08-13-53SpMtg 151
..~UGI[Y~T 13th, 1953
Upon call of the ;~t~yor, a Special Heeti~.g of the City Co~mcil
was l-,~,ld at 7:30 P.H. in the Civic C~mter to c~msider the re,)ut-
ins of traffic on Federal tli,%bwa, y No. 1, with iiayor L. 11. l. ern
in tho Chair, City ~'lana.~er I[obc, rt Lovelace, and the following
Uouncilmen present: ;~. J. IIolland, ~'~. A. Jacobs, J.fim N. Kabler,
and -,vs. Alma l: ~('o~q~l~ a quorum !)ojrl~S pves.~nt
~h-. Ben F. 5m~dy~ County Co:,mis~,ioner, and Nr. St(~i~hen
r4id~leton~ As~-;'t. County ~,~n~fineeP~ were also ;~resent~ and
ed to answer any q~.tosti~ns ~)ert~,inin~ to t)':e ,roposed r'e~x)uting
of south]mund traffic on tb,~ ?ixie tligh~,,ay (5th :~w~.) and north-
bound traffic on 6th Ava.
Hr. Lovelaee was asked to open the meeting by Hayor i, er~i~ and
to answar the qt~estions w' 5c', ~ave t)ee~ most Frequently asked.
One additional petition had berm filed, )ir. Lovelace stated,
~,ui. tb sevm~ siffratures, op?osin~ the project; also tl~ree telegrams
bad been r~eeived in protest; and tx:o !err, ers ~-md be(m receSved
in Favor of the ?po~)osed ret,rating of traffic.
Nr. Lovelaee ex:)lained th},t t~,e State koad Board ltas been
tryir~g for many years t,:, imp~,v, Federal tii~ay No. 1, but there
are rockbound reo~ul::ti,,ns ~d,ich ,rove ~ t,e c~ml-,lied ~eith.
1. The U. $. 2ureau of Public ;loads will finance 50~[. of
the ?roject, and. t~)e State lload Coard ~,ill finance 5();(:, provid-
ing a 100' right-of-way can be ?roy;deal, or two 50' ri,chts-of-
way. As this ri(~bt-of-way is not available on the pr,~sent l',oute
~-1, (he only alterna(ive, 5n the jud~uent of tl~e Comity and State
is to ~'u~ovide two lanes of traffic on two roa, ds, of 50' each,
using 5th Ave. for south-]~o~md traffic, a~d 6th Av~. for n. rth-
bound traffic.
2. 12' (,f roadway is needed Cot m)e lane of moving traffic.
The 50' p/w on the Federal iiiy~way (6t}~ Ave.) wo,~ld provide four
traffic lanes but no 9ark~g space and no sidewalks, ~ich are
essantial. ~lso Federal F,mds would be available.
3. ?roperty values and income From businesses on the present
l~ighway mi~t be r,~dueed, ~ut only temporarily, but tlne over-ail
good of tha community must be co~sSd(:~re~i, and other ::~perty values
would be enhn~)ced.
It is ,~roposed to im~,~m, ve a.?proximatel.y nine miles, start-
ing at the four-lane highway north of Boca 21aton and rmmh~g north
tl~rough t~,is City ot the ~orth end of Boynton Beach. t~ve~taally
a four-lane highway will be pro~ded down the entire l~;ast Coast.
4. The real pu3,1ie interest nmst be ct, ns;tiered, w~.icl, co~-
~ists of the entire ~opulation of the City, and also the h~d-
reds of thousands of tourists ~eho come through FlorS. da in a,tto-
mobiles, as~ well as the ',eoplo of t~e entire lo,'er east
w!~,,se heads this :,-ojeet 5s trySn.g ~.~ meet.
5. Cm:,struction will uet start im,~ediate!y, but the r.roject
mtlst ho a2[,roved s,) t~at the Co,tory c;~t~ ~nve C~is z~iJ~e mil'e im-
provement incl~.uled in (he naxt l~udget of the 3tate ;load Depart-
6. To ro,~t.a south-bound traffic on 6tl~ Ave. a~td uopt~-bound
traffic ,,n 5th Ave. would cause o:,~fusJ,:,n, a~td w,,ald ;tot meet the
safety st:;t~dards of l, he Federal Burea,I of _~lb]_Sc iloads.
7. 'rbe local P!an~i~g As~ocia. lion Ired arrived to tl~e con-
clusion that l.~ey x,:-uld ?eco:,mm~d srmth-~-~o,md traffic on 5th Ave.,
although tlneir red,opt !~:s ,~r}t; ~et l)ee~t filed.
