2008 State of the City and Annual Report with Presentations and Public Participation Responses from the Annual Citizen's Roundtable
Hometown Connection Annual Report 2008 (3132kb pdf)
Review of 2007 Accomplishments and preview of 2008 goals and beyond
Delray Beach State of City 2008 (3513kb pdf)
Visual presentation from the City Manager's Office at the January 30, 2008 Annual Citizen's Roundtable
Planning and Zoning Presentation 2008 (3309kb pdf)
Visual presentation from Planning and Zoning at the January 30, 2008 Annual Citizen's Roundtable
CRA Presentation 2008 (2063kb pdf)
Visual presentation from the Community Redevelopment Agency at the January 30, 2008 Annual Citizen's Roundtable
Annual Citizen's Roundtable Public Participation Responses 2008 (43kb pdf)
Results from the 2008 Annual Citizen's Roundtable
City of Delray Beach Vision, Accomplishments and Future Plans
by David T. Harden, City Manager
Our vision of Delray Beach fifteen years from now, as developed by several successive City Commissions, remains: Delray Beach will be a “Charming Village by the Sea” with a Great World Class Beach, a Vibrant Downtown and a Community of Quality Neighborhoods and Schools. Recreational and Cultural Opportunities Abound. People Embrace Cultural Diversity. The city government provides Exceptional City Services.
Aiming for this vision, the City Commission set goals for 2012 and targets for the next year. Our previous goals were reaffirmed but reprioritized. Our 2012 goals are; Quality Neighborhoods, Top Quality Services, Community Unity, an Expanded and Diversified Local Economy, Quality Educational Opportunities and an Expanded Downtown.
While preparing for this evening, I was struck by the number of projects and initiatives which were delayed or cut back due to financial uncertainty and ultimately the legislative restrictions placed on city finances. Added to this is the Florida Supreme Court decision limiting the ability of CRA’s to pledge their TIF for debt service. Nevertheless, over the last year, the City Commission, our citizen advisory boards and city staff have continued to work together to achieve the 2007 targets.
You cannot have quality neighborhoods with worn out infrastructure, so improvements remain a priority. Projects including beautification and traffic calming were completed in Chatelaine and the final contract awarded for Rainberry Woods. Staff is working with Osceola Park to finalize plans for that neighborhood. A1A water mains were replaced, preparing for reconstruction by DOT, and drainage, water and sewer systems were improved in the north end of Seagate Neighborhood. Tax limitations pose challenges to properly balance operating versus infrastructure maintenance expenditures. New projects will be severely limited.
Many capital projects implement portions of the Southwest Neighborhood Plan with CRA funding support. In addition to utilities and sidewalks, we are building pocket parks and improving streetscapes. The Neighborhood Resource Center on SW 12th Avenue was expanded to house the United Way Prosperity Center as well as Families First, Caring Kitchen and the Coalition for Community Renewal, which all work to strengthen families and neighborhoods. After much county and state red tape, demolition of Carver Estates is finally underway, and initial approvals given for redevelopment of that property and Auburn Trace into Villages at Delray which will include hundreds of workforce housing units.
Despite recent declines, our greatest challenge in hiring employees outside our region remains home prices. But, Delray is a leader in dealing with this problem. Just today we received an Award of Excellence from the Housing Leadership Council for our housing programs. Our CLT continues to aggressively acquire land and homes. They have sold thirteen homes, have two sales pending and 32 more completed or under construction. Although delayed by tax structure changes, we still expect transit oriented redevelopment of the County property on Congress will include many workforce housing units.
Neighborhoods must also be safe, and we are concerned because, like most cities nationwide, we saw crime increase in 2007. Our Police Community Response Task Force youth initiatives like Community Martial Arts, mentoring, and Kids and Cops; together with the Beacon Center, 505 Teen Center and other city programs, continue to give young people positive alternatives to criminal activity and assist residents in bettering themselves. The Youth Vocational Charter School has 79 students enrolled, and our Criminal Justice Academy at Atlantic High School now has 300 students. With these and other programs our Police continue to emphasize community and problem oriented policing, aided by citizens on patrol, taking responsibility for each other.
