Gardens' Past, Present and Future Development covered in Workshop
October 27, 2014
Many residents over the last few years have requested that the City Council hold workshops. So we were happy to see City Manager Ferris request one with the Council to discuss Growth Management. Often the Council meets individually with staff and then somehow vote unanimously on ordinances and issues with minimal deliberation. So it was refreshing to see what came close to an actual discussion on the future direction of Palm Beach Gardens.
Tony Doris, of the Palm Beach Post did an excellent job summarizing the meeting in these two articles: West growth is top city concern and Gardens works to control growth .
Anyone who is seriously considering running for the Council in the future or serving on the PZAB should save a copy of the excellent presentation by Natalie Crowley, Director of Planning and Zoning, as well as watching it on Youtube. An understanding of the history of growth in the City, the 1999 Forbearance Agreement (and related Ordinance) and its impact on development, as well as the outlook on future projects were all included in the presentation.
Discussion by the Council begins here. Comments made by both Vice Mayor Jablin and Council Member Russo called attention to their personal long term service and impact on the development of the City, as well as their knowledge on the topic(s).
Discussion on the hot topic of western communities and Avenir begins here.
We strongly encourage that you watch the video of the discussion as well as the presentation so that you will have a better understanding of where your Council, individually and as a group, view the future of the City. There is a considerable amount of change ahead of us and all of the projects need to be considered not just as single projects but in the context of the complete City.