Article Courtesy of The
Palm Beach Post
By Valentina Palm
Published April 4, 2024
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WELLINGTON — Who will pay to restore the Big Blue Cypress Preserve?
The 92.4-acre wetland, considered Florida's largest remaining Cypress Hammock,
has been the center of a decades-long legal dispute between Wellington and
developer Glenn Straub.
Now Straub is suing the property owner's association of Palm Beach Polo Golf &
Country Club over the same claims that the village filled against his company
for years: failing to preserve and enhance Big Blue.
Straub's Palm Beach
Polo Holdings says the homeowners' association for the
luxury community along South Shore Boulevard that
encompasses the preserve entered a 99-year lease agreement
for the property last year and is responsible of remediating
the native vegetation his company destroyed there years ago.
Attorneys representing residents of Palm Beach Polo say the
association is only responsible for maintaining the
"untouched portions of Big Blue which are not destroyed or
cleared by Palm Beach Polo."
"This is an unfounded attempt to try to displace liability
of enforcement actions litigated by the Village of
Wellington against PBP over the last decade,” the HOA's
response said in part.
Circuit Judge Bradley Harper on May 16 will consider if
Straub's Palm Beach Polo or the neighborhood's association
must front the bill for the restoration plan, which the
village estimated will cost $40,000 in its initial stages.
That is on top of the annual cost to maintain the preserve
that Straub said in a letter was about $200,000.
The Big Blue Preserve is caught in a big
legal entanglement
Wellington and Straub's Palm Beach Polo Inc., the company
that developed Palm Beach Polo Golf & Country Club, have
been entangled in legal battles over the care of Big Blue
since the early 2000s. |
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Palm Beach Polo Golf & Country Club in Wellington
encompasses the 92-acre Big Blue Cypress Preserve. The repair of
damage to vegetation there is the topic of a legal dispute between
property owner Glenn Straub, the community's homeowners association
and the Village of Wellington.
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In
2015, Wellington filled criminal charges against Palm Beach Polo Inc. for
destroying wetland's native vegetation by using mechanical methods to clear
invasive plants without approval from the village.
Nine years later, Circuit Judge James Nutt ruled that Palm Beach Polo Inc. and
Straub, its “hands-on CEO,” had "carelessly cleared" significant areas of
cypress trees in Big Blue, breaking their cycle of development.
Nutt's Aug. 8, 2023, ruling also found Palm Beach Polo and Straub had violated
three previous court orders from 2004 and 2018 to "preserve and enhance" Big
Blue and ordered the company to commit to a restoration plan that addresses the
damage done by the mechanical clearing.
“These protections are critical in the sustainability of the preserve,” wrote
Nutt. “Big Blue is probably the last piece of old-growth cypress swamp in Palm
Beach County.”
The judge didn’t grant the village’s request to find Straub in criminal contempt
but warned future violations may lead to criminal charges. "Although the
contemptuous conduct exhibited by the defendant, if allowed to persist, may very
well lead to the destruction of the preserve, the proverbial death by a thousand
razor cuts," Nutt wrote.
Palm Beach Polo tried to make homeowners' group part of its lawsuit against
Wellington
On July 28, a month before Nutt's rulings, the president of the Palm Beach
Polo’s Property Owners Association, signed an agreement with Straub to lease Big
Blue for 99 years at an annual cost of $100. POA president Andrew Carduner also
agreed to purchase the community's Tennis House facilities for $13 million.
Carduner said in a letter to residents last summer the lease will limit use of
the preserve to Palm Beach Polo residents, who will be able to walk, hike and
bike in the wetland. Palm Beach Polo residents have said the preserve does not
have walkable trails.
“Gaining control of Big Blue strengthens our position when protecting all
property owners,” Carduner wrote. “The 99-year lease takes the property out of
play.”
On Oct. 23, almost for months after both parties agreed to the lease, Palm Beach
Polo Inc. filed a motion to include the community's property owner's association
in the nine-year lawsuit with the village.
Alex Domb, an attorney for Straub, argued before Judge Nutt that the association
had "assumed all responsibility" for the maintenance of Big Blue and must “hold
harmless” Palm Beach Polo for any requirements set forth by governments such as
the village and the South Florida Water Management District, according to the
lease.
“Based upon Polo's inability to do anything with regard to Big Blue that ever
turned out to be acceptable to Wellington,” Domb wrote in the motion, "and in
light of the most recent indirect criminal and civil contempt, Polo made a
business decision to remove itself from the Big Blue equation.”
Wellington opposed the motion, saying Palm Beach Polo, and not the homeowners'
group, remained responsible for the damage and that it was also in contempt of
violating previous court orders saying it had an "undisputed obligation" to
preserve and enhance Big Blue.
Village attorneys argued Polo had leased the preserve to the association without
Wellington’s knowledge “in an attempt to rid itself of the contempt sanctions.”
They added: “Polo’s own admissions support the conclusion that the lease was
executed in bad faith or out of a collusive effort to avoid the decree of the
Court.”
Lindsey Lehr, a Miami-based attorney representing the POA, said Nutt sided with
Wellington and ruled the homeowners could not join as a party because Palm Beach
Polo's violation occurred before 2022 and to date have not been remedied
Palm Beach Polo tries again to have POA pay for Big Blue damage
On Nov. 30, Palm Beach Polo Holdings, a subsidiary of Palm Beach Polo Inc.,
filed a lawsuit against the association for two counts of breach of contract,
alleging it has refused to maintain Big Blue.
Larry Zink, an attorney representing Palm Beach Polo Holdings, said it sought $2
million from the association since its failure to maintain the wetland that has
resulted in Wellington and the court extending fines to the company.
Lehr filed a motion on Jan. 20 saying the association would maintain the
preserve but that it was not responsible for the fines against Palm Beach Polo
Inc. that were a result of its "willful destruction of Big Blue and repeated
violation of the Court Orders.”
Lehr argued the "crux” of Polo's complaint stems from court orders and
enforceable actions for its conduct and noncompliance that predate the lease.
She added there is language in the agreement that protects the association from
having to pay for damage done before it was signed.
"However, if the failure to comply with applicable law is due to a condition
that existed as of the effective date that required correction to be in
compliance with applicable law, the landlord shall be responsible,” the lease
states.
Wellington wanted Big Blue plan in place before summer rains come
After a lack of response from Palm Beach Polo Inc., Wellington officials in
February sought an order from Judge Nutt to force Straub's company submit a
restoration plan to the village.
It also wanted a timeline for the project that would be carried out before the
end of this year's dry season on June 1.
Nutt gave Straub's company until Friday, March 29, to submit the plan with time
commitments. Domb said he filed a proposal to the village late on Thursday, May
28.
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