As Palm Beach County’s population grew, the desire to develop continued. But amid the rise of new residents and construction, county officials have also worked to build a harmonious relationship between the need for new development and the preservation of some of South Florida’s last relatively untouched land.
Recently, an overview of the county’s agricultural reserves of approximately 22,000 acres of farmland and limited development in the northwest of the county was provided to county commissioners, detailing current projects, preservation, land history and location today.
And as a frequent source of major controversy among residents, developers and farmers, county officials are trying to move forward in ways that deal as effectively as possible with frequently competing interests.
“The established goal was to maintain and strengthen AG and environmental and water resources,” county planner Stephanie Gregory said at a recent public meeting where an overview of the AG reserve was presented to the commissioners.
When the AG Reserve Master Plan was created, Gregory said the goal would “create development of sustainable development forms with a focus on preservation, including agriculture, environmental resources, water management capabilities, and strengthening open spaces, minimizing costs or impacts on taxpayers.
“The focus was preserved, but there was also an understanding that it would involve some form of development,” Gregory told the commissioner.
Currently, the 2025 AG reserve “Snapshot” decomposes the way land is divided.
– 6,530 acres, or 30% of the reserve, consisting of residential developments.
– 881 acres, or 4% of the reserves, consist of non-resident development.
– 13,374 acres, or 61% of the reserves, are reserved for preservation, primarily through agriculture or natural reserves.
– 489 acres, or 3% of the reserve, are undeveloped “remaining land.”
– 670 acres, or 3% of the reserve, are considered “other uses” such as canals.
But for that snapshot to come true, it takes a lot of planning, policy changes, and time-consuming, and county officials are still working on ways to continue regulating development while maintaining the rights of AG Reserve landowners.
AG Reserve Timeline
It was first created in 1980 in 1980, where “the emphasis was on agricultural conservation and very low density,” according to county documents. The prominent rule for the development of time that existed was the “80/20 rule.” This developed 20% of the plots of land in AG preparations, with the other 80% of the same plot being dedicated to preservation. This ultimately created the 60/40 rule. This is the same principle, but there is 60% protection and 40% development.
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In 1989, the reserve boundary was revised to cut off about 5,000 acres, leaving around 22,000 acres that make up today’s AG reserve. Shortly thereafter, the county received economic impact and land use suitability analysis. The goal was to determine how it was best to protect and build it intentionally.
“The goals of the master plan were defined through extensive public engagement by consultants,” Gregory said.
Then, in 1999, county voters approved a referendum that approved $150 million in bonds to purchase farmland and environmental land. Over 2,000 acres have been purchased since then. That same year, the county adopted the “Managed Growthier System” to identify different classes to recognize and protect the different lifestyles of the community, including cities, suburbs, suburbs and rural areas.
Over the 20 years since the bonds were purchased, AG Reserve has undergone many developmental and policy changes, including the addition of various land use designations.
Recently, two different land use designations have been adopted, which are county commissioners. It’s essentially residential and commercial.
The essential residential land use designation was approved to promote the creation of high-density multifamily housing developments, so there are places for people working around the reserve to live.
Commerce’s land use designation was approved to support “light industrial uses.” For example, food production could be considered light industrial use, whereas chemical plants are considered heavy industrial use.
“There are various changes to what is allowed and what is not allowed over the years to what is not allowed,” said Thuy Shutt, the county’s director of planning at a recent public meeting.
AG is protected as it is now
And there could be a number of changes that could continue to occur as more people move to Palm Beach County and developers find ripe land for the building.
For now, several projects are under construction or awaiting potential approval. They include:
– Park West North and Park West South offer West Del Rey warehouses, fitness centres, manufacturing and processing spaces and self-service storage. These two projects were recently approved on submission. This means you will go to the state for review before returning to the county commissioner.
– West Boynton Ranches is a proposal for 259 homes, of which 65 could become labor housing. The planning committee recently voted to recommend rejection of the project, but the plan seeks to rely on essential housing land use designations. However, recommendations from planning a committee do not determine how the county commissioner will vote.
– GL Homes has received final approval for a plan to bring 481 homes to a plot of land called Whitworth South in West Boynton, and has been added to other suburban clusters by GL Homes, including Valencia Sound, Valencia Cove and Valencia Reserve.
– Bedner Bros Farms, representing Bedners Farm Fresh Market in West Boynton, has been approved to bring in warehouses and office space and has been applied under a commercial land use designation.
These types of proposals often face opposition at some point during the approval or rejection process, and concerns tend to be the same. It involves increasing traffic, increasing insufficient infrastructure in the county, taking away much of the AG reserve reserve.
Sometimes these concerns win and proposals are rejected.
Take, for example, a land swap at GL Homes.
The proposal was intended to take land within the AG reserve and exchange it for other land to build more than 1,000 homes, synagogues, schools, parks and more.
Once the plan was approved, other developers set new precedents to replace land outside the AG reserve and internal land, with county commissioners ultimately opposed.
Commissioners often feel that they are mediators between developers, residents and environmentalists, but not everyone is satisfied after a decision is made.
“It’s enlightening to see what happened, but the problem here is that we didn’t properly plan from Get-go and we’re pleased that this board has shifted and adapted to the times,” he said at the meeting, where an outline of the AG reserve was presented. “Our population has grown so much and we were able to adapt to it.”
