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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Council 111579CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS NOVEMBER 15, 1979 The Regular Meeting of the City Council of Palm Beach Gardens was kr called to order by Mayor Samuel Laurie at 8:00 P.M. in the Assembly Room, 10500 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. ROLL CALL: The roll was called by the Deputy City Clerk and present were: Mayor Laurie, Vice Mayor Kiedis, Councilman Feeney, Councilman Martino, and Councilman Aldred. City Manager John Orr and Attorney William Brant were also in attendance. MINUTES: The minutes of the November 1, 1979 Regular Meeting were unanimously approved by the Council as written. The minutes of the November 8, 1979 Workshop Meeting were unanimously approved by the Council as written. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mayor Laurie announced that the City's Administrative Offices will be closed IPon Thursday, November 22, 1979 and Friday, November 239 1979, in observance of "Thanksgiving." PRESENTATION OF PLAQUE TO HILMY ADEEB, MEMBER OF THE CITY'S SITE PLAN AND APPEARANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE Mayor Laurie presented a Plaque of Appreciation to Mr. Hilmy Adeeb which was engraved, "Presented To Hilmy Adeeb In Appreciation For Dedicated And Con- scientious Service To The City Of Palm Beach Gardens As Member Of Site Plan And Appearance Review Committee June, 1975 - August, 1979 From The Palm Beach Gardens City Council." RECOMMENDATION At the recommendation of the City Manager, a motion was made by Vice Mayor RE: AWARDING Kiedis, seconded by Councilman Feeney to award the bid for storm shutters for OF BIDS: the fire station to Folding Shutter Corporation;of West Palm Beach - in the STORM SHUTTERS: EXPANSION OF BASKETBALL COURTS: amount of $3625.00 - monies to be taken from Council Contingency Fund. The motion passed unanimously. At the recommendation of the City Manager a motion was made by Vice Mayor Kiedis and seconded by Councilman Feeney to award the bid for the expansion of the basketball courts to Heavy Construction of North Palm Beach - in the City Council Regular Meeting 11/15/79 Page -2- amount of $5403.95 - monies to be taken from the Recreation Department Account, and subject to the City receiving approval in writing from Banker's Life, the removal of 3 pine trees - motion was passed unanimously. 4 MALIBU POLICE. At the recommendation of the City Manager, a motion was made by Vice Mayor CARS: Kiedis and seconded by Councilman Feeney to award the bid for (4) 1980 Malibu Police cars to Roger Dean Chevrolet in the amount of $6766.04 per unit for a total cost of $27,064.16 - monies to be taken from Federal Revenue Sharing. Motion passed unanimously. The money received from the auctioning off of the old police cars will be put back into Federal Revenue Sharing. IRRIGATION. At the recommendation of the City Manager, a motion was made by Vice Mayor SYSTEM FOR CITY HALL AREA: Kiedis and seconded by Councilman Feeney to award the bid for the irrigation system for Area I only(Softball.Fields)to Sunnyland Irrigation in the amount of $14,476.00 - monies to be taken from the Recreational /Land Account. Motion passed unanimously. This will take care of the 20 acres east of the City Complex. Council will consider Area 3 at their next workshop. �OMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC FOR ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA: MR. SAM CARSILLO: Mr. Sam Carsillo, 10063 Dahlia Avenue, addressed the Council re: requesting a letter to be sent to the State's Attorney-General.'_s office investigating an imposing fuel adjustment tax on the people; the potholes on PGA Boulevard, between C -18 Canal and the Turnpike need to be taken -care of; the pending location of a helicopter landing pad at the PBG Hospital; the replacement of the Fire Chief's vehicle; any plans for the library and post office; putting reflectors on the street to indicate where a fire hydrant is located; a con- trol light at Holly Drive and 'Military Trail; and 4- laning of A -1 -A. RESOLUTIONS: RESOLUTION 84, Resolution 84, 1979, appointing a member to the City's Site Plan and Appear - 19-79: ance Review Committee was read in full by the Deputy City Clerk by a unani- mous vote of the City Council, with the name of Stephen Boruff inserted in the blank of Section 1. Resolution 84, 1979, was unanimously adopted by the Council as read. .RESOLUTION 90, By a unanimous vote of the Council, the Deputy City Clerk read in full Res - 1979: olution 90, 1979, requesting the implementation of laws and policies curbing windfall profits of the petroleum industry. Resolution 90, 1979, was adopted by the Council with a vote of 4 ayes and one nay, with the word, "control" City Council Regular Meeting 11/15/79 Page -3- inserted in the stead of the word "regulate" in the third from the last line of Section 1. Mayor Laurie, Vice Mayor Kiedis, Councilman