Golf, Grass or Kiss My A$$

A meeting this week of a group of Boca Teeca residents resulting is a rallying slogan for the approximate 90+% of residents who opposed any amendment of the deed restriction on the ocean breeze golf course, Golf Grass or Kiss My A$$

In addition to giving a pulse of the residents opinion on amending the deed restriction there were a few other news worthy issues:

1) Lennar is not willing to be transparent with their efforts to sell residents on their proposal for a moat with views of rooftops, as they have refused to disclose the contingency terms of their contract to buy the property from Wells Fargo.  Sources have indicated that Lennar is responsible for the decision to close the golf course in their effort to pressure owners to agree to a deal.  This lack of cooperation by Bruce Grundt of Lennar us only solidifying the residents around the rallying slogan, so feel free to email the slogan to Bruce.grundt@lennar.com

2). The self appointed ladders of BTUOA have been unable to turn on the public comment function on their news blog due to the numerous foul comments posted by visitors.  Maybe they should listen to these neighbors who adamantly reject being represented by this self appointed small group of residents?
 * Self appointed leader, Sally Friedman, did state that she opposed the development proposal, but that the city was not interested in acquiring the golf course.  Later that same day the Boca Raton city council had multiple members show interest in having the city cooperate with the beach & park district in acquiring the golf course.  DUH, why is anyone still listening to her?

3) Condo #4 disclosed that they did a poll of their residents and only 2 out of over 160 owners were in favor of any development on the golf course.  This is noteworthy as this was the building that former BTUOA leader Shirkey Svhnuer resided for many years.  It was interesting that several residents in attendance from this building never heard of BTUOA until the meeting and were appalled  to learn that the few BTUOA offcers present were claiming to represent them in discussions with the city and Lennar.

4) A discussion on the process of potentially amending the deed restriction resulted in several opposition opinions, including "why are non-elected residents (BTUOA) even talking to Lennar when clearly there is no interest and this group does not represent anyone but themselves.  Also, there should be a requirement iof transparency by Lennar during this process and all signatures must be required to be notarized, unlike the process by MCZ Centeum almost 10 years ago.

5) Lennar rep. Bruce Grundt is planning to continue his efforts by meeting secretly with selective condo associations in the next few weeks.  Again, it is suggested that Boca Teeca neighbors send emails to Bruce.grundt@lennar.com expressing their complete lack of interest in cooperating with Lennar and their ridiculous moat development proposal.

6) The next meeting of the BTUOA will be the 2nd Tuesday in July and will be held at the community center annex building/near city hall...at the same 2:30pm time, in spite of several suggestions by residents to schedule the meetings after normal business hours so more residents could attend and provide input.  The August meeting is also scheduled for the same location near city hall on the 2nd Tuesday at 2:30pm.

What are your comments or suggestions?

City Council Interested in Boca Teeca Golf Course

Maybe the recent Facebook post of a pic of councilman Jetemy Rodgers, his son and mayor Haynie's husband, Neil Haynie was an indication of the interest in the city officials acquiring the ocean breeze golf course in order to retain public chamionship level golf in Boca Raton.  At tonight's city council meeting there were multiple city council members who brought up the issue of a cooperative effort between the city and the beach & park district for acquiring the golf course.  Thank you councilman Rodgets for klaus tensing to residents of Boca Teeca who have sought a solution to the golf course closing at the end of the month.  Send an email to councilman Rodgers to thank him for his lead ship in this effort - jrodgers@myboca.us

Mortgage Benefit to BTUOA Leader

Does it sound unusual that Wells Fargo bank would provide a $390,000 home equity loan on Sallie Friedman's Boca Teeca condo which is estimated value at $150k-$200k?  This mortgage was filed in the Palm Beach official records during the previous deed restriction amendment process, so is it a quid pro quo that Sallie has been supporting Wells Fargo bank and their sell of the golf course to Lennar?

What are your thoughts on the appearances of this issue?

Councilman Jeremy Rodgers Supports retaining golf in Boca Teeca

Boca Raton City Councilman Jeremy Rodgers posted the following on his Facebook page today which indicates his support for the city and beach & park district to buy the golf course and maintain championship level public golf in Boca Raton:

Reportedly The Ocean Breeze Golf and Country Club [Boca Teeca] is under foreclosure and will be closing soon. It is zoned recreation. This is a possible once in a lifetime opportunity to keep golf in Boca. Some families live in golf neighborhoods. Many, like ours, do not, and there are few spots for young families to learn golf in the city. Boca's current 18 hole municipal course is outside of the city and west of the Turnpike.

