Boca Raton Mayor Andy Thomson said this week that the city should not foot the bill for a golf course at North Park. He made that position clear during a joint meeting between the City Council and the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District, even as more than a dozen residents stood up to demand exactly that.
Thomson said the city should not pay to build a golf course at North Park, according to Boca Post. He was careful to note that his position is not anti-golf. The mayor said he still supports golf at North Park and had floated the idea of a family-friendly executive course there back in 2019, per the same outlet's report. Thomson added that any golf development needs to fit within the city's broader recreational priorities and capital projects, and he said the district is capable of building facilities at North Park on its own.
According to TAPinto Boca Raton, Thomson warned that having the city pay for the golf component specifically would warp the relationship between the city and the district. He pointed to a comparison from West Palm Beach, where Boca Post reported that a family-friendly golf course was built using roughly $55 million in private donations rather than municipal money — a model Thomson suggested could apply closer to home.
Residents Pack the Room to Push Back
The turnout at the meeting left little doubt about public sentiment. Of roughly 30 people who spoke during public comment, 18 urged the City Council and the district to bring public golf back to North Park, Boca Post reported. TAPinto Boca Raton similarly noted that more than a dozen residents called for golf to be included in the development during the session.
Boca Raton City Councilwoman Stacy Sipple said people want golf at North Park, and she questioned the need for yet another study to gauge public interest in the idea, according to TAPinto Boca Raton. Deputy Mayor Michelle Grau raised a different concern, noting that the district has already spent thousands of dollars on North Park proposals that previous City Councils rejected. Grau said she wants assurances that the city will be a committed partner as plans move forward.
No Money, No Vote, No Final Plan
District Commissioner Erin Wright was direct about the finances: the district has no money allocated for golf right now. Wright said the district has instead set aside $10 million for a field house and another $10 million for the second phase of Countess de Hoernle Park, Boca Post reported. Despite the packed room and pointed public comments, no votes were taken at the joint meeting, and golf was not even on the agenda, per the outlet.
The district says it is starting a golf assessment to figure out what would actually fit on the North Park site — whether that is an 18-hole course, a nine-hole course, or some other configuration, according to the same Boca Post account. The western portion of the former golf property remains undeveloped, and the district has not adopted a final development plan or committed any construction funding for golf, the Boca Raton Tribune reported.
A Long History on the Former Ocean Breeze Course
North Park sits on the footprint of the former Ocean Breeze golf course in the Boca Teeca neighborhood, a roughly 212-acre property the district purchased in 2018, according to the Boca Raton Tribune. Other district accounts place the purchase in 2017, so the exact year remains unsettled between sources. The city provided the district with $19 million toward that purchase in March 2018, according to the City of Boca Raton.
The city and district have been down this road before. The city formally offered to fund construction and operation of an 18-hole course, branded Boca National, on the property, and a revised design later brought the estimated cost down from $28 million to about $15 million by November 2019, per the City of Boca Raton. That effort collapsed when district commissioners unanimously rejected the amended interlocal agreement as drafted in January 2020, the city's records show.
Other proposals have surfaced over the years for the same acreage. Boca Magazine previously reported on a Municipal Golf Partners concept — a joint venture of Kemper Sports and Old Town Capital — that envisioned a par-3 course, a driving range with 30 to 35 covered bays, and a Himalayan-style putting green, all funded through a $20 million private investment that would pay the district 5% of gross revenues. The magazine noted the district was still in the preliminary stage of evaluating the financial feasibility of such proposals. Separately, the Sun-Sentinel reported in 2021 that the district was weighing alternatives in part because two public golf courses would sit within a three-mile drive of each other under the original golf-heavy plans.
Construction Already Underway on Non-Golf Features
Golf isn't the only thing happening at North Park. A groundbreaking ceremony on September 3 marked the start of construction on other elements of the park, according to TAPinto Boca Raton, with the development set to include a dog park, walking and cycling trails, mountain bike trails, a playground, and outdoor fitness equipment. Future phases of North Park, which still require city approval, are expected to include various golf elements, according to the district's own mybocaparks.org site.
The North Park property itself is owned outright by the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District. The Boca Raton Tribune has reported that the city and district rely on interlocal agreements to define their parks and recreation relationship, though the evidence does not establish whether any current agreement would require either party to fund a golf facility. For now, the question of whether golf returns to North Park — and who pays for it — remains open, with the district's assessment still to come and no funding commitment in place from either side.
