Community Redevelopment Agency - Regular Meeting

Okay, great, are we ready?

Fabulous, thank you. Good afternoon and welcome to the City of Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency meeting. Today is Thursday, July 23rd, 2026, and the time is 4.02. Please call the roll.

Chair Cassell?

Here.

Vice Chair Malka?

Here.

Deputy Vice Chair Marker? Here. Commissioner Burns?

Here.

And Commissioner Carney?

Here.

Thank you so much. Are there any changes to the agenda? No changes. Great. Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve, please?

I'll make a motion.

I'll second.

Thank you so much. Would you call the roll?

Vice Chair Malka?

Yes.

Deputy Vice Chair Merker? Yes. Commissioner Burns? Yes. Commissioner Carney? Yes. And Chair Cassell?

Thank you. Yes. And now we are on to public comments. If anyone from the public would like to get up and speak on an item on the agenda or anything, please feel free. Seeing no one, we are closing public comments and moving on to the consent agenda. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda, please?

Motion to approve.

Second. Thank you.

Deputy Vice Chair Marker? Yes. Commissioner Burns? Yes. Commissioner Carney? Yes. Chair Cassell? Yes. And Vice Chair Malika?

Yes. Thank you. And now we are on to Old Business Item 8A. Renee, you will be presenting. Thank you. Yes. Thank you.

All right. So this item is a discussion and direction regarding request for proposals for the disposition of one CRA lot located at 216 Northwest 8th Avenue. Here is a map showing the property. So a little bit of background. So we initially submitted or put out an RFP for this lot in early 2026 in January. Deadline was in March. We issued an addendum. No proposals were received. In April, we came before the board and requested that we cancel the RFP. We had a few different options. We were considering if we want to actually build it ourselves because it is a smaller lot, it's a substandard size lot, and none of our nonprofit partners bid on the lot. Another option that we ended up doing simultaneously is we reached out to the nonprofit partners to find out why they did not bid on it. So we had a meeting with the Community Land Trust, the Housing Authority, Habitat, and the Delray Beach CDC. And here's a feedback of some of the responses that they provided to us about this property and the process in general. So the first thing that stood out was that RFP requires financial information. We ask for three years of immediate past audits and their current fiscal year financial statements, one year income statement for the current proposer, and tax returns for the immediate three years. So this is something that we had changed in 2024. Prior to that, we only asked for one year. So something that we wanted to discuss today is if we want to consider relaxing that or making any modifications. But currently, we have a three-year requirement in our RFPs. We also discussed financial assistance. So currently, our RFP provides financial assistance for architectural engineering services, development cost permit fees, including impact fees, construction financing, any alleyway, roadway construction required by the city of Delray Beach. Because another thing that we found is some of these Smaller lots, because obviously land is at a premium right now. Some of them have never had a home or anything built on them. So now that we've put them out to the bidding market, they actually have to build the sewer lines and everything to get into the home. Whereas some of the lots that had a house before or something there, they already had the services to it. So that does add cost. And for nonprofits that are smaller, obviously, they will transfer that cost oftentimes to the end buyer, which that's not what we want. So we... also offered subsidies, which we've done that case-by-case basis. It depends on the project. Recent RFPs, we have not done that, but we did offer that in the last RFP that we did. So this is something that we can also discuss is leaving that in there. We inform that we do now allow for these costs to be included into the project, and we can keep that in there if we'd like. Another thing we discussed is require a payment and performance bond. This is also something that's somewhat newer, but I think it's also important so that we're protecting the asset that we make sure that a home is built. So this could be financially burdensome for the nonprofit. So there was a request if we could include that in the financial ask that they could ask that of us in their financial assistance. So that's also a point of discussion for the board today. A few-ish additional comments from the nonprofits is there was a request for flexibility in the development process, allowing them to substitute homes and floor plans, and allowing for amendments to the PSA due to unforeseen conditions, and also issuing RFPs for multiple properties. And we explained that the situation with RFPs is that once something is bid, they have to be able to provide that product. We can't just swap it out. There was a situation where someone had a single story. They wanted to do a two story. But that is not what we, with this RFP process, it's a little more stringent that we can't just make that type of a major change because we're agreeing to what we accepted in the bid. So we informed them that that wouldn't be allowed. Minor substitutions within reason, but not changing the entire floor plan and home. That's not something that we could do. And we do currently issue RFPs for multiple properties at the same time. So that's something that's already happening right now. And then site constraints. So this particular site is small. It's 40 by 135. So in and of itself, we knew that this was a challenging lot. So the nonprofit partners cited to that, basically, that there are issues with the site and that restricted them in their ability to bid. And also, it would cost more money. So they were just asking for more, probably, to be able to help build this lot. So we explained that a lot of the lots that we have now are vacant, which will require the utilities, or they may be a little bit smaller, nonconforming. So that's something that we'll probably have to deal with for a few more of the lots going forward. And we also discussed the condition of the sites. So some of these sites, these lands, we've had for a long time. We have a situation now where there's a fence that was built on one of our lots that we're seeing now that we're going to build on it. So they're asking if maybe surveys can be updated closer, if it's something we've owned for a long time, or some minor site clearing. Maybe there's some trees or unlevel ground or something, some kind of prep work that can be done beforehand. Because again, all of those things are some things that the nonprofits would have to do. And it goes into their timeline for one. and also into the cost that they're providing to the end user sometimes, unless they can absorb that, which usually they probably can't. So we informed that we could look at that on a case-by-case basis. We're going through replots right now for a few of the lots. So during that time, there's some that can be cleared. We're going through a tree removal process right now with some of the lots we've purchased recently. So that's kind of a minor thing, but just wanted to bring it up as a comment that they expressed as a concern of site constraints for them.

