golf course - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T09:50:25Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/golf+courseBoca Raton: Council for now takes hands-off stance on Ocean Breeze planshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-council-for-now-takes-hands-off-stance-on-ocean-breeze2022-11-30T16:05:42.000Z2022-11-30T16:05:42.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10895636094,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10895636094,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="443" alt="10895636094?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>By Mary Hladky</strong></p>
<p>The City Council won’t stand in the way of the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District’s efforts to develop the former Ocean Breeze golf course property.<br />Council members informally agreed on Nov. 7 that they like the district’s conceptual plans for the 212-acre site. Although they’d like to see a firmer proposal, they don’t want to hold up the district’s work to create one.<br />“I encourage moving forward and being supportive in a collaborative way,” said Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke.<br />“Please, go forward,” said Mayor Scott Singer.<br />District Chair Erin Wright was gratified by the support. “I am so glad you guys have given us the go-ahead,” she said.<br />The cordial interaction between the two government bodies stood in contrast to disagreements that marred previous efforts to work together on projects.<br />This time around, the district wanted to give city leaders an early look at its plans so council members and city staff could voice any concerns now to head off time-consuming and costly project delays later on.<br />The site was slated to become the Boca National golf course two years ago. But that plan was scuttled when The Boca Raton donated the Boca Golf and Tennis Country Club to the city, eliminating the need for another golf course. The district has been considering what to do with Ocean Breeze ever since.<br />District officials have held public workshops, surveyed community residents and hired engineering and landscape architect Miller Legg to create the conceptual master plan.<br />That plan is ambitious. The site has been divided into four quadrants with different features and facilities. Multi-use trails, which Wright said are a “top priority,” run throughout the property.<br />One quadrant is devoted to golf, including an executive 9-hole course, short-game and putting areas, driving range and clubhouse. <br />The layout is intended to complement the city’s championship course at the Boca Raton Golf and Racquet Club — the new name for the former country club — which is perceived as too difficult for many players.<br />A second quadrant has a dog park, community garden and butterfly/botanical garden and playground. The third features a racquet center, indoor and outdoor pickleball and tennis courts and playground. A fitness area, splash pad, boardwalk, swimming pools and field house are in the fourth.<br />The district wants a public-private partnership to operate the golf and racquet facilities, and partnerships for the aquatics center and field house.<br />The price tag would be about $27 million. But Wright said the actual number is about $20 million since the higher figure includes a $5 million contingency fund and $2 million already in hand to cover design costs. <br />The site would be developed in two phases, with most of the facilities completed by 2025 and the rest by 2028.<br />“I really, really like what we have come up with,” Wright said, while emphasizing that the plans are not final.<br />They do not address concerns from people living near the site about increased traffic and security, but Wright said both will be dealt with.<br />Although council members are not stopping the district from moving ahead, it isn’t clear whether that hands-off approach will last.<br />Deputy City Manager George Brown voiced an apparent concern at an Oct. 25 council meeting when he said the district has not identified what kind of public-private partnerships it will be seeking.<br />Council members Monica Mayotte and Yvette Drucker questioned whether too much emphasis had been placed on golf and related amenities, but did not ask for any changes.<br />They and O’Rourke wanted Brown or City Manager Leif Ahnell to specify any issues they had with the plans.<br />But Ahnell said city staffers could not do that because the plans are not firm yet and any alterations could affect their analysis. That analysis, he said, would come after the district submits a detailed site plan.<br />Singer urged staff to voice any concerns or objections as soon as possible so that the district can address them early on.<br />After the meeting, Wright said she was hopeful that would happen. </p></div>Boca Raton: Apparent end to dispute clears way for ideas on old golf propertyhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-apparent-end-to-dispute-clears-way-for-ideas-on-old-go2021-03-03T16:50:11.000Z2021-03-03T16:50:11.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Mary Hladky</strong></p>
<p>The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District is soliciting ideas for what to do with the former Ocean Breeze golf course property.<br />The 212-acre site was slated to become the Boca National golf course. But that plan was scuttled when the Boca Raton Resort & Club donated the Boca Golf and Tennis County Club to the city, eliminating the need for another golf course.<br />District commissioners unanimously voted Feb. 1 to issue a request for information intended to garner ideas on the best uses for Ocean Breeze. Responses are due by April 9.<br />Commissioners want Ocean Breeze to be a recreational facility. The only commercial development that would be allowed would be ancillary to recreation, such as a snack bar.<br />But the RFI wording does not rule out some type of golf activity, although much more limited in scope than the Boca National grand plans.<br />Proposals would serve as a starting point for discussions between the district and the City Council on how to best make use of the land. The results of a needs assessment survey also would be considered.<br />“The concept is to gather ideas,” Commissioner Craig Ehrnst said. <br />Even before the vote, residents were weighing in at district meetings. Ideas included a 9-hole executive golf course, croquet courts, and, of course, pickleball courts.<br />“We are getting a lot of response,” Executive Director Briann Harms said at the Feb. 16 district meeting.<br />In a related matter, commissioners voted unanimously March 1 to contract with CSR Athletic Construction to clean up the Ocean Breeze property. CSR’s bid of $520,000 was the lowest of four submitted.<br />The company will demolish buildings and parking lots and plant sod on cleared land. Trees will be trimmed or removed if they are unhealthy, and underbrush, vines and invasive plants removed.<br />While the district is moving forward on Ocean Breeze planning, what appeared to be shaping up as a major battle between the city and the district has been averted. They have reached an accord on amending an interlocal agreement on how the two bodies will work together on Ocean Breeze.<br />The agreement initially was written when the city and district intended to build Boca National. The aim, district officials said, was to eliminate wording that Ocean Breeze would be transformed into a major golf course.<br />City staff took exception to some of the district’s proposed wording, and amended the district’s revisions. Staffers said they could not accept certain changes that disadvantaged the city. That angered district commissioners, who said the city changes prevented them from making plans for Ocean Breeze and hiring a consultant to create a master plan. <br />“The agreement we got back was even more encumbering than before,” Ehrnst said at the Feb. 1 meeting.<br />“I am so disheartened by this whole thing,” said Commissioner Erin Wright.<br />The commission unanimously passed a motion rejecting the city’s changes.<br />Harms attended the council’s Feb. 8 workshop to tell members about the RFI and to request a joint meeting of the two bodies.<br /> All five council members supported a joint meeting, which has not been held in the past year because of the pandemic. It will be in April.<br />“I think it is imperative” to have one, said council member Monica Mayotte. She wanted the dispute over the interlocal agreement “ironed out.”<br />Deputy City Manager Mike Woika said he would meet with Harms that week to clarify the issues, and later said he thought an agreement could be worked out in a matter of weeks.<br />Two weeks later, a deal had been reached. Harms will bring it to commissioners on March 15 for their approval.<br />“It is certainly a step in the right direction for the relationship between our two bodies,” Commissioner Robert Rollins said at the March 1 meeting.<br />The revision is “a far cry from earlier drafts that were less honorable,” said Sam Goren, the district’s attorney. Ú</p></div>Boca Raton: Ocean Breeze golf course property to get cleanup, maintenancehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-ocean-breeze-golf-course-property-to-get-cleanup-maint2021-02-03T15:13:28.000Z2021-02-03T15:13:28.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming<div><p><strong>By Mary Hladky</strong></p>
<p>Now that the former Ocean Breeze golf course is no longer slated to become the Boca National course, Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District commissioners have decided to clean up and better maintain the 212 acres as they decide what to do with it.<br />Commissioners voted to request bids for the project at their Jan. 4 meeting. Bids are due by Feb. 12.<br />The project includes demolishing buildings and parking lots and planting sod on the cleared land. Trees will be trimmed or removed if they are unhealthy, and underbrush, vines and non-native plants removed. Split rail fencing will be installed in six locations.<br />Existing cart paths will be connected to create a walking trail.<br />“We need to clean up the property,” Commissioner Robert Rollins said.<br />Commissioners also want to improve the entrance to the property. “It definitely needs work,” said Executive Director Briann Harms.<br />They can’t do that immediately because the land is owned by the San Remo Homeowners Association.<br />Commissioners directed Harms and the district’s attorney to attempt to reach an agreement with the association that would allow the district to use public money to pay for the work.<br />District officials have spoken with the association in the past about possible lease or acquisition of the property, but Commissioner Susan Vogelgesang said those talks broke down.<br />District commissioners and City Council members intended to build the new Boca National golf course on the Ocean Breeze property, but the project bogged down because of disagreements about the cost and whether the city or the district would be in charge of the project.<br />The back-and-forth ended abruptly in October when the Boca Raton Resort & Club donated the 167-acre Boca Golf and Tennis Country Club to the city, eliminating the need for a new golf course.<br />Commissioners are now eager to create a new plan for the Ocean Breeze land. But once again, the district believes the city has thrown up a roadblock that so far is keeping commissioners from hiring a consultant to create a master plan, while the city denies it is causing delays.<br />Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke said at a Jan. 11 council workshop meeting that it would be a good idea to schedule a joint city-district meeting to “make sure we are on the same page.”<br /> Council member Monica Mayotte agreed.<br />“There are great things that can happen in that space. We should put our heads together and get a joint meeting on the calendar,” O’Rourke said.<br />In other beach and park district business on Jan. 4, commissioners unanimously agreed to keep their current leadership lineup.<br />Vogelgesang will remain as chairwoman, Erin Wright as vice chairwoman and Craig Ehrnst as secretary-treasurer.<br />“I think we have a great group in place and I wanted to keep them together,” Rollins said</p></div>Boca Raton: Ideas wanted on what to do with golf course propertyhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-ideas-wanted-on-what-to-do-with-golf-course-property2020-12-02T15:48:11.000Z2020-12-02T15:48:11.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong></p>
