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Minutes 04-07-01MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY WORKSHOP HELD AT THE WEST WING, CONFERENCE ROOM C CITY HALL COMPLEX BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA ON SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2001 AT 9:00 A.M. Present Also Present Larry Finkelstein, Chairman Jeanne Heavilin, Vice Chair Jose Aguila Al DeMarco Don Fenton Quintus Greene, Director of Development Also Present James Barretta, member of the Planning & Development Board Absent Michelle Hoyland Henderson Tillman I. Call to Order The workshop commenced at 9:02 a.m. II. Roll Call The Recording Secretary called the roll and a quorum was declared present. II1. Agenda and Minutes Approval Chairman Finkelstein deferred the approval of the minutes of the March 3, 2001 and March 13, 2001 meetings to the meeting on April 10. There were no additions, corrections, or deletions to the agenda. IV. Workshop Chairman Finkelstein distributed copies of the Federal Highway Corridor Community Redevelopment Plan (FHCCRP) to the members. He suggested using this Plan as a guide for the workshop so that everyone could become familiar with it prior to the vote that would be taken on it at the Board's April 10 meeting. Mr. Greene said that the consultant, Michele Mellgren, would be at the Board's meeting and they would have an opportunity to ask her specific questions about the Plan. Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 Obstacles to Development Mr. Aguila believed the Board should identify some of the obstacles, seek consensus on alternatives, and make a recommendation to the City Commission. He spoke of surrounding cities that had done the same kinds of things that Boynton was trying to do now. He cited the "can't do" nature of the city's Code, the cumbersome procedures, and the fees. He contrasted that with examples from Delray Beach where requirements were waived or eliminated altogether such as the reduction in parking requirements in the downtown district being dropped from 12 per thousand to 6 per thousand. Chairman Finkelstein agreed that obstacles to development were within the purview of this Board, and that they needed to be listed, prioritized, and attacked in order of priority. Individual project analysis and implementation would follow this phase. He stated that parking requirements had already been reduced in the CBD and there was talk about waiwng requirements altogether once the CRA acquired a parcel it could use for additional parking. He said that the Board could definitely make some recommendations to the City Commission when it got to that part of the process. Chairma~ Finkelstein referred to a CRA booklet published recently that discussed the kinds of fee abatements and concessions that would be available for those developing or redeveloping in the CRA. It was now a matter of including that information in the Board's goals and objectives. Mr. Aguila wanted a more formal process where the CRA could identify challenges to development in the CRA area and talk about any support for waivers or reductions or incentives to help encourage development. Chairman Finkelstein suggested that this idea be expressed as a process to expedite development in the CRA. Chairman Finkelstein asked Mr. Aguila what he thought the impediments were to redevelopment in the CRA? Mr. Aguila said that parking would be #1 because it was so limited. Mr. Greene and Chairman Finkelstein remarked that the Parking Study had declared ~hat there was no shortage of parking. Mr. Aguila understood that but said that a business owner was expected to provide parking on his property or within 1,000 feet. Chairman Finkelstein said that a quick search could be done to see what the options were and if they did not want to use the options that were available to them, or if there were none, there could be some reason the City would want to go the extra mile for this particular developer. This went back to the idea that projeCts need to be analyzed on a case by case basis, Chairman Finkelstein: said they were already addressing land and surface parking. Federal Highway Corridor Community Redevelopment Plan Report - History - Summary Mr. Greene walked the CRA Board through the Federal Highway Corridor Community Redevelopment Plan. He stated that the current CRA plan was 17 years old and badly in need of updating. The City Commission had been presented with projects for Federal Highway with which it did not feet comfortable. This, coupled with concerns expressed by neighborhood associations and some of the merchants, led the Commission to impose Zoning in Progress (ZIP). The Commission directed staff to come up with a 2 Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 rezoning strategy for the entire Federal Highway Corridor. The Commission realized that the Federal Highway Corridor fell entirely in the CRA boundaries. It was also clear that before they could attack the zon ng problems in the Federal Highway Corridor, they had to deal with the planning issue in the Corridor. The Commission gave Development s~x months to come up with a plan. They hired a consultant and she just delivered the pfan that was before the Board. It was on the CRA agenda for April 10th and on the City Commission agenda for April 17th. On the 17th Development planned to request that the City Commission extend ZIP to give Staff time to amend the zoning code in conformity with the recommendations of the updated CRA Plan. Mr. Greene referred to the Comprehensive Plan, saying that zoning was done pursuant to the Comprehensive Plan. There was a necessity for a Comprehensive Plan amendment and these are only done twice a year, Apdl and October. They were notifying DCA of their intent to amend the Comprehensive Plan this month. Assuming the City Commission ultimately approved the Federal Highway Corridor Plan, they would then have a plan for the entire CRA. The Federal Highway Corddor would be the updated portion of the plan. The second section slated for update was the area east from the C16 canal down to Third Avenue and from the railroad west to 1-95. They had a 50K grant from DCA for a Community Planning program in that area. The third piece of the update was the Greater Town Square, which would