A Palm Beach County landowner will take more time to revise a proposal for self storage, a fitness center, manufacturing and processing space, and warehouses in the Agricultural Reserve.
Former nurseryman Paul Okean is confident in his plan, but he said he wants more time to meet with his neighbors and create a project for which everyone is content.
“As much as we’ve made wholesale changes, there remains some opposition that I’m obviously focused on, trying to mitigate whatever I can in terms of trying to find a resolution,” Okean said. “I’d like to have support from everyone.”
Okean’s project is two parcels known as Park West North and Park West South in West Delray. The north plot is proposed for roughly 51 acres at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Florida’s Turnpike, east of Starkey Road.
The south plot is proposed for roughly 10 acres east of Persimmon Avenue and directly south of Atlantic Avenue.
Okean’s property used to operate a thriving nursery business, which Okean felt he was forced to abandon after a series of sudden changes, including a hurricane and Florida’s Turnpike-related construction work. Now, he is attempting to develop something that can again breathe life onto the land.
Originally, the county’s zoning commission was supposed to consider Park West North and South during a meeting on Thursday, but Okean’s planners requested a postponement, which was granted.
“I felt very comfortable with where we are with commissioners and staff,” Okean said. “As long as there are some folks that are pushing back and opposing it, let’s sit down and talk about it.”
Increasing fitness space
Okean doesn’t yet have specific revisions hammered out — he plans to meet with those involved in the project first, which includes his grown daughter and son.
One change he does plan to make, if possible, is increasing the fitness center space planned for Park West North.
During a recent county meeting, county commissioners expressed interest in allowing more fitness center space within the county’s commerce land-use designation. The commerce land use was adopted in 2022 and allows for light industrial activity in the Ag Reserve, which could include a contractor storage yard, data and information processing, manufacturing, a medical or dental laboratory, research and development, warehouses, wholesaling or a recycling center.
Currently, a commerce development allows up to 20% for fitness center space. Commissioners believe that number should be higher, agreeing to direct county staff to research into allowing up to 100% of fitness center space within a commerce development.
In recent months, business owners and people who live in Ag Reserve neighborhoods have expressed the need for more recreational opportunities, particularly for children.
“Entertainment, recreation for children, which I think is wonderful, that’s what I want. I want more of it,” Commissioner Maria Sachs said at the recent county meeting where the fitness center use was discussed.
Sachs said she does not necessarily want to see fitness uses mixed directly with all commerce uses though, such as warehouses or a brewery.
“We need recreation,” she said. “Our kids want it, but not next to a tap room.”
A ‘shortage of local services’
The discussion about increasing fitness center space is one part of a broader conversation about growing demands for services in the Ag Reserve.
At the end of March, county commissioners discussed the possibility of changing polices regulating growth in the Ag Reserve, which includes preserve requirements and the region’s commercial cap. The goal is to foster growth of more mixed-use developments.
Families who live in the Ag Reserve want places to go, Okean said.
And Park West, which Okean said is “truly a commerce center,” also will address the “shortage of local services” in the Ag Reserve.
People in communities such as GL Homes’ Valencia neighborhoods, for example, need plumbers and heating, ventilation and air conditioning technicians, Okean said.
However, many Ag Reserve landowners still orient their lifestyles around agriculture through farms, nurseries and equestrians operators. Some do not welcome the idea of bringing in more people, businesses and developments.
Ag Reserve nurseryman, Mike Atchison, the owner of Atchison Exotics, recently addressed the County Commission on behalf of the Agricultural Enhancement Council. The council does not want the rules in the reserve to change.
“Why did you move to the Ag Reserve? … Why would you move out here and then want to change it?” Atchison said before commissioners gathered to discuss changing the reserve’s rules.
‘So darn close’
Lingering opposition to Park West is exactly why Okean wanted to request a postponement.
“I think we’re so darn close. I just want to hear exactly what’s left,” Okean said. “At the end of the day I’ve been doing it for years. What’s another 60 days to iron it out?”
Before Park West, the project was known as Tenderly Reserve and proposed a mixed-use project with 700 multifamily units, a 150-room hotel, office space, an “indoor adventure rec and workspace,” a neighborhood grocery, workforce housing, a main street, a town center and a public preserve.
This project was deemed to be too much, so Okean took time with his family and planners to create what Park West is now.
“We’ve made major changes,” he said. “I’ll continue to listen, I’m not stopping.”
