Palm Beach County conducted an informational meeting Tuesday night at Seminole Ridge High School regarding the proposed Minto West development.
An estimated 120 people attended, with 103 signing in at the meeting. A number of county officials were there to give presentations and answer questions.
Palm Beach County Planning, Zoning & Building Executive Director Rebecca Caldwell led off the meeting. “This thing is in a state of change, so we’re going to do the best we can for you,” Caldwell said of the Minto West Project.
Just last week, developer Minto Communities Inc. revised its original proposal to drop the number of residential units and add commercial elements.
Caldwell and her staff took the audience through a history of the area’s land use, planning and zoning efforts.
The land recently purchased by Minto has been the subject of study for decades. One of the first attempts was the Midlands Study in 1989 that focused on the future needs of the area formerly known as Callery-Judge Grove.
In 2008, after Callery-Judge failed to win approval for a much larger development, the land was designated an Agricultural Enclave, with specific land use allowances. The only approved Agricultural Enclave in Florida to date, the site now has approval for 2,996 dwelling units and 235,000 square feet for non-residential uses.
Knowing those approved parameters, Minto purchased the 3,800-acre property for $51 million last September, and in November requested approval to build 6,500 homes with 1.4 million square feet for workplace and community-serving commercial uses. Those uses included 500,000 square feet for retail and 900,000 square feet for research and development. Additionally, Minto asked to build a 3,000-student college, a 150-room hotel and a baseball stadium.
In late June, Minto revised its plans to include 4,549 dwelling units with 3,749 single-family residences and 800 townhouse units, 2 million square feet of non-residential uses, a 3,000-student college and a 150-room hotel.
The non-residential use land and the number of houses vary from plan to plan. The June revision calls for 1,951 fewer dwelling units and 600,000 more square feet of non-residential use land. The baseball stadium is eliminated from the revised plan.
A traffic study has not been provided yet for the most recent request, but the estimated net daily trips is between 55,000 and 60,000 — down from more than 70,000 in the previous version.
The county agencies are reviewing the revised application, with Monday, July 28 as the next resubmittal date.
The increased traffic, if Minto’s request is approved, would have an impact on the roads. Florida statutes dictate the “Prop Share” method for developer financial assistance and responsibility for road widening and maintenance.
The developer has three options when a road needs to be widened: wait until others make the improvement with their money, reduce the development size to not require the improvement or pay for part of the total improvement and impact on the road. Paying for part is known as Prop Share, which is the significant difference between the current and former development options and leaves the remainder of the cost to be collected before renovations can be made.
The current priorities for using Prop Share funds from Minto include improving Seminole Pratt Whitney Road and Okeechobee Blvd. Independent of whatever happens with Minto West, there are already plans to widen, construct and improve various sections of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road, Northlake Blvd. and State Road 7, County Engineer George Webb said.
During time for questions, Indian Trail Improvement District President Carol Jacobs brought up the issue of Minto West’s increased traffic using Acreage roads paid for by approximately 50,000 residents who will be negatively affected.
A number of other residents also asked about road issues and whose responsibility it will be to finance road repairs.
“This developer has already decided that they will use certain roads that are in the Indian Trail Improvement District, yet they are located in the Seminole Improvement District,” said Karen Ahnk, a 20-year Acreage resident. “Now, you talked about Prop Share, which really gets me concerned. How are you going to be sure that you’re going to get the rest of that money after this development?”
Explaining that a process has already begun, Webb said that Minto would be paying in advance to make improvements before an impact can happen.
In response to questions about why Minto is being permitted to change its plans for the property, Palm Beach County Principal Planner Bryan Davis explained that, “there’s always the right to come back and amend the request. It’s a fundamental legal right that the property owner has to come back and ask to change it.”
That didn’t sit well with resident LaVant Morell. “This is typical in business,” he said. “This is bait-and-switch. Give them what they want, as we’ve mentioned, come back later on, and add on.”
Davis said he understood that concern. “It’s a common complaint, and it’s a common issue that comes up repeatedly at the county commission,” he said. “However, it is a legal right afforded to the property.”
He said the only way to stop it is for the elected officials to vote no. “That’s the only real way to curtail that,” Davis explained.
As residents queried about land planning, how hotels fit into the area’s rural culture and how Minto West will change the area’s lifestyle, Davis explained that from the county’s perspective, things aren’t nearly as simple as they might appear.
“There are a lot of changes that have taken place as this has gone forward that have frustrated the implementation of the past practices division,” he said. “We’ve had to adapt and respond. It’s not fun. It’s trying to balance intensely competing interests with legal rights. We’re trying to do the best that we can.”
Resident Patti Goolsby wanted to know why the Palm Beach County Commission didn’t listen to its own advisory board regarding Minto West.
“Didn’t an advisory board make a recommendation on something and it was not listened to?” she asked. “If you deny it, could that also not be listened to?”
Caldwell confirmed that the decision against setting up a special hearing process for Minto West by the Palm Beach County Planning Commission was overruled by the county commissioners.
Goolsby asked whether the commissioners could again ignore the advice from the advisory board.
“All of the advisory boards are just that — they’re advisory boards,” Deputy County Administrator Verdenia Baker said. “The county commissioners will make the final decision. They do, for the most part, listen and take into consideration the recommendations from the advisory boards, but there are times that they do not. There are times they don’t take our recommendation, either. They’re ultimately elected by the public and they’re held accountable, so they need to make those final decisions.”
Resident Trish Watkins noted that some development will happen at Minto West. The goal can’t be to stop it, but shape it to the needs of residents.
“People have flocked to Palm Beach County for decades. They will continue to flock to Palm Beach County. We can’t stop people from moving here from other parts of the country,” Watkins said. “That being the case, where are they supposed to go? Anywhere but in my back yard. I’m sorry that a lot of people are upset about this. I’ve lived here since 1990. I’ve seen a lot of change. I love it here. I would love it to stay like this forever. I would love the growth to be a big state farm. It would be wonderful. But unfortunately, someone purchased that land. What can we do about that? We can hope that they build something as close to what we can live with as possible. We can do that by working with them.”
More than once over the course of the open floor session, Palm Beach County officials reminded the audience that the intent of the meeting was to provide an overview and answer questions and not to conduct a formal public hearing.
A number of public hearings on various parts of the plan will be held before the project gets to the Palm Beach County Commission in October. For county information on Minto West updates and public hearings, visit www.pbcgov.com/pzb/minto.
ABOVE: Palm Beach County Principal Planner Bryan Davis attempts to answer questions about Minto West at Tuesday’s meeting.