include E~oynton Beach Boulevard from Seacrest to the railroad tracks. The Greater Town Square original area was between Seacrest and First Street from E~oynton Beach Boulevard south to Second, but they expanded this to go up to Third Avenue and east to the railroad. This section of the updates would be done in house under the lead staff person; Margelly Beltran. Staff was in the process of selecting the consultant who would have six months to complete the Greater Town Square update. Ms. Baltran was also preparing a model of the Civic facilities in Town Square for display in the lobby of City Hall se that people could see where the City was going. There would be two major pieces [eft ~ the balance of the Boynton Beach Corridor going over to 1-95 and the area to the west of 1-95, Industrial Avenue. In the FHCCRP, the consultant divided the corridor into five segments. Much of the report emphasized segment 3, which is downtown from the railroad to the Intracoastal. Then there is the cora araa frem the north edge of the mangroves to about 6~h~ The plan recommended that the City go to a Mixed-Use land use category for the CBD and for the areas adjacent to the CBD, Mixed-Use High and Low. The character is different in the transitional areas to the CBD and the entrances to the City. They looked at a "wedding cake" type of density, where the highest density was in the center and dropped off going away from the CBD, To achieve that they were going to be amending the CBD zoning. The consultant recommended certain uses for the area and suggested that other uses be denied. Federal Highway Height Discussion Mr. Greene related that the consultant had recommended a maximum of 150 feet against the current limitation of 100 feet. Mr. Aguila asked when and how the report 3 Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 would be analyzed for purposes of setbacks and heights so that a big wall was not created? Mr. Greene said that it was staff's job to write regulations that conformed to the recommendations. The details would follow this general phase. Overlay Specific Envelopes Chairman Finkelstein asked if lhey would be workshopping on overlay-specific envelopes? Would the CRA be involved in looking at staff's work product to guide the redevelopment of that area? Mr. Greene said the work product would be brought to the CRA before it was brought to lhe Commission Chairman Finkelstein said he wanted sufficient lead-time to discuss that work product. The Board wanted to be involved in the process at various points along the way so it could have some sort of input. Citywide Land Development Regulations vs. Regulations Within the CRA Mr. Aguila said the CRA had a boundary of responsibility but that there were Land Development Regulations that applied to the whole City. How would those rules and regulations be separated from the CRA regulations within its boundaries? Mr. Greene said that was one of the issues that had to be dealt with. They had to be very aware of the implications for the zoning categories and were debating this at this time. Chairman Finkelstein said that the entire CRA was going to have its own zoning regulations that would apply within the CBD. Mr. Greene replied that overlay zoning was quick "fix" but that the underlying zoning remained the same. Chairman Finkelstein thought the ZIP ought to be extended and that the CRA needed to be re-zoned in its entirety. Mr. Greene said they had to be careful about this because if they said that in CBD MU-Low they would allow 75 foot high buildings as a matter of right, did they want seven-story buildings on Boynton Beach Boulevard? Mr. Greene stated that discussions were underway now as to how best to bring about the changes people wanted to see. Specific Projects Recommended by Consultant in FHCCRP Project 1 - Convention Hotel Project 2 - Public Parking Project 3 - City Entrance Signage Project 4 - Establish a Public Presence Project 5 - Address Outdoor Storage Project 6 - Provide Pedestrian Crossings Comprehensive Plan Amendment Recommendations from FHCCRP 1) Amend the Comprehensive Plan text to create two subcategories of land use within the land use plan designation of Mixed Use (MU-H) and (MU-L). 2) Amend the Future Land Use Map to redesignate the downtown, Area III, as Mixed Use-High, and to redesignate the gateway communities, Areas II and IV, as mixed Use-Low. 3) Create development standards for the MU-H district. The City should not include a density maximum in the future MU-H, which is the recommended 4 Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 4) designation for Area III, and increase the maximum height in Area III from 100 feet to 150 feet. 5) Create development standards for the MU-L district. Mr. Greene pointed out that the report contained various uses that should and should not be allowed. The repot[ recommended that the City consider eliminating vehicle- odented non-neighborhood serving uses that may otherwise be permitted in the current gateway neighborhoods. The report recommended allowing grocery or food stores with a m~mmum size of at least 27,000 square feet. Mr. Greene said they wanted to establish a floor for the s~ze of a grocery store. After much discussion, the Board agreed that this floor was too high and that there were uses that would be in the 10,000 to 12,000 square feet category that would be desirable, specifically as aids to those in residential towers. They agreed that they did not want the 3,000 square feet mini marts. A question was raised about whether the existing businesses in the non-permitted uses were to be grandfathered in? Mr. Greene said that as the City rezonea, the existing businesses would become legal non-conforming uses. They could stay there, but they would not be able to expand and if they were not functioning for six months or more for any reason, the business would not be allowed to continue. There was some discussion about this creating monopolies in certain areas but in general, the Board approved the direction of this recommendation. Chairman Finkelstein asked about pharmacies? Mr. Greene said these were not incompatible with the downtown. The question was whether you wanted to put a distance requirement between them in your zoning regulations. Chairman Finkelstein said the Visions 20/20 Plan