Feeney, Councilman Martino all voted aye; Councilman Aldred voted nay. The written comments of Councilman Aldred setting forth his objections and counter proposals to this Resolution will be forwarded to the Legislative Delegation subsequent to the sending of Resolution 90, 1979. RESOLUTION 91, By a unanimous vote of the Council, the Deputy City Clerk read in full 1979: Resolution 91,.1979, approving a Memorandum of Understanding between the City and PGA National Venture Ltd., setting forth the procedures for the collection deposit, and disbursement of funds contributed by PGA National Venture Ltd., for Northlake Boulevard construction. Resolution 91, 1979 was unanimously adopted by the Council. The revisions made by the Council to the Memorandum of Understanding will be incorporated by Attorney William Hillier, General Counsel for the PGA Project, and will be provided the City for signature. For the record, the City would designate the bank with the highest interest • rate in this area. RESOLUTION 92, By a unanimous vote of the Council, the Deputy City Clerk read in full 1979: Resolution 92, 1979, approving a Memorandum of Understanding between the P.B. County School Board, the City, and PGA National Venture Ltd., setting forth the procedure for the collection, deposit, disbursement, and accounting of funds required from the PGA National Venture Ltd., for additional school facilities. Resolution 92, 1979, was unanimously adopted by the Council. The revisions made by the Council to the Memorandum of Understanding will be incorporated by Attorney William Hillier, General Counsel for the PGA Project, and will be provided the City for signature. Councilman Martino related that his definition of the phrase "General P.B.G. area" is the reserve annexation area that the City of Palm Beach Gardens registered with the Area Planning Board in the year 1972. Per the recommendation of Mr. Orr, the City Attorney was authorized by the Council to set up a Resolution establishing a Trust Fund Account for this money and the money to be used for road and drainage improvements within City Council Regular Meeting, 11/15/79 Page -4- the City of Palm Beach Gardens. y ' I RESOLUTION 93, Mr. Mike Rosen, Project Manager, Mr. Hank Skokowski, President of Urban j 1979: Design Studio, and Mr. Allen Strassler, Architect, addressed the Council regarding the "Office Core" POD, which will consist of initially the PGA National Sales and Reception Center and the Professional Golfer's Associa- tion Administrative Office. The plans for the Professional.Golfer's Associa- tion Hall of Fame and the PGA National Administrative Office, which are also proposed to be located within "Tract A -1" , and the traffic circle located in the Avenue of Champions and the ingress and egress to this POD will be submitted for the City's consideration of approval at a later date. Pursuant to the discussion at the November 8, 1979 Workshop.Meeting, Mr. Skokowski reviewed with the Council those changes incorporated into the plans for the "Office Core" POD. Mr. Jan Browning, City Engineer, addressed the Council.relating his comments regarding the paving and drainage plans for this POD. • By a unanimous vote of the Council, the Deputy City Clerk read in full Resolution 93, 1979. creation of the "Office Core" POD proposed to be located within Tract A -1, Plat #1, of the PGA National PCD. Resolution 93, 1979, was passed by a vote of 4 -1; vote on motion: Mayor Laurie, Vice:`.Mayor Kiedis, Councilman Martino, and Councilman Aldred voted Aye; Councilman Feeney voted Nay. Councilman Feeney voted against the adoption of this POD due to the lack of the incorporation of the changes recommended by the City Engineer. As requested by Mr. Skokowski, a motion was made by Councilman Aldred and seconded by Councilman Feeney and unanimously adopted that the creation of the "Office Core" POD not be subject to Site Plan Approval. RESOLUTION 94 1979: By a unanimous vote of the Council, the Deputy City Clerk read in full Resolution 94, 1979, extending the time for the use of a mobile home trailer in the parking lot of the Meadows Mobile Home Park, Resolution 94, 1979 was unanimously adopted by the Council. RESOLUTION 95, Resolution 95, 1979, authorizing the execution of the Community School Pro - 979: gram Agreement was postponed to their next meeting of December 6, 1979, until a representative from that program was in attendance to discuss with the Council the various problems they have been encountering. City Council Regular Meeting 11/15/79 Page -5- _ ORDINANCES: With a full Council in attendance, Mayor Laurie declared the Public Hearing RDINANCE 15, open which was duly advertised 10/23, 10130, 11/6 & 11/13 1979, and held for the purpose of the Council's consideration of the annexation of a 3.554 acre parcel located north of Oakbrook Square within Section 4- 42 -43, with a zoning classification of -CG -1, General Commercial District. 