Richard Road annexation: county and city to meet Nov. 19

Palm Beach County and the city of Palm Beach Gardens are in a formal dispute over the city’s annexation of 4.34 acres at Old Dixie Highway and Richard Road.

County and city staff will hold a conflict assessment meeting at 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19. It takes place in the McEaddy Conference Room on the 12th floor of the County Governmental Center, 301 N. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach. That is from the public notice published Sunday in The Palm Beach Post, signed for the Board of County Commissioners on Nov. 3.

The meeting is open to the public, but it is not a public hearing. The notice says people may attend but not speak.

What land is involved

The county keeps a file on every annexation in Palm Beach County. Its summary for this one gives these details:

• Name: Old Dixie Hwy Richard Rd Properties, annexation 2026-52-004
• Size: 4.34 acres, west of Old Dixie Highway on the north side of Richard Road
• Current use: vacant land and a government facility
• Council readings: first reading Sept. 10, second reading Oct. 1
• Type: listed as “referendum,” not “voluntary”
• Status: “in process,” with no adoption date or ordinance number filled in
• Future use and zoning: “not determined”

The area is three parcels, according to the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser. Two are vacant lots of 3.53 acres and 0.45 acre with the same private owner. The third is a 0.36-acre lot at 2971 Richard Road owned by Palm Beach County. It holds a 2,296-square-foot building. None of the three is recorded as a home.

Under county rules the land is zoned for multifamily housing at medium density, and its county land use allows up to eight homes an acre.

What happens at the meeting

The meeting is the first step under Florida’s Governmental Conflict Resolution Act, Chapter 164 of the state statutes. Under section 164.1041, local governments in a dispute must use it before going to court against each other.

The law sets out what follows:

• The county administrator and the city manager, or people they name, must attend.
• Each side sets out the conflict as it sees it.
• If they reach a tentative deal, they can take it to the County Commission and the City Council.
• If they do not, they must hold a joint public meeting within 50 days of the first letter that started the process.
• Either side can then ask for mediation.

The notice does not say what the conflict is about. It also does not say which government started the process.

The city’s other annexations this year

Palm Beach Gardens has annexed three other pieces of county land in the 2026 fiscal year. All three were voluntary, meaning the owners asked to join the city. The county’s files for Howell Lane, Park Lane and Richard Road and Smith Drive show them as adopted.

The Park Lane parcel, a mobile home park at 2973 Avocado Lane, sits on the same stretch of Richard Road.

What it means for you

For now, nothing changes on the ground. The county’s file still lists the annexation as in process, and it gives the future use of the land as “not determined.”

If you live or own property nearby, you can watch the Nov. 19 meeting in person. You cannot comment there. A joint public meeting, if one is needed, is the next point at which both governments meet in public.

Annexation decides which government taxes a property and which one provides its services. Our property taxes guide explains how city and county millage rates add up on a Palm Beach Gardens tax bill.