues Scoping Meeting A. Purpose of Scoping Meeting and Required EAR Components Dick Hudson, Senior Planner, explained that every seven years the State requires all local governments to complete a review of their Comprehensive Plan, which is called the Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR). The last one was done in 1996. At that time every government in the State had similar reports and were required to go through every element in the Plan using certain criteria in assessing each element. The Legislation in 1998 changed the process. The next round of EAR Reports only requires local governments to evaluate those issues that pertain to and affect their local jurisdiction and how those issues would affect the community's ability to achieve its long-range goals for growth management. The "one-size-fits-all" report is no longer required. An assessment of each element also has to be done to some degree, but not as intricately as previously done. Chairman Wische noted that the process requires the City to send the amendment to DCA, and DCA has 60 days to review it. When DCA sends back their comments and requests, the City only has to adopt the recommendations that are State-mandated and does not have to accept the recommendations that are not State-mandated. Mr. Hudson Meeting Minutes Planning and Development Board Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida June 30, 2004 confirmed that this was correct. Chairman Wische recommended that this be pointed out when staff holds its workshop with the City Commission. B. Review of Issues Facing the City of Boynton Beach Mr. Hudson referred to the definition of an "issue" contained in the Guide. He noted that the term "transportation" cannot be an issue because it is too broad. The definition is: "An issue is usually a very narrow matter of concern to the existing and future growth and development of the local community." Staff's task is to determine what those issues are and to workshop with the Planning and Development Board and the CRA Board to determine what those members feel are issues. Mr. Hudson distributed the timeline for the entire ERA process that is also contained on page 11 of the report. The EAR Report must be completed by November 1, 2005. Mr. Hudson pointed out that they are currently in the workshop process that has been identified as being held in the months of August and September 2004 and they are a little ahead of the schedule. It is anticipated that a workshop with the City Commission to finalize the issues will be held sometime next month, after which a list of the issues would be forwarded to DCA. Chairman Wische inquired if there have been many changes since the Plan was adopted in the late 1980's/early 1990's. Mr. Hudson stated that minor amendments have been made to the Plan, and staff recognizes that there are issues that they need to look at again. One issue that may get changed is the City's ability to provide services to new development. Also, the City has set a response time for Fire Rescue services and this needs to be recognized as well. Mr. Hudson pointed out that the City is almost built out and there is very little raw land remaining to build on. He anticipates that they will be addressing infill and redevelopment in the future and noted that the Motorola project is actually a redevelopment project. The City is also working on a plan to link open spaces. Eventually these open spaces should be recognized in the plan in the event the City decides to preserve some of these linkages, and there would be a policy on record to do it. Once the issues are identified, staff would begin an analysis of the EAR. There is a list of items that have to be addressed, that include: Is there any vacant land available? What is the population change? The extent to which the community has been able to meet the demands of growth on infrastructure. Has development been located where it was anticipated in the Plan that it would be developed? Mr. Hudson noted that there have been some changes in this category, because the City had to make changes to the land use map. Meeting Minutes Planning and Development Board Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida June 30, 2004 Addressing the success of coordinating land use and school facilities' planning. Mr. Hudson pointed out that Palm Beach County is way ahead on this because there is a school concurrency element in the plan. Evaluating the Plan with respect to the South Florida Water Management District's Plan and the Utilities Department is working on a water supply plan. With regard to coastal high hazard areas, staff is supposed to evaluate whether past reductions in land use densities have impaired the property rights of current residents. There are properties built along the Intracoastal that are in the hurricane high hazard area that have 20 and 30 units per acre on land designated for 10 units per acre. If there was a disaster, the land could not be rebuilt at that density, which does impair citizens' rights. Look at the changes to residential, commercial and institutional development within urban infill and redevelopment areas. When the issues are identified, staff has to go back and look at them and analyze them based upon certain criteria and this will be done over the next year. The impact of each issue has to be identified. Have there been changes in circumstances that were not anticipated? Mr. Hudson pointed out that the population growth has been much greater than anticipated over the past few years. Chairman Wische inquired that when the issues are identified would they be presented to the Board in writing so they could be studied before the Board has another meeting with staff. Mr. Hudson responded that there will be many more meetings and it could be discussed at the regular Board meetings. Chairman Wische would like to see the discussions in writing before he makes an opinion as to whether he wants to add anything to it or if he has a question regarding a particular issue. Mr. Hudson recommended that when the date is set for the City Commission Workshop that the Board members also attend. The next thing that must be addressed is whether any changes that occurred caused an issue to arise. Consideration needs to be given if the issue created a problem or did the issue create an opportunity for the City to move forward. After that has been determined, staff must identify any actions or plan amendments that are necessary to address the issue. The reason for the workshop is to ask the Board members to come up with any issues that they think need to be addressed. The State Department of Transportation is now endorsing public transit and alternate modes of transportation. Mr. Hudson noted that the City is applying for a Transportation Concurrency Exception Area in the downtown. With all of the developments that will be coming on line in the downtown area, there will be negative impacts on the roads. Even though staff is trying to create a pedestrian friendly environment and utilize alternate transportation, there will still be problems. The DOT would like the City to set up a local transit service and the CRA is considering utilizing a bus in the downtown area. Also, 3 Meeting Minutes Planning and Development Board Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida June 30,2004 DOT is very much in favor of passenger service on the FEC Railroad. As members are aware, the FEC tracks go through the heart of all the coastal communities and utilizing these tracks would be ideal for City-to-City commuting. Staff is also addressing