Margate Joins 13 Broward Cities in Platinum Permitting Processes
In response to private sector feedback indicating cities across Broward are cumbersome in commercial permitting processes, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, an economic development engine for the county, introduced a program last year that made permitting for office and industrial uses more transparent and client-friendly for cities.
“We encountered the same comments again and again. Complaint after complaint about permitting processes everywhere. It seemed to be inhibiting entrepreneurship, business expansion and relocation - and adding costs to doing business,” Mason Jackson, CEO WorkForce One* told Margate Commissioners at the March city meeting. “Small, potentially employment generating companies said they sometimes ran out of capital while waiting for permit approvals.”
Article Amended 4-3-2012
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City Spares ‘Secondhand Stores’ in Moratorium on Business Uses
As part of long-range plans to address the saturation of certain commercial markets in the Margate Community Redevelopment Area (CRA), city commissioners approved an ordinance on first reading Wednesday that would prohibit additional pawn shop and automobile repair shop uses along the city’s State Road 7 Transit Oriented Corridor (TOC).
Also included in the ordinance was a provision prohibiting secondhand retailers, but commissioners removed it pending a more narrow definition of the use.
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Article Amended 3-12-2012
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Global Response Promotes Quality of Work Life
In a day and age when finding good help isn’t easy, more employers have recognized the need to promote a quality work environment. Open door policies, flextime and childcare are the new norm in the modern workplace, and along with competitive pay and benefits a culture of promoting from within has proven effective in attracting and retaining skilled workers.
“Our employees stay with us because we reward good work, offer exceptional benefits and make a sincere effort to respond to their needs,” said Steve Majeski, Marketing Director for Global Response, a brand care call center in Margate. “Some people have worked with us 20 years and more. We’re like family here.”
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Attention Small Business Owners! Employment Practices Liability Insurance Could Save Your Livelihood
It can happen to any business. A misunderstanding in the break room, an innocent compliment to an employee or altogether complicated workplace mess fueled by accusations of discrimination, sexual harassment or wrongful termination – they can all play out to cost a small business owner up to a $100,000 in legal fees or more, said commercial insurance specialist, Jennine Taitt of JW Insurance in Margate.
“Even if a claim is baseless or fraudulent, defending against an employment practices lawsuit is time consuming, frustrating and expensive,” Taitt told MargateNews.net.
Learn more...
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Commissioner McLean’s Tiki Bar Under Investigation by Florida ABT
After a tipster notified MargateNews.net regarding the potential illegal sale of alcoholic beverages at Dave’s Tiki Bar 238 N State Road 7 in Margate, we contacted the Division of Alcohol, Beverages and Tobacco to verify the claim.
“All we can say at this time is an active investigation is in progress,” said an ABT enforcement representative over the phone.
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Margate Sign Code Meets Modernity: P&Z Board Approves Proposed Changes
As part of an effort to make it easier for Margate small businesses to be seen by passing motorists and pedestrians, the Margate Planning and Zoning Board (P&Z) unanimously approved a series of sign code changes at their December meeting, effectively passing them off to city commissioners for final approval.
“The changes are designed to be more business friendly,” Associate City Planner, Andrew Pinney told the Board. “Based on recommendations from the Chamber of Commerce and input from workshops with the commission, staff recommends approval.”
Read about sign code changes…
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City Takes Steps to Modernize Sign Codes
After a series of meetings over the course of months, City of Margate officials and the city’s Chamber of Commerce agreed on numerous changes to the city’s sign code in order to improve roadside exposure for Margate small businesses. City and Chamber leaders met at a special city commission meeting earlier in the month to discuss potential sign law revisions.
In surveying Margate’s commercial landlords, tenants, motorists and commercial real estate professionals, and conducting independent research in city quadrants, the Chamber’s 10-person sign committee made recommendations to city leaders, many of which will be codified most likely by year’s end, said Chamber of Commerce President John Francis.
“We’re very pleased,” Francis told MargateNews.net. “The city is acting on the majority of suggestions made by the Chamber sign committee and it appears commissioners are pleased and excited about the changes.”
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Board of Adjustment Paves Way for Jobs in Margate
The Spielman family owns Coco Center in Margate. After the recession hit and Wyndham Vacation Resorts pulled out of the Center last year, taking with it 83 jobs and sucking the life out of outparcel outlets, the 'landlord business', said Jerry Spielman, has been anything but fun.
