New Development at City Centre and Downtown at the Gardens

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Vice-Mayor Litt was unable to attend as she was attending the graduation ceremony for completing Leadership Palm Beach.  Council Member Marino is also a graduate of the program.  Congratulations to Mrs. Litt.

During Announcements and Presentations Officer Francine O’Brien was chosen as PBC Chiefs’ Association 2018 Officer of the year. Also the PBA voted on and the Council approved a collective bargaining agreement for the next 3 years. Key elements included a 6%/year annual increase for each of the 3 years and change of the retirement age from 55 to 52.

All Ordinances and Resolutions on this very busy agenda passed 4:0 with the exception of the following:

• 2nd Reading and Adoption of Ordinance 6, 2016 and companion resolution 20, 2019 – which entailed the changes to the Costco site plan, and approval for a retail expansion and 24 position fueling center (limited to members) received much discussion by the Council, and public comment against and for. Council Member Lane was opposed to the number of fueling stations and traffic impact and the final vote was 3:1.
• Ordinance 8, 2019 – 1st reading – Ballenisles East Outparcel rezoning for the development of a medical and professional office building to be located on the SE corner of PGA Blvd and Ballenisles Drive. Staff had recommended AGAINST approval. The applicant requested postponement of the vote until July; staff recommended an indefinite postponement until issues were resolved. After discussion, the council voted 4:0 for an indefinite postponement.

New development includes plans for Solera at City Centre, located on US1 and PGA Blvd – a 136-unit multi-family apartment building, including some workforce housing (see  the Palm Beach Post article,  and a Life Time Health Club and parking garage to be built at Downtown at the Gardens – see a description the Post’s coverage here.

Also approved was the hiring of a consultant to develop a workforce housing program for the City. And the Council, while having met individually with City Manager Ferris to give private feedback, publicly gave him a stellar annual evaluation and suggested that the City Attorney bring forward a new contract to for Mr. Ferris.