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West Boynton retirees oppose plan for low-cost housing near them
By Patty Pensa
WEST BOYNTON · Plans to build 320 apartments for low-income families west of Boynton Beach have brought fierce resistance from residents who say affordable housing has no place among retiree communities unless it is restricted to seniors.
Coconut Grove-based Housing Trust Group of Florida is awaiting county approval to build the apartments and 100 townhouses on about 40 acres of the Green Cay farm. Ted Winsberg, who has farmed the land west of Jog Road for 50 years, said he is selling the property at half its value because he wants affordable housing there.
Winsberg already has sold the county 176 acres for a wetlands park that would be open to the public. In 1996, he told residents a retirement village would be built on the 40 acres on his property's northern boundary.
Some residents say they are frustrated because they had counted on seniors, not low-income families, living there. They contend the area does not have adequate services, such as schools and transportation, to support an influx of young people. They say they worry about a community of transients who might not care for their homes as owners do.
"This is a senior community," said Ed Glass of the nearby Coral Lakes community. "We're not against affordable housing. We'd like to see affordable senior housing."
Anita Rosensweet of Coral Lakes said the proposed development was akin to "warehousing the poor."
"It's sort of ridiculous to place rental units like this here," Rosensweet said. "We're all private homes."
The idea of a retirement village fell by the wayside when Winsberg found it too costly. He said he owed something to working people -- the kind of people who worked for him. Secretaries, records clerks, library workers, firefighters, some school teachers and retirees would be among the people who would qualify for the apartments, said County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, who is supporting the developer's plans.
The call for more affordable housing in Palm Beach County reached the commission last year. Commissioners voted to offer developers incentives, such as letting them build more homes than normally allowed, so they would create more affordable housing.
For a one-bedroom apartment in the proposed community, qualifying individuals could earn no more than $26,400. Their rent would be $706 per month. For a family of six, annual income could not exceed $43,680. Monthly rent would be $847 for a two-bedroom apartment and $979 for a three-bedroom.
Townhouses would sell for $140,000. The community would have children's play areas, a business center, pool and clubhouse. Renters who lived there more than a year would get 5 percent of their gross rent back to purchase a home, said Sean Schwinghammer, the developer's vice president for acquisition and development.
"Who can argue with that?" asked Glass, a retired salesman. "Nobody here is dead-set against people getting a good start and moving up."
But Glass and others wanted a development that would fit in with what the area already offers.
Housing Trust Group of Florida has two similar affordable-housing developments in the county: Colony Park on Belvedere Road west of West Palm Beach and Venetian Isles in Lake Park. Schwinghammer said the western Boynton Beach community would be more upscale than those two. It would follow the area's development guidelines, which require such things as barrel-tile roofs.
"We're not building projects," he said. "I don't doubt there are people who don't understand what we're doing. I'm ready to meet with anyone to discuss what we're going to do."
Harold Uhrbach of the nearby Lakeridge Falls community said he had no problem with the idea.
"Working people have a right to live in respectable housing," he said.
Patty Pensa can be reached at ppensa@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6609.