Golf Courses to Homes in Wellington and Royal Palm Beach: The Infill Law

Golf Courses to Homes: How the Infill Law Is Hitting the Western Communities

Florida's new Infill Redevelopment Act is already reshaping the conversation about golf courses in the western communities. In Wellington, the new owner of the shuttered Polo West course is exploring luxury homes. Next door in Royal Palm Beach, a developer has met with village staff about redeveloping the 174-acre Village Golf Club, and neighbors are pushing back. The law can let qualifying projects skip public hearings. Supporters say it unlocks badly needed housing on underused land. Critics say it takes the decision away from the people who live there.

The infill law at a glance

The law: The Infill Redevelopment Act (SB 1434), signed May 21, 2026
Where it applies: Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties
Golf courses: Closed courses surrounded by homes can qualify after at least 12 straight months out of operation
Approval: Qualifying projects are approved administratively, without commission votes or public hearings
Local examples: Polo West in Wellington (about 150 acres) and the Village Golf Club in Royal Palm Beach (174 acres)

How the law works

According to a summary by the law firm Holland & Knight, the law covers certain parcels of at least 5 acres next to residential zoning, including contaminated sites and closed recreation sites such as golf courses. For qualifying projects:

Approval is administrative, "without commission votes or public hearings."
Density is capped at the lower of the average density of the neighboring residential zoning or 25 homes per acre.
Projects next to single-family homes need a buffer of at least 20 feet kept as open space.
For closed recreation sites, adjacent owners get 90 days to buy the land and keep it as open space, and a developer that moves forward pays double the parks impact fee.

In Wellington: Polo West

Miami-based BH Group bought the long-shuttered Polo West Golf Course off South Shore Blvd. for $20.8 million and has said it plans a luxury single-family community. It has given the Village documentation on how it says the site qualifies under the new law, the Town-Crier reported in July. Village Manager Jim Barnes called it "one of the most significant redevelopment opportunities in Wellington in many years." Read our full breakdown: Could Polo West become homes?

Next door: Royal Palm Beach's Village Golf Club

Royal Palm Beach staff recently met with developer 13th Floor Homes about redeveloping the Village Golf Club using the same law, the Town-Crier reported in October. Unlike Polo West, the Village Golf Club is still used for recreation, and the law requires a course to be out of operation for at least a year, so it's unclear how a project there would qualify. 13th Floor proposed 450 homes on part of the site in 2018, a plan that drew a packed council meeting of opponents and never moved forward. Neighbors have started a petition to save the green space.

The case for the law

A housing shortage. The bill as filed states that "this state's urban areas lack sufficient land for the development of additional residential uses" and that land in or near urban areas is difficult to develop or redevelop.
Fixing neglected land. Closed courses like Polo West have sat largely unused for years. Barnes noted that, unlike building on undeveloped land, redeveloping it means "productive use of existing infrastructure."
Built-in protections. The required buffers, the neighbors' 90-day option to buy the land, and double parks fees are meant to soften the impact on surrounding homes.
Faster, predictable approvals. The Legislature found that expedited permitting for these parcels serves the public interest in cleaning up land and increasing housing.

The case against

No public hearings. "[The state's] decision that Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties do not need open, successful golf courses, with no public hearings, is inconsistent with everything that I was to understand with development in Florida," Royal Palm Beach Village Manager Ray Liggins said.
Traffic and infrastructure. Royal Palm Beach Mayor Jeff Hmara warned that more cars would worsen traffic, especially on Okeechobee Blvd. "Development is a serious, serious problem, to which I don't know there's significant mitigation available," he said.
Losing green space. Neighbors who bought homes for the golf course views worry that once open space is gone, it's gone for good.
Local leaders' hands are tied. "We do not see this as desirable. At the end of the day, the Infill Redevelopment Act is the law," Hmara said. "We all will have to comply with it, but we'll do our very best to make sure that the concerns of our citizens are addressed."

What to watch

As of the latest Town-Crier reports, neither project had gone through a public approval step. In Wellington, Village staff will review any Polo West filing under the law's standards. In Royal Palm Beach, the open question is whether a course still in use can qualify at all. For another state law changing what gets built locally, see how the Live Local Act is bringing apartments to Wellington.

What do you think?

Is turning closed golf courses into homes a smart way to ease South Florida's housing crunch, or should neighbors always get a public hearing before their green space changes? For more on development out west, see the data center moratorium and Project Tango.

Frequently asked questions

Can golf courses in Palm Beach County be turned into homes?

Under Florida's 2026 Infill Redevelopment Act, closed golf courses surrounded by homes in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties can qualify for residential redevelopment after being out of operation for at least 12 straight months, with administrative approval and no public hearings.

Which local golf courses could be affected?

The Town-Crier has reported on two: the shuttered Polo West Golf Course in Wellington, whose new owner BH Group is exploring luxury homes, and the Village Golf Club in Royal Palm Beach, where developer 13th Floor Homes met with village staff.

Do neighbors get any say under the Infill Redevelopment Act?

There are no public hearings for qualifying projects, but for closed recreation sites, adjacent owners get 90 days to buy the land and keep it as open space, and projects next to single-family homes need at least a 20-foot open-space buffer.