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How City Planning Works: From Conception To Completion · Inside West Palm Beach

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Welcome to Inside West Palm Beach. I'm
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Gerry Marcelo. Everyone agrees that our
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city is at the center of a development
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boom that few other communities will
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ever experience. But what is less obvious
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is just how much
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planning and pre-planning
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goes into every project. How does a
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project go from conception to
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completion in West Palm Beach? Who makes
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sure that a new building fits into our
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community and how can residents become
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part of the planning process? We'll talk
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about it next.
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And joining us today is Anna Maria Ponte,
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Development Services Director for the
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City of West Palm Beach and our Amano
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Fauna Deputy City Administrator. Thank
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you both for being here. Thank you. Now
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no one can argue the fact that the
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City of West Palm Beach is on fire. We
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have got buildings
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going up, we have a lot
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going up. In a good way. In a good way.
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Not a bad burn, but a
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good burn. But with all this
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construction going on, it's natural for
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people to you know maybe do a double
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take or want some more information or
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want to learn a little bit more about how
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planning is actually done here at the
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City. So to that end, I appreciate you
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being here and the first question that
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pops up is when a project comes to the
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City, what are the major steps it goes
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through before a final decision is made
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before? Go ahead. Yes, thank you for
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inviting us. I think it's very important
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to explain that before a project, the
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public sees a project coming out of the
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ground, it has been a long process of
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review through the different departments.
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So it usually takes around 18 months to
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up to two years until the project starts
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to see construction. So the projects come
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in and submit for a site review
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depending on the type of projects we
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have, site plan reviews or plan
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developments or different type of reviews
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that go through. But in all the
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cases, they are staff review first in
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relationship to the code requirements. So
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we have the comprehensive plan and the
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City code that guides all developments
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that go in the City and staff will review
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those projects for compliance with
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those codes and principles. And then it
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goes to site plan, staff review and then
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depending on the project, it will go to
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public hearing process or not. Sometimes
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projects get just the staff approval
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because they are small enough. In other
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cases, they go for example, if there's
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the downtown, they
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will go to the downtown
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action committee for review. They will
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not go to City Commission but if they
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are certain areas outside the downtown,
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they will go to planning board and then
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they go to City Commission for review. So
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there are different instances
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depending of the type of project and the
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location of the project for review.
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So no matter what, it's a painstaking
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process. You said it
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take 18 months perhaps
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to go from beginning to end. Obviously
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the goal is to have really good
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planning, a solid plan from start to
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finish, making sure that we stay
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with code, with all the things that we
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need to stay with. What does good
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planning actually mean from a city's
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perspective? Well,
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I'll let you talk about
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how the comprehensive plan is kind of our
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high-level planning document that
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goes to the state as a state requirement
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and it has different elements within
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that comprehensive plan and that is the
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highest level of our planning process.
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Below that then is our land use
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regulations and planning zoning
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regulations and Anne-Marie, if you can
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talk a little bit
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about how important that is
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because that really comes to the public
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realm and how buildings interact with
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the public realm and that's kind of like
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where the rubber meets the road or in
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this case the building meets the road,
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right, is the importance of the zoning
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code and the planning that goes into
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that. Yeah, there are different things. I
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mean they are like a bigger picture as
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Armando says. We have
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regulations that say where do we want
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different types of uses to go in the
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city. So there are certain areas that are
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industrial and we don't want housing on
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that industrial area. There are other
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areas that are single family so we don't
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want commercial on that. There are other
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areas that are mixed use and the
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intention is to have mixed uses so we
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allow residential and allow commercial
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in those areas and then that's kind of
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the bigger picture you have like the
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uses then how big the buildings could go,
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how tall and how intense and then the
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granular detail of how those buildings
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address the street, how much they are for
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example set back from the road. Do they
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have trees in front? Do they have a store
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in front of the sidewalk? How wide is the
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sidewalk? How big is the strip of grass
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or planting that they have? So all those
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details coming in the zoning code and
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depending of the area they are more
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strict, less strict or have one
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particular goal to achieve. If we go for
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example the downtown that it's a very
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intense development. The buildings in the
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downtown the intention is they come
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close to the street so when you are
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walking as a pedestrian you have
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something that attracts your attention
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that is a use, is a
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store, is a residential
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unit, is an office, something that
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entertains you as a pedestrian which is
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a very different environment than when
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you are driving and is a more suburban
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context. So all those details get
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engraved into the zoning regulation and
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we apply them depending of the area. Let
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me give you just a great example of that
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and I've heard several times I think it
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is one of the best examples. If you were
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to walk as a pedestrian from Tri-Rail to
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the waterfront that first half of that
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you get to about Rosemary Avenue is
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there's not a lot happening there. You
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have a lot of empty space, you have the
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police station, that feels like an
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extremely long walk even though it's two
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blocks, two and a half blocks. Whereas
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once you get to the east of Rosemary and
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you begin to be on Clamatus and you get
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the storefronts and you get other
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activities happening it's a much
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shorter walk even though it's really
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longer to get from Rosemary to the
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waterfront than it is to get from
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Tri-Rail to Rosemary. So that is why you
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want to have those active spaces and uses
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and have that that up against the
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sidewalk but I also want to make the
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distinction on these the zoning code goes
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through a public process before it
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becomes code. Yeah. So there is like we
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recently had not too long ago the
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Broadway mixed-use district there was a
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changes to that part of the code and
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there was public meetings with
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neighborhood associations with merchants
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and then ultimately with the City
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Commission to make the code changes on
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that on that particular zone. So
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anytime as the zoning code changes it is
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a public process and the public has an
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opportunity to provide input but we also
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have to I always tell people you also
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have to rely somewhat on the professional
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staff. You have studied this,
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they have degrees, they understand the
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context of what is needed to make a
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city vibrant and what is appropriate in
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certain spaces and just like I'm not an
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engineer or attorney I wouldn't pretend
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to be one. The public should understand
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there are professionals that work in the
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city who do this every single day and
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although they may have questions and
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comments they're not
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professionals generally in this realm so
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they have to understand that the
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folks who are working at the city are
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working there because they have
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professional credentials. Yeah Armando
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brings up a very interesting point or a
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good point that our zoning code for
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example it's a set of rules and
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regulations that guide the development.
