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Minutes 03-13-97MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING HELD IN THE LIBRARY PROGRAM ROOM, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON THURSDAY, MARCH '13, '1997, AT 4:00 P.M. PRESENT Gerald "Jerry" Taylor, Mayor Shirley Jaskiewicz, Vice Mayor Matthew Bradley, Commissioner Henderson Tillman, Commissioner Jamie Titcomb. Commissioner Kerry VVillis, City Manager James Cherof. City Attorney Sue Kruse. City Clerk CALL TO ORDER Mayor Taylor called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m. ADMINISTRATION OF LOYALTY OATHS The City Clerk administered the Oaths of Loyalty and Oaths of Office to Mayor Taylor. Commissioner Jaskiewicz. and Commissioner Titcomb. SELECTION OF VICE MAYOR Mayor Taylor advised that the Vice Mayor is an extremely important position and thanked Commissioner Jaskiewicz for doing a tremendous job and being a fine representative of the City this past year. He then opened the floor for nominations for Vice Mayor for the coming year. Motion Commissioner Jaskiewicz moved to nominate Jamie Titcomb as Vice Mayor. Commissioner Bradley seconded the motion There were no other nominations. Motion Commissioner Jaskiewicz moved to close the nominations. Commissioner Tillman seconded the motion, which carried 5-0. The motion to nominate Jamie Titcomb as Vice Mayor carried 5-0. ~INUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 ADMINISTRATION OF OATH OF OFFICE The City Clerk administered the Oath of Office to Vice Mayor Titcomb. COMMENTS BY COMMISSION Vice Mayor Titcomb was honored to be named Vice Mayor. When he first took office, he had no idea how much would be involved and how interesting and exciting this job would be. He believes the City is moving forward and tackling the tough issues. He felt this Commission is working great as a team and that the City will move positiVely forward. He appreciated the opportunity to serve in a slightly higher capacity and will do everything he can to make this City a better place to live. There is a lot of exciting work to do and he hopes we will all work together and make Boynton Beach a world class city in the near future. He looked forward to the challenge and the opportunity and thanked everyone for putting their confidence in him. Commissioner Jaskiewicz was looking forward to the next two years. She said when this Commission took office, they had high hopes of changing the image of the City, and she thinks they have succeeded so far, but have a long way to go. The Commission set five goals that they wanted to work towards, and have been unceasing in their efforts to accomplish those goals. She intends to work just as hard these two years as she did the first two years and hopes that when this Commission leaves office. they will have accomplished something for the City. She said it is a pleasure to serve on this Commission with a group of professionals and believes they have done a lot to change the image of the City. Commissioner Tillman stated that good government beg ~ns with clear and definitive ideas that the public and the citizenry can understand and consent to. The City of Boynton Beach has embarked on an ~mpressive. progressive agenda to take a municipality to higher heights, In order for those heights to plateau, sound, versatile leadership is necessary. Over the last year. he has enjoyed working with a group of Commissioners and the Mayor who are earnestly working and moving in that direction. He applauded the unopposed re-election of Mayor Taylor. Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz, and Commissioner Titcomb. He looked forward to working with them, along with Commissioner Bradley, continuously. He felt we have seen tremendous growth in this City this :year and was happy to be able to work with a Commission that is moving forward and trying to make Boynton Beach a better place to live. Commissioner Bradley congratulated the three members of the Commission who recently ran unopposed. He felt this says a lot for the community and a lot about the trust and faith that the community has in its leadership. He looked forward to an other year working together and making the best things possible happen in Boynton Beach. 2 ~/IINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION ~EETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 Mayor Taylor appreciated his fellow Commissioners who have displayed teamwork and support in the past two years. He stated that no one person can make anything happen. It takes everyone working together. In addition, nothing would have happened if we have not had the support of our staff. He has come to admire the professionals that we have at all levels throughout the City, from the department heads down. They produce on a daily basis and put forth effort. Boynton Beach is a good place to live because of the work that the staff does' in support of the policy that this Commission tries to set. He looked forward to the next two years. He stated that we have started somevery good projects in the City and things are happening. The surrounding cities in the County know that Boynton Beach is a City to be reckoned with. We have a voice in this County and it is important that we get our share of the pie. He said you have to be able to step up to the table andhe felt we have done this over the past few years. He thanked the people in the community who supportthis Commission and stated that you cannot do anything unless the community is behind you. He was very grateful that we were able to do our visioning and bring the whole community together to work toward common goals. He looked forward to those goals coming to realization in the next couple of years. He thanked his fellow ',Commissioners and staff. He remembered Sid Rosen who started o~ut with this Commission and dida great job. He thanked former City Manager Carrie Parker who maoe things happen. He looked forward to working with City Manger Kerry Willis. He thanked his family and wife, who are always there for him. Since this is the first time that Boynton Beach has not had to have an election, COmmissioner Jaskiewicz felt it would be appropriate to resume the practice of having a little reception after the sweadng in ceremony in the Chambers. This reception will take place from 6:00 to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18, 1997. This will also be an opportunity to introduce our new City Manager. Commissioner Bradley referred to the planning session that is scheduled for March 21s'. He said there may be some misunderstanding about the purpose of that session. His vision for what we can hope to accomplish on the 21~' woulc~ be a five year master plan that would take a couple of different documents together, prioritize, and figure out where we are going and where we want to be in five years so that it is a document that lives on and beyond Commissions as they come and go. We have a Vision 20~20 document, the charette plan and the strategic planning that the Commission and department heads do every year for their budget. He hoped to discuss these three areas, including community input, and come up with a five year document that would be a blueprint for change for the next five years. Commissioner Jaskiewicz wondered if we should vote on the planning firms after we have tied those documents together, It seemed to her that we are putting the cart before the horse if we were to make a selection tonight. 3 ~MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 Commissioner Bradley pointed out that it is going to be four to twelve months before we get the information from the planners back. Commissioner Jaskiewicz felt we should devise the five year plan and present to the planning firms. Commissioner Bradley felt we would get more bang for our buck if we narrow the scope for these planners. We should do this planning before the planners get to work. Commissioner Jaskiewicz felt we should choose the planner who best fits in with the plan that we devise. Vice Mayor Titcomb felt it would be a shame to spend a portion of the money that we might allot to one of these planning firms to report back to us specific items that exist in several of the previously drawn up plans. He felt a lot of the challenges have already been identified and steps have been measured out that would solve some of those things. He would hate to pay for those ideas twice. He said it might be prudent for us all to get on the same page before we commit to a very large amount of money. If we have Visions dollars to spend, he would like to spend a smaller portion on consulting related work and larger portions on medians and streets on N. Seacrest Boulevard, beautification projects, or s~gnage projects. Commissioner Tillman agreed that we should avoid duplication and keep the planning firms ~n mind when we meet on March 21~. He was also in favor of setting timelines. Mayor Taylor felt the vision ng conference was to establish a five year plan and that the document that came out of that conference contained where this community wanted to go. The Visioning Committee was to suggest how to implement the plan and provide a timeline. They prioritized a lot of the items into five steps and said one of the first things we need to do is put out an RFP and bring in some consultants because we want to redevelop the whole community. This is the beginning of the implementation phase of the visioning plan. He felt this was our long-term plan. He thought the meeting on March 21s, was to discuss what we can do in the short term. Most of the ideas and concepts from the charette came out at the visioning conference. He felt everything was in the visioning package and thought the planners that make presentations [his evening were going to tell us how to implement the plan. what it is going to cost, and give us a timeline. Commissioner Bradley did not think the planners are going to tell us that because they do not know the priorities. We need to know how much each particular piece of these projects is going to cost, and then we need to prioritize them. He did not think Vision 20/20 is a methodical step by step plan. This is what he is hoping to begin to create at the meeting on March 21s', We do not have an active plan. He felt we are putting the cart before the horse if we send the planners out to do the work without being very specific. He felt we will save a lot of money if we are able to direct the planners with a more specific work plan. 4 ~IlNUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 Mayor Taylor asked if the RFP outlined what we wanted them to do. Tambri Heyden, Director of Planning and Zoning, said it itemized what was needed to be done; however, it did not prioritize them. She advised that in some cases, the consultants have come up with a methodology that may not necessarily be the order in which you would like them to tackle these tasks. Mayor Taylor asked Commissioner Bradley who he envisioned having at the meeting on March 21~. n addition to the Commission, Commissioner Bradley envisioned having key senior staff and about 18 members of the community representing different shareholder groups. Mayor Taylor felt the Visioning Committee should participate in this meebng so that we do not duplicate work that they may have already done. Bill Lynch, a member of the Visioning Committee, pointed out that the Visioning Committee is a conglomerate of th is community, was created to provide input, and should, as a whole, participate at the meeting on March 21st. Commissioner Jaskiewicz suggested that City Manager Willis see if she can ~mplement some of the items in-house. City Attorney Cherof confirmed that at the conclusion of the presentations this evening, the Commission will not rank the consultants, but will defer that to some meeting after March 21st. Mike Friedland. a member of the Visioning Committee. stated that the Visioning Committee has reached a point where they are not able to go further with any plans until the planning firm is selected and they know how many dollars can be used in a given direction He felt the Commission should use the Visioning Committee to expedite the development of the plan Commissioner Bradley left it up to City Manager Willis' discretion, along with the planning staff and others, to figure out what from the past might be relevant. The 1984 plan and the charette plan contain good ideas. A lot of that is in Visions. but he wondered if there was a comprehensive way for us to look at those pieces from the past to help