Are there any constraints on us that are placed by the organizations that you report up through on that?

No, we can do it. No, it's just usually we're buying the lots as is and we put them back out as is. But again, since it's becoming, we're buying things that aren't like the best lots, I guess. We're doing the replats, buying lots that never had a home on them before. There's just a little more work that would go into it. This is something that we could also put into the eligible costs for them to ask for it back. Or, again, we can just do it. It's probably less expensive if we just do it when we get it. We make sure it's clear and it's build-ready for them as opposed to just transferring it to them as is and updating the survey. They'd have to do it when they go through the purchasing process, but we could also look at doing that for some of these that we've had for a long time that we're now putting out for the builders. Okay. All right, so for what we're looking for today for board action, we're recommending that we reissue the RFE based on the conversation. It seemed that there was interest. It was just because of the site constraints, there were these other things that I think were just kind of in their minds. I think it was good to have this conversation for everyone to get their the concerns out, discussion back and forth. But I think that we can put it back out and see if there's any responses. And if not, then we can reassess one more time. But the direction we're looking for is about revising the financial information requirements if we want to lower it back down to one or leave it at three. And also if we want to revise the eligible clause to include the payment and performance bond and also pre-construction activities such as surveys, property clearing, and grading.

Thank you. Question. When you refer to the item revising the financial information requirements, are you speaking specifically for this lot, this RFP, or are you talking generally that we should contemplate that going forward?

Just for this RFP. Okay.

I'll go to the board. Can I ask a question? Sure. So, again, on the same question, so when you're talking about the requirement for the audit, is that just for this one, or...

It's just for this one. So for future RFPs, when we bring them to the board, we can discuss that, unless you want to just make a blanket change going forward. You have to think about the bigger lots, like the 6, 700, 800, some of those larger ones. We've included the three years in there as well. That's why I say case by case, because some of those larger mass builds, you might want to look a little bit more into their financials.

Okay. I guess what I wanted to ask, so I guess it'll be just case by case. I support that as well. But I spoke with Mrs. Odom, who is the vice chair of the Delaware CDC, and other members of the board. And this... prevents their ability to bid because they have the one year. Yes. The organization is decades old. However, they had an unfortunate situation where they had some restructuring done. And so the three-year prevents them from bidding. So I would ask that my colleagues, the board, support relaxing this, I guess, for this particular time, and then we can do it case by case, as you said. Chair?

Wait, I'm sorry. Sorry, just one suggestion, too.

If you wanted to do two years instead of just one year, because I think when this RFP and this situation happened was earlier in the year, and there's only one, but by now maybe there's a second. I don't know. And then next year, three is around the corner. So if we wanted to do two, maybe that's something that you could meet in the middle. I'm not sure if that would work for them, but they were the only ones who expressed concerns about the three years.