<p>The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District is hoping to tap residents’ collective imagination to decide what to put on the former Ocean Breeze golf course.<br /> District commissioners have long planned to build a new 18-hole course, along with a short course, expansive putting green, lighted driving range and a learning academy.<br /> But the recent gift to the city of nearby Boca Raton Country Club scrambled that vision. At the district’s Nov. 16 meeting, Commissioner Craig Ehrnst proposed asking the community how to proceed.<br /> “We’ll get a lot of ideas and proposals, and out of that we’ll have some guiding principles,” he said.<br /> The deadline for submissions is the end of March 2021. Commissioners also agreed to allow people to offer ideas at all their meetings until then.<br /> Ehrnst said he still likes the plan for the short course, driving range and other amenities on the east side of Second Avenue, straddling Jeffery Street.<br /> “But I just want to make sure it fits with what’s going on just 2 miles away. I mean, it’s a big deal to have two driving ranges next to one another,” he said.<br /> The country club’s range is not lighted, other commissioners noted.<br /> Commissioner Robert Rollins wanted the residents of the Boca Teeca condominiums surrounding the parcel to help push for the city to abandon Jeffery Street. City leaders instead want to build a railroad crossing to connect Jeffery to Federal Highway.<br /> “I can’t imagine a major thoroughfare going through the middle of their community (and) in the middle of our property,” he said.<br /> Boca Teeca resident Harold Chaffee, who is president of the group Keep Golf in Boca, suggested stocking a large drainage lake, with fish, on the west side of the property.<br /> “You can have fishing contests. You can place your benches around it, walking paths. There’s so many things that we could do with this property,” he said. Ú</p></div>Boca Raton: Council quickly accepts ‘most generous’ gift of golf coursehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-council-quickly-accepts-most-generous-gift-of-golf-c-12020-10-28T14:41:27.000Z2020-10-28T14:41:27.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming<div><p><strong>By Mary Hladky</strong></p>
<p>Wasting no time, the City Council formally accepted the donation of the 167-acre Boca Golf and Tennis Country Club just eight days after the gift was announced.<br />In casting their unanimous vote on Oct. 14, council members brushed aside pleas from nearby property owners to postpone the decision.<br />Members of the Boca Golf and Tennis Property Owners Association complained they were never consulted or even told that the new owners of the Boca Raton Resort & Club were offering the country club to the city.<br />They voiced concerns about the loss of privacy and safety when the private club becomes public, increased traffic and whether the city had completed adequate due diligence.<br />“What’s the rush?” several property owners asked.<br />“We were surprised and shocked as to the clandestine and seemingly surreptitious agreements … we were not aware of,” said one resident.<br />But council members said the donation offer was too good to pass up.<br />It gives the city a golf course to replace the municipal course that is in the process of being sold to GL Homes for $65 million.<br />Golfers also won’t have to wait for the Boca National golf course to be built by the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District after a contentious battle with the city over control of the project.<br />“I think it is a slam dunk for the city,” said council member Andy Thomson.<br />Other cities would be “salivating” over such a gift, said Mayor Scott Singer, who described it as “the most generous donation” ever made to Boca Raton.<br />Responding to objections to the quick vote, City Manager Leif Ahnell said, “The donation is available now. … I am not under the impression it is available at a later date. This would be a fantastic opportunity.”<br />Thomson, who has taken an active role on golf course matters, said he did not consider the vote rushed. The city will assume control of the country club on Oct. 1, 2021, giving the city plenty of time to address concerns.<br />Ahnell said he expects Boca Raton will break even on operating the golf course, or possibly make a small profit.<br />The golf course, which Ahnell described as “first class,” was completely renovated in 2018, he said.<br />“It is our intent to operate it as a premier public facility,” he said.<br />The country club, located outside the city limits on Congress Avenue north of Clint Moore Road, includes an 18-hole championship golf course, tennis courts, clubhouse and pool. Deputy City Manager Mike Woika said it is debt-free.<br />The new owners of the Boca Raton Resort & Club — MSD Partners, formed by billionaire Michael S. Dell’s private investment firm, and Northview Hotel Group — acquired the country club as part of their purchase of the resort for $875 million in 2019.<br />The resort is now in the midst of a $150 million renovation. In announcing the donation, the owners said they want to concentrate on completing that project. They also said the country club had been underutilized for over a decade.<br />Under the deal, which is expected to close soon, the city will get title to the property and then lease it to the resort, which will continue to operate and maintain it as a private club until the city takes over.<br />Over the next 11 months, the city will meet with residents, create a budget for management and operations and develop user fee schedules.<br />Once it becomes a public facility, all city residents and visitors will be able to use it, as will members of the resort and the country club.<br />Those living in the country club’s residential areas, who are not city residents, will be able to purchase golf passes at the same rate as city residents. Premier members of the resort also will pay city resident rates.<br />Still to be resolved is what impact the donation will have on the Beach and Park District’s plans to build Boca National.<br />Ahnell said city and district officials will discuss this. Thomson expects that land to become a “first-class” park instead.<br />Beach and Parks Commissioner Craig Ehrnst, who attended the meeting, urged council members to accept the gift. “Donations like this don’t come around very often,” he said. “This really makes a lot of sense for the entire community.” Ú</p></div>Boca Raton: Park District votes to take back control of golf course projecthttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-park-district-votes-to-take-back-control-of-golf-cours2020-01-29T15:49:14.000Z2020-01-29T15:49:14.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>By Mary Hladky</b></span></p>
<p class="p3">Seven weeks after Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District commissioners reluctantly gave in to City Council pressure to allow the city to build the Boca National golf course, they have decided to take back control.</p>
<p class="p3">Commissioners remained firm on this decision during a Jan. 27 joint meeting between the two bodies, saying they could build the course and pay for it without city help or a tax rate increase.</p>
<p class="p3">The meeting was marred by distrust on both sides, with City Council members doubting the district could finance the golf course, and commissioners accusing the city of not negotiating in good faith.</p>
<p class="p3">Asked by City Council member Andrea O’Rourke why the district did not want the city to manage the project, district Commissioner Robert Rollins said, “Because I have greater faith in the district to do the job on time. …”</p>
<p class="p3">The district has asked the city to approve the golf course design so the project can be put out for bids. City Manager Leif Ahnell said city staff received the district’s request days before the joint meeting and had not had a chance to analyze it, but would do so shortly.</p>
<p class="p3">District Executive Director Briann Harms included with the request a five-year plan to pay for the golf course and five options for phasing it in over the five years. Those options will be reviewed by the National Golf Foundation, which will recommend what it considers the most financially viable of the choices.</p>
<p class="p3">“It is a conservative budget,” Harms said. “We can make it work.”</p>
<p class="p3">All five options peg the cost of Boca National at about $13.9 million, well below the original $28 million cost that has since been whittled down at the city’s insistence.</p>
<p class="p3">The fragile deal between the city and district, forged at a Nov. 12 joint meeting, imploded on Jan. 6 after commissioners saw the city’s draft of an amended agreement between the city and district that spelled out the city’s responsibilities for golf course design, construction and operation.</p>
<p class="p3">Commissioners cried foul, contending the draft agreement was one-sided and financially ruinous for the district. They voted unanimously to reject the agreement, cease negotiations with the city and build the golf course themselves, garnering applause from golfers in the audience.</p>
<p class="p3">“I could never support the district entering into this kind of agreement that would be so financially harmful to the community,” said Commissioner Craig Ehrnst.</p>
<p class="p3">“I am very happy we have a 5-0 vote,” said Chairwoman Susan Vogelgesang. “Now I really have hope. I have confidence we can do it.”</p>
<p class="p3">The vote came after golf teaching professional Rick Heard listed problems he saw with the draft agreement, urged commissioners to take back control of the golf course project and suggested ways the district could finance the project on its own.</p>
<p class="p3">His long list of objections included the city’s intention to request proposals from golf course architects with the aim of seeing if the city can get a better price or design, even though the district had already spent nearly $1 million on its design after selecting the Nick Price-Tom Fazio team as the best.</p>
