By Mary Hladky
Despite strong objections from Community Appearance Board members and former members, the Boca Raton City Council has approved an ordinance that limits the board’s responsibilities and gives city staff more authority to make decisions on the aesthetics of proposed projects.
The ordinance has stirred controversy since it was proposed, and prompted the February resignations of CAB Chair Tiery Boykin, an architect, and member John Kronawitter, a contractor and architect.
After his resignation, Boykin said in an interview that he thought the ordinance “is an effort to be too friendly to developers.”
Michael Goodwin, the owner of Crazy Uncle Mike’s restaurant and brewery, who replaced Boykin as chair, resigned on Oct. 2, but he said in an interview that the ordinance was not the reason.
The city’s plan to reduce the board’s size from eight members to seven prompted his decision to exit so that no other member would have to step aside, he said.
“This seemed the perfect time when the city wanted to have fewer people on the board,” said Goodwin, who had served for 51/2 years. “To me, it was about timing.”
Speaking at the Oct. 22 council meeting, architect Jessica Dornblaser, who has served on the CAB since 2016, urged council members to delay a vote to allow board members and city staff time to work out their differences.
“I speak for a majority of the members. We want to make the city more efficient. We understand the need to make it more efficient. This is not the way to do it,” she said of the changes.
“I am very upset,” she said later.
The Planning and Zoning Board, which considered the ordinance on Oct. 17, also wanted the CAB and city staff to come to an agreement on the CAB’s duties. As a result, the P&Z Board voted to table a vote for one month to allow time for that to happen.
Development Services Director Brandon Schaad told council members that his staff has met twice with the CAB and made modifications to the ordinance based on their concerns.
The CAB is made up of unpaid volunteers who must be an architect, landscape architect, engineer, building contractor or real estate agent.
It was created to be the first city body that reviews the aesthetics of proposed projects other than single-family homes and duplexes. Members were tasked with examining architecture, landscaping, signs, paint colors and proposed exterior changes.
Once a project passed muster with the CAB, it went to P&Z and then to the City Council for final approval.
Mayor Scott Singer first proposed changing the CAB’s duties and processes. He said businesses, community associations and property owners “complain about the process” and want fewer restrictions. Schaad said he also has heard such complaints.
The ordinance gives greater authority to city staff, while limiting CAB landscaping and architecture reviews and its role in approving paint colors.
But the CAB will become an appeals board for developers or architects who want to challenge staff decisions.
One flashpoint in the disagreement is that staff would weigh architectural designs even though no architects work for the city. The CAB includes architects doing such reviews at no cost to the city. Schaad told the council that one option is to hire an outside consultant to conduct the reviews.
Dornblaser also spoke at the P&Z meeting.
The CAB over the years has streamlined its processes on its own to improve efficiency, she said, while many city-proposed changes will do the opposite and will result in less attractive structures being built.
Architect Juan Caycedo, a former 14-year CAB member, said process streamlining is important. But he objected to some of the changes, and said that the CAB should continue to conduct architectural reviews.
P&Z Board Vice Chair Larry Cellon, also a former CAB member, noted that the city formed the CAB in 1966 at a time when major development was starting to take place. Within years, he said, most other Florida cities had followed Boca Raton to create their own CABs.
He credited it with making Boca Raton a beautiful city. Driving in from other cities is a “fabulous experience,” he said.
“It takes my breath away every time,” he said. “We didn’t get to look to what we look like today by following some form-based code."
Comments