A push to let schools, churches and other "civic uses" build on western land preserved for farming cleared an early hurdle Monday.

Despite concerns about opening more land to development, the Palm Beach County Commission voted to consider in July a proposal that allows building on preserved land in the 21,000-acre Agricultural Reserve.

The idea is proposed as a way to help find affordable land for government or community-oriented facilities west of Boynton Beach and Delray Beach, where suburbia continues to spread to some of South Florida's richest farmland.

In addition to public schools, post offices and other government facilities, the proposal would allow the land to be used for churches, synagogues and religious schools. It would be limited to land east of U.S. 441.

One beneficiary could be the Donna Klein Jewish Academy, which representatives said is looking for land to expand and build a high school in the Agricultural Reserve.

Opponents questioned making changes to rules intended to protect agriculture.

"This is why people are disillusioned with government," said Joanne Davis, of the development watchdog group 1,000 Friends of Florida. "You can't just keep changing the rules every time a special interest asks."

The commission Monday agreed to consider the idea, which would have to come back before the panel in July and again in November for final approval.

"I have not given a stamp of approval," said Commissioner Burt Aaronson, one of the initial supporters of the proposal.

The Ag Reserve, squeezed between the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and neighborhoods spreading west of Delray Beach and Boynton Beach, has some of the warmest year-round temperatures in the state. That makes it ideal for growing peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers.

The county in the late 1990s created building guidelines to preserve land for agriculture amid the new neighborhoods. Developers building in the Ag Reserve have to set aside the equivalent of 60 percent of their property for agricultural uses, conservation or water storage.

Voters in 1999 also approved using $100 million in bonds to preserve land for farming, which helped purchase about 2,500 acres.

The new proposal would change county development guidelines and lift preservation designations to allow civic uses on preserved land.

In March, county commissioners said they would include publicly owned preserved land under the new proposal.

On Monday, they took public land out of the proposal and decided only to consider the preserved lands developers must provide.

After using public money to preserve land in the Agricultural Reserve and requiring developers to set aside land, the county shouldn't change the rules to allow more building, opponents argued.

"It's opening the door," said Dagmar Brahs, a past president of the Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations. "It's not your property. It's our property."

Andy Reid can be reached at abreid@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5504.