<p class="p3">But his biggest concern, shared by Harms, was that the city would be able to terminate the agreement for any reason after the golf course construction was completed, after which the costs of operating and maintaining the golf course would be borne by the district.</p>
<p class="p3">Harms saw that as very problematic, especially since the city might pick a new golf course architect and design with the district having no veto power over the decision.</p>
<p class="p3">The district’s decision to reject the draft agreement surprised city officials, who saw the draft as a starting point for continued negotiations.</p>
<p class="p3">“We thought that the district would review the draft document and provide comments and suggested revisions, not simply reject the entire draft document,” Deputy City Manager Mike Woika wrote to Harms.</p>
<p class="p3">But the district’s decision to take back the project was reinforced after Harms gave a list of her concerns about the draft agreement to the city at a Jan. 13 meeting. Harms said the district might reconsider its rejection of the draft agreement if the city responded to the concerns.</p>
<p class="p3">Woika sent back the draft to the district, but made only one change in a section that he said was not clearly written. The draft was annotated with numerous comments intended to explain or clarify the city’s intentions.</p>
<p class="p3">“We did give them a list of our concerns,” Commissioner Steven Engel said at a Jan. 21 district meeting. “Those concerns were basically ignored.”</p>
<p class="p3">City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser disputed that at the joint meeting, saying that the district had not said how it wanted to amend the draft agreement. That made it impossible for the city to offer a fuller response, she said.</p>
<p class="p3">A key reason the city wanted to take over the project was that district officials told council members at a joint Nov. 12 meeting that they did not have enough money to do the project on their own.</p>
<p class="p3">But they now think they can do so without raising the tax rate, provided the course is built over five years and the district postpones some planned park projects to free up money. Golfers told commissioners they did not mind waiting longer for golf course completion.</p>
<p class="p3">City officials believe they could complete the course in 18 months to two years.</p>
<p class="p3">Although the district will need more time to complete the project, Harms has said a course will be playable within a few years.</p>
<p class="p3">The district’s financial position improved after the city returned to the district $2.4 million it had given to the city for park projects, but the city didn’t spend. That boosted the district’s reserve fund to $5.5 million — enough to start the project, Harms said.</p>
<p class="p3">The district also could boost its finances if it gets approval to stop making payments to the city to pay off bond debt that financed the construction of Mizner Park. It has asked the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency to relieve it of its payment obligations, which totaled $1.4 million for the 2019-20 fiscal year.</p>
<p class="p3">Frieser has told City Council members, who also sit as CRA commissioners, that is possible, but only after completing a process that includes financial reviews, a public hearing and the signing of a new agreement between the city and district.</p>
<p class="p3">The City Council also can deny the request. </p></div>Boca Raton: City sends district detailed plan on how to build golf coursehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-city-sends-district-detailed-plan-on-how-to-build-golf2019-10-30T13:54:32.000Z2019-10-30T13:54:32.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /> <br />The impasse between the city and the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District over the planned Boca National golf course showed few signs in October of abating.<br /> Briann Harms, the district’s executive director, told commissioners at their Oct. 21 meeting that even though they abandoned a proposed 19.4% increase in property taxes Oct. 1 and adopted the previous year’s rate, “there is the potential still” to borrow money without city assistance to build the course.<br /> Commissioner Craig Ehrnst agreed.<br /> “I do think that we can obtain sufficient financing to do the east course at a minimum and possibly the west course over time,” he said. “But let’s see what they [City Council members] have to offer. … Right now I really don’t know.”<br /> Ehrnst also said council members’ opposition to the golf course design by the Price/Fazio team will dissolve once they go through “the educational process we went through.”<br /> Commissioner Robert Rollins said he would not mind listening to the council’s offer but worried about how soon the city would do the work.<br /> “I really feel like it’s been mentioned before, whether it’s El Rio Park that took 35 years, whether it’s Wildflower that took 10 years to get going, whether it’s Woodlands where they’ve been talking about doing that park since I was on the parks and rec board 30 years ago,” Rollins said. “I hear what they’re saying is that they want to do this course, but what time frame?”<br /> Commissioners voted to work with council members and see what their plan is and to obtain an independent credit rating, which Ehrnst said should be on par with Boca Raton’s AAA rating, to ease borrowing money.<br /> They also looked ahead to their joint meeting with council members at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 12 at the city’s 6500 Building, at 6500 Congress Ave. Besides the golf course, they decided the agenda should include discussion of their partnership with the city and the status of contributions the district makes to Boca Raton’s Community Redevelopment Agency.<br /> Meanwhile, council member Andy Thomson was watching the district’s meeting and especially the golf course discussion online.<br /> “There was some kind of mixed messages, I would say, on how they anticipated the process working,” he reported at the next night’s council meeting, distributing a list of bullet points he wanted district commissioners to consider.<br /> Thomson objected to letting the district have final say over any changes the city makes to the golf course plan.<br /> “It wouldn’t make a lot of sense for the city to go down that road, hire an architect, come up with a design just to have some ultimate veto power there in the hands of the Beach and Park District,” he said. “If it’s our money and we’re building it, then it should be us who decides.”<br /> Council member Monica Mayotte said she does not want to throw out everything Price/Fazio has done, calling it “a good starting point to figure out how do we tweak this.”<br /> “You may have less bunkers, less water and things like that, but the general layout of the course I don’t think is going to change that much,” she said.<br /> Golf teaching professional and city resident Rick Heard told council members that discarding the Price/Fazio design and starting over would be “a colossal waste of time and taxpayer money.”<br /> The Beach and Park District has one regular meeting scheduled before the Nov. 12 joint session, on Nov. 4, that could include discussion of Thomson’s points. The council will meet for a workshop in the afternoon before that evening’s get-together. <br /> Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers said despite “some snarky comments” he had heard from Beach and Park commissioners, the two bodies are making progress.<br /> “I see this being positive moving forward, and the only way it’s going to move forward is if it’s positive,” Rodgers said.<br /> The Price/Fazio team has trimmed its cost estimate from $28 million to $15 million. Its original timetable had ground being broken last month with the new golf course opening for play next fall.</p>
<p><strong>Thomson’s proposal</strong></p>
<p>City Council member Andy Thomson’s proposal to build Boca National:<br />• City will undertake design and construction of entire golf course facility (east and west).<br />• City agrees with the general concepts of the most recent Price/Fazio plans, such as the facility’s elements and their general location, but retains the ability to hire its own golf course architects and contractors to design and construct the facility and to plan the facility’s overall design based on their professional input.<br />• City will endeavor to use, where appropriate, the work product and plans produced by Price/Fazio and will consider input from the Beach and Park District. <br />• City will finalize the design of and construct the golf facility with city funds.<br />• BPD will continue to pay the debt service on the purchase.<br />• City will manage the course and its programming with input from BPD.<br />• City and BPD will split profits/losses on facility once built.<br />• City will work expeditiously on the design so as to begin construction as early as possible but in no event absent extenuating circumstances later than (date TBD).<br />• The creation of a volunteer board to advise regarding the operation and programming of the golf facility once built.</p></div>Boca Raton: City Council offers to take over golf course projecthttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-city-council-offers-to-take-over-golf-course-project2019-09-04T19:56:20.000Z2019-09-04T19:56:20.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>By Steve Plunkett</b></span></p>
<p class="p2">The City Council is poised to take over building the 18-hole golf course at the proposed Boca National site if the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District agrees and promises not to raise taxes.</p>
<p class="p3">“Details would need to be worked out in a new interlocal agreement after joint deliberations<b>,</b>” City Manager Leif Ahnell said in a follow-up letter to the district Aug. 28.</p>
<p class="p3">The city’s offer comes with two other major conditions. Council members said they want to manage the construction on the west side of Northwest Second Avenue and they want a new golf course plan.</p>
<p class="p3">“I think selecting other designers at this stage of the game is crucial to moving forward,” council member Andrea O’Rourke said.</p>
<p class="p3">Council member Andy Thomson, whose “design challenge” in July drew responses from 16 golf course architects, was blunter.</p>
<p class="p3">“I don’t know about you all, but I’m not inclined to use Price/Fazio on the western side. … That would not be my preference,” Thomson said, referring to the Nick Price-Tom Fazio design team chosen by the Beach and Park District.</p>
<p class="p3">The district-approved Price/Fazio design has a nearly $28 million price tag. Beach and park commissioners trimmed that to $20 million by postponing a clubhouse and a tunnel between the east and west sides.</p>
<p class="p3">But both figures were too high for the City Council, prompting Thomson to look for alternatives and beach and park commissioners to set a tentative tax rate of $1.1956 per $1,000 of taxable value, a 35.7 percent increase from the rollback rate of $0.88 per $1,000.</p>
<p class="p3">That rate was printed in the Truth in Millage tax notices that went out in late August.</p>
