I am writing to deliver a medical report to you, our Town “Doctors”, about the serious medical condition of the patient, the Town of Palm Beach.
The title of my report is “Blocked Arteries”
When I first purchased my home on the North End, over 12 years ago, I quickly became familiar with the cadence of seasonal traffic….the increases in the fall marked by the return, like swallows, of the car transporters, and the declines after Easter.
But beginning about three years ago things began to change. Traffic to/from the North End increased dramatically. It is now overwhelming our neighborhood and our Town.
I know it. You know it. Everyone in Town can see it. No less than the Chief of Police was quoted in last week’s PBDN, using the word “chaos” to describe current traffic conditions here.
What factors have changed to cause this?
First, the explosive increase in real estate values triggered during the Covid pandemic, and that continues today. This sharp, sudden increase has created huge financial incentives for real estate developers to cash in and try to monetize the “Palm Beach” lifestyle. The resulting wave of development construction has flooded the North End.
As we sit here today, from Royal Poinciana north to the Inlet, there are over 50 construction projects totaling over $400 million underway, with many more in the pipeline.
All the related construction traffic is routed in/out over North Ocean Way. And this is not just a 7-9am…3:30-5pm problem. It is a steady stream of heavy truck traffic, all day every weekday, funneled into a constricted set of intersections that have become recurring choke points for residents. Blocked arteries!
Completing just the current construction and the approved pipeline will mean this level of traffic will persist through these intersections and into the North End for the next 2-3 years.
But that’s not all.
The same economic incentives for developers have spurred a rapid intensification of development in West Palm Beach. That has led to a substantial increase in trips across the bridges into the Town of Palm Beach. And that increase is about to become a flood.
As we sit here today, roughly 3000 condo units are scheduled for completion in West Palm Beach, over the next 18 months. Under code, each building will also have, on average, 2 parking places for tenant owners and their guests. At 90% occupancy, that’s 6,000 new cars, just over the bridges, in WPB. Assuming these new owners will make only 2 trips/week over the bridges to come here, in season, that translates into an additional 2-3,000 cars added into the Town’s already “chaotic" traffic flows (Not my word…the Police Chief's) ….every day!.
What is to be done?
From the Comprehensive Plan:
"...The Town's transportation system is rapidly being strained to capacity, and, in fact, is at a critical stage. The linear configuration of the Island has produced a "one-road Town" with all the limitations of this urban form. County Road/Ocean Boulevard/State Road AlA forms the
major north-south arterial spine that serves the entire length of Town...."
Even ZoneCo acknowledges:
“…The name “County Road” is used between Country Club Road in the North End and S. OceanBlvd. in the estates section of Palm Beach. It remains the primary north-south artery through much of Palm Beach and is the Town’s longest commercial corridor. On the northern portion of County Road, the Paramount Theater served as an anchor. Primarily two-story (and a few one-story and three-story) commercial buildings were constructed along County Road..
Yet ZoneCo’s new memos & slides make no connection between zoning and the now severe traffic congestion on the Town’s street system.
These intolerable traffic conditions are blocking the “arteries” of the North End and the Town.
Good Doctors know the first rule of medicine is: Do No Harm!”
Or to say it more bluntly: Always remember “The First Rule of Holes”… When you’re in one…stop digging!
Tell the Town Council:
No new major projects should receive Town Council approval until the Town has put forth a comprehensive traffic plan that addresses this severe, and growing problem.
I urge you to be the leaders that our Town needs and put the traffic issue front & center. Be the leaders of The Town that can say “No.”
Having attended the Robert Grace, symposium on comprehensive plan and zoning presented by the Preservation foundation, the word that became most significant was context. And in order to have proper context in the neighborhoods, the zoning cannot be one size fits all as Sean Suter has determined. It may be more complicated, but the more context and Zoning that incorporates distinctive characteristics street by street practically will enable the town to preserve its unique quality. This will also encourage diversity to whatever extent is possible with a town that is now perceived as the goose that lays the golden egg. As in all things, the devil is in the details and the details that define context will be most important to preserving the aspects of this small town that keep it unique. As Paul Goldberger said projects must give back to the community and to the street. The problems we faced today are the same as Bob Grace faced in the 70s when he tried so meticulously to craft zoning that would preserve the scale and charm of our town.
