Jac VerSteegLet’s connect the dots between a few headlines.
From the Feb. 3 Palm Beach Post: “Land lacking for new homes.”
From the Feb. 2 Palm Beach Post: “Avenir leader: Let’s talk plan out.”
And from the Jan. 30 South Florida Sun Sentinel: “Inquiry backs up Palm Beach County’s handling of Ag Reserve Development.”
When you put those stories together, the implications are clear: Palm Beach County politicians are going to be under incredible pressure to approve more and more homes on more and more land.
The “Land Lacking” story says that new home construction in the county grew by just 3 percent in 2014. The main culprit wasn’t the economy, it was a lack of buildable lots.
The lack of lots and the lack of new homes means a lack of construction jobs and a lack of tax revenue.
Of course, the desire to protect the environment is a major reason for the lack of lots. It’s jobs vs. environment.
Which brings us to Avenir. That’s a huge development proposed for the western edges of Palm Beach Gardens. It’s on land that environmentalists say should be used to store water. It’s on land that Palm Beach Gardens officials have sworn they won’t allow to be developed intensely.
But Avenir developers will keep pushing. They’ve dropped their proposed number of homes to 4,700 from 7,600. But under current rules – the ones they want to change – the land only is approved for 400 homes.
In the end, the Avenir developers will “talk it out” – and win. Part of their argument of course will be the “Lack of Land = Lack of Jobs” argument. And what about those Palm Beach Gardens officials who have vowed to oppose Avenir development? The strongest foes have served for years and years, and residents just approved term limits. The old-timers be gone soon enough, if developers spend enough on the “right” candidates.
The “Lack of Land” story also notes that the days when relatively small builders were putting up a lot of homes are over. Nowadays, the big builders are getting all the business – in part because they’ve been able to keep skilled workers the smaller builders had to lay off.
The biggest players have the heaviest-hitting lobbyists. And the biggest player in Palm Beach County is GL Homes. And that brings us to the “Ag Reserve” story.
The Agricultural Reserve Area is a huge swath of farmland west of Delray Beach and Boynton Beach. For decades the county imposed tough rules to keep it in farming. Taxpayers even approved $100 million to buy development rights.
But developers, led by GL Homes, steadily have pushed to build more homes anyway. Incensed by a recent deal in which the County Commission let GL Homes build another 600 homes in the Ag Reserve, environmentalists asked the county’s Inspector General to see if the deal passes the smell test.
The IG said, in short: This is a political issue. Take it up with the politicians and leave me out of it.
Politicians never are going to be able to stand up to sustained pressure, particularly if jobs are at stake. Forces pushing for the right to build on a particular parcel only need politicians to say “Yes” once. Then the fight is over.
Forces seeking to preserve land have to win every fight, every time.
That dynamic makes development inevitable. Lack of land will lead to lack of political will to say “No.”
Jac Wilder VerSteeg is editor of Context Florida. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
