Singer Island Area News of The Week: 

 Area Development Plans in The News & Updates:

Ocean Mall - Sorry neighbors, no news or updates this week. We will stay on this issue!  Please view the event flyer at the bottom of this email for details on next Thursday's (September 18th) Ocean Mall Demo & Debut Event ...and be sure to RSVP (just click to email it here)!
 

Riviera Beach Marina (click to view the revised site plan) - Viking Developers has proposed changes to the Marina plan that would reduce cost to the city and bring new retail and restaurant facilities online faster. The change includes replacing the proposed Marine Way, a planned avenue of marine-based businesses, with a mixed use structure at the southeast corner of the Marina development. This structure would include a 3-story parking garage, providing parking directly adjacent to the restaurants and boardwalk.  The east side of the building would house marine facilities such as a Captain's lounge, marine supply store, crew facilities and restaurants. The north side would be additional restaurant and retail space. The garage structure itself would be largely invisible from the marina area, built behind these commercial spaces.  Being built as part of Phase I would save the city the expense of a planned temporary parking lot and would bring revenues to the city much earlier. Send your questions and comments to info@sicasingerisland.com - Riviera Beach Marina Website
 

Amrit Site Plan (click to view site plans) - Planned use is as a Wellness Resort and Spa, with two 20-story towers. Amrit is requesting an increase from their original plan of 286 to 342 units under "Resort District" zoning.  The site plan shows compliance with 1979 coastal setback requirements vs. updated 1997 requirements.  At a recent city council meeting this project was exempted from the 6-month coastal building moratorium currently in effect for other projects.  That moratorium was to put in place to allow Riviera Beach city codes to be brought into compliance with the 1997 state setback requirements.
 

Floating Homes - 'Floating homes' technology has demonstrated usefulness - MiamiHerald.com - Fane Lozman won a precedent-setting victory last year against Riviera Beach when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with him that his floating home. 

[ Editor's note: Below is an image from the property appraisers office showing the property lines on 29 submerged parcels of land on Singer Island (for context and perspective). The area in red is property owned by the author of this opinion article on floating homes.] 
 

Area News 

$3.25 million sale of Riviera Beach Business Park One - Palm Beach Post - Commercial real estate firm Avison Young completed the $3.25 million sale of Business Park One, a 53,000 square-foot, three-building flex/industrial property at 3866 Prospect Avenue in Riviera.

2 PBC schools in Newsweek's spotlight for nation's best - Palm Beach Post - Alexander Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach and Suncoast High School in Riviera Beach both made the magazine's list. 

Do you need flood insurance? - Palm Beach Post - More than 62,000 property owners will find the new maps have classified their property as high risk, meaning they will likely have to purchase flood insurance. 

Local hospitality companies busy expanding portfolios - Sun Sentinel - A 300-room hotel in North Palm Beach is also part of its future development plans. "The hotel business in South Florida is just booming and we're very ... 

Monitoring the county mitigation pods off Singer Islands - Palm Beach Daily News - Elwell said the town is monitoring the county mitigation pods off Singer Island to see if they're contributing to less sand at the plant. "We are ..

All Aboard Florida: Coast Guard to host meetings on maritime impact - Palm Beach Post - The Coast Guard will also conduct a navigation survey in relation to the Loxahatchee, St. Lucie, and New Rivers.

CommUNITY Voice: 

Neighbors, PLEASE keep sending in your comments, ideas and input ...to be shared here next week as our Island is coming together like never before! 

Jack F. on Singer Island (commented on the SICA website):
Subj: 3100 N OCEAN DRIVE - Amrit Site Plan
I'm confused and hope someone could clear this up for me. Back in 2006, the County passed an amendment to the RB TCEA on Singer Island. What I was led to believe at that time was, no further building was to be permitted on the island that would create additional traffic as it was currently counted. If a parcel, such as where the Amrit now sits, had a residence count of 100 units, any future building on that property could not exceed that 100 unit limit.  Now I am hearing about not only the Amrit property getting ready to build, but also the Harbor Point property. What about the vacant property just south of the Marriott Resorts, and the Condado further north? Won't these construction programs create additional traffic? If our road was beyond capacity when the study was conducted and we allow further building without equalization, the traffic on the island will leave us at a standstill long before 2025. I do like the Amrit's proposal as it is for "hotel" rooms, not condos. Thanks for listening. 

[ Editor's note: Thank you for visting the SICA website and adding your comments Jack, we will ask about this!  READERS ...please keep sending in your input, suggestions and ideas for our community and they will be shared here each week! ]
  

From: David C.
Subject: Riviera Beach proposed budget for LEGISLATIVE GROUP,  2014-15 (sent to city council and cc'd The SIVoice)
                        Average cost to taxpayer per person
                                          2012-13        2013-14        2014-15
Council member
District 1 thru 5.. each     $75,000        $79,000        $93,000
Ceremonial Mayor           $80,000        $81,000        $94,000 

Total increase for group  2014-15 vs 2013-14......$83,000       
Total cost to taxpayers for legislative group 2014-15..$560,000 

How can this increase be? One of the contributing factors is the cost of your part time (30hrs/week) legislative aides which will rise to about $40,000 per aide per year. The increase in cost is because the city has to offer them health insurance.....approximately $8,000/year each ...under the Affordable Care Act.

[ Editor's note: this message was reprinted from the 9/5 SI Voice. SICA heard from two volunteers this week!  Do we have any more folks out there who are interested in serving on a new SICA committee to keep an eye on city spending and budgets and develop long term fiscal strategies to help our entire community? Commitments are very flexible--it's your analysis and insight that we need.  Please contact us here if you can help. ]

 Please keep sending in your input to be shared here next week with over 2100 of your neighbors, and your Singer Island Civic Association WILL stay on these issues.

Clean & Green in September!  Check out the fun and educational events at our John D MacArthur park this month!  

Shop 'Til YOU Drop 2014  - Don't Miss the Holiday Shopping Event of the Season to Benefit the Natural Science Education Programs at John D. MacArthur Beach State Park in North Palm Beach
Saturday, November 22 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.