Citizens also help Fire/Rescue with 202 volunteers trained as CERT members to provide disaster assistance to neighborhoods. Our new Chief, David James, is continuing the emphasis on superior patient care and customer service begun by Chief Koen during his long tenure as our Fire Chief. This includes both staff training and the best equipment available for pre-hospital care.
Police Officers also volunteered for the Jefferson Manor cleanup project. Code Enforcement implemented the Clean City Initiative which removed 152 junk vehicles, cleaned 232 vacant lots and started a civil citation program for code violations
Again, the City Commission made Top Quality Services a high priority. We remain challenged to develop the financial and human resources to achieve this goal, and ensure citizens value the services received.
We finished fiscal 2007 with an operating surplus exceeding $1.8 million. This year we were required to cut our property tax revenue 9% below 2007, which took our millage to 6.58, our lowest tax rate since 1990. Since fiscal 2008 started, sales tax and some other revenues are coming in below expectations, so we may have to cut our budget further to avoid having a deficit this year.
Nevertheless, we must invest in technology to lower costs and improve services. Police Headquarters has been recabled to increase data transmission speeds. We automated the system for sending building permit data to the county, eliminating manual data entry. All our public safety facilities are now interconnected by a redundant fiber optic cable loop. Installation of radio read water meters on difficult routes allows us to read in three hours what previously took six man days. The City Commission has converted to a paperless agenda package, which makes the agenda and all backup material readily available to the public over the internet. Video of City Commission meetings is available on the internet, either live or on demand. Persons without internet access can listen to meetings on the radio at 1620 AM. We are especially proud that for the third consecutive year the Digital Cities Survey recognized our Information Technology as among the best in the nation for cities our size.
Other improvements included an additional phase of our reclaimed water system to irrigate golf courses and community common areas. The Commission remains committed to stop discharging treated effluent to the ocean and to reclaim it all for irrigation. Jointly with Boynton Beach we are adding to the sewage treatment plant on Congress Avenue to make this possible. This year we are replacing hurricane damaged Fire Station 4. Park additions were Eagle Park, Rosemont Park and La Hacienda Gardens which all opened in 2007. Although delayed somewhat due to financial uncertainties, renovation of the Pompey Community Center and construction of Bexley Trail Park, Mangrove Park, Seacrest Soccer Complex and reconstruction of the Miller Field Little League Baseball facilities, including a Miracle League Field, are now proceeding. The Western Community Center is tentatively deferred to 2010. This Center will complete our Parks and Recreation Bond projects.
These facilities help us deliver Top Quality Services. But most of all, this requires SPIRIT - employees who provide exceptional Service through their Performance by acting with Integrity, being Responsible, taking Innovative action, and practicing Teamwork. We are recruiting and training employees based on these values. We have in place various ways of recognizing and rewarding employees who exemplify SPIRIT. Please, contact us when you see exceptional service from a city employee. Incentives and recognition for these values will improve our level of service to you as citizens.
Our third goal is Community Unity. The Commission and staff work continuously to strengthen and reinforce Delray Beach as a community, not just 64,000 people coexisting within the same four mile square of geography. As I said last year, we recognize that community is not a static condition. Community is not something one accomplishes or achieves. Community is about relationships between people. Community is a practice. That is why we continue events like Community Pot Luck Dinners and Community Unida Soccer Tournaments, to bring together neighborhoods and cultures normally having no contact, and we support special events to highlight various cultures comprising our community.
As a community we work together to solve our problems. Numerous residents worked on the update of our historic preservation guidelines and regulations. Others reviewed and suggested changes to the downtown design guidelines. Citizens review our goals and help set targets for the coming year. Commissioners meet with groups of citizens to discuss various issues. All our Commissioners are available for citizens by e-mail, telephone and appointment. Our Citizen’s Police and Residents Academies provide information, resources and tools for residents to become knowledgeable community members and effective neighborhood leaders. The Neighborhood Resource Center provides additional, support.
