Who'll save Wellington's Big Blue Preserve? 99-year lease leaves Palm Beach Polo residents with bill
WELLINGTON — A judge has ordered Palm Beach Polo Inc. and its owner, Glenn Straub, to restore native vegetation it “carelessly cleared” from the Big Blue Preserve, Florida's largest remaining cypress hammock.
Neither the corporation nor the developer, however, will have to pay a cent for the damage. Instead, the residents of Palm Beach Polo Golf and Country Club, whose luxury community along South Shore Boulevard encompasses the preserve, will cover the bill.
A month before the ruling, the community’s Property Owners Association signed a 99-year lease with Straub for control of the 92.4-acre wetland. And with it came the responsibility of preserving it.
The price? The village of Wellington valued the initial restoration phases at $40,000. That is on top of the annual cost to maintain Big Blue, a cost that neither village officials nor Straub spokespersons could specify.
“It’s like Straub lost the case but won the war,” said Victor Kiarsis, who lives in Palm Beach Polo. “Now all the residents will be burdened by the costs of his damage.”
A world wonder: $3M Wellington equestrian barn is largest structure built by 3-D printer
Andrew Carduner, the president of Palm Beach Polo Golf and Country Club’s Property Owners Association, signed the lease of the preserve July 28 but declined to comment on the agreement.
“It is a private transaction and it has nothing to do with the public,” Carduner said.
A report Carduner sent to Palm Beach Polo residents said the lease will limit use of the preserve to Palm Beach Polo residents and indicated that Straub had considered opening it to the general public. Carduner said residents will be able to walk, hike and bike in the preserve, even though Palm Beach Polo residents say it does not have walkable trails.
The Big Blue Preserve has been considered protected land since Wellington’s inception and its management has been the center of decade-long lawsuits between the village and Palm Beach Polo Inc.
Alex Domb, Straub’s attorney, said the harm to the preserve is reparable.
“It will grow back,” Domb said. “Everything grows back.”
As for Straub, the lease of the preserve “takes the target off his back,” Domb said.
From Lissa to Alissa: Lion Country Safari's 40th rhino calf honors one the park mourns
Judge: Palm Beach Polo ignored rules, damaged preserve
Circuit Judge James Nutt ruled Aug. 8 that Palm Beach Polo Inc. and Straub, its “hands-on CEO,” had damaged and destroyed significant areas of cypress trees and native vegetation necessary to maintain the overall health of Big Blue.
“Under Mr. Straub’s watch and direction areas were carelessly cleared without fairly distinguishing exotics and native plants,” Nutt wrote.
Nutt found Palm Beach Polo had used mechanical methods to clear invasive vegetation without approval from the village, a move that harmed smaller cypress tree saplings and knees. In some areas, smaller bushes and their surrounding areas were cleared of all but mature trees.
The drip lines and knees are the most sensitive areas of cypress trees, Nutt wrote. Damage to their knees weakens and destabilizes them and breaks the cycle of younger trees replacing the older ones.
“Without them you eventually have no more trees,” Nutt wrote. “Nature is resilient. But not invincible.”
Nutt determined Palm Beach Polo aand Straub were in contempt of court for violating three previous orders that were designed to prevent desecration of the preserve. “These actions are not trivial,” Nutt wrote. “Mr. Straub willfully acted on behalf of Polo with knowledge that the actions he directed would violate the court's directives.”
The first order, issued in 2004, directed Palm Beach Polo to preserve and also enhance all 92.4 acres of Big Blue.
The two following injunctions, from 2018, mandated Palm Beach Polo follow a judicially approved habitat management plan. It specifically forbids either mechanical clearing or altering vegetation at Big Blue without approval from the village.
“These protections are critical in the sustainability of the preserve,” wrote Nutt. “Big Blue is probably the last piece of old-growth cypress swamp in Palm Beach County.”
Nutt ruled Straub knew “fully well” the prerequisites to use mechanical equipment on the wetland, but didn’t inform the contractor and directed it to proceed in violation of those restrictions. Nutt said the sanctions must focus on remediating the wetland ecosystem and will determine the complete suite of remedies during a hearing Oct. 31.
The Wellington: Reject or delay part of Mark Bellissimo's plan for equestrian preserve, board recommends
He ordered Palm Beach Polo to commit to a restoration plan that addresses the damage done by the mechanical clearing. It will also follow a more precise plan for the clearing of exotic vegetation beyond what is already required by the habitat management plan.
The judge didn’t grant the village’s request to find Straub in criminal contempt of the court, but warned future violations may lead to criminal charges.
“Although the contemptuous conduct exhibited by the defendant, if allowed to persist, may very well lead to the destruction of the preserve, the proverbial death by a thousand razor cuts,” Nutt wrote.
Property owners feared Straub would open Big Blue Preserve to public
On July 28, a month before Nutt’s ruling, Straub leased Big Blue to Palm Beach Polo’s property owners association for 99 years at an annual cost of $100.
It wasn’t the only deal the property owners association cut with Palm Beach Polo this summer. It also bought the community center and tennis courts property, known as the Tennis House, from Straub for $13 million and is planning to remodel it.
In a letter sent to residents in July, Carduner wrote the Tennis House was drawing interest from outside buyers and that purchasing it would ensure it would stay in the control of residents.
He added Big Blue was also “in play,” not as a sale to developers, but that Straub had said he would donate the property and make it available for the public.
How Wellington is growing: Developers vie to build at park site near mall, but village may say no
“Gaining control of Big Blue strengthens our position when protecting all property owners,” Carduner wrote. “The 99-year lease takes the property out of play.”
The lease however, also transferred all the duties of maintaining the wetland such as pumping water to the wetland, clearing of invasive species and paying for its remediation.
Domb said the POA will pay for and execute the village’s remediation plan. According to the lease, the POA will have to maintain Big Blue in accordance with the village of Wellington and a South Florida Management District and “hold harmless” Palm Beach Polo for any government requirements.
Palm Beach Polo, however, holds the right to terminate the lease if it ever obtains rights from the village to develop Big Blue. The POA has also agreed not to oppose development of the preserve.
Palm Beach Polo homeowners worry about rising assessments
The purchase of the tennis house and the lease of Big Blue surprised some Palm Beach Polo residents. They said the POA gave them little to no time to consider the transactions and worry what the renovations of the community center and the remediation of the preserve will cost them.
Robert Reyes, who grew up in Palm Beach Polo, said it appears Carduner bought the aging tennis house without even getting its value appraised. He added residents already received a notice of four assessments of $1,200 to remodel the community center.
Carduner bought the 9.4 acres of the Tennis House site from Straub for $13.7 million. A month earlier, Farrell Building Co. bought 23 acres at the luxury community for $12 million.
“They're overpaying for this property,” Reyes said. “This building is not even worth the amount of money that they want to put into it.”
What cat is that? Mysterious feline captured on camera roaming near Wellington
Kiarsis said the POA’s lease of Big Blue accomplished three things for Straub.
“He's put all the costs on the residents, he's retained the right to subdivide it and he's also gotten their agreement to not stand in his way if he is able to subdivide it,” Kiarsis said.
Kiarsis said Carduner lacked transparency regarding the obligations and costs that renting Big Blue will bring to residents.
“Why on earth would he enter into an agreement where he assumes all liabilities of a piece of property that he doesn't really know what the liabilities are?” asked Kiarsis. “Especially given this property is subject to a court process, that is determining exactly the obligations of the owner.”
“This is really flying blind and hoping for the best,” Kiarsis said.
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: Lease makes Palm Beach Polo residents pay to save Wellington preserve
