Public Comment, Town of Palm Beach Admin
admin
12 months ago
Received via email 5.13.24:
Dear Mayor and Town Council Members:
Our office represents Palm Beach Biltmore Condominium Association, Inc. and its 126 Unit Owners. In that capacity we have been asked to address the potential review by the Town Council of the Declaration of Use Agreement ("DOUA") of the Alef Preschool of Palm Beach, Inc. ("Preschool") dated July 2023 at its May 15, 2024 meeting.
There are several issues which indicate that any meaningful, detailed review of the DOUA and the operation of the Preschool would be pre-mature, at best, including without limitation, that:
• Continuing Litigation. There are still pending Appeals in the Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County (Case No.: 502022CA012330XXXXMB AY consolidated with Case No.: 502022CA012348XXXXMB AY). If the Petitioners are successful and the Development Order is quashed, the Preschool will no longer be able to operate. As the Town is aware, the Preschool has signed a "Hold Harmless Agreement" with the Town, but not the Petitioners, should the Preschool be closed.
• Preschool is Not Operating at Capacity. By all accounts the Preschool is not operating anywhere near its capacity of up to 68 students. As such the Town does not have a fair assessment of how the Preschool will operate, including, but not limited to, the traffic, parking, and/ or queuing it will generate when it is fully operational.
• Too Short of Time Period. Under the DOUA, the Preschool was to come back to the Town Council on "May 15, 2024, following the completion of a full school year and during the peak season, to review operations." The Preschool has not been open for either a full school year or a complete peak season, as it received only a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy in January of 2024 and did not open until February 29, 2024 (see, PB Daily News Pies March 13, 2024). 1 As such, there is not sufficient information for the Town to make a valid "review of operations" for the time period required.
• Competition for Parking by Island Animal Hospital. In December of 2023 the Town Council approved a variance for Island Animal Hospital to occupy 285 Bradley Place, the former Chase Bank building, immediately adjacent to the Preschool. The result is that the Hospital patrons will now occupy the parking spaces on the north side of the building immediately across from the Preschool parking. This reduces the nearby parking spaces available for the Preschool and sets up two dueling lines of parking backing towards each other while children are being walked into the Preschool. Again, it is premature to understand the full effect(s) of the Hospital use of the previously available Chase Bank parking spaces o:ri the parking, drop off, and queuing of the Preschool.
In light of the above, any detailed review of the DOUA and/ or its operations would clearly be premature and should be postponed until "following the completion of a full school year and during peak season."
Very truly yours,
John R. Eubanks, Jr.
Received via email 5.13.24:
Dear Mayor and Town Council Members:
Our office represents Palm Beach Biltmore Condominium Association, Inc. and its 126 Unit Owners. In that capacity we have been asked to address the potential review by the Town Council of the Declaration of Use Agreement ("DOUA") of the Alef Preschool of Palm Beach, Inc. ("Preschool") dated July 2023 at its May 15, 2024 meeting.
There are several issues which indicate that any meaningful, detailed review of the DOUA and the operation of the Preschool would be pre-mature, at best, including without limitation, that:
• Continuing Litigation. There are still pending Appeals in the Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County (Case No.: 502022CA012330XXXXMB AY consolidated with Case No.: 502022CA012348XXXXMB AY). If the Petitioners are successful and the Development Order is quashed, the Preschool will no longer be able to operate. As the Town is aware, the Preschool has signed a "Hold Harmless Agreement" with the Town, but not the Petitioners, should the Preschool be closed.
• Preschool is Not Operating at Capacity. By all accounts the Preschool is not operating anywhere near its capacity of up to 68 students. As such the Town does not have a fair assessment of how the Preschool will operate, including, but not limited to, the traffic, parking, and/ or queuing it will generate when it is fully operational.
• Too Short of Time Period. Under the DOUA, the Preschool was to come back to the Town Council on "May 15, 2024, following the completion of a full school year and during the peak season, to review operations." The Preschool has not been open for either a full school year or a complete peak season, as it received only a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy in January of 2024 and did not open until February 29, 2024 (see, PB Daily News Pies March 13, 2024). 1 As such, there is not sufficient information for the Town to make a valid "review of operations" for the time period required.
• Competition for Parking by Island Animal Hospital. In December of 2023 the Town Council approved a variance for Island Animal Hospital to occupy 285 Bradley Place, the former Chase Bank building, immediately adjacent to the Preschool. The result is that the Hospital patrons will now occupy the parking spaces on the north side of the building immediately across from the Preschool parking. This reduces the nearby parking spaces available for the Preschool and sets up two dueling lines of parking backing towards each other while children are being walked into the Preschool. Again, it is premature to understand the full effect(s) of the Hospital use of the previously available Chase Bank parking spaces o:ri the parking, drop off, and queuing of the Preschool.
In light of the above, any detailed review of the DOUA and/ or its operations would clearly be premature and should be postponed until "following the completion of a full school year and during peak season."
Very truly yours,
John R. Eubanks, Jr.