AN OUTPOURING OF LOVE FOR SMOKEY SEE STORY, PAGE 3
CHAMBER TALKS EQUESTRIAN ECONOMY SEE STORY, PAGE 7
THE
TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
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Royal Palm Beach To Reduce RV, Boat Setback Requirement
Volume 38, Number 15 April 14 - April 20, 2017
Serving Palms West Since 1980
ANNUAL GPL TOURNAMENT AT IPC
The Royal Palm Beach Village Council decided last week to tweak its recently approved boat and recreational vehicle ordinance after a resident found that an RV he carefully purchased to meet the village code reaches to within 12 feet of the street — too close under the code change. Page 3
Vivian & Adrienne Ferrin Memorial Scholarship Tea
Divine Wine and High Tea, a benefit for the Vivian and Adrienne Ferrin Memorial Scholarship Fund, was held Sunday, April 9 at the Madison Green Country Club in Royal Palm Beach. The fashion show outfits came from Stein Mart, and the hats on parade were from Audrey Gordon. There were hat contests for women and men, as well as a Chinese auction and music from a DJ. Page 6
Inaugural Gladiator Polo Season Ends With Team Spiculus Victorious
Team Spiculus won the championship final of Gladiator Polo, presented by U.S. Polo Assn., at the Equestrian Village “Coliseum” on Saturday, April 8. Spiculus, with players Sebastian Merlos, Mariano Obregon and Pelon Escapite, won 17-10 against Team Spartacus, with players Jason Crowder, Felipe Viana and Tommy Biddle. Page 9
OPINION Earth Day Remains As Relevant Today As The Day It Was Born
With concerns about our current ability to maintain a clean ecosystem shrouding our vision of the future, it’s good to know that Earth Day is still a thing — and an important thing as well. It’s a reminder that we, the people, have an obligation to think about and save the world around us. Page 4
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The Gay Polo League held its eighth annual International Gay Polo Tournament on Saturday, April 8 at the International Polo Club Palm Beach. On the field, Cedar Crest Stables won the Senator’s Cup, while Seminole Casino Coconut Creek won the Founder’s Cup. Awards were also given out to an array of impressive tailgates. Shown above are Amy Goorsky and Bobby Llewellyn at the Tesla tent. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 19 PHOTO BY JULIE UNGER/TOWN-CRIER
Improvements Planned For South Shore And Pierson
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Writer The Wellington Village Council approved engineering design services on Wednesday with Mock, Roos & Associates for intersection improvements at Pierson Road and South Shore Blvd. that will involve covering and piping the C-23 Canal. Village staff sought authorization to utilize a contract previously approved with Mock, Roos & Associates to provide the necessary engineering services for the C-23 Canal improvements, as well as the development of an intersection master plan for Pierson and South Shore. It is anticipated that the resulting master plan project will be included for council consideration in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The village seeks to coordinate its work with work already planned for the intersection
by other entities so that the area undergoes construction activity only once. The canal covering and piping is required to allow the needed area to widen and improve the intersection lane alignment and the turn lane improvements, including the length and number of lanes, required to move traffic more efficiently and safely through the intersection. The cost of the engineering services with Mock, Roos & Associates is not to exceed $49,871. Village Engineer Tom Lundeen said the eastbound and westbound approaches on Pierson Road have a combination through and left-turn lane and one right turn lane. “What we’re proposing to do with this work order is to improve this intersection with dual left-turn lanes on the east approach, with a through lane and a right-turn
lane. The west approach would have just a single through lane, right turn lane and left-turn lane,” Lundeen said. The overall project would be 1,400 to 1,600 feet long. “That will be determined once we get through the study and into design,” Lundeen said. Councilman Michael Napoleone asked what the timeline would be for the actual construction that would affect traffic, not including the pipe work. Lundeen said that once they get the canal piped, that area can be used to maintain traffic flow. “We’d keep the lanes open at what they are right now,” he said. “I’m making the assumption that it’s going to take us six months to do all this work once we get the pipe in the canal.” Some intersection work is already required as part of the apSee INTERSECTION, page 17
RPB Council Agrees To Revised Senior Care Agreement
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Writer The Royal Palm Beach Village Council last week authorized the village manager to negotiate for the sale of two parcels of property near Connect Church on Okeechobee Blvd. to be developed into a senior care center and a parking lot. At the April 6 meeting, Village Manager Ray Liggins said Connect Church, previously known as the First Baptist Church of Royal Palm Beach, came to the village last year asking to purchase the pieces of land. “We entered into an agreement with them,” Liggins said. “We’ve been working with the church and a developer on the assisted-living residence.” The original developer in the three-part agreement ended up not signing on. Instead, the church and the village made an agreement
with Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development of Kansas City, Mo. One 5.45-acre parcel, a civic site attached to the PortoSol community, would be used for an assisted-living and memory care facility, and the other 6.5-acre parcel, where the “Welcome to Royal Palm Beach” sign is, would be a parking lot for the church. “The developer has agreed to purchase it for $2.2 million,” Liggins said, explaining that the price is below the appraised value, but that deed restrictions on the properties would keep them from being developed under their current zoning, which allows residential mixed use and townhomes. He added that any sale of village property for below the appraised value requires a four-vote council supermajority. Liggins added that the properties have reverter clauses in the See SENIOR CARE, page 4
