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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_Miscellaneous_07/17/1995_Redevelopment Committee c �' `�f� VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA ; , , Post OfCce Box 3273 • 357 Tequesta Drive ' Tequesta, Florida 33469-0273 • (407) 575-6200 �- � � Fax: (407) 575-6203 a o A 4 f ��H COUH� VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA REDEVEL4PMENT COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES JULY 17, 1995 I. CALL TO ORDER Al�TD ROLL CALL The Redevelopment Committee held a regularly scheduled meeting at the Village Hall, 357 Tequesta Drive, Tequesta, Florida, on Monday, July 17, 1995. The meeting was called to order at 4:30 P.M. by Chairman Ron T. Mackail. A roll call was taken by Betty Laur, Recording Secretary. Councilmembers present were: Chairman Ron T. Mackail, Co- Chair Joseph N. Capretta, and Co-Chair Carl C. Hansen. Also in attendance were: Village Manager Thomas G. Bradford, village Clerk Joann Manganiello, and Department Heads. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Co-Chair Hansen moved that the Agenda be approved as submitted. Co-Chair Capretta seconded the motion. The vote on the motion was: Ron T. Mackail - for Carl C. Hansen - for Joseph N. Capretta - for The motion was therefore passed and adopted and the Agenda was therefore approved as submitted. Kec Pn��er Redevelopment Committee Meetiag Miautes July 17, 1995 Page 2 ------------------------------- III. DISCIISSION OF PURCHASS OF DORN�R TRIIST LANDS FOR CULTUR.AL FACILITI$S Village Manager Bradford reported that some time ago the Village Council had requested that he explore with Dorner Trust the possibilities of obtaining lands for cultural facilities, and that a decision must now be made since Mr. Van Brock had indicated he was under pressure from the Trust to sell some or all of the land that the Village had been considering. The source of the pressure was the DiVosta Company, who was interested in purchasing some or all of the same land. A formal answer needed to be given to Mr. Van Brock at the next Village Council meeting. The land involved encompassed everything from the library to just north of the intersection with Tequesta Drive; land immediately east of the library and the church, and along back side of the library, for a total of 7.75 acres. Dorner Trust wanted to keep the parcel between Alex Webster's restaurant and the corner for commercial development, including a bank on the corner. At a meeting on June 26, Mr. Van Brock had indicated that the Trust was willing to work with the Village to make the buy down and to use an option to hold the land until the Village was ready; however, the Trust had stated that the option must cover all of their carrying costs, such as taxes, etc., and wanted $5.50 per square foot for the land. The Village appraisal had found the land to be worth $3.51 per square foot. The appraiser had explained that the Trust believed the land to be primary property; however, it was really secondary commercial property--not the same as Indiantown Road or U.S. 1, with lighter traffic than those roads and with less intense zoning, so that for example, a Wal-mart such as was being constructed on Indiantown Road would not be allowed. The appraiser stated that the best comparable the Village had was the DiVosta sale which had been $2.00 per square foot, which might be slightly exaggerated since there was Redevelopmeat Coamnittee Meeting Minutes July 17, 1995 Page 3 ------------------------------- still rental income on that property; and he felt $3.51 per square foot was very fair. Village Manager Bradford explained that at $3.51 per square foot the asking price of approximately $1.8 million would be dropped to $1.4 rnillion. At today°s value the cost of the land would raise property taxes approximately 8.3� and would require annual debt service payment of approximately $167,000 for 30 years. The Village did not really know whether Lighthouse Gallery and BRITT had the fund-raising capabilities to build facilities on Tequesta land and lease it for 50 or 99 years, to be determiried by the village Council. A feasibility study was needed, to show whether resources existed in this area to raise sufficient funds for a specific size cultural facility. Also, a feasibility stud�r was required in order to become eligible �or State of Florida Cultural Facilities grant money. Village Manager Bradford therefore recommended that the Village request that Lighthause Gallery and BRITT provide a feasibility study to the village. Village Manager Bradford recommended that the Village Council consider