City Staff Not Cooperating with Park District

City staff are not cooperating with the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District in their effort to acquire the Ocean Breeze golf course property.  The city has provided an Inter-Local Agreement (ILA) which is the normal process for cooperative efforts between the City and the GBRBPD.  This ILA provides the repayment and other terms of the lending of funds to the GBRBPD for the acquisition of the property, BUT the terms are so onerous that the GBRBPD commissioners could never agree to what the city staff has proposed.

First, the city has a requirement that they will control the golf course property until the loan is paid off to the city.  This is akin to a bank demanding the use of your home until the mortgage is paid off.  Also, none of the past ILA agreements have such an intolerable requirement.

Secondly, the city is requiring that the GBRBPD pay the salaries and benefits of the current golf course employees during any period when the current golf course is closed and the Boca Natinoal golf course opens.  The GBRBPD has not even agreed to use the staff of the current golf course and in no way should the GBRBPD be liable for these employees.  Isn't the city getting $65 million from the sell of the current municipal golf course?  Obviously the city is not planning to use any of these funds to cooperate with the GBRBPD in providing an upgrade recreational facility to the residents.

Thirdly, the city is requiring a penalty for early repayment of the loan, whereas, this term is typically not in the borrowing via municipal bonds that normally have the ability to be repaid after 10 years.  The city is only acting as a pass-through entity on this loan, so why is the city trying to make a profit off of the GBRBPD when they are already getting a $65 million windfall?

The GBRBPD has fully cooperated with the city in current ILAs that has the city employees operating the parks, so that over $16 million in the current fiscal year is being paid to the city for these services.  Maybe the GBRBPD should cancel that ILA and hire an outside service to maintain and operate the parks which could result in a large savings to the GBRBPD.  

Or, the city can act as the cooperative agent that has allowed the city residents to enjoy well maintained beaches and parks and provide the loan without any restrictions and pass through the funds as has been historically done in these property acquisitions that result in expanded parks throughout our city.  This is NOT a good effort on the part of the city which has expanded the population dramatically without providing sufficient funding to recreational facilities or schools within the area.

Now is a good time to call & email your city council members to let them know your opinions on their uncooperative efforts.

Ocean Breeze Update

At this week's meeting of the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District it was announced that the city and Park District are coordinating for a Feb. 28th closing on the closed golf course property.  Thank you Keep Golf In Boca for continuing to advocate for almost 2 years for all resident golfers who will officially have a championship level golf course within the city.

The Park District received an excellent response to their RFP for golf course architects to be in charge of the rehabilitation of the 27 hole golf course.  The interested architects included such well known organizations as Nicklaus, Norman, Reese Jones, Nick Price, Robert Trent Jones, McCumber/Fazio and many other designers.  For a full list of the respondents please see the web site for the Park District.  This is great news for all golfers in the area as this illustrates the interest from the top golf course designers who want to make Boca National a world class golf course facility.

Happy Holidays to All Residents of Boca Raton.

City Council Not Briefed on Ocean Breeze

At the 12/11 workshop meeting of the city council it was obvious that the city's assistant manager, George Brown, did not brief anyone on the council, or the city manager on the timeline and process underway at the Park District to acquire the closed Ocean Breeze golf course.  It was a clear case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing as the council members and the city manager appeared to not have an accurate understanding of what was going on, UNTIL Mr. Brown informed them that he had met earlier in the day with Park District executive director Koski.  He informed the city council that the seller has a fiscal year end of 2/28/18 and they wanted to get the sell of the property closed prior to this date.

BUT, at the present time the deadline for the contract between Lennar/Wells Fargo & the Park District is 1/26/18 so it would appear that a 1-month extension is being negotiated by Mr. Koski in order to meet the losers deadline.  Thank you to the majority of the city council for inquiring about this issue (after the public comments by Harold Chaffe, Leader of Keep Golf In Boca) which should be on the next several agendas and not require pulling teeth/info from city staff who are informed on the issue.

Why hasn't the Park District provided an Intralocal Agreement to the city for their approval which takes 2 meetings of the council?

If the city council overwhelmingly approves the Intralocal Agreement by 1/23/18, then will the Park District commissioners consider using the plentiful funds in their bank account, over $45 million, in order to pay the $24 million and then obtain the required funding from the city to fund the purchase?
     *It would appear that the very well financed Park District could ease the timing of the closing by
       simply writing the check to buy the property at the end of January and then work with the city
       on completing the lending agreement.  After all, most of the Park District's expenses are checks
       to the city for the maintenance of the parks owned by the Park District, so this should be an easy
       transition of funds from the City to the Park District whenever they get around to getting a bank
       loan or proceeds from a bond issue.

