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Discussions about West Palm Beach golf course near a high school

Posted at 7:59 PM, Mar 03, 2020
and last updated 2020-03-03 20:03:26-05

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Jesse Cadet says going to school at Forest Hill Community High School and sports practice is much easier now that there are more parking spots available.

"It's been way easier, more efficient for me," said Jesse.

Gone are the 17-year old's days of parking down the street and getting 150 dollars in parking tickets.

"I had to run there, go through traffic to come back to practice and I would be late at least 30 minutes late. And I had to run at practice for being late."

When the city closed the West Palm Beach Municipal Golf Course, they allowed the high school to use the golf course's parking spaces. But a company is showing interest in the property, which is next to the school.

Commissioner Christian Lambert said she wants input from the community including from the school.

"I'm facilitating a conversation so that the residents can be heard and so that these ideas that PGA of America has, that they have the opportunity to hear from the residents and have a discussion."

Though there's still traffic delays before and after school, school representatives say the extra parking spaces help with a school of almost twenty-five hundred students.

Ron Kotouch, the school's athletic director said students also use part of the property for sports practice.

"From four to five hundred kids trying to use the same field after school to have a practice, whatever event they are having from sports to band to ROTC, this has helped us a lot."

Esther Rivera, the school's principal, said she plans to be at the public meeting.

"Our students here are amazing kids and they need to be represented, they have to be a voice for the city of West Palm Beach and for them to understand the value that our students have in this community."

The West Palm Beach Municipal Golf Course Meeting and Presentation will take place Tuesday, March 3, at 6:30 p.m. at Forest Hill Community High School Media Center.