West Palm Beach is growing rapidly. Growth can strengthen our city, but only when it is supported by credible data, adequate infrastructure planning, transparent decision-making, and meaningful public participation.

This petition was launched in May 2026 in response to the proposed Downtown Master Plan Update. In only a few months, more than 5,400 people signed, calling for independent studies, waterfront protection, transparency, and a meaningful public voice. As the City’s proposals and review process have evolved, our objectives have become broader and more precise.

The Downtown Master Plan Update remains an immediate and important test of responsible planning, but the principles at stake apply to major development decisions throughout West Palm Beach.

Save West Palm Beach is a grassroots, resident-led coalition advocating for responsible growth, transparent decision-making, fact-based planning, and meaningful public participation. We believe West Palm Beach can grow while protecting the livability, neighborhood character, historic fabric, local businesses, public spaces, waterfront, and long-term identity that make our city special.

We are not asking the City to stop growth. We are asking the City to plan for growth before approving significant additional height or density.

We call on the Mayor and City Commissioners of West Palm Beach to:

1. Require independent cumulative-impact analysis
Before adopting the Downtown Master Plan Update or approving other proposals that would allow significant additional height or density, the City should commission and publicly release credible, independent analysis of the cumulative effects of development already approved, under construction, under review, and reasonably foreseeable.

That analysis should evaluate traffic and mobility, water and sewer capacity, stormwater and flood resilience, parking, public safety, emergency access, utilities, and other public services. It should also account for reasonably foreseeable development that may proceed under Florida’s Live Local Act.

2. Make the facts public and understandable
The City should publish proposed zoning changes, maps, studies, data, assumptions, projected development capacity, and promised public benefits in clear language, with enough time for residents and decision-makers to understand and evaluate them before hearings and votes.

3. Plan before adding height or density
Significant additional height or density should not be approved unless the City has demonstrated that existing infrastructure and public services can support it or has adopted a funded plan, with clear timelines and accountability, for the improvements that growth will require.

Any infrastructure improvements or public benefits used to justify additional height or density should be specific, measurable, legally enforceable, and publicly tracked.

4. Keep the 25-story Flagler Drive height incentive out
The City should stand by its public representation that the proposed 25-story height incentive along Flagler Drive was removed from the Downtown Master Plan Update. It should not be restored through boundary changes, property-by-property exceptions, or another mechanism.

The City cannot say the incentive is gone and then rebuild it one exception at a time.

5. Give the public a genuine seat at the table
Residents should receive complete information and a meaningful opportunity to help shape major proposals early enough to influence them, not simply react after recommendations have been made or approvals are already underway.

6. Adopt and enforce protections for the waterfront and Flagler Drive
The City should adopt and enforce clear, durable ordinances and zoning standards protecting the public waterfront and properties along North and South Flagler Drive, from Lakeview Avenue north to North Quadrille Boulevard.

These protections should establish firm standards governing height, density, building massing, and setbacks; preserve public access, waterfront character, and neighborhood livability; and prevent those safeguards from being weakened through boundary changes, property-by-property exceptions, or similar loopholes.

We urge the City to apply these standards to the Downtown Master Plan Update before it is adopted and to major development decisions throughout West Palm Beach.

Responsible planning is not anti-growth. It is how we ensure that growth strengthens our community without overwhelming our infrastructure or diminishing the qualities that make West Palm Beach distinctive.

Please sign this petition if you believe West Palm Beach should plan for cumulative growth, protect its waterfront and neighborhoods, make decisions transparently, and give the public a genuine voice in shaping the city’s future.

OUR CITY. OUR FUTURE. OUR VOICE.

For current information, public meeting dates, and contact information for City leaders, visit
https://www.savewestpalmbeach.org/

PLEASE DO NOT DONATE ON CHANGE.ORG!!! TO DONATE GO TO SAVEWESTPALMBEACH.ORG/DONATE.