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Minutes 03-25-75MINUTES OF SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL ~EETING OF THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, HELD AT CITY HALL, TUESDAY, ~RCH 25, 1975. P~ENT David Roberts, Mayor Joe DeLe~g. Vice Mayer Edward F. Harmemimg, Cem~cilma~ Emily M. Jackscm, Csancilwema~ Norman F. S ~-~ad, Comnci~mam Framk Kohl, City Namager Ernest Simon, City Attorney Tereesa Pa~gett, City Clerk Mayor Roberts called the meeting te order at 7:30 P.M. which was held for the ~mrpese of hearing some of the problems on 23r~ Avenue $~ the c~t-o£fs im ether related areas dme to the eemstrmction of 1-95. Two representatives of the Department of Tramsportation were also present -- Mr. Hughes and Mr. Evans -- to amswer .amy questions. There have been several previous meetings en the sub,eot and it was hoped some of ~he problems cemld be resolved. The ~ayer asked if ~here was amyone present who wished te speak agaimst the road being cha~ed. Ne reply. Mr. Fletcher spoke from ~he audience in *ppesitien to a~y cha~ge beimg ~ut through en ~th S~ree~, The Mayer felt the first thing to s~ram~htem ou~ was in regard to the BOT's plans about 23rd Awemue. Mayor Roberts said he now understamds t~e present request to be for the eu~-off shown on the 23rd Avenue overpass te be ~e~imated or blocked. The second reqmes~ was for a parallel road te rum into 6th. It was clarified that~Lr. H~ghes would the 23rd Avenue cut-off am~ there was some about the P$1ice and Fire Departmen~ exits and e~trances w~'$h the cha~ges re~uiri~g an ex~ra mile of travelimg. Simpson. He said amy Sth Street wc~l~ be a of changing plans from 6th to of time. There was some discussion betwee~ Mr. Hughes, Mr. Evans (Cer~true- tie, Engineer for the area, working cut of Mr. Hughes' office) amd Coumcil regarding the travel time for access te the highway for emergency vehicles. ~eorge B~el~, who resides at the corner cf S.W. 2?th Place a~d 6th, came forward to dispute the ad~itiena~mileage to be ·raveled fsr embrace tc the highway as suggested by Mr. Evans. After further discussion, the fleer was tmrmed ever to Mr. Bla~, who was one of thespokesmen for the residents of the area. ~. Blank said there was never a~y talk about closing off S.W. 6th Street amd he reviewed the feelings of the residents regard~ug their cencer~ about their safety a~d property value. -1- MINUTES - SPECIAL ~EETiNG OF CITY C0bq~CiL BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA ~r. Blank said a counter had been put on the street, but due te this being the week before Easter, it was not gein~ to be an accurate count ef traffic. Discussion ensued ~bout use of the temporary detour road to run back into 6th Street ~nd it was explained that this could not be done, for several reasons enumerated by Nessrs. Hughes and Evams. The F~yor concluded that a new road would have to be built ~y the City and there was discussion abomt the cost involved and the possibility of requiring additional right ef way for an adequate %u~rn. ~r. Clark, the City Emgimeer, came forward and explained that the sketch being used te illustrate the area was erroneous ~ud there was in fact mere right of way needed for the tufa. 6See P.2 .~kLrs~ ~ackson noted %hat the contractor, Hard~.iv~$, was going 4/1/7Snd~ mo ~ear the temporary road out and it was ge~i~ to cost the ut~) Gity ~10,~00. Nr. Hughes exp~lained the reason for this in ER that the road is built half at a time and he enumerated the various steps and costs involved. Nr. Bl~k appealed to Mr. Hughes for consideration in behalf of the residents and Nr. Hughes assured that he would do every- thing possible to help. Mr. Blan~ asked ~. Hughes if he had suggested to the Cit~~ Nanager at one time that the road be entered into from 1st Street instead of 3rd ST~eet. ~4r.Hu~hes w~s show~ a copy of Nr. Kohl's memo on this point. ~ir.