iPic up for vote
With a favorable vote tonight from the Delray Beach City Commission, the iPic project will be able to seek building permits.
After the long, sometimes emotional debate, a favorable vote almost would seem anticlimactic. The issue before the commission is not the project itself but three technical waivers from the city’s Land Development Regulations. The commission must find that the waivers would not hurt the neighborhood or public facilities in the area, would not create safety problems and would not amount to a special privilege.
Unless something surprising comes up, the commission will approve the waivers. Approval could enable iPic to obtain building permits by the end of the year, which has been the company’s goal. Boca-based iPic would move its headquarters to the project, filling some of the office space.
If this is the commission’s last action on Fourth and Fifth Delray, it won’t be the most important. That vote came last August, when the commission allowed a movie theater downtown, granted extra height and abandoned an alley. After that, iPic had to address the commission’s concern about making the project work for the spot between Southeast Fourth and Fifth avenues where the library and chamber of commerce once stood. Mayor Cary Glickstein told the developer to “deflate the tire.”
From the perspective of city planners and the Site Plan Review and Appearance Board, the deflation has happened. IPic bought a small, adjoining property to help with traffic and reduced the number of theater seats. If the commission approves the waivers, staff would certify the state plan and record the plat – which the Planning and Zoning Board approved unanimously on Feb. 22—with a landscaping agreement that also is on tonight’s agenda. IPic will place and maintain some plantings on Fourth Avenue, which would be the main entrance to the project.
Though some residents may urge the commission to reject the waivers, in hopes of killing the project, that won’t happen. The commission made the correct decision seven months ago. If the commission decides that the fit still isn’t quite right, the plan will go back for further review and tweaking. Either way, it will be built. The project will bring a new, helpful element to downtown Delray Beach. Next up: the premiere.
And next up: Atlantic Crossing
Speaking of big projects in downtown Delray, I’m told that the Atlantic Crossing site plan will be on the commission’s April 5 agenda. Depending on the outcome, the commission could take the vote that finally allows the project to proceed or write the latest chapter in a lawsuit.
The new site plan got unanimous approval from the city’s advisory board. Though the recommendation is not binding on the commission, the plan does include an access road from Federal Highway. The commission had asked the developers to include such a road, though the commission never agreed on what type of road. The developers’ choice is a one-way outlet, and a city consultant said the road would improve traffic flow within the project.
If the commission approves the plan, it could clear the way for Atlantic Crossing to begin seeking permits for the project that was approved more than three years ago. The developers are suing Delray Beach, claiming that the city has improperly delayed final approvals. One could theorize that the lawsuit then might end.
I would expect the commission to meet in executive session—no reporters—on the lawsuit before April 5. Either way, the Atlantic Crossing vote will be a big deal.
Union shelves tax bid
Leaders of the union that represents Palm Beach County’s firefighters and paramedics may be greedy, but they aren’t stupid.
Last week, Local 2928 of the International Association of Firefighters dropped its campaign to put a one-cent sales tax increase on the primary ballot in August. Call the move a strategic retreat.
Next week, county commissioners will decide whether to put a separate sales tax increase on the November ballot. Revenue would go to the county, school district, cities and cultural organizations. Commissioners had made clear that they considered the firefighters proposal unhelpful competition. Voters might approve one tax increase. If two were on the ballot, both likely would fail.
Union leaders got the message. More important, though, the firefighters’ proposal was terrible. It had nothing to do with improving fire-rescue service. It had everything to do with improving the chances of firefighters and paramedics getting higher benefits.
As the union explained it, a drop in property taxes that finance fire-rescue services would offset the higher sales tax. But Tax Collector Anne Gannon told the commission that even she isn’t sure how the swap would work. The swap would be all the more problematic in cities like Boca Raton and Delray Beach that have their own fire-rescue departments.
It’s not the first time that the firefighters union has proposed this sales-tax swap. Given its political influence, the union likely will try it again, at which time the idea will look no better.
And another bad idea
Officials in Boca Raton and Delray Beach were happy that another bad idea from the firefighters union died in the Legislature.
Senate and House bills would have established the presumption that any cancer case involving a firefighter of paramedic was work-related. The change would not have applied just to new hires. According to the Florida League of Cities, roughly 40,000 firefighters who work for local governments would have been included—grandfathered, in the legal sense.
Such a change could have caused dramatic increases in workers compensation rates for cities. The Senate version got an early, favorable committee vote in November, and the sponsor was Jack Latvala, one of the chamber’s most powerful Republicans.
The League of Cities, however, pushed back and secured changes. The legislation was narrowed to include just four cancers “where there was some evidence” of a link to service as a firefighter or paramedic, said Craig Konn, a League of Cities lobbyist. The presumption would have applied only to employees who had been tobacco-free for at least five years.
Still, the league didn’t support the legislation. Also, the cancer link has not been established. Finally, a related study by the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center is not complete. The Senate version never got a floor vote. No House committee even heard that chamber’s version. As with the county sales-tax plan, however, the issue probably will return. The firefighters union is persistent.
The Delray-Highland Beach merger
Today’s fire-rescue theme continues with the question of whether Delray Beach will continue to provide service for Highland Beach. To recap:
The 15-year contract between the municipalities expires on Sept. 30, 2017. No later than 18 months before that date, Highland Beach must notify Delray Beach if the town wants to renew the contract. That deadline is March 31, but an item on tonight’s Delray city commission meeting agenda would extend the deadline to May 30 and possibly beyond.
Delray Beach has proposed adding a 20 percent administrative fee to any contract extension, supposedly to cover costs above the service itself. Highland Beach got cranky and talked about finding a new provider or forming a consortium with other small, barrier island towns. Delray Beach City Manager Don Cooper angered his bosses by presuming that they wanted to continue the contract at all.
Delay would give both sides time to exhale. Delray Beach needs to consider what would happen if the city had only one fire station east of the Intracoastal Waterway, as would be the case if the contract ended. Highland Beach needs to consider whether the town could get a better deal from another large city or would want the expense and hassle of forming a new, multi-municipality department.
Highland Beach Manager Beverly Brown told me Monday that the town commission will decide on March 29 whether to extend the deadline. The commission will make no policy decisions. “We’re looking at a lot of options,” Brown said. She offered no specifics.
Special consideration?
My final note for today is an item that shows why Delray Beach—like Boca Raton—considers itself exceptional.
As noted earlier, if voters agree in November to raise the county’s sales tax, some of the money would go to the county’s 38 cities. The split would be based on population. Boca Raton ranks second, after West Palm Beach. Delray Beach ranks fourth, after Boynton Beach.
But what if that split were based on how much sales tax each city generates? With all its Atlantic Avenue bar-restaurant mojo, Delray Beach would produce far more revenue than Boynton and could get more money and disproportionately more than smaller cities. So city officials asked if that could happen.
The answer, they will find out tonight, is that it couldn’t. County Commissioner Steven Abrams, who represents Delray and Boca, said state law specifies that split on sales-tax revenue. But, hey, you can’t blame Delray Beach for asking.
About the Author
Randy Schultz was born in Hartford, Conn., and graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1974. He has lived in South Florida since then, and in Boca Raton since 1985. Schultz spent nearly 40 years in daily journalism at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, most recently as editorial page editor at the Post. His wife, Shelley, is director of The Learning Network at Pine Crest School. His son, an attorney, and daughter-in-law and three grandchildren also live in Boca Raton. His daughter is a veterinarian who lives in Baltimore.