Great. Thank you. Mayor Carney, do you have comments?

I think when you're dealing with non-conforming lots, we have to have a lot more flexibility in trying to get people to build on them. And when you're dealing with a lot, frankly, this small, whether you have a one-year or a three-year audit, your financial credibility and strength for building on a small lot is really significantly less than if it's a larger project. I would just support having as much flexibility as I can to broaden the amount of people that could respond to the RFP.

Thank you. Ms. Malika?

I would be in agreement with that to narrow it to one year for this particular property.

Any other comments?

I think in this particular instance, one year is fine. But I don't know that we want to permanently relax that. Not at all. I think we want to maintain that because we need to check out who's doing what. That's important to us. I think in this case, it's perfectly fine. But I wouldn't be in favor of making broader changes longer term.

I wholeheartedly agree with that, and I would almost go to two, just because we implemented that in 2024 for a very good reason, to protect ourselves, to protect the taxpayers, and so that we made sure that we got a completed project at the end of the day. And I think what Ms. Jadising is saying is that organization will probably qualify, you know. within a short period of time.

I just ask that you support lowering it to the one year. That's my ask.

I agree.

And revising the costs, performance and payment bond, I think you have to keep that in there. The pre-construction activities and surveys, that's something we can do as requested. Right, that's my feeling. And I would also like to note that since we incorporated that regulation regarding the financial information, we have still gone out for RFPs and we've had responses that have worked. So I think the non-conforming lot and the small size is the real problem here.

not the financial information requirements.

So I think, do you have your direction?

Yes, I just wanted to clarify. So the ask is always of the immediate year prior. So just to clarify, it's one year. It would have had to be the current year, not past years, just to have one in a certain amount of time frame. So it would have to be last year's audit would be what's qualifying. And that's always been the case. It has to be the immediate past year. But one year is fine. Okay. Yeah.

Thank you. So that's that. On to 8B, approval of the 2026 amendment to the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency's Community Redevelopment Plan by the City of Delray Beach. That's fine. Take your time. Thank you. Good afternoon, commissioners.

Christine Tibbs, assistant director. So we are back with the 2026 amendment to the CRA community redevelopment plan. So you saw this in May 26. I'm going to briefly run over the overview because since that time, not much has changed. We... So I'll just go through the overview of the changes, retain the core subject matter, updated maps and images and graphics, enhanced user-friendly design, layout, content. We've updated the CRA needs and goals, connecting those needs, goals, project programs, strategies, initiatives, with the relevant sections of Chapter 1863, which we are governed under, updating narratives to reflect current conditions community needs, highlighting ongoing projects and programs, their alignment with our CRA needs and goals, and incorporating updated demographic profiles. Quickly go through, you'll see the graphic changes here, which we showed at our May 26th meeting. None of these have changed since then. We did send the CRA plan to Development Services for review. Any comments that we received back from Development Services were reviewed by CRA staff and incorporated where needed. This has been an ongoing project for the CRA with Treasure Coast Regional Planning, and Dana is with us this evening to see this next step through with us. So you'll see we've updated the graphics here. So we highlight the need and the goal and the strategies. We added icons as we mentioned in May so that overall the user friendliness, the ease of reading it is just updated and it's better overall. You'll see the updated needs and goals here where we added policing innovation, public assets and facilities and just adjusted it to meet the current chapter 163 and what we do as a CRA. With the icons here for ease of reference. And we're connecting it with the statute reference underneath each need updated the narratives in front of the sections to connect with the users of this document to tell a story of why we're doing the things that we're doing, the projects that we're implementing, and who we're serving. The narratives are updated throughout. We highlight ongoing projects, nice new tables, new charts, And then incorporating updated demographic profile throughout the document, especially within the section that delves into our sub-areas. And then... This establishes that our governing body is the city of Delray Beach. And then in 1986, through Resolution R-86-2003, Palm Beach County Commission delegated all of the county's authority to the city of Delray Beach. So our sole governing body right now to approve this amendment is the city of Delray Beach. I'm gonna give it to Renee to take you through the next steps.

