Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Council 101600CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING October 16, 2000 The October 16, 2000, Special Meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was called to order at 7:05 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 to the Flag. ROLL CALL: The City Clerk called the roll and the following elected officials were found to be in attendance: Mayor Joseph R. Russo, Vice Mayor Eric Jablin, Councilmember Lauren Furtado and Councilmember Carl Sabatello. Councilmember David Clark was absent from the meeting. A moment of silence and prayer was observed for the men and women who had perished on the USS Cole. SPECIAL MEETING: Transportation - Mayor Russo recognized a representative from Jupiter who was present. City Engineer Dan Clark explained that the documentation presented at the prior week's meeting was the culmination of approximately 500 hours work by five to seven individuals who wanted to arrive at a set of numbers that was comprehensive, complete and defensible. City Engineer Clark noted that others beside himself who had worked on the document included Dan Weisberg, Palm Beach County Traffic Engineer, Maria M. Tej era, City Traffic Engineer, and the primary traffic consultants who worked in the development community. Mr. Clark pointed out that those experts were the ones who really knew, could predict, and could understand what was going to happen within the City from a traffic perspective. City Engineer Clark clarified that RCA Boulevard as a 4 -lane road and Prosperity Farms Road as a 4 -lane road had been factored into the trip numbers provided in the document. The I -95 interchange information requested at the last meeting and the Prosperity Farms and Hood Road connection were also included. City Engineer Clark verified that the two sets of numbers were the set transmitted to DCA and the set with the currently projected number of trips on the roads. Principal Planner Steve Cramer verified the number of trips that would be generated by development had been established, and the City Council's options were to have either six lanes with a CRALLS designation or eight lanes to accommodate those numbers. Mr. Cramer clarified that the number of trips that would be removed from downsizing of current development was not known. City Engineer Clark clarified that already developed parcels, such as PGA National, were already incorporated in the background information. Councilwoman Furtado requested the background trips generated from Abacoa. Staff explained that all Abacoa trips had been listed as new development rather than background. City Engineer Len Lindahl advised it would take approximately 15 minutes to separate out the Abacoa background trips. It was noted that if the City decided against the CRALLS designation, the County's Comprehensive Plan would have to be amended, which would be a one -year process, in order to provide eight lanes on PGA Boulevard. Representatives present from Lake Park were recognized. George Webb, Palm Beach County Engineer, explained that in addition to the six links on PGA Boulevard, there were another six links within the City that were projected to be over capacity, which included a link on Northlake Boulevard, three links on Military Trail, and two links on Alternate AIA, all of which varied between 7% and 12% over the currently adopted level of service. Mr. Webb explained that development of projects with significant impacts on these links would be stopped if they were expected to exceed the adopted level of service. Mr. Webb reported that 2015 numbers with the I -95 interchange included would remove 5,000 -6,000 trips from Donald Ross Road between I -95 and Central, but would add 5,000 - 6,000 trips between Central Boulevard and Military Trail; and potentially could remove almost 10,000 daily trips off PGA Boulevard between Military Trail and I -95, but would add an additional 9,000 - 13,000 trips on Central Boulevard. Alternate AIA between Hood Road and Garden Road was projected to drop 4,000 trips per day. Mr. Webb expressed his opinion that if development was staggered, CRALLS should not be established ahead of time; however, he recommended that CRALLS be done before developments were completed if many developments came in at one time. Mr. Webb suggested tracking developments and the traffic perhaps annually to give a sense of how accurate the projections had been. Councilmember Furtado commented that the City had pushed for a North County Traffic Forum, and urged that the whole North County must plan together for development traffic. Councilwoman Furtado stated the City and developers had done everything possible, and expressed disappointment that the County was giving the City a hard time on the CRALLS. Discussion ensued. Numbers for the current CRALLS on PGA Boulevard between I -95 and U.S. One was discussed. The City Council favored six lanes rather than eight on PGA Boulevard. Councilmember Sabatello commented that there was no way to improve the area between I -95 and Alternate AIA because of the flyover, which was designed with six lanes. Mr. Webb responded that the flyover would have seven lanes -4 eastbound and 3 westbound, with