Please attend the hearing of the county’s Local Planning Agency (LPA): Friday, June 12, 2015, 9:00 a.m. Most of the county commission wants the Planning Staff to REDUCE our longtime protection laws for our farmland in the Ag Reserve. The laws now say:

  • Preservation Parcels must be a minimum of 150 acres OR,
  • If the Preservation Parcel is smaller, it must abut up against another Preservation Parcel of 150 acres.

Reducing the minimum preserved parcel would greatly benefit mega developer G.L. Homes and NOT the larger public interests of vegetable farming operations and minimizing traffic.

If you can’t attend, please send your views to our County Commissioners.

The hearing will be held by Planning, Zoning and Building Dept., 1st Floor Hearing Room 1W-47, 2300 North Jog Rd, West Palm Beach, FL. 

Help nip this developer-special interest proposal in the bud now. If recommended, the county’s next step would be a hearing to approve an ordinance for it.

WHAT’S AT STAKE:

Doing away with the 150-acre limit would pave the way  for another massive residential development by GL Homes in the Ag Reserve.

As it is, the land that would be most affected by changing the 150-acre limit would be Whitworth Farms, which is right next to the 1000+ homes of Valencia Reserve by GL Homes. If GL Homes were to buy Whitworth Farms and build it out, there will likely be 2000 homes directly across the road from the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.

The noise, traffic, and lights from the developments, which previously served as open wildlife corridors, would negatively impact the Refuge even more.

The staff’s report on the government site is at http://www.pbcgov.com/pzb/planning/luab/2015/2015_agendas.html.