WAKE ME WHEN IT’S OVER…..

The Master Plan Steering Committee invited the Commission to meet with them in order to get some reason to continue on as a MPSC….What they got in this writer’s opinion was a reason to “drag their feet” and wait until March 2010 to replace the Broom Boys and the Town Manager…and then perhaps have a newly appointed committee that will be productive due to constructive direction coming from those that replace these 3!…

This meeting was a total embarrassment…a waste of time for the committee…and those who attended and are well aware of how truly lacking in information the majority STILL is……

In attendance were the MPSC / Commission/ Town Clerk/Town Manager/ Town Engineer/ Town Architect-Planner/ 3 residents/Mc-Furth Times Editor Cristie Furth/ Pompano Pelican Reporter Judy Vik/ this writer….

The Mayor spoke of what this meeting was called ….for direction concerning the El Mar Drive Project. and turned it over to MPSC Chair Paul Novak ….He spoke of the purpose being the El Mar project but hoped to discuss other matters as well….He spoke of the project winner …the million…and where to go from here…The Mayor said they should go around the table for Commissioners to speak…She asked the Vice Mayor to begin…he passed…Comm. Clottey said she wanted the architect to incorporate the existing plantings (she said they cost $150,000) in front of Oriana…she spoke of underground wiring…storm sewers and not having the money go all to landscaping…Comm. Silverstone repeated what he has said from the dais…that the medians should not be the focus…and he feels it’s dangerous for pedestrians to be using the medians…he agreed with Comm. Clottey about  underground wiring ….along with flooding and spoke (incredibly) about long time flooding in the north end of El Mar by Washingtonia…he ended with saying it should have a”feeling of pride”…make it “more pleasing” … “keeping a mantra of a small seaside community.”…HUH?…Comm. Dodd informed Comm. Silverstone (correctly) Washingtonia was not part of this (it can only be used south of Commercial Blvd….Homework Jimmy?)….He spoke of the expense of underground wiring and that 1 million won’t cover it…Comm. Dodd said we should include as much as we can of the student’s work and again spoke of his desire of El Mar not being a straight lane…(His pet project is for a meandering road)…Vice Mayor McIntee disagreed with Comm. Dodd saying it should be a straight road and compared it to Misner Park…”straight from one end to another”…He said we were stuck with 1 lane (in front of Oriana) and we should not take the $150,000 landscaping in the mediums out (where did that figure come from?)…Comm. Clottey added that during special events people parked along the medians and that needs to be “kept in mind”…Paul said we should start out with a landscape architect…and agree with leaving the median in front of Oriana alone…stating that left only 3…He asked if any monies could go to the North and VM McIntee said it cannot…..Paul added the need for lighting…and said at least we will see something and it would be a “great accomplishment”…Comm. Clottey said she spoke to “Mr Sehl” and he said solar lighting was not yet available in the U.S….but it was something that we should think about …(audience members disagreed with the assertion of unavailability)…Sandra Booth again spoke of Barbara Wayne who was available to present to the committee and the town her expertise with the most sustainable plant materials available….The Vice Mayor asked if we needed an RFP “if we can afford it”…The Mayor indicated that at the the meeting were Chen and Assoc. Engineers and Ocampo and Assoc. (architect)…and offered them each 5 minutes …

The Town Manager’s lack of informing them about the history of LBTS and El Mar Drive….was embarrassingly evident when Ben Chen of Chen and Assoc. came the podium to speak of having a long term development plan with the community coming together and having charettes!…HELLO?…We have done that…we have had long term development plans…we have had Master plans…3 of them Comm. Silverstone said…Mr Chen also spoke of having a “Ritz Carlton” at one end of El Mar!….OUCH!…He must have picked up the vibe that he was heading in the wrong direction and reeled his comments back in to address underground wiring…the problems with FPL and the prohibitive costs to do so….He spoke of the “unusual elevations we have on El Mar and said we “don’t have a serious flooding problem”…HUH?…He said it could be remedied with paving….REALLY?….and then finally addressed the students work and what could be created …talking of a linear park…a signature project for residents and tourists…going on to speak of planning…and the costs…that having only a million and deciding where that million would be could create a problem…(again was he not informed that we are tied to where it can be used?)…He added we could use grants and stimulus money …even putting forth the idea (and saying this probably wasn’t the time to talk about it) for a special assessment for burying the lines…ending with saying all options were put on the table….Marc Furth asked his opinion about burying the lines under the medians instead of the sidewalks…Mr. Chen went further into the costs…and the hoops required in dealing with FPL…adding if we ever decided to do it his company could do for less….Marc said he had concerns of doing the medians only to dig them up later…wanting instead 8 foot sidewalks….Ernie Ojito from Ocampo then stood at the podium and spoke of projects his company had done…being architects/planners/ and landscape architects…He too was not informed prior …bringing up a Master Plan…and phases …beautifying and incorporating the designs….He spoke of funding available and artists who will get involved such projects. …The VM said we were “off on a tangent” and spoke of the students…the contest …the meetings …that this was like the pavilion ….and how much will it cost to do the student’s project….He wanted it broken down “This is pie in the sky”…(must have wanted to get back on his newest VFD acquisition the 102 ft. ladder truck waiting for him in the El Prado parking lot)…”trust in the students”…The Mayor said the students aren’t professionals…they came up with “thoughts, ideas” they were “creative” with their concepts but now the professionals needed to work to make it a “pedestrian friendly walkway” and take care of the hospitality businesses like Mr. Furths…when phasing it in…Mr Ojito said they can come up with the concept and then it can be scaled down…Again a Master Plan…The Mayor said we’ve done that…the Town Manager said they were outdated….and Comm. Clottey chimed in to ask the TM about a memo she received saying we (LBTS) cannot get stimulus funds “because we’re too small” [in population]…Yann Brandt was sitting a few rows behind Ms. Colon and said that was wrong…TM Colon said that it was correct…Mr. Brandt disagreed and the Town Manager said  to taxpayer/resident Brandt…”I’m not going to argue with you”…Below is an e-mail sent to the Comm./TM from Yann after the meeting and the letter he sent in response to an inquiry fro the TM….(Yann had a discussion with Comm. Clottey after the 1st budget meeting and then received a letter from the TM)…

E-MAIL AND LETTER FROM YANN BRANDT….

Members of the Commission and Town Manager,

I had the distinct pleasure to attend today’s MPSC meeting with all in attendance. In a short 30 minute timeframe, you managed to say something utterly ridiculous, but said it with conviction.

First of, the Town Manager managed to completely rework how stimulus funding is allocated. According to her “expertise”, LBTS is not eligible for EECBG funding. I do have to give it to our TM, she says things with conviction. Since it is her method to ensure that those beneath her are less qualified and does not wish to listen to the resident’s that may know better. Let me reiterate as I did in the meeting, the Town Manager is wrong yet again.