~ Ev~ said the road~ay as proposed on DOT's plans as proposed to be constructed, reproducin~ an access to the Forest Hill Sub-division is the roadway which most closely approximates the access that vms provided before by 8th Street. He felt that the traffic would be the same on 8th as it ~as on 8th and the speed could be controlled by the Police Department, stop signs, etc, Nr. Harmening felt there was no appreciable difference in the amount of traffic dus te the change from 8th to 6tho It was felt that a counter would give an accurate picture. ~Lrs. Mar~a~et Diak~ 2835 S.W. 6th Street, said she had lived on 8th street for 18th months and the traffic was not what it is on 6th Street. She said she lives on the south end cf 6th Street and feels the traffic moves much faster tha~ before. Mr. DeLong spoke in favor of the Council taking some a~ion to give the residents of the area the relief they sought, such as adopting a Resolution and forwarding it to DOT. ~. BI~ said Senator Lewis would only lend his support if a Resolution was sent. ~. DeLong moved to have the City Attorney draft the appro- P~r&~aT~Resol.utien te be forwarded ~o the proper authorities to give the residents relief they desire. Mr. S~rnad seconded. ~ - . e ess 'n e Discus?ion ensued as t~a~¢on~ of rop~osed (.See P 2 ~e/Resolution. Nr. 4/1/75 "n Harmenmng noted sa~eral alternatmves to be considered, including ut closing 6th Stree~ off~ opening as an altermate 4th Street or 5th Street~ using the proposed DOT alignment for the ramp; or YK~UTE~ - SPECIAL ~EETING OF CiTT COUNCIL BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA te build a parallel service read m~d have it c~ off in the vicinity of Third Street. Nr. Evans said another option available would be for DOT, with the e~x~,endit.ure ef t~e funds that have already been eommitte~ for this proseet, b~!d a~ ali~nment as shown ~n the plans. Then the City can with its police power close the ramp. It would be there if the City 'chose to use it or closed o£f. Nr. Russell Brown, 2709 S. W. 6th Street, read the motion made and adopted at the special community meeting of the .homeowners involved at Boynton Beach Jr. Eigh en March 13, 1975 ms follows: ? ~Nr~: Re~Lansing made the fciIowi~motion: 'That the proposed ramp from the 23rd over~ass to S.W. 6th S~reet be elim3~uated and in i~s place an entrance and exit be constructed ~preximately 1,OOO feet or more eas~ of th $~reet ~nd that the present temporary road be allowed te remain to carry S.W. 6th Street traffic to this point. The motion was seconded by~, John Ali~ a~ voted on by all present and passed without opposition.'" ~r. Bro~ presented a list of the homeowners who attended the meeting, adding that more th~m 7~ homeowners were in attendance. ~s. Jackson clarified that the temporary road is going to be used as part of the permanent 23rd Avenue and the City would have to build another road south of that and perhaps purchase additional right of way. ~. Clark confirmed that the City would have to acquire the additional right of way. During discussion of the momion, it was noted that the Co~uty was goLug to put in additional lanes in 1985, as stated in the West Palm Beach Urban Area Transportation Study -- on the overpass going over 1-95, It was felt that the Resolution for DOT sho~_ld only cover closing off the ramp and making a turn-around further east. From there on, it's up to the City to decide on m~king the expenditure to put the read im. it was noted that 23rd is a City roa~ to ~on6ress After further discussion about what money was ~n ~he budge~ ~o cover this work and how much right-of-way was available, ?~r. DeLom~g sang ~ne re~ents involved should wor~ in conjunction with the City Attoz-ney ~u~ the Ci~YEngineer to spell out their intent of what they want. ~r. Brown sai~ a~ mhe meeting of the residents, there was concern abo~t the safety of the present plagued ramp which appears dangerous (the entrance on 23rd Avenue i~o~W, 6th Street). The reason is that cars have to move across the L{INUT~ - SPECIAL NEETING OF CITY_ COUNCIL BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA 25, 1975 eastbound traffic lane when turning west and the driver would not have a clear vie~tof approaching traffic from the west because ef the S~ope of the ramD and the crest .of'the-overpass Nr. Brown saidJ~st entrances would be back o~ level gr~d to approach an overpass, There was considerable discussion among Council as to the proper procedure for handling this matter and approving themotzon.' Dr. Ha~,~_e~u~ who lives on 3rd Street, came forward and wished to make sure that the problem would not be tr~ferred~:~e 3rd Street, 4th Street or any other a~ea once it is solved in regard to 6th Street. He s~ggested that the Resolution be split into two parts. ~r, DeLong repeated his motion to take )ns f~z~warded by ~ar. Blan~, taking into cons the exclusion of the other Streets as noted above, forwar~ them through the Ci~- Nanager to the City Attorney to prepare a Resolution for submission to DOT. After z~arther appeal for help from Er. Blank, Nr. Hughes sai~ the DOT can try to stop work on the project until a determination is