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Article
Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel By Andy
Reid
Published March
26, 2014
Opponents to building homes on the closed Mizner Trail golf course face a bigger challenge this time when they try to keep development off the overgrown fairways and putting greens near Boca Raton.
County zoning officials have reversed themselves and are now recommending that the County Commission on Thursday approve plans to build 288 homes on the golf course that meanders through the Boca Del Mar neighborhood.
County commissioners at least twice before have voted against building plans proposed on the golf course after backlash from nearby residents worried about traffic, noise and lights moving onto land they thought would always remain golf course views and open spaces.
But with county staffers now saying that developers have made enough changes to building plans to lessen the effects on surrounding homes, county commissioners could find it harder to say no again to development plans.
This comes after commissioners in a potentially-precedent-setting move a year ago |
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Palm
Beach County zoning officials are now recommending that the County
Commission approve plans to build 288 homes on the closed Mizner Trail
golf course near Boca Raton.
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approved plans to build 689 homes and an assisted living facility on a closed golf course beside Century Village west of West Palm Beach, despite opposition from neighboring residents.
The Mizner Trail golf course closed in 2005 and through the years, development opponents have been trying to fend off building plans for the 130-acre property.
Opposition to development in 2006 thwarted plans to build 202 homes on the closed golf course. In 2011, the County Commission rejected a development proposal that called for 291 homes on the land.
The new proposal from Compson Mizner Trail Inc. calls for building 288 homes, including 134 townhouses and 154 zero-lot-line houses.
Stiff neighborhood opposition remains to the building plans, but there are also residents who support the development proposal as a solution to overgrown golf course conditions that have triggered code enforcement complaints.
Even with county zoning officials now recommending approval for the Mizner Trail golf course development, it’s still the County Commission’s decision. And just like years past, Boca Del Mar residents who oppose the building plans are using an email campaign to try to convince commissioners to vote “No” on Thursday.
The changes developers made to building plans aren’t good enough, according to opponents.
“The buildings (would) still block our views. The building lights and street lights (would) still illuminate my living spaces, so the condo residents can see me in bed from 25 yards away,” Jim Wayes wrote.
Adding more landscaping and other building plan alterations won’t stop the influx of cars onto already crowded roads, according to development opponents.
“The revisions made to the previous plan does not address the fact that development of roads, parking lots and buildings on open space, (would) have an adverse impact on all adjacent property owners,” Emily Danson wrote to commissioners.
The County Commission in January delayed a decision on the Mizner Trail golf course development proposal, trying to give landowners and developers another chance to reach a compromise.
The developers rejected two proposals from one residents’ group. One proposal called for the neighborhood to buy the 130 acre golf course for about $1 million, with plans to turn the land into a park. The other proposal from the residents’ group called for scaling back the development plan to about 202 homes, with the developers giving residents the golf course land not used for building the new neighborhood. Both would have required a neighborhood vote to endorse the deal.
The proposals from the Boca Del Mar Improvement Association were “insulting” and a stalling tactic, Robert Comparato, of the development company, wrote in a March 10 letter to the residents’ attorney Peter Sachs.
“The only viable solution is development,” Comparato wrote.
The County Commission meets at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the county governmental center, 301 N. Olive Ave., in downtown West Palm Beach.
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