Margate planning board recommends land‑use change for Carolina Club, 2–1

The City of Margate Planning and Zoning Board voted Tuesday to recommend that the City Commission approve a land‑use plan amendment and rezoning allowing redevelopment of the closed Carolina Club golf course, a 148‑acre site at 3011 Rock Island Road. The board’s recommendation passed both items by 2–1 after a three‑hour public hearing spilling into a lengthy public‑comment period.

The recommendation matters because it allows the application to move to the city commission for first reading and then to Broward County and state review; it does not authorize construction. Attorney Matthew Scott, representing the applicant, told the board, “the recommendation we’re seeking from the planning and zoning board tonight does not authorize construction.”

Board members and staff said the vote was an early step in a long, multiyear process that still requires county and state reviews, environmental remediation permits, detailed site‑plan approval and legally binding development agreements. The developer, identified in the hearing as Rosemorgy Properties, presented a revised plan that removed proposed apartments and cut commercial space while committing about 67 acres to lakes, trails and parks in perpetuity.

Developer presentation and commitments Matthew Scott, attorney at Greenstone Martyr, said his client is under contract to buy the property and described a conceptual plan of three “pods”: a commercial node on the east corner, townhomes in two pods to the north and west, and roughly 67 acres of permanently restricted lakes, trails and pocket parks. Scott said the applicant had revised the project after community meetings: • Commercial: reduced from 57,000 to 30,000 square feet; zoned B‑2 community business. • Residential: Pod B reduced from 377 townhomes to 290 townhomes (R3A zoning). • Pod C amended from ~507 apartments to up to 250 townhomes (R3A); the applicant described the overall proposed maximum as roughly 540 townhomes across pods B…