Village Council - Regular Meeting

Alright. I'm gonna call to order this meeting of the well Wellington Village Council from 02/24/2026. We're gonna start with unification by father Steven Thomas from Saint David's in the Pines to be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand.

Let us pray. Almighty God, we thank you for the freedom to govern and to lead. Bless our council members that they may use that privilege to strengthen our community and build up the common good of all our residents in justice and peace now and forevermore.

Amen.

Amen.

Mr. Barnes. Alright. Brings us to the next item which is approval of the agenda. Staff recommends approval of the agenda with the following amendments. One is to take item eight b resolution number twenty twenty six dash zero seven Lotus two master plan amendment postponed to a date certain to a March 10 village council meeting. And the next item is to take item nine a and move that to be seven e as part of the consent agenda and that is the PSA agreement with Wellington Property Owner LLC. With those modifications, staff recommends approval of the

agenda as amended. Mister Barnes, I may. Traditionally, at this time, we have at least considered, whether it was at your instruction or at miss Cohen's or at anyone's initiation, the topic of or at least a discussion on the matter of of council salaries. And so I would I would just open to my colleagues, if that's something that they want to do, that we add ordinance twenty twenty six dash 10. And that would be as nine c. But I don't know that there's any desire to do that. But if there is.

I'd be happy to discuss.

I don't even have the oh, I have it now.

Consensus of counsels to add that, that would then become item nine b after having moved nine a to consent item seven e. And that would be then the last item on the agenda.

And then we may want to vote on that alone. I don't know, but that's just throwing that out as a subject. Obviously, it would not affect miss Siskind or myself, but that is

And just the to add to that, that does require a four fifth vote of counsel to approve. So if you're inclined to support it, then go ahead and add it to the agenda. If not, I would say that you just, you know, elect not to add it.

I'm reading it.

Is there a consensus to add it?

They're reading Okay. The first I've seen it. We can put it on to talk about it. I don't wanna kill it before I when we have a chance to think about it.

Agree.

We're putting

it to where? I'll move to it. That's going to be nine, the new nine b.

Second.

All in favor of the Aye. Agenda as amended?

Aye.

Aye. Opposed? Hearing none, agenda is approved five zero.

With that, before we move on to presentations and proclamations at this time, council will need to consider and approve or not approve the consideration and request by the applicant for the item that is, let me just make sure I get the right number, Ordinance number 2025 dash 29 as well as ordinance number 2025Dash67 for one of their team members and experts to appear remotely and virtually. And that is something that council will need to consider and approve separately.

Is it a request for more time or is it request for someone to appear by Zoom because they're stuck in a snowstorm?

That it is the latter. To appear virtually. Yes.

Our our rules speak to whether council can appear remotely for a quasi judicial proceeding, but they do not address whether a witness or an expert for the applicant can appear remotely. My recommendation to you is that you go ahead and allow it, and that, you know, they'd be given the opportunity to present that testimony tonight.

I don't have an issue. Anyone else have an issue with them appearing remotely? No. No? Okay, fine.

Is there a request for additional time by the applicant for the presentation?

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, honorable council and, madam attorney. It's my understanding that we'd have twenty minutes for each application and would ask for a period of forty minutes for both applications to be heard at the same time.

You're combining the hearings?

Yeah. And they want go to forty minutes?

And they would normally get thirty because they're combining?

It's a little unclear. It says twenty minutes per application. If it's a combined application on different parcels, parcels, they would get additional time. I think, given the, complexity of the application and the public interest, I think it probably is beneficial to give them extra time. But if you're going to do that, then I would suggest that you also give the public a little extra time to make their comments.

I would agree with that. And I inclined would to give the applicant an additional the total of thirty minutes instead of forty, and give public comment five minutes instead of three.

That would my suggestion. But if we're to give public commenters five minutes. From three. And we're only giving them ten extra minutes?

From 20 up to 10 instead of getting a full ten.

Right. So I mean, I think that if we're giving 50% more time, I would give the public four minutes. I I don't care if five minutes is fine. I'd give them the forty two. Don't know

if 50% more of three isn't four. It's like three and a half.

Right. So I would Four

and half. I would give

them This is getting complicated.

Difference does it make?

Why don't we just do forty and five?

Alright. Forty forty and five.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

You don't have to use it all.

Sounds like a previous mayor, I

knew.

Alright. Now, mister Barnes.

Alright. Brings us to presentations and proclamations. And at this point, we have a presentation by mister Doug Crane, Palm Beach County Library System Director.

Good evening. Good evening.

Thank you very much for having me here, mayor, town village council members. I do want to give a quick shout out to council member McGovern who serves on the library advisory board and help facilitate my being here tonight.

Thank you for coming.

Okay. Thank you. With me today is Jessica Burkheimer who is the manager for the Wellington Branch. And for the record, my name is Doug Crane. I'm the director for the Palm Beach County Library System and a past manager for the Wellington Branch Library here. I served as a manager from 2007 to 2013. Today, I'm here to discuss the library and I want to first of all thank the village for being part of the Palm Beach County Library District. Your support over the years has been very instrumental in keeping our library district thriving. You know, when I meet people who learn that I'm the library director, there's one of two responses. One is they just gush about how much they love their local library.

The other sometimes is they ask, why do we still have libraries? So, as much as I'm gonna share today, I do wanna do get that response. I let people know that libraries really serve a valuable role in our community as that vital third space in the community where people can go, meet their neighbors, and they don't have to buy a latte and a lemon loaf to stick around. They're welcome to stay there as long as they like. Plus, I'm going to be showing you some numbers and statistics that show that the community is turning out for libraries across the county in record numbers.

The presentation I'm going to provide is also available in the packet that you have in front of you, which contains other information about the library. So our library has a vision to open minds to a world of unlimited possibilities. We believe that libraries are places where people bring their hopes, their dreams, their ambitions, and we provide the resources and services to let them live that out. And we do that through our mission to connect communities, inspire thought, and enrich lives. Now the first thing you should know about our library system is it's big and busy.

You can see some of our statistics from last year. 2,680,000 visits to Palm Beach County Libraries. 8,800,000 items borrowed. 353,000 people use library meeting rooms and study rooms. We actually served over 50,000 meals and snacks as part of our summer meal service with the school district. We had over fifty thousand hours of volunteering. We are in fact one of the big six public library systems in the state of Florida. What's our service area? Well, have 18 locations spread from the Quest in the North down through the central part of the county all the way out to Western Boca. And then out here through the Western communities, the way to the shores of Lake Okeechobee where we have three locations.

And we were able to reach this point through Library Expansion Program two, which was a voter approved bond initiative that allowed us to do, add three new libraries, replace three old buildings with new buildings, and expand three buildings. One of which was the Wellington Branch in 2005, where we expanded it from 8,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet. Sorry, 2007. And we also have a support facility called the Library Annex on Cherry Road, where we run our bookmobile and other outreach services. You might be familiar where it is, because it is right now hidden behind the giant Supervisor Of Elections Garage as our new neighbor to the south.

Our most recent location is Canyon Branch in Western Boynton. It opened just shy of a year ago in the Canyon Town Center, which is about a mile west of the Turnpike off of Boynton Beach Boulevard. And it is truly a beautiful building. If you're ever in that part of the county, please drop in for a visit. You can see from the map here all of our locations.

And some of you might be wondering, hey, how come you don't have locations on the coast? Well, that's because our county library system was designed to serve the unincorporated areas of Palm Beach County, and we're set up through a state statute that also created the dependent taxing district that funds our library. The statute also allowed municipalities to join, and we have 24 municipalities that are part of the district, including the village Of Wellington. We've actually kept our millage rate steady since 2011, and we have operating budget this year of $116,000,000 And as a dependent district under the board of county commissioners, we have to balance our own budget, we have to keep our own reserves, and we have to fund our own capital. So when you look on your taxing line, you see the line for libraries.

That money only goes to libraries, it doesn't go anywhere else. Now, those other municipalities though, we have a cooperative agreement with them, so residents of these nine municipalities can get a card with the county library system and our residents can get a card with them. Allows us to cover almost the entire geography of Palm Beach County. Now, when you think of libraries, obviously you think of books, and we certainly have a very large collection, over 2,000,000 items available for loan. These include print and electronic materials.

So if you're fancy holding a book, which a lot of people still do, or downloading it to your favorite electronic device, along with movies and streaming music, you can do that as well with your library card, no charge. We also have some special items such as WiFi hotspots. This is a device you can take anywhere in the country where you have a T Mobile connection, and you can actually connect up to eight devices to it. And you can borrow it for three weeks. We also have our award winning birding backpack program, which is an actual backpack containing binoculars, both adult and kid size, that you can take out into our natural areas for bird watching.

And if you were scared about coming to the library because of overdue fines, don't worry. The Board of County Commissioners allowed us to get rid of those in 2019. If you fail to return a book, we just don't let you take out anymore until you return that book. Now, if you people have questions, I know a lot of times people when they have research, they go to Google or nowadays ChatGDP or other AI tools. But in libraries, we believe in natural intelligence.

Our humans will provide you with answers. In fact, we had over 940,000 questions answered in our libraries. Plus, if you're worried about the quality of your information, we subscribe to high quality databases where you can get things such as Consumer Reports, the Palm Beach Post. They're on a variety of different topics. You know, AI has a problem of hallucinations.

I guarantee you my staff do not hallucinate when they answer questions for you. We also have special librarians able to answer your questions. One I'll highlight is our government research librarian. If the village ever has questions that are beyond your staff's time or attention to be able to handle, you can actually direct them to us, and we will do responses to your questions and give you a packet of information. A good example, I was at the school district meeting last week, and they showed me a wall that they created of portraits of all the prior school superintendents.

Well, when they started building that, they were actually missing photos of a number of the older superintendents. And they reached out to us and we're able to fill that gap. They're very happy. As a former children's librarian, children's services in the heart and soul of public libraries in my opinion, We have activities for children and the Wellington branch is one of the busiest locations for children's activities. Quite often you come to our story times, we fill the room with kids. We have a lot of different activities. One of my favorites, you can see in the photo here, is called ARFF, Animal Reading Friends. When children are beginning to read, sometimes they're a little self conscious about reading to an adult. Well, the ARFF brings in therapy dogs who will sit there and the child will be able to read to the dog and feel less self conscious. And it's just very cute to see.

So if you ever want to come over and watch it, you're welcome to. We also service teens. We have a lot of teen activities as well. So if you want to get the kids out of the house, off their devices, have them come to the library and Jessica's team will have activities for them ready to go. We also reach out from beyond our buildings.

Our new bookmobile seen here in the photo, visits up to 42 stops over a two week period across Palm Beach County, reaching those areas where people have difficulty visiting one of our branches. If you have residents who are homebound, we will actually mail books to their home, and they can mail them back free of charge through the mail. Plus for those who are blind or visually impaired, whether permanently or temporarily, we have Talking Books for the Blind, which is a program that sends devices that they can actually have the books read to them. And they're designed specifically for visually impaired folks. And for residents who have trouble reading at an adult level, we have the Adult Literacy Project that connects volunteer tutors with adults.

We also reach out into the community. We are a founding member of the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County, plus we have arrangements with the school district. Our most significant one is summer lunches. So during June and July, at all of our locations, kids 18 and younger can come in and get a free meal. Plus during the They also get a snack in the afternoon.

And actually during the school year, we have weekend meal kits where people can come in, get a kit of food and take it home with them to feed the family. And here at Wellington, we actually have an after school snack program because I have so many kids who come over from Elbridge Gale and we realized a little while back that their behavior is tied to their hunger. So if we can actually feed them, they're actually much better behaved in the library, which is very nice. We have a collaboration with the Norton Art Gallery called Books plus Art, where we will choose a book based on an item in their collection. We'll do the book discussion at the library, and then we'll go to the art gallery for a gallery tour.

Plus, are probably familiar with our libraries being early voting sites. Wallington has been an early voting site ever since it expanded. And I'm sure many of you are familiar with going over there and campaigning or voting at the library. Final fact I'll share is that we also have a lot of activities for adults. As you can see, we're very popular.

We're also one of the largest computer training organizations, anything from a mouse, learning to use a mouse, to Word, to educational multimedia software. Our Wellington branch is one of the locations that has a creation station, which is a digital media lab where you can do videos, audio, photos. We have software, we have musical instruments, we have cameras, we have lighting, all that you need. Right now we're in the middle of Writers Live, where we bring national authors down to our libraries for book discussions, and we also celebrate the different cultures of the make Palm Beach County its home. Right now, we are finishing up our celebration of Black History Month.

Now, I will invite, in fact, even so far as challenge the council members to join us in our 2026 campaign to rediscover reading. The Board of County Commissioners issued a proclamation, marketing 2026 is a year to come back to reading. If you have not been reading for pleasure, and reading for pleasure has been scientifically shown to have great health, wellness benefits, as well as social benefits. It combats loneliness. It actually increases social connection as people want to share what they're reading.

And reading for pleasure is much different than reading for work or scrolling on your phone. So we're inviting you all to join. In fact, I think a little later in the year we're going to be reaching out to all of the council members in our municipalities to invite them to share their favorite books, and we'll promote that on our social media. We also have a tool called Beanstack that allows you to keep track of your reading, and you can actually challenge other people to join in. I was at the Village Royal Palm last week, and the council was gonna challenge each other to read as many books as possible.

So you don't want all that Royal Palm Beach you, right? So Finally, about your home location, the Wellington branch, we offer seven day a week service. It opened in 1997 as an 8,000 square foot facility. It was expanded in 2006, and opened in 2007 as its current 30,000 square foot building, making it one of our larger libraries in the system. And we recently completed a renovation in 2021 that brought it to its current design and fixed some issues we had with the lighting and other nagging issues with the building.

We have a large meeting room and a conference room that are reservable by the public if they wish to use it, and if anyone view the village wants to use it for any reason, you can reach out to Jessica and she can help facilitate you using that building. The Creation Station Digital Media Lab I mentioned along with early voting. Plus, your residents can visit any one of our 18 locations and use their library card there. Your two closest neighboring libraries are Royal Palm Beach and Green Acres. The last thing I want to share with the council before I open it up for any questions is some sort of late breaking news.

