POLICE: ADVISER SWINDLED ELDERLY DUO
Jack Nicklaus’ private Bear’s Club offer of money and a property swap for the right to build on protected land has sparked a flurry of emails to the Palm Beach County commissioners demanding they turn down the request.
“NO...NO...NO,” wrote Sue Lampert. “As a Palm Beach County resident for 25 years, I am totally against this land SWAP/SALE/BRIBE deal ... Please consider what makes this County so beautiful. I can tell you it’s not the buildings.”
Wrote Lisa Arscott: “Please vote NO !!!! Voting yes would be a terrible precedent to set and would clearly be your way of saying Protected lands are up for sale to the rich.”
Mayor Melissa McKinlay received more than 60 emails about the topic Monday. All opposed the exchange proposal.
Residents have also started an online petition on Change. org called “NO to Jack Nicklaus Land Swap.” It had more than 530 signatures by Monday afternoon.
The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, north of Donald Ross Road, wants to develop about 15 acres of property it owns but is restricted by a conservation easement. The club is asking the County Commission to unlock the land, which is habitat for species such as the threatened gopher tortoise.
In exchange, Bear’s Club will make a one-time payment of $1 million to the Natural Areas Fund, which pays for maintaining the county’s natural areas, and about 20 acres of other property at Bear’s Club — totaling 44 parcels, each averaging less than half an acre — to be protected.
The community of single-family homes, a golf course and clubhouse hasn’t said what it would develop on the 15 acres. But the land is zoned for residential, said Garret Watson, a senior planner with Jupiter’s Planning and Zoning Department.
Commissioners are expected to vote on the deal today. The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. and is in commission chambers at 301 N. Olive Ave. in West Palm Beach.
County staff opposes the trade, saying the new land being offered would be fragmented and the overall ecological value of the complete habitat would be degraded. The staff ’s report also expresses concern about the message that would be sent by exchanging a conservation easement for money.
The conservation easement was placed on the prop- erty in 1993 in a settlement
Club wants to develop about 15 acres it owns but is restricted by conservation easement.
between the county and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation — which owned the land at the time. The agreement said the property would be retained and maintained “forever.” Staff said that’s another reason to deny the swap: the “forever” part.
The protected land has 165 species of plants and 22 species of animals that have been documented on the site, according to an assessment done by the county’s Environmental Resources Management Department.
Bear’s Club hired former County Commissioner Karen Marcus to lobby the commissioners. She represented northern Palm Beach County when she was in office from 1984 to 2012. Commissioner Hal Valeche, who replaced Marcus on the dais, told The Palm Beach Post last week he is supporting the request because of Marcus.