The following letter was written by  Jim Smith, the chairman of the nonprofit group Safety as Floridians Expect (SAFE) and appared on the “Take Back Delray Beach” FaceBook page on the eve of the July 20 Delray Beach Planning and Zoning Board vote on the iPic proposal:

“SAFE does not have the resources to get our message out to counter iPic’s ad campaign announcing that they will be opening in Delray soon, or their multiple robo calls asking people to support their theater by speaking in support at tomorrow’s P & Z meeting, so we are asking for your help.

Please share our message below to your friends and attend the P & Z Meeting tomorrow night expressing your opposition to this development. The meeting will be held in the City Commission Chambers on the first floor of City Hall. The meeting will start at 6 PM.

SAFE’s Message

Everyone wants a movie theater and more jobs in Delray. But this is just too big a project to be located near the intersection of busy Federal Highway & Atlantic Avenue.

The bottom line is that iPic is trying to squeeze an (8) screen multiplex and over 40,000/sq.ft of office space with (320) parking spaces into the most traffic sensitive corner of downtown by taking over a complete public alley to build it.

iPic has no deceleration lane on Federal; and, no turn lanes off 4th Avenue. Traffic will back up clogging the Federal Highway & 4th Avenue /Atlantic Avenue intersections. And, taxpayers will have to pay for a new traffic signal at the N.E.1st Street & 4th Avenue intersection.

Traffic congestion will be many times worse than it is today because the net traffic trips that Atlantic Crossing are quoting are understated, and all that traffic that currently uses 7th Avenue will move to Federal Highway when 7th Avenue is closed to traffic.

In addition to Atlantic Crossing, iPic’s traffic study doesn’t consider all the new traffic trips that will be made by Uptown Delray, Delray Preserve, the Aloft Hotel, SOFA I & II, SOFA Offices & Lofts, The Strand, The Metropolitan, Uptown Atlantic, Delray Depot Apartments, and all the other developments that will come later. And don’t forget the (14) freight, (32) AAB, and (50) Tri-Rail Coastal link trains that will back-up traffic on Atlantic Avenue.

If we’ve learned anything, we know that there needs to be an independent traffic count, traffic study, and traffic simulation in order to make an informed decision as to traffic congestion.

In addition to traffic, there are other problems that need to be addressed:

The height is not compatible with the area, nor will it be in the future under the new, stricter LDR height limits for buildings within 125’ of Atlantic Avenue.
Closing the existing T-shaped public alley.
Complete disregard of the Delray Beach Master Plan requiring ground-floor retail along Federal Highway.
Taking-over the remaining public alley and making it an unsafe, narrow street without either safe ped or bike facilities for iPic’s private use as a valet stacking and use queue.
If there are tables or chairs outside of the movie theater, than this space (including balcony space) should be counted as restaurant use, subject to related parking requirements.
Any new use, e.g., rental use before regular movie hours should be specifically prohibited, otherwise; additional parking should be required for that use, too.
The applicant, Mr. Hashemi (iPic Theater) has not met personally with SAFE like every other developer has done. Instead, iPic has been doing an “end run” by paying for TV ads and conducting robo calls. As a result, this project will not have any of SAFE’s traffic mitigation recommendations.

There just has not been sufficient outreach by the applicant. Mr. Hashemi needs to be told by this Board, that this is not the way things are done in Delray.

Please either deny this application, or postpone it until an independent traffic study and simulation has been completed.”

Thank you,
Jim Smith
SAFE Chairman
“Help Florida become the most motorist, pedestrian, and bicyclist friendly state in the USA”