I am not completely devastated by the news that the Wellington Village Council voted 5-0 to sell K-Park. Maintaining that property as a park was never really the plan.
The recent decision to sell the K-Park property to Related/Ross (formerly the Related Group), developers of City Place, among other concrete makeovers, and a foreign private school operator (because Wellington needs multiple private schools) at a price of approximately $28,340,000 for the Related parcel, together with the sale of the private school parcel for approximately $16 million for a total of $44,340,000 with the possibility of picking up another $1 million if Related/Ross chooses to move the existing lake in the middle of the property.
Is $45 million a terrible price for K-Park? No. Wellington paid $8.5 million for it in 2003 from the Kahlert family, ergo K-Park. However, the Ward family offered $54 million, $10 million more. That offer was rejected in favor of the Related/Ross offer. Why? Certainly not because it made good business sense. It appears because they liked the Related/Ross plan better. So, even though “contract zoning” is illegal, Acme, as the seller, will do all of the zoning work, and does anyone believe that all of the land use changes won’t be approved?
This, coupled with the horrendous decision to allow the Wellington Lifestyle Partners (WLP) residential development inside what was formerly known as the Equestrian Preserve, gives one pause.
So does the recent “Wellington Sports Academy” decision. The council has given away six acres of Village Park land south of Pierson off 120th Avenue for an elite athlete training facility. To bring this about, the council voted to guarantee a bond issue with the full faith and credit of the Village of Wellington for up to $34 million.
Now the “sports academy” without a single sports field is no longer just a sports academy. According to developer Jon Bostic, it is now a full-blown private school, and as shown in its own advertisement, it includes a “120-acre campus.” That 120-acre campus is our Village Park. And who gets to spend the $34 million to build a building on village land? And in whose pocket does the rest of the money go?
The council has also decided to build a brand-new pool at Village Park, next to the private school/sports academy at a cost in excess of $30 million and rip out the perfectly good existing pool in the downtown area. And the Lake Wellington Professional Centre building that was purchased for $4 million was torn down last year to make way for… nothing, after building a “boardwalk” to enhance the beauty of the retention pond euphemistically referred to as Lake Wellington.
And did I mention that the council sold 10 acres behind the Hampton Inn that had been used as a soccer field to Brefrank Inc. for $11 million last year as well for residential development?
It appears that this council is on track to turn Wellington into Coral Springs, and it needs to stop.
Alec Domb, Wellington
