Palm Beach Post Article

Wellington Village Moves Forward - But With One major Sticking point

BY MITRA MALEK - PALM BEACH POST STAFF WRITER

WELLINGTON, October 25th 2013 — 

The Village Council late Thursday approved two resolutions that would finish the Equestrian Village project — but one of them was altered so much the developer’s attorney basically said the plan would fall apart.

“This thing is so chopped up it’s unworkable,” said Dan Rosenbaum, an attorney for Mark Bellissimo, who also heads the Winter Equestrian Festival. “This was hundreds of thousands of dollars of planning. You can’t run a business like that.”

After the votes were taken, though, and Bellissimo and his team were clearly flustered and somewhat confused on the votes, the council said it could reconsider the votes at its next meeting on Nov. 12.

In the meantime the resolutions would be rewritten with the myriad changes the council made Thursday and given to Bellissimo’s team and Wellington staff so they could make sense of them.

This past summer, in an attempt to put an end to litigation over the $80 million dressage complex, Wellington and Bellissimo came to a negotiated settlement in an attempt to move the project forward.

Since then, Bellissimo’s team and Wellington staff apparently spent more than 100 hours working on the two resolutions that were back before the council after the board had revoked them last year because the developer missed a deadline.

The most controversial alteration to the proposed resolutions was a secondary entrance on Pierson Road.

The Jacobs family, through its attorney, argued that moving the Pierson Road entrance farther east and widening the road to allow for a left-turn lane was a bad idea.

The billionaire family owns a several-hundred acre farm on Pierson Road, a few miles from the 59-acre site at the northeast corner of South Shore Boulevard and Pierson Road.

The entrance, if widened, would have to be moved farther east to meet safety standards.

Bellissimo’s team predicted that 75 percent of traffic would use the South Shore entrance during the week, and 83 percent would use it during peak events. Pierson Road, with far less traffic, would be used mainly for vendors and trailers.

Another one of the amended resolutions makes South Shore the primary entrance — but still allows for left-hand turns from Pierson Road into the site.

“That’s where the majority of the traffic is already collecting,” said Councilman Matt Willhite.

Staff plans to study traffic patterns into the two entrances and from there determine if the original plan for building a left-turn lane is necessary.

Meanwhile, Wellington’s traffic engineer Andrea Troutman had said it is “essential” to have two access points.

“It’s almost imperative to add that stacking lane for safety reasons,” Councilwoman Anne Gerwig said. She was the only council member to vote against one of the resolutions.

Bellissimo said the Jacobs family was holding far too much sway in the debate, and before the vote said he didn’t intend to budge on the entrance.

Wellington’s traffic engineer said the second entrance is necessary, and his team would pay for it, Bellissimo argued.

Councilman John Greene said the Jacobses might be the only people publicly fighting the entrance, but there are others who don’t like it.

“There’s a lot of people who are concerned about that,” Greene said. “I’ve gotten phone calls … I’m trying to prevent further litigation.”

The new plan, whose soaring covered arena is already built, calls for a 14,600-square-foot banquet hall with a kitchen and bathrooms, temporary stalls and a two-story, open-air tiki hut. Hours of operation can only be between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. — except one night a week that would be limited to Friday, Saturday or Sunday. On that night, the complex can stay open until 11 p.m.