Loading...
Minutes 11-15-00MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY~MEETING HELD IN THE LIBRARY PROGRAM ROOM, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2000 AT 6:30 P.M. PRESENT ALSO PRESENT Gerald Broening, Mayor Ron Weiland, Vice Mayor Bruce Black, Commissioner Charlie Fisher, Commissioner William Sherman, Mayor Pro Tem Josh Aguila Al DeMarco Lindsey Payne, Board Attorney Quintus Greene, Director of Development CALL TO ORDER Mayor Broening called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M. I1. AGENDA APPROVAL Motion Commissioner Fisher made a motion to approve the agenda as presented. Black seconded the motion that carried unanimously. PRESENTATIONS III. None IV. Commissioner APPROVAL OF MINUTES - October 11, 2000 Motion Commissioner Fisher made a motion to approve the minutes as written. Commissioner Black seconded the motion that carried unanimously. V. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. Project Status Reports Ocean Avenue Promenade Mr. Quintus Greene, Director of Development, reported on Ocean Avenue Promenade, saying that the project was on time and that the 500 block was expected to open up completely by December 15. Most of the underground utility work is done and that Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Boynton Beach, Florida November 15, 2000 should be finished by the middle of next week. Some temporary lighting will be installed in the 500 block and this will result in a $5500 Change Order. He commented that the project still had budget issues, including a shortfall of $300,000, that would need to be addressed at some point since the situation had not changed. B) Marina Project Mr. Greene stated that the developer was out for bids for utility work on Casa Loma Boulevard. Four contractors have picked up packages and quotes are expected in by next week. It is also expected that the temporary parking lots will be done for the Two Georges area on the main site, which is necessary to do the work on Casa Loma. Bruce Jarvis group is looking to take over the project sometime towards the end of the month. Mayor Broening asked what the next step would be. Mr. Greene responded that the question was whether or not Jarvis would stick to the current design or whether he will want to make some modifications. Commissioner Fisher had asked at the last meeting for a five-year breakdown on a budget for the project and Mr. Greene had provided this information in the packets given to the CRA members. Mr. Greene stated that if the Marina Project, which is estimated to be a $45 - 40 Million project, comes on line, we should at least double the amount of money that the CRA gets every year. We will go from approximately $314,000 to close to $700,000 per year and if you combine that with some of the other projects, it is easy to see that within the next five years we could be getting $1,000,000 a year. Looking at that from the standpoint of the CRA puts us in an excellent position to look at issuing revenue bonds for projects and we would have a stable revenue stream to pay off the debt service. The Marina project is supposed to come on line May of 2003. Mr. Greene stated that Casa Loma BOulevard was supposed to be done by May 2000 and the shell is supposed to be done by 2002 and the entire project is due to be completed by January of 2003. He said that this would have a tremendous impact because that area of the CRA had an initial plan date of 1983, which is a Iow base year. We are going to capture a major portion of that increment from that base year to when the project comes on line. B) CRA Budget Mr. Greene reported that the budget for the month ending October 31, 2000 was straightforward with an ending fund balance of $850,956. He pointed to the five-year breakdown and the increment accruing annually. He said that the project had two major boundary expansions. It was established in 1983 with major modifications occurring in 1989 and 1999. Each one of the sections represents a base year for a particular segment of the area. It so happens that the Marina project will be in our earliest base year so we will get the biggest "kick" when it comes on line. Mr. Greene explained the Tax Increment Financing chart included in the packets. He said that taxable revenues had increased over time and that at this time the tax rate for the City of Boynton Beach was about .00786. If this rate changes, the tax revenues would change also. VI. NEW BUSINESS 2 Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Boynton Beach, Florida November 15, 2000 Appointment recommendations for the five board members to be added to the Community Redevelopment Agency Mr. Greene reported that the City Commission had directed Staff to come up with a process for selecting five new members to the new, independent Community Redevelopment Board. Mr. Greene described the process that ~nvolved sending out a public solicitation. They did this and received 14 applications. Staff made a recommendation of five people and the Commission, after deliberating, chose two of the five people to be on the CRA Board. We went back to all the persons not selected the first time and confirmed their continuing interest. We did another solicitation and got a few people, ending with a total pool of thirteen applicants. Staff proposes to recommend five people to the Commission. The Commission will receive all of the resumes, all of the responses to the questions, and the Commission can choose to select other