At the beginning of the month, the Board of County Commissioners held a budget retreat. You may have viewed it because it certainly pertains to what the county is doing. I know the municipalities are always interested in knowing. The last half hour of that budget retreat, presented on libraries. And I got the approval from the Board of County Commissioners to do three things. First of all, we are looking to do a capital campaign to go around and renovate every one of our locations. Because we have a lot of locations that have not seen some love and attention for a few years now. Now your branch, of course, just recently received it, but it is in the campaign as one of the branches we'd reach at the end. It's about fifteen, twenty years for us to go between renovations. So that would be there.

Also, we got permission to pursue the idea of a new main library. Our current main library on Summit Boulevard is very outdated. It's our oldest building. It's also very small when you compare it to other main libraries across Florida. We're looking to expand it to a 150,000 square foot building with a lot of amenities that we believe not only that local community could use, but the whole county can take part in, including a large civic center space to be able to sit 600 and other things that will be unique to that building, plus make it an architecturally significant location.

The third piece that the board is pursuing is they've asked us to come back with language to potentially have another ballot initiative for voters to provide, allow us to go for bonds to facilitate the campaign, capital campaign. Our last one was in 2002, where we got 69% of the vote approval for that. Our prior one in 1986 got 67% of the vote. So we are still watching though to see what comes out of Tallahassee regarding any potential property tax reform

Mhmm.

Which may affect our ability to put something on the ballot. But if that were to happen, I'm gonna make sure all of our municipalities are aware because that money will allow us to accelerate a capital campaign to ensure that all our libraries are beautiful places to be. Finally, I just have our contact information in there, so if you have any questions after this presentation, feel free to reach out to us. We're more than happy to support our municipalities. And with that, I close my presentation and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you, Doug, and thank you, Jessica, for coming out and letting people know that the library has more than just books. And I think I speak for all of us. We love our local branch, especially since it's been renovated five years ago. So thanks for the update. Appreciate it.

The work that you all do there for our children particularly and the kids from Elbridge Gale that go there every day, I mean, is a great resource to the community.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thanks. Appreciate it. No questions. Easy one.

No questions. Excellent. Well, thank you very much.

Mister Barnes. That brings us to

the consent agenda and staff recommends approve the consent agenda as amended. Is there a

motion to approve? Do have any cards in the consent agenda?

On consent, no. Okay. I'll move to approve.

Second. Consent.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Posed, passes five zero.

Alright. That brings us to public hearings. First item on public hearings is resolution number 2026Dash04 Wellington Village, formerly known as K Park Conditional Use for Pod A School. And mister Sillings and his team are here. And miss Hall will read the resolution by title.

Resolution number R2026Dash04, a resolution of Wellington Florida's council approving a conditional use for certain property known as K Park totaling approximately 71.27 acres more or less located on the Southwest Corner of Stribling Way and US 441 State Road 7. As more specifically described herein, to allow a 1,750 student private school with outdoor recreational facilities within pod A of the Wellington Village MUPD, providing a conflicts clause, providing a severability clause, and providing an effective date.

All right.

Who's up? Whose item?

Did you swearing or?

Yes. I'm sorry. Oh, there you go. And if you intend to be heard on this item, would you raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Okay. And disclosures?

Sorry, councilman. Karen Young, Kevin Ryan, Jeffrey Clark staff and my husband just talked about really the finalization of this and and and what that means for Wellington and I can be fair and impartial.

I'll talk

to Mike back.

Village staff for me and I can be fair and impartial.

I spoke with Jeff Clark, Karen Young, Kevin Ryan, our staff about the scholarship program, and I can be fair and impartial.

My disclosures are the same. I talked to the team for the applicant to our staff, and that's it. And I can be fair and impartial.

I spoke to staff and I can be fair and impartial. Thank you.

Good evening. Kelly Ferriolo, Planning and Zoning. Before you tonight is the continuation of the hearing for the conditional use request petition twenty twenty five dash zero zero zero one dash c u for 1,750 student private school within pod a of the Wellington Village PUD, which I would like to enter all files into the record. The request was postponed at the February 10 council meeting in order to give Wind Grove Academy additional time to finalize the scholarship program dedicated for Wellington residents. Staff has no additional presentations. We're going to give the floor to the applicant.

Okay.

Good evening. Good evening. Lindsay Jean Louis with Urban Design Studio. Thank you, Kelly. Again, you guys did see the full presentation at the February 10 council meeting, so we do want to get right into the matter discussing the scholarship. So I'd like to bring up Jeff Clark with Wingrove Academy to discuss what's presented.

Thank you. Perfect. Thank you. Mister Clark. Hi. Good evening. Jeff Clark. I'm chair and CEO for Elevate Ed. We're working to develop Wingrove Academy, and I'm excited to present to you our our $10,000,000 commitment to Wellington families as part of the scholarship fund tonight. I have six things I wanna talk through on the scholarship program itself, and then I wanted to also address the community use aspect of of Wind Grove Academy as part of Wellington, Village Of Wellington.

So as I said, we, are excited to, commit to a minimum of a $10,000,000 scholarship program specifically earmarked for village of Wellington students. There are six things I just wanna walk through quickly. The first is the student eligibility criteria. So when we think about who would be eligible for for an for a scholarship at Wind Grove Academy, it would you'd have to be reside in the village, you'd have to qualify for admission and you'd also have to qualify for financial aid. Part of our amount of the award that is granted to each applicant is based solely upon demonstrated financial need.

So it's a need based scholarship program that is dedicated to students here. And one of the things I think that is important to note is when somebody is admitted to, the school and are awarded a financial aid through scholarship, we want to make sure that they have the opportunity to continue their education, not just for one year, but for what as many years that as they're at the school. So for instance, if you're admitted in ninth grade, we would assume that you're gonna also be awarded in tenth grade, eleventh grade, and twelfth grade as long as you're in good academic standing, good disciplinary standing, and still demonstrate financial need. So part of the program is structured around what is demonstrated in need and what are the grades that students are applied at. So let me get to the next part about what is the time frame that we expect this to be awarded in and how many students may actually benefit from the program.

Based upon our current projections, we expect that we would be awarding this $10,000,000 scholarship program over our first five years of operations within the village of Wellington. That'll we expect it to impact more than a 100 students. And again, it'll all depend on what grade students apply for, how many applicants we have, and how many students qualify for that. As part of our commitment to this program, we want you to know that we're happy to report on this on an annual basis. So on an ongoing basis, we'll come back to the council here to provide an update to say how many students are benefiting, how have we progressed against the our commitment of the 10,000,000 and to show the continued impact.

Beyond financial impact for the community, we also want to commit to allowing our facilities to be also used by village of Wellington community uses whether that be civic, cultural or other type of youth serving groups. We want to open up our facilities that we're building so that others can benefit from the program. So we're excited to be a part of the community. We've been here a few times now talking about the school. As you know, it is a significant project and significant undertaking that we have a lot of support from the community related to Ross, others to help us move forward with this project.

And so with this, we're excited to commit to the MOU that we put forward as a part portion of our commitment to the conditional use for school use that lays out all the details for both the scholarship program and the community use. With that, I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

I'm certain we have questions, I know two people in particular, Councilwoman Silvestri and Councilman McGovern have the most questions on this item, so I'll let you go first.

I'm personally pleased with what you came up with. I think it's great. And I don't remember if you said it in here, but I know you're gonna come annually and give us updates. If you could just take a moment, and this doesn't have to do with this post. Since we put this on consent, can you talk a little bit about the PSA and what that means just to clear it up for anyone who doesn't understand what we did?

Sure. Yeah, we very much support that amendment to the PSA. So what the amendments to the PSA means is that in partnership with related Ross and Steve Ross, they've agreed to support the purchase of the land immediately for the school. And so that while we're continuing our fundraising process, we're able to honor any commitments that we have to the village of Wellington. We have an agreement with them that is the same as we did with the village of Wellington that we're able to be exclusive purchaser of the land in order to build a school there.

So there's no change to any of those aspects of it. If anything, it's really a vote of confidence of where we are in the progress that we're making that related Ross would support our efforts because where they see we're at, that they're willing to provide financing right now in order to make sure the land is purchased so that we can stay on a time line that we've laid out to you before.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions? Go ahead, Councilwoman.

The 10,000,000, is that gonna be put in a separate account? And you might have mentioned, and I was writing notes. So I just wanna make sure that that is going to be placed in safety purposes, and it will remain in an account just for the scholarships?

Yes. That's earmarked, dollars that we would set aside specifically for village of Wellington students. We've committed that and we'll, use all best efforts to deploy that as soon as practical. And so under our current assumptions, we're estimating the amount of students and the timing, but we think that there will be more than a 100 students and we think it will be in approximately five years that we would deploy all those funds.

And the management of that will be with wind growth?

Correct. Yes. And that we report on it annually here. So there's accountability that you can see what that is. Of course, after those funds that are earmarked and advantage for village of Wellington students, we'll continue our traditional financial aid program. And we've also committed in the MOU that village of Wellington students would have equal access to all of our financial aid admissions along with any other students. So the way I'd characterize it is Village of Wellington is is advantage for the first $10,000,000 and then treated equally with anybody else that is applying after that.

Councilman?

I know when we talked about this, you talked about you had advised me, you and Karen, a discussion of that we wanted to make sure that if we give a scholarship to a child that they would then be able to finish school. Correct. So let me understand. So I understand when we say for the first five years. Right? I get that if we gave that to a ninth grader, that would get them through graduation. But if we gave it to a third grader, that likely would not get them past eighth grade. How would how do you envision that working?

We would include them as part of our regular financial aid program. So as we report back to the village, we would, we would be reporting two things. We're reporting both what has been awarded, the amount that has actually been granted, and our anticipated commitment. So if it was a fifth grader for instance, we would look at it as a nearly eight year commitment. We would be making an assumption that the student would still have demonstrated financial need. We would assume that the student would still be in academic good standing. We'd assume that the student is still in good disciplinary hearing. So when we report back, we would say, x amount has been awarded and x amount is anticipated committed to that. Our $10,000,000 commitment is award. And so commitments would extend beyond, the award period.

Okay.

And the and the reporting back as to Wellington students attendance and matriculation at the school Yes. Does that continue until the 10,000,000 is gone or that's something that will always happen by way of some kind of letter report to the village council or the village manager?

We'll defer to you on that. We're gonna be good citizens of of the village of Wellington. I would assume that it it would be a verbal report until all $10,000,000 is fully awarded. And after that, it may be written. But if, there's something that people want differently, we would certainly, we would certainly provide that. In addition to those support What's that?

I'd love to still have annual updates cause you're gonna be a school in Wellington. Sure. We'd still wanna know what's going on. So I would like

that to be happy to

do that. Yeah.

Well, I'm very glad we sent you back to the drawing board to come up with a more concrete plan for the scholarship program. You were you were, I think, surprised by the question last time. It didn't. Now it's more concrete, and I'm glad we're also finalizing the shared use agreement because those are the two things that were big motivators for us to move forward with Wingrove, which wasn't Wingrove at the time. But making sure that Wellington kids had a financial opportunity to go to the school and that there was gonna be a shared use of the facilities you guys build like we have with other like we have the school district now where we have shared use of of their facilities. So I'm glad those two things have been finalized and and flushed out more than they were the last time we talked about this.

Yeah. We are as well. Thank you.

And have these items been has this the $10,000,000 commitment and the and what you've walked us through here, has this been written as a condition in some way?

It has not yet. No, sir.

How we how we

recommend would that they be included as a condition of the approval pursuant to the items that mister Clark outlined.

And you're you're in agreement with that?

Yes. And we provided MOU to be included as part of the conditions.

Okay. Yeah. Any other question? Oh, it's a public hearing item. So we have a motion to open public hearing. So moved.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Public hearing is now open. Madam Weissman.

We do have one card. Bruce Tooman.

Good evening, sir. Three minutes. Name and address.

Do I get three or five minutes?

You get three on this item.

Okay. My name is Bruce Tooman, and my primary and homesteaded zero lot line property is 752 Lake Wellington Drive in the village of Wellington. There were a lot of studies conducted by our staff, but I really didn't see anything that talked about taxation. Has staff provided property tax studies? How much taxes will we this private school pay us? How much will we lose by having this school here? A veteran community like ours forces homeowners to pay most of the cost to run our village. Not only property taxes, but also water, sewage, trash, and recycling fees. And don't forget, ACME Improvement District, as well as admission fees for our facilities as we pay. Our state is thinking about eliminating property taxes and home rule, unfortunately.

Maybe taking away taking this out of your out of your picture, maybe better for our property owners and voters. A couple things though that I was interested in, the Florida School Voucher Program is gonna be playing here, are they gonna make money off the school vouchers? No use for seniors? Oh, come on. We could the seniors can use that facility too, can't we? And did ACME Improvement District, in a actual official meeting, vote to sell this property? Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Any other cards?

No. Not on this item.

Anyone else wish to speak on the item? If not, we're gonna have a motion to close public hearing.

So moved. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Public hearing is now closed. Any further discussion or motion?

I think this is a good commitment and it shows strength of the partnership that we've been looking for with Wingrove, for Wellington, kids. I think it's important that we have the MOU in the condition as as, has been agreed to here. So with the caveat that those things are going to be finalized as has been discussed here, I'll move to approve resolution twenty twenty six dash zero four.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Hearing none. Passes five zero. Thank you very much. Mister Barnes.