made, N_r. Hughes asked that the matter be hand~as expeditiously as possible. Nayor Roberts said the Resolution can be dra~n~ up to cover the recommendations of the residents, but there is no~z~rantee that the Citywill come up with the money to build the read. After further discussion about the read, ~ir. Hughes referred te the request ~bemt the detour road, which can't be left inand he felt t~at po~ien should be taken out. He said he woUld be glad to have an advance copy of the R~esolution so he could start working on it. Time is of the essence and it is hoped to have the road finished in six months. bit. Charles E. Dun~, 2815 S,W. 5th Street, spoke about the elevation of the ramp and he felt it should be moved a li~,tle f%~ther east. He also wished Council to ~We the Resolntien as clear as possible, in line with the oroposal of ~. Bl~k.~ DeLong agreed that all f~hose who res%arched and worked on ~his project should be the ones to make the presentation for the City Attorney to draft the appropriate Res~lutien. 5~r, Evans said it was all right to delete a portion of the con- tract because this l~sssns the expenditure of federal £~nds, however, it is not withmn DOT's a~thority te appreveso~et~ing that requires additional expenditures, After further comments on this ~o.int, Nayor~er~ clarified that DOT would remove the ramp tha~ ~s ptsmned for and move it down to some proper place where the turn-around could be made made. Nr. Hughes felt the resolution should be vague as to moving the ramp 1,O00 feet more or less to the east, se that DOT could put it in the most apprepriate ~ud safest place in line with the request. NINU~ - SPECIAL~EETING OF CITY COUNO~ BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Fletcher ~of 6th Street, felt while the Council was pondering tion passed, he didn't think anyone would lose by the preposi- tion. ~r~ Stanley Cares, 714 S.W. £4th Avenue, spoke in favor of elimi~atin~ t ~ h~ ramp and moving the exit closer to 3rd Street, h~wever, he wished to have the temporary roa~ remaim also It was explained that DOT has nothing to de with the parallel read and the 0ity womld have to build it. ~. Harmening wished to keep in mind if Co~cil does approve this Resolution and se~d it to DGT, the m~y should be prepared to clsse off 6th ~reet or cen~raet Hardrives to build an access road parallel to and south of proposed 23rd Avenue. This would be the next step. Nfs. Jacks.n requested a roll call vote on ~. DeLong's motion stated earlier whichwas ts use the reeemmer~ations submitted by ~5r. Bla~k~i~ behalf of the residents of his comm~uity, through the City Nanager to the City Attorney so he coul~ prepare the appropriate ~eso!ution for submission to Do~ ~ w~- ~ ~- was - - ~ - ~ .- ......... scmu~on ~o exc±u~e the recommendation concerning the present temporary r~ad as this matter would be taken up by Council at another time. N~s. Padgett conducted a roll call vote as follows: Vice ~ayor DeLong Aye Councilman Ha~menimg Aye Councilwoma~ Jackson - Aye Councilman St~nad - Aye ~ayor Roberts - Aye Notion carried 5,0. Nr, Harmening said the construction of the by-pass road must occur in the very near future because the present temporary roa~ ~ii1 be torn up seen and this 'Would be necessary to keep tra_fmc moving smoothly. He felt the City should go out for bids to get the new access road built p mer to the time the r° schedule calls for the destruction of the new tempor~ by-pass. He didn'~ mean therelsho~d be action tonight, but it She,d be soon, Nr, Hughes agreed mud said if he had an advanced copy of the Resolution, he could start selling it tethe federal people and DOT. ~r. Harmening asked if there was any possibility that any change order deleting this ramp would leave a credit that ceuld be expended on this by-pass road, ~.ir, Hughes felt there was a good possibility, d ' epe~mng on the cost of material,~C~ that DOT Could help the City save some money. ~LINUTES - SPECIAL ~TIN£~ OF CiTY COUNCIL BOY~TON BEACH, FLORIDA ~RCH 25, 1975 ~dr. Hughes said at one time there was talk about completely eliminating 6th Street. He asked if the residents would mi~d traffi¢coming in from the other direction for m period ef two'or three months. The people in the audience indicated they-wo~ldn'~.m~nd this, ADJOURN~ENT There belong no further b~siness, ~r. DeLong moved to adjourn, seconded by Nrs. Jackson. ~etion carried 5-0. adjourned at 9:02 CITY 0F BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Nayor Co~nc ~L~ ATTEST: ~ Connozlma~ ' - Co~ci~ City Cler~ -6 -