DE-FOA-000013 is the funding guideline for the energy efficiency and community block grant (EECBG). I have attached the guideline for your leisure and to show you in black and white that her conviction does not work for those of us that have the ability to do our homework, which apparently the TM does not wish to do.

“B. ESTIMATED FUNDING
• The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 appropriated $3.2 Billion ($3,200,000,000)
for EECBG for fiscal year 2009. DOE will retain $59 million to provide technical assistance and
training for grantees under the program. The amounts available for grants are as follows:
• $1,863,881,000 for formula grants to eligible cities and counties
• $767,480,000 for formula grants to states
• $54,819,900 for formula grants to eligible Indian tribes”

Please see the portion which differentiates between formula allocation and to State allocation. LBTS does not qualify for formula allocation as that was restricted to the largest Cities and Counties in each State, even Broward County did not qualify for formula allocation. As described by DE-FOA-000013 below

“STATES AND TERRITORIES: DISTRIBUTION OF SUBGRANTS
Each state that receives a grant under the program shall use not less than 60 percent of the amount
received to provide subgrants to units of local government in the state that are not eligible for direct
formula grants. The state shall provide the subgrants not later than 180 days after the date on which the
Secretary approves the proposed energy efficiency and conservation strategy.
States are required to develop a sub-granting process that expeditiously allocates funding, prevents
fraudulent spending, generates robust reporting, and promotes the EECBG Program principles stated
above.”

The State of Florida will be subgranting over $16 million dollars to non formula allocated Cities and Counties across our State. Now, you may think that this is simple oversight by the Town Manager, however she knew about this. Why? Because she had corresponded with me via USPS mail on the subject to which I replied via USPS and even had a follow up conversation with the Asst. TM. The letter is attached and portion of it states

“A vast majority of the funding was made available through formula allocation to Cities and Counties across the Country. $168 million dollars was allocated to the State of Florida. The share of funds allocated to the State Energy Office was approximately $30 million, 60% of which must be made available to non-formula allocated government entities.
The grant applications will be forthcoming shortly from Governor Crist’s Energy Office, led by Mr. Jeremy Susac. His office can provide guidance to the Town for further information. Feel free to mention my name as an introduction.”

When correct at the meeting, TM Colon told me with authority or shall I say with conviction that I was wrong and did not wish to argue with me. I do not wish to argue either, but be sure to be correct when stating something with “conviction” in a publicly aired meeting because you are our “expert” our “manager” and we must be able to believe that what the TM says is the truth and is correct.

With continuing great concern for the lack of adequate leadership shown in our Town.

Yann Brandt
Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Resident and Taxpayer

Chen and Assoc. Engineer Shaun Bamforth went further into the abyss by speaking about the “big question” one lane or two lanes …GULP!….saying we have both…talking of incorporating some designs and having 8 foot sidewalks and a bike lane!….Paul reiterated what happened with the lanes on El Mar and all that stated even with 8 foot sidewalks they will continue to walk in the street….Marc brought up the 440 parking spaces…and Paul asked for a ballpark figure for the report…Mr. Bamforth said we still had $1900 left over from the MPSC height study (recently done for P&Z/MPSC) and that would be more than enough to cover it…The Manager spoke up and said “I thought this Commission wanted to incorporate the students”…HUH?…Comm. Silverstone never disappointing in providing material said he watched the Tour De France and he would like to have art in the medians and keep the 2 lanes but have “squiggly lines” in one lane and that would be the walking lane…Michael San Miguel said they did their homework…the students did an  excellent job and we have no numbers at this point…but if it was going to be 20 million they [committee] were wasting their time….Again Ocampo talked Master Plan…the Mayor reiterated the points …walking friendly…2 lanes…drainage…residents…businesses….and parking capable…Comm. Clottey asked for the preliminary work in a week…saying “we don’t have to drag our feet.”…(That’s exactly what they should do)…Paul said they had consensus to get a number from each firm…the Mayor said with a million to use…the VM said he disagreed with that…Paul said it was what we could do with a million…and Comm. Clottey asked to save the trees or they needed to be moved elsewhere in thee town… …Mr. Bamforth felt some would need to be moved….The Town Manager wanted to make sure each company knew which project they were working with…project #1….and proceeded to point out the wrong one…She said it was missmarked…BUT…the winning project was the only model submitted (asleep at the wheel?)…Sandra spoke of the 2005 Master Plan (which shows it certainly is not outdated)…and problems encountered with maintenance…Paul said we should not call it a Master Plan…it brought forth negative reactions…and Shaun Bamforth said call it a Conceptual Plan…Paul asked to go down the list although he understood the meeting was called to address only El Mar Drive (on the agenda)…He wanted to talk of some future things for MPSC to do…Briefly they spoke of grant monies …and the Mayor said most were matching funds in this economic climate…Bus Shelters…went untouched…Paul’s pet project…a pedestrian overpass over A1A…no discussion (no money)…and parking for new restaurants…getting rid of the requirement…and this one brought out a real humdinger!…Vice Mayor/Dep Chief McIntee warned this was “dangerous” …”very political” for a board member to talk about something that could benefit themselves….saying the “perception is there!”….HA!…What a joke for the VM to be warning anybody about “perception” …Paul was not deterred and continued on about the death knell in our town from being tied down with parking requirements…and it ended with discussion on a parking garage with Jimmy-boy then stating we have an small inventory of parking spaces with none available…stating business owners should build a parking garage…not the town…Hmmm…

BC- So there you have it…to see if there is any forward movement in this million dollar El Mar Project….stay tuned for next week’s report….

Is it August yet?…..

more to come….

Tags: Boards, LBTS Agendas/Meetings, LBTS El Mar Drive Project, local government, Local Politics, Scoops
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LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE….

The Master Plan Steering Committee invited the Commission to come and give them direction for where the committee can best serve them and the town…

They will meeting in Jarvis Hall at 5 pm tonight (7/20/09)…public is welcomed and should have an opportunity to comment!…

It will be televised on Comcast Ch.78/ online at the Town website… http://lbts.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2

The Manager indicated it is time to deal with a new 5 year Master Plan…. along with El Mar Drive….

will post afterward…..on the content…

Tags: Boards, future development in lbts, local government, Local Politics, Scoops
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WHICH CAME FIRST………

Dear Readers at the June LBTS-MPSC monthly meeting Former Commissioner -MC-BFF /Town & VFD Photog/ Editor of the BTSTimes/Coordinator of the 2009 July 4th event/and owner Town Hall East-MPSC member Furth …was quite talkative…reflective and (some say) revisionist on a variety of topics…In this post we’ll address the agenda items under Old Business…The Overlay District…and New Business which moved to the Mainstreet Project… A proposal for the Town to buy up property on El Mar Drive……Parking and parking garages…(Oh me , oh my!)….

