Downtown plan clears first commission vote without 25-story waterfront heights
Cruise terminal plans worry Palm Beach, a District 23 money gap, and a possible new fresh-food spot on Lakeview.
February is the month to watch if you care how tall downtown grows and how much parking it requires. That is when the master plan returns for its final City Commission vote, after state officials take their turn.
The plan that passed also lowers how much parking new downtown buildings must provide. At its Oct. 20 vote, the Planning Board had recommended taking another look at 25-story heights along the Flagler Drive waterfront. Commissioners left those heights out of the update. Neighborhood leaders had pushed hard on that point. Margaret Frazzini, who leads the Grandview Heights Neighborhood Association and the West Palm Beach Neighborhood Alliance, spoke after the board vote. "Those towers must not come back through a restudy," she said. Fatima Sanandaji, a co-founder of Save West Palm Beach, said residents deserve a clear public account from the city. Holy Trinity Episcopal Church argued the other side. Its leaders and members asked commissioners to let the 130-year-old church pursue a 25-story housing tower. State officials review the plan next. It then returns to the City Commission for a final vote in February. Until that vote, none of it is final.
Field of Greens files plans for a Lakeview Avenue restaurant
222 Lakeview Avenue, Suite 160, could become another West Palm Beach home for the South Florida fresh-food concept. A permit filing dated Oct. 15 shows the project under review. That is a paperwork step, not a sign of work on site. Nothing in the filing confirms construction has started or sets an opening date. Design, the menu for this location and a debut have not been announced.
Golf benefit backs a new early-intervention shelter model at The Lord's Place
People who have just lost their housing can end up waiting for help, and that wait is the gap the new approach targets. The focus is intensive, short-term support, aimed at keeping a temporary housing crisis from hardening into long-term homelessness. Par for the Culture, presented by the Higher Learning Foundation, raised support for that effort and for broader housing and early-intervention services across Palm Beach County. The need shows in the group's own count. The Lord's Place says the county has more than 500 shelter beds set aside for people experiencing homelessness. Roughly 1,500 people now need housing, it says.
Port's $43 million cruise project draws Palm Beach opposition
The cruise terminal at the Port of Palm Beach, open since 2002, is set to be enlarged and modernized for bigger ships. Plans include a new passenger loading bridge and gangway, more screening and baggage space, and moorings sized for longer vessels. Everything sits on port property, and the project remains in its early stages. Larger ships could mean more money for the port. Opponents, including Palm Beach residents, count other costs. They point to more vessel traffic, flooding risk, added light and noise, and harm to manatees and seagrass. The plan itself does not call for widening or deepening the Lake Worth Inlet. Town of Palm Beach officials and residents fear the drive for longer ships will push toward both anyway.
Frankel and Adeimy compete for District 23
Part of West Palm Beach sits in the new District 23, which gained registered Democrats when congressional lines were redrawn. Democratic U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach faces Republican Deborah Adeimy, a West Palm Beach financial planner making her third run for Congress. The money gap is wide. Political action committees supplied $657,000, or 25%, of the $2.6 million Frankel has raised. She has spent $1.9 million, against $170,000 spent by Adeimy. Adeimy has raised $196,857, with the largest share from her own pocket, per her quarterly report filed Sept. 30. Her own in-kind support to the campaign totals $90,701, covering things like rent and utilities, and she has lent it $65,466 in cash.