6 Attorney George Ord, representing the petitioners, addressed the Council regarding the annexation of the 3.554 acre parcel north of the Oakbrook Square Shopping Center, which they plan to develop in the near future. Attorney Walter Colbath, representing the homeowners in Hidden Key North, addressed the Council stating they are not against the annexation, only what could be developed in the future that would affect the valuation of the homes in Hidden Key North. Members from the audience also addressed the Council echoing Mr. Colbath's remarks. At.-the-Planning and Zoning Commission meeting of September 11, 1979, a Public Hearing was held on the above mentioned property, and a motion was made to recommend to the City Council that they zone this property to RE -1, •' Residential-.Estate District._ Subsequent to further discussion, Mayor Laurie declared the Public Hearing closed. By a unanimous vote of the full Council, Attorney Brant read in full on Second Reading, Ordinance 15, 1979. Ordinance 15, 1979 was unanimously adopted by the Council as read by the City Attorney with the following modifications: 1. The insertion of the verbiage "and zoning a part of said lands currently zoned by the County of Palm Beach as Commercial to CG -1, General Com - -- mercial District and that part of said lands currently zoned by the County of Palm Beach as RS to RS -4, Single Family Residential District, simultaneously with said annexation ", in the stead of the verbiage, "and, zoning same to CG -1, General Commercial District simultaneous with said annexation ", in the Title Paragraph. 2. The paragraph of-Section 2 -was deleted in its entirety and placed in'.-its = stead was,, "Concurrently with the annexation of said aforesaid described lands that part of same currently zoned Commercial by the County of Palm Beach and reflected as such in the official zoning 0 City Council Regular Meeting, 11/15/79 ITEMS BY MAYOR & COUNCIL: COUNCILMAN FEENEY: Page -6- map of said County shall be classified as zoning districts CG -11 General Commercial District, and that part of said lands currently zoned RS for the County of Palm Beach and reflected as such in the official zoning map of said County, shall be classified as zoning district RS -4, Single Family Residential District." Councilman Feeney stated that the traffic on Burns Road and A -1 -A between the hours of 4:30 - 5:30 P.M., is extremely heavy and the lines are backed up to Riverside Drive. He would like to request a police officer to be stationed there during this time to expedite the flow of traffic. VICE MAYOR Vice Mayor Kiedis stated that he arranged a meeting with Lou KIEDIS: Oxnevad, Dick Cameron, Leonard Devine, and Steve Henning to examine the Plant Drive Park field, regarding the refurbishing of that field. According to Lou Oxnevad, there is sufficient roots under the bermuda grass where it looks bare, and can be revived once the weeds were killed off. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 12:45 A.M. City Council Regular Meeting, 11/15/79 • APPROVAL: MAYOR LAURIE E 0 ROBERTA A. PEARCE, DEPUTY CITY CLERK Page -7- COUNCILMAN MARTINO COUNCILMAN ALDRED Dear Sir: By now you are in receipt of Resolution 90, 1979 . of the City of.Palm Beach Gardens, passed;_by a vote, of four-:to one by the City Council of Palm Beach Gardens on November 15, 1979. As the lone; objector to this resolution, I wish to take this opportunity to set forth, rather completely, my objections and counter proposals to this resolution. 'First, as to Resolution 90, 1979, it essentially and correctly notes that petroleum prices are slipping upward. It-calls for the enactment of laws regulating the pricing of petroleum products. Since such laws already exist, the resolution can.-only be construed as a hearty endorsement of the policies and practices which have led -our country to its present position -of undue energy -dependence on oil exporting countries. As.to the resolution's shortcomings (set forth in greater detail later, herein), they are summarized as follows: 1. Endorses past policies and practices which have created the mess we are currently in. 2. Does not provide alternatives for (a) development of petroleum energy alternatives, M - 2 - At the outset of the lengthy comments which follow, I will agree that decrying oil company so- called "excessive profits" makes excellent election material for politicians seeking election or re- election, simply because it sounds good. I will submit, however, the proposition that oil company profits are not only not excessive - they are inadequate to provide the funds necessary to.develop alter- natives to petroleum energy. The American public must be made aware that present price con- trol of gasoline and other oil based energy forms, while beneficial to their pocketbooks in the short run, results in.the development of detrimental long -range economic and foreign policy.. We must decon- trol the pricing of oil products in order to assure us of adequate. supplies, of these commodities until energy alternatives are devel -. oped. DOMESTIC