<p class="p3">“A lot of residents have contacted me asking me since they got their TRIM notices, ‘Why is the city raising the taxes?’ ” Mayor Scott Singer said. “I’ve had to politely explain, ‘Well, it’s not exactly the city doing that.’”</p>
<p class="p3">In Singer’s case, for example, his city tax will rise by $61.57 to almost $2,725 while his beach and park tax jumps to $838, up almost $210, county records show. (County, school district and other taxes make Singer’s total bill $13,581 before discounts; his home has a taxable value near $700,000.)</p>
<p class="p3">A consultant at the council’s Aug. 27 special golf workshop noted that 18 percent of Boca Raton households have incomes of at least $150,000, suggesting that the community can easily afford greens fees.</p>
<p class="p3">“That’s great,” Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers said. “But it means 80 percent of our residents don’t. Do they want their tax dollars going up to fund this if they’re not going to play? I don’t think so. I think there’s a better way to do this.”</p>
<p class="p3">Council members agreed to refine their ideas on golf at a future meeting and to schedule a joint meeting with beach and park commissioners before the district approves its final tax rate. District commissioners can lower but cannot raise the tentative rate at their two public budget hearings this month.</p>
<p class="p3">The first budget hearing is 6 p.m. Sept. 11 at the Swim and Racquet Center, 21618 St. Andrews Blvd.</p>
<p class="p3">The tentative $1.1956 rate would need votes from four of the five commissioners and would raise an additional $9 million; a rate of $1.1110 would need only three yes votes and bring in an additional $6.6 million.</p>
<p class="p3">The higher rate would also mean the district would pay Boca Raton’s Community Redevelopment Agency an extra $435,000, for a total of $1.85 million, commissioners learned at a separate special meeting Aug. 26.</p>
<p class="p3">Briann Harms, the district’s interim executive director, told commissioners in July that they would have to raise taxes just to keep up with rising costs and planned improvements. The amount it pays the city to operate and maintain parks has gone up 24 percent in five years, from $14 million to $17.3 million, she said, while the district went to its rollback tax rate in 2017 and kept the same rate the next two years.</p>
<p class="p3">And a new pump and piping system at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center to be installed in the coming year will cost $3.2 million, up $300,000 from the original estimate. <span class="s2">Ú</span></p></div>Boca Raton: Parks district, city millions of dollars apart on golf course proposalhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-parks-district-city-millions-of-dollars-apart-on-golf-2019-07-31T14:22:08.000Z2019-07-31T14:22:08.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>By Steve Plunkett</b></span></p>
<p class="p2">The gulf separating visions of golf in the city widened in July as the City Council sought fresh ideas from course architects and the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District tentatively set an almost 36 percent tax increase.</p>
<p class="p3">Council member Andy Thomson suggested issuing a “design challenge” to get informal drawings from certified architects in time for the council’s Aug. 27 meeting.</p>
<p class="p3">“They bring to us some concepts of how we could build this course for less,” Thomson said at the council’s July 23 meeting, setting a ceiling of $8 million for an 18-hole course on the west side of Northwest Second Avenue. “Let’s ask them to come here, share their ideas.”</p>
<p class="p3">While the council embraced Thomson’s idea, Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers went a step further.</p>
<p class="p3">“I think it’s time for the city to take the lead on this in a lot of ways. I think that is the way we become partners at this point,” he said.</p>
<p class="p3">The city also said it would pay for and build a second phase of sports fields at de Hoernle Park in 2022. City officials had expected the Beach and Park District to cover the nearly $10 million cost since the district financed the first phase of fields, but beach and park commissioners had already deleted the future expense because the city for years would not green-light the project.</p>
<p class="p3">Under an interlocal agreement, the district needs the City Council to approve its golf course design before it can even submit plans to the building department for permits. District commissioners were also hoping council members would commit to paying most if not all of the $20 million estimated for construction.</p>
<p class="p3">Facing a deadline for setting a tentative property tax rate and lacking a financial commitment from the council, District Commissioner Robert Rollins proposed a rate of $1.1956 per $1,000 of taxable value, a 35.7 percent increase from the rollback rate of $0.8808 per $1,000.</p>
<p class="p3">If adopted in September, the tax increase would give the district an additional $10.3 million in revenue, said Merv Timberlake, the district’s financial adviser.</p>
<p class="p3">At an earlier meeting, Art Koski, the district’s former executive director and now manager of its Boca National Golf Course project, said keeping taxes at that level for five years would pay for building the new course as well as let the district repay the city early on a $19 million bond issue used to buy the land for the course, which straddles Northwest Second Avenue north of Yamato Road.</p>
<p class="p3">This year a home with a taxable value of $1 million paid about $915 in beach and park taxes. If the district sticks with Rollins’ proposal, that homeowner would pay about $1,196.</p>
<p class="p3">Under state statutes, at least four of the five commissioners will have to vote yes to approve the increase. A simple majority is needed if they whittle the increase to $1.1171 per $1,000 of taxable value, which would be a 26.8 percent boost and a tax bill of $1,117 for the $1 million home.</p>
<p class="p3">District Vice Chair Erin Wright voted to set the higher tentative rate, but only so taxpayers could voice their opinions at budget hearings.</p>
<p class="p3">“I was elected to represent all of our residents, and that includes those who don’t want their taxes increased to pay for a golf course,” she said. “I will likely not support this in September after I’ve had a chance to hear from all our constituents at the two public meetings.”</p>
<p class="p3">But she promised a new course would be built even if taxes are not raised.</p>
<p class="p3">“Everyone on this board is committed to golf, and the council has made it clear that they are committed to keeping golf in Boca as well,” Wright said.</p>
<p class="p4"></p>
<p class="p5"><span class="s2"><b>Looking for more from city</b></span></p>
<p class="p3">Unhappiness with the City Council’s position extended to other areas of cooperation between the two governments.</p>
<p class="p3">“We need to reexamine all the commitments we’ve made to the city, not only in this upcoming [parks and recreation] budget but as far as our CRA contribution goes, our beach renourishment contributions go, because it seems to me that we’re always the guy with the hand in the pocket taking out money to give to the city every time they ask,” District Commissioner Steve Engel said.</p>
<p class="p3">The district is budgeting $1.4 million for the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency in 2019-2020 and $1.7 million for beach renourishment.</p>
<p class="p3">Commissioner Craig Ehrnst proposed asking Boca Raton to pay the estimated $3.2 million for replacing seawater pumps and piping for the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.</p>
<p class="p3">“They’re the ones who are managing the project, they’re the ones who are going to exceed the initial [$2.9 million] cost and it has grown, so I would like to see the city take that project completely and ask that they pay for it,” he said.</p>
<p class="p3">Ehrnst was the sole vote against setting the $1.1956 tax rate, saying he wanted to trim budgets first before talking about taxes.</p></div>Boca Raton: Parks district talks tax increase to pay for new golf coursehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-parks-district-talks-tax-increase-to-pay-for-new-golf-2019-07-03T14:33:46.000Z2019-07-03T14:33:46.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>By Steve Plunkett</b></span></p>
<p class="p2">The City Council’s reluctance to pledge any of the $65 million it will get from selling the municipal golf course toward building its replacement has the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District talking about a tax increase.</p>
<p class="p3">The district asked council members June 10 to contribute $20 million toward building the planned Boca National golf course. That amount is all of the expected construction cost but only a 45 percent share of its overall expense when the price of the land is included.</p>
<p class="p3">Council members have promised to discuss Boca National finances at their July 22 workshop. But that comes too late for district commissioners, who must set a tentative tax rate by the end of the month, so on July 1 they discussed how much to raise taxes.</p>
<p class="p3">Commissioner Robert Rollins said he was ready to increase the rate from this year’s 91 cents per $1,000 of taxable value. The district raised taxes when it bought Ocean Strand and the Swim and Racquet Center, he recalled.</p>
<p class="p3">“I can’t see us going to rollback; I can’t see us keeping the same millage rate. We’re going to have to have a rate increase. It’s just a matter of what it is,” Rollins said.</p>
<p class="p3">Merv Timberlake, the district’s financial adviser, prepared figures showing rates that would generate an additional $3 million to $9 million in tax revenue.</p>
<p class="p3">This year a home with a taxable value of $500,000 paid about $457 in beach and park taxes. If district commissioners determine they need an extra $9 million, that homeowner would pay about $598.</p>
<p class="p3">Commissioner Craig Ehrnst, who presented the district’s partnership proposal to the council on June 10, said he was more concerned about council members’ buying in to the golf course plan than he was the dollar amount they might give.</p>
<p class="p3">“To be the best project, it really needs both parties to be fully engaged and fully involved,” he said, fearful that without city support just getting building permits for the golf course would “take forever.”</p>
<p class="p3">District Vice Chair Erin Wright said she thought after speaking individually with four council members that they would contribute less than $20 million but more than $10 million.</p>
<p class="p3">“They didn’t give me exact numbers, but I threw some out there and they were like, ‘yeah,’” Wright said.</p>
<p class="p3">Some taxpayers in the audience urged commissioners to do the project without city financial help. Al Zucaro, publisher of the BocaWatch blog and two-time mayoral candidate, called the city’s track record on finishing projects “dismal.”</p>
<p class="p3">“The public perception out there is enough already. You guys are the better of the two entities, and the way to accomplish this deal is to take it on yourselves and just get it done,” Zucaro said.</p>