also had uses that should and should not be allowed and that had peen workshopped and approved by the Commission. Vice Chair Heavilin asked about the vehicle and boat storage and said that there had been a lot of talk about a maritime theme ~n the City. Would this prohibit a place like Boats U.S.A. selling boating supplies? Chairman Finkelstein did not think it would prohibit the supplies but that it might prohibit a boat dealer, unless the boats were placed inside a building. Parking Requirements Mr. Greene called the Board's attention to page 87, Recommendation No. 10, Create Land Development Regulations for Areas II, III and IV that address building placement, parking, parking location, mixed uses, and pedestrian channelization; incorporate the following guidelines. Mr. Greene directed the Board to guideline 2, parking for uses should not be located contiguous to Federal Highway. Shared parking standards should be reviewed; standards for payment in lieu of providing parking should be developed for Area III, Mr. Greene said they would probably restrict the "fee in lieu to the CRA district. Mr. Greene recalled the parking study done by McMann & Associates a year ago, which identified areas where there was congestion, and the reality according to them was that 5 Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 there was plenty of parking except by the Marina. Mr. Greene believed that if the City went with the fee-in-lieu-of arrangement under consideration, it would have to provide parking spaces. Mr. Aguila felt that once the developer had paid his money he would have fulfilled his obligation and would not be looking lo the City to provide parking spaces. He also believed thai if there were £en parking spaces that the developer may not want to pay a fee for all ten but possibly for a percentage of the spaces. Chairman Finkelstein believed that the product would dictate the formula in that different rules would apply to a restaurant than a regular retail establishment for example. Mr. Fenton suggested that a developer should have the responsibility for parking in that he could reserve part of his property for parking. Chairman Finkelstein distributed an article which said that it cost about $15,500 to build a structure for on-site or surface parking. Revenue from fee-in-lieu-of would eventually fund a parking structure. The Board had already talked about the Board becoming the parking authority so they would oversee that development. Mr. Greene said they could, in theory, eliminate all parking requirements in the downtown area. The problem was that if a restaurant seated 200 people, those people would have to have a place to park, even if there were no parking requirements. Chairman Finkelstein said they would also park in spaces where they should not park. Chairman Finkelstein also referred to the City's shared parking rule. A business could enter into a shared parking agreement with its neighbor; for example, a business that wanted to use the parking at night and its neighbor closed at 5 p.m. Mr. Greene stated that for the moment, the parking need was being addressed but that in the future, like the Shared Parking Study also said, there could be a garage. Chairman Finkelstein said there were rules already but he was still in favor of "fee-in-lieu o~". He said there would be situations where the City wanted the product but parking would be impossible and it would be up to the City to provide it. He envisioned the CRA as the Parking Authority, acquiring land now for surface lots and possibly for a garage later. He also believed that alternative solutions such as the lease with the church for parking should be pursued for now Discussion of Key Recommendations of the FHCCRP Mr. Fenton asked about the gas station requirement, thinking that it could prohibit putting gas down at the Marina for the boats. Mr. Greene stated that he would look into the situation. Mr. Fenton was only concerned with the unintentional consequence of the rule. Vice Chair Heavilin asked if rooming and boarding houses were a different category from bed and breakfasts? In Visions 20/20 they talked about encouraging that. Mr. Greene said that the City really wanted a full-service hotel, but bed and breakfasts were not prohibited In Mr. Aguila's oplmon, 3-5 acres would not be enough for a convention hotel. Mr. Greene said it could be done, depending on where it was located. They mentioned that on the fifth floor you could see the ocean. It would require reception, parking, ballrooms, guestrooms, and shops. 6 Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency WorkShOp Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 Mr. Fenton said he was in favor of the 150-foot height rule. He asked what the Board would be doing next? He wanted to know specifically when this item could be put on the agenda for the CRA to vote on and send a recommendation to the City Commission? Mr. Greene said he wanted to approve the entire Plan at one time, not pieces of it. If the Commission approved this FHCCRP plan, they had a green light to re-zone for 150 feet in the CBD. Th~ CRA Will vote on t at their meeting or~ the 10th and it will be on the C;ifv Commission agenda for their meeting on the Apr 17. -'" Chairman Finkelstein asked if Staff or the consultant had looked at the permitted and prohibited uses n the Visions Plan? Mr. Greene said they did look at it. He said he knew that Visions existed. What was important to them was that they got it right when they rezoned. Chairman Finkelstein said they had spent a lot of time putting Visions 20/20 together; it was approved by the Commission and in community workshops; and after everybody had come [o agreement on something, he believed this could be presented to the Commission as already having been approved by everyone previously. Mr. Greene stated that in his research on Visions 20/20, he discovered that the Plan was approved in concept but the Commission never took any formal action to adopt it. This was surprising to Chairman Finkelstein. He believed there was a meeting in which it was adopted, approved and money was set aside to do the first four recommendations of the Plan. He also said their had been two meetings on the subject; one in which the plan was approved in concept and he thought there was