Town-Crier Newspaper August 26, 2016

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FOUR DEMOCRATS SEEKING PORT SEAT SEE STORY, PAGE 7

ITID QUESTION 5: RECREATION SERVICES SEE STORY, PAGE 7

THE

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

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INSIDE

Seven Candidates Seeking Three Seats On County Court Bench

Volume 37, Number 33 August 26 - September 1, 2016

Serving Palms West Since 1980

FITNESS & WELLNESS EDUCATION DAY

Three seats on the Palm Beach County Court bench will be on the Tuesday, Aug. 30 election ballot. The Group 7 race features Lisa Ann Grossman challenging incumbent Judge Marni Bryson. In the Group 11 race, attorneys Tom Baker, Gregg Lerman and Dana Marie Santino are vying for an open seat created by Judge Laura Johnson’s elevation to the circuit court bench. Finally, the Group 15 race has Esther “Ettie” Feistmann facing Bradley Harper in a contest to replace retiring Judge Barry Cohen. Page 3

The second annual Wellington Fitness & Wellness Education Day took place Saturday, Aug. 20 at Ultima Fitness & Wellness in Wellington. The event included classes, lectures, blood pressure tests, flu shots, chair massages, healthy snacks from Universal Living Sprouts and more. Shown above are Javonti Greene, Gustavo Pope-Guerriero, Judy Duany, Scott Campbell, Jill Merrell and Jeffrey Keller with a certificate of appreciation from the Village of Wellington to Ultima Fitness for its contributions to the village. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY JULIE UNGER/TOWN-CRIER

Quarter Auction In Royal Palm Benefits Amber’s Animal Outreach

A quarter auction was held on Wednesday, Aug. 17 at the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center with proceeds donated to the local nonprofit Amber’s Animal Outreach. The money will be used to rescue stray and abandoned dogs. Page 13

Tina Turner Tribute Concert Rocks The Amphitheater

The Wellington Amphitheater hosted a Tina Turner tribute concert on Saturday, Aug. 20. The band Simply Tina played songs from the pop diva and other artists. Page 19

OPINION

Focus On Experience When Voting For Countywide Officials

On Tuesday, Aug. 30, voters across Palm Beach County will go to the polls and make choices from among several candidates vying for countywide positions. As you consider people for these crucial roles, we recommend looking carefully at experience. Most of these positions are functionary posts that require detailed knowledge and experience to run fairly technical offices. Page 4 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 13 OPINION.................................. 4 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 6 PEOPLE................................. 14 SCHOOLS.............................. 15 COLUMNS...................... 16, 23 BUSINESS......................24 - 25 SPORTS..........................29 - 31 CALENDAR............................ 32 CLASSIFIEDS.................34 - 37 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM

McKinlay To RPB: Many Issues To Work On In District 6 Area

By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay gave an update on District 6 issues including roads, development and sober homes, to the Royal Palm Beach Village Council on Thursday, Aug. 18. “In the 18 months I have been in office, I have to tell you if anything is going on in Palm Beach County right now, it’s in District 6,” McKinlay said. “We have a little bit of everything, from development proposals like GL Homes and the newest city, the City of Westlake, stuff going on in the Glades, discharges from Lake Okeechobee, and everything else in between.” The South Florida Water Management District’s permit for the completion of State Road 7 to Northlake Blvd. has been challenged by the City of West Palm Beach. “It is now within the Department of Administrative Hearings, and I believe the hearing on that should start next week,” she said. “If there is a silver lining in

this cloud, it’s that if the state is successful in this DOA hearing and does receive its permit from the water management district, regardless of any other lawsuits that may be going on, the state can move forward with the construction of State Road 7. They can put those shovels in the ground.” McKinlay said that the SR 7 project has been on the state’s books since she was just a year old. “My teenagers will tell you that’s back since the age of dinosaurs, but I can tell you I am pretty confident about this,” she said. “I was meeting with one of your council members today, and there are a hundred different issues we need to be working on with the City of West Palm Beach, and out of a hundred, we all work together on 99 of them. I’d like to be able to get this passed, get the road underway, and do it in a very environmentally responsible way.” She noted that the 60th Street bridge widening at Royal Palm Beach Blvd. is on schedule to be completed by Oct. 2.

“The second part of that project, taking 60th Street out to Seminole Pratt and widening it there at the M Canal, is facing some hurdles,” she said. “For some unknown reason, they have not been specific, but the City of West Palm Beach has denied the county a permit on that. I have to believe it might be a coincidence, but the DOA hearings on State Road 7 start next week, and I hate to think that there’s some spite in all of this. Hopefully, we can get past that, because we need that improvement on 60th Street to help keep traffic off some of your local roads.” McKinlay said that the Avenir project in Palm Beach Gardens is hiring a consultant to look at widening Northlake Blvd. to six lanes from 140th Avenue to where Northlake Blvd. would meet the SR 7 extension. The county is still in conversations with GL Homes, whose development application will go before the county commission in mid-September. McKinlay said See McKINLAY, page 17

