History & Incorporation of Westlake
The following is a high-level chronological history and discussion of the issues and vision of the incorporation of the City of Westlake.
Before there was a City of Westlake, there was the Seminole Improvement District (SID). The improvement district is a special purpose government that has existed since the early 1970’s. SID covers some four thousand acres of land and has extensive governmental authority to own, construct and operate just about anything you would associate with a local government. Some of the areas SID is responsible for include water & wastewater systems, stormwater systems, airports, roads, parks, landscape & transportation to name a few.
In 2013 the four thousand acres encompassed within Seminole Improvement District was purchased by Minto PBLH, LLC from Callery Judge Grove (Callery) who had owned the property from the 1960’s. Callery was a grower and producer of multiple types of citrus crops. However, due to citrus canker and citrus greening the citrus production was severely impacted. Callery transitioned a significant number of acres to pine, peaches, ornamental tree farming, cattle, and row crops. These crops were insufficient to keep an agricultural business viable and the decision was made to sell the property.
Upon the closing of the land in September of 2013, Minto proceeded with an application to Palm Beach County for a development order for a planned community consisting of 4,546 single family homes and 2.2 million square feet of non-residential development within the boundaries of the Seminole Improvement District. Minto received the development order approval for the planned development in 2014 (366 days after initial submission) and immediately submitted to the county the first phase of development in accordance with its vested rights. After fifteen months and eight rounds of reviews by the County staff and still no staff level approval in sight Minto approached the residents living in the district and the Seminole Improvement Board about the possibility of a conversion and incorporation as outlined in Florida Statutes.
Seminole Improvement District board staff, and consultants worked through the issues and drafted a conversion and incorporation plan. Since the only authority Seminole Improvement District did not have was land use and building permitting (police powers) the vision established was to create a government light regulatory framework that would minimize costs to residents and provide predictability in permit approvals. All the regulatory and permitting authority of Seminole Improvement District would be retained. SID would cause to be constructed, owned and operated all infrastructure outlined in it enabling legislation, including but not limited to roads, water, wastewater, parks, and transportation. The City Charter was carefully crafted specifically to not duplicate any service or regulatory authority already vested in Seminole Improvement District. The conversion / incorporation plan was presented to the Seminole Improvement District Board of Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors voted to present the conversion and incorporation plan to the residents for a vote. The residents reviewed the conversion and incorporation plan and they concluded to move forward to a vote. The plan was properly noticed and an election by the residents occurred the first part of June 2016. The residents voted to approve the conversion / incorporation plan, the supervisor of elections certified the election, and the City of Westlake became official on June 22, 2016.
The City of Westlake is a council manager form of government which simply means that the city council sets policy, and all operations and implementation of the policy lie solely within the city managers purview.
After the certification of the conversion / incorporation plan the Transitional City Council was sworn in and the two Charter Officers were retained as contract personnel. The transitional council included two of the residents of the district and now the city. The two Charter Officers are the City Manager and the City Attorney. Both positions can be an individual or a firm but are not employees of the city. To keep with the vision of government light concept, the contract with the firm for the City manager which included the City Manager, Finance team, Treasury services, and City Clerk functions. This contract approach allowed for immediate functionality of the vital departments under the direction of the City Manager as outlined in the Charter.
A contract with the City Attorney was approved and the City attorney began providing legal services to ensure all the necessary resolutions and Ordinances were drafted and approved by the City Council.
Shortly after the Manager and City Attorney were on board, Request for Qualifications for City Planner, City Engineer, and Building Official (Building Dept) were advertised, firms selected, and contracts executed. The City Planner, City Engineer and Building Department organizationally report to the City Manager and are under his / her direction.
Since the City utilizes contract providers for all services, the necessary services could be provided quickly. Within four (4) months of incorporation of the City, the first land development permit for the first five hundred (500) acres was issued. This development order was in accordance with the original approved development order plan by Palm Beach County prior to the incorporation. The original development plan provided vested rights to the master developer. Those vested rights are 4,546 Single Family Units and 2.2 million square feet of non-residential development. This set the base line for the development and growth of the city.
Starting a city from the raw dirt has tremendous challenges and opportunities. Some of the challenges were revenue sources to sustain the city operations, writing a comprehensive master plan, land development regulations (LDR’s), and process for the interaction between the departments.
One of the main challenges was how to either eliminate or minimize those processes that in most cities limit predictability and therefore dampen the development and re-development of a city. The management team (City Manager, Planning & Zoning Director, City Engineer, and Building official (and their teams) with their over two hundred and fifty (250) years of collective experience in writing, administering, and working within various land development codes had their work cut out for them. The management team’s experience covered not only South Florida, but also other portions of the southeast U.S. (Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina) .
