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Minutes 03-31-52lgiNUT~ES OF A SPECIAL ~tW~,TING OF ~ cITY C0~I$SI0 OF Tm CIT ][ OF BOYNTON BEACH, FLORtD~, AT Tm CIT~Z Y~ll, ~J~P. CH 31, 1952~ Councilmen Present: Mr. Howard Hood ~Y~r. Alva Shook Mr. Arthur Fredrich ~ir. Stanley Weaver. of ilLue~S~ took the chair and caiiee ~ne ~eu~ at 7.30 He expTai~ed· that the mee~ had~ bee~ called ~o disc~s hoped woul~ c0me ~o ~oyn~on ~na b~sizess discussed bonight. ~. Griffith was a~ked to explain the legal ~pec~S ~he t~x d~at in oennection with th~se two projec%S, and Said the subjeobs ~o be ~iscussed were both related .to the s~e object,- bet%~r business here, and to put the stmmp of ~ ~o~ng city. The Food Fair would on the to~ ~ .0~0 ~nd offered ~bout $140~,. the Howard ~ob~son about $50,000. In consm~erstmon'o their being established here the City a section to ~b~te thSir tsxes for ~ve ~ears. He q~o~d of the Florida Cons:titution to show that~-this-ts not. ~ new. idea and that the Council is not o~ o~ lmne zn ~mng thzs suggestion. There are n~erous c~eS sho~ang that the Staue has abated taxes where it has been considered to the inter- ests of the Oo~ity;. for instam~e, yemrs s~o, to indmce gramted tax abatement. Unde~ Sect%on 74 or our.unm ~o erty, real a~d ~rsonal, is subject to taxation if located wit~n the Cmty t~ts. Thms sectmo do just thmt. ~The ten~ative ac meeting of the Coumcil c~ot be accomp the wording 0f this Sectmon. He s~ and must find a solution. There must side~atio~ g~ven by the town as an inducement w~8 wa~ir a~d othe~ businesses ~o the opposite the Bank is valmed at ~55,000. ~. ~o the ~om hms agreea ~o g~v years City for a sum not to exoee~ piece in which tO~ purchase it ~d ~o acquire ~ of p~pert% ~%1~ be needed bY the city ia ~r o~ in to widen the ~o~to~m section of the city. His o~inio~as that the Oily Wquld ~e ~ssing up ~u~tunit~ tha~orobably ~n,b QCcu~ agam~ if~it ~ant conc6ssions for these projectS. -2- ~r. Hood asked for the views of each Co~ssio~er. ~fr. Fredrich said that at the last meeting of the Council this~ matter was discussed and thrown upon the table because .the owner of the property had been unable to get to the meet- zng in time. After the ~eet~ng it was deeide8 to table the matter so that the ~t~orney could look into it to see if the action proposed by the ~o~sszoners co. uld legally be taken by them. He said he hmd spoken for four hours t~ on how to promOte the progress of Boymton, ~nd was assured that these two scheme wo~ld result in bringing re~enue to the City. He sa~d ~e thought this was o~e.solution to the city's p~ob~em co~$~e~zng we are all complaini~of t~~es. The ~igaret~e tax alone, ~hio~ was $15,000 t~s.zea~, will p~ob- a21y be dou~ledby this~ t~me next yearif mt~S0hem$ goes through. Ee asked what the towm had to offe~- nO beach, no food store, nO restaurants. Now we have ~he opportunity to put two imProvements in our town and it. is about time we stop discussion on it. He expresse~ b~self ~s heartily in favor of these two additions to Boynton. Nr. Weaver said other towns, especially in the ~orth, have made very large concessions in order to induce business- es to locate~in them~ In one city in Indian~a many acres had been given to industries and developments ~of ~the type treader discussion. He quoted ~ man from ~iami Springs as s~ayzng ~any of the to~ns in the South are doing the same thing, offering inducements to any business that will build ~p the facilities of the ~own and make it grow. If we do ~ot make concessions we cannot bring in these industries. The Food Fair wy l± make up for the ~axes we aoate many tzmss ~va~. The Howard Johnson won t ma~e so much dzffereR~e, but, v~ll set the ~tamp of approval on the City. When a State-wide orgm~isation of any kind moves into a city, it is not tong befor~ surveys are ru~ on the futur~ growth of the place to see what the possibilities are of the town growing, and if it is thought such investments justified they move in and ge a long way to ensure the gro~h of the tovrn. ~Lro ~ea~er added that he went along with ~r.Fredrich. in saying that he was in favor Of doing anything we can to induce these two ~usinesses to come to our City~ ~Ar. Shook spoke of the theatre ha had built about ~½ years a~o, say~ng that ~[r. C~ughton had c me in as a partner a~d ~d said on the opening nxght that others w6re about ready to come into Boynton Beach on the strength of it, but on finding that so ~a~y of our tO~v~speopls go to Delray or Lake ~orth for what ~hey need, they ~ould have nothing to do with it. ~, Shook said that ever since efforts~ had been m~de ~o get a Food market here, and that if we do-~ot get something in to help out on the taxes we are going to pay highe~ ones. 0~e cc~ercial building pays more ~a~es then · 1 any ~ifty homes £n this tow~, practically all o~ ~h ch come