another Commission meeting in which they accepted Vision 20/20 as the Master Redevelopment Plan? Confusion arose among members of the development community about the reality of the Visions 20/20 Plan since it began to appear that it was not being used as the "bible" of development. Mr. Greene said there were two problems: 1) there were issues with respect to Visions 20/20, and 2) he believed they had a documen! [hat would be formally adopted as an amendment to the ORA Plan and they could go. forward with it. Chairman Finkelstein asked about design guidelines? In Visions 20/20, there were design guidelines and character studies. That was another thing the Board had talked about addressing, the character they wanted for the area. Visions 20/20 had it all. Mr. Aguila spoke of earlier, extremely restrictive and specific architectural design corridors, saying they had really £ied developer's hands. Mr. Greene said there had been a lot of suggestions made to developers as to design guidelines and Chairman Finkelstein agreed, saying that those suggestions had broughi the current products more in line with the overall character of the City. Mr. Greene said there were opportunities to make suggestions to developers and those that were astute took those suggestions into consideration. Mr. Aguila asked if ZIP had prevented development from taking place? Mr. Greene said no, that the net effect of ZiP was that it had suspended the C4 zoning district. If a developer came in with an allowable C3 use, it could still be done. Mr. Greene did not believe that C4 would be on Federal Highway in the future. CRA Goals and Objectives Mr. Greene stated that the Board's Goals and Objectives seemed to be more project- related than goals and objectives and he thought it was important to make a distinction 7 Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 between goals and projects. The Board agreed. Chairman Finkelstein said that the list was the Board's first step. They had wanted to define some projects they could get started on to get some name recognition in the City. Their next step was overall goals and objectives for the CRA in addition to their projects. Mr. Green drew the Board's attention to the FHCCR, page 94, "Goals, Objectives, and Policies". He thought that these set the framework within which projects could occur. Chairman Finkelstein stated that some of the goals were things lhey talked about in their workshop such as directional signs, parking, the public area, and the waterfront area and that it could be the perfect master framework; their project list could be appended to it. Ms. Heavilin noted Item P,-9 of the CRA's Goals and Objectives, "Establish the CRA as the Parking Authority". She asked how they would get that started? Mr. Greene said they needed to get a Resolution before the City Commission. Mr. Greene said that the CRA had already indicated in its minutes that was what it wanted. Chairman Finkelstein thought they would have to formally endorse the Goals and Objectives settled on at the workshop at their meeting on June 10~. Mr. Greene suggested that the CRA endorse the Goals and Objectives in the FHCCRP and also endorse the Project Goals as outlined Jn the March 3 workshop. Ms. Heavilin wondered if they wanted to prioritize the projects? Chairman Finkelstein wanted the full Board to be present for that. Mr. Greene suggested that this task be undertaken with an eye to flexibility. Funding for the CRA Chairman Finkelstein asked Mr. Greene for an update. Mr. Greene related that he was in the midst of asking the City Manager for $5M but he believed that $2M would be the ultimate dollar amount. Various functing alternatives were under consideration, including use of the public utility funds. Chairman Finkelstein suggested looking at the State's funding pools and also banks that had to meet their community development funding goals. Chairman Finkelstein believed there was a phase of the pool in which the State would loan the City money for CRA and the CRA could guarantee it with their T.I.F. income. If the CRA wanted to acquire some land and wanted to use their T.I.F. to back up those funds, the T.I.F1 funds could be levereged to borrow from that pool. It did not have to be for a specific project. Mr. Greene said that he had been looking to the City as the CRA's bank. Chairman Finkelstein said that if that failed, there were some other sources. Some thought that the CRA could not do a lot with $2M, others believed there were a great many things that could be done, albeit on a smaller scale. Lot Size in the CRA Area Mr. Greene directed the Board's attention to the west side of Federal Highway south of the C16 Canal to Martin Luther King Boulevard (MLK) and [he extreme shallowness of the lots in that area, averaging 100 feet or less in depth. He believed that the narrow lots would limit what could be done in the area and lhis would have an effect on the character of Area 2, and a significant impact on the visual character of Federal Highway. 8 Meeting Minutes COmmunity RedeVelopment Agency WOrkshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 Chairman Finkelstein mentioned a similar situation in Boca across from Mizner Park, where they had put some very nice retail establishments. He that there could be some umque, small-scale developments that would enhance the area. Mr. Greene saw it as problematic due to the number of property owners involved. The problem, according to Chairman Finkelstein, was that Boynton had a lot of the 50 x 100 lots and each had different kinds of stores and owners and there was no consistency between them. The Board wanted to begin changing that. When Mr. Greene considered that area for a fire station, it was clear that the lots were not deep enough. They would need a wide turning radius and a drive around the back. Mr. Aguila suggested facng the station to the south. Jeanne Heavilin envisioned an old train depot restaurant for the area. Chairman Finkelstein said that the Federal Highway Plan really affected the CRA. He referred to the six-month continuation of the ZIP and his desire'for the Board to support it. He believed that the CRA needed to be involved in the process and have an opportunity for input. Mr. Greene said they would be more than happy to include the CRA in