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So we do those rules is like we as a
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community get together and say this is
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the version that we have for an area. We
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want it to be pedestrian friendly, we
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want the buildings to be distal or maybe
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have front yards. What do we want? How do
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we want the public realm and how do we
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want the private building addressed at
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public realm? Those set and rules and
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regulations are prescribed, established,
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adopted by the City Commission through
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a public process and then those rules are
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the ones that staff applies when an
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individual project comes in. So that's
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kind of an important part and that is
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fundamental because then we have a
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predictability right? We have every
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developer knows what the rules are and
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what they expect not only them to do but
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the neighbors to do. So in that sense we
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construct the public realm one project at
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a time but we have to have that vision to
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be able to do it because if we don't
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have that common set of rules then nobody
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knows what what the whole will be.
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So the common set of rules which form the
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various zoning areas and the
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parameters within that those zoning areas
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that is very carefully constructed
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it's not something that's done lightly it
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goes through a very long arbitration
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process and has to go in front of all
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sorts of different groups for approval
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and this is the the guiding this is the
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basis for what a developer will look at
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and say this is the type of building I
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can put here. Exactly. It's not like
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you're just saying I want to put a
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25-story building, boof, and you know no
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they start with these are the rules for
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this particular
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parcel of land. Correct. I
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think we can talk a little bit about
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because sometimes I'll see from the
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public or hear from the public about
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let's say a variance or or a waiver of
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some kind so though whether it's a
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variance or a waiver those are
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prescribed within our code when they're
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allowed and what thresholds are
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allowed for. So for example parking
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requirements if they're getting a a
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variance on the number of parking spaces
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that the code allows for that
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will only allow for it based on a
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percentage that they can be reduced and
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and there's conditions that have to be
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met in order for them to even apply for
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that variance which typically not always
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but sometimes we'll have to go through a
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approval public process approval depends
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on the threshold and the zoning code
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maybe you can expand upon a little. Yeah
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I mean like the variances are something
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that is common on the zoning code so it's
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like for example if I want to build
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the code says I am allowed to build a
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four foot high fence in front of my
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property but for a particular reason I
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have what we call a hardship that says I
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have a hardship on my property and I
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would like to to build a six foot high
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defense instead of the four. So once you
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as a owner says establish like I have a
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hardship I want to do something that is
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different than what the code allows if
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the code allows for that variance because
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there are no variances for
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everything there are certain things that
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are not allowed for a variance you go to
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a process you apply and then you go to a
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zoning board of appeal or the
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downtown action committee or the planning
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board or the historic
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preservation board to ask for that
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variance and you as an owner have to
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explain what is your hardship what is
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that makes you your property and your
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condition special that you cannot comply
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with the current regulation and
