‘A massive undertaking’: GL Homes’ land swap plan draws closer toward a final vote

A final decision on a massive land swap is drawing closer — a choice that’s been cast as a referendum on Palm Beach County’s growth: Should the development of 1,000 new homes move forward in an agricultural region?

The decision — years in the making — again took center stage Thursday, when the county’s zoning commission voted to recommend approval for zoning changes for the land swap by GL Homes, one of the state’s largest developers. The recommendation comes less than three weeks before the plan goes to the County Commission for a final vote.

“This is a massive undertaking, massive,” said Kevin Ratterree, the vice president of GL Homes, during Thursday’s meeting.

The plan proposes to take land GL Homes owns in the northern part of the county, called Indian Trail Groves, and swap it for land in the county’s Agricultural Reserve.

GL Homes would then use the acquired Ag Reserve land to offer 1,000 single-family, age-restricted homes, 277 workforce-housing units, 800 acres for a water reservoir, a 200-acre family park, 800 acres of farmland, 25 acres for a park in West Boca, 4 acres for a Chabad synagogue, 4 acres for the Jewish Family Services/Jewish Association for Residential Care and 8 acres for a Torah Academy school campus.

This land swap had garnered support and opposition alike from residents and groups both in and around the area.

Those in support emphasize the need for the water reservoir, more workforce housing units and the parks, but those in opposition, such as the Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations, or COWBRA, believe the project sets a precedent, where the “floodgates are opened for other developers to come forward with similar proposals.”

On Thursday, Ratterree called attention to the fact that the zoning board was acting under a presumption that the County Commission will adopt the plan on Oct. 24, when commissioners will issue a final vote on the plan. Otherwise, the approved zoning plans will be withdrawn.

Several people came forward during public comment to address the commission. Supporters expressed excitement for features of the plan such as the park, the synagogue and the water project.

“This type of project is moving Palm Beach County forward and meeting a lot of goals for the county,” Ratterree said.

What’s the plan?

Land swaps within the Ag Reserve have happened in the past, but if the county approves the plan at the final vote, this would be the first time a swap exchanged land in the Ag Reserve with property outside of it.

“We have had items before the board where there’s been approval for basically the swapping of preserve land to a different property, but that has always been within the Agricultural Reserve,” County Planning Director Kevin Fischer told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “You can move it, but it’s always been required to stay within the Agricultural Reserve. So that’s one of the major components of this application, is that it would now allow moving that preserve land elsewhere in Palm Beach County.”

If GL Homes’ plan receives final approval at the end of the month, the county would be removing current conservation on the land GL Homes is requesting. The developer would then create preservation land in a portion of the Indian Trails Grove land.

“It’s essentially freeing up preserved land in the Ag Reserve, and then moving the preserve land, so not just eliminating it, but it’s relocating it outside of the Ag Reserve to a different area of Palm Beach County,” Fischer said.

This aspect of the plan has been a primary point of contention for opponents.

Members from groups like COBWRA and the Sierra Club Loxahatchee Group, believe this would set a precedent for other developers to come forward and swap land from outside the Ag Reserve for land in it.

During Thursday’s zoning meeting, COWBRA second vice president Debbie Murphy said while the coalition appreciates parts of the proposal, such as the water project, she and the other members do not believe the potential positive impacts justify moving forward with the plan as it is.

“If allowed, the floodgates are opened for other developers to come forward with similar proposals,” she said. “That would be the final blow ultimately ending the Ag Reserve.”

The Sierra Club Loxahatchee Group echoes this sentiment, with group’s Vice Chair Drew Martin telling the Sun Sentinel the county would be undoing the reserve’s protections.

Ratteree countered Murphy’s opposition during the meeting by pointing out that “anybody, at any point in time, can make a request to Palm Beach County to change the comprehensive plan.”

“The issue that the board is going to decide is whether or not what GL Homes is proposing and the type of change requested warrants the magnitude of the change that’s being done,” he said. “What we are doing is we’re establishing a bar.”

GL Homes benefits from building residential units on the land it is hoping to acquire, he said, but the success from those homes as well as the other aspects of the proposal will help the county.

And the county zoning commission members unanimously agreed.

The next and final phase for the plan will be when it goes before the County Commission for a final vote on Oct. 24.

A timeline

In 1999, residents voted on a referendum to raise their taxes to buy land to preserve the Ag Reserve.

Now, more than 20 years later, GL Homes’ proposal has ping-ponged between GL Homes and the Palm Beach County Commission for years.

More recently, at a comprehensive plan public hearing in May, commissioners voted 5-2 in favor of the swap after more than 80 people came out to speak about the project during public comment, some in support and some against.

County Commissioner Maria Marino, who voted in favor of the project, has said the county has six strategic priorities, one of which is economic development.

“No matter where this is, this development brings jobs and economic growth,” she said during the May meeting.

Commissioner Sara Baxter, who also voted in favor of the plan, said workforce housing, which the project includes, is needed.

“Yes, it’s a few hundred, but that’s a few hundred more than we have now,” she said during the meeting.

Commissioner Mack Bernard, who also voted in favor, said he felt compelled by the water project because water quality has been an issue in West Palm Beach, an area he represents.

After the May meeting, the proposal went to the state for review to ensure it wasn’t violating any state laws. The state had no objections, Fischer said.

On Sept. 27, Misha Ezratti, the president of GL Homes, gave a talk at West Boca’s Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. He said by building on the county’s Ag Reserve, the company would be “filling the void of infrastructure” in the county.

“Nothing of this nature, a public-private partnership of this nature, has ever been proposed by a private developer, in Palm Beach County or, as far as I know, in any county,” Ezratti said.

Beyond addressing the land swap, Ezratti also answered questions from Jewish Federation president and CEO Matt Levin about his path to different positions within GL Homes, his family and his thoughts on philanthropy.

GL Homes is behind several single-family home communities in Palm Beach County, some of which are still under construction.

Some of GL Homes’ projects include Lotus in Boca Raton, Valencia Grand in Boynton Beach, Arden in Wellington and Apex at Avenir in Palm Beach Gardens. The company has also assisted in the construction of affordable housing projects, such as Davis Landings with the Community Land Trust of Palm Beach County and In the Pines in Delray Beach.

“With the growth, the infrastructure hasn’t kept up, and GL Homes has stepped up to fill that void,” Ezratti said during the talk. ““The land swap is something that will benefit generations in Palm Beach County. … Literally decades in the future, there will be benefits coming from this land swap.”

Reservations

Until the key vote on Oct. 24, efforts are continuing to push to halt the plan. COWBRA will hold a “Preserve the Reserve” news conference on Friday, one of a string of efforts the coalition has put forth before the final Oct. 24 vote, and the coalition is also urging people to sign a petition.

And not every county commissioner agrees with the plan, either.

Palm Beach County Vice Mayor Maria Sachs was one of the commissioners who voted against the swap in May.

In an attempt to sway commissioners, GL Homes added what Sachs called “sweeteners,” which includes the workforce housing units and offering to pay for the water reservoir instead of the county doing so.

Sachs said she likes GL Homes and the people behind it, saying they provide for the community, but she worries approving this would be “a bridge too far.”

“We have other preserved lands here, and if we do it for one developer, should we do it for another and another and another?” she said.