HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes EDAB 051205ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD
May 12, 2005
Minutes
The Economic Development Advisory Board met on May 12, 2005. The meeting
was called to order at 8:31 AM 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.
I. ROLL CALL
Members Present: Frank Compiani, Lou Gaeta, Casey Steinbacher,
Kenneth Kahn, James Kissel, Eric Habecker, Mark Murnan, and Elaine
Beers.
Members Absent: David Haysmer.
Also Present: Dolores Key, Staff Liaison and Economic
Development/Marketing Director; Charles Wu, Growth Management
Administrator; Charlotte Presensky, Recreation Director; Amy
Luetkemeyer, Public Relations Director; Stacey Rundle; and Allyson
Maiwurm, Executive Assistant to the City Manager.
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The Board approved the minutes from the April 14, 2005 meeting
III. ITEMS BY STAFF LIAISON — Staff Report
ORC Report Issued by DCA — Comprehensive Plan Amendments
Charles Wu, Growth Management Administrator, gave the board an
update on the ORC Report that was received on the City's
Comprehensive Plan Amendments as related to the Briger Tract. Charles
stated there was one objection received from the Florida Department of
Transportation. FDOT are requesting peak hour, peak direction analysis
on how it will impact the interstate systems, (1 -95 and the Florida
Turnpike). Staff has prepared an answer to the objections and will present
it to City Council at the next Council meeting. Upon direction from City
Council, staff will then prepare a response to DCA with regard to the
objection. Staff believes the FDOT comments are technical in nature and
after they receive direction from City Council they will be able to address
the technical comments.
Briger Tract Planning Session
Charles Wu updated the board on the Planning Session that took place
regarding the Briger Tract and the Comprehensive Plan Amendments.
Staff sent out 2700 mailers to residents notifying them of this meeting. 48
residents showed up for the meeting. Staff and the residents broke out into
8 groups and discussed the Briger Tract. Staff will share the resident's
comments with City Council. Dolores encouraged the Board to attend the
next Council meeting to reiterate their support to City Council for the Briger
Tract development as a potential economic engine site.
ORDINANCE 6, 2005
Ordinance 6, 2005 was approved unanimously by City Council. This
ordinance was developed to expedite minor conditional uses and
addresses major conditional uses. Charles stated that recently they
received a request from developer, Joel Channing in reference to adding
self storage as a major conditional use to commercial districts. At this time
self- storage is not allowed in any commercial districts in the city. Charles
stated that he feels the self- storage industry has become a very clean
industry and no longer has to be in only industrial zoning. City Council did
approve adding self- storage as a major conditional use. Lou Gaeta stated
that although self- storage is industry that is necessary for residents and
they have come a long way aesthetically, from an economic standpoint,
they do not they do not add any economic value to the city. He feels they
should be allowed in some locations, but not to take away from businesses
that have more economic value.
BIO 2005
Dolores Key reported that BIO 2005 will take place in June. The booth is
presently setup in City Hall Lobby. The booth size will be expanded from a
10' X 10' to a 10' X 20'. Last year the City received over 300 leads of
businesses interested in relocating to the City.
Economic Development Forum for Palm Beach County
Kenneth Kahn reported on the Palm Beach County Economic Development
Forum that he attended along with Charles Wu. Eleven municipalities
attended the meeting with the purpose to coordinate economic
development activities throughout the different cities and to talk about
communication with the different cities. The county recently hired a new
economic development director. Some of the discussions at the Forum
included reviewing tax structures, redevelopment throughout the County,
traffic concurrency and developing a common database with information
available to companies that wish to open businesses in the throughout the
County.
Kenneth Kahn would like the board to have a more in depth discussion
about the Economic Summit on a future agenda. He would like to see this
Board get more involved in the County level and be involved in the different
sub - committees at that level.
PGA NATIONAL DRI
Charles Wu reported that the State has a process for when DRI's are
approaching build -out. The deadline for build -out of the PGA National DRI
is currently the end of August After months of negotiating with DCA and
FDOT, all parties have agreed upon the methodology on how to handle
traffic for the PGA National DRI.
IV. NEW BUSINESS
COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAM
Charlotte Presensky, Amy Luetkemeyer, Stacey Rundle and Allyson
Maiwurm gave the Board an update on the City's Community Outreach
Program. The goals of the program are to connect with the residents of
the City. There are many things that happen in the City that the residents
need to know about especially projects that will personally affect the
residents. They need to be notified early in the process rather than later
when it becomes a problem. Staff is currently establishing a program to
make sure the residents are connected to what is going on in the City.
Staff is currently working on using all the resources that are currently
established to get information out to the public.
There were several suggestions from the Board on how to communicate
with the residents including working more closely with the Chamber of
Commerce to communicate with local businesses, forming a partnership
with hospitals, schools and local businesses and using Home Owner
Associations to get the word out. It was also suggested to form an alliance
with the media including the newspapers and televisions stations. The
Board stressed that they feel educating the public is just as important as
giving them specific information on projects. They feel there is a lot of
residents do not understand how the City works and therefore there is a
lot of misinterpretation to different important issues. Some suggestions for
educating residents could be traffic, taxes and safety.
PROPERTY MAINTENANCE ORDINANCE
Stacy Rundle gave the Board background on an Ordinance that is being
proposed that will regulate home improvements at homes and businesses
in the City. The Ordinance is now being developed and when it is
completed it will be brought back to this board for discussion.
REZONING PROPERTY FROM COMMERICAL TO RESIDENTIAL
The Board discussed the fact that some commercial property is currently
under consideration to be rezoned to residential. In particular, the
property on the corner of Donald Ross Road and Prosperity Farms Road,
next to Frenchman's Creek is being considered to build condominiums
instead of commercial property.
From an economic standpoint this is not a good decision. The board
agrees that the City should not be going in this direction if they are trying
to build a strong economic base. It was suggested that these issues
should be brought before the Economic Development Board as well as the
Planning and Zoning Board before being approved. The misconception
with the public is that there is more traffic generated by commercial
property than residential, when in fact, residential will actually generate
more traffic trips.
V. NEXT MEETING
Discussion about Economic Summit and Sub - Committees
Residence Education
Home Improvement Ordinance
Target Expediting Permitting Program
VI. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at
9:48 A.M.
Approval:
Kenneth Kahn, Chairperson
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ou Gaeta, Vice Chairperson
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Eric Habecker, Board Member
David Haysmer, Board Member
Member
Mark Murnan, Board Member
Elaine Beers, Board Mem
Frank Compiani
Attest:
Sus ell
Public Information/ Recording Coordinator
Board Member
Member