This article, originally published by Al Zucaro on BocaWatch.org, is preserved for historical purposes by Massive Impressions Online Marketing in Boca Raton.
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After a 9 hour marathon Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA)/City Council Workshop (CC) on two major subjects (Mizner 200 and Midtown Boca), the elected officials actually came to what may be reasonably fair and equitable results.
Mizner 200:
With some half dozen high priced attorneys, two court reporters, a gaggle of experts, senior city staff members and an overflow audience of residents, the Mizner 200 project finally, after some 3 years, made it to the ultimate decision making body in Boca Raton government.
It is not recommended that you, the reader, sit through the entire 6+ hours of legal argument and expert testimony from highly paid qualified specialists and equally qualified residents in this ‘quasi-judicial’ hearing.
A ‘quasi-judicial’ setting, in theory, has elected officials sitting as fact-finders for any future judicial review. In this role, the elected officials are expected to set aside their political instincts and hear testimony establishing the legal standard of “substantial competent evidence”, a daunting task for sure.
From the very beginning of the hearing, the evidence on both sides was ‘substantial and competent.’ City Staff introduced their findings and ended with making a recommendation of approval for the project. Staff’s recommendation follows the Community Appearance Board and the Planning and Zoning Board recommendations for approval over the last two months.
Following staff’s presentation was the applicant/developer of Mizner 200, ELAD. Beginning their presentation was Attorney Robert Sweetapple who provided legal argument to set the stage and establish the record for a reviewing court. After Attorney Sweetapple, the applicant offered further argument from Attorney Bonnie Miskel, the land use attorney on the project from its beginning and then finally an in-depth presentation from the designing architectural firm, Garcia and Stromberg.
Suffice it to say that the applicant’s evidence established that all ‘bulk’ requirements contained in the controlling ordinance 4035 have been met or exceeded in this application. ‘Bulk’ requirements are definitive provisions specifically quantified within the ordinance. Elements like setbacks, parking requirements, traffic impact, height, public space, materials etc. are easily ascertained.
The challenge with this ordinance is that there are some considerations within the ordinance that are not specific, not quantifiable. It is with these interpretative provisions that the ‘Mizneresque’ arguments rest. The elephant in the room, of course, centers on the neighboring properties concern for their ‘views and vistas’; elements that are not protected in common law but have relevance in statutory interpretation.
Townsend Place leadership and residents offered evidence in support of their opposition and four (4) paid experts from Investments Limited, the Batmasian property directly west of the Mizner 200 location, provided prepared statements in support of a denial from the CRA.
In the end, after what was an intriguing demonstration of ‘cross examination’ of some witnesses by trial attorney Sweetapple, the commissioners deliberated to arrive at their decision. Choices included approval, denial or postponement. In the postponement option, the commissioners debated sending the project back to the CAB level and/or the P&Z board.
After withdrawal of the motion to approve the project made by CRA member Robert Weinroth and seconded by Mayor Haynie, the CRA explored the possibility of postponement.
CRA Vice-Chairman Andrea O’Rourke steadfastly argued that the applicant and the opposition seemed close to finding common ground. With that as a guiding light, member O’Rourke suggested that a postponement be granted for further interaction between the applicant and the neighbor properties and that this matter be brought back directly to the CRA body for additional testimony when agreement and/or impasse is reached. This is a fair outcome; one seemed to be embraced by the opposing sides….More to come…Stay tuned…
Mid-Town Boca:
Reconvening after the marathon CRA meeting, the City Council workshop began. Lasting around 2 hours, the most interesting of topics heard was the latest arguments for advancing the Mid-Town Boca project forward to the Planning and Zoning Board, next month, August.
The challenge here was whether City staff had been given clear direction at the goal setting session in April and, subsequently, in the June City Council meeting revisiting the clear direction question. To this, Mayor Haynie suggested that although city staff was given direction, the interpretative difficulty suggested was because of ‘semantics’; an argument that attempted to change the recorded history.
‘Semantics’….unbelievable!!! One need only look back at video capturing the previous hearings to see clearly that the Council’s direction was for staff to take the lead in developing the controlling ordinance.
The main issue here was captured well by Attorney Adam Beighley who points out that the developer’s proposed ordinance is based upon a county code in effect at the time of annexation (2 decades ago); a code that even the county no longer follows.
Considering that this application is one of the largest, if not the largest, rezoning ever taken up by the city of Boca Raton, establishing a “Boca Centric” ordinance is imperative. Over the years, developers have been allowed to rewrite city code to accommodate their individual project. At least two Development Services Directors have publically supported the need for a comprehensive rewrite of the City’s zoning code. In the last 7 years, a planned mobility ordinance has been developed and implemented.
In a recent article here in BocaWatch, former P&Z board vice chairman, Steve Utrecht, raised serious issues regards the Mid-Town project and about concurrency standards or lack thereof, that need to be clearly defined in considering this project.
In the end, the city council seems to have come to a reasonable resting point…
City staff is now clearly directed to take the lead in developing the ordinance for presentation to the P&Z board when ready. Whether this will happen in August is doubtful. In order for that to happen, staff must publically advertise the meeting with the deadline for public advertising being this Friday….
