Turnpike Widening by 2024, Relief Fund and Capital Improvement Updates

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August 13, 2020

The Consent Agenda and the only resolution on the agenda – Resolution 47, 2020 updating the fees and charges schedule passed 5:0 with no discussion. The bulk of the meeting was related to presentations and the City Manager report.

Turnpike Widening Project

The turnpike will be widened from 4 to 8 lanes to serve anticipated demand by 2040. The presentation was specific to the area affecting Palm Beach Gardens from the Beeline Highway exits to Indiantown Rd. Due to the widening, all overpass bridges will need to be replaced. The new lanes will be added on the west side of the turnpike. The questions by the Council and the City Manager were specific to noise levels and the project will be doing ‘noise wall’ needs assessments. While this was a short update, there will be meetings with those in impacted areas as well as public meetings in the 2021 time-frame.

Mission Lifeline Gold Plus award from the American Heart Association

This is the 4th consecutive year that PBG Fire/Rescue has received this award which is given to Fire and EMS agencies that meet strict guidelines when treating patients suffering a heart attack. Congratulations to the department! Cory Wilder, Director of Public Services, spoke about the award, and also reiterated that no one should hesitate in calling 911 – the hospitals and Fire/Rescue are safe!

City Manager Report

• City Manager Ferris summarized how many companies and people were aided by the Small Business Relief Fund and the Unemployed Resident Relief Fund
  • In total $989K went to 69 small businesses
  • 1248 residents received $200 Publix gift cards for a total of $312K with the efforts of a lot of volunteers – city staff, council and Christ Fellowship Church
• Covid-19 update
  •  Since March 10 – Fire/Rescue has had 179 covid-19 encounters (calls – not necessarily positives); 2 F/R personnel in quarantine
  • PBGMC has 32 Covid positive patients, 43 beds available but none in ICU – 4 deaths in total
  • Jupiter Medical center – 24 covid patients, 73 beds available, 7 beds in icu – 26 deaths in total
  • The city has 9 ALF/nursing homes with 1439 residents – current status 3 covid-19 patients
• Capital Improvements Update
  • Deputy Community Service Administrator Angela Brown and colleague Jennifer Nelli presented. See the Palm Beach Post article outlining the status of the major projects they covered here.

During items of Resident Interest – Council Member Reed encouraged everyone to Vote!