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it can't be self-imposed it cannot be
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self-imposed your hardship not be
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financially driven it's just like you
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have a hardship that is outside of your
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control right and so this could be
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applied to an existing home just a
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regular homeowner would be obviously have
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to pay attention to the zoning rules
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but be able to come to the city and ask
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for this type of variance and it happens
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all the time those don't get the
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headlines but the variances happen all
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times for single-family homes and when
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there is a legitimate hardship and when
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again when the code allows for it so when
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folks hear about developers getting
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a variance typically has to do with
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something that is outside of their
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control constraints that the property
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itself has maybe a weird shape maybe a
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weird size so that is how those things
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happen it's not just at a thin air and
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we decide that we're gonna issue a
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variance to a developer because we don't
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we like or don't like them and a variance
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process for example requires a
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hearing so that is a requirement it
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cannot be administratively done it has
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to go to one of the boards also requires
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a public notification so when somebody
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applies for a variance a notification has
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to be sent to all the property
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owners 500 feet around the subject
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property so the neighbors are notified
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and say these properties applying for a
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variance for this and it's gonna be a
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public hearing on this and this date and
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you you as a neighbor or affected you
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can come and comment and say I don't
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think this should be given because and
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the board will hear and assess the
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comments from the public and let me just
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add that is the notification process
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sometimes I'll hear like somebody got
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those one of those notifications like why
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didn't know about this well this is
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your notification and there's time to to
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a pine on it and would that notification
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be like a regular post mail or how would
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it be it's a it's yes you will
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receive a letter a letter in the mail in
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the mail right the agenda is also
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posted on the website so that's another
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way I mean like we post all the
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agendas for all the meetings with all the
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cases on the website and the public
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can see it you can also as a public you
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can sign up to a mailer notification
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like so a web like an email notification
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well we will send anyone that sign up to
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that list notifications of all the public
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meetings so you will receive on
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your inbox every month all the agendas
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for all the public meetings so if you
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really want to be a
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shitty junkie you can do that
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exciting stuff that is very important how
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many times have we been in a meeting
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where someone would have a concern about
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well did we re notified her and yes they
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were they did they get did they get the
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information one of the things I want to
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touch on is that there are sometimes
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common misconceptions that residents
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will have about this process how things
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work is there a common thread is there a
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theme that you guys hear often that we
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can dispel now well I can bring one up
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that I hear a lot lately and that is that
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the city approves projects without
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regard to the impacts to infrastructure
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and whether there's enough traffic to
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whether it's gonna generate so much
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traffic that we won't be gridlock or
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there's enough utilities so I've heard
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that a lot throughout the years but
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particularly in the last six months I
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would say and that's that's natural we're
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a growing city with growing pains that's
