Avenir and $64 Million in City Projects the ‘Big Ticket’ items at the 1/10/19 Council Mtg

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The first meeting of 2019 included several presentations, a progress report on Avenir, an update on City Projects, and the usual first budget amendment of the year.

City Projects

David Reyes, CS Administrator/Dir. of Emerg. Mgmt, gave a comprehensive update on City Improvement Projects including those funded by the 1 cent sales tax. The over $64 million in projects are project managed by the team of Mr. Reyes, Angela Brown, Deputy Community Services Administrator, and Jennifer Nelli, Operations Manager, while simultaneously performing their current responsibilties. City Manager Ferris pointed out that other municipalities frequently hire additional staff to oversee such projects, but the Gardens instead is using current staff. Involved in every one of these activities is Todd Engle, City Engineer – who Mr. Ferris described as ‘the Everready (Energizer) Bunny” and the ‘Tasmanian Devil’ for Mr. Engle’s ability to be everywhere at once. A list of the activities can be found at Current City Projects  with a section for One Cent Sales Tax items. Among the items coming before the Council in February are the City Hall Remodeling and Expansion (estimated completion Spring 2020), Police Station Renovations (estimated completion Summer 2019) and the Tennis Center Clubhouse (estimated completion Summer 2019).

Avenir

Ken Tuma, Managing Principal, Urban Design Kilday Studios, reviewed the Conceptual Master Plan of the Avenir Site, before presenting the waivers sought in Site Plan #1 – which will consiste of 4 gated subdivisions. While a golf course has been mentioned before, Mr. Tuma went into slightly more detail on an extremely high-end ‘core golf course’, with 228 homes – similar to ‘Old Palm’. He also showed the placement of two Crystal Lagoons, one which will be incorporated into a subdivision, but the other which will be located in the Town Center, with a beach club, restaurants, a hotel and other items around it. Fifty-one percent of the property is dedicated to ecological restoration and open space, and over 2000 acres are restricted, under the auspices of the South Florida Water Management District. The preserve area, with nature trails, as well as all non-gated areas (subdivisions) will be open to and acessible to the public. View Mr Tuma’s presentation here.

Other items:

• Allan Owens, Finance Director described Ordinance 1, 2019, detailing the $39 million brought forward from 2018 projects
• City Manager Report – Among the topics discussed, Joe Corrao, Director of Public Services, described the transition from Pubic Auction of used city items, to selling such items online, via the GovDeals.com auction website. It operates similarly to Ebay and items can be purchased by anyone. Check it out!
• Presentations included:
  • RECOGNITION OF THE PALM BEACH GARDENS GATORS: 2018 POP WARNER FOOTBALL JUNIOR VARSITY DIVISION SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS.
  •  WEISS SCHOOL UPDATE ON THE LAUNCH OF THE CUBE SATELLITE.
  •  HONDA CLASSIC COMMUNITY IMPACT PRESENTATION.
  •  VETERANS ADMINISTRATION PRESENTATION.
  •  USTA UNITED STATES TENNIS ASSOCIATION AWARD TO THE CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS TENNIS CENTER AS THE MEMBER ORGANIZATION OF THE YEAR AWARD.
  •  UPDATE ON CIP AND ONE CENT SALES TAX PROJECTS
• During Items of Public Interest and Board Committee Reports, Council Member Lane suggested that there be a Workshop in the near future on what he called Essential Services Housing strategy – which we assume means “Workforce Housing”.

All Resolutions and Ordinances passed 5:0.  There was no City Attorney Report.