The city has annexed 301 acres of commercial land along western Northlake Boulevard neighboring near what will be its newest and most modern community.
The grab of an extra 300 acres of now mostly vacant land wouldn’t have made sense decades ago when Avenir wasn’t yet annexed into Palm Beach Gardens. But the build-out of what will soon be a new, burgeoning addition to the city makes this annexation the next step for Palm Beach Gardens’ growth and squaring off its western border.
The city council unanimously approved the annexation at its meeting May 4.
"I am fully supportive of the annexation," Councilmember Marcie Tinsley said that night. "It is an opportunity to round out our borders. It's been a goal of ours for years and years to annex those enclaves that we have in the city. And I want to assure everyone that we have always and will continue to accommodate existing land uses and zoning on properties."
Where's the land that Palm Beach Gardens just annexed?
The land in question is on both sides of Northlake west of Florida's Turnpike. That includes a strip on the south side of the road between Bay Hill Estates and Grapeview Boulevard, which marks the western border of Palm Beach Gardens. Within that zone is Pierce Hammock Elementary School.
The school is one of the few structures along the annexed land, all of which previously was under the control of Palm Beach County.
Prior to the annexation, the county approved commercial buildings and gas stations on both sides of Coconut Boulevard on the south side of its intersection with Northlake. A radio station tower sits on a nearby parcel.
The commercial land sits near the city's burgeoning Avenir community.
Avenir, Palm Beach Gardens’ most modern community, is under construction on the north side of Northlake Boulevard. In a few years, thousands of new residents will occupy the luxury neighborhoods coming to what once was the Vavrus ranch.
The community will bring almost 4,000 new homes from an array of developers, a UF Health and Jupiter Medical neighborhood hospital and a celebrity-owned golf course on the 4,750 acres it covers.
At Thursday’s meeting, the city council unanimously approved plans to add a charter school to Avenir’s growing list of amenities.
The involuntary annexation left little room for resident pushback.
There are some nearby residents who spoke against the annexation, though, with little success.
Some of the land sits at the northern end of The Acreage, an unincorporated community of about 40,000 people that sits between Royal Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens. A group from that area has proposed the creation of a small municipality, the city of Loxahatchee.
The land along the south side of Northlake could have become a strategic commercial hub for the aspiring village, made up of mostly single-family homes that sit on semi-rural, 1-acre properties. The two commercial centers approved at Coconut now will be part of Palm Beach Gardens.
What is an involuntary annexation?
The annexation was an involuntary one, meaning that the city only needed approval from the majority of the current property owners. Ten of the 16 property owners consented to being absorbed into Palm Beach Gardens, covering 203 of the 300 acres, more than what state law requires.
This frustrated residents of The Acreage who have been trying to gain status as a municipality for years. But the Acreage Landowner’s Association and supporters of the bill to make the area a municipality don’t plan to give up on their goal to become a city and say they will try to become an official village again next year.
There was a surprising turnaround in support from once-hesitant property owners.
During the city council meeting Thursday, several property owners voiced their growing support for the annexation.
One of the commercial real estate developers in the area, like many of The Acreage residents, was initially jarred by how quickly his property was absorbed by Palm Beach Gardens. But he came to the meeting to support the project enthusiastically.
Jeff Williams, executive vice president of Konover South LLC, a commercial real estate company, credited the city’s planning and zoning director, Natalie Crowley, with his shift in perspective. Konover South is currently building out Coconut Crossing shopping center at the corner of Northlake and Coconut Boulevard.
“I received a letter from Natalie Crowley. And that’s the reason why I’m here today: to thank her,” Williams said. “I’m sure, in the barrage of meetings and emergency phone calls that we requested, we were not a very easy group to work with in the last week.”
“We were very alarmed. But Natalie has gone out of her way to meet with us multiple times, provide us a letter that gives clarification to the process. … She has given us a lot of clarity that we didn’t have and it has settled the fear a lot.”
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