Discussion began as each member reflected on on the A.I. El Mar Design Project…the hits and the misses in the process..Each member was cognizant of a good program that was enacted for the second time (first was the successful pavilion competition) that went array…as it entered the award stage and “the ball was dropped” resulting in a “Mickey Mouse”finale with the Commission.. …MPSC Chair Paul Novak spoke about the Chen & Assoc. presentation discussed at the prior MPSC meeting (5/19/09) and presented to the Commission by Paul and P&Z Chair Peanuts Wick…saying it went well and their job was done…Vice Chair Sandra Booth passed…Mike San Miguel said he missed the last meeting was not prepared on the topic and voiced his continued concern for the lack of lighting…Louis Dvorak said he thought the discussion was informative, interesting and that Chen & Assoc. did a good job on the drawing…Paul added it will ultimately go for a vote in March …

Former Mayor Wardlaw’s wife and Furth BFF- Maryann ” I got kinda left with an empty feeling on it. Empty only because there’s this thing that happens between us and then there’s this time thing that happens, you know. I watched the commissioners talk about it and whatnot. But I know there’s, then they realize that they’re going to the March election that we have time, it’s going to get heated it’s, we’re gonna get right back into it again. But I think with the gap you know, I sort of feel like we got dropped out in space, okay, this is what we did but I’m not sure when it really gets down to what we did was all that, gonna influence. I don’t know I ah, ah had an uneasy feeling watching them. But I know it’s gonna get heated and it’ll get into full gear so, it’s one of those subjects that has a tendency to that.”

BC- In other words… the Mc-Gang is “gearin’ up”!…No Overlay…no way…no how!…

Marc Furth- ” I know we that we had talked about this before, the only thing I’d like to critique one thing is I did miss the last meeting (July 4th committee meeting public safety complex…prev. post) so I didn’t hear everything about the drawing that we had made up and I was, I would appreciate though that before we presented something to the town that we would have a meeting maybe. I missed that meeting? Did we have a meeting? No, but he [Peanuts] presented the drawing after you had a meeting after, to discuss it. (Paul said Peanuts said the commission wanted to see the drawings ) I thought that should come before the board first before we present it at the town. (Paul said the drawings were not going beck to be changed so, it was fine) But, it would have been nice to have an opportunity to discuss what was on it ”

Marilyn Carr- (also missed the last joint meeting of MPSC/P&Z last month for the July 4th committee meeting) and said the committee did their due diligence..

Paul then went on to ask for ideas on 4 to 5 items to give commission unless there was something more on the overlay…

Marc- ” I have something , I’ll come out with ah, I like Michael’s idea (to deal with lighting on El Mar) I think that some of the problems that we have especially on El Mar Drive are lighting. Now, now um, I think that should be addressed before we even do the, the median area. Now you know we could take that plan that we have and incorporate lighting into and maybe we could do it in stages but I think that maybe the money that they have for the Oriana money and I don’ care if it goes north or south or if it just stays in the south, but I think it would be really nice if that we get some lighting and possibly, I don’t know where it would be the easiest place to put it would be in the median ah, but it could also be on the sidewalks area as well but maybe we could put lighting in the median in that area and continue on with that in the future but I think that would be a good start.”

Paul spoke about the use  …and then sewers and what that entails…Mike added that it was the boards task to present some ideas…and the money coming in from here and there…

Marc-” But then again if, if you know what’s in the Capital Improvement projects, what’s funded you know what you could work on. Something that you know might be a possibility rather than just bringing up something that like we could be working on for months and months and it could just be shelved and it wouldn’t go forward.”

BC- Remember the above statement…as you read on…

Paul spoke about it being a beautification project in the south only..as murmurs could be heard on concurring with this assessment…

Marc- ” You could ask that question again. Even if it’s just on the south side it’s fine,do it on the south side.”

Marilyn asserted that in conversations with Assist. TM Olinzock it was made clear the stipulations for the south end…adding “John” sad they could apply for grant money for the north…Afterward there was conversation on the status of Oriana…with a few saying it had 3 units occupied…Sandra asked a question on the bus shelters …who was responsible for installing them and when…(the Town and it is budgeted now for 2010…although Broward Transit …prev. post had other ideas)…Marilyn went on to talk (once again…a REPEAT for MPSCs)…storefronts…spiffing them up and putting the onus on the store owners themselves…Paul again, as he has in the past discussed the difficulty involved…and the the talk of the MPSC digressed into flower baskets…real and fake.. provided in the past by the Garden Club…and what is happening now at the pavilion with the cigarettes and the flower beds…

Marc-” That’s probably what you need to do you need to bring the merchants together. Remember Mainstreet. Mainstreet program and, and we had a fassad program with the canopies and paint schemes and there was actually funding available. We never got designated as a Mainstreet project so we never made it to the point where we could even ask for that funding to get those grants.”

Paul asked where that funding came from

Marc-“It came um, I guess, you know from something I’m not really 100% sure but i think it came from a national ah,ah Mainstreet organization that actually doled out some money. But you had to be designated as a Mainstreet project and you had to prove that your, you know had blighted areas and, and um, there was all kinds of criteria. You had to hire a ah, professional person to oversee the whole thing and um, and it got political after a while and it died. But ah, we did work at it and we did learn some things about how to you know ah, try to bring the community together as far as the business area and they tried to ah, ah work with the business people to try and beautify it you know cause like, well it was, but you know it, it never went anyplace. Actually it did because we did the ah, pelican square, the first project that came out of that yeah, and we also ah, um, ah we got the design for the, the ah, Commercial Blvd and El Mar, excuse me A1A and Commercial Blvd. for the pavers from the DOT. We put that together with them too, so”

Paul said Pelican square needed some dressing up…and LBTS needed beautification overall with merchants and a nucleus of people participating…More discussion ensued on the flowers..the merchants and possibly having them come to the next meeting…Maryann brought up the “single stream” recycling discussed early on by the board and Sandra gave some info on the progress and Municipal Director Don Prince being on board….Paul brought up his longtime “pet project” to have a pedestrian bridge over A1A by Commercial Blvd…which brought out Sandra’s desire since 2002 to have Commercial Blvd. and El Mar be closed to traffic and become a pedestrian mall…

Marc-” I don’t think that’ gonna happen either, but what could happen though and I’ve been bringing this up since I was a commissioner you can take more of that area and cordon off. You can take the front of that pavilion. Take the um, light pole out and you can take it all the way up to where um, the very western boundary lines of both the pier and Aruba and have them enter in that area, okay and I actually talked to Marchelos brothers a long time ago about that and they were interested in it and also um, um I talked to Peggy about it and they were interested in it because that whole area in front there could be all pedestrian. You could have bollards in front of it to keep people from going any further and the turn around would just be more west. You know and, and it would be a little more area in front of it. But I know that Peggy’s never gonna want it shut down that whole area for parking, I mean for valet.”

Paul told him you have to put the cars somewhere….

Marc-” But maybe we could make it a little bit bigger, you know It could be a place where you could stop and park and let somebody out to go to the beach and pick them up.”

