HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005 Letter from Mayor Norris - Time CapsuleTHE VILLAGE OF
North Palm Beach
5oi U.S. HIGHWAY 1 • NORTH PALM BEACH, FLORIDA 334o8 •56i-841-3355 • FAX 561-881-7469
VILLAGE COUNCIL
David B. Norris, Mayor
Edward M. Eissey, Ph.D., Vice Mayor
William Manuel, President Pro Tem
Charles R. O'Meilia, P.E., Councilman
Manny Grinn, Councilman
VILLAGE MANAGER
Mark Bates
VILLAGE CLERK
Melissa Teal, CMC
August 11, 2006
Citizens of North Palm Beach
RE: 50th Anniversary of The Village of North Palm Beach
Dear Citizens of North Palm Beach:
I have the honor and pleasure of being the Mayor of North Palm Beach, this year being
the 50th anniversary of the formation of our wonderful Village. We have been celebrating
this anniversary all year, and we are now approaching the exact anniversary date,
August 13th, and are preparing to bury a new time capsule for future citizens, on the 75th
or 100th anniversary. I am hopeful I will still be here for the 75th anniversary and can
personally share my memories of our wonderful Village at that time. But, just in case, I
wanted to leave this note as the present Mayor of North Palm Beach.
Let me share with you what has been happening with our Village recently, and where the
Village stands in our 50th year of existence.
I had the pleasure of being a resident here at the time of our anniversary celebration in
1981. Since that time, our Village and the surrounding communities for that matter, have
evolved quite a bit. Our population stands presently at approximately 13,000 full time
residents, with that figure swelling to close to 20,000 during the season. Our Village is
pretty well built out with only a few pockets of undeveloped properties remaining. Most of
those properties are quickly being purchased up and developed as we speak. With
respect to our single family areas, over the past few years we have seen a trend toward
these residences being purchased and either substantially renovated or in fact torn down
and re -built. The Village remains a very attractive community for all ages and when
properties go up for sale in the Village they generally are quickly bought. Although we
have experienced a significant turnover of properties, we still have a strong contingent of
long standing residents of the Village. However, the Village remains one of the most
attractive communities to reside in, especially for young families. As a result, a lot of the
new residents in the Village consist of young families desiring to live in a "small town"
type of community.
Through all of the renovation and changes and surrounding neighborhoods, and
turnover, North Palm Beach has retained that "small town" atmosphere. The residents
feel very safe in our community. Everybody knows everybody else. We have one of the
finest libraries in the State, which is very popular with young and old. Our Public Safety
Department remains a very strong asset of the Village. The Department, while keeping
us all safe and free from crime, still remains an intregral part of all of our lives and a part
of all of our families. The Country Club remains a focal point of the Village with a lot of
community activities, whether that be in the form of golf, tennis, pool or restaurant
activities. The best evidence of how wonderful the Village remains and how attractive it
is to all ages, is the fact that there are many second, third, and even fourth generation
Village of North Palm Beach residents. People who grew up in the Village are regularly
staying or moving back to the Village to raise their families. That is the greatest evidence
of how the Village is maintaining its quality of life.
Although we have been very successful in maintaining that quality of life, it has not come
without many challenges. Some of those challenges we have or are facing include the
condition of our facilities. Being the 50th year of existence, a lot of our facilities over the
past several years, have been in need of substantial renovations or replacements. We
are in the process of updating and renovating such facilities, or providing new where
necessary. In this regard, we have provided new softball and baseball fields at the
Community Center and Osborne Park, along with new concession stands at both of
those facilities. This has allowed our Recreation Department to keep up with the
competition of new larger surrounding areas. We have also in the past several years,
built a new, state of the art Public Safety Building, which has become another focal and
gathering point of the community. This has enabled our Public Safety Department to
finally move out of the Village Hall complex, which they had long since outgrown. As a
result, we have also completely renovated Village Hall, bringing it up to date in terms of
technology and usefulness. The Country Club Clubhouse Facility was renovated several
years ago, which resulted in a rebirth in that facility as a focal point for village and
community activities. We built a new Activities Building at Anchorage Park that allows us
to meet the growing need for the Village residents to have places to meet. And finally, as
we speak, we are in the middle of a total renovation of our golf course. This renovation is
being spearheaded by none other than Jack Nicklaus, the greatest golfer of all time, the
greatest golf course architect of our time, and a beloved and loyal neighbor of the Village
for many, many years. We are all very excited about the prospect of this new Jack
Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, which is slated to re -open in November of this year.
Other challenges we are facing are from surrounding neighborhoods, and the impact
their development and/or problems have on us. Included in this is the competition we are
facing in hiring and maintaining our staff. This will be an ongoing challenge for many
years, as the surrounding neighborhoods are less developed and faster growing
communities than our wonderful Village. Finally, and not the least of our challenges, of
course, are our budgetary challenges. Energy costs, and personnel costs are rising
dramatically every year. Fortunately, property values over the past year have likewise
risen dramatically to help us keep up with the growing costs, but this will be a challenge
for the future, given, as stated, the fact that our Village is pretty well built out.
We have a very strong staff and council who work very, very hard to meet all of these
challenges. I believe everybody in the community will agree that the staff and council
have and continue to be very successful in meeting these challenges, and there is no
reason to believe that should change. We do see new projects and communities coming
on board within the Village, including a very large project on a part of the Monestary
Property, which should have a substantial, positive impact on any budget constraints in
the future. This project will hopefully be a long-standing successful project when you
read this letter. We also are continuing to explore annexation opportunities, which if
successful will help us tremendously with regard to our future. Finally, property values in
the Village continue to rise. All of these factors will ensure that we will meet these
challenges.
In summary, while we have evolved and grown up since our last anniversary celebration,
we all agree that we have been successful in maintaining our, uniqueness. We are and
remain one big family here in North Palm Beach, which family includes the citizens and
the Village staff. North Palm Beach continues to be "The Best Place To Live Under The
Sun". I am hopeful and confident that when this letter is being read, whether that be in
2031 or 2056, first, that my kids or grandkids will be residents, and second, that North
Palm Beach, will have been successful in maintaining its uniqueness and will still be
"The Best Place To Live Under The Sun".
orris,
Mayor •f North of Palm Beach