Palm Beach County Planning Commission approves updates to Recreation and Open Space element to align with new parks master plan

The Palm Beach County Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve text amendments to the county's Recreation and Open Space element (ROWS) of the comprehensive plan, adopting updated park definitions, new level-of-service horizons and policies to align the ROWS with the county parks master plan.

The changes narrow and clarify park-type definitions, set new planning horizons for level of service to 2025, 2035 and 2045, add policies for long-term maintenance and green infrastructure, and update the map series to reflect recent park name and inventory changes. Bob Hamilton, director of park development for the county's Parks and Recreation Department, told commissioners the ROWS had not been revised since 2012 and that the department wants the element to match the newly adopted master plan.

"Given the approval of the department's master plan earlier this year, we felt the need that the ... ROWS align with the master plan," Hamilton said. He described seven primary kinds of edits including narrative cleanup, clarified park-size categories and a new policy to seek additional funding sources.

The commission heard that neighborhood parks generally are less than one acre while community parks are typically two to 10 acres and are constructed and operated by the Parks and Recreation Department. Staff said the amendments separate county-operated neighborhood/community parks from privately provided neighborhood or community parks that are subject to the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC).

Jennifer Cirillo, the department director, described the Parks Foundation of Palm Beach County, which she said formed late last year and is organizing private support for park projects. Cirillo said the Gorski Family Foundation has pledged to match the first $350,000 the foundation raises. She said the foundation's early projects include funding $23,000 for beach-access mats and support for purchase and placement of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) at active courts and facilities.

"They've pledged to fund two projects. Their goal was to raise $50,000 for the first year, and they did that in less than a year," Cirillo said. She named several people involved with the foundation and said the group will review departmental project requests each fall.

Commissioners asked for clarifications the staff provided on several points. Staff noted that Florida statutes require an evaluation and appraisal report of the comprehensive plan at least every seven years; Hamilton said the department intends to produce a new parks master plan roughly every 10 years and to make smaller updates more frequently (for example, to revise park names and the map series). Commissioners also asked about county-owned properties that are leased to municipalities; staff said about 11 county-owned properties are operated by cities under lease agreements and therefore are not shown on the county-managed parks map. The leases include terms limiting the ability of municipalities to charge nonmunicipal residents higher fees in most cases; staff said one lease (North County District Park) allows a nonresident surcharge of up to 20 percent.

The motion to approve the ROWS text amendment carried unanimously. Staff said the department will pursue coordinated updates to the ULDC later this year to reflect the amended definitions and any implementing development standards.

The approved amendments formalize green-infrastructure guidance and require the ROWS to be maintained alongside the parks master plan. The department said implementing capital projects and larger maintenance efforts will still rely on the county budget process but that the Parks Foundation will be positioned to fund accessibility improvements, shade and site-specific items that are difficult to fund from existing capital allocations.