the process and that possibly a workshop could be held in between with a staff report on progress. At this workshop they could also talk about the building envelope setbacks as opposed to actual setbacks and the wedding cake tier. Mr. Greene said there were ways to craft an Ordinance to say that any building over 45 feet must have a setback of "X" but there was the issue of whether it applied to adjoining property lines and public rights of way. James Barretta's Comments on the FHCCRP and a Proposed Node Project Mr. Greene solicited Mr. Barretta's comments on the FHCCRP and also on a project they had been discussing that was on Mr. Barretta's drawing board for an entry node at the north and south ends of the City. Mr. Barretta said that in reference to the 150 feet in the downtown core area, he thought it would be nice to have a node on the north and south where there could be a little more height and a little more density, something with a signature statement that would announce "You are entering Boynton Beach". Mr. Barretta asked Mr. Greene about plans for height restrictions. Mr. Greene said the City was thinking of 150 feet in the downtown core and 75 feet in areas adjacent to the downtown. Mr. Barretta had conversations with some Commissioners who had encouraged him to took for 100 feet on the two nodes he was considering putting at each end of the City. The Commissioners supported his projects and thought they would be nice additions to the City. Chairman Finkelstein asked if he had enough land to support uses of 100 feet? Mr. Barretta said he did but he wouldn't want to see the setbacks the same as in the core. He wouldn't want to see the buildings up to the edge. Mr. Greene said he had told Mr. Barretta he had reservations about going to 100 feet out there. Chairman Finkelstein thought he could entertain it in specific terms, but thought that acreage would be a consideration He would think he would want significant acreage to have that kind of product on the outer limits of the City, He said they were trying to concentrate people near the core and this would be pulling them out. Mr. Greene said he hesitated to create a high dse in a single-family residential neighbrhood. 9 Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 Whether it was far enough north and south to be considered an entry feature was another issue. Chairman Finkelstein stated that at the northern and southern city limits, the highest building was the condo on the Intracoastal and the rest was single story residential and retail. If he tookthe unincorporated area from Old Dixie to the Gulfstream Mall: he would have enough acreage to create a suburban node, but the area was a County pocket and Mr. Barretta would have to go to them for permission. Chairman Finkelstein could see a conditional use for the right product with sufficient setback and landscaping, with a mid- dsc development in the center of the project, surrounded by Iow-rise retail. Density in the Downtown Area Mr. Greene said that the City needed more density downtown. He knew the Board was aware of a sentiment that was circulating in the City at the moment about the number of apartments being built in the City; however, this was precisely what was needed in the downtown area. Chairma~ Finkelstein referred to an article he had distributed earlier which stated that the people had to be brought downtown. There had to be a residential base to support [he rest of the redevelopment. Staff did an analysis of the apartment situation in the City that was 9resented to the Planning & Developr~ent Board It included the amount of land that was left for development and he thought the report did a great rOb of saying the City was not being over-run by apartments. The projects that were coming forward were Class A projects with wonderful amenities, which would give the people moving up from Dade and Broward County a place to stay. There will be a workshop meeting on May 10 to discuss it. Chairman Finkelstein referred to the apartments in Mizner Park as being the most successful element of that development. They had a waiting list and had built three more towers due to the demand. The people who live in the towers want to be in the heart of thingS, where the action is, and have the discretiOnary income to spend in shops and restaurants that give tax income to the City. Every Planner will tell you that this is a needed element for the redevelopment of a downtown city area. Status on Ocean Avenue and Boynton Beach Boulevard Promenade, Including Riverwalk Ms. Heavilin asked for a status on the Boynton Beach Boulevard Promenade? Chairman Finkelstein said he talked to the City Manager who outlined the money that was left for it. He also talked to Mr. Greene about it and the fact that the CRA wanted to oversee the projects. Mr. Greene said the Promenade would be a capital improvement project like Ocean Avenue. Mr. Bressner understands that the CRA wants to hire a consultant to do the design. Mr. Greene said the City was creating an engineering department that was going to be responsible for managing capital projects. In this department there will be a real estate position for somebody to be responsible for the City's property management, acquisition, and disposition. This would be a resource for the CRA. The actual day-to-day overseeing of the construction will be done that way. 10 Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 Chairman Finkelstein said the CRA did not want to get that deep. The Board wanted to make sure that the Promenade project and the Riverwalk project got done and to do that they wanted to be involved with the beg~nmng of the process which was 1/ make sure they had the real estate to do it, and assist if necessary; and 2) help comment on the design and structure. Once the project left that stage, the CRA would step back. Mr. Greene said he understood that the CRA wanted to hire a design person and if they did that, they would be overseeing the design and the Board agreed. Mr. Greene said that nobody really knew what the Promenade was go~ng to be. Chairman Finkelstein said that was one of his initial concerns and that he wanted the CRA to define that and get it done. Mr. Greene envisioned it as a dressed-up street up to a certain point. Chairman F|nkelstein