Article Courtesy of The Palm
Beach Post
By Kristina Webb
Published November 15, 2020
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WELLINGTON — A proposal for covered arenas in a Wellington equestrian community
has been withdrawn.
The Village Council tentatively approved the application to allow roofs over
equestrian rings in Winding Trails in July, although officials asked planners
and the developers, Tricia Holloway and Jim Ward of W&W Equestrian Club LLC, to
do more public outreach and bring renderings for the second and final review.
In an Oct. 1 email to Wellington’s planning department, Holloway said she was
withdrawing the application that would have created a zoning text amendment
allowing covered arenas in the neighborhood on the northeast corner of Aero Club
Drive and Greenbriar Boulevard.
“Thank you so much for your help, please call me if you have any questions,”
Holloway wrote in the brief email. She did not return a request for comment from
The Palm Beach Post.
Winding Trails was a former executive golf course that sat inactive for years
before W&W Equestrian Club purchased and proposed development there.
The project faced opposition from neighbors and challenges to its approval as it
moved through Wellington’s development process in 2016 and 2017. Holloway
conducted extensive public outreach, going door to door and meeting with nearby
homeowners associations to negotiate and discuss the project.
Officials were so impressed by Holloway’s work that they have referred to it as
an example to follow for subsequent proposed development projects.
But council members in July expressed concern that not enough public outreach
had been done with the proposal to add covered arenas.
“This was the greatest community outreach I’ve ever seen,” Councilman Michael
Drahos said, later adding, “We are woefully short of that tonight.”
Because the application requested to change the zoning text and not the zoning
itself, signs were not required on the property and letters were not required to
be sent to properties within 500 feet of the project, the village staff said at
the July meeting.
The proposal met all requirements for approval of a zoning text amendment,
Wellington development review coordinator Cory Lyn Cramer said.
At the July council meeting, there was one comment in opposition and several
supporting, including people under contract for properties in Winding Trails who
said they would like their already approved arenas to be covered.
The original plans for Winding Trails did not include roofs over arenas as a
concession to neighbors, Cramer said.
Two village boards reviewed the project before the council, with both voting to
recommend approval: the Equestrian Preserve Committee voted 5-2 in favor on June
3, and the Planning Zoning and Adjustment Board voted unanimously June 10.
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