Resident John Gore responds to out’rage’ous comments made in opinion piece published in the Sun Sentinel Feb 5th…
To the Editor (Sun Sentinel):
Randy Shultz’ recent editorial had it half right. There is indeed “much rage” in Boca Raton over out of control development. But he is wrong when he says that there is “not much evidence” that at least some of the new ugly development downtown violate Boca’s basic building ordinance. Just walk around any of the new concrete behemoths. Under the law, at least 25% of the property is supposed to be open space, ground to sky. See much ground (other than the sidewalk)? See much sky? You don’t have to be an architect to sense that something is clearly wrong.So wrong that the City has taken the unprecedented step of halting permitting of new construction projects until the City Manager can certify that they are in compliance with the law. And the City Council has ordered an audit of recently-built buildings in the downtown to determine if they are in compliance. Strange that they would take such dramatic steps if there were “no evidence” of wrongdoing.All that groups such as BocaBeautiful are asking is that the City enforce the law. All we are asking is that any new development project in Boca should undergo a vigorous 4035 review and be certified 4035 compliant. The Ordinance contains 65 pages of requirements about ground to sky open space, setbacks, landscaping, architectural style and building materials. It is written in plain english. If developers want to build in Boca, they should read 4035 and abide by its rules. The suspicion that they have not is what is causing “much rage” in Boca Raton.John C. GorePresident
Advertisment
Well, So much for expecting Gov. (at any level) to do the right thing.
4035 must have been at the bottom of the bird cage, when these behemoths’ where ok’d . Find out who’s the happiest and there’s your problem.
Just like the Wildflower BS someone has a thumb on the scale.
I’m curious, are there people ready to occupy and fill these buildings?
John 24 yr. resident
I’m not for or against a restaurant on the Wildflower site but there were two (2) very busy restaurants operating on that corner for many years and traffic was not an issue then. Maxwell’s Chophouse and Wildflower.
If there was an aversion to apply ordinance 4035 based on alleged collision and favoritism between the Council and developers that can be proven, then who will seek compliance and penalties for this behavior. 4035 is clear and must be applied equally to all development in Boca Raton. The Federal court case now being tried will shed some light on this and hopefully it will be the start of correcting this obvious blind eye towards this ordinance. Who in Boca Raton City government is responsible for protecting our city from those who collude for profit and corrupt our political system?