Last 2020 PBG City Council Mtg on Dec 3 at 6pm

The next Palm Beach Gardens City Council meeting will be on Thursday, Dec. 3 at 6pm. You can watch it livestreaming either during or after the meeting, if you are unable to attend.

Announcements and Presentations lists a PBGYAA Update by President Tony Badala (Palm Beach Gardens Youth Athletic Association)

New Business includes:

• Ordinance 14, 2020 – First Reading – “A City-initiated request to amend the City’s Code of Ordinances at Section 78-159. The proposed amendment will permit Laboratory, Dental or Medical use as an accessory and Minor Conditional Use to Office, Professional or Business use in the General Commercial (CG-1) zoning district.” This change is being initiated due to desire of National Dentex, LLC to relocate into the Seminole Shoppes site. “The tenant space would occupy approximately 35,000 square feet, divided into 25,000 square feet of professional office and 10,000 square feet of dental laboratory to create dental devices utilizing 30 technology. National Dentex, LLC intends to make a significant capital investment in their corporate relocation to the City, employing highly-paid individuals and training dental professionals from around the world. The City of Palm Beach Gardens aims to address modern and evolving trends in the medical, dental, and laboratory sphere of advancements in technology. This City-initiated amendment serves to acknowledge and encourage National Dentex, LLC and similar office-based corporations with medical or dental laboratory components to develop and grow in the City of Palm Beach Gardens.”
• Resolution 70, 2020 – A request by Toll Southeast LP Company, Inc. for Site Plan approval for a Clubhouse Facility and associated recreational amenities for the Regency at Avenir residential community (Pod 5).

The Regular Agenda also includes 2nd Reading and Adoption of:

• Ordinance 11, 2020 – Budget Amendment
• Ordinance 12, 2020 – Modifying the Hours of Sale of Alcoholic Beverages.

Consent Agenda includes:

• Purchase Award – Gardens Park Sports Lighting Retrofit to LED – Piggyback/Access Contract – $485K – non-renewable
• Purchase Award – Installation of Gardens Park Sports Lighting Retrofit – Piggyback/Access Contract – $190K
• Purchase Award – Public Safety Uniforms (Fire/Rescue) – Openly Competed – 5 year contract with no option to renew – $380K
• Purchase Award – Stormwater Infrastructure Maintenance and Repair Services – Openly Competed – 5 year contract with no option to renew – $890K
• Resolution 67, 2020 – Lease of a John Deere 310SL Backhoe for the Community Services Department’s Public Services Division from Dobbs Equipment, LLC and financed through the Dealer. “The Florida Sheriffs Association, through its Cooperative Purchasing Program, has an existing contract with Dobbs Equipment, LLC that the City can access for the purchase of the new backhoe. The City will access this contract to take advantage of volume discounted pricing and to save on the administrative costs of soliciting its own bid. “…”Three (3) annual payments of $22,996.00, with the first payment due at the beginning of the Lease.
• Resolution 68, 2020 – The subject request is to allow the Alton Town Center within the Alton Planned Community Development (PCD) to have a total of 41 special events per calendar year of 2021 , 2022, and 2023. The maximum number of events permitted by the City of Palm Beach Gardens Code Section 78-187 for commercial/office plazas with 11 tenants or more is 12 special events per calendar year. This request is effectively increasing the number of special events per calendar year by 29, for a possible total of 41 special events yearly. The proposed allowance does not imply that 41 events are guaranteed take place per year, but rather intends to give the Applicant the ability to hold up to 41 events in a year if desired. This request does not serve to approve any specific special event and does not waive the required permit and subsequent review for each special event. Staff supports the Applicant’s request for additional special events to be held within the Alton Town Center for the years 2021 , 2022, and 2023.

Please check the agenda before the meeting for additions or modifications.

Workforce Housing Study and Proposal Accepted

The November Council Meeting was the first with a complement of four Council Members. The fifth (Group 2) position will not be filled until 2021. (If no one ‘jumps in the race’ by the end of November, former Mayor/Council Member Marcie Tinsley will be automatically deemed to have been elected.) All were present in Council Chambers for the meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, Vice-Mayor Pro-tem Rachelle Litt was ‘voted’ in as Vice-Mayor and various committee memberships that were previously attended by now County Commissioner Maria Marino, were assigned to others on the Council.

The topic(s) of Workforce Housing – Study and Report, CDBG Cares Act funding, and the updated five year plan for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) were presented as a single presentation by Joann Skaria, Planning Manager, AICP of the Planning and Zoning Dept. The talk covered Resolutions 63, 2020, Resolution 64, 2020 and Resolution 66, 2020 on the agenda.

Workforce Housing – The study covered a lot of possible solutions. Following are those that were recommended by the study and staff. “Staff recommends that upon adoption of this report, the City Council direct staff to proceed with the necessary recommended solutions, Comprehensive Plan Text Amendments, Land Development Regulations Text Amendments, and/ or Standard Operating Procedures, depending on the unique solution, outlining specific parameters and processes in order to move forward with the implementation.” Resolution 66, 2020 passed 4:0.

Workforce Housing Solutions
1. Non-Residential Square Footage Intensity Bonus – Recommended
2 . Residential Density Bonus – Recommended
3. Housing Trust Fund – Recommended
4. Impact Fee Credits – Recommended
5. Waiver of Building Permit Application Review Fee – Recommended
6. Expedited Permitting – Recommended
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7. Accessory Dwelling Units (AD Us) – Recommended
8. Community Contribution Tax Credit Program (CCTCP) – Recommended

Cares Act funding allows the $483K in covid-19 related funding to be applied to housing assistance (rental/mortgage) to residents whose livelihood was directly affected by Covid. The following chart shows the distribution of those funds as passed in Resolution 63, 2020.

