News

By Dan Moffett
    
    As it turns out, it’s not that difficult to get the coastal communities to speak with one voice.
    All you have to do is threaten to move them out of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council.
    Palm Beach County commissioners found that out in October when they voted to consider ending the 35-year relationship the county’s municipalities have had with the TCRPC and shift allegiance to the South Florida Regional Planning Council, led by Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
    Hook up with Broward and Dade? Palm Beach County towns and cities said they wanted no part of that.
    At the urging of the county League of Cities, elected officials in dozens of municipalities passed resolutions “strongly opposing” the idea of taking their planning cues from the south. And officials had plenty to say about it, too.
    “We control 12 seats on the Treasure Coast council,” said  South Palm Beach Councilman Robert Gottlieb. “We’re the big fish. If we go south, we won’t have that many seats. We won’t have the influence.”
    “It is a little less money to belong to the one to the south,” quipped Boynton Beach Mayor Jerry Taylor. “In this case, you get what you pay for.”
“Treasure Coast, they are more like us than the people the county proposes to bridge to,” said Gulf Stream Commissioner Robert Ganger. “We’re just too different than Miami and Broward County. I can’t honestly understand why the county would want to switch.”
    Delray Beach also had little interest in changing ties. The city is working closely with the TCRPC to rewrite downtown development rules, and Delray’s planning director, Dana Little, last year was urban design director with the TCRPC.
    Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie probably has a better perspective than most anyone. Her city sits on the Broward border, she served six years on the TCRPC, she works regularly on transportation issues with the southern neighbors, and she began her career in public service as a planner.
    “If we sit at the table with Miami-Dade and Broward,” Haynie says, “we’ll be the least person at the table. The TCRPC staff is wonderful. They’re a group of very talented individuals. Why would we want to change?”
    Municipal officials say they were blindsided by the County Commission’s 4-3 vote on Oct. 7 to consider switching allegiances. Commissioners Priscilla Taylor, Shelley Vana, Steven Abrams and Mary Lou Berger voted for the move; Commissioners Paulette Burdick, Hal Valeche and Jess Santamaria opposed it.
But municipal officials made their concerns known, and at the county’s Dec. 2 meeting, the County Commissioners changed their minds and voted unanimously to remain a member of the TCRPC.
    Money had been part of the motivation to switch. Supporters thought the move could have saved county taxpayers about $300,000 in membership fees. Because shares of the planning group’s budget are appropriated according to population size, Palm Beach County would pay less than Broward or Miami-Dade, which would carry most of the financial burden.
    Haynie says those who complain about the cost of membership in the TCRPC could be satisfied by allowing Palm Beach County, the biggest contributor, more clout in the group’s decision-making.
    Beyond money, proponents of the change argued that Palm Beach County has grown, become more urban and now has more in common with its southern neighbors, culturally as well as economically.
    Also, supporters said the three southern counties have common interests in transportation and climate change issues. Ú