HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Council 120561CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS
• SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
DECEMBER 5, 1961
SPECIAL MEETING: Upon call of the Vice Mayor, acting as Mayor, a special meeting
of the City Council of Palm Beach Gardens was held at 10:00 o'clock A.M.
on Tuesday, December 5, 1961, at the municipal office of said City, 1001
Park Avenue, Lake Park, Florida.
WAIVER OF NOTICE: Waiver of Notice and Ratification is attached to these minutes.
Mr. John D. MacArthur, Chairman of the Board and President of
Bankers Life and Casualty Company, and Mr. Herbert B. Thompson, former
Mayor of the City, were present at the meeting at the invitation of the
Council.
PURPOSE OF The Vice Mayor, acting as Mayor, advised the members of the
MEETING:
Council that the meeting had been called to take action with reference
• to a gift of certain parcels of realty by Bankers Life and Casualty Company
to the City. The property in question consists of portions of Sections
11 and 12, Township 42 South, Range 42 East, Palm Beach County, Florida
and is subject to an outstanding mortgage having a principal balance of
$173,586.57, as of January 1, 1961. The Mayor advised that this land had
already been incorporated within the territorial limits of the City, but
the Council had not as yet formally and officially accepted the gift
because of certain pending matters involving the use of this land by the
City and the incurring of obligations with respect thereto.
The Vice Mayor stated that the City had been negotiating with
the Professional Golfers' Association of America for some time with a
view to inducing P. G. A. to establish its headquarters in the City. The
• Vice Mayor said that these negotiations had culminated in a tentative
arrangement between the City,and P. G. A. and that, accordingly, in order
Special Meeting of the City Council
Balm Beach Cardens
December 5, 1961 (continued)
to make the transaction possible, the City had asked Bankers Life and
• Casualty Company to make the City a gift of sufficient lands for the
purpose of consummating such arrangement. The Vice Mayor - further stated
that Bankers Life had made the City a gift of the lands referred to in
the preceding paragraph for this purpose.
The Vice Mayor stated that, while he recognized that this was
not a usual transaction for a City and might be a difficult undertaking
for a new city like Palm Beach Gardens, he nonetheless felt that the
City should go forward with the transaction and accept the gift for the
purpose of completing the transaction with P.G.A. because of the many
benefits which would accrue to the City from the transaction. He
pointed out that the consummation of the transaction would, among other
things, (1) provide additional revenue to the City through the taxes
• P. G. A. would pay, (2) give the residents of the City the use of two
championship golf courses, (3) make Palm Beach Gardens the golf capital
of the world, and give it enormous publicity from the national and
international golf tournaments which would be held in the City, and (4)
provide new residents in the City from the P. G. A. staff.
A general discussion was had concerning the transaction with
P. G. A. in the course of which Mr. Thompson, after observing that he
believed the transaction would be of great benefit to the City, asked
what position the City would find itself in if for any reason the City
found at some future date the transaction with P. G. A. could not be
completed or it was undesirable to do so. In this connection, Mr. Thompson
stated that a New York lawyer who was an expert in municipal affairs had
advised him that, while this would not be an improper transaction for
• the City, it was sometimes difficult to work out the technical details
when a municipality was involved in a matter like this; for example, the
Special Meeting of the City Council
Palm Beach Cardens
December 5, 1961 (continued)
lawyer said that it might be impossible to obtain unqualified opinions
• of legal counsel for this reason. Mr. Thompson also stated that the same
lawyer had told him that the City might conceivably find it difficult
or even impossible to close the transaction because of these technical
problems. Mr. Thompson thereupon suggested that the transaction be
handled some other way,, as he understood the involvement of the City in
the transaction would unnecessarily create problems.
The Vice Mayor stated that there was considerable opposition
by some of the members of P. G. A., particularly those in California and
the western section, to the location of P. G. A.'s headquarters in
Florida. However, he understood that P. G. A.'s executives had already
approved in principle the transaction with the City, and he strongly
urged that the Council not rock the boat at this time lest the City lose
• the benefits of the transaction altogether.
Mr. Miller stated that it was to be observed that if the
transaction was underway and the City should find itself unable or
unwilling to complete the transaction, and it did not work out some
other suitable method for completing the transaction, the City might
expose itself to liability to P. G. A.
Mr. Cargill pointed out that, as all of the members of the
Council were aware, the only purpose of the City accepting the gift of
this land was the completion of the transaction with P. G. A. and, if
that became undesirable or impossible, it definitely seemed to him that
the City should be in a position, in view of the great benefit which would
accrue to the City from the location of the P. G. A. in the City, to
work out the transaction in some other way so that these benefits could
• be preserved.
Mr. Lehane then stated that in such an eventuality, and even
gp2ciel Meeting of the City Council
Palm Beach Gardens
December 5, 1961 (continued)
in the unlikely event the transaction could not be completed some other
• way, the City should not, in any case, be burdened with the expense and
difficulty of holding and maintaining the land and golf courses or
attempting to make some other disposition of them. In this connection,
he also stated that, once the golf courses were under construction, he
estimated that the City would be committed, as a practical matter, to
expend upwards of $1,000,000.00 which would be necessary to complete
them and that the expenses of maintaining them, once completed, would
also be very great. In this connection, Mr. Lehane estimated that the
golf courses might cost as much as $200,000.00 per year for maintenance
alone. He pointed out that the population of the City alone (i.e.
without P. G. A.) could not possibly make the operation of the courses
profitable but that there would, of necessity, be a substantial deficit
from operations.
