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Minutes 05-11-00MINUTES OF CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLANNING (CIP) TOWN MEETING WITH MAYOR PRO TEM WILLIAM A. SHERMAN, CAFETERIA, CONGRESS MIDDLE SCHOOL, MAY 1'1, 2000, 6:30 P.M., BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA I. CALL TO ORDER At 6:35 P.M. Mayor Pro Tem Sherman opened the public meeting and thanked the crowd of 25 for coming out to take advantage of the opportunity to influence the spending of Boynton Beach's capital improvement fund dollars. Mayor Pro Tem Sherman recognized the presence in the audience of City Manager Kurt Bressner and Vice Mayor Ronald Weiland. II. INTRODUCTION BY MAYOR PRO TEM SHERMAN Mayor Pro Tern Sherman told the approximately 10 residents who had come to the meeting that the purpose of this "first-ever" meeting was to give the residents an opportunity to suggest capital improvements over $50,000 that they wanted to see done. Mayor Pro Tem Sherman advised the residents that he and any of the City officials would be happy to answer questions after the residents had expressed their proposed improvements. III. PRESENTATION BY STAFF Mayor Pro Tem Sherman introduced the Director of Development, Mr. Quintus Greene, who addressed the residents, explaining the ranking criteria for capital improvement projects and soliciting their comments on forms that were distributed to all in attendance. Mr. Greene gave examples of the 15 ranking criteria such as: 1) availability of grant funds, 2) public sentiment, 3) ongoing operating costs, 4) public health, safety and welfare impact. Mr. Greene explained that the resident's submissions were to be considered and ranked on the same scale as the staff-submitted proposals for capital spending. Mr. Greene assured the residents that if their projects were not selected due to the final ranking score, that their suggestions would be re-considered for the following year's budget. Mr. Greene explained that the dollar cut-off for a major capital improvement project was $50,000, and that projects with lesser dollar values would be considered under the individual department's operating budgets. Staff would make the decision as to whether a particular project met the $50,000 and above criteria so residents were encouraged to bring any and all ideas to the table via the forms provided. Mr. Greene stated that capital improvement projects could be either renovation of existing public properties, new buildings, expensive pieces of equipment, major repairs to City facilities, streets in need of re-surfacing, new police sub-stations, drainage improvements, clubhouses for housing developments, and a myriad of potential projects that could meet the capital improvement project ranking criteria. MEETING MINUTES CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLANNING MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA May 11,2000 Mayor Pro Tem Sherman encouraged residents to speak on any concerns they might have but to recognize that the focus of the meeting was to gather input from the citizenry on capital improvement projects. It was suggested that residents could add a "By the way" to the forms, mentioning any items of concern. They were promised that all inquiries would receive a response from an appropriate staff representative of the City regardless of the nature of the concern being addressed. Mayor Pre Tem Sherman alluded to the Vision 20/20 Plan and the areas of emphasis identified therein: Quality of Life/Image and Character; Commercial Revitalization; Economic Development; Neighborhood Revitalization; Public Safety/Crime Prevention; City Government; and Education/Youth Involvement. The City would like to tie each and every project to one of these areas of emphasis and Mayor Pro Tem Sherman asked the residents to consider their submissions in light of these criteria. Mr. Greene added that if a project had economic impact, i.e. would generate income for the City, this would give the project a higher score in the ranking. If it had economic impact and also met one of the Vision 20/20 criteria, it would enhance its acceptability even further. Conversely, if a project had economic impact but had ongoing operating expenses that would offset the income generated, this would give a lower score in the ranking for that project Mr. Greene explained the forms that the residents would be using to register their projects and asked that they print and be speCific as to location, i.e. give cross streets. Mr. Greene said that Development staff would collect the forms and speak to the residents at the end of the meeting to answer any questions or clarify anything still in question. A resident asked if there were a list of city-generated proposed capital improvement projects that are considered necessary by the State or Federal government? Mr. Greene replied that the departments have ail submitted their proposed capital improvements and the committee has already begun evaluating those projects. This review will continue through early June. Another resident asked Mr. Greene to re-iterate the Vision 20/20 goals and vision statement, which he proceeded to do. II. PUBLIC DISCUSSION A. Resident Concerns 2 MEETING MINUTES CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLANNING MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA ~' May 11,2000 Mayor Pro Tem Sherman opened the meeting up to the residents to speak. He called on Mr. Lee Wische, who represented Leisureville, to begin the citizen input section of the meeting. Mr. Wische said he had been appointed by the Board in Leisureville to be their liaison on anything pertaining to Leisureville in the City. Mr. Wische said he spoke to staff in the City and asked for recommendations for vendors who could 1) give him a quote on cleaning and televising pipe within Palm Beach Leisureville, and 2) repair or replace all storm drains throughout all sections of Leisureville. The City gave two recommendations for vendors. The first of the City-recommended vendors was Shenandoah Construction, who quoted $78,000 for the cleaning and televising of pipes. The second of the City-recommended vendors was Insituform Technologies, who quoted $2,501,280 for the repair or replacement of all storm drains throughout Leisureville based on unit price. The total