Here is an update on what’s going on in Pompano Beach and District 1:

Redevelopment Status:

Hopefully, you have all seen the incredible progress that is taking place in Pompano Beach. I am especially proud of the progress made in the East CRA.

The first stage of redevelopment in the east, the reconstruction of East Atlantic Blvd from A1A to Pompano Beach Boulevard, has been completed. On September 23rd the CRA celebrated the re-opening of East Atlantic Boulevard along with the ground breaking of the Pompano Beach Boulevard improvements, including reconfigured street lanes and parking, wider sidewalks and beautiful new landscaping.

The Pompano Beach Boulevard project continues the infrastructure improvements, with wider sidewalks, enhanced landscaping and underground power lines. As part of this work, the parking lot at the east end of Atlantic Boulevard is closed but parking will be available at the Pier parking lot and the Oceanside parking lot, and the city is exploring other interim parking solutions as well.  Eventually the Pompano Beach Boulevard improvements will include a beautiful beach entry plaza where the parking lot used to be, a pedestrian promenade to encourage enjoyment of the beach, and a dune restoration project on the beach.

Many have certainly seen the beginnings of road work on Atlantic Blvd from East 18^th Avenue to A1A.  This is a significant joint project between Pompano Beach and the Florida Department of Transportation.  The sidewalks will be widened, the FPL and Comcast overhead lines will be placed underground, and new landscaping, lighting and street furniture will be installed.  In the end, this stretch of Atlantic Blvd will be a much more beautiful, pedestrian friendly, four-lane road.

There will also be an improvement of the public parking area at the Harbor Village Shops (Café Maxx, Mr Fish, and all the shops in-between) in order to make the parking pattern more efficient and the area more pedestrian friendly.  In addition, the sidewalk in front of the Harbor Village Shops will be widened, and an arcade will be installed overhead.

While the city and CRA are beautifying the publicly controlled streets, sidewalks, parking lots and beaches, the private sector is being encouraged to participate as well.  The CRA has instituted numerous incentive programs to subsidize façade upgrades, interior re-habs, new business development, etc.  Many businesses have already begun participating in these programs.

The long-awaited redevelopment is finally happening on the ground!  It will take a number of years to unfold, and we will have to put up with much construction at first, but at least we are finally on a wonderful path of renewal!

Pier Status:

There are also positive developments concerning the Pier.  The commission issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and has received two good responses from companies with solid credentials.  The goal is to form a public-private partnership which will result in one or more restaurants, beach-oriented retail, green space and parking capacity around the pier and on the pier parking lot.  The city is now in negotiations with these companies, and I am hopeful that we will soon get a solid redevelopment plan in place for the pier.  (Note, however, that this project is subject to the overall economic climate.  The CRA is fully prepared to wait a few months and re-bid this project, if necessary, in order to get a deal which is worthy of this jewel of a public asset.)

Vacant Lots:

Due to various aspects and interpretations of the Pompano Beach zoning code, many property owners put up fences around vacant lots, abandoned buildings, and projects they were developing. This became an acute problem when the housing market came to a standstill and many projects were put on hold.  These projects became very unsightly with trash accumulation around fences and the properties not being properly maintained.  The City then required that the fences be removed, and this led to another set of problems for beachfront properties. People were using these lots as an access to the beach and many of the owners were concerned with trespassing, noise, and liability issues.  The code now requires that attractive, low profile barriers be used on vacant lots along the beach side of A1A. The barrier options are 4-foot berms with landscaping and irrigation, split rail or guard rail barriers and posts or bollards with connecting wires or chains.

The result of all this is that we are now well along the way toward getting vacant lots in the city cleaned up, with reasonable ground cover, and no chain-link fences!

Publix:

The Publix on Atlantic Boulevard is scheduled to be completed in the Spring of 2012.  The new Publix complex will have retail space facing Atlantic Boulevard with parking on the second floor.  The Publix supermarket itself will be located to the rear of the parking and retail space.  There will also be parking on 25^th Avenue.

Code Compliance

As many people know by now, the city has changed from using BSO for code enforcement to using a private company.  This is saving the city money and making Code Compliance more efficient.

