“I have a better chance of bringing the Israelis and Palestinians together for a solution,” said a County Commission in Florida’s Palm Beach County as an anticipated vote to finally end the fight between developers and residents over what to do with the closed golf course near Boca Raton was pushed back to June.
The nine-year fight between developers and residents over what to do with the closed Mizner Trail golf course near Boca Raton, Fla. will drag on even longer, Palm Beach County commissioners decided on March 27, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
That’s because commissioners opted to once again delay a vote—this time until June—on a controversial 288-home development plan for the 130-acre golf course that snakes through the Boca Del Mar neighborhood, the Sun Sentinel reported.
The idea is to give the developer, Compson Mizner Trail Inc., and the nearby residents who object to the building plans even more time to reach a compromise. But through the years, delay hasn’t helped end the golf course stalemate, the Sun Sentinel noted, and as a result, many involved don’t see what adding three more months to the debate will accomplish.
“I have a better chance of bringing the Israelis and Palestinians together for a solution,” said County Commissioner Steven Abrams, who failed at previous attempts to broker a compromise between the developer and residents. He opposed another delay for the “incredibly frustrating project,” the Sun Sentinel reported.
Developers have been angling to build new homes on the old fairways and putting greens ever since the golf course closed in 2005, it was noted. But many residents there object to the potential influx of traffic and noise, in addition to losing golf course views and open spaces they thought would always remain.
Public backlash in 2006 stopped plans for building 202 homes on the old golf course, the Sun Sentinel reported, and in 2011 commissioners also rejected a proposal to build 291 homes on the land.
In January, the County Commission delayed a decision on the latest 288-home building plan, hoping residents and the developer would reach a compromise.
But the two sides failed to strike a deal, and after about seven hours of back-and-forth debate at Thursday’s County Commission meeting, commissioners opted to once again give them more time to try.
“It would be better to give them a chance to work it out one more time,” said Commissioner Shelley Vana, who pushed for the delay.
Toward the end of Thursday’s meeting, the Sun Sentinel reported, the developers proposed reducing their building plans down to 258 homes and agreed to meet with opponents to try to strike a deal.
“This is a problem that desperately needs a solution,” said Martin Perry, an attorney representing the developer.
But in the weeks leading up to the commission meeting, the Sun Sentinel reported, Compson Mizner Trail Inc. rejected a $1 million bid from a neighborhood group to buy the golf course property, as well as a counter proposal that called for allowing up to 202 new homes.
Residents who spent weeks filling County Commission e-mail inboxes with their opposition to building plans, and all day Thursday filling the County Commission chambers, wanted commissioners to take a yes or no vote, the Sun Sentinel reported.
The proposed Mizner Trail building plans would “shoehorn development” onto land that was always intended to remain a golf course or open space, according to Peter Sachs, an attorney for the Boca Del Mar Improvement Association, which represents residents.
“That is outrageous,” resident Dale Haley said about the development plans that would fill in a lake behind his home. “We are going to fight this.”
Voting against the development Thursday may have stopped the proposed 288 homes, the Sun Sentinel reported, but it wouldn’t have resolved what becomes of the overgrown property that has spawned code enforcement complaints, County Commissioner Hal Valeche said.
Also, developers could eventually file a new building proposal, commissioners said.
“We are going to have this perpetual eyesore there,” said Valeche, who supported the delay. “We are just going to have a big problem going forward.”
The 288-home proposal before commissioners Thursday included plans for 140 zero-lot-lined houses, 42 townhouses and 106 condominiums or apartments, the Sun Sentinel reported.
Developers had made changes to the proposal in recent weeks, opting to include the buildings for condominiums or apartments instead of additional townhomes, in a move aimed at increasing landscaped buffer areas and leaving more portions of old fairways as open space.
About 90 acres of the property would remain as open spaces that developers said they are willing to turn over to the neighborhood, the Sun Sentinel reported.
The golf course has been part of the neighborhood since it was built in the 1970s, but a deed restriction for the land to remain a golf course expired in 2012. The landowners closed the golf course in 2005, saying a drop in play and competition from other nearby courses no longer made it financially feasible.
Opponents to building plans contend that the golf course was allowed to deteriorate because the landowners wanted to development the property. Many neighbors paid extra for homes with golf course views and they say that, despite the expired deed restriction, the original plans for Boca Del Mar called for the land to remain a golf course or open space, the Sun Sentinel reported.
They favor turning the property into a park if the golf course can’t be revived. “I paid a premium for my home,” said resident Maryellen Lurie, who said approving the development on the land would be a “violation of public trust.”
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