Letter: Time For Honesty About RaceTrac

The recent debacle and protest by special competitive interests led by at least one person with a political agenda makes the proposal to create a RaceTrac gas station on Royal Palm Beach Blvd. curiously complicated.

There has been no legal reason given why this proposal cannot go forward. Furthermore, disruption of civil discussion during council meetings has created at least two postponements.

While “legal” doesn’t always equate with “appropriate,” the reasons offered by the opposition appear to be more orchestrated than having real basis for complaint.

There exists a level of hypocrisy that suggests that the land use for a gas station would be improper, but it is silence when you ask what they would do if they owned the land.

The location has limited appeal for businesses, as evident by the failure of two banks to survive there.

One has to conclude that a commercial area with limited appeal, given the reduced options, leaves the landowner with the legal right dispose of this property within the established guidelines of the village, and the proposal for the RaceTrac gas station has not been proven harmful to the community and should go forward.

The quality of the proposed gas station exceeds in appearance every gas station in all directions for miles. I believe it will prove to be an asset to the village and, hopefully, the lower price for gas without a membership requirement will benefit the driving residents of Royal Palm Beach.

Richard Nielsen, Royal Palm Beach

3 COMMENTS

  1. First of all, at what? $14k/yr for a councilman’s salary? Nobody should be “scared” to lose their seat. Put it in perspective.
    Next, considering candidate Lenore White’s op-ed rebuttal to this letter dated Dec 18th, I’d tend to agre wth him. Whle it is easy to be a nay-sayer and put down every offering because you don’t want to be inconvenienced another two minutes on the way to your bunco game; it takes a bit more to solicit businesses to come to the village and entice them to invest in our community. What is your alternative solution?
    Keep shutting down enterprising ventures and then when village taxes ultimately have to increase, please be the first in line to complain.

  2. I agree with No Go except that the project is a “special exception” because and does have to meet 10 special conditions that include traffic, noise, lights, and a bunch of things. Any council that says this passes the conditions is just on the hook for Santamaria. That is why they won’t vote – scared they are going to loose their seats. But RPB figured it out and got candidates in the race against them. I have no horse in the race, but good for them!

  3. The Race Trac proposal does not have to be accepted by the RPB Village Council. That is why it is up for approval.

    We all have seen projects in the adjoining community and its affect on traffic. Look at Wellington’s Trader Joe’s shopping plaza. It received Council approval and passed traffic concerns, but it IS a nightmare and will only get worse.

    The Race Trac proposal will bring a nightmare of traffic to this Royal Palm Beach intersection. In addition, take a look at the landscaping and upkeep at already established businesses that are in Royal Palm Beach. This gas station would have to be constantly monitored by Code Enforcement to maintain it’s original appearance. It will only decline with age.

    As having no horse in this Race Trac race, that will affect my home or my Village’s appearance, this proposal would be a ‘no go’, for me and I would not vote for any Council person who approves building this business at the entry to Royal Palm Beach, not matter what Mr Santamaria wants.

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