Citizens can now report code violations by phone (954 786-4361) or on line (http://www.inkforce.net/PompanoBeachInkforce/tasks.aspx ).  If you don’t require feedback from the Code Compliance team on the progress of your complaint, your report of a violation can remain anonymous.

Stay informed:

Here are some sources of useful information:

Pompano Beach email alert service – Sign up here to receive information such as boil water notices, major street closings, safety information, flooding, garbage pick-up changes, major events, emergency notifications, etc.
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/send_out.html

BSO alerts – Sign up here for BSO’s CyberVisor to receive e-mail or text messages from the Broward Sheriff’s Office with information on criminal activity, traffic, events or other security concerns arising in your neighborhoods of interest.  Be sure to check the appropriate boxes for alerts you wish to receive.
http://sheriff.org/apps/cybervisor

Comcast Channel 78 Broadcast Schedule – At my request, the city has expanded its TV coverage of key city meetings and begun posting on its website the schedule for broadcast and re-broadcast of the meetings.  Now residents can see what will be broadcast when, and those who wish can set their recorders to capture the meetings for later viewing.
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/pio/lineup.html

The City has also started web-streaming of commission meetings. You can watch the meetings live on your computer.  In addition you can watch recordings of previous meetings, and even jump directly to the portion of the meeting which corresponds to your item of interest on the meeting agenda!

http://www.mypompanobeach.org/pio/streaming.html

Get involved:

I encourage interested residents to give back to the community by volunteering on one or more city advisory boards.  Currently, there are vacancies on a number of these boards.
Follow this link to learn more about all the city’s advisory boards:
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/directory/advisory/list.pdf
And follow this link to obtain an application for appointment to one or more boards:
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/directory/advisory/advboard_application.pdf

The fine print:

Please forward this email to friends and family in Pompano Beach, especially residents of District 1 (i.e., all of Pompano Beach east of Federal Highway plus portions west of Federal Highway in the southern part of town).

If you have received this email from someone other than myself, and would like to have your email address added to my direct distribution list, please email me at doc@barrydockswell.com.

If you would like to be removed from the list, please use the link at the bottom of this message.

Best wishes to all.

I am honored to serve as the city commissioner representing Pompano Beach District 1!

Sincerely,
Barry Dockswell

Barry “Doc” Dockswell

Pompano Beach City Commissioner
District 1

Office: 954 786-4619

Home: 954 785-0045

doc@barrydockswell.com

www.barrydockswell.com

This newsletter is prepared and distributed at no expense to the City of Pompano Beach

I hope that everyone has been enjoying the holiday season. Here is a new year’s update on Pompano Beach and District 1:

City Financial Status:

It’s no surprise to anyone that the city will be facing another difficult financial year. The global economic downturn has hit Florida even harder than most other parts of the USA. Pompano Beach must deal with a declining tax base and declining revenues of all sorts on one hand, and excessive labor agreements and pension obligations on the other.

I know I speak for myself, and I believe that my fellow members of the commission agree, that in upcoming city budgeting we must act aggressively to protect the city’s financial health as well as that of our constituents. The government sector must understand that, like most of the private sector in these times, we must forget about pay increases, bonuses and the like, and just be grateful that we have jobs. In addition I will again propose that the city at least begin to reverse the trend of spiraling pension costs.

City Manager Status:

I’m happy to report to you that the city finally has our new city manager, Mr Dennis Beach, on board. He comes to us from the city of Ft Pierce, Florida with a great reputation, and I am expecting great things from him here in Pompano Beach!

Redevelopment Status:

The stage is finally set for true redevelopment to begin on east Atlantic Blvd and along the beach. I know that at least half of you just sighed with cynicism upon reading this statement; and I don’t blame you, what with all the vapor-plans you have seen come and go over the last seven years of the East CRA’s (Community Redevelopment Agency’s) existence.

However, this time it really is different because of two big little words: Dollars and Dates. The commission/CRA has approved funding for about $15 million in redevelopment plans and business incentive programs. Moreover, many of these plans and programs are already underway or will begin this year. So, the difference this time is that we have not only pretty pictures, but committed Dollars and Dates to realize our plans on the ground.