said he understood that Phase I was already funded. It was originally going to connect from NE. 6~ Street and that was Phase 1 That was to be a street designed as a promenade, with the abili .ty to dose off that street for festivals, art fairs etc. That is how it was written. Phase 2 was from 6~" Street to the lntracoastal. Phase 1 was funded and the money was there and that is what the Board wanted to kick off. And then they talked about gettin9 Phase 2 done and the next phase would be phase 3, Riverwalk. They wanted to start I~aving staff go out and get applications for grants. Mr. Aguila believed that there was going to be an update on the Marina. He had to be careful about the various hats he wore but the developer had been in his office this week, the site plan was being amended, and some things were happening that made more sense and created a better flow but it tied more directly into what was being talked about in the Promenade. Chairman Finkelstein asked if the developer were available to give the CRA an update or a small presentation? Mr. Aguila said the developer had talked about his plans to Mr. Greene more extensively. Mr. Greene said he wanted to make sure that what the developer was proposing worked and then look at the Promenade n that context. He did not want the Promenade to ddve the Marina because the Marina was a $30M project and previously, the Promenade was only going to go up to the entrance to the parking structure. Mr. Greene said he was seeking clarification on what was public and what was private and once he had done that, they could move forward with the design of the Promenade. Mr. Aguila stated that they found eight more feet on the Marina site, which would allow for a realignment of the buildings in a more comfortable manner, more landscaping, more sidewalks, even levels of pedestrian access and other things that will make a better project. The developer has changed the ingress/egress on the north side. Before there was a t-turnaround to the boats and now there is actually a complete loop, which makes more sense. Mr. Aguila wanted the CRA to define the parameters of the Promenade as soon as possible. Chairman Finkelstein thought that the Promenade would be an asset to the Marina and an asset to the City. The whole point of the Promenade was to provide a place where people could walk the entire area and have it connected. The purpose was to make it pedestrian friendly and to make the Waterfront accessible, so these two projects are related and work well together. Mr. Greene said that maybe they could schedule something for the next month. Ms. Heavilin asked if it would be premature to start the process to get approval to oversee this.'? Mr; Greene did not think that was going to be a problem. Chairman Finkelstein wanted to start the groundwork, saying that he had spoken to the City 11 Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 Manager, who saw no issue with this and would love to see it get underway. The CRA had to acquire real estate that was go~ng to be used for parking. Chairman Finkelstein suggested taking those funds, putting them in the CRA budget and adding a line item for the Promenade project and the parking project. Then the Planning Department would have enough, between the Visions 20/20 Plan and the CRA's Goals and Objectives, to do an overall site plan and start looking for consultants. Mr. Greene asked how the CRA wanted to go about hidng the consultant? He presumed they would want to send out proposals. Mr. Greene wanted to qualify some people to bid on the project first, after the parameters of the project were defined. Chairman Finkelstein said they could show them What they had now and they could make presentations to us like an architect does on a large' project. They would offer their initial vision of what the CRA wanted. Mr. Greene said there was a possibility that the Marina Project could expand and do the Promenade. Mr. Aguila said that adding this to the Marina Project would not necessarily be a burden to the project and they had the advantage of having all the crews. Chairman Finkelstein said the title research had already been done. There was a lot of groundwork thai had already been done so it would not be a significant burden to extend the site plan for the marina to include the Promenade. There would be the same type Of light ng, the same type of landscaping, and so forth. Chairman Finke stein thought this was a great option. Mr. Greene asked everyone to keep an open mind about how things got done. Mr. DeMarco thought it was important to have proper police protection in the downtown area because if you do not have that, nobody will come downtown. Chairman Finkelstein said that when there was enough demand, that would probably happen naturally. In any case, it would be up to the Chief of Police. Ms. Heavilin said one ~mpediment to development was the lack of decent sized developable parcels in the downtown area. Chairman Finkelstein said that was a problem if you wanted large redevelopments. If you did not mind the small shops m~ngled together, it was no! as important. He had tried as a developer to acquire large lots in the downtown area and it had been very difficult. CRA Vision of Downtown Redevelopment Mr. Greene asked how the CRA wanted the downtown redeveloped? There were two schools of thought. One was that the City should encourage existing local businesses to expand their businesses and secondly, the assembly of larger, developable parcels that Could be marketed nationally and developed by big'time national developers. The Board felt there were merits to both approaches. Chairman Finkelstein pointed out that the area surrounding the Marina was apprOximately 12 acres of d~rt and that was it. Do you want a Chicago high-rise in the middle of that Or do you want some kind of mid-rise or a combination of a hotel with mid- rise residential? Chairman Finkelstein said that at the same time, they needed to know what they wanted on that property. Mr. Greene said the question was, did you want a Marriott or a Motel 6? Chairman Finkelstein said there was probably a product that was in between that they could be very comfortable with. They had developments going on in Boca now on 1,2 acres that were really great but they had the density and