I am writing to deliver a medical report to you, our Town “Doctors”, about the serious medical condition of the patient, the Town of Palm Beach.
The title of my report is “Blocked Arteries”
When I first purchased my home on the North End, over 12 years ago, I quickly became familiar with the cadence of seasonal traffic….the increases in the fall marked by the return, like swallows, of the car transporters, and the declines after Easter.
But beginning about three years ago things began to change. Traffic to/from the North End increased dramatically. It is now overwhelming our neighborhood and our Town.
I know it. You know it. Everyone in Town can see it. No less than the Chief of Police was quoted in last week’s PBDN, using the word “chaos” to describe current traffic conditions here.
What factors have changed to cause this?
First, the explosive increase in real estate values triggered during the Covid pandemic, and that continues today. This sharp, sudden increase has created huge financial incentives for real estate developers to cash in and try to monetize the “Palm Beach” lifestyle. The resulting wave of development construction has flooded the North End.
As we sit here today, from Royal Poinciana north to the Inlet, there are over 50 construction projects totaling over $400 million underway, with many more in the pipeline.
All the related construction traffic is routed in/out over North Ocean Way. And this is not just a 7-9am…3:30-5pm problem. It is a steady stream of heavy truck traffic, all day every weekday, funneled into a constricted set of intersections that have become recurring choke points for residents. Blocked arteries!
Completing just the current construction and the approved pipeline will mean this level of traffic will persist through these intersections and into the North End for the next 2-3 years.
But that’s not all.
The same economic incentives for developers have spurred a rapid intensification of development in West Palm Beach. That has led to a substantial increase in trips across the bridges into the Town of Palm Beach. And that increase is about to become a flood.
As we sit here today, roughly 3000 condo units are scheduled for completion in West Palm Beach, over the next 18 months. Under code, each building will also have, on average, 2 parking places for tenant owners and their guests. At 90% occupancy, that’s 6,000 new cars, just over the bridges, in WPB. Assuming these new owners will make only 2 trips/week over the bridges to come here, in season, that translates into an additional 2-3,000 cars added into the Town’s already “chaotic" traffic flows (Not my word…the Police Chief's) ….every day!.
What is to be done?
From the Comprehensive Plan:
"...The Town's transportation system is rapidly being strained to capacity, and, in fact, is at a critical stage. The linear configuration of the Island has produced a "one-road Town" with all the limitations of this urban form. County Road/Ocean Boulevard/State Road AlA forms the
major north-south arterial spine that serves the entire length of Town...."
Even ZoneCo acknowledges:
“…The name “County Road” is used between Country Club Road in the North End and S. OceanBlvd. in the estates section of Palm Beach. It remains the primary north-south artery through much of Palm Beach and is the Town’s longest commercial corridor. On the northern portion of County Road, the Paramount Theater served as an anchor. Primarily two-story (and a few one-story and three-story) commercial buildings were constructed along County Road..
Yet ZoneCo’s new memos & slides make no connection between zoning and the now severe traffic congestion on the Town’s street system.
These intolerable traffic conditions are blocking the “arteries” of the North End and the Town.
Good Doctors know the first rule of medicine is: Do No Harm!”
Or to say it more bluntly: Always remember “The First Rule of Holes”… When you’re in one…stop digging!
Tell the Town Council:
No new major projects should receive Town Council approval until the Town has put forth a comprehensive traffic plan that addresses this severe, and growing problem.
I urge you to be the leaders that our Town needs and put the traffic issue front & center. Be the leaders of The Town that can say “No.”
Having attended the Robert Grace, symposium on comprehensive plan and zoning presented by the Preservation foundation, the word that became most significant was context. And in order to have proper context in the neighborhoods, the zoning cannot be one size fits all as Sean Suter has determined. It may be more complicated, but the more context and Zoning that incorporates distinctive characteristics street by street practically will enable the town to preserve its unique quality. This will also encourage diversity to whatever extent is possible with a town that is now perceived as the goose that lays the golden egg. As in all things, the devil is in the details and the details that define context will be most important to preserving the aspects of this small town that keep it unique. As Paul Goldberger said projects must give back to the community and to the street. The problems we faced today are the same as Bob Grace faced in the 70s when he tried so meticulously to craft zoning that would preserve the scale and charm of our town.