than those five people. It was felt that the Commission should be given a choice to go with the staff recommendation or make their own selection. All of this information will be part of the agenda information for the December 5 Commission meeting. The selections will be made at the December 5, 2000 Commission meeting. Commissioner Black asked if there would be a change of the guard at that time? Mr. Greene said that that would probably occur in January of 2001. Mr. Aquila asked if the Ordinance was already modified to provide for this change? Mayor Broening said he believed an Ordinance change would be necessary. Mr. Aquila asked if the new Ordinance would make clear the new responsibilities of the CRA? Mayor Broening stated that if they have the selection made by the first meeting in December, then it could go to the Commission for ratification and first reading, then be finalized at the next Commission meeting. Mr. Greene said that first reading could conceivably be at the December 5 meeting. Mayor Broening expressed approval for this idea because it would keep the action right on schedule according to the original plan of having an independent CRA by the end of 2000. There was some discussion about the appropriateness of the CRA making a recommendation to the Commission, and Ms. Payne stated that this could be done. Commissioner Fisher said the CRA had the option of doing it either way. Either the CRA could make the recommendation to the Commission or Mr. Greene could make the recommendation to the Commission, but that the Commission could override any decisions of staff or the CRA. Mr. Aquila said if the CRA was to be part of the recommendation process it would have to meet again before December 5. Considerable discussion took place about the process of getting a recommendation to the Commission and who should be party to the decision. It was acknowledged that Mr. Greene would have staff recommendations. Mayor Broening wanted to have the two independent CRA members a part of the decision-making process in the selection of the five names. It was decided to have a meeting at 5:30 p.m. before the December 5 City Commission meeting to come to a consensus on a recommendation for the City Commission. It was also decided to include the two current independent members of the CRA in the meeting. Meeting Minutes ...... Community Redevelopment Agency Boynton Beach, Florida November 15, 2000 Mr. Greene offered to put together two additional agenda packets for the two CRA members who would be attending the pre-Commission meeting on December 5. He commented that once the agenda packets had been distributed, the staff recommendations would become public knowledge, which everyone acknowledged. B. Status Report: CRA Plan Amendment Mr. Greene stated that on October 4, the Commission issued a notice of intent to declare a six-month Zoning in Progress (ZIP) study on Federa Highway. Staff looked at that notice of intent and have seen an opportunity to "kill two birds with one stone". Staff has an RFP on the street for a CRA redevelopment plan for the Federal Highway corridor from the northern to southern city limits, from the railroad to the Intracoastal. There were two reasons for this: 1) In 1999 the boundaries of the CRA were expanded to take that area in but no plan was done for it and it is now time to do a plan. Within the context of that plan it is staff's intent to secure some policy recommendations for the Comprehensive Plan, to look at amendments to the Future Land Use Map, look at proposed Rezoning for the Corridor and recommendations for zoning code revisions to accommodate a mix of uses, and design standards, parking recommendations to guide future development in the Corridor and also design for architectural themes. With the redevelopment plan staff intends to achieve of the objectives that Commission set out for ZIP in the corridor as well as have a redevelopment plan for that portion of the CRA that currently does not exist. Also, in the near future, staff plans to do an update of the Redevelopment Plan for the Core area of the CRA. The CRA was initially established in 1983 and the plan dates from that time. There is a seventeen year old redevelopment plan that has had very little done towards updating it. We have expanded the boundaries to take in all of the area around Town Square and we are working on a plan for that. In effect, what they are doing is updating the entire CRA plan that is something we ought to do and it also helps keep the City legal in the framework of the State laws. Mayor Broening said he believed that this was one of the most significant things that had happened in recent years because it addressed the legalities that were necessary to enable all the changes to work. The Mayor thanked Mr. Greene. Commissioner Fisher asked about the Request for Proposals (RFP). Mr. Greene said a number of RFPs were sent to established planning firms all over the state of Florida. They had a pre-proposal meeting yesterday. The Notice of Intent was issued by the Commission on October 4, 2000 and the RFP went out on October 26, 2000. A pre- proposal meeting was held on November 14, 2000. The proposals are due November 21, 2000. It is hoped that the proposals can be on the agenda for the City Commission on December 5, 2000. There is a fixed budget of $25,000 plus $2,500 for reimbursements. Everybody knows what the budget is, so basically we will be evaluating the proposals based on the person that gives us