That brings us to our next item, which is resolution number 2025Dash67, Isla Carol Polo and Residences PUD Master Plan and ordinance number twenty twenty five dash twenty nine, Isla Carol Polo and Residences Rezoning. Resolution number R 2025Dash67, a resolution of Wellington, Florida's council approving the master plan for Isla Carapolo And Residences planned unit development located approximately 1,350 feet south of Pearson Road on the west side of 120th Avenue South, totaling 79.17 acres more or less as more specifically described herein. To adopt the Isla Carol Polo in Residence's master plan, to designate a 44.84 acre residential pod with 27 single family dwelling units, to designate a 34.33 acre club amenity pod with equestrian facilities to adopt a project standards manual providing a conflicts clause, providing a severability clause, and providing an effective date. Ordinance number 2025Dash29, an ordinance of Wellington, Florida's council approving a rezoning for certain property known as Isla Caro Polo And Residences located approximately 1,350 feet south of Pearson Road on the West side of 120th Avenue South, totaling 79.17 acres more or less as more specifically described herein. To amend the zoning designation from equestrian residential, equestrian overlay zoning district to plan unit development, equestrian overlay zoning district, providing a conflicts clause, providing a severability clause, and providing an effective date.

If you intend to

be heard on this item, would you raise your right hand, Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Okay. Ex party disclosures, please.

Councilwoman.

Neil Schiller, Glenn Fleisher, Judy Sloan, Ash Atkinson, Christy Lund, Frank McCourt, Johnny Meyer, Tatiana Yakis, Paige Nunez, John Green, staff, and my husband.

And generally describe the substance of those communications.

The project and the effects it could have on the equestrian preserve, and I can be fair and impartial.

Staff, the applicant, Neil Schiller. Oh, this is just since the last time. Right? Not we don't have to go back and do our whole

Right.

Okay. Don Dufresne, John Green, Murray Kessler, Ash Atkinson, Louis Rodriguez, Cheryl Anders, Rachel Edelman, Jeff Robert, Liz Mariaca. The discussions were just the iterations that the project is going through since the first reading and its impacts, and I can be fair and impartial.

I'm gonna add Liz Mariocca and Don Dufresne.

Thank you. I

spoke with staff. I spoke with Neil Schiller. I spoke with my wife, John Bowers, Tatiana Yakis, Paige Nunez, Brett Winter, Steve Levin, Sergio Guerrero, Annabelle Garrett, Don Dufresne, Pam Wildman, Judy Sloan, Kristi Lund, Glenn Fleisher, Layton Jordan, Sarah Goose, John Green, Liz Mariaca, Roxanne Stein. And I read all the emails we got, and I generally about the project, pros and cons, what the impact would be on Wellington, and whether people like it or didn't like it, and I can be fair and impartial.

Thank you.

I spoke with the entire with the team for the applicant. I spoke with Sarah Goose, Annabel Garrett, Judy Sloan, Ash Atkinson, and Christy Lund from our EPC. I spoke with Liz Mariaca, John Bowers, and Michael Drehaus from the PZAB. I spoke with John Green from the ARB. I spoke with former mayor, Margolis, with Don Dufresne from the TDD, with from with Mary Lou Bedford from the Central Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce.

I spoke with, Lewis Jacobs, Mark Bellissimo, Doug McMahon, Doug Marty, Michael Prince, Maureen Brennan. I believe I spoke to Sergio Guerrero, Brian Seymour, Chip McKenney, Kathleen Gannon, I believe. And I briefly spoke to Matt Forrest today asking me if this was still being heard tonight. I read all of the emails. I spoke with staff, and my discussions, like the others, were about the iterations of the project, the impact the impact on the positive impact on Polo, the negative impact on the equestrian preserve, and everything in between. I also spoke with my wife, Michelle McGovern, and I can be fair and impartial.

Thank you.

I read the emails that we have received. Staff, Annabelle Garrett, Randy Hosperod, Christy Lund, Maureen Brennan, Glenn Fleisher, Tatiana Yakas, Liz Mariaca, my husband, John Bowers, Mary Lou Bedford, mister Schiller. I can be fair and impartial, and the conversation was regarding the application. Thank you.

Just a bit of housekeeping. Our expert witness is having trouble logging in.

She's in now.

Oh, she's in now? Okay. All good.

Okay. Good.

Hold on. Ready?

I go first.

Before you tonight is the final reading of the rezoning petition number 2025Dash0004DashREZ and master plan petition number 2025Dash0002DashMPFor Isla Carroll Polo and Residences located on located on 1 20th Avenue South directly north of the National Polo Center for which I would like to officially enter into the record. Since the first reading of the rezoning back in January, the applicant has made various modifications to the master plan including reducing the number of single family units from 40 units to 27 units, which four of those are larger lots to accommodate small equestrian farms. Increase the size of the club equestrian amenity pod and reducing the size of the residential pod and adding a 10 stall barn, groom's quarters and exercise arena to the equestrian complex. The applicant is a hundred and twentieth Avenue South LLC and the agent is Seth Bain with Lewis, Longman and Walker. The applicant's team will provide their presentation first and staff will follow after.

I hit this button here. Almost a pro. Good evening, mayor, village council, staff. My name is Neil Schiller with government law group 137 Northwest 1st Avenue in in Delray Beach, Florida. I'm here tonight representing the Isla Carroll project and 120 Avenue South.

Before I begin, everybody that's here to support the project, if you would just wave to the commission or council in support. Thank you so much. I'm submitting these expert reports. There are eight different letters, expert letters and reports that are being handed out to you now for the record. That's what's in the They're all the same. Before we begin, I would like to ask mister Frank McCourt to say a few words in as the introduction to the presentation.

Yep. My name is Frank McCourt. I live at 3500 Ambassador Drive here in Wellington. Good evening, one and all. On behalf of the entire team, I wanted to express my appreciation for the opportunity to present to you again this evening.

We listened very, very carefully at the first hearing. And as I think you'll see, we've incorporated your feedback into our plan. I might add, we've gone above and beyond at considerable cost and expense. I'm going to let Neil and my colleagues get into the details. I'll close by simply saying that my firm has over 35,000,000 square feet currently in development around the world.

Not a single one of those multitude of projects has gotten more time, my personal time and attention. And I've I've I've done so because I'm a proud resident of Wellington and deeply engaged in the equestrian community. And I and I and I want to do everything to ensure that this is an exemplary addition both to this beautiful village and to the equestrian community that so defines it. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Frank. Okay. Let's get into it. So we're at second reading of the rezoning from equestrian residential to plain unit development. And we are also seeking master plan approval and as you know, your staff report does recommend approval. Here is an aerial specifically of EOD sub area d which we're going to speak a lot about tonight. I just wanted to orient you. As you remember, this is the permitted as of right plan, not equestrian focus nor equestrian serving. No direct public benefit or public access. And most importantly, no guaranteed equestrian amenity with this plan.

You may remember this from almost a year and a half, two years ago, our original master plan. After we withdrew that master plan, we went back to the drawing board and came up with this revised master plan which you saw several month ago, a month ago. This is 40 lots and today we are proposing master plan three point o which has some significant changes I'm about to show you right here. So, first and foremost, we removed 13 units, a third of the project. We increased the average lot size to point seven one acres.

We increased the open space of the project to more than 70%. On the north side of the project, you see the four two acre farm lots. On the northwest corner of the project is a three lake acre lot that is dedicated to new resident equestrian amenities. A 10 stall barn with groomsmen's quarters where we'll have permanent horses on-site. Paddocks, a walker, and a covered exercise ring.

If you move to the southwest corner of the property, we are talking about an external connection to the bridal trails systems. And then on the southeast corner of the property, you see increased trailer parking and tailgating area for Isla Carroll polo matches. And in all totality, these changes have resulted in a project loss of $30,000,000. Here is a new rendering of the project. You can see the Isla Carroll Field displayed prominently.

In your four view is Lot 27, a one of those two acre farm lots. And as you move further west along the property, you can see the Isla Caro Polo Club, some additional farm lots and the smaller lots and then the equestrian amenity in the Northwest corner. This is we've laid out a what a sample equestrian farm lot could look like. Everything included with a home, a pool, paddock, sand ring, barn and a manure bin. And obviously, whoever purchases these properties will have the opportunity to develop them as they see fit.

But the resident equestrian amenities will be developed as we show here. Again, a three acre lot. We have a 10 stall barn with groomsmen quarters that is around 8,000, a little over 8,000 square feet. Four paddocks, a walker of 3,800 square feet and an outdoor exercise ring area, arena and ring that will be covered that is just under 23,000 square feet and over a guaranteed 45,000 square feet of improved equestrian amenity space as part of this design and this program and this project. Here is a rendering of the new equestrian amenity area.

You can see the exercise arena which will be covered, but we wanted it uncovered to show you. A walker and four paddocks and then that 10 stall barn in a beautiful drive up area. Here is the same obviously same amenities in a different viewpoint, so you get a sense of how this interacts with the rest of the community. And this is my favorite rendering because not only does it show this beautiful new equestrian amenity that meets your code, but it also shows you what these smaller lots will look like as part of the project. The barn program for the new resident equestrian amenity, I have to be very specific, is resident only.

No guests, no members, no public, residents only. We expect this barn to be for beginners and intermediates. 100% supervision. We will have grooms and trainers on-site. It is a neighborhood scale facility to limit for safe and calm operation.

Again, emphasis on English writing and basics. And with small group or private lessons and supervised writing and safe schooling. Here is the Aisle Caro Polo Club as you've seen previously with all the different amenities that any polo enthusiast would love including an Asado lawn as we described at the last meeting. Here's a public view of the Polo Field from the Isla Caro Polo Club. And here is a view of the club from the field.

Our bridal trail is more than one and a quarter miles long. And again, this is a resident only amenity. All of our equestrian amenities but for the Polo Field were resident only. We have went back after our last meeting to figure out how we could connect to the overall Wellington Trail system. We believe we found the right way to do it with a historical access easement along 35th that could connect to the Gray Trail.

Again, sorry, resident only. And now I'd like to introduce Bob McMurtry, Interim COO of the United States Polo Association to talk about the relationship we have with Can

you just go back to the trail slide for one second?

Sure. This one?

Okay. Yeah. I'm sorry. No. And No. The one after that. Yes. So then this connects to the to the Gray Trail. Is that what you're

Yes. We It provides It could provide a connection. Yes. There's a gate there right now that would have to be improved.

And who whose gate is that?

Southfields? Southfields HOA. Okay. Thank you.

Mhmm. Do you need permission of Southfields HOA to connect to that bridal trail?

We'll have to achieve that. Yes.

Do you have that right now?

We do not have that right

now. Are you in discussions or negotiations with Southfield to get that?

Well, we have the access easement, but we don't I'll get to that I'll get to that question. Okay. Can we finish our presentation, please? Bob. Come on up and talk about United States Polo Association.

Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Bob McMurtry. I'm the interim COO of the United States Polo Association. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you again tonight. I wanna focus on one issue that's important to the USPA and that's the proactive preservation of polo fields in Wellington. The greatest threat to polo in Wellington is not competition. It's not programming. It's not our club structures. The greatest threat is irreversible loss of polo fields to development. As I'm gonna show in a minute, the the slides show that at least 25 polo fields have been lost in Wellington and more than 30 in Palm Beach County.

In the past ten years, we estimate 23 fields have disappeared. Growth of new polo fields is not happening in Wellington. It's happening outside the village. And just last week, the Valiente property, one of the premier polo facilities in the world was listed for sale. Valiente represents more than a 150 acres, over a 130 stalls, four world class competition fields, elite training infrastructure.

If facilities like this are at risk, it underscores the reality of without deliberate action, Polo Fields will continue to vanish. So this is why the USPA entered into this long term license agreement for the Isle Of Carroll Field. And what the agreement encompasses is a forty five year initial term with unlimited ten year automatic renewals with both parties consent. In effect, it secures the Isla Carroll East Polo Field for the United States Polo Association's use for polo indefinitely. It also covers the USPA programming.

We will schedule all the polo during season. We will have the right to use that field as part of our regular rotation during the season at our discretion and under our control. It also provides for the USPA to maintain that polo field year round to the USPA's competition standards. And Isla Carroll residents will receive memberships to our club at NPC as part of our agreement. This is more than symbolic preservation.

This is enforceable long term stewardship. This slide shows you the loss of polo fields in the Wellington area. And as I said, 23 fields have been lost in Wellington. Valeantes 150 acres and four fields are recently last week listed for sale. More than 30 fields in Palm Beach County are gone and growth of the fields are not not locally.

I think what's important is at its core, Polo is the origin of Wellington's equestrian heritage. And the USBA's headquarters is here. We've invested our future here through acquisition of MPC. We're one of the largest landowners, one of the largest employers in the village. Polo remains a major economic driver for Wellington. If we do nothing, fields will continue to be subdivided and lost. If this agreement is improved, the historic competition field of Isle Carol East will be preserved in perpetuity under deed restrictions, contractual rights, and professional oversight. We urge you to approve this development. Thank you. Thanks.

Joe Camp, do you want to just quickly come up and answer the mayor and councilman McGovern's question about South Fields, the gate?

Yes. Hi. My name is Joe Camp. I'm with the project applicant here on the McCourt team. Just going back to the the easement question. There are historical easements on the site that date back to when the area was subdivided, and they grant access to both 1 20th Avenue Street South on the East and to 35th Street South sorry, excuse me, South Fields Road on the West. The Gray Trail runs along South Fields Road. We have access in in ingress and egress rights by virtue of that easement. As a practical matter, as we are partnered with the U. PA, we're gonna want to partner with U. S. PA for use of that route route if we need it.

I'm sorry. Who who do the easements run-in favor of?

They run-in favor of the of the land. Okay. Of the land owner.

The landowner.

Mhmm. Okay.

And so I think the reason why

we want we want

to highlight this was that this was a matter of discussion at the last hearing. We wanted to clarify the mechanism for this. The primary amenity here is the internal bridal trails. But the question was how how is access to the trail granted and it's by version of the easement.

Thanks, Joe. Thank you. Let's talk about the public benefits of this project. So as you just heard from from mister McMurtry, Isla Carroll will be programmed and maintained by USPA with tournament play on Fridays, Polo clinics for kids and other Polo programs sponsored by USPA with maintenance of USPA professionals all year. We've agreed and proffered to have at least two charity events hosted and underwritten by the Polo Club annually.

