By Steve Plunkett
For land that’s lain idle more than 17 years, Ocean Strand swirled into 2011 with a flurry of activity.
• Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District Commissioner Dirk Smith met with the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowner Associations to invite ideas on what kind of park Ocean Strand should be.
• Keep Your Boca Beaches Public submitted 1,522 signatures demanding that “development for private uses (including members-only beach clubs) … be prohibited’’ at Ocean Strand and other public land on the barrier island. The grass-roots group paid $152.20 to have the signatures verified.
• The Beach and Park District short-listed six firms to draw up plans for the parcel.
• Boca Raton’s city attorney declared the grass-roots petition unconstitutional and told the city clerk not to process the signatures.
• The Boca Raton City Council ordered its city manager to begin changing Ocean Strand’s land-use designation from residential to recreational, rather than wait for the Beach and Park District to request it. That process will take six to eight months.
• The Beach and Park District heard presentations from the short-listed firms, then chose Curtis + Rogers Design Studio Inc., the company that developed the master plan for Sugar Sand Park.
“When we look at Ocean Strand park, we have a very strong indication that it likely will be a passive park,’’ landscape architect Aida Curtis of Curtis + Rogers told district commissioners.
Her company said Ocean Strand naturally divides into three zones — the oceanfront, a central meadow and the Intracoastal — and that each area could support different uses. A beach club, a spa or space for yoga could go on the beach portion; lawn games, a garden center or outdoor concerts on the meadow; and rowing, sailing or a bicycle club on the Intracoastal, she said.
Curtis said her firm would schedule both large forums and meetings with smaller groups to gauge different interests. A complicated Miami Beach park required 180 meetings, she said.
Comment cards are passed out to balance whatever is said by more vocal members of the community, Curtis added.
“It’s a matter of getting everyone heard, understood, and then bringing back the groups together,’’ she said.
If the ideas presented at the homeowner federation are a guide, building consensus may take time.
“I want it to be available for everyone to go there, so we’re going to need parking spaces for people to get to the beach,’’ one man said, adding boat docks, picnic tables and a restaurant to his list. ‘’I would hate to see this $30 million piece of property turn into a place for the residents of Boca Towers to walk the dog.’’
Items on other wish lists included a kayaking concession, disabled-friendly amenities, a covered area for weddings, a walking path, a fishing area for children, a tot playground, wind-surfing, a boat launch, a maritime hammock, camping facilities for Boy Scouts and “green’’ restrooms.
“It’s time for people to come and see what the beach looks like,’’ another man said. “It is in perfect, pristine condition. And I think one of the options that should be considered is doing nothing at all.’’
Smith said anyone with ideas can e-mail him at dsmith@mybocaparks.org
At the Beach and Park District’s first meeting in January, Ocean Strand neighbors repeated their request that commissioners ask Boca Raton to change the parcel’s zoning before developing a master plan, prompting an angry response from Commissioner Dennis Frisch.
“What it says is that you all don’t trust us. We’ve done nothing but tell you that we’re going to put a park on that. And over and over you’ve come in and asked us to do something that we’ve told you, we’re not going to change the process,’’ said Frisch, who later was selected chairman of the district.
“We’ve never done anything to earn your mistrust. Trust us to do the right thing. It’s what we were elected for,’’ Frisch continued.
“It’s not that we don’t trust you,’’ Boca Towers resident Sharon Picker said. “I think we’re just scared that the powers that be — they’re pretty mighty powers, they’re politically powerful and financially powerful — might swoop down while you’re doing your planning and take the land, and lease it out from under you.’’
Commissioners assured Picker that could not happen.
The following night Boca Raton City Council member Anthony Majhess also reached the limits of his patience and moved to begin rezoning procedures.
“It’s been very frustrating for me as an elected official to watch the ball be kicked back and forth across the line,’’ he said. “We’ve all agreed it’s going to be a park. I think anybody who would even think to do anything otherwise — some of the conspiracy theories that are out there of what might happen — I think even if somebody had that as an intent, they’ve been pretty well painted into a political corner.’’
His proposal passed 5-0.
The Beach and Park District bought the Ocean Strand property in 1994 for $11.9 million but hasn’t made it a park yet. In late 2009, Penn-Florida Companies proposed a private cabana club there to complement a luxury hotel in Via Mizner, a $1 billion redevelopment project planned for downtown Boca Raton. Neighbors were surprised to discover the city’s comprehensive plan labels the parcel residential instead of recreational.
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