ECONOMIC POLICY. Because of price control, our governmental entities have a proven record of ineptness in dealing with our energy problems. As evidence, I submit long gas lines and short supplies of fuel oil in winter. Supply of any commodity will follow the line, or market, in which it can be sold most profitably. The artificial restriction of price and profit by U.S. authorities will assure that the supplies of scarce oil products will flow to other countries willing to pay for them. We will then continue to suffer chronic shortages of supplies. These shortages will become so severe that industry production will have to be curtailed, putting many employees out of work. Long gas lines will again develop and while people are in these lines, they cannot produce goods and services, so production - 3 - •will decrease. Accordingly, if public demand for goods and services is not diminished, inflation will be further increased. The history of civilized man has taught us that the private sector is more creative in developing technology than is government. Even in the.space programs, it was the governmental contractors who developed the useful technology we find on our store shelves today. Development of energy alternatives, therefore, belongs in the private sector and can only be adequately financed by profits. The oil companies have a stake in developing alternative energy sources. The world's proven oil reserves are expected to be com- pletely exhausted within thirty years, at current usage levels. If the oil companies do not develop alternative energy sources - they • will be out of business; we will all be out of business. Massive research and development expenditures will be required to develop the alternatives. .Adequate profits, which are inadequate now, will be necessary to finance these costs. 'While containing less than 60 of world population, the U.S. consumes over 20% of world oil production. The U.S. is, therefore, an energy glutton. Many Americans have, arrogantly, come to expect to receive gasoline and other oil based energy forms at 40% of the price the rest of the world pays. The price for continued arrogance will be the eventual economic strangulation of the U.S. by countries willing to pay competitive prices for energy. With this economic strangulation will come unemployment and shortages of goods and services as U.S. production capability begins to wither. We will be forced into accepting increasing socialistic or even communistic government policies in order to assure fair distribution of 4 - •increasingly short supplies of goods and services. In short, we will lose our freedom. The American public will not begin to seriously consider conservation of energy supplies..until its cost is very expensive. The psychological trigger, in the.form of increased price, must be pulled soon, so that conservation will begin in earnest, practiced as only Americans can when confronted with a challenge. As to excessive profits, the public should be made to realize that for each dollar of profit reported by the oil companies, the oil companies paid a dollar in income taxes (even without a windfall profits tax). If the profits are excessive, then it logically follows that the.taxes must also be excessive, since they are equal to the profits. These taxes should be frozen and earmarked for the develop- ment of efficient mass transit facilities to take some of the burden off the average taxpayer for increasing costs and dwindling supplies of energy. Deregulated gasoline prices, floating upward to world prices of.$2.50 a gallon, would force auto manufacturers to more rapidly develop more efficient auto engines, which would double your current mileage per gallon. Your cost of gasoline would double, but you would be able to drive.twice.as far on a gallon. In summary, then, as to domestic effects, deregulation of gaso- line and other oil based energy forms would accomplish the following. (see appendix for specific enactment procedures): 1. provide sufficient.profit to finance the development of . energy alternatives. - 5 - 2. provide sufficient taxes to develop adequate mass transit facilities. 3. provide adequate supplies of oil, while energy alterna- tives are being developed. 4. encourage, if not force, conservation through mass transit use, auto manufacturer and American public efforts. 5. conservation would (a) extend the supply of oil, giving us more time to develop energy alternatives..and (b) reduce the demand for oil, thereby reducing upward price pressures as long as the supply lasts. 