Community Redevelopment Agency - Regular Meeting

Are we ready?

Oh, there's a clerk written on him.

That's probably really good advice.

Good good morning, everyone. We're gonna bring the meeting of the community redevelopment agency to order.

Chair Burns? Here. Vice chair Markert?

I'm I have go

ahead

gonna the arrive at 10:45.

When she arrives, she's gonna be

in house. Yes. Okay. Alright. So we have the roll call. So there's some changes on the agenda. I was notified by the executive director. So Yes.

Yes. Thank you, chair.

So

we will need to move or remove items 6a and 6b. They're related to the renovation work that we're doing at the Arts Warehouse. These two items are not quite ready we thought they would be, but we'll have to move them off hopefully to January, but we just wanna remove them at this time.

Okay. Done.

Six a and six b. We're just removing them. We're removing them. Yes. From the agenda.

Alright. So can I get a motion to approve the agenda as amended?

I move. I'll second.

Vice chair Markert?

Yes.

Deputy vice chair Casal? Commissioner Carney? Yes. Commissioner Long?

Yes.

And chair Burns?

Yes. Okay. At this time, for public comment. Is there anyone in the chamber wanting to make public comment at this time? Seeing none. I'm waiting

for somebody slowly rising back there.

My name is Chuck Ridley. I don't think I have to give address anymore. Right? Is that it?

Alright. My name is Chuck Ridley.

ZIP code. Name and ZIP code.

33444. Thank you. It is my understanding, having had a chance to thoroughly look at the agenda, that there will be a discussion about the update of the set transformation plan. If it is and I'm at the right meeting, I wanna share with you that your staff and several of you as commissioners, have been very engaged, in this process. It has been, a lot of time since we've had the level level of agency involvement, the level of staff involvement, and great job staff, and those of you from the commission to actually put your hands behind this document.

Is it perfect? No. Is there work to do? No. But what you do have in front of you is the authentic voice of the community. What it needs now is for you to give your staff and the community as the elected body the resources it needs, and it's going to take your vision to dovetail with the vision of this community. And let's move Delray to where it needs to be. Thank you for the resource. I wanna thank staff, and I always give a shout out to our community.

Thank you.

Love it.

Are there any other comments, public comments? Seeing none, public comment. Closed. Can I get a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda?

I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Second.

Deputy vice chair Cassell, commissioner Carney? Yes. Commissioner Long?

Yes.

Chair Burns? Yes. And vice chair Margaret?

Yes. Yes. And we do not have any old business, and now Renee will be presenting the new business. Yes.

Thank you very much. So, yes, we are here. This is for the CRA to recommend that the City Commission basically take the next steps to review and adopt the update to the 2025 West Atlantic Master Plan, aka SET Transformation Plan, which the amendment would change the name to the Set Transformation Plan. I think this has been an outcry for several years for this to happen. So now we're here.

So along with that name change, there were other things in the plan that needed to be updated, data, demographics, statistics, and maps and those types of things. We're going walk through a little bit of that today, starting with the history of this entire process. I just thought it would be nice to start there for us here in the room and those watching, just to see how far we've come and where we're going. So this is the study area basically. Our CRA sub areas are three, four and eight.

And that is inclusive of the set area. And the current plan is in this QR code if anyone wants to scan that. It's available on our website and on the city's website. But it's basically a detailed blueprint that expresses the community's vision for what the community is looking for the area to become. And I think like Chuck said, it kind of couples in with what the city's vision is, not to overtake or replace. It's really for everything to come together. So as things happen in the West Atlantic Set neighborhood that's complementary to everyone and agreeable to everyone in that area. Alright. So here's the timeline. So we started back when we actually started this plan amendment process, or the plan process was 2016 when hired, CRA hired IBI Group.

And they were really looking at consolidating the Southwest plans, sorry, the Northwest Neighborhood Plan and the West Atlantic Plan into one plan document. That was kind of the purpose. So several years passed from 2016 to 2018, there were plan preparation, workshops, interviews, and ultimately the CRA Board recommended the City Commission adopt the plan in 2018. Between 2019 to 2020, the plan was amended. And that's the time when the name was changed and removing the references to work and changing the name of the document from the SET transformation plan to the West Atlantic Master Plan.

And that plan was adopted in October 2020. Fast forward to 2023, our board started to discuss amending the plan to change the name back to the SET transformation plan instead of the West Atlantic Master Plan. So while we were doing that, we also saw the opportunity to update information because it was getting a bit older the data and demographics that we collected as you I wanted to start with 2016. So you see how old some of that information would be in that plan. So since we were changing the name, thought it'd be a good opportunity to also update some other information as well.

