WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A member of a Miami-based consultant company faced animosity from people in West Palm Beach regarding changes to the city's public waterfront at a public input session held Thursday night at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches.
The city of West Palm Beach hired the consultant company, called Street Plans, to help with short-term and long-term strategies to "activate" the city's waterfront. It hired the group after plans to develop a marina in downtown West Palm Beach, which would erase the public waterfront, were rejected by commissioners after public pressure.
Michael Butler, who was at the meeting on Thursday night, said he believed the consultant was a farce to justify a private marina.
"The city wants to ram it down our throats," he said.
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Tony Garcia, who is the principal for Street Plans, said he wasn't automatically writing a report about creating a marina. He also mentioned a potential new marina didn't have significant public support and possibly was not the best idea for West Palm Beach.
However, it wasn't enough to calm suspicions from some people attending the workshop.
"What you're doing is never going to happen," an event attendee said. "What we are going to get is a marina. That's what the city wants."
According to records, the city of West Palm Beach received an unsolicited proposal for the land in June 2021 from a company called City Harbor, LLC based in Jupiter. It would turn public land into an 84-slip stretching from Clematis to Fern streets.
City Harbor, LLC is owned and managed by J.C. Solomon II and Raymond Graziotto, according to its application to the city. The two own a management company called Seven Kings Management, Inc., which performs as a third-party management company for the Riviera Beach Municipal Marina.
Graziotto attended the session but declined an interview with WPTV.
People protested against the project because it took away space to perform activities near the water while others claimed the public didn't get an opportunity to provide input on the project. Commissioners rejected the plan after those protests, which were partly organized by the West Palm Beach Downtown Neighborhood Association.
Rick Rose, who is the vice president for the West Palm Beach Downtown Neighborhood Association, was at the meeting on Thursday. He said he believes the animosity is the result of the city's attempt to push the project through quickly.
"There's no question that they are trying to mop up the mess afterwords by getting the public input," Rose said. "The animosity that we sensed in the room was people very upset with the city trying to build a marina with no public input at all."
He talked with Garcia about his ideas after the meeting. Rose said he's hopeful this consultant is open-minded about ways to improve the space.
"I didn't get the sense that they have any preconceived notions on what the outcome should be and that was the most important thing for me to observe," he said.
City staff denied WPTV's request to interview the consultant at Thursday's meeting.
Jennifer Ferriol, who is the director of housing and community development for the city of West Palm Beach, said it's not in her purview to answer questions if the marina development was enough of a public process. She said the city can always improve on its processes.
"I think there's always ways the city can improve, and we learn a lot from our residents in situations where we could have done better," Ferriol said. "We're hoping this go around we can get the feedback we want."
She said she wants people to tell the city what project it wants to attract people downtown. Ferriol said the city heard people in the north end of town don't use the waterfront.
"We're here to talk about the waterfront as a whole," she said. "We're not talking about a specific project. We'd like to just get that feedback from residents. What do they want to see to make it more inclusive? So, residents utilize a space that's essentially theirs."
Emails, which WPTV received from a public records request, show officials within the city of West Palm Beach also discussed projects targeting locations like the Great Lawn and Banyan Garage.
Curt Green, who was also at the meeting on Thursday night, said he walks around the public waterfront. He said he hoped if enough people came it would stop a marina, but he said he could support a project on the waterfront.
"I'd be OK with anything that leaves the waterfront view," Green said.