6. the continued, present price regulation accomplishes the opposite of these benefits. FOREIGN POLICY Our gluttonous energy consumption and arrogant attitude towards our rights to oil energy sources contribute to our "ugly American" image and waning influence in world affairs. It gives communist countries an opportunity to point out how selfish the U.S. is with its importation of such vast volumes of oil. OPEC will continue to raise prices as long as we keep demanding excessive quantities of oil. Only.through serious conservation can we reduce or impair their ability to raise their prices and diminish their inflationary, impact. Because the OPEC nations have no other significant national resources, they must take advantage of the situation now, in order to provide for their own people when the oil runs out. We compete with other industrialized countries, free_and communist, for oil energy supplies, because energy (like blood in a body) is - 6 - essential to keep industrialized countries alive. Unless present energy supplies can be stretched until alterna- tive energy sources are found, we face an inevitable world war over the remaining energy supplies. Unless alternative energy sources are developed, we can expect this world -wide confrontation far sooner than thirty years from now, when supplies are expected to run out. If history is a reliable teacher, we can expect this apocalypse by the end of the next decade. The U. S. must deregulate the price of oil based energy supplies and must do it in much the same way that cancer chemo- therapy works. In chemo- therapy, a poison is injected into the body as fast as possible to kill the cancer, but notso fast as to kill the body. We must deregulate quickly, but in logical steps. • Inflation and energy shortages are but symptoms of the disease we face - much the same as one of cancer's seven warning signs ( "unusual bleeding ", to name one). The tumor itself, the malignancy, is the world -wide struggle for energy supply supremacy among indus- trialized nations. Unless the medicine of conservation through deregulation pro- vides enough time and money to develop an energy cure in the form of energy alternatives, the body will not survive. Because Resolu- tion 90, 1979, if followed, would preserve the price restriction status quo, which results in poor domestic and foreign policy and ultimately encourages world -wide aggression over control of increas- ingly scarce oil supplies, as well as proliferation of socialist and • communist political and economic ideology, I could not support it. - 7 - • FINAL OBSERVATIONS It is easy to criticize, but much more difficult to develop con- structive alternatives to our present dilemma. In an attempt to pro- vide the beginnings for such alternatives, however, I provided an outline of a program,.attached hereto as Appendix A, to our City Council. In essence the program calls for: (A) An offer by government to the oil companies to deregulate the pricing of oil products. (B) In return for deregulation, the oil companies would agree to the following conditions until such time as the U.S. was free of oil energy dependence: (1) Limit dividend payments to stockholders, keeping more • funds in their companies to finance research and de- velopment of alternatives. (2) Provide an estimated $10 billion, annually, from their increased profits to finance research and development of energy alternatives. (C) Government would allocate the taxes from such increased profits to the development of mass transit facilities and require development of ".life- line" utility rates to protect the elderly, disadvantaged and those on fixed incomes. As a result of the Iranian Crisis, I hear my fellow Americans beginning to understand the serious nature of our energy dependence and the consequences which could occur if the madness possessing Iran were to spread throughout the oil exporting nations. Americans are • rejecting the old policies and practices, such as price control, which got us into the position of being slaves to petroleum energy, I just x .. i like a junkie is dependent upon his.pusher for dope. I believe also, that Americans are on the verge of.rejecting their leaders who con- tinue to support these policies. We want the tools with which to free ourselves from slavery! We want the plans to fight our way back to independence!. We want to regain our dominant, leading role in world affairs! We want to be proud of our country! We want to begin now, while the affrontery to our sensibilities, arising from the Iranian actions, are fresh in our minds. We have the resolve to act now. We must not.let this oppor- tunity pass. Irl RDA /nlh Enclosure. Sincerely,. Richard D. Aldred, CPA City Councilman Palm Beach Gardens, Florida APPENDIX A ALTERNATIVE NG TO RESOLUTION 90, 1979, GIVEN TO THE PALM BEACH GARDENS CITY COUNCIL FOR CONSIDERATION ON.NOVEMBER 6, 1979 WHEREAS the American public has grown weary of being held hostage by the oil producing countries of the world and desire to adopt reasonable plans and take action to free themselves from this economically imposed slavery WHEREAS the continued life of our industrialized economic and free political system is dependent upon adequate supplies of energy to operate our production facilities, maintain employment, provide for employee transportaion to and from their jobs and provide for the health and welfare of United States residents through utility con- sumption WHEREAS