March 2022 - OnGardens

County official slams $200 million affordable housing plan

But County Commission allows proposals for a $200 million affordable housing bond and a $150 million water resources bond to move to the next stage.

After hearing a non-profit group’s presentation Tuesday to urge the Palm Beach County Commission to borrow $200 million to build affordable housing, the county’s director of housing and economic development took the floor.

Jonathan Brown, a participant in crafting the Housing Leadership Council’s 28-page report recommending a bond issue, began to pick it apart, point by point, in comments to his boss’ bosses, the county commission. His words drew dismay from the report’s champion, County Commissioner Mack Bernard.

$350 million at stake: County to consider borrowing for affordable housing, the environment

Are residents willing to put up $200 million to correct the housing imbalance? Would they support $150 million for water resources? County commissioners to discuss Tuesday.

Palm Beach County has never been reluctant to spend large sums of taxpayer money to tackle huge issues.

Voters approved $100 million bonds twice in the 1990s, once to buy environmentally sensitive land and a second time to buy south county farmland.

Without voter approval, county commissioners shelled out $269 million in 2006 to land The Scripps Research Institute and $87 million more to bring Germany’s Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience to Jupiter.

But borrowing $350 million in one fell swoop? That’s what commissioners will contemplate at a 9:30 a.m. March 29 workshop.

Judge puts brakes on Gardens mobility fee

Judge Gillman grants injunction requiring city to turn over millions from developer payments; appeal possible and full trial awaits.

Palm Beach Gardens’ effort to pay for growth through a mobility fee suffered a setback Thursday when a Palm Beach County Circuit Court judge ruled that the city’s approach violated state law.

Pivot point: Vast change in store for north county medical care

Proposals for new hospitals face fewer hurdles, promise to reshape local health-care delivery.

Second of two parts

It’s called “cream-skimming” and it’s alive and well in north county.

The “cream” is the bumper crop of well-off, fully insured retirees who call north county home.

The “skimming” is how the high-end medical practices and hospitals drawn to the area are grabbing their piece of the lucrative pie.

The result is a potential tipping point in medical care, pressuring traditional hospitals to fend off competition for physicians, nurses and, most of all, patients.

The pieces are not in place yet but there’s a scramble for available land, physician groups and care centers that will shape north county’s medical delivery system for decades.

Too many beds? Scaled-back Alton hospital slammed

No need for another hospital in north county, former Jupiter Medical Center exec John Couris says, as Alton hospital developer cuts proposal to 300 beds.

First of two parts

Seeking to win over neighbors opposed to a full-service hospital off Donald Ross Road in Alton, health-care giant Universal Health Services shaved its original plan for 450 beds to 300 and moved a proposed helipad farther from neighbors.

While opponents living in million-dollar Alton homes south of the hospital won’t publicly comment on the changes as negotiations with UHS are ongoing, questions still surround the need for a third full-service hospital in north county.