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Minutes 10-19-89MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING OF PLANNING AND ZONING BOARD HELD IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1989 AT 7:00 P.M. PRESENT Robert Walshak, Chairman Nathan Collins, Jr., Vice Chairman Harold Blanchette Gary Lehnertz Daniel Richter Carl Zimmerman Murray Howard, Alternate (Voting) Jim Golden, Senior Planner ABSENT Marilyn Huckle (Excused) Dee Zibelli, Alternate Chairman Walshak called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. Following the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, there was a moment of silent prayer on behalf of Commissioner Ezell Hester, Jr. who passed away suddenly this morning. AGENDA APPROVAL Mr. Collins moved to approve the Agenda as presented. Mr. Blanchette seconded the motion which carried 7-0. COMMUNICATIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS None. OLD BUSINESS None. NEW BUSINESS A. PUBLIC HEARING PARKING LOT VARIANCE Project Name: Agent: Owner: Location: Legal Description: Boynton Beach Water Treatment Plant None City of Boynton Beach South Seacrest Blvd. at Woolbright Rd., southeast corner That part of Tract 1 of Section 33, Township 45 South, Range 43 East, according to the plat thereo~ on file in the office o~ the Clerk of the Circuit i MINUTES - SPECIAL PLANNING & ZONING BOARD MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA OCTOBER 19, 1989 Court in and for Palm Beach County, Florida, in Plat Book 1, Page 4, lying West of the West right-of-way line of the Florida East Coast Railroad and East of the East right-of-way line of Seacrest Blvd., being also described as the East Half of the North Half of the Northwest Quarter of the Northeast Quarter of Section 33, Township 45 South, Range 43 East, lying, west of the West right-of.-way line oi the Florida East Coast Railroad and East of the East right-of-way line of Seacrest Blvd. Description: Request for a variance to Section 5-142(a) through (i), (k) and (1) Article X, Parking Lots of Jim Golden, Senior Planner, noted there was an Appendix to the Application which listed requirements for the articles from the Ordinance. John Guidry, Utilities Director explained the nature of the improvements at the Water Treatment Plant. Mr. Guidry read into the record "Attachment C" which has been made a part of these Minutes. Mr. Guidry noted the City does not have time to go back and redesign this pro3ect. Our normal pressure is 60 p.s.i. We are currently leaving the plant at 51 p.s.i., which is a 15% cutback. Sufficient fire-flow exists to satisfy the Fire Dept. The problem is we lose softening capability and are very tedious as far as coordination is concerned when we get down to the 40 p.s.i, range. Mr. Guidry was concerned that if we were at the low end, below 45 p.s.i, and the City experienced a major line break, there would be serious problems. Comments were made about utility work that is to take place in the future and personnel needed to handle the work. Chairman Walshak asked Mr. Guidry if the health, safety and welfare of the public would be jeoparized if the variance were not approved. Mr. Guidry responded affirmatively, from a standpoint of capacity. He noted they had been working on this problem for~a little over a year. On the next expansion, Mr. Guidry stated this would be included. As part of the Master Plan, the City has iden- tified condemnation on some acreage to the South. That ties into the storm water program that we would put in. Everything would be included; parking, lighting, etc. MINUTES - SPECIAL PLANNING & ZONING BOARD MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA OCTOBER 19, 1989 There is no room for expansion of the parking lot if the variance is not approved. Mr. Guidry noted he has employees double parking and yet he still needs more personnel. Chairman Walshak asked if there was anyone present at the meeting who wished to speak in support of or in opposition to the variance request. As there was no response from the audience, THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED. Mr. Golden pointed out that the TRB made a positive recom- mendation on this variance which is included in the staff report. Mr. Blanchette moved to approve the request for a variance to Section 5-142(a) through (i), (k) and (1) of Article X, Parking Lots. Mr. Howard seconded the motion which carried 7-0. Chairman Walshak thought it was important for the Board to make a recommendation to the Commission in this regard. A potentially dangerous situation exists as far as water in this City. The recorded peak day in December, 1988, was 15.84 MGD and 90% of 17.5 MGD should only be at 15.75 MGD. The Commission needs to be aware of this situation. The City needs to move along as expeditiously as possible to solve this problem. Chairman Walshak noted it may require floating of big bonds. Whatever it takes, he felt the City had to take care of this situation. There was agreement. Relative to the western well field coming on line, Mr. Guidry stated this needed to take place in 1991. We have to have the modifications in on the east plant in 1990. The timing is so critically close on getting the west plant in, in order to meet commitments, that the City really can't afford to "miss a heartbeat" in order to stay ahead of the situation. Mr. Lehnertz remarked that if we reach the capacity limit, there would be a State mandated shut-down of all development orders until we can increase our capacity. Mr. Guidry noted he was the Permitting Engineer for