News

By Jane Smith
    
    Boynton Beach’s Community Redevelopment Agency wants to consolidate plans in its six areas this summer with the goal of giving developers and residents predictability on what can be done at each location.
    “We don’t want to miss the market,” said Vivian Brooks, CRA executive director, to the more than 100 people gathered on a Saturday morning in June at the city library. She is working toward receiving final commission approval in September.
    The CRA held three public workshops with residents, allowing them to select or “vote” on what they liked in each plan for the land use and zoning.
    When Brooks gave the same presentation to a group of real estate professionals, her talk became a “stakeholders forum.”
    “We can’t make our city into a city without your help,” she said.
    Resident Susan Oyer said she agrees with most of the changes, “but my issue is height. We all want to see growth that is well-planned, but none of us want to become like West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale with their concrete canyons.”
    Plus, she said, the taller buildings block the flow of the ocean breezes.
    Some residents, including Barbara Ready, objected to the method the CRA used.
    “The changes should have been voted upon separately if the CRA really wanted some true input,” said Ready, who also chairs the city’s Historic Resources Preservation Board. “Instead, we were basically forced to approve the bad parts with all the rest.”
    She said the intersection of South Federal Highway and Woolbright Road was an example.
    The CRA staff wants to create a mixed-use node to allow up to 60 dwelling units to the acre and 10-story buildings. The northern corners have relatively recent developments, with Las Ventanas apartment complex on the northwest corner and a PNC Bank branch on the northeast.
    On the southwest corner, Sunshine Square did a makeover that allowed Publix to demolish its old store about five years ago and build a new one with 14,000 more square feet. None of the corners will likely be redeveloped in the next 20 years.
    The Riverwalk Plaza owner on the southeast corner wants to demolish the aging shopping center where a Winn-Dixie grocery story was the anchor tenant. In its place, Riverwalk owner Isram Realty wants to build a 10-story apartment project to take advantage of the waterfront views.
    Isram submitted basic plans in December to Boynton Beach. Recently Isram founder Shaul Rikman requested the city not review the project until the Aug. 23 Planning and Development Board meeting to allow him to focus on his family this summer following the death of his father.
    “The stars are aligning on the consolidated plans,” said Kristine de Haseth, executive director of the Florida Coalition for Preservation. “The commission will take up the plans on Aug. 16 that would allow Riverwalk to build 10 stories.”
    The nonprofit coalition is concerned about quality of life and environmental issues created by continued development of South Florida’s barrier islands and coastal communities.
    The property’s current zoning has a 75-foot or 7-story height limitation.
    Boynton Beach Mayor Steven Grant, who attended the public workshop, said he’s not for mixed-use zoning without an office component that could bring higher paying jobs for residents.
    He saw no problems with higher density at the Federal Highway intersections with Boynton Beach Boulevard and Ocean Avenue, which Brooks has said is a future site of a coastal Tri-Rail station on the FEC tracks.
    But Grant objects to increased density at the Woolbright and Federal intersection because it is already congested and three corners would not see redevelopment in the next 20 years.
    “I disagree with spot zoning, spot land use and spot regulations,” said Grant, who beat then-Mayor Jerry Taylor earlier this year in a runoff. Developers with projects in the city, including $2,000 from Isram, donated to help Taylor amass more than $40,000 in campaign contributions. Grant raised less than $3,000.
    Isram’s proposed apartment project would put 100 extra cars daily at the intersection during the morning rush hour, according to its own traffic study, Grant said.
    “I look at how many cars at rush hour,” Grant said. “The developer counts cars over the whole day.”
    During the stakeholders forum, developers objected to the CRA’s plans that call for retail on the ground floor.
    “Everyone wants to have an urban experience,” said Morris Kaplan, head of Kaplan Residential, which builds apartments. “The concept is great, but empty shop space is blight.”
    Rikman, of Isram, agreed the city has a lot to offer. He also said apartment developers are taking a big risk when nearby cities of Delray Beach and Boca Raton can command 20 percent higher rents, based on their better demographics.