The Royal Palm Beach Village Council last month assured a resident of the Cypress Head neighborhood that no final changes had yet been made to the site plan for the nearby Cypress Key mixed-use development — including the location of a planned traffic light.
George Desimone of Waterview Way told council members Feb. 20 that he was concerned about possible changes in plans by new owners of the Cypress Key property.
Desimone said that about a month ago, representatives from the Johnston Group had talked to residents about plans for a residential community to be built by K. Hovnanian on the back portion of the property. The commercial portion fronting Southern Blvd. was purchased by another company.
“Signs have gone up that they are building the 147 homes in there, starting in the summer,” Desimone said. “My big concern has always been about the traffic light and where it should be.”
Desimone was not happy with the response from the new owners regarding the light. “At that meeting with the Johnston Group, they were pushing off where the light would be, like it wasn’t their responsibility,” he said.
He recalled that the original Cypress Key owners had agreed to install a traffic light in the center of their development, away from the two roads used by nearby residents for access to Southern Blvd.
“It has been suggested that the light would be at the entrance to my community,” he said, referring to Cypress Head Avenue. “The thought for me as a homeowner there and a lot of my neighbors was that the light was approved by you guys to be at the entrance to the Cypress Key development.”
Changing that would invite commercial pass-through traffic into his community, Desimone told council members.
Village Manager Ray Liggins said the development received site plan and plat approval to build the residential in the back and commercial in the front.
“It is approved with the signal in the center of that development,” Liggins said. “There was a significant amount of money invested into the development of that property, and then it fell through. Since there was a significant amount of investment into that property, it is vested, so that site plan is vested, it doesn’t expire. It just needs to be completed. To do anything different then what the approved site plan has, it would need to come through staff, and it would need to come through this council.”
Liggins said the developer had had conversations with staff regarding the idea to move the light to Cypress Head Avenue. “I think they’ve heard a lot of opposition to doing that,” Liggins said. “So it is currently planned at the center of that property.”