Since the initial proposed development of the roughly four thousand acres was a master planned community that had received the approval of Palm Beach County with vested rights, development of the comprehensive master plan, for what was now the City of Westlake, was a little less stressful than developing one without a master planned community concept.
The challenge set before the management team and the transitional city council was how to set forth land development regulations that would be predictable, efficient and protect the quality of life for the future residents of the city. The management team spent thousands of manhours discussing, debating, and negotiating between themselves and the master developer to write the land development regulations that would meet the goals of the new city. The transitional council had input and cast their vision for the management team to follow. The transitional city council reviewed each section of the comprehensive master plan and all the land development regulation prior to their approval.
Additional considerations included the city must be self-sustaining by the time the deficit funding provided by the master developer ran out. The city was self-sustaining beginning the Fiscal Year 2024 (Oct 1, 2023 - Sept 1, 2024) which was the year the deficit funding agreement ran out.
So, what was the result of all this time spent by the transitional city council and the management team? It was the current set of Land Development Regulations (LDR’s) which has facilitated the quality of development in the city to date. The Land Development Regulations (LDR’s) were specifically crafted to accomplish predictability, efficiency, and quality of life for the residents.
Predictability was accomplished by setting forth specific parameters that if the proposed development was within the parameters, it would be approved. An entire chart of permitted uses was compiled, and every application is reviewed and must be found in compliance with the permitted uses, parking requirements, traffic statements, setbacks, landscaping, stormwater management etc. This allows a developer or someone re-developing a piece of property certainty to rely on when they are making decisions whether to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars on a given project.
Efficiency was imbedded in the approval processes due to the predictability of the code for the applicant. The code is specific and clear which enables the reviewers the ability to complete their work in less time than other municipalities. The application either meets the code or not. If they do not meet the code, comments are sent to the applicant for corrections to meet the code. Once the applicant and application meet the code criteria the application is either approved administratively as outlined in the LDR’s or sent to the City Council for approval of commercial sites.
Quality of life issues were addressed in the code by way of landscape buffers between different types of development (residential / non-residential). Maximum height restrictions within the mixed-use zoning district require buildings closer to residential units be at a lower height than the overall zoning district. There are setback requirements to ensure proper separation between types of uses and lot coverages. There are maximum lot coverages and impervious area coverages for each lot. Exceedance of the allowable impervious area for a lot adversely impacts the stormwater management system and can lead to flooding. Maximum sound levels were established to ensure neighbors or commercial sites were not disturbing the community.
The LDR’s have been modified to accommodate unforeseen issues that needed to be addressed. For example: The installation and access to standby generators in the side yard setbacks was changed from the initial prohibition on standby generators in the side-yard setbacks. The special events section was modified to meet the needs of the developing community. As time progresses the LDR’s will from time to time need to be addressed to meet the changing market conditions.
An essential part of the history of the development of Westlake is to understand the positive impact the major property owner has made on what has been developed to date. All the infrastructure (roads, landscaping, water, sewer, stormwater, re-use water) were paid for by the developer and turned over to the Seminole Improvement District (SID). The current cost to date is approximately four hundred ($400,000,000) million dollars. The projected investment by the master developer at build out is expected to be closer to four hundred and fifty ($450,000,000) million dollars. In other developments such as Arden to the north, the infrastructure is paid by a bond issue which is then paid back by the residents over thirty (30) years.
Regarding the residential and non-residential property not being developed by the major property owner. In addition to the parameters within the code, the major property owner has significant contractual restrictions contained within the purchase and sale agreements. These contract restrictions are to ensure the purchaser is aware and understands the vision look and feel of Westlake before they make any submissions to the city for development.
The market forces for non-residential development have changed significantly because of the COVID shutdown. Businesses have re-evaluated their business model to ensure it is still viable. This change and economic conditions have had an adverse impact on companies investing in expansion of their locations. In turn these changes have made it more difficult to secure commitments to develop non-residential establishments.
The master developer continues to work on attracting different types of businesses to Westlake. However, market conditions, how applications are processed, and the predictability or un-predictability all impact the interest of the business community and their willingness to locate within Westlake. Therefore, it is necessary to attract a business tax base that provides jobs, as well as helps in lowering the tax burden on the individual homeowner. This has been the vision and goal from the beginning to have an economic base to cover a significant amount of the tax burden for the City of Westlake.
Changes in the current process will have a significant chilling effect on potential development and slow the overall development of the city.