We At the last meeting, as you'll remember, we proffered and you accepted the 1,600,000 for design and construction of the planned roundabout at 1 20th Avenue South. We are offering $500,000 for the design of the roundabout at Lake Worth Road and 1 20th South seeing as though our project has an impact there. Granted, this is far beyond our proportional share. And then we want to give back to Wellington's public schools. We've researched a lot of ways to do this and found that the Keeley Spinelli grant program makes the most sense and has the most benefit.

And so we are proposing $300,000 over the next six years to benefit all Wellington's public schools. That is $2,400,000 to fund public works and education as part of this project. There are economic benefits here, 5,500 sorry, $5,000,000 in permit and impact fees to the village. Over 660 temporary construction jobs, 7,500,000.0 in annual ad valorem revenue with a million of that going back to the village for so long as the Florida House and Senate can keep their hands off of that money. And more what's interesting is more than 20% of that is attributable directly to the Polo Club.

75 permanent jobs at least and then unmeasurable amounts of notoriety and recognition for such a great project. There was some discussion about who gets to do what where on the property and we've created this chart to be very specific. Everything related to horses, interacting with horses, stable, rings, paddocks, horse exercise arena, internal bridal trail, external bridal trail connection, you'll see why I said these things in a minute, are for residents only. Playing on the field, spectating on the field, tailgating on the field, that is for residents members and the public in various capacities obviously. And then as far as the Isla Carroll Polo Club, those amenities are for the residents and the members.

Our plan evolution as you can see, we have more than doubled our average lot size from the original plan. We've increased our acres of residential use and we have more open space than we've ever had before at least 70%. When we get to the legal criteria, it's very important that we understand the comprehensive plan in its use. And the Florida statute section 163.31943 A gives specific guidance on the status of a comprehensive plan. It says a development order or regulation shall be consistent with the comprehensive plan if the land uses densities or intensities and other aspects of development are permitted by such order or regulation are compatible with and further the objectives policies and land uses, densities or intensities in the comp plan and if it meets all other criteria enumerated by the local government.

And then further down in the statute it says, it is the intent of this act that the comprehensive plan set general guidelines and principles concerning its purpose and contents and that this act shall be construed broadly to accomplish its stated purposes and objectives. I think it's important to remember when we're dealing with land use decisions that arbitrary and capricious decisions are not allowed. Local governing bodies do not have an unbridled discretion to do what they want to do. And the commission has a legal responsibility to grant the requested application unless the commission can prove non compliance with the applicable law. So criteria A is consistency with your comprehensive plan.

And we have highlighted all of the different policies, goals and objectives that we are consistent with, but I want to point out a couple. Policy LU and CD one point one point two basically establishes residential density for your residential districts in your future land use map. We are in residential B which provides point one dwelling unit acre to one dwelling unit acre. Our proposed density is point three four dwelling units an acre, very low, which we fit and are compatible with that policy. Policy LU and CD one point two point five to allow non residential uses or limited non residential uses within residential PUD's.

And it specifically allows non residential uses in residential plan unit developments which may include recreation facilities and neighborhood commercial facilities. Both highlighted here, both uses are designed to meet the daily needs of residents. So we get to the specific equestrian preservation element of your comp plan, we look to EQ one which is preserving Wellington's equestrian community and its lifestyle. And we do that by creating four equestrian farm lots. We have resident equestrian uses of a 10 stall barn, paddocks, walker, etcetera.

We are 33% less than the permitted density. That is a very important fact when talking about approving this project especially vis a vis the comprehensive plan. And as you know, we are preserving significant amount of open space in perpetuity with the USDA programming that field. And then you look at one point one point one sub one that says the intent of the EOZD is to preserve the equestrian lifestyle. And again, I think we pointed out how we are preserving that equestrian lifestyle.

And then two, you can see the location of the four farm lots. And so anybody driving through the development has to pass all of those farm lots to get to either the Polo Club or to get to their home, giving it the feel of a large lot community. EQ 1.1 sub three is permit limited commercial uses in the land development regulations which support the equestrian industry. And so we have limited commercial uses that support the equestrian industry. On the commercial I'm sorry, on the equestrian pod, riding lessons in equine waste management.

At Isla Caro Polo Field, we have professional polo matches taking place, lessons in clinics, equine waste management which we all know is important, concessions and parking. And then the commercial uses at the Polo Club include a tack shop with local Wellington goods and USP merchandise, dining, polo fitness and spa services. Equestion element three, ladies and gentlemen, really speaks for itself supporting the equestrian competition industry by preserving this field, by having professional polo matches programmed and maintained by the sports governing body, U. P. A, clearly supports this Equestrian Element three.

The next criteria is whether or not we are in conflict with the LDRs. And and your staff would tell you that our site plan is compliant, our PSM is compliant, our density and intensity are under the LDR requirements. We are not seeking any variances. We are not seeking any waivers. We are not seeking any special exceptions. And staff recommends approval. C, the requested uses compatible and consistent with the existing uses and the zoning surrounding the subject land. All you have to do is look at EOD sub area d which we're in. It is dominated by planned unit developments. Wellington Country Place, Equestrian Club at Wellington, Wellington South.

You can see how our project fits in with them. First, look at average lot size. We are among the larger average lot sizes here on this graphic. Look at your density. We are the least the lowest dense project. That means we're the lowest dense project. I can figure out. In the graphic and in that sub area. Compatibility with MPC, our neighbor. As you just heard from Bob McMurtry, they support our project and we've created different access points from our project to and from NPC.

D, there are changed conditions. Well, as you heard from Mr. McMurtry, loss of polo fields in Wellington is a significant changed condition. And then you look at population growth. We all know that Wellington promotes itself as a equestrian destination and lifestyle. People are moving here every year. Even after COVID, that dip it's coming back very strong. Our as of right I'm sorry. Our development promotes that equestrian lifestyle that Wellington continues to promote. And I would say that the as of right permitted plan does not guarantee any sort of equestrian lifestyle, but our project, Isla Carroll, does.

Environment. The proposed request would not significantly add result in significantly adverse impacts on the environment. And again, we're over 70% open space. We are 33 under our permitted density. And the large that are on-site right now will be used in the wide required landscape buffers.

And then criteria F, resulting in a logical and orderly development pattern. This is the same graphic I showed you before and how Isla Carroll stacks up against the projects, some of which you've approved, some of which you haven't that exist in Sub Area D today. We are among the largest average lot size and we are the only PUD with multiple common internal equestrian amenities for residents only. And even your staff report shows Sub Area D and more than 75% of the area is dominated by planned unit developments. So, to say that a planned unit development doesn't belong in this EOD is just wrong.

And then G and H, there is no applicable neighborhood plan and we of course, we will meet all the Wellington building standards. And then we get to six point eight point eight. I want to point out that six point eight point eight is consistent with your comprehensive plan. That is important. The preamble of six point eight point eight says that an ED shall be designed for compatibility with the objectives of this section along with use of flexible property development regulations and design standards.

So, we look at six point eight point one, the purpose and intent of this section of your code. To preserve, maintain and enhance the equestrian area that is home to equestrian farms, competition venues, and the equestrian lifestyle in Wellington. And then, identifying and encourage land uses and development patterns that are supportive of this equestrian character industry and lifestyle only EPA. From equestrian farm standpoint, we have four two acre farms, plus a brand new two ten stall resident barn with groomsmen's quarters, paddocks, walker, all of that stuff to promote the equestrian lifestyle and equestrian farms. Competition venue speaks for itself.

And equestrian lifestyle, a bridal trail with connectivity, on-site community barn, walker paddocks and a covered exercise area help augment the or enhance, excuse me, the equestrian life style here. So six point eight point eight D one, the master's plan shall provide common equestrian amenities that shall serve as the internal focus of the development, which are limited to stables, check. Rings, check. Paddocks, check. Horse exercise areas, check.

Internal bridal trails, check. Connections to external bridal trails, check. Other equestrian amenities and open space like the Isla Carroll Field, check, check, and check. 6.8.8 D2, all common equestrian amenities will be installed prior to a CO being issued for any residential use on the property. We agree with that.

We also agree to six point eight point eight D3 that a deed restriction shall be executed to limit and use the limit in perpetuity the use of the common equestrian amenities. We've proffered a draft deed restriction to counsel and upon approval we will finalize that. D four, that you can't ask for any development incentives and I may remind you, we are not asking for any development incentives. We are not asking for waivers, variances, or special exceptions as part of this project. So when we look at the last major project approved in the EOZD, we have to look at Wellington Lifestyle Partners.

And when you look at that, you can see the difference in the number of applications that they needed versus the number of applications that we need and we want. We can look at their average lot size versus our average lot size. It's very similar, if not the same. Density, we are half of the density that this body approved. We both have staff recommendation of approval.

And of course, Wellington Lifestyle Partners was approved by a council. And based on the evidence, we believe that approval is required tonight. There was a question at the last meeting about overflow parking. And I would tell you as we did before, we are going to be using valet parking. We found a couple extra spaces, so we have a 153 parking spaces.

And those areas circled in red, those are overflow parking areas in case we have a special event that we want to park on-site. And again, we have our shared parking agreement with NPC. At this point, I'd like to have Taylor from Hart Howerton briefly give her expert report. And I apologize that she isn't here in person. So,

Yes. Thank you, Neil. Good evening, everyone, and I do apologize for not being able to join everyone in person, and thank you for allowing me to participate remotely. My name's Taylor Panconian, and I'm an associate principal with the design firm, Hart Howerton. I've been working with Isla Carroll, as their lead planner and designer for over two years now.

I'm a certified planner with twenty years of experience in leading efforts like this in master planning, entitlements, and permitting. I prepared the zoning compliance report that was submitted this evening, and I certify that our plans meet all of the criteria, and the code is outlined in that zoning compliance report. And I'm here to answer any questions throughout the evening as they relate to the master plan and the project standards manual. Thank you.

Thank you, Taylor. We have a couple more slides. So, Isla Carroll exceeds the requirements for approval. As I've shown you tonight, as Taylor just testified. And as you'll hear from your staff report, we are compatible with the comprehensive plan.

We are a low density project that preserves the equestrian lifestyle. The Polo Club is consistent with policy LU and CD one point two point five which allows non residential uses in residential PUD's. Sub area D consists predominantly of PUD's with greater densities and smaller lights lot sizes than what we're proposing tonight. We're consistent with LDRs in six point eight point eight resident only common equestrian amenities just like six point eight point eight d one said. Check.

No variances, no waivers, no special exceptions are being sought. There is a supreme court case that says zoning regulations are in the derogation of private property rights of ownership and should be interpreted in favor of the property owner. Our applicant expert reports confirm compliance and consistency with your code and comprehensive plan as does your staff report. And they also recommend approval. Our project has evolved based on your feedback and stakeholder feedback in this community.

We are 33% less dense than we were a month ago. We're more than 15% equestrian farms with the optionality to create more. Over 45,000 square feet of common equestrian amenities for residents. That is guaranteed because the permitted as of right plan is not. Minimum forty five year relationship with the USPA. 2,400,000.0 to Wellington for public works and public education funding. We meet and exceed all the criteria and I'd ask the chair that we can save the balance of my time for rebuttal. Thank you. Thank you.

Staff report?

Yep.

The applicant is requesting to amend the zoning designation of ILEC Harrell from Equestrian Residential Equestrian Overlay Zoning District to Planned Unit Development Equestrian Overlay Zoning District. This slide shows the current zoning map shown on the left and the proposed zoning map shown on the right with the subject property bubbled in yellow. This slide shows the proposed Isla Carol Polo And Residences PUD Master Plan. The proposed master plan creates a 44.84 acre residential pod and designates 27 dwelling lots. It creates a 34.33 acre club equestrian amenity pod with a defined development program consisting of a 25.62 acre equestrian facility.

It delineates three access points, two along 120th Avenue South and one along 35th Street South connecting to National Polo Center. It adopts a project standards manual and establishes conditions of approval. The 79 acre PUD is broken up into two pods, the residential pod which makes up 56% of the overall PUD and the club equestrian amenity pod which makes up 44% of the PUD. With 33% of that pod dedicated to equestrian facilities, A restrictive covenant will be recorded restricting the use of the equestrian facilities to owners, residents, guests, members and or licenses of owners within the PUD. The request of 27 units is below the maximum allowed density of one dwelling unit per two acres allowed within sub area d of the equestrian overlay.

Based on the proposed units, the developer is required to dedicate a certain amount of land for civic and parks purposes. The developer is required to dedicate point zero seven six acres of civic land, which will be accomplished with the dedication of land for the roundabout at the 1 20th Avenue and Village Park entrance intersection. They must dedicate point three seven nine acres of public parks and rec land or make a payment in lieu of dedication in the amount of $78,000. Private parks and recreation land is also required to be dedicated which they will exceed. And they will also be required to make a payment of 78,000 to the school district which is in addition to any impact fees they are assessed at the building permit.

The number is based on the original request of 40 units and this number may be lowered if an updated letter from the school district is provided for the 27 units. A project standards manual has been submitted as required by the land development regulations and will be adopted by resolution. PUD's are to allow flexibility in the application of zoning regulations. The developer has requested flexible regulations including reduced setbacks and lot sizes allowed in the EOZD which staff has no objection to as the overall density of the entire PUD is less than the maximum density of the sub area. Various improvements and contribution conditions were included in the master plan resolution.

The developer will be required to make a 2.82 proportionate share payment for the construction of a traffic signal and or roundabout at the Lake Worth Road and a Hundred And 20th Avenue intersection. They will be required to provide Wellington with additional right of way and design plans for the construction of the roundabout at the intersection of 120th Avenue South and the entrance to Village Park. And they will need to construct and fund upgrades to lift stations and various other utility facilities. Other requirements in the conditions of approval include requiring 50% of the club equestrian amenity pod and the entire 10 stall barn be completed and open to residents at the time the residential COs reach 50%. An off-site parking agreement will be required with NPC.

