06-17-80SpMtg 101
JUNE 17, 1980
A Special Meeting of the City Council of the City of Delray
Beach, Florida, was held in the Council Chambers at 7:00 P.M., Tuesday,
June 17, 1980, with Mayor Leon M. Weekes presiding, City Manager J. Eldon
Mariott, Assistant City Attorney Herbert W. A. Thiele and Council Mem-
bers Malcolm T. Bird, Charlotte G. Durante, James H. Scheifley and
Willard V. Young present.
Mayor Weekes called the meeting to order and announced that same
had been called for the purpose of considering Chatelaine Clubhouse
Facility acquisition.
1. City Manager Mariott briefly outlined the background with re-
gard to the request for the City's acquisition of the Chatelaine Park
facility, stating that it was the consensus of Council that they would
be willing for the City to acquire the property and operate it, but
only if it could be determined for sure that it would be a self sup-
porting proposition. With this in mind the City Manager'gave further
consideration to this request and had a number of conversations with
Mrs. Alice Finst and others. He advised at that time it would be his
recommendation to Council that the City approve acquisition of the
property provided they had in hand at least 200 deposits of $50 each
toward a membership fee of $250 per year, which would bring $50,000
into the City as revenue necessary for the maintenance, desired im-
provements and to eventually pay off the purchase price. The City
Manager advised that with regard to the deposits, at last count, the
required number had not been obtained and it was his recommendation,
based on his interpretation of Council consensus, to not acquire the
property. The City Manager further stated that he felt it was possible
that it could be a self-supporting facility even if the City took the
risk without the specified deposits; however, it was thought to be a
chancy thing and Council is not looking for chancy things with regard
to this purchase.
Bernice Leeming, 3437 Place Valancay, asked if there would pos-
sibly be group rates at the facility; she has had inquiries from busi-
ness people.
Gene Cronin, 3430 Avenue Villandry, stated he has been a resident
of Chatelaine since 1972, and the people there have been taken advantage
of by the developers with regard to this facility. He stated the resi-
dents have no recreational facilities in the northwest section of town,
and urged Council to consider this purchase.
Dominique Beccarelli, 3424 Avenue Villa~dry, advised he has worked
with the groups that have tried to better the park and has also cleaned
it up quite a few times himself. He stated the older residents need a
park as well as the children and asked Council to give this purchase
very serious consideration.
Edward Patzlaff, 3400 Avenue Villandry, asked to be permitted to
make a 60 second presentation for a courtesy motion from Council if there
is an adverse ruling on this issue.
John Stone and Brett Jansen, representing the children from the
Chatelaine area, spoke before Council expressing their desire to have
a safe place to play, swim and play tennis in the northwest section.
Eileen Martin, 3461 Place Valancay, stated that it is at least
two miles to a park from the west section of Delray and it is heavily
trafficked. She advised that this is not just a Chatelaine fight -
they are fighting for all the residents of West Delray. Mrs. Martin
further advised that their group has been trying to get the 200 checks
working against tremendous odds due to lack of time, lack of people
and the usual amount of apathy. She felt the apathy was caused by
people being discouraged due to the runaround they were given by the
developers of Chatelaine and then later, Tall Pines. She urged Council
to have faith in the citizens to work to join the club and support it.
Alice Finst, 707 Place Tavant, spoke stating that their desire
to purchase this facility is based on the preserving of green space,
fulfillment of the 1979 Comprehensive Land Use Plan and acquisition
of recreational facilities for all citizens of the City. Mrs. Finst
made a zelar presentation citing the waterway system at Chatelaine
which contains alligators, the fact that all the City parks are east
of 1-95 and the fact that most City recreational facilities, i.e., -
Pompey Park, Miller Park an~ the beach are operating at a loss.
Mrs. Finst proposed thgt the club and pool could be open for
membership from July 4th to September 1st fr~m 11:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M.
and from September 2nd to 30th from 3:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. This would
cut down operating expenses~ from $50,000 to approximately $10,400,
with a swimming/tennis SuperVisor working a seven day week, an assist-
ant supervisor six days and one watchman. Salaries would come to
$4,908 and the maintenance $5500. At the end of the summer season
the park would revert to a passive park.
Mr. Young stated this is the first time, at least to his knowl-
edge, that the City has ever asked any of the people, with regard to
a park, to prepay any expense to obtain that park; he felt this was
unfair. Mr. Young repOrted that he has gone through the budget pro-
cedure and has noted the eXpenses of some of the other parks and felt
this would certainly be a very minimal expenditure on the part of the
City. Personally, he would be in favor of the City obtaining the park,
setting it up with the idea that it would be at least as self support-
ing as is physically possible by the memberships of the people in the
surrounding area.