they were allowed: Ms. Heavilin said that when they were talking about a Marriott, they were 12 Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 talking about quality not size. Mr. Greene said there was a character involved and that there would be some people who would even prefer Motel 6. He said that the CRA had to decide what kind of character it wanted in the community. The Visions Plan said that Boynton Beach needed to set its sights a little higher. As the CRA Board in control of the downtown area, they could decide what they wanted to promote as the character. Did they want mid-rise, Iow-rise, or high-r se buildings? How was the Board going to assemble Properties and go out for RFPs when it had no clue of what it wanted to see in terms of density, architecture, and design? Mr. Fenton thought they should assemble the properties first and then the developers would come. Mr. Aguila said that the first thing the developers would ask was "what can we do?" What is allowed? Chairman Finkelstein said if they were trying to set a character and standard, there needed to be some guidelines. Ms. Heavilin said they were already saying there were some uses they did not want Chairman Finkelstein said he believed their job was to define the character of the area and set some guidelines. Mr. Aguila said [hat not everyone that wanted to Come in would want to do Something that matched the CRA's vision and guidelines for character. Boynton Beach Boulevard Discussion Mr. Barretta asked if Boynton Beach Boulevard west of Federal Highway was primary now? He said that Atlantic Avenue in Delray was thriving because there were a lot of businesses there. Boynton Beach has Ocean Avenue and there are not a lot of businesses there. He wanted to do something here like Delray Beach did with Atlantic Avenue. Chairman Finkelstein said it was in their Goals and Objectives and it was in the Visions Plan. The Commission approved extending those parcels one block deep in the past. The Board said that was a gateway and the Board had talked about having a gateway feature with light poles and medians so it looked like Ocean Avenue and it would go all the way to the Marina. Chairman Finkelstein said Boynton Beach Boulevard was definitely on the list. Mr. Barretta thought that until the City had new regulations in place, all development would be impeded. Chairma~ Finkelstein said that the ZIP could also De used to start on Boynton Beach Boulevard. Mr. DeMarco had sold a property on Boynton Beach Boulevard and learned that you are allowed to go to the next block if you own on Boynton Beach Boulevard and make that all commercial, on both sides of the street. Mr. DeMarco did not believe that the business community was aware of that and that they should be made aware of it. He felt that it should be brought up because that would bring business into the City. If you have commercial in front you just buy the residential land in the back, which is 1/3 of the price. Mr. Fenton thought that the Chamber Economic Development Committee should insert a note in their newspaper about this to prevent anyone from saying they were not informed. The Board talked about the importance of assembling property on Boynton Beach Boulevard. The Board felt this needed to be the next area studied in the overall redevelopment plan. Everyone agreed that it would be nice to see Boynton Beach Boulevard re-done. Mr. Greene said that a big problem on Boynton Beach Boulevard was the high number of curb cuts and driveways, which made the area unsafe. Those needed to be reduced 13 Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 significantly so that to the extent parcels could be assembled, there could be shared access. The Board also wanted to discuss the median and landscape issues on Boynton Beach Boulevard and brought up the "suicide lane", which was really dangerous. Mr. Aguila said this had been brought up with D.O.T. before and it had fallen on deaf ears. Chairman Finkelstein's understanding was that they were willing to do it but the businesses and merchants along there did not want it and that the Commission did not pursue it for that reason. Mr. Aguila said D.O.T. was limiting the amount of landscaping that could be put on those islands for liability issues as well as line of sight, Chairman Finkelstein said that by doing the chase area with the trees, they made it worse because there are a few areas that when you try to pull out frorT those neighborhoods north of Boynton Beach Boulevard, you can't see oncoming traffic due to the trees. If most of the cuts at the major access points ~vere eliminated, there would not be quite as much of a problem 9ecause you would not need the'visibility to make all those different turns. Public Relations Mr. DeMarco said it was important to educate and communicate with the public. He believed the CRA should have a n~ce brochure made up to go along with the film that was on its way. Chairman Finkelstein suggested getting a consultant to draw the Riverwalk and the Promenade and then call the newspapers. Mr. Barretta asked why the Boynton Beach Boulevard study would not be a greater priority than the Promenade and the Riverwalk projects? Mr. Aguila said that Boynton Beach Boulevard was just too big of an elephant and would have to be chewed a little bit at a time. The Promenade and Riverwalk were achievable and they could show a finished product in a modest amount of time. Chairman Finkelstein thought that the Study could be done simultaneously with the other two projects. Mr. Barretta thought that this would send a message to the development community that the City was planning to do something on Boynton Beach Boulevard. Chairman Finkelstein asked Mr. Greene if Staff was working on the areas in progress on? Mr. Greene replied that Boynton Beach Boulevard east of Seacrest would be addressed with the 3rd study, Town Square; and Boynton Beach Boulevard west of Seacrest would be the 4~h project. The CRA has already said it wants to see Boynton Beach Boulevard redesigned from 1- 95 down to Federal and they want to get the medians back and the ight posts and an entrance feature too. That was another thing the Board could work on, the entrance feature. Chairman Finkelstein did not think they' were talking about a rot of money. He