Currie Park Mixed Use (CMUD) Stakeholders Meeting!
September 10, 2021
The story below is part one of two stories, and possibly three as more information continues to arrive daily. As always my comments in Italic.
The developer for the CMUD project is billionaire Jeff Greene.
The statement below was read into the record by Sandy at the 9/7/2021 City Commission meeting and concerns CMUD development.
“CMUD is the acronym for Currie Corridor Mixed Use Zoning District, and should not be confused with Currie Park. Two different pieces of land. In fact the Currie Corridor is nearly vacant with the exception of a small home built in the early 1920, and is located across the street from Currie Park.
A developer wants to build on Currie Corridor and has already appeared before the Planning Board July 20, 2021 and in a 5 to 0 vote the planning board was against the project going forward and gave their reasoning as staff didn’t coordinate with the community. So far so good, let’s involve the community in the planning.
8/31/2021 @ 5:30 The City held a meeting which was not posted on the City website, and the meeting was attended by 25 invited guests only. Double click the picture to enlarge and notice no scheduled meetings for 8/31.
9/9/2021 @5:30 The City will hold another meeting, which is not posted on the City website, and invitations were again sent out to selected individuals. If you don’t hold an invitation you will not be allowed to attend the meeting.
It is my intention to attend the 9/9/2021 meeting, and with no invitation in hand, I expect to be turned away, and that is when I will express civil disobedience in the form of resistance without violence.
9/20/2021 @6:00 PM the Planning Board will meet again to discuss the Currie Corridor development.
The only difference is the City can now state the Community was involved and spoke favorably of the project, not mentioning the majority of the invited guests at both meetings are “friends of the city”
End of statement.
Below is an email sent from Fano to a resident lucky enough to get an invitation, and bring along a friend.
“From: Armando Fana <[email protected]>
Date: August 31, 2021 at 11:56:56 AM EDT
To: Name removed by WPB Watch
Subject: FW: CMUD Stakeholder Presentation
Hello Name removed
Good talking to you. Please see attached and below. You are ok to bring one other representative of La Fontana. Please send me that person’s name and contact info to provide to security. Also please send me the contact for Portofino and I will send them the invite for 9/9.
Thank you,
Armando Fana
Assistant City Administrator
City of West Palm Beach
From: Kimberly Bolton <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2021 5:02 PM
Subject: FW: CMUD Stakeholder Presentation
Good Afternoon, Everyone.
Please see the attached presentation for the meeting tomorrow.
The agenda for the meeting will be as follows:
Summary of existing CMUD regulations
Proposed changes
Feedback
Breakout tables
Thank you.
Have a great day.
Kimberly Bolton
Executive Administrative Assistant to
Armando Fana, Assistant City Administrator
Dr. Philip C. Harris, Assistant to the City Administrator”
I did travel to City Hall, and as expected was not allowed entrance, but instead was escorted from the building by police and a PSC security guard, after they learned my name was not on the guest list. The reason given was fear of the Corona Virus. Please open the link below to see what events are scheduled in WPB in the upcoming days. Corona an excuse to keep residents away, and in the dark concerning CMUDD. No sunshine in WPB Fla.
https://tickets.westpalmbeach.com/
Jeff Greene Developer of One West Palm & CMUD
“Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene, who is developing the 30-story One West Palm apartment-hotel-office complex, said on Tuesday he is about to pull the plug on construction, three stories shy of reaching the top, because the city is pushing back against his request for a zoning change.
As a result, “we think we’re going to stop,” Greene said. “I have no intention of dumping more money into this. I’ll leave the shell up. It’s going to to look like a skeleton because there’s no glass.”
Greene obtained city approval to punch through 10-story height limits so he could build 30 stories at the 550 Quadrille Blvd. site
Last year, experts began warning that West Palm Beach’s downtown office market was loaded with empty space, even though business leaders insisted the city needed more space to lure employers.”
Construction did stop for over a year and I cant help but wonder if the concrete and rebars have been compromised by the weather, and salt air. WPB doesn’t need a building collapse as we witnessed in Surfside, Fla. The story by the PB Post can be read below and again corona virus is the culprit, while the story reads Greene didn’t get what he asked for.
The end, for now.