Things are looking up. Margate’s Board of Adjustment last week approved the creation of more parking spaces for Coco Center, putting the finishing touches on the landlord’s deal with Saveology, an online comparison shopping destination scheduled to occupy more than 80,000 square feet in the Center.
The home services company will bring an initial 550 jobs to Margate, along with an additional 700 over the next three years.
Article updated 11-29-2011
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Email from Lester's Diner
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City to extend outdoor café licenses to neighborhood plazas
As a means of attracting restaurants and cafes to the city, Margate’s Development Review Committee (DRC) Thursday gave the okay to move forward with allowing sidewalk cafes in Margate strip malls located in B-1 Business Districts.
Malls include Royal Palm Plaza at 7432 Royal Palm Boulevard across from Temple Beth Am, and the Neighborhood Center Plaza at 76 Avenue across from Oriole Golf & Tennis.
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Chamber of Commerce thanks local businesses and residents for successful raffle event
Hundreds turned out for the Chamber of Commerce raffle Tuesday in support of Margate small business. The Margate Chamber participated in the city’s National Night Out, a yearly event held at the Margate Sports Complex in celebration of police and citizens working side-by-side to fight crime.
Forty-nine residents won prizes donated by local area businesses, ranging from lunch and dinners for two; to salon treatments, massages, oil changes, frozen custard, gift baskets, bottles of wine, organic tobacco and more.
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Chamber of Commerce calling on Margate shoppers, consumers and motorists to critique business signs in the city
One of the outcomes of a recent business sign workshop in the city was to solicit input from business owners and operators in Margate regarding how city sign laws impact their business. Having already sent surveys to city landlords, tenants and business brokers and managers, the Margate Chamber of Commerce is asking consumers and motorists in Margate to answer eleven questions regarding sign visibility in the city, window signs, truck signs, neon, pole signs and sign colors.
In the less than two minutes it takes to answer the survey, you’ll be playing an active role in helping the city determine whether changes to the city’s sign code are needed.
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Take Survey
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Downtown Margate Welcomes Custom Cake Maker
With a combined 40 years baking expertise under their belts, Richie Brown and partner Felicia Poole specialize in the “Personal Cake Experience.” They recently opened Unique Specialty Cakes in the Chevy Chase Plaza at 5740 Margate Boulevard where the two craft custom cakes by hand.
“We can make any type of cake people want,” Poole told MargateNews.net. “Any shape, any theme. We’re experts in free-hand cake making and work comfortably outside conventional stencils and molds.”
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Mobile Food Vending Alive and Well in Margate
Margate resident Jimmy Devizio is a plumber during the week. On weekends, the New Jersey native fuels-up his converted New York City meter maid cart and hits the road selling Italian-style hotdogs to businesses along Margate’s State Road 7 corridor. He calls his mobile operation “A Taste of the Old Neighborhood.”
What’s an Italian-style hot dog? It’s a hotdog smothered in fried peppers, onions and potatoes wedged in an Italian roll or pizza bread and topped with vegetables. As history dictates, the Italian hotdog was invented by James “Buff” Racioppi founder of Jimmy Buffs in Newark, New Jersey in 1932. Some New Jerseyans say it’s their state’s answer to the Philly Cheesesteak.
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Sidewalk sales made easier in Margate
Because sidewalk sales are considered 'outdoor events' in Margate City Code, they must pass through the same Development Review process as food festivals, radio broadcasts or other types of sidewalk-related promotions retailers use to attract attention to their storefronts. This means a retailer must appear before the city’s Development Review Committee (DRC) as part of the permitting process, a cumbersome ordeal for city officials and retailers alike.
Margate city staff proposes making it easier for retailers by separating sidewalk sales in city code and approving the pedestrian event administratively and without DRC review.
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Margate making it easier for businesses to have sidewalk sales
Because sidewalk sales are considered 'outdoor events' in Margate City Code, they must pass through the same Development Review process as food festivals, radio broadcasts or otherwise live entertainment. This means the applicant must appear before the city’s Development Review Committee (DRC), which can be cumbersome for both city officials and applicants.
Margate city staff proposes to change this. First by separating sidewalk sales in city code, then by approving events through a simple ‘application and administrative approval’ process – no DRC review.
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Margate to regulate "Human Signs" on City Streets
In response to safety concerns by Margate police and residents, ‘human signs’ were brought before the city’s Planning and Zoning Board for regulation on April 5th. The objective, said planning officials, is to prohibit human signs on traffic medians and to outlaw the distracting movement of signs that present potential dangers to motorists.