An open letter to the ~'~a.yor and City Com~cil~ si~ed by Jim
I)oherty ~nd ;.:m C Baker repr{~sent ;.n:~: the l;as5 ness $Ien's Grgup
"OPEN LETTE;: ~o T~['] 22',Y{~*I ANI~ CITY
qer, t 1 emer~:
T!~Ss i,:~t~er is addrassed to you ir~ r'c~g:-~r(l t,~ the proposed plan
'~ T T C~
,Jl& .... T 13t~, 1953
of the ~tate .:.~?"lway Department now in y~mr hands for arc, royal or
We, a re!~rese~tati~e stoup of the busiIleSS l/Ich of Delray Beach,
courteo~sly request yo ~r consideration of our feelings to
set for%~ in ~?~is letter. We annrec~ate~ _ very much the interest
shown by the Ctate ~ig~]way ~)epartment and the County Commission
in t'~ ~'~roDosed hinfl%w;~y 3mp~vement recou~ ended by them. We feel
the addition of Fifth A ~,
v~.~u~ as a Fifty Foot, properly paved and
dPni~ed thorou~shfaFe w,,uld be a. major asset to the co~ity
Delrny Beach. ~fe do, l~r, wevem, feel tl~3t at this time traffic
co~]diti~,]~s do ~ot justify t,,e act~la], c,,nvert~ng of this D~posed
hJ ?nway ~m~ o~r pr~sm'~t Feder2l ,i~?w~y No. 1 to one way traffic,
sputh and ~orth re~gect, fve]y. ~e feel that if these im~gvements
were made, as outlined in the . l:.ste
and Fifth Avenue w(~re t- be used for t~cn ~ay tra. ff'ic rat}~er than
one ~ay t:ra.ffffic, a,nd so de~i2~ated at es. ch a.,, ~mach to this tho-
rou~bfsre ss routi~.~ t,, the c:itv b,m~ne~s district of [)elray
t ] .,ted uass<.l._o .r
Beach, rest-'c t,', .. _o'.Te traffic only; anti Federal. ili~]way
No. 1 to be designated a.t the sa~ roil,ts as two way through
traffic m)d heavy truck traffic in lieu of no truck route; that
the so-called traffic pr~,b!em in t ]_s particu].ar area, would be
most satisfactorily relieved. ~e of~cr t~:is c,~ange in the .~tate
Road Board's proposal in v~aw of its most satisfactory operation
to relieve traffic cc, ngesti,,n in many other comnm~ities the size
of I)e!rny Beach m~d others much
This su,L~]estion is off-red in view of t'~e chansed ccr;ditions on
Federal aighwav. ~ .. ~o 1 From t,~. improved stand,)oint to t~,li~g more
than a million dol.!ars since the ince"tion of th~ proposed plan
Rome tell of two] v~) y~:lPs :'~o
This plan, as we m~depstand it, is the result of two years
sll~vey and investigation and was proposed as an economical
gram at that time. The results of the survey indicated the ne-
cessary expenditure of approximately ~200,000.00 fop the ac-
quisition of pi.lsht-o~-ways to increase Federal llig]~way TM
to afr, l~r. lane tt~af~' c highway . The acquisition of right-of-
ways on Fiftl~ Avenue would at that time have been negligible and
this plan was therefore acceptable both from an economy stand-
point and an unim,,n~ved property standpoint on Federal ilighway
No. 1. One way traffic at that time would have caused a mini-
mum of loss to the few business men located on the tfighway and
would most probably have been, m~der those eirc,lmstm~ces, no ser-
ious detriment to the over all economy of our community. Ifc feel,
however, now, th~s old plan is out-dated arid out-moded in view
of the more the.,, a million dollar improvements cmmpleted dur~g
th, i.s pe~.od of tiao. We, ~erefore, wish to request, in view
of the above mentio~ed facts, that t~is so long }aped for improve-
ment to our art.~ria. 1 hifg~way pro,ram will be accepted only on the
basis of doing the least lm~m to ou~ present economy, namely,
by maintaining c~mplete two way tl~ou~h traffic on the present
Federal Highway No. 1, and .~luiding city business traf~c as out-
lined previously, over Fifth Avenue.
l,Li is~NAT],~ ~[~0~0c
We, as a group, feel that the above change in the State Road
Department's Highway Pro,;ram for our com~ity could be a satis-
factory approach to our oroblem, lIowever, if this should not be
satisfactory to the planuing group of the State lli~tway Depart-
merit, we feel that the follo%Sng alternate l>rOl)Osal st:ould be sub-
mitred for their serious consideration, Based on facts which we
~ill outline after the submission of this alternate proposal.
