THE MARTINO MINUTE
“Good government requires communication, openness, and accountability.”
IS LACK OF FAITH AND CONFIDENCE IN PBNAF MELTING AWAY THE ICE RINK?
Congratulations to the Palm Beach Gardens (PBG) voters of the March 11, 2025 city election who elected John Kemp as a Councilman. In my opinion, at the recent June 5th meeting, Mr. Kemp exhibited the communication, openness, and accountability skills that have long been absent from PBG council meetings. It was simply refreshing to see, hear, and observe.
Resolution 52, 2025 was the main issue of the evening. If approved it would amend the financial and construction milestone default dates approved by Resolution 21, 2024, Exhibit-C, by 90-days, from July 3, 2025, to October 3, 2025.
Resolution 21, 2024 with its attachments and exhibits, created a public-private partnership between PBG and the Palm Beach North Athletic Foundation (PBNAF), and was approved by the City Council in April of 2024. By voting to approve Resolution 21, 2024 the City Council commissioned the demolishment of a 60-year-old residential neighborhood park, Plant Drive Park, for an intense $53 million 125,000 sq. ft. indoor commercial recreational development of 2 professional-sized ice rinks with ancillary facilities.
At public comment, Palm Beach North Athletic Foundation (PBNAF) made a presentation as to why it deserved the 90-day extension to the milestone dates per Resolution 52, 2025. PBNAF presented a stark, AI-type video, that did nothing to enhance their presentation or stature. Their verbal presenters were less impressive than the video. The financial information/construction information presented was speculative and lacking in specificity. The PBNAF offerings, were uninspiring, flat, and not confidence building. Their performance conjures up questions! Why and how did PBNAF receive approvals in the first place? Why would PBG destroy an historical residential neighborhood park, Plant Drive Park, for a developer without any experience in building or managing anything? A developer who failed in 2022 to deliver a similar project.
Next to public comment was the resident neighborhood advocates for Plant Drive Park. Their comments were dignified, informative, knowledgeable and of obvious value to the City Council’s decision choice. The residents pointed out that PBNAF only recently attempted with some earnest to elicit the necessary $53 million in funds necessary to meet the coming July 3, 2025 deadline. This was substantiated by several emails between the City and PBNAF beginning May 2, 2025, revealing PBNAF asking for a 90-day extension to the approved Resolution 21, 2024 contract for the ice rink, at Plant Drive Park.
It was now the Council members turn in the process. Here, Mr. Kemp showed his bona fides. He asked tough, difficult, but fair questions based on his research, PBNAF information, public input, and as important as any, challenging questions to and for the City Administration. Councilman Kemp also revealed PBNAF was in default of Article 48 of the ice rink contract which required an audited financial report by May 31, 2025, be submitted to the City. Strangely, but a welcome change, other Council members entered the discussion with questions and verbal commentary. The results were a unanimous denial of Resolution 52, 2025. Thus, the financial and construction extensions were rejected. The PBG City Council finally said no to a developer.
My read of the contract suggests other possible contract breaches not discussed above. These are, Article 17.1.2 (termination events), Article 51.5 (unmet milestones), and Article 53 (Annual Meeting of P3 partners). All of these contract fissures allow Councilman Kemp to state (“…I’ve lost faith in this organization,”).
In approving this public-private partnership agreement with Resolution 21, 2024 and its Site Plan in January 2025 the City Council made a regrettable mistake that is correctible.
Termination of this P3 agreement is the solution.
THE MARTINO MINUTE is a community news site dedicated to reliable updates on local government events, politics, and culture. The platform informs readers with in-depth analyses and insightful opinions. Founded by Michael Martino, a 60-year resident of Palm Beach Gardens and retired owner of a 37-year-old small business, known as Family Flooring. He also served as a Palm Beach Gardens City Councilman and 12-term Mayor from 1972 to 1993. Mike also was President of the Palm Beach County League of Cities from 1991 to 1993.
