Wellington Council Agrees To Move Forward On Senior Housing
Carol Porter 15.JUN.07
The Wellington Village Council voted Tuesday to study the potential of developing affordable senior housing on a village-owned parcel on Lyons Road.

The council first voiced support for donating land for an affordable senior housing project in 2005, and the Senior Citizen Task Force it created the same year identified such housing as one of the strongest needs for local seniors. A resolution approved by the council Tuesday identifies the village’s 15-acre Village Walk Civic Site as the potential location for such a development.

Wellington resident Tony Fransetta, president of the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, reminded the council that affordable housing received more votes as a top priority than any other item in a survey of Wellington seniors.

“A priority mission should be to assist Wellington seniors to achieve their goal to age in place for as long as it is socially and medically possible through affordable community-based options,” Fransetta said. “We believe there is a need to review current public policies and programs to ensure that they focus on the present and future needs of elder seniors seeking self-sufficiency.”

The resolution requests a report analyzing the required land-use and zoning changes, the definition of “affordable housing,” recommend the type, density and quality of the housing, details on costs and funding services and the level of financial commitment the village would be asked to make.

Fransetta also urged the council to develop policies that would help both older and younger homebuyers.

“While not a part of this proposal,” Fransetta said, “we believe there is also an opportunity to develop intergenerational housing policies that promote incentives and programs to encourage older homeowners to sell their existing homes to younger working families and to promote the development of suitable and affordable senior condos within Wellington for Wellington seniors who need or wish to downsize and remain in Wellington with their friends and family.”

Although the resolution originally specified the creation of a task force to complete the report, council members directed staff to complete the work with public input in order to speed up the process.

“I just want to say that the council has previously expressed a commitment to consider this parcel as a possible use for senior affordable housing,” Councilwoman Laurie Cohen said. “A task force, while having some benefit, would slow down the process. I would like to see staff put together a package, and we would consider it based on that with input from people in the community.”

Councilwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto concurred. “I would agree with this,” she said. “There is an incredible amount of work that goes into it because of the multiple millions of dollars we are talking about. We will have the input of our seniors and we welcome that.”

Councilman Dr. Carmine Priore said he supported the resolution and looked forward to village staff members further exploring the issue. “I would like to see staff sit down with engineering and planning and zoning staff to analyze the subtler points and attack it,” he said. “We need to address the most critical issues that would make it happen first.”

Cohen made a motion to accept the resolution with the concerns raised by council, which was seconded by Benacquisto. It passed unanimously.

The council also gave the nod Tuesday to a future review of an ordinance allowing “bullpen” or tightly stacked parking in conjunction with valet services.

Village Manager Charlie Lynn explained that the zoning text amendment was requested by the owners of the Tavern on the Green restaurant to alleviate problems they face in creating a site plan that provides all required parking on their property. The ordinance would be applicable village-wide, he said, and would potentially apply to all valet parking situations.

Current Wellington parking regulations mandate a specific number of parking spaces based upon the specific type and size of use. The amendment does not change the number of parking spaces required, but will allow two or three vehicles to be parked in a single space in an area designated for valet parking. The amendment would also allow off-site valet parking to be located up to 2,000 feet from the use for which the parking is provided.

The resulting change would allow Tavern on the Green to park all vehicles within the current site of the club, alleviating problems now resulting from use of the parking lot across Equestrian Club Road.

While council members said they had no issue with letting the proposed amendment make its way through the review process, Cohen said she didn’t want to encourage applicants to feel out the council’s support before undergoing review.

“We had a lengthy discussion about this yesterday,” Cohen said. “This was presented to us to get our feeling on whether we would consider it. Some of us were uncomfortable with the process. When things like are presented to us, they are presented to us in the form of an ordinance, and they go through the [Development Review Committee] and the [advisory] committees. I don’t want to get into the habit of having applicants take our temperature, whether we are in favor of something or against something.”

Community Services Director Paul Schofield told the Town-Crier the ordinance should be ready for review by the village’s Planning, Zoning & Adjustment Board sometime in August or September, and then by the council in October.

“It’s a significant departure from our current ordinance,” Schofield said Wednesday. “We wanted to make the council aware of it, and we got the direction from them that I needed. We can go back and create an ordinance that planning staff can live with and go through the process. We will take it and write the ordinance with all the details in it, and council will see it in a hundred days or so.”

Link:  http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flsurvey0701pnjul01,0,4864939.story