The developer behind a pair of controversial proposals to develop land near the Mall at Wellington Green is firing back at critics who say the properties should be kept as-is.

WELLINGTON — The developer behind a pair of controversial proposals for land near the Mall at Wellington Green is firing back at critics who say the properties should remain untouched.

Brefrank Inc. has filed applications with Wellington to change the use on two preserve areas near the Mall at Wellington Green. One would allow for a restaurant and marshy lake to be built where there now is an approximately 5-acre preserve along Forest Hill Boulevard, a little over half a mile west of State Road 7.

>> WELLINGTON READERS: Sign up for The Post’s weekly newsletter for the latest Wellington news

The other would split a conservation easement west of the mall nearly in half, with the larger half rehabilitated and the smaller half used to extend the Axis apartment home development.

"These are not functional wetlands" as they currently sit, said Gary Koolik of Brefrank Inc.

“They don’t get wet enough,” he said, explaining that an engineering consultant found both wetlands are at least a foot and a half too high — in some places, they are more than 4 feet too high — from where they need to create “functional wetland conditions.”

A boost for the Mall at Wellington Green?

Since filing the applications, a Royal Palm Beach resident launched a petition through www.change.org asking Wellington to shoot down the requests and “keep our natural areas.” More than 1,500 people from Wellington and surrounding cities — and even outside Florida and the U.S. — have signed the petition.

But Koolik said having non-functioning wetlands doesn’t benefit anyone.

A recent visit to the preserves revealed stands of dead vegetation and large patches of dry land beyond the 25-foot pine tree buffer that surrounds both areas.

“This is going to be a much better wetland when we’re done,” Koolik said.

Brefrank is one of two original developers of the mall and the surrounding outparcels and residential development, more than 4 million square feet total.

>> PAST COVERAGE: Why two proposed developments near Wellington mall are getting big pushback

“It’s helped put Wellington where it is today,” Koolik said.

The mall, the businesses in the surrounding strip malls, the restaurants and retail in other outparcels, the senior-living facility and the apartments put the southwest corner of Forest Hill Boulevard and State Road 7 at the top of the list for Wellington taxpayers, village records show.

But while some businesses are thriving in and near the mall, traditional retailers are struggling.

The mall lost anchor Nordstrom in April. Then in June, the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office said the mall’s property value will drop an estimated $40 million to $50 million this year. Wellington’s expected revenue for the coming year took a hit as a result.

Koolik sees potential for the two projects Brefrank is pitching to give a leg up to the mall.

>> PAST COVERAGE: Mall at Wellington Green’s value to drop $40M to $50M as retail takes a hit

For one, removing the preserve along Forest Hill Boulevard would increase visibility to the Shoppes at Wellington Green shopping plaza and the former Circuit City space, which has sat empty since the store went out of business in 2008.

That plaza’s owner has mentioned visibility as an issue for the 40,000-square-foot box for years, Koolik said.

The 5-acre preserve would be removed and replaced with a 10,000-square-foot restaurant and a marshy lake with “an attractive habitat” around the edges, he said. BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse and Cooper’s Hawk Winery are interested in the restaurant space, he added.

The restaurant use was suggested to Koolik at discussions in Wellington through the years, including those that asked residents what they would want to see built on the village’s K-Park property on the southwest corner of State Road 7 and Stribling Way.

>> PAST COVERAGE: BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse part of developer’s plan near Wellington Green

“That’s what drove this use,” he said, adding that many residents suggested a brewery of some sort. “First comes the need, then comes, how do you get there?”

Five new apartment buildings proposed

The other, 17-acre preserve would be reduced to about nine acres, Koolik said. The Axis apartment complex would be extended on the other eight acres. Five new apartment buildings would be built, along with more amenities for the community including a new zero-entry pool, a clubhouse and a track around the entire community.

Where the wetlands near Axis are not functioning, Koolik said crews would dig up the area, lower it to the recommended level and replant it with cypress trees and other vegetation “to be a long-term viable wetland.”

“We’re going to save this preserve,” he said.

In addition to creating the lake and improving the Axis wetland, Koolik said Brefrank also is poised to pay more than $750,000 into the Loxahatchee Mitigation Bank, a former farm in southern Palm Beach County that sits along the edge of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. The land has been converted back to wetlands to become part of the refuge.

The apartments would help “activate” the mall area near where a new senior-living facility is being developed, and near where the empty Nordstrom anchor space looms over hundreds of parking spots on the mall’s west side.

Koolik said he was surprised by the opposition to the proposals, which he called “a big positive for Wellington.”

“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t believe in it,” he said.

The proposals also require approval from the Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District, with both agencies reviewing the applications at the same they are moving through Wellington’s process.

Next, the applications will go before Wellington’s Planning, Zoning and Adjustment Board on at 7 p.m. Aug. 14 at Village Hall, 12300 Forest Hill Blvd. It then will move onto the Village Council for two readings.

kwebb@pbpost.com

@kristinawebb