us outline where we want to go. City Manager W'~llis advised that she has identified four key documents that she thinks we can work from. She also advised Ihat Clarence Anthony has agreed to be the facilitator to help us in this process during the one day session. Now that she knows who the participants are going to be, she will contact Mr. Anthony tomorrow regarding the agenda. The meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m. and resumed at 5:05 p.m. 5 ~IINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 PRESENTATION AND INVTERVlEW OF PLANNING FIRMS FOR BOYNTON BEACH VISION 20/20 IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM Miller Legg & Associates, Inc. Robert Legg, Vice President of Miller Legg & Associates, Inc. introduced his team as follows: Michael Nisenbaum, Project Manger, Miller Legg & Associates. Miller Legg & Associates has over 32 years of local planning and engineering experience and has over 1 000 acres of urban revitalization expertise. They have done neighborhood improvements, entrance features, streetscapes, and roadway improvements. Joe McMahon and Walter Bertschinger of McMahon Associates, Inc. is a Boynton Beach based firm with 30 years experience in local and national transportation planning. They have worked on Mizner Park. downtown Fort Lauderdale, and the Delray Beach redevelopment project. Jim Fleischmann, Vice President of Land Research Management, Inc. has done 12 city comprehensive plans in Palm Beach County. He has the most market feasibility experience than any of the teams making presentations this evening. He has 15 years experience in market analysis and is co-author of the Palm Beach County Affordable Housing Study. Karen Bentz, President of Land Design South has 12 years experience and represents the largest landscape architecture firm in Palm Beach County. They have served as consultants for the Palm Beach International Airport and the Palm Beach County Convention Center. He also introduced Todd Carpenter. the Information Systems Technician. Mr. Nisenbaum advise that he has over 12 years experience, mainly in redevelopment and revitalization projects. He started in North Carolina working in adapted reuse and streetscape projects. He has also done some commercial revitalization, streetscape work. and historic preservation in Maryland and Virginia, as well as some restoration to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. His local experience with Miller Legg includes some entry feature designs for the City of Hollywood. They are the consultants to the Broward County Aviation Division and are doing the redevelopment and expansion of the Florida Hollywood International airport. They have done some work for the private sector in the City of Lauderdale Lakes and Fort Lauderdale. The North Andrews Neighborhoods (700 acres) project that they did in Broward County was very similar to the Boynto~ Beach project. It included streetscaping, landscaping, sidewalks, revitalization, and entry signage. 6 'i~IlNUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 He said they put together an exemplary team. The members are leaders in their industries. Not only does Ms. Bentz have the largest landscape architectural firm in this area, but she has a vast amount of experience in revitalization planning, including projects in West Palm Beach and some communities in the western region of the County. Mr. Fleischmann's firm has 15 years of experience. Not only does he have more market analysis experience than any other team member, but he has more experience doing marketing analysis studies than anybody in the County. McMahon Associates is a national and local firm and is probably the only true transportation planner of any of the themes that you have here. He said they have an excellent team and will work together with the City and community. Success of a project of this nature is depended on building a consensus within the community. They have a lot of experience working with these public participation programs and are going to include all stakeholders in the community. They plan to resolve the redevelopment issues first in general City-wide issue. Those meetings will happen in vadous locations simultaneously throughout the City to get nput from the various different interest parties and community sectors. Once they gain consensus in those areas, they Will move together in one simultaneous seven week process to identify the specific areas. They have a lot of experience working with the community. Several members of their team have experience in revitalization and know this is a system that will work for E~oynton Beach. They will do this through negotiation, compromise and, if necessary, redefine some of the goals to make sure that the community is getting what it wants. The City will not be surprised with any unforeseen issues. One of the tasks that the City has identified as part of the RFP was to evaluate and analyze existing regulations. Th ~s is a very important portion Of this project because incremental change in transforming the City needs a firm foundation of regulations to guide that change. They are familiar with our comprehensive land use plan, zoning maps, land development regulations, and are going to be looking for traffic calming devices, opportunities for economic development inhibitors, redevelopment target area incentives, and CPTED opportunities to build those opportunities into the new codes. They have a lot of experience doing EARs, Land Use Plan Amendments, and writing zoning codes for PUDS. They will also analyze existing improvements as well as regulations. The proposa asked them to identify a new city image and analyze whether or not the CRA 7 MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 boundaries need to be expanded. The proposal also asked them to analysis existing futu re travel demands and linkages. They plan to do a city image analysis by taking an inventory of all the noteworthy characters, and at the same time looking for gateway opportunities throughout the City. Part of that inventory will help them establish design cues, looking at those characteristics that are already in the City. and building on those things that are already socially, culturally and historically important to Boynton Beach. They will be looking for those cues and building them into new image building icons that can be flexible and repeated throughout the City to help build that City image that you are interested in creating. They are going to identify several nautical beautification themes for the community to review. They will do that during the community participation program and help identify the beautification theme that is right for Boynton Beach Another portion of the analysis of the existing conditions would be to analyze the existing boundary of the CRA and see if that is appropriate or if it needs change. They propose to do that by first evaluating what criteria was used to set up the CRA. Based on tha~ criteria, and looking at that compared to current market conditions and the condition of properties that are out there, they will see if those criteria are still applicable for the conditions that are out there today. If not. they will need to amend the criteria, apply it to the new existing conditions, and find out the right CRA limits for 1997 and beyond. Joe McMahon advised that McMahon Associates is based in Boynton Beach His firm is proud to be part of the Boynton Beach community and is excited about this project and the opportunities it affords to them. McMahon Associates sees the importance of the linkage between land use and transportation. That does not just mean mowng vehicles. It means moving people too and trying to increase the occupancy of the vehicles and focus on all modes, particularly pedestrian modes (walking and bicycle trails). They have all the necessary qualifications to do the standard transportation analysis. They will look at all the physical and operating characteristics of the transportation system and utilize all the available information from the sources. They will not reinvent the wheel or collect new data. They will evaluate what is out there. For example, they secured the counts on the various roadways in the area. For the last ten years. Ocean Avenue has been carrying between 6,000 and 7.000 vehicles per day. A two lane road could handle that very easily. There is a lot of extra asphalt out there, which represents an opportunity. U.S. 1 and Federal Highway also represent an opportunity. Ten years ago, traffic was about 23,000 cars a day. Around 1990 it climbed to 30. Right now it is down to 22,000 vehicles per day. A three lane cross section, two lanes and a center turn lane can handle that traffic. Maybe that is an opportunity as well. Maybe Ocean Avenue and Federal Highway can become a 8 MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 crossing point and that can be the core of the community, and link that with traffic calming devices. They will take this inventory and do the standard analysis that evaluates capacity, accidents, speed, and existing deficiencies to find out what mitigation is needed for the current problems. One of the contracts they have with the Florida Department of Transportation is to do travel forecasting for the future years. They have models to utilize and will turn them nfo ntersection traffic forecasts. The designs will include traffic calming devices, such as roundabouts, to bring the speed of traffic down to a community scale. Through traffic should be over on 1-95. The destination traffic that they Want for Boynton Beach should be traveling at lower speeds. These are the kinds of strategies that they want to focus on. They would do an analysis of all the T intersections and the links from the roadway system, look at alternative circulation patterns, do the necessary travel forecasting, and incorporate a program of travel calming strategies. Right now, at least as faras Federal High~ay is concerned, Boynton Beach is not really a destination Towamencin Villa~g~ in Pennsylvania recently completed an interstate h~ghway that I~nked to a turnpike. I~t~s not now a destination location; however, the municipality has taken several hundred acres and created a zoning overlay that encourages mixed use developmE is a turnpike interchange there th~ going to Washington next week tc according to the FDOT Secretary, Florida because Florida does ~not~ taxes to the Federal Govern ment. ~nt (office retail, and high intensity residential)· There t, goes ~o a transportation'Center. Mr McMahon s represent his client before Congress· He said ~ere w!ll be additional [unding Opportunities for ~t back~ the number of:dollars that they pay in gas Mr. McMahon will look for those opportunities and try to tie them into some of the strategies. With regard to.the ideas they have that might apply to Boynton Beach, they have done 15 developments of regional impact. The New River Center project in downtown Fort Lauderdale is higher intensity than What might be considered for Boynton Beach; however, it is a mixed use developrpent. As a result of the Khight Mult moda Transportation,, Center project ,there~ was $44 million worth of improvements. They dedicated part of the land to the go~vernment and used that ta match Federal funding and created a park and ride facility· They did an interchange,justificat on report to the satisfaction of the DOT and received Federal funding for the interstate program (90 percent Federal/10 percent local). The 10 percent local was the dedicated land. It cost the State and Loca; government nothing. ,They have done same of the studies on the Mizner Park project which is a mixed use deve opment Some of the mun c pa t es they have worked for nc ude De ray Beach Fort Lauderda e and Park and They have had various contracts with the DOT;and would hke to apply the expertise they have ga ned to Boynton Beach's vision plan. 9 MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 Mr. Fleischman advised that Land Research Management will be heading up the work efforts on Task 4 of the RFP. The objective of Task 4 is twofold--to analyze the housing characteristics on a City-Wide basis, as well as a neighborhood basis, and provide program direction to within selected neighborhoods, including the redevelopment areas. The first component of Task 4 is to develop a housing balance strategy for the City and for the various neighborhoods. The first job in this task is to define the term housing balance in a quantifiable manner. Housing balance can