BC- Last year…at this same time Marc would go to the pre-pavilion area and talk of his idea too many times to count with the July 4th committee/ volunteers……It was a topic that was discussed by him the previous summer as well, heard by this writer……So when the pavilion was finally built and the street in front was addressed as an afterthought with the median cut back ( much less than expected) with the Town Manager/ Vice Mayor  feigning ignorance on this Furth concept to Comm. Dodd on the dais asking the questions because it was he who was standing alongside Marc last year hearing this very plan …  this evening it was verified as fact! …..HMMM…

BC-Not done yet Marc went on….and on …and on….

Marc- ” I’d like to make a suggestion to the town that they start buying property. The, the um, property on the south alleyway I hear is for sale. And I, I know ah, ah I believe all the property that the developer owned from the Oriana”

Paul said he believed it was 8 million for the properties.

BC- We just happen to have 8 million + in the Town coffers…HMMMM…

Marc-” No, that would be a bargain. You could get all that property that they own all the way down to the Holiday In?  I heard somebody, 8 million for the whole thing? My point is that right now you could probably buy those properties for half of what they were worth you know 3 years ago and, and and um, you know to be able to put a surface lot again, you know, I know that like you, you [Paul] would like to put a restaurant in one of your places (Paul says a possible tenant, not him)Somebody wants to put it in. But if you had parking you know, additional parking you know um, I think you could bring in ah, a better type of clientel or a business into town. Like, like your place right there. But they don’t have the parking for it, but if you had additional parking behind it you know the town could lease those spaces to somebody that wanted to go into those stores.”

Paul spoke of his belief that there should be no parking requirement to have a restaurant…of allowing restaurants who want to take a chance and open without parking the chance. He said it would encourage business in this town, to get rid of the parking it’s too restrictive…

Marc- ” As long as you write it in their deed or something.that, that they can’t come back in 5 to 10 years from now when the commission changes and say look we have no parking. You know the whole town is run terrible because we have no parking. And you know they throw it all on top of the, the present commission and the town that they need to do something about it. See that’s what they did originally. They didn’t have any parking because you know they had all this off street parking and they just parked wherever they wanted. You know they never saw the problems that were gonna come up. But now you know what the problems are so if you do something like that, and I’m not opposed to that at all because I’d like to see more restaurants.”

Sandra spoke of the Diner By the Sea…and a property by it that would like to go in, but cannot because of the parking…She spoke of traveling naming destinations where the restaurants were standing room only …all with no parking available…She said if someone wants to go to a store or restaurant …they go no matter what…and she said the commission should be asked to look into the parking issue and see the bigger picture….Marilyn concurred based on her own experience in Philadelphia….Paul added that under the current system in LBTS a business is not even paying for designated spaces….it does not make sense he said…

Marc-” I, I would still suggest to the town that they look into more parking you know cause I think it really does benefit all the businesses in town. You know especially restaurants in town, more surface lots, you know ah, ah properties and make another lot. You know there are things that you can do as  well on, on Bougainvilla on the south side of Bougainvilla there is a way to put parking on the inside lane that’s a 3 lane road. That’s in front of your house over there but you, you can add additional parking to areas in town where you can be creative and, and make parking. You know I think that we did that before when I was commissioner. I actually did a couple of different places and uh, we added some parking spaces even if it’s 5 here 6 there whatever it is you know you can add things where you can. You know you look into those things and it helps out everybody.”

BC- That is called “jerry-rigging”…PUN INTENDED….The above piecemeal approach to parking is why towns hire “Engineers and Urban Planners”!…

Paul spoke of the town commission needing to look into this…and the 63 spot that were to be required for the owners of Wings…for a restaurant…saying it was “absurd”…

Marc-” I mean look at it this way too. Let’s say like a hotel. Would you say that, the same thing about a, because hotels don’t normally have parking spaces. Okay, motels do, but hotels don’t. You know so if I wanted to change my place to a hotel and say I want to build 2 more floors because I could actually build 3 stories you know would I be allowed to build 2 more stories and just take the chance that I’m gonna rent to people that come in a cab. Okay, which maybe should be allowed.”

Paul said he thought there was “a little difference between a hotel and a restaurant,people coming to a hotel expect to park”. Marc-” But the thing is like it’s the same thing if, if I had those extra rooms to rent out and I told the people yeah, you can come but there’s no parking.”

Paul- “Well, they wouldn’t come.”

Marc-” Well maybe they will and maybe they won’t”.

Paul- ” I don’ think they will. I wouldn’t! I mean come on, if I’m gonna come to a place for a couple of weeks and I don’t have a parking place, doesn’t make sense to me.”

Marc-” Well, you will if you go to New York City. You know you go to the big city”

Paul- ” But they have a lot of parking facilities there.”

Marc-” It usually costs you more to park your car than to go to the room.”

Paul-” Valet parking”.

Marc-” A lot of people fly to those destinations just to get there in cabs you know.”

Paul-” Parking is an issue all over the world.”…He went on to speak of the shops in town…a space of 3500 sq. ft. being ideal for a restaurant, but unattainable due to the restrictions…He told all of the stores closing and those that will follow….

BC- Paul was very gracious…many held there snickers…and unfortunately this writer laughed out loud!…WOW!…Not over yet…Bazarro World is in full swing…in the next comments by Mrs. Wardlaw…

Maryann Wardlaw-asked if all remembered the valet parking meeting at the church (prev. post) that whole parking valet thing aside some interesting things came out as a result of that. they spurred into some other discussions and as a matter of fact it was mentioned the ah, the properties on the south there I believe somebody had and I believe it was Peggy (Mohler) from the Aruba came prepared I mean with a folder that was unbelievable. Her idea of a parking garage. From the street it looked like, I think she got the idea from Delray.” Paul said Deerfield…”Deerfield,  Okay then but it spurred you know this other conversation to where kinda out of the box thinking we hadn’t bee used to. It might be something that ah.”

Paul said parking garages were built where you cannot tell what they are..with retail below…like the one in Deerfield…and spoke of the costs for a town or a private investor.

BC- OH MY GOSH!…A parking garage…with retail below…”thinking out of the box”…something “we” hadn’t been used to?…HUH?…These very ideas shot down by the CIC-Mc-Furths…and Wardlaws!…WOW!…Mainstreet and Parking garages…all in one night…Double WOW!…

Sandra spoke of a round table with the commissioners…an idea the board all heartily agreed with…..

