Palm Beach mayor wants boost in landmark program budget

Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio, Frank Coniglio
Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio, Frank Coniglio

As the South Florida housing market recovers, the speed of new residential development has picked up, and with it, the pace of demolitions. And those demolitions are prompting Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio to recommend that the Town Council increase the landmarks program’s roughly $155,000 annual budget to quicken the preservation process.

Over the last 35 years many historic homes in Palm Beach have been lost to demolition and the mayor is receiving wide spread support for her efforts to save historic buildings, according to the Palm Beach Post.

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The landmark program currently has an annual budget of $154,429, or less than 1 percent of the town’s $65.4 million annual budget. That budget allows the board to evaluate about 10 structures each year.

“Without adequate funding, the very foundation of Palm Beach will be chipped away, demolition by demolition, its brilliance dimmed by avoidable loss, its lustre tarnished by homogenized commercial structures and mega-mansions destined for endless cycles of demolition and development,” Anne Pepper, an officer with the Neighborhood Alliance of Palm Beach, said. [PBP] Christopher Cameron