<p class="p3">Resident and onetime commission candidate Tom Thayer dismissed City Council member Andy Thomson’s idea of copying Winter Park’s $1.2 million renovation of its municipal golf course as being a “second-class” solution unworthy of Boca Raton.</p>
<p class="p3">“Fund the thing yourself,” Thayer said, proposing that district commissioners double their tax rate one year to pay for Boca National.</p>
<p class="p3">Last year the district told City Council members it could finance the new golf course and pay its other obligations without raising taxes. Since then the construction estimate has ballooned from $10.5 million to $20 million, not including the costs of a clubhouse or tunnel for golf carts to avoid traffic.</p>
<p class="p3">City Council members have not discussed how they might use the $65 million from the sale of Boca Municipal. <span class="s2">Ú</span></p></div>Boca Raton: Council demands more financial details on golf course projecthttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-council-demands-more-financial-details-on-golf-course-2019-05-29T14:28:19.000Z2019-05-29T14:28:19.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>By Steve Plunkett</b></span></p>
<p class="p3">City Council members came expecting to be told how much it will cost to build the planned Boca National Golf Course.</p>
<p class="p3">Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District commissioners came hoping to secure council members’ blessing of the conceptual design.</p>
<p class="p3">Both sides left the May 28 joint meeting unfulfilled.</p>
<p class="p3">Beach and Park Commissioner Robert Rollins told council members the district would build the course in phases with the first phase — the actual 18 holes plus a driving range — to cost $10 million and be fully paid for by the district.</p>
<p class="p3">“We’re prepared to do this project without asking you for the $10 million. We’re going to manage to do that on our own,” Rollins said, pressing the council to simply approve the plan.</p>
<p class="p3">That was news to council members, who in early March were given documents predicting an overall cost of $28 million, and also news to Beach and Park Commissioner Erin Wright.</p>
<p class="p3">“I’m a little caught off guard by the fact that we’re not asking you for money because my whole plan today was to come here and ask for money,” Wright said. “I’m not willing to put the district in jeopardy over the course, I’m not willing to put the district into more debt over this course . . . because I think that’s what will happen if we end up paying for this ourselves.”</p>
<p class="p3">The disconnect between Wright and Rollins shook council members’ confidence.</p>
<p class="p3">“I can’t greenlight this project as is with the total price tag unknown and the total ask for the city unknown,” Mayor Scott Singer said.</p>
<p class="p3">Council member Andy Thomson said he had researched municipal golf courses and thought the recent renovation of a public 9-hole course in Winter Park for $1.2 million could be a model.</p>
<p class="p3">“The Winter Park golf course hired an up-and-coming, creative, talented architect to come in and design a course that was playable and inclusive,” Thomson said, in contrast to the well-established Nick Price/Tommy Fazio team that drew up Boca National.</p>
<p class="p3">But District Chairwoman Susan Vogelgesang said she had just gone to Winter Park the previous weekend.</p>
<p class="p3">“It was not a fun course to play,” she said. </p>
<p class="p3">At the council’s May 13 workshop session, Council member Monica Mayotte used discussion of postponing the $65 million sale of the city’s municipal golf course to segue into talk about Boca National. </p>
<p class="p3">“Everyone wants us to use the proceeds from this sale to cover the cost of the construction of the new course,” Mayotte said.</p>
<p class="p3">And at the council’s May 28 workshop immediately before the joint meeting, Singer tried to get a feel for how much money his colleagues might be willing to give the district.</p>
<p class="p3">“What if they come back to us and say, ‘We want to maintain this project, we’re going to spend X million, we want you to sign off on these plans and we want you to contribute Y million?’ Is our response, ‘No, we’re not interested?’ ” he asked. “What if they hypothetically come back with a more modest request, say . . . ‘We’re looking for $2 million, $3 million?’ ”</p>
<p class="p3">No one offered a number.</p>
<p class="p3">In the end, commissioners said they would refine the cost estimates at their June 3 regular meeting and send the revised figures to the City Council for its June 10 workshop.</p>
<p class="p3">Council members agreed in principle May 13 to postpone closing their sale of the municipal golf course to GL Homes until Oct. 31, 2020, with an option to extend it another six months. The delay is meant to give golfers continuity between the old course closing and the new one opening. </p></div>Boca Raton: Golfers urge teamwork between city, district on new coursehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-golfers-urge-teamwork-between-city-district-on-new-cou2019-05-01T14:35:59.000Z2019-05-01T14:35:59.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>By Steve Plunkett</b></span></p>
<p class="p3">A 17-page letter from City Hall probing development phases and finances for the planned Boca National Golf Course has set off a storm of anger and frustration in Boca Raton’s golf community.</p>
<p class="p3">Deputy City Manager George Brown’s 36 questions to the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District ranged from simple (Is a lightning detection/warning system included in the design?) to troubling (Is the district requesting financial support from the city for the construction of BNGC?).</p>
<p class="p3">The letter included five attachments with still more questions and concerns from the city’s police, fire, municipal services, utilities, and recreation services departments.</p>
<p class="p3">Rick Heard, a PGA teaching professional who lives in Boca Raton, said there should be no financial concerns and that the letter “is all the evidence anyone needs in order to see that our representative bodies are not working together as a team.”</p>
<p class="p3">The Beach and Park District bought part of the former Ocean Breeze course outright for $5 million and borrowed $19 million for the rest via bonds issued by the city. Its latest estimate for building the new course is $28 million. </p>
<p class="p3">District commissioners reviewed Brown’s letter on April 23. The special meeting was the district’s first in its new headquarters at the Swim and Racquet Center on St. Andrews Boulevard.</p>
<p class="p3">Residents filled almost every chair.</p>
<p class="p3">Heard made it clear how he thought the city should proceed. He said the deal started as “a simple golf course land swap,” with Boca Raton selling its municipal course west of the city for $65 million “in order to pay for the resurrection of another, with $10 [million] or $15 million left over as profit for the city.”</p>
<p class="p3">“Any other use of this money is at best political sleight-of-hand and at worst a travesty that can undermine the Boca National project,” Heard said. </p>
<p class="p3">Greg Galanis, president of the 200 golfers in the Boca Golf Association, and Harold Chaffee, a leader of Keep Golf in Boca Raton, agreed.</p>
<p class="p3">“The city should be obligated to taking out a significant amount of the money from the sale of Boca Municipal and put it into Boca National,” Galanis said.</p>
<p class="p3">“The city’s got $65 million,” said Chaffee. “Now they’re thinking of all different ways to use up that money. What they should do is to put the money into this project.”</p>
<p class="p3">Both men also urged the crowd to pressure City Council members. </p>
<p class="p3">“You guys need to show up, City Council workshop, get on the public request thing and get up there and speak,” Galanis said.</p>
<p class="p3">Said Chaffee: “Everybody here, write an email to the city and tell them why don’t they move this project forward? What’s the problem? Are they jealous because the Beach and Parks got it and they didn’t get it?”</p>
<p class="p3">Resident Bill Blevin said he already had emailed Mayor Scott Singer.</p>
<p class="p3">“He said he is willing and ready to open the pockets and fund you guys, but they haven’t met with you since July last year,” Blevin said. “If he is willing, ready and able to cooperate, why can’t you get together?”</p>
<p class="p3">The City Council and district commissioners have a joint meeting tentatively scheduled for May 13. District commissioners spent three hours at their special meeting fine-tuning their answers to the city’s questionnaire.</p>
<p class="p3">“I feel like there’s this tug-of-war pressure between what’s happening at the city and what’s happening at the district, and there’s a lot of pressure to do different things. And I don’t like that,” Commissioner Craig Ehrnst said.</p>
<p class="p3">Instead of opening in September 2020, Boca National is now predicted to open in March 2021, missing a possibly lucrative winter season, unless the city can speed up its permitting process.</p>
<p class="p3">Commissioner Robert Rollins asked to have the district’s Ocean Strand property on the barrier island appraised for a possible sale to the city, with the proceeds used to pay for the golf course. But his colleagues disagreed.</p>
<p class="p3">“I feel like the city almost owes the residents a portion of paying for the course. I don’t feel like we are 100 percent responsible,” Commissioner Erin Wright said.</p>
<p class="p3">“Ideally I think the city, having sold the western course, should take whatever portion of that money is necessary to build this course. … It should be ideally an out-and-out swap,” Commissioner Steve Engel said.</p>
<p class="p3">In the end, commissioners decided not to specify how much financial help they expect.</p>
<p class="p3">“We feel that the proceeds from the sale of a major recreational facility such as the Municipal Golf Course should be put back into recreational facilities for residents,” the district’s interim executive director, Briann Harms, wrote.</p>
<p class="p3">“We have hired the best professionals of the highest caliber to guide us through this project, and they spent countless hours working with an entire team of professionals. And we’re going to have a world-class golf course,” District Chair Susan Vogelgesang said. </p></div>Boca Raton: $27.6M estimate to build course will face reviewhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-27-6m-estimate-to-build-course-will-face-review2019-02-27T14:29:48.000Z2019-02-27T14:29:48.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960847667,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960847667,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960847667?profile=original" /></a></b></span></p>
<p class="p1"></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>By Steve Plunkett</b></span></p>
<p class="p2">The new Boca National Golf Club will cost taxpayers a whopping $27.6 million to build, on top of the $24 million being paid for the land.</p>
