FOUNDATION SPREADS HOLIDAY CHEER SEE STORY, PAGE 3
COUNTY WARNS ON BATTERY DISPOSAL SEE STORY, PAGE 4
THE
TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
Your Community Newspaper
INSIDE
As 2023 Draws To A Close, RPB Has Big Plans Ahead For 2024
Volume 44, Number 26 December 29, 2023 - January 11, 2024
Serving Palms West Since 1980
RPB UGLY SWEATER HOLIDAY PARTY
The Village of Royal Palm Beach continues to carry on its legacy of being a “Tree City USA,” keeping its longstanding commitment for 10 acres of park land per 1,000 residents. Longtime Village Manager Ray Liggins and new Parks & Recreation Director Mark Pawlowski reflect positively on this past year and are looking forward to new projects in 2024. Page 3
Club Youth Get Gifts At Wellington Boys & Girls Club Holiday Party
The Neil S. Hirsch Family Boys & Girls Club of Wellington held its annual holiday party on Friday, Dec. 15. The Christopher Aguirre Memorial Foundation provided gifts for all the club children with support from Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue. There was also a DJ, craft table, tattoo artist, balloon artist and, of course, visits with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Page 8
Pets Visit With ‘Santa Paws & Mrs. Claws’ At Pet Supplies Plus
Pet Supplies Plus in Royal Palm Beach hosted a special holiday event on Saturday, Dec. 16 inviting pets to get their photos taken with “Santa Paws and Mrs. Claws.” Page 13
TKA Grad Justin Wake Helps Lead Keiser To A National Title
In football, the next-man-up mentality is necessary for any team to succeed. That was especially the case for the No. 3-ranked Keiser University Seahawks football team, which won the NAIA National Championship on Monday, Dec. 18 by defeating the No. 1-ranked Red Raiders from Iowa’s Northwestern College, 31-21, in Durham, North Carolina. Page 21 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 18 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 7 SPORTS..........................21 - 24 PEOPLE................................. 25 SCHOOLS.............................. 26 BUSINESS............................. 27 COLUMNS............................. 28 CLASSIFIEDS................ 29 - 30 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
Royal Palm Beach held a Senior Ugly Sweater Holiday Party on Tuesday, Dec. 19 at the Royal Palm Beach Recreation Center. Seniors got into the holiday spirit with food, music, dancing and ugly sweater contests. Shown here are Argentina Batista, Maria Gonzalez, Ellie Rosenshein, Parks & Recreation Director Mark Pawlowski, Kitty Lannaman, Prudel Belle and Senior Programs Supervisor Shakeera Thomas. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 18 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
20-Mile Bend Racetrack Plan Gains Traction With County
By Louis Hillary Park Town-Crier Staff Report Palm Beach County Mayor Maria Sachs raced to throw her support behind a plan for a drag strip and perhaps other types of motorsports on a 128-acre, countyowned site south of State Road 80 at 20-Mile Bend. “I think this is the highest and best use for this land,” Sachs said during a Palm Beach County Commission meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 5. The track could replace the Palm Beach International Raceway, also known as the Moroso Motorsports Park, which closed in April 2022 after nearly 60 years, much to the dismay of local and regional racing enthusiasts. Located on the Beeline Highway west of Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter, the former raceway was the only such facility in southeast Florida. The first step for a motorsports park near 20-Mile Bend would be for the county to put together a request for proposals (RFP) that would consider all potential uses for the property, which commissioners directed staff to do. “I think we owe it to the people
of this county to request information as to replacing that type of raceway,” said Sachs, who credited the Skip Barber Driving School classes taught at the old raceway for keeping her children safe as they explored the need for speed. “We owe it to the kids in our county to look into this.” However, before it even gets rolling, the project could become mired in the area’s rich, wet Everglades muck, and the dreamed-of sound of racing engines could be drowned out by the voices of angry residents in the Arden neighborhood, located only two miles away. At an Oct. 16 town hall hosted by District 6 County Commissioner Sara Baxter, several Arden residents expressed their concern about the jet-like roar of dragsters thundering down a quarter-mile asphalt track so close by. They noted that they already can hear the popping of gunshots from the Sheriff’s Office Training Center firing range adjacent to the proposed location. Commissioner Mack Bernard said this month he would support looking at “all the options” — which could include dirt bikes and
