Boca Raton officials have rejected a development plan to fill in a cove above submerged property off the Intracoastal Waterway and build a row of houses on 4 acres of the new land.
Property owner William Swaim, known for claiming ownership of submerged land across Florida, wants to build new land on the cove at the end of Northeast Eighth Avenue, just west of the Intracoastal Waterway channel and opposite the south end of Spanish River Park.
On May 16, a special magistrate issued a nonbinding recommendation that the city council allow him to build on the submerged property. The council had until June 30 to approve or deny.
The second-largest city in Palm Beach County, Boca Raton has been known for its influx of money and transplants from the north. And since the COVID-19 pandemic, more wealthier people have decided to make South Florida their permanent home. Subsequently, land is more coveted and property values are rising in the city of about 100,000. The housing market remains flush with wealthy buyers looking for coveted waterfront property.
The ultra-luxury Bristol condominium, which sold out its units for $600 million, and the swanky One Watermark Place condominium, both in West Palm Beach, are built on formerly submerged land.
A 2018 Army Corps review of the parcel notes that development of the site would not adversely affect endangered and threatened sea turtles, smalltooth sawfish or manatees.
Swaim attended the council meeting on June 10 in another attempt to get his permit application approved.
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“The property itself, originally, was high and dry until the mid-1950s, when the subdivision to the west illegally stole the dirt off the property and filled in what’s now called Blue Inlet,” Swaim told the council.
In 2014, his workers found numerous fiber optic cables running under the cove, which led him to file a $250 million lawsuit against telecommunication companies GlobeNet and Caribbean Crossings. Palm Beach County Circuit Judge John J. Parnofiello dismissed the case in January, ruling that the property was state-owned.
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The Boca Raton City Council rejected a proposed development plan to fill in a cove above submerged property off the Intracoastal Waterway and build a row of houses on 4 acres of the new land.
Swaim reminded the council that he had applied for a property permit more than a year ago and has since resolved 90% of the outstanding issues. “As far as we’re concerned, the mediation was very effective,” he said.
Hope Calhoun, Swaim’s attorney, pushed for the council to adopt the magistrate’s findings, which included a recommendation that Boca Raton purchase the property if it did not issue Swaim a development permit.
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Boca councilman wanted more information before voting
Andy Thompson
While all other council members were ready to vote, Andy Thomson was not ready to make a decision. He noted that there are two other cases regarding filling in submerged land in Boca Raton, known as the “Florida Land Use and Environmental Dispute Resolution Act,” or FLUEDRA, and requested that there be an executive session to discuss all three cases in detail before voting on the magistrate’s recommendation.
Council member Marc Wigder agreed that the council should meet in executive session considering the complicated nature of both FLUEDRA cases and Swaim’s property request, but maintained the council should still vote on the magistrate’s findings.
“The rejection of the non-binding mediation does not put either party in a better or worse case, so I don’t understand the need to postpone the item since rejection of the mediation de facto acts to postpone the item,” Wigder said.
The council eventually voted to reject the magistrate’s recommendation 4-1, with Thomson dissenting.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boca rejects developer’s plan to fill in cove above submerged property