the continued increasing demand for energy supplies by indus- trialized countries creates the opportunity for OPEC and other pe- troleum exporting countries to continually raise the price of petroleum energy supplies, contributing to serious world -wide inflation, thereby eroding the purchasing power of all persons and causing hardship for many, which hardship results in people having to make serious decisions concerning their health and welfare - choosing, for example, between food and heating their homes APPENDIX A - CONTINUED WHEREAS the United States, while containing less than six percent of world population consumes approximately twenty percent of world petroleum production and suffers from an international trade deficit thereby contributing to an international energy consumption imbAlance. WHEREAS considering that by most estimates, presently known supplies of petroleum energy will be exhausted by the.end of the next genera- tion of man and that, unless adequate energy alternatives are devel- oped, it is,likely that world -wide aggression over the control of increasingly scarce petroleum energy will occur. • WHEREAS con servation.of petroleum energy is necessary to reduce the demand for and continued inflationary pricing of petroleum products and extend the amount of time we have to develop energy alternatives. WHEREAS, our governmental entities have a proven record of less than adequate energy measures, are ill equipped to develop the required technology, that will require the substantial financing of research and development costs, to provide the energy alternatives necessary to reduce our dependence on petroleum energy • APPENDIX A - CONTINUED NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED That.the City of Palm Beach Gardens proposes our elected govern- mental officials.consider. the following: Section 1 The oil companies would be offered deregulation of petroleum products, to be accomplished over a three year period, to reduce the impact such deregulation would have on essential usage costs and provide for a reasonable transition period. In return for such offer, the oil.companies shall agree to: (A) Limit dividend payments to shareholders to present levels, with no more than ten percent annual increases hereafter, thereby keeping more profits in the companies to finance the . research and development of energy alternatives. (B) Commit no less than fifty percent of their annual net income, before deductions for research and development costs, to research and development of petroleum energy alternatives, providing an estimated $10 billion, annually, for such research, in addition to the Federal Government's $34 billion program. (C) Agree that such conditions shall continue in full force and effect until such time as United States consumption of petroleum shall have decreased to the point where such con- sumption shall be no greater than the percentage of U. S. population to world -wide population (presently, approximately six percent and decreasing). . Section 2 United States governmental authorities shall appropriate all taxes paid on oil company profits, which -taxes will approximately equal oil APPENDIX A - CONTINUED company reported profits, and use such taxes (estimated to exceed $10 billion, annually) together with such other funds which may be appropriated, for the development of adequate mass transit facilities to take the burden of increasing transportation costs off the average consumer. In addition, all public service commissions shall be instructed to require utility companies under their jurisdiction to develop minimum "life -line" rates for their users so that the disadvantaged, the elderly and all persons on fixed and.limited incomes will be assured of adequate health and welfare measures. Section 3 Because of our energy consumption imbalance and in order to reduce .inflation through increased production, until such time as the United • States trade and balance of payments is equalized, foreign aid shall consist,. only, of goods (such as turn -key factories or food) produced - in the United States or services and technology provided by U. S. citizens resident in foreign lands. In addition to providing full employment for U. S. citizens and sharing the benefit of our energy consumption with other countries, such a measure would provide less advantaged countries with the opportunity to participate in the fruits of free enterprise and thereby resist proliferation of socialist and communist economic and political ideology. Section 4 U. S. residents shall be encouraged by all elected officials to • declare the moral equivalent of war on inflation, through conservation .of energy efforts and any other measures, such as reducing the Via• } APPENDIX A - CONTINUED • purchase of non - essential items, until such time as inflation is brought under control, alternative energy supplies have been made abundantly available and we have been freed from our,energy dependent slavery to oil producing countries. . •