off-highway vehicles (OHVs) — but added that a “sound study” to ascertain noise levels related to a drag strip would be crucial. West Palm Beach resident Tyler Glock, a proponent for off-road racing, told the commissioners that a 2013 study found that the land at 20-Mile Bend would be well suited for OHV racing and mud sports, but the soft, wet soil would make it impossible to construct a track smooth enough and durable enough for high-speed drag racing without spending millions to “demuck” the land. “You’re assuming that you can lay down a half mile of concrete across swamp land, which isn’t even possible,” Glock said. “Don’t waste your time. Don’t waste any more of our time.” In fact, the two-year-old National Motocross League already has submitted a business plan to the county to use a portion of the site for various forms of off-road racing and recreation. In its proposal, the NML said it would welcome drag racing at the same location. Holding out for heavy-track racing at 20-Mile Bend “doesn’t See RACETRACK, page 7
Westlake Boomed In 2023, Despite A Judge’s Roadblock
By Louis Hillary Park Town-Crier Staff Report The City of Westlake continued its phenomenal growth in 2023, allowing Westlake City Council members to hold the line on tax rates and to cast the vision for a 50acre regional park on the west side of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road. When Westlake came into being in 2016, “we looked at it and thought, rationally, we could hit buildout in 20, maybe 22 years,” City Manager Kenneth Cassel said in August, predicting residential buildout could come as soon as 2026. “It has been just incredible… We tell people, you better put your sneakers on, ’cause we’re moving fast.” However, the Seminole Im-
provement District, which controls the community’s infrastructure, and Minto Communities USA, the city’s largest landowner and developer, did suffer a setback in October when a judge ruled against them in a lawsuit that would have given the community access to nearby Indian Trail Improvement District roads. The loss means that for now, there is no real east-west access for motorists wishing to enter or leave Westlake. The only major traffic route is north-south via Seminole Pratt. “Minto remains confident in the merits of our case and will continue to pursue all options available,” Minto Senior Vice President John Carter, who is in charge of the
Westlake project, said at the time. “Westlake has stayed pretty neutral in the fight over those connections,” Mayor JohnPaul O’Connor noted at a council meeting early in the year. “But we can’t have one way in and out of the city.” The city considered joining the lawsuit but, in the end, stayed out. Carter, who was raised in Riviera Beach and learned construction from the tile up working with his father, said he was unfazed by the judge’s decision. In a September feature story, Carter noted that he’s not required to live in the city he is creating, but he does with his wife and two children. And what does that say about Westlake? “That I feel that good See WESTLAKE, page 16
PBSO: Keep Homes, Vehicles Secured
By Charles Elmore Town-Crier Staff Report Locking car and home doors can help fight an uptick in crime statistics in relatively safe Wellington, the village’s top cop told Wellington’s Public Safety Committee last week, while noting that enforcement of new rules for golf carts has focused more on education than tickets so far. “The primary issues have been unchanged, I think, for years,” Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Nichole Addazio told the committee on Tuesday, Dec. 19. “That is, juvenile crimes and juvenile problems, property crime and traffic.” Addazio has been on the job for eight months as leader of the PBSO’s District 8 in Wellington. A big focus through the winter equestrian season will be traffic enforcement, particularly against reckless and dangerous driving, and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, Addazio said. Rule changes effective since Oct. 1 are designed to enhance safety with golf carts on village roads and paths. The sheriff’s of-
fice has largely emphasized awareness and reminders in the early going, she said. Village residents seem to be understanding what the rules are there, she said. Drivers under 18 must have a valid license or learner’s permit to operate a cart on roads or multimodal pathways. Golf carts must yield to pedestrians, cyclists and horses on the paths by slowing, stopping or pulling off to the side as necessary, with no “bulldozing.” The speed limit for golf carts is 15 mph on paths and 25 mph on roads, according to a village summary. Across Wellington, small stop signs have been placed in many places where paths intersect with roads, spots where inattentive cart drivers might put themselves and others in harm’s way. In the big picture, Wellington remains a relatively safe place, but not one immune from problems, officials said. Comparing 2023 to the previous year at this time, “our crime stats are up across the board,” Addazio said. That is the trend in the western See PBSO, page 4
