Members of the Westlake City Council moved closer during their February meeting to creating committees to review the city’s charter.
Councilman Gary Werner said it is time for the council to establish “a blue-ribbon committee to review the city charter and make recommendations.”
Werner also said at the Tuesday, Feb. 11 meeting that it may be time for the city to create a committee to review Westlake’s comprehensive plan and perhaps create a planning and zoning board to make recommendations to the council regarding new construction. The comprehensive plan is the foundational document for long-term municipal planning and zoning.
“The current comprehensive plan is very favorable to new development,” said Werner, who spent 45 years as a city planner in California. “I’m not on the city council to be a rubber stamp.”
Mayor JohnPaul O’Connor said he was not necessarily opposed to creating such committees. However, he said it would be better to wait until after a “community engagement meeting” set for May 24 and the council’s two-day strategic planning session scheduled for this summer.
The community engagement meeting is part of the overall strategic planning process being led by Dale Sugerman of the International Institute for Leadership Development and Training. Sugerman is a former city administrator and a 20-year adjunct professor at Nova Southeastern University.
The session for residents will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Lodge at Westlake Adventure Park (5490 Kingfisher Blvd.).
The charter “is like the constitution of the city,” O’Connor said. “It’s important that we identify what’s broken before we try to fix it.”
Vice Mayor Greg Langowski said that it is typical for municipalities to review their basic documents every 10 years or so, but that he “wants to hear from the citizens” before jumping to committee creation.
A charter committee usually has five to seven members and will incur expenses such as renting a public meeting space, having an attorney present, along with someone to keep the official minutes, City Attorney Donald Doody told the council.
Council members directed City Manager Kenneth Cassel to work up a cost estimate to be shared at the council’s Thursday, March 20 meeting.
Werner noted that a “comp plan committee” would also have a cost attached, but it may be worth it to ensure that the municipality has a cohesive feel and that the right sort of businesses are brought in.
“Residential development is going very well but commercial development is not,” he said, echoing the frequently heard complaint that no major-chain, non-fast-food sit-down restaurants have come to Westlake.
However, Il Pomodoro and the Gator Shack do offer sit-down dining. Both are located in the Grove Market shopping plaza at Seminole Pratt Whitney Road and Persimmon Blvd.
Werner’s suggestions from the dais follow similar comments made at a recent council meeting by Ted Sarandis. The Cresswind resident ran unsuccessfully in 2024 for the Port of Palm Beach Commission and is now seeking to replace former Councilman Julian Martinez. Martinez resigned Feb. 1.
Reflecting on how Westlake was incorporated and chartered with only five residents and that the fast-growing municipality now has nearly 7,000 within its boundaries, Werner said, the small number of people living in the area then may not have had the same “mentality and interests as those living here now.”
Councilwoman Charlotte Leonard said she also wants to hear first from citizens but that it is likely the council needs to take a hard look at the charter and comp plan and ask, “Does it still fit? And is it still appropriate?”
In other business, the council approved a master site plan modification for the Grove Market to allow for the creation of a .73-acre outparcel that will be used by JPMorganChase Bank. The proposed bank will be 2,925 square feet with a drive-through.
