The City Commission approved a contract with Camp, Dresser and McGee (CDM) for the park of Commerce Needs Assessment Study for $455,000. CDM will be evaluating the necessary infrastructure to support the development.
The U.S. Department of Commerce EDA Grant was $250,000 and will be applied towards the total contract award. CDM will determine the existing architecture and all information will be imputed into a GIS database which will become the property of the City of Lake Worth along with all specs and plans. They will provide a Master Plan and Environmental Report with development recommendations. $35.033 will be spent on public participation.
CDM won the contract out of eight applicants and has formed a team consisting of Erin L. Deady of Lewis, Longman and Walker, "a legal firm that focuses on specialized and often technical areas of environmental and land use law, employment law, government relations, public finance and real estate law. Specific talents, knowledge and contacts are necessary for each field." Deady, along with Jane West of Collins West, represented McCauley/McNamara in the law suit against the City of Lake Worth regarding the Greater Bay Contract. Their suit was withdrawn once Greater Bay was removed by the City.
Also on their team is Collene Walter of Kilday & Associates. Kilday merged with Urban Design at the end of 2008 making it the largest urban design, planning and landscape architecture firm in Palm Beach County. Ms. Walter, if you recall, is the one hired by the investors of the Sunset parcel who came before the City Commission and spoke against the neighborhood and our Comp Plan.
Ms. Walter did not "speak against" the neighborhood - she was representing a client, fielded neighborhood concerns, addressed them by amending their proposal, etc. She also presented ways in which the project met the goals, objectives and policies in the Comp Plan. She was doing her job as a certified urban planner and provided competent and substantive evidence so that the Planning Board could make their recommendation.
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