rezoned - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T12:20:15Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/rezonedBoca Raton: City opens park at Wildflower sitehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-city-opens-park-at-wildflower-site2017-11-29T17:10:52.000Z2017-11-29T17:10:52.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /><br /> The public has a new spot downtown to watch boat traffic on the Intracoastal Waterway.<br /> City officials opened the Wildflower site, at the northwest corner of the Palmetto Park Road bridge over the waterway, to pedestrians and vehicles on Nov. 27.<br /> The 2.3-acre parcel is mostly parking lot, and Boca Raton is letting motorists park there free. Foot traffic can enter through a gate at the base of the bridge; vehicles get in via Northeast Fifth Avenue.<br /> Workers for the city installed six park benches, repaired a troublesome crack in the site’s sea wall, opened gates to neighboring Silver Palm Park and freshened up the site with mulch. The park, which so far lacks a name, is open from 8 a.m. to dusk daily. “Possible hazards may exist,” a sign warns. “Entry and use at own risk.”<br /> The Wildflower site will also be open during the evening Dec. 16 as a viewing site for the Holiday Boat Parade.<br /> More changes are coming. The City Council hired engineers Applied Technology and Management Inc. on Nov. 28 to design a new sea wall for the parcel. On Dec. 11 the council will get an update from consultant EDSA Inc. on a master plan for Boca Raton’s waterfront parks.<br /> Boca Raton bought the land, at 551 E. Palmetto Park Road, eight years ago for $7.5 million. In July 2016, council members changed part of the vacant parcel’s land designations from residential to commercial to accommodate a long-planned restaurant. But voters decided the following November that all city-owned land on the Intracoastal should be for “public recreation, public boating access, public streets, and city storm water uses only.”<br /> The council changed the land designations to “recreation and open space” in June.</p></div>Boca Raton: Wildflower formally designated as park spacehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-wildflower-formally-designated-as-park-space2017-06-28T14:10:52.000Z2017-06-28T14:10:52.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /> <br /> The city-owned Wildflower parcel on the Intracoastal Waterway now has the papers to prove it’s a park.<br /> City Council members changed the site’s designation on Boca Raton’s comprehensive land-use plan to “recreation and open space” and rezoned the property as “public land.” Before, the 2.3-acre property at the northwest base of the Palmetto Park Road bridge was labeled “commercial” and zoned for “local business.”<br /> No members of the public commented on the changes at the council’s June 13 meeting. Neither did council members. The comp plan ordinance required at least four votes for adoption. It and the zoning ordinance both passed 5-0.<br /> Last July, council members changed part of the vacant parcel from residential to commercial to accommodate a long-planned restaurant. Boca Raton bought the land in 2009 for $7.5 million.<br /> But voters decided in November to reserve all city-owned land on the Intracoastal for “public recreation, public boating access, public streets, and city storm water uses only.”<br /> In other business, the council approved hiring Applied Technology and Management Inc. to provide engineering services for a seawater intake and pump station system for Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s saltwater tanks. <br /> The previous month ATM won the contract to develop architectural plans for the restoration of Lake Wyman and Rutherford parks.</p></div>