Boca Raton

[Go Owls]

It's not altogether decided what will go there just yet. Sounds like a hotel and workforce housing.

The main argument for this is to reduce traffic to these areas. Councilman Mahjess, in usual form, argued against development by saying that a FDOT engineer told him it would only reduce traffic by 2% at best.

His comments about "rushing this through" caused a pretty vehement battle between himself and the representative for the developer, who basically said that they've been vetting this for years so to act like there are sudden concerns about particulars of land use is absolutely ridiculous.

[Go Owls]

For those that are interested, there's a new FAU development blog with pictures, ideas and development news concerning the Boca Raton campus.

http://faudiehard.blogspot.com/

[DShoost88]

Who's PUMPED for the debate tonight?!

I think I'm gonna play a drinking game:
- Take a shot any time a candidate talks about medicare/medicaid.
- Take a shot whenever Obama mentions Romney's "47%" statement made in Boca.
- Chug drink any time a candidate makes a bold-faced lie.

Any other suggestions?

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by DShoost88

Who's PUMPED for the debate tonight?!

I think I'm gonna play a drinking game:
- Take a shot any time a candidate talks about medicare/medicaid.
- Take a shot whenever Obama mentions Romney's "47%" statement made in Boca.
- Chug drink any time a candidate makes a bold-faced lie.

Any other suggestions?

I sure wish I could do that, but I can't drink anymore.

[FTL Beach Bum]

Originally Posted by DShoost88

Who's PUMPED for the debate tonight?!

I think I'm gonna play a drinking game:
- Take a shot any time a candidate talks about medicare/medicaid.
- Take a shot whenever Obama mentions Romney's "47%" statement made in Boca.
- Chug drink any time a candidate makes a bold-faced lie.

Any other suggestions?

Considering this debate will be strictly on foreign policy, I'm pretty sure you'll only end up a little buzzed from the lies.

[Go Owls]

So what's everyone's take on this fight between the City Council and the residents opposing downtown rentals and high-density development? You can read some of their arguments on saveboca.com.

They claim the city was chartered as low-density and the City Council is greenlighting too many projects that will "ruin the character" of Boca Raton.

Are they wrong? Is it time for Boca to go higher density?

[DShoost88]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHqgH...eature=related

[Go Owls]

I think this describes it best, especially the comment at 1:33

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tujG18mqiVk

[DShoost88]

"... There's no way in hell we're going to let you guys come barging into Bushwood Estates and throw up a lot of cheap housing for a bunch of blue collar trash."

Great quote and certainly very similar to the Boca NIMBY's I'd agree, except for a few glaring differences. The higher density housing that most developers want to build around Boca isn't even for blue collar workers--it's for white collar, high tech and corporate employees that work for the Fortune 500 Companies and corporate campus jobs throughout the city. Then of course there's the dearth of housing opportunities for the student populations of FAU, PBSC, Lynn, and other schools in the city.

Our generation doesn't want to commute; we want to live, work, and socialize in desirable bustling neighborhoods. And the most practical way of doing that is encouraging the city to reassess its archaic building code and soliciting developers with RFP's to get construction going on around the city.

Also, it seems the folks at saveboca.com don't understand how silly some of their claims are. For example, having 5,000 additional rentals throughout Boca Raton adjacent to the employment centers that need housing for employees will not increase traffic--it'll reduce it. Assuming the average rental will house two people, you're talking about possibly 10,000 additional persons in Boca Raton that will live closer to where they work and be less inclined to make an automobile trip between home and work during rush hour. If some of these developments build as planned, they'll have grocery stores and additional mixed uses associated with them that'll reduce the vehicle trips they'd otherwise have to make if they lived in yet another large-scale gated community.

Smart growth is good.

Properly-planned higher density is economically advantageous.

These proposals are more environmentally responsible and use less energy per capita than the existing single-family homes in golf course communities.

They're just ignorant.

During my years in college, I learned a single truth about humanity that our community is faced with today: adapt or die.

[Go Owls]

Originally Posted by DShoost88

Our generation doesn't want to commute; we want to live, work, and socialize in desirable bustling neighborhoods.

Absolutely. The more I use public transportation and visit places with mixed-use facilities, the more I like it. I'm not saying that's the best solution everywhere but in a smaller city like Boca, especially one with a bustling university right in the center of it, it makes a lot of sense.

Originally Posted by DShoost88

Also, it seems the folks at saveboca.com don't understand how silly some of their claims are.

I sent off an email asking where they got some of their numbers because, for instance, they showed enrollment growth at FAU only increasing by something like 35 students a year... when the actual number is over a thousand.

So I sent back the correction with explanation and have not heard a response.

Originally Posted by DShoost88

For example, having 5,000 additional rentals throughout Boca Raton adjacent to the employment centers that need housing for employees will not increase traffic--it'll reduce it. Assuming the average rental will house two people, you're talking about possibly 10,000 additional persons in Boca Raton that will live closer to where they work and be less inclined to make an automobile trip between home and work during rush hour.

