{"id":448005,"date":"2026-02-04T06:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T06:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/448005\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T06:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T06:20:10","slug":"plan-for-west-boca-residences-on-golf-course-still-faces-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/448005\/","title":{"rendered":"Plan for West Boca residences on golf course still faces review"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was nearly a year ago when many West Boca residents rallied against a proposal to build more than 700 new residences on a golf course. They want to know: What\u2019s the latest?<\/p>\n

The answer: It could be \u201cseveral years\u201d before anything were to happen on the greens of the Boca Lago community. An application by homebuilder Lennar is undergoing review by Palm Beach County, an official said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are significant issues that are still being addressed,\u201d Whitney Carroll, the county\u2019s planning, zoning and building executive director, told residents at a recent community forum. \u201cSo there is nothing going before the board for a vote anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carroll was among the county officials answering residents\u2019 questions\u00a0during the forum hosted to discuss the controversial proposal for 762 residences on the Boca Lago golf course.<\/p>\n

Carroll said, \u201cWe do not know when the building will begin. We honestly do not know because it\u2019s still working its way through the process. It could be several years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lennar presented its plan early last year<\/a>, pitching to build the community on nine of the 27 holes at 8665 Juego Way<\/a> between State Road 7 and Florida\u2019s Turnpike. More than 1,800 homes already exist at Boca Lago.<\/p>\n

Elliot Cohen, a Lennar spokesperson, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that a revised project is possible, but for now, the original proposal still is coursing through the county\u2019s review process. And in the meantime, Lennar has met with several neighborhoods, keeping an \u201congoing dialogue\u201d about the project, Cohen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0a process you always go through, and it\u2019s\u00a0a process of compromise,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cWe\u2019re in the midst of taking into consideration everything people have said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the concerns about Lennar\u2019s plan, many residents worry it could increase traffic and emergency-response times, and disrupt their quality of life. (Residents in other communities have raised similar concerns in recent years about other development projects proposed in western Palm Beach County.)<\/p>\n

Thus, the primary purpose of the recent county forum was to \u201cgo through the issues of what is really confronting Boca Lago residents,\u201d as County Commissioner Maria Sachs put it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to argue about it. We\u2019re going to be informed. We\u2019re going to be informed because there\u2019s nothing to be more fearful than not know knowing what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"GolfersGolfers enjoy the day at Boca Lago Golf Course in West Boca on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
\nTraffic<\/p>\n

Sachs acknowledged some of the roads in the county are struggling to keep up with the county\u2019s growth and corresponding addition of cars.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur roads in this area are failing. Right now, they\u2019re failing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

At the forum, Motasem Al-Turk, the county\u2019s traffic engineering division director, said several projects are \u201cslated for improvements and added capacity\u201d in the area around Boca Lago. These include:<\/p>\n

\u2014 The intersection of Lyons Road and Palmetto Park Road.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Widening Boca Rio Road between Glades Road and Palmetto Park Road.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Widening Lyons Road from Palmetto Park Road to Southwest 18th Street from four to six lanes.<\/p>\n

Sachs has said shovels shouldn\u2019t go into the ground until proper infrastructure is in place, which has generated a debate about whether developers have the responsibility to consider sufficient infrastructure before building.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether this project is approved or denied, we continue every year to look for additional changes and see where the demand is approaching the capacity and the improvements are needed,\u201d she said at the forum.<\/p>\n

Green space<\/p>\n

Though Boca Lago\u2019s landscape has been installed,\u00a0the site does have about 2,000 species of trees. As part of its plan submitted to the county, Lennar proposed preserving about 80% of those trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to preserve those trees to the greatest extent possible. We\u2019ll continue to work with them to ensure that number progresses,\u201d said Timothy Haynes, a county resources protection division manager.<\/p>\n

With any other native vegetation, the county would work with Lennar to preserve it at Boca Lago \u2014 if that isn\u2019t possible, it could be relocated or mitigated, said Deborah Drum, the county\u2019s environmental resources management director.<\/p>\n

Developers\u2019 attempts\u00a0to build on a golf course is not new; golf course popularity, whether standalone or part of a residential community, has faltered in recent years, leading to a trend of developing more homes on unused courses.<\/p>\n

Boca Lago Country Club General Manager Michelle Rolon told the Sun Sentinel said club membership is not mandatory for residents like how other golf clubs tend to be, so working with Lennar could be a way for the club to sustain itself going forward.<\/p>\n

Most Boca Lago residents don\u2019t pay for memberships, which is a huge part of why the club isn\u2019t profitable, Rolon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want the beauty to surround them but they don\u2019t want to support it,\u201d Rolon said. \u201cHaving Lennar development or any other development would be a godsend, it\u2019s what\u2019s going to carry it into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cohen described golf-course-related redevelopment in Palm Beach County as a two-pronged issue: Many golf courses have been unable to economically sustain themselves, and developable land in the county has severely dwindled.<\/p>\n

This reality clashes with what some residents want for their neighborhoods. One Boca Lago resident said the community doesn\u2019t \u201cdeserve\u201d the addition of Lennar\u2019s homes and all that will come with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quality of Boca is to be a green city, in my mind,\u201d she said at the forum.<\/p>\n

\"LennarLennar developers want to build “a mixture of luxury home types” on nine of the 27-hole Boca Lago golf course, picture here on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. Many neighbors are pushing back against the proposal. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
\nSmart growth<\/p>\n

While the incorporated parts of Palm Beach County tend to see greater population growth overall, the county\u2019s unincorporated space has seen a steady population increase over the last 50 years, according to county data.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are busting out of our seams. \u2026 Everybody wants to move here,\u201d Sachs said. \u201cI wish I could tell you that we\u2019re going to build a wall around your place. \u2026 People are coming, and they want any little piece of green space. So, I can\u2019t stop it. I can\u2019t stop people from coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sachs pointed out how if Lennar hadn\u2019t submitted a proposal to build on Boca Lago, another developer could have come along and done the same thing. But that reality doesn\u2019t change the fact that developers can\u2019t just build \u2014 every box of the county\u2019s review process has to be checked, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not doing this in 48 hours. Any developer who wants to come into Boca Lago to take your land or developing your land, yes, we\u2019re going to make sure every one of these (county) directors is going to review it. And yes, it takes time. And that\u2019s just the way we work. And that\u2019s just the way it is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was nearly a year ago when many West Boca residents rallied against a proposal to build more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[129058,2808,427,2558,983,37652,5262,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-448005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-boca-raton","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-palm-beach-county","14":"tag-social","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}