MY PROMISE​

Rachelle Litt has a proven record, leading Palm Beach Gardens with foresight, forethought and innovation. While on the City Council, she helped create and approve the City’s comprehensive Mobility Plan. The plan increases transit options, allowing residents to move around the city more easily and safely, getting cars off the road and providing a foundation for grant funding opportunities and developer funded improvements. 

As a result of the plan which Rachelle supported, eight million dollars in grant funding to address traffic, growth, and movability has already been secured.  Several projects, such as the crosswalk enhancements along Holly drive, have either been completed or started across the city.

Rachelle championed the Transit-Oriented Development district near The Gardens Mall which now provides affordable housing for hard-working families. She supports bringing future Tri-Rail and Brightline stations to the city.  Rachelle was part of the successful push for railroad crossing quiet zones and fought against unnecessary road and Turnpike expansions that would have harmed neighborhoods.

As Mayor, Rachelle fought the county’s plan to radically expand Northlake Boulevard to eight lanes and supported paying for an essential traffic light at Bayhill estates when the County refused to fund it. Rachelle’s record shows a clear vision that protects quality of life while pursuing smart, sustainable transportation options for the city’s future.

Rachelle believes responsible growth begins with clear standards and thoughtful design. 

She supports strong architectural, height, and layout requirements that ensure every new project fits the character, look, and feel of Palm Beach Gardens. Rachelle also believes city leaders must have the flexibility to go further—requiring more open space, green areas, public art, or gathering spaces when a project demands it.

She will continue to hold developers accountable to the highest design standards so that growth enhances, rather than overwhelms the city’s neighborhoods. At the same time, Rachelle will encourage environmental building practices and double down on her commitment to add new workforce housing units where possible.

While on the City Council, Rachelle supported redevelopment projects like PGA Station, Downtown Palm Beach Gardens, Midtown Palm Beach Gardens and a future project at I-95 to revitalize underused land. The addition of the Ritz Carlton Residences, another redevelopment project she supported, could potentially help keep property tax rates low by generating tax revenue that offsets the city’s growing demand for services and rising inflation.  She supported the developers of Avenir as they upheld their commitment to restore 2,500 acres of natural habitat and donate it back to the city as an environmental preserve. Rachelle supports enforcing strong design and zoning standards. She also believes in continuing her record of working with communities and developers to maintain flexibility when evaluating a new project.

Palm Beach Gardens is a $300 million city today—far more complex than it was 15 or 20 years ago.

Rachelle has the recent experience required to manage a city our size responsibly. During her six years on the Council, the city’s property tax rate was never raised. In fact, it was lowered several times.

She assured the city had significant reserves allocated to both the Budget Stabilization Fund and The Reserve Fund to weather any unforeseen expenses. This prevented having to increase tax rates on the residents.  Her financial stewardship enabled the city to reduce tax rates twice more in the years immediately following her service on Council. She helped pioneer an innovative financing plan using the penny sales tax as collateral for a $30 million bond—funding major community improvements like the new District Park, Tennis Center, and upgraded public safety facilities, all without costing residents an extra dime.

As future federal and state funding, as well as regulation remains uncertain, Rachelle’s record of creative, disciplined financial management is exactly the kind of leadership Palm Beach Gardens needs now.

Rachelle has consistently supported significant investment in world class parks and recreation spaces in the city because kids need safe spaces to play, families deserve places to gather, sports and recreation enrich lives at every age, and it makes good economic sense.

Parks and recreation opportunities in the city exploded during Rachelle’s time on the Council. Most of the recreation spaces in the city received a facelift and many more new projects were designed and approved with Rachelle’s input.

Rachelle has consistently supported the PBGYAA and its collaboration with the city to manage our youth sports leagues, giving them the best facilities possible to play on. 

Through an interlocal agreement with Palm Beach County, Rachelle, her fellow councilmembers, and city staff demonstrated how working together could create a world class park and soccer facility in the heart of our city.  Collaboration on a Public Private partnership with Cressy Sports has enabled our baseball league to access some of the finest training alongside collegiate and major league baseball players at Gardens Park. 

The Tennis Clubhouse and Tennis and Pickleball Center, The Lilac Pickleball Courts, The Nest Par 3 Municipal Golf Course, the Burns Road Recreation and Aquatic Center, along with the new Burns Road playground all were approved during Rachelle’s tenure. 

