Important Notice to all Boca Watch followers…
At todays City Council Workshop Councilman Weinroth withdrew his request for the introduction of Ordinance #5312. It will be pulled from the agenda for Tuesday, July 28, 2015 City Council meeting.
At the City Council Workshop meeting Monday July 27, 2015, four City Council members made the decision NOT to support Councilman Weinroth in his effort to introduce Ordinance #5312. This ordinance would have allowed density to increase in Planned Mobility Districts (PMD) from 2500 units to 4500 units (80%). See article Beware of Trojan Horse.
Thank you to our followers for acting by making phone calls and sending emails to your community leaders. Thanks to the good sense of City Council members; Mayor Haynie, Councilman Singers, Mullaugh and Rodgers in expressing their unwillingness to support Mr. Weinroth’s introduction of Ordinance #5312 at this time.
Watch for a story to follow….
Thank goodness for Boca Watch……………It is being a blessing to the community!!!
After sitting through yesterday’s workshop, kudos to the city council for not moving forward with the planned mobility ordinance presented by Deputy Mayor Weinroth. Is there no developer request that Mr. Weinroth will not bring forward?
For instance, there was a second item on the agenda worth mentioning;to wit: Item 1 on the agenda; a text amendment clearly written by the attorney representing a property owner that would have allowed the property owner to modify the configuration of an existing commercial building by adding 10,000 square feet of space for two restaurants; increasing the density of the building beyond allowable limits; and, raising the value of the commercial property for its owner.
When pressed for reasons why the council should move forward with such a text change, no defensible reason resulting in a ‘public’ benefit was offered to support such a ‘gift’ to the property owner.. Other council members pushed back and sent both the building owner’s representative and Mr. Weinroth a distinct message of ‘NO’.
Having said this, one can only wonder what the relationship of Mr. Weinroth is to the land owner(s) and their attorney(s)?
The city council was not arbitrary in placing the 2500 unit limit in the Planned Mobility ordinance. Mayor Haynie and Councilman Mullaugh were crystal clear about this. The move to increase density from 2500 to 4500 units adds development rights to the land parcel. With such an increase, one must wonder if the parcel owner(s) is interested in development or would the interest become that of speculator(s) with a friend in influential places?
This proposed ordinance would have allowed, the owner(s) to simply ‘flip’ the property instead of develop. Property values rise exponentially for every added unit allowed; to wit: lifting the cap is a benefit to the owner and buyer but not to the city or its residents.
Not a good planning policy to set as precedent but a great example of crony capitalism for the favored few.
Al Zucaro