referred to the beautiful s~gnage in front of Tuscany Bay on Federal Highway made of concrete blocks and stucco with signs attached. The Board had previously seen plans for an entry feature that was exorbitantly high in pdce. Chairman Finkelstein referred to the Board's need for a new DOT plan for that intersection so the Board could see how much land it had to work with. Quick Victories Mr. Fenton asked Chairman Finkelstein about the 300-foot walkway he proposed as a quick-start project? Chairman Finkelstein said it would require the same thing as the 14 Meeting Minutes CommUnity Redevelopment Agency Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 Promenade; the CRA would have to hire a consultant to physically design it, accumulate the land and then do it. Mr. Greene said that a lot of the things that needed to be done would take some time, possibly 3-5 years. The resources that you need to be using over the next 3-5 years could wind up being consumed in 12 months trying to generate a "quick victory". Chairman Finkelstein said he believed the CRA was cognizant of the money it did and did not have and that is why they chose the Boynten Beach Promenade because the money was already available. The CRA would be cautious about how it spent its funds and keep the long-term goals in mind so they could be covered. He did not think that some or the projects they had chosen would require much money. He also said redevelopment was a multi-faceted task and included infrastructure work, consulting work, and the accumulation of properzy. Public Relations Mr. Greene said that they had a plan they were taking before the Commission on April 17. Assuming that the City Commission granted their request for a six-month extension of ZIP, in October they would have the revisions to their zoning code, which would be significant for Federal Highway, and at that point there would be public hearings. Chairman Finkelstein said he saw a sales job ahead and that it had to be presented in such a way that people would realize how it would affect them in a positive way by keeping their taxes Iow. He said that if they wanted the redevelopment to move forward, someone had to make a presentation to the citizens explaining why this was such a big benefit to everyone. Mr. Barretta thought the CRA should get a marketing consultant to do its press releases and generally handle all its communications with the public. He thought that the consultant could help them to market the CRA ~n a professional manner, suggesting who to market to and what to say to reach the widest possible audience. The consensus of the Board was that they would handle this on their own. Al DeMarco was to meet with Chairman Finkelstein to draft a brief, informative press release about the reason the CRA was started, what it did in general, where it got its money, and how it could affect people in a positive way. Other avenues of communication were discussed such as the Chamber newsletter, the City newsletter, the utility bills, and personal presentations made to large groups of people such as Hunters Run, Leisureville, and Village Royale on the Green. The Board realized that marketing was mportant and all agreed on its necessity. Once the CRA had a product and could include a rendering of Riverwalk, for example, they could consider publishing something. Chairman Finkelstein said 'f the Board wanted to write a concise article for publication that would be fine. Mr. Aguila said he thought it would be time well'spent and that it should be an ongoing thing, possibly four times a year. They could talk about what they had accomplished in the preceding three-month pedod. The Board formulated their agenda for the April 10 meeting. 1) Positive, brief overview press release 2) Endorse the CRA Project List 3) Endorse the Federal Highway Corddor Redevelopment Plan 4) Endorse the extension of Zoning in Progress 15 Meeting Minutes Community Redevelopment Agency Workshop Boynton Beach, Florida April 7, 2001 5) 6) Endorse the goals of the March 3 workshop P, eview the budget CRA Budget Chairman Finkelstein said the Board had questioned the legal fees on the last report and Ms. Reese was re-doing the budget to identify the $50,000 that came out. Mr. Fenton had noticed that two months of interest was missing and Mr. Greene offered to check with Ms. Reese about this. Chairman Finkelstein reviewed the budget and gave the Board background on the individual charges. The Gandolfo property and the changeover of the CRA into an independent Board were the main expenditures. Mr. Greene stated that the CRA's financial commitment was capped at $25,000, and did not include the legal work. Staff was trying to determine what it really cost to have a CRA." Mr. Aguila asked about the money set aside for the capital fund and asked where it was? Chairman Finkelstein said that $750.000 was set aside for parking and $1M was set aside for Phase I of the Promenade. The City Manager reported that there was $991,000 still available and set aside for the Promenade. Mr. Aguila asked if the money was for the CRA's use to do that project and Chairman Finkelstein replied in the affirmative. There was $624. B01 still available out of the parking set-aside money. Mr. Aguila asked if that money could be transferred to the CRA and shown on the CRA budget as a line item rot that purpose so they could track it? Mr. Greene would be exploring the options and getting back to the CRA. The next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 10. Mr. Greene was going to see about providing [he Board with new calendars for their meeting dates and times. Town Center - CRA Project or City Project? Mr. Greene also commented that as of January I staff began tracking time spent on projects for the CRA. A discussion ensued which centered around whether or not Town Square was a CRA project. Staff believed it was and the CRA ........... ..... stronql,y' believed that CRA funds should not be spent on City proiecf.~ but were willing to consider it further. Chairman Finkelstein was happy with the progress the CRA was making and that they were pretty mUch all on the same page with the same goals. He believed that the CRA was on the right track and would soon start doing things. Respect[ully submitted, ~e~cerding SeCretary (five tapes) 16