We feel, that Federal ~iighway No. 1 should be xddened nnd re-
surfaced to serve a minimum of four lane traffic. I{e feel that
this ?rogram can be accomplished in this area at a minim~ ex-
penditure for the acq~isiti, on and ~peparat. ion of necessary right-
0 f-way.
We believe t~:e State Road Department must concur with us in the
opinion that one fou~ lane bi~way with two wry tpa.ffic would pre-
sent to ,',uP community Faf less tmaFfi~ hazaPd and tma.ffic con-
~UG!_Tf~T 13th, 1953
congestion than two two-lane bi~bl~ays passin[~ through our resi-
de~,tial ami business sections fro~ our north to s,-)uth city limits,
provide~] it can he done at a minimmn of expense.
lfe Believe that one highw~,y also may Be beautified and beautJfi-
cation maintai~ed at cm',side~al~ly less expense than two high-
ways. This ,~ost certainly must ,gain app~mval also from the State
!Ii~hway Plan)~ing a~d Beautification ];card w~:~i.c~, is now concen-
trating on an effort t~-, make the highways in the [;tate of Flor-
ida t!]e ~,~ost beautiful of any hif~hways in th~ United States.
To justify the above alternate proposal, we would like to end,er-
ate the Following Facts:
Ten years ago the cost of acquisition and preparation of rip, t-
of-ways was estima, ted at [~;200,000.00 on a highway co;~sistil~g
mainly of ~mimn~'oved l~rop)rty fr.~tage. Owners of this ;~roperty
had no ready market ant tl~erefore demanded payment at the hi,-
est ~ossible Pi~es for any frontage required of them. Today,
well over o~e million dollars wort}, of additional imp~vements
have ~een placed on these frm~talles. To protect these assets
owners of improved property lnust, of necessity, willingly dedi-
cate at no cost, the necessary right-of-ways ~'equired to protect
tl~eir investments. Owners of ~improved property must also, of
neces~ity, do the ss, me to ?rotect their present values, or lose
for ~nany years the oppoPt'mity to realize eve~ an interest on
their investment, lqe tl~erefore maintain, ~at wit]~, few
tions, such as the re'~lacement of a~',roach steps to churches, or
assist;"nee in a few extreme har~lsbip cases, ~11 it be necessa~'y
for State mon~s to be spent in this acquisition. The ~tate Road
Department, as well as our Oily Cotmcil, must re;~lize that any
chan.ges nm~]e cf footing even-as small, as 30~ of our l]usiness
economy, ~11 cause serious repercussions in our over all
ity economy. The assets of o~ Federal ltighway business men re-
present a very large percentage of our over all tax assessment.
These men made their investment~ with a complete maderst~ ~;ding
of set heel: regulations req~lired By t}~e City for fut~e widen-
in~ of t~e Federal ~].~hway, leavi~,~ no thou,~ht for the possil)il-
ity of at any time rest~icting in ~y manner the free morea,mt of
traf~e by their doors. These immvve~nents were certainly made
as an asset to the con,unity of !)clray _Beach.
Ire believe in t'~e nrc%ram outlined l~y tl'~e Governor in Ids election
campsi~, that it w~,s his sincere desire to guarantee those people
on the Federal hi%hway ~;o. 1 from Jacksonville to Z~iiami, a four
lane hii~hway creating a minimum of traffic ~roblems, that those
p~ple so des]r~g to use t!~is route in preference to any other
factual or proposed highway might do so, thereby assur~ag both
fre~;~dom of traffic to driv:~rs, and continuance of the most pos-
sihle business to those ~}eople having invested thor ca.itel in
assets alon~ this
To subst~,ntiate t~,is alternate proposal, we further state tIhqt
this will ~;~ost certainly create no u~mecessary }lazards or incon-
veniences to ;:~operty owners located ;~long Fifth Avenue. It
will alleviate, for those people now owning i;ul~ged property,
an,t for t}~ose ~eo~le co~te~npl, at]~]; ir~prove~}enl s on ~improved
~ropertv for q,aite some time, any wor:-i.'~s they may l~ave regard-
ing the possibility ~f this street be]n~ su%jected to excep-
tionally heavy traffic b~wdens. Tl~is street, in the past, bas
not too sePiously b~m considered for major traf~.c otb,~r than
in this ten year olel plan, and co: sequently many of the
merits ~rl~ t~ a~eon have t~een t~z~;ed o~ a fe,~ling of proteci, ion
from heavy traffic. It would, tl',erefore, represent a serious
loss to those n~ple havBn,g spent tlneir money f,:,r improvements
on this s;treot, and would rzise conair'arable z,ning p~mblems
For the ewmtual use of this street For st~c',~ l~usinesses as would
l~e most suitable in heavy traffic aPeas.