In the time since there has been a talk of taking the parking issue to referendum…

Public comments were made…first with Comm. Clottey…doing what Comm. Dodd was accused of …offering her sole suggestions…which  in the not so distant past her “gang” called “micro-managing”and “inappropriate” for a commissioner to do ..HMMM….Different strokes for different folks?….YA BETCHA!…

This writer spoke and said I agreed on the ball being dropped on the awards for the A.I. students…by the Commission and the Town (prev. posts)…and also said the parking requirements should go…to revitalize the town and offer the businesses an “olive branch”…sorely needed from this  anti-business majority!…

I end with this…

First my sincere condolences to those Master Plan Steering Committees that came before this one..It is most unfortunate to see the slow ongoing demise of what was once a vital, productive body that produced a plethora of innovative ideas to move forward and revitalize this town…

Second…about that Mainstreet project…an unpublished pre-article..showing quite a different scenario than the one MPSC member Marc Furth presented above……by former MPSC President and LBTS Resident Bob Terrien…

‘Main Street Inc.

Established with a group of business people hoping to help encourage the redevelopment the central district of LBTS. We went to the new town manager Fin Hortin with our requests for help. The year was about 1993. He suggested we use the Main St program.

This program was set up by the State of Florida. There were specific requirements to qualify. If qualified the State would support our program with, some funding but more important with Engineering and state sponsored promotions  The town had to approve the rules, fund, and hire a full time coordinator. There had to be a program with a president, Vice Pres. Treasure. w/ 2 sub committees.

1.  A Design committee and an 2. Economic  Viability Committee. We Had a workshop at Jarvis Hall. The first pres. Was Howard Westin from the Community church. Dick Sorinson became design committee chair, Diane Boutin became the economic chair,

We set up a office in the card room of Jarvis Hall and ran it for about 4 years. Judy Swaggerty was the part time secretary. We did all kinds of fund raising to augment the town funding.

A wish list of things that the members of the workshop proposed became our goals. ( these goals were the same goals that were proposed in about 3 successive workshops over the next 9 years. These goals were also the same ones that the MPSC came up with when we were discussing the Master Plan. Over and over because of the Furths interference deliberately put road blocks to stop any serious progress. We would spend 2 years on a project and than she would come along and say that the stake holders were not consulted, when all the meetings were open and above board. )

Early 1994 Westin resigned and David Biba Chamber president , was elected Pres and I was elect Vice Pres. We went to the commission and requested and received  20 thousand dollars operating expenses in 94.

Sorinson resigned from the design Committee and that is when C Furth was elected chair. The goals went from redevelopment to beautification. In 1995 a delegation went to Tallahassee to request State support. There was certain criteria that to be met to get approved. We all knew this in advance. The delegation, Marc Furth, and 2 others so badly presented our case that they were turned down. The Fl. Main St Rep.called  Biba and suggested that the Chamber be the catalyst for main St.  Biba told the rep. because of the Furths and a few others that were resisting redevelopment of the Business district, the chamber would not work as leader in the Main St Program. (I talked to Biba yesterday to get this Info).

We went on to receive more financial town support from the Commission. $40,000 in 96, and $10,000 in 97.

In 94 (/?), Hortin was fired and Baldwin became town manager. We limped along for several years. At one time we had hired a full time coordinator and a consultant. This Consult and came from Delray where she had considerable influence in that towns Main St prog..

Some where about 97 Swaggerty went to work and found the door to the card room locked. She went to the town hall to see what happened. She was told that all the furniture and supplies were moved to the garage. That main St office was closed. When I asked Baldwin what happened he told me that Bill mason must have done it. I remarked that Bill Mason does not do things with being told.
My theory is that John Yanni got Baldwin to have Mason to close us down because his wife was on the Design committee with C Furth and wanted to put a stop to Main street.’

BC- Sadly it all sounds so familiar….Mainstreet…Heights….Overlay Districts….Elected Officials….Town Events…History…Revisionist History….And the apparent common denominator…seems to have had a lot to say at this MPSC meeting…that’s for sure!…

more to come….

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TONIGHT …6/16/09….(according to the Town per phone today)……MASTER PLAN STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING…7 PM JARVIS HALL…

Televised on Comcast Ch. 78/ online….http://www.lauderdalebythesea-fl.gov/

PUBLIC WELCOME…Topics?…

WED …6/17/09…

8 AM CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS PROGRAM & BREAKFAST…….JARVIS HALL…(prev. post)…PUBLIC WELCOME…

BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT/ PLANNING AND ZONING….CANCELLED…(according to the Town today)…

more to come…

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COMING UP….

5/19/09….MASTER PLAN STEERING COMMITTEE…6:30 PM….JARVIS HALL…PUBLIC WELCOME…

5/20/09…11 AM BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT…

1 item…public notices…Sentinel 5/7/09…(excerpts)

Ms. Karen A. D’UVA-Bradley. , property owner of this property located within RS-4 Residential single family zoning district. 1658 West Tera Mar Drive (LBTS)

Property owner seeking (3) variances (1 )to allow existing shed..installed without permit, to be relocated and place 5’2 inches from front of property line rather than 25′ as required by code./( 2) to allow a proposed swimming pool to be constructed within front yard setback and within 10′ of a public right of way. The proposed pool location to be constructed is 3’1.5 from the property line./(3)  to allow swimming pool enclosure (fence) to be located within the front yard setback and within 10′ of the public right of way. The proposed location for the fence is directly on the front property line.

BC- Readers may recall Mrs. Bradley has come before the Town in the past with these requests, but pulled out before completing the process due to personal reasons. Unfortunately, in this writer’s opinion, she and her late husband were treated very poorly by the Town staff …which included the previous Director of Development, a former development employee and the Town Manager all making statements from the dais that were unprofessional and uncalled for, leaving the applicants unable to defend themselves, due to the applicants not being in attendance when these statements were made. Let’s hope no matter the outcome, this time around everything is above board and all deal with the issues, not personalities.

WHAT DID THEY HEAR?….5/20/09…NOON…CHANNEL 78….

We are told by the Town that the video of the Commission and their entourage (town staff)…on their “Field Trip”…for decibel meter reading last Friday night 5/15/09…will be shown..(it may be delayed a bit from the BOA meeting above)…but it should be worth a look…

more to come……..

Online…. http://www.lauderdalebythesea-fl.gov// Comcast Ch. 78…..

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THANK GOODNESS HE LOST BY 16 VOTES…

Life is funny…and unpredictable….This writer thought this town endured a major loss in the last election with Peanuts Wick losing by a mere 16 votes…but as I sit here today a little over a year later…we got it just right…with the LBTS Mayoral election!…

Believe me, no one is more surprised than I, and even though I had increasing doubts about Peanuts during the campaign upon seeing him up close, at his condo appearances, grandstanding at the expense of his fellow candidates.  Observing his overinflated opinion of himself, in stating he did not need to “prep” for debates while actively critiquing his fellow CIC endorsed candidates as they willingly worked on their own presentations (they clearly won each debate, while his lack of practice was glaringly apparent and much commented on behind the scenes)…His early complaints of having to answer the CIC questionnaire…had him putting his foot in his mouth by complaining to the “author” of the CIC required candidate questionnaire, unaware that this former mayor was also the author, as he had been in the past,and was insistent on its use and its importance to the group’s decision to endorse…….Most unsettling though were the many “swings” in his political stance depending on which “M & M”…(McIntee & MacMillan) was guiding him that day. The big one of course was the Palm Club sewers,  coming to the podium  to say the taxpayers should pay for them, when his fellow candidates stood their ground, withstanding the M & M “heat” … he “caved”.