<p class="p3">The construction price, which Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District commissioners voted Feb. 25 to send along to the City Council, dwarfs an early estimate of $10.5 million just to move earth and plant grass to create the course.</p>
<p class="p3">That estimate stands; the bulk of the extra costs are a $3.5 million clubhouse, $2.8 million maintenance facility, $2.5 million tunnel and $2.3 million for maintenance equipment. Then add $1.5 million for lights at a driving range and short course; a $925,000 teaching facility, and $768,000 for on-course restrooms.</p>
<p class="p3">Beach and park commissioners want to schedule a joint meeting with the council in March to discuss how to finance the project. They will borrow money on their own if they must, but would prefer getting a lower interest rate through the city’s AAA bond rating — and would happily agree if the council offered to split the cost.</p>
<p class="p3">Arthur Koski, the district’s former legal counsel and executive director, who is spearheading the project, said the final cost could have been double the current estimate.</p>
<p class="p3">“We had an estimate from an architect for a 12,000-square-foot clubhouse. It was $30 million. Somebody [in the audience] said, ‘What?!’ That was my response too. I said there’s no way that’s going to happen,” Koski told beach and park commissioners at their Feb. 12 meeting.</p>
<p class="p3">Koski said the district will spend a little more than a tenth of that amount by using modular components instead of building the clubhouse from scratch.</p>
<p class="p3">“It will look similar in nature to the front of the clubhouse at the Old Course at Broken Sound,” Koski said. “You can’t tell the difference between stick-built and modular.”</p>
<p class="p3">The new tunnel will let golfers avoid traffic on Northwest Second Avenue as they drive carts from the clubhouse to the first tee. There is already a tunnel under Jeffrey Street connecting what will be the front nine holes to the back nine.</p>
<p class="p3">Boca National will offer a traditional 18-hole golf course; a family activity center with a free 75,000-square-foot putting course, an 11-hole short course similar to the Cradle at North Carolina’s famed Pinehurst resort; and a full-size driving range.</p>
<p class="p3">The clubhouse and learning center are envisioned as being built — and paid for — after the course opens to the public in September 2020.</p>
<p class="p3">The district is counting on greens fees and other revenue from the course to help pay for its purchase and construction.</p>
<p class="p3">“We’re trying to make this playable, affordable and produce as many rounds as possible,” Koski said.</p>
<p class="p3">The Price/Fazio design team hopes to get building permits approved by the end of June with construction starting in mid-July. In a Feb. 18 report to the district, the designers said cost estimates for the training facility and restrooms were based on normal concrete block or steel structures, but that those structures might be modular like the clubhouse.</p>
<p class="p3">“We will be refining the buildings in the coming weeks and at that time costs will be revised as well,” they wrote.</p>
<p class="p3">The city is selling its municipal golf course west of the Florida’s Turnpike to developer GL Homes for $65 million but has extended the date for closing the deal six times, most recently on Feb. 26 to make the transaction “not later than” Oct. 31.</p>
<p class="p3">Larry Portnoy, a GL Homes vice president, told beach and park commissioners Feb. 12 his company could easily wait until after Boca National opens in 2020 to complete the deal with the city. <span class="s2">Ú</span></p></div>Boca Raton: Beach & Park District searching for new directorhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-beach-park-district-searching-for-new-director2019-01-02T17:07:29.000Z2019-01-02T17:07:29.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong></p>
<p>The Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District started the new year with an interim executive director and was set to advertise for a replacement.<br />District commissioners reassigned Executive Director Art Koski to be construction manager of the district’s soon-to-be-built Boca National public golf course; Assistant Director Briann Harms was elevated to interim director.<br />Commissioner Erin Wright, who pushed for a formal job description of the executive director, motioned to change the job duties and conduct a nationwide search for the new director at the district’s Dec. 17 meeting while commissioners discussed Boca National.<br />“It’s a bombshell,” a surprised Commission Chairman Robert Rollins said as Wright coupled her motion with one appointing Koski as the architects’ go-to person at the district.<br />Commissioner Craig Ehrnst quickly seconded the idea. <br />“I’m not interested in adding another role,” he said. “The executive director role has a lot of things going on just on all the regular stuff.”<br />The job shuffle came as golf course architects asked commissioners to pick a person to coordinate with them as plans for Boca National develop. <br />Wayne Branthwaite of the Nick Price/Tom Fazio design team said he will have course plans by the end of February and hopes to begin construction by August. The course would open to golfers in October 2020. <br />Koski and Branthwaite were still computing the new course’s price. The course, which will include a championship 18-hole layout, a nine-hole short course, a giant putting green and a full-length driving range, will cost about $10.5 million. A cart tunnel under Northwest Second Avenue may cost $1 million.<br />The district bought a third of the land for $5 million cash and borrowed $19 million via bonds from the city for the rest. A 15,000-square-foot clubhouse/community center will be built after the course opens.<br />City Council members have not committed to paying for any of the project, saying they want to know what the final cost will be. The city expects to close its $65 million sale of the municipal course west of Boca Raton in May.<br />Koski in July shed his role as the district’s legal adviser, a position he had held since 1978, to focus more on the golf course project. He had received $150,000 a year for his legal work.<br />He was being paid $120,000 a year as executive director. His salary as construction manager was to be negotiated.</p></div>Boca Raton: Beach & Park District to ask again for help with Ocean Breeze costshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-beach-park-district-to-ask-again-for-help-with-ocean-b2018-07-04T15:54:29.000Z2018-07-04T15:54:29.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong></p>
<p>The Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District wants the city to pay part of the cost of rebuilding the Ocean Breeze golf course.<br /> District Chairman Robert Rollins calls it “Erin’s question” — “How much are they going to give us from the sale of the municipal course?” — after Commissioner Erin Wright first raised the issue months ago.<br /> Wright and her colleagues are sure to seek an answer from the Boca Raton City Council at the next joint meeting July 23. At the May 9 joint meeting, two Boca Raton residents asked council members the same thing.<br /> “I would encourage you to seriously consider not burdening the new golf course with so much debt when there is a substantial amount of proceeds coming from the sale of the existing golf course,” resident Kevin Wrenne said.<br /> Barry Tetrault called the $65 million the city will reap from the sale a “windfall.”<br /> “I haven’t seen or heard anyone on the City Council even acknowledge the fact that they’re going to put money into the [Ocean Breeze] golf course. That’s scary, it really is,” Tetrault said. “Are you going to chip in for the financing of this course?”<br /> Mayor Scott Singer replied that the council has not discussed how to spend the $65 million.<br /> Rollins, at the next Beach & Park District meeting, summarized the reaction. <br /> “It was like watching a hot potato getting tossed there on the council — nobody wanted to touch that. ‘Well, we’ll get back with you, we haven’t thought about that yet,’ ” Rollins said.<br /> Commissioner Craig Ehrnst agreed with Wright and Rollins. <br /> “I don’t think we should foot the bill for everything,” Ehrnst said.<br /> Their request to help pay for reconstructing Ocean Breeze raised alarms on the city side that the district may be running out of money.<br /> “We’re hearing … that they’re wanting us to participate [in rebuilding Ocean Breeze] and we have no plans or anything in the budget or forecast for funding that sort of thing,” City Manager Leif Ahnell told council members a week after the joint meeting.<br /> “We have a number of other projects that are already on the books to be funded by the Beach & Park District that we’re having concerns they may not be stepping up as our partners to pay their fair share, in the millions and millions of dollars,” Ahnell continued.<br /> City Council member Monica Mayotte, at a candidate forum before she won her seat in March, said some of the money from the golf course sale should go toward Ocean Breeze.<br /> “That makes sense — golf for golf,” Mayotte said then.</p></div>Boca Raton: Lawyer’s golf course fee takes city by surprisehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-lawyer-s-golf-course-fee-takes-city-by-surprise2018-04-04T16:51:29.000Z2018-04-04T16:51:29.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><span><b>By Steve Plunkett</b></span></p>
<p>The Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District will pay Arthur Koski, its lawyer and executive director, $120,000 for extra work he performed negotiating and finalizing the $24 million purchase of the Ocean Breeze golf course.</p>
<p>Koski’s fee arrangement, spelled out in a contract with the district for 27 years, surprised city officials, who issued $19 million in municipal bonds for the purchase and only learned about the lawyer’s bill in the closing statement.</p>
<p>“We would appreciate it if, prior to the payment of such fee, the district would confirm to the city that the payment to the district’s attorney/executive director complies with the Florida Code of Ethics, the Palm Beach Code of Ethics and any other applicable law or regulation,” Mayor Susan Haynie wrote the district Feb. 23.</p>
<p>Koski defended his fee at the district’s March 19 meeting, saying his secretary originally told him he spent more than 900 hours over the past two years on the acquisition and was due $360,000 at his normal rate of $400 per hour. </p>
<p>Koski said he consulted two other attorneys and decided a “fair fee” was one-half of 1 percent of the golf course price, or $120,000.</p>
<p>“If there is a perception that somehow I was seeking to have the purchase price increase so that I could get an additional one-half of 1 percent, I would totally reject that,” he said. “I would have been better off just sticking with the hourly rate.”</p>
<p>Koski’s contract with the district, signed in 1991, provides for a monthly stipend for legal services, now $12,500, plus his hourly fee for litigation or acquisitions. He also is paid $10,000 a month as the district’s executive director.</p>
<p>Beach and Park commissioners approved paying Koski once outside counsel confirms to the city that no ethics rules were violated.</p>