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a good problem to have it's sort of like
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I hate to use sports analogies because
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everybody does but it's like having two
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great quarterbacks which one do you use
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we're growing and if you're not growing
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a lot of cities are dying and you see
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that around the country so we have to
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manage that growth but the way that is
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managed besides what we've talked about
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already is through our site plan review
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process and so when a site plan is
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submitted for a project there is a very
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extensive review as Annemarie mentioned
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it could take many months or many years
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in some cases to go through that process
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and every relevant department that has to
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do something with a site plan looks
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at it so water utilities wastewater the
14:19:36
public works for the sanitation pickups
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our engineering department whether or not
14:19:42
the property requires up sizing of
14:19:46
the underground utilities what the
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traffic is that's a presented traffic
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analysis which is then reviewed
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independently by the city and either
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approved or disapproved whether or not
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there are other other things that have
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to do sometimes even with lighting
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there's a lot that goes into these site
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plan reviews especially for large
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projects and there's a lot of back and
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forth behind the scenes that the public
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doesn't see we kind of hear I kind of
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joke we always hear from both sides we
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hear from the developers that our staff
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is being too difficult and requiring too
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much of them and then we hear from the
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public that we're allowing too much so
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when I hear it from both sides are
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probably means we're doing something
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right and that's somewhere in the middle
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that's some some kind of reasonable but
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there are some of the things are
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prescribed by code that they have to do
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and sometimes staff just simply says no
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I think this is something you need to do
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in order to make this project be
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viable for this neighborhood or that we
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need sometimes they even upgrade stuff
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that they really don't need to do but
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they're we've asked them to do it and
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they're doing it so there's a lot of back
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and forth and as a long arduous
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process I was at a public meeting
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recently and a neighborhood meeting and
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there was a small a small kind of
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mom-and-pop developer there and he
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raised his hand he said I can I can
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assure you that West Palm Beach has one
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of the toughest site plan processes in
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the entire county or even maybe in the
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state we go through an extensive process
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now I do want to point out also there
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are limitations right there are we can
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only require what is legally required we
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also now have every year the state has
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required us to be more diligent in our
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timing and how we process these site
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plans coming in so we're under a lot of
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pressure from state statute to make sure
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that we're meeting the requirements of
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how quickly we review these projects so
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while that work incredibly thorough and
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go back and forth there are some legal
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constraints and timing constraints that
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have been put upon the city and we're
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trying to meet those all those objectives
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in one package that's pretty pretty
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amazing so not only you dealing with a
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very detailed very in ways cumbersome
14:21:56
process of working through all the
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details you're also facing a clock and
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you've got to get stuff done so that is
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a rock in a hard place yeah it can be
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very difficult and so and you have many
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of these projects in line it's not like
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there's just one that you're working on
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at a time there are there are several
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going on at the same time so that is
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quite a priority for that person whether
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they're putting in a new roof in their
