" Wellington's Gang of Three Waging A Vindictive War "

Commentary By Mark Bellissimo

Regarding the article “Village warns permit problems risk fest’s closure,” the Jacobs “spin team” has been aggressive in communicating the permitting challenges for this year’s Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF.) We have had our challenges, and we made some mistakes that didn’t occur in prior years. What has not been discussed is a decision made by Wellington that affected this year’s permitting process.

The WEF is the largest equestrian festival in the world. It contributes more than $200 million to Palm Beach County’s economy and provides thousands of jobs. Preparing for this 12-week event involves, among other things, permit requests, design and architectural review meetings, building, engineering and fire inspections, landscaping reviews, and water and land management permits.

John Greene, Bob Margolis and Matt Willhite, the Gang of Three who form the majority on the Wellington Village Council, point to a former council they claim was “lax” and an “out-of-control” developer as the reasons for this year’s permitting issues. The true explanation is the elimination of a critical coordinating process called the Equestrian Response Team (ERT).

These vital meetings have been in place every year that we have run the festival. Starting each October, every other Tuesday the ERT would assemble all our building contractors and personnel from the village. Up to 25 people would attend. The goal was to navigate from permitting and reviews to final inspections, while identifying potential problems and addressing them.

Even with the ERT, there were still challenges related to a village code that was not designed to address an event of this complexity or scale. But there was always a spirit of cooperation between a competent village staff and our organization. As a result, over the last five years our partnership invested more than $40 million, and the festival doubled in size and economic impact. All of this occurred during the worst financial climate in most of our lifetimes.

Enter the Gang of Three, propped up in last year’s election by more than $600,000 in campaign-related contributions from the Jacobs family, Neil Hirsch and Victoria McCullough. Their first effort was an unprecedented revocation of the Equestrian Village dressage venue development. That matter is the subject of litigation.

Next came a failed attempt to revoke rights on the main Palm Beach International Equestrian Center show grounds. led by Ms. McCullough. Her property abuts the grounds, and she is holding competing shows, sponsored by Jacobs interests.

Finally, without notice or explanation, the ERT meetings were eliminated. By doing so, I believe that the Gang of Three intentionally created a massive coordination problem, with the intent to cause failures that would embarrass me and my organization. Only through the efforts of the village staff and Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue were we able to get the festival up and running this year. For the first time, our collective focus wasn’t on growing and enhancing the event but on struggling to get it operational.

I believe that the Gang of Three is using village money to wage a vindictive private war as payback to its small group of wealthy political allies, whose primary “preservation” interests are preserving their great estates. Unfortunately, the collateral damage extends beyond our organization and includes Wellington’s international reputation, the local economy, village and their declining morale, higher village operating costs and legal bills, and continued inconvenience to festival customers.

Now that we know this agenda, we can better plan and manage future festivals. However, the question we face in this community is whether we can stop the Gang of Three before they do irreparable harm to this vital industry, to Wellington and to Palm Beach County.

Mark Bellissimo is President of Equestrian Sport Productions, which stages the Winter Equestrian Festival.