The city of West Palm Beach Planning Board has recommended the controversial “Chapel by the Lake” 22-story condo project be approved by the city commission. The 5 to 1 vote came after a long meeting that went till nearly midnight on Wednesday night, prompting the builder to tell the Palm Beach Post, “We won.”
The developer, Flagler Investors LLC, has said it expects to come before the city commission for final approval in February or March. The tower, billed as a luxury waterfront condo, is located at 1112 S. Flagler Drive.
It is yet another forward push for the project and another blow to citizens in the surrounding community who have filed lawsuits and strongly oppose the project on many grounds. Issues of safety and health and water quality have been raised by voices online as well. One objection is that the project over-rides setbacks that the current planning and zoning regulations would never allow for the size of the project and the land area it would occupy. However, the commission gives itself wiggle room to give exemptions.
According to the Post :
“Through all the changes, the project remained closer to adjacent properties than the city’s setback rules allow, requiring three times as much land as it has. The city has said it is permitted to waive rules under the comprehensive plan if it believes the value of the project justifies it.”
The city commission had approved the current project earlier, but a recent court ruling ordered that protocol demanded that project go back to the city Planning Board for review and then go before the city commissioners again. The ruling came out of legal action filed by Citizens for Thoughtful Growth, a grassroots group which still has pending legal action against the original, larger sized project proposed under a different developer.
The tower is now formally called “The Bristol,” though many still refer to it as the “Chapel by the Lake” property due to the chapel that was destroyed to make way for the project after the church sold its waterfront property to the original developers.