John Goodman trial, Village Council members said Tuesday that polo mogul John Goodman‘s current retrial on DUI manslaughter charges is unrelated to their consideration of buying the former executive course at the Wanderers Club.
“It doesn’t matter to me who owns the property,” Councilman Matt Willhite said.
A private trust affiliated with Goodman owns the Wanderers Club, as well as the International Polo Club in Wellington.
Council members directed staff Tuesday to resume negotiations to buy the Wanderers Club course — 38 acres at the corner of Greenbriar Boulevard and Aero Club Drive — and come back with a “best and final” offer by the end of November.
Goodman himself does not appear to be involved in talks with the village. Planning project director Mike O’Dell said he’s spoken only with Wanderers’ attorney Wade Byrd and club operations president John Wash.
Nonetheless, the Goodman connection hasn’t gone unnoticed in the community.
“Residents have told me that the perception of this, the timing of this, is difficult because of the trial,” Councilwoman Anne Gerwig said during Tuesday’s council meeting. “We don’t want anyone to think this has anything to do with that.
This has been in the works.”
Wash said last week that Wanderers has been looking to sell the par-3 course to the village for several years. The land was part of a $9 million deal in 2005 when the Goodman trust bought the former Wellington golf and country club and re-branded it as the Wanderers Club.
Vice Mayor John Greene, the most vocal proponent of the purchase, blamed the press for “many attempts to connect dots and build bridges where they don’t go” because Goodman’s ownership in the Wanderers Club has been mentioned in media coverage.
“I don’t see tying these two things together,” Greene said during Tuesday’s council meeting.
Gerwig said the issue shouldn’t go unaddressed, since residents are talking about it.
“It’s a sensitive issue with the public. I just don’t want to ignore it and say it’s not happening,” Gerwig said.
The retrial for Goodman, 51, began Saturday. He was convicted two years ago in the February 2010 death of Scott Patrick Wilson, who drowned after Goodman’s car crashed into his and sent it into a rural Wellington canal. But a Palm Beach County Circuit Court judge overturned the conviction and a 16-year prison sentence because of juror misconduct.