Yes. Okay next steps, so Okay, so the adoption we're Trying to go for planning and zoning in August and then fall would be first and second reading for the City Commission And then it would be adopted So there's certain requirements in the statute about notice and the public meetings so we'll make sure that that's all taken care of as we go through this process and And the next thing that I wanted to go over is the sunset date. So our current plan has a sunset date that's approved for September 16, 2044. In 2019, the Florida legislature basically said that all CRAs have to sunset at 2039 unless the governing body adopts a resolution to extend it to its longest term. So for us, that would be that September 16, 2044 date. Um, so right now that's our date. So for our current plan, we left that 20 foot 20 44 date because there is a process in the statute that I would recommend. We probably go to the County for approval as well. I think with the timing right now, we should probably just wait and not do that. Um, because right now, again, our plan is already solid where it's the September 16th, 20 44. The longest duration for us would only be a few more months. We go to 20 45. I think it's like June 20 45. So I figure just for convenience at this point, we should probably just go with the 2044 date and revisit that if we want to look at those additional months later on. But just with what's happening right now, I think it's best to leave it here, unless the board says otherwise, and then we can go down that path and discuss. We'd basically have to go through the amendment process that's in the statute, go to the city and the county, because it's extending that time frame. The plan amendment's more of a minor process.

Thank you. To the board, do you have any questions?

Yeah, I just wanted to know, so how long could you extend it? The extension would be an additional?

From September 2044 to June 2045. Oh, okay. So it's not that, it's a few, yeah.

So that would be to finish up any projects or...

Right. And I think if we want to consider it, we were kind of thinking this internally, like we're looking at the bond for the Northwest neighborhood. And once we look at the financials, they calculated out through 2044 to give us the estimates. And it's fine. I don't see an issue with that. the other project that would be coming behind that would be the southwest neighborhood future on the future so it's always there because the statute says that we can be in existence right for 60 years total so we are already accounting for that with northwest neighborhood as a 2044 sunset date not 2045 so thank you mayor comments okay okay thank you mr margaret no i'm good miss malika um good work on redoing that whole thing it's beautiful

Yeah. Thank you, Dana. It is lovely. Yes, Dana, thank you. And Treasure Coast. We've had a long-standing working relationship with Treasure Coast that we greatly appreciate. And to our amazing staff, this is a big project and it's very exciting. Last time we talked about how we will... Make it interactive online and maybe that's once we get this all done. That will be the next phase of our conversation Do we need any you don't need any do we need a vote to approve this? Yes. This is the final. This is it.

Thank you so much plan

Second, thank you. Please.

Call the roll Commissioner Burns. Yes, Commissioner Carney. Yes, sure. Cassel. Yes, vice-chair Malika Yes, and deputy vice-chair marker.

Yes.

Thank you so much and we are on to new business We have to recommend that we Presented to the city for adoption. So no part two. Thank you. Would someone make that motion?

I'd like to also move that we ask the Delaware Beach City Commission to accept the redevelopment plan as amended and substantially in the form that we are presenting it to it.

Thank you. Second.

Commissioner Carney? Yes. Chair Cassell? Yes. Vice Chair Malka? Yes. Deputy Vice Chair Markert? Yes. And Commissioner Burns? Yes.

Yes.

Thank you so much.

Now...

Thank you so much. Have a great evening. Okay, let's move on to new business. Number 9A, award the call to artists for the exterior mural for the Sierra Unowned building located at 95 Southwest Fifth Avenue. This is exciting.