One of Rachelle’s most meaningful achievements was the interlocal agreement with The Miracle League of Palm Beach County to build a special needs baseball field at Gardens Park enabling children of all abilities to be able to participate in the sport. The special needs playground soon followed.

Parks and Recreation investment is not all fun and games.  Our world-class facilities along with our partnership with The Palm Beach County Sports Commission have led to an amazing surge in state, national and worldwide sports tourism to our city that is now having a significant economic effect on our local businesses and our city revenue.

City recreational facilities create an annual $24 million dollar boost to our local economy with an estimated $33 million dollar boost from the Cognizant Classic alone. Cressy sports accounts for $9 million dollars in economic impact to the city with many of their athletes choosing to reside in our area.

Significant revenues from sports tourism events add to city revenues which in turn allow for an increase in services at stable or decreased city tax rates. For example, Palm Beach Gardens North County District Park is the home to our youth soccer leagues and recently hosted Real Madrid, one of the hottest soccer teams in the world. It also hosted weeks of preseason training for two MLS clubs, Toronto Football Club and Nashville Soccer Club, along with the Uruguay Men’s national team. Palm Beach Gardens Park has been home to the Cal Ripken World Series and our tennis and pickleball courts have both hosted World Classic tournaments.

Palm Beach Gardens residents and businesses were top of mind for every decision Rachelle made while on the Council. This was never more evident than when she served on the City Council during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognizing a real need to assist businesses and residents during the shutdown, Rachelle supported the city’s Economic Recovery Act Grant Fund in the amount of $1.3 million dollars.  One million dollars was dedicated to a Small Business Relief Fund and $300,000 dollars to an Unemployed Residents Relief Fund.

Through these funds, the city provided critical financial support when it was needed most. A total of $988,895 dollars of grant money (grants do not need to be repaid) was awarded to sixty-nine Palm Beach Gardens small business so they could stay open and keep their employees paid.

Additionally, another $10,000 dollars was used for marketing to encourage residents to support local businesses during COVID. The Unemployed Residents Relief Fund served 1,248 residents by providing $312,000 dollars in Publix gift cards. Rachelle approved planning and zoning changes that helped our restaurants and many of our businesses stay open at that critical time.

Rachelle also supported the Community Development Block Grant Program which created the Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation Assistance Program, a program designed to preserve and extend the life of the existing housing stock by providing financial assistance to income eligible homeowners to make their housing more affordable. Her support extended to the Housing Rehabilitation Program, helping financially challanged homeowners maintain their property.

We all know that time is money and is in short supply. Rachelle supported the renovation and expansion of City Hall, including the upgrade and streamlining of our permitting processes. For our business owners and residents, this increases city efficiency, and decreases time spent.

Even today, she continues to fight for our businesses and residents as a Trustee of the Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce and through her involvement with many county and non-profit boards and committees.

Rachelle will continue to invest in public safety enhancements and personnel to keep our city one of the safest cities in the country.

This has always been and will continue to among Rachelle’s top priorities. Rachelle supports our first responders being paid competitively and having the equipment needed to do their job and be safe while doing it.

During her tenure on the City Council, Rachelle supported and voted for numerous major improvements to our city’s public safety.

Her record of supporting our first responders speaks for itself.

She supported the construction of the Fire Apparatus & Central Supply-Logistics Center, along with a new fueling station which provides a leg up on better maintenance and storage of vehicles.

She supported the construction of Fire Station Six at Avenir, improving response times and coverage for our western communities.  A major renovation at Fire Station One, which included the addition of a new Wellness Center was also approved and funded on her watch. The new center improves health outcomes which intern reduces sick days and improves job performance.

Rachelle voted for the construction of a new Fire Training Tower that now gives our crews, and crews from around the state, the training needed to be the best at what they do.

Finally, Rachelle voted for the renovation of the police department and the construction of a new state-of-the-art Tactical Training Center. The center is used by police departments and security personnel from around the country for training.  

During her six years on the City Council, Rachelle established a clear and consistent record of open communication and full transparency.

She was always accessible to residents, eager to provide information, answer questions, and explain the decisions being made on their behalf. Rachelle understands that residents deserve to know not only what their government is doing, but why—and she made sure that information was always available, honest, and easy to understand.

That same commitment to transparency will continue to guide her leadership.

Rachelle firmly believes that a government works best when it works for its people—when residents are informed, engaged, and aware of the many opportunities available to them in their city. Her dedication to open communication builds trust, strengthens community confidence, and ensures that Palm Beach Gardens remains a place where residents know their voices are heard and their interests come first.