14:22:20
house or whether they're creating a giant
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multifamily project for that
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individual that developer there is is the
14:22:26
most important project so how does a
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resident who may have a concern instead
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of it just being I don't want to see
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that not in my backyard don't do that how
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can you be part of the process to
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actually help the project become better
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and stronger for the community is there
14:22:44
a way yeah I think there's there's two
14:22:47
levels right one is the community to be
14:22:52
involved where while we are drafting the
14:22:54
regulations every time that we because we
14:22:56
update the codes we have done I mean the
14:22:59
code is something that is not static
14:23:02
it's a document that is a living document
14:23:03
right so when we do the updates
14:23:06
of that code I mean we want the community
14:23:08
to get involved and get involved
14:23:10
at the beginning from the beginning when
14:23:12
we do those outreach meetings trying to
14:23:15
see what are the things that are more
14:23:16
important for the community where things
14:23:19
that we don't know they're ones that we
14:23:20
already know I mean and just analyze and
14:23:22
evaluate the current conditions and how
14:23:25
what things need to be changed so that's
14:23:27
one part like kind of the regulation and
14:23:30
the big picture let me stop you just
14:23:31
very quickly when someone wants to make
14:23:34
it part you're talking about a regular
14:23:36
update of code is there a trigger is
14:23:39
there a okay it's been 24 months we need
14:23:41
to look at this or is it there is an
14:23:44
issue that we need to address let's talk
14:23:46
about it yeah it's not it's not a time
14:23:49
limit I mean it's like are the
14:23:50
conditions change that we need to address
14:23:53
okay for example is in the
14:23:56
downtown master plan is a good example I
14:23:58
mean we have had the current version of
14:24:00
the master plan since 2007 so right so
14:24:04
that's been like almost 20 years with
14:24:06
the amount of growth that we have
14:24:08
experienced we learn as we go also
14:24:10
because as we implement regulations that
14:24:13
we have put in place we say oh you know
14:24:15
what this work this maybe didn't work and
14:24:18
we didn't achieve the goal that we
14:24:20
wanted we would like to tweak the
14:24:21
regulation to let's say in the case of
14:24:24
now like maybe we need a wider sidewalk
14:24:26
maybe the trees need a little bit more
14:24:27
room to grow because they are getting
14:24:30
stagnant so we need to provide that we
14:24:33
need certain rules for open space so
14:24:36
because we already have the experience
14:24:38
to implementing the regulations on some
14:24:40
projects those projects get approved
14:24:43
process and built and then we see what is
14:24:46
the result of that so it's kind of a
14:24:47
process a constant process we never stop
14:24:50
tweaking the regulation and updating it
14:24:52
and so the resident has an opportunity to
14:24:54
be part of the discussion yes when
14:24:57
when those are like we want the residents
14:24:59
to be part of this discussion
14:25:01
so at the beginning when we are doing
14:25:03
those initial meetings usually I mean we
14:25:06
don't get that many people involved at
14:25:07
the beginning I mean we get more people
14:25:09
involved at the end so it's more helpful
14:25:12
to get them at the beginning because we
14:25:13
can discuss before anything gets drafted
14:25:16
why do you think people don't
14:25:17
show up at the beginning no I think it
14:25:20
has to do with they're not paying
14:25:22
attention until it usually gets into a
14:25:25
major media that's a newspaper on social
14:25:30
media or somebody spreads something and
14:25:31
so that's when all of a sudden that what
14:25:34
we never heard of it even though there
14:25:35
may have been many public meetings and
14:25:36
postings about those meetings and look
14:25:38
we're government our forte even though
14:25:40
we you and the staff we have in
14:25:43
communication do a tremendous job of
14:25:44
trying to communicate we have podcasts we
14:25:46
have social media we have newsletters
14:25:50
both the mayor and the commissioners have
14:25:51
newsletters but there is some
14:25:54
responsibility on the citizens to be
14:25:56
informed of how to get the information
14:25:58
you know I live in Royal Palm Beach
14:26:02
probably 90% of what I get from this
14:26:04
town or the village of Royal Palm Beach I
14:26:05
probably throw in the trash I don't
14:26:07
know if you're looking at it and that's
14:26:08
probably a lot of people do but within
14:26:11
that within that thing you got in the
14:26:12
mail or in your email was probably a
14:26:15
notification of a meeting or something
14:26:17
regarding that maybe later on down the
14:26:19
road you find out is happening and you
14:26:22
threw that piece of paper or that email
14:26:24
away so if you really want to be
14:26:25
interested in gauge and what the city's
14:26:27
doing take a take a moment and glance at
14:26:29
that that that newsletter and email take
14:26:32
a moment and glance at that stuff that
14:26:34
comes in your utility bill that you may
14:26:35
think it doesn't have to do with you
14:26:37
because that's why we're putting those
14:26:39
things in there is to try to communicate
14:26:41
with the citizens we're not going to go
14:26:42
knock on everybody's door to let you know
14:26:44
that there's a project happening you
14:26:46
have to be an informed citizen and take
14:26:49
do some due diligence on your own
14:26:50
because we can all do so much and very
14:26:52
clearly a lot of times you hear people
14:26:54
say well no one told me about well it was
14:26:57
there you needed to reach out you
14:26:59
needed to take just a moment and make the
14:27:01
effort to read and to learn about
14:27:04
what's happening in the city the
14:27:05
information is provided but there is an
14:27:08
action to be taken by the residents to
14:27:11
sort of make the connection and show
14:27:13
them an action that they probably would
14:27:15
like to take I'll give you a perfect
14:27:16
recent example we have our curry park
14:27:19
redevelopment yeah that park has been
14:27:21
under a planning process probably five
14:27:25
years at least with a ton of public
14:27:27
meetings a lot of input we did online
14:27:30
surveys on in-person meetings got a lot
14:27:33
of input from different stakeholders
14:27:35
including folks that live in the
14:27:36
neighborhood now that I got into the
14:27:38
media that is a restaurant proposal
14:27:41
there which was part of our public
14:27:43
process of letting people know this is
14:27:45
an amenity that we're thinking of adding
14:27:48
would you agree to that amenity and most
14:27:49
people did but now folks know I didn't I
14:27:52
didn't know about this I didn't know
14:27:53
about the park where's the parking gonna
14:27:55
be all that's already in a site plan
14:27:56
it's already under construction
14:27:57
everything's under construction it's in
14:27:59
a site plan that's been vetted for
14:28:00
literally years and so again the public
14:28:05
needs to take some action to inform
14:28:07
themselves with the information that the
14:28:09
city providing our website has gotten
14:28:13
recent updates it's a fantastic resource
14:28:16
you may have to search a little bit or
14:28:17
like she said just set up an alert so
14:28:20
you can get it's on the website you can
14:28:23
do that website as well
14:28:24
but if you want to be we want
14:28:25
people to be concerned active citizens we
14:28:27
