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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes EDAB 011206I r • Economic Development Advisory Board January 12, 2006 The Economic Development Advisory Board met, on January 12, 2006. The meeting was called to order at 8:32 A.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. 1. ROLL CALL Members Present: Lou Gaeta, Kenneth Kahn, Mark Murnan, Casey Steinbacher, James Kissel, Steve Cohen, and Sandra Foland Members Absent: Elaine Beers Also Present: Dolores Key, Economic Development Director and Charles Wu Growth Management Administrator II. Approval of Minutes The Board approved the minutes from the December 8, 2005 meeting. 111. Election of Officers • Casey Steinbacher made a motion to retain the Board's existing officers. The motion passed 7 -0. Kenneth Kahn: Yes Lou Gaeta: Yes Mark Murnan Yes Casey Steinbacher Yes James Kissel Yes Steve Cohen Yes Sandra Foland Yes Kenneth Kahn will remain as Chairperson and Lou Gaeta will remain as Vice Chairperson. IV. STAFF REPORT Dolores Key updated the Board on the Targeted Expedited Permitting Program — Ordinance 1, 2006. She stated that on December 13, 2005 the Planning, Zoning, and Appeals Board voted to recommend approval of Ordinance 1, 2006 to City Council. It then went before City Council for first reading on January 5, 2006 and passed 5 -0. Second reading is scheduled for February 2, 2006. .7 Dolores informed the Board that Eric Habecker has resigned because he has accepted a position with another firm and will relocate to Alabama. • Dolores gave an update on the permitting process for Anspach. The project is scheduled to go before the Planning, Zoning, and Appeals Board on January 24, 2006. She also stated she has received a letter from the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County indicating that LRP Publications will be submitting building interior renovation plans in order to accommodate more staff. Although the project will not require PZAB or City Council action, the project does qualify for TEPP and will be expedited in the Building Division. She distributed to the Board a copy of the Art in Public Places postcard series. She explained that the idea behind the postcards is to show how the business community supports the arts. The Board commented on how beautiful the postcards came out and suggested selling them, perhaps at ArtiGras. Dolores stated she is looking into the legal aspects to selling the books or possibly taking donations for the books. X. OLD BUSINESS Flow of Money Discussion Lou Gaeta led the discussion regarding the Flow of Money Report. He stated that the bottom -line of the report: communities need improved /approved properties in order to have economic growth. He stated that Palm Beach County • is going to have to do a lot of work to repair the damage that was done due to the Scripps project. Further, some businesses are avoiding coming to Palm Beach County because they did not want to deal with the County and the attitude about approvals. He added that the County is hurting the residents by not having a process of approval that is swift and less subjective than it is now. He added that real economic growth is not building shopping centers or homes but building an industrial base such as headquarters, research and development, and service sector. This will increase the long term economic growth. He did state that this report is only from one source and that there are a lot of different opinions on this information. There was discussion about Scripps and the problems that have taken place trying to bring Scripps to Palm Beach County. Casey Steinbacher suggested that this Board have a workshop with City Council to talk about how the Board can provide advice on the development of public policy that will affect the ability to provide approved and improved land and buildings for economic development in the future. She feels that if City Council agrees with this Board's advice then it is the Board's job to help them implement public policy. She added that City Council members are the leaders and therefore the EDAB needs to share their ideas and projects. There was discussion about how to go about meeting with City Council and what to discuss with them. C7 2 F Kenneth Kahn suggested that Staff author an executive summary of the Flow of • Money Report that could be forwarded to City Council. There was also a suggestion to discuss the level -of- services currently used by the City and the impact on the tax dollars and the business community. Dolores explained that City Council will be assigning a Council liaison to each Board, but has not done so yet. The Council liaison will take the information from each Board meeting and report back to City Council. She suggested that the Chair and Vice Chair present the executive summary to Council liaison and request a workshop. Dolores will also consult with the City Attorney to see what the procedures would need to be followed in order to schedule this type of meeting. The Board would like to have a workshop in the near future. Dolores Key is going to prepare an executive summary based on the Flow of Money Report and email it to the Board for their approval. Charles will talk to the City Manager about how to get a possible workshop with City Council. Charles Wu, Growth Management Administrator, spoke to the Board about the group IPARK. This is a county wide planning directors group that meets quarterly to discuss local issues. He said that the City of Lantana is starting an initiative to help stop the converting of business to residential property. Charles updated the board on the approval of Parcel 5A on the Northwest corner of Alternate Al A and PGA Blvd. The project is being developed by Catalfumo • and has been vested for 600,000 square feet of industrial research space. He wants the Board to know that staff is working hard not to convert property to residential and he feels that the developers are starting to get the message. Charles also updated the board on the status of bringing Tri -Rail to the City and discussed a transportation study that the City is initiating. He also talked about redeveloping different areas throughout the City and stated that there is already discussion about redeveloping the Lohemans Plaza into a Mizner Park type development. There was ongoing discussion about Tri -Rail and transportation in the City. Dolores informed the Board that Staff has been directed by City Council to begin work on an overlay corridor system that would be for value -added employers. She stated that an increase in intensity, density, and heights would be proposed. This plan would also incorporate transportation routes. She feels this Board will be instrumental in keeping this plan moving forward. Casey Steinbacher talked about a Special Council that is being held to discuss a North County proposal for the development of a bioscience cluster in the North County. The proposal will show an inventory of land and building in the North County. It will also include language for zoning overlay ordinances. She will make sure the Board gets a copy of the proposal and will happy to do a presentation on the topic. 3 XII. ADJOURNMENT • There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:34 A. M. Approval: Kenneth Kahn, C `Lou Gaeta, Vice Chairperson l Elaine Beers, Board Member ames Kissel, Board Vember • Mark Murnan, Board Member Casey Steinbacher, Board Member Vacant, Board Member Steve Cohen, Alternate Board Member k Sandra Foland, Alternate Board Member Attest: usan II, Public Information/ Recording Coordinator • 4