By Jane Smith
Boynton Beach plans to finish moving city services in September to make way for the 16-acre Town Square project.
City Hall staff moved in the last two weeks of August to a temporary site at 3301 Quantum Blvd., Suite 100. Phone numbers and office hours will be the same for all departments, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, said Eleanor Krusell, city spokeswoman.
Customer service staff moved to 209 N. Seacrest Blvd., just south of the Post Office branch at the southwest corner of Seacrest and Boynton Beach boulevards.
The City Library opened in its temporary location at 115 N. Federal Highway.
In mid-August, the City Commission approved a lease for extra storage space for the library of 8,700 square feet in the same Quantum Park building as the temporary police headquarters.
Starting Sept. 6, City Commission, city board and Community Redevelopment Agency meetings will take place at the Intracoastal Park Clubhouse at 2240 N. Federal Highway.
The Police Department is moving to 2045 High Ridge Road over the third weekend in September. Its public records and internal affairs also will move that weekend and reopen Sept. 24 at 209 N. Seacrest Blvd.
The Fire-Rescue Department will be the last to leave the area. Plans call for the staff at Station 1, which serves Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes, to be split between Fire Station 4 on South Federal Highway and Fire Station 5 on High Ridge Road.
Krusell cautioned people against digging up plants around the vacant city buildings because they could disturb utility lines.
The plants will be evaluated for their ability to thrive if transplanted to medians and parks and the costs of transplanting them.
The $250 million Town Square is a public-private partnership between Boynton Beach and E2L Real Estate Solutions. The area, bounded by Boynton Beach Boulevard on the north and Southeast Second Avenue on the south, will create a downtown for Boynton Beach.
When the project is complete in about 18 months, the city will have a renovated historic high school building that can be used for recreation classes on the first floor and a ballroom that can be rented on the second floor, a City Center building that will house city hall and the library, new Fire Station 1, parks, garages and an amphitheater.
E2L will develop a hotel, office buildings with stores and restaurants on the ground floor, and apartment buildings.
In early August, the City Commission approved borrowing $6.85 million from Dougherty Funding to finish renovating the high school instead of using money from its share of the penny sales tax proceeds. The three-year loan carries a 4.85 percent interest rate and has a prepayment penalty if repaid in the first year.
Meeting dates altered to allow budget hearings
Boynton Beach commission meetings will be held on Thursdays instead of Tuesdays in September to meet the county budget requirements. The first budget hearing will be 6:30 p.m. Sept. 6 and the second budget hearing will be 6:30 p.m. Sept. 20.
The city’s fire-rescue assessment rate resolution will be heard at 6 p.m. Sept. 11, just prior to the city’s CRA meeting at 6:30 p.m.
Other public meetings will keep their same days and times.
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