Town-Crier Newspaper August 11, 2017

Page 1

LOX COUNCIL TO ALLOW FOOD TRUCKS SEE STORY, PAGE 3

ARMY CORPS GRANTS PERMIT FOR SR 7 SEE STORY, PAGE 7

THE

TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE

Your Community Newspaper

INSIDE

Sandpiper Residents Ask RPB To Implement Traffic-Calming Project

Volume 38, Number 30 August 11 - August 17, 2017

Serving Palms West Since 1980

WCF BACK-TO-SCHOOL FUNDRAISER

Residents along Sandpiper Avenue asked the Royal Palm Beach Village Council last month to quickly implement its traffic-calming policy on the residential street. Traffic calming on Sandpiper Avenue, which has come up several times over the past year, was discussed as a non-agenda item at the Thursday, July 20 council meeting. Page 3

Wellington Physicians Urgent Care Center Opens On South Shore

Wellington Physicians Urgent Care held a grand opening, ribbon cutting and tour on Tuesday, Aug. 1 to introduce the community to the new facility at 13421 South Shore Blvd., Suite 101, in Wellington. Every day, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., there is walk-in availability for minor emergencies, illnesses, injuries, special equestrian care, and health and wellness needs. Page 8

Royal Palm Beach Seniors Learn About Resources At Expo

The Royal Palm Beach Senior Expo was held Friday, July 21 at the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center. Vendors shared information on senior wellness, healthcare options, educational opportunities, insurance, travel and more. There were lectures on Medicare basics, senior exercises and CPR. Page 11

OPINION New School Year Brings Positive Changes To School District

The new school year officially kicks off Monday, and there are several significant changes taking place within the School District of Palm Beach County. The first major adjustment is that after approximately a decade of once-a-month Thursday half days, the district has gotten rid of its “Learning Team Meeting” days, which were despised for much of their existence. We expect that this and other changes will be positive for everyone involved. Page 4 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 13 OPINION.................................. 4 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 6 PEOPLE................................. 14 SCHOOLS.............................. 15 COLUMNS...................... 16, 23 BUSINESS......................24 - 25 SPORTS..........................27 - 29 CALENDAR............................ 30 CLASSIFIEDS.................31 - 34 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM

The Wellington Community Foundation held a special fundraising event at the Palm Beach Point home of Dr. Edward and Maria Becker on Friday, Aug. 4. The foundation collected donations to help Wellington children with their back-to-school needs. Shown above are Wellington Mayor Anne Gerwig, former Wellington Mayor Tom Wenham and former Wellington Mayor Kathy Foster. Wenham is now chairman of the Wellington Community Foundation. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 19 PHOTO BY JULIE UNGER/TOWN-CRIER

RPB Zoners Approve Changes For Cypress Key Commercial

By Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report The Royal Palm Beach Planning & Zoning Commission met Tuesday, Aug. 8 to discuss two requests from the developer of the Cypress Key property. The commissioners approved a landscape waiver and a major site plan modification for the property. Cypress Key is a mixed-use development located on the north side of Southern Blvd. It is the only property in Royal Palm Beach that is designated with a mixed-use (MXD) zoning. Under discussion this week were the uses on the front commercial portion of the Cypress Key

land. There are four proposed uses in five buildings: a daycare center, a senior living facility, a restaurant with a drive-through and a restaurant/office building combination. The first item on the agenda was a landscape waiver, relating to the 35.23-acre parcel at the northwest corner of Cypress Head Ave. and Southern Blvd. “Senior housing facility supplemental regulations require a perimeter berm on all four sides around the entire perimeter of the senior housing facility,” Development Review Coordinator Kevin Erwin said. “The senior housing facility is on the east half of the commercial portion of the prop-