be quantified by land use mix. income group mix, housing/employment ratios, product type, tenure (the relationship between owners and renters), andcombinations of any of the above or other means. In this regard, the City has included Several ,directives in its current comprehensive plan documents which can assist them' in creating a definition. They will jointly developthis definition with the City staff so that it can be used as a tool to implement these comprehensive planning directiveS. Once housing balance has been defined, the City will be segmented into identifiable neighborhoods or sub-markets and each will be analyzed using the previously defined housing balance criteria. The results of this analysis will allow them to quantify housing balance in each of the sub-markets in relation to the City as a whole. The City directives can [hen be applied tothe quantified housing balance in each sub-market and used as the basis for developing short-term and long-range strategies concerning the current balance and housing.end how we may want to change the balance in the different neighborhoods. The lists,~ af pote, ntial short-term and Iong~range strategies which can be used to affect the housing [~alance in the various neighborhoods are included in the handout which was. distributed at the end of the presentation. LRM has had considerable experience in ,completing similar studies in Palm Beach County. They have completed the housing elements of 12 separate local governments in Palm Beach County municipalities and was one of the two principal authors of the Palm Beach County Affordable Housing Study. The Palm Beach County Affordable Hbusing Study addressed the hou'sing ne~ds of a ncome groups and did not focus sp;ec~fically on low ~ncome groups~ In ad~tJon, the r pr vate sector work w I allow them to ibring some real world experience to what is normally a theoretical planning effort. They have the computer program necessary to complete the State mandated affordable housing needs assessment v~hichithe Cit~ must perform in its current comprehensive plan update. In their opinion the hausinglbalance strategy and the required affordab e housing needs assessment can be completed simultaneously. The second component of Task 4 is to im~blement a housing stock survey. The f rst job is to review the existing date sources. Th~ City has done a~ excellent job in the past n terms of quantifying h(Jusing conditions an~d has an extensive data base already in place. Next, they will review existing hous, ing definitions with City staff to determine if any modifications need to be made. This ~vill be followed by targeted field surveys to inventory current conditions. Finally. they will work with the staff to identify 10 ~/IlNUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 neighborhoods to be targeted for rehabilitation, including those suitable for mixed use or redevelopment. LRM was the primary research consultant for the project team which completed the northwest neighborhood redevelopment plan for the City of West Palm Beach. In that study they targeted areas for both residential and commercial development, as well as redevelopment activities. Ms. Bentz discussed Task 3 of the RFP. She advised that one of the keys to the success of the 20/20 redevelopment plan will be their involvement with the community groups, the Commission as the community leaders, and the planning staff. Together we will form and shape the vision of Boynton Beach in the next decade and for yea[s to come. The renaissance of the City will establish the stability, the vision, and the promotion of a sense of place. They will establish a strong cultural center and try to develop a very strong urban core and attract mainstream businesses in order to develop a stronger urban center. They want to afford Boynton Beach the opportunity to develop a strong marina district that will also serve as a destination/entertainment area. They will also like to examine opportunities for corridor improvement and enhancements for streetscaping, as well as gateway entrances into the City. These will restore community pride and spirit. The blueprint for the redevelopment area plans will be the RAPs (the Redevelopment Area Plans). These will serve as not only a deliverable, but as a task outline for the aspect that they wi] look at for the City of Boynton Beach. The first one is a streetscape. Using computer imaging, she showed before and after scenarios of Ocean Avenue and Federal Highway. With regard to Ocean Avenue, she said there is a very wide expanse of pavement. There is no distinction between travel lanes and parking area. and there is minimal sidewalk. This is really not a very wonderful opportunity for pedestrians to walk along the street. They reduced the travel lanes to allow for traffic calming methods, such as landscaping elements, and to have a d st nct on between t~ave anes and parking area. They also extended the sidewalks, added streetscape, and reduced the amount of utility. With regard to Federal Highway, there ~s an opportunity to widen the medians in this area and to develop the streetscape using the median plantings. There are sidewalks on both sides; however, they do not promote the use of pedestrians in this area. There is a median, but it is not totally planted. The cars take the major.opportunity in this area. She showed a scenario of one of the major gateways into Boynto~ Beach. They would like to look at the opportunities for selecting architectural elements within the City and to develop that into a signage program that really speaks of what Boynton Beach is. They want to be distinct and not borrow from other cities. She said we need to explore opportunities for nautical things, or for one Particular aspect which we really feel Boynton Beach is. They would work with the community group in developing that. 11 ~INUTES $PECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 She showed existing gateway signage in Boynton Beach. The computer image showed the sign developed and landscaping was added She said this can be applied to park design and park buildings, municipal buildings, as well as neighborhood sig ns. Another aspect of the task that they would like to look at is the development of a marina district. This would be a destination in and of itself' an entertainment area. She showed a picture of Prosperity Harbor. a project which her firm is currently working on in North Palm Beach. When they do a project of this caliber, they like to look at the linkages between the urban area and the marina itself, encourage strong pedestrian linkages, and attract boat traffic. They also completed the Island Queen Marina in North Palm Beach. They have a great deal of experience in the marina area. She showed a picture of the existing conditions of our marina district and a computer image of potential improvements which showed atwo story restaurant. She said this could be a destination. Ms. Bentz explained what distinguishes this team from others. Their strength in not only being able to complete a redevelopment area plan and to do.the drawings and work with the City in developing a vision for Boynton Beach, but also to actually obtain funding for cities. In the handout, there was a list of grants which Ms. Bentz said this team has applied for at some point in time during the career of the team. Land Design South alone has obtained five different grants in 1996 for close to one half million dollars for three municipalities. Mr. Legg explained why this team is best for Boynton Beach in addition to what has already been discussed, They have outstanding revitalization experience and a very successful record of funding acquisition. They have a proven multi-disciplinary team with excellent implementation record. They have the most market analysis and transportation planning experience of any team. With regard to the North Andrews Project. they have worked very closely with the homeowners associations and the government agencies in that area to build consensus. He felt the members of this team are builders of consensus through public participation and that they can work as an extension of the City staff and the community in building that consensus. They also recognize that most communities have a great pride in their traditions and their history and this team looks to build on those histories and traditions in revitalizing "America's Gateway to the Gulfstream" Commissioner Bradley asked how they intend to encourage people to get out of their vehicles if that is what we decide we want. The first thing that came to Mr, Legg's mind was to enhance the pedestrian areas along Federal Highway. Mr. Nisenbaum advised that the market demographics and market conditions are going to have to be analyzed in terms of what exists today. One of the members of this team has more experience than just about anybody in Palm Beach County in being able to identify both public and 12 ~/IINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 private sector clients market analysis. He is able. to take a look at what is missing, what exists, what is strong, what you need to build on. Part of this whole revitalization project is to help bdng people back downtown. Therefore, we have to analyze what is missing from downtown and what there is not enough of. They are going to write codes and beautiful design plans to help create incentives to bring development back downtown so that private investors will want to come back in. Beautifying the streetscape helps spark that interest. Changing the codes and streamlining the process makes it more predictable for private investors to come in. Mr. McMahon stated that they look at what is there and what gives them the opportunity to attract. He referred to the Towamencin project and stated that they are putting ~n a transportation center across the ramps from the turnpike interchange and intercepting traffic at that location. They are getting together with three of the major employers in the area and running shuttle buses between the downtown and basically vacant land. The zoning overlay creates about 33 percent open space and ties to the rest of the community in a system of pedestrian pathways and encourages the linkage by way of walking to the community. These are the kinds of opportunities they IQok for. Perhaps there is a possibility here to ha~/e a shuttle and maybe tie it in ,with Motorola. There is an opportunity for different types of retail that would not be your typical strip center, but would be complimentary to some of the others. Mayor Taylor stated that if the CRA has to be expanded, it has to be processed through the State. He asked if this team will get involved in that process. Mr. Nisenbaum answered affirmatively. Maurice Rosenstock asked what the team suggests the City do to implement the plan once the team determines the housing and business needs and redesigns the streets, etc. He pointed out that all the land around City Hall and the marina area ~s privately owned. He also pointed out that most urban renewal projects have failed throughout the United States for various reasons. Mr. Nisenbaum advised that they are not coming in with designs for what they think Boynton Beach's vision is. They have some ideas and expenence. They are not going to dictate anything to the City. This is Boynton's vision. They are going to help bring it out with some of their expertise, help build that vision, and put it down on paper so that we can build it into the next ten years or so. There will be a seven week process for each of the nine redevelopment areas identified in the RFP: Some things can happen simultaneously. There are already targeted areas, but there are other areas within the City that need to be targeted for redevelopment, in-fill, or mixed use. They are going to meet in several locations throughout the city and find out from different sectors what people want and what their vision is. There will be a two week period of just gathering information. Then the team staff, and the City Officials wil come together as a group and put it all together. At that time, they will be available for three weeks to answer 13 '~/IINUTES SPECIAL CITY COM MISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 questions in a technical assistance period. Then they will go back to the participants they met with earlier and report to them about what their neighbors said on the other side of the community, and what they did to mesh everybody's interests. We are going to have to compromise, negotiate, change,goals, and