Next meeting of the Park District is Monday December 18th at 5:15pm at Sugar Sand Park.  This is the last meeting of the year and it could be an interesting discussions not how they will pay for the purchase of the Ocean Breeze property and their cash flow planning.

Golf Course Update

At the 11/27 meeting of the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District (GBRBPD) executive director Art Koski provided an update on the acquisition of the closed Ocean Breeze golf course in which the District has a contract to buy with a final closing date of January 26, 2018.  Due to complications with the city financing the District is currently working on negotiating an extension for the closing to late Feb. or March 2018.

The city is planing to provide financing of the $24 million purchase price with the 2nd meeting for the Interlocal agreement scheduled for the 1/23/18 meeting of the city council.  Subsequently the council will need 2 meetings for approving the borrowing of funds which would put the final funding into late February 2018.  Mr. Koski is confident that Wells Fargo and Lennar (current owners and controlling parties of the golf course property) will be cooperative in the request for the extension of time to complete the closing of this transaction.

The GBRBPD has already started the planning for the property renovation by issuing an RFP to golf course architects which will be opened on 12/20/17 at the offices of the District at Sugar Sand Park.  It is expected to take 6-7  months for planning after the closing before construction on the property will begin.  With an estimated 12 months for construction on the renovation this will closely mirror the timeline for the closing of the current municipal golf course which is being sold to GL Homes for approximately $65 million.  This should result in a nice windfall to the taxpayers of Boca Raton, but the city has not revealed their plans for the use of these proceeds.

The next meeting of the GBRBPD on 12/4 at 5:15pm at Sugar Sand park may be interesting since they are discussing how to purchase the property that has historically been the social center and hotel at the SE corner of Jeffrey St. and NW 2nd Ave.  Do residents prefer a 150 room hotel or a community center that is available to all residents of the city?

Important Meetings 9/25 & 9/26

There are important meeting concerning the pending Ocean Breeze golf course acquisition by the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District on 9/25 & 9/26.  These meetings are critical as the Beach &  Park District requires the financing of the transaction by the city council which will be addressed at the 9/2 6 meeting at 3pm at 6500 Congress Ave.

The Beach & Park District will have extensive planning discussions on the plans for the property at their 9/25 meeting at 5:15pm at their Sugar Sand Park offices on S. Military Trail.  The big issues are:

1) Current Deed Restriction - the Park District has obtained a legal opinion that indicates that the District would not be subject to the current deed restriction which requires the property to only be used as a golf course.  At numerous meetings with city officials there have been suggestions by several elected officials that some of the property could be used for other purposes in the future.

2) Use of the approximate 4 acre parcel located on the SE corner of NW 2nd Ave. & Jeffrey St. which was formally the activities center and hotel for the community.  The executive director of the Park District has recommended this parcel could be a 140 room hotel which would support more tourist activity at the renovated golf course, BUT this use would not be as beneficial to the residential community in the area as compared to a community center.  Over 1,300 nearby condo units were built in the Boca Teeca area without any meeting or social facilities within their own property, so there is a need within the area to have a community center instead of a hotel that will not support the residential community.  There have been numerous hotels built in the NE section of the city over the past 20 years that could support the tourists who may want to use the renovated golf facilities.

3) Consulting study by the National Golf Foundation will be presented at the joint meeting on 9/26 and will be reviewed at the 9/25 meeting of the Park District.  This economic study will be expected to provide a positive forecast of the financial benefits of the proposed renovated golf course.  This same consulting company provided a similar study to PB county prior to the development of the highly successful Osprey Point golf course located at the western end of Glades Rd.

4) An independent written appraisal on the Ocean Breeze property will be provided to the District commissioners and the city council members.  Past criticism of the purchase of the property was the $24 million price which was higher than the estimated value of $5-8 million.  By comparison the city has numerous offers for their smaller golf course property for over $72 million which would be developed after the acquisition.  The net impact of these 2 transactions would be a benefit to the taxpayer of over $30 million and a new golf course located WITHIN the city.

Hope to see a lot of Boca Raton residents at these 2 meetings to voice your comments on these issues, but if you are not able to attend, then please send your comments via email to the Park District & City Council members at their email addresses located on their respective web sites.

