Old golf course cleanup for Boca Teeca

Fence off access by ATVs. Install lighting for walkers. Get rid of dead vegetation and dying trees. Boca Teeca residents can look forward to these and other cleanup measures on their 212-acre former golf course Ocean Breeze.
Designs for a new public golf course were rendered moot when the city accepted the donation of Boca Country Club instead of proceeding.
So, with residents’ input not due until March, the owner approved plans to clean up the site in the meantime.
“Whatever we do in the interim, we need to improve the property,” Commissioner Bob Rollins said to sum up measures approved by the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District, the taxing authority that bought the property.
“If we have to spend $150,000 to keep it in better shape, we need to know this now, since we don’t anticipate developing it for a year or two,” added executive director Briann Harms.
Here’s what the district approved:
• Clean up dead vegetation and trees and have a plan to maintain the property;
• Evaluate demolishing buildings, a gas tank and signage, eradicate pests, remove debris;
• Fence the property, including split rail and chain link where appropriate. Determine costs.
The district also asked attorney Sam Goren to explore a new lease that would give the district leeway on a new entrance on Yamato Road. Commissioners are also awaiting a new agreement with the city.
Boca Teeca residents called in to the virtual meeting with their own take on what’s needed.
“Two years without irrigation, you end up with a field of weeds,” said Robert DuKate, who has followed the project from the beginning.
Nancy Jo Feinberg thanked staff “for inspecting and the work done on the three corners area this past week. There was lighting on the sidewalk on the east side where the hotel was demolished. Now that area is dark and people out walking find a safety hazard.”
Keep Golf in Boca president Harold Chaffee wants “to wait and see reactions to Boca Country Club,” when the city takes over in October. “But in the interim, there’s some things we can be doing.”
By Marci Shatzman