The obvious next question is: where is all this money coming from if the city must focus on cutting costs across the board? The answer is that our CRA is funded by a separate 30-year stream of county-wide tax revenue, which has been building up over the past seven years, and which can only be used for redevelopment-related projects and programs. In a perverse sense one could almost say we were fortunate not to get too much redevelopment underway in the recent boom years. (We saw what happened to the WCI project at Atlantic Blvd and A1A when the bottom fell out of the real estate market.) The city is now positioned to use its CRA funds as a much-needed local stimulus program. Moreover, we embark on this mission at a time when real estate and construction costs are much more reasonable, so we can stretch our CRA dollars that much further. But, the key point for this discussion is that these redevelopment expenditures will have no impact on the city’s budget and tax rates.

Because of this CRA funding you will see projects begin to get shovels in the ground this year, and this activity will continue for at least the next three years. Atlantic Blvd streetscape improvements on the block between A1A and Pompano Beach Blvd, and the block between Houston’s and Café Max will begin this year. This will be followed next year by a joint project between the CRA and FDOT (Florida Dept of Transportation) to renovate the entire stretch of Atlantic Blvd from Federal Highway to A1A. These projects will bring amenities like widened sidewalks, sidewalk dining, and improved pavements, streetlights, medians, traffic flow and landscaping. Numerous other projects relating to Pompano Beach Blvd, the beach parking lots, beach and dune restoration, etc are in the financial plan.

Pier Status:

The bad news about the pier area is that, after years of fruitless negotiations with two developers on an RFP (Request for Proposals) issued several years ago, the city found it necessary to terminate this RFP, which was, frankly, flawed on both sides.

The good news is that we are now within about 60 days of being ready to issue a far superior RFP which should attract high-caliber responses. This time our RFP will be able to feature our committed CRA redevelopment plans and business incentive programs, and it will give clear direction on pier area redevelopment based upon a CRA market absorption study. I’m eager to get the new RFP on the street ASAP!

Meanwhile, we must all deal with the fact that this RFP re-do means that there will not be completed pier redevelopment, including restaurants, retail, parking garage, etc, which the area so desperately needs, for at least another two years. To blunt the disappointment this causes, the CRA and city commission are slated to make modest fix-ups and improvements to the pier area to help make it a little more pleasant in the short run. These fix-ups include improving the appearance of the bait shop and restrooms, replacing missing railings on the pier, removing or at least improving the appearance of the slab from the old restaurant, landscaping, beach cleanup, and possibly some modest refreshment service on the beach. Work on some of these items has already begun.

Broward Sheriff’s Office or Pompano Beach Police Department?

As many people know by now, the city is evaluating whether to sign another long-term agreement with BSO (Broward Sheriff’s Office) for police services or to re-constitute our own PBPD (Pompano Beach Police Department).

City staff is still developing the two options. On one track, negotiations with BSO are proceeding, so that we will know precisely what would be the terms and conditions of a new deal with BSO. On the other track, the consultant study which laid out a roadmap for re-constituting PBPD is being updated as the city gains deeper knowledge of the requirements and costs associated with the option of creating a city police force.

The city is now early in year one of a two year period in which we retain BSO police services. By the end of this period we must either field our own police force or execute a new agreement for police services with BSO. Since it would take many months to develop a new PBPD if that is the chosen path, it’s important that the city decide which way to go in the next few months. New City Manager Beach will play a key role in this decision, and I expect that one or more additional commission workshops will be required as well.

