West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James has ended the pause he placed this summer on a plan to allow denser neighborhoods and taller buildings downtown.
James announced Aug. 31 that city committees will resume their consideration of a plan to rewrite growth rules for the city’s downtown, with the first public hearing scheduled for Sept. 9.
James had halted consideration of the city’s overhaul of its downtown master plan on July 7 after months of public opposition, including the formation of three resident groups in response to concerns about overdevelopment.
If approved, the plan would allow developers to construct towers of up to 25 stories along Flagler Drive and reduce the amount of parking developers must build.
The mayor met with leaders of some
resident groups in July and assured them that the city would take time to allow input before the process was completed.
“I promised them that the process of the downtown master plan is not going to be rushed and I didn't want them to feel the pressure they need to get certain things done within a certain time period,” he said at the time. “We're going to get it right and not rushed.”
The resumption of the approval process less than two months later appeared to take some of those neighborhood leaders by surprise.
The Downtown Neighborhood Association alerted its members that it has been “actively working with the City” to review the plan’s “potential impacts” when it learned the pause was lifted.
“Despite this ongoing work, we were recently told that the formal (downtown master plan update) schedule is moving forward, with public hearings beginning in September,” the group stated on Facebook.
Jessica Swift, chairperson of the newly formed West Palm Beach Residents Coalition, said that members of the organization had been working with city staff to analyze the plan and were planning to assemble a “white paper” for city officials to consider before approval.
But she said she did not think the analysis would be completed before the end of the year. The city commission is tentatively scheduled to take its first vote on the new plan in late October.
“We had anticipated completing our final version of this white paper in mid to late January,” she said. “We’re just a team of volunteers. We’re doing our best.”
City spokesperson Kathleen Joy said James and top city administrators had met several times with the neighborhood groups and provided opportunities for feedback, and that the city was ready to resume the approval process.
Swift said she respected the city’s decision and hoped that city commissioners would take time to hear the resident groups’ feedback before voting.
“I understand the city has their own timeline,” she said. “The question is whether the commission is going to have the information it needs to make a decision of this magnitude.”
Andrew Marra is a reporter for The Palm Beach Post. Reach him at amarra@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Palm mayor resumes downtown plan, surprising neighborhood groups
