Future schools in Palm Beach will be relegated to the South End under new rules finalized by the Town Council.
Council members voted unanimously at the July 9 Development Review Committee meeting to approve changes to the town’s zoning code that essentially prohibit future schools in most of the island’s commercial and residential areas. Council President Bobbie Lindsay was absent.
The new rules no longer allow private and public schools to be special exceptions in most zoning districts, but they do allow new schools to be built south of 2500 S. Ocean Blvd.
The measure is part of a larger effort by Palm Beach to examine its zoning rules and look for possible changes that could help to curb gridlock, or at least prevent future issues in already busy areas, town staff told the council at the June 11 meeting, when the rules update passed on its first reading.
The measure passed on second reading with little discussion. Council Member Ted Cooney quickly clarified with Town Attorney Joanne O’Connor that existing schools are grandfathered in, meaning that they can request future changes without running into any issues.
Council President Pro-Tem Lew Crampton also said that his position on the proposal changed from the previous meeting, where he questioned why the line was drawn at 2500 S. Ocean Blvd.
Town staff chose that as “the line of demarcation” for the zoning change because the density south of there is higher and there is a commercial portion closer to Lake Avenue in Lake Worth Beach, Town Planner Jennifer Hofmeister-Drew said at the time.
“You brought me around,” Crampton said after casting his vote July 9.
With the volume of vehicles in Palm Beach doubling and in some places tripling in recent years, traffic around schools has been identified as causing backups during arrival and dismissal in the Seaview Avenue area around Palm Beach Day Academy and Palm Beach Public Elementary School, Hofmeister-Drew said at the June 11 meeting.
There is one other school in Palm Beach: Alef Preschool on Bradley Place north of Royal Poinciana Way.
Palm Beach’s South End is an area with higher potential for redevelopment, she said in June.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: See where new schools may be built in Palm Beach under updated rules
Reporting by Kristina Webb, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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