Golf in Palm Beach County is experiencing a resurgence after COVID-19, but the green of development carries even more weight than the greens on the golf courses.
Boca Lago Golf & Country Club in suburban Boca Raton is the latest golf course that plans to sell a portion of its course to a developer.
It is under contract with Lennar, one of the country’s largest homebuilders to give up a third of its 27 holes for the homebuilder to build nearly 800 condominiums and townhomes west of Florida’s Turnpike.
Lennar says on a website devoted to the project, Bocalagotogether.com, that it is working with the 52-year-old country club “to create a residential community while helping Boca Lago ensure the ongoing sustainability and operations of the golf club.”
Lennar said it looks forward to sharing its ideas with Boca Lago and receiving feedback and impressions from residents and club members, adding: “Lennar says it is teeing up a new course for Boca Lago’s Future.”
Design plans have not been finalized, including the locations of new homes as well as the individual designs of the homes, Lennar says on its website. Phone calls seeking comment from the country club were not returned.
Boca Lago would go from 27 holes to 18 with new driving range
Boca Lago Country Club has agreed to sell nine of its 27 holes to Lennar, which plans to build nearly 300 condos and townhomes. Boca Lago communities are opposed to the project.
The golf course would be reconfigured into a modified 18-hole PGA-rated, par-72 course with a plan for a new driving range. Lennar would build three- and four-story tall buildings that would house “a variety of luxury home types.” The builder is not buying the remaining 18 holes or the clubhouse.
The details of the redesigned course need to come from the current ownership, according to Lennar.
Preliminary development plans were presented to area residents during a recent West Boca Community Council meeting. So many people attended that the county Fire Marshall ordered the session be halted after about 45 minutes. Council President Sheri Scarborough apologized for having to shut down the meeting, noting that the overflow crowd was not expected.
Ken Tuma, the land use planner hired by Lennar, and Scarborough said all questions would be answered once Lennar’s presentation was completed, but that never happened due to the premature end of the presentation.
The meeting has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. April 29 at Olympic Heights High School. The April 8 presentation can be viewed on YouTube.
The crowd often heckled Tuma, of Urban Design Studio in West Palm Beach, as he tried to present details of the project on April 8.
He defended the three- and four-story tall buildings, saying they were necessary to move the new units farther away from existing 1,818 homes at Boca Lago. According to Lennar, current zoning would allow it to build as many as 4,000 homes.
Lennar will need Palm Beach County approval to move forward
Lennar will need to gain county approval to modify the master plan for Boca Lago and to convert the nine holes into the 762 multifamily housing units. Nineteen income-restricted units would be built under the Workforce Housing Program, but all of them will be off site.
If the response to the April presentation is any indication, Lennar and the country club may have a tough sell convincing Boca Lago communities and others nearby in unincorporated Boca Raton that the development should be approved.
There were loud boos from the overflow crowd when Tuma announced the height of the buildings. He also reported that the driving range will be replaced with a new aqua range, where golf balls will be hit into a large lake.
“Terrible, terrible” was the response from the audience.
Sheldon Weiner, president of the Cypresses at Boca Lago, said all of the Boca Lago communities oppose the Lennar plan. He said a lawyer has been hired and, if necessary, the separate developments are prepared to take legal action to block the project from happening.
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Residents, Weiner said, have concerns about the additional traffic that would be placed on already failing roads. Lennar’s traffic engineer noted that the county and state are expected to widen a number of those roads to accommodate additional traffic.
Gary Brown, president of the nearby Trends At Boca Raton HOA, said he is concerned about the county’s failure to complete road improvement projects on a timely basis. The failures have added to congestion along Lyons Road, which lies just west of Boca Lago. Daily gridlock plagues the Lyons corridor, he noted.
Boca Lago in March 1979.
“Approving another high-density project would further strain shared infrastructure, worsen emergency response times for both West Boca and Delray residents, and deepen the consequences of past planning oversights,” he said. “Promises of future road expansions offer little reassurance, as most major roadway projects in the region face decade-long timelines and routinely exceed projected schedules and budgets.”
The country club at Boca Lago and the golf course is privately owned, The club has been trying for years to build on part of its land. In 2005, the golf-course owner obtained approval to reconfigure a portion of the course and add 130 multifamily age-restricted units, but the club did not move forward with them.
Top Lennar executives attended session to explain Boca Lago proposal
The 9th hole on the East course of Boca Lago Country Club.
Plans call for condos to be built along Boca Lago Road and townhomes along Lyons Road. Access to the residences would be along those two roadways. Tuma said applications have been filed with the county, but the review has not yet been completed.
“This is just the the start of a plan,” Tuma said, adding the contract calls for Boca Lago to sell 76 of the 241 acres that currently comprise the golf course to Lenna.
Tuma noted that the proposed density is a fraction of what current land-use rules allow. He also noted that no traffic would be added to the Boca Lago gates or neighborhood streets as the new condos and townhomes would all have separate entrances off public roadways, with separate parking as well.
Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and issues impacting homeowner associations. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Lennar wants to put a large-scale development on Boca Lago golf course