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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes EDAB 030906Economic Development Advisory Board March 9, 2006 The Economic Development Advisory Board met on March 9, 2006. The meeting was called to order at 8:30 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. I. ROLL CALL Members Present: Lou Gaeta, Kenneth Kahn, Casey Steinbacher, James Kissel, and Sandra Foland Members Absent: Mark Murnan, Steve Cohen and Elaine Beers Also Present: Dolores Key, Economic Development Director and Staff Liaison, Michael Sanchez, Planning Manager and Dan Clark, Interim Growth Management Administrator. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The board approved the minutes from the February 9, 2006 meeting in a 5 -0 vote. III. STAFF LIAISON REPORT Dolores Key gave the board an update on the City's expedited permitting program. She stated that the Anspach companies passed unanimously by City Council and will begin moving forward. She added that Michael Sanchez met with representatives from Transdermal Technologies and they're working on engineering issues. After these issues are addressed they will move forward through the expediting permitting process. Dolores Key stated that she wanted to present information about Scripps Florida but Kara Irwin, Planning Manager was not available for this meeting. She presented a map that explains the retention efforts for the Scripps Florida project in North County. She is planning to have this map duplicated in color, and bring it to the BIO 2006 Conference in Chicago. Dan Clark gave the board an update on the Scripps project. He stated that things seem to be moving quickly and that everyone involved in the project is very enthusiastic. He explained that all the cities in the North County are in agreement that any properties that have been identified for biotech and research will not be zoned for any other use. He stated that a new board has been created called the Bioscience Land Use Advisory Board. This board will be made up of representatives from five cities in the North County and will also include a representative from the Governor's office and the County. The members of this board will be the only people with the ability to make any land use changes on the identified properties. V. LAND DEVELOPMENT PEITIONS Northlake Village — Garden Walk, LLC — Donaldson Hearing of Cotleur and Hearing, spoke to the board regarding the Northlake Village - Garden Walk Project. He introduced Steve Matheson, Frank O'Conner, and Joe Vilsac and Leo Noble. Mr. Hearing talked about the location of the property which is behind Home Depot. He talked about the access to the development and showed the board a site plan of the proposed project. He stated that the property is now zoned as retail /commercial. He added that he understands the committee's concern about changing commercial to residential, but in this situation the residential properties are in need of attention and this would be an upgrade for the community. He discussed the background of the project and said that this would not be a good place for retail site because of limited access into the project. They are proposing 161 residential town homes. They are suggesting that 19 of the hundred 161 units would be part of a workforce housing program. He talked about this project being part of the first time homeowner program and possibly part of other programs to allow for affordable housing. Attorney Stephen Matheson added that when this project was first brought to staff it was being planned as a commercial project. Staff encouraged them to consider making this into residential and adding workforce housing. The board had questions regarding the exact locations of the buildings and Mr. Hearing gave further explanation. There was also discussion about the amount of traffic concurrency that is available on the property. Lou Gaeta stated that he feels this is a 13 acre piece of land that can offer jobs to people instead of homes and he doesn't see the benefit of adding town homes to this area. There was further discussion about the traffic concurrency and Dan Clark stated that this is in a residential traffic concurrency exemption area, which means they don't have to have concurrency for the residential units. Discussion ensued regarding the traffic issues, workforce housing and why this site would be appropriate to change from commercial to residential. Kenneth Kahn opened up the meeting for public comment. Linda Maggio of 903 Sandtree Drive identified herself as the Treasurer of the Sandtree Homeowners Association. She said that she is not in favor of this new development and she thought there would be a gated community going up. She is concerned about the amount of traffic this will bring especially during the rush hour. She submitted a letter from the President of the Association reiterating that they are against this project. 2 Lauren Fountain of 506 Sandtree Drive identified herself as a homeowner and Vice President of Sandtree HOA. She stated that the board is absolutely opposed to having a new residential community in the area. She feels that the crime rate will go up if there are more homes in that community, and additionally she doesn't want more traffic on the road. She stated they would much rather have offices than residential. Pat Tracy of Guardian Financial wants the Board to know that everyday she works with customers who are looking for affordable housing in this area and that it's not available. She has worked with all the County programs to try and help these families find a home that is affordable. Don Hearing talked about the difference between affordable housing and workforce housing. He stated that they would like to continue to work with residents in the community. He asked the Board to direct him to come back with additional information as opposed to making recommendation at this meeting. Casey Steinbacher asked if they had considered a mixed use development where there would be workforce housing in addition to a commercial element. Casey stated that as a representative of the North Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce she is very torn on this issue because she knows the importance of preserving the commercial elements in the City, but it is just as important to have workforce housing. Dolores Key explained to the board that they do not have to vote on this today. They could look into more details