The detection of “forever chemicals,” along with arsenic and manganese, and concerns about a retention pond, led developer Related Ross to ask for the inspection period to be extended to Sept. 30 in its purchase agreement to buy Wellington’s K-Park property for a mixed-use development.
The previous inspection period would have expired July 21. The Wellington Village Council agreed to the extension by a unanimous vote in a one-topic special meeting Wednesday, July 16, hearing assurances that such matters routinely arise and need not mean that the project is not on track to proceed.
Still, an outside attorney advising Wellington on the sale recommended against pushing the deadline past Sept. 30 so as not to give buyers more time to “terminate and walk away” under terms of the sale agreement.
Builder representatives said they planned to meet with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in the next two months and believe they can reach a resolution that does not involve what they viewed as an unlikely but not impossible “expensive and troublesome” clean-up scenario.
Testing on the groundwater has found “forever chemicals,” or PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) used in products to repel water, grease and stains, applicants said. Such chemicals don’t break down easily in the environment or the human body and have been linked to health problems.
“I think there’s a nuance to PFAS,” said Kevin Ryan, Related Ross’ executive vice president of development. “Our attorneys and our civil engineer are explaining to us that from DEP there could be a very small risk, but it’s not zero, and that DEP might require us to physically mitigate, which would be expensive and troublesome for us in terms of the difficulty.”
To resolve the issue, builders plan to submit all the documentation they have collected and meet with DEP. “There’s a process we think we can complete within the 60 days,” Ryan said.
One possibility is receiving a document after this process saying developers do not have to physically mitigate, he said.
“That’s the risk we’re really more concerned about, that takes a little bit of time, is for us to resolve, go into DEP, submit this document, explain the situation and get this closure agreement,” Ryan said. “Which, again we’re told, is very low risk we would not get it from DEP.”
Temporary blip or not, it’s one more twist for the K-Park saga. For nearly two decades, the property sat mostly vacant while village officials considered everything from a botanical garden to athletic fields to various commercial ventures for the land.
In January, the Wellington Village Council approved a $47 million deal to sell the K-Park land to Related Ross and a partner school, subject to specific development approvals over the next 18 months or more.
The latest plans call for fewer than 300 residential units, mostly townhomes, along with a hotel, restaurants, shops, green spaces and trails on 71 acres southwest of State Road 7 and Stribling Way.
The western end of the project would feature a private pre-K-12 school opening in August 2028, with the commercial and residential components appearing soon after.
The deadline for the inspection period was July 21 under the original land-sale agreement between Wellington and the developers, Village Attorney Laurie Cohen said.
Part of the delay involves a pond maintained by the village that developers initially planned to incorporate into their own water system on site, taking over its ability to send irrigation water outside K-Park, Cohen said. But builders grew concerned about assuming responsibility for that function.
The pond at K-Park is used for storage and for irrigating one site outside the property, though that irrigation work could be achieved by bypassing the pond and pumping directly from other parts of Wellington’s water management system, Wellington Utility Director Anjuli Panse said.
Panse said she did not know the cost of achieving that bypass. She said it could be treated as a “developer-contributed asset,” which could mean builders pay for it on a negotiated basis.
For liability reasons, builders did not want to be responsible for water pumped to other places, Ryan said.
In addition, testing by the buyers that was recently completed found “small amounts of arsenic,” Ryan said. “This arsenic is very common and typically related to agricultural uses.”
It’s in a defined place and could be mitigated physically, or cleaned up, he said.
Another issue is manganese in groundwater. That could be monitored in conjunction with regulators with eventual written safeguards against things that don’t happen often in South Florida anyway, such as no basements, officials said.
Then there is the PFAS issue.
“I’m wondering if you are going to need more time dealing with DEP,” Councilman John McGovern said.
“Our advisers think this a fairly straightforward issue, but to be determined,” Ryan replied.
George Pincus, an outside attorney working for the village on the K-Park sale, cautioned against granting extensions past Sept. 30 at this stage.
“Remember, the time period that we’re negotiating is a deadline that the buyer can, say, terminate and walk away completely,” Pincus said. “I think your interest, the village’s interest, is better to go with the 60 days, see where we are at the end of the 60 days.”
He added that the buyer is probably not walking away.
“But from an objective, keep-it-moving-along standpoint, I think the 60 days is a reasonable ask on their part, and I know it’s an inconvenience, but let’s keep it that, so we keep as much of a clamp down on their termination rights as possible,” Pincus said.
Mayor Michael Napoleone agreed.
“I appreciate your effort to keep moving this ball forward,” he said.
The council voted 4-0 for the Sept. 30 extension, with Councilwoman Maria Antuña absent.