think it's great makes our life
14:28:29
a lot easier when the public is engaged
14:28:31
from the beginning we can hear their
14:28:32
concerns they can understand what any
14:28:36
what if any legal limitations exist and
14:28:39
then provide meaningful input that we can
14:28:42
then use as we develop a code or a
14:28:44
project but they have to that's a two-way
14:28:46
street let me give you a list
14:28:50
zoning land use traffic infrastructure
14:28:54
design compatibility with the
14:28:57
roads there are all factors I'm sure that
14:28:59
go into each review is there one
14:29:01
that's more important than the other or
14:29:04
are they all about the same I think that
14:29:06
it's not that all are the same but they
14:29:08
are they are all factors that play into
14:29:11
the approval or the review of a zoning
14:29:14
project I always say that we our goal is
14:29:19
to make the city better one project at a
14:29:21
time so if a project advance our goals
14:29:26
and makes the city better we have
14:29:28
succeeded I mean the worst thing that
14:29:31
could happen is we built a project that
14:29:34
suddenly does not provide enhancements
14:29:36
of the public realm that we want or is
14:29:38
like a not relates well with the adjacent
14:29:42
neighbors so like we want to make the
14:29:44
city better and we do it like trying to
14:29:47
review each project thoroughly and being
14:29:50
sure that it's made making the city
14:29:53
better for the citizens for everybody
14:29:57
that will walk and drive and pass in
14:29:59
front of that project that will create a
14:30:02
good space for new businesses to go in
14:30:04
there that it will create a good public
14:30:07
realm and make the city better that's
14:30:10
our goal and let me just say not and I'm
14:30:12
saying that because she works for me
14:30:14
this is a true public servant and
14:30:16
advocate for the public realm and
14:30:20
making sure that our public spaces that
14:30:22
are that developers are impacting are as
14:30:25
good as they can be possibly be and how
14:30:28
the public interacts those spaces I mean
14:30:30
she is a true advocate for making the
14:30:33
city a better place so citizens should
14:30:36
be really proud and happy to have
14:30:38
somebody like that heading there this
14:30:40
department but I also want to make sure
14:30:42
that folks understand that I mentioned
14:30:45
there is legal limitations sometimes what
14:30:47
the city can do and with when we're
14:30:49
requiring things developers also have
14:30:53
developers or homeowners property
14:30:54
owners I just say they have a right to
14:30:57
develop their properties under the
14:30:59
conditions that are set within the code
14:31:01
one thing I hear a lot about talking
14:31:03
about the spelling things is let's let's
14:31:04
just have a moratorium on development
14:31:06
okay that is not a legal thing that any
14:31:08
municipality in Florida could do we can't
14:31:10
just shut shut the doors for business
14:31:14
first off you'd be sued immediately by
14:31:17
property owners and secondly it's
14:31:19
probably not something we'd want to do
14:31:21
even if we weren't able to do it because
14:31:23
the city is this there's a lot of demand
14:31:25
for the for development in the city and
14:31:28
our job is to help manage that demand in
14:31:31
a way that is beneficial to the residents
14:31:34
visitors and businesses in the
14:31:36
city and not to stop and thwart all
14:31:39
development particularly when our studies
14:31:43
our reviews of the project show that we
14:31:46
have the capacity to grow we're not
14:31:48
built out we're not even close to being
14:31:50
built out we have just just a quick
14:31:53
example for the residents we produce
14:31:55
right now we produce and consume about
14:31:58
32 million gallons a day of water that
14:32:00
includes the city of West Palm Beach the
14:32:02
town of Palm Beach and the village of
14:32:04
South Palm Beach because we supply them
14:32:06
with water as well we have the capacity
14:32:08
to do over 50 million gallons a day so
14:32:11
we're not we're just a little over
14:32:12
halfway of what our capacity is so we
14:32:16
have plenty of water capacity we have
14:32:18
plenty of wastewater capacity traffic if
14:32:22
you really look at the numbers our
14:32:23
traffic within our downtown which is
14:32:25
supposed to be a dense part of town with
14:32:27
traffic that's what every downtown is and
14:32:28
everywhere in the world but if you really
14:32:30
look at the traffic numbers it is
14:32:32
during peak times that we have slowdowns
14:32:35
we're not like stopped and that's not a
14:32:36
parking lot we have slowdowns which is
14:32:38
during the peak morning and peak evening
14:32:40
or peak afternoon hours rest of the time
14:32:43
during the day you can drive in and
14:32:44
out of downtown without much of a problem
14:32:46
I do it every single day so we
14:32:49
have to work within realities realities
14:32:52
of the demand that there is right now
14:32:53
for the city the realities of our code
14:32:55
and what the state allows us and doesn't
14:32:57
allow us to do and the realities that we
14:33:00
want to be a vibrant growing city not a
14:33:02
dying city I think to to point out to our
14:33:05
mind the one thing that gets
14:33:09
mentioned a lot is the traffic issue and
14:33:11
in the downtown in particular so what we
14:33:16
are working on is to really move us from
14:33:20
the vision that traffic is just single
14:33:23
occupancy vehicles like everybody moves
14:33:26
in their own vehicle and they have to
14:33:28
all drive to the destination and that is
14:33:32
it's something that a lot of cities are
14:33:35
working on because if we just keep
14:33:37
building with the mentality of everybody
14:33:39
drives there's not going to be enough
14:33:41
roads that we can build to observe that
14:33:44
so that's part of what we do on a daily
14:33:46
basis okay so if you have a new project
14:33:49
or even with existing projects how do we
14:33:51
encourage people to use alternative
14:33:54
modes of transportation and with that it
14:33:56
goes a wide range of options one is just
14:34:01
one how do we improve the public realm
14:34:03
and the sidewalk so for me I can walk to
14:34:08
my destination and it's a pleasant walk
14:34:10
and I prefer to do that instead of just
14:34:13
taking my car and driving but also
14:34:15
offering options for transit we have in
14:34:19
the downtown in particular to train
14:34:21
stations is the most connected downtown
14:34:25
of the entire South Florida so we built
14:34:27
on that and say how do we encourage
14:34:30
people to take transit how to make the
14:34:33
walk from their office on Clamares to
14:34:35
the train station more pleasant so they
14:34:38
opt for that and a lot of people say like
14:34:41
I will never take transportation and it's
14:34:43
that's perfectly fine other people
14:34:46
may so we offer options for everybody and
14:34:50
there's some people that will never
14:34:52
take transportation but there are other
14:34:53
people that prefer to take
14:34:55
transportation because they don't want to
14:34:57
drive or they don't have
14:34:59
the means to drive or they are
14:35:01
too old to drive or too young to drive so
14:35:04
it's always a matter of
14:35:05
offering options to people
14:35:07
and within downtown because of the the
14:35:10
planning that's been
14:35:10
done we've got a lot more
14:35:12
residential properties than we've ever
14:35:14
even anticipated we would
14:35:16
have so that allows people
14:35:18
to live in downtown work in downtown shop
14:35:21
in downtown we've got a
14:35:22
grocery new grocery store
14:35:23
that's going to be coming up over the
14:35:25
next couple years as well so there's
14:35:27
again we're trying to
14:35:28
encourage people to not have to get into
14:35:30
that single occupancy
14:35:31
vehicle and drive and we're
14:35:33
going to be launching a new
14:35:34
transportation system as well that will
14:35:36
be anywhere citywide
14:35:39