Stay informed (The following is repeated from the last newsletter by popular demand):

Here are some sources of useful information:

Pompano Beach email alert service – Sign up here to receive information such as boil water notices, major street closings, safety information, flooding, garbage pick-up changes, major events, emergency notifications, etc.
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/send_out.html

BSO alerts – Sign up here for BSO’s CyberVisor to receive e-mail or text messages from the Broward Sheriff’s Office with information on criminal activity, traffic, events or other security concerns arising in your neighborhoods of interest. Be sure to check the appropriate boxes for alerts you wish to receive.
http://sheriff.org/apps/cybervisor

Comcast Channel 78 Broadcast Schedule – At my request, the city has expanded its TV coverage of key city meetings and begun posting on its website the schedule for broadcast and re-broadcast of the meetings. Now residents can see what will be broadcast when, and those who wish can set their recorders to capture the meetings for later viewing.
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/pio/lineup.html

Get involved:

I encourage interested residents to give back to the community by volunteering on one or more city advisory boards. Currently, there are vacancies on a number of these boards.
Follow this link to learn more about all the city’s advisory boards:
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/PUBLIC%20NOTICE%20OF%20ADVISORY%20BOARDS.pdf
And follow this link to obtain an application for appointment to one or more boards:
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/directory/advisory/advboard_application.pdf

The fine print:

Please forward this email to friends and family in Pompano Beach, especially residents of District 1 (i.e., all of Pompano Beach east of Federal Highway plus portions west of Federal Highway in the southern part of town).

If you have received this email from someone other than myself, and would like to have your email address added to my direct distribution list, please email me at doc@barrydockswell.com.

If you would like to be removed from the list, please use the link at the bottom of this message.

Best wishes to all for a new year filled with health, happiness, and exciting, positive developments in our city!

I am honored to serve as the city commissioner representing Pompano Beach District 1!

Sincerely,
Barry Dockswell

Your city commission is now on its summer break.  I will have limited access to phone/email until Sept 3.  I thought I would end this season with the following (fairly lengthy) update.  (If you are not interested in any given bold topic, just skip down to the next one.)

New CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) Director Firm:

Shortly after I took office last year, Pompano Beach and its then current CRA Director had a “parting of the ways.”  Now the city has hired a firm called RMA to serve as the director of both the East and Northwest redevelopment areas of the city.  I am very pleased by what I have seen from this firm so far.  Their principals have long records of success with local CRAs, including Delray Beach, which many of us have pointed to as a model to emulate.  Although there haven’t been many improvements visible on the ground yet in the East CRA, a great deal of progress has been made behind the scenes.  Later in this newsletter, I’ll describe the first major improvements the East CRA will see on the ground; but, rest assured, there’s much more to come.

New City Manager

This certainly has been a “rebuilding year.”  We have not only had to replace a CRA Director, but we must now also replace the former city manager.  The commission has selected an executive search firm, and that firm has worked with commissioners and others to understand our city and the characteristics needed in our new city manager.  The firm has already begun advertising the available city manager position.  The selection and hiring process will take about another three months.  Until then the city is ably served by our own Phyllis Korab as Interim City Manager.

Pompano Beach City Budget, 2009-10

The city commission has approved a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins October 1, 2009.  Overall property taxes collected by the city will be nearly flat compared to last year although individual city tax bills will vary somewhat.  People who bought property near the 2006 peak in assessed valuations should see a drop in their city property taxes, while those who have been long-time homesteaders may see a small increase in their city property taxes.  (Keep in mind that the city portion of your annual property tax bill is about 20% of the total, with county, school, and hospital taxes making up the rest – so these comments apply only to the city’s 20% of your total property tax.)

In order to hold the line on taxes and avoid cutting services, the city budget calls for spending about $3 million of the city’s $10 million in undesignated reserves.  If the overall economy does not improve sufficiently in the next year or two, the city will no doubt be forced to cut some services.  In addition, I believe our labor agreements and pension plans will need to be revamped (as private industry is already doing) in order to deal with new economic realities.

Broward Sheriff’s Office or Pompano Beach Police Department?

Pompano Beach has been contracting with BSO for local police services since 1999.  The second five year agreement with BSO expires October 1 of this year.  The city paid for a study to determine the best way for us to obtain police services going forward:  renew existing agreement with BSO, renew agreement but negotiate key changes, or transition back to a local Pompano Beach Police Department.  The study concluded that the city could save money by transitioning back to a local Pompano Beach police force, or, if we stay with BSO, that we should at least negotiate key changes to the current agreement.

