Wellington grants Mark Bellissimo 11th-hour delay before vote on building in equestrian preserve

WELLINGTON — Village residents will have to wait another month to see and comment on Mark Bellissimo’s final version of two luxury residential communities that would be built on land that sits in Wellington’s equestrian preserve.

The Village Council was scheduled Tuesday to start as many as three nights of meetings about the proposals, called The Wellington North and The Wellington South. Bellissimo’s team called out of the meeting an hour before it was set to start.

Village Manager Jim Barnes broke the news to the council in a room packed with residents eager to see the final plans and to comment on the proposals. The abrupt cancellation left many of those residents upset.

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“In terms of due process, you should be embarrassed,” Wellington resident Richard Sirota told the council. “This is supposed to be an equal-level playing field.”

Members of the village council voted unanimously to grant Bellissimo’s request for a delay and will review the applications during three nights of meetings scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Nov. 13.

Wellington staff to use extra time to review Bellissimo team's plans

Wellington Lifestyle Partners, the company that would build the two communities, requested more time and the village staff supported the developer’s request to allow more time to review the most recent modifications to the applications, according to a statement on Wellington's website.

Wellington Lifestyle Partners, led by Bellissimo's daughter, Paige, has substantially revised its plans since they were first proposed. The most recent came Oct. 2, when it scaled back the number of homes in both sections of The Wellington.

"The postponement is frustrating," said Doug McMahon, Wellington Lifestyle Partners' CEO and managing partner, in a written statement Wednesday.

"But it is honestly an outcome of meetings with several groups, individuals and parties that have helped us change our application and dramatically reduce its density, number of residential units and scale. We are respectfully working through and participating in the process."

Leonard Feiwus, an attorney representing the Equestrian Club Estates neighborhood and other families opposing The Wellington's residential proposals, took issue with the Village Council permitting substantial changes and granting the developer's request at the last minute.

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“It's a slap in the face of an insult from the applicant,” Feiwus said, calling the move "highly irregular, improper and prejudicial to all the people in the community that made extraordinary efforts to be here tonight, flew in from all over the place and they had arranged their schedules for the next three days to be at a hearing.”

Some of those who attended Tuesday's meeting wanted The Wellington plans to be required to begin the process over again and seek new recommendations from the village's Equestrian Preserve Committee and its Planning, Zoning and Adjustment Board.

Barnes said the village requires an application to be re-examined by advisory boards only if the changes include amendments to land-use requests or an increase in the number of units.

"In this case, it's our opinion that that hasn't changed. It's actually been a lessening of the intensity and density that was originally applied for," Barnes said, "which is a normal part of the process as it evolves through the permitting process and ultimately council approval, that as those things are reviewed, and comments are received, both from staff, the public and other interested parties."

Feiwus said his clients want the Village Council to consider The Wellington communities on their merits, instead of allowing them to make changes at the last minute to win approval.

“They're trying to get extraordinary land-use changes that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars in favor of themselves, at the expense of the community,” said Feiwus. “And they're showing no regard for the community’s time.”

Said Maureen Brennan, a village resident and a polo player who attended Tuesday's meeting: “I would like to think they followed the rules. However I do not think this rule is fair to the other side that made a tremendous effort to be prepared. Cancellations the night of the meeting should not be allowed.”

Plans would remove acres from preserve, increase housing density

The Wellington marks Bellissimo’s third attempt to build in the Equestrian Preserve, following failed efforts in 2012 and 2016. He has said the area has grown outdated and that his plans will help it to stay competitive with other communities that cater to equestrians, using phrases such as making it “the equestrian capital of the world.”

The Wellington North would bring 48 townhomes, 48 single-family homes and a private club with tennis courts, a racket center, swimming pools and a short-range golf facility to land within the preserve where Equestrian Village, the site of Bellissimo's Winter Equestrian Festival, and the Whitebirch polo club now stand.

Bellissimo's plan calls for the village to remove these 96 acres from the 9,000-acre preserve. The village has not removed any land from the preserve since its creation in 2000, and some fear the move would set a precedent for other landowners. Wellington officials disagree.

Wellington South would rise along South Shore south of Wellington Community Park. Wellington Lifestyle Partners is seeking approval to build 109 half-acre luxury villas and five 5-acre farms over undeveloped land owned by Bellissimo in the preserve where only homes on lots of at least 2 acres are allowed.

Bellissimo's team has said that if its housing plans are approved, it will work with other groups to expand Wellington International to include 114 acres at the northeast corner of 40th Street South and Gene Mische Way to replace Equestrian Village. That land would include competition areas and a stadium that could seat up to 10,000 people.

As part of The Wellington South application, the company is requesting to change the land use of the 114 acres to equestrian commercial from residential.

If its housing plans are rejected, Bellissimo's team says it will close Equestrian Village, and equestrians will be left to consider other Florida options such as those near Ocala and Sarasota.

Council member Michael Drahos said he thought this was the most important vote in the village's history and that he didn't want to rush the decision. He also thanked the members of the public for attending the meeting.

"As much as we want to decide Wellington's future once and for all," Drahos said. "lets do it the right way, take some time, make sure we have the opportunity to go through all of this, so that when it comes time to vote we are all ready to do that."

Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Loxahatchee and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on Twitter at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Bellissimo gets 11th-hour delay on Wellington equestrian preserve vote