on traffic analysis and come back and to discuss this at a future meeting. She feels it would be hard to make an educated decision on this topic without more information. Kenneth Kahn added that as a major employer in the City, and with the Scripps overlay becoming an important part of the City, having affordable housing for the workers is a major issue. He stated that the City does not necessarily need more retail but does need a place to house the people that work here. He stated that the committee needs some standards and guidelines as to what is considered workforce housing because there are different opinions as to what workforce housing is. He feels that workforce housing should be something that would be attainable by police officers, teacher's, firefighters, and nurses. It's hard to recruit high - quality workers without having housing for them and 40% of his workers commute from Port St. Lucie County because they can't afford to live locally. Sandra Foland agreed with Kenneth because she is having a hard time hiring people because they cannot afford to live in the area. The board agreed that they need additional information on the project including the definition of workforce housing. There was a motion and 2nd to table the issue which passed in a 5 -0 vote. VI. NEW BUSINESS Dan Clark stated that in light of the Scripps overlay there are three items that the City would like to address and establish a policy for. These items include: affordable /workforce housing, transit oriented development, and the specifics to the bioscience overlay. Kara Irwin, Planning Manager is working closely with Jupiter to establish policies and he is optimistic that at the next meeting there should be a better outline on these three issues. There was discussion regarding the percentage of workforce housing that should be planned for, and more discussion about the difference between workforce and affordable housing. Casey added that a group was recently formed called the Palm Beach County Housing Leadership Council. This is made up of representatives from The Chambers of Commerce, The Business Development Board, The Economic Council, and the Workforce Alliance. They will be putting together a report that will be done at the end of May. They would also like to have the City's involvement because they are looking at realistic solutions with long -term results. Dan Clark stated that the City would participate and would be willing to provide any data that is available to help the study. Casey also asked Dan Clark to please provide the board with a list and a map of the properties that are in the Inter -local Agreement and will be included in the zoning overlay. This will give the board a better understanding of the parcels that are on the list and what is available for conversion. VII. OLD BUSINESS Casey Steinbacher asked if she can discuss the flow of money report. She stated that this is a very helpful report and that she has given it out to numerous people. She stated that the Business Development Board and the Intergovernmental Plan Amendment Review Clearinghouse (IPARC) Committee have gone before the County Commissioners and the Commissioners would like to request a study on this subject. The Commissioners went to the League of Cities meeting to discuss funding the research report but nothing was done with it. She suggested that this board send a letter to the Commissioners asking them to move forward with the study. There was discussion about the blend between light industrial use and business use. Lou Gatea pointed out that manufacturing businesses do not have the same look that they did years ago, and they can now mix in with other commercial businesses very easily. Kenneth Kahn added that it is going to be very hard to bring in big businesses without having workforce housing. VIII. NEXT MEETING TOPIC The board would like to continue discussion about the need for workforce housing as an economic development issue, and how some of the conversions that come before the committee might be affected. 4 IX. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to discuss the meeting adjourned at 9:50 AM. Approval: Kenneth Kahn, Chairperson Lou Gaeta, Vice Chairperson Elaine Beers, Board Member James Kissel, Board Member Mark Murnan, Board Member Casey Steinbacher, Board Member Steve Cohen, Alternate Board Member Sandra Foland, Alternate Board Member Attest: Susan Bell, Public Information/ Recording Coordinator 5 -uoddns put, oon1sisse .moX loj aouunpt, ui s3fulLgZ -auz gjim laaw of aa.g laa3 asuald `Suilaaut juauzpedap mo of ioud ssnostp of al!l pinom noA jugj slggnogl to suoilsonb Cue anL'q noX 3I -juawindop ino Suguasoidai aq ll!m sjagwawjjvjs gotgm aututialap pug suo►loas aql3o goea ssnostp of y,bi Xlnr of ioild sn loj Sutlaaw t, alnpagos 01 ia3tuu3r paNse ant?g I -uoil -edioiltud .moX asemooua I `ftoltpum jou gsnogl[V -pagDUUL, aullautil aql Sul molloj su01133s aqj jo liv ssnosip ll!m saaAoldutg 'suoiToas uanas Jo sTsisuoo XaAJnS aaxolduzg ay puL, su07110as inoj sq Xan.mS uaztlio aqj — suonoas 1 130 JUJOI V oJui paptnrp an sAanlns aqZ -sgluow aa.tgl lxau aql .toj gjuow goua plaq aq lPm pine 00:6 It' SUIULIs uzoo -I Xliunwwoj aoilod aqj ui 3ieq u pine inoq ue AlarwixoAdt, IsLl ll!m XagZ sSullaaw asagl Suipuallt, saaXolduza onnl jo wnwiutw v omq of paNse uaaq seq juawindop goeg -spodw aqj ui pagpuapi sanssi aqj Suissa ippe weld uoijou ue jo uonuan aqi ui aludiotind of sju3wvvdap .toj aq ll!m dais jxau aqj `noA 3o qmn of pain%ilsip sXan.ms uaztlio pine aaAoldwa aql of do mollo3 u sV uozil!D put, aoAoldwg S) volD Al!D `Janus vloult'd i3afEns :wo,dd 900Z `£Z ounf :gZdQ IsileioodS samiaS uaziliD `LaipuV aiggaQ .101vurp.1003 Sutp.tooag/uoTlVuuojul ollgnd `llog uvsnS II is►lmoadS anijeijsiututpV `uLegseuaayg !109 III isgoloadS an►jt'.tjstuiuzpv `ueuuoO .tajiuuar 3I1aiD. XjiD Xinda(I `siiig Xmd lvfl(l Iv2 ow:lly SN:Icl v-9 H3v:4u wrivd AO X113 OZ i A VIII. NEXT MEETING TOPIC The Board would like to continue discussion about the need for workforce housing as an economic development issue, and how some of the conversions that come before the committee might be affected. IX. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to discuss the meeting adjourned at 9:50 AM. Approval: Kahn, Chairperson u Gam, Vicd Chairperson Elaine Beers, Board Member Steinbacher, Board Member Steve Cohen, Alternate Board Member Sandra Foland, Alternate Board Member Bell, Public Information/ Recording Coordinator