Joint Meeting Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District & Boca Raton City Council
District Commissioners (L to R) Bob Rollins, Criag Ehrnst and Steve Engel
District Asks Boca Raton to Approve Boca National Design
At Monday’s District-City of Boca Raton Joint Meeting, Executive Director Harms Requests Expedited Boca National Golf Course Approval, Offers Suggestions for Ways the Organizations Can Partner
Boca Raton, FL – Greater Boca Raton Beach and Parks District Executive Director Brian Harms officially asked the Boca Raton City Council at Monday’s joint meeting to approve the design for the Boca National Golf Course and offered suggestions as to how the Council can expedite the project’s timeline.
The District formally submitted those Boca National design plans to the City last week with an eye on a completed project by 2025.
“(The City of Boca Raton) wanted to see a fiscally responsible project that would also provide a quality golf course,” Harms said. “On Friday I sent over our design approval request along with a five-year budget in hopes that they will approve the design concept and let us move forward with this project, as we have committed to doing, without further delay.”
The District voted unanimously on Jan, 21 to decline the Council’s latest Interlocal Agreement and proceed under the one that’s been in place since 2018. Operating under that agreement, the District voted to self fund construction of the approximately $14 million Boca National project and send the Price/Fazio design to the City for approval.
At that same meeting the District elected to submit five potential plans for the National Golf Foundation, segmented into fiscal-year phases, for analysis as to which plan would yield revenue the quickest.
“We are not asking for any financial contribution from the City,” Harms said. “If they wish to participate it will expedite the project timeline, but with or without their financial assistance a quality golf course will be open in east Boca as was committed to our residents and golfers.”
The City of Boca Raton is currently in the final stages of selling its municipal golf course to a developer, a sale that will leave the community without a regulation 18-hole public golf course.
Harms offered several suggestions as to how the City can partner with the District to shorten the Boca National timeline, thereby leaving residents without a public golf course for as short a time as possible.
“The most important thing the city can do to get this golf course moving forward is commit to approving the design,” Harms said.
Located on the former site of the Boca Teeca golf course, later known as Ocean Breeze, Boca National will include a championship 18-hole golf course, an 11-hole short course, a putting green, a driving range and infrastructure buildings.
The final phase in all five of the plans under consideration is the construction of a tunnel underneath Second Ave. that will safely allow golf carts and maintenance equipment to pass underneath the oft-traveled road without halting automobile traffic.
The District requested that the Council approve the design within 45 days.
About The Greater Boca Raton Beach And Park District:
The District is committed to the acquisition and development of parks and recreation facilities. It seeks to provide entertaining and engaging leisure, educational, athletic and cultural activities to all of its residents and guests. The District owns multiple recreational facilities and/or parks in the Boca Raton area, including Sugar Sand Park, Patch Reef Park, the Swim and Racquet Center and Ocean Strand. In addition, through interlocal agreements with the City of Boca Raton, it funds the operating expenses of the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Red Reef Park, Spanish River Athletic Facilities and Mizner Bark Dog Park.
