Pompano sets vote on Palm Aire special recreation tax
district
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Article
Courtesy of the Sun Sentinel
By
Linda
Trischitta
Published
June 26, 2008
POMPANO
BEACH
- The Palm Aire Special Recreation Tax District is another step closer to
reality after the City Commission approved an ordinance Tuesday that
places the proposal on the Aug. 26 ballot.
Vice Mayor George Brummer, a booster of the tax district, said if the five
golf courses that surround the 600-acre Palm Aire development are ever for
sale, residents would have an entity to purchase the land.
Under the plan, voters must approve every step in the process, including
electing a board of supervisors, purchasing land or financing acquisitions
with bonds.
If the referendum passes, prospective board members would be on the Nov. 4
ballot. If that slate of officials is approved, Brummer said it was likely
that the new board would tax property owners $15 to $20 to create a
checking account for the district.
Then,
everyone waits.
"If this happens, the people of Palm Aire are masters of their own
fates," Brummer said. "If they decide those golf courses are
threatened with change to another use, they have the option of saying yes
or no. If they want it and want to preserve what they have, they'll be
willing to spend the money to do it."
Robert Eisengrein, president of the Oasis at Palm Aire Association, sought
to have Oasis' 167 homeowners secede from the project. Those homeowners
were among the 20 percent of Palm Aire's approximately 6,900 registered
voters in 23 associations that did not contribute $20 each to the
district's startup fund.
"From our standpoint, the concerns for creating the district are
already protected by processes and addressed by the existing city and
county
Palm
Aire land use plans," Eisengrein said. "If the commission in its
wisdom sees fit to approve the establishment of such a district, we are
not opposed as long as we are excluded from it."
Brummer and Mayor Lamar Fisher tried to dissuade Eisengrein of his
confidence in the status quo.
"You could have different faces here [on future Commissions],"
Fisher said. "Land use restrictions could be changed."
Commissioner Rex Hardin tried to amend the ordinance to include the wishes
of the Oasis residents but he was not supported by his colleagues who
unanimously passed the law.
Oasis resident Valmore Lucier joined Eisengrein to present a petition
signed by 122 of their neighbors who oppose joining the district. Lucier
feared that buying the golf courses would be too expensive for retirees,
even for those who may still wish to prevent homes from being built on
green space.
"People don't want to look at cement, but people are strapped,"
Lucier said.
Brummer said, "We're not talking about today. There is no intention
to do this as long as there is golf there."
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