RIVIERA BEACH, Fla.— Riviera Beach’s par 62 Lone Pine Golf Club is one step closer to ending its 40-year reign as the inexpensive alternative for duffers and beginners alike — as well as a quiet vista for nearby homeowners.
Ignoring its own Planning and Zoning Board’s recommendation, Riviera Beach’s City Council voted 3-2 to amend its comprehensive plan to rezone the golf course from recreational use to single-family residence in a sometimes volatile meeting Wednesday night.
Still, residents of 354 homes in Lone Pine Estates hold out hope that the fairways, greens and sand traps won’t turn into living rooms, kitchens and swimming pools on the nearly 64 acres.
The next step, according to City Councilman Douglas Lawson, is for a review by the state before the matter comes back to the City Council for a second reading and a final vote. He said that it should be in about two months when the future of the golf course — long threatened to be closed by its sibling owners — will be decided.
Council members Lawson, Tradwick McCoy and Julia Botel voted for the zoning change. Shirley Lanier and KaShamba Miller-Anderson voted no.
Residents voice displeasure with vote
Riviera Beach isn’t the only municipality to convert its golf course into a development. Boca Raton, Florida, sold its beloved course for $66 million, shuttering it last year. But the city then took over a private course to replace it.
About 60 Lone Pine Estates residents attended the Riviera Beach council’s meeting, voicing their outrage that they had been led to believe some council members would be a bulwark against the development of 124 single-family homes and 162 townhomes.
On hand at the meeting was at least one of the owners of Lone Pine, as well as representatives for the builder, DR Horton.
“We are the red-headed stepchildren of Riviera Beach. I don’t even know why we are in Riviera Beach, because we are forgotten over here,” said Rochelle Baker Hughes, who lives off the 17th hole and is secretary of the homeowners association.
The HOA’s lawyer, Steve Daniels, noted at the meeting that the city’s Planning & Zoning Board voted 7-0 against rezoning the property. The council will take a final vote sometime before the end of the year, giving homeowners near the course a final chance to air their displeasures.
“You are taking away one of the crown jewels of your city from the citizens,” Daniels said. “People in Riviera Beach can’t go to BallenIsles, Admirals Cove or Mirasol,” naming some nearby private clubs. He added the closest public course is twice the green fee.
It currently costs $35 to walk and $50 for a golf cart to play 18 holes at Lone Pine.
Mayor Ronnie Felder took umbrage at Daniels’ contention that the city was at fault for what private owners wanted to do with their property.
“We are not going to run a golf course. We are a city. We are not in that business. So it is not the city. It is the owner of the golf course,” Felder said.
Owner: Golf course is closing, regardless of zoning change
Chuck Gerlach, one of five siblings who own the golf course, told the City Council that the golf course would close regardless of the zoning change.
“How you vote tonight isn’t going to change that we are going to close it,” he said. “We can’t afford to keep it open anymore.”
William Burrs said at the meeting that Lone Pine is the city’s own golf course and its conversion would be just the latest blow to residents in the name of development. He said City Council members needed to keep their word and meet with citizens and negotiate.
“We don’t have movie theaters. I remember a time when we had full major grocery stores in this community, five banks… We sold out to the big developers — that’s why we don’t have these things now,” he said.
Marvelous Washington is a Lone Pine Estates resident. So were her parents. She learned how to play golf on Lone Pine. The former City Council candidate told The Post there are already issues of congested traffic and drainage along with the poor water pressure.
“Additional development will cause those issues to be worse,” she said.
Will affordable housing be available on the property?
Washington scoffed at the notion floated by council members that the new development would create workforce housing.
“It seems developers in our community are getting a fair share of the land in Riviera Beach on the basis they are going to build — quote, unquote — affordable housing,” she said.
Lawson, though, told The Post the housing to be built will run about $300,000 and be affordable for city staffers, firemen and police officers. He also said he learned to play golf at Lone Pine and said it was a tough decision to vote for the zoning change.
But he said the development will help alleviate the cost to the city for big-ticket items, such as a new water treatment plant. The councilman said long-held complaints will finally be fixed if the subdivision goes forward.
“The water pressure will be addressed. We are going to demand that it will be done,” he said.
Baker Hughes wonders what will happen to her view of the 17th hole, the one she paid extra for when she bought her home in 2002.
“The city should have found a way to help with our drainage and lack of water pressure. It shouldn’t hinge on whether a developer is going to come in and build,” she said.
Baker Hughes said she is clinging to hope there won’t be enough votes on second reading after Tallahassee reviews the plan. She had that same hope when City Council members campaigned in her neighborhood, vowing to have the residents’ backs when it came to developing the golf course.
“They didn’t keep their promises. It’s very disheartening,” she said.
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