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Minutes 11-14-12 MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS BOARD MEETING HELD O WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012, AT 7.00 P.M., IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS CITY HALL 100 E. BOYNTON BEACH BOULEVARD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: Vince Piraino, Chair John Huntington, Board Liaison Willie Swoope, Vice Chair Jennifer Gunter Wendy Kelly Irma Khoja Ben Lowe Lesha Roundtree (arrived 7:08 p.m.) ABSENT: Margaret Newton Floyd Zonenstein 1. Openings A. Call to Order Vice Chair Swoope called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. B. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag The members recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. II. Roll Call The Recording Secretary called the roll and determined a quorum was present. III. Approval of Minutes — October 10, 2012 Meeting Motion Ms. Gunter moved to approve the minutes. Mr. Lowe seconded the motion that unanimously passed. IV. Announcements: None. 1 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Florida November 14, 2012 V. Announcements: None. VI. Approval of Agenda 1. Additions, deletions, corrections There was one guest, Charles Kanter, President of the Parkside Homeowners' Association, who would speak on a traffic - related item. There was agreement the item would be heard under New Business. New member Irma Khoja would be introduced to the Board after adoption of the agenda. Motion Ms. Gunter moved to approve the agenda. Chair Piraino seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Irma Khoja was introduced to the Board and she explained she was a Florida resident for 10 years as a student and then as an attorney practicing in Ft. Lauderdale. She was happy to be a member of the Board, and she wanted to make a meaningful contribution to the City. VII. Public Audience None. VIII. Old Business A. Charter School Guest Speaker Chair Piraino had no update to give and anticipated the item would be discussed in early January. (Ms. Roundtree arrived at 7.08 p.m.) B. Status update on CRB Brochure Ms. Gunter developed an updated copy of the brochure which was distributed to the members. Chair Piraino recommended waiting until the 2013 appointments were made in December so they could include a group photo of all the members and have the brochure in final form in February. 2 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, FL November 14, 2012 Vice Chair Swoope commended Ms. Gunter on an outstanding job. Discussion turned to the Board having a general email address. Officer Huntington recommended the Chair establish an email account for the Board through gmail.com. Whatever password was selected would be shared with the other members so all would have access to the account to see what was posted. As the membership changed through appointments and resignations, the email account would remain and in this manner the Board would not have to keep changing the email account or password. The email address would be printed on the brochure. Chair Piraino requested the members come up with an email name for discussion at the next meeting. Ms. Roundtree also noted Officer Huntington was retiring. Officer Huntington suggested holding off listing a particular name on the brochure as the Liaison as he did not know who would be his replacement. Additionally, the Liaison could be a civilian employee and not necessarily a sworn officer. He noted email should be directed to the Board, not the Liaison, as the Liaison was only an intermediary to the City Commission. Ms. Roundtree commented the members had discussed eliminating a group photo for the brochure and using the City's logo instead. As for a phone number, the Board could utilize Google phone. A Google number was a generic number going to a mail box. After further brief discussion, Officer Huntington agreed to look into Google applications for the Board. IX. Special Business: A. Education Initiative for Boynton Beach — Commissioner Ross wants Community Relations Board to take the lead on this project. At the last meeting, the members were to bring back the various educational resources located within the City. Additionally, Vice Chair Swoope, Ms. Newton, Mr. Lowe and Mr. Zonenstein developed the following slogans respectively: ➢ Gateway to Education ➢ Boynton Beach Education — Have Fun and Learn ➢ Boynton Beach — Where Leaming Never Ends ➢ Boynton Beach — Gateway to Education, Where Leaming Never Ends Chair Piraino explained another meeting for the Initiative would be scheduled. The Education and Youth Advisory Board had favored a December 6, 2012, meeting date as opposed to meeting on December 13, 2012, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.; however, the City Manager's Office indicated the meeting may be moved back until after the Holidays. 3 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, FL November 14, 2012 Several members indicated they liked the last slogan the best, but it was thought the Board should forward all of the slogans and Commissioner Ross would select the best one. Officer Huntington explained the Education Initiative for the benefit of Ms. Khoja. It was noted there were various and diverse levels of education within the City. When Chair Piraino received a meeting date, he would email the members. The members were to make a list of educational institutions and then a master list would be developed. Ms. Kelly had emailed a list which Vice Chair Swoope read. Some additions were made and further additions could be emailed to Ms. Kelly and then the updated list redistributed to the members. It was noted there would also be input from other advisory boards. X. New Business A. Report on Community Association Meetings There were no reports given. B. Other New Business The members discussed changing the meeting time. Officer Huntington noted other Boards meet at 6:30. Brief discussion followed