So in 2024, we hired Business Flair to start with an update of the demographics and economic data. Because I believe at the time we weren't sure how extensive this update would be and how much we were going to be looking at adjusting. But we knew at a minimum that the demographics and economic data were outdated. So we started there, updated all of the maps and all of the documents that related to that information. So the documents itself actually look the same. We have snippets of those pages at the end of this presentation and we presented them before. But we just wanted to highlight that we didn't structurally change it. We just went in and changed the number, you know, changed the percentage to be updated. And next part of this process was in 2024, we started to discuss the next step. So after we got the demographics, we were looking at how much and how extensive the change would be.

I believe we started in talking about updating the demographics, and then it kinda morphed into other things in the plan. And we went out and got quotes from different consultants, and we ultimately hired Inspire Placemaking. So now we're jumping to 2025. We inspire hired Inspire Placemaking to help us with this update with the public meetings also. And we held four in between May, August, September, October.

We had four public meetings, and I think they were, to me, some of the most well attended that I've ever seen. I think at each meeting we had almost over a 100 people at every single meeting just to show how engaged and involved people were. And I was happy to see new faces there, including some of our familiars who are here as But we really did have a good outcry from the community members. They were interested. They some people just didn't know and they wanted to find out more information.

Some people knew and they were, you know, sharing, but it was really nice to see how many people really came out to to learn more about this and share their thoughts. And then we had our board meetings towards the end of this year discussing how we would roll out the next steps. We thought it would be good to have this meeting today so we could start the process in the city, start the new year fresh, get this over to Planning and Zoning, and then to City Commission for ultimately their review and adoption, hopefully. Any questions on the timeline? Okay.

So this is just a summary of the public meetings. I went through the dates, but we broke it down to the first meeting discussing the demographics that we updated, which is where we started this whole process. The next meeting we talked about the action strategies and the principles. It's in the plan. There were, I believe, like over a 100 different action strategies and things that were, you know, needing to be done in the plan. So we brought boards out and had them all around the room and have people prioritize them. So that was a really good exercise to see what things are still high up there, so what things need to be removed. Think the takeaway for me was that a lot of things are still high up on the list. And as you look through the document, a lot of the things are still there. We just kinda cleaned it up and changed the order and organized it little bit differently.

But a lot of those things are still relevant and needed today. And the things that aren't, we'll discuss, I'll show you through this presentation. And then the next two meetings we broke down the six different pillars that are in the plan. So the first meeting we covered the first three pillars, are community capacity building, civic stewardship, community wealth building. And then the second meeting we covered healthy community, place making and strategic investments.

So here's just a summary of the information that we got gathered from the meetings. And I will go through, sorry that goes to the plan. Okay. So yes, this is just kind of an overview of just what I mentioned about the outreach meetings. We do have a full summary from the consultant in our backup for the agenda. There's two different documents that they put together. It includes all the boards. So it's very open and information is all out there with what people prioritize, what things people wanted to remove. So there really are a really good detailed report if anyone wants to take a look at those later. And so now we'll jump into the amendment document.

This is the Table of Contents. There's full copies of this document available online and also at your stations there. But again, table contents really follows the same flow. We really didn't adjust anything major here. And then here's another overview of the six principles that I just mentioned. Again, completely the same. We didn't really even change the icons, the logos, or any information here. It's all pretty much the same guiding principles for the plan. And they all are really meant to build on each other. Going from community capacity building is how to empower community through, and then it goes through to civic stewardship, then community wealth building, healthy community place making and strategic investments.

I'll walk them through a little bit more, but again, we didn't change anything here. So the first community capacity building. So we provided a brief definition from the plan. Again, this is largely the same as what was there before. And then down below are some of the action strategies that are were in there before remain.

I think the biggest change that I want to highlight is there was a concept of a commercial land trust that was in the existing plan. And I think it was a little bit confusing of how how it was laid out because there were some places saying to expand the existing, some were saying to create a new one. And I believe from the feedback that we received and through this process it was clarified that the intention was to have a different, a new commercial land trust that would be really community led, that can give businesses tools to help get around or deal with high rent costs and land costs by giving the community that asset to be able to own their own land and have an ownership interest themselves. So I think that was a huge takeaway, that it's creating a new land trust that would be guided by, or guided and created by stakeholders. Another thing we kind of cleaned up a little bit is that the West Atlantic Neighborhood Improvement District concept.

There were references about if the CRA is no longer there, then this would be something that could be utilized. I think it's, we just clarified that this is something that's been on the books and there's no tax currently being imposed, and just kind of left it a little cleaner, instead of how it was structured before in the plan. But the concept, again, was there before and it's still there, in there now. Next one is civic stewardship. So I think one of the big takeaways here is including information about how residents get involved.

