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Delray commissioners kill zoning change for hotel project
By Palm Beach Business.com
DELRAY BEACH — It’s not every day that a city says no to a major hotel project, but Delray Beach did Tuesday evening.
Without a vote.
Without so much as a word of debate.
Without an explanation.
A motion to approve a zoning change needed to allow a parcel on SW 10th Avenue to be used as a parking lot for the proposed hotel died when none of the three eligible commissioners — Al Jacquet, Angeleta Gray and Adam Frankel was willing to second the motion.
Commissioner Tom Carney made the motion; Mayor Woodie McDuffie under the rules could not second it. Commissioners routinely second motions if for no other reason than to allow debate to proceed on the merits of the proposal, but that did not happen in this case.
“I think this commission sent a message,” Community Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Diane Colonna said after the meeting. The CRA owns the land in question and is pushing the hotel project as part of an effort to revitalize the western end of the downtown.
The only privately owned land adjoining the property is a church parking lot, so the impact on the neighborhood would seem minimal. No one from the public spoke out against the change.
A yet-to-be-determined Marriott-owned hotel brand would be built if the project can go through.
Commissioner Carney asked City Attorney Brian Shutt whether and how the proposed ordinance could be reconsidered. Shutt said it could at a future meeting but the motion to reconsider would have to come from Jacquet, Gray or Frankel.
“We should at least hear from the CRA’s perspective why they think that this is change is important,” Carney said, noting the amount of work the agency has put into the project. “It’s a big project and there’s going to be a lot of money spent.”
After the meeting, Frankel declined to expand on what happened. “It just died,” Frankel said.
Jacquet said it was a lack of information about the project might have doomed the zoning change, and he said it could be revived.
“Commissioners were not armed with enough information about the proposed legislation,” Jacquet said. “No one has ever talked to me about this.
“I don’t think it’s a big deal.”
Gray could not be interviewed before she left City Hall Tuesday evening.
