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Delray Beach takes aim at transient housing — again

By Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH — Delray Beach city commissioners will be taking a second look at city ordinances adopted two years ago to limit transient housing in single-family neighborhoods with an aim toward tightening them.

The move was prompted by a turnout of residents at Tuesday’s commission meeting who complained that transient homes operated by drug rehab businesses are flourishing in Delray’s neighborhoods despite the laws.

Part of the complaint stems from fear is that with the drug rehab patients come drugs, and with drugs come crime.

But regulating these homes is especially difficult because of various legal protections granted rehab patients, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against them. Boca Raton tried to ban them outright but lost a court case that cost the city $2 million.

Former City Commissioner Gary Eliopoulos said there is a difference between what Boca Raton did, which focused on drug rehab houses, and Delray’s approach, which broadly bans all transient housing in single-family neighborhoods.  It defines transient housing as a home or apartment that is rented more than six times a year, loophole transient homes have been exploiting.

“I’m not talking about discrimination,” former City Commissioner Gary Eliopoulis said. “”I’m talking about single-family zoning. There’s no reason we need to tolerate this.”

Said another resident: “We’re counting on you guys to protect us, so protect us. Please!”

In response, commissioners agreed to ask the city’s Planning and Zoning Board to consider a proposal to reduce the number of times a home or apartment can be rented per year to three from the current six as an initial step toward limiting the problem. City Attorney Brian Shutt said any change in the ordinance has to be run through that board as a preliminary step.

Commissioners can take up the measure in late January or early February.

“Obviously, this issue is not going away,” Commissioner Adam Frankel said. “Obviously, this is an issue we need to revisit.”

Mayor Woodie McDuffie told residents that regulating these homes won’t be easy and can’t be done effectively without the help of federal and state lawmakers.

“I will assure all of you, we will go back and look at the ordinances,” McDuffie said. “We will do everything we can to protect you, your homes and your children. We will work as diligently as we did before, but we need help.”

Delray Beach city commissioners rejected an attempt to derail renovations at Boston’s on the Beach previously approved by the city’s Site Plan Review and Appearance Board.  The changes include construction of an outdoor bar, deck and seating area, which one neighbor said would be incompatible with the adjacent homes. 

Commissioners agreed to delay a hearing on a second issue, whether to allow outdoor entertainment, at the request of the two parties, who will attempt to work out differences before the next commission meeting.

Also Tuesday, commissioners:

— Approved first reading of an ordinance changing the number of signatures required by a commission candidate to get on the ballot from 1 percent of the city’s nearly 42,000 registered voters to 250.  The change, if approved, would be effective for candidates seeking to be placed on the ballot for the March 13 municipal election.

A public hearing will held on the ordinance on Jan. 3.

— Allowed the Hartman House to locate a sign five feet from the property line instead of the required 10 feet. The Hartman House, built in 1923 at 302 NE 7th Street, is the city’s first bed and breakfast.

— Canceled the city’s annual Citizens Roundtable set for Jan. 24 and instead will hold an online forum to be conducted by Peak Democracy, which offers a service called Open Town Hall. Delray has held the roundtable annually as a way of allowing residents to speak out on issues of concern.

— Postponed action on a request to name an alley in the Pineapple Grove section of the downtown Artists Alley. Most alleys if not all alleys in the city are simply named, alley.

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