The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council sent a proposed overlay ordinance with land use amendments for the Okeechobee Blvd. corridor back to town staff Tuesday, saying that it did not accurately reflect what the council and residents want, including for the road to remain two lanes.
The council also set up another workshop on the corridor for Saturday, Dec. 5, along with a barbeque to encourage participation, and extended a zoning-in-progress moratorium ordinance to June 30.
Planning consultant Jim Fleischmann was cut off by council members several times during his presentation on the proposed overlay, beginning with Councilman Tom Goltzené, who asked why an eventual widening to four lanes was in the overlay when the council and residents want it to remain two lanes. Other council members agreed to remove references to widening Okeechobee.
Fleischmann said the purpose of the first reading was to get public input, and recommended approving the ordinance, saying changes could be made while it is being reviewed by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. However, council members preferred to hold a public workshop first to get more input.
Goltzené said he agreed with residents who claimed that there had not been enough opportunity for resident input. “I really think it should go back for more development,” he said. “I was in a charrette, and I’m not seeing a lot of that in here.”
He added that the “rural vista” guidelines did not look like any rural areas he had seen. “Do we only want to see a mile and a half of tin roofs?” Goltzené asked.
Fleischman suggested extending the building moratorium to allow for more discussion. “We have a moratorium ending Dec. 31,” he said. “That’s not to say we can’t extend it again.”
Goltzené did not feel that the council should be rushed. “We need to take the time we need,” he said. “Nobody is saying get this done because I have to start a new project next week.”
Mayor Dave Browning suggested that they had not made the moratorium long enough.
“My concern is we’re starting to see pressure from all over,” Browning said, explaining that he had to sit through the Day property litigation after the owners of the 10-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Folsom Road and Okeechobee Blvd. filed a lawsuit when the council did not approve their initial request for commercial development.
“That was not fun,” he said, adding that the town’s comprehensive plan is full of defects. “We’ve got to do something to protect Okeechobee Blvd.”
Goltzené said allowing some commercial development might be what people want. “I think a couple of restaurants would be nice,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be downtown West Palm Beach.”
Goltzené also suggested looking at permitted uses such as a small tire store or tractor repair shop, pointing out that many local businesses operating in town cannot afford to lay out large amounts of money for a commercial area along Southern Blvd.
Fleischmann suggested discussing a couple of key policies and incorporating some of Goltzené’s suggestions.
Browning suggested that they set up a workshop, and Town Manager Bill Underwood agreed.
“We’ve had a lot of meetings, but I don’t know if we have had the amount of public input we should,” he said, adding that he thought it was especially important to hear from the residents along the corridor.
Town Attorney Michael Cirullo said that if council members were not ready to proceed, they could extend the moratorium.
Goltzené made a motion to extend the moratorium to June 30 to allow for more resident input, which it carried 5-0.
Vice Mayor Ron Jarriel suggested a workshop similar to when they held the grand opening for the town hall, with a barbeque included. He suggested after the holidays, but Underwood said that he did not want to lose all of November and December. He recommended early December.
Councilman Jim Rockett liked the idea of a barbeque. “We can discuss, have a barbeque break, then discuss more,” he said.
Goltzené made a motion for a workshop on Dec. 5, which carried 5-0.
In other business:
• The council asked town staff to develop an expedited method of enforcing RV restrictions.
Planning & Zoning Board Chair Dennis Lipp pointed out that going through code enforcement is too slow to control unauthorized RV encampments that pop up during the equestrian season and have left before the code enforcement process has gone full cycle.
“We need something where we can act and get something done,” Lipp said. “We’re in an untenable position.”
Cirullo said he could develop an ordinance that would go through a civil process, requiring violators to go before a county judge, who could enforce violations more quickly.
• The council also heard a progress report on the planned B Road improvement project.
Randy Wertepny, with the town’s engineering firm Keshavarz & Associates, said the project is still on schedule, with permitting to begin Nov. 4.
Wertepny said his firm prepared drawings to be distributed to residents along the road showing a cross section with a requested 10-foot drainage easement on the east side with pipes under the road for stormwater runoff to flow into the canal on the west side.
He said that the section south of Collecting Canal has available space with an existing swale. The catch basins are 5 to 6 feet deep, with the pipes 2.5 feet below the road surface.
Wertepny explained that fences along the east side that needed to be removed for construction will be put back up, and care would be taken to assure that animals remain secure during the process. “We don’t want problems with animals getting out,” he said.
Wertepny added that the design will be 3 inches of open-graded emulsified mix (OGEM) and 4 inches of base rock, with the width increased to 22 feet to add edges to help with drainage and erosion.
Browning was concerned about widening the road to 22 feet. “The wider the road, the faster the traffic goes,” he said. “None of the other roads are 22 feet.”
Lipp agreed that narrower roads are safer roads, and said that some smaller towns in the state have 8-foot roads.
“The spec the engineer is handing you of 22 feet is too much,” he said.
Rockett asked whether the intersections could go a quarter-mile off the road in each direction, explaining that other paved sections had gone a quarter-mile off the road at intersections, adding that he had made that request earlier but it had not shown up in the plans.
Wertepny said that could be added. “It’s not in the scope with the town, but it can be incorporated,” he said.
Jarriel agreed with Rockett on extending the intersection connections.
“If they go east toward C Road, it will hook up,” he said. “The way I feel about developers, they have the money to do it. They are getting a break by us doing OGEM. They’re aware of that, because that little section of B Road is costing them a fortune.”
Councilman Ryan Liang agreed with Rockett’s proposal but did not want to hold up the project.
Wertepny said that it should not hold up construction.
Underwood said he could bring a change order to the November council meeting. “It’s a four-party agreement,” he said. “We would have to ask them.”
