News

By Steve Plunkett

    After nearly four years, it’s time to talk about the future of Ocean Strand again.
    “Sometime this fiscal year we need to have that discussion,” Commissioner Robert Rollins told fellow commissioners at the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District’s Sept. 21 meeting.
    The district stopped talking about Ocean Strand — almost 15 undeveloped acres stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Intracoastal Waterway between Spanish River and Red Reef parks — in February 2012. The decision came after a landscape architect hired by the district recommended against developing the land because no unique use had been proposed.
    Rollins said starting a new discussion would make commissioners think about what to do with the parcel, which has sat idle since the district bought it in 1994 for $11.9 million.
    “I’d rather do that than to have someone come to us with an idea that’s contrary to what we’re looking to do and then get the public all concerned about it. I’d rather hear what the public says,” Rollins said.
    In addition, sea grapes and mangroves “are really taking over the seawall,” he said.
    “If we want to have any type of a seawall vista there on the Intracoastal, we’re going to need to do something about that before it gets unmanageable,” Rollins said.
    Recent suggestions for Ocean Strand include using the property as an overflow parking lot for the popular Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.
    In 2009 a proposal by developer Penn-Florida Cos. to put a private cabana club at Ocean Strand to augment a luxury hotel planned for downtown sparked a public outcry. Neighbors were shocked to learn the city’s comprehensive plan and zoning would have allowed up to 80 residential units on the property.
    Since then Boca Raton has changed its comprehensive plan to allow only park-related structures no larger than about 51,000 square feet at Ocean Strand. The City Council also passed an ordinance that prohibits private uses of public beaches and waterfront land.
    The discussion of Ocean Strand will appear as a “future agenda item” on the Beach and Park District’s regular agenda.