Although plans for more than 700 homes have been proposed for some West Boca Golf Course, the idea has already been hit with backlash.
Currently, the developers of Lennar want to build a “Luxury Home type” on nine of the nine Bocarago golf courses at 8665 Juego Way between Bocarago Golf & Country Clubs, according to the Renners website.
Renner, the developer behind the proposal, has built several other communities in South Florida, including Arden in Roxa Hatchie, Del Ray Trail in Del Ray Trail in Del Ray Beach, Dania Beach’s Dani Appserve, Sanctuary Grande in Miami, and Tuscan Springs in Pembroke Pines.
The 762 home is proposed to be a mixture of townhomes built west of the Lyon road and apartments built east of the Lyon road, as Green sits on either side of the road. According to Lennar’s site plans, existing natural reserves will remain untouched and no additional traffic will be created through existing neighborhoods or existing streets.
“There’s a lot of ideas and design in this plan,” Ken Touma said at the West Boca Community Council meeting on April 8th. Tuma is the managing principal of Urban Design Studio, who is involved in the planning, and was talking about the project during the meeting.
Tuma said the Boca Lago Golf course is around 240 acres, with Lennar having a contract to develop 76 of them. Currently, there are already over 1,800 homes in Bokarago. “It’s a 27-hole golf course and the goal is to have an 18-hole golf course,” Tuma says.
Michelle Loron, general manager of Bocarago Country Club, said clubs are not essential, like how other golf clubs will look. So working with Renard could be a way for the club to keep themselves up to now, she said.
Renner declined to comment on the South Florida Sun Sentinel, but officials were present at the April 8 meeting. The meeting ended because Renard became overcrowded before he could speak.
“It’s a long way from the hearing,” Tuma said at the meeting that the county could provide first comment on the project in about a month or so.
Adding homes to golf courses was part of a trend in South Florida for several years, when undeveloped land is rare. Over the years, various golf courses have seen new housing proposals.
“We need to stay vigilant.”
Hundreds of people were waiting to make a comment about the Renard Project at Olympic Heights High School on Tuesday evening. The crowd was made up of the president of the Homeowners Association, residents of the community age 55 and over, and people who have called West Boca home for decades.
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“We are very concerned about Bocago, but this will affect everyone in West Boca in some way,” West Boca Community Council president Sheris Carborough said at a meeting Tuesday.
The main concerns raised about the project include traffic, increased emergency service response times and disruptions in quality of life. And while some were pleased with the possibility of a compromise with Renard, others said they wanted to remove the project completely.
“The county is trying to approve something. They are absolutely trying to approve something. There’s no way to just disappear and disappear,” said Lynn Resell, a resident of the area during the meeting. “Really think about what we can do to minimize this in the best possible way… If we remain strong together, we can get the best for us, not for them.”
Meanwhile, some residents do not want to shrink at all, so they request complete preservation of their communities and infrastructure.
The project has not yet been heard by the Palm Beach County Commissioner, so West Boca Community Council’s Treasurer Neil Schiller said that if people want to hear their voices, they should reach out to the commissioner with their opinions and do so frequently.
“This is when we need to stay vigilant,” Schiller said during the meeting.
“I can easily say no.”
County Commissioner Maria Sachs, who represents the district where the Boca Lago Project is rising, has seen the conflict unfold before. For example, the construction of the 12th Valencia community at GL Homes along Lyons Road saw a similar tug of war between developers and residents who wanted to stop development, for example.
Sachs said it is intended to bring together county engineers, planners and residents to gather together, particularly to discuss ways to move forward, along with goals such as making Lyon Road a safer boulevard.
“I always don’t hit the ground until the infrastructure is installed,” she said.
Sachs said it is about ensuring that residents’ needs are met, especially when it comes to emergency services, school buses and road access.
“I can easily say no, I’ve done it before, and other county commissioners have done it before, but that’s up to us,” she said.
