Once you change zoning on a parcel of land, you have opened up that parcel to all sorts of development possibilities that fit the legal land use.Every single applicant to the P&Z the other night, when asked, said that the height and density of a building should correspond to the surrounding buildings and the neighborhood in general. Even Phil Spinelli’s son, an applicant for P&Z, said he was surprised when he came back from school one year and saw The Lucerne building on Lake and Lucerne. It just does not fit in our downtown and the politicians at that time allowed it to happen in spite of outcries and eventually a lawsuit from residents.
Take the Sunset property as an example—the P&Z recommended that it be annexed into the City with zoning at MF-20, which means, 20 units to an acre. It had been zoned agriculture in the County. This was the deal cut with the owner allowing him to make as much money as possible and for the City to get the maximum potential of tax. Also, the owner, Ray Smith, was a former employee of the City of Lake Worth with many ties to the City. The Commission agreed to up-zoning in spite of the neighborhood objections.
It was annexed in with the stipulation that the developer only could build 10 units per acre or 40 units there. Nadine Burns cleverly came up with that “deal” at the last minute during a heated meeting at City Hall. So, if you take an arbitrary figure of each unit paying $2,000 a year in over all ad valorem taxes, or $80,000, Lake Worth would expect to receive the millage rate of 8.3030. So, we are talking about destroying and changing an entire neighborhood to receive a small amount of money each year, not to mention the infrastructure involved to build the project.
Although an agreement was met with the owner of the Sunset property only to build 10 units per acre, if the property is flipped, and there is every possibility that it will, the next owner will lobby to build what is allowed under that zoning. The agreement in place can be changed. The Deed restriction is not cut in stone. With residential units, that would mean 20 units per acre in a residential neighborhood that is only 7 units per acre. The owner/developer will cry foul, that he can’t make a profit and must build per zoning. There is only one thing that the Commission can do in this case, let him build whatever, per Code, and to the max. The “best” of intentions can go array but what is legally allowed, stands. Nadine knew this too. The only one conned in this entire process was the church minister at Sunset, still believing in the good intentions of people, I suppose.
Our beachfront would be subject to the same thing once zoning is changed to BAC, a commercial zoning. You can bet your booty that a developer will want to build to the max allowed under that zoning and where he wants. Because the present Commission is very conscious of developers taking hold of our beach and not wanting that to occur, does not mean that future commissions as well as Planning and Zoning Boards, backed by development interests, will not allow further commercialization of our beach. What is or is not allowed to be built there per the code is not clear and is actually at the will of the P&Z and the Commission as long as it gets State of Florida approval. Developers concentrate on USE (what is allowed per Code) and will pursue that to their legal ability to build what they want within the setback and other requirements of that zoning. And why not? We must protect our beachfront from the very real possibility of corruption involving elected officials, Staff, Planning & Zoning Boards and greedy developers. This means retaining the present zoning of PROS at our beach.
So, the only way to protect land use changes to our Comprehensive Plan is to vote in Florida Hometown Democracy in 2010. In this way, the residents will vote on any changes to Comp Plans that affect their city and not leave it up to planning and zoning boards influenced by development at any cost and local politicians influenced by the “promise” and possibility of added tax dollars at the price of ruining neighborhoods.
What we can do right now is to reverse the bad decision on Sunset and on our beachfront, which to me could be considered as Contract zoning for a developer at the time, Greater Bay and clearly illegal, and retaining the zoning that is in place at both areas. The City is giving a song and dance as to why we must have it commercially zoned anyway with them saying the stores should not be there in PROS zoning. This is bogus and they are allowed there, grandfathered in per PROS zoning, if we refurbish/restore what we have in the same footprint.
Comprehensive Plan changes are political. And when we have elected officials who are honest and looking out for the best interests of all of us who live here, we don't have to worry. But we need to protect the residents from changes to our Plan for development, for development’s sake, and from future commissions.
