The residents of Deerfield Beach do NOT want the beach area
to be over-developed. They do not want
buildings built high and wide on the beach.
They know that the traffic and parking problems at the beach are already
bad due to poor planning, and restaurants without on-site parking. They know if the current building codes which
mandate larger building setbacks the higher the building goes are eliminated,
and the developers are allowed their way, we will be signing the death knell of
the lovely gem of a beach that we have.
Far from stifling development, the current codes carefully
control development, as witness the new hotel on the beach road which is built
to code. The builder made sure the
building fit the area, had the required parking, and would be an attractive
addition to the beach. He didn’t come
whining to the commission that he couldn’t make enough profit so they should
let him build bigger. Rumor has it that Mayor Jean Robb has been lobbied by a disgruntled business owner on the beach who overpaid for a corner property. Her plans for the property were approved by the city, but she didn’t go ahead with them (I heard she couldn’t get financing). She is now complaining that the building codes that restrict how high and wide a property can be built stifle development (her profit) in the beach area; the codes were in place when she bought the property.
Well, here’s a news flash.
Years ago when the residents of Deerfield Beach, who have NEVER wanted
to be Boca Raton, saw the completed Tiara East tower they quickly petitioned
the city commission to enact codes which would limit Deerfield Beach from
becoming a condo canyon, which the commission did!
The people wanted Deerfield to remain a family friendly, low
rise village type of town; Tiara East made them realize what developers would
do if they were not checked.
Everyone was happy with the new codes
for years until the year 2000 when a developer bought some ocean front property
and wanted to maximize his profit.
I don’t know what shenanigans took
place to convince those commissioners that they should approve Ocean Plaza with
a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of around 1.6, despite the Land Development Code being
.8. I suspect hanky-panky, as why else would a sane person vote to allow
such lot coverage, for a developer, on our beach front?
A resident in the next condo sued the
City because of the violation of the FAR. The Commission, in reaction
to the lawsuit, (knowing they would lose) removed the FAR from city codes for
residential, multifamily buildings so that the Ocean Plaza, on Ocean Way could
be constructed. This is the code which governed how high and wide the
building could be; the very code that was put in place to guard against this
kind of overdevelopment. That
is why the structure is so huge and has almost no setbacks.
Horrified by the
betrayal of their elected representatives, the OSOB Committee, to make
sure that another “Ocean Plaza” type building couldn’t further ruin the beach
area, collected signatures and by petition placed a referendum on the ballot
which restored the eliminated building codes and placed them in the charter
which, in order to be changed, must go to the voters.
Now we have Mayor Robb suggesting going against the wishes of the 75% of the voters who OVERWHELMINGLY voted YES to restore the code restrictions on overdevelopment. She wants to eliminate the building codes again, and give free rein to development. She is trying to emulate the former commission and stick it to the residents.
This seems to be political pandering of the worst sort. Robb has never before been in favor of
development on the beach. But maybe now
that she is old and her kids are gone and not using the beach she doesn’t care
what happens to the rest of us.
She had support for her campaign from some people who want
the wrong thing for Deerfield; she welcomed the support as she wanted to be
elected so very badly.
This bid to eliminate the code referendum may well be her
payback to those who supported her to further their greedy interests; I can
think of nothing else that would explain her behavior.
Jean’s whole identity seems to be wrapped up in “I was the
mayor”, even her email name, for over 20 years, has been “mamamayor”. So it looks as if becoming mayor again was
the supreme ego trip. Becoming
mayor was her aim, but BEING mayor is turning out to be too much for
her. Her confusion on the dais, her
abrasiveness, rudeness, sarcastic jokes and asides, interruptions, and her
inability to look realistically at proposals and do the right thing for the residents of
the city show she is not up to the job.
I have no question in my mind that the other commissioners
will not entertain her foolish notions.
But the fact that she proposes these absurdities worries me a lot.
We need to keep an eye on her and the agenda items to make
sure our interests are being watched out for.
We need to make sure the commissioners do the job they were elected to
do: making the quality of life of the residents the paramount issue.