Minto West

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What a damn shame.

Thank you to Jess Santamaria and Paulette Burdick who stepped up against development of Minto West.  Large crowds are expected Wednesday at 9:30 am when the county commission considers land-use and zoning changes at a public hearing before its final vote.  This is what elected officials do best--they call it progress; residents call it destruction of their quality of life.

People who moved to that area settled there for peace and quiet. Now it will get 6 square miles of concrete, widened roads, offices, 4,500 homes, townhouses, condos, shopping centers and congestion in an area that will be larger than the City of Lake Worth. Gone will be the trails and natural environments.

If you want to attend, the address is Sixth floor, Palm Beach County Governmental Center, 301 N. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach. The government center will provide areas with TV screens on first, sixth and seventh floors for the overflow crowd..

Minto West Project

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It's such a shame. We have been trying to protect our state for decades--for future generations, its natural resources and animal habitats, but politicians, looking for the tax dollar and never meeting a developer they didn't like, always get in the way--always.

The last commercial citrus growing operation in Palm Beach County has bit the dust.  And no surprise when we learn that a huge development will takes its place. Now envision this--Minto West "is larger than the cities of Lake Worth and Greenacres and, if incorporated, would be the 11th-largest municipality in the county."

Read more... on Minto West and how the County allowed developers to build beyond capacity. Commissioners Vana (who was all for screwing up John Prince Park for national league baseball), Hal Valeche, Priscilla Taylor, Steven Abrams and Mary Lou Berger voted in favor of the Minto West proposal. Commissioners Jess Santamaria and Paulette Burdick voted against it.

Please remember to vote YES on Florida state land initiative Amendment one.  It will take a 60% or better vote to protect Florida's future.

Minto West does not serve Residents

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Below is a Letter to the Editor written by Tony Foley that deserves our attention. His thoughts on huge density are "right on" but elected officials everywhere NEVER pay attention. Look what's happening in the Minto West project where residents in the area are rallying against--

Minto purchased the former Callery Judge Grove consisting of approximately 3,800 acres and renamed the property “Minto West” (this property is the former orange grove in the center of the Acreage). The property has a current land use approval for the construction of 2,996 single-family homes and 235,000 sq.ft. of non-residential.

However, Minto has filed a new land use amendment application seeking approval to build 6,500 residential units (single-family, zero lot line, townhomes and apartments), plus 1.4 million sq.ft. of non-residential (commercial retail, office, industrial), plus a spring training baseball stadium, plus a 3,000 student community college, plus a hotel. The residents want to hold Minto to the existing approval, with no increase in residential density or added institutional and private recreational. Do you think the Palm Beach County Commission will listen to the people?

The Letter:

Minto West does not serve residents

It continues to baffle me how elected officials, who, by the way, are here to “look out for our best interests,” ignore the mandate of the very people they are elected to serve. Clearly, allowing a ridiculous development like Minto West to even be considered borders on lunacy and outright irresponsibility.

I moved to North Palm Beach 14 years ago after living my entire life in western Dade County, Kendall to be exact. At one time, the lush farm fields and peaceful landscape were indeed a place to raise a family. However, the commissioners there, like the ones here, started dancing to the tune of wealthy, greedy developers who raped and pillaged the land, and today it is a concrete jungle with unbelievable traffic snarls.

I moved my family to Palm Beach to escape this nightmare only to see the same thing playing out here. Our irreplaceable water table and environment are being attacked, and mark my words, this scenario will end very badly for all of us. The developers will have moved on, leaving the rest of us in hopeless gridlock and despair.

TONY FOLEY, NORTH PALM BEACH