HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Council 081804CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS
CITY COUNCIL
SPECIAL MEETING
August 18, 2004
The August 18, 2004 Special Meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Beach
Gardens, Florida, was called to order at 4:37 P.M. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal
Complex, located at 10500 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and opened
with the pledge of allegiance.
ROLL CALL: The City Clerk called the roll and the following elected officials were found
to be in attendance: Mayor Jablin, Vice Mayor Russo, and Councilmember Delgado.
Councilmember Levy arrived at 4:39 p.m.
ITEMS FOR COUNCIL ACTION /DISCUSSION:
Scripps - Mayor Jablin announced that at the previous day's County Commission meeting
there had been several misstatements regarding Scripps, and this meeting had been called to
set the record straight. Natalie Wong, Senior Project Coordinator, Assistant to the City
Manager, provided a presentation dealing with statements made at the County Commission
meeting that misrepresented the facts. A former master plan known as the Fagan Plan had
been stated to be better because it did not include biotech on the Vavrus property, so there
would be no competition between the County and the City; and that it was less dense in
residential. Ms. Wong presented the Fagan Plan, which included both sites, and on Mecca
there was a large amount of biotech use and there were no specific intensities, however, the
plan showed uses including residential and commercial, town center, school, civic and
community. This plan had been developed as a concept plan and no traffic analysis was done,
no economic analysis, no housing methodology, no allocation of residential units, no detailed
environmental analysis, no input from the City or master developer, and no joint planning
effort between the City and the County. The City had later gotten involved with the County,
and joint planning meetings took place. One of the first joint planning activities had been to
allocate intensities for both the County and City. A memo had been written by the City dated
February 23, 2004, specifying initial proposed intensities of 6.4 million square feet of
research and development. In March, the City revised those numbers, reducing proposed
research and development to 2 million square feet, which was further reduced to allocate 1.8
million square feet of research and development to accommodate the County's wishes to
minimize competition for biotech uses. Initial proposed residential of 3,000 units was
increased to 7,500, the current amount. This increase had been a direct result of working with
the reviewing agencies and the County and FDOT on an accepted traffic methodology to
capture the highest amount of trips to maximize the sustainable community concept. Ms.
Wong reported there had been negative tones associated with the proposed density on the
Vavrus parcel. Several Commissioners had alluded to housing being too dense. Ms. Wong
stated that housing is important and even with the 7,500 units plus the 2,000 units on the
Mecca piece, it was not enough to meet the demand because of the high number of
employees that would be generated by the research and development square footage, and
there would be a deficit of over 13,000 units. Ms. Wong reviewed a chart illustrating this
housing deficit in both the City DRI and County DRI, and a newspaper article from the Palm
Beach Post which indicated the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council's staff report had
contained criticism of the inadequate housing but had overlooked the County's plan to
develop housing on the Vavrus property. The County had recommended that the sentence in
the report reading "the plan is short on housing" be changed to state "the plan appears short
CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS REGULAR MEETING, 8/18/04 2
on housing but is being designed with a residential heavy project on the Vavrus parcel,
easing the problem. Lower the requirements for affordable housing from 2250 units to 400."
Ms. Wong indicated this was being provided to show the County had endorsed the provision
of including housing on the City's plan. Ms. Wong noted she would not read every comment
verbatim, but explained that there were specific mitigation conditions developed with County
and City staff to provide mitigation conditions for the CRALLS the City requested in June.
The mitigation conditions presented dealt with affordable housing, although the total
mitigation conditions dealt with a number of things. The reason for showing the affordable
housing conditions was to illustrate that there was no way the County would have moved
forward with these mitigation conditions unless they had recognized the specific number of
units, 7,500, that the City was proposing. Mitigation conditions were described. Ms. Wong
then addressed the question of why research and development had decreased — through joint
planning the City had decreased it because of the County's concern for competition; and in
addition, as part of the mitigations for the CRALLS, the City and the County agreed to
include a specific provision that Vavrus North shall maintain the same mixture of uses as set
forth in the DRI, May, 2004. Additionally, for the first ten years after the Vavrus North DO,
the building permits for the R &D square footage of Vavrus North shall not exceed 50% of
the permitted Mecca R &D square footage. This addressed the County's concern regarding
competition. The next statement by the Board of County Commissioners was the City did not
want to modify the plan to address the County's need and had been uncooperative in the
planning process. Ms. Wong reinforced that there had been continuing joint planning efforts
with the County and affected agencies, and provided meeting dates, who had attended, and
what had been discussed, documenting over 25 meetings of joint planning efforts. Ms. Wong
reported there had been a philosophical tone present in many of the County Commissioners'
comments, describing the Mecca versus Vavrus projects as competitive. The City's response
was the two combined created an overall village. The City had researched economic clusters,
studied current growth management principles and economic development principles, and
collected research on existing parks. The City also talked to Scripps and asked what they
wanted, which was a village encompassing all these elements. The conclusion was that 500
acres referred to yesterday by the County Commission was not enough; biotech users do not
like high -rise buildings. The grant agreement between Scripps and the County stated the
County shall use its best effort to enter into an agreement with the City of Palm Beach
Gardens relating to the development of the Vavrus site. Another comment by Commissioners
was that Vavrus would cost the taxpayers of this County $100 million or more if the Mecca
property was developed by itself. Ms. Wong responded if another developer was coming on
board being paid for by non - taxpayers, there would be a significant shared cost of
infrastructure, and this was an unfounded statement, Mecca alone would require taxpayer
money for infrastructure. Ms. Wong summarized that the current plan was a result of
research and analysis including housing, economic, traffic, and site conditions,
environmental assessments, etc., and represented joint planning efforts between City staff
and County staff. The City had been cooperating and was working on the project to create a
world -class economic engine. The City had lowered R &D and increased residential
intensities at the County's request. County staff had represented that the current intensities in
the City's plan should remain, and both DRI's combined would provide the village, and the
cost would decrease because the infrastructure cost would be shared by both projects.
