Richard Stowe's OP-Ed Piece on Historic Lake Worth

Point of View: Do more to preserve Lake Worth Beach’s historic downtown

Letters to the Editor--Point of View
Palm Beach Post
July 20, 2020

Do More to Preserve Lake Worth Beach's historic Downtown

With sunlight fading on a Saturday evening in 2012, a new friend drove me through the heart of Lake Worth (Beach) past Old Lake Worth City Hall, its library, post office, City Hall and Cultural Council.

A decade earlier, the National Register of Historic Places designated most of downtown as an “Historic Old Town Commercial District.” City Planning Commission Chair Frank Palen laid the groundwork by writing a strong City Historic Preservation Ordinance in the 1990s.

From 2017 to 2020, the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) bought 11 properties south of Lake Avenue (SoLA). The ordinance allowed adjacent property owners to appeal the historic board’s decision to conditionally approve demolishing seven CRA contributing historic structures. The City Commission upheld that decision in a quasi-judicial hearing, and one owner sued over the commission’s decision in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Court.

The CRA’s SoLA RFP summary states that existing contributing historic “structures” must first be “demolished” or “moved” offsite before “new construction permits are released.” That certainly runs counter to the CRA’s mission in its Redevelopment Plan: “Restoration of historic structures and ... architectural guidelines for ... building renovations are fundamental aspects of the Lake Worth redevelopment program.”

The alternative to the RFP’s development parameters is to optimize use of city and CRA buildings. Move Community Sustainability to Old Lake Worth City Hall, a building dominated by part-time volunteer uses. That will benefit the avenues, as employees and visitors stream into nearby food, beverage and retail establishments. By relocating downtown, the walk from Community Sustainability to City Hall decreases from 25 minutes to 7 minutes.

To make way for Community Sustainability, relocate utility department employees to 501 Lake Avenue, welcome Visitor Center volunteers to a small building at 509 Lake and History Museum volunteers and Children’s room staff to a renovated 26 S L, a two-story house designed by Edgar Wortman, Lake Worth Beach’s public library architect.

Eliminating arbitrary minimum off-street parking requirements in Historic Old Town makes room for restored contributing historic structures and new workforce housing to co-exist south of Lake Avenue.

The 25- or 50-foot wide parcels and street grid platted by surveyors in 1912 give Lake Worth (Beach) its historic charm and value. The city’s past should be present, not a memory in photo archives.

RICHARD STOWE, LAKE WORTH BEACH