Wellington Backs New Dental Tech Building At PBSC Groves Campus

By Jack Lowenstein Town-Crier Staff Report The Wellington Village Council agreed Tuesday to support the development of a dental technology academic building on Palm Beach State College’s new Loxahatchee Groves campus. The idea for the building has been in the works for about 10 years, said Dr. Maria Vallejo, who is provost for the PBSC campuses in Loxahatchee Groves and Belle Glade, as well as vice president for growth and expansion at the college. Vice Mayor John McGovern said he would like to see the dental program operated locally. “I’ve been approached by several members of the community, including some local dentists, wanting to talk about the importance of having the dental technology building here, and I

guess it was my understanding that was the long-term plan for the campus,” McGovern said. “Is that not the case?” Vallejo said it was not. “We were never told exactly what would go into that campus,” she said. “We were told that when we built out, which is our 20-year plan, there would be about 12 buildings. But, we were never told what exactly we would have on the campus.” Vallejo said the focus on technology and health was only recently brought into the mix of discussion over the past two years. McGovern suggested that Wellington help rally support for having the dental program based locally. “We should e-mail or write to [PBSC President Ava Parker], because I definitely think that would See DENTAL TECH, page 17

PAINT & WINE NIGHT

erty, east of Park Central Drive.” There is an area approximately 50 feet wide with a retention area. “Obviously, if you have a depression, you can’t have a berm in the same spot,” Erwin said. As a result, the applicant is requesting to make the buffer wider, which accomplishes the goals and intents of the landscape ordinance, he explained, providing buffering for the senior housing facility. Staff agreed, and recommended approval. Land Planner Ken Tuma of Urban Design Kilday Studios stressed that they are providing the berm for 93 percent of the parcel. CYPRESS KEY, page 4

Acreage Residents Support GL’s Plan To Shift Development South

The Women of the Western Communities held a Paint & Wine Night on Thursday, Aug. 3 at Oak Bistro & Wine Bar in Royal Palm Beach. All proceeds went toward the YWCA Harmony House and the WWC Scholarship Fund. Shown above, Keri Chicano awards Cheryl Dunn Bychek a raffle prize. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 13

were letting them break the news on it, because it is their property and their proposal.” The ALA sent a letter dated May 25 to the county commission in support of the proposal, which is published on its web page at www. acreagelandowners.com. It reads, in part: “On May 23, GL Homes presented their proposal to transfer unit rights from their Indian Trails Grove property to their land within the Agricultural Reserve area of Palm Beach County; utilizing a portion of the Indian Trails Grove property as required preservation for their proposed developments. This proposal: (1) does not increase the number of units already authorized by the county’s Comprehensive Plan; (2) actually results in significantly more land being set aside for preservation; (3) directs growth to an area of the county where infrastructure and planned developments already exist; and (4) provides for a large contiguous area for farming operations to continue.” The letter informed the county commission of the ALA’s unanimous vote in favor of the idea. “We believe this proposal is in

Lox Council OKs Pilot Program On RV Parking

By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Support is gaining in The Acreage for a proposal by GL Homes to trade development rights it has within The Acreage to build more on land it owns in the Agricultural Preserve west of Boynton Beach. In May, GL Homes representatives made a presentation to the Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors, who agreed to send a letter in support of the proposal to the Palm Beach County Commission. Recently, Tim Sayre, president of the Acreage Landowners’ Association, developed a web site (www.protectindiantrailsgrove. com) and Facebook page (www. facebook.com/ProtectIndianTrailsGrove) to rally support for the controversial proposal, which Sayre said he was aware of before the presentation to ITID. “The first time I heard about it, it was like, ‘This is good news,’” he recalled. “We knew about it before they announced it to the general public. We knew a little ways ahead that they were going to do something, probably three to four weeks prior myself. A few other people knew about it, but we

the best interest of the county for the reasons enumerated above,” the letter continued. “While we have been working with the representatives of GL Homes for years on their development plans for this area, the ALA board firmly believes their proposal identifies and alleviates many of the concerns that the ALA had. We applaud their plan.” Sayre believes that the proposed land use swap will benefit the entire county. “The ag land was never designated to be only in the south,” he said, explaining that between $20 million and $40 million of the agricultural land bond money was spent above Indiantown Road in the Jupiter area. The proposal will guarantee that about 3,800 acres will remain in agricultural production on GL Homes’ Acreage-area property, plus ITID will get 640 acres toward water catchment and another 42 acres for Samuel Friedland Park, he said. Alderman Farms President Jim Alderman is featured in a video on the www.protectindiantrailsgrove.com web page extolling the desirability of farmland in the See GL HOMES, page 7

PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER

By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council adopted a pilot program last week that will allow temporary recreational vehicles on residential properties of a minimum size. The pilot program will be in effect through no later than May 1, 2018, in order to potentially add uses to the Unified Land Development Code regulations to allow temporary recreational vehicle uses within the town, and also sets up a zoning-in-progress policy that will restrict the program to certain properties. The council has had significant problems with unauthorized RV trailers squatting on residentially zoned property during the winter season that negatively affect the resources of the town, according

to a staff report that accompanied the Aug. 1 agenda item. The proposal allows the town manager to set up a pilot program that will set criteria allowing some properties to be authorized to host up to four RVs. The program’s genesis dates back to September 2015, when Town Manager Bill Underwood created a focus group of citizens to vet ideas for managing the influx of RVs during the winter equestrian season. Vice Mayor Ron Jarriel said he wished the resolution had gone through the town’s Planning & Zoning Board, but the upcoming equestrian season would have been well underway by the time it got to the council. “We’ve had this problem for years,” Jarriel said. “We need to See LOX COUNCIL, page 17

New Rules Will Better Protect Royal Palm’s Trees

By Jack Lowenstein Town-Crier Staff Report Royal Palm Beach’s Planning & Zoning Commission, meeting as the Local Planning Agency, approved an ordinance to amend the village’s landscaping and vegetation management code last month, revising the village’s tree preservation and landscaping requirements. According to the staff report, with the village being almost builtout, there is a shift to preservation and maintenance of landscapes throughout the village. “This ordinance is designed to give the village a much stronger tree preservation code than what we currently have, and it’s desperately needed,” Village Attorney Jennifer Ashton said at the July 25

meeting. “The Royal Palm Beach Village Council, and this board, for years have expressed concerns over the possible degradation of residential neighborhoods and commercial areas regarding the loss of trees.” Prior to the proposed updates in the landscaping and vegetation code, Ashton said there was little that the village could do through code enforcement to protect and preserve trees. Now, fines would be possible. “This is designed to try to give us a little more teeth in keeping our tree canopy and help beautify the village at the same time,” Ashton said. In the proposed update, there are new requirements for removal of plants and trees. Permits would need to be obtained before any

vegetation removal in a commercial or residential area. The update gives the Planning & Zoning Department the ability to approve or deny vegetation removal permit applications, which it has been unable to do previously. This will help village staff protect specimen trees, a newly defined category in the code. “We wanted to add in actual criteria, where they can either deny a permit application based on the type of tree it is, or the location, or size, or other factors like… causing flooding or causing erosion — things that they should be able to take into account in denying permits,” Ashton said. The specimen trees receive additional protection under Chapter 15 in the code, where all the revi-

sions are being made. These trees are said to have high value to the village, whether it has to do with age, size or species. “For example, bald cypress trees. Those are considered highly valuable trees, and the larger that tree, the older the tree and the more importance it has as a specimen tree, the more we want to preserve it; the same with large oaks,” Ashton said. “We’ve included things like royal palms in there because, well, we are Royal Palm Beach.” The code updates penalties for violating the proposed revisions, which haven’t existed since the code was last updated in 2001. “I’m going to focus on hatracking trees, because that’s where we’ve had the hardest time in code enforcement. Our code just says

that those activities are prohibited, but it doesn’t say what the remedy is,” Ashton said. “Being the attorney for the code enforcement team for a long time, we just had to wing it with the code enforcement magistrate.” Now, the code proposes fines for tree abuse and hatracking, which are both newly defined in the revision. “Under the Florida Statutes, the fine can be up to $5,000 per tree,” Ashton said. The code also updates requirements for nonconforming properties developed before Nov. 15, 2001. The code is intended to only exempt properties from the new minimum landscaping requirements and design standards. “If you have a property that was See RPB TREES, page 17


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.