work together as a team. Once they identify the additional areas to target for redevelopment and in-fill, they will come up with an overall map of the city and land use plan amendment type changes. This is where the investment areas are going to be. They will get consensus on that during the seven week cycle. They will spend another seven weeks on all the corridor plans to find out what types of designs the citizens are interested in seeing for their own community. They are going to give them their experience and get their feedback. The site specifics which have already been identified (the cultural center, the marina, signage for entry features) will all be simultaneous. They have done this before and know it is going to work. They are not forcing any of their designs on the City. This is a community based design. Mr. McManon advised that a northwest neighbc rhood in West Palm Beach is one of the most economically depressed areas ~n theic~ty. They surveyed what they felt to be their community assets, which were very minimal. They identified two old churches and an elementary school as the basic assets of this neighborhood. They recommended that the two churches be placed on the National Registrar of Historic Places, which they have been. Some funding has come in to !renovate those churches. A couple of neighborhood parks were placed:around those areas. There is some renovation activity going on along the streets that front those churches. They recreated a neighborhood activity base there and recommended that certain programs and activities be centered around the school. Also, one of the first items that they recognized in terms of trying to deal with~the economy of the neighborhood was that there was no through traffic. Vehicles al~ays skirted the neighborhood because of a number of factors, one of which was cri~eb If they were going to revitalize that neighborhood, they had to start with limited spending power of the residents requiring some replacement housing an( where they felt housing construc'd, gathered together and a sin( at[ the corner of Tamarind and commercial activities, they looked are normally appealing traffic volumes, etc. and identified problem they encountered was activity note, but that consisted incentives. They identified that not enough of otherS. A strateg! m~g businesses that could take advantage of the ~o lived in that neighborhood. In addition to renovations, they identified an area should start. The property owners were .~ntial housing project is under construction Lakes Boulevard. With regard to hborhood in terms of characteristics that ts access, visibility, passing ;iness notes i.n this neig,hborhood. The next .~rns. They identified, a commercial / owners. So,they had to create of certain kincts of businesses and to create a brand new zoning district which ~inesses can operate out of their MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 own homes with business owners on the first floor and residential on the second floor. This strategy, particularly in neighborhoods like this, does not happen overnight. It is an incremental longer range program where small baby steps are taken. Mr. Nisenbaum stated that what was right for other areas that they have worked on is not what is going to be right for Boynton Beach. The answer is going to come from Boynton Beach Boynton Beach has an opportunity with the intersection of Ocean and Federal that is unique to Boynton Beach. These are opportunities to be exploited. He attributed a large part of Delray Beach's success to being next to Boca Raton. They have an active community dght next door to them to come in and spend their entertainment dollars. However, they do not have a destination. Boynton Beach has a destination; an opportunity for the marina district. Plenty of people will come to a destination area. Federal Highway is no longer the corddor that moves people north and south, so it can be an urban area. These destinations are what is going to get people down here in a calm traffic pattern and get them out of their cars and onto the street. A recess was declared at 5:58 p.m. The meeting resumed at 6:00 p.m. Genesis Group, Inc. Brian Wheeler, Senior Vice President of The Genesis Group, said his team is not going to spend a lot of time showing lots of pretty pictures and photographs of other projects and infer that if we hire them. these things are going to work in Boynton Beach. It takes a lot of specific analysis, designing, and planning for that to occur. He said he is also not going to give us a lot of theoretical urban design because it cost a lot of time and money. He said this team is going to talk about community development and building blocks. They find that communities have a number of different aspects, including neighborhood values, basic resources of infrastructure and utilities, human values, safety and security, cultural and social resources, physical design values, the quality of the buildings, the street character, land development regulations, and visual controls. They find that plans that are completely focused on urban design issues are missing a couple of key components. The land use planning, economic development, and transportation have to be dealt with at the same time because there is a tremendous amount of overlap and interconnection between them. This team consists of a group of people who have international and national experience, as well as local experience. The Genesis Group ~s Florida based and consists of approximately 143 people. They specialize in urban planning and land development consulting, landscape architecture, and engineering architecture. About 45 percent of their work is public sector community development projects and building different components of the overall community. They also help put projects together for 15 "MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 private developers1 They understand private sector, business investment, and reinvestment issues. He introduced Michael Wallwork, an Australian Transportation Engineer. He travels around the country teaching people how to do traffic calming and use roundabouts instead of a lot of expensive ~ntersections and interchanges. He is one of our country's experts in dealing with traffic problems in downtown areas. Lee Worsham is a land use attorney from Palm Beach County. There are a number of property rightsdssues that have to be dealt with in relation to land development regulation items within this scope of work and there are going to be development agreements and all sorts of things down the road that you are going to need assistance with. Richard Gardiner is from Kentucky. He is one of the country's experts in CPTED (Cdme Prevention Through Environmental Design) There are certain laws in the State of F, Iorida regarding CPTED. It is an adopted principal from a statutory point of view and if your designs do not follow those standards and there is a problem or lawsuit down the road, you have some liability. Marwan Mufleh is with Williams Hatfield & Stoner. which is located inside the City. As we move through this process, infrastructure analysis upfront, permitting, and other local issues are going to be important considerations. Mr. Mufleh and his firm are going to be an important part of the cost analysis and other components. Stephen Kelly of Florida Planning Group Inc. was responsible for jump starting Delray Beach in the right direction. Mr. Kelly said his firm is one of the State's leading experts in community development block grant and affordable housing programs. As of October 1, the City will be receiving a significant amount of money from both these programs that would enable them to start putting a program on line. One of the things we are going to talk about today is taking you from the vision that you have been working on for several years into realistic programs that can be done in the marketplace. A lot of Boynton Beach is in good shape. It has been a relatively stable residential community for a long time. Unfortunately, when the new malls came in and the newer style stores came in. the downtown area became obsolete. One of the charges is to look at the downtown area and the east/west streets and come up with a definable image. You have a neighborhood target area behind the downtown. We are going to redevelop a plan for that area. both in-fill housing, housing rehab, and straigt~tforward neighborhood ~mprovements. You do not have any clearly definable landscaping standards or parking standards, or the usual kind of things that communities have. We 16 'MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 will be bringing these in as we come through the program. There are local neighborhoods where the houses are 30 and 40 years old. We have to start thinking about how we are going to transition them to the next owners and make sure that this housing stock stays in good condition. Our whole approach is designed to g~ve you the tool that you are goin~c to need to start implementing as soon as the money starts coming 'm Mr. Kelly referred to the CDBG and SHIP money that will be coming in and said this opens the door for the City to start looking at additional grant funds that might be available for the community. He stated that when we first did our CRA. we did not make the boundary big enough to really generate any increment. Therefore, we will look to see where we can expand the CRA boundary, which will also start to bring more revenues into the community to target on economic development and downtown redevelopment. Our goal is to turn your vision into brick and mortar and give you a five year action program. He has looked around the community and does not have a clear feel for who lives here, what they spend their money on, or what they do in their spare time. The local stores need to know that. This is why we focus on the need for market studies. There needs to be a single unified strategy for both areas so it starts to become the focal point for downtown Boynton Beach. If there is not a strong community consensus, the political leaders, the community, and the business community will not support it. The key focus ~s on implementation. The market studies drive all redevelopment programs. We have to take into account if there is a market to support something, if the land can be acquired, and if the zoning and land use will allow it. Public participation builds public support. Our process, which is a charette process, gives us the ability to interact with you and build a plan with you. As we build a plan with you. we get a lot of good ideas from the people who are already here because they know a lot about their community: iHowever, he could get data about this community that we have never seen or heard about. By involving everybody at a big meeting, you are making everybody come to theitable with their concerns and problems and give us their ideas. This builds the consensus and gets everybody on the same train and at the end when we are ready to move, we all move together. We have to have a public/private partnership with our local business community because those are the people who, are going to invest the money. You have very scarce public dollars and we have to invest them very wisely so that we get the lever to get the biggest bang for those scare bucks. We will do an economic overlay, which was not in the RFP. because we feel it is necessary. We have learned how to work with FDOT so that you can drive what the traffic plan is rather than FDOT. The orientation of traffic used to be north/south. It is 17 "MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 now east/west anti we have to change everything to take into account how the traffic patterns have changed. At the first charette we talked about all the problems and where we need to go. At the next charette, we will discuss our options. Out of this will come a plan for the Central Business District and a plan for the CDBG program. There is also the target neighborhood strategy which has to meet different Federal and State requirements. At the third charette, we will have a draft plan ready for public comment. It will follow the RFP and give you the rec~evelopment area plan and the housing and neighborhood analysis. This gives us the ability to say this is where we can go, and everybody can talk it through to make sure we are n agreement on what the plan ought to be. That then sets the stage [or turning it into the program. Our final program includes the overall program, the five year action items, and the recommended incentives (what needs to be done, when it needs to be done by, who is responsible for doing it. and what is it going to take). With regard to the timeline, we believe we should structure it over five key meetings. Our real target should be October 1s~ so that next year when your fiscal year starts, you are ready to go. However. we can adjust it to meet your schedule. The deliverables that we are going to provide match the things you have asked for and are very inclusive. They include a redevelopment program, a target area study, an overall housing ~mprovement strategy for the community, a five year capital improvement program, other ancillary actions, gateway treatment for entranceways, an overall design theme (Boynton by the Sea), and a transportation and parking program. It takes a lot of different experience and more ~mportantly, the understanding of the interlinkings between that experience. There are things in the housing analysis that you will need to use for your housing plans for both the State and the Federal government. You need to understand what you can use CDBG for in economic development and what you can use it for in target area neighborhood development, tying it all together through a CRA program and financial packages. We are all senior level people. We are the ones who are going to work on this project. We have already done this successfully for a lot of communities. We know what works and what does not work. Our focus is on implementation. The Genesis Group brings a lot of good skills, not only working for local governments in redevelopment issues, but for the developers themselves. This gives us the ability to know what the market economics are not only for overall design, but for site specific development. 