05-20-59SpMtg 105
MAY 20TH, 1959.
A Special Meeting of .the City Council was held in .the Counci.1
Chambers at 2:00 P. M., with Mayor George Talbot Jr., in the Chair,
C~ty Manager Wo E. Lawson Jr., City Attorney Harry T. Newett and Com-
mssioners J. LeRoy Croft, Charles H. Harbison, Fred B. McNeece and
George V. V~arren being present.
Mayor Talbot advised that th~'s meeting had been called for the
purpose of discussion,.with the "Beach Committee", concerning .va.rious
phases of Beach operation and the status of Court action pertaxnlng
to the Petition of Ocean Ridge to annex certain lands including the
100 feet of De]ray'Beach owned Public Beach (Lot 14, Block "A", Palm
Beach Shore Acres).
Mrs. Catherine E. Strong, Mr, Robert J. Holland and Mr. George S.
~cKay, Members of the City's Beach Committee, were present and ex-
pressed concern over the need of a Life Guard at the above identified
ublic Beach as well as at the West side Pool, also various needed
improvements to the "Public Beach" property to effect a much needed
degree of safety .~.s well as sanitation facilities and other necessary
steps to minimize the local opposition to the operation of said beach.
City Manager Lawson informed the Council and Beach Committee t.hat
steps have been taken to improve the operation of Teen Town Pool, xn
con]unction with a recreational program being established by the newly
appointed Recreational Director .Mr. Tom Gray, which will incl.ud.e a
Li~e Guard, change in the supervxsory thereof as well as provxdlng
for a cashier, and the establishment of the following "Open" hourIy
use program:
Monday thru Friday - - - 2:30 to 5:00 'P.M.
6:00 to 9:00 P.M.
Saturday A.M. iO:O0 to 5:00 P.~i.
6:00 to 9:00 P.~.
Sunday A.M. IO:O0 to 6:00 P.M.
The Manager further advised of having been handicapped in the obtaining
of qualified personnel but expected that, with the aid of Recreational
.Director Gray, that Pool and Civic Center operations would be function-
~ng smoothly and under control by the end of this month.
Mr. McKay cited many factors 'which contribute to creating a major
problem with relation to the public beach, the most important of
which are access roads to the beach area, and the proper identifica-
tion of same, lack of showers and sanitation facilities, drinking
w~ter, suitable parking facilities and lack of life guard.
City Manager Lawson further informed the Council, and with refer-
ence to Mr. NcKay's comment, that a life guard has been employed for
the ~'~est side pool in addition to the many improvements provided for
and itemized in paragraph ~ hereof, and arrangements for a periodic
spot check of Pool conditions by AQuatic Director Steve Forsyth.
'Mayor .Talbot, speaking for the Council, agreed that the many fac-
tot's, mentxone.d by George Mci(ay, are known to be needed, but felt that
fur.ther financial outlay has been defer.red pending the outcome of the
petition of Ocean Ridge to annex lands sncluding this Beach property,
and clarification of possible zoning .complications with the County of
Palm Beach.
Mrs. Strong commented on the many months having passed with no ap-
parent efforts having been made to improve the. Beach facilities and
o.peration,.further stating that the Beach Comnuttee feels that the
C~ty Council should, without further delay, make every possible effort
to bring this issue to a head.
106
Mr. l/oKay referred to an original promise of a prior City Council
to obtain additional beach area adjacent to the 100 feet referred to
herein, and.further cited, the over-.crowding of the ?resent 100 foot
B.each definmtely results mn cause for further opposmtion and undo-
storable, as well as unhealthy, ac.tion on the part of people in the
general area, and with summer comang on, matters would, only become
more complicated.
City Manager Lawson then read the "Agreement" of July 2, 1956, at
the request ox Mayor Talbot:
AGREEMENT
"We, the hereinafter sign.ed persons in our in~.ividual caps.cities
and as Agents and Representatxves of the Negro Civxc organizations
and Negro. citizenr.y of the. Ci.tY of Delray Beach, Flori/a, after con-
ference w~th the Cmty Commss~on of'the City of Delray. Beach, Florida
hereby respectfully submit to said Commission and if agreed to by said
Commission agree to be bound by the following:
(1) The City Commission of said City shall imediately construct
a Negro .... swimming pool in the place deslgnated, in the. Negro section of
thms cmt.y mn accordance wmth the p.lans and specifmcatlons presented'
and 9n. fmle in the Office of the Cmty Nanage~, of said City.