Special use permits will be required for all events open to the public. And annual parking traffic monitoring will be required for a period of ten years. Both the EPC and PCA B recommended denial of both applications and council approved the rezoning on first reading with a three-two vote. The staff analysis concludes that the proposed requests comply with the requirements for a rezoning and master plan. And if the proposed requests are approved, conditions of approval are provided for in the master plan resolution r twenty twenty five dash 67.

And just a little housekeeping, if the ordinance and resolution are approved, an updated legal description will be replaced in exhibit a, which identifies the project as 79.17 acres, which is shown on the screen. This concludes staff's presentation.

Thank you.

Alright. At this point, we can either start to asking questions of the applicant or staff or move into public comment. What's what's your preference? You have a lot of cards I see.

We have a lot of cards.

So I prefer to do public comment first. Anyone have an

objection to that? That's fine. That's what we've been

doing. Okay. Is there a motion to open public hearing? So moved.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Public hearing is now open. Madam Vice Mayor, take it away. Good luck with the names.

Thank you. Okay. So I'll call two names and we'll just keep having people come up and alternate at the microphones. So let's have Robert Schmidt and Kathleen Gannon.

Before you speak, name and address, and you have five minutes.

Thank you very much. My name is Robert Schmidt. I live at 12541 Equine Lane in the Equestrian Club. So I'm a nearby neighbor to all of this, just right around the corner from them. And my background is I'm an attorney, a patent attorney, a professional engineer, and I also have a master's degree in urban environmental studies where I did most of my thesis work on new town planning.

So I feel very strongly about plan unit developments, and having facilities such as what is being proposed. And I want to speak very strongly in support of it. In addition to the fact that I like the overall plan and concept, one of the things that as a new resident to Wellington is that I had my grandchildren here over Christmas and I didn't really find a good place to be able to take them to go riding. Because I wanted to instill in them, you know, the love of the equine lifestyle And they're just didn't have that. And so this having the camps and the training classes and other things for kids to me was very important.

Cause I look at this and say, you know, some kids are very fortunate that they're born into a household with a horse already and are able to be able to, you know, just naturally fall into having the equine philosophy. But for those of us that weren't that lucky, you know there needs to be some introductions. And I thought that the planned facility is very helpful to that and helpful for Wellington to be able to bring in new people, to be able to incorporate, as I said last time, your horse and your logo kind of says it all, that this is what you want. And I fully agree with that, and hope that the council will support this proposal. Thank you very much.

Thank And before you start, Ms. Gannon, Doug Marty at this microphone.

Good evening.

Up on deck. No, maybe not. Hi. Go Go ahead.

Hi, Kathleen Gannon, 4491 Palm Breeze Trail. I thank you all for serving. I've been a long time resident. I'm an equestrian, a polo player, and a show jumper. I've lived here my whole life and I've seen the US Open in Boca.

They had the Boca Polo Club and we lost all the Boca Polo Fields there. And it's very sad that it's all turned into housing. So what they're doing, I'm very much in support of Frank and Monica. They've been a huge support of our equestrian lifestyle and I think what they're trying to do is amazing to try and keep our polo fields and we really need to do that and so I'm a huge support of that. I also have a real estate company and I think it's very important what we're doing for the community to keep the lifestyle of equestrians and that you really listen to equestrians that know the sport and that love the sport and that are here for the long time And that is what Frank has proposed and having another polo field with what you have seen come across is so important to our sport and to Wellington.

We are the equestrian capital of the world and we need to maintain that and we don't need to keep selling out to developers and what they've proposed is beautiful and I'm in support of it. So thank you for hearing me.

Thank you.

Thank you. And can we have Chris Beale at this microphone up next?

Good evening.

Hello everyone, my name is Doug Marty. I'm a twenty year resident of Wellington. I live in 15790 Chandel Place in the Aero Club. I also have I own the Wellington National Golf Club. That was a ten year project to get where it is today.

And I could not have have completed this club or had it to the point where it is today without the help of the prior mayors, honorable mayors, and council members, some of which are still here that I've known since day one. And again, could not have done it without your help. I'm very much appreciate it. And also with our sheriff's department, our fire department, and our fire rescue. I mean, they've been very, very supportive in everything I've done at the club.

And it's we've transitioned something that was, in my opinion when I bought it, a go trap, and now it's a very prominent golf club within the community. So thank everybody for your help there. I've looked at this project for the past few weeks. I'm very much in favor with it, or for it. Mr.

McCourt and his group and Discovery have, in my opinion, put together a great facility. It meets all of the codes from what I can see, and it meets it's it's exceeded the bars of what was required. Over the top in my opinion. Obviously, think we heard earlier, Mr. McCord has been involved in millions of square feet of building square footage rental and ownership space, as well as Discovery, who I believe has close to 40, if not 40 properties around the world, not one of which has been closed.

So to me that's a great track record. We need something like this. As Kathleen mentioned earlier, we just, you know, and as we heard throughout the program tonight, we're losing Polo Fields. We don't need to do that. This is the horse capital of the world, and I believe that. I live it. I love it. I enjoy it. I love having my family here. And I really think this is a great great opportunity for the village, and most of all for the We the People of Wellington. So please consider this, and we hope we can get your vote. And thank you very much.

Thank you. And can we have Bob Margolis up at this microphone? Go ahead, Ms. Beale.

Good evening, mayor, council, and staff. My name is Chris Beale. I am a my husband and I reside at 1400660 Stirrup Lane on property owned by our daughter and son-in-law. We've been seasonal residents for the past eight years with a season spent in Wellington also during the years of 2006 and 2000 to 2009. So I've seen a lot of the growth of Wellington and the loss of public fields also.

I, along with my husband and adult children, am a member of the United States Polo Association. My husband is a third generation polo player, my daughter is a fourth generation polo player, and I'm a hacker, but I still have played. The address of our family is 40 horses, though it's not in Wellington, it's in Port Myakka, At the Port Myakka Apollo Field, where that's due to the vast advantages of physical space for playing and practical fields, and exercises, exercise tracks, and the comparative cost of keeping them there compared to the cost and space that's available in Wellington. But the reason we come to Wellington is that the National Polo Center is located here, and it is the magnet that draws puddle players from all over the country and the world for the winter season. I'm in favor of the proposed plan presented today by McCourt Discovery Group because it preserves the polo fields in proximity to NPC and will enhance the polo opportunities and experiences at NPC.

Making the magnet stronger and that will draw more polo players and elevate the Wellington polo experiences for players and spectators. After listening to the presentation and comments of the first reading in front of this council, many comments were made that the plan didn't fit the letter of the law. The letter of the law. Especially the equestrian preserve criteria. I came to believe that the spirit of preserving the equestrian use land is satisfied with the preservation of the polar field.

Specifically, this is the best equestrian use for the polo community. When you consider the number of horses and the number of polo players that will be on this field for games and for training, that makes it an equestrian facility. I think the revised plan shows an extraordinary effort by the developers to satisfy the letter of the law. If you believe polo is an important part of the equestrian ecosystem here, then please vote to approve this proposal and preserve the polo fields. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And can we have Bruce Toobin at this microphone?

Good evening. My name is Bob Margolis, 657 Juniper Place, Village Of Wellington, former mayor and a forty three year resident of the Village Of Wellington. I moved my family down to the Village Of Wellington and I have never regretted one day. I've sat in your position. I understand what you're going through.

It wasn't so long ago that I was on my first council when that council approved in the original International Polo Club. And I remember being in Barnes and Noble one night and who was standing in front of me was Tommy Lee Jones. And my son kept on saying, go say something, go say I said, I'm not saying anything to him, I'm afraid of him. So I finally went up to him and I said, hi mister Jones, I wanna introduce myself. And he was very, very cordial. And he said, well do you have any questions for me? And I wanted him to ask this question. I said, okay, how did you guys really make Men in Black? And I never did that. And he was a gentleman and I've never looked back at any of the proposals that I made in the village of Wellington.

I also had the opportunity a number of years ago to meet mister McCourt. When he came into the village when I was mayor and we made an appointment, We took a tour bus and he wanted to see the entire village of Wellington. He had so many questions and it's a good thing I had staff with me to answer those because I had no idea what he was talking about. But the one thing that I did come away with is he was very interested in the village of Wellington. He was a true gentleman and I was really happy to have had the experience to meet with him a number of times.

I was here at the first reading and I heard your questions. And I said to myself, boy, those are really, really good questions. And I I saw the interest in the applicant go back and say, okay, how can we meet the needs of the council and the village residents? And they came back with a plan. And I absolutely believe that they heard what you were saying.

They came back. This application I absolutely believe is the best thing for the village of Wellington. And if you remember, wasn't so long ago that I sat on that side of the aisle when another application came forward to you and I was opposed to it. So I'm asking you here tonight to look at the revised plan, look at the people building it, look what the applicant is going to do for the village of Wellington and how he's gonna provide money for the Kelly Spinelli grant, a council that I was on that Lizbeth Beniquisto originally brought forward. I'm asking you to take a look at the new plan and they have met every one of your needs that you asked for and I'm asking you to take that into consideration.

This is a good plan. I urge you to approve it. I'm looking forward that you do approve it and I'm looking forward. I have a very healthy fear of that of horses. I think everybody here knows that. But I am looking forward to maybe going to this facility one day and visiting it again as I did the first day that International Polo Club first opened. Thank you for giving me time to talk to you tonight. I really appreciate it.

Thank you.

And can we have Sarah Goose at this microphone?

And before mister Tooman starts, I wanna recognize our court reporter. If you need a break at some point, just let me know because we wanna make sure you're comfortable because you might be here a while. So just raise your hand and let me know, we'll take a break

for your comfort. Mister Tooman. Good evening. My name is Bruce Tooman, and my primary and homestead at 0 Lot Line property is at 752 Lake Wellington Drive in the village of Wellington. On October 22, the reserve committee meeting, the committee recommended denial of both for rezoning and the master plan.

On November, the Planning, Zoning and Adjustment Board, the board recommended denial six to one to both the rezoning and master plan. You all on January 12 decided to approve the plan. The question I have is why have boards and committees? Did these boards and committees have the opportunity to review the changes that were made before their decision, or maybe redo the decisions? I did like a couple things.

Six years of $300,000 for our grant, education grant. That's great because I never liked being forced to pay twice for public education. And I wonder if any of that money is gonna go to that new private school that you all approved? Because right now, it doesn't. The roundabouts, in my opinion, are very poor transportation modes. Will the access to the public for the public be the similar to like the high school football field? Little, if any. And I am glad to see overflow parking unlike our amphitheater phase two. Thank you.

Thank you. Can we have Robin Parsky at this microphone, please? Go ahead, miss Goose.

I would like to thank the council and the mayor

Name and address first, please.

What?

Name and address.

Oh, sorry. Syracuse, 15320, 46th Link South, Wellington. I would like to thank the council for its diligence and thorough review of Isla Carroll application. Isla Carroll, which will be operated by Discovery Land Company, is fundamentally a private country club. Discovery's business model is to develop exclusive clubs, collect large initiation fees and annual dues, and sell high end homes to create a built in membership base.

This project would also include approximately 300 outside members, which was not mentioned at this meeting by them who do not reside in the development. Outside members do not belong in the preserve. The applicant's repeated attempts to meet the criteria of 6.8.8 raises serious concerns. Initially, compliance was proposed through an inclusion barn, yet no meaningful plans existed. That concept was abandoned.

The applicant then proposed a polo field, which would be licensed to an operated MPC. A license can be revoked at any time. Not for the residents of Isla Carroll, but for the residents of MPC. I am a member of MPC. This again failed to meet the intent of section 6.8.8, which requires equestrian use for residents of the PUD.

Now the applicant has reintroduced a concept of a barn along with Polo Fields. The Barnwood House Hortz is owned by Discovery would be managed and operated by Discovery. There's no clarity what this barn is for, whether it's for polo ponies, hunter jumpers, or trail riders, beginner lessons. I don't know what that is. From personal experience, hunters and jumpers do not safely or practically coexist with an active polo operation.

I previously, when I was in Massachusetts, rode out a barn located adjacent to a polo facility. Whenever the polo practice or mattresses were underway, it was not possible to ride. The horses were spooked by the polo ponies, and we had to shut down riding. In addition, operating a barn is a very costly and busy endeavor. It includes deliveries, farrier visits, veterinary care, grain, shavings, and manure removal, manure trucks, dumpsters, and open manure bins, flies, rodents, odors, and increased traffic.

It is unclear whether the residents of this exclusive and expensive community would want or tolerate this level of activity surrounding their homes. Section 6.8.8 was not intended for this type of use. It was meant to support legitimate equestrian use and communities. Let's see. Like, if the lots that are going to be proposed for equestrian use are too close to the Polar Field.

Again, they will not be usable during matches, especially since Iso Carol does not control the polo field operations. Again, NPC is using this field. And the owners who will be having horses there will have no say in how or when the field is used. I do not believe a polar field, trail riding, a riding school, multi million dollar homes, a clubhouse, pool, tennis, paddleboard courts, spas, dining, large scale social events can harmoniously be integrated on this property without conflict. Ultimately, section point 6.8 was not intended to support a country club with primarily outside members and a few poorly designed, equestrian amenities added to justify zoning.

This proposal is presented as a recipe for failure and disaster. I respectfully urge the council to consider how the applicant aligns with intent of six point eight point eight, the future of the Equestrian Preserve and Wellington's long term equestrian legacy. Thank you.

Thank you.

And do we have Laura Norris come to this microphone? It doesn't say if you wish to speak or not. Laura Norris? Okay. Think we have Paula Santana to this microphone, please. Thank you.

Go ahead. Sorry. Hello. Mister mayor and council members, I'm Robin Parsky. I live at 2910 Winding Oak Lane in Palm Beach Paolo and Country Club.

I want to first congratulate you because I think that these meetings once again point out that you can really be helpful to an applicant, and this applicant has listened, definitely listened. This proposal is actually much improved, but I pretty much like the first one because I think it was what you're doing, they are doing, is preserving a very large beautiful polo field. And that's what this community is about. I disagree that this is an entity that would not enhance or be part of a good equestrian lifestyle, quite the opposite. I think people want to live around areas where they can see horses and see open fields.