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Reader Opinion
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'Tiki Bar' oasis pops up on busy Margate street
All in about two blocks just south of Atlantic Boulevard on State Road 7 in Margate you can fix your car, shop for knick-knaks, eat Italian, eat Cuban, eat Wendy’s, find a cobbler and arm yourself with a Magnum at the pawn shop. You can even shop for diamonds and jewelry within 50 yards of the bustop.
Now imagine sitting under the cool of Margate’s first street-side Tiki bar. Sipping on Chardonnay, slurping oysters and pounding ‘peel and eats’ like there’s no tomorrow. You can at “Tiki Bar” 238 North State Road 7, located in one of the city’s busiest business districts.
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Revised Margate Sign Code Takes Effect: A Boost for Commercial Landlords and Tenants in the City
Changes to Margate’s sign code have been long awaited. Sign laws in the city haven’t been closely examined since the late 1990s, and even then Margate sign laws were more reactive than proactive: responding not to the needs of businesses and consumers in the city, but to the whims of decision makers disturbed by dilapidated pole signs, broken neons and inconsistencies with sign code compliance.
Based on outreach conducted by the Margate Chamber of Commerce and feedback obtained from city workshops, Margate officials approved revisions to the city’s antiquated sign code in January, making it more attractive for small business to open in the city and for landlords to rent space.
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Millionaires rolling into Aztec Luxury RV Park in Margate
What was once a trailer park in Margate destroyed by Hurricane Wilma in 2005, Aztec on State Road 7 is now a luxury RV resort where French Canadians park their Class-A Provo and Liberty Coach RVs to enjoy the best months out of the year in Florida.
Under construction for over a year, Aztec finally got cleared for occupancy this month. The sales office is busy and about fifty luxury rigs have already pulled in.
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CRA funds working to improve look of Margate transit corridor
As part of ongoing efforts to spruce up Margate’s commercial district along State Road 7, the Margate Community Redevelopment Agency offers dollar-for-dollar grants to commercial landlords looking to improve building facades and beautify parking lots and street frontage.
Several Margate landlords have applied for these grants and one project is close to completion.
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City cracking down on Commercial Code Violators
When Lutchman “Kris” Singh applied to Margate’s Development Review Committee (DRC) for a special use permit to add auto repair to his list of services at Autotronics, little did he know his whole building would come under scrutiny.
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Aztec Luxury RV Resort to have lasting impact on Margate economy
As part of preparing the French Canadian motorcoach paradise for occupancy in November, more than 150 workers have been employed onsite in recent months at the Aztec Luxury RV Resort in Margate, located at 1-A Sundial Circle.
According to developer, Jean-Guy Sylvain, lot owners and visitors at the resort will spend between $50K and $70K locally during their six-month stay in Margate each year.
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Margate Cigar Shop offers locals special smoke
Match a fine cigar with a glass of Pinot Noir -- or maybe a Chimay; a creamy Belgian Ale handcrafted by Trappist Monks.
Find it all at Margate's Smoke Inn VI located at 7328 Royal Palm Boulevard where partners Marc Weiss and Salvatore Russo have constructed a cigar lover’s paradise ala walk-in humidor, corporate smoking lounge and reasonably priced fine wines and beers.
Click here to read more.
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Margate CRA fraught with tenant issues
Margate’s Community Redevelopment Agency, landlord to commercial tenants in the Ace Hardware and Chevy Chase Plazas, have had a rough time of it lately, not only getting tenants to pay their rent, but trying to keep businesses in the plazas from leaving.
“One one hand when we try to be nice and try to help the businesses out, we take a beating,” said MCRA Executive Director, Frank Porcella, “and then when help the businesses out--we take a beating. It’s like a no win,” Porcella posited at the MCRA meeting March 8.
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Vendor Report: Festival Marketing
The majority of vendors attending this year’s 2nd Annual Margate Street Festival a week ago Sunday reported success in varying degrees. Some, like Laura Kerr of Margate's Hair Refuge, did extremely well, she said.
“It’s all in how you work it.”
Click here to read more.
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Commissioner McLean says MargateNews.net got it wrong
Margate City Commissioner, David McLean, said allegations made by MargateNews.net that his bar was closed by the Florida Division of Alcohol, Beverage and Tobacco were false.
Yes, he was on the state's no sale list, McLean told MargateNews.net outside city chambers Wednesday night and yes, his bar is now closed.
No, he wasn’t shut down.
“I sold it,” McLean said.
Click here to read more.
