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Its time for Southhampton to give up their losing fight. There WILL be a development on the closed golf course unless the Waldmans decide not to develop. More money to third rate lawyers trying to fight this is money wasted.http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-golf-land-fight-ends-20150331-story.html
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Boca
Del Mar drops golf course
development fight
A Boca Del Mar residents group has decided not to appeal a ruling allowing homes on the old Mizner Trail golf
Developers for 10 years have been trying to build hundreds of homes on the closed Mizner Trail golf course.
Ten years after the golf carts disappeared, bulldozers may finally come for the closed Mizner Trail golf course.
The Boca Del Mar neighborhood group has decided not to appeal a court ruling that allows building 252 homes on overgrown fairways and putting greens west of Boca Raton.
That could finally clear the way for construction of new homes, town houses and condominiums planned for the 130-acre, former golf course that snakes through Boca Del Mar.
"It's over as far as the organization is concerned," said Peter Sachs, attorney for the Boca Del Mar Improvement Association, the neighborhood group that opposed building plans. "Boca Del Mar has decided to move on."
The former golf course was long an attraction for home buyers and golfers alike at Boca Del Mar, located south of Palmetto Park between Military Trail and Powerline Road.
Yet since the golf course closed in 2005, the course owners and Boca Del Mar residents have differed over what should become of the land.
Developers proposed several building plans through the years, saying the golf course wasn't coming back and that new homes would fit right in with the neighborhood.
But many residents argued that they paid more for their homes because of the nearby golf course and the views of greens and fairways that they thought would be there forever. They had objected to the prospect of more traffic, noise and lights coming from new homes that would replace acres and acres of green, wide-open spaces.
"It's a travesty," Boca Del Mar resident Christine Zambrano said. "Green space and recreational areas are an important part of the quality of life."
Public pressure once was enough to persuade the county not to allow building on the old golf course. But that changed in June, when the County Commission approved the latest building proposal from Compson Mizner Trail Inc.
The Boca Del Mar Improvement Association went to court to try to overturn the county's approval. But in February the court sided with the county, allowing the development plans to proceed.
Finally, in late March the neighborhood group decided against an appeal that would have continued the court fight.
That was good news to a smaller group of Boca Del Mar residents who backed the latest building plans as a better alternative than continuing to live next to a shuttered golf course.
"It just looks ratty," resident Terry Kollman said about the old golf course. "Doing something is better than doing nothing."
The building plans call for 115 zero-lot-line houses, 45 town homes and 92 condominiums or apartments. Even with the new homes, about 74 percent of the golf course property is supposed to remain as open space to create a buffer with the existing neighborhood.
The developers could not be reached for comment Tuesday, despite attempts by phone.
Hurdles remain for construction. Before work can begin, the developers have a host of permitting conditions to meet such as addressing pollution concerns from the former golf course.
Also, individual Boca Del Mar residents could still file lawsuits aimed at the developers to try to derail construction.
"People still don't want the development," Boca Del Mar resident William Vale said. "The fight needs to keep going."
But for the neighborhood association, the cost of continuing the legal fight against the county was considered too great and the chance for a win too remote.
"I bailed [because] I was so concerned with what was going to happen to the neighborhood," said Maryellen Lurie, who added that she sold her home next to the golf course because of the looming development plans. "It's very difficult for a private citizen to fight this."
abreid@sunsentinel.com, 561-228-5504 or Twitter@abreidnews
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