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By Marci Shatzman
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He wrote the books on downtown redesign, so Boca City Council and two former deputy mayors welcomed Jeff Speck on board as an additional consultant.
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Considered the ultimate city planner, Speck appeared briefly at Monday’s CRA downtown district meeting as a partner with Alta Planning & Design. Last year the city hired Alta, “that specializes in safe and innovative transportation solutions… to revision East Palmetto Park Road in downtown Boca,” according to the city’s description. Speck Dempsey is a Boston-based city planning, transportation and urban design firm.
“Now we have a great team in place to design a charette,” a community feedback session, Deputy Mayor Fran Nachlas said. She urged “more collaboration” with Terra & Frisbie Group, the city chose for a public-private partnership on the proposed government master plan downtown.
Scott Singer, Boca’s mayor, encouraged “a holistic approach” with Alta and Terra & Frisbie going forward. City council sits as CRA commissioners. Marc Wigder is the new CRA chair.
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Former elected official Monica Mayotte said in the public session she was “overjoyed Mr. Speck will be in on this process.” Andrea Levine O’Rourke, another former public official now involved with Workshop 344 to redesign downtown’s walkability and connectivity, agreed. “Let’s look at this as one downtown,” she said about combining both initiatives. Speck thanked city officials for the vote of confidence.
“We’re going backwards. We should have hired him. We’re wasting money,” architect Juan Caycedo said at the public comment session during the CRA meeting. “How many months has (Alta) collected data and we’re getting nothing. He will help us navigate through this process.