Each of our neighborhoods is different. We respond to these differences with plans and strategies addressing issues important to neighborhood residents. Fostering community is also why we started the R.A.C.E. initiative, which developed strategies for positive relations between various races and ethnic groups. One of these strategies is a Police Advisory Board which is improving communications and understanding between our police and various ethnic groups. Another strategy is Study Circles, designed to improve understanding and communication by bringing together diverse groups for six weeks to discuss racial issues in a safe, small group setting. These efforts, including our staff training, were recognized with an Excellence Award from Toward a More Perfect Union.
Finally, community and relationship building begin with good communication. We continue to make more information about the City available on our web site, on Delray Beach Emergency Radio at 1620 AM, through media coverage, and through News for Neighborhoods in your utility bills. Hometown Connection, our bimonthly newsletter provides more in depth communication with active residents. You can also ask questions, or file a complaint under “Citizen Service Requests” on our web site. These requests are managed with our new Q-alert customer relations software which has generated much positive citizen feedback.
A sustainable community requires a strong economic base. Business investment is essential to growing property tax and other city revenues to remain financially strong. To attract investment we have reconstructed NW/SW 5th Avenue, and the CRA is remodeling several buildings on that street to reinvigorate what was historically the heart of our black business community.
Greater opportunities for diversifying our economy lie along Congress Avenue and around the intersection of Atlantic and Military. Both of these locations offer vacant land for building and marginal or obsolescent commercial space ripe for redevelopment. We worked closely with property owners and potential developers to create the Mixed Residential, Office and Commercial (MROC) District for the Congress Corridor. This was adopted early in 2007, and we have already seen investment based on the new zoning district. We are working with the County to facilitate transit oriented redevelopment of their property on Congress. We are creating a setting in this corridor for new business startups or for locating new Class A office space to attract a cluster such as financial services or a bioscience spin-off. These types of businesses, along with supporting workforce housing, will provide consistent employment, regular wage gains, and opportunities for personal improvement to our citizens.
With a regulatory framework in place for the Congress Corridor, we focused on the Atlantic and Military intersection - the Four Corners area. Here are opportunities for mixed use redevelopment of mostly marginal commercial space. Needed changes in land use regulations have been made, property is being assembled and we are excited about the opportunity to create a sense of place, so that it is not just another collection of aging shopping centers.
In our downtown the Downtown Marketing Cooperative has shifted emphasis from just bringing people downtown toward building up downtown as a retail center. Early promotional efforts to attract more retail shoppers have proven successful. These efforts will focus around upcoming holiday themes. Due to budget cutbacks, our Economic Development Cooperative no longer has full time staff. However, the City, the CRA and Chamber of Commerce, continue to work together to attract business to Central Atlantic Avenue, Pineapple Grove and the Congress Corridor, and to recruit for vacant and obsolescent properties throughout town.
Delray Beach can draw new business and create new jobs because our community has created an environment that is attractive and embraces new urbanism. This environment attracts a creative workforce. Reliance on the automobile can be minimized because people can live near where they work and play, and other transportation modes, like the Downtown Roundabout, are becoming more available.
Expanding the economy in our city requires an educated work force. New businesses and residents coming to our area look for quality schools. So for almost twenty years now Delray Beach has partnered with the School District to improve our schools. This year we received a SUNSPRA Leading Light Award for our support of K-12 education.
The City, Palm Beach County and the School District have jointly planned future use of the old high school site. Aquacrest Pool facilities will be refurbished and expanded. The city purchased a portion of the site and has begun construction of the Seacrest Soccer Complex. Current School District plans are to relocate Plumosa to the old high school site as an arts magnet and add a Middle School of the Arts as an all choice school on the same campus. Completion is expected for the fourth quarter of 2010.