underHomes~ead Exemption. He described ~ow a wel!knovm shoe ~company in a northern town was given land f~ee Of charge -3- by the city to induce it to locate there, and how greatly the city finally benefited. He expressed himself ms of the opinion that BoYntOnwo~ld profit greatly if the Food Fair and Howard ~ohnson located here. ~o Hood ~unounce? that ~s so many people wore present who wished to,ire their opinions~ Spe~e~s~bUld be to twomi~ut~es. Thi~ ruling ~as la.ret withdrawn. He said the Food Fair would probably employ a~out !00 people and the Howard ~ohnson about 25 to ~5~ that ~s about .87% of the homes h~re are umder Homestead Exemp~Ao~ ~ebulk of the burden is ~hro~ on to the com~erci~ people, and while indus- try is ke~t out of town it is practzcalt~i~pos~sibte to get enoug~ mo~ey to pay the City, s expens~s~~ ~e-must have in- dustries ~nd.eannot block thzs chance of 'getting some in. 0~ce this ~hing gets started we can go ahead. Mr. Winstom McGregor asked whether the Council was tell- ing the pedple what the Council want, or are the people to tell the Council their wishes, Mr. Shook said tbs Council were elected by the majority of the people to do the business of the city to the best of their knowledge and they are going to continue to do so~ adding that they have proposed to give the Food Fair a ~l a year lease, and they will put up their o¢n building. ~r. Nazzoni said if some people have tax rebates a precedant will be made, and will other businesses be treated eqnslly if they are likely to be good for the town. ~. Shook said that sooner or later the highway will have to be widened, and in this way the City will have the land to do it with in about te~ years' time at the present price, and so will save money, and what we are trying to do is to get these paople no come in. ~r. Johnson said he thought the Council owed him ~ vote of thanks in that he blocked the final decision at the last meeting as it would not tmve been legal. He said he was not holding up progress; all he asked was that the matter should be settled in a h~rry without sariouscthought. not Mr. ~ooden said he had considerable stock in Boynton, as ha holds the property adjacent to the proposed Howard Johnson, bnt will not ask for tax abatement~ He said Boynton is the only ~ndiscovered town in the East coast and if we con- tinue to be against progress we shall ge~ nowhere at all. He spoke of a town in the north which gave ~ bmsiness tax free for ten years and profited from so doing. Eaeh organisation brings in more. Today w~ are getting some place and we can took forward to having the greatest concentration of people zn Sout~ Flo~zda. He sazd. ne thought the tov~ shou±d do everything.possible to encourage PeoPle to Come in. It would mean lower taxes for everyone if we c~n get enough people in to share them so that the burden does not rest on a few. ~Mr. Mick~ Stevens expressed admiration for the honss~- looking faces of the Council and said everything they did should be ~proved of by the community. If we don't go along with these projects other ne~by towns ~lt get them. He hoD~ the OoUncii will do thezr utmost to encour~e the bueinssses~ a~d that unless more can be encourgged to come in we can look forward to increased taxes. ~r. ~orssr said he had toured the Sta~e of Florida for many months before deciding on Boyn~on as the place to settle in, and he fe~ls there is need for people to come into the city from outside to build it up. At present the city has ~ not much to offer and needs m lot of things~ We do now know whmt our tazea ~ll be some day, although even no~ people are aomplaining abo~t them. Howard ~ohnson and the Food Fair h~ve been asked~ to come in, they have not asked to come. The City h~s p~operty to. offer ~hem and it is shameful not ~o en- courage them. For five solzd years the tow~ is t~ give away a fsw hundred dollars, while at the end of a few yemrs the taxes to be received on these properties will be many~thous- ands~ He expressed himself as definitely in favo~ of bring- img more indd~tries into the community and to enco.~rage them in every way possible. ~r. Phil Lorenz told of how a man in We~t Palm Beach ~o!d~ his grocery store when a food market opened up near- by, th~nk~ng his store doomsd, instead of which his former property zncreased greatly in value. ~e expressed .the opinion that iT goo~ business can be got along the highway, the City will pick uo more taxes than ever before. $ 5,oo0 Dan Snlae~ said he had nO objectzon to a Howard in spite of the fact t~at he had invested about in his recently opened restaurant here. !~[r. Fredrich said there is a gentleman here this evening just to see how Boynton functions. He is the partner of a multi-millionaire who is erecting homes in this to~vn. ~e are v~ry fortunate, he said, in having ~r.Rose, ~r~George and .Mr. Fornaby to come in and build up this tow~ H~ asked the Chair to call on ~.