Palm Beach County, FL — In a last minute decision, GL Homes requested the Palm Beach County Commission postpone their plan to “swap” over 600 acres of the Agricultural Reserve with lands in other parts of the County, in Indian Trails Grove, requiring an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan that governs land regulations and development. According to the developer’s letter, they are requesting nearly a year to work out “several questions/unresolved points.”
The Sierra Club and other environmental groups urge the PB County Commission to stop defying the will of the voters and respect the County plan to preserve the Ag Reserve for local agriculture and conservation of environmentally sensitive lands and open space.
Today, the Palm Beach County Commission should have stopped the ill-conceived proposal by GL Homes that would be the deadliest cut yet to the Ag Reserve by swapping away farmland for yet another mega housing complex that would also add traffic and expensive county services in an area not suited for it. This plan would literally pave over an important protective buffer to the nearby Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge that is part of a network of lands and waters that conserve and protect the wildlife heritage in America. This buffer also provides other important benefits, including flood and erosion control, aquifer recharge, and habitat for protected species.
GL Homes is attempting to lure the Commission to change the rules and give away agriculture land with a half-baked water resource project proposal well outside of the Ag Reserve. Their proposal was rejected by the County’s Planning Commission, and PB County's own planning staff recommended denial. Significant questions were also raised by Palm Beach County Water Resources Manager, Paul Linton, regarding the developer’s proposed water project on the Indian Trails Grove property located over 20 miles north of the Ag Reserve.
Palm Beach County’s Agricultural Reserve is truly at a tipping point. Mega Developer GL Homes is already the most active developer in the Ag Reserve. Last week, the Palm Beach Commission voted to allow for substantial new development in the reserve – a mistake, according to the Sierra Club and other environmental groups. In this proposal, GL Homes is attempting to use the affordable housing crisis and water quality issues to score millions more in profits.
“We are glad that GL Homes did not get away with these changes today, because we know that what they propose would open a ‘Pandora's Box’ for more incompatible development in the Ag Reserve. We will continue to oppose any plans that would make the Ag Reserve indistinguishable from the urban core where development should be located,” says Drew Martin, chair of the conservation committee of the Sierra Club Loxahatchee Group.
CONTACT:
Media Contacts: Drew Martin, Drew.Martin@florida.sierraclub.org, (561) 533-6814
Heidi Mehaffey, Esq. heidi@hartsell-law.com, (954) 778-1052
Background:
August 29, 2022 letter by Robert N. Hartsell, P.A. on behalf of Sierra Lox Group and 1000 Friends
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jy-NGPyo9CwKXayKVK6NkWuGltgrue5F/view?usp=sharing
Sierra Lox's Call to Preserve the PB Co Agricultural Reserve (Aug 2022)
Short video on need to protect our Agricultural Reserve, prepared for the Sierra Lox Group (Aug 2022)
Short film on the Ag Reserve, by Dan Perez with support from United Palm Beach County (2015)
PB County PZB analysis and recommendation to deny GL Homes proposal (Aug 2022)
https://discover.pbcgov.org/pzb/planning/PDF/Amendments/3-A-1-ITG-AGR-Rpt.pdf
Video of Palm Beach County Commission hearing on 8/31/2022