Just, sorry, I should have said this in the beginning. The first couple of pillars are really community led things, from community capacity building, how the community members will help to build their community with us alongside. Also, the next one is civic stewardship, it's how the residents get involved. So that's kind of the tone of these first few pillars. So big takeaway here is that we added these bullet points about how community members can get involved, encourage them to attend city CRA, DDA advisory meetings, neighborhood association meetings, volunteer on boards, maybe seeking out opportunities like the Delray Beach Citizens Academy, getting to know your electeds, getting to know staff, sign up for newsletters, encouraging people to download My Delray Beach app, volunteering, mentoring.

So this is the types of things that the community wants to see in civic stewardship. And we included a condensed kind of road map or suggestions of how you can accomplish this. Next is community wealth building. Again, another pillar that really is community centered and focused. So there were seven focus areas within this action strategy or sorry, this pillar financial literacy, educational attainment, work skill enhancement for existing businesses, job creation, entrepreneurial environment enhancement, housing, and public policy.

So we reorganized these a bit and updated the information. Again, largely the same concepts. But this is how different ways in which the community can attain wealth through these strategies. Right. Another one that is, again, another more of a community led strategy at the Healthy Community, which, as you can see, has a lot.

This one was definitely expanded a bit in talking about healthy communities. And it ranges from physical health to mental health issues. All of that is kind of encompassed in here. A couple highlights are trying to find a site for a community wellness center, encourage healthy eating and exercise, mental how to deal with trauma information and supporting behavioral health. Also how to support children in the community, partnering with the police department to see if there's any opportunities there to support the community.

And also cultivating an initiative such as Birth to 22, United for Bright Futures. So these are the types of things. Also, the faith based organizations and how to partner and support them through their initiatives also. And huge highlight, is something that's a big focus for us, is establishing a full service supermarket, some kind of a food service in the area. That all ties into Healthy Community.

Also in place making, they kind of overlap. But the idea of having access to affordable fresh foods was a big thing coming out of the Healthy Communities section. And the next one is kind of where the city, CRA, kind of comes in a little bit more in placemaking, because this is like the area, like what we're doing. Benches, sidewalks, all those types of things is where placemaking is coming in. So this one also really didn't change a lot. The maps a lot are still the same. Here are some of the action strategies. There's a lot more in there. But again, not really a lot changed in the placemaking concept. It's really just how to build the environment that can help support what the community's needs are in the other pillars, I think, a big takeaway here.

And strategic investments. So strategic investments deals with kind of the land, some of that affordable housing, building on West Atlantic. We also mentioned here about the village center, the full service center. That was a concept that was expanded through this. At the time when the plan was initially created, the full service center wasn't there yet, or wasn't what it is now. So this was updated to put what's happening now and maybe some ideas for future. But the idea is how to implement things there that will help serve the needs of the set community residents. Any questions? Those are the six action strategies.

Are there any questions for any

I'm going have some comments, but no, no questions so Okay.

All right. Another big change was the implementation plan. So at the end of the original plan was a pretty detailed implementation plan. Certain things happen by certain time periods. Who would be doing those activities? So one big takeaway was actually moving that out to a standalone document, not something that gets adopted into the city process. So that if this needs to be updated or amended, you could do so without going through this whole entire amendment process, because that's kind of like the working document of what everyone is actually doing. And the names of the individuals or organizations were taken out. And that's a trend kind of throughout the plan. Because we know that organizations change and different things are happening.

The biggest thing we wanted to make sure this plan reflected is the needs and the wants, not necessarily who exactly is doing that thing. And that's something that can be worked through in the implementation strategy, which we have a working document that we printed out separately. But that's something that we would just have kind of following along with this document. But it's not actually adopted by the commission. And at this time, the implementation strategy has all of the action strategies that are within the plan.

But if we need to change it, or something happens along the way, it's easier to do that instead of amending the whole entire document. Okay. And this is just a brief summary of all of the things that were updated in the plan. I'll just go through these again just one more time. So updated the background with additional history, updated demographic and economic data, updated references to community groups, gathering spaces, and community assets to reflect what is active in existence.

We updated pictures to reflect the current state and also for better quality photos, so some of them were a little bit fuzzy, hard to see. We also updated all of the maps. We also added ongoing and future projects and also current community spaces and assets. We updated action strategies based on feedback given from the community meetings. We also updated the location of the implementation plan.

