Preserving the Residential Character of Boca Teeca

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Best Option for Ocean Breeze Property

There are basically 3 options for the Ocean Breeze property:

1) Leave it as a golf course or other recreational facility via purchase by the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District (GBRBPD) with, or without, the cooperation of the city of Boca Raton.
*The GBRBPD has an excellent history of purchasing property than was considered for development and was maintained for park & recreational use, including the Swim & Racquet Club on St. Andrews Blvd. which remains an excellent tennis & swimming facility open to the public.
*The GBRBPB had over $22 million in liquid funds as of the beginning of their calendar year with several million dollars budgeted for projects that are unlikely to be used during the current fiscal year, so they certainly have the financial resources to acquire the ocean breeze property.

2) Allow the golf course to close and leave the open space views for all Boca Teeca residents to enjoy.  This alternative would probably be a waiting game as the owner of the property ( currently Wells Fargo Bank) will eventually get tired of paying property taxes and maintenance as the city code will require the property to be maintained and the grass cut on a regular basis.  Property values will not be expected to decline since a view of open space is a valuable benefit that is not easily found in Boca  Raton, especially at the price levels available in Boca Teeca.

3) Support development of the property by Lennar or other builders which will increase the already high density in the area and increase traffic on the already congested NW 2nd Ave.  It is expected that this alternative will result in the widening of NW 2nd Ave. to 4 lanes that will resemble the appearance and high traffic already seen on this road south of Yamato Rd.  This road widening & increase in traffic would destroy the residential character of the Boca Teeca community and also result in a decline in property values.  Under the previous development proposal by MCZ Centrum the BTUOA leaders convinced condo leaders that a contribution to each association of approximately $226/unit would be an attractive offer to compensate for the negative impact from the development.  This was a horrible deal since the property values would be expected to decline significantly more than this small contribution.  It is anticipated that the secretive BTUOA is already discussing the monetary contribution that they and/or condo associations will get from the developer.  This contribution to the BTUOA or the condo associations will be a pittance compared to the decline in property values.

Conclusion - clearly alternatives #1 & #2 are the best choices for Boca Teeca property owners.  Maintaining the only championship level golf course within the city limits is a viable solution if the property is purchased by the GBRBPD or other organization.  While the golf course may not be profitable, neither are most of the other parks & recreational facilities within the city.  There has often been 200 - 300+ users of this golf course per day which is probably in excess of the normal number of users of the new Spanish River park that cost approximately $13 million to develop on donated land and the budget has $7 million for expanding this park for additional soccer fields.  The users of the golf course also contribute significantly to the maintenance of the facility by paying $35-$50+/round of golf.

The city has already approved the development of several thousand residential units, so the GBRBPD will need to provide additional facilities for all these new residents to be able to recreate and the Ocean Breeze property has been identified as the last large parcel of land available to satisfy this expanding demand for recreational facilities.

Just say NO TO DEVELOPMENT & protect the residential character of Boca Teeca & protect the property values for everyone in the area.

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