Following two nights of meetings on a project involving rezoning part of the Wellington, Florida, Equestrian Preserve — an application linked to expansion of the Wellington International showgrounds — the Village Zoning, Planning and Adjustment board put off a vote until next month.
Twenty-seven people spoke on the contentious subject Thursday in the public hearing portion of the board’s second session on Thursday. Board Vice Chairman John Bowers read the names and opinions of dozens of others from comment cards presented to the panel. By the time he finished, it was midnight before closing statements from the developer and “interested parties” could have been heard.
Considering the late hour, the zoning board decided to put off that part of the process and a vote until the panel’s next regular meeting on Aug. 16. That is nearly two weeks before the fate of the project could be decided at a Village Council meeting tentatively scheduled for Aug. 28 (and Aug. 29, if necessary).
Removing acreage from the Equestrian Preserve in the “Winter Equestrian Capital of the World” requires a super-majority of four of the five council members. Both the zoning board and the Equestrian Preserve Committee are advisory groups whose input is used by the council in making a decision. After two nights of hearings last month, the Preserve committee members unanimously voted against the request to take land from the Preserve.
Zoning board members started their second meeting of the week (click here to read a story on the first meeting) with questions for Village zoning and planning staff; Michael Stone, president of Wellington International, which runs the showgrounds, and Doug McMahon, managing director of developer Tavistock Group, co-founder of the Nexus Luxury Collection.
The applications under discussion for The Wellington North & South are being put forward by Wellington Lifestyle Partners (WLP), whose executive vice president and partner is Paige Bellissimo. She is the daughter of Mark Bellisimo, who made his name in the horse world as the point man for Wellington Equestrian Partners in the 2007 purchase of the showgrounds that is home to the Winter Equestrian Festival. Mark Bellissimo also was involved in entities that bought much of the land in the vicinity of the showgrounds, including the 90 acres needed for its expansion in the South portion of the project.
The Populous architectural firm, which will design the new Wellington International showgrounds, envisions this setting as the entrance.
WLP calls its project the Wellington Equestrian and Golf Club. (A golf course was purchased in April for $35 million as a key element of the resort club community). The Partners are seeking permission to construct 400 dwellings, including single-family homes, condos and townhouses, as well as small farms and a fitness/wellness center in addition to sports and recreation facilities.
WLP is requesting that 95.6 acres be removed from the protected Equestrian Preserve property in the North section, now the home of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival at Equestrian Village, in order to construct luxury housing there.
During Thursday’s hearing, it was mentioned that if the zoning change on that North parcel property is approved, no housing construction could proceed until the expanded showgrounds on the South parcel is ready for use. Zoning for the land to be added to the showgrounds must be changed from residential to commercial equestrian recreation.
Dressage competition is scheduled to continue at Equestrian Village at least through the 2024 winter season.
Michael Stone and Mark Bellissimo in 2007 by the old polo stadium at what would become the home of dressage at Equestrian Village in the Equestrian Preserve.( Photo © 2007 by Nancy Jaffer)
Wellington Lifestyle Partners, which McMahon serves as CEO, is not involved in the showgrounds expansion. That will be undertaken by the Global Equestrian Group, owner of Wellington International. But GEG lacks a signed contract to buy the necessary land for that expansion from WLP, which also seeks to change the land use and master plan for its property in the South parcel.
The tenuous connection between WLP’s projects and the showgrounds expansion has been difficult to understand for many, as well as why WLP doesn’t just sell land for the showgrounds to Wellington International right now. It has even been accused by Equestrian Preserve Committee Chairperson Jane Cleveland of holding the land sale “hostage” in order to get its zoning requests fulfilled.
But Thursday night, a new idea was presented, the prospect of WLP and Wellington International becoming co-applicants on the South parcel to coordinate development. Wellington International also is seeking rezoning there, to equestrian commercial for the acreage that would become part of the expanded showgrounds.
