The Town-Crier
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March 7 - March 13, 2014
Page 3
NEWS
NRI Institute Draws Lantana’s Ultrasound Medical Institute To RPB
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The NRI Institute of Health Sciences is adding a new component to its nursing school in the Royal Plaza shopping center in Royal Palm Beach. According to NRI Secretary/ Treasurer Dan Splain, an ultrasound program will soon join the facility. “NRI Institute, the nursing school that we opened in Royal Palm Beach last year, has been in talks with the Ultrasound Medical Institute, a 20-year-old accredited school in Lantana, to discuss how we might work together col-
laboratively to strengthen each other’s programs,” Splain told the Town-Crier. “As a first step, the Ultrasound Institute has made me the chief administrative officer of that company. One of the first things we are doing is to relocate the Ultrasound Medical Institute to Royal Palm Beach.” The school moved last weekend into Royal Plaza and began teaching classes with its existing student body on Monday in Royal Palm Beach. The village and Palm Beach County have both approved the move and issued the necessary business tax permits, Splain said. “Ultrasound, which this school
teaches, is the fifth-fastest-growing occupation in the country,” he said. Referring to the Bureau of Labor Statistics handbook, he said a 46-percent increase in ultrasound jobs is expected between now and 2022. The field has a median annual wage of about $65,000 a year. “We think it’s a very good educational program to bring to central Palm Beach County and Royal Palm Beach,” Splain said. “It kind of reaffirms our belief that this section of Palm Beach County is a very good place to be.” Once the school is established, he said, they will explore a number
of potential avenues, including a possible merger of the two schools later this year and development of new programs that might include a physical therapy assistant program. “Physical therapists and physical therapy assistants are in tremendously short supply in this country,” Splain said. Splain also pointed out that the existing nursing school is training people for another job field that is again in high demand, not just here, but across the nation. “Rural areas, including the Southwest, the Rocky Mountain West, and some of the exurban
areas of the upper Midwest and Southeast, are experiencing significant nursing shortages similar to what was seen in the mid-2000s,” he said. The new Ultrasound Medical Institute is in the same plaza but in a different location and address than NRI for now, Splain said. “We’re hoping later this year to merge them all,” he said. Ultrasound, or sonography, is a diagnostic tool used in different modalities, including obstetrics and gynecology, small organs and cardiology. Ultrasound Medical Institute has a 100 percent placement rate
of graduates, he said. “Most of the hospitals in Palm Beach County employ people who have graduated from this school over the last 20 years,” Splain said. The school is accredited by the Council on Occupational Education and participates in the federal student loan program. It also works with the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide educational benefits for veterans. For more information about the Ultrasound Medical Institute, visit www.sonogramcenter.com. For more information about the NRI Institute, visit www.thenriinstitute. com.
Council Assures Resident That Cypress Key Light Has Not Moved
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Royal Palm Beach Village Council last month assured a resident of the Cypress Head neighborhood that no final changes had yet been made to the site plan for the nearby Cypress Key mixed-use development — including the location of a planned traffic light. George Desimone of Waterview Way told council members Feb. 20 that he was concerned about possible changes in plans
Drysdale
Low Density Commercial Approved
continued from page 1 about the plans because they had signed a non-disclosure agreement. “We’re excited about the site plan, but we don’t want to get too bound up for now,” Drysdale said. “We want to bring that to you and address the floor-area ratio at that time.” He explained that his mother is self-employed as a real estate broker. “You probably know that real estate brokers do not have a retirement pension,” he said. “This property is mom’s retirement plan. Mom has lived in the town for 35 years, and 25 years ago she bought this land so that one day it could be her retirement, so I hope you would look upon her a little differently than if she were some developer out of Broward County
by new owners of the Cypress Key property. Desimone said that about a month ago, representatives from the Johnston Group had talked to residents about plans for a residential community to be built by K. Hovnanian on the back portion of the property. The commercial portion fronting Southern Blvd. was purchased by another company. “Signs have gone up that they are building the 147 homes in there, starting in the summer,”
Desimone said. “My big concern has always been about the traffic light and where it should be.” Desimone was not happy with the response from the new owners regarding the light. “At that meeting with the Johnston Group, they were pushing off where the light would be, like it wasn’t their responsibility,” he said. He recalled that the original Cypress Key owners had agreed to install a traffic light in the center of their development, away from the two roads used
by nearby residents for access to Southern Blvd. “It has been suggested that the light would be at the entrance to my community,” he said, referring to Cypress Head Avenue. “The thought for me as a homeowner there and a lot of my neighbors was that the light was approved by you guys to be at the entrance to the Cypress Key development.” Changing that would invite commercial pass-through traffic into his community, Desimone
told council members. Village Manager Ray Liggins said the development received site plan and plat approval to build the residential in the back and commercial in the front. “It is approved with the signal in the center of that development,” Liggins said. “There was a significant amount of money invested into the development of that property, and then it fell through. Since there was a significant amount of investment into that property, it is vested, so that
site plan is vested, it doesn’t expire. It just needs to be completed. To do anything different then what the approved site plan has, it would need to come through staff, and it would need to come through this council.” Liggins said the developer had had conversations with staff regarding the idea to move the light to Cypress Head Avenue. “I think they’ve heard a lot of opposition to doing that,” Liggins said. “So it is currently planned at the center of that property.”
