Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Boca Raton faces legal fight
Group files lawsuit arguing the city changed its comprehensive plan, its blueprint for growth, to block new assisted living facility
A group is accusing the city of Boca Raton of changing direction “behind the scenes” to stop its redevelopment plan to replace a 60-year-old church with a new assisted living facility.
A lawsuit, newly filed by Religious Services Unlimited Inc., argues that the city suddenly changed its comprehensive plan, the city’s blueprint for growth, to block the plan.
The new assisted living facility would’ve replaced the Center for Spiritual Living church, a fixture in the community situated at 2 SW 12th Ave. The church is about a half-mile east of I-95’s Palmetto Park Road exit, just southeast of the Palmetto Park Square plaza.
Religious Services Unlimited Inc., which is the LLC associated with the church, argues the city changed wording in its plan that specifically banned an assisted living facility from the community it would’ve been zoned for.
“After nearly eight months of diligently working with the City to get the Project approved, the Applicant was blindsided by a December 23, 2021, Staff Review comment,” the civil complaint said. Lawyers representing Religious Services Unlimited did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday and Thursday.
The city, in December, said: “Upon further review, assisted living facilities are not allowed within the Low Density (RL) future land use category and as such the application cannot be processed further absent a proposed Comprehensive Plan Amendment.”
The complaint said, “In this one short comment, the City reversed course and determined that despite the express language of the Comprehensive Plan, and its multiple assurances upon which the Applicant relied at great expense, the Application somehow no longer complied.”
The complaint said that “behind the scenes, the City changed its mind” and altered the policy.
A city spokeswoman said the city doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
Under the city’s “residential low density” zoning regulations, 75
beds per acre are allowed for assisted living facilities, as long as they otherwise satisfy city officials and codes. The proposed assisted living facility would only have 35 beds per acre, according to court documents.
Rev. Barbara Lunde wants to retire, and she and her daughter, the Rev. Jill Guerra, want to sell the property to make way for a three-story, 135,238-squarefoot facility with 128 beds.
Holli Sutton, whose house abuts the site in question, has said a large assisted living facility wouldn’t be a good fit for a community with single-family homes. She voiced her concern with the size of the proposed facility, its proximity to so many homes and to the newly rebuilt Addison Mizner School and the associated traffic.
“It’s supposed to be single-family homes with low density and they want to change it to medium density and have assisted living in a neighborhood setting,” she said when the application came to the City Council late last year. “It’s out of character for the neighborhood.”
Lawyers for Religious Services Unlimited are asking Palm Beach County judge to order the city to reverse its decision and put the application for the ALF back into consideration.