Wellington wary of horse showgrounds promise
Bellissimo’s record of failing to deliver cited
WELLINGTON — Wellington’s trust in Mark Bellissimo was put in question Tuesday on the first night of Village Council discussions about his plans to build two luxury communities in the equestrian preserve.
Representatives for some of the preserve’s most influential families told the council they believe Bellissimo, an entrepreneur who has long run the village’s Winter Equestrian Festival, has a record of empty promises in Wellington and in North Carolina.
Their lawyers said Bellissimo had failed to improve his privately owned showgrounds where he hosts the winter festival. They also mentioned an unfinished hotel near Bellissimo’s equestrian facility west of Charlotte.
They said they are concerned he will not deliver on his promise to build a high-end site for horse competitions if he’s allowed to build The Wellington North and The Wellington South communities in the 9,000-acre preserve, which residents voted to create in 2000.
“The history of failed promises by parties affiliated with the applicant has left our community feeling victimized time and time again,” said attorney Harvey Oyer, who represented the family of Jeremy Jacobs, the owner of Deeridge Farms and the NHL’s Boston Bruins.
“So the skepticism from our community is easy to understand if there have been too many empty promises and
incomplete projects in the past.”
Bellissimo did not attend the meeting. Two executives of Wellington Lifestyle Partners, the company proposing the developments, were present but did not respond to the comments about empty promises.
The meeting was one of the first three scheduled for this week where the council will review and vote on Wellington Lifestyle Partners’ plans for the communities, which represent Bellissimo’s third attempt to develop land he owns in the equestrian preserve. They will continue at 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday.
The Wellington North would be built on 96 acres at South Shore Boulevard and Pierson Road, on the sites of the current Equestrian Village and the Whitebirch Polo Club. It would feature 49 single-family homes, 47 townhomes and a private country club with swimming pools, pickleball courts and a shortrange golf facility.
The plan for The Wellington North calls for doing something the village has never permitted before: removing the 96 acres from the equestrian preserve, where hotels, motels, condominiums, apartments and high-density housing are forbidden and commercial buildings are limited.
Jane Cleveland, chair of the village’s Equestrian Preserve Committee, said removing 96 acres from the preserve for the projects would set a precedent for development and spark urban sprawl that would turn Wellington into a community that looks like Boca Raton.
“These are not just 96 acres,” Cleveland said. “These are the first 96 acres.”
The Wellington South would bring 109 homes and five 4-acre farms to 290 undeveloped acres at South Shore and Lake Worth Road. Part of its application calls for changing the zoning on 114 acres to allow for the new equestrian showgrounds at the south end of the Wellington International property. It would replace Equestrian Village and include a stadium as tall as six stories.
The village’s Equestrian Preserve Committee recommended last summer that the Village Council reject Bellissmo’s proposals until plans for the new equestrian center are in place. The Planning and Zoning Board recommended approval of The Wellington South but that no action be taken on The Wellington North until the showgrounds question is resolved.
The growth-management group 1000 Friends of Florida urged Wellington to reject The Wellington North, saying the removal of the 96 acres would set a precedent for development in the preserve.
Doug McMahon, the CEO of Wellington Lifestyle Partners, told the council the company has reduced the number of proposed homes to 210 from 447. The revised applications removed condominium buildings, added more green spaces and larger lots. It also includes a 48-acre public park.
Wellington Lifestyle Partners also has committed to pay $25 million to $30 million to build phase one of the new showgrounds.
“Honestly, we were too big, too bold, eight months ago,” McMahon said. “I think we got it wrong.”
Bellismo’s team says the luxury communities are crucial to pay for the showgrounds and for Wellington to keep its stake in the equestrian industry. It faces competition from complexes near Ocala and Sarasota and risks losing the money that competitions bring into western Palm Beach County’s economy if it doesn’t take “the next step forward.”
Council member John McGovern asked McMahon if he would agree to a voluntary condition for the village to restore the 96 acres to the equestrian preserve if the condition for the new showgrounds was not fulfilled.
McMahon said the condition does not include nonresidential, recreational elements that can be built on Equestrian Village, such as the Wellington North country club.
McGovern pointed out that Paige Bellissimo, Mark’s daughter and McMahon’s partner in Wellington Lifestyle Partners, had nodded her head in assent to his question. After some back and forth, McMahon agreed.
“That was intended to be the spirit of it, so the answer is yes,” McMahon said.
The Jacobs family had previously opposed Bellissimo’s attempts to build in the preserve in 2012 and 2016. Oyer, its attorney, said the family appreciated the reduction of residential units but wanted legally binding agreements to hold Wellington Lifestyle Partners accountable for the new showgrounds.
“If you don’t do what you said you were going to do, you’re going to put it back to exactly the way it is today,” Oyer said.
Two people spoke in favor of the projects Tuesday night. They said the existing facilities at Equestrian Village and Wellington International were “not up to par” and “just not good enough.” They said having one venue to consolidate all sports would be safer for riders and horses.
“You have one chance to get this consolidated facility for growth for the future,” said Murray Kessler. “This protects the equestrian sports.”
Lauren Brody said equstrians are choosing to compete in Ocala because the showgrounds are high quality and well maintained.
She said Bellissimo’s team was responsible for the decay of both Equestrian Village and Wellington International, and she showed pictures of shabby tents, unkempt barns and dirty stalls in the meeting.
“It is the owners of the horse show that are responsible for this,” Brody said. “If they can’t remove the manure off of the walls in the six months they’ve had, do we want to give them more land?”
“It is not the council’s job to save the horse show. It is a private organization, a business and a company,” she added. The council will not vote on the plans for the new showgrounds this week. It would be presented as a separate proposal.
Residents also raised concerns over Wellington Lifestyle Partners’ lack of transparency with plans for the showground, saying it has not yet answered some key questions: Who would finance it? Who would own it? Who would be in charge of operating the venue?
Marc Ganzi urged the council to request that Wellington Lifestyle Partners provide financing statements to prove it can afford to build the new showgrounds.
“Where is the financing coming from?” Ganzi said during the meeting.
Others worried about the scale of the proposed showgrounds, which would become the one venue for all equestrian sports. Linda Ferrington compared it to having a facility that could host the Super Bowl in the middle of the preserve.
“You don’t want to be on top of the horse show,” Ferrington said. “We want Wellington to stay the way it is.”
Some equestrians who spoke in the meeting also said the 45-year-old derby field in Equestrian Village was irreplaceable. Ferrington said it was one of the few grass fields in the country that attracted riders around the world, who use it to prepare for grass competitions in Europe.
Cynthia Gardner, who was the chair of the village council when Wellington was incorporated in 1995, said the proposed residential projects were not compatible with the regulations she helped craft to protect the equestrian preserve.
“It doesn’t meet what the equestrian preserve was created for,” Gardner said. “It doesn’t support the equestrian industry. And it doesn’t in any way enhance our lifestyle.”