Wells Fargo Bank is a Poor Neighbor

As the owner of the over 200 acre property formerly operated as the Ocean Breeze golf course, Wells Fargo bank has not been maintaining the property in compliance with city code and there have been numerous code violations over the past year.  Most recently they were cited for not mowing the weeds which had reached up to 2 feet in height before they had a local residential landscaper to use their small 32 inch mowers to slowly mow the weeds.  After over 2 weeks of mowing they resolved 90% of the problem, but with the rain and heat of our growing season they will need to start mowing again if they are going to be in compliance with city code.  Wells Fargo continues to be an IR responsible neighbor as clearly illustrated by driving along Jeffrey/Clint Moore Rd. East of I-95 &  seeing how they have allowed the property to become overgrown with vegetation.

It is recommended that residents call the city council (561-393-7708) to let them know how poorly Wells Fargo is maintaining the property.  Residents who want to complain about this problem to the leadreship of Wells Fargo should email their board of directors at: boardcommunications@wellsfargo.com

Considering the poor business practices of Wells Fargo bank that have been well documented in the media over the past year, maybe it should not be surprising that they are a poor neighbor.  But, residents should consider not doing business with this irresponsible financial institution since there are many banks that are available locally that are much more responsible than Wells Fargo.

High Weeds Violate City Code

It is time to call city council & complain about the high weeds on the Ocean Breeze golf course since there are many weeds over 12 inches high which violates the city code requirements.  Call 561-393-7708 to complain today.

If there is no cooperation by the city council on lending the required funds to the Beach & Park District for their acquisition of this property, then let's give these elected city officials a taste of the complaints they can expect to receive on an ongoing basis In Perperuity!

NOT A DONE DEAL!

The purchase of the Ocean Breeze golf property is contingent upon the city council approving financing to the Beach & Park District via an Intra-Local Agreement (ILA).  This means that the politics of the city are still a significant hurdle even tough the city is not buying the property.

A few vocal residents are opposing the purchase of the Ocean Breeze golf property due to the question on the purchase price of $24 million being higher than the appraised value.  But, the valuation should be compared to the multiple offers for the smaller municipal course for $73 million.  Generously estimating the value of the deed restriction at $10 million (cost to buyout 850 Boca Teeca  property owners versus $350,000 by MCZ for a 211 unit development on 30 acres) this would value the Ocean Breeze property at $63 million which makes the $24 million offer a bargain.

Taxpayers will get a net benefit of $40-$50 million once the current municipal course is sold for $73 million.  This is a major financial victory for all Boca Raton taxpayers.

Failed mayoral candidate Al Zucaro publishes his Boca Watch blog and he has shown a negative bias in publishing one Royal Palm Country Club resident's negative comments.  Several of Al's friends in central Boca have also posted negative comments on the financing required by the city.

It is important that supporters of this property acquisition call and email city council to voice your support for bringing a championship level "public" golf course into our city.

City of Boca Raton – 561-393-7708

Mayor Susan – Haynie shaynie@ci.boca-raton.fl.us
Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers – jrodgers@ci.boca-raton.fl.us
Councilmember Andrea O’Rourke – AORourke@ci.boca-raton.fl.us
Councilmember Scott Singer – ssinger@ci.boca-raton.fl.us
Councilmember Robert Weinroth – rweinroth@ci.boca-raton.fl.us

Beach & Park District Agrees to Buy Ocean Breeze

At today's meeting of the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District the commissioners voted unanimously to execute the contract to buy the over 200 acres known as the Ocean Breeze golf course.  The district commissioners also voted unanimously to start the search for a golf course design firm via an RFP process.

Golfers and residents are looking forward to this process moving along with the financing coming via an agreement with the city council which is still prnding approval.  The contact closing is scheduled for late October with possible extensions nil the end of January 2018.  This process could be expedited if the city would approve the financing utilizing plentiful city reserves which are currently earning a measly 2% or less in savings accounts/certificates.

Thanks to Keep Golf In Boca representatives for their continued support of this important project which benefits the entire city.

Ocean Breeze update

The May 8th joint workshop meeting by the city council & the beach & park district was very well attended by over 200 residents who clearly supported the acquisition of the closed ocean breeze golf course.  The final outcome was a verbal commitment by the city council to provide the required cooperative financing for the beach & park district to buy the over 200 acres formerly operated as the ocean breeze golf course.

The next step is for the city & park district to agree to the official terms or their lending agreement and approve an ordnance by the city council at upcoming meetings.  The estimated closing on the purchase is October 31st with final development completed in approximately 2 years.

