Boca Raton and the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District make amends
There is progress in the family dispute between Boca Raton and the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District.
The two bodies have been a relationship in search of counseling for the last few months, stemming from what appears to have been a disagreement over using grass or turf at athletic fields. As with the Boca Raton Airport, city officials have expressed their desire to clarify the relationship with the district. As with the airport, the problem has been poor communication.
At its meeting Tuesday night, the district board decided that Chairman Rob Rollins would speak at a city council workshop. That will happen soon, District Director Arthur Koski told me on Wednesday.
“The consensus,” Koski said, “was a desire to continue the relationship (with the city) along the lines of what has been successful for a long period of time. We want the city to continue to be our operator of parks, and we want to cooperate on capital projects.”
Koski is correct that the relationship has been mutually beneficial since the Legislature – at the city’s request – created the district in 1974. The added tax revenue from West Boca residents helped to preserve Boca’s enviable beachfront, which features four parks. Those residents get the same low-cost access to the beach. Though Boca residents also pay the district tax rate of roughly $1 per every $1,000 of assessed value – and though some of the money goes to city parks — city council members can brag about Boca’s very low tax rate.
Eighty percent of district taxpayers also are Boca taxpayers. That overlap shows itself in how the two agencies collaborate.
The district owns Patch Reef Park, Sugar Sand Park and the Swim & Racquet Center, but the city maintains them, for which the district reimburses the city. The city owns and maintains Red Reef Park and the Red Reef golf course, Gumbo Limbo, the Spanish River Athletic Complex and Mizner Bark, the dog park. The district built the fields at Estridge Middle School, but the city maintains them and handles after-school scheduling. The district reimburses the city. The district built Florida Atlantic University’s soccer fields, but FAU maintains them and the city does the scheduling. The city owns and operates Spanish River Park and South Beach Park. Palm Beach County owns South Inlet Park.
As Mayor Susan Haynie says of the beach and park district, “I think they’re part of us.” In many ways, “There’s really no difference.” So one might wonder why the two don’t just combine.
For that to happen, Boca Raton would want to annex that 20 percent of district residents who live outside the city – mostly in Boca Del Mar, Boca Pointe and Boca West. They became part of the district because in the 1970s the state wanted to reduce or eliminate all unincorporated areas within counties, which didn’t happen. Those residents live in the area that was envisioned as part of Boca Raton. It’s known as “the reserve.”
At the moment, however, the city is not interested in annexing the reserve. Therefore, the desired outcome is for the agencies to work things out. “We’re all trying to get the same things done,” Koski said.
Resolving the disagreement is timely; projects like the new work at Spanish River Park and beach renourishment require effective collaboration. The council also would like the district’s help in acquiring undeveloped beachfront. The issue arose after the council granted a waiver that would allow construction of a home on an undersized beach lot. Koski said “work has begun” on that study.
“The lines of communication” between the city and the district “seemed to break down” when longtime district director Robert Langford retired in 2012, Haynie said. Koski was the district’s attorney and has been serving as director. The great Grass vs. Turf Battle started shortly after Langford left.
Since then, the city and the district have been trying to work out an agreement defining their respective roles. Haynie said “the lines have become blurred,” while Koski stresses the district’s legal obligations under the legislation that created the district.
It can be hard to schedule a meeting of 10 people – five council members, five district board members. But if Rollins is ready to start a new dialogue with the council on behalf of the district, the council should hear from him as soon as possible.
More on the mystery memo
As Boca Raton continues to review the 2003 memo about open space for downtown projects, Mayor Haynie makes an important point.
Haynie noted that the subject is “open” space, not “public” space. When the council – meeting as the community redevelopment agency – discussed the memo this month, some residents implied that any incorrect interpretation of the open space rule would have taken space from the public. In fact, the rule is designed to make downtown projects appealing to pedestrians, not necessarily give them access to the project. That distinction will matter when the staff presents its report.
Fire Union favors
Just when Boca Raton and Delray Beach got pension savings in their new firefighter contracts, along comes the Legislature with another potential favor for the fire union.
The legislation would presume that any firefighter or paramedic diagnosed with cancer contracted the disease as a result of his or her work. Not only could it set up full-service cities such as Boca and Delray for higher disability claims, the cost of insurance would rise dramatically.
The Senate version has had one successful committee vote. The House version has not had a committee hearing. Not surprisingly, the Florida League of Cities along with elected officials in Boca and Delray are opposed.
A possible new election bill
Speaking of the Legislature, a strange bill concerning cities is working its way through the Florida House.
HB 7059 would forbid cities from setting their own election dates. Instead, cities would have two options: 1) they could hold elections every other November, during statewide elections; or 2) they could set a date other than November if all cities in a county – 38 in Palm Beach – and the supervisor of elections agree on the date.
Boca and Delray hold elections in March. So do many other – but not all – cities. Terms for those offices depend on that schedule. One wonders why the Legislature, which can’t get to nearly all of the state’s problems, is worried about local elections.
The bill has passed one committee. There is no Senate version.
Glickstein and Katz on the development approval process
When I wrote Tuesday about Delray Beach’s attempt to streamline the development approval process, I included comments from commissioners Jordana Jarjura and Shelly Petrolia. I have now reached Mayor Glickstein and Commissioner Mitch Katz.
Glickstein calls the review “a healthy exercise, since we clearly have a dysfunctional process.” He considers the possible combination of the site plan review and planning and zoning board to be “less important than that whoever they are sees the totality of the project and can assess the collateral impact.”
Delray had to push back this review, Glickstein said, “because of other crises du jour.” He traces the origin to Delray Place, the commercial project at Linton Boulevard and U.S. 1. “Everybody was confused.” Now that the city has updated its downtown development regulations, Glickstein wants the regulations to have a “symbiotic relationship” with the approval review.
Katz cites Atlantic Crossing as his example of a problematic system. “They got their conditional uses approved under one site plan,” he said, “and then came back for site plan review with another plan.” Though he doesn’t fault the city for delays related to Atlantic Crossing and the iPic project, Katz acknowledges that the system has “a lot of disconnected parts.”
Bedner’s downtown Delray store
Marie Bedner understands those “disconnected parts.” She and the others who run Bedner’s Fresh Farm Market had hoped to open their downtown Delray Beach store in time for the holidays. The new target, she told me Wednesday, is mid-to-late February.
Why? “So many people (in the city) have to sign off on everything. There are a lot of hoops to jump through.” And this is just for one comparatively small project.
Bedner said things improved when the company met with city officials to explain that theirs isn’t a traditional restaurant. Bedner’s had planted extra produce at its farm west of Boynton Beach, anticipating that December opening. After the meeting, things moved more quickly. The company has all its approvals.
This week, Bedner’s had a job fair that attracted “a lot of really good people, mostly local people.” Bedner said, “We may have to add a bike rack. Everyone wants to ride their bike to work.” How Delray.
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.