Yes, it is. Thank you. Again, so I'll just jump into the item. You're all familiar with the building at this point. Here's 95 Southwest Fifth Avenue, our new build recently, you know, finally completed. We also closed out our tenant applications. So hopefully that comes before you as well. And then that arrow is showing where the exterior mural will be. That is actually the Southwest First Street side, the longer side of the building. So we issued the call February 11, 11 artists submitted by the due date. And we had an evaluation committee comprised of two CRA staff members, one city staff member, one community partner. and two Frog Alley residents. Actually, one of the committee members, Patricia Wright, is here. And they reviewed all 11 applications per the criteria that is on the screen in front of you right now. They were also listed in the call. included the letter of intent with her artist statement, proposed medium, qualifications, experience, previously completed and installed work. So there was the first evaluation committee meeting on June 9th, during which the evaluation committee, oh, I'll go back. So part of the call to artists also included we asked the artist for a project compensation. And it's an all-encompassing project compensation from organizing the outreach all the way through to materials, labor, equipment to put up the mural and then also come up with an art maintenance plan for us after it's completed. And the range was $14,300 to $46,550. The evaluation committee Reviewed and scored and then recommended that the four highest ranking artists move forward to oral presentations So you'll see in front of you highlighted in blue the four artists that move forward. They were the ones that made it into the 500 plus points category it was out of 600 points, so Those were the four and then on June 30th oral presentations occurred in front of the same evaluation committee a 10-minute oral presentation from each artist or artist's team, and then a 10-minute Q&A from the evaluation committee itself. And then afterwards, the evaluation committee discussed and Rescored, if necessary, the four artists. And you'll see in front of you the ranking. And then they recommended the CRA move forward with contract negotiations with the highest scoring artists. Sonata, I will not attempt that last name. And Symphonie Smith-Kennedy was the artist team selected or ranked by the evaluation committee as the highest ranking artist team. You'll see that the selected artist will snapshot of what their duties and responsibilities will be to research the history of the set, particularly Frog Alley, as this building, 95 Southwest Fifth Avenue, is within Frog Alley, the people and the businesses that helped to establish, shape, and grow the set community and Frog Alley. They'll design the mural with significant feedback from the community. Part of that is organizing and conducting community outreach meetings alongside CRA staff. That feedback and input from the community will then go into developing the design of the mural. The final design, of course, will come before the CRA board. It will also need to go before the city public art advisory board for approval to install the mural so there will be several outreach meetings public meetings prior to anything being finalized and put on the building but we are excited to get to this point So a brief introduction to the two artists who are actually here in the room with us, Sonata and Sinfonie, they're right there. They're skilled in painting and mosaic tile, so they will be using a hybrid of both techniques for the exterior mural. Based on their presentation, it's Symphoni will be designing and painting on the tiles. The tiles will be reproduced. There will also be hand-built relief on the mural as well. And everything's, you know, that's just their medium. There was no concept presented to the evaluation committee. That will be developed with the community. So their application and oral presentation emphasized their prior mural and community outreach experience, how they would conduct their research, how they'll incorporate community feedback and envision the community's participation. They envision the community actually being able to either shape a tile or paint a tile or however that comes about during their public outreach meetings. um for the community to actually have a hand in the mural itself um and they also described how they selected their medium and techniques will have better longevity um on the building itself their project compensation that was put into their application is forty six thousand five hundred fifty dollars and at this point we are asking the cra board to accept the evaluation committee's recommendation uh for the highest ranking artists award the call to sonata and symphony and authorized CRA staff to enter into contract negotiations with the artist team. That contract will, of course, be brought before the board at a future meeting for approval.

Thank you. This is very exciting. May I ask, is it Kazimieration? Thank you so much.

What does it say, McKay?

This is very exciting moving forward this is a beautiful building a wonderful representation of Our staffs ability and this will just make it more lovely. I'm excited to move forward. Does anybody have any questions?

I'm excited

Great.

I like to make a motion that we accept the Evaluations Committee recommendation and award this award to the artist that No, no, sir, I will not Second thank you so much.

Would you call the roll?

Sure, cuz I'm yes vice-chair Monica. Yes deputy vice-chair marker Yes, mr. Burns. Yes, and Commissioner Carney.

Yes, I

Thank you so much. And also, thank you, Ms. Wright, for your participation in the process. We're excited to have you here. Have a great day, everyone. On to 9B, resolution number 2026-08, approval of the transfer of the CRA-owned 215 Southeast 2nd Avenue parking lot to the city of Delray Beach.

Yes. OK. Right. So we've discussed this a few times in the past. There's a small parking lot that the CRA has owned in Osceola Park. It's the 215 Southeast 2nd Avenue. We acquired it in 2012. Bye, thank you. And we've maintained it as a public parking lot. I believe that we probably had the intent of transferring this to the city years ago. It just didn't happen. I recall some of this discussion happening when I got here in 2018, but it just didn't go forward. At this time, we would like to transfer because we've had issues of people leaving cars there, the parking, and it's a bit of a maintenance issue for us because the city can't go in and just tow or do anything because it's our lot. So then they have to call us, and then it just becomes a little bit of an extra step. So I've been talking to Public Works about this quite some time, and we're actually now at the point ready to do it. So we're just basically transferring this quick claim deed to the city and move it on. That's the one next to the hut. Thanks to the HUD, yes.

