County to Highland Beach: Milani Park is coming to town whether you like it or not

Mike Diamond, Palm Beach Post
·5 min read
1

HIGHLAND BEACH — After 37 years, Palm Beach County is at last moving forward with plans to build Milani Park in Highland Beach despite pleas from Highland Beach residents and elected officials to sell the property.

The county has been trying to figure out what to do with the 5.6-acre parcel since it bought it from Cam and Lucia Milani for $4 million in 1987. To get the deal done, the county was required to build the park in Cam Milani's name. Cam Milani died in 1986. The parcel has already been named after Cam Milani but nothing has ever been built.

After nearly four decades of litigation and contention between the county and Highland Beach, the county is ready to build the park. Highland Beach, though, has not given up: it recently passed a resolution urging the county to sell the property, noting that its value has mushroomed to $47 million.

The settlement agreement and other documents related to the dispute can be found on the town's website.

The move to call for a sale of the parcel angered county officials, resulting in a break-off of negotiations. Marci Woodward and other commissioners argued that the county has no choice but to honor a settlement agreed to by the county and Highland Beach in 2010 that called for a park with spaces for 120 cars.

Lucia Milani gazes toward the Highland Beach beachfront in 2019. She has waited since 1987 for the county to build a county park on a beach parcel she and her late husband, Cam, sold to the county.
Lucia Milani gazes toward the Highland Beach beachfront in 2019. She has waited since 1987 for the county to build a county park on a beach parcel she and her late husband, Cam, sold to the county.

“You should consider selling it. Surely, there are projects out there in the county that are more deserving,” said Richard Greenwald, a Highland Beach resident. But that is not going to happen.

“We can and will deliver a beautiful park,” promised Woodward at a commission meeting on May 7, noting that the vacant land reminds her of a Florida of yesteryear. The Milani property straddles A1A, just north of Spanish River Boulevard in Highland Beach, a one-square-mile town with nearly 4,000 year-round residents.

What occupies the land at the future Highland Beach park site?

The outcropping rock provides a magnet for fish, a trait also enjoyed by the Japanese settlers who established the Yamato Colony, a farming community near Boca Raton, at the turn of the 20th century. This will be a park unlike any other in the county park system, Woodward said.

The western part is an open field. A sign says the park is coming soon. Across the street on the east side are sprawling sea grapes tangled with other vegetation and a secluded beach with a unique natural feature with historical significance: Yamato Rock. The county may consider putting a lifeguard on the beach along with a trail on so beachgoers could get to the beach. That is something that Highland Beach does not want to see happen.

Why is Highland Beach so vehemently opposed to a park?

Greenwald and scores of others, wearing “No Park” shirts, testified before the commission that the park would worsen an already intolerable traffic situation on A1A and create a safety problem for pedestrians trying to cross the street to get to the beach. They also say that it is unsafe to swim in the ocean to the east of Milani Park, and there often is no beach at high tides. It is possible that the county might build a lifeguard station there.

Highland Beach Commissioner Don Peters said when he campaigned for office last year, he met with hundreds of people. “Not one person wants this park,” he said. "We support our people."

Milani Park has had a tortured history

In 1974, Cam and Lucia Milani bought the parcel to build an apartment complex. The Town of Highland Beach opposed their plans, and after years of litigation and failed attempts to build on it, the Milanis agreed to sell the property to the county but only if a park in Cam's name was built. The land has continued to sit vacant because of continued opposition from Highland Beach and protracted litigation.

Eventually, a 2010 court settlement was reached that called for construction of the park to be delayed until at least 2020. And then another five-year extension was granted in 2019. While the agreement allows for another extension, county commissioners say there will be no more extensions.

“I have zero interest in selling this land,” said Commissioner Mack Bernard. “There is no negotiation here. There is a settlement that you (Highland Beach) agreed to. We are going to comply with it.”

Future home of Milani Park sign announces the county will soon be building a park on the site, much to the dismay of Highland Beach officials who fear the park will aggravate an already difficult traffic-congestion problem.
Future home of Milani Park sign announces the county will soon be building a park on the site, much to the dismay of Highland Beach officials who fear the park will aggravate an already difficult traffic-congestion problem.

The closest beach access is a half mile south in Delray Beach; there is no public beach access in Highland Beach. You can get there if you are already on the beach in either Delray Beach to the north or Boca Raton to the south.

Woodward said she is still willing to work with the town to develop plans but the issue of whether the park should be built is off the table. She described the Milani parcel “like stepping back in time and seeing original Florida. It does not exist anywhere else. It has been sitting there for decades and has grown up with native vegetation. This could be a great nature preserve with maybe a raised boardwalk. It is possible that the surface of the parking lot could be mulch instead of asphalt," she added.

HIGHLAND BEACH NEWS: Why Highland Beach is breaking away from Delray to create its own fire rescue department

Attorney Tom Carney, who represents the Milanis, called the settlement "a benefit for all South County residents," adding: “Building the park is the right thing to do. We desperately need a park by the beach. We are not growing more beach." Carney is also the mayor of adjacent Delray Beach.

Commissioner Gregg Weiss said that even though the current commission has nothing to do with the 2010 settlement, the county must adhere to it, adding: “It is a matter of trust. We must live with an agreement even though it was not made by us.”

In an article in The Palm Beach Post in 2019, Lucia Milani said:

“I want to see this park developed before I die. I think they owe it to me — that I sold it to the county for that purpose and the sole purpose of making it a public park for Palm Beach County residents — and they owe it to the people who paid for it.”

The county is expected to receive proposals from design firms for Milani Park on May 24.

Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and transportation. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County to Highland Beach: Milani Park will finally be built