Read the report here: http://www.mypompanobeach.org/commish/PB%20Feasibility%20Study.pdf

In September, I expect that we will see an analysis of the report by city staff as well as a response by BSO.  Fortunately, at my suggestion, the city has acted swiftly to exercise a key option in the existing BSO agreement before the option’s expiration date.  This option allows the city to extend the existing BSO agreement for two years in order to evaluate our options for delivering police services.  So, nothing will change right away, but the city will need to make this important police services decision over the next several months.

Dealing With Declining Neighborhood Appearances

Due to the economic downturn there are many properties in the city which don’t look good at all.  The city has taken numerous steps to address this situation, including passing ordinances to:

require property owners to meet appearance standards whether the properties are vacant lots or construction sites;

make the city’s code enforcement liens high priority to improve our ability to collect monies owed when the properties are finally sold;

require the registration of vacant foreclosed property with the city to improve our ability to identify responsible parties, monitor conditions and ensure code compliance.

Residents may contact code enforcement http://www.mypompanobeach.org/directory/index.html#code
or city staff
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/manager/index.html
for help in applying these ordinances to offending properties.

Pier Status

There is still no agreement on the long-delayed project to renovate the pier area with restaurants, shops, plazas, etc.  Now that we have RMA in place as our CRA Director, we are finally in a position to effectively evaluate the proposed development deal and take whatever steps are necessary to get pier re-development back on track.  Meanwhile, the city is looking at quick ways to provide refreshments on the beach and make some minimal appearance improvements at the pier while we await the beginning of the major renovations in this area.

East CRA Atlantic Blvd. projects

The East CRA has begun design on two Atlantic Blvd streetscape improvements:  the block between A1A and Pompano Beach Blvd, and the block between Houston’s and Café Max:  These projects will bring amenities like widened sidewalks, sidewalk dining, and improved pavements, streetlights, medians, traffic flow and landscaping.  It’s too early to make firm commitments, but I am hopeful that we will see the first shovel in the ground for the A1A/Pompano Beach Blvd project in the first quarter of next year, and the beginning of the Houston’s/Café Max project in the second quarter.

Dog Park

The long-awaited Pompano Beach Dog Park is back on track after being slowed down by a cost overrun which resulted from a city architectural appearance review among other things.  The cost overrun problem was solved without using any additional monies from the city’s general fund.  The park, which will be located on the northwest corner of Federal Highway and NE 10^th St, is now expected to open in late October.

Reclaimed Water

The city has been busy laying pipes which deliver re-claimed water to homeowners for irrigation use in the Harbor Village area.  The city’s program, called Oasis, has been very successful in cost-effectively delivering reclaimed water to large projects, such as the golf course and condo developments.  However, Oasis has met resistance from single family homeowners due to the program’s initial connection costs and annual inspection fees.

The city has come up with a unique and creative way to make Oasis more appealing to the single family homeowner.  The homeowner may opt to have the city pay the initial connection costs, which the homeowner then repays over the next few years at a low interest rate.  Under this option the homeowner may connect to and use the reclaimed water system with no upfront cost and no increase in monthly water bill.  The idea is that the monthly connection fee repayment amount will be offset by the lower cost of using reclaimed water instead of potable water for irrigation.

Upon connection to Oasis, the homeowner immediately gets the right to water as much and whenever desired.  There is the satisfaction of helping to conserve our potable water.  And, once the connection fee is paid off, the homeowner will see the monthly savings which come with using the lower cost reclaimed water for irrigation.
Contact the Pompano Beach Utilities Department for more information:
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/directory/utilities/index.html

Old Paradise Beach Hotel / Taverna Milos, 1380 S Ocean Blvd

This abandoned hotel and restaurant has been a problem for many months now.  Per my request, the city has put a strong focus on cleaning up this property.  The issue finally got to the Unsafe Structures Board on July 28, and a demolition order was issued.  The order includes the following requirements:   armed security guard on 24 hour duty beginning this week; drill hole in pool and place sand in pool within 30 days; rodent elimination prior to demolition to prevent rodent dispersal in the neighborhood; demolition of building to be complete in 90 days from July 28 or city will do demolition and place lien on property.

Amen!  City officials, concerned residents, and their commissioner now must and will see to it that this order is carried out!