the fiscal future of the City, compared to the physical future of the City. A program is in the process of being developed to do a fiscal analysis in land use amendments, and hopefully this will be ready in the next year or two. The program only came on line last year and has to be adjusted for each local community because costs of service provisions vary from one city to another. The City's Comprehensive Plan has a capital improvements element and for years no capital improvements planning has been done. By law, the capital improvements element is supposed to be updated annually and is one of the few exceptions to the twice-yearly restriction on amendments. The only other elements that are exceptions to the twice-yearly restriction are DRI's and emergencies. The City now has a capital improvements plan that looks at the things that the City would like to see, compared to a "wish list." When an item is put on a capital improvements program, the City has to state where the money is coming from and it must be from a feasible soume of funding. This will help the City a great deal in planning. Mr. Hudson referred to the list of requirements for each element that is included in the report. Each element must have goals, policies and objectives. C. Discussion of Issues Mr. Cwynar inquired if there are plans to put the City's phone, cable and power lines underground so that they would not blow away in the event of a hurricane. Mr. Hudson explained that putting these lines underground is very costly, but it is a goal that they could work towards. Mr. Hudson pointed out that most of the developments coming on line are going underground. Mr. Friedland noted that Boynton Beach is the narrowest city from Jacksonville to Key West and the City is only nine miles wide. Mr. Friedland questioned how the City could grow if it has no more space. Mr. Hudson stated that this is where redevelopment comes in. The Plan still references Visions 20/20, but Mr. Hudson noted that there are later studies that have gone beyond the 20/20 guidelines. He also thought it might be a good time to have another vision for the City that would include the public. Mr. Saberson inquired if there were any parcels that were eligible for annexation. Mr. Hudson reported that the County is trying to tighten up the annexation policy. The reason for this is because some communities are in a race to see who can grab the most land and the County is opposed to this. Mr. Saberson noted that this might go to referendum and Mr. Hudson stated that there is talk about doing this. There are a lot of small enclaves that the City supplies water to that the City does not have annexation agreements with. One of the City's policies is to try to reduce the size of enclaves and get them under 10 acres so they could be annexed. The City is, however, getting a lot of voluntary annexation. 4 Meeting Minutes Planning and Development Board Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida June 30, 2004 Mr. Hudson pointed out that a lot of development along Federal Highway is on land that is being annexed in small increments. Annexing anything over 10 acres becomes very cumbersome and it is easier when the land is less than 10 acres. Mr. Cwynar inquired if the 10-acre law is County and Mr. Hudson responded that it was State law. Chairman Wische noted that whenever redevelopment and expansion comes up during discussions, the question arises where will the water come from. Chairman Wische noted that not only does the City have two water treatment plants, the City also has the aquifer recovery system. Although the City has yet to use this system, it is available in the event of an emergency. Chairman Wische thought that there were two such systems in place. He also pointed out that whenever it rains, the aquifer fills up without any cost to the City. He would like people to be informed of these systems in order to cut down on people's concerns every time a development comes on line. Mr. Hudson also noted that the City received approval this past year from SFWMD to increase its withdrawal permit. Mr. Hudson stated that there is a move to do away with the C-4 commercial, most of which is along Federal Highway and is basically automotive related uses, body shops, etc. Unfortunately, at the same time, industrial land in the City has been reduced by conversion to other uses and the City needs to decide if it wants to find places for these types of businesses to relocate. Does the City want to consider establishing another industrial zoning district? He pointed out that these types of places offer necessary services and will need a place to relocate. Mr. Friedland inquired if there was room for more businesses on Industrial Avenue and Mr. Hudson did not feel there was much land left on Industrial Avenue. Chairman Wische asked if staff had any area in mind that could be rezoned and Mr. Hudson stated there was none that staff was currently considering. If the Board thinks this is an issue, staff would address it. Mr. Cwynar felt that those businesses along Federal Highway need to be moved back. Mr. Casaine thought that the land on the western side of Federal Highway was not being fully utilized. He recommended some type of plan to utilize this wasted land. Chairman Wische asked Mr. Hudson when the Commission workshop would take place. Mr. Hudson responded that he is waiting for a date from the City. He recommended spending time at the Board's next regular meeting to go over any issues that members may have. Mike Rumpf, Planning and Zoning Director, recapped what had been discussed tonight. Mr. Rumpf informed Board members that they should not feel compelled to try to read all the policies at this time. He would like the Board members to spend time on coming up with issues that they would like to see addressed and to also consider where the City has been, where it is now, and where is it going. The actual updating of the policies is staff's responsibility, while working with the Boards. He did recommend that the Meeting Minutes Planning and Development Board Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida June 30, 2004 members try to look through the policy document, while familiarizing themselves with the abundance of policies in the document. As time progresses, the Board will see some of the ideas that have emanated from discussions with this Board, the CRA and the Commission formulated into the issue text. DCA does not dictate what the City's issues are, but wants to make certain that the City is accurately setting forth the issue. Mr. Saberson inquired, as part of the process, whether the City hires a marketing consultant, which he feels would be helpful. Mr. Rumpf responded that this could happen if an issue is identified that would require a study. Mr. Saberson stated that if something is identified that the City would like to achieve, it would be helpful to have marketing advice to know if in fact it was achievable, the timeframe and how to do it. Members brought up and discussed issues regarding education, roads and infrastructure. Mr. Cwynar felt that the City should push harder in getting the roads improved and expanded. Mr. Rumpf stated that it was possible to lobby the Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Board of County Commissioners on these issues. These are decisions that must be made on whether the City wants to push any particular roadway improvements. II1. Adjournment There being no further business, the workshop properly adjourned at 7:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (July 1, 2004)