But overall, I think again, structurally, it's pretty much the same structure, just some of the inner workings were adjusted a bit. And then next steps. We will continue to work on this. We brought this to you all in, I think, the substantial form that we're comfortable with moving forward. Because it's knowing that it still has to go to the Planning and Zoning Board. City staff still has to review it. There are references to some of the city ordinance and code numbers. We just want to make sure that those are all correct. So that'll happen through the city process once it gets to that stage. So it will probably look a little bit different by the time it's finally adopted.

But for our purposes, we thought it would be time to bring it forward to start that. And then city commission, maybe January, February, or whenever the city is ready for that. But we at least wanted to start the process to get it reviewed by planning and zoning and city staff. And then these slides, I won't go through them unless we want to maybe later. But these are all the information that we updated with the demographics, just showing that the information, the charts are the same. We just updated the information. We've gone through this before. So again, I won't go through it. I just wanted to show this as an illustration of kind of how things were changed. Things in the document are almost on the same page number, pretty much.

We just updated the information and data inside. So these are just kind of samples. And we even went out and took new pictures that were like exactly the same as the current picture. We didn't want it to make it like this was a whole different document. It largely is the same, just updating some of the information in there.

And I won't go through all these, but that's an overview of the update. So I can turn it to you all for discussion and can keep going.

Thank you. So we'll go to the board. Mary, you wanna go first or Rob, are you ready for comments or questions?

Well, I mean, I have a number of issues and I've raised them before. Okay.

I mean, I have a

my belief is that West Atlantic Avenue belongs the entire city and that we have to look at it as such because it is the major gateway into the city. And the ultimate determination as to what should or should not go there really should rest with the city. And the people that are elected by the citizens of the city to manage their asset should be the ones really making the shots. So for example, the forming of community land trust, which would include West Atlantic, it's gonna be a nonstarter because I'm not I do not believe that we should have a nonelected board essentially controlling the direction of what West Atlantic should look like. You know, putting things into a trust and all of a sudden having trust a board of trustees, managing what you can and can't do in the property, apart from creating an extra layer of of of bureaucracy, it also is essentially telling the rest of the city that you have no control over this major asset that you that you have been paying taxes on forever.

So I have a fundamental problem with that, and I've expressed it before about West Atlantic Avenue. I think the the the the plan itself as it relates to the the two zones, not the CRA zone, but the other two zones to the north to the south is actually very formal. Think I they got some great ideas. And it would certainly find ways to really, really improve the neighborhoods and address some of the issues that they're worried about, and we should all be worried about, by the way, as to, you know, the affordability issue, the the the cleanliness issue, the all all that stuff is is is extremely important because it will help develop the wealth. That's the word I use because people in homeownership, I believe, is wealth.

It would help encourage the development of those neighborhoods and the creation of wealth for for a lot of people in those neighborhoods. So I really just kinda draw the line at where, you know, you take your section one or section where where section three is the CRA is is the one. Correct? So I think it was in the very beginning if I got

it all the way back. I got it.

Yeah. Oh,

there you go. Subarea three.

It's subarea three that you're referring to.

It's really I mean, I I carve I mean, area three also includes going up to Rehab and Six goes to city hall. So, I mean, you you know, I mean, let's let's be honest here. I mean, this is that is not really what the plan should be. So I I carve out West Atlantic. I wanna keep that for the taxpayers of the entire city to determine how they want it want it want it developed and the the elected officials to to say how they want their city asset to be developed.

You know, I I happen to I am in favor of the West Atlantic Subdistrict, as you know. I have pushed it up here. I talked about, you know, various times depending on when when the conversation about kind of getting the getting the the the the taxing component for the the the downtown development, kind of stopping at the East portion of Swinton and having this new entity start taking over the the Western, you know, West all the way to I 95 in that. I guess we're talking about in the sub area. I'd have to go look at what the map was. I don't think no. Actually, that's larger than the than the than the

It's larger. Yes. I think it goes to second.

Goes up to second. That's correct. Right. So and, you know, and I and I talk I've been been talking about that for two, three years. I mean, I don't think people are surprised.

So and so but that's a separate element. I mean, that we're not discussing that here today as to what whether because that would entail, you know, working on the statute and getting all that done and and carving out those areas and getting everybody to agree that that we want because I I think that a district that's just handling that part of of of the city would be focused exclusively on that part of the city. And I think we would start to generate some genuine results from that kind of activity. And I've and I'm but, again, I've been on the record there. Lastly, in line with how I feel about West Atlantic, you know, changing the name to me is kind of taking, again, it's it's this plan to develop West Atlantic is a city plan, and it should be a city plan.

