Billionaire developer Frank McCourt’s plans with Discovery Land Company to build 27 homes and a country club on the Isla Carroll Polo field were shot down by Wellington village officials in a late-night vote that followed hours of testimony and discussion.
Only Vice Mayor Tanya Siskind supported rezoning 79 acres at 3665 120th Avenue for McCourt Partners and Discovery Land to develop a horse-friendly subdivision.
Along with the homes, the developers envision an 8-acre private club for 325 families, along with a 10-stall barn and equestrian complex, bridle paths and a polo field used by the United States Polo Association.
The site is in the village’s equestrian preserve, but the proposed development is not centered around equestrian use, in contrast with the village’s comprehensive plan, Mayor Michael Napoleone said.
The development is focused on the country club, Napoleone said. The club is planned to include a gym, retail, food service, a business center, racquet courts and a pool and aquatic zone.
“The community does not work without the country club; that is where my head is at,” the mayor said during the meeting. “It would be a wonderful club, but there are rules that apply to that footprint, and I don’t know if you met the burden.”
But McCourt said he played by the rules of the zoning code as well as council member feedback, which resulted in a design that is 33 percent less dense than plans put forward in January.
McCourt’s previous plans included 40 single-family homes on lots that averaged half an acre with no fixed presence for horses.
The redesign calls for four of the 27 houses to be on 2 acre lots, large enough for equestrian uses. Shared barns, paddocks and a horse exercise arena, plus quarters for horse groomers and other equestrian features are part of the plan.
Reducing the number of houses cost the project about $30 million, McCourt told the council.
“This is a passion project of mine,” McCourt told council members, adding that he lives in Wellington and is a co-owner of the Global Champions Tour. He said his wife and daughter are professional show jumpers.
The project is compatible with Wellington’s comprehensive plan since it is a “low-density project that complies with the equestrian lifestyle,” said one of McCourt’s attorneys, Neil Schiller of the Fort Lauderdale-based Government Law Group.
The threat of a lawsuit is lurking in the case.
McCourt Partners and Discovery Land could sue the town for more than $100 million for loss of property value and legal fees under the state’s Burt J. Harris Jr. Property Rights Protection Act, said McCourt attorney Maria Arhancet Fehretdinov of Stearns Weaver Miller.
Fehretdinov argued the project has more equestrian uses and open space than other developments built on the equestrian preserve. She called out developer Mark Bellissimo’s Wellington North project, which included nearly 100 single-family homes and townhouses on what used to be the Equestrian Village showgrounds.
However, town planners told council members that most entitlements for past polo-field redevelopments were in place before becoming part of Wellington. Town attorney Laurie Cohen said there is no absolute right to a rezoning.
The developer is entitled to build 40 single-family homes. However, each of those homes would have to be built on lots of at least 2 acres, and any commercial development would be limited to uses supportive of the equestrian industry, per a village staff report.
McCourt’s attorney argued that having a polo field where people could watch competitive games in season would support the sport.
The revamped project, co-designed by New York-Buenos Aires architecture firm Estudio Ramos, sharply divided opinions in Wellington with supporters saying the McCourt-Discovery Land venture would preserve one of Isla Carroll two polo fields via a 45-year lease with USPA, which runs the neighboring National Polo Center.
But critics say the project should keep both fields open and that the plans were just window dressing for a country club. One resident said the sport helped create Wellington but is now moving to other parts of Palm Beach County, and approval would only accelerate that trend.A company tied to McCourt paid $52 million for East Isla Carroll in 2022, about a decade after McCourt sold the Los Angeles Dodgers for $2.2 billion. McCourt sold an equestrian estate in Wellington for almost $12 million in 2016 and a 9-acre horse property near Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ assemblage for about $12 million in 2017.