~r. George. D~. George, being called on by the Chairman, said tlaat if they went ahead with their projects there v~ll be a great number of people who v~ll have to go somewhere to do their shopping. Boyn~on at present has so little to offer people. He and his partners have ll7 homes planned on 35 acrss~ with an additional i25 acres to bmild on, and if the two industries under discussion don't come ~o the city, they will have to build their own subdivision with stores etc., so that the owners of those homes can do their shopping lo~ally~ A new citizen in to~r~ said Boynton had many streets but few stores and he goes to Delray or Lake ~orth 5o do his shopping. He agreed that a Food Fair would be an attraction and that the only obstacle seems to be very minute,- the -5- matter of the small amount of taxes. He said he could not imagtnesuch ~ s~L~ll thing holding back such a good enter- prise. ~T. ~OSS considered the Foes Fair won~d ~nt~=~= ~h present businesses and thought five ye~s* t~x~ _ Ceb~te ~m~ust. ~. Weaver said he did ~ot see ~ny local r~rchants present. A question was ~sked whether it ~r~s certain that if the Counc:~.~ s plan goes throuEh the City w~ll get the : two p_, o3ects. ~r. Hood replied, yes, it was. ~. Winston McGregor asked whether the projects would not co~e in if the taxes wer~ not rebated· Mr. Weaver said they would not come in, and.that when the matter was tabled at the last meeting Mr. Claughton, w~o is the owner of the properties and was ~oi~ to build the Food Fair end t:ne Howard Johnson, sai~ t~hat~as far ~s he was conce~ned~ he was going no further with the projects muless he received concassions. ~. Hood said the question was whether the ~ c~ty ws~_ted Mr. C!aughton ~o go ahead 9r not, with the ~rojects. It is a question of encouraging indmstry to come into the city or to keep it but. The city will ~ither go ahezd or ~o back. Mr. Shook said if ~i~.Claughton is going to put up these buildings he cannot go it alone, the cost being so high. The city has been trying to get a Food Fair ever since the theatre was built, and if ~.~r. Claughton goes back to these people and tells them the property will be tax free for Five years, - he probably v~n.'t make any money in the next five qr ten years, but he wan~szto help the community; ~e,may n~t.gain~money on it, but his other property v~dll be zncre~se~ in value. }~. Boos suggested giving them five years, but at the ~nd of fzve years collecting the next five years in advance. }~r. %&~ooden said the city is giving practically nothing. As he understood these two enterDrises are to run concurrent- ~y, thgy in£1uence each other. The cigarette tax v~ll be ncreased by more than tha rebate in one year. He said these National outfits influence each other, the coming in of one chain store for instance would influence another to do the same. The City is g$ving sway five years' taxes, which doesn't amount to a hill Of beans, in fact something we havem't got, in order to encourage a tremendous step. ~..~nst~on McGregor dza not understand about tt~e reference to ~500 for fzvs years, the m~nzm~m- price ~f th~ -6- property being $7,500. ~. Ross said he would like to see new business come to town but tPmt the'~businesses already here for so long have paid th~dr taxes and their licenses and should be protected; that a newman has no right to Special privileges. ~. ~ lnston McGregor said it looked as if no arg~ent from the audience was desired, and that t~s Commissioners seem ~o be ignoring t ' he open,on of the people, whose remarks are not wanted. ~. Hood said it was nn~ ~ ~, .... people's 0~ini~ - ~ ~ -y .... ? ~er cz ~g~ormng the ~.: ~..~M~ .cm~ ~e Commissione~s~t to 'find out what is best lot the t6wn. Weaver e~plazned the scheme in great detail. ktr. Albert McC-regor asked a cuestion which had nothing to do with the subject.of the meeting which could not there- fore be answered at this meeting. A question was asked from the floor as to whether the land was to be bought without knowing what the orice would - ~. Hood said the price will be not to exceed $8,500 and it might be obtained for less. After further discussion, Nr. Fredrich made a motionm seconded by ~.~esver, that the Council purchase a strip of land with 250 feet frontage and about 27 feet in depth along Federal Highway extending North from Ocean Avenue for ~ consideration not to exceed $8,500, payable in five yearky instslments, no payment to be made in cash. ~otion' passed unanimously. Mr. rredrich explained that this is all predicated om the fact that the Food Fair and the Howard Johnson have to come or the whole deal is off. 0thsrwise there is nothing ~o bind the City, both are to go through slmuztaneously, or not at all. There being no further ~usiness, Mr. Hood adjourned the meeting. Clerk.