18 MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION, MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 The Florida Planning Group's expertise is ve~ tightly knit around community development. Williams Hatfield & Stoner is a local engineering firm. Honigman Miller Schwarts and Cohn are one of the betterfirms in Palm Beach County in land use law. Gardiner Associates, Inc. is the national expert in crime prevention design. Our approach is a solid approach. We know it works. We have used it in communities as big as Jacksonville with one million people as well as in little towns with only a couple of thousand people. Our project team is the best in the business. Some of the people on this team are not only national experts, but State experts. We have experience in similar situations and in the broad breath of experience, including community development and affordable housing. Most of the people on the team have worked for local governments for over 20 years and we know we can solve the problems here. Itwill not be easy and it will take some time, but we can point you in the right direction. We have done it for a lot of other communities. Mr. Wheeler stated that the team contains over 200 individuals who have a wide range or,expertise. There are going to be hurdles down the road and issues that come up and we have a commitment to help you. We have utilized this basis process ~n Europe, in Asia for the Ministry of Economic Affairs. and in China where we spent several years trying to figure out where to locate and design some new industrial parks. Most recently, we were hired by A Thousand Fdends of Florida DCA, the City of Tallahassee. the Board of ReD ions ~n Tallahassee because FSU, FAMU, et al had a different plan of what needed to happen in an area south of Tallahassee. DOT decided they were going toput a six lane road through it. They funneled money to A Thousand Friends of Florida and they hired us to help them reach a consensus in terms of what the future land plan needed to be and how the transportation improvements needed to work to support that. Vice Mayor Titcomb advised that Boynton Beach is projecting itself to be a nautical community, which brings in environmental issues in terms of redeveloping waterfront and acquinng land. Mr. Wheeler advised that The Genesis Group has an environmental firm that works for everybody from Disney Development to small local developers the Regional Planning Council, and others in the environmental arena. Therefore, from a permitting point of view and an environmental analysis point of view, we have a first rate group. We worked on the Benton Harbor, Michigan redevelopment condition that had a lot of waterfront and a lot of old communities that the industry had long since left. There was a great deal of economic decline and vacant housing, but they had waterfront and they had a lot of people who lived around the lakes that wanted places to have their boats and commercial opportunities. We basically picked them up by their boot straps by utilizing the waterfront amenity that they had. We did 12 or 13 different individual sites throughout that region that all hinged on waterfront aocessibility, marina, waterfront utilization, and how the land side needed to respond economically to that. 19 MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 Mayor Taylor referred to the comments about getting with the community, having charettes, getting public input, and he believes we have already done that step. We had a three day visioning conference and everybody from the community was represented. We gave that plan to a task force and ask them to tell us when, where and how we are going to implement it and how we are going to pay for it. Mr. Wheeler stated that there has to be a lot of market input in terms of making decisions. That market data needs to get back in front of the committee so that we can make more intelligent decisions about how to create the nucleus of success in a given area and move to a different target area and create another nucleus of success (what we know will work, what we can afford what the pdvate sector can invest). We are going to try to take what has been done to the next level. Mr. Kelly said we could put together a solid draft then have a big neighborhood meeting and go through it. There are some side meetings you are going to have to have in conjunction with CDBG and affordable housing, and they can absorb some of the public participation for this. Mr. Wheeler said we understand the public participation process and know how to work in a consensus building group. In many cases, we have a community that is like a leaking ship. Everybody in the community is spending [heir money somewhere else and we need to figure out what we need to do to fix that. Public perceptions about what is here now and how they use and support it is important input, We can use that information if it is already available. Mr. Kelly advised that this will also significantly save you dollars on budget because an intensive part of this project is having big meetings with groups, Mr. Wheeler added that we can put more of that into the actual effort going into some of the overlay districts, land development regulations, and other implementation items that you may need assistance with. Mayor Taylor knows we can apply for grants and receive SHIP money. He wanted to know if the grant monies are enough or if we have to do a bond ~ssue, Mr. Kelly advised that the City is going to start receiving a sizable amount of money ($700,000 less staff money to run the program) to start putting out on the street. It takes a while to get those programs up and running. He recommended the City start to look for some successes before going out to the public for a bond issue. People have to see things happen before they are ready to take the next step. With the $700.000 that the City will be receiving, a bond issue may not be necessary in the future. These are decisions you are going to have to make when you decide where you are going to allocate those monies and how you are going to use those to leverage other projects. 20 'MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 Mr. Wheeler said if you were going after a grant, we could tell you what component you need in order to be competitive. Also. you have to have it already in your comp plan and approved in order togo through the process. So if you are not doing that this year, you are not going to be ready for the grant cycle next year. Commissioner Bradley inquired about the importance of a market study. Mr. Kel ~y advised that market studies are getting easier, quicker, and less expensive to do because of the technology. He stated that marketers know a lot about people and how they spend their money. Most local bus~ness people do not know that is available, do not know how to get it, and never have it available to them If you bring that data to a local government or to the local business community, they can look at the competing centers, the store m~xes, where the dollars are flowing, and they can look for market opportunities in the community that you then could use for your existing business people and also try to attract additional businesses to move into your community. That also then feeds to your land use requirements, traffic requirements, etc. The market study lets your community, the housing developers, the commercial developers, and the retail developers, know where the people:,are, how they are spending:their money, who is moving into the community, and who is moving out ofthe community. That then tells them everything else they need to .know. It tellsthem what kind of stores need to be here. what kind of center they should be in. etc. Commissioner Tillman was sure this team came across a project similar to Boynton Beach and asked about hitting the ground running in dealing with Boynton Beach. Mr. Wheeler felt there was a lack of understanding of the overall resources that are available in this area. Looking at where Boynton Beach s positioned and all the development around it. he felt there was a tremendous opportunity. He suggested taking baby steps and focusing on as small a nucleus as we can and do that area 100 percent right and let it grow from there. He said many communities try to do a big bond program, get a million dollar ISTEA grant, and spread it out all over the community. In terms of understanding market demand and the needs of the community, in Okaloosa County the hotel people have a great season and then it dies. They hotel people wanted a meeting facility or convention center. The County could not build a convention center for millions of dollars and spend $1.6 million a year trying to operate it. We knew that [here was a tremendous need for entertainment. They had some land and were able to assemble more. We created an entertainment/retail/convention diStrict. This is basically a hotel sitting on top of a main street environment with sort of a New Orleans' Bourbon Street theme. This hotel :feeds the convention center and converts over to have individual rooms or suites for families during the season. Five developers were willing to spend $50 million to build this and operate the convention center at no expense to the County because of the market deman~t and their ability to make money off of this. The County leased the land ~ them for 50 years. This is an example of taking a need in the community and market data and sticking the two 21 'MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH '13, '1997 together. There may be opportunities in Boynton Beach that nobody has identified because we do not have enough basic understanding of what the market opportunities are for existing businesses to reinvest. In addition to this. one of the most important things is for the homeowners that are here to reinvest in their property and make those decisions with confidence because of what they see their community doing. Mr. Kelly said they are working on the City of Hialeah's commercial revitalization program. They are working with the existing business owners tn commercial facade renovations and are looking for one of those additional markets that they can tap into. He said Jacksonville Beach had the longest running non-redevelopment of a mile of beach front in the State of Florida. it is almost impossible to keep a mile of beach front from being redeveloped. They have had four major architecturally urban big master plans that kept getting bigger and bigger. The first one was going to be a $10 million deal and the last one was going to be a $150 million deal. They all went into the tank and now they a~re do ng nuts and bo ts redevelopment which is working with the local business community, putting in the infrastructure and street treesl and