It didn’t exactly take an act of Congress to get a gas station at the Boca Raton Costco. But neighbors once opposed to the store had to sign off, and the county agreed to change the original documents forbidding a station at the site.
A dozen pumps opened with great fanfare on Nov. 17, and the important and larger than usual crowd at the ribbon cutting reflected an effort that took almost two years, said assistant manager Geri Auerbach.
“No gas station shall be permitted on the property nor shall there be cross access to any existing or future adjacent gas station,” was one of the conditions of use for the site, according to the document Auerbach dug out of her desk drawer.
So Boca Costco members had to go north to Lantana or south to Pompano Beach to gas up all this time, and Auerbach said an informal poll of members while they were shopping encouraged her to go for it.
“Beautiful. We’re so happy,” said Ramiro and Maria Camejo, who live across the street in Boca Golf & Tennis Club, representing a change of heart. The community led the charge to prevent the Costco from being built at 17800 Congress Ave. a decade ago.
Palm Beach County commissioners voted 5-2 in June 2001, to allow the store, after more than five hours of debate and months of lobbying, according to the Sun Sentinel. The objections were largely from the 1,700 residents who lived in Boca Golf & Tennis Club at the time, and 100 protesters filled the meeting to plead with commissioners to reject the project.
Costco estimated they budgeted $375,000 for lawyer fees alone. Boca Golf & Tennis Property Owners Association Inc. estimated it spent $50,000 in membership fees to pay for a counter attack, according to the Sentinel reports.
But that was then and this is now, and the club’s 12 communities were onboard after Auerbach reached out to POA president Verne Mayhew. “Verne got them together,” and she made a presentation, she said. “Once they realized we didn’t affect their property values,” there was more support.
“Their big thing was no signage,” Mayhew said, about the opposition, “I always wanted it [the store].”
Even though the building is outside the city limits, Costco agreed to conform to city appearance standards, which are higher than the county’s, said former Boca mayor, now County Commissioner Steven Abrams, who attended the opening in his district.
“This Costco has the highest landscaping bill in the chain,” Auerbach added.
Among the dignitaries at the ceremony were Boca Raton Mayor Susan Whelchel and city council members, Delray Beach Mayor Woodie McDuffie, Greater Boca Raton Chamber president and CEO Troy McLellan, West Boca Chamber chairman Jeff Karsin and Costco’s new manager Larry Lewis.