whether they wanted to unilaterly make a decision to purchase the land or go to a referendum. He explained that Jun,o Beach and Jupiter were trying to get one or both of the cultural organizations to relocate to their town. The Village Manager stated that the concept of the land purchase was to keep the cultural organizations in Tequesta; consideration should be given to what Tequesta would ha�re to offer as a community if they relocated; and although they were not tax-paying entities they did make the quality of life in a town much better and different than it would be otherwise. Another consideration would be that the Village Council could be accused of letting them slip away. Village Ma.nager Bradford also mentioned for consideration that the Coast Guard land on Beach Road wa� approximately six months from final relinquishment by the Coast Guard and would be in the full possession of the Bureau of Land Management, and a committee was looking into the possibility of locating the Redevelopment Committee Meetiag �inutes July 17, 1995 Page 4 ------------------------------- cultural facilities there on land given jointly to Palm Beach County and Tequesta; however, the Village Manager estimated the best chance of that happening to be slightly less than 50/50, and the outcome would be unknown for 18 months to 2 years. Chairnlan Mackail stated that Tequesta must put money back into the community, and that he believed helping the cultural facilities was a step in the right direction; and pointed out if they did not use the property that the Village would have it for other purposes. Chairman Mac}tail also stated that if the Village was going to make a commitment then the cultural organizations must also make commitments, and discussed the efforts of Juno Beach to provide cultural facilities for one of the organizations. Village Manager Bradford commented that Jupiter officials had met with Lighthouse Gallery representatives to look at a large tract of land in the center of Jupiter to relocate the Gallery. Chairman Mackail stated that the new Board of the Gallery seemed to have a much broader mission than the old Board, to grow and become a much larger gallery. Village Manager Bradford offered as a possible course of action to tell Lighthouse Gallery and BRITT that the Village would be willing to hold a referendum in March 1996 to buy the land provided they pravide a facility showing it would be feasible to build facilities on this land and that the funds could be raised to accomplish that, then all the Village would really be doing would be entering into an option contract with the Trust to tie up the land and cover carrying costs until the referendum. If the people voted yes, the land purchase would go forward; if the vote was no, the option money would be lost. Co-Chair Hansen stated he believed any vote would be negative since the people were not considering the long-term picture, only what they would be paying in taxes for the Redevelopmeat Committee �eeting Minutes July 17, 1995 Page 5 ------------------------------- next five years, and that if the Village Council wanted to do something for the long term that he was not sure it would be wise to go to the voters. Co-Chair Capretta commented on a letter from Lighthouse Gallery, and stated that he was more confident that the Gallery was supported by the people and would follow through with the plan for a few facility than he was that BRITT could do it, although their director was enthusiastic. Co- Chair Capretta suggested a common theater with a facilit� for one cultural organization on either side, and to impose a deadline to produce a feasibility study, and if they did not do so then a decision could be made whether or not the option should be dropped. village Manager Bradford e5timated the cost of the option to be approximately $30,000. Co-Chair Capretta suggested telling Dorner Trust the Village wanted the land at the appraised value with an option for one year, and pointed out that a feasibility study might indicate less land was needed to accommodate the cultural facilities. Co-Chair Capretta reported that Mr. Van Brock was very confident that he wauld build 200 rental units and that a xansas developer whose concept was to build four rental ACLF projects in Florida would build one of them in Tequesta. Chairman Mackail commented that he believed both cultural facilities would go with whoever offered to participate with them, that the Village was in trouble because of a fixed tax base and no growth, that this plan wauld be for the future of the Village, that the acquisition of the JTJC building and improvements of landscaping, streets, and