Wellington OKs showgrounds

Hotly debated equestrian center wins final approval

WELLINGTON — Months of heated public debate ended this week when Mark Bellissimo’s team won its final approval from the Wellington Village Council to build a new horse megacenter just south of Wellington International.

The complex will cover 144 acres at the corner of Gene Mische Way and Gracida Street and will replace Equestrian Village, where Bellissimo has long staged the Winter Equestrian Festival, as a competition and training area for dressage, hunters and jumpers.

At its meeting on Tuesday, council member Michael Napoleone told representatives the Bellissimo-linked company behind the project that the new showgrounds must be noticeably better than Equestrian Village, providing better stabling and relieving overcrowding.

“It needs to be a world-class facility at all components of it, not just certain pieces,” Napoleone, a candidate for mayor in the March 19 election, told representatives of Wellington Lifestyle

Partners, which has won Wellington’s approval to build two luxury communities in the 9,000-acre equestrian preserve.

The council voted 4-0 in favor of placing the new horse center directly below Wellington International and determined the project was compatible with the surrounding properties. Council