Just south of Briny Breezes, east of the St. Andrews golf course and north of Gulf Stream sit two rarities: pieces of barrier island land that are unincorporated,
belonging to no city.
But lately Boynton Beach officials have been talking about making those areas — “pockets,” they’re called — part of their city, through annexation. That
would likely bring better services but also higher taxes — and a loss of a
sense of independence. It also raises questions about what could be built
there.
prompted the Florida Coalition for Preservation to begin education efforts to
make sure residents there know what’s going on.
happen before annexation is possible. But the city, for now, is focusing only
on areas west of the Intracoastal, most of it west of I-95.
barrier island pockets in the study with those western areas.
Kurt Bressner, Boynton Beach’s city manager, said annexation of the barrier island pockets is still up for consideration, just not right now.“We’re just going to go ahead with the workload we have,” he said. “And then we’ll swing into consideration of the other areas possibly later on this year.”
Boynton Beach and Palm Beach County are in the process of approving an interlocal agreement to provide fire-rescue service to the pockets, to avoid anothertragedy like the choking death of a resident there in November. But that’s
separate from outright annexation.
Just because it’s not in the official study plan doesn’t mean annexation of the pockets is not being researched now, said Bob Ganger of the Coalition, a group that
works to protect the barrier island from excessive development.
that would include the barrier island because they serve the barrier island
with water and sewer,” said Ganger, who is also president of the Gulf Stream
Civic Association. “From the point of view of the people who live in the county
pocket, whether or not they’re identified on a map of the ISBA study, they
probably ought to be thinking about how do they feel eventually being annexed
by Boynton Beach, whether that’s a year from now, ten years from now or
sometime in the future.”
is proposed at 42 units — or 12 per acre and possibly seven stories in
height, or about 70 feet.
units per acre and 35 feet in height.
Ganger said the Coalition feels that the agreement should carry the day in the event of annexation, but said island residents need to stay on their toesnonetheless.
Any close observer of government knows that an agreement that’s approved by one slate of elected officials might be undone by another slate.County Commissioner Steven Abrams, who represents the area, said he supported annexation of the pockets to get better fire-rescue service. But since that is
being addressed with a separate agreement, he said he is fine with annexation
being considered later.
Briny Breezes Mayor Roger Bennett said the residents in the pockets have generally resisted the idea.
“They feel more like they’re self-governed there,” he said.Ocean Ridge Town Manager Ken Schenck said the town just wants to keep up with the annexation topic.
“The commission hasn’t taken a stance on it because it hasn’t come up,” he said.Gulf Stream Town Manager Bill Thrasher said his town also just wants to stay involved.
“We want to know what’s going on,” he said. “We don’t want to wake up one morning and find out something’s happened that would be detrimental to us.”
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