Two on council suggest it may be divisive, prefer trained planner
By Mary Hladky
Two weeks after the Boca Raton City Council created a task force to help decide how the 31.7-acre downtown campus should be improved, its existence is in jeopardy because two council members now doubt it is a good idea.
The task force was proposed by Mayor Andy Thomson to gather the ideas and preferences of residents for re-imagining the campus after city voters in March soundly rejected the city’s plans to partner with developers on the project.
Decisions, he said, should be “residents driven” so that they — not developers or city officials — would steer the outcome. The task force was approved by a 3-1 vote on April 14, with Council member Yvette Drucker absent.
But Deputy Mayor Michelle Grau questioned that decision at the council’s April 28 meeting. She had thought the task force would be helpful, but now was concerned that “this is not the right approach.”
The task force would be small and other city residents would not have a voice, she said. The better approach, she said, would be to have a professional urban planner lead the effort.
“I worry it may become more divisive, rather than productive,” Grau said of the task force.
Council member Jon Pearlman, who had voted against the task force on April 14, said he agreed with Grau.
“We don’t need an unelected blue-ribbon commission,” he said on April 14. “We should be answering to all the people who elected us.”
Deflecting to a task force would be abdicating the council’s responsibility to another group, Pearlman said.
Thomson disagreed at the time. “I don’t believe we are abdicating our responsibilities by getting advice,” he said, and any final decision would be made by the council.
On April 28, Thomson defended his idea again, saying task force meetings would be open to all residents to voice their opinions. “I think this is an opportunity to participate in a meaningful way,” he said.
The council will decide the issue soon, possibly at its next meeting, set for May 12.
Thomson had proposed that the task force have nine members appointed by the council. It would be in place for about six months before delivering a final report.
He also proposed that he chair the group since he has experience running meetings.
But Pearlman and Grau objected, and Thomson agreed to drop that idea and instead allow the task force members to select the chair.
Specifics were not finalized. Grau, for example, proposed hiring an urban planning firm — which has expertise council members lack— to lead the process, an idea Thomson said made sense.
A small number of residents addressed the issue on April 14, with only former mayoral candidate Mike Liebelson opposed to the task force. Two prominent Save Boca members said they liked the idea.
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