Thank You To Boca Teeca Residents

All golfers and property owners in Boca Raton should be saying thank you to Boca Teeca Residents.  Why?  Because if the owners in Boca Teeca were to follow the suggestions of some misguided officials to eliminate the deed restriction on their adjacent golf course, then this property would be expected to be valued in excess of the $73 million the city is expected to sell a similar sized golf course located west of the turnpike.

So, thank you to Boca Teeca property owners for NOT amending or eliminating your deed restriction on the adjacent golf course so that the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District has the opportunity to buy these 200+ acres and bringing 27 championship level golf holes (3-nine hole course) that will greatly improve the recreational attractiveness within the city limits.

It makes no sense to try to eliminate a deed restriction in order to have the perception that the value of the property exceeds the price being paid for the property.  The size or characteristics of the property do not change by the elimination of the deed restriction.  Accordingly, the best interest of the community is to support the acquisition of the property by the GBRBPD for $24 million and thank the Boca Teeca property owners for NOT changing/removing their deed restriction.

Large hotel coming to Boca Teeca?

At this week's meeting of the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District there were several important issues discussed by the commissioners and the executive director:

1) Executive director Arthur Koski indicated that a 110-120 room hotel would be planned for the current hotel property at NW 2nd Ave & Jeffrey St.  Mr. Koski indicated that he was working with hotel companies who informed him that this would be the minimum size that they would be interested in building on this site using a ground lease agreement with the owner of the building
* Is this in the best interest of the Boca Teeca residential community?
* It would be expected that this size of a hotel would require additional parking - where?
* This would be expected to require widening of NW 2nd Ave.-is this what residents want?

2) New commissioner Craig Ehrnst asked if the Boca Teeca residents would consider removing the deed restriction so the District could use part of the golf course for other park uses, as he stated that residents should be expected to compromise
* Is this new commissioner really asking Boca Teeca residents to remove the deed restriction?
* Is commissioner Ehrnest suggesting that an 18 hole golf course would generate more revenue than a 27 hole golf course?  He had been inquiring about the financial impact of acquiring the property for $24 million at previous meetings so this would be very inconsistent to question the financial impact and then suggest reducing the revenue capability by 33%.
Residents may send their comments directly to this commissioner at: cehrnst@mybocaparks.org

3) Mr. Koski assured residents in attendance that the city was not going to select a winner for the bidding the the sell of the current municipal golf course until after a deal is reached by the District & Lennar on the purchase of the Ocean Breeze property.
* No contract has been signed by the District to purchase the Ocean Breeze property, so residents are being asked to trust Lennar in this process.
* Did Mr. Koski see the last city council meeting?  Apparently not, as the city council  considering selecting a winning bidder and it was obvious that the majority of the council were leaning to the selection of GL Homes over Lennar.  There is no legal agreement that Lennar's current offer to sell the Ocean Breeze property to the District for $24 million will continue to exist in the future, especially if they lose the bidding process for the city golf course.

4) There will be another joint meeting with the city council & Park District on May 8th at 4:30pm at 6500 Congress Ave.  It is expected that a more thorough presentation by the Park District will get the financing approval process started with the city - requires a 2 council meeting approval process as an amendment to the city budget.  The city plans to issue bonds for these funds with an agreement with the Park District to pay the city all principal and interest on these bonds.  This is a similar process to how the Park District has acquired other properties in the past.  The Park District executive director has stated that there will be no requirement to increase taxes to pay for any estimated costs in acquiring the Ocean Breeze property.

Good News / Public Golf Returning to Boca

Last week the city & Park Distrcit completed the first 2 steps in the acquisition of the former Ocean Breeze golf course property without any conditions tied to the sell of the city's municipal golf course. It is expected that the joint meeting of the Park District and the City Council on Feb. 28th will provide another cooperative step in the return of championship level golf to the Public in Boca Raton.

If the Park District acquires the property under the current plans, then it is expected that the fully rehabilitated golf course would reopen in approximately 18 months.

Ocean Breeze Deal Almost Final with Beach & Park District

Great News - today the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District unanimously passed a motion asking the City of Boca Raton to support the Park District in purchasing Ocean Breeze Golf and Country Club for $24 million.

The Park District has received and is reviewing a contract from Lennar Homes to purchase Ocean Breeze.  The District hopes to have their due diligence completed by the next Park District meeting on February 21st.  Funding for the purchase will come from an intra-local agreement between the City and the Park District.  The sale of Ocean Breeze is separate from and would not be contingent upon Lennar being the successful bidder for the City's sale of the current municipal golf course.

