Riviera Beach holds public workshop on draft comprehensive plan ahead of council adoption

Riviera Beach staff and consultants presented the draft comprehensive plan, titled Riviera 2040, at a public workshop and asked residents to provide final feedback before the document is revised and sent to the City Council for adoption.

The plan will guide land use, infrastructure and policy in Riviera Beach for the coming decade or more, and staff said the community’s input now can shape what the city adopts. "This is critically important. This is 1 of the documents that is a cornerstone to our community," City Manager Jonathan Evans said during opening remarks.

Principal planner Sinead Simon, who leads long-range planning in the Development Services Department, summarized outreach and the document’s themes and asked attendees to evaluate elements on summary boards and by QR code. "This is our vision that we have for our city, how we all wanna use it," Simon said, outlining the plan’s purpose and the staff effort to gather community and departmental input.

Simon and consultants described multiple outreach methods used to draft the plan, including workshops, open houses, targeted surveys, on-site community events and input collected by consulting firm CGA. Staff said the draft identifies recurring themes from residents: more retail and entertainment options, improved park and streetscape appearance, housing affordability and preservation, conservation of land and water, support for local businesses, multi-modal transportation options and public safety.

Workshop presenters emphasized new guiding principles in the draft plan—neighborhood character, safety, equity, prosperity, resilience and livability—and described action-item categories in the draft (short-term “low-hanging fruit,” mid-term actions and longer-term vision items). "The comprehensive plan document generally is on your books for 10, 15, sometimes 20 years," one presenter said, noting that state review and periodic reevaluation affect timing and future amendments.

Staff clarified that the plan is intended to give the city legal and policy language to support land-use decisions and to strengthen the city’s position in disputes and judicial reviews. Simon used recent local examples to explain how plan language can protect neighborhoods and said the draft also updates housing and funding references to reflect county- and state-level programs.

There were no formal votes or policy decisions at the workshop. Instead, staff asked attendees to mark priorities on boards and to submit written comments and digital feedback. Councilwoman Priscilla Davis Penaier urged residents to share the QR code with people who could not attend. "I am Priscilla Davis Penaier. I am the city council person for District 5," she said, and asked participants to stay engaged in the process.

Next steps explained at the workshop: staff will collect and consolidate the public feedback, the consultant team will incorporate changes as appropriate, and the revised document will begin the formal adoption process before City Council and then the state review required for comprehensive plans. Staff reiterated that every sentence in the draft remains open to scrutiny at this stage and that adoption will trigger a multi-step local and state review timeline.

For residents who could not attend, presenters encouraged use of the QR code and follow-up meetings with neighborhood groups, homeowners associations and departmental staff. Staff also noted the plan includes an inventory of historic spaces and a new community services section and asked attendees to use sticker voting to help prioritize among the many proposed initiatives.