City Commission Meeting 12/8:
This meeting began with a lengthy formality whereby the commissioners unanimously gave the state approval to rename about 5 miles of Southern Boulevard "Donald J. Trump Boulevard." Bear in mind that Southern Boulevard is under the jurisdiction of the state, and the initiative to rename the section between Military Trail and Mar-a-Lago is entirely the idea of the state legislature---and they really don't need the city's blessing. Furthermore, there will be no alteration of road signs---the street signs will still read "Southern Boulevard." But the state now has the city's blessing to install 5 or 6 signs off the side of the road at key entrances that indicate "Donald J. Trump Blvd." There was a fair amount of public comment pro and con in equal measure. But Commission Peduzzi reminded everyone that the matter is really beyond the commission's control and he urged commissioners to approve it for the sake of "being a constructive partner" with the state legislature.
City Art & Culture Director Sybille Canthal then gave a presentation describing "Petals of Moon," a large, partially-gilded sculpture by Sinta Dantra that is part of a large sign welcoming people to West Palm Beach to be installed at 8111 S. Dixie Hwy. Approximate total cost: $800k.
There was a first reading of "District Point," a 10-story, 280-unit apartment building proposed at 1501 Belvedere Road, (at the corner of Mercer Road, close to 95). 71 of the units will qualify as "workforce housing," and the developer is seeking setback reductions and permission to use a city-owned easement as an entrance.
Development Services Presentation 12/9:
This is the first Development Services Presentation by the new Director of Development, Anna Maria Aponte. The purpose is to summarize major developments in WPB that are either under construction, approved, or proposed---plus assorted statistics and new policies. Here are several (whew, this place has gone nuts!) major projects in or near downtown which are either approved or under review. This list omits the projects already under construction.
460 Fern Street, 7 stories, 340 unit condo (approved, but not yet started)
400 Hibiscus Street, 24 stories, 86 unit condo (under review)
1701 N. Flagler Drive, Ritz Carlton condo / hotel, 138 units (approved)
1830 N. Dixie Hwy., "Pine Street Assemblage," two towers, 367 units (approved)
1901 N. Flagler Drive, "Shorecrest" condo, 27 stories, 100 units (under review---sales center is on Rosemary in City Place)
2015 Broward Avenue, "Parkland Tower" 80 units (approved)
2121 N. Flagler Drive, two condo towers by Jeff Greene, 152 units, 24 stories (under review)
Two projects in the NORA district: 122 unit condo, and a 350 unit apartment complex (both under review)
Belvedere Road & Mercer: "District Point" apartments, 270 units--of which 71 are "workforce housing," (approved)
Norton Museum Phase 2 expansion: 98k s.f. expansion to the north, plus a parking garage across Dixie to replace the current surface parking lot (under review)
1111 S. Flagler Drive, "Family Church Towers" two 20+ story towers (approved)
Other interesting tidbits:
---$17.2m in building permit fees collected so far in 2025, a new record. 85% of all permit fees collected are for commercial projects.
----The taxable value of WPB property increased 9% this year, which is on par with the annual average increases going back to 2014
----WPB added 668k s.f. of office space in the last 4 years, with an additional 1.3m s.f. under construction
----there are 1,641 hotel rooms in WPB, with 500 more to be added soon when the Convention Center II Hotel and the Viana Hotel (619 Evernia Street) are built.
---The Cleveland Clinic will soon propose a major project
----as of March 2025, residential buildings may be built up to 7 stories along Broadway Avenue between 25 St. and 59th St.
----by 2029, the city wants to approve large numbers of autonomous vehicles, but they've not yet named a vendor.
Downtown Master Plan "Visioning Meeting #4" 12/9
This meeting was mostly a rehash of ideas from DMP designer Bernard Zyscovich which I'd heard before and summarized in our November DNA newsletter (see below). Zyscovich and his team will give a very similar presentation to DNA members on January 27. From there, he will present his plan to the Downtown Action Committee in January, and a commission vote 6/26/26. One change: in the past Zyscovich mentioned that he wants future buildings along Flagler Drive to have a 50' setback from the road. At this meeting, he increased that setback to 100'. It's important to remember that Zyscovich advocates for 25-story limits along the intracoastal and between the train stations downtown---whereas a few commissioners and the mayor mused aloud that they wouldn't be opposed to 30-story limits in those same areas.
Other tidbits:
DNA board members have heard repeatedly from downtown residents that they are concerned about increased traffic and parking problems associated with the unprecedented flurry of development going on downtown. However, there is very little mention of these concerns at meetings about the Downtown Master Plan---aside from comments by residents. So, past-DNA president Michael Cuevas and I are trying to raise awareness of that issue by meeting with people who may be able to exert influence. We met with Anna Maria Aponte and her team Dec. 18, Land-use planner Brian Chegius Dec. 19, and Brian Ruscher, Deputy Director of Multimodal for the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency (TPA) Dec. 22. All of those meetings have been productive and informative, and our next objective is to meet with D. A. C. members whose approval is key for the DMP. The bottom line: aside from installing a traffic crossing over the Tri-Rail tracks on Fern Street, there is little or nothing planned to accommodate inevitable increases in traffic. This is partly because city government is under the impression that there is "excess capacity" on downtown streets, based on a 2018 traffic study. Other transport factors:
---one area where the DNA is making headway is pressing the importance that all new downtown buildings must handle all of their parking, delivery, and garbage collection needs off the street---which will go a long way toward improving traffic flow. One hitch here is that it's unclear if new downtown buildings are required by code to have garage entrances tall enough (13 feet) to accommodate such trucks. Another hitch: package delivery companies such as Amazon, UPS, and Fed Ex have already told the DDA that parking off the street is a waste of their drivers' time, despite having to pay many tickets for illegal parking. So, convincing them to use off-street parking will require stiffer financial penalties.
---rumor has it that The Brightline (owned by Fortress Investments) is in financial trouble and it wouldn't surprise anyone if it went bankrupt within 2 years. One possible scenario is that the Tri-Rail stations and tracks will be repurposed for a normal commuter train that acts more like the Tri-Rail, stopping in every burg between here and Miami. The hitch is the cost of building all those new stations.
---everyone knows that the Tri-Rail is also in financial trouble, with the feds pulling funding. But the theory is that the lost fed money will be offset by new money / taxes from all the cities that the Tri-Rail serves.
---another rumor has it that there's been talk of installing a traffic crossing on 7th street over the FEC tracks so that downtown commuters can drive a straight shot between N. Dixie and Australian Avenue. The main hitch is the FEC's strict policy about insisting that 2 crossings be removed for every new one installed---because the FEC hates crossings since they potentially create accidents and slowdowns.
---the prevailing opinion of the experts we've spoken to so far is that there aren't many ways that downtown streets can be widened or redesigned. Therefore, traffic and parking problems will increase, and that's just tough bananas for downtown residents and workers. In addition, the mayor wants to close at least one lane of Flagler Drive downtown as part of his "Your Waterfront Your Way" plan.
---Schmidt
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