Stadium discussed at October 3rd Council Mtg – Save the date for the 10/16 Workshop!

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The proposed baseball stadium came up at several points in the Thursday, October 3rd City Council meeting. Early in the evening, City Administrator Ferris announced that there will be a Public Workshop to be held at the Double Tree Inn on October 16th. This had also been announced in the Palm Beach Post earlier.  Written invitations will be mailed to residents in subdivisions directly adjoining or affected by the project, however all are welcome and encouraged to attend the workshop. Save the date! More information as well as FAQs will be posted on the Palm Beach Gardens City website in advance of the workshop.

Councilman Joe Russo countered the media, which had quoted the deal as almost 95% complete.  Overall, the tone by all on the council, (as pointed out by some making public comment), was that the Council wanted the stadium deal to happen, but they haven’t yet started selling it to the public.  “We’re going to make this happen the right way“, said Russo.

Sal Faso, President of the North County Neighborhood Coalition, made an informative presentation about the coalition which includes communities from West Palm Beach up through Tequesta.  One of the coalition’s key goals it to get accurate  information to residents of member communities.  Avenir was of concern to his group and they were eager to hear more about the stadium.

During Public Comment, Tom Carnes of the PGA Corridor praised the ballpark, as did Joel Channing – also of PGA Corridor. Others, including Lauren Miller, Mike Peragine, Iris Scheibl and Richard Rosenblatt were concerned about hearing about the stadium first through the paper, expressed general anxiety on how much seemed to have already been decided, looked forward to additional information,  and questioned the potential tie-in of the stadium to the later agenda items Ordinance 16, 2013/Ordinance 19, 2013, and related zoning issues.

Ordinances 16 and 19 were presented as a single item, since both are necessary in order to accomplish the waiver criteria and 25% set-aside capability.  Director of Planning and Zoning Natlie Crowley presented the ordinances and credited Councilwoman Tinsley’s questions from the September meeting and her involvement with the team in making it a better and more solid set of proposals.  Public comment included – Vito DeFrancesco who was concerned that the comp plan changes could jeopardize wetlands and historic properties. Responses by Councilman Levy and affirmation by Ms. Crowley were that there were federal and state regulations that would prohibit such actions.  Barbara Grossman related the proposed changes to Seven/50. Iris Scheibl was concerned that the criteria would allow almost any project to be approved, whether there were mitigation requirements for governmental entities as there were for private developments and finally – asked if the stadium project be completed without these ordinances. Mike Peragine seconded the question on the stadium. Answers given were that the comp plan changes were not required for the stadium, that they could be applied to other upcoming projects, and that mitigation would still be possible with the comp plan changes. The Council’s vote was 5:0. The Comp Plan change will now go to Tallahassee, where after approval, the two Ordinances will once again appear for 2nd Reading, most likely in the November time-frame.

Also passing 5:0 were Ordinance 17 (2nd Reading) – rezoning and site plan approval for the Chase Bank to be located near US 1 and PGA Blvd; Ordinance 18 (1st Reading) – which would achieve a voluntary annexation of the land associated with the former Capital Lighting and Parking lot), and Resolution 58, 2013 – which was a modification replacing the fountain in front of the Waterford Hotel with plantings and renovated sculptures.

The Greenmarket also begins its Eleventh year on Sunday, October 6th.  The Council gave its thanks to Joel Channing for hosting the Summer Greenmarket at his facility.

We all have a lot of questions about the impact of Baseball on our community – so make it a point to get to the Workshop on Wednesday, October 16th.  Let your friends and neighbors know.