east of 95 people will be able to take a
14:35:41
new public transportation
14:35:42
system that is being run
14:35:43
by the city so there are going to be
14:35:45
those options some of them exist now some
14:35:47
of them will exist a
14:35:48
few years from now but then but the idea
14:35:50
is to begin to encourage
14:35:53
people to look at alternative
14:35:54
modes even sometimes staggered we've done
14:35:57
a little bit of that in
14:35:57
the city stagger the uh
14:35:59
the work hours yeah right everybody takes
14:36:02
their nine o'clock commute
14:36:05
all right the other day i
14:36:05
was talking to our transportation folks i
14:36:08
know exactly how i can
14:36:09
drive to work blindfolded
14:36:11
probably if i needed to but yet every
14:36:13
morning i turn on my ways
14:36:15
app or my google maps because
14:36:17
that will give you the most efficient
14:36:19
route it makes no sense
14:36:20
every morning decide you're going
14:36:22
to go on okochobi boulevard to get into
14:36:23
downtown that may not be the best route
14:36:26
so i would encourage
14:36:27
everybody i'm not going to tell you which
14:36:28
app but use a mapping gis
14:36:30
map app because that helps you
14:36:32
route to the most efficient way you all
14:36:36
are talking about things that are
14:36:37
happening in the next two
14:36:39
years five years maybe ten years are you
14:36:42
all concerned about
14:36:43
things that are going to be
14:36:44
25 or 50 years from now is that part of
14:36:47
the plan that we have to look
14:36:48
that far ahead as far as our
14:36:51
planning and development yeah we do i
14:36:53
mean like the comprehensive plan is
14:36:54
usually uh 25 40 years
14:36:57
scenario i think the water plant is a 40
14:36:59
year scenario depending
14:37:00
of the infrastructure you
14:37:01
have to plan ahead more or less um but i
14:37:05
mean like the city is not
14:37:07
built in a year even if we
14:37:09
approve the projects now they are not
14:37:12
going to start construction
14:37:14
uh in a year or some of them
14:37:17
they will never start construction i mean
14:37:19
we have plenty of projects that got
14:37:21
approved 10 15 years
14:37:24
as a side plan and they never start
14:37:26
construction so it's never a
14:37:27
static it it goes on and off
14:37:30
depending of also uh kind of the uh the
14:37:34
demand in the city i mean
14:37:35
sometimes we have slow moments
14:37:37
where we don't have this frenzy of
14:37:38
development other times we
14:37:40
are like super busy and a lot of
14:37:42
people want to come in but again not
14:37:43
every project that is
14:37:45
submitted and even approved
14:37:47
really moves forward there's some that do
14:37:49
some other ones that do
14:37:50
not so i'm glad you you you
14:37:54
gave it this question because it reminds
14:37:56
me of something and that
14:37:56
is we we plan and sometimes
14:37:58
as you said the water plant we're looking
14:38:00
at way out into the future
14:38:02
that doesn't mean we build
14:38:03
necessarily uh it's sort of like you
14:38:05
don't want to build the bridge
14:38:06
to nowhere right so some of it
14:38:08
it is happening as the development
14:38:10
happens so right now for
14:38:11
example in the northwood area
14:38:13
there are there was a couple large
14:38:14
developments that are under
14:38:15
construction when it was already
14:38:16
completed as part of that construction
14:38:19
there are some requirements that we
14:38:21
provide to the developer
14:38:22
or we even worked with the developer on
14:38:24
extending our or i should
14:38:26
say up sizing our underground
14:38:29
and then the city will just takes it from
14:38:31
that point further on so
14:38:33
but while we're tearing up
14:38:34
roads and doing curry park uh rent
14:38:37
renovations we're then upgrading the
14:38:39
infrastructure it's not
14:38:40
that it must be upgraded necessarily but
14:38:43
it's an opportunity to
14:38:44
upgrade it um and we know that that
14:38:46
area is growing but we're not going to we
14:38:48
can't possibly do that
14:38:50
throughout the entire city
14:38:51
so it's sort of that you in some ways you
14:38:53
do you know what you plan
14:38:55
for it but you have to take
14:38:56
opportunities to do those upgrades
14:38:58
because of cost and because
14:39:00
simply it's you're not going to
14:39:01
build something that never comes right so
14:39:04
you you you address the
14:39:06
needs now with an eye towards the
14:39:08
future that maybe we'll need to be doing
14:39:10
something in 25 years well
14:39:13
we'll get we'll when we get a
14:39:14
little closer we'll we'll deal with that
14:39:16
right okay so we've
14:39:18
touched on a lot of complex and
14:39:20
lots of detail here and it's actually all
14:39:22
fascinating what
14:39:23
advice do we have for folks
14:39:25
at home who want to learn more about what
14:39:27
happens in detail and how
14:39:30
they can be a part of the
14:39:31
solution to be a part of the of the
14:39:33
positive voices that are
14:39:34
involved in the growth of our city
14:39:36
but what did where do they go website do
14:39:38
they can they call yeah i
14:39:39
mean there's a lot of information
14:39:40
on our website we actually um we have a
14:39:43
public meeting that is
14:39:45
it's a public meeting but it's
14:39:46
not meant for the spur it's not citizen
14:39:48
input necessarily but if
14:39:49
they want to learn about how
14:39:50
city reviews site plans for example they
14:39:54
can come to our pprc
14:39:56
meeting which is the plats
14:39:57
plats and plats review plans and plats
14:40:00
review committee which is
14:40:02
an internal committee made up
14:40:03
of all the different departments that
14:40:05
review site plans and i
14:40:07
believe it's open to the public it's
14:40:09
it's a public meeting it's noticed both
14:40:11
can sit in there and watch
14:40:13
the process that they're really
14:40:14
interested in the nuts and bolts getting
14:40:16
granular that's one way to do it our
14:40:19
website has a tremendous
14:40:20
amount of information signing up for the
14:40:22
newsletters and and for the
14:40:25
information that goes out about
14:40:26
public meetings and then you can look at
14:40:27
it and there might be
14:40:29
something of interest and maybe
14:40:30
not that's fine but take a glance and see
14:40:32
if there is anything
14:40:33
that impacts your particular
14:40:34
neighbor that's the other thing out right
14:40:35
a lot of folks are you're
14:40:37
only interested in what you can
14:40:38
see outside of your front door usually
14:40:39
and don't really care about what's
14:40:41
happening in the rest of
14:40:42
the city and that's why i think a lot of
14:40:43
times people don't pay
14:40:44
attention is because it's rare
14:40:46
something is impacting you directly or
14:40:48
even indirectly
14:40:49
sometimes there's a pothole and
14:40:50
somebody's filling it might not impact
14:40:52
you unless you hit it but take a glance
14:40:56
at those things that
14:40:57
come in your mail or come in your email
14:40:58
because there may very well
14:40:59
be a project that impacts you
14:41:01
or your your surroundings and that's when
14:41:04
you want to be engaged so just stay
14:41:05
informed i will also
14:41:07
say that i will encourage people to get
14:41:11
in touch with staff the
14:41:12
staff is the best source of
14:41:14
information what what is actually going
14:41:16
on we will know if a project was
14:41:19
submitted or not how
14:41:21
many units how tall how big where is it
14:41:23
exactly i mean sometimes
14:41:25
there is a lot of misinformation
14:41:26
out there so when we we get the call and
14:41:29
we get an email we can answer exactly
14:41:32
what the information
14:41:32
that we have that's great if we have not
14:41:35
received anything we don't
14:41:36
have anything to say but if we
14:41:38
can give the public that information they
14:41:41
can also i mean like if
14:41:44
they for example sign up for
14:41:45
the for the agendas once they have the
