News

By Mary Hladky

    After raising concerns that the city may have mistakenly allowed developers to skimp on providing required open space in downtown development projects, city officials now have reached this conclusion: Never mind.
    An exhaustive four-month review of projects approved since 1988 found that rather than providing too little open space, developers have delivered 26.3 percent more than required under city ordinance.
    Of 59 projects examined, the city found open space miscalculations in 11. But after recalculating, overages and shortages canceled out, and only one project failed to meet compliance.
    The outlier was Townsend Place condominium, at 500 SE Mizner Blvd., which fell short by 21 percent, or 14,826 square feet. The mistake, counting a pool area as open space even though it is above ground, was made because of confusion caused by several changes to project plans rather than using wrong standards, officials said.
    Since the purpose of the review was to prevent errors in the future, no action will be taken against the condo.
    After officials delivered their report at the April 11 Community Redevelopment Agency board meeting, city resident Norman Waxman criticized them for raising the potential problem, spending four months on a study, and then concluding the concerns were unfounded.
    “Is this the way to run a city?” he said.
    City Council member Scott Singer, speaking as CRA chairman, defended the review in light of the fact that downtown activists distrust how the city is handling development.
    “I think it was necessary to restore our public trust,” Singer said. “I regret it took as long as it did, but I thought given the climate it was essential.”
    Other council members agreed that the effort was worthwhile.
    “I think this has been a very informative exercise …,” Deputy Mayor Michael Mullaugh said. “I don’t think it has been a waste. It has given each of us … a better understanding of the policy decisions that were made.”
    “I applaud staff for going through this exercise,” said Mayor Susan Haynie, adding they had support of council members to undertake it.
    The controversy erupted in December, when city officials discovered a 2003 memo of which they were unaware. It was written by a city employee and was used to guide planning staff on what developers can and cannot count as open space in their projects.
    City Manager Leif Ahnell and City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser said the memo misinterpreted rules dating back to 1988 and were included in a 1992 ordinance that set out open space requirements. City Council members, sitting as the CRA board, directed them to find out if the memo had caused city staff to make mistakes in open space calculations.
    Downtown activists pounced on the issue, brandishing allegations of “corruption” and “conspiracy” that likely robbed residents of open space that would have made downtown projects more appealing. Al Zucaro, chairman of the watchdog organization BocaWatch, called for Ahnell’s resignation.
    The city review, however, found no problems with two parts of the memo. But the third part wrongly termed the open space provisions of the ordinance as a guideline rather than a requirement and said a developer could request a “deviation” from open space requirements even though the ordinance does not state that.
    Even so, no harm was done. The ordinance makes clear that open space is required and no developer has asked for or been allowed a deviation, according to the report.
    City officials now plan to add the first two parts of the memo into the ordinance to clarify how it should be implemented.
    When the memo was discovered, attention turned to former CRA director Jorge Camejo, who reviewed the memo before it was given to staff. Camejo, now executive director of the Hollywood CRA, has previously said the memo was distributed openly and intended to formalize how staff should adhere to open space requirements.
    Camejo was in the audience for the April 11 meeting but did not speak.  
    “The process came to the right conclusion,” he said in a telephone interview afterward.
    “Someone said it appeared someone was gaming the system,” Camejo said of suspicions that the memo was intended to help developers get around the rules. “If you are going to game the system, the last thing you would do is put something in writing.”
    While all but one downtown building met the open space requirements, recent projects criticized by activists for being too massive barely squeaked by the rules.
    The much-derided Mark at CityScape mixed-use project on Palmetto Park Road exceeds the requirements by 333 square feet, while the nearby Hyatt hotel exceed them by just 12 square feet. Palmetto Promenade, a mixed-use project also on Palmetto Park Road, exactly meets the requirements. The large Via Mizner development on Camino Real exceeds the requirements by 150 square feet.
    In comparison, Mizner Park, extolled by downtown residents for its appearance, exceeds requirements by more than 175,000 square feet.
    Downtown activists were more tempered in their criticisms of city officials than at previous meetings after staff delivered the report. Only a few stood to speak, saying that they remain concerned that new downtown buildings are not attractive and that not enough is being done to decrease traffic.
    Frequent critic John Gore, president of BocaBeautiful, offered a bit of praise.
    “I do want to congratulate you on enforcing the law,” he said.
    While the review was under way, developers could submit new project proposals to the city, but no approvals were granted.
    Now, the city is back to “business as usual,” said city spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson.