City hires Chenmore to lead comprehensive-plan update; outreach campaign to span 30'140 weeks

Boynton Beach on July 15 introduced Chenmore and Associates as the consultant to lead a comprehensive update of the city's comprehensive plan. Amanda Radagon, the city's planning and development director, said the update was a high strategic priority and had been budgeted for the fiscal year after a formal request-for-proposal process.

Nils Zakarias, director of planning at Chenmore, said the team includes planners, engineers and arborists and has experience with Florida comprehensive-plan updates. He told commissioners the comprehensive plan is a policy document that must comply with state law and reflect the community's vision. "The comprehensive plan is a policy document. It's a mandate from Florida statutes," Zakarias said.

Scope and schedule: Principal planner Jose (Osmo) Leon laid out the near-term workflow. Each statutory element will have two components: a technical document (data, analysis, maps) and a policy document (goals, objectives, policies). Chenmore anticipates a process of roughly 30 to 40 weeks from kickoff to transmittal to state review, with an initial informational presentation now, transmittal to state agencies mid-process and final adoption following local hearings.

Public outreach plan: Chenmore proposed a multi-pronged engagement strategy aimed at broad community input. Planned activities include in-person visioning workshops (two or three theme-based sessions), virtual meetings and streams, pop-up kiosks at city events (farm markets, night market), two city-hall open houses (mid-process and final), online mapping and surveys accessible via QR codes, and targeted stakeholder panels. "Community input is the cornerstone of the comprehensive plan," Leon said.

Commissioner concerns and staff responses: Commissioner Kelly expressed concerns about past low turnout for similar city outreach efforts. Zakarias and Radagon said the team will run a marketing-style campaign across mailers, social media, kiosks at events and direct outreach. Radagon said staff is coordinating timing with existing city events and noted a plan to adjust outreach if participation is low: "If we see that we're not getting the participation, we'll pivot," she said. Commissioners suggested city mailers, business outreach and use of commissioner constituent lists.

Regulatory context: Zakarias referenced the Florida Growth Management Act and state review processes; staff emphasized that the comprehensive plan must be aligned with the city's strategic plan, capital-improvement program and land-development regulations but is not itself a site-plan or zoning document.

Next steps: Staff will work with Chenmore to finalize an outreach timeline and will return to the commission with details as the public engagement schedule develops. Chenmore said materials and a project logo are available and will be adapted based on commission feedback.