That's exactly what this is about. The link to the bridal trails, right now that is a real plus in this community. And I think there will be, people who will be interested in living in this community and having horses close by. There are other entities that are surrounding that do have commercial operations, but this is not the same. The other thing I wanted to mention is that you might not know is there was a meeting, a town hall meeting, there have been two of them actually, at the Palm Beach Polo and Country Club.

And to the point about losing polo fields, the people at the polo club got up and several of them said, you're a misnomer now in this community because the entrance to the Polo Club says Palm Beach Polo and Country Club. There are no polo fields left in the Palm Beach Polo Club and Country Club, and there is no country club. As a matter of fact, there's no golf. There's the clubhouse is controlled by one entity, mister Straub and his group, and the former golf course is defunct at the moment and owned by someone else. So the residents there are aghast at the fact that we have no club and no country club.

I think this entity is going to enhance the community. It's the type of thing that people have always wanted here, and they wanted to be close to the polo fields. When I came here, I am an equestrian. I have show jumping horses, but I've been a member of the IPCNBC now for fifteen years because it was a social club. It it was a wonderful place to watch horses exhibit great skills on the polo fields.

It was a real enhancement to moving to this area. So I applaud McCourt Discovery. I know their operations. They're proven developers. They're not guessing at this game.

The entity in Silo Ridge, New York is beautiful, and it is enhanced with a barn and equestrian activities. So it is not new to them to be around equestrian. Equestrian is a very big part of many of their communities, including, the Madison Club in Palm Springs, Palm Palm Desert actually. So that's my, support of this project is and many of my friends are very supportive of this project. I just thought I'd let you know.

Thank Thank you. We have Jill Townsend at this microphone. Go ahead, Mr.

Sander. Yes, sir.

Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to talk. My name is Paulo Santana, 200865 Polo Island Drive. Came here to talk about like I was a question since born. I have ridden horses all around the world, Europe, Canada, United States. We're moving to live to Wellington because Wellington was the capital of the horse in the world. Why? Does Wellington has a patent to be the only people with horses? Does Wellington has a delivery method for the horses? Does Wellington is the best venue in the world is a great venue, but there might be other venues there.

What Wellington has that differs us from all the others is a unique experience where you can leave arm's length with your horse where nobody else can have. We are facing right now a huge development and people migrating from especially on the show jumping to Ocala where they have spent close to $2,000,000,000 in a new venue and that's slowing down a bunch of equation activities here to the point that we are in a little dangerous situation. When a project like that come up to us. I understand one thing, I am not a polo guy, I was always on the show jumpers, but I understand that to play polo you need a horse. If you have a sport horse, you are a question following the plain and simple language.

To align with Wellington, unique experience, whatever would bring again new blood healthy financial companies to accomplish the project instead of forward looking information of some beautiful one thousand and one Arabian Nights that might come whatever to see. I believe if we do not allow this project to take place with all the benefits that's bringing, respecting the core of Wellington, which is the unique experience to live arm's length close to your horse that nobody, no Ocala, no Las Vegas, no Atlantic City can copy that. It would be setting us up to fail, especially in this moment that the horse world a question show jumping oriented side is being a little bit in a dangerous situation of this doubt what's going to happen in the future. I believe sustaining the polo with a group that has a proven concept in different other areas that are not proposing any type of speculation has proven a lot of work done. It's something that we should protect, we should incentivize to happen to probably show to the world, to the people that yes, the capital of the horse is still here, it remain here because nobody can copy our unique experience to live arm's length close to the horses and to be able to have this type of investor that's coming in those uncertainty moments and they are really moving, taking all the risk to save us.

I really think that this council should see in a way that would be protecting our soul as a question and denying this product would definitely be setting us up to fail. So I hope that we can pass it tonight and I support it. You.

Can we have Helena Stormans at this microphone, please?

Good evening.

Hi, how are you? Jill Townsend, 2040 Appaloosa Trail. I think it's last night for a couple of you guys up here. I think your term is about up, so thank you for serving. We appreciate it.

Looking forward to new council members. You know, I was here last night, and we had a forum, And every one of them said, without doubt, it is off limits to change the zoning in the Equestrian Preserve. And why did all six of them say that? Because they know the will of the people here. We don't have a cocktail party to be able to entertain people before they come here and put stickers on them so they can raise their hand.

We are the people of Wellington. We don't have the means, which other people have, to be able to create all the laws, and the checks, and all that. I can tell you that we've had the horse show used against this Consul to create a project up there that they conveniently used Wellington South to show you the density that's been allowed in the equestrian preserve. That was that first pickle out of the jar. And I told you then, if you let that happen, if you allow them to blackmail this consul with the horse show, or with Polo, and to control your vote, another pickle's gonna come out.

And sure enough, we've got another pickle. And if this one comes out, you can just dump the jar. Every one of those green fields that you see, they will be PUD's. The USP, the Polo Association can use that field until perpetuity, as long as they wish. They are telling us there are no more fields being built in Wellington. They're being built elsewhere. Why? Because Polo, easily, is going to get moved elsewhere.

If

Discovery buys NPC, if Discovery buys the McCourt's property right behind this project, if Discovery buys Jacob's property, all of that now becomes their model. Why are they giving up $30,000,000 in this development, and offering millions of dollars every year in taxes and fees to Wellington? Just for this little project? No. The vision is bigger.

If you can get NPC to do a land trust, where it will always, for perpetuity forever, in a legal land trust, keep that land for Polo, for I would say, you know what, this looks like a cute enough development, maybe that many people won't join the club, let's hope. If that land next to it, that's the Jacobs, was in a land trust, we would feel confident that this little development with 30 houses would not be horrible. But it's not one little development. This is the seed for a big development. And it doesn't take that much intelligence to look at that map that they put up there, with all of those green spots knowing what's available to be built on.

They might have legal cause. You guys might have to worry about being sued, because they've got lawyers and check marks. But I'm telling you, it's a country club, and it's one that is going to be expanded. And you've already paid the price with Wellington South. They just used it against you. We've talked about this. All of that land, Pearson to Lake Worth Road to South Shore, will become a PUD if you let this go through. I really, really want you to think about it hard. This is important.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And we have Judith Sloan at this microphone.

Yes, ma'am.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Honorable Council members. My name is Helena Stormans. I live at 2411 Country Golf Drive, Wellington. I'm a resident of Wellington, and I was born and raised in England.

I then moved in my early twenties to Germany, and now I've moved to Wellington. I've spent five decades as an equestrian, involved in the sport of show jumping. First as an international competitor and later as a trainer and coach. Over the course of my riding career, I competed in Grand Prix and Nations Cup competition in Europe and abroad. I have since devoted my professional work to training riders and horses at all levels of the sport including coaching Olympic athletes.

Throughout my career, my focus has remained on sound classical horsemanship. I really believe that this is the only way forwards. The horsemanship that includes safety and the long term development of both horse and rider. Principles that guide my perspective on well structured equestrian programs. I have worked with the applicant team here regarding the Isla Carroll Baum program.

A facility of this design fosters a genuine passion for both the horses and the sport. The proposed layout, arena dimensions, and introductory program reflect a cohesive and well considered plan. Suited for individuals and families seeking a quality recreational equestrian experience. While I know Wellington as an internationally recognized famous horse show, It is an elite place for high performance. But there is a noticeable deficit in this.

And the problem is that these programs have no vision for the youth. And for me, you have to serve the beginners, the young riders and the families who wish to participate in the sport at a more accessible and community orientated level. This program helped fill that void. Creating a welcoming environment focused on education, safety and enjoyment rather than competition alone. Wellington benefits from a deep pool of highly qualified equestrian professionals from which Isla Carroll can recruit experienced instructors.

Be them band managers, caretakers, grooms who've lived here for years and years who I've known from the international circuit in Europe. They've now made Wellington their home and they would be happy to teach the next generation. These these pool of experienced people can be called on at an appropriate time. The program allows families to trail ride together while children can safely hack and learn horsemanship under supervision. I grew up in England the same way.

People still had a horse in the backyard and we rode to the pony club. This kind of equestrianism has a very, very strong meaning, And if it's structured correctly, it's the best introduction to equestrianism. It supports the broader equestrian community by cultivating future riders and responsible horse owners. You develop a community of riders that understand the horse. People with horses, not horse owners.

It's a safe and professional environment, and for residents with farms on property, the facility would also be available for them to utilize it as needed. For these reasons, I respectfully support the Isla Carroll project and the redevelopment, and urge you to vote in favor of its approval. Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

Thank you. And can we have Diego Uriah here? Thank you. Go ahead.

Good evening. Judith Sloan, 599-3100 I've been a resident for about thirteen years. I'm a farm owner and a lifelong equestrian. I am also on the Equestrian Preserve Committee, but I am not speaking tonight in that capacity. I'm quite familiar with Discovery projects in that I spend my summers up in Millbrook, New York, which is about ten minutes from the Silo Ridge Club.

Discovery without a doubt does a beautiful job running a country club. They do not run the equestrian facility at Silo Ridge, a hunter jumper trainer runs that and most of the riders, if not all of them, who keep horses there and ride there are not residents or members of Silo Ridge. So I don't know that we've had a proven concept of them running an equestrian facility. I believe fundamentally that this is another country club. And while that's all well and fine, does it belong in the preserve?

The ratio of outside membership 300 and I've heard between three hundred and three forty five to residents membership is way outweighed. So you would have more residents coming from outside to enjoy a country club at its core rather than an equestrian amenity because it will not be an equestrian amenity, the club itself. I think it's being recast tonight as a polo fitness center and a polo, I don't remember what the first word was, but country club polo is used as a descriptive for the two names that are in it. But it's not going to be equestrian oriented, from what I've heard. And so I think we have to ask ourselves is there space, is there a need for a country club to be in the preserve?

Because fundamentally that's the business model for discovery and they do that very well, but this is they're asking for a change in zoning to put a country club into the preserve and I just don't think that's what we need. I'm very strong polo fan. I have box seats. I go every Sunday to NBC's games. My husband is a polo player.

I am in support of preserving polo. We do have five to six fields that have come online at the Players Club which, yeah, maybe it's not Wellington proper from a mailing address but it's right, it's cheek to jowl to Wellington. They are playing high goal polo. I'm not convinced that we need a zoning change to preserve the Isla Caro Field. If Polo is really their mission and they're driven by that, why can't we just preserve the Polo Field? So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Can we have Annie Caruthers on this microphone?

Diego Rutia, 4444 Washington Road. Nice to be here. Thanks for having us and thanks for doing this. The beauty about this is the feedback that you get. Right? And folks have spoken about what what it means to be out here, what it means to be an equestrian. And I can speak to my experience. So I bought a place out here at the Polo Club and like miss Parsky said, there are no Polo fields. You know, that was a huge huge deterrent for me. So we sold it and we've been looking for something like this.

Something that actually truly represents polo at a first class level. When you see what they've done in Silo Ridge in New York and their other properties, it's a fantastic product. It's authentic to what it wants to be. It's extraordinarily respectful of the community it's in. And thinking about and listening to what the people want, I genuinely believe this delivers.

Furthermore, I've been ecstatic to see how they really have embraced the feedback that they've received. They've addressed every single issue. The stabling, they reduced the lot in houses, the horses on property, every single thing that's been commented on, they've addressed in a meaningful way. So I urge you to approve this project. Thank you.

Thank you. Randy Halversarod and Christy Lund each at a microphone, please.

Who is the first person you called that didn't come up? I don't think she

wants to speak.

She's sitting right there.

Yeah. It's fine. I'm just leaving. Good

evening.

Good evening. I have to take it off to read. Randy Halpershred, 852 Cindy Drive, Little Ranches. I'm more about the horse part of this. Everyone else is gonna talk about other things.

I've been in the horse business forty eight years, thirty years here in Wellington, almost thirty one. I don't know if anyone realizes how hard it is to find a wonderful barn manager that's gonna take care of this facility. Anyone who's in the business knows that is not easy. Also, you're expecting this person to find the horses and yes, they're gonna be English. Are they jumpers, are they hunters, are they dressage, what's the discipline?

And then they're gonna give lessons, they're gonna lead trail rides, not realistic. I do know that 10 lesson horses will never produce enough income to even break even. So, any idea what it costs a year for a horse? Cost to keep a horse for a year is approximately $31,000, that's including your staff. That does not include vet care.

What if it needs to be hospitalized? Minimum $10,000. Starts to go lame? Ultrasound, all this stuff, $4,000 minimum. 10 horses, 31,000, without vet care, it's $372,000 a year.

How long is Discovery going to pay all that money for basically a losing proposition? When they're done, what happens to the horses when it's not feasible? Barn's gone, I guess we could probably build new houses where the barn was. With the current Buy Right two acre plan, people have a choice, luxury home on two acres, or living in an equestrian lifestyle with your horse in your backyard. You could save the polo field and put two acre farms on the perimeter, but then you couldn't have the commercial club and make money.

And something, the the woman who was speaking, the English lady, it's a private club. It's a private facility. You're not having people come and learn about horses. You have 27 homes and maybe you'll have some children. But it's not the community kids that are coming to learn about the horses. Bilisimo tried it, he had the riding club at Global, where where Global is. It failed. It's just not realistic. I appreciate your time, I appreciate all this. Yes, it looks beautiful, it looks lovely, it doesn't belong there. And again, if anyone needs the, I have it broken down, if anyone needs it.

Thank you.

Thank you. Avery Anna Hogan at this microphone please. Go ahead. Miss Lund.

Christie Lund, 11739. I met with Neil Schiller upon request of Councilwoman Sylvestre and after the meeting, I immediately scheduled an appointment with my chiropractor from the whiplash this application has given me. First community barns are good, now they're bad, and now they're good again. Two acre lots. Remember this map? Oh, they're too small. You could never make an equestrian buy in this map. But now suddenly they can, because it's their project. The Polo Field, it was historic, it was iconic. Then at my meeting they said, No, it's not really iconic anymore, it's just its location with MPC.