Bed-And-Breakfast Amendments Get First Council OK

By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Wellington Village Council gave initial approval to amendments regarding bed-and-breakfast businesses on Tuesday that will place additional restrictions on such operations but make them more feasible. Bed and breakfasts are permitted in Wellington but none exist because the limitation on the number of guestrooms does not make them financially feasible, according to village planners. Growth Management Director Bob Basehart explained that the ordinance changes two sections of the land development regulations, for all areas of the village, and separate regulations for the Equestrian Overlay Zoning District (EOZD). Changes for the entire village include requiring approval by the Development Review Committee, which is made up of several staff members across different departments, in lieu of the current requirement of a special use permit,

which only involves a planning staff member. The amendments add a minimum lot size of 2 acres, with a maximum number of five rooms on 2 to 5 acres, and a maximum of eight rooms on lots of 5 acres or more. They allow for required alterations to the exterior of the building and limited signage. A connection to public water and wastewater and additional parking are required, and longterm rentals are not permitted, with a maximum stay of 30 consecutive days. In the EOZD, the current lot size requirement is 3 acres, which would be reduced to 2 acres to make it consistent throughout the village. “It has been suggested that one of the reasons we don’t have any bed-and-breakfast facilities is because of the limit on the number of rooms you can rent,” Basehart said. “It doesn’t make them feasible to do.” He pointed out that the amendSee B&B RULES, page 4

BIZ ALLIANCE HOSTS NETWORKING MIXER

The Western Business Alliance held a business networking mixer on Thursday, Aug. 18 at Hulett Environmental Services in West Palm Beach. Guests enjoyed a tour of the facility and refreshments. Shown above are Bob Still and Jack Rosen with Hulett’s Gary Scher. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 9 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER

Karbowski Enjoying New Post RPB Seniors Picked As Principal At Acreage Pines For Advisory Board

By Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report Last year, Acreage Pines Elementary School welcomed Darline Karbowski as its new assistant principal. This year, she has taken on the role of principal at the school. Karbowski graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in communication and, after some time in the corporate world, shifted gears and became a teacher 17 years ago. She spent eight years teaching middle school in Broward County, then spent seven years as the assistant principal at Coral Springs Middle School before moving to Acreage Pines. “I made the very difficult decision to move from Broward schools to Palm Beach schools because of the drive that I was making,” Karbowski said. “I wanted to be closer to home. I

made that switch, and this year I became principal.” For Karbowski, coming to Acreage Pines was like coming home. “My son has been at Acreage Pines since kindergarten, and he finished fifth grade last year,” she said. “Acreage Pines is very near and dear to my heart as a parent, a community member and now as a proud principal.” In her new role, she replaced Amy Dujon, who is now director of leadership development for the school district. With the new school year underway and things settling down, Karbowski is able to reflect on her goals for the school and what she’s looking forward to. “I am most excited about continuing to build the relationships with the community and continuing the amazing work that goes on here at Acreage Pines,” she said. “We are one of the few

Demonstration Schools for Rigor in the county, so we have a special instructional model that’s truly student-centered and allows students to collaborate and teachers to coordinate through their professional learning community. It’s a totally different and really cool learning environment.” All lessons are standards-driven. The teachers meet for 90 minutes and share, collaborate and help one another. Then, they go into the classroom and students are given the opportunity to teach and learn from one another. “The learning that takes place goes deeper than anything any textbook could provide them,” Karbowski said. As principal, Karbowski wants students to know that she cares about what’s going on in the classroom and outside of school. “This is a place for students not See KARBOWSKI, page 4

By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Royal Palm Beach Village Council approved the appointment of seven members and two alternates to its newly established Ad Hoc Senior Citizen Advisory Board on Thursday, Aug. 18. The board was established in July to be a partner for planning and implementing systems and programs to address matters concerning senior citizens. The committee is scheduled to sunset on June 30, 2017. Councilwoman Selena Smith, who headed the selection process, said more than enough residents had applied for the board. After speaking with them, she recommended Helen Benvenuto, Mary Hazell, Judith Kohler, Iris Levin, Barry Martin, Elaine Plachter and Sandy Rubin as regular members, and Mary Kaminski and Maxine Yoss as alternates.

Although Smith’s nominations were approved 5-0, some council members questioned the concentration of applicants from a particular community. Councilman David Swift said he was concerned that six of the 11 who applied were Greenway Village residents. The others were one from Royal Pines, two from Village Walk, one from Counterpoint Estates and one from Madison Green. “The concern I have is that Strathmore Gate East and West is a large retirement community, and I was thinking about at least somebody from there,” Swift said. “Crestwood Estates is a large area; La Mancha, I guess no one applied from there. I could give you some people from there to take a look at.” Mayor Fred Pinto shared Swift’s concern about having a large numSee SENIORS, page 17

Jacks, Vana Square Off In Property Appraiser Race

By Ron Bukley and Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report Chief Deputy Property Appraiser Dorothy Jacks and County Commissioner Shelley Vana face each other in the race for Palm Beach County Property Appraiser in the Tuesday, Aug. 30 primary election. The winner will replace incumbent Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits, who is retiring after more than 20 years in office. Nikolits has held the post since 1992. He is supporting Jacks for the position. Write-in candidate Charles Stahman has also filed to run. Dorothy Jacks — Jacks has been with the property appraiser’s office since 1988. Her accom-

plishments include setting up the Property Appraiser Public Access (PAPA) web site. “I developed the first web site and have been involved with the redesign; four times we have rewritten it,” she said. “I’ve been in leadership roles the last 20 years. I’ve been division director and assistant director, now chief deputy. I’ve been involved with many different efforts all the way back. I was involved with the incorporation of Wellington. I’ve been involved with our effort to streamline homestead applications.” Jacks also worked on the system that enabled online tangible personal property tax filings. She has also been involved with the production of proposed tax

notices. “I don’t do that anymore; I just oversee it now,” she said. “I’ve progressively had more management and administration over the office.” Jacks feels that she is the most qualified person in the race for the job. “My opponent is obviously a politician,” Jacks said. “She has been elected before. She’s a termlimited county commissioner who is looking for a place to land, and I think this race has become one of a professional versus a politician.” Jacks added that she thinks voters are much more educated about the candidates. “My impression is that the voters understand that this office is a See APPRAISER, page 17

Dorothy Jacks

Shelley Vana


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