Could I just?

It needs to move on, yes. Yes. And I'm in favor of this. And we've had so many discussions about this. But I do have to ask one question that I think is important. Is there anything we might do? Will this always be a parking lot? Could it be developed into something in the future? Because if it can be developed, I know we've talked about it. I'm in agreement if that's your recommendation.

Well, we discussed if we want to have a deed restriction or some kind of reverter. But since it was a parking lot, we just said no because there isn't a lot of parking there in this little area. So we just transferred it. We can.

I would recommend the deed restriction and reverter. OK. If there is a necessary limited parking in that area and the city is utilizing it for that, that's great. But I think if somehow in the future it were to be for something else, then it should come back to us

at not us us us the cra for the cra to determine its best use we can do that there if you recall we were also discussing the jwh thomas park about transferring that to the city so because that one's a park it's in the first block we actually have been working with our legal counsel on Reverters type language very similar, but since this is just a straight parking lot We're like, let's just put it forward this way, but we can absolutely do that.

That would be my recommendation.

I'll go to the board That's fine because I mean if the reality is if the city wanted to do it They just come back to the city CRA and say is that okay? So if it's something we agree on we do it.

So yeah That's two this phone three four. Okay. So can we get a motion for the resolution as amended? I Number 2026-08.

Resolution.

So moved is appropriate. Someone can just say so moved.

But aren't we putting something else in there? So this would be for a reverter and a deed restriction, correct? Deed restriction and reverter that should be used as a parking lot. If not, it would revert to the CRA.

You can just say so moved.

OK.

So moved. Second. Second.

Oh, second. OK. I saw him. OK dokey. Thank you. Would you please call the roll?

Vice Chair Mulligan? Yes. Deputy Vice Chair Marker? Yes. Commissioner Burns? Yes. Commissioner Carney? Yes. And Chair Casale?

Yes. Thank you so much. On to other business. Comments from our executive director.

Yes. Okay. First, I wanted to mention for our September board meeting, we had it scheduled for September 22nd. However, I think there's a budget presentation taking place that day, so we were asked to move it to the 24th. And I reached out individually about that, but I just wanted to make sure that that's on the record. The 24th? The 24th, yes. We're changing it in the calendar, but I just wanted to bring it up at the meeting as well. I'll be calling in.

Thank you.

All right. And then we have a save the date. So this is Allure Beauty. We're having a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, August 12th at 5 p.m. 98 Northwest Fifth Avenue. This is one of our new tenants. She has a hair and beauty product salon. Really amazing. It's very cute. She's done a very good job with it. We just wanted to put a placeholder on the calendar. We'll have flyers out very soon, but very excited for her. She's probably there now. I think she opened recently, so stop by and check it out. But we want to have her official ribbon cutting on August 12th. And the entertainment district. So we are assisting the city in the outreach efforts for the entertainment district discussions. So there are two community outreach meetings planned at this time. The first one is August 19th at 5.30 at the Creative Arts School, and the second one will be at our CRA Social 5 p.m. on September 3rd. So please come out. There's definitely going to be flyers and door hangers and different things going out about these meetings, but we really want to get a lot of people out there to get feedback, education, learn what this is and how it could impact them, and also get the feedback on their thoughts on this expansion.

Thank you.

And, well, this is our CRA social. So we are talking mostly about the entertainment district, but obviously everyone's invited to come out and spend time with us. It's always a nice education moment. We interact with the community. It's always a great outreach effort for us. So please join us September 3rd.

And that's all.

Thank you.

Thank you. board attorney any comments thank you for joining us this evening it's lovely to see you to the board mayor Carney no comments thank you mr. Marker no further comments thank you comments thank you for preparing us make sure to do random acts of kindness It's her random act of kindness.

It's my random act of kindness.

It wasn't mine. No, it's mine.

Oh, your random act of kindness. It's mine.

It's for me.

You're kind to us all the time.

Okay, on that note, I think I should close this out. Thank you to the staff. Thank you, everyone. Have a lovely evening. Meeting is adjourned.