The only thing that never changes Oh wait, it did change. The big country club, now it's the Polo Club, because that sounds more horsey. They will still They're still not meeting up to the complement LDRs. So here let's go. Definitions matter. Section 3.2.1 of the LDRs say that if it's not in the definition of the LDRs, we use common dictionary definition. Mr. Schiller previously incorrectly stated that it doesn't say that. It does. And Wikipedia is a common dictionary. Comp plan, preserve equestrian lifestyles. Definition, you eat, sleep, and breathe horses. Your entire life is scheduled around horses. At my meeting, they stated that equestrians, we we talk to equestrians. They don't want to live next to the horses because stuff blows in your pool.

So they just want to go to the barn, visit the horse, and then come home and be far away from the barn. My barn's behind my house by my pool, and I have a pool service, honey. They also don't meet the definition of of the equestrian development. The common equestrian amenities shall be the internal focus of the development. Their internal focus is the country club. Spectating is not a lifestyle. The polo field is not a common equestrian amenity that promotes a lifestyle. Spectating is not a lifestyle. They have to bring outside horses in to make the Polo Field an equestrian amenity. They don't provide it in their community.

Comp plan, preserve large lot equestrian farms which exist in the EOCD. Any person will tell you, any horse person, two acres is not considered a large lot. Even and the applicant has told you that for five meetings, two acres are not large lots. Look at this. You owe two acres, it becomes one and a half acres. You can't sell that to horse people. Horse people will never buy this. That's not true. The realtors in Wellington have proven that false. They can sell two acre horse lots all day long.

Then the other thing is they can't guarantee horse people are gonna buy in their community either. Let's say 23 homes, maybe five families. So we're gonna do all this so five families can go to the horse barn and pet a horse and maybe ride, and after two years the kids are disentratised and they go to play tennis, there is absolutely no guarantee that horse people are going to build in this community either. So that's not a that's not a good reason for them to say that. Comp plan permitted limited commercial uses as defined in the LDRs which support the equestrian industry.

The spa alone is 30,000 square feet, which is the same amount that the barn is on, and then they have courts, restaurants, etcetera. That's all for the private people. This does not support the Wellington equestrian industry. It supports Discovery's bank account. Land use, comp plan one point two point five allows limited nonresidential uses in PODs designed to meet the daily needs of the residents.

Those 27 homes must be extremely needy because they require a 111,000 square foot country club. It's unheard of, it's ridiculous, the proportion is total out of proportion. It fails it again. LDR six eighty eight, a deed restriction will limit in perpetuity the use of common equestrian amenities to owners, residents, and guests of owners within the equestrian development. This means that no members of the public can use the equestrian amenities.

Sorry, Mr. Margolis, you cannot go in and pet that horse. It's private. Even if the barn fails, they can't rent it out to an outside source, and I even question if the MPC lease is even allowed under this section. The Polo Field narrative is kind of confusing, because on their little slide they say that the public, the members, and everybody can play on the Polo Field, but MPC is saying, no, you can't play on the Polo Field if you live as a resident and use your bring your horse there.

And then on the on the staff tried to rewrite the last deed restriction to try to include that it does include public, they're trying to get around it. The intent of that deed restriction was that it was made for the residents of that community, not outside forces and not the public. Under the LDR definition section, trailer parking and seating and regular parking is not an equestrian amenity, even though their charts keep showing that, even the staff charts show that. That square footage should not be counted as an equestrian amenity, the definition says so. Okay.

Frank McCourt could right now save two Polo fields. Why are you guys giving a concession saying one field? You should be lobbying for two fields. He has the means, he has the connection, he boasts that he builds all over the world. You could build, save two polo fields, put beautiful farms all around it, invest in MPC, make it greater. Isn't that what you guys should be lobbying for? I would vote for that. They would vote for that. We would save two polo fields. Why are you bargaining just for one? Thank you. Okay. Your time.

Maureen Brennan, at this microphone.

Wait. Sorry, my name was called previously Annie Karoni.

Did you wish to speak?

No. No. I didn't speak. I said no. But I

Change your mind? Changed my mind.

Okay. Then you can go to Al.

So go ahead.

You can go then. After. Yes. I'm sorry. Go ahead, miss Hogan.

Mayor and members of the Village Council, first and foremost, thank you for your time and dedication to our village. As an annual resident, I am in support of this project. I am a licensed realtor specializing in Wellington equestrian and luxury residential markets. I have been actively representing buyers and sellers in Wellington for fourteen years. My business is rooted in working knowledge of buyer preferences, absorption trends and the evolving demands of Wellington's core markets.

Beyond my real estate career, I am a USCF gold, silver and bronze medalist and a Grand Prix dressage competitor here in Wellington. My equestrian foundation began in Pony Club. Growing up in Pony Club exposed me not only to dressage, but also to eventing and show jumping, giving me a comprehensive understanding of the needs, safety requirements, and functional demands of a wide range of equestrian disciplines. This broad background has provided me with considerable knowledge of farm design, land use and the training environments required for multiple equestrian sports. I support the proposed master plan and specifically support the inclusion of half acre residential lots within the development.

From a market perspective, half acre lots at this location are not only appropriate, they are aligned with the current buyer demand. The majority of today's Wellington equestrians do not stable horses on their own personal residential properties. Instead, most keep their horses at a professional training barn. This model has become a common standard in our marketplace, particularly among seasonal and high level competitive equestrians. As a result, my buyers and other buyers in Wellington prioritize proximity to the showgrounds, security, quality design and community amenities over maintaining larger acreage at their residence.

Half acre lots allow for high quality homes that meet the lifestyle expectations of this demographic while maintaining a price point and maintenance profile that appeals to both seasonal and full time residents. In my experience, properties that offer a well designed home on a manageable lot, particularly when located near equestrian facilities like Apollo Field, demonstrates strong absorption and broad appeal to most buyers. Larger estate sized parcel, while valuable in certain submarkets, do not reflect the primary demand currently at this specific area of Wellington. Importantly, this site also offers an option for those seeking more land, as the plan includes four two acre lots providing flexibility and choice within the community. The proposed lot configuration reflects how the Wellington market is functioning today.

It recognizes that modern equestrian buyers value convenience, flexibility and a lock and leave lifestyle, especially those who travel seasonally or compete at the highest level. Based on my professional experience in this marketplace, I believe the inclusion of half acre lots within the master plan is both market supported and consistent with the buyer expectations and desires in Wellington. Thank you so much for your consideration and time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Annie Carruthers. I'm principal architect of Insight Design Group. I've been designing equestrian estates here in Wellington for nearly twenty years. During that time, I've had the privilege of working on private barns, competition facilities and community equestrian projects both locally and nationally and internationally, including collaborations with Discovery Land Company.

I'm honored to be leading the design of the 10 stall barn, Grooms Facilities Walker and arena for the Isle Of Carroll development. Wellington sets the standard for equestrian design. The horses are world class athletes and the facilities that support them must reflect that level of excellence. This barn will be designed with equine health and safety as a primary focus. The layout prioritizes natural ventilation, generous aisle widths and appropriate stop proportions to promote airflow and reduce respiratory stress.

We will incorporate abundant natural light while maintaining shaded protection from heat. Materials will be durable, low dust, and selected to support overall barn hygiene. The walker and arena will be carefully positioned to create efficient training routes while minimizing stress on the horses. Equally important is rider and staff comfort. The groom's facilities will be designed to be clean, efficient, and a dignified works basis.

Tack rooms and wash areas and feed storage will be thoughtfully arranged to support daily operations. When the support team can work comfortably and efficiently, the horses ultimately benefit. Having worked in Wellington for nearly two decades, I understand both the architectural character of the village and the responsibility that comes with building here. My reputation depends on it. This project will reflect that experience, blending performance, safety, and thoughtful design in a way that respects the equestrian community and its surroundings. We look forward to delivering a facility that upholds Wellington's reputation as the equestrian capital of the world. Thank you for your time and your consideration.

Thank you.

Thank you. And at this microphone can we have Nacho Figueres, please?

Maureen Brennan, 13481 Fountain View Boulevard. Good evening, everyone. And thank you for your time tonight. This application has gotten worse. And the reason is we now have a small barn managed by a club owner with no lease or any arrangement to keep it occupying as a horse farm.

It can just be a paddock, actually it can only be a paddock, it doesn't need to have a horse. It is not controlled by the residents, and there's no guarantee that will stay being used as a horse barn or teaching or anything, it's not needed. But it has become the equestrian element, which means the polo field is not needed anymore. That's in bigger jeopardy. This deed restriction says it runs with the land, but there's terms in there, you can change it.

The license agreement is subordinate to the deed restriction. The deed restriction is in control of Wellington and the owner, not USPA or NPC. The club is larger, gotten worse. The site plan around the Polo field has gotten worse. There's apparently a large lot property on each side of the North end that is supposed to be I think for a barn perhaps.

But we've learned from Neil Schiller that there's no guarantees of horse people owning two acre lots for horses. But if there are, I can't imagine who might be bringing their horse there. Maybe a polo person, but it's practically 30 feet from the polo field. It's hard to tell on the site plan, because I don't have a thing to measure to scale. Our runoff zone is 30 feet, and the lot lines are almost there.

There's certainly no tailgating there. I don't think that'll be very appealing for anyone, possibly even including a polo person, it's so close. Normal horse farm, polo farms have a pretty big distance from our polo fields to where the horses are. Now back to the biggest red flags is this 27 units, and we heard that big number of 30,000,000 loss. How is this 27 unit development going to survive?

How is it going to pay for this? Well we know the country club is huge because this whole thing by the way is about a country club, we all know that. This is nothing but a country club, and Christy Lund just talked about how it's not even allowed. So these units I'm imagining are going to just be the starter kit for version two point zero when we can possibly do boundary line adjustments to nearby property, and not even have to put an equestrian development there. That could be to the north, and because of this easement of which I have right here from 1965, and they also have the title search that the U. P. A. Did when they bought the property, that doesn't include that deed. Maybe it was a bad title search company. So this easement runs all the way a mile from one twentieth to thirty fifth.

The U. S. P. A. Has not even had permission to go out that gate. IPC couldn't go out that gate. There was like a certain occasion we could. So now that 12 foot easement is occupied by hedges, and it's also the MPC driveway. Bridle path, I think there's very specific ways we're supposed to have our bridal paths in this town, and this is not it. So if these people are now walking down and out, does that mean people can come in to NPC property?

This is not a bridal path, 35th Street. It's an easement of 12 feet on our side, and we technically can go to Crab Orchard, Jacobs, and Ala Carol. Again, they have all shrubs there too, don't know how anybody's going to walk a horse along there, But this easement is very dangerous. The 27 unit count tells me something else is going on, and they find that all super concerning. There's lots of ways this does not satisfy the comp plan.

In a way, satisfies 6.8.8 now because of this little barn that may not even operate, because we know how costly it is. It's not controlled by the residents. And it's a the whole we didn't even talk about the Polo Field much tonight because, you know, you can't park there. They said they expanded the tailgating. It's all nonsense.

And and the amount of parking is not even really adequate because are they gonna grow the size of this membership to make up for the loss? We have a massive parking situation. NPC has turned into everybody's backyard parking lot, including the village, as we know we're in negotiations there, so this does not belong here by our regulations nor by the spirit. It's a country club just being thinly veiled as a horse community, and we're also being threatened, and that's not so thinly veiled. I've heard threats of suits several times tonight.

Thank you, ma'am.

Matt Guerrero at this microphone. Go ahead.

Yes, sir. Good evening. Nacho Figuiras, 11950 Maidstone Drive. First of all, thank you so much for your time because this can't be easy. So I appreciate the effort of trying to understand what some of us love and some of us don't.

I first came to Wellington from Argentina, which is where I'm from. I'm a professional polo player in the nineties. I learned to love Wellington from what the Palm Beach Polo and Country Club spirit was, and that was people that love horses, living around the polo field and where you could just walk to a polo field, kids running around, exposure to host courses, exposure to I think most of us here, people from Mexico, Texas, Argentina and many other places, we're all here in Wellington because of the love of horses. When I was first approached by Discovery and McCourt to help them try to understand how to, you know, best think about this property, the first thing that touched my heart was, okay, this is a great opportunity to bring the spirit back of what Palm Beach Polo was in the seventies or eighties when when when it the whole thing started, which I think was a very part of what Wellington is, what it is today. And that was homes again, fields, members, members of our country club, yes, members that are going to be able to enjoy horses and get to love horses.

Some of them will already love horses. Some of them will probably learn to love horses, which is also something that I think is very important for Wellington. We cannot not think that Ocala is going to give us a run for our money. Polo, jumping, dressage, all of these things are very expensive. And we should feel very happy that someone like McCord and Discovery who know exactly what they're doing are willing to give Wellington a home for the things that they know how to do very well.

I'm very lucky to be able to experience our Discovery projects. And what they do very well is they bring happiness to their clubs. And by that, I mean they make people, kids, have fun playing golf, riding horses. And that's a beautiful thing because kids that are having fun riding horses are probably gonna become the next generation of jumpers, hunters, polo players, things that we need. And most likely, these guys are going to be high net worth individuals, also something that we very much need because polo and jumping are very expensive.

So I really, you know, believe with the bottom from the bottom of my heart that this is an important thing for the town of Wellington to happen. There's a room for everything. There's, you know, these people are going to eat our bread from the, you know, guy that makes the bread. They're gonna hire grooms. They're going to go to the supermarket. These members are going to consume food. They're going to do lots of things that I think are in the best benefit of Wellington. I know that if I have a chance and if I can afford it, want to live there because I want my daughter to go every morning to that barn that most people disagree with. And I really don't see why except them just trying to boycott something that I think is necessary. And my little daughter will ride her bike.

