Boca Raton’s surfer dudes and dudettes will have to keep on looking for spots with good waves.
The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District voted 3-2 on Nov. 3 to reject a private firm’s proposal to build a surf park in North Park, which surrounds the Boca Teeca condominium complex north of Yamato Road.
“It’s a beautiful project. I just don’t think it’s the right location,” said Commissioner Bob Rollins, who surprised his colleagues by asking for the vote, because the item had only been on the agenda for the board to receive an update.
Two weeks later, commissioners decided 5-0 to scrap other proposals — for a recreation and entertainment complex and for a golf-related facility — all on the west side of Northwest Second Avenue, and conduct a “new, statistically valid” community needs assessment in coordination with the city before reissuing a request for bids.
They left alone a proposal the Boys & Girls Club is working on to build a state-of-the-art facility there.
For the surf park, commissioners said Boca Teeca residents bombarded them with emails opposing Boca Surf Park LLC’s project and the noise and traffic it would bring.
The company said it would spend $50 million building the surf park without district help if the project had been accepted. It would have paid the district at least $600,000 a year in payments in return for a 49-year concession agreement with two 25-year renewals.
— Steve Plunkett
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