using Code Enforcement to move the property owners to start to redevelop their land. R~ght now, we have no idea what the market is in Boynton Beach. We need to know who the people are and how they spend their money in order to attract them downtown. Mr. Rosenstock ~nquired about the number of man hours and people involved to accomplish this project. Mr. Wheeler said the man hour estimate is in the proposal. It will cost between $125.000 to $175,000. If the public perception is here. that number will come down. A recess was declared at 6:53 p.m. The meeting resumed at 7:03 p.m James Duncan and Associates Henry Iler. principal of James Duncan and Associates, introduced Hank Skokowski of Urban Design Studio, Kahart Pinder of David Plummer & Associates. and Carla Bryant of Parad ~gm Shift. He felt they have put together a team that gives you the best qualification with national and local presence and experience to do the many capabilities and skills that are needed to successfully perform this project. Many firms do a lot of things, including urban planning; however, urban planning has been James Duncan and Associates' main core of business since 1977. They have offices in Austin Chicago, and Palm Beach Gardens. Over a period of time. they have successfully firiished over 30 community master plans an~l 75 zoning codes. Among their major clients in the last three years have been Charleston, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Dade County. In 1992 and 1993 they were given the opportunity to prepare the Palm Beach County Economic Policy Plan. Over 2.000 value-added jobs were created as a resu t of the policies that the County had the foresight to implement during that time. They have also recently completed the Florida City Community Redevelopment Plan for 22 MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 a city which was hit heavily by the hurricane in 1992. Since that time, the tax base of that city has gone up 50 percent above what it was before the hurricane. Mr. ller will be the project manager for this project. He has 20 years of southeast Florida urban planning experience in Dade County, Martin County, and Palm Beach County. He currently has clients also in Broward County, The principal of his firm, James Duncan, is the past president of the Amedcan Planning Association and a nationally recognized figure in urban planning for the last 15 to 20 years. Urban Design Studio has over 20 years experience in urban design. They have offices in West Palm Beach and California. They were nationally recognized for a zoning code that they have done for San Bemadino, California and design guidelines for Gulfstream, Florida. They have done projects in Mesa, Arizona; Santa Monica, California, and downtown West Palm Beach. Every person on theteam, except for Ms. Bryant, isan AICP (The American Institute of Certified Planners) which is very important for the quality control of the project and the creative ideas. Ms. Bryant has been in community involvement and marketing since 1990. Her office is in West Palm Beach. She had a very significant role in the Visions West Atlantic project in Delray Beach. She has also worked on the Total Quality Management Program for Motorola and on the Privatization Committee for Pam Beach County. She holds a Masters Degree in Human Resource Development. David Plummer and Associates is the premiere firm in the specific needs that have been outlined in the RFP for traffic calming, transportation linkages, and transportation system management. They have offices in West Palm Beach, Coral Gables, and Fort Myers. They have experience in congestion management in Palm Beach County and they also worked on the Delray Beach Transportation Concurrency Exception Area. They also did traffic calming in West Palm Beach. Mr. Skokowski advised that he has had some experience ~n Boynton Beach in the past. n 1982 or 1983, he worked with the odgmal CRA to try to come up with a vision for the opportunities for downtown. We went through some rough times in the last 80s and eany 90s. Everybody seems rearing to go. There is a lot of economic opportunity. He felt the opportunities that we identified well over 10 years ago are still valid today. The biggest opportunity that Boynton Beach has is to build on Boynton Beach's maritime heritage. The downtown waterfront is rare and unique, even in South Flodda as an opportunity for a public place right on the~ fishing, and history--that activity which is It is the greatest resource and opp°rtuni~ core or concept represents building from this area (the elementary school that you environment, the park environment that t and that relatively short distance betwee waterfront, integrated with all the boating, eally part of gulfstream and your namesake. that you have to build on. The east/west here and going to the historic civic place of plan on renovating, the civil and cultural 3s been a vision in this area for some time, here and the waterfront, part of which is this 23 'MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, '1997 small, traditional, historic downtown Ocean Avenue. none of which is very much today, but all of which can be a wonderful place and all of which can become that east/west downtown core and that historic civil place). Most communities are trying to create a sense of civic pride and a civic heart for the community, a place for: peopte to gather. All of these things represent great opportunities to link them together and create a wonderful place for the citizens of Boynton Beach We think you need to support marina development and work with marina property owners and private/public partnerships that for the long term advantage of this community accomplishes some public goals while stimulating some economic development in the marina district. With regard to bringing the waterfront presence out to U.S. 1, there is an urban design opportunity here to create a character and a waterfront maritime theme. Today you can ddve down U.S. 1 and not know that you are about a block and a half from the Intracoastal Waterway. The entire character of that area~needs to be brought to U.S. 1, whether itis the water or the architectural character, (the streetscape and all of the other elements) to begin the linkage for the Ocean Avenue core and ultimately to this area to create that sense of opportunity that yeu do not have today as far as the ability to enjoy a wonderful environment there. With regard to downtown transportation and streetscape linkages, a couple of years ago, we were hired by downtown West Palm Beach. We did all of the downtown streetscape improvements for Narcissus Avenue and coordinated with all of the other work that was done in the town square area. All the streetscape patterns, the bollards, the wall/fence detail, and special events poster opportunities were designed and constructed in a little over a year, much to the credit of the leadership of the City of West Palm Beach. It is typical for his firm to get the job done and try to stay within the timeline and budget. Mr. Pinder's office worked with them on Narcissus Avenue and Clematis Street to try to create some traffic calming and special feature. They also worked with them on Marco Island to create an urban design plan for that community as well. Mr. Pinder advised that U.S. 1, Ocean Av~enue, Boynton Beach Boulevard, and Martin Luther King Boulevard have a different character and need to be treated differently. U.S. 1 has to maintain its use as a major the various communities. On Ocean Ave~ pavement which you do not need. It shot provided on both sides or at least one sid in that area as well as provide the pedest] area, and the downtown cultural civic cen of U.S. I along Ocean Avenue. Boyntor gateway to the community to make peol: Boynton Beach. That too has opportunil )orthlsouth roadway carrying traffic between ~ue, east of U.S. 1, there is a huge expanse of Id be narrowed down and parking should be ,~ of the roadway to support some of the uses lan linkages between the water, the marina .er. That could be extended on the west side 9each Boulevard has to be treated as the ; know when they get there that they are in ;s for pedestrian activity with some of the 24 'MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 businesses along that area. Each one of these needs to be treated and looked at in its own way. One of the great things about Boynton Beach is that you have the residential area right up against the downtown. In a lot of areas, there is a large commercial district but no residential nearby. That has Opportunities, but it also creates problems. That is where the traffic calming and the neighborhood protection comes in. They have worked with Mr. Skokowski on Narcissus and were instrumental in doing some work in the City of Coral Gables. They had some serious problems near their downtown area with traffic infiltrating their neighborhoods. North Miami Beach also had huge problems with traffic infiltration as development ocourred. There are numerous ways to slow traffic down and get it under control, including roundabouts. They just finished one in Miami and Brickel Key. As you provide parking spaces, you also provide pedestrian connections and landscape islands. Diagonal closure= of [wo streets prevents through traffic. Other traffic calming techniques include linking driveways and closing streets. They have been involved in traffi~ calming and neighborh0o~l protection schemes and know what to do as far as protect ng .the ne ghborhoOds Con,lest on management is alSo important. They developed the congestion management program in Broward County and were picke~l by St. Lucie County to do theirs They u~nde~'stand how to accommodate and calm traffic. Mr. Skokowski stated that he has done an awful lot of work for the pnvate sector. Mr. ler specializes in urban planning. They have learned an awful lot about how to make things work and how to deal with practicalities of how things get built, the marketplace realities, etc. They like to be involved in things that are not planning studies that sit on shelves. They wrote a set of development regulations for the City of San Bernadino about five or six years ago that are being implemented today. They incorporate design guidelines and the City uses them to date. They have produced a vide(~ on them to guide development and ach eve public goals using private dollars. He felt this is a lot; of what has to be recognized in this process. Up and down all of these corridors and the surrounding areas, the primary investment is going to be private. The question is what do we do to leverage and direct that in this process. They developed a design manual for single-faimily homes for the Town of Gulfstream and were nationally recognized and received national awards from the American Planning Association. They also did a four day charette in downtown Immokalee. They gave them some ideas, and the first building is under construction today. They have the technologY' the capability and the exper ence They are not re nvent ng the whee In a ot of cases they are just applying techmques that have worked n other communities that are approprate n th s area as we Theyasobe eve n commumcatmg their design and do compu~e.r simulations and communicate graphically. They also try to inform the community tbroSgh th ngs ke newsletters to get the information ou( in an exciting way. There are some great opportunities and some great 25 'MINUTES SPECIAL CiTY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 things are happening, and these things are meant to stimulate people positively and seem to work all the time. He participated in the developers' forum regarding Martin Luther King Boulevard. He stated that the visual part is important--the streetscape, landscape, and the design. However, the land use and the regulations that are going to be in place are much more ~mportant to allow people to do things m urban areas, older areas, and historic areas as far as development, redevelopment, and in-fill development that are going to make sense in a marketplace. For example, in his opinion. Martin Luther King Boulevard is not gong to be a retail center in the future, but is a great location for mixed use and for people to get into business in studios, offices, and business operations in an environment where there is housing behind the store, abovethe store, or next to the store. A mixed use opportunity to create a business center with some retail services and other services serving that community ~s realistic. We need to look