The Palm Beach County Commission has rejected a $500,000 bid for about five acres of county land next to Lake Ida Park and agreed to sell the land for $100,000 instead to the city of Boynton Beach for use as a park, according to The Palm Beach Post.
The Post reports that the county was asking $450,000 for the land. The county planning staff recommended selling to the higher bidder, Lakhmichand Kalra. Kalra owns 23 acres to the north of the property. Commissioner Hal Valeche cast the only vote in favor of selling to Kalra.
The county’s news briefs for Oct. 21 described the higher bidder as a developer seeking to build a private home development on the land:
“Lake Ida Park – voted against a motion to sell five acres of vacant land adjacent to Lake Ida Park to a developer for private home development. The BCC directed staff to pursue conveying the land to the City of Boynton Beach for the creation of a city park.”
According to the Post article by Alexandra Seltzer, Boynton Beach City Commissioner Mike Fitzpatrick had been trying to buy the land for a city park for more than a year.