coming up here to develop land.” Drysdale said they agreed to all the other conditions proposed by the Planning & Zoning Board, including: • A county traffic performance standards review, including a concurrency determination, to be completed at the time of site plan review. • Direct ingress and egress to a future commercial development from Tangerine Drive will be prohibited. • Rural Vista Guidelines, as directed by the council, will be incorporated within the development design. • PalmTran will be contacted during the site plan approval process to determine whether a bus shelter is needed. • A vegetative survey, including a native plant and habitat inventory, will be completed with site plan approval, including identification of preservation and/or mitigation. • Prior to submitting a site plan, the Roadways, Equestrian Trails &
Greenways Advisory Committee will be consulted regarding the incorporation of an equestrian trail within the development. Councilman Tom Goltzené asked whether the floor-area ratio is a reduced ratio or the maximum allowed for that parcel, and planning consultant Jim Fleischmann said it is the maximum allowed in the comp plan and zoning rules. “The issue I have now is if we don’t pick a number, or if we pick a number over 0.1, doesn’t that give everybody else in the corridor the opportunity to come and say, ‘Hey, you gave her more than you gave us?’” Goltzené asked. Fleischmann said the 0.1 floorarea ratio is very clear in the comp plan. “Point-one is the max,” he said. Town Attorney Michael Cirullo said the square footage of 28,532 could be removed from the conditions and the 0.1 floor-area ratio still would stand. “The only benefit of taking it out is the flexibility in case you allow
a greater ratio later,” Cirullo said. Goltzené pointed out that there are other small properties that could ask for the same thing if the council granted an exception to the Drysdales. Vice Mayor Ron Jarriel said he favored taking out the square footage, and Councilman Jim Rockett agreed, although he did not see how that would help. Drysdale said he would not be able to keep the developer interested with a 0.1 floor-area ratio on that small of a piece of property. “If you have 20 acres and you have 94,000 square feet, you can make any business plan work,” he said. Nancy Drysdale said she thought the developer’s plan would be something the town would want. “I don’t think there’s a member on this panel who will not be thrilled, and say demographically this fits for our town,” she said. Goltzené said he appreciated their request but that it’s similar to those made by other property owners.
“I’ve heard this pitch this very week from somebody wanting to put four houses to the acre, explaining to me that’s the only way it works,” he said. “Are we there yet? If we are as a town, OK. We’re open for business, let’s hang the sign. But otherwise, if we’re going to stick with what we did when we incorporated, we said we’re going to have low density, and we are in a way condemning ourselves to a lower economic condition. Certainly, CityPlace is a far greater use than a cow barn, but which is more Loxahatchee Groves?” Resident Ken Johnson pointed out that the Drysdale property is the Florida Department of Trans-
portation’s preference for one of several stormwater retention ponds as part of its plans to widen Southern Blvd., but Glen Drysdale said he and his mother are not willing sellers. FDOT is reluctant to employ eminent domain to obtain retention areas. “This property was ranked number one,” he said. “Number two and number three were ranked very close behind. She is not a willing seller, and the other two properties noted on the FDOT plan are willing sellers.” Goltzené made a motion to approve the land use amendment and the zoning ordinance without the specific square footage condition, which carried 5-0.
“Are we there yet? If we are as a town, OK. We’re open for business, let’s hang the sign,” Goltzené said. “But otherwise, if we’re going to stick with what we did when we incorporated, we said we’re going to have low density.”
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