Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
West Palm Beach CRA weighs options after fire destroys three historic shotgun homes linked to Neighborhood Renaissance project
Summary
Commissioner Fox said three shotgun homes burned the previous day, threatening a Neighborhood Renaissance plan for six affordable homes; CRA leaders said staff are exploring zoning and design options and will return with a plan.
Three shotgun houses that were part of a planned Neighborhood Renaissance affordable-housing project caught fire the day before the West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency met on Monday, officials said.
"We're all just really upset about what happened yesterday with the shotgun homes being, 3 of them having caught on caught on fire," Commissioner Fox said during the CRA meeting, and she thanked the fire department for a rapid response that "prevent[ed] additional damage." Fox told the agency the original Neighborhood Renaissance proposal showed renderings for six homes and said she was concerned that the loss of three structures could affect future zoning and the number of replacement houses allowed.
"When this project originally came to us...we were told that if we were to tear them down because of the they're historically preserved, we would only be able to add 1 or 2 structures," Fox said, asking for further discussion on how the fire alters the project's feasibility.
Commissioner Warren called the event "extremely unfortunate" and praised staff and first responders for acting quickly. Warren urged the CRA and project partners to take an "outside of the box" approach to find a plan that could still bring new families to the corridor.
The presiding officer said the CRA and city are "certainly exploring all options" and that staff will return to the commission once they have identified a plan. No formal zoning decision or amendment was taken at the meeting.
Neighborhood Renaissance was identified in the meeting as the organization that prepared the project's renderings; the CRA did not provide a timetable or a detailed next step at the meeting beyond saying staff would report back.
Clarifying details discussed in the meeting include: three shotgun homes were reported destroyed by fire; the Neighborhood Renaissance proposal had called for six first-time-homeowner units; and CRA members said they previously understood historic-preservation constraints could limit replacement structures to one or two, though no statute or ordinance was cited on the record.
The CRA took no formal vote on the housing proposal during the session. Agency staff said they would analyze options and return with recommendations at a later meeting.