Mr. Young moved to obtain the Chatelaine Park facility. Mayor
Weekes relinquished the chair to Vice-Mayor Bird and seconded the motion.
Upon roll call Council voted as follows: Mr. Bird - No; Mrs. Durante -
No; Mr. Scheifley - No; Mr. Young - Yes; Mayor Weekes - Yes. The motion
failed with a 3 to 2 vote.
Before roll call the following discussion was had: Mr. Scheifley
advised that he is in favor of putting the tennis center on a self sus-
taining basis 6r close it; with regard to the beach he has recommended
the installation of meters and imposing a resort tax on rental units to
eliminate the deficit there, since the majority of people who use the
beach are not Delray residents; with regard to the Country Club the City
could make money there with the amount of people waiting to join - even
by raising the membership dues they would still get 600 members. Mr.
Scheifley stated he admires the objectives and commends the efforts of
the Chatelaine group, as he realizes a park is badly needed in the
western section of town; however, the City is committed to balancing
the budget and this purchase would not be a prudent thing to do. If
it could be financed cleanly and then be self-sustaining he would be
the first one for it. Mr. Scheifley stated that from conversation with
residents of other sections of town, if this were put to referendum, it
would be defeated 5 to 1.
Mayor Weekes advised that his position on this issue is well
known - he consurs with what Mr. Young has said and believes the issue
has become clouded with side issues which are really not pertinent.
Burdens have been placed upon members of the public that this body
should not really impose on members of the public. What'has been asked
- 2 - 6/17/80
103
of the City Council is to purchase a reCreation facility at a fair
price in an area where it is desperately needed by our citizens. There
are means by which the City can fund this purchase without impairing
any of our other funding, without reducing policemen's salaries or
without running a deficit budget, since that is legally impossible for
the City to do. Mayor Weekes stated he is a little put out by some of
the lame excuses as to why some of the members of this Council are not
willing to purchase this facility. Whether it is self-supporting really
isn't the issue; we need it for our citizens, it will generate income
and when you consider what we are getting for the dollars we are put-
ting into it, he believes Council will regret not making the purchase.
Mr. Bird advised that when something is purchased for the City
it is Council's obligation to obtain the best value for the citizens'
dollars; the Chatelaine facility does not represent the best value for
the dollar. It was developed and created essentially as a neighborhood
facility for the residents of Chatelaine and Tall Pines - it will ade-
quately serve approximately 200 people, it is not centrally located and
will be a burden on the City to maintain. The same numbe~ of dollars
to create a facility more centrally located and larger in scope would
be a better value. Mr. Bird stated that it has been suggested that
perhaps since it was originally designed as a homeowners' facility that
it should be an association facility, and that the City should buy por-
tions of it for a passive park leaving the facilities to be owned and
maintained by the association; that is a recognition of our requirement
to provide passive park land. Mr. Bird stated he does not think the
City needs another supervised recreational facility and will therefore
vote against this purchase.
Mrs. Durante stated she wanted to commend Alice Finst and the
residents of Chatelaine and Tall Pines for the efforts they have put
into working on this proposal; they have vividly pointed up the need
for parks and recreation facilities west of 1-95. However, her first
consideration is whether the City can financially afford this facility and
does not believe the issue of purchasing the Chatelaine property is a
political one at all; the money is there for the purchase, but it is a
matter of operating it annually. Mrs. Durante advised that she doesn't
feel, as a Council member, she can make a decision that would be the di-
rect opposite df what the Administration has recommended and would have
to vote against it.
Mrs. Finst advised at present they have 62 memberships in hand,
a pledge of 16 more and she has a guarantee of $5,000 to cover any defi-
cit that would be incurred during the summer program.
At this point the roll was called to the motion.
Mr. Patzlaff asked if it would be possible for Council to ask
Mr. Nowlin to allow the residents approximately seven to ten days in
which to give the homeowners in Chatelaine an opportunity to purchase
this faci.li~y themselves. Mayor Weekes.stated he would be glad to ap-
proach Mr. Nowlin, but felt someone from Chatelaine should also contact
him.
Mayor Weekes declared the meeting adjourned at 7:55 P.M.
City Clerk
MAYOR
- 3 - 6/17/80
The undersigned is the City Clerk of the City of Delray Beach
and the information provided herein is the minutes of the meeting of
said City Council of June 17, 1980, which minutes were formally ap-
proved and adopted by the City Council on
NOTE TO READER:
If the minutes that you have received are not completed as indicated
above, then this means that these are not the official minutes of
City Council. They will become the official minutes only after they -
have been reviewed and approved which may involve some amendments,
additions, or deletions to the minutes as set forth above.
- 4 -
6/17/80