at the code, the regulations, and the plans. We need to confirm that this is correct through the community and through our analysis. Then we need to see whether or not what we have in place accommodates that. This is the approach they will be taking along U.S. 1 and other corridors. Ms. Bryant advised that she was project manager for a year and a half with the Visions West Atlantic project in Delray Beach. One of the key aspects of that project was building community support. In the late 80s or early 90s, there were a lot of issues regarding redevelopment and the CRA. Someone had to go in their and build that community support. They had to go door to door. talk with people on a personal level, and help them understand and recognize what the issues are. It is important to build that community support because the Commission is going to have to go back to those people and ask for money through tax and bond referendums. Therefore. it is important to recognize that part of the marketing process for th~s program will be building that community support. Also part of the marketing plan is to take a look at establishing BOynton Beach as a regional toudst destination. Years ago, Boynton Beach was the place to go for fishing. It is important to recogmze that this area has a lot of history and culture and has something to offer the people who are into certain sports and leisure types of activities. She envisioned Boynton Beach as an area that can truly be a regional tourist destination, particularly when you look at the fact that it is the gateway to the gulfstream. They suggested that perhaps there is an opportunity to create some kind of annual maritime event, either boating or fishing related. It is important to recognize that the marina is one of the key areas not. only just for tourism, but also to support the small business owners who exist there as well as create an infrastructure of retail and other types of small businesses in that area. That is your golden and prime area to do some building in terms of renovation and getting businesses into the area. 26 'MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 They also suggested that the elementary school, a very historic aspect of this community, bemade into a fisherman's museum. This is an opportunity to create a regional tourist destination as well as to bring some dollars directly into your City and economy. She referred to what Delray Beach has done with old school square and the tennis center. Those two nonprofit organizations have generated a lot of revenue for the City of Delray Beach. particularly over the last two years. It is important to start looking at what kinds of areas or what kinds of buildings can be renovated and considered civic, historical areas for the community. She spoke of attracting private investment (retailers and small business people) into the area as well as people who are looking to purchase vacant land and renovate it. One of the key aspects with the Visions West Atlantic project was to attract people from outside of the general area to come in and work on that project. One of the people who became involved was Dan Sanders. He was interested in building in Florida and chose Delray Beach. It is important to attract that public as well as private investment because those people with the pdvate dollars will oftentimes be able to build a little faster than people with public dollars. Mr. Iler gavea brief overview of the detail that this team had gone into to provide a very specific and expedited timeline for every task of this project. All things going well the project will be completed inside of a year. If selected, the team will sit down with staff and others to see what the priorities are. He also mentioned the implementation program that this team will develop for the City, responsible agencies, and citizens to carry forward. He stated that they have done over 30 community master plans and not one of them is sitting on the shelf. There is no point doing planning if you are not going to implement it. This team's emphasis in this project is implementation. At the end of the project, you will have a program that lays out specific action that has to be carried out. assigns the actions and responsibilities to entities and agencies to implement, identifies viable funding sources according to the activities of capital improvement projects, identifies an overall implementation entity, provides quarterly updates, and provides for the recognition of accomplishments along the way. You have to keep the momentum going in this kind of program. If there is any lapse in implementation, the momentum will start to subside. When you are depending on so many public agencies and private i~,;,estment, you have to keep the momentum going. It is cdtical that we and the community get behind this project and carry it forward in a very efficient and expedited way. Mr. lief stated that this team has national and local planning experience and implementation experience to successfully do this project. They have incorporated in their team the diverse qualifications that are needed. He asked the Commission to ask themselves, as each team comes through, if they see a high level of skill in each of the necessary components to carry forward the project--transportation planning, urban design, urban planning, zoning codes, marketing, and community involvement. They think they stack u p well against any team that is currently under consideration. They 27 'MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 have brought aboard the transportation planning type of expertise which they feel is very critical. Also, they have no local private relationships in the area. They do not have any private clients and they do not own any properly. They have a wide range of implementation successes and have implemented redevelopment programs under a lot of conditions in a lot of areas. They are always on time and within budget. Commissioner Jaskiewicz was concemed about traffic management. She asked if there will be any road blocks in the way if the team is dealing with a State or County road. She advlised that they have been very explicit with any ~mprovements that the City has wanted to make with regard to parking, etc. Mr. Pinder stated that DOT always wants to provide more pavement. However, they are now recognizing that the traffic calming and thlings like that are necessary, as long as it is done within their criteria and standards. Even the County is implementing some of those things. We need neighborhood protection and traffic ca, lining for safety and a lot of other reasons. He has worked with DOT and the County, knows the people very well. and knows who to work with and how to get it done. Mayor Taylor asked what year they did the County Economic Policy Plan that created quite a few jobs. Mr. Iler advised that it started in 1992 and was completed in 1993. A recess was declared at 7:30 p.m. The meeting resumed at 7:43 p.m. Weiner and Moric, P.A. Michael Weiner. an attorney with Weiner. Morici & Aronson, P.A. said his team knows what is best for Boynton Beach because they have three items--locality, reality, and a niche. With regard to locality, he advised that this team has been here for years and aoes not need to set up local offices. They already have five of them. For this reason, they know the competition. Even if a firm was to review, catalog, and collate every piece of information on your redevelopment areas, without understanding your surrounding areas outside of your borders, the information would be of little relevance. Redevelopment is a moving target. Plans developed in the 80s and implemented in the 90s are not necessarily the success stories for a project that is going to be planned in the 90s and implemented in the first decade of the 21TM century. There are already redevelopment areas offthe ground to the north and south of us. so we have to do something different. We have to find a way to have a different strategy so that downtown Boynton Beach sticks out and makes its own impact. This team is focused on implementation and is not here to show pretty pictures. They are here to have a three dimensional development. They want something that is going to result in sticks and bricks. They are going to focus on cost benefit and are not just provide a canned overview of available programs They are going to analyze the risk/reward ratio. They want the City to understand what it is undertaking. They do not want to develop a plan 28 =MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, t997 that is going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars to implement only to result in tens of millions of dollars on the tax roll. That would not make sense. They want reality. Their other reality focus is community relations. Unlike the other teams, from the very beginning, Michael Brady has been on board. He will speak to you about public relations and what a public relations expert can do to get the buzz on the street. There is no wory tower approaches on this team. Boynton Beach needs a hook and they think they have spotted one: however, they have to test it and get community input. Boynton Beach is heads up above all the other localities in terms of its technology base. It is the home base for some of the largest employers in communications, digital technology, and medical technology. Mr. Weiner spoke of a redevelopment plan that might be catering to the needs of techies (the people who work at these kinds of plants and who are employed or consult with these kinds of operations). They would be living in the east. traveling to the west against the peak traffic flows. Zoning would all~.w home/office use that is compatible with the computer sensitive industries that are growing up. It is a housing niche that has been unexplored by any other community, Mr. Weiner spoke about a cultural bend that would work towards the sciences with cyber cafes and museums showcasing science and technology. This would make Boynton Beach different than just another art gallery avenue. Festivals could be built around the celebration of inventors, conventions, and events that are dedicated to software users and major product introductions. This would give Boynton Beach a reason to stand out and to attract major businesses along the Congress corridor. He introduced Rick Gonzalez from REG Architects, Michael Brady of L.B. Limited & Associates. Inc., Carol Thompson of Thompson Consulting, and Kieran Kilday and Michelle Andrewin of Kilday & Associates. Mr. Gonzalez stated that his father and he opened REG Architects on Clematis Street ~n West Palm Beach in 1988. They have been involved with urban renewal and urban redevelopment for almost 10 years and are very proud of the work they have done in this County. They have also worked in adjacent areas such as Immokalee. Clewiston. Florida City, and Homestead after the hurricane in 1992. They have a history with the City of Boynton Beach in 1992. they were involved with Art Matthews and LISC to look come up with some creative ways to revitalize the Martin Luther King area. They were LISC's architect and town planner in 1992/94. One of the ideas they came up with was the implementation of the linear park and the viewing p~er. They also saw that the single-family housing got a very good start. They also were involved with the study that the City did in 1994 for Ocean Avenue and the concept~ of traditional neighborhood districts a nd how to use that for redevelopment purposes. They recently purchased a 100 year old building in West Palm Beach which used to be a fire station and are in the 29 'MINUTES SPECIAL CiTY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 process of removing the 1950s facade, recreating what it used to look like. They are going to put their offices upstairs and retail uses on the groun(~ floor. Mr. Brady introduced his partner. Bruce Lewis, and advised that LB. Limited & Associates. Inc. is based in West Palm Beach. They have extensive experience in community relations projects throughout the County. They are paid consultants to the CRA in Riviera Beach and the Glades Health Survey Board. which is a new health survey board which is going to conduct a study of health issues in Pakohee. South Bay, and Belle Glade. This is a two year study that they are undertaking, They are also very active participants in a workshop entitled, "Revitalization of Florida's Working Waterfronts" which was recently conducted at Florida International University for the Florida Coastal Management Program. in their proposal, they outlined their approach and methodology. That will provide the input from the community in order to gain a consensus on what they feel this development project should be. It will answer these three very important questions: 1. VVhat is missing in the redevelopment project? 