<p>Haynie’s letter and online postings about the fee torpedoed a joint meeting of the district and City Council set for Feb. 28.</p>
<p>“With the temperature that I was reading in the paper and the comments I was reading on Facebook, I was not confident that we would be able to keep the discussion above the table,” District Chairman Robert Rollins said. <span>Ú</span></p></div>Boca Raton: City ownership and plans for golf course amble forwardhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-city-ownership-and-plans-for-golf-course-amble-forward2018-02-28T17:10:16.000Z2018-02-28T17:10:16.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><span><b>By Steve Plunkett</b></span></p>
<p>The city and the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District were poised to take ownership of the Boca Teeca golf course as soon as $19 million from the sale of municipal bonds came through. The deal was expected to close March 1.</p>
<p>Beach and park commissioners also hired Pro Links Sports, the company that managed the Boca Raton Championship in February, to help them rank the 15 firms that want to design the new course.</p>
<p>Commissioners sat through seven-plus hours of presentations from the design firms over three days in late January and February.</p>
<p>“The next project that we have, however, is selecting a design architect and that … from my observation of these presentations, is going to be a monumental task for commissioners,” said Arthur Koski, the district’s executive director. Commissioners also reopened their request for proposals to see if any other golf course architects are interested.</p>
<p>The district will pay Pro Links $12,000 a month for its consulting services. Eddie Carbone, tournament director of the Boca Raton Championship, will be the point man for the Boca Teeca guidance along with Pro Links’ chief executive, Hollis Cavner.</p>
<p>Commissioner Susan Vogelgesang, who dealt directly with Cavner and Carbone at the championship, said both men are “very reasonable people — they listen.”</p>
<p>Koski said Pro Links would work with the district at least six months and possibly as long as two years. Commissioners can cancel the consulting contract with 30 days’ notice.</p>
<p>“They’ve already come up with a couple of good ideas for us,” Koski said.</p>
<p>Carbone was instrumental in persuading the city and the district to contribute $500,000 apiece to keep this year’s tournament in Boca Raton after insurance firm Allianz SE of Germany pulled out as corporate sponsor. </p>
<p>But Boca Raton and the Beach & Park District both said their bailouts were one-time only. Pro Links separately is looking for another corporation to fill the sponsorship role.</p>
<p>For the Boca Teeca deal, the Beach & Park District planned to purchase nine holes of the course, all east of Northwest Second Avenue in the north part of the city, for $5 million cash. The city’s bond money was to pay for the 18 holes west of the road. Currently called Ocean Breeze, the course will be renamed Boca National.</p>
<p>The city was to take ownership of the 18 holes, then transfer title to the district after it pays off the bond issue.</p>
<p>At a candidate forum, Monica Mayotte and Kim Do, who are running for City Council, said part of the $65 million the city will get from the sale of its western golf course should be spent rehabilitating the Ocean Breeze purchase.</p>
<p>“That makes sense — golf for golf,” Mayotte said. </p>
<p>Boca Teeca residents started pressing the city and the Beach & Park District more than a year ago to save Ocean Breeze, fearing developer Lennar Homes LLC would plow it under and replace their golf course views with views of more condos. </p></div>Boca Raton: City tees up sale of municipal golf course out westhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-city-tees-up-sale-of-municipal-golf-course-out-west2017-11-01T16:22:35.000Z2017-11-01T16:22:35.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /><br /> Developer GL Homes, which out of the blue offered $73 million last fall to purchase the city’s western golf course, was the winning bidder Oct. 24 to perhaps seal the deal.<br /> City Council members, clearly unhappy that GL reduced its offer to $65 million, nevertheless chose the builder over rival Lennar LLC, which was willing to pay $73 million minus contingencies that could have cut the price by unknown millions.<br /> “We are risk-averse as a municipality,” Mayor Susan Haynie said. “I understand that most developers are risk-averse as well.”<br /> Larry Portnoy, a GL Homes vice president, said his company revised its offer after learning that the golf course, beyond the city limits on Glades Road just west of Florida’s Turnpike, was only 188 acres, not the 194 acres GL thought. The company also didn’t know about a 300-foot restrictive covenant from a neighboring subdivision that would slice 15 more acres off any redevelopment, he said.<br /> Worse, Portnoy said, were changes this summer by the Army Corps of Engineers regarding wetlands and a new interpretation by Palm Beach County officials of rules for workforce housing. He could not predict how the changes might limit building on the golf course. <br /> Lennar also had no predictions but made its offer contingent on Boca Raton’s paying any costs for workforce housing requirements and any amount over $500,000 for environmental remediation. It also was contingent on the county’s granting development approvals. Deputy City Manager George Brown said there was no way to estimate those reductions beforehand.<br /> Most members of the public had left the meeting by the time public comment started about 10:45 p.m., and no one spoke for or against.<br /> Robert Weinroth was the first City Council member to chastise GL Homes’ lowered price, noting the builder was “not new to the game.”<br /> “I can’t accept the fact that the changing conditions that you saw from the original offer caused a $13 million haircut,” Weinroth said. “Can’t you do better?”<br /> GL Homes began the evening offering $60 million for the golf course. Under special procedures the council set up, bidders were allowed to raise their offers as many times as they wanted. GL rose to $65 million but cut its nonrefundable deposit in half, to $2 million; Lennar, whose nonrefundable deposit would have been $100,000, did not budge. <br /> Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers said he was not happy with either offer. “I think no-sell is still a viable alternative,” Rodgers said, holding out hope that GL will sweeten the offer before the council makes the deal official this month.<br /> Meanwhile, the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District is pursuing its plan to buy the private Ocean Breeze golf course in the north end of the city from Lennar for $24 million. <br /> The city agreed in September to issue municipal bonds to cover the purchase and let the district repay the money.</p></div>Boca Raton: City Council, Beach & Park District agree on golf course purchasehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-city-council-beach-park-district-agree-on-golf-course-2017-10-04T14:45:12.000Z2017-10-04T14:45:12.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /><br />City Council members agreed to lend the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District $24 million for its planned purchase of the private Ocean Breeze golf course in the north end of the city.<br />At a Sept. 26 joint meeting, Arthur Koski, the district’s executive director, promised the acquisition would transform the property into “a public golf course with a private course atmosphere.” <br />The district will rename the course Boca Raton National, he said.<br />The city will issue municipal bonds to finance the purchase; the district will repay the city out of its property taxes. It is the same process the two governments used to buy the Ocean Strand and Sugar Sand Park properties.<br />The golf course, at 5801 NW Second Ave., weaves around the Boca Teeca condominiums. It was recently appraised at $22.7 million, a figure below the district’s negotiated purchase price with Lennar Homes LLC of $24 million.<br />The $1.3 million gap did not deter council members.<br />“This is your deal. We’re here in a supporting role,” Mayor Susan Haynie said.<br />Council member Scott Singer said the district is paying “a pretty penny” for Ocean Breeze. <br />“Please make it a pretty course,” he said. </p></div>Boca Raton: Golfers walk away from resort course, lamenting conditionhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-golfers-walk-away-from-resort-course-lamenting-conditi2015-09-02T19:00:00.000Z2015-09-02T19:00:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Tao Woolfe</strong><br /> <br /> A massive kapok tree dominates the walking path behind the Boca Raton Resort and Club. Its raised gray roots, covered with thorns, stretch toward the walkway like a dragon in the sun.<br /> Longtime golfers and members of the club say the golf course and the tree have much in common — they are beautiful and old, but if you look closely, you won’t want to play on them.<br /> The tree’s spikes are a natural defense mechanism, but the run-down state of the club’s fairways and greens is simply a case of neglect, golfers say. Many of the club members have quit and others are hanging on, hoping new owners will buy the seaside resort and restore the golf course to championship status.<br /> The resort, a historic landmark built by Addison Mizner in 1926, has been for sale for more than two years. Rumors swirled this summer about an imminent sale, but current owner Blackstone Group and administrator Hilton Worldwide will not comment on the sale.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960592859,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960592859,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="538" alt="7960592859?profile=original" /></a><em>Dying grass and tall grass make the greens hard to play. <strong>Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
<p><br /> Meanwhile, the 18-hole course has deteriorated. The greens, which were smooth, flat and fast, have not been maintained, the players say. The greens’ grass is as tall as shag carpet, making play sluggish. The ponds and waterways sometimes smell like rotting vegetation. Weeds, dead leaves<br /> and brown patches can be seen all over the par-71 course bordered by East Camino Real on its south and Federal Highway on its west. <br /> “It’s really unfortunate,” says Michael Wohl, a longtime member who quit recently to join a club on the west side of town. “It’s a great group of members and I still have friends there, but life is short and part of South Florida living is having a great course to play.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960592879,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960592879,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="480" alt="7960592879?profile=original" /></a><em>During a round in early August many issues were observed on the course. <strong>ABOVE:</strong> Soggy spots like this one frequently are a sign of cracked water pipes in the sprinkler system.</em></p>