quote for the entire job was $2,579,280. Mr. Wische said the residents did not expect to have the job all done at once but that they wanted to get started with the televising and cleaning of the pipes ($78,000) and hoped the City would consider funding part of this effort as a capital improvement project. As such Mr. Wische presented the quote to the Recording Secretary to be included in the record, in lieu of filling out one of the forms provided by Development. Mr. Greene asked if the sewer system in Leisureville were public or private. Mr. Wische said that it varied and that the streets had pipes with a main trunk with lateral lines going into each house. From the curb to the house is private, anything out from the curb is the City. Some of the foundations are falling away from the houses and part is City and part is private. Mr. Greene was concerned and said he had been advised that much of Leisureville had a private sewer system and that making public improvements to a private system might be a problem for the City. Mr. Harry Marcus asked if the old high school might be restored to house a Teen Club. Mr. Greene said that there had been many suggestions for what to do with the old high school but the cost of restoring the old high school was very high against available funds and the demands of other projects. Mr. Marcus then presented a request from Mike Ferguson, President of Sterling Village, who had been at the meeting earlier but had to leave. This request pertained to the expansion of their golf course to 27 holes to the east. He believed that the fees could pay for it within six years. Mr. Greene asked to have Mr. Ferguson stop by his office and fill out the form and Mr. Marcus said he would suggest it. Mayor Pro Tem Sherman suggested that Mr. Ferguson come to one of the other CIP meetings such as the one Vice Mayor Weiland will be having on May 24 at 6:30 P.M. at the Clayton Conference Center in Bethesda Memorial Hospital and present his proposal there. 3 MEETING MINUTES CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLANNING MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA May 11,2000 A resident asked if the old high school could be a usable building without extensive renovations. Mr. Greene replied that it was usable for some things, storage for example. However, when a theater group recently made a proposal to renovate the building and turn it into a theater, the construction estimate was $5 to $7M to rehabilitate the school. He said that lots of ideas had come forth but no one has identified the funding sources to make the necessary improvements to the building. Mr. Herb Suss of Quail Ridge spoke about the south part of the City and their desire for a full-service park such as the one in the Meadows. He had heard that the Meadows might be getting a second park and asked why that would happen before they had even one park in his area. He said that there was a County park but not a full- service City park. He spoke to someone in Hunter's Run who said that the land south of the tennis courts should be used for a park. Mr. Greene said that the Parks department agreed with Mr. Suss and that one of the proposed park sites is adjacent to the tennis courts in question. A resident of Hunter's Run spoke, saying that in Hunter's Run both entrances were Iow areas and when it rains heavily the lakes overflow and there was serious flooding last fall. Water from Congress also runs in, adding to the problem. It was hard for people in Hunter's Run to get around in their cars during last fall's storm emergency, with stalled vehicles lining the roads everywhere. He said that drainage was needed on Congress to divert at least some of the water away from Hunter's Run. Another resident asked if expanding the Senior Center would qualify as a capital improvement project and Mr. Greene replied that it probably would, depending on whether it came to over $50K, the capital improvement cut-off point. Mr. Suss suggested a temporary new swimming pool at Hester Center. Someone remarked that there was already a pool at Wilson Center. Also, Mr. Greene said that a permanent, Olympic-sized pool might qualify as a capital improvement project but not the type Mr. Suss was recommending. Mr. Miriana said that money had to be brought into the community somehow. He believed that the most important focus of this community should be on the revitalization of the downtown area. He contended that once the revitalization was accomplished money would be available for other projects. City Manager Kurt Bressner spoke at this point saying that this was the second of five planned capital improvement planning meetings being held throughout the community. He said he came to Boynton Beach for meetings like this with community-minded people such as had turned out for tonight's meeting. He commended the people for taking the time from their personal lives to give its government some idea of their thoughts and feelings. He said that he had discovered that in Boynton Beach there was only one language but many different dialects, styles and priorities. He said that meetings like this brought those various ideas together and helped make Boynton Beach a better place to live and work. Mr. Bressner said that without the participation of the citizens of 4 MEETING MINUTES CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLANNING MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA May 11,2000 the City in meetings like this one or in serving on the various City Boards, the City would not be the place it is today. He said that the Commissioners needed the help and support of the citizens and thanked the residents for coming to the meeting and participating. He said that he was looking forward to working with everyone at the meeting. Mr. Bressner encouraged the citizens to use the back of the capital improvement proposal forms they had been given to communicate any thoughts, feelings or concerns they might be having, whether pertinent to capital improvements or not. He stressed that the City needed the feedback of its residents to find the right direction for the good of all. He promised that they would get a response from the City on any comment they might make. A resident voiced concern about the stormwater increase from $1.00 to $6.00. Mayor Pre Tem