2. Is what is being proposed sensitive to various cultures that exist in the community? 3. How do we tie in what we suggested between the residents, the business community, the City, and social service agencies that exist in this community? "Key community liaisons" are natural leaders within any given community, and you have plenty of them in this community. These ~eaders consist of religious persons, teachers, people active .in neighborhood associations, or seniors who are in touch with their communities and know exactly what is going on in their particular segment of the population. They intend to utilize these individuals to gain a consensus and to make this project a success, not only for the City's perspective, but from the community's perspective as well. Mr. Brady commended the City officials and the City staff for what they have done thus far. He also commended Angela Girtman of the CDC for her efforts. He said the history of race relations in the City is not unique to this community. It is something that needs to be dealt with in every community. There are different segments in each population that have different needs and wants and desires. The team's ob is to extract that information~ bring it to this projecti and put it to use. As members of the best team and the team who originally brought community relations and public relations to the forefront in the original proposal, they were very excited and looked forward to making this project the best revitalization project in the County. Ms. Thompson gave a brief overview of Thompson Consuitar~ts' role on this team Incorporating,physical planning, design, community input cor~siderations, economic and market factors will be analyzed to match supply and demand .and to evaluate the fiscal impact of the :redevelop ment area plan recommendations from the team. This information will enable phasing and timing recommendations :for various land uses as related to market support or lack thereof. They will address whether housing or 30 ;MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH '13, 1997 nonresidential comes first, whether the land use recommendations generate a net positive or a negative fiscal impact, market and land use balance, and estimate employment, and the jobs and salaries associated thereto. They will recommend housing types and prices and lay out the foundation for the redevelopment area plan as well as the plan for the target areas. They recognize that job growth and long term economic impact are mutually important to both the business and residential communities in the City. The fiscal impact of the overall plan and the plans for target areas will be calculated and compared to the existing land uses to ensure that the recommendations of the redevelopment area plan are fiscally sound. Revenue. based on such things as property taxes, franchise fees, and utility taxes and the like will be compared to expenditures such as the infrastructure that results from the recommendations of the redevelopment area plan. This helps, insure that the plan will work from a market, fiscal, and economic perspective, as well as a land use compatibility and consistency design and community consensus perspective. The fiscal bottom line is a~key factor in any planning function and is an integral part of this team's approach Within the geographic areas of the redevelopment area. there is a fair amount of vacanl /and You can take vacant land and develop itwith any land uses and increase the ad valorem tax revenue you get from that p,iece of property. However, if you take the.same development acreage and develop the dght mix of Iand uses, you will not only increase the ad valorem tax revenue from the targetareas, but from surrounding areas as well, with the ,target area serving as a fiscal anchor with spinoff benefits of redevelopment on the surrounding~ areas. Mr. Kilday introduced his partner, Collene YValter, Michelle Andrewin. a planner, and Karyn Janssen. a landscape architect in his office who is working on the Boynton Beach plans and the U.S. I plans. :She is already well aware of the consensus needs, not just landscaping, but working with business owners fronting on Boynton Beach Boulevard. Mr. Kilday stated that the Team.does not want to give the City solutions at this point in time. They have a lot of ideas, but community involvement and excitement is the key to getting a successful redevelopment program going. To do that, they need to be involved,upfront and i(needs to be their input. For.this team to dictate recommendations now would be presumptuous. Mr Ki day statod that his team is probably the most local group appearing before the City tonight, Which means they are alreadyifamiliar with the issues and know who Boynton Beach's competition is. He thinks~that because of the diversity that this team represents in their various disciplines, they,ll end up with a good objective look at the community. Mr. Weiner is very active in the Delray Beach rebirth, and Kilday & Associates was recently chosen as part of !he des gn team to do the redevelopment for downtown West Palm Beach. They know ~hat is being proposed, what has been done. what has worked, and what has not worked. "MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 This project's success is extremely important to them because they are going to be around here long after this contract has been fulfilled and they have to live in this community. They do not need to add to the volumes of previous plans that have been done and sit on the shelf. Many of them contain good ideas but have never come to fruition to help the City. Mr. Kilday advised that the team chose Mr. Weiner as the point person of the team because of his background in redevelopment and law and proximity to Boynton Beach. However, this is very much a proactive team with equal individuals. However, to make a team work. you need to have one person who is going to be the day to day person who is pulling us together, dealing with us, the City, and the commun!ty groups to make things function well. Mr. Kilday advised that Ms. Andrewin was a CRA Director in Riviera Beach. Prior to that, she worked in other redevelopment venues around the country. Ms. Andrewin stated that prior to being with the Riviera Beach Redevelopment Agency, she has been a planner for approximately 20 years. She originally got her start in the planning field through advocacy planning so she is no stranger to community involvement in the planning rprocess. Neither is anyone else on this team. They are the only team that has a public and community relations group. They have carefully selected and crafted a team which they feel incorporates all of the various disciplines that are necessary to approach this project in a realistic fashion. She will be serving as the point person if her team is selectee She will be available on a day to day basis to coordinate the activities of all of the team members, as well asinteract with any of the City members and City residents. She has had extensive experience in working with municipal government so she knows how that operates and She feels fairly comfortable in dealing with community people as wellas elected officials. She has worked a lot of years with governments in New York City and in different parts of Florida. It is important to note that although she will be the point person for this project; the principals are not going to go away. Ms. Walter,:Mr. Kilday and Mr. Weiner will be available. You will never try to make contact and-not get anybody or wait for someone to get back to you. The team will be very much responsive. This project is being called Visions 20/20. but we also know that hindsight is 20~20. We have a team that has enough combine~d e~perience so that we can all look back at what we have done and the different projects that we have done in the past and put together a plan that can be implemented, works, and has broad based community support. All of us have seen plans that have been done [hat cost tens of thousands of dollars ane in some cases hundreds of thousands of~ dollars, and they sit on a shelf. We are not going to do that to you. Ms. Thompson, o~ur economic feasibility team member, is going to address the techniques for implementation and will look at what the costs and the risks are and tell you what you can re~lisb~ally expect ~n the way of return 32 'MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 Mr. Gonzalez has successfully completed many adapted reuse projects and historic preservation projects throughout the County. Keith Jackson will bring his own considerable expertise and the combined resources of the firm of Shalloway and Newell. Mr. Weiner is an attorney who, in addition to specializing in real estate and zoning law. has been active in redevelopment, particularly in Delray Beach. We are not a team that came together for this project only. We are a team that has worked together before and knows howeach other works. We do not have to spend a lot of time and a lot of your money getting to know each other. We are ready to hit the ground running. We are capable and prepared to work. We are best for Boynton. Mr. Weiner stated that this team is best for Boynton. They are local and are going to hit the ground running. They know the other communities and know how it is. where you (~ome from ar)Id where you are going. A major theme of their proposa from the very beginning has been reality. They think they have a niche and can see what is happening we,st of 1-95. All they have to do is bring it in this direction. Perhaps they can bring it in Ibis direction in such a way that as the 21st century becomes the information ce~ntury, we are out there out in front instead of trying to be a mere ghost of what the othe~r four communities,~tried to do in the 1980s and the 1990s. He felt privileged to b ~ chosen as the leader of this team. It was based upon his broad experience in ~evelopment. He has looked at the big pictures, like how to design a zoning code fr am the very beginning. However, he has always looked at the small things like ho~ ~ to get asbesto~s oat ~)f a building. With that broad experience he takes a great deal o pride and enthusiasm in having the opportunity to lead this team, which will give Boyn, on Beach a new direction and a new theme. They have locality, reality, and a niche and can get Boynton Beach to the 21s~ century. Vice Mayor Titcomb asked if the team envisions a transfer from the community perception of the nautical gateway to the gulfstream to this new niche of a 21 ~ century high tech community, or if the two are compatible. Mr. Weiner advised that they are very compatil~le. He said the team, is not saying that you do not have a window to the Intracoastal o~' Ocean. This land i~ very valL~able and there is a tremendous amount of a nautical field. However. to thinkS, that somehow you are going to spread that nautical field all the way to 1-95 is a real stitch. The Intracoastal view sells itself. The harder sell is what is going to come into ~ur minds to stretch that up so that it looks like it makes sense for Congress to be where it ~s and the rest of the City to be where it is. We have to remove that highway Hat seems to divide this town and find a way to put it together. We are not displacing a~y of the other ideas. This is only one idea. We have a huge section that we have to de~l with Mr. Kilday stated that some of the Iother communities had more of a historic base to build upon. We do not have that here. While he felt there is probably going to be a place for the nautical theme, the idea that ~we are going to create something that was 33 'MINUTES SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 13, 1997 not really here to begin with is going to be pushing it. The team saw the new niche as a possibility to make Boynton Beach stand out from other communities. Mayor Taylor inquired about the timeline. Ms. Andrewin advised that he would be approximately 12 months from start to finish. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the City Commission. the meeting was adjourned at 8:16 p.m. ATTEST: Cit~'Clerk CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH ~;ommissioner Recording Secretary (Five Tapes) Commissioner 34