“Pennywise and pound foolish” — that is my thought as I read that the Royal Palm Beach Village Council voted to not move forward to appraise the temple property located between the fire-rescue station and Veterans Park.
The cost of the appraisal was said to be between $2,500 and $4,000, but the council voted it was too much. Hey, we’re just fine with spending $17,000 for additional furniture for the new Commons Park building, $6,000 cash for the Royal Palm Art & Music Festival, as much as $70,000 for the three-day extravaganza to open the new Commons Park, all within the past few months.
Not to say that those expenses do not benefit the residents, but it should be agreed that they are fleeting pleasures and not long-term plans. The temple property is the last piece to form a cohesive village campus connecting the current Village Hall complex and accessory buildings to the Veterans Park area. It would prevent the construction of a multifamily housing complex that would add to traffic on already congested Royal Palm Beach Blvd. and compromise the safety of fire-rescue’s emergency activities. The building has potential uses until a future to expand the inadequate Village Hall is decided. Suggestions might be a senior center, a veterans center, a nonprofit pre-school/after-school facility. The cost of $1.5 million is just above the appraised value of $1.2 million and a steal in this current buyers’ market.
This is a very short-sighted view for the council to take. I guess it is much in keeping with last week’s letter in the Town-Crier about “Mayberry thinking” (“Mayberry, Home Sweet Home” by Jen Weiler).
Evan Knepley, Royal Palm Beach
