Commission changes could signal development turnabout
Conservationists find hope in new leadership after approval parade.
The band has played, and the dance floor’s been packed.
Palm Beach County has been a party for developers during the past few years. Comprehensive plan changes, zoning changes, they’ve won steady approval from county commissioners.
B u t N o v e m b e r ’s e l e c t i o n brought two new commissioners to the dais. The mayor’s gavel has been passed to a different commissioner. And early indications are that the music has stopped. The part y might not be over — lots of approved projects have not yet been built — but the cover charge appears to be on the rise.
That’s rare and welcome news for environmentalists and preservationists, who have spent much of the past two years wailing in vain that the county was growing too much and in the wrong areas.
“It seemed to me that everything automatically passed,” said Drew Martin, conservation chair of the Loxahatchee group of the Sierra Club.
The list of agreed-on, pro-development requests has grown over the past two years.
Minto In 2014, Minto Communities want e d l a n d u s e c h a n ge s t o accommodate a massive project: 4,500 homes and the development of 2.1 million square feet of nonresidential space in The Acreage.
After months of packed meetings, protests and complaints from environmentalists and pres-