All the while though, I really thought he would still be better than Candidate Roseann Minnet. I said it, I wrote about it, I believed it. One big reason, I sat beside Peanuts on P & Z and watched as he was the one that knew the proper procedure, Robert’s Rule Of Order and “guided” P&Z Chair Minnet at the meetings. This seemed to me a major “edge”  in giving him that middle Mayoral seat….in 2008.

I was wrong…big time…Mayor Minnet has grown immensely in her position, calm and prepared. Having done her homework,  in working out all the “kinks” while handling the “hard knocks” aimed at her from Mc-Gang 3 on the dais and occasionally Mc-4 if you add the number of times the Town Manager played a part. In fact she has made many converts from those who voted for her opponent. I hear it everyday in my travels around this town.

We hear Peanuts now wants to be called Lawrence or Larry and will return for a second run…a CIC endorsed candidate…( another questionnaire?)…We also hear he recently turned down a “nomination” to be on the new CIC board (more about the 2009 CIC board to come)…

Well,  I’m here to tell the voters…If it is fact…that Peanuts will be running for Mayor….take a look before you vote next time at a P & Z meeting with Chair Peanuts Wick in the middle seat and think long and hard about having him as your Mayor.

I have, and I did again at the 4/15/09 P & Z meeting on the Rental Ordinance…( to follow below)…He was condescending to his fellow members, and annoying in his manner of constantly saying “Okey Dokey”…He called out a fellow member who is a real estate broker, for possibly having a conflict of interest. The member reminded Chair Wick that according to the Vacation rental ordinance  before them, any homeowner on the board could have a conflict of interest if they rented out their property in the future. The Town Attorney, took the time at the podium to concur with the board member, Buzz Oldaker and to inform Chair Peanuts Wick how helpful it is to have a diverse group on the dais volunteering for boards…

HMMM…Perhaps this new Town Atty. was not filled in on the “scorched earth” board selection tactics witnessed with  last year’s Commission majority’s actions of “killing” any diverse board participation?….

Peanuts inserted his own points when members asked for clarification from Town Attorneys…..two attorneys were in attendance…All in all,  anyone who thinks that a second matchup is required in 2010 between Mayor Minnet and L. “Peanuts” Wick…should sit in on one these meetings…and decide…Could you take this 2 to 3 times a month?…..

Of note, let me make it clear, Peanuts may be a great volunteer in his service to various organizations…and there is no doubt , he does know the rules,and procedures, but in this writer’s opinion, he does not belong in the center seat on the dais.

The rental ordinance was addressed at length….almost 3 hours going over what comes down to being a whole new ordinance, to offer conditions in which to rent short term. The Mayor brought this to the dais, after seeing that it was used in other cities. Some of the existing code was “cleaned up” and moved in order to make the ordinance flow better …

The Attorneys’ advised that this was a 28 day minimum (a calendar month) as directed by the Commission, with the requirement of filing for application for a Business Tax License (occupational license)…then having the required onsite inspection…and once in receipt of that license, the applicant can then apply for the vacation rental license to rent out their property…It included various language that required some attention and the board went over it line by line…

Buzz Oldaker came prepared to go over each section, with a list of questions, while Vice- Chair Cristie Furth looked as if she had not prepared, disjointedly throwing out strange statements such as she was “absorbing ” it and repeating back some items outside  of the content being covered at that point in time…as her fellow dais members looked puzzled…

Also, disappointing again was the Director of Development, Jeff Bowman who had nothing to offer at the start except to repeat that underlined material meant an addition to the ordinance while crossed out material meant it was removed….Administratively the Attorneys will “wordsmith” the appropriate language where needed..a form will be used rather than a written letter to advise of a change in the “agent” for the property, per the suggestion made by Buzz Oldaker…

After going over everything  it was time to go through the points brought forth and vote them in, before the final recommendations to go to the Commission….such as removing “overlay” as there are no more overlay districts…passed 5-0…Peanuts wanted to change”his or her best effort”…saying it left too much latitude in what “best effort” could mean…it died for a lack of a 2nd….A change to the Administration to review  and the right to appeal to the Commission was approved 5-0…After deciding the ordinance as written for any review to go to the Commission would cause the “agent” undue delay in waiting for placement on the agenda….A change of taking out the  fee amount was passed 4-1 (member Ritchie dissented)…which would allow for fees to be changed by the Commission in a resolution rather than going through the ordinance process to increase or decrease the amount….A major discussion took place over the time stated for the “agent” to arrive at the property if called…the 1 hour requirement was met with some concern over lack of flexibility due to being otherwise engaged such as in a meeting or a movie…discussion went from 2 hours to “reasonable  amount of time”…and ended up with a 3 hour time frame to be included…passed 4-1 (Hunsaker dissenting)…George Hunsaker had made it clear what the situation called for being a “vacation agent”….. Cristie Furth wanted to put in a limit on cars allowed, adding the 10 person limit per home was too high…The Attorney reminded her the vacation rental would follow what was allowed for those who rent annually or own in the parking code…and any change would  “be going down a path”…it died for lack of a 2nd…The trash toters were put in the ordinance requiring 2, and Buzz Oldaker reminded all of the recent trash contract, saying it should be changed to whatever the contract requires…George Hunsaker informed the dais, only 1 toter was allowed per single family home…passed 5-0 to follow the contract required by the hauler….The main motion was then voted on  with the amendments …passed 5-0

In a secondary ordinance 2009-XX…notice of intent ….Buzz Oldaker asked one question that was disturbingly answered and more disturbingly voted down…

He asked that a letter should be sent “certified” so the recipient would have the letter in hand and the Town would be acknowledged in the receipt of said letter…Atty. White felt that was would be normal procedure, but deferred to Director Bowman…who said …it was not!…We have “personal service”…delivery or use regular mail!…The vote was taken 4-1 (Oldaker dissenting)…HUH?…All such mail should be sent certified…the “status quo” should be rectified ASAP…in this writer’s opinion…

The main motion was passed 5-0..

There was no old business…no comments were made  by board members…except Chair Peanuts Wick who asked  Director Bowman for “movement” on the Town Charter on “grade” dealing with heights in 7.1 …Peanuts wants it to come before P & Z and eliminate 7.1c… to then have 2 ways to determine grade from the ground or the dirt line…

adjourned more to come…..

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ONE CONTINUATION…….ONE CANCELLATION……..

MONDAY 2 PM CONTINUATION  OF 4/14/09 REGULAR LBTS COMMISSION MEETING…. JARVIS HALL…

televised/online…continuing with Old Business….

MASTER PLAN STEERING COMMITTEE 4/21/09…CANCELLED…..

more to come

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CHECK IT OUT…..