It shouldn't be the plan of any particular group just like when they developed East Atlantic over on the beach side. It wasn't the, you know, the beach area plan for for anything. It was it was a city plan. So I'm very consistent in all that. But other than that, I think the plan is very good. I do think that's I feel you know, apart from these parts, which I think would create major legal problems, those those are my comments. And I know I understand we're not making the decision today. I understand there's gonna be a lot of people in between today's discussion and when ultimately the the the signatures are signed, including coming back to this body as a different body to to look at it where they will hear my same comments, by the way, so I can I've I've recorded them so I can just play them back. So those are my comments.

Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Long? Sure.

So we're recommending adoption today? We that was on the

We are. That that that's our yes.

Okay.

Yes. In substantial form. So it can have

It'll still it could still go through additional changes.

Correct. Yes. It just starts here.

That's right. Okay. Cool. Well, you know, this is my last meeting and I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to to comment on this today. It's been a long time coming. I think since commissioner Burns and I were elected, we've been talking about this for the very beginning and great to see that we're finally here. I wanna I wanna thank staff for all the hard work you've been doing on this. I haven't been as as engaged as I've wanted to be, but I know commissioner Burns and commissioner Market have been really engaged on this process. Thank you to the community. We I know there's been an incredible turnout for this.

It's super important. And seeing the very comprehensive updates you guys have come up with that have truly been across all these different categories, it seems like a truly collaborative approach that to get us to this point. I do think the name change back to the set transformation plan is absolutely critical. I think that symbolizes the steps that you guys have already shown to be collaborative and what this means to the identity of the North And Southwest communities. I think when the name was changed in 2020, it was a slight to the community.

I think that was politically driven by the commission that was here at the time. Changing it back shows that we are back on a path forward that is meant to be more collaborative. And that's been truly exemplified by our staff here. And I really do appreciate that and by the engagement of my colleagues up here as well. And I do I agree with the implementation plan being sort of broken off to, keep that process more fluid.

I think that's really smart. And ultimately, I'm gonna be all for recommending adoption to move forward with this. And, you know, you guys will be able to sort of change that as it moves through the process. But like I said, I'm just really grateful that I'm able to even have a vote on this. This is it's great. So thank you for making sure this got on the agenda before I'm out of here. Appreciate it.

Just for you.

You're the best. Thank you.

You're the best.

Thank you. Commissioner Markert.

You can't take credit for this, though. I know. I'm going to. You're out. Sorry. It's just the way it works. So I conferred with Chuck Ridley about it. He said you can't. Said no. You're You're You're out. So I'm really excited. Like, we're really making progress on this issue. I'm I'm super pumped about that. I'm still new to the commission, but, you know, when I was campaigning and and when I was learning about the West Atlantic, I've learned so much, and and it's time. I mean, I I just feel in my heart it's time, and I feel like we're we're really making progress here.

Right? And I feel really good about I hear the mayor's concerns and there are some things we're going to have to work through on land trusts and all that. But to me, that's a good problem because that says we're driving toward the finish line. We'll work those things out. I'm very comfortable with that. And, you know, I think we we do have some more work to do on finalizing options. There are some things, as Renee said, we can't really talk about today because we're in the cone of silence and other things that are kinda going on that are really good. Trust me. And we are making progress on this. I feel I feel pumped about this.

Like, we're it we're not to the finish line yet, but I think I think I can see it. And, you know, it it this this would make me really overjoyed if we could get this one over the line. So I I know there's more work to do, but I think we're all committed to getting there. So, thank you.

Thank you. And so, I would be overjoyed as well. But I wanted to just start out by taking a moment to recognize the staff and the the consultant, the community that came out. This has been a lot of work. It's been a very meaningful work as well. And not just the last five months, it's been the last seven to eight years. So this this this is a a real milestone in in my opinion, and I just wanna thank everybody. And and it's a credit to your leadership as well. So thank you. Kudos to the community.

Kudos to staff. You guys have just really knocked it out of the park this time. But, you know, and I think that, you know, the name is very important to the community. You know, we have the different sub areas. And if we have to make some adjustments, I'm all for the adjustments, but I am for moving this forward so that this thing can progress and and get moving.

I mean, it's been long enough, and it's time for it to to to take some feet and move. And so I'm I'm recommending that we move forward with it and what other adjustments I hear the mayor's concerns or his issues. And I just have a question. And now I know that Atlantic Avenue is our main throwaway. When Pineapple Grove plan was adopted, anybody know was Atlantic Avenue omitted from that plan or was it include like Sure.

There was a there was a Sure. If I may.

Oh, clear.

Since I've been there at the time. As you may we created a Main Street program.