it would be more appropriate to have all the members present to make the decision. There was agreement to table the item to the next meeting and if changed, would take effect in January 2013. Charles Kanter, 2905 S. Greenleaf Circle, Boynton Beach, in the Parkside development, distributed a map to the Board. He explained he is a resident of Boynton Beach going on nine years, and had lived in Marathon for 27 years. He is active in the Quantum Development District and he serves on the Recreation and Parks Advisory Board. He advised he was not speaking for either Board. Mr. Kanter explained his community consists of 271 single- family fee simple homes. They are a fortunate development in Boynton Beach as they are completely surrounded by water or woods. There were no highways traversing the community and the development was within a short walk to shopping centers, the Publix grocery store, Tri- Rail and a bus stop at the corner of Gateway and Quantum. The rest of the development consisted of commercial -light industry development. The residents are happy with their commercial neighbors, but there were some issues. The matter they had was with oversized trucks. The community has a traffic circle designed and built for normal -sized vehicles. Trailer limits have increased and the vehicles do not maneuver around the traffic circle without knocking down signs and vegetation. 4 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, FL November 14, 2012 Mr. Kanter requested the Board's assistance to obtain signage from the City prohibiting through traffic by oversized vehicles, or any other measure that could be taken. A photo of the north entrance showed a slanted Yield sign that was struck by an oversized vehicle or truck. There was supposed to be a Yield sign in the middle of the road, just as there should be a Divided Line sign in the middle of Gateway and Quantum. The next part of the problem had to do with speeding and walkways. The community is in a rural setting. While there are vertical lines, the crosswalks are not adequately marked. Some residents and Board members have expressed their desire to have speed tables by the crosswalks and some objected to them although there were speed bumps in Renaissance Commons on Renaissance Way. He commented the devices would solve the speeding problems and discourage large trucks. Mr. Kanter explained when he assisted trucks that got stuck, the drivers told him they were following their GPS and Google maps and they reflected they should turn south on Congress and turn left on Quantum by L.A. Fitness. However, the trucks needed to access the industrial area on the other side of the development which was accessible from Gateway. The trucks should turn left on Gateway and then turn left on Quantum on the other side. He thought most of the complaints could be addressed. Mr. Kanter also spoke about the Sand Pine Preserve and what would be occurring there. The Park was an undeveloped City park deeded to the City in 1980 by the State, through the County, and it has since languished. He noted the park has much potential. It consists of 17.5 acres of land, 1,000 feet of waterfront on the canal, and access at two roads that ended on Miner Road. He commented the Fraternal Order of Police has a facility there and it was suggested, if developed, that facility would make a good entrance to the new Park. The Sand Pine Preserve has a lake extending from Miner Road nearly all the way to Gateway. There are two other lakes there as well as wetlands. The plan was to combine the two properties to create a regional eco park. He wanted to alert the Board to these plans and enlist the Board's support. Recreation and Parks was reviewing it and considering Ms. Obama's model to garden. He thought using park property for youth to garden would be beneficial as there are several schools within walking distance of the park. As to funding, there was $40,000 from drainage funds that could be used for the park. It was possible to obtain funding from the County for a boat ramp along the canal as ramps, to his knowledge, are in short supply. There was a strip of berm that the City originally planned for a bike path and the area could become a confluence for paddle boards, bikes, and walking. 5 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, FL November 14, 2012 Mr. Kanter explained the Recreation and Parks Board provided a recommendation to the City Commission to develop the park on a priority basis. The reason why the park was not developed was funding and the economy. Mr. Kanter commented he had not formally approached the City, but he did speak to Jeff Livergood, Director of Public Works, about the park, the Sierra Club, the City, and Parkside. He wrote to City Manager Lori LaVerriere and copied the Commissioners on the correspondence, but he has not pushed the issue. The park was an upcoming issue, but the first two matters were the main concerns. Vice Chair Swoope summarized Mr. Kanter's concerns were oversized trucks staying out of the neighborhood and the traffic circle, and traffic calming devices in the community to slow down motorists. Mr. Lowe noted there were some signs indicating trucks over a certain limit were prohibited. It was thought a sign at the turn from Congress would be helpful for truck drivers and that Google and other mapping entities needed to be made aware of the limitations. It was unknown who would handle this aspect of the program. The Board thanked Mr. Kanter for his comments and encouraged him to spread the word about the function of the Community Relations Board. A suggestion was made the Homeowners' Association pass a Resolution in support of the request to officially formalize the sentiments of the entire community. There was agreement this item would be placed on the next agenda. XI. Adjournment Motion There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was properly adjourned at 8:03 p.m. A Catherine Cherry Recording Secretary 111912 6