Consultants outline West Palm Beach downtown master plan, emphasize incentives for affordable housing and waterfront park concept

Consultants presenting a draft downtown master plan to the City of West Palm Beach said the effort aims to guide the city—s next 25 years by translating vision into zoning rules that encourage mixed-income housing, more open space and improved mobility.

Anna Maria Aponte, the city—s development services director, introduced the team and said the process has included a year of community and stakeholder meetings. Consultant Bernard Siskowoc told attendees the plan builds on a 2007 vision and attempts to spread the city—s recent growth more equitably across neighborhoods.

Siskowoc said the plan—s priorities are mobility, housing and resiliency. He framed zoning as the mechanism to implement the vision but said the group must assume a future transportation system that reduces automobile dependence to support higher development intensity. "We need walkability places where bicycles can travel safely, shuttles instead of being in a car," he said.

On housing, the consultants described a three-part incentive approach to deliver affordable units. One option would require mixed-income units on a project site; another would allow developers to provide affordable units off-site but within targeted neighborhoods that the plan identifies for…