the DER, specifically in drinking water for a number of years. He stated as a general rule, the DER only comes down in moratoriums on waste water. The problem we have is that on these develop- ment projects coming in, Mr. Guidry has to certify that he has ample capacity to provide that project with water when it comes on line. Classically, there are around 1,500 new connections per year. The 500,000 gallons of capacity gives Mr. Guidry confidence that we might have a year, but being so close to critical, if there were a line break, it would be a real problem. MINUTES - SPECIAL PLANNING & ZONING BOARD MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA OCTOBER 19, 1989 Relative to the requirements for concurrency management in the growth management legislation, Mr. Golden interjected that if you don't have infrastructure, you can't issue the development order. Mr. Lehnertz referred to problems being experienced in the current dry spell with polluted water being back-pumped into Lake Okeechobee, yet every day unlimited water use con- tinues. He felt with more development coming in, at some point the system would run into a wall and we wouldn't be able to support the population with the water that is available. Comments were made about paving over aquifer recharge areas. Chairman Walshak didn't necessarily agree with Mr. Lehnertz. He felt the aquifer was probably inexhaustible in our life- time. Mr. Guidry didn't agree and noted ten years ago we didn't have Such a population influx into this County. Technical comments were made by Mr. Guidry on pioneer work taking place on membrane softening, aquifer storage and recovery and desalination and the cost involved. He stated the surficial aquifer can play out. We have been fortunate in this area because we have not hit mandatory restrictions. Further technical comments were made by Bob Bergman of CH2M Hill regarding the Florida aquifer in the northern part of the State. Chairman Walshak was interested in when the City would "hit the wall" as far as the system being able to support development. Mr. Bergman noted that in the Master Plan they had looked all the way to build out as far as demands which is 36,000,000 gallons maximum per day. He stated it would be an economic consideration. Once you've used the amount of water you're going to get from the surficial aquifer after the year 2000 and you need more, you might have to drill deeper and then use reverse osmosis to treat the brackish water. Mr. Bergman remarked that part of the Consumptive Use Permit is a condition that requires the City to look at a water conservation and reuse program. Mr. Collins was interested in the amount of money that will be needed to continue upgrading the City's water facilities. Mr. Guidry stated the City was probably looking at about 38 million dollars over the next three years. Growth in the community affects the amount of money needed as well as Federal mandates passed down on us in the form of the Safe Drinking Water Act. On the waste water we have another side. 4 MINUTES - SPECIAL PLANNING & ZONING BOARD MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA OCTOBER 19, 1989 Comments were made by Mr. Guidry about impact fees from new development and rate studies. Association was noted between higher rates and increased population. Chairman Walshak passed the gavel to Vice Chairman Collins and said he wished to make a motion. He stated the Utilities Dept. has a serious problem as far as water con- sumption is concerned. He recommended the City Commission look at this problem as soon as possible and do everything in their power to give the Utility Department what it needs to solve this problem. Mr. Lehnertz seconded the motion which carried 7-0. The gavel was returned to Chairman Walshak. ADJOUP~NMENT The meeting properly adjourned at Shannon Burket t Recording Secretary (One Tape) 7:45 P.M. 5 solutions ~o mhe, problem, w~ich are: ~miting conditions~to our sons~lmpL1ve use by South Florida Water Mana~emen5 D!suI requires that Wells 1, 2 and 3 be placed On With No. ! Well being the most easterly of the three, we are proposlng %o ln]ec5 water (during the standby period) from Wells 2 an~ 3 lnEo Well This Will increase the hydraulic head ~ls~ wes~ of ~e salt wa=er interface, and reduce the ~ctential for i~trusion. Stormwaser for the ex!s5ing site would be addressed during a f~%ture phased expansion/modification of ~he East Water Treatment P!an~. T¢ Ehls end~ we would ~esign~ utillzin~ a portion of the acreage ~o the souEh, a retention, znfilmraEion syssem which would permit us 5o recharge the aquifer am the salt water znuerface. Neither of the solutmons can be considered as absolute solutions ~%ntil our mcdelillg work has been completed. -It woula be foolish · at, this time ~o add impervious surfaces. LOllS. ~O the plant are under a "rase urack" are a~mos5 out.of ~4atez. Stat~ regulations 'equire un [er constr,uction for increased w~ter when our peak day, plus commitments~ are of instail~ capacity. , in,December, 1988 was' 15.~4 MG~D, and 90% = 5.~GD In order to Dreclude a moratorium, we %tly .ins the,?Ia~%t at 15%~ reduced capacity," ~hich _: s a 2.0 .M~D, plus or minus, savings on water. has a ne ve impact on revenues; b%~t, it cites keep us off mora~orlum for~.~he prese~. Based upon connectlons which have been F-ermitted~b{[t are not yet constructed, we have concl~,~ded 5hat there zs approximately 500,000 gallons of capacity remalnlng, or approxlmamel¥ eight or nine monnhs before the City could experzence %edious momenns with respec~ mo public drinking