It was agreed by all of the Council members that this would be
a staggering financial burden for a new city to carry, and that the
City must be fully protected against the possibility of the transaction
not being consummated for any reason.
Mr. Thompson suggested that, if the transaction could not be
completed or if it was undesirable to do so, the City should have the
absolute right to reconvey the land and improvements to Bankers Life and
also assign the City's rights in the whole transaction to Bankers Life
so that Bankers Life could complete the transaction and so that, in any
event, the City could be relieved of its responsibilities for the land,
improvements and transaction. Mr. Lehane pointed out in this connection
that it seemed to him in such a case that the City should also be given
• all amounts expended by it in connection with the transaction and be
indemnified against any liability or obligation it might have on
Sp6bIal Meeting of the City Council
Palm Beach Gardens
December 5, 1961 (continued)
account of having entered into the transaction or having held the land
0 and improvements.
The Vice Mayor stated that it should be pointed out that the
P. G. A. was a very responsible organization, and that it was hard for him
to believe there would be any serious problems in completing the transaction.
Mr. Miller pointed out, however, that he believed it was the duty of the
Council to make provision for the problems just discussed. Mr. Miller
further stated that, above all, the City should make it absolutely clear
to Bankers Life that the City was accepting the gift of the property and
entering into the transaction with P. G. A. upon a fundamental proviso;
namely that the transaction did not prove impossible of completion or the
City did not find it undesirable to do so. The Council unanimously endorsed
this proposition. Mr. MacArthur stated that this proviso had always been
implicit in his thinking about the transaction and that, first, Bankers Life
would do everything within its power to see to it that the transaction was
completed, if not by the City then by Bankers Life so that all of the
benefits to the City would be preserved, and second, Bankers Life did not
intend, in any case, to allow a millstone to be hung around the City's neck.
Mr. MacArthur suggested that in due course the whole matter should be
embodied in an agreement between the City and Bankers Life.
ACCEPTANCE OF Thereupon, after further discussion, the following recitals and
GIFT OF LAND:
resolutions were unanimously adopted:
WHEREAS, Bankers Life and Casualty Company has offered as a gift,
and the City of Palm Beach gardens is desirous of accepting, so much of that
certain land located within the City of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and
more particularly described as follows, as is necessary for the purpose of
completing the transaction with P. G. A. described in this meeting:
• All of Section 11, Township 42 South, Range 42 East,
except the East half of the Northeast quarter there-
of, and also except all of that portion of said
Special Meeting of the City Council
Palm Beach Gardens
December 5, 1961 (continued)
Section 11 lying North of a line which is parallel to
• and 500 feet southerly from (measured at right angles
to) the southerly right -of -way line of Monet Road as
now laid out and in use, bounded on the East by the
West line of the East half.of the Northeast quarter
of said Section 11 and bounded on the West by the
West line of said 'Section 11,
Subject to an existing mortgage recorded in Official
Record Book 227, at pages 502, et seq., Palm Beach
County Public Records, Florida, and having a principal
balance as of January 1, 1961 of $173,586.57; and
All of that portion of the West half of Section 12,
Township 42 South, Range 42 East, lying South of a
line which is parallel to and 500 feet southerly from
(measured at right angles to) the southerly right -of-
way line of Monet Road as now laid out and in use,
less all of that portion of the Northwest quarter of
the Northeast quarter of the Northwest quarter of
Section 12 which lies within the boundaries of the
above described parcel of land, and subject to the
right -of -way of Military Trail as now laid out and
in use; and
All of that portion of the Northwest quarter of the
• Northeast quarter of the Northwest quarter of Section
12, Township 42 South, Range 42 East, lying South.of
a line which is parallel to and 500 feet southerly
from (measured at right angles to) the southerly
right -of -way line of Monet Road as now laid out and
in use; and
WHEREAS, the City of Palm Beach Gardens will assume and agree
to pay the aforesaid mortgage indebtedness; and
WHEREAS, the City has accepted the gift of such lands for the
purpose of consummating the transaction with P. G. A. described in this
meeting and, if the consummation of such transaction should prove
impossible or undesirable for any reason, the City is to have the right
to reconvey the lands to Bankers Life and Casualty Company so that that
Company can complete the transaction and the benefits thereof to the
City can be preserved and so that in any event the City may relieve
itself of the responsibilities for the transaction and such lands, all
• upon a basis to be mutually agreed upon between the City and Bankers
Life.
Special Meeting of the City Council
Palm Beach Gardens
December 5, 1961 (continued)
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED That the CITY OF PALM BEACH
• GARDENS, in Common Council convened, does hereby accept the gift of
said land from BANKERS LIFE AND CASUALTY COMPANY, for the lawful
public purposes of the City (being the transaction with P. G. A.
as referred to in these minutes), and does hereby further assume and
agree to pay the aforesaid mortgage indebtedness.
ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business before the Council, the
meeting was adjourned.
ATTEST:
is
APPROVED:
NORMAN D. ROWLAND, VICE MAYOR, ACTING AS MAYOR