The decision for Delray’s city commission on whether to approve an application by iPic to build a luxury theater and office space in downtown on the site of the city’s former library comes down to the wire Tuesday August 18th. The quasi-judicial hearing takes place at 6 p.m. at city hall.

Residents and the city’s own P&Z Board object to the two conditions that the iPic wants the commission to approve for its mixed use project called “Fourth and Fifth Delray.”

  • Allowing a movie theater in the Central Business District (CBD), which does not allow that use.
  • Allowing the height of the complex to go beyond the 48 ft allowed to 59.5 feet.

The commission will also consider the abandonment of the north/south alleyway. People are very upset because local businesses use the alleyways for deliveries and parking and many drivers use the alley to avoid stop-and-go traffic that clogs Atlantic Avenue.

For background and timeline, see the Take Back Delray Facebook Page

Make your voices heard:

MAYOR CARY GLICKSTEIN:
[email protected];

Commissioners:

[email protected];

[email protected];

[email protected];

[email protected]

There will be public comment before the hearing, so please try to attend or watch the City Commission meeting.

If you live in Delray or also agree with that city’s Planning and Zoning Board and many residents that the iPic is the “right project” but in the “wrong place,” please make your voices heard.

The large mixed-use project will house an eight-screen movie theater with 528 seats, 43,000 sq ft of office space and 7,300 sq ft of retail. iPic is planning to relocate its corporate headquarters from Boca to the proposed Delray location.

Below are short excerpts from the timeline as narrated on TakeBackDelray’s Facebook page.

In August 2013, the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) awarded the Request for Proposal (RFP) to iPic Theater, despite the rather glaring fact that a movie theater is NOT a permitted use in the Central Business District. iPic won the bid for the “blighted” 1.57 acre property downtown for the bargain price of $3.6 million and apparently was convinced that this obstacle was not insurmountable.”. . . Despite ongoing inquiries, the CRA maintained it had clear title to the property and fully supported the iPic proposal. A blockbuster in the making.”

“Extensions

“At the December 15, 2014 Planning and Zoning meeting, the iPic developer and their attorney listened to 3 hours of feedback from the public and P&Z board. The board was skeptical that the intensity projected was going to work in the tight, congested location . . . – one board member’s colorful description of the project as “10 pounds of (your choice) in 5 pound bag” goes viral and becomes the tag line for the project. The iPic developer promised to return with a revised site plan. . . but later pushed off the February 23 P&Z date until May. Two additional extensions were granted in May and the iPic site plan was finally scheduled for review in July.

“Cast Changes
“Amid the many months of extensions,a municipal election took place in March. . . The cast of the City Commission changed, but without either of iPic’s favored choices on the dais.”

“Cue the Purple Shirts
With the all-important Planning & Zoning meeting looming on July 20th, 2015, iPic decided to launch an election-style PR campaign complete with robo-calls, TV commercials and free t-shirts, perhaps hoping to distract P&Z from the fact that no significant changes had been made to their site plan. The seven-member P&Z board did not fall for the purple hype and voted to deny all of iPic’s conditional use requests.”

Many Thumbs Down
“. . . The Mayor called for a community forum on August 13 so the public could weigh in on iPic. Concerned citizens packed a room at the public library and gave an overwhelming “thumbs down” to iPic . . .apparently all the millennials decided to stay home and watch movies on their phones that night. They are mentioned frequently in connection with new development but remain elusive.”

For full recap see Take Back Delray Facebook Page