At Atlantic High School, in addition to the International Baccalaureate program, there are vocational “career academies” for 500 students, providing training in construction, criminal justice, and sports related business. The Delray Youth Vocational Charter School provides training in auto mechanics. These all support our goal of having vocational training readily available for residents. The construction academy is building a new house, the Eagle Nest, on NW 12th Ave. This cooperative effort with the city and the CRA has received statewide recognition.
Students learning remains our utmost concern. We are especially excited and gratified that Atlantic High School has ranked among America’s top high schools for three years in a row. To improve academic achievement, the city provides both financial and staff support for Head Start and for tutoring in our out-of-school programs. Children in our summer day camp have improved language arts and math scores significantly. Get Caught Reading, the Mayor’s literacy partnership, is reaching both children and adults.
In southwest Delray, expansion of the Village Academy buildings has been completed to allow adding middle school grades as the next step toward having all 12 grades on this site. We have worked with Achievement Centers for Children and Families to make the Beacon Center at Village Academy a model. This program reinforces the academic day for some 700 children, with wrap around services for their families. The Beacon Center is designed to help the children and families overcome factors in their background and environment which have typically led to poor academic achievement. The Children’s Services Council is extremely pleased with the results of this program and is seeking to expand it to a second elementary school in Delray.
Finally, Downtown Delray continues to be, along with our beach, a focal point for community identity. The gateway feature to be constructed at I-95 will create a dramatic entrance to our downtown. Design guidelines, adopted in 2004, ensure that future building forms will reinforce our citizens’ vision of a city of urban amenities with a small town feeling, pedestrian friendly streets, and areas of special character. These guidelines were reviewed last year and amended to make them more workable while still accomplishing their intent.
Because downtown is an interesting and unique destination, drawing thousands of visitors, it needs more parking and better access. The Federspiel garage on SE 1st Avenue is now ours, adding over 100 new parking spaces to our inventory. East of Old School Square, the Old School Square garage is open with some 550 spaces, and retail space on the ground floor. On the old library site the CRA has accepted a proposal which is expected to bring a boutique hotel and increased public parking at that location. Our long range parking plan provides for two or three additional parking facilities further east.
But people will not come downtown unless it is clean, attractive and safe. With CRA funding, we doubled the number of police officers dedicated to the downtown. City staff continue to work with the Downtown Marketing Cooperative and downtown merchants and property owners to further improve lighting, cleanliness, landscaping and street furniture.
New businesses in Atlantic Grove fronting on the sidewalk together with the new library have drawn more pedestrians, but many of these businesses still struggle. We are working to attract more pedestrians west of Swinton. Completion of NW/SW 5th Avenue has strengthened existing minority owned businesses and institutions, and provides new business locations. Art features included in the design, as well as those at the courthouse, are attractive to walkers who go further west to this attractive and unusual street.
Traffic circulation will greatly improve when NE and SE 1st Streets finally change back to two way. Reconstruction of these streets is completed with the riding quality, drainage and landscaping are all dramatically upgraded. For four months now we have been waiting for the county to modify the traffic signals so that actual conversion to two way traffic can take place.
We continue to push toward the ambitious goals set for our city. Again in 2008 projects we have worked on for several years will come to fruition, building a stronger community with excellent facilities. With the adoption of Amendment One yesterday, our City Commission will have to wrestle with difficult decisions about city services and where to set the millage. As staff, we sometimes feel like the police chief in this cartoon. But having been in Florida local government for over 35 years now, I have been through downturns in the economic cycle before. I am confident that working together, the citizens of Delray Beach, your city Commission and the excellent staff we have will continue this City as one of the best anywhere.
I have only briefly summarized what was accomplished last year. So, be sure to read our Annual Report Edition of Hometown Connection, available in the lobby.
As we plan for the year ahead we need your help to decide where we should focus our energy and limited resources.
