By Steve Plunkett
The former Wildflower nightclub site on the Intracoastal Waterway will become home to a family-style restaurant if the city’s Marine Advisory Board has its way.
Chairman Gene Folden told City Council members at a January workshop: “We support a restaurant unique in design so as not to compete with other restaurants in the area, multifunctional, family-oriented, with open-air dining, accessible to the water and accessible by watercraft.”
The advisory board also wants Boca Raton to acquire the property just north of the Wildflower site, as well as the vacant lot at its southwest corner.
Folden challenged a list of objections to having a restaurant on the site, on the northwest side of the Palmetto Park bridge, particularly that people don’t want a restaurant there.
“Not everyone can live on the water or the Intracoastal,” Folden said. “Not everyone owns a boat to enjoy the water.”
Folden said Boca Raton is the only major city in Palm Beach County or Broward County without waterfront dining accessible by boat. He also said currents would not affect boats docking if the city were successful in buying the parcel just north of the site. Homes on the other side of the Intracoastal all have docks despite concerns about currents, he added.
Folden also said the city should explore buying vacant land along Palmetto Park Road and East Palm Avenue to provide additional parking for boat trailers and cars using the boat docks at Silver Palm Park just south of the Wildflower site.
Mayor Susan Whelchel embraced Folden’s recommendations.
“People I talk to absolutely want a restaurant there for the reasons Mr. Folden presented,” she said.
Whelchel said city staff was preparing a request for proposals to get a restaurant on the Wildflower site.
“I think everyone understands it would be fabulous if we were able to really create an outstanding ambiance and activity on the water,”’ she said.
Council member Anthony Majhess worried about saddling taxpayers with an extra expense.
“I would hate to get into the position where it’s a taxpayer-subsidized restaurant,” Majhess said. Ú Ú
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