gutters were a beginning, and pointed out that a charette had been done years ago with nothing accomplished, and that the Village had listened to Gary Van Brock for yea�s and now he had an opportunity to help the Village. Co-Chair Capretta suggested that Mr. Van Brock was not doing all that he could Redevelopment Com�ittee Meetiag Miautes July 17, i99s Page & ------------------------------- for the Village. Chairman Mackail discussed a plan which had been presented to build rental units which had not developed because of Mr. Van Brock. Co-Chair Capretta suggested contacting the Chairman of the Board of Lighthouse Gallery with an offer. Village Manager Bradford commented that if an option were obtained that it would have the price in it and if the Trust agreed to accept the Village offer of $3.51 per square foot, Mr. DiVosta might encourage the purchase to then work out a deal with the village, so that the option might never come to fruition. Co-Chair Capretta �tated that the residents could not say the Council had done nothing. Co-Chair Hansen stated he would like to consider other ineentives for business to come to the village, and did not believe the cultural facilities would necessarily attract business development. Chairman Mackail agreed with Mr. Hansen, an,d comanented that Lighthouse Gallery attracted 40,000 people a year to the �illage, and expressed concern that if they left the Village what the village would have to offer. Chairman Mackail also commented that developers were looking for return on investment. uillage Manager Bradford stated that previous discussions with developers regarding residential development in the downtown area had indicated that Lighthouse Gallery was very desirable since it would offer the opportunity for residents to take classes, etc. within walking distance. Co-Chair Hansen clarified that his point had been that he did not believe the cultural facilities would attract commercial development, but did believe they could be incentives for residential development. Co-Chair Capretta cor�mlented that previous discussions had anticipated residential development to be homes, however current proposals were all rentals. Village Manager Bradford commented tha� the rental apartment demand could not be met in Palm Beach Caunty. Chairman Mackail suggested asking the Trust to donate land to the village. village Manager RedevelopmeAt Committee Meetiag Miautes July 17, 1995 page 7 � ------------------------------- Bradford responded to Chairman Mackail that tax abatement would not be an option. In resgonse to Chairman Mackail's suggestion to possibiy defer payment of property taxes on the land until the option was exercised, Co-Chair Capretta stated that would cause an argument about the price. Village Manager Bradford commented the Village appraisal had merit because it had been used for the library. Co-Chair Capretta suggested that offering tax incentives for people to build in Tequesta would be more applicable along U.S. One than in the downtown. area. Councilmember Schauer, who was in the audience, commented that she believed Mr. DiVosta would purchase the land from the Village if they obtained the option. Co-Chair Capretta suggested that before the village made an offer for an option that Mr. DiVosta be contacted immediately to learn his position. Discussion ensued regarding possible action. The recommendation from the Committee was to have Mayor Mackail contact Mr. DiVosta the next day to determine his reaction to the tentative recommendation to the Village Council that the Village seek an option on the Dorner Trust property at the appraised value for 12 manth� contingent on Lighthouse Gallery and BRITT doing a feasibility study. During further discussion of the feasibility study, Village Manager Bradford stated it would take approximately 120 days to complete such a study, which should be a joint study since Lighthouse Gallery might have more money and BRITT might not be able to participate alane. It was suggested that Burt Reynolds could get a lot of State money if he were willing, and that another source of funds would be the Tourist Development Council once something concrete was available for their consideration. Motioa a�as made by Co-Chair Hansea to request from Doraer Trust an optioa for oae year at $3.51 per square foot in R�developmeat Committee Meetiag Miautes July 17, 1995 Page 8 ------------------------------- conjwnetion with a feasibility $tudy for BRITT and Lighthouse Gallery, aad to hold discussioas with Mr. nivosta im�edfately, before the village CovACil voted oa the optioa. Co-Chair Capretta s8coaded the motioa. The vote