Ann Witte at her desk
INSET BELOW: Glenn Gromann
By Mary Hladky
The place was jammed.
So many people attended the January meeting of the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowner Associations that city workers opened a partition to enlarge the Boca Raton Community Center meeting room.
And the crowd included faces rarely seen at a federation meeting.
“We usually don’t have developers and land use attorneys and architects at our meetings,” federation chair Andrea O’Rourke said after the meeting ended.
What accounted for the big turnout? BocaWatch, a newly reinvigorated city watchdog website, was making its first presentation to a city group.
While BocaWatch has taken stands on issues such as downtown drinking hours, it is best known for urging a conservative course on downtown development.
Its board members insist they are not anti-development, but oppose the original proposal for the New Mizner on the Green high-end condo project that would have added four towers topping out at 30 stories to the city skyline. On Jan. 16, developer Elad National Properties said the project would be downsized but did not yet have specifics.
The board members also want city officials to move carefully in implementing guidelines that allow for a maximum downtown building height of 12 stories rather than the longtime limit of nine stories.
Both stances have caught the attention of members of the development community who favor loosened height restrictions, and they showed up to hear what the BocaWatch board would say.
They heard nary a controversial word. BocaWatch’s presentation was measured and modest, lasting all of 10 minutes.
Board member Ann Witte, a financial and economic consultant, told the audience that the BocaWatch website is a “one-stop center for most city issues” that helps keep residents informed.
“It is a place for citizens to band together to get information on issues,” she said. “It is a forum for dialogue.”
But it was clear that not everyone in the audience saw BocaWatch as a benign force for civic good. Glenn Gromann, a developer and attorney who chairs the Downtown Boca Raton Advisory Committee and is an unabashed BocaWatch critic, asked pointed questions. That eventually led one BocaWatch board member to say, “This is a positive organization. We are not against change. But it should happen in an orderly and participatory way.”
Another audience member said she had gotten good results speaking directly with City Council members and staff, and was concerned that BocaWatch was inserting itself.
“We don’t want to get in the way of citizens interacting with the city,” Witte said.
After the Jan. 6 meeting, Gromann criticized the federation for inviting “a one-sided political organization” without also including someone with opposing views.
O’Rourke said she originally had invited New Mizner’s developer, Elad National Properties, to also make a presentation. Elad declined at first, and then offered to come shortly before the meeting date when O’Rourke felt she could not change the program.
O’Rourke and Elad both say Elad will appear at a future meeting.
Gromann opposes very tall projects, but blasts BocaWatch for what he feels is opposition to slightly taller building heights that would create a better looking downtown with a stronger tax base. Downtown development “is finally moving in the right direction and these folks want to fight success,” he said.
Witte and BocaWatch chairman Al Zucaro, an attorney and former West Palm Beach city commissioner, insist they are not roadblocks to progress. But they are concerned that the city has approved four 12-story projects before the first one — the Mark at CityScape apartment complex — is completed this spring and its impact evaluated.
Boca Raton architect Derek Vander Ploeg, who attended the meeting, afterward questioned the appropriateness of BocaWatch being registered as a political action committee.
“They used to be a group that had a website as an information item. That everyone can embrace. As soon as you go into the political arena, all that changes. I think … that is not as altruistic as it might be.”
Zucaro said BocaWatch will not support or oppose political candidates. But it is a PAC so that it can raise money if needed to support or oppose an issue. BocaWatch contributor records would be public, “which makes us transparent,” he said.
Witte and Zucaro have no intention of trimming their sails. Asked about the pushback, Witte said, “I consider that a compliment. They wouldn’t push back if we weren’t effective.”
Echoing that, Zucaro said, “If you are not being criticized, you are not doing anything.”
Comments