She'll get on her horse every day on her bike and that's going to be a beautiful thing. And she's going to bring a friend and I'm going to bring a friend hopefully from New York and he's going to say, Wow, this is a great lifestyle. This is a great way of living. And hopefully, will fall in love with horses as much as most of us here have. And at the end of the day, whether we like this or not, we all love horses. That's the one thing that makes us all be here today. So I'm thankful for that. So thank you for your time. Good night.

Thank you. We have John Green at this microphone.

Matt Guerrero. I don't know if you can hear me. 11971 Maidstone Drive here in Wellington. Actually live right across the street from Nacho. Yeah.

Happy neighbor.

I came here tonight inclined to think that this was an equestrian adjacent project project and not really an equestrian project. I want to thank the council members for your patience and your fortitude in going through these very long meetings. I've been persuaded that on balance, this is something that we should do. Why? If the project's immeasurably gotten better, McCourt and Discovery Land are experienced and successful developers.

There is a need in Wellington for both large farms, and also homes for equestrians who don't want to have horses in their houses. I think this is a good project that can work. Preserves a good field, and it helps enhance and support the NPC, which is having its issues right now. So, I don't want to go on too long. I've been persuaded, and thank you for your consideration.

Thank you. Can we have Ken Marlin at this microphone, please?

Good evening, mister mayor, madam vice mayor, members of council. My name is John Green. I reside at 1300368 Polar Road West inside Palm Beach Polo. Look, I've had the opportunity to speak to most of you about my feelings on this project. I'm very much in support of it for a number of reasons.

Not everybody who's an enthusiast in the equestrian industry needs to be on a large farm. I work in real estate and I can tell you I've got a number of clients who, whether they are active equestrians or just enthusiasts of the sport, really love to be in a community where you've got modest lots. He's used to sort of come in, leave, enjoy your lifestyle. You know, my son and I were at the one of the weekday matches last Wednesday afternoon back on Field 6. Great pull up being played right now in Wellington.

And, you know, we were sitting back on the west side of the field and kind of as the match was coming to a close, we looked out kind of over this, you know, beautiful vista looking east and just really taking in the beauty of what it's like to have this open green space. There's really nothing like this in Palm Beach County. And as you've heard tonight from so many people, land is being purchased, lands being developed. And when you look at what this developer could do by right compared to what they wanna do to preserve a lifestyle and an amenity that is so rich to this community, I think should weigh heavily on you guys. It's really an important opportunity I think to preserve something very special in this community.

You know, what buyers want in this market is an opportunity to purchase quality real estate that's well designed, well thought out, well executed, that really does complement their lifestyle. And I think what Mr. McCourt and Discovery have put together here, checks a lot of those boxes. So, you know, you don't have to be on a horse to be able to really appreciate the beauty of what it's like to be surrounded by the equestrian lifestyle. You know, those polo matches during the week are open to the public. It is great to see families come out on, you know, whatever afternoon. There's 11:00 matches, 12:30 matches, 03:00 matches. You tailgate, you sit out there with your friends, you take in the sport, you enjoy the lifestyle of what Wellington has to offer. We see that horse in our logo. It's there for a reason.

It's because people have an opportunity to really feel what it's like. So you know, people are gonna talk about the cost and how expensive it is. You don't have to own horses in Wellington to appreciate what Wellington has to offer. You know, what struck me more than anything during these presentations is when you look at the images of what they could do by right and what they're proposing. And it's just hard to not recognize the value of seeing the amount of open green space and how well designed this project is.

Nacho just spoke here, one of the chief architects that I think was sort of the inspiration on this is, if you haven't seen his farm in Argentina, it's absolutely stunning. If there's an opportunity to try to model that and bring that level of architecture and style to this community, I think that's a big win for all of us. Look, I've been here for twenty five years and we've seen tremendous growth. Every time a development comes through council, whether it was my council, this council, previous councils, it's always going to destroy the equestrian community. We've seen it thrive.

We've seen it grow. Murray Kessler last month, I think, stood here and talked about the tremendous growth in the economic impact that the equestrian regardless of discipline that the equestrian community has had in Palm Beach County. I mean, it generates about $500,000,000 in economic impact for for Palm Beach County. That's not gonna change. I think the threat to maybe curtailing some of that investment is if we lose these polo fields.

And I appreciate what they're trying to do to preserve some of this stuff. One of the things that's not been talked about much is the relationship that this community has had with whether it's IPC or NPC currently and what those fields have meant to this community. George Lindley, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission has talked extensively about the value and the partnership and the relationship that we have had as a community with the sports commission. The ability to track national, local regional, national sports has been huge. And those numbers aren't always captured in some of the data that we talk about in terms of economic impact.

But those fields and historically, IPCNPC has been a tremendous partner. They have opened up those fields for parking, for activities, for sports play, for things well beyond what we would normally use those fields for from an equestrian use. Field hockey tournaments, soccer tournaments, the proximity of what's going on at Village Park. Great sports complex. I think it's got, you know, that's on so much for this community, but I think we all know that there's a lot of issues there, and that parking is a problem. You've got a great neighbor across the street. I think that partnership is important.

That is your time, sir.

Really?

I know. It seemed quick

I'm to so happy you have the five minutes too.

Would have taken six.

Anyway, guys, thank you for your time. I appreciate it. And on a personal note, mister McGovern and vice mayor Siskind, thank you both for your service. I know you guys are coming to a close here, so I wish you all the best, but thank you. And please support us tonight.

Thank you. And can we have Phoebe Wesley at this microphone up next?

Yes, sir.

Go ahead, mister Robert.

Thank you for allowing me to speak. My name is Ken Marlin. I live at 12929 Meisner Way. That is inside of Palm Beach Polo, which as a previous speaker noticed once had a very nice country club including some very nice polo fields, a nice restaurant by the polo fields and some nice golf courses most of which later got sold off by the developer. This is my second time speaking in front of the council.

The last time Carol came up was my first time. I came here really because I knew about Discovery Properties. I think quite highly of them. I think they did a good job on some of their other properties and I wanted to see what would happen here. I got motivated to speak last time because as I listened, it became clear to me that what they were contemplating building was houses on lots that would be too small, an equestrian facility that would not be controlled by the residents, and a lot of facilities that were designed for members who were not necessarily be residents of the community.

I do acknowledge that Mr. McCord and Discovery listened to the council. They made a lot of good changes to the community they plan to build. I think it's closer, but I don't think that they've gotten there yet. We have houses that will be on larger lots, that's a good thing.

There will be some equestrian facilities, that's a good thing. I could support this if there were a little bigger equestrian facilities, if there were clearer internal riding trails, if there were clearly ways to connect to the external riding trails which I have not heard here. And if there were a path to resident control of the equestrian facilities including the Polo fields. I am concerned with what we experienced at Palm Beach Polo with the developer later deciding to sell off our Polo fields to sell off the golf courses for whatever reasons. I am not convinced that deed restrictions alone will be enough.

Someone suggested putting land into a conservatorship. I don't know enough about the process, but the small equestrian facility that is controlled by the developer that is not the same as having a barn that's a common barn, that's common equestrian facilities for the residents to use. They've made a lot of progress, but I don't believe that they've yet gotten to what this village contemplated when it created the equestrian preserve. Thank you.

Thank you. Tim Gannon at this microphone please.

Phoebe Wesley, 2522 Windsor Way Court. I first would like to talk about the deed restriction. If this is approved, I think the deed restriction has to be put in a third party easement. I we have all seen how easy it is to remove land from the preserve, etcetera. And we need a third party land trust to hold this deed restriction.

In addition, I think Discovery talked earlier about, can you tell me what you talked about with how many votes you need to do something to the Polo Field?

Ms. Wesley, this is your public comment.

Okay.

If we need votes, if they need votes to do something to the Polo Field, I think it should be a super majority of four to one at the very least. My second comment is that it brings me no pleasure to say I told you so. You created a precedent with Wellington Lifestyle Partners, and now the residents of Wellington and the horse community is going to suffer because of that. And I think you've seen a lot of the same faces here that came for Wellington Lifestyle Partners. And I think you should listen to what people have to say.

These people are in the equestrian community. You have some very smart people. You have Jill Townsend, who talked about the Jacobs. You have Maureen Brennan. You have Randy Halvistrod. So I would really suggest that you listen carefully to what these horse people have to say. You have Sarah Goose, Christy Lund. So please listen to them. Thank you.

Okay. I'm sorry, Jim Mantrose up on this microphone next. No, no. Mr. Gannon. Go ahead. I'm sorry. I'm just calling the next person up. Jim. You're coming over to this

You're the next speaker after Mr. Gannon.

Stay now. I stay.

Yeah, stay. You stay. You go ahead.

Let's sit. Do this.

All right.

Five minutes. Let's go.

There you go.

Ready to go?

Yes. Tim Gannon, 3585 Aiken Court. I live in South Fields. And I originally had the Outback Farm back in the 90s when I bought it from John Goodman, it was all tomato fields. And I built two polo fields there, 100 horses in the backyard, had a wonderful time, ran a league there.

And I saw the deterioration of the Polo Club here with Glenn Straub and what he was doing to it. And I just said I went to John and I said, John, we got all this land. Why don't you build the finest Polo Club in the world? And he did. He that was the goal is to build the premier polo club that was great fields, quality fields, quality membership, a great restaurant, all of the above.

So one of the things that I just want to talk about, and then I saw it deteriorate a little bit when it changed hands, then Stuart Armstrong stepped up with the national with the USPA and bought the club. And that you can rest assured that Stewart and the USPA will keep those fields and whatever, forever. And they'll keep the fields wonderful and run that place fabulous. So the idea is how do we partner with who's going to run these clubs and fields? So when I look at Destiny, and I visited their facilities in Italy, Baker's Bay in The Caribbean, in Jupiter, they're fabulous.

They're really a premier developer in how they run a place. And if you look at what, you know, Glenn Straub has done to the Polo Club, deteriorated the fields, the golf course is going down, all of that is it's sad to see what's happened inside the Polo Club. I guarantee you that will not happen with Frank McCourt and with Destiny. I just think they're going to bring first class design, first class facility. And not only that, they're going to run a And people say, well, it's just a country club.

It'll be one of the greatest country clubs in Wellington. And I rest assured, it'll be a place you'll all want to go and have dinners and celebrate life in general. It'll I just am in full support of what they're trying to do. And to miss this opportunity to bring Frank McCourt together with destiny, and to see what they can pull off in that 80 acres is going to be fabulous. So please don't let's not let this partnership, this band, and lose this opportunity to really have a great facility that can be embraced by all of us. Thank you very much. Thank

you. Pam Wildman at this microphone. Go ahead.

Mr. Mantras, you're

up.

Mr. Mantras, you're up.

Okay. I didn't sign up to speak to this topic. Am I supposed to come later?

Oh, if you're not on this topic, you don't have to talk. You're not required

to.

Was going to talk on the topic after this.

That's fine. That's fine.

Well, it says eight C.

That explains his confused look. Eight C is

Yeah. But we might have reshuffled the order by taking something out. So that's you're next when we get to This your

is C and D.

This is C and D.

So you have

This is C and D.

Twelve minutes.

Okay. We can have Carol Coleman over at this microphone.

I guess I'm going a little bit earlier. So anyway, I'm sitting here listening to everything. And it kind of gets back down to the questions are easy.

Decisions Hold the microphone down a Yes. Little

Oh. You're not that fault.

I'm I'm Ham Wildman. I live at 12520 Sunnydale Drive, Wellington, Florida. So the questions on what to do here is easy. This isn't complicated. You know who would buy those two acre lots?

The people that have that love horses and are showing at Wellington International, they would love to buy those two acre lots. I appreciate that Mr. McCourt is a wonderful benefactor for the horse industry, and I really thank you for that. But if you want to preserve polo fields, there's a couple things. Preserve both polo fields.

Why just preserve one on that property? Quit giving the developers, letting them chip away at all our comp plans and the LDRs and it's tightening the noose on Wellington because we want Wellington International to succeed. We've already committed to them. Let's give them a place where their customers can put their horses. Something that was said tonight that really concerned me.

We all know developer 101. We don't need to define that. So the 10 stall barn will be built after 50% of the certificates of occupancy are issued. So when will that be? Ten years from now?

When will that be? They're using oh, this is another I won't go into detail because other people have, but a huge country club is not limited commercial use on equestrian overlay zone. They're using Valiente and Wellington South as a threat. What's gonna happen is gonna happen. But I can tell you personally, you are scaring the equestrian industry.

You are scaring me. There is a big polo club with five or six polo fields already built in Boynton Beach just right down the road. So many polo people are already going there. In Loxahatchee, there's Baldy Polo Club It's got four or five fields. This is happening because the equestrians are scared in Wellington because we can see the writing on the wall.

It just keeps chipping away and it doesn't meet the criteria still. It's closer and I do appreciate the improvements that you've made, but it still is a square peg in a round hole. I think that's all I'm

going to say.

Thank you. Thank you.

And then Liz Mariaca at this microphone. Go ahead, Ms. Coleman.

I'm Carol Coleman, 14224 Stroller Way. Actually live in the same development as Mr. Ibracourt. I think that Discovery does a phenomenal job with the building. I have no complaints of the things that I have seen of theirs.

But I just have a problem with this little 10 stall barn because there have been places like Equus in Boynton Beach, Calusa, equestrian states, Grand Cypress in Orlando, the Riding Academy that was a global, Equus. All of these were small barns where they were trying to do exactly what Mr. McCord is trying to do with this 10 stall barn. You're get somebody in there who is going to be hopefully a good manager. You're going to have to find horses that just about anybody can ride, which is not so easy.

And they're basically going to be hunter jumper. I mean, if this is supposed to be a polo facility, then there should be polo ponies in there. And I know that one of the people from Argentina just said that he would love to have his daughter ride her bicycle over there to ride. But I don't think that the 27 houses that you're building there are going to suffice to keep this place active. And all of those barns that I mentioned have all failed.

They cannot keep up with the financing of the barns. On top of that, we still haven't come up with a definition of the equestrian lifestyle. And I don't think we ever will. We just keep going around and around of what it has, but we don't really have a definition. But I don't think that this is really a horse development.