Concept images of Emporium by developer Upper Buena Vista Management.
By Jill Fox
As construction begins on the development of the former Heron Bay Golf Course, residents are eager to see the plans.
Rod Colon, district manager of the North Springs Improvement District (NSID), said they meet with the developer each month and make sure they are moving forward progressively.
Developer Upper Buena Vista Management proposed Emporium’s winning concept at a September 15 meeting. This three-part project includes health, design, arts, entertainment, and an education program in a village-like environment surrounded by nature preserves.
At their meeting on January 2, the NSID board made some adjustments to the developer’s proposals, including the addition of a memorial for the 17 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre on February 14, 2018.
Mike Moser, President of the Parkland 17 Memorial Foundation, had sent a letter to NSID, asking them to consider placing the permanent public memorial somewhere in the preserve.
Ideally, it will be peaceful,” said Tony Montalto, Vice President of the foundation. “It will be a location we can design with the intention for people to go there on a scale to match the tragedy.”
“Picking the site of the memorial was a big step,” said Colon. The proposed location is near the clubhouse on the border of Coral Springs and Parkland.
“Residents of both cities lost their lives that terrible day,” said Montalto. “The point is to memorialize the people who were taken from us that day, not the event that took them.”
According to Colon, there is now a need for additional parking for the memorial and preserve areas, eliminating some land. Upper Vista requested more time to make the necessary revisions to the site plans.
“We’re hoping they will tone it down a little, and they will give us more than one site plan to choose from,” he said.
This comes after A Parkland group filed a lawsuit to stop the commercial development on the Heron Bay Golf Course on November 5.
“They are scaling back,” said Colon. “Everyone is eagerly anticipating what it will look like.”
With a new deadline of January 31 for the revisions, NSID hopes to share it with the community for input very soon.
The Heron Bay Golf Course was purchased in 2010 for $4.75 million by ClubLink, a Canadian corporation that owns several other South Florida clubs. NSID signed a contract on March 3, 2021, to purchase the land and buildings for $32 million.
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