Lantana retail, residential center approved

Water Tower Commons will go on site of former tuberculosis hospital.

LANTANA — Months of delays, back and forth between the town and developer, and lingering apprehension came to an end Monday night when the Lantana Town Council voted to allow a retail and residential project to be built on the 70-plus acres of land where the state’s last free-standing tuberculosis hospital once stood.

The one detail of the Water Tower Commons project that initially held back an approval was the developer’s request for the residential section to have buildings up to 75 feet high.

After negotiation, the developer — Lantana Development LLC — agreed to reduce it to 55 feet. The developer can come back in the future and ask for taller buildings.

Mayor David Stewart said he’s been waiting for this to happen for more than a decade and called the approval “historic.”

“It’s just the beginning,” he said.

The project is the biggest Lantana has ever seen and ever will see, said David Thatcher, Lantana’s development services director.

Water Tower Commons will have a “vibrant” main street that will go through the complex. The main entrance will be off Lantana Road near the middle of the site. The development will have trellises to create cool spaces for visitors. Parked cars will be mostly hidden from Lantana Road.

The commercial area will be 280,768 square feet of retail and restaurant use, according to town documents. The site plan calls for businesses including a grocery store with

an, who was released from the hospital Monday night, had several cuts and stabs on her forehead, shoulders and abdomen. Pfeiflfle said the woman told the detective she had never met the boy before she was stabbed. The woman had stopped at the campsite on her journey from Georgia to Miami.

The motive for the stabbing is still unknown, according to authorities.

Tuesday, Sunsport manager Morley Schloss drove the woman to Miami to fifinish her journey. Schloss said he and the woman, who declined to speak about the incident, want the teen to get some help.

Schloss said the family has never been a problem at the resort and has lived there for “several years.” He said one person in the family is a staffff member in the community.

Schloss said the teen is banned from returning to the resort, but his family is still welcome to live and work there. He said in his nearly two decades of living at the resort, he’s nev- er seen any violent incidents.

“It’s very shocking for everyone,” he said.

Isolde Boutwell, a resident at the colony since 1979, was shocked by the news, but “couldn’t imagine a safer place to live.”

“I can go out in the middle of the night without clothes on and no one will attack me,” Boutwell said. “I feel very safe and a small incident like this wouldn’t worry me.”

The screening process for residents gives Boutwell a sense of security, despite past incidents, she said.

Those who visit the resort are run through a sexual predator database before they can enter the resort, according to the manager. Residents must also have a criminal background check as well.

“Very few things have ever happened. And we all know things like this can happen,” Boutwell said. “There’s nothing for us to worry about though.”

Still, there have been some previous incidents linked to the community:

■ Leslie Grey Vanaman, a resident in 2013, was charged by federal agents with taking illic-