Mhmm. Mhmm.

And it was discussions to do which Atlantic Avenue was included in part of that Main Street. The initial focus was the development of Northeast 2nd Avenue. And we called it then Pineapple Grove Main Street. And so that was the original focus of that. But there was a there was an adopted Main Street program, which is kind of a a you know, a a these planning councils have them and it's and it's it's a development program. And so we did it through the Main Street program.

So does that Main Street program still exist? I mean, this is eight years old, so maybe that Main Street program is still around?

Renee and I had this conversation about six or eight months

ago Yes.

About why I thought the Main Street program worked really, really well. And we would have to go back and redo something because I think I'm not sure whether it expired or or not. But the we did have the Main Street program, which I think did originally include all the way to I '95. And it's just never been but but I have to go

back

to because the I remember when there was early develop back ten years ago when there was talk about developing, as we're still talking about developing, the six, seven, 800 blocks, there was the concept that we could fashion some kind of a main street program for West Atlantic. And there was an initial great excitement. I didn't get reelected. And kind of the program kind of went by the by the wayside. You don't remember that? That was before your time.

Sorry. Can Anthea

It was before your time.

Do you mind if Anthea

comes up?

I remember it was. I mean, I yeah. I mean, it was I it was originally part I

was working with WORK.

That's when WORK was here. The right West Atlantic Redevelopment Coalition. Correct. I went to your meeting in 2000 Right. Twelve at this at that thing. Yeah. Okay. I remember.

So I see Anthea. Anthea, you you want to sort of share some information with us?

I I think the mayor's history on this is probably away

from grad school.

Gonna be better than mine when it comes to the main street effort. I do I do know that multiple plans provide advice for multiple areas. The downtown master plan went all the way to '95. The Northwest Southwest plans, which this plan kind of consolidated. There have been multiple efforts that provide recommendations on different parts of the city.

I mean, this is a prominent corridor. I don't know that you need to remove this input from this plan. You would sort of consider it if we moved into a Main Street plan, which I think is a really great idea. I know, you know, we've talked about trying to get control of the road too, so, it would qualify for that. But I think that this is this can be a starting point. I don't know that you need to worry about what it says because there's other recommendations. I mean, the city is filled with plans. Right? The Northwest, the North federal plan, South federal

plan. Doing great by doing things by committee.

It's just But it is it is a testament to really, you know, how involved our community is in shaping our city. You the vision plan is underway now. That's gonna come in. It may make other recommendations that overlap some of these. And when you get the consensus, then you get the power to know confidently where to spend your money, how to move forward. So I think all of this is great. It's a

prominent corridor and it's time. You. Well, would suggest maybe if we want to, if we are seemingly recommending this to go force to the city, we can maybe include some analysis or looking at a main street thing because that's not really in the plan. Right. Right. And, you know, so that could be something that we're saying, as a CRA, we wanna have that also explored and maybe some reference to that included.

Yeah. Because the main street plan, what we did Mhmm. But we well, let me I'll use, you know, the Pineapple Grove area. We we had this main street plan and we put essentially, there was like we created this Pineapple Grove group Mhmm. Mhmm. That kind of was really involved, which the same thing could be on which was always our vision for West Atlantic. Still is my vision for West Atlantic. I mean, my I'm I'm fighting with some nuances here because doing something in the land trust changes the dynamic. You've now got a whole new separate legal apparatus to deal with, and I just don't think we you don't want to ever lose control of your own property to a to a non elected group. But the concept of of community contribution getting something done is exactly what we did at Pineapple Grove.

And that's what I thought back in 2012 that was going to happen with West Atlantic. And I I agree with commissioner Long, who wasn't even born back then when we were doing these things. I'm kidding. Jeez. But but but certainly but certainly, you know, commissioner Burns remembers, we've been talking about this

forever. Mhmm.

So the fact that and commissioner Marker's right. If at least we are I mean, I I've told you my issues with the plan, and they're very nuanced issues. Not whether or not they think the concept is good. But at least we're starting the discussion. And hopefully, with this commission, it will actually generate some results. Because it is, as I said, you'd know my attitude on this land that's been sitting there that when we were part of the taking back in 2007 or 'eight, I mean, you know, at some point, you really got to start doing something with them. So Yeah. Okay.

So then I think then we part of our recommendation, I guess, would be to explore the idea of a main street and how that would work and look back at the historical thing, and and we can put that as our comments

going forward. The the set transformation.