We shall see if that can be done….Stay tuned…
City Budget:
As of yesterday, neither the City nor the CRA has published their 2017-2018 proposed budgets. Budgets must have two public hearings and be adopted on or before September 30th. How does any interested resident prepare for these hearings if the budget is unavailable at this late date?
This is unacceptable.
On July 26th the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park district held a special public meeting to discuss their budget circumstance. Discussed by the commissioners were the requests being made by City staff impacting the District’s budget decisions. What that tells me is that there is draft budgets prepared within the city but not yet accessible to the public.
At the July 24th Council workshop, I requested information for budget availability. In response the Mayor stated that the budget would be presented at the Chamber of Commerce breakfast on August 8th. I, for one, do not go to the never ending social functions of the Chamber. I suspect that only a miniscule fraction of the 95k Boca Raton residents attend Chamber functions. The chamber is not an official location to get city information, especially budget information. The Chamber is nothing more than a lobbying organization which coerces respect from elected officials in exchange for the Chambers political influence and financial support. Unacceptable!!!
To the City Council:
Residents are often criticized for not being prepared when taking the public microphone….the issue raised here is but one of many where necessary information is not easily available….How is the resident ever going to trust what the council and staff say if there is this information dearth regularly? To be a ‘resident friendly’ city council, individually and collectively, releasing information sooner rather than later is imperative.
Transparency is required if trust is to follow…..
Al Zucaro, Publisher
Monday was a pivotal day in the politics of Boca development. For the first time in modern memory, the City Council (sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency) refused to approve a controversial and massive downtown construction project. They effectively sent Mizner 200, the Monster on Mizner, back to the drawing board. Their rationale: the proposed project was not “harmonious” with its neighbors and thus did not meet the architectural guidelines of Ordinance 4035. We have been making that same argument for months, as well as the argument that new major construction in Boca should take place only after the Council can assure us that we have the roads and parking to handle the increased traffic load. There has been little movement on traffic (no pun intended), but at least the Council is showing some restraint on new construction approval.
Although no formal vote was taken, the position of the Council Members was four to one against approval. Only Councilman Weinroth was in support. He is running for reelection in 2018. In a face-saving move for the developer, the CRA agreed to consider a revised application August 21st if the developer is able to reach an agreement with neighbors such as Townsend Place and Royal Palm Plaza on a more resident-friendly design. That, up to now, is something that the developer of Mizner 200 has been unwilling to do— and attitude that has cost them plenty of time, goodwill and money. Perhaps they will see the light, and allow some light to shine between their new residential towers. We shall see.
BocaBeautiful was wonderfully represented at the hours-long CRA meeting by our attorney Peter Sachs. Unfortunately, retaining such qualified counsel costs money. We believe that our efforts have helped change the politics of development in Boca. There are other important tests coming up besides reconsideration of Mizner 200. There are people proposing ugly construction right on our beaches. There is the massive midtown redevelopment project which will only add to Boca’s traffic woes. BocaBeautiful is anxious to continue its efforts on behalf of tasteful and rational development in Boca Raton, but we need your support. We need it now.
If you still care, won’t you please consider contributing $100 or more to BocaBeautiful.org. Checks can be mailed to Barbara Stone, Apt A-109, 500 SE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton, FL 33432. Or even easier, just click on our website bocabeautiful.org and make a secure donation by credit card.
We know we have your support. Now we need your financial support.
John C. Gore
President
BocaBeautiful.org
Publisher’s comment: BREAKING NEWS….Subsequent to releasing this article and Mr Gore’s comment for Boca Beautiful, I have been informed that the design teams of the opposing sides did, in fact, meet and may have reached an amicable resolution. More on this once this information is confirmed. Alfred Zucaro, Publisher
The design teams did in fact meet and a Resolution was in fact fashioned. Many are skeptical but I am positive. I have great respect for Doug Mummaw and for Investments Limited in their desire and interaction in seeking to resolve this. This should pave the way for their own IDG project at Royal Palm. Everything works better when people cooperate.
RE: “Monday was a pivotal day in the politics of Boca development.”
John, I humbly and respectfully submit to you that the “pivotal day” was the referendum outcome to save “Wildflower” waterfront park from being commercialized.
I will also submit to you, that while trying to remain positive, we must remember that there were two giants fighting in the room. Only time will tell if the best decisions were made and will be made to allow the projects under consideration to go forward. On a hopeful note, perhaps some of the most egregious developments are now behind us? Once again, time will tell –
Good to hear a workable outcome for some very painful meetings. Kudos to all community volunteers and public service trying to land on a mutually acceptable solution.
Speaking for myself, I appreciate the investment that many have chosen to put into Boca Raton. Constantly upgrading, and re-designing helps everyone. However, we should not lose site of Boca Raton’s character and appeal. Boca Watch clearly keeps everyone “grounded and balanced.” A focus on “moderation” could make all of these projects more acceptable, rather than a painful time consuming negotiation.
It seems that Elad has met with Investments Limited, if the above is correct. Is it correct to say that as long as those two settle their differences, that all is well? I’m guessing there are more than two interested parties in this discussion.
Man up! Say no to Mizner 200, beach development, sale of Boca Municipal.