Securing a safe and clean supply of drinking water that town residents will rely on for decades to come.
Wrapping up an ambitious $140 million, 10-year enterprise to bury every overhead utility line, and remove every pole, in town.
Seizing opportunities to ease congestion on transportation arteries that are often choked with traffic during the island’s hyperactive in-season months.
These and other town priorities for the year ahead were the focus of the Palm Beach Civic Association’s Welcome Back Community Forum on Thursday at the Mandel Recreation Center.
About 150 residents packed the center’s gymnasium, where Town Council President Bobbie Lindsay and a panel of senior town leaders engaged with residents on issues that impact the quality of life in Palm Beach.
The panelists included Town Manager Kirk Blouin, who addressed traffic mitigation; Town Engineer Patricia Strayer, who focused on townwide utility undergrounding; Bob Miracle, deputy town manager for administration and finance, who discussed the town’s new budget and the state property tax reform initiative in Tallahassee; and Town Attorney Joanne O’Connor, who examined a new state law governing derelict vessels and illegal moorings in coastal waters.
The panel was rounded out by Wayne Bergman and James Murphy, the director and assistant director, respectively, of the Planning, Zoning and Building Department. They focused on recent reforms to the town’s zoning code.
Michael Pucillo, Civic Association chairman and a former member and president of the Town Council, moderated the 90-minute program, which concluded with questions submitted by members of the audience.
Potable water
Palm Beach is looking for a provider to supply it with 10 million gallons a day of treated water after its 30-year supply contract with the City West Palm Beach expires in 2029.
During the last year, the town has held discussions with two potential future suppliers – West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach.
West Palm Beach’s water treatment plant is a conventional lime-softening facility that treats surface water primarily from Grassy Waters Preserve and East Clear Lake.
Lake Worth Beach’s water treatment plant is a groundwater and reverse osmosis (membrane) plant that draws water from the shallow surficial aquifer and the deep Floridan aquifer. Treated water from these two sources is blended to provide the city’s potable supply.
Palm Beach officials have said they want the town’s future potable water to be treated with membrane technology capable of removing all contaminants from the water.
“Clean, good-tasting water, free of unregulated contaminants, is an important public safety issue,” Lindsay said. “Only membrane technology can provide a reliably contaminant-free system.”
Both Lake Worth Beach and West Palm Beach would have to upgrade their facilities to provide Palm Beach with 10,000 gallons per day of membrane-treated water.
Palm Beach is required to notify West Palm Beach of its intention in 2027. The town has asked both cities to provide it with a detailed proposal as soon as possible, Lindsay said.
“Our town’s intent, overall, is to join a state-of-the-art membrane technology franchise just like the franchises that Jupiter Island, Hobe Sound, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Juno Beach, Lake Park, and North Palm Beach all have enjoyed for many years,” she said.
Traffic mitigation
Palm Beach County has experienced explosive growth in the last five years and is one of the top tourist destinations in the United States, Blouin said.
With its amenities, beaches, and the presidential residence at Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach is one of the main tourist attractions within the county. Traffic volume on the island has soared in the post-Covid years, straining the limits of a transportation network that is built at capacity.
The town set a record last year for the number of annual visitors, which reached nearly 10 million, Blouin said. During peak season, nearly 60,000 vehicles are now traveling over the bridges each day.
Blouin pledged that the town will continue to do everything in its power to ease the traffic snarls. But he said thetown’s authority is limited. The bridges and much of the roadway on the island falls under state control.
“The mayor and I engage with external partners regularly, trying to encourage them to accommodate us,” Blouin said.
A single drawbridge opening can cause vehicles to back up for miles. The U.S. Coast Guard, which controls the schedule for drawbridge openings, agreed to Palm Beach’s request that it reduce the number of openings during morning and evening commutes. Blouin said that has been a big help.
There is more relief in sight for traffic-weary residents, Blouin said. Unscheduled drawbridge openings, tied to the Bonefish Cove environmental restoration project in the Lake Worth Lagoon, are being limited this season to weekends and holidays so they will no longer interfere with weekday rush hours. The change will be in effect November 17 until May 1.
Utility undergrounding
The plan to bury all power, cable and phone lines on the island is proceeding on schedule, Strayer said.
The $140 million project began in 2017 and was carved into 15 construction zones, known as “phases,” for management. The last phase, Phase 8, is expected to reach completion in the spring of 2027, Town Strayer said.
Fire hazards and windstorms, and the power interruptions associated with them, are, along with aesthetics, the reasons the town cited when deciding to bury its entire overhead utility network more than a decade ago.
Today, more than 50 percent of the town is operating under the underground system. Utility poles are removed and the streets paved in each neighborhood once the power is switched over to the new system.