Additionally, the Park District is in consultation with the Greg Norman Golf Academy to have a golf academy business operating on the property. At his time the Park District does not feel the course needs to be redesigned, just refurbished at a cost estimated to be $9-$12 million.  Planning the refurbishment and incorporating a golf academy is anticipated to take about 18 months.

The deal is not finalized, but many thanks to all those who have supported the Keep Golf In Boca efforts to bring public championship level golf back into our city.  The final deal may be agreed on at the joint meeting of the Beach & Park District with the City Council on Feb. 28th at 4pm at the community center--put this on your calendar!

Ocean Breeze update

The city council will meet on Monday at 2pm in their workshop meeting.  The golf course issue is not on the agenda but it is expected that the city manager will report on the status of this issue.  Public comments are encouraged at the beginning of this meeting in order to support the efforts of Keep Golf In Boca to bring championship level golf to Boca Raton with the assistance of the city council.

The city council meeting on Tuesday at 6pm also has public comment on the agenda / near the end of the agenda.  Supporters of Keep Golf In Boca are encouraged to speak in public comments to support the cooperation of the city in efforts to bring championship level public golf back to our city.

On Feb. 28th there is a joint meeting of the city council and beach & park district at 4pm at the community center in which the golf course issue and phase 2 at de Hornle park will also be discussed/add more soccer fields to this popular site on land owned by the city adjacent to the park.  This should be a very interesting meeting since this will be the last meeting prior to the city council election on March 14th.

City Council Workshop Meeting Review

Below is a recap of today's city council workshop meeting which can also be viewed online at the city's agenda page video:

1) GASP! - Councilman Weinroth stated that he thought that Lennar's development proposal in 2016 looked attractive.  Good to know ahead of any communication with a politician that supports developers over residential interests.  Unfortunately Mr. Weinroth is not coming up for re-election on March 14th.

2) Lennar reps indicated that they are working with the Beach & Park District in an effort to revise their offer for the city's western golf course - Good News expected for residents

3) Ten residents spoke at the meeting with 9 residents supporting public golf in Boca Raton, but some residents were under the misunderstanding that there was a proposal to develop on the Boca Teeca golf property, as this is not currently under consideration by the city.  The one resident who opposed golf IN Boca Raton simply wanted to keep the current municipal golf course--this does not seem likely considering the city could get $73 million, or $51 million and the Boca Teeca golf course which is a Win-Win for golfers in Boca Raton.

4) No decision was made at this meeting as the city council agreed to delay any decisions until more information is obtained from the Beach & Park District.  The Feb meetings of the city council are Feb 13th (2pm), 14th (6pm), 27th (2pm) & 28th (6pm), so supporters of Public golf IN Boca should plan to attend these meetings since this issue will be expected to be on these agendas.

Thank you to all of the Boca Raton residents who attended today's meeting in support of bringing Public golf into our city.  The golf course issue is NOT on the agenda for tomorrow night's city council meeting, but anyone who wants to speak on any issue may use the Public Comment section of the agenda (near the end of the 6pm meeting agenda).

Golfers Wanted

Calling all golfers in Boca Raton - Support bringing back Public golf to our city by asking the elected city council members to select Lennar as the buyer of the west Glades Road golf course which includes the swap of the Ocean Breeze golf course and $41 million.  Call the city manager's office who is overseeing this process and tell them that it is in the city's best interest to bring back golf into the city - 561-393-7708

The only way that public championship level golf is going to return to the city is if hundreds or thousands of residents call the city manager and let him know their opinion that preserving over 200 acres of green space is important to the voters of the city.  Call Today! -561-393-7708

Eminent Domain eh?

At yesterday's meeting of the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District the commissioners unanimously voted to retain an eminent domain attorney for consideration of acquiring the Ocean Breeze golf course property.  One commissioners even inquired about the District borrowing funds for the acquisition, but it was suggested that the city would be able to provide any needed financing -as they have in the past.

Will eminent domain work to obtain a lower price from Lennar or Wells Fargo?  Or, will this issue drag on for many years with no action being taken to return the property to the deeded SE as a golf course.

At the 1/23 & 1/24 meetings of the city council the city will disclose the legal opinion from their eminent domain attorney and the city council will make a decision on who will be the winning bidder for the current municipal golf course.  All golfers in Boca Raton are encouraged to attend these meetings and Speak at the meeting in support of bringing championship level golf back to our city.