FLAVORS WELLINGTON FOOD + WINE FESTIVAL
The Wellington Chamber of Commerce presented its 14th annual Flavors Wellington Food + Wine Festival at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center on Friday, April 7. Judges chose the best-of-the-best offerings from local restaurants, caterers and country clubs, while guests mingled, tasted, toasted and danced. Shown above, the Bolay team of Tanjier Courtney, Colleen Crais, Justin Brady, Taylor Lamerson, Adieren Mendez, Shayly Ratliff and Jonah Heinl won Best Taste. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY JULIE UNGER/TOWN-CRIER
Rotary’s Outrun Cerebral Palsy LGWCD Audit Good, Wellington 5K Set For April 23 But Dwindling Fund Balance A Concern
By Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report On Sunday, April 23, hundreds of runners will be joined by dozens of wheelchair participants for the Rotary Club of Wellington’s
second Outrun Cerebral Palsy Wellington 5K Run & Wheelchair Race, starting and ending at the Wellington Amphitheater. Rotary is once again partnering with United Cerebral Palsy, with
Outrun Cerebral Palsy co-chairs Larry Kemp and Dr. Jon Chung with United Cerebral Palsy South Florida Executive Director Pat Murphy (center) at last year’s inaugural event. PHOTO BY JULIE UNGER/TOWN-CRIER
the new addition of the Village of Wellington as the presenting sponsor, to organize this unique race where those with cerebral palsy can also participate, with proceeds benefiting both the rotary club’s local charities and United Cerebral Palsy of South Florida. Last year, more than 300 runners, walkers and wheelchair racers participated in the inaugural event. This year, co-chair Larry Kemp expects more than 500 individuals to take part. “For the first year, it was very good,” Kemp said. “One of the exciting parts about it was we brought in racing wheelchairs from Atlanta.” Those with cerebral palsy were pushed through the course by friends, family and designated helpers. Though some of the riders were apprehensive in the beginning, by See ROTARY 5K, page 4
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Writer The Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District received a clean independent audit report for 2016 on Monday, but auditor Racquel McIntosh with Grau & Associates noted that the district’s unassigned fund balance was $146,810 less in September 2016 than it was the previous year. The ending fund balance for 2016 was $621,135, of which $439,332 is restricted for debt service and capital projects, $24,671 is assigned for the subsequent year’s expenditures and $157,132 is unassigned. Total revenues were almost $1.2 million, compared with almost $1.4 million in 2015, and expenses were almost $1.4 million, compared with over $1.5 million in 2015.
“The good news is you have enough fund balance in order to do that,” McIntosh said. Supervisor Anita Kane said the district has been over budget for the past three or four years, but District Administrator Steve Yohe noted that in 2013-14 there was a surplus that added to the district’s unassigned fund. Kane said she was glad that the district has been able to absorb the higher cost, but she was concerned about letting it continue to happen. “We can’t continue to go over budget year after year,” she said. “It has been several years running that we’ve been over budget.” Yohe agreed and said he had prepared a history of the unassigned budget, which was as low as $54,835 in fiscal year 2005-06. “I would say the smaller See LGWCD, page 4
Golfer Rick Smith Makes Two Holes-In-One In March
By Jack Lowenstein Town-Crier Staff Report Any golfer in the world can go a lifetime playing the game, practicing and observing to sharpen his or her skills — and even after a professional career has ended, making a hole-in-one can still be missing from the résumé. But Wellington golfer Rick Smith had the joy and experience of making two hole-in-one shots on two separate occasions during the month of March. Smith made a hole-in-one on his residential golf course at Polo West on Wednesday, March 8, and then again at the Wellington National Golf Club on Friday, March 24. “I knew when I struck the ball, I hit it well, and of course you look up, and it’s on a dead line,” Smith said. “Sure enough, it hit about probably six yards just shy of the pin and rolled and disappeared.”
On the day of his first 124-yard sinker, Smith said he had been running late, and didn’t get to go to the range for a warmup like he normally would. “I went to the first tee, and normally we’ll hit two balls off the first tee to get everybody loose. Fortunately, it was the first ball, which made it even better. I thought, ‘a mulligan, that wouldn’t work,’” Smith said. Originally, Smith didn’t have great sight of the ball, and he thought it might have rolled past the green after the landing. “It was on kind of a slant on the right side of the green, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, maybe it rolled by. And, the other guys were screaming, ‘No, it went in the hole!’” His close friend, Fritz Jackson, witnessed both of Smith’s shots. They play in a small club tournament every Wednesday at
Polo West with friends and other members. “I was standing about eight feet behind because I always watch his shots. I watched the whole flight of the ball going up, and it was dead on the whole way, and I said, ‘That’s a nice shot,’” Jackson recalled. “I shook his hand, and then we went up there, and sure enough, it was in the bottom of the cup.” For the rest of the game, he was filled with adrenaline and didn’t play as well as he normally would, Smith said. “It didn’t matter. Rick got a hole-in-one, so who cared?” Jackson said of his own game. After his first hole-in-one, Smith See HOLES-IN-ONE, page 17 (Right) Wellington resident Rick Smith with plaques denoting his hole-in-one successes. PHOTO BY JACK LOWENSTEIN/TOWN-CRIER