(2) Th.e City Commission of said City ~hall !~ediate.ly drop the
present actmo.n taken to a.ttempt to exclude the Negro sectxon from the
corpqr.ate limA.ts of th.e C.~ty of De?ay. Beach, Fl.orida.
. (S)..The Cmty Comm.~ssmon of sa~d C~ty shall ~mmediately appoint
a fmve (8) member commAttee to investigate the Ways and Means to ob-
tain a Negro Beach and make its recommendations to the CityCo.mm~.'ssion
as soon as possible. Su.ch .a Committe. e. to be comprised of TWo (2)
members of the City CommAssxon, Two (2) members of the Delray Beach
Civic League a.nd Rober.t J. Holland: . .
(4) The City Commission of saxd. Cm.ty shall take mmmediate steps_
to attempt to sell the One Hundred (100) feet of ocean property here
tofore designated for Negro use in. the vicinity of Ocean R~dge, Fla.,
and shall make the proceeds resultmn$ from such a sale avamlable for
use by said Committee as it may heremnafter recommend.
We, in tut.n, speaki.ng as Agents and Representatives of the Negro
citizens of thms communmty, as well as .for the Churches, Schools and
Civic Groups, hereby agree that we will preserve the STATUS QUO between
the Negroes and the Vfaites in the Delray Beach area~
We wish to state that it is not our desire to swim with the
Whites; to use the municipal golf course, pool or other municipal fa-
cilities commonly used solely by the Whites and we wish to assure the
City Com~ssion that we will not do anything that will harm or destroy
the econom~r of the Ci.ty of Delray Bea.ch,'Florida.
Respectfully submAtted in good f ~th.
SIGNED BY - George S. Noilly, Lens Brunner, J. A. Baldwin Jr., O. F.
Youngblood and Spencer Pompey.
ACCEPTED and APPROVED BY ..... The City Commission.
The Manager further, informed t.he Council tha.t provisio~ was made
on the November 1~§6 Pmmary Ele.ct.~on for obtainxng a 'Referndum'
vote on possxble purchase of additional ocean frontage ad,scent to
the 100 foot public beach, which resulted in the following:
For Such Purchase $16
Against " " 552
Following further disc.ussion wi.th the Beac.h Committee re.lative to
the many problems confronting the Cxty concerning the operat½on of
the 100 foot Public Beach, the Council, on motion of Commissioner
Warren ~nd seconded by Commissioner Croft, u~.animously agreed that
the City Attorney be instructed to con_sult wxth Att'y. R: C. Burns,
employed 1.egal counsel .as aid to th.e City Attorney in th~s .matter,
and determmne the legalmty_of the Cxty proceeding to make manor im-
provements to said Public Beach property, without seeking permits,
n.amely, added par.king faciliti.es, providing drinking water supply,
showers and identified proper mngress and egress roads.
107
MAY 20TH, 1959
Concerning the request of Mrs. Catherine Stong, on behalf of the
Beach Committee, relative to immediate steps be taken to avoid further
undue delay in the pending court .action pertaining to Lot 14, Block A,
Palm Beach Shore Acres, the Councxl, on motion of Commissioner Croft,
seconded by Commissioner Harbison, unanimously approved requesting the
City Attorney to pro,eed immediately and take whatever action may be
found necessary to bring this matter to a conclusion by court action.
The Beach Committee members present, namely, ~s. Strong, Mr. R.J.
Holland and Mr. McKay, expressed their approval and being in accord
with the action of the Council.
Mayor George .Talbot then appointed Commissioner Charles Harbison
to the Beach Co~z~ttee membership and to serve thereon until further
notice.
MEETING ADJ0~NED:
/~ ~ ~fi R. D. Ii~ORTHING
MAY 20TH, 1959