 

The CDBG Five-Year plan was approved along with the proposed project for the first year – an infrastructure project (water lines) for Mary Circle and Dania Drive. Resolution 63, 2020 passed 4:0.

All other Ordinances/Resolutions passed 4:0. Of note:

• Ordinance 12, 2020 – First Reading – documented the change of Alcohol Sales in the City from 8am to 7am
• Resolution 62, 2020 approved changes to the McDonald’s at Promenade Plaza including two drive through lanes and improved landscaping.

Next City Council Mtg on Thursday Nov 5 at 6pm

The next Palm Beach Gardens City Council meeting will be on Thursday, Nov 5 at 6pm. You can watch it livestreaming either during or after the meeting, if you are unable to attend.

Announcements and Presentations: Workforce Housing Study and Report, CDBG Cares Act Amendment and CDBG Consolidated Plan.

This presentation encompasses much of the content of the agenda, covering:

• Resolution 63, 2020 – An application to submit the City’s Consolidated Plan Fiscal Years 2020-2024, Annual Action Plan Fiscal Year 2020-2021, and Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing.
• Resolution 64, 2020 – A City-initiated application to submit a substantial amendment to the One-Year Annual Action Plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for Program Year (PY) 2019. Adoption of the City’s Workforce Housing Program
• Resolution 66, 2020 – Consideration for Approval: A City-initiated Resolution to adopt the City’s Workforce Housing Program. The report is included in the resolution which can be read here.  Workforce housing has been a ‘hot’ topic for awhile now and “City staff has been assessing the need for workforce housing policies and solutions in addition to reviewing the existing provisions and accomplishments for several years. For reference, the City’s median household income is $81,508.00 (which equates to a workforce range $48,905.00 to $97,810.00). In 2019, staff engaged Strategic Planning Group to provide support to staff in creation of a Comprehensive Workforce Housing Plan.

Also on the Regular Agenda:

• Ordinance 12, 2020 – First Reading: The City Council has determined it is necessary to amend the City’s Code of Ordinances at Chapter 6 – Alcoholic Beverages, Section 6.2 – Hours of sale. to expand the hours of sale from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m
• Resolution 62, 2020 – A request by SRE Holdings LLC 9880 ALT A1A for a Site Plan Amendment to add an additional drive-through lane with a menu board sign and to modify the site’s landscaping and parking lot for the McDonald’s restaurant within the Gardens East Plaza Planned Unit Development (PUD) (a.k.a. Promenade Plaza). The PUD is part of the Gardens East Planned Community Development (PCD) and is generally located east of Alternate A1A on the north side of Lighthouse Drive.
• Ordinance 11, 2020 – First Reading: This Ordinance amends the FY 2020 Budget in the following areas: 1.) adjusts projected revenues for significant positive variances in building permits and federal grant reimbursements; 2.) adjusts projected revenues for negative COVID-19 impacts on state revenues and electric franchise fees; 3.) records an additional transfer to the Recreation Special Revenue Fund to offset revenue losses caused by the COVID19 pandemic; 4.) revises road impact fee projections taking into account revenues and projects that were transferred to the new Mobility Fee Fund and records a $200,000 transfer from the General Fund to make up for estimated shortfalls resulting from these newly revised road impact fee projections; and 5.) adjusts revenues and expenditures to reflect the accounting entries required to record the capital lease of equipment.
• Ordinance 10, 2020 – 2nd Reading and Adoption: City-initiated Text Amendment to the Future Land Use element of the City’s Comprehensive Plan to incorporate a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) objective and associated policies based on the recommendations included in the City’s TOD Master Plan, prepared by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council.

The Consent Agenda includes:

• Resolution 69, 2020 – moving the first City Council Mtg in January 2021 to Thursday, January 14, 2021.
• Resolution 61, 2020 – Approving a Grant of Easement in favor of Seacoast Utility Authority for the installation, operation, maintenance, and service of a public water supply well located at the Lake Catherine Sportsplex.
• Resolution 65, 2020 – Supporting the Wolfpack CubeSat Development Team at the Weiss School in their mission proposals to NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative.
• Purchase Award – openly competed – This Agreement created a pool of pre-qualified vendors for future spot-market quotations for minor residential repair and rehabilitation work under the City’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. The contractors included in the pool are available to the City for quotations on work projects at the homes of qualified applicants under the Program. When a project is identified and a Statement of Work developed by the City, the contractors are provided with the information and asked to submit quotations to perform the work. The work is awarded via Purchase Order to the vendor offering the lowest price. – 5 year contract – $700K – no option to renew
• Purchase Award – The City’s existing Agreements for Professional Services under Florida Statutes Consultants’ Competitive Negotiations Act (CCNA) expired on September 30, 2020. A new contract is needed to allow the City to procure these services for current and future projects. Under the CCNA, these professional services must be procured exclusively based on qualifications and not pricing. These services include architectural, engineering, and other professional categories of work. 5 year contract with no option to renew – $5 million.
• Purchase Award – Each year the City has several construction projects that must be performed to repair and/or maintain infrastructure in addition to its ongoing Capital Improvement Program. This Agreement allows the City to contract at established rates for these miscellaneous public works construction projects. The prices and rates are fixed for the five-year term of the Agreement. Examples of the types of work contemplated include sidewalk repairs, stormwater pipe installation and repairs, road construction, striping of roadways, and Capital Improvement Projects as needed. Openly competed, 5 year contract with no option to renew – $10 million.

Please check the agenda before the meeting for additions or modifications.