We heliqve t}m,t in view of tl',e al,ove stated facts, this alternate
proposal is perhaps the most satisffa, etory answer in all respects
to the problem as it now presents itself. In view of tbJ s, we
will, as a business men's ,~roup, if the City C{,uneil ~md/oe State
Road Bet,a-tment so dos:ire, form co~,,~ittees to bbtain a positive
gua~anter~ of 80~ of the r~qu]re{l p]ght-of-way in the Form
.\UCJI~qT 13th, 1953
written agreements or deeds in escrow, at no State expense, with-
in 30 days, to 9rove th,qt t]~s complete progr,~m cma be accom-
~)lisher] in a minimum of time an~ with a minimtrn expendJ, tt~re.
i{espectFully submitt ed~
/S/
Jim Doherty
/S/ William C. Baker
Representing l~usiness >ie~'s Group."
Mr. Lovelace commented that the best time to lay out riy~t-
of-way is before there is an~: development. The increase in
property values almost always comes where no investments ~mve
been made, and tl~e situation constantly gets worse. A 100'
rig~t-oF-way to ~)rovide Four lanes of traffic on the Federal
tiig]~way, which would he approved by the Federal B~eau of Pub-
lic }ioads, would require an ad:itional 25' on each side, and
wou]d hurt almost every building o~ t}~e hi,way.
Mayor ke~ then asked for expr,~ssions o~ opinion ~rom the
a~l~ ience.
Mr. 0. D. Priest~ Jr. addressed the Council. lie claimed
that an 80' r/w does not seriously hsmper traffic in other
areas. IIe ~elt that ~ropePty owners were ~illiug to be as-
sessed For th~ cost oF implying the Federal ~lighway~ if the
highway is maint:~ed where it now is. tie suggested that Fed-
ertl aid be solicited, up to the City limits if necessary~ but
that tI~e hi~hway be 1.~ft in its prosent location where it is
needed an(]~ t~at additional r~ats-o~-way to p~de SO' could
be obtained From ~rop~rty owners, he felt sure.
Mr. John Breze, President of the Chamber of Co~nerce, then
addressed the Co~ci].. He urged citizens to Fill out ~e coupon
in the local newspaper and return it to the Chamber of Co~erce,
in order that the wishes of the cor~unity miy~ht be determined.
He stated that tbe business ~en off the City Felt that four l~]es
of traffic on the present IIi~?;hway would be more satisfsctory, and
cause less trafgic h~zards, lie asked the Council to ~thhold
any action until ~-,he opinion of the citizens c~ be obtained.
Several property owners in the a,%d. ience expressed their
opinion, and *~eople %~ith business estsblishments on the Federal
Highway were definitely opposed t., o~e-way traffic, especially
no rth-~o und.
Mr. S~uldy the~ explai~ed that the County would be required
to o]~t~in the necessary a. ddiliosal rights-of-way for the project,
and sufficient run,Is were not ~vailable to ~urchase or ~ndemn
the ].an(] to ~ rovide 100' on the Federal ][ighway, i~:~ order to se ....
cu~.e ?ederal aid.
Councilman Ka]~ler then ~;t;~ted th. at the question was pri-
marily whic]~ :'.ight-of-w~y could ])e acq,.~red the cheapest and
would be the most e~norli, cal for the City. In view of tile
tremo~'~dous investments w"~Jch ]~ave be,~l~ made on the Federal
nig3qway hy businessmen v~o beqieved t},is would always be a
two-way street, he raco~g~ended t~qnt a thirty day period be set
aside t,~ see if an SO' ri~Jqt-of-way can be sec:Ired on the Fed-
eral lii~;hway, and see if it will ])e accel)table. The Council
c,~ncurred wit~ ill:is s.~gestio~, an~ ~qayor kern a~:no~ced tl~t
as this is the only action] the Council feels it c~x t~ke at
thJ s men, ting, th e meeting we uld a.-] j,,urn.
..... City Clerk
APPF~VED:
>~ayor