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Margate Chamber of Commerce under New Leadership
Long-time Margate Chamber of Commerce board member John Francis of famed Mr. G’s Restaurant has been elected the Chamber's new President. Formed in 2003, the Margate Chamber of Commerce is poised to be a driving force behind Margate small business moving forward.
Click here to read more.
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Margate Psychic: Couldn’t they see it coming?
No one likes to see a small business fail. But some do, and from each failure comes a lesson for the rest of us. In the case of the now defunct Margate Psychic Shop, the lesson is that we have to continually plan, whether we’re a start up or have been in business for years.
Click here to read more.
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SCORE sets up shop in Margate
SCORE, America’s Small Business Counselors of the SBA, has set up shop in Margate and is providing small business workshops to area entrepreneurs in search of improving operational efficiencies and boosting marketing efforts.
The Margate Community Redevelopment Agency (MCRA) has donated office and workshop space in kind to SCORE, enabling the organization to expand its scope of services to North Broward businesses.
SCORE now shares space with the Margate Chamber of Commerce in the Thrift Addiction shopping center at the east end of Margate Boulevard. Call 954-356-7263 for more information.
Click here to read more.
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Business Interruption Insurance
With the worst of hurricane season ahead of us, and violent storms swirling in the tropics right now, Margate insurance agent Rick Waldman asks small business owners in the city:
“Given the current economy, can you and your employees afford to unexpectedly close for a week, maybe two?”
Storm Tracker
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Small Business Lending Drying Up
The Small Business Office of Advocacy has recently released its report to the President and it isn’t very rosy. Small Business lending remains tight, and although SBA loan guarantees have increased, fewer local lenders are participating in SBA loan programs.
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State of the Restaurant Economy
The restaurant business is changing fast, say marketing analysts. Customer demographics are shifting, and operators looking at long term success need to read the writing on the wall ASAP.
Click here to read more.
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Margate Commissioner Buys Local Bar
Once the proud owner of Margate’s Ale House Rock Café, Margate Commissioner Dave McClean recently purchased the Recovery Room Beer & Music Hall at 2160 Mears Parkway in Margate.
McClean was well-known in the area for his Friday night Elvis Review at Ale House Rock, drawing Elvis impersonator fans from all over Broward County. He owned it for a few years until Margate’s Community Redevelopment Agency (MCRA) purchased the plaza where the bar was located, presenting a conflict of interest to a city commissioner who also sat on the MCRA Board as a landlord to the property.
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Luxury RVs could stimulate Margate economy
Margate may a get break in an otherwise downtrodden economy if the city approves a luxury RV resort at the vacant Aztec Estates mobile home park on State Road 7 just south of Southgate Boulevard.
RV parcels in the proposed 106-acre, 646 lot community will sell for between $110,000 and $300,000, bringing much needed ad valorem tax dollars to Margate and a significant boost in business to area restaurants, retail and professional services. RVs occupying the lots will be Class A, ranging in price from $200,000 to $2 million.
Click here to read more.
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Margate Ace is the Place
We caught Pete Toemmes coming out of Margate’s Ace Hardware on what first glance is a fascinating transportation alternative to both motorcycles and cars.
It’s a Cam Am Spyder, says Pete, a “reverse trike” available from Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) out of Canada. Pete said he used to ride a Harley but the wife would never get on back. Things have changed since he introduced a Spyder into their relationship, and with ABS brakes, vehicle stability control and electric assist power steering, they’re both riding around town having fun.
Click here to read more.
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What's in the Stimulus for Margate Business?
Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the Stimulus) allocates roughly $20 billion to the SBA (Small Business Administration) to lend to American small business. Relief will come in the form of fee reductions for existing SBA loans, higher SBA guarantee limits and help with existing debt payments. SBA loan expansions include grants for technology, more funding to the microloan program and a build-out of the SBA’s flagship 7(a) and 504 loan programs for hard assets like real estate.
Click here to read more.
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How Not to Run your Business
St. Phelomene Botanica appears to be some kind of religious artifact / worship establishment that has been doing business for some time in what is now the Payless Food plaza at the end of Margate Blvd. Neighboring business owners are at a loss for words over what exactly this business does. “I hardly ever see anyone in there,” said one local.
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Survival of the Fittest
The down economy is pounding Margate small business like a hammer. From restaurants to retail, professional office to healthcare, Margate entrepreneurs are challenged with guarding market share, improving efficiencies and exploring new ways to generate revenue. Who will rise from the rubble when the dust clears? This depends on your strategy, say analysts.
Click here to read more.
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