BOCA RATON, Fla. (CBS12) — It was nearly a year ago when many West Boca residents rallied against a proposal to build more than 700 new residences on a golf course. They want to know: What’s the latest?
The answer: It could be “several years” before anything were to happen on the greens of the Boca Lago community. An application by homebuilder Lennar is undergoing review by Palm Beach County, an official said.
“There are significant issues that are still being addressed,” Whitney Carroll, the county’s planning, zoning and building executive director, told residents at a recent community forum. “So there is nothing going before the board for a vote anytime soon.”
Carroll was among the county officials answering residents’ questions during the forum hosted to discuss the controversial proposal for 762 residences on the Boca Lago golf course.
Carroll said, “We do not know when the building will begin. We honestly do not know because it’s still working its way through the process. It could be several years.”
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Lennar presented its plan early last year, pitching to build the community on nine of the 27 holes at 8665 Juego Way between State Road 7 and Florida’s Turnpike. More than 1,800 homes already exist at Boca Lago.
Elliot Cohen, a Lennar spokesperson, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that a revised project is possible, but for now, the original proposal still is coursing through the county’s review process. And in the meantime, Lennar has met with several neighborhoods, keeping an “ongoing dialogue” about the project, Cohen said.
“It’s a process you always go through, and it’s a process of compromise,” Cohen said. “We’re in the midst of taking into consideration everything people have said.”
Among the concerns about Lennar’s plan, many residents worry it could increase traffic and emergency-response times, and disrupt their quality of life. (Residents in other communities have raised similar concerns in recent years about other development projects proposed in western Palm Beach County.)
Thus, the primary purpose of the recent county forum was to “go through the issues of what is really confronting Boca Lago residents,” as County Commissioner Maria Sachs put it.
“We’re not going to argue about it. We’re going to be informed. We’re going to be informed because there’s nothing to be more fearful than not know knowing what’s going to happen,” she said.
Traffic
Sachs acknowledged some of the roads in the county are struggling to keep up with the county’s growth and corresponding addition of cars.
“Our roads in this area are failing. Right now, they’re failing,” she said.
At the forum, Motasem Al-Turk, the county’s traffic engineering division director, said several projects are “slated for improvements and added capacity” in the area around Boca Lago. These include:
— The intersection of Lyons Road and Palmetto Park Road.
— Widening Boca Rio Road between Glades Road and Palmetto Park Road.
— Widening Lyons Road from Palmetto Park Road to Southwest 18th Street from four to six lanes.
Sachs has said shovels shouldn’t go into the ground until proper infrastructure is in place, which has generated a debate about whether developers have the responsibility to consider sufficient infrastructure before building.
“Whether this project is approved or denied, we continue every year to look for additional changes and see where the demand is approaching the capacity and the improvements are needed,” she said at the forum.
Green space
Though Boca Lago’s landscape has been installed, the site does have about 2,000 species of trees. As part of its plan submitted to the county, Lennar proposed preserving about 80% of those trees.
“They’re trying to preserve those trees to the greatest extent possible. We’ll continue to work with them to ensure that number progresses,” said Timothy Haynes, a county resources protection division manager.
With any other native vegetation, the county would work with Lennar to preserve it at Boca Lago — if that isn’t possible, it could be relocated or mitigated, said Deborah Drum, the county’s environmental resources management director.
Developers’ attempts to build on a golf course is not new; golf course popularity, whether standalone or part of a residential community, has faltered in recent years, leading to a trend of developing more homes on unused courses.
Boca Lago Country Club General Manager Michelle Rolon told the Sun Sentinel said club membership is not mandatory for residents like how other golf clubs tend to be, so working with Lennar could be a way for the club to sustain itself going forward.
Most Boca Lago residents don’t pay for memberships, which is a huge part of why the club isn’t profitable, Rolon said.
“They want the beauty to surround them but they don’t want to support it,” Rolon said. “Having Lennar development or any other development would be a godsend, it’s what’s going to carry it into the future.”
Cohen described golf-course-related redevelopment in Palm Beach County as a two-pronged issue: Many golf courses have been unable to economically sustain themselves, and developable land in the county has severely dwindled.
This reality clashes with what some residents want for their neighborhoods. One Boca Lago resident said the community doesn’t “deserve” the addition of Lennar’s homes and all that will come with it.
“The quality of Boca is to be a green city, in my mind,” she said at the forum.
Smart Growth
While the incorporated parts of Palm Beach County tend to see greater population growth overall, the county’s unincorporated space has seen a steady population increase over the last 50 years, according to county data.
“We are busting out of our seams. Everybody wants to move here,” Sachs said. “I wish I could tell you that we’re going to build a wall around your place. People are coming, and they want any little piece of green space. So, I can’t stop it. I can’t stop people from coming in.”
Sachs pointed out how if Lennar hadn’t submitted a proposal to build on Boca Lago, another developer could have come along and done the same thing. But that reality doesn’t change the fact that developers can’t just build — every box of the county’s review process has to be checked, she said.While the incorporated parts of Palm Beach County tend to see greater population growth overall, the county’s unincorporated space has seen a steady population increase over the last 50 years, according to county data.
“We are busting out of our seams. Everybody wants to move here,” Sachs said. “I wish I could tell you that we’re going to build a wall around your place. People are coming, and they want any little piece of green space. So, I can’t stop it. I can’t stop people from coming in.”
Sachs pointed out how if Lennar hadn’t submitted a proposal to build on Boca Lago, another developer could have come along and done the same thing. But that reality doesn’t change the fact that developers can’t just build — every box of the county’s review process has to be checked, she said.
“I’m not doing this in 48 hours. Any developer who wants to come into Boca Lago to take your land or developing your land, yes, we’re going to make sure every one of these (county) directors is going to review it. And yes, it takes time. And that’s just the way we work. And that’s just the way it is,” she said.