the most for the money. The 150-day timeframe for the project was discussed. Mr. Greene stated that if a Notice to Proceed was out in the middle of December (to allow the consultant to get his insurance documents in and do a lot of paperwork), we are looking at project completion of mid- May 2001. The six months would be up then but we may have to come back to the Commission and ask for more time. Commissioner Fisher asked if this would be allowed? He recalled they had to get an exact date. Mr. Greene remarked Meeting Minutes " Community Redevelopment Agency Boynton Beach, Florida November 15, 2000 that the reason for coming back would have to be very good. Mr. Aquila stated he was happy this was being done. VII. PUBLIC AUDIENCE Mr. Brian Edwards said he thought the ZIP for the Corridor was great. He asked if any serious possibilities for the Boynton Plaza had come up? He also asked if there had been any developments on the purchase of the land adjacent to the Intracoastal Park? Mayor Broening stated that the answer was yes to both questions. On the land purchase, he stated he was loath to give any more details because the purchase was in the hands of lawyers at the present time. He said the City had a proposal before the sellers at the present time. Mayor Broening further stated that development in town, on the east side and including Boynton Plaza, was being discussed with various large developers but that nothing was firm yet. Mr. Edwards said there was a concern in his area about developments in the future. Mayor Broening said that the six-month moratorium on building wouldtend to bring about sensible development. VIII. OTHER Mr. DeMarco stated he had attended an Economic Development meeting and he asked Ms. Heavilin or Mike Bottcher of the Chamber of Commerce if they would care to report on the results of the meeting. He said it was very productive, a lot of action was taking place, and he thought it was good for the City. Mr. Bottcher said that one of the major highlights that came out of the meeting was that they were closing in rapidly on funding their half of the Development CD ROM that the Chamber and the City were jointly developing. Hopefully we will be able to bring those funds to the next joint Chamber of Commerce/City of Boynton Beach workshop as well as some ideas on how we would like to see it developed. There was also talk about the signage issue in terms of the downtown directional signage that came out of the Boynton Ocean District Association (BODA). Mr. Finkelstein said BODA had talked to the sign company that did Lantana and 20 other cities in Florida and around the country and every one of the Commissioners got a copy of their proposal. We have talked to the development department, who is assessing the City's capability with some signage machinery the City uses. We .are waiting to hear on that as well as a copy of the plan for the intersection of Boynton Beach Boulevard and I- 95 to see if there's going to be any land left over there for signs. BODA has also agreed to put in some funds towards signage. For $50,000 a complete directional sign package and at least ten existing signs can be provided. The number of signs can be whittled down to whatever you want. You may not want the sign background and mapping etc. It ended up not being a lot of money and gets us some signs on Boynton Beach Boulevard, Federal Highway, Ocean Avenue, the Marina, and the 500 block. This is a sign program that does the loop we all agreed to have done. The sign company is eager to get started and to design something specifically for Boynton. That is the project we Meeting Minutes ..... Community Redevelopment Agency Boynton Beach, Florida November 15, 2000 are pushing forward under BODA. The sign company is eager to make a presentation to the Comm ss on and show what they can do for us. He said the City could certainly go out to bid..but that the sign company was still willing to come and make a presentat on any time the Commission wanted to see it. Ms. Jeanne Heavilin stated that the Real Estate' Tax Force had identified properties in the City q~ interest to developers and that at some point, these would be integrated w th the City's GIS prOgram. Mr. Aquila asked if it would cover industrial and commercial properties and Ms. Heavilin stated.it would. Mr. Finklelstein said that it would be part of the Development CD so that the business leaders and site selectors would see that Boynton had a database of all the properties that are available, what they are zoned for, where they are located, along with a complete map which would also show retail establishrhents. Mr. Greene told the CRA that he had been working in the City for ten months and had been wearing two hats, one as Development Director and one as Director for the CRA. He said that of necessity, he had to spend most of his time as Development Director, managing the activities of the Development Department. He said this should be remedied soon with the recent announcement of Ms. Nancy Byrne as Assistant Development Director. This will leave Mr. Greene with more time to devote to CRA activities. It was announced that the annual Board dinner would be at Benvenutos on January 25, 2001. VIII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Vice Mayor Weiland moved to adjourn, which was seconded by Mr. DeMarco. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting was duly adjourned at 7:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary (one tape)