14:41:48
agenda the each case has a
14:41:50
number right they can go to the
14:41:52
city's website and on their the civic
14:41:55
access portal they can
14:41:57
type that number and they will
14:41:58
be able to see exactly where the comments
14:42:01
for that project are what
14:42:03
was submitted and and um
14:42:05
and the comments from staff they will not
14:42:07
be able to see the
14:42:08
drawings that were submitted so
14:42:09
they will have to contact us for that but
14:42:12
they will be able to see what the
14:42:13
comments were i mean
14:42:14
when was the project submitted was
14:42:17
approved or not approved there's also an
14:42:19
interactive map in the
14:42:20
website that says what the projects were
14:42:22
on the review what projects
14:42:24
have been approved and what
14:42:25
projects are under construction and it
14:42:27
will tell you who's the
14:42:28
project manager and the contact
14:42:30
information so you can contact that in
14:42:32
for that planner and that
14:42:34
staff person to get more
14:42:36
information and we will email back the
14:42:38
information the drawings if they wanted
14:42:41
we can talk with them
14:42:42
and explain it what the concerns from the
14:42:43
staff are what is the
14:42:44
review status all that so we are
14:42:47
available uh for that yes if i can
14:42:50
summarize it in one sentence it would be
14:42:52
before you get angry
14:42:53
get informed um that is that is something
14:42:56
that um that we've seen
14:42:59
where even a rendering will be
14:43:01
posted on an online forum or the palm
14:43:04
beach post or whatever media and the
14:43:07
rendering is just an idea
14:43:10
in somebody's head potentially it hasn't
14:43:12
even been submitted for a
14:43:13
site plan most of the time it
14:43:14
hasn't been submitted for a site plan so
14:43:16
we haven't even seen it yet it's just a
14:43:19
developer's dream or
14:43:20
and until that site plan comes in and
14:43:22
we've had a chance to look at it it
14:43:24
doesn't really exist for
14:43:25
us and so the public needs to understand
14:43:28
that a rendering is just
14:43:29
that it's just an idea in many
14:43:31
cases um and so be informed of what the
14:43:35
city actually is
14:43:36
developing or what they're approving
14:43:38
and what the process is and then you can
14:43:40
get angry if you still
14:43:41
don't like it still like
14:43:42
and most importantly don't believe
14:43:43
everything you see on social media yes if
14:43:46
you want to find out
14:43:48
reach out through the proper channels and
14:43:50
if you've got the information you're
14:43:51
going to share it this
14:43:52
is the i can't think of it and we we hear
14:43:54
this from even from the
14:43:55
public the folks who are
14:43:56
engaged with us this is the most
14:43:57
accessible staff of probably any city
14:44:00
you'll find of this size
14:44:01
i mean usually you call city and good
14:44:03
luck getting anybody to
14:44:04
respond our folks respond
14:44:07
we understand that we're here to serve
14:44:08
the the customers which
14:44:10
is residents businesses and
14:44:13
not just residents but all those are our
14:44:15
customers and so we we're
14:44:16
responsive when folks and we have
14:44:18
a huge plate load of stuff to do so you
14:44:20
may not get it the same day
14:44:22
but generally within a couple
14:44:23
days you'll get a response let me turn
14:44:25
the mic over to you guys
14:44:27
for one last comment you have
14:44:29
an audience of folks who are interested
14:44:30
in what you do and i'm sure
14:44:31
they're appreciative of the
14:44:32
information you shared do you have a
14:44:35
parting message you'd
14:44:36
like to share with the folks
14:44:37
about what you do and how you do it well
14:44:41
i will say that um i mean
14:44:44
it's it's difficult to work
14:44:45
for government we are in the public eye
14:44:48
all the time but i have to
14:44:51
say that for myself and also
14:44:53
for the staff that works uh with me we
14:44:55
are passionate people
14:44:56
about cities we do what we do
14:44:59
because we care about making a city
14:45:02
better and we work every day really hard
14:45:05
to make the city better
14:45:07
so we can work with the public we work
14:45:11
with developers and i
14:45:12
think it's a partnership
14:45:14
the construction of a city is not a
14:45:16
government role it's a partnership
14:45:18
between we need the private
14:45:22
owners to come in and bring the projects
14:45:24
we need the public input
14:45:26
and we need the government to
14:45:27
process all that so it's uh all these
14:45:30
initiatives coming together with a
14:45:32
version of how to make the
14:45:33
city better so i think that is the most
14:45:35
important that is not us
14:45:37
versus them is like all working
14:45:39
together to make the city a better place
14:45:41
for everybody that's
14:45:43
great vermanda yeah government
14:45:45
is complicated business i mean i like to
14:45:46
say we're really you know whereas
14:45:48
coca-cola focuses on soft
14:45:50
drinks mostly and a few things that eat
14:45:53
we have to focus on like
14:45:55
it's probably like 10 different
14:45:56
industries under one roof right and try
14:45:58
to manage all that and manage
14:46:00
expectations unlike coca-cola
14:46:02
companies we also have to be public about
14:46:04
what we're doing whether
14:46:05
it's budgets where we spend
14:46:07
our money we have to go through
14:46:09
procurement processes which
14:46:10
tend to take a lot longer than
14:46:11
they do in the private sector and while
14:46:14
folks are sleeping there are
14:46:15
individuals who are working day
14:46:17
and night not just in police and fire who
14:46:19
rightly get a lot of
14:46:20
recognition we have folks who are
14:46:22
having to respond to a sewer main being
14:46:24
broken in the middle of the night and
14:46:26
having to go out leave
14:46:26
their families at two o'clock in the
14:46:28
morning and get into a underground pipe
14:46:30
with that sewage coming
14:46:32
we have folks responding to water main
14:46:34
breaks we have garbage pickup that's
14:46:37
happening very early
14:46:37
in the morning so we have a lot of
14:46:38
employees that every single day get up
14:46:41
and do very difficult jobs
14:46:43
while all of us are sleeping and there
14:46:45
should be some notice of
14:46:46
appreciation for that not just from
14:46:48
us and we we we're here we live and
14:46:50
breathe every day so we appreciate our
14:46:51
employees but the public
14:46:53
should understand that while public
14:46:55
servants are kind of an easy thing to to
14:46:58
criticize they're also
14:47:00
very hard working people who do very
14:47:02
complicated work who are
14:47:03
professionals in what they do who
14:47:04
require certifications and who a lot of
14:47:07
them are residents and grew up here
14:47:10
myself i grew up here
14:47:11
i went to i graduated from forest hill
14:47:13
high school i went to southborough
14:47:14
elementary school which no
14:47:16
longer even exists that's how old i am
14:47:18
and so i care about this
14:47:20
community i care about this city
14:47:21
and what happens to it and i think to a
14:47:24
person in the city we we care
14:47:25
about what we do and we love
14:47:27
our residents we want our residents to be
14:47:30
happy and content and be
14:47:32
proud of this city and so to do
14:47:34
that they need to work with us not
14:47:35
against us and maria and and
14:47:39
armando it's very obvious that
14:47:41
you guys really care about what you do
14:47:43
and you care deeply about
14:47:45
the city of westbound beach
14:47:46
it shows every day in the effort that you
14:47:48
put forward do your job
14:47:49
as well as you can for that
14:47:51
obviously we thank you thank you thank
14:47:53
you thank you for inviting us
14:47:55
and thank you for joining us
14:47:57
inside westbound beach is a product of
14:47:59
the city's communications department i'm
14:48:01
jerry marsillo we'll
14:48:03
see you next time you