<p><br /> Wohl says he finds it ironic that the ads for the resort still tout the championship golf course as a reason the resort enjoys a top-destination ranking.<br /> “Immerse yourself in the rich history and tradition of one of the finest golf resorts in Florida,” the resort’s website says. “Dating back to the times when PGA professionals Sam Snead and Tommy Amour held positions on staff, this exclusive golf resort has always sought to offer a unique, exclusive and exceptional year-round golf experience.”<br /> “It’s a flat-out lie,” Wohl says. “Boca’s municipal course is 10 times better.”<br /> Neither Blackstone Group nor Waldorf Astoria/Hilton Hotels group, which runs the resort, would discuss the players’ specific complaints on the phone. A spokeswoman for Hilton, however, did send an email addressing the resort’s general policy on golf course maintenance.<br /> “The maintenance and conditions of our golf courses and our hotel is of the utmost importance and is always a focal point of our operations in order to continue to provide our guests and members with an exceptional experience at Boca Raton Resort,” wrote Lisa Cole, southeast director of corporate communications for Hilton Worldwide.<br /> “Regular maintenance of our golf course is done on a daily basis, 365 days of the year, by our well trained staff including a superintendent who is a standing member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, to ensure the optimal playing conditions,” Cole said. <br /> “In fact, the resort course received a fleet of new equipment one month ago and has increased its annual maintenance budget including a committed investment in the seasonal over-seeding of the course to occur in November.”<br /> Jimmy Gascoigne, head golf pro at the resort, said he had no comment on whether course refurbishment is planned and referred questions to Cole.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960593479,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960593479,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="239" alt="7960593479?profile=original" /></a><em>At least three holes had limited amounts of recently laid sod in problem places in the rough.</em></p>
<p><br /> But players say the hotel management makes only minimal improvements and seems indifferent to their requests for a real restoration of the course. This is particularly galling to those who paid $50,000 to join the club and about $12,000 a year to keep up their membership, members say.<br /> “It’s a deliberate attitude of not caring and willful neglect,” says Sandeep Sharma, who recently resigned from the club. “They will say the golf course does not get enough use to justify the expense, but that doesn’t make sense. If you don’t have a good course, you won’t get the guests you need to maintain the rest of the resort.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960593498,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960593498,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="239" alt="7960593498?profile=original" /></a><em>Long brown strips like this one appeared on a green that had been scalped by a mower.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><br /> Players say they are especially steamed that the owners have spent millions sprucing up the hotel itself, the spa, the gardens and the restaurant while allowing the fairways to languish.<br /> While the sale price of the resort has not been disclosed, Blackstone has spent more than $200 million renovating the beach club and rooms in the landmark pink Cloisters tower. Blackstone purchased the Boca Resort and two other well-known Fort Lauderdale hotels from investor H. Wayne Huizenga in 2004 for $1.25 billion, according to published reports.<br /> Sharma and Wohl say they were embarrassed to bring friends to the course. They did not want their friends to smell the stinky waterways or see weed-choked grass and bald patches. Both men, however, said they would rejoin the club if the golf course is improved.<br /> “It’s like having a pet and not taking care of it,” Sharma says. “If you have a pet, basic grooming and maintenance are necessities. That’s really all we were asking — basic maintenance and grooming, not a re-do of the whole course.”</p></div>Boca Raton: Red Reef Park, golf course and Gumbo Limbo to get improvementshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-red-reef-park-golf-course-and-gumbo-limbo-to-get-impro2014-06-04T15:50:22.000Z2014-06-04T15:50:22.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960507088,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960507088,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="538" alt="7960507088?profile=original" /></a><em>Finding a parking space at Gumbo Limbo can be a challange.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Cheryl Blackerby<br /></strong><br /> Expanded ocean views on Red Reef Park Executive Golf Course, safer pedestrian crossing on A1A at Red Reef Park, and increased revenue for Gumbo Limbo Nature Center are just some of the improvements that may be in the works in the near future.<br /> The Boca Raton Beach and Park District selected Miller Legg engineering, landscape and architecture consulting firm, to upgrade the park, golf course and adjacent nature center, all on A1A about 1 mile north of Palmetto Park Road.<br /> The contract for the work should be finalized by mid-June, said district acting director Art Koski.<br /> A master plan will be written after getting input from the public, district commissioners and the city, said Mike Kroll, Miller Legg vice president.<br /> The company has no firm directives for improvements, which could include anything from a restaurant at the golf course to parking meters at Gumbo Limbo.<br /> “Everything is on the table,” Kroll said. “We will be looking at existing parking, revenues generated from parking, the safety aspect of crossing A1A and many other possibilities including improvements at the golf course.” <br /> The nine-hole Red Reef Executive Golf Course stretches across A1A from the Intracoastal Waterway to the ocean, but houses obscure most of the water views on the Intracoastal side and trees and shrubs block views of the ocean. <br /> Promoted as an ocean course, golfers are often disappointed when they don’t see the water except for several glimpses through the trees and shrubs.<br /> “One of the things we want to do is to really embrace the oceanfront existence of the golf course,” he said. “That’s a unique element. Most courses on the ocean are private and not easily accessible. If you enhance the golf experience, you’re making it a more unique golf experience. All those things will be discussed. This is a great opportunity.”<br /> Golf course architect Harry Bowers of Signature Design, who worked on the redesign of the 18-hole Palm Beach Par 3 Golf Course, is on Miller Legg’s team and will be involved in the Red Reef course project, Kroll said.<br /> The Palm Beach course, 19 miles north of the Red Reef course on A1A, has views of the ocean and Intracoastal from every hole. Players often describe it as a “mini Pebble Beach,” and Golf Digest magazine called it “one of the best par 3’s you can play anywhere.”<br /> The Red Reef course has limitations that the Palm Beach course doesn’t, said Kroll. <br /> “We’re dealing with very different conditions at Red Reef. It’s not conducive to people playing championship golf, but it has a great clientele of junior and senior golfers.” <br /> Would he be in favor of a restaurant on the course? “If the district said we should, we would,” he said.<br /> The new restaurant on the Palm Beach course pays the city $150,000 a year in rent. <br />Meanwhile the Red Reef course loses a quarter of a million tax dollars a year, and has a dwindling number of players.<br /> The time frame for the master plan is probably six to nine months, Kroll said, “depending on the amount of public involvement.”<br /> “We have presented some ideas and opportunities,” he said. “Some of the other things we want to address is the safety aspect of crossing A1A. We would work with DOT and make it safer within the park itself. Gumbo Limbo relies on donations and admittance fees. We will look at opportunities for generating more revenue.”<br /> And he wants to enhance the natural environment of the park, course and nature center.<br /> “While I was there, a 500-pound leatherback was on the beach. That’s a fantastic resource. We want to retain animal habitats and integrate recreation along with natural resources. We’ve done that at other coastal parks,” he said.<br /> Miller Legg’s projects have included Calypso Cove Water Park in Boca, Jensen Beach Riverwalk, Plantation Preserve and Golf Club, Rosemont Community Park in Orlando, Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club, and Sandy Ridge Sanctuary in Coral Springs. <br /> Resort clients include the Four Seasons at Emerald Bay Resort in Great Exuma, Bahamas; Royal Palm Resort in Curacao; Sugar Bay Plantation Resort in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; and La Hacienda Resort in Egypt.<br /> Established in 1965, the company has offices in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Port St. Lucie, Winter Park, Saudi Arabia and Dubai.</p></div>St. Andrews course earns Audubon certificationhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/st-andrews-course-earns2010-11-03T18:29:16.000Z2010-11-03T18:29:16.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">The St. Andrews Club golf course has become the 100th course in Florida to obtain
sanctuary status from Audubon International.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">The Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary designation was achieved through the
efforts of Course Superintendent Frank Monk and his team after researching new
methods of course management.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">“The old, unpopular way of treating golf courses involved heavy use of water and
chemicals on the entire course …
The Audubon program changes were easy to learn, and easy to make,” said Monk.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">To reach certification, a course must demonstrate they are maintaining a high
degree of environmental quality in a number of areas including: environmental
planning, wildlife and habitat management, outreach and education, chemical-use
reduction and safety, water conservation and water quality management.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">“The St. Andrews Cub is to be commended for their efforts to provide a sanctuary for
wildlife on the golf course property,” said Jim Sluiter, staff ecologist for
the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Programs.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">The sanctuary program — endorsed by the U.S. Golf Association — provides
information and guidance to help golf courses around the world preserve and
enhance wildlife habitat and protect natural resources.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Other area courses with the Audubon designation include: Mizner Country Club,
Highridge Country Club, Quail Ridge Country Club, Links at Boynton Beach and the Country Club of
Florida.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">According to Monk: “We’ve made the course a healthier environment for both people and
wildlife.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:right;" align="right"><span style="font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-style:italic;">— Staff Reports</span></span></p></div>