WELLINGTON HOLIDAY TOY DRIVE GIVEAWAY
Wellington’s Hometown Holiday Toy Drive culminated with a big giveaway event Thursday, Dec. 14 at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church. Dozens of volunteers, joined by village officials, were on hand to help selected family representatives pick out toys for children. Shown here is Rebecca Dyda with volunteer Carla Little-Griffiths of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Lox Groves Moves Quickly To Create Agritourism Panel
By Joshua Manning Town-Crier Staff Report The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council held a special meeting Monday, Dec. 18 to quickly put into action the creation of a shortterm Agritourism Committee agreed to during the council’s previous meeting Dec. 5. After discussing the issue again, the council voted to create the committee, which will sunset at the end of April. Also at the meeting, the council got an update on local annexation issues, with officials confirming that while the town hopes that Palm Beach County manages to stop Wellington’s annexation of nearby Entrada Acres, Loxahatchee Groves will not attempt
to get a competing annexation referendum set up in time for the March 2024 ballot. At the Dec. 5 meeting, the council directed staff to bring back a resolution establishing an Agritourism Committee. The purpose of the committee is to recommend wording on how to deal with “substantial offsite impacts” of agritourism activities and to develop recommendations to mitigate these impacts, balancing the needs of the agritourism industry with the health, safety and welfare of the public. The council decided to create the committee after representatives of the agritourism industry attended the Dec. 5 meeting and See COMMITTEE, page 7
Indian Trail In 2023: Acreage Incorporation Effort Fails, But The District Gets Big Roads Win In Court
By Louis Hillary Park Town-Crier Staff Report For supporters of an incorporation referendum in The Acreage, the year began with hope that quickly faded to disappointment, while the year ended with a changing of the leadership guard among the Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors. Along the way, a judge’s decision vindicated ITID’s legal efforts to ward off what supervisors saw as encroachment on district roads by nearby Westlake’s developer, a major renovation to Acreage Community Park was completed and
big facelift for Nicole Hornstein Equestrian Park was approved. Here is a look at major Acreage/ Indian Trail happenings in 2023: JANUARY A bill calling for an incorporation referendum for the area’s 43,000 residents was approved unanimously by Palm Beach County Legislative Delegation members. Rep. Rick Roth took it before a committee of the legislature in Tallahassee. Roth put the chances of the bill’s passage at “a little better than 50 percent.” FEBRUARY The Palm Beach County Com-
mission approved $3 million for the construction of an artificial turf, regulation-size football field and other improvements at Acreage Community Park. Other improvements planned for Phase 2 of the park’s south expansion project included new bathrooms, equestrian parking for the equestrian trail, new lighting, and the relocation and construction of a new skate park. Meanwhile, supervisors learned that $7.7 million had been authorized by the state to complete the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area levee. In 2012, when
Tropical Storm Isaac dumped 19 inches of rain over The Acreage, water held in Corbett partially broke through the existing levee and added to the area’s flooding problems. MARCH The Acreage incorporation referendum bill was not reported favorably out of the Florida House’s Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts Subcommittee. “After almost three years of hard work, hundreds of hours away from our families, we are disappointed that once again, our
request to have a referendum on determining our own future has been denied by our own state government,” wrote Bob Morgan, one of the leaders of the VoteLox citizens group behind the bill. Then-ITID President Michael Johnson and Acreage Athletic League Acting President Wendy Tirado were among those on hand March 16 for the grand re-opening of Acreage Community Park’s north football fields, which had undergone a 10-month, $580,000 renovation. ITID employees, who handled the entire project except See INDIAN TRAIL, page 4