Tequesta Notes
an initiative for the citizens of Tequesta
a town pocket park
at no cost to Tequesta
Sunday, May 9, 2021
A Better Approach to
Paradise Park
Thanks to the existing Village Center Master Plan and Village Code, the Village can have the best of both worlds: oversee the development of a great outdoor space at Paradise Park without having to purchase any parcel there. All the Council has to do is defend Village interests in its negotiation and review of design proposals (for example to include pocket parks) and enforce the Code.
At the meeting on May 13, the Council should vote NO on agenda item 27, do not authortize the Village Manager to negotiate a purchase of parcels at Paradise Park.
Rather, the Council should let Paradise Park be developed by a private interest under the already-existing Village Center Master Plan. This Plan will best serve the long term priorities of the Village, in particular as to sustainable development, green space, and Village feel. See the images at the top and bottom of the page for examples of the kind of park that the Village could work with a developer to have incorporated into the redevelopment of Paradise Park. The Village does not need to buy any parcels for this. Save the money.
From the perspective of the Village's finances the exchange of the Remembrance Park parcel for the parcels at Paradise Park as outlined by the Mayor is not advantageous to the Village. (See May 3 Council workshop youtu.be/RuGYMUvwhqg 1:21:40 (Mayor d'Ambra erroneously refers here to a prior comment by Mr Bradford and to exactly the opposite effect. Mr Bradford's point was actually that it is a terrible idea to purchase the Paradise Park parcels because the Village would be losing tax revenue at the commercial rate.)) It would likely result in the need to increase taxes. In 2014, an appraisal for the parcel at Remembrance Park indicated the best private development use was five small single family houses (see value1 and value2). Whereas the parcels at Paradise Park under the Village Center Master Plan would comprise valuable retail assets and these generate significant revenue streams at a higher tax rate to the benefit of the Village.
An important fact to notice in the purchase plan promoted by the Mayor is that the seller (a sophisticated real estate development interest with ready access to first rate real estate transactional counsel) is not selling all the parcels it owns in the vicinity of Paradise Park. In this circumstance, there is a risk that the seller will, through the negotiation process, obtain from a Council too eager to buy, concessions to use its other Tequesta properties in a way that is not consistent with the interests and priorities of the Village and for the preservation of a coherent community.
The best course of action for the Village is not to entertain any negotiation and also not to renew the Village's lease. Save that money too (it has been $50,000 a year)! Invest it in the lands that the Village already owns (like Remembrance Park). Let the Paradise Park parcels be developed under the Village Center Master Plan which the Village Council can control via the existing Plan and zoning.
It is worth noting further that the Village's negotiation posture, were the Council to go forward with the proposed plan, could not be worse as a result of the process underway. For example, the seller knows that the Village is seeking to sell Village-owned green space in order to pay for the Paradise Park parcels. This fact puts the Council under pressure to buy in order to compensate for and justify those sales. In this context, the Council can expect the seller to be aggressive in the concessions and price that it demands to the detriment of long term Village interests. And with the existing Right of First Refusal that the Village currently holds, all the seller has to do is present the Village with any astronomical offer it received and the Village Council would have to meet or exceed that price in order to purchase the property.
On the other hand, it costs nothing for the Village not to pursue Paradise Park but rather simply to hold fast to the Village Center Master Plan. Work with a developer to turn than space into a beautiful, reasonable town center with retail assets serving resident interests and generating significant revenue for the Village from commercial property tax.
Notice from all the discussion on this website, by the way, the multitude of complex issues that are implicated in the Mayor's proposed transaction. This transaction touches on all long term vital interests of the Village. But there has been no clear exposition of a coherent strategy serving the Village.
Residents have not even been advised of an approximate cost of the purchase (or development) or the use that the Mayor has in mind. This lack of articulated strategic vision alone should be reason enough for the Council and Tequesta citizens and taxpayers to reject the proposed plan: reject the proposed sales of public land; do not authorize the proposed negotiations or their preparations.
a different perspective
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