on the motioa was: Ron T. Mackail - for Carl C. �aasea - for Joseph N. Capretta - for The motion xas therefore passed and adopted. IV. DISCUSSIOI�T OF INCLNTIVES FOR CENTR.AL BU'SINESS DISTRICT 1) LIST OF INCENTIVES 2) TI�s FRA� FOR OFFERING INCSNTIVES 3) GIsOCsR.APHIC LOCATION OF INCENTIVE AVAILABILITY Village Ma.nager Bradford advised that incentives needed to be specific as to time frame and location and must be uniform to everyone. The Village Manager explained that building perrnit fees should not be waived as an incentive since those fees paid employee salaries, and listed per unit impact fees which could be waived as: Tequesta recreation $300; Tequesta Fire Rescue $84; and Tequesta Police Services $100. Other impact fees were Tequesta Capital Improvement charge for Water Department $1,500; ENCON Sewage Impact Fee $1,9�Q; and the Palm Beach County Aggregate Impact Fee for library, sheriff and roads $3,000. Village Ma.nager Bradford stated that Palm Beach County had offered to waive or reduee impact fees in the coastal areas (east of the turnpike}. Co-Chair Capretta suggested offering to help Mr. Van Brock obtain reduced impact fees from the County in order to accelerate Village improvements. village Manager Bradford stated that development approval could be obtained from the Village and under the law that constrtzction did not have to Redevelopmeat Coamaittee Meet�.ag Minutes July 17, 1995 Page 9 ------------------------------- begin for one year. Co-Chair Capretta commented that the biggest development cost was the time involved in completion of a project, and that the Village must work toward reducing the time of the approval process. Chairman Mackail agreed that the approval process must be time sensitive and stated that the Village must lay out rules for developers under which the� could obtain development incentives such as waived impact fees. Co-Chair Capretta suggested that a chart be placed in front of Village Hall showing the assessed value of the town and the objective to raise that value to $400 million by 1998. village Manager discussed waiving impact fees; suggested that fire and police impacts could be waived, and although there was n.o recreation impact fee to commercial buildings that it would be a good incentive for apartment projects to waive that fee for a developer if he had sufficient recreation facilities and open space in his project far the use of his tenants. Co- Chair Capretta questioned whether the Village could be of any assistance for the developer with the County. The Village Man�:gerfs response was only if the village was involved in the project. Village Manager Bradford stated that the Village must market and let the world know Tequesta was having a fire sale . Chairman Mackail suggested the amount of reduced impact fees be tied to the percentage of campletion, so that the faster a project was built, sold or rented, the better off the developer would be. The Committee discussed what types of development would be included in the incentive program. After discussion, the Committee decided to offer waived impact fees for all new residential development, village wide, which would include residential within a mixed-use project, but would not apply to commercial. The impact fee waiver would not apply to remodeling. In response to Co- Chair Hansenls concern of how to communicate this offer, Village Manager Bradford explained that once the policy was Redevelopme�t Committee Meeting Miautes July 17, 1995 PBge 10 ------------------------------- adopted, a press release would be prepared, an article would be placed in the Village newsletter, and suggested a letter to landowners. Councilmember 5chauer suggested the concept of a one s top s hop wh ere de velopers co uld Co me to th e Village Hall and go through the approval process by the Community Appearance Board, Board of Adjustment, and the Village Council all in one day. Village Manager Bradford stated that ordinances would have to be changed to accomplish such a process. Coasensus of the Committee was to offer two iaceatives to eacourage immaediate developmmeat: tl) to waive impact fees oa aew residential construction village wide, begiaaiag immediately, based oa perceatage of completioa, aad {2) to speed up the approval process to save the developers time aad therefore money, and to o£fer these iaceative withia a specific time frame. V. DISCIISSION ON ALT�RNATIVSS FOR Ab�NDING THL TBQUESTA DE'VTSLOP�9'sNT REVIE�P PROCLSS Village Manager Bradford explained that the Village did not have a unified development ordinance, which would be a help in speeding the development process. The village Manager