Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Town of Palm Beach - Beach Nourishment - Unfinished business

AGENDA DATE: December 17, 2024 DEPARTMENT: City Manager’s office

TITLE: Town of Palm Beach - Beach Nourishment

BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION:

At the December 3, 2024 Commission meeting under New Business, an interlocal agreement with the Town of Palm Beach was approved 4-1 that would allow the Town to utilize the south property line of the beach for nourishment purposes south of Lake Worth Beach.

On December 9, 2024, staff received word that this had been a ballot issue during the November 3, 2009 election. Upon receiving this information, the Clerk confirmed that this initiative passed on the November 3, 2009 ballot (1,971 For / 725 Against).

Unfortunately, the person who held the Clerk position back in 2009 never submitted the results for codification and it never made it into the City Charter (that situation is being rectified). With no current managerial staff being employed by the City back then in conjunction with no mention of the ballot result in the Charter, there was no way to know this history unless you were here at the time.

Upon receipt of this information, however, on December 10, 2024, staff notified the Town of Palm Beach of the 2009 ballot results and that the City would be unable to allow them beach access along the southern property line.

On December 12, 2024, the City received information from the Town of Palm Beach regarding Senate Bill No. 837 and House Bill No. 1124 from 1935 – both of which discuss a 10’ strip of land from the mean high-water line that moves 10’ to the west.

Per the Town, this strip is incorporated Town of Palm Beach and listed in their Charter as part of their corporate limits. In short, the Town is now proposing to utilize this 10’ strip of beach for trucks to haul sand down the entire Lake Worth Beach beachfront from north to south, which would include driving under the William O. Lockhart Pier.

MOTION: N/

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