Hillsboro Inlet Park

This park has had a continual problem with homeless people taking over the park.  Actions taken so far have been to close the park and lock the restrooms at 11 pm and to direct frequent BSO patrols to the area during the day as well as the night.  If this doesn’t work, we may be forced to gate the parking lot, and perhaps fence the entire park in order to enforce the overnight closure of the park.

Pompano Waterway Development (Old Tails restaurant)

This project’s plan is to construct a small hotel/spa plus a marina, a restaurant and a few shops on the sites of the former Tails restaurant, the old marina, and the former gas station near the Hillsboro Inlet.  The gas station has already been demolished; and the remainder of the project is waiting for a final release by the state, certifying remediation of the contamination caused by the gas station.  This release is expected in the next two or three months.  The release will be followed by the demolition of all old buildings on the site and the renovation of the marina area.  The marina and restaurant are expected to be developed first, over the course of the next two years.  Development of the hotel/spa is economy-dependent but tentatively planned to begin in early 2011.

Note to concerned residents of the Hillsboro Shores area:  I expect that there will be neighborhood meetings followed by a city hearing in the fourth quarter of this year on the developer’s proposal to re-route the northern portion of Riverside Drive.

Stay informed:

Here are some sources of useful information:

Pompano Beach email alert service – Sign up here to receive information such as boil water notices, major street closings, safety information, flooding, garbage pick-up changes, major events, emergency notifications, etc.
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/send_out.html

BSO alerts – Sign up here for BSO’s CyberVisor to receive e-mail or text messages from the Broward Sheriff’s Office with information on criminal activity, traffic, events or other security concerns arising in your neighborhoods of interest.  Be sure to check the appropriate boxes for alerts you wish to receive.
http://sheriff.org/apps/cybervisor

Comcast Channel 78 Broadcast Schedule – At my request, the city has expanded its TV coverage of key city meetings and begun posting on its website the schedule for broadcast and re-broadcast of the meetings.  Now residents can see what will be broadcast when, and those who wish can set their recorders to capture the meetings for later viewing.
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/pio/lineup.html

Get involved:

I encourage interested residents to give back to the community by volunteering on one or more city advisory boards.  Currently, there are vacancies on a number of these boards, including the Education Advisory Committee, Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board, and Recycling and Solid Waste Committee.
Follow this link to learn more about all the city’s advisory boards:
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/PUBLIC%20NOTICE%20OF%20ADVISORY%20BOARDS.pdf
And follow this link to obtain an application for appointment to one or more boards:
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/directory/advisory/advboard_application.pdf

The fine print:

Please forward this email to friends and family in Pompano Beach, especially residents of District 1 (i.e., all of Pompano Beach east of Federal Highway plus portions west of Federal Highway in the Cypress Lakes Estates and High Ridge areas).

If you have received this email from someone other than myself, and would like to have your email address added to my direct distribution list, please email me at doc@barrydockswell.com.

If you would like to be removed from the list, please use the link at the bottom of this message.

I am honored to serve as the city commissioner representing Pompano Beach District 1!

Wishing Everyone a Wonderful Summer!
Sincerely,
Barry Dockswell

Welcome!

I’m Barry Dockswell, Pompano Beach City Commissioner, District 1. This district includes all of Pompano Beach east of Federal Highway plus sections west of Federal Highway in the McNab Road area – see map for details.

Although I have a special responsibility to represent the interests of my district constituents, I take very seriously my responsibility to strive for the greater good for the entire City of Pompano Beach.

My focus areas for our city are:

• Community-Driven Redevelopment
• Common Sense Budget and Taxes
• High Ethical Standards in Government

I will have much to say about these and other issues on this website and in ongoing communications.

Thanks for visiting the website.  Here you will find newsletters I have issued over time and you will have an opportunity to dialog with me and other citizens about issues which concern us all.

Please sign up for email updates so I can keep you informed of upcoming events, announcements and news.

I am honored to serve as the city commissioner for Pompano Beach District 1.

CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) meetings:
3rd Tuesday of each month
7pm at City Commission Chambers
100 W Atlantic Blvd