Who pays the bill? Straub, Palm Beach Polo homeowners head to court over Big Blue Preserve

WELLINGTON — Who will pay to restore the Big Blue Cypress Preserve?

The 92.4-acre wetland, considered Florida's largest remaining Cypress Hammock, has been the center of a decades-long legal dispute between Wellington and developer Glenn Straub.

Now Straub is suing the property owner's association of Palm Beach Polo Golf & Country Club over the same claims that the village filed against his company for years: failing to preserve and enhance Big Blue.

Straub's Palm Beach Polo Holdings says the homeowners' association for the luxury community along South Shore Boulevard that encompasses the preserve entered a 99-year lease agreement for the property last year and is responsible of remediating the native vegetation his company destroyed there years ago.

Attorneys representing residents of Palm Beach Polo say the association is only responsible for maintaining the "untouched portions of Big Blue which are not destroyed or cleared by Palm Beach Polo."

"This is an unfounded attempt to try to displace liability of enforcement actions litigated by the Village of Wellington against PBP over the last decade,” the HOA's response said in part.

Circuit Judge Bradley Harper on May 16 will consider if Straub's Palm Beach Polo or the neighborhood's association must front the bill for the restoration plan, which the village estimated will cost $40,000 in its initial stages. That is on top of the annual cost to maintain the preserve that Straub said in a letter was about $200,000.

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The Big Blue Preserve is caught in a big legal entanglement

Wellington and Straub's Palm Beach Polo Inc., the company that developed Palm Beach Polo Golf & Country Club, have been entangled in legal battles over the care of Big Blue since the early 2000s.

In 2015, Wellington filled criminal charges against Palm Beach Polo Inc. for destroying wetland's native vegetation by using mechanical methods to clear invasive plants without approval from the village.

Nine years later, Circuit Judge James Nutt ruled that Palm Beach Polo Inc. and Straub, its “hands-on CEO,” had "carelessly cleared" significant areas of cypress trees in Big Blue, breaking their cycle of development.

Nutt's Aug. 8, 2023, ruling also found Palm Beach Polo and Straub had violated three previous court orders from 2004 and 2018 to "preserve and enhance" Big Blue and ordered the company to commit to a restoration plan that addresses the damage done by the mechanical clearing.

“These protections are critical in the sustainability of the preserve,” wrote Nutt. “Big Blue is probably the last piece of old-growth cypress swamp in Palm Beach County.”

The judge didn’t grant the village’s request to find Straub in criminal contempt but warned future violations may lead to criminal charges. "Although the contemptuous conduct exhibited by the defendant, if allowed to persist, may very well lead to the destruction of the preserve, the proverbial death by a thousand razor cuts," Nutt wrote.

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Palm Beach Polo tried to make homeowners' group part of its lawsuit against Wellington

On July 28, a month before Nutt's rulings, the president of the Palm Beach Polo’s Property Owners Association, signed an agreement with Straub to lease Big Blue for 99 years at an annual cost of $100. POA president Andrew Carduner also agreed to purchase the community's Tennis House facilities for $13 million.

Carduner said in a letter to residents last summer the lease will limit use of the preserve to Palm Beach Polo residents, who will be able to walk, hike and bike in the wetland. Palm Beach Polo residents have said the preserve does not have walkable trails.

“Gaining control of Big Blue strengthens our position when protecting all property owners,” Carduner wrote. “The 99-year lease takes the property out of play.”

On Oct. 23, almost for months after both parties agreed to the lease, Palm Beach Polo Inc. filed a motion to include the community's property owner's association in the nine-year lawsuit with the village.

Alex Domb, an attorney for Straub, argued before Judge Nutt that the association had "assumed all responsibility" for the maintenance of Big Blue and must “hold harmless” Palm Beach Polo for any requirements set forth by governments such as the village and the South Florida Water Management District, according to the lease.

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“Based upon Polo's inability to do anything with regard to Big Blue that ever turned out to be acceptable to Wellington,” Domb wrote in the motion, "and in light of the most recent indirect criminal and civil contempt, Polo made a business decision to remove itself from the Big Blue equation.”

Wellington opposed the motion, saying Palm Beach Polo, and not the homeowners' group, remained responsible for the damage and that it was also in contempt of violating previous court orders saying it had an "undisputed obligation" to preserve and enhance Big Blue.

Village attorneys argued Polo had leased the preserve to the association without Wellington’s knowledge “in an attempt to rid itself of the contempt sanctions.” They added: “Polo’s own admissions support the conclusion that the lease was executed in bad faith or out of a collusive effort to avoid the decree of the Court.”

Lindsey Lehr, a Miami-based attorney representing the POA, said Nutt sided with Wellington and ruled the homeowners could not join as a party because Palm Beach Polo's violation occurred before 2022 and to date have not been remedied.

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On Nov. 30, Palm Beach Polo Holdings, a subsidiary of Palm Beach Polo Inc., filed a lawsuit against the association for two counts of breach of contract, alleging it has refused to maintain Big Blue.

Larry Zink, an attorney representing Palm Beach Polo Holdings, said it sought $2 million from the association since its failure to maintain the wetland that has resulted in Wellington and the court extending fines to the company.

Lehr filed a motion on Jan. 20 saying the association would maintain the preserve but that it was not responsible for the fines against Palm Beach Polo Inc. that were a result of its "willful destruction of Big Blue and repeated violation of the Court Orders.”

Lehr argued the "crux” of Polo's complaint stems from court orders and enforceable actions for its conduct and noncompliance that predate the lease. She added there is language in the agreement that protects the association from having to pay for damage done before it was signed.

"However, if the failure to comply with applicable law is due to a condition that existed as of the effective date that required correction to be in compliance with applicable law, the landlord shall be responsible,” the lease states.

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Wellington wanted Big Blue plan in place before summer rains come

After a lack of response from Palm Beach Polo Inc., Wellington officials in February sought an order from Judge Nutt to force Straub's company submit a restoration plan to the village.

It also wanted a timeline for the project that would be carried out before the end of this year's dry season on June 1.

Nutt gave Straub's company until Friday, March 29, to submit the plan with time commitments. Domb said he filed a proposal to the village late on Thursday, May 28.

Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Palm Springs and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Saving Wellington's Big Blue Preserve: Glenn Straub, homeowners head to court