P B C Votes Down Callery

May 15, 2007, Palm Beach Post, Pbc votes down Callery, By Mitra Malek.

WEST PALM BEACH — A quick and decisive vote killed Callery-Judge Grove's proposal to build a 10,000-home town-centered community in Loxahatchee.

The 4-2 vote Tuesday night, shortly after county commissioners returned from a dinner break during their day-long meeting, surprised many.

Commissioner Karen Marcus made a motion to deny the project in its entirety. Commissioners Jess Santamaria, Addie Greene and Warren Newell voted in step with Marcus. Commissioners Mary McCarty and Burt Aaronson did not. Commissioner Jeff Koons had left the meeting early due to a family medical emergency.

Callery-Judge moments earlier had requested either a continuation or a final decision. The grove wanted a continuation to study a charge leveled Tuesday by three municipalities that the project would bring $1 billion in road improvements.

"It's been two years," Marcus said, adding that a final vote was in order.

Callery had spent years crafting its plan and ushering it through the approval process.

Tuesday's meeting followed an initial one last week, which hundreds of opponents and supporters attended, waving signs and sporting shirts that expressed their position on the grove's proposal.

A more subdued scene of about 100 residents greeted Palm Beach County Commission on Tuesday afternoon for the continued hearing

County commissioners in May 2006 preliminarily approved the project. Current county laws allow 392 homes on Callery's 3,900 acres. A new state law allows about 3,000 homes.

Find this article at: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/15/0515calleryvotefeed.html

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