Traffic issues delay vote on equestrian hotel project

WELLINGTON — Mark Bellissimo’s project to develop the land around the International Polo Club ground to a stop Thursday when the traffic portion wasn’t ready for the Planning, Zoning and Adjustment Board.

There have been several changes submitted to the traffic study in the past two weeks, and Palm Beach County hasn’t had a chance to comment on it.

Those issues were the reason dozens of residents were told Thursday at a zoning panel meeting to wait until next month to make their public comments.

“On this one, we kind of got caught trying to beat the yellow light,” said Bob Basehart, Wellington’s Planning, Zoning and Building director.

Bellissimo wants to build a hotel or condo-hotel on the Polo Club property, skirting a 2016 referendum banning those types of buildings in the equestrian preserve. His proposals would change the zoning of part of the property and remove it from the preserve.

The traffic issues are common, Basehart said, and he’s confident they can be worked out next month. What’s not common is getting to the public hearing process without having these issues resolved, he added.

Wellington has a reputation for being tough to work with on the permitting proc e s s a nd t he c ounc i l ha s asked to streamline it. Basehart said that’s the reason they’ve worked so hard to get the project out.

The delay gives Bellissimo’s team a chance to submit a master plan showing exactly what they intend to build and where.

The next Planning, Zoning and Adjustment Board meeting is May 10, but Bellissimo attorney Dan Rosenbaum said they might need to delay it one more week.

The proposal could get to the Village Council for the May 23 meeting.

If it passes the first vote, it would then go to the state for approval before coming back to Wellington sometime in late June or July.