Exactly. Because we could add a reference. If we wanted to, once we explore it, we could add a paragraph or something into one of the sections. It's not a a big thing

to do. So we we wanna move this on. Do I need a motion to move this on? Or how do we do what do

we do? I just wanna clarify something with the commercial land trust. Yes. So the commercial land trust concept isn't something that the CRA would be putting our land into. So our land still remains ours. This is something to for the community to build on its own, not us. I just wanted to make sure that that's clear. We're not planning to transfer anything unless there's some formal bid process and this land trust, kinda like our land trust or the CDC or Habitat responds to bids now or any private developer. If that entity, it doesn't involve us. They would be on their own responding and and taking actions and doing things in the community, not us. So that's just wanted to make sure that that's clear.

No. I I understand. That's all. Yeah. I understand. We weren't putting public land

into it. Right. Understood that. Okay. I just wanted to make sure for everyone listening to that it's clear. And that's what we tried to clarify in the plan, that that's what was happening. It's a community's thing. So that was all. I just wanted to make sure. But, yes, we do need a motion to for us to recommend that the city commission recommend adoption of the the West Atlantic master plan, set transformation plan, with the caveat that we would like to explore the Main Street concept Okay. On West Atlantic. Just West Atlantic or over anywhere else? Atlantic. Just West Atlantic. Okay. Just making

sure. Can I get a motion?

I would like to move that we recommend the adoption of the 2025 update to the West Atlantic master plan, aka the the transformation plan, and explore the Main Street concept on West Atlantic.

Can I get

a second?

Happy to second that.

Commissioner Carney?

You know, I mean, I think I I I like so much of it, but I'm very concerned with some of the elements of it because I don't wanna be on record of stating that this is what you're what you're gonna do. So I'm going to vote no, but I'm I'm not massively disappointed if it if it's my I'm I stand alone in that because in the caveat that was provided, I think there's great opportunity here to really make this truly a collaborative thing and actually make it work getting everybody on board. Because unless everybody's on board, it's not gonna work.

Commissioner Long?

Yes. Chair

Burns? Yes. Vice chair Markert? Yes. And deputy vice chair Kissell?

Motion carried. Thank you. I don't grumble when I lose. You didn't lose. Don't consider to lose. Committed to lose. So we are

I know I don't.

So that was the new business comments by Renee. Yes.

Hi. Well, thank you all so much. I know you thank staff. I want to thank them as well. We've been working pretty tirelessly over the last couple weeks to get this draft together to make sure that it's right. And also the community members who were involved too, they have been phenomenal. When we called, they're there. We were there on Saturdays. We were there evenings, mornings. I mean, it was really a big lift that we made happen. I just wanted to start by saying thank you as well. And the fun continues this evening. We have our next CRA social where we will be talking about this plan again. So we'll have copies of this document so people who want to see it can start taking a look at that. Will be great.

We'll also have code enforcement there if anyone has questions from them. Please join us this evening at the Edmonds Baynes Building, 98 North West 5th Avenue from five to seven. And then here's just a list of our next upcoming CRA board meetings. Regular meetings, it's almost special, but their regular meetings will be in January 27. We'll have February 26, and then March 24. And then we'll create our new schedule once the city sets their schedule after March. And then we wanted to say thank you. So this is commissioner Long's last meeting. So I just wanted to extend a heartfelt thank you from me, your staff. It's been amazing working with you and wish you all the best.

I know I'll see you around, but nothing but success and wonderful things in the future.

Looking good there, mister Wiehorn. Thank you guys.

Man, I got my own collage. That's amazing. I love it. Oh, that's that's very nice of you.

Thank you.

I'll make I didn't I didn't, like, write a speech for today because I wanted to to, like, come from the heart and not be, a prewritten thing that I did on chat GPT beforehand. So, you know, it's it's become looking at your palm there. Yeah. Know. Right? Absolutely. Hold on. So it's it's starting to become real that I'm not gonna be up here anymore and it and it is a bummer. It really, we we joke around about some of the drama that happens up here, but I am gonna miss it, especially these meetings. These are largely drama free, frankly. This is like the p g 13 version of our commission meetings. But right? I mean, so I'm gonna I'll save my comments for you guys for Monday. So strap in. But, no.

I I wanna thank, staff, I got I got the chance to hang out with Christine quite a bit in in Denver for All American City Trip. You're a rock star. Thank you for everything you do. And, Renee, you know, I've gotta talk to folks from a lot of other CRAs around around the safety leadership Florida stuff from going to the FRA thing with Angela a couple years ago. And you you are widely regarded as, like, you know, one of the best, if not the best, attorney in this space and leader in this space across the state.

She's the guru.