April 7th……..Jarvis Hall………..from 5 PM…….A showing open to the public and Commissioners of the El Mar Drive median designs from the A.I.Students.

April 14th…..Jarvis Hall…Town Hall Meeting… ..Commissioners will pick winners after presentations by the students.

Presenters are: Oscar Berges, Chad Evans, Isabel Serna, Wendy Thulen and co- presenters Maria Galindo & Alberto Roman

The students will receive cash prizes…1st place winner $500/2nd place winner $300/ 3rd place winner $200

You don’t want to miss it!…

more to come…..

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PLANNING AND ZONING…CHAPTER 30- UNIFIED LAND DEVELOPMENT

The LBTS P & Z met last night 3/18/09 to discuss amendments Chapter 30 of the  code of ordinances  for Unified Land Use…an extra step required when dealing with these types of codes according to Town Attorney James White from Weiss. Serota…

BC- Great lawyer…was very clear with his statements…and despite his assertions…of not being able to make amendments “on the fly”…he did just that!….

Attorney Profiles
James E. White
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Associate
Mr. White is an Associate with the Firm specializing in the areas of land use and zoning. In addition to his law degree, Mr. White has a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of New Orleans. During his law school career, Mr. White served as a law clerk in the Natural Resources Division of the Michigan State Attorney General’s Office. Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. White served as both a private land use consultant and municipal planner.

Education:
Michigan State University, Detroit College of Law, East Lansing, Michigan, 2003
J.D.

University of New Orleans, 1998
M.U.R.P.- Masters of Urban and Regional Planning
Honors: Certificate in Historic Preservation
Honors: Halina Rosenthal Fellowship Recipient
Honors: With Honors

University of New Orleans, 1995
B.G.S.
Honors: With Honors

Professional Associations and Memberships:
American Bar Association
Member, Condemnation, Zoning and Land Use Committee

American Bar Association, Environment, Energy and Resources Sections
Member

State and Local Government of the American Bar Association
Member

The Florida Bar, City, County and Local Government Law Section
Member

The Florida Bar, Environmental and Land Use Sections
Member

American Planning Association
Member

American Planning Association, Florida Chapter
Member

National Trust for Historic Preservation
Member
Past Employment Positions:
Michigan State Attorney’s General’s Office, Natural Resources Division, Law Clerk

Present on the podium P & Z Boardmembers…Chair L. Peanuts Wick, Vice-Chair Cristie Furth, Alfred “Buzz” Oldaker , Rev. George Hunsaker and Colleen- Development Office Secretary….

Although it was explained to this writer courtesy of Atty. White prior to the meeting why these code changes were making this “journey” from commission workshop (1/13 & 21/2009…previous posts LBTS agenda/meeting category)….it was still unclear why it would first go to the commission …who made motions at a workshop not just directions for staff …which by the way were never represented by staff at the P & Z meeting…..then go to this advisory board to then go back to the commission according to the dates provided…. for 1st reading..in April…2nd reading in May (1 month delay between due to the commission request for a month between on any 1st and 2nd readings)…It seems to this writer it should have gone P&Z- commission workshop-public input-1st & 2nd reading…HMMM…

Pending amendments to chapter 30 of the code of ordinances

a.-Amendment to sec. 30-21 of code-revising reconstruction and continuation of nonconforming uses and structures

BC-Jeff Bowman Development Director came to the podium and was asked by the Chair if he had “any information on A”…Our head of Development …moved up into this position…per the Town Manager…with no ads sent out for this position (previous post) said “No”…UGHHH…..

Peanuts spoke of watching the commission meetings and said that he read this to say it would meet “it’s original footprint”..meaning a s long as it met the 50% threshold and was rebuilt with no changes to the existing footprint it would be allowed…

Cristie Furth appearing to be seeing the backup for the first time asked Jeff to clarify what they were doing…what it meant for something to be crossed out (deleted)…and what underlined meant (addition) and was that what they were to adhere to in the decisions made (yes)…

What was a precursor to many such moments of “disconnect” between the director and the members…even among the members  themselves…Jeff after confirming this said there was a typo (1 of many) and there were 2 “e’s” and the second “e” should be “f”…Cristie asked him if he meant at the bottom of the page and he said it was not on their page, he had just noticed it …HUH?…

Buzz asked how the staff had arrived at getting the 50%  based on assessed value rather than replacement cost…Jeff said the staff determined that if you had 3 contractors you could have 3 different “reviews” so it makes it “easier” for staff to use the structural property appraiser’s cost from the property rolls…Buzz made it known that the property appraiser usually ran behind in their appraisals …up to a year…Cristie again wanted clarification about underlined and crossed out …stating she found many more “additions”…and why?…Jeff explained that was due to the existing code only referring to non- conforming “within” the structure not the building itself…George wanted to know what was used in the recent approval for Ocean Terrace (he misspoke and said Seaward…Jeff did not clear it up)…Jeff said he did not recall it all but it must have been replacement due to the present code …(although he just said present code says nothing about the structure itself)…George said he did not think people should be “penalized” to make it easier for staff (using the appraisal rather than replacement for cost determination)…Cristie opined about replacement costs being higher than appraised and how she was usually pleased with her appraisals of her property….The Atty. said the way this read …if a non-conforming structure was 50% destroyed it could be rebuilt within the footprint…more than 50% it could not!…Replacement costs fluctuate…which is why staff chose appraisal cost for determination…

BC- Herein lies the problem…and the public was not allowed to speak on this…although Peanuts asked for public input 2 times…he did not follow through …due to Cristie having further questions…..

Had I been given the chance I would have pointed out the “glaring” problem…if a non-conforming structure comes down over 50%…. I along with others under the present code and without clarification added into the codes…would not be able to rebuild…the same structure in the same footprint…This would mean a 5 story structure now standing would not be allowed to return …It would have to be a 33 foot structure… I would have also called for replacement costs over appraised…

Luckily the board after more discussion did not accept it…sending it back as written…4-1 Peanuts dissenting…

b.-Amendment to section 30-123 of code regarding duration of site plan-scope of bldg. permits to be secured during site plan approval

This one was discussed at the commission to allow for 18 months on the east side of El Mar…A1A…(east of the CCL coastal construction line)…and 12 months west of it…At public comment…this writer informed then that the Fl. Legislature is to address a way to speed up FDEP permits when the building will add to the Town’s benefit…

Also included was the language being made more specific as to what is required for a plan to be in process…coming from the “vague” language prior to this change and causing a Quasi Judicial hearing with Resident/Editor of BTSFuture/Developer Michael Arker…Cristie Furth brought up the issue as if to shine the “spotlight” on Comm. Dodd that he was wrong to think foundation could be interpreted as allowable for “building permit” at that time…But, if  the Comm./ Arker and Arker’s Atty were wrong…why the change?…HMMM……

This one was approved 4-0

c.- Amendment to section 30-211 of code to amend building setback req. in RS-5 residential zoning dist.

