CBS12 News Team

Lake Worth group petitioning to put a ceiling on building height

LAKE WORTH, Fla. -- Voters in one South Florida city may get to decide if they want to limit the height of buildings in and around downtown. The issue could be placed on the November ballot in Lake Worth. One group is doing a petition drive and collecting signatures to get it on the ballot. But they don't have much time.

It's mid-July, and some people in Lake Worth are spending their free time knocking on doors, ringing doorbells, and getting folks to sign their petition. Their goal is to get 1,500 signatures, and they're doing everything they can to make it happen, within the next ten days.

Steve Ellman, a freelance writer, isn't getting paid a nickel for this. But the Lake Worth resident says he feels like he's got to do something.

Steve Ellman: We're gathering signatures for a petition to put a referendum on the ballot in the fall.

Ellman is a volunteer for a group called Respectful Planning Lake Worth. The group wants to get 1,500 signatures to clear the way for a ballot issue in November, so that voters can decide if they want to put a height limit on buildings.

Steve Ellman: I think Lake Worth has a special character and a special flavor and I think that would best be preserved by limiting the vertical development in the downtown corridor.

The area in Lake Worth they're focusing on stretches for about 15 blocks. Between A Street and F Street the buildings could be no higher than 35 feet, and buildings would be limited to 45 feet high in the area between F Street and Golfview Road near the Intracoastal Waterway.

Some say a building height limit is needed to prevent the downtown area from becoming what they call "a condo canyon."

Suzanne Mulvehill, Lake Worth commission: You really wouldn't get to see the sky, and you'd see a lot of shadows, which it changes the whole character of your downtown.

So for the past couple of weeks, a small army of volunteers have been hitting the streets, trying to get enough registered voters to sign their petition. So far they have about a thousand signatures, and need 500 more.
What do voters think of a building height limit?

Kim Koslow/Lake Worth: I think it's great, I think they should limit the building heights. It keeps it small town, it keeps it simple.

Nathan Brunet/Lake Worth: If we expand Lake Worth too much it's gonna become just another large city. I kinda like it where it's a small homey city, makes you feel more comfortable.

Mulvehill says they have until July 23 to get the 1,500 signatures to get the issue on the November ballot. She says they're planning a meeting tomorrow morning to, as she puts it, "re-energize" the volunteers who are trying to get this done.

Friday, July 13 2012, 11:27 PM EDT

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