After years of controversy, one of South Florida's most exclusive golfing and boating clubs has agreed to make it easier for Jews to join.

Under an agreement with the state attorney general's office, the Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club, which charges an $80,000 initiation fee, will accept applications for the first time in its 43-year history.

Previously, the club considered candidates only after they were sponsored by two existing club members and recommended by three others. The supporting members had to know the candidate for at least two years.

Though the Royal Palm club has been the subject of ugly stories for years, things came to a head a year ago when its membership policies were featured in a front-page Wall Street Journal article. The national exposure became a colossal humiliation to the Boca Raton business and political elite who are members of the club. The club's rolls include former Mayor Bill Smith Jr.; Lynn University President Donald Ross; and one-time Florida Lt. Gov. Ray Osborne, who is also a former board chairman of Boca Raton Community Hospital.

Soon after, Morris Robinson, a Jewish resident of the 670-home Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club subdivision, filed a discrimination complaint with the attorney general. The subdivision bears the same name but is independent of the 130-acre club. Robinson's complaint, which precipitated the state's investigation, said that club members wouldn't sponsor him because they feared they would be ostracized.

Club officials, known as "commodores," have denied for years their organization was anti-Semitic. But at the same time, they cited their right of free association as a private club to admit and exclude whom they please.

Local Jewish leaders have long debated whether they think the Royal Palm club is bigoted or just top-heavy with older members who are less open to socializing with Jews. Reaction to the settlement has been mixed, too.

Robinson said Monday that he would reserve judgment until he sees whether the new policies bring real changes. "When I see how they perform, then I'll give you an answer," he said.

His lawyer, Ross Goodman of Pensacola, said the settlement is flawed because it still requires applicants to have two sponsors within the club, even though those sponsors don't have to have known the applicants for two years. If the settlement increases Jewish membership at the club "it will be pure accident," Goodman said.

Another longtime critic of the club, Bruce Warshal, hailed the news.

"This to me indicates that the liberals within the club -- the ones living in the 21st century -- won out," Warshal said. "I believe these people are for real. They want to live up to the agreement."

As publisher of the Jewish News, Warshal has been badgering the club for a decade.

"I don't think this is a PR ploy," Warshal said. "The taboo has been broken."

The club does not track how many of its 470 members are Jewish. Its critics have said the club had only three Jewish members, all of whom were spouses of gentile members.

Warshal said that in the past three months, the club has admitted three Jewish couples.

Donald Dulude, the club's top commodore, did not return calls Monday. Neither did the club's lawyer, David Spector. In the settlement, the club admits to no wrongdoing.

Florida law allows private clubs to discriminate under certain circumstances. Clubs that have more than 400 members and regularly rent out their facilities to nonmembers for business purposes are not allowed to discriminate on the basis of such factors as race, religion, gender and national origin.

The commodores have said in the past the Royal Palm club doesn't rent out its facilities regularly.

In its investigation, the attorney general's office was looking for evidence that the Royal Palm club is not strictly a private club, and therefore bound by nondiscrimination laws, said Assistant Attorney General Mary Ann Clark in the agency's Fort Lauderdale office. Because the club settled, the investigation was not completed and the club's private status was not challenged.

Clark said during negotiations with the club she suggested the club offer an application to every homeowner in the subdivision. But the commodores felt such a policy would undermine the private aspect of their country club, Clark said. The compromise will allow any homeowner to request an application.

A key provision in the club's new membership nomination procedures is that the club will bear the burden of introducing applicants to potential sponsors. The introductions can take place at socials or mixers, Clark said.

"It places an affirmative duty on the membership committee to match applicants with potential sponsors," said Clark.

Because the two sponsors won't have had to know the applicants for two years, new Jewish members won't have to wait two years to sponsor other Jewish applicants, Warshal said.

What's more, for the next two years the club will report twice a year to the attorney general, submitting names of applicants and showing who was accepted and rejected.

Admissions policies of private clubs are generally confidential so it's not clear how unusual these settlement terms are, said Sue Wegrzyn, executive vice president of the National Club Association, a Washington trade group for private clubs.

But Wegrzyn said it's just "not normal" for regulators to have oversight over a private club. And not a good idea, either, from a club's standpoint.

"We do recommend that they protect the selectivity of their membership and application process," Wegrzyn said.