Councilmember Levy asked if information on other parks had been provided to the County
CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS REGULAR MEETING, 8/18/04 3
and if they had provided any information to the City, to which Ms. Wong responded County
staff had been cooperating with the City and sharing information with the City. Vice Mayor
Russo expressed disappointment with the comments made at the County Commissioners
meeting, and stated the City never selected the location for Scripps but said they would do
whatever they could to make it work to have Scripps in Palm Beach County. This was done
and then yesterday he had heard the plan failed because of the City's lack of cooperation.
Vice Mayor Russo expressed frustration and concern that if the Brigger tract was selected
they wanted the whole thing there but that was entirely within the City and it was not fair to
residents to give control of some of their land to someone else. The Vice Mayor indicated he
was willing to cooperate but the first thing needed was for the City to request a joint meeting
between the City Council and the County Commission for them to get back on the same
page. Scripps was far too important for the City to sit back and let emotion get involved.
Councilmember Delgado expressed her frustration also, and strongly urged the report
presented tonight be shared with Dr. Lerner and Doug Bingham, legal counsel for Scripps, so
that they could be fully informed, and made a motion to set up a joint meeting with the
County Commission. Mayor Jablin indicated a motion was not necessary and there was
consensus of the Council; and reported for the record that Councilmember Levy had arrived
at 4:39 p.m. and was a part of this discussion. Mayor Jablin advised all of the information
would be sent to Scripps and the County, including the following prepared statement: The
City of Palm Beach Gardens has continued to cooperate with Palm Beach County and the
Scripps Research Institute to provide a home in this County for the Scripps Research
Institute. In response to some of the County Commissioners' disparaging comments about
the City of Palm Beach Gardens, this City is not the reason the County Commission is
reconsidering their position regarding site selection for the Scripps Research Institute. City
staff has responded to Palm Beach County and the Department of Transportation's request
to increase the number of residential units from 3,000 to 7,500 on the Vavrus site. The
residential increase was to help the County reduce the number of trips anticipated by the
Mecca development to comply with their traffic performance standards ordinance. The
biotech square footage for the site was reduced from 6.4 to 1.8 million square feet dedicated
to research and development in order to compliment the development of the Mecca site at the
County's request. The Mecca and Vavrus site plans were developed through a jointplanning
effort with the County's consultants and City staff. The fact that certain County
Commissioners are not informed, are ill - informed, or politically motivated to find someone
else to blame for their own lack of due diligence is indeed unfortunate. The City of Palm
Beach Gardens has fully cooperated with the County in regards to the Scripps Research
Institute project over the last ten months. Although the County has requested complete
control over the development and permitting of any alternative site selected for the Scripps
project, the City of Palm Beach Gardens has a fiduciary responsibility to its residents to act
in their best interests. The City has consistently worked with the County on all levels of the
Scripps development project to maximize the potential of the Mecca site. We have invested
both time and money in the development of the Mecca and Vavrus sites. However, should
Scripps Research Institute decide to develop the alternative location on the Brigger tract, the
City of Palm Beach Gardens stands ready to cooperate and work with the County in the
development of their chosen site, while protecting our citizens' tax dollars and their quality
of life today and in the future. Until Scripps Research Institute makes theirfinal decision, the
CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS REGULAR MEETING, 8/18/04 4
City of Palm Beach Gardens cannot comment on the favorability of either of the alternative
sites. Vice Mayor Russo requested addition of a statement that the City offered to meet with
the County Commission in an effort to resolve some of these issues and move forward. There
was consensus from the Council. Mayor Jablin announced after adjournment of the meeting,
questions would be taken from the press.
ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business to disc e meeting was adjourned at 5:03 p.m.
r
APPROVAL:
MA OR JABLIN
COUNCILMEMBER DELGADO
CO CILMEMBER LEVY
ATTEST:
PATRICIA SNIDER
CITY CLERK