PALM BEACH POST article May 14, 2022
PALM BEACH GARDENS — South of Northlake Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens is a neighborhood of 64 homes whose residents call a “rural gem.”
They keep horses, raise goats and tend to sheep on lots that start at 2.5 acres and go up to 15 in the Rustic Lakes a community, which is just 12 miles from the city center.
But now residents there are on edge as builders have submitted a request to rezone a neighboring property for more than 140 townhomes.
A D.R. Horton townhome project would bring more residents, lighting and traffic to an area of western Northlake that’s no stranger to construction crews. More than 3,000 homes are being built right across the street in the Avenir community, and the public Sandhill Crane golf course is expanding.
But for Rustic Lakes and neighbors at Bay Hill Estates, the townhome project is not just a threat to their way of life, but an example of what they are calling “approve now, ask questions later” planning that will pigeonhole the western reaches of the city into a place marked by traffic congestion but few commercial areas.
“As a community, we’re not opposed to change,” Rustic Lakes POA president Renee-Marie Stephano told The Palm Beach Post. “But it seems like we’re going too fast, approving too much without looking at the impact of what’s already been approved.”
Between Rustic Lakes homes and Northlake Boulevard are a group of properties that total 18 acres that homebuilder D.R. Horton is targeting for 148 townhomes in a neighborhood it plans to call Vintage Oaks.
The land, which owner Northlake 20 LLC bought for $1 million in 2004, is currently zoned to allow agricultural residential and professional-office uses.
Rustic Lakes residents signed the agreement to allow offices in 2009 in hopes that the company would build medical offices on the site, according to Stephano and to Scott J. Lee, Esq. a land-use attorney representing the neighborhood.
“We did not oppose the rezoning back then. We thought multiple uses, and especially medical offices, would be useful and keep people in the western Northlake area here for services instead of having to go all the way east,” said Stephano, who has lived in Rustic Lakes since 2004.
In 2018, both the property and Rustic Lakes were annexed into the city of Palm Beach Gardens.
Now, D.R. Horton has submitted plans to the city to rezone the property to allow the 148 townhomes off 112th Terrace North. The city staff issued a 171-point response to the application by the company asking it to fix issues and communicate with Rustic Oaks and surrounding neighborhoods.
According to the city’s website, the project has not yet been slated for development review committee or for review by the city’s planning, zoning and appeals board.
City planner Martin Fitts did not comment on the project beyond providing The Palm Beach Post with his official letter to D.R. Horton’s representatives, where he says the city’s staff does not support changing the land use to suit high-density residential development.
Northlake 20 LLC recently filed an extension to its application with the city to keep it active, according to Matthew Barnes, the project’s agent with WGI Engineering.
Rustic Lakes residents and their attorney are committed to opposing the project at the city level, and Scott J. Lee, Esq. said property owners may consider a lawsuit to enforce the 2009 agreement that paved the way for medical offices on the site.
“This is a two-headed monster,” Scott J. Lee, Esq. said.
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