#4 was taken out because it duplicated #3…( the members were going line by line)…It actually included RS. 4/5 &RD 10…it eliminates the 20 ft. setbacks to 15 to accommodate the non-conforming structures that are 15 ft….the shortest distance…Much discussion took place over the roof overhangs…and why the front and rear are 36′” into the the setback…but the sides are referred to as 5 ft from the property line…Buzz felt that all should be described with the same language such as using 30″ (2 1/2 ft) into the setback…He eventually was told it was purely semantics…the Atty. saying it should not matter…it was approved 4-0

d.- Amendment to section 30-271 of code to provide for cooking schools,catering,motorized scooter & moped sales & rentals, shall be permitted within B-1 dist.

For some reason Jeff explained through various codifications this section of code was removed…now it was being put back in…approved 4-0

e.- Amendment to 30-313 of code to provide revision  of development standards for fences, walls, plantings, hedges, prohibit gravel driveways in RS-4/5 & RD-10 dist., non -asphalt paving materials, to provide for grading , landscaping maintenance of swale areas in RS-4/5 & RD-10 districts of regulations of generators or underground containers for natural gas -provide for development standards & req. for mechanical equipment

This was a long one that “bounced” all over the place with what the members were addressing….Buzz asked about the language being used for asphalt driveways…He saw it as saying as written that all asphalt driveways were not allowed…and further asked for what is allowed to keep it before being “hit” with a costly removal…Jeff said they (the Town) has not had any situations where someone “patched” a portion of the driveway…There was discussion at the previous commission meeting with Assist. Town Manager Olinzock saying a “top seal” was allowed but a grade coat was not…Included in this was gravel driveways which in the south end of town were to be removed altogether in 2004….Jeff stated that was only for the south end and not the north until the code was unified in 2007 …Jeff also tried repeatedly to make Cristie understand the previous code only referred to the swale area for the driveway…and this made it the whole driveway…it was not specified…as she said “swale driveways” were not allowed in residential areas…HUH?…George asked that an amendment be added for only pervious materials to be allowed, but was also cognizant that in these hard economic times it might not be the right time to insist on it…Also discussed was the responsibility of the swale areas..both by Buzz with roots under sidewalks…with his opinion that as written the onus would fall to the property owner every time…and George was concerned about tree limb portion and asked that it be removed…This writer lacking paperwork missed the opportunity to address the swale issue…

BC- It seems that it would be unconstitutional for the town to say a private citizen must maintain public property…The town is maintaining that same property for some but not all…EXAMPLE…the swale/Right of Way on Seagrape Drive is watered by sprinklers provided by the town…On Washingtonia there was no such system put in place…This homeowner not having a backyard or grass offered to take care of the town’s property if it could be returned to “zeroscape” but unwilling to be burdened with mowing a lawn not owned by us and having no other reason to purchase a lawn mower…along with paying to water it……The town needs to rectify this one…as swales that are paved are replaced by grass..it should be the town paying for the change and the maintenance if a sidewalk is in place…

Interestingly when addressing Buzz on the root situation Devel. Director Bowman said “Right of Way is maintained by the town.”…YEP!

Another amendment came with staff deciding to allow uncovered chain link fences as allowed in the Fl. building code… after they were not allowed in our code…..Cristie said she did not want chain fences allowed anywhere…that was to be a 2nd amendment to her amendment to make chain link fences to be covered…but she backed away from it after it was brought up by Buzz that they were instructed to only deal with what was in front off them…The 30 ft “clear site  triangle was removed…because it was addressed elsewhere with 25 ft….More confusion took place about the driveways when it fail 2-2 …but George introduced a clarification for maintenance with an assist from the Atty. that passed 4-0…Buzz asked about the generators that were written for the setbacks for the machine…but nothing on a permanent fuel storage code…regulations for tanks underground…that was also clarified for a way to present it to the commission…passes 4-0…In the end the motion had 5 amendments added to move it forward to the commission…motion passed 4-0

f.- Amendment to section 30-507 of the code to amend informational, directional or traffic control sign, amend definition of real estate sign & provide temporary holiday decorations.

Sitting down?…I agreed with and was quite pleased that Cristie Furth was against the holiday lights code along with Buzz and George …saying it was not necessary…HOORAY!….George asked Jeff what his definition of a “bonafide Holiday” was seeing it in the code with 15 days to comply afterward…chagrined  was the response by Director Bowman……it was a goner…Buzz did ask for some relaxed enforcement for real estate signs on town property for open houses…but Cristie wasn’t buying it (pun intended)…as she spoke of Minto’s open house a few weeks back with median signs that looked like a “flea market” and the “door being left open” for garage sale signs…saying could she then put out sign for her motel “rooms for rent” and also spoke of the large “building for sale sign” on Commercial Blvd…around 6 feet wide …sitting on town property…Buzz rethought it and pulled his amendment….approve 4-0

No comments were made from the dais and they adjourned…

1st reading of Ord.-4/7/09-2nd reading of Ord.-5/12/09

more to come…….

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REMINDER….Tonight…

PLANNING AND ZONING TONIGHT TO DISCUSS….CHAPTER 30 CODE OF ORDINANCES…

6:30 Jarvis Hall…televised on Ch. 78/online…http://www.lauderdalebythesea-fl.gov/

b.-Resolution 2009-06- Resolution for issuance of a notice of intent concerning pending amendments to chapter 30 of the code of ordinances

BC- this is to give notice of the changes that were proposed at the 1/13 &1/21/09 workshops on changes to land regulations…

a.-Amendment to sec. 30-21 of code-revising reconstruction and continuation of nonconforming uses and structures

b.-Amendment to section 30-123 of code regarding duration of site plan-scope of bldg. permits to be secured during site plan approval

c.- Amendment to section 30-211 of code to amend building setback req. in RS-5 residential zoning dist.

d.- Amendment to section 30-271 of code to provide for cooking schools,catering,motorized scooter & moped sales & rentals, shall be permitted within B-1 dist.

e.- Amendment to 30-313 of code to provide revision  of development standards for fences, walls, plantings, hedges, prohibit gravel driveways in RS-4/5 & RD-10 dist., non -asphalt paving materials, to provide for grading , landscaping maintenance of swale areas in RS-4/5 & RD-10 districts of regulations of generators or underground containers for natural gas -provide for development standards & req. for mechanical equipment

f.- Amendment to section 30-507 of the code to amend informational, directional or traffic control sign, amend definition of real estate sign & provide temporary holiday decorations.

Projected time frame to adopt regulations:

a.- public hearing & Comm. Approval of processing of proposed regulatory changes- 3/10/09

b.-P & Z Board-3/18/09

c.- 1st reading of Ord.-4/7/09-2nd reading of Ord.-5/12/09

BC- all were discussed at those workshops…Jan 13 & 21st…see previous LBTS agenda/ meetings categories….

overview to follow…

more to come…

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