Property tax reform
Governor Ron DeSantis and state legislators in Tallahassee are looking at ways to reduce the tax burden on Florida property owners, who have seen property tax bills soar along with property values in recent years.
The Legislature is expected to take up and debate the issue during its 2026 regular session, which extends January 13 until March 13.
The Florida Constitution specifies that property taxes are dedicated to funding local governments, while sales taxes go to fund state government. Counties, municipalities, school districts, and special districts all rely on property taxes as a major source of unrestricted general revenue.
The prospect of abolished property taxes raises an enormous question mark about how local governments would operate going forward, Miracle said.
“What hasn’t been proposed yet is how we make up the revenue,” he said.
Miracle said property tax revenue is critically important to the town’s ability to provide public safety and other essential services.
During the new budget year that began on October 1, Palm Beach expects to collect nearly $86 million in property tax revenue, which is about two-thirds of its $127.3 million operating budget.
Total property tax revenue paid to the town is equivalent to the combined budgets of the Police, Fire-Rescue and Public Works departments – the three largest local government operations – along with the entire Finance Department and the Information Technology and coastal defense programs, according to Miracle.
There is a lot of discussion among state officials about the best approach to property tax reform and how far it should go.
“The goal, from the state [legislature’s] and the governor’s perspective, is to have something on the ballot in November 2026 for the voters to decide,” Miracle said.
Vessel anchoring
Palm Beach has begun removing illegal mooring buoys from its jurisdictional waters in the Lake Worth Lagoon to clean up and protect waterways.
A final Town Council vote is expected on November 12 on a new ordinance that would set limits on overnight anchoring in town waters in the lagoon.
Town jurisdictional waters are east of the center line of the Intracoastal Waterway channel, which runs down the West Palm Beach side of the lagoon.
“When you look out and see all those sailboats, the overwhelming number of them are in our jurisdiction,” O’Connor said.
The north and south limits of Palm Beach waters are defined as being from the channel markers near the Lake Worth/Palm Beach Inlet southward to 3475 South Ocean Boulevard.
It’s helpful for the town to get ahead of the problem before vessels become derelict because their removal is expensive, often ranging from $20,0000 to $25,000, O’Connor said.
The removal process can also be difficult. “Larger vessels might require being cut into pieces and put on a full-size barge with an operational crane,” she said.
Many times, owners do not have the financial resources to remove the boats themselves. Many boats are abandoned and determining their ownership can be a challenge.
There are more than 100 illegal moorings in town jurisdictional waters, meaning they have been placed there without a state permit.
This year, the Florida Legislature approved House Bill 481, which empowers local governments to tighten regulation of anchoring zones in the state’s most populous counties, including Palm Beach County.
“It gives municipalities the power to address some of these navigational safety issues …and to preserve the scenic character of our waterfront,” O’Connor said.
Zoning reform
The town’s zoning code is about 50 years old and has needed an overhaul for years, Bergman said. It’s finally getting one.
“The Town Council was very successful in adopting a patchwork of code changes over the last 45 years that added exceptions, prohibitions, exemptions and conflicts … that are scattered throughout the entire the code,” Bergman said.
The council has attempted to repair the code by hiring consultants to study it and recommend changes. But those were rarely adopted.
About a year ago, the Town Council and Planning and Zoning Commission asked the town staff to take the lead on zoning reform, Bergman said.
North End house sizes, commercial property uses, demolition guidelines, property setbacks, building heights, and parking standards are all among the areas where staff has worked to improve the code language by simplifying, updating, and removing redundancies, Bergman said.
Murphy said the town has streamlined the review process for the town’s landmarked and historically significant buildings. It has also adjusted zoning rules to create additional incentives for preservation.
“I think we all agree these landmarked structures are the very DNA of this town,” he said.
Mayor Danielle Moore attended the forum and was invited by Civic Association CEO Mary Robosson to address the audience.
Moore praised the Public Works Department for accomplishments during the summer, including the removal of utility poles in Midtown, the makeover of Royal Poinciana Way medians, and street paving in the North End and near Midtown Beach.
Thursday’s forum was sponsored by Third Federal Savings & Loan, represented at the program by Marc A. Stefanski, CEO, president and chairman of the bank.
Legacy of service
The Civic Association is a non-profit organization founded in 1944 by a small group of civic leaders who were resolved to protect and enhance the quality of life in Palm Beach, Robosson said.
“Today, in our 82nd year of service to the island, we remain steadfast in our mission of service to the Palm Beach community,” she said. “Everything we do is accomplished through the loyal support of our directors, our members, and our community, who stay informed and engaged on the issues that directly impact the quality of life in our town.”
Robosson urged any resident who is not a Civic Association member to consider joining the organization.
“Your opinion matters,” she said. “It matters to us, greatly.”
See the full Welcome Back Community Forum video HERE.
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