Councilman Mahjess argued that it's too hot or rainy in south Florida for people to realistically walk/bike around. It does get hot and it does get rainy, yes, but people commute in that same weather in several different states across the country - why should Florida be any different?

[DShoost88]

Originally Posted by Go Owls

Councilman Mahjess argued that it's too hot or rainy in south Florida for people to realistically walk/bike around. It does get hot and it does get rainy, yes, but people commute in that same weather in several different states across the country - why should Florida be any different?

People walk and bike around in Miami Beach, Singapore, Bangkok, Manila, San Juan, and countless of other big cities with oppressively tropical climates. If we continue the same development patterns and infrastructure planning (or lack thereof) throughout South Florida, however, then Councilman Mahjess is correct that it is too hot and rainy in South Florida for people to realistically walk/bike around. If our sidewalks were lined instead with Royal Poinciana and Gumbo Limbo trees that offer shad instead of toothpick-thin palm trees that allow sunlight to percolate to the ground more of the day, then it would be more comfortable to walk around outside. Our buildings should have arcades over the sidewalk to keep the elements away from pedestrians, a la Mizner Park.

Boca's leadership gives me a headache sometimes.

[Go Owls]

Something's being built on 20th over by Boca Bargoons... anybody know what it is?

I know Shake Shack is being built at the edge of University Commons by P.F. Changs...

[DShoost88]

More apartments approved for downtown Boca! BTW, this headline cracks me up:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/pal...,1559007.story

City skyline set to rise nine stories downtown

By Anne Geggis, Sun Sentinel
8:04 p.m. EST, January 22, 2013

BOCA RATON—
— Tower One Fifty Five will rise nine stories in Boca Raton's downtown as the mammoth condominium development received its final city approval Tuesday — with a unanimous vote.

This time, the City Council — meeting as the Community Redevelopment Agency — gave the proposed 209-unit building its seal of approval, but not before members debated what direction the downtown redevelopment needs to take.

Architect Derek Vander Ploeg, who is working with Compson Associates on the project, said Tower One Fifty Five should break ground sometime in the fall to be completed by the end of 2015.

"It's always good to get a unanimous vote," he said, noting that the project has encountered no opposition at any of the layers of city review.
...

Councilman Anthony Majhess said he admired the project because it did not present a wall of vertical development and preserved a feeling of open sky for pedestrians. But he said he was disappointed it did not include any retail space.

"We missed an opportunity," he said, noting that too many of Boca's downtown streets are uninterrupted walls, without any features to attract pedestrian traffic.

But Councilwoman Constance Scott said Robert Gibbs, author of the book, "Principles of Urban Retail Planning and Development," had looked at Boca's situation and said that the city needed 10,000 residents to sustain its current level of retail businesses.

"We currently have 4,000 people living downtown," she said.

That had Majhess shaking his head: "Ten thousand people downtown, that would be a tough stretch for me to support."

...

Councilwoman Scott, who is chairwoman of the CRA, cited high-end rentals in the city that have a year-long waiting list.

"There is a demand for this and this is a very strong price point," she said.

[Go Owls]

How do you guys envision this playing out? And how long will it take?

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/201...tudent-housing

====================================================

City, FAU seek ways to consolidate collegial influence

Corridor envisioned as an FAU-influenced sphere

May 8, 2013|By Anne Geggis, Sun Sentinel

BOCA RATON — Florida Atlantic University wants to grow out of its commuter origins into a more traditional campus and the city of Boca Raton would like to help them do that.

One of the main goals is to keep students from living in single-family neighborhoods. City Council members say they've been hearing from their constituents about some of the problems that students can pose to single-family neighborhoods: parking issues, noise and tall grass, to name a few.

"We can tell you where they go and we can tell you what neighborhoods they live in, too," Boca Mayor Susan Whelchel told FAU officials. "We would like to help you corral them into a nice, safe place."

FAU's executive staff met for nearly two hours with City Council members Wednesday about the university's housing needs and how Northwest 20th Street could be reborn from its slightly blighted condition into a thriving, off-campus extension of FAU, while consolidating student housing in one place.

That effort seemed to have the city and FAU at odds last year when the City Council approved dormitory-style, off-campus housing that FAU officials opposed. That building is under way next to Plum Park, but the two sides left Wednesday's meeting pledging to meet more and share information, including focus group results on student housing desires.

Tom Donaudy, FAU vice president for facilities, said the university currently has 3,650 beds on its campus, is currently building for 600 more and has a vision that calls for 4,880 beds by 2016, but it's difficult to gauge what percent of the 23,000 FAU students centered in Boca want to live on campus.

"We don't want to overbuild, we don't want to underbuild," he said.

Timothy Tallent, who's majoring in urban design, said he lived on campus his freshman year but then moved off-campus into a single-family house.

"After the first year, the novelty of living on campus wore off," he said.