Delray Beach CRA preliminary plat approved to create three workforce home lots at 704 Southwest Fourth Street

The Delray Beach Planning & Zoning Board voted 4-0 to approve a preliminary major plat and to recommend certification to the City Commission for a three-lot subdivision at 704 Southwest Fourth Street, a CRA-owned vacant parcel the agency says it bought for workforce housing.

The project, presented May 8 during the quasi-judicial portion of the board meeting, would split the roughly 0.45-acre property into three buildable lots—two west of Southwest Fourth Avenue and one to the east—and includes right-of-way and utility dedications. The Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) sought waivers to local lot-area and frontage requirements so the smaller lots can be used for affordable single-family homes.

Christine Tibbs, assistant director for the Delray Beach CRA, told the board the agency purchased the parcel on Dec. 29, 2020, and “the CRA is aiming to address this issue along with creating 3 additional lots for that future development of affordable and workforce housing in the neighborhood.” Tibbs described two corner clips to be dedicated for future turning radii, a 10-foot general utility easement along SW Fourth Street, and a 12-foot water-and-sewer easement along the west side of Lot 1 for drainage and maintenance.

The nut graf: the board’s unanimous preliminary approval clears the way for the CRA to pursue workforce housing on a previously unplatted in‑fill parcel but does not change the site’s single-family zoning; final certification of the plat must still be granted by the City Commission.

City planning staff told the board the parcel has a Low Density land-use designation and R1A single-family zoning, and that municipal water and sewer are available. Staff and the applicant said the proposal is consistent with Delray Beach’s comprehensive plan, the CRA redevelopment plan and the West Atlantic master plan; staff noted the neighborhood already contains many lots that do not meet current R1A minimums and that the proposed lots would meet the city’s workforce-housing lot minimums (40-foot frontage and about 4,000 square feet) if the waivers are granted.

The CRA asked for waivers from LDR (Land Development Regulations) minimums: a waiver from the 7,500-square-foot minimum lot area for all three lots, and waivers from the 80-foot corner-lot width and the standard frontage requirements for Lots 2 and 3. Applicant and staff said granting the waivers would not change the land‑use or zoning designation and would not “grant a special privilege” because similar lot dimensions exist in the surrounding blocks.

Board members voiced general support and asked implementation questions. Board member Mitch Katz asked whether the CRA had resolved a mailbox grouping issue that had arisen on a prior three-unit project; the applicant said that prior case had different circumstances and that the current proposal did not meet whatever threshold had triggered the post-office requirement in the earlier project. Judy Malika and Chris Brown said they were in favor. After a roll-call vote—Chris Brown, Mitch Katz, Judy Malika and Gregory Snyder voted yes; two board members were absent—the board approved the preliminary plat and separately approved the recommendation to the City Commission on certification of the final plat, both by a 4-0 vote.

Discussion vs. decision: the board’s actions were formal approvals—preliminary plat approval and a recommendation for final certification to the City Commission. No final City Commission action or building permits were granted at the meeting; staff emphasized that drainage, school‑district review and building-permit requirements will be addressed at later stages. Parks impact fees of $500 per dwelling unit were noted as payable at time of building permit application.

The proposal includes conditions normally handled at later permit stages: on-site drainage, school district notification at time of development, and meeting any traffic or other city requirements at the time of building permit. The board’s approvals do not change the R1A zoning or the land‑use map designation.