pointed out that if a variance was needed the Board of Adjustment was involved; a rezoning request had to be approved by the Village Council, and the Community Appearance Board reviewed the aesthetics of a project before final approval by Village Council. He explained that the benefit of Community Appearance Board and Board of Adjustment was that they relieved the Village Council of the work involved. An alternative would be to abolish the Board of Adjustment, since they did not handle many cases, and let the Village Council assume the granting of variances. An alternative to Communit�r Appearance Board would be to abolish the board and to have staff contractual landscape Red�velopmeat Coamaittee Meeting biinutes July 17, 199� Page 11 ------------------------------- architects who would review every application and they would provide a written report stating whether the project met the Village landscape code. Co-Chair Hansen pointed out that the Community Appearance Board was currently involved in review of Ordinance 377 projects, relieving the Village Council of those projects, and suggested that they continue, and possibly review only Ordinance 377 projects with the Village Council reviewing other matters normally handled by the Community Appearance Board. Chairman Mackail expressed concern that over the years the decisions made by the Community Appearance Board had not been consistent. Village Manager Bradford suggested that possible guidelines be established for the CAB, and explained they had adopted architectural standards and possible adoption of landscape standards would make the process more con�istent. village Manager Bradford commented that the Chamber of Commerce had suggested expedited review, and suggested that those who wanted it could pay for the faster process. Chairman Mackail stated that pre�entations from staff to Council must be very clear and definitive and must meet code, to expedite the proces5 at Council meetings. Chairman Mackail suggested a specific list of landscape trees and plants to choose from to speed the process through CAB. Co-Chair Capretta commented that variances granted by the Board of Adjustment had caused problems and cost the village money, as in the Cliveden case. village Manager Bradford explained that in many cases they had failed to abtain proof of hardship before granting a variance. During discussion of Code Enforcement Board, village Manager Bradford explained that using Special Masters would not eliminate the Board since it had to be in place according to law. Chairman Mackail cammented that Lantana had not had an.y cases before their Code Enforcement in over two years with the use of Special Ma.sters. Village Manager Bradford Redevelopmeat Committee �eeting Miautes July 17, 1995 Page 12 ------------------------------- suggested to avoid the appeals ta Village Council for such matters as RVs and boats that the section of the code allowing appeals could be deleted, and reported that the Code Enforcement Board had recently held a video training session for new members. It was the coasensus of the Ccmmnittee to elimiaate the Board of Adjustmeat ia order to save time and moAey and to establish tighter guidelines for architecture aad laadscapiag for the Commuaity Appearance Board. VI. �il$'Y OTHER MATTLRS There were no other matters to come before the Committee. VII. CO�,UNICATIONS FROM CITIZ�iS wade Griest commented that the Board of Adjustment would probably grant the request on the agenda for their meeting that night. He reported that the Community Appearance Board had re�viewed their firs� three Ordinance 377 cases in which all had requested variances which were granted and exceptions made to the codes, so that he considered it a waste of time, and that residents had left the meeting very upset. Ca-Chair Hansen stated he understood that Clerk of the Board Ladd had talked to the CAB regarding how to handle the Ordinance 377 cases. Mr. Hansen stated the residents deserved a hearing and hoped CAB could do a better job in the future. Mr. Griest stated the village should adopt the Lantana Plan. I V . ADJOIIRN�NT Co-Chair Capretta awved that the meetiag be ad�ouraed. Co- Chair Capretta secoaded the matioa. The vote oa the motioa was: Redevelopment Committee Meeting Minutes July 17, 1995 Page 13 ------------------------------- Ron T. Mackail - for Carl C. Hansen - for Joseph N. Capretta - for the motion was therefore passed and adopted and the meeting was adjourned at 6:53 P.M. Respectfully submitted, ;' � , _/ t �_ z . ,.. '�__- , ,�_� �'' Betty Laur ,:;�`, : • Recording Secretary ATT�S1: Joann Mangan' llo Village Clerk DATE APPROVED: a7 �9 