Eventually, dressage would move to the Wellington International site nearby on Pierson Road when the entire showgrounds is expanded over another 90 acres, land that is part of approximately 269 acres that is the South segment of the Wellington Lifestyle Partners’ application.
The timeline for completion of the showgrounds is uncertain, but Paige Bellissimo told the board, “We don’t want to leave dressage or the (adjacent) derby field (where hunters and jumpers compete) high and dry” without a home at Equestrian Village if the new showgrounds is not finished.
“So this is our commitment on paper to not leaving them orphaned. We really want to show that we’re partners in this and we’re committed to the showgrounds as well.”
That enlarged Wellington International would have a jumper stadium and new indoor and outdoor arenas on the additional acreage GEG wants to buy, while the land currently used by the showgrounds would host only hunters and dressage. Stone estimated that during the Winter Equestrian Festival, the rearrangement of disciplines means shows will include 1,200 hunters and 300 dressage horse on the site of the current showgrounds. That is a total of 1,500 horses in an area that now serves 3,000, including the jumpers, which means the cramped circumstances would be alleviated as the jumpers move off to their own venue on the showgrounds’ new, bigger footprint.
Dressage riders rarely have had the chance to ride in the main arena at Wellington International, but plans call for them to be based there once the new showgrounds is built. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Much of the conversation recently about the importance of expanding the showgrounds goes beyond crowding at the site, or the lack of parking, need for better maintenance and the inconvenience of moving catering and equipment between Wellington International and Equestrian Village.
New high-end facilities in Ocala and Sarasota are offering competition to Wellington; not only in attracting riders and residents, but also bringing in sponsors and vendors. The current showgrounds could be viewed as outdated. Stone pointed out during the meeting that the VIP pavilion at Wellington International is basically under a tent because of regulations prohibiting a permanent building. That means the facilities are not attractive to sponsors, who don’t want clients coming to a venue lacking air conditioning and other amenities.
Some at the meeting who objected to more housing cited traffic issues, although zoning staffers downplayed what effect development would have in that area, and suggested alternate entrances to the expanded showgrounds might improve the situation. The biggest issue in regard to traffic, the bottleneck at the intersection of Pierson and South Shore Boulevard could be solved with expanded and additional turning lanes, rather than road widening, it was suggested.
While there seems to be general agreement that expanding the showgrounds would be a good thing for Wellington’s identity, most of those who spoke at Thursday’s meeting or submitted comment cards are against removing acreage from the Preserve to insure that the showgrounds can obtain additional acreage.That shows the difficulty of making land for a new showgrounds on the South parcel available only if the North parcel is taken out of the preserve and rezoned.
A petition against removing Equestrian Preserve land and amending zoning to allow an increase in residential density has gotten nearly 5,300 signatures.
Resident Mark Elie said 2016 traffic studies were used in evaluating what would happen with an influx of additonal cars due to increased development
“This is going to destroy what our lifestyle is like. We do not need more homes causing more traffic,” he commented.
Farm owner Michael Whitlow told board members they have “an obligation to preserve the Preserve. Once you start chipping away at the Preserve, we’re going to have nothing but development forever and ever.”
Several people speaking in support of the expansion did not mention the loss of land from the Preserve, but rather, zeroed in on the importance of keeping up with the times for the health of the equestrian industry.
Entrepreneur Michael Cruciotti, the brother of show jumper Kelli Cruciotti Vanderveen, said he and his wife moved to Wellington six years ago for the horse show. He organized Equestrians for Wellington, which got more than 500 signatures this week from trainers, grooms, riders and others in the industry supporting the new plan. He called the horse show their “lifeblood.”
“Unless the horse show is allowed to expand, we will not see this investment continue into our community,” he said, citing the presence of “better options out there right now,” mentioning the World Equestrian Center in Ocala with its 5-star hotel and multitude of restaurants.
“If the horse show is not able to expand,” he cautioned, “I fear we may not have a horse show in the next five to 10 years.”