ONE FLAGLER TOWER GETS NEW LIFE AS VOTE GOES 3-2
City revives plan that was defeated last year amid public uproar.
WEST PALM BEACH — The city Tuesday revived a plan, defeated last September amid a public uproar, that would allow a 25-story office tower in a five-story waterfront zone. The plan aims to encourage luxury office development along the Okeechobee Boulevard corridor while requiring developers to incorporate transportation salves for a congested downtown.
At a marathon meeting Tuesday night, the plan won an initial victory, as the Planning Board dismissed opponent concerns of traffic and blocked waterfront views and voted 3-2 to create an Okeechobee Business District.
The proposed change to the zoning grid, as its most immediate impact, would pave the way for the city’s most prolific developer, The Related Cos., to restart its One Flagler luxury office project at the intersection of Okeechobee and Flagler Drive. That project, and another that Related recently announced for Rosemary Avenue near CityPlace, would provide the first Class A office space in West Palm Beach in years, in a downtown starving for new tenants of quality.
The proposed zoning district, expected to come before the city commission for final approval in the next few weeks, would stretch down Okeechobee Boulevard on the south and Lakeview Avenue on the north, from Rosemary Avenue in the west to the Flagler Drive waterfront in the east.
The Planning Board majority, led by member Peter Pivko, said that even if the office tower weren’t allowed, a lower but equally massive project could be built on the site under current zoning rules, so the concerns the tall building would increase traffic beyond what’s currently allowed were unfounded. They sided with administration staffers, and a number of supporters in the audience, who said the city badly needs Class A office space
to attract employers, build the downtown economy and bring jobs that keep young people who grow up in West Palm Beach from moving elsewhere to launch their careers.
The Planning Board and a handful of other advisory boards supported the plan last fall. But amid vocal community opposition, the city commission killed it with a 2-3 vote. Since then, March elections brought two new members to the commission, Christina Lambert and Kelly Shoaf, who could reverse that.
The Planning Board approved the district after a five-hour meeting in a full auditorium, with members of the public weighing in on both sides of the issue.
Opponents lambasted the plan as spot-zoning that would redraw the rules and violate the intent of a 1990s public referendum limiting waterfront height, and that would jam already gridlocked intersections.
They mocked Mayor Jeri Muoio’s staff ’s contention that encouraging people to bike or take trolleys would reduce dependence on cars. A representative for town of Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio — Planning, Zoning and Building director Paul Castro — also urged the plan be defeated again, lest the proposed tower snarl traffic next to the bridge town residents rely upon for daily use and hurricane evacuation.
“Anyone who tells you there isn’t a problem with the traffic, they must be blind,” said one resident, adding he was “disgusted” the issue was raised again after it was only recently defeated.
Development Services Director Rick Greene said the plan had changed since September. Since then, he said, the mobility study the city commissioned had been completed and elements of it were incorporated into the new Okeechobee Business District proposal to address traffic issues. The proposal provides incentives for developers to contribute to a fund for transportation services such as trolleys, and to provide discounted parking to visitors during off-peak hours, for example.
Many in the audience saw it as the same old plan, however, revived because of the mayor’s hope the new commission might approve what the last one didn’t.
John Eubanks, attorney for Preserve West Palm Beach Citizens Coalition, said the proposal would violate public votes that restricted waterfront building heights and threatens to add traffic, make downtown parking harder and reduce the value of existing towers by blocking their views.
“Given that there have been few changes to the city applications from last year, the exact same questions and issues remain unanswered as the last time the city applications were before the Planning Board,” Eubanks wrote to board Chairman Steven Mayans on Monday.
“Incredibly, the city has failed to respond to such issues and concerns, much less bring forth objective studies which support the purported ‘need’ for the creation of the Okeechobee Business District, and the application of its provisions to the Tent Site and Triangle Site,” he wrote, referring to two properties on Okeechobee Boulevard. “Instead, the city has apparently put its full faith in relying upon the result of the most recent elections to breathe life into a proposal which goes against two citywide referendums, failed to be approved by the Downtown Action Committee in October of 2016, was found by the editorial board of The Palm Beach Post to be ‘too much for West Palm Waterfront’ and was voted down on Sept. 25, 2017 by the city commission.”
Muoio, however, said in an open letter to the public that creating the district is a high priority for her administration, as a way to sculpt a downtown to take office and transportation needs into account.
The city’s strategy, crafted after months of study by consultants, includes “plans to improve public transportation, to transform our streets with wider sidewalks and safer connections, and to create more opportunities for new jobs, housing and office space,” she said. “We are very proud of this study and are excited about implementing a number of the recommendations that will provide more transit choices, improve safety, and mitigate congestion on our roads. To build a mobility system that meets the needs of today and tomorrow, we — with public input — plan to implement a number of the recommended strategies in the near future and intend to implement others in the years ahead. We must also find new ways to plan for West Palm Beach’s growth.”
If anyone was looking for signs of how a new commission vote might turn out in the days ahead, a Lambert confidante, political operative Bill Newgent, was among those who took to the microphone at Tuesday’s Planning Board meeting, identifying himself as a Grandview Heights resident, to voice support for creating the new business district. A strong Shoaf supporter, north-end political activist Matt Chambers, did the same. Neither man speaks for the respective commissioner, however, and neither commissioner could be reached for comment Wednesday.
In other actions Tuesday night, the Planning Board approved the following:
■ Marina towers: Developers Rybovich and Related Group’s plan for two 24-story apartment towers to rise on the North Flagler Drive waterfront, near 40th Street. Several residents from the city’s north end spoke in favor of the project, for its opening up the waterfront to the public, and its potential to provide the area with an economic shot in the arm and more residents in the area to help build the city’s tax base and deter crime in the north end. ■ Medical marijuana: City zoning and land-use regulations will allow for medical marijuana dispensaries to open in certain parts of the city.
Both issues await further decisions and final approval by the city commission.