Contact us by phone: 561 450-8258. Contact us by email.

Delray commissioners OK Atlantic Ocean Club parking

By Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH — Parking issues involving restaurants in the downtown are almost guaranteed to stir up debate, sometimes heated debate, among Delray Beach city commissioners.

The Atlantic Ocean Club’s request for eight so-called in-lieu spaces needed to because of a planned expansion was a notable exception. Commissioners approved it 5-0 Tuesday evening.

The Atlantic Club, at 217 East Atlantic, home of the Buddha Sky Bar, agreed to pay the city nearly $125,000 for the spaces, needed because the building’s owners plan to convert the second floor from office use to restaurant.

In-lieu spaces are in a sense virtual spaces that allow a business to meet the city’s parking requirements when they don't have sufficient space to do so on its property. In exchange for the in-lieu spaces, the owner pays a fee to the city, which is used to maintain and expand public parking. The program is particularly important in the downtown, where real estate is at a premium.

Scott Aronson, the city’s parking director expressed some concern that with the request, the Atlantic Ocean Club will have 29 in-lieu spaces alloted to it. And there has been some general concern about the pressure restaurants are creating on the city’s parking lots and garages.

But Michael Weiner, the attorney for the Atlantic Ocean Club, countered that the additional in-lieu spaces are not going to push the city’s parking problem to a “tipping point.” Weiner also noted the efforts of the building’s owner to provide private parking, including leasing two lots and constructing eight spaces at his home.

Also Tuesday, commissioners agreed to participate with the South Florida Water Management District and the Lake Worth Drainage District to build a 1,400-acre reservoir that will help meet future demand for drinking water. The project is in the early planning stages and Tuesday’s action doesn’t commit Delray Beach financially.

As explained, the region’s canal system, built decades ago,was designed to prevent flooding rather than collect storm water for use. Most of the rain that hits the ground is lost to evaporation or flows out to sea. Only 1 percent is consumed. The idea would be to pump storm water that collects in the canals into a reservoir near Twenty-Mile Bend instead of allowing it to flow out to sea. In times of drought, water would be pumped back into the canals and seep into the aquifers that supply drinking water for the region.

Commissioners approved an ordinance annexing the Lake View Nursing Home off Linton Boulevard into the city. The six-plus acres are part of a water service agreement signed in 1999 that mandated the annexation. Other properties already brought into the city under the same agreement include the Palm Aire shopping center, Delray Medical Center and Fair Oaks Pavilion.

Commissioners also OKed Delray Community Pharmacy’s plans to build a drive-through at its new site at the southeast corner of Congress Avenue and Linton Boulevard. Delray Community is building a new store there.

The Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce got the go-ahead to hold the Delray Affair on April 13 -15.

Commissioners also approved on first reading a series of ordinances that amends flood-zone building regulations, sets limits on the length of time tents can be used for public assemblies, ups pension contributions police officers must kick in and clarifies limits on in-lieu parking spaces a business may have. All will be up for final approval during the Nov. 15 commission meeting.