GL Homes to pay Palm Beach County $2.8 million to opt out of land requirement

Mary Lou Berger
Mary Lou Berger

Palm Beach County commissioners voted 5-2 on Tuesday night to approve a deal for a developer to opt out of a requirement that it set aside land for civic purposes in exchange for paying the county $2.8 million, the Palm Beach Post reported. Four developments in Palm Beach County’s agricultural reserve built by GL Homes were at issue.

The money will be used to open a sheriff’s office substation in Delray Beach, the Post said. 

Commissioner Mary Lou Berger called the arrangement a “good deal” for the county. She added that it will help residents in the area who have waited years for a sheriff’s substation. It will be located in the old West Atlantic Library building at the northwest corner of West Atlantic Avenue and Cumberland Drive.

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The Alliance of Delray Residential Associations, the West Boca Community Council and the Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations all supported the deal.

“We are very much interested in this project,” Alliance of Delray Residential Associations president Robert Schulbaum told the Post. “We have seniors who are very prone to all kind of scams. We need this substation.” [Palm Beach Post]Evan Bleier