You you are, truly. And, you know, this CRA has a long legacy legacy and and history of of really revitalizing Delray Beach in a really meaningful way and really setting the standard. And you've really continued that legacy and run with it. And it's been such a a privilege for me to be able to just be part of this for a couple of years. And I can't take any of the credit. You you guys you guys run this show. We're we're just up here to, you know, come up with an idea once in a while, put some hurdles in your way, whatever we end up doing. But but I do really appreciate the fact that I was able to cast a vote on the set transformation plan. That's that's something that's been extremely important to me. It's it's so vital to our community.

And I really appreciate the community, just how engaged you've been in terms of working with the CRO. We couldn't do it without you. I I think it really is a community effort. And and the collaborative approach and and the community engagement forward approach that that this that this staff has, that this board has is so critical. And and I hope to see that continue. And and I'll I'll end with, I hope to see all of you visit me in Tallahassee, and I'm you'll definitely be there. Consider me an ally and a friend always, and I'll be fighting to make sure that nothing happens to the CRA and do whatever I can. And it looks good right now. I don't know that anyone's refiled that bill yet, by the way. I think we're in good not wanna jinx it, but right now we're right now we're good.

But this is an incredible organization, and it has been an honor to to serve with all of you up here. So thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

And since Rob jumped over the city attorney, I I mean, the CRA attorney, I'll give her a moment. Did you have any comments to me? No. I do not. Okay.

Thank I did jump you over. That and I it's a point of privilege. It's my last meeting.

Yes. Absolutely. That's why the chair just sat here with her arms folded. Thank you. Mayor, some final comments?

No. I mean, I I is this is this where we're supposed to how happy we were to work with Rob, part of the meeting? I mean Well that's okay.

I mean Well, have another opportunity to

talk to Rob.

He's in my daycare.

Could I understand? Someone told me last night you have to run again for November.

Yeah. Isn't that crazy?

That is like nuts. Talk about a waste of money. I know. And you know me, I'm a big taxpayer of dollars. I mean, that's got kinda

roll right back into it.

Sure. Wow.

The the fundraising campaign is

I So mean

my my my election watch party on Tuesday is really just a kickoff for the next You're

gonna have a

little fundraiser envelope?

Once I get everyone in the room, it's

I'm gonna trick them and be like, now you have to

Well, mean, I I I I'm

the cow of the bag.

And and and but as for the serious comment, you know, I've made my points. I mean, think I've been long been the advocate for West Atlantic. And, you know, the mechanism by where we get there is what we're fighting, the nuance, really just nuances at this point. I'm very happy that they're going to relook at some of the stuff that we looked at a long time ago that I thought were going to be done, which we wouldn't be sitting here today discussing what to do because we'd be looking at beautiful things. And citizen input and citizen engagement, I've always been in favor of, so as you as everyone knows. So I'm looking forward to the finally getting this process started. I'm happy the process is starting.

Thank you.

And thank you for working with us, Rob. I really appreciate it. You're welcome. And they've already scheduled our commission meetings on Palm Beach County Day.

Go ahead. Yeah.

So I'm gonna go back saying, look. You know?

Oh, they scheduled commission meeting for Palm Beach?

Yeah. I got my notice today, I looked at my thing, and I have a conflict that says Palm Beach County Day.

Oh, you

guys gotta come up. Oops.

So I I think we need to

Change that.

Yeah. Alright. I will address that on Monday night. Alright. Commissioner Marker.

Yeah. Rob, I just I'll say more on Monday, but I I just wanna say thank you for the commitment that you've made to Delray Beach. I I know how much time this job takes, and it it's not easy at times. And I I've enjoyed spending so much time with you. We're not always on the same side of the issues, but your opinions are always informed, and I I really I really appreciate that. I'll I'll I'll miss you like a brother.

So Thanks, Kyle.

Anyways. And I'm I'm excited about this meeting today, guys. Like, I I feel like we're driving. We're we're getting there now, and I I I know the road is bumpy ahead, but but we're we're on a path now. And that and my my experience, when you're on that path, we can we can get to the finish line. So let's let's stick with it. So I'm I'm leaving here happy today.

Alright. Good. Cheers for the happy. But, you know and I'll have other comments on Monday as well, but it it has been a pleasure working with you. And for the most part, we've been, on the same on the same side of the fence. So I appreciate your support and the work that you've done in the community and, the way that you've supported the community. So, you know, kudos to you, and good luck going to Tallahassee. And, hopefully, I will see you there. Hopefully. Yeah.

It won't be as much fun as these meetings.

Yeah. Of course not.

I'm not gonna be

How you know, Dilry takes the the cake on all everything. Like yeah. But thank you. Thank you. Alright. So no other comments. Meeting's adjourned.