Sherman said that the City had some catching up to do, having had the lowest rate in the area for many years. Vice Mayor Weiland said that the Commissioners at the next Commission meeting would discuss the issue and that the public would have an opportunity to voice its concerns at the following meeting of the Commission. Mr. Suss said he didn't mind paying his fair share of taxes but did not like to learn that there were some areas of the City where residents used City services but did not pay very much in taxes due to the value of their dwellings as related to the Homestead exemption in the State of Florida. It was suggested that the proper place to change this exemption would be in Tallahassee, not in the City of Boynton Beach. Mayor Pre Tem Sherman said the issue was receiving attention and that a special taxing district was one of the ideas under consideration at this time. Mr. Ensler, a member of the Planning and Development Board for the City, stated his concern with a lack of cohesiveness in the City's aesthetic code criteria. He felt that buildings were going up in a "hodge-podge" manner, with individual designers and contractors all doing their own thing. He wondered where Quantum Park was in this area. Mr. Bressner responded that he had seen joint City/Developer projects that could be done without removing the individuality and without robbing architects and engineers of the right to do things their own way. There could be design review committees but this would be in a planned development. He did not see that opportunity in Quantum Park. Mr. Ensler said his concerns went beyond that. Mr. Bressner said that in a planned development the City and developer sign off on appearance through the Advisory Board. Mr. Greene lauded the efforts of the Planning group, saying that their efforts were not widely advertised. He stated as an example the new WaiMart coming into Boynton Beach was not going to be a typical "grey box" and that was due in large part to the effort and energy that Planning staff put into working with the WalMart people, working through various designs, and schemes, back and forth between them. The Planning and Development Board is talking about two things: 1) Do you have the authority to do something, and 2) Do you have the staff to do it? I would guess, considering how long it 5 MEETING MINUTES CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLANNING MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA May 11,2000 takes things to get through Mr. Rumpf's area, that he doesn't have the staff to do it. Until we do we won't have the quality you are looking for. Mr. Wische said that until the City changed its codes or ordinances, nothing could be done about Mr. Ensler's concerns. Another resident voiced the concern that why couldn't Boynton plan things like Mizner Park in Boca and insist on a particular color scheme or design throughout an entire project? Mr. Greene said that there were at least two reasons why this was not alwayS possible. He said that Quantum Park began as a Planned Industrial Development (PID) and now it is evolving into more than an industrial park. You will see more of this when the commercial and residential component comes on line. Allstate, for example, has a corporate identity. Are we going to tell them that they cannot have a building with their unique identity, colors and so forth? We can tell them that it can only be so high, so wide and so forth but we cannot dictate their corporate identities away. Even upscale McDonalds have the "golden arches" but their size, configuration and so forth are dictated by the communities in which they locate their buildings. Mr. Greene said that as the commercial and residential areas came into being there would be much greater control and coordination over color and design than in the industrial settings. Mr. James Miriana, member of the Code Compliance Board with the City, expressed concern over the environmental problems at the Poly Plastic Packaging site. He was also concerned about propane tanks in the downtown area. He wanted to know what could be done about relocating the propane. He said it shouldn't be in the middle of a downtown area that was going to be re-developed. Mr. Marcus said that the question of storage of propane came up at a time when the City was considering the issue of boat storage. An investigation was made and the big issue at that time was the City was not aware of the risk it was running. Twenty-one years ago at the Amerigas storage place there were 40,000 gallons of propane stored. It all came in under the old rule. The railroad had a spur over there and there was an explosion of a 100-gallon tank. Mr. Greene stated that he had experience with a rail car de-railing in a downtown area and having to evacuate half of the downtown area, so he was sensitive to this issue. Mr. Marcus said he spoke to the manager of Amerigas and asked why he couldn't move the propane tanks away and was told that the expense had been considerable and they were not inclined to move them. Ms. Avery of S.W. 4t~ Avenue said that at the end of Third Street down by Sixth the City has a drainage bin with a pump in the bottom that does not work. The pump is not automatic and there is no communication about how we can re-start it. When we call we get an answering machine saying, "We are working out in the field". Mayor Pro Tem Sherman asked if she was calling the Water Department and asked to speak to Ms. Avery before she left the building. She said that they had been flooded and that the City "didn't give a damn" and that hurricane season was coming. She asked if the City could advise how they could get sandbags. She reasoned that if she could get sandbags and put them across the front door and garage doors she might be 6 MEETING MINUTES CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLANNING MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA May 11,2000 able to lessen the damage from the flooding. Mayor Pro Tem Sherman said that the City did care and Dan DeCarlo offered to look into the situation for Ms. Avery. Mayor Pro Tem Sherman thanked everyone for coming again and urged them to come to the other meetings if they forgot anything and to ask their friends to come as well. The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary 7