a new traffic light on the very East Side of Alternate AIA and additional turn lanes that could improve travel time through that area. Staff reported the Abacoa Phase I through III background numbers, which showed more impacts on north south roads than on PGA Boulevard. Councilman Sabatello discussed the fact that if the City made no decisions they would do an injustice to the residents because the residents would receive lower levels of service and feel the impact greater than with what was being done by the County, developers, and adjacent communities working together, with which Mr. Webb expressed agreement. Sam Shannon, Community Development Director, Town of Jupiter, indicated Jupiter was interested in the North County Traffic Forum and that Jupiter had never objected to the CRALLS, but he had requested that the traffic forum be held before the CRALLS was adopted. The number of units actually built in the Bear's Club was discussed. David Thatcher, Community Development Director for the Town of Lake Park, discussed potential development along the new section of Congress Avenue, expressed concern that traffic might be redirected from PGA Boulevard to Northlake Boulevard, and indicated Lake Park would participate at the traffic forum. Discussion ensued regarding the number of trips on Northlake Boulevard. Councilmember Sabatello questioned if the City did nothing and Lake Park built out as Mr. Thatcher discussed, whether the existing CRALLS on Northlake would be exceeded, to which Mr. Webb's response was it would be very close. It was noted that the numbers did not include Vavrus or Brigger properties. Replacing the existing CRALLS with the new CRALLS was discussed, which would mean only the developments listed in the forbearance agreement could be developed. Kahart Pinder commented there were other property owners not on the forbearance list. It was noted that a request had been made at the last meeting that both the current and requested CRALLS be allowed. The County's response was that redevelopment could use up capacity before the last developers on the forbearance list were ready to develop. Mayor Russo questioned whether it was legal to exclude developments other than those on the list, which a representative of the County indicated was legal. City Engineer Lindahl explained that unlike other CRALLS, the current CRALLS had two attached conditions that were outstanding, (1) that the CRALLS was related to the participants in the forbearance agreement by assignment; and (2) that there were conditions of accountability with regard to the City's commitment and progress toward fulfilling the linkage plan. Discussion ensued regarding redevelopment projects, and Mr. Webb explained that if a project added less than 1% traffic increase it could be developed even if there was no additional capacity; and also clarified that developments not on the forbearance list could not use available trips if developments on the forbearance list did not build out 100% unless the Comprehensive Plan was amended to allow use of those trips. An option to change that was suggested. It was noted that new figures could be transmitted twice a year. Commissioner Marcus indicated she did not support the new numbers, and wanted to go as far out into the future with traffic planning as possible. Discussion ensued regarding what had changed. Commissioner Marcus responded to Councilwoman Furtado that the only thing that had changed was the numbers were higher. It was explained that this was a case of what the County would accept rather than what the City wanted. Commissioner Marcus commented that some of the numbers were numbers for eight lanes. Vice Mayor Jablin appealed to the County to find a solution to make PGA Boulevard six lanes. November 13 and 14 were announced as the dates for the traffic forum. Commissioner Marcus verified that at this point she favored the original transmitted numbers and that the City should have a public hearing on the CRALLS issue. Mayor Russo commented a meeting was needed with the residents to explain the situation. Commissioner Marcus acknowledged that input from the residents might change her mind. A County representative discussed the proposed impact fees of the County, which would be deficient in 2015. Under the current ordinance, only Burns Road would receive County impact fees since it was the only linkage on the thoroughfare map, therefore the developers would need to pay for the other linkages. Councilwoman Furtado noted the Donald Ross Road Bridge had been paid for with impact fees and gas tax funds; yet the City had received no funding toward the flyover, to which the response was that Donald Ross Road was a State road rather than a County road. It was agreed to hold a joint public hearing with the City and County regarding the question of how many lanes Prosperity Farms Road would have, with the County doing the presentation. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further bu 'ness to discuss, upon motion by Councilman Sabatello, seconded by Vice Mayor Jablin, ca d 0, the eet' was adjourned at 9:10 p.m. APPROVAL: M EPff4 USSO CHAIRMAN PRO TEM CARL SABATELLO xgscr u r COUNCILWOMAN LAUREN FURTADO ATTEST: _ 47,11-_ CAROL GOI CITY CLERK