Highlights from Lake Worth (Beach) Commission Meeting

Palm Beach Post: City Commission meeting of February 4, 2020

1. CITY COMMISSION OVERTURNS PLANNING BOARD DECISION: The commission voted unanimously to reject a bid by a granite business for a conditional use permit. Kadassa Marble & Granite had its request for a permit approved by the Planning and Zoning Board in October even though the company has operated without a business license since 2015. Kadassa, located at 1812 Aragon Avenue, has at least one other pending code violation for inadequate fencing. The planning board’s ruling was appealed by two residents whose arguments including the complaint that dust coming from Kadessa was settling around the surrounding neighborhood and posing a health risk. “It’s like asbestos, it can get into your lungs and kill you,” resident Michael Glaser said. Another resident who works at a nearby body shop told the commission, “The dust is unbearable. I have to constantly clean that white powder out of my shop daily. It really needs to stop.” Kadassa representatives insisted all the dust coming from the business was being swept up by a wet system. Commissioners were highly critical of Kadessa’s actions while voting in favor of the appeal. “We’re not obliged, especially when you don’t meet our standards, to give you special permission that’s going to harm folks, and that’s exactly what this does,” said Commissioner Omari Hardy.

2, NORTH GRADE ELEMENTARY ADDS 8th GRADE: After adding sixth grade in 2018-19 and seventh grade at the beginning of the 2019-20 school year, North Grade Elementary is adding eighth grade beginning in the fall. The new grades are only for dual-language students who have been in the program for at least two years, Principal Nicole Patterson told the city commission. Dual-language students take half their classes in English and the other half in Spanish. The older students work out of a building away from K-5 students. They also eat in a different lunchroom and are released from school 15 minutes after the younger students leave school. Patterson told commissioners that “all the research shows” that keeping dual language students in the same school shows results in those students performing better “academically, emotionally and behaviorally.”

3. HEARING ON DIXIE HIGHWAY LANE REDUCTION POSTPONED: A presentation scheduled for Tuesday night by the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency regarding reducing Dixie Highway in Lake Worth Beach from three lanes to four was postponed, likely until the next city commission meeting on Feb. 18. The elimination of one lane would allow room for bike lanes or wider sidewalks shared by pedestrians and bicyclists. A center turn lane would be used by vehicles traveling in both directions. Before the roadway work can take place, a traffic study must be undertaken. The TPA and Lake Worth Beach Community Redevelopment Agency have agreed to each foot $50,000 toward the study. The commission must agree that it would be responsible for any additional funds.

jmilian@pbpost.com @caneswatch