Ag Reserve plan on hold

Commissioners delay decision on proposed housing

Palm Beach County commissioners torn between creating affordable housing for residents and preserving farming in western portions of the county held off Wednesday on a proposed project that would have created 144 price-capped apartments.

Rent and home prices have been on the rise as land has become scarce in South Florida. Now, the Agricultural Reserve, a 21,000-acre farming region west of Boynton Beach and Delray Beach, is being considered as a possible site for affordable new housing.

Developers said their offer to build the apartments as part of a larger project in the Ag Reserve could provide some relief to residents dealing with sky-high rent.

Commissioners voted 5-2 Wednesday to pass on that for now and asked for the project to be scaled down. They will consider the proposal again in January.

Mayor Paulette Burdick said she welcomes more affordable housing, but the proposal would upend a plan supported by voters to preserve land for farming.

“It exceeds everything that is in the plan that was developed more than 20 years ago,” she said.

The development would be on 51 acres on the northeast corner of Atlantic Avenue and Starkey Road, west of Florida’s Turnpike.

The $84 million development could include a 130-room hotel, a 115-bed assisted-living center, 75,000