Tuesday, June 16, 2015

The commission will be voting on Eminent Domain tonight

Comment Up

NEW BUSINESS Resolution 27-2015-

Tonight, in its pursuit to spend boo koo bucks to develop the Park of Commerce (The visionaries dream especially Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell's) to attract development,  City Manager Michael Bornstein has recommended the acquisition of fee simple title to Parcel 1 to the City Commission of the City of Lake Worth, as being necessary for the widening and construction of improvements to Boutwell Road in the City of Lake Worth, Florida. In other words, he wants to grab land belonging to a private citizen(s).

The city commission will be instructing the city attorney and city manager to take necessary action and to hire outside counsel in order to take possession of this property.

WHEREAS, the funds are available for the acquisition of the parcel  designated as Parcel 1; and,

WHEREAS, the City Commission of the City of Lake Worth is exercising  its authority of eminent domain pursuant to Chapters 73, 74, and 166, Florida Statutes.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent move to get the POC moving forward! Of course if you read the eminent domain language the process can be very expensive from the City's standpoint. All legal fees are paid by the City, a fair market price must be paid and therefore appraisals paid for, sometimes multiple appraisals if the land owner does not agree with the value. While the Power of Eminent Domain is a huge responsibility for the government entity utilizing it, it is a necessary power granted to governing entities. Therefore I am not against it if is used as intended. Its always better to just try to make a conventional arms length deal whenever possible.

Lynn Anderson said...

No crap, anonymous at 2:41...the same guy who was clueless on the other comment made about the beach bond.

Anonymous said...

Eminent domain is for use in extreme cases (highways, Hospitals, schools) where the greater good of an entire region,state or city is at stake. The POC is nothing more than one city Commissioner's( Scott Maxwell's) wet dream. Riviera Beach got spanked for misuse of eminent domain. After a very expensive legal battle, Lake Worth probably will also. But hey, it's just O.P. money as usual ,right?

Anonymous said...

I agree with 2:41. It would appear to me that this is what eminent domain is supposed to be used for. In this case, widening a road. We are willing to give the guy what it's worth and he either wants too much or is not willing to sell.

I too would rather an arm's length transaction to get the POC going.

I remember one commissioner wanted to make it into a chicken farm. Hmm.

Anonymous said...

5:11- No Commissioner wanted to make the property into a chicken farm. Just one damn lie after another with you, isn't it ?

Anonymous said...

If you actually listened to the detailed list by square footage of each of the parcels in question, you would understand that they are acquiring 5' to 10' easements along the road in order to create a suitable and safe road for both legit business entities to find a home in the Park of Commerce and allow safe and accessible sidewalks for the many pedestrians, especially the many school children to utilize. Currently, pedestrians and bike riders are force to make their way along a worn footpath in the weeds.

Who wants their kids walking so close to traffic on a 2 lane road instead of nice sidewalks and 3 lanes for proper and safe vehicle traffic?

Who knows, maybe some nice employer will see the improvement in infrastructure, plentiful worker pool in the immediate area, good access to I-95 and the Turnpike, reasonable industrial rent rates and decide to move their biz to LW. I'm thinking we could all use more good paying jobs in LW to put our people to work.

Anonymous said...

Or it will sit empty like every other"field of Dreams" POC in every crap hole town in Florida. Yet another stunning waste of money by Hamburger Boy and the knucklehead gang.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if improvements like paving road and adding sidewalks for kids and bikes to travel on in the POC is such a knucklehead idea.

Are we supposed to wait until a little street urchin darts out of the weeds into the street and get killed?

I thought McVoy and Maier had real concern about the safety of pedestrians and cyclist... At least that's what I heard during the commission meeting several weeks ago what they were very concerned and wanted LW to make improvements like crosswalks or traffic signal made to 6th and 10th... And I loved the idea of traffic calming devices and reducing the speed limit on Dixie Hwy.

Why can't this happen? Are we to wait there too until someone gets killed?

We need a champion like McVoy or Maier to help make this happen.

Lynn Anderson said...

Yeah, yeah, we've heard all about the kids, kid that are invisible in this industrial park that the city is now making residential. Dixie Highway is not a city owned street. We would have absolutely nothing to do with traffic calming on this major highway. And the speed limit is slow enough. Have you been out on Boutwell Road? You never see a kid.

We need champions that aren't wise guys. 6th Avenue South and 10th Avenue North are problems for anyone trying to cross, not just kids.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Lynn, you know I thought that Dixie, and for that matter Federal, were both state roads, but Ryan was talking about wanting speed bumps and slower MPH on Dixie to make it pedestrian and cyclist friendly, which I think is a grand idea... But LW doesn't have any control over those roads... So I was confused by what he said. Thanks for clarifying that up

Anonymous said...

I'm living off Boutwell in one of the two mobile home parks, it dangerous out there for people to walk or ride their bike. We want better roads with sidewalks!!!!!

Lynn Anderson said...

11:08...we know that your comment is bogus and you are just "putting on" this blog. But as an ad, watch your lot rents double...you then might be happy little bicyclists. :)