In the quietest – and shortest– meeting since consideration of the controversial Wellington North and South projects began last year, the Florida village’s Planning, Zoning and Adjustment Board unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday night approving the compatibility of a new showgrounds with other uses in the Planned Unit Development where it will be located.
Several adjustments were suggested (PZAB is only an advisory board) to the compatibility determination passed earlier this month by the Equestrian Preserve Committee, also an advisory group. Several of the items requested by the EPC were determined to be more along the lines of an operational nature than a compatibility determination.
The Village Council, which makes the final decision, is scheduled to review everything at its next meeting March 5.
The showgrounds is being built by developer NEXUS and Wellington Lifestyle Partners, owner of the property south of the Wellington International showgrounds that is for sale by owner Global Equestrian Group.
Michael Stone, president of Wellington International, said there was no need at this time for an additional 220 permanent stalls at the new site. The EPC had voted to have the original allocation of 220 permanent stalls doubled. The remainder of the planned 1,108 stalls will be in tents.
Stone explained that 60 percent of the dressage competitors are there for national classes, and 80 to 90 percent of them haul their horses in to compete and take them home hours later, so they would not use stalls. They are charged a $45 haul-in fee.
Diagram of haul-in area at new showgrounds.
He mentioned that if there is a need for more permanent stalls, they can always be added. It was also noted that stalls at the current dressage show site, Equestrian Village, are 10 by 12, while all the stalls at the new showgrounds will be 12 by 12.
Stone doesn’t feel the showgrounds should be required to provide stall mats as EPC requested, explaining that is not a customary practice at shows around the world. He suggested that if people want stall mats, they can either bring them, rent them or buy them.
Although EPC wanted hospitality facilities to be built along the lines of the Media Center at Wellington International, WLP Vice President Paige Bellissimo Nunez said it should be done without the glass that is in the media center, because it could cause viewing issues.
Paige Bellissimo Nunez and Michael Stone.
Nunez also asked for some “wiggle room” on the original EPC request for having rings separated by 30 feet, instead citing a 25-foot minimum.
The most interesting items that came up at the meeting, which lasted less than 90 minutes, were answers to two questions posed by Dr. Kristy Lund, a member of the Equestrian Preserve Committee.
She wondered why Mark Bellissimo was listed as a manager of Wellington Lifestyle Partners II when Doug McMahon, the WLP CEO, had insisted in a statement at a Feb. 7 Council meeting that Bellisimo would have no role in management.
A number of speakers at the various meetings about the showgrounds and development on the Equestrian Preserve had expressed animosity toward Bellissimo, citing promises that had not been kept on various projects.
McMahon replied that attorneys had “erroneously” included Bellissimo’s name on WLP II, which was formed for a “future transaction.” He did not specify what that might be.
Lund also was concerned about fill being moved on a five-acre “equestrian amenity” site adjacent to the acreage designated for the new showgrounds, which will be the home not only of dressage, but also include jumpers as well, and have a grass field.
She cited environmental issues about a pond being “drained and filled in a potential wetland area,” noting there is a federally endangered species of bird there.”
WLP attorney John Fumero said all the activity on the site had been seen by the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corps of Engineers as recently as last month, and there is no unpermitted activity.
“We’re being looked at very carefully by every agency you can think of to make sure. It’s very stringent,” he commented.
The lawyer added that although there will be some permit modifications after final approval of the project by the Village Council, the “wetland preserve area will stay in its natural state in perpetuity.”