There may be another option. Whether it's City of Boca Raton, FL Government, Greater Boca Raton Beach District, a non-profit, a private investor, or a joint venture .. should a publicly playable championship course be kept in the city?

What do you think??
*Email councilman Rodgers at jrodgers@ci.boca-raton.fl.us
**Post your comment on this web site
***Post your comment on Facebook under Boca Teeca or Councilman Rodgers page

Environmental Testing Underway

For those neighbors who have expressed concerns about hazardous chemicals in the soil on the Ocean Breeze golf course, this week Lennar's environmental contractor has been on the property drilling for soil and ground water testing, aka, environmental phase 1 & 2 testing.  The Florida dept. of environmental protection (FDEP) has been monitoring this property for the past several years, under the supervision of Bill Ruckert (561-681-6600).  The FDEP had required some soil remediation near the maintenance shed on the south course and their monitoring has been limited to this area of the property.

Considering that golf course conversions are not a new development, it would be expected that large developers such as Lennar are well aware of these risks and there may be a clause in their contract with Wells Fargo that addresses this issue.  Unfortunately, the city of Boca Raton has not follows the actions of broward county in requiring the environmental testing to be a requirement for their development proposals, so the results of these tests may not be as transparent as residents would desire during this process, that is, the property owner is not required to disclose these results to the city or the nearby residents.

Beach & Parks District Support/Commissioner Starkoff

Long time commissioner Earl Starkoff of the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Parks District has announced his support of the local government acquisition of the Ocean Breeze golf course property. In a communication to several residents of Boca Teeca, Commissioner Starkoff wrote to Boca Teeca residents who attended the recent meeting:

It was nice to meet/see you at our meeting last week.

Please keep us in mind if the City seeks to purchase the golf course to address your request. We have assisted the City with land acquisitions in the past, and we should consider what role we could play to help finance the acquisition.

Best,

Earl

Earl L. Starkoff

Commissioner

Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District

300 S. Military Trail

Boca Raton, FL 33486

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How will the city council members respond to this support for retaining this property for golf course use?  Will the city leaders cooperate with Boca Teeca residents and the Beach & Park District, or will they only see dollar signs from more tax revenue generated by more development?

Stay tuned, this should be interesting as this issue plays out over the next several months which leads up to the March election of some city council members and the upcoming vote on city's council salaries.

Supporters of keeping the Ocean Breeze property as a golf course may wish to contact city council members and commissioners of the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Parks District at:

Mayor Susan Haynie - shaynie@ci.boca-raton.fl.us

Councilman Mullaugh - mmullaugh@ci.boca-raton.fl.us

Councilman Singer - ssinger@ci.boca-raton.fl.us

Councilman Rodgers - jrodgers@ci.boca-raton.fl.us

Councilman Weinroth - rweinroth@ci.boca-raton.fl.us

Beach & Parks District Commissioners:

Earl Starkoff - estarkoff@mybocaparks.org

Bob Rollins - rrollins@mybocaparks.org

Steve Engel - sengel@mybocaparks.org

Dr. Dennis Frisch - dfrisch@mybocaparks.org

Susan Vogelgesang - svogelgesang@mybocaparks.org

The next 2 meetings of the beach & park district are scheduled for Monday 6/6 & 6/20 at 5:15pm at the offices of the district located at Sugar Sand park (military trail-south of palmetto park rd).  Should you wish to thank Commissioner Starkoff and ask for additional support of the district, then you may want to give brief remarks at the beginning of the agenda during the public comment period.

It must be noted that the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Parks District is NOT a dept of the city but they do cooperate with the city in the acquisition, improvement and maintenance of district-owned properties.  The park district boundaries covers approximately 25,000 additional residents more than the city limits which mostly comprises the Boca del mar subdivision.

Survey - Residents Oppose Development!

For the past several days there has been a survey of over 700 Boca Raton residents who are signed up for this neighborhood web site, NextDoor.  The survey basically asks if residents are for or against development on the Boca Teca/Ocean Breeze golf course.  The survey has over 90% of participants opposing the development.

This is the first survey that has been open to the public and this clearly demonstrates that residents overwhelmingly oppose any development on the golf course.  What will it take for Wells Fargo bank staff to to recognize that residents control the deed restriction on the property and residents are not going to approve any change in the deed restriction that will allow any development?

Let Wells Fargo know your opinion by calling your local branch or sending emails to Wells Fargo:
Chairman - John.stumpf@wellsfargo.com
Local branch - reberto.diaz@wellsfargo.com (branch at Congress Ave. & Yamato Rd)
Regional Manager - Saira.jacobs@wellsfargo.com (assistant to Joe Atkinson/FL V.P.)