HELP FIND DOG LOST IN ROYAL PALM SEE STORY, PAGE 3
FILING CLOSES DEC. 10 IN LOX GROVES SEE STORY, PAGE 4
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TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
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INSIDE
Committee Members Discuss Priorities At Joint Meeting
Volume 40, Number 46 December 6 - December 12, 2019
Serving Palms West Since 1980
BALLOON FESTIVAL AT POLO CLUB
The first joint meeting of the Loxahatchee Groves Roadways, Equestrian, Trails & Greenway Advisory Committee (RETGAC) and the Financial Accounting & Audit Committee (FAAC) and was held Wednesday, Dec. 4 to develop realistic goals for the future of the town. Page 3
Family Church West Presents Thanksgiving Chili Cook-Off At TKA
Families and friends gathered in the King’s Academy cafeteria Sunday, Nov. 24 for the Family Church West Thanksgiving Chili Cook-Off. Church members and the wider community were invited to join the party and celebrate Thanksgiving a bit early. Family Church West meets Sundays at TKA. Page 15
Bronco Basketball Team Hosts Thanksgiving Classic Tourney
On Friday, Nov. 29 and Saturday, Nov. 30, the Palm Beach Central High School basketball program hosted its annual Thanksgiving Classic tournament. This year, four teams participated in the two-day competition. Page 21
Indian Trail Opens Impoundment Area For Special Fishing Event
The Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors offered fishing lovers an exclusive, one-day-only opportunity to cast their lines in the M-2 impoundment area in The Acreage on Friday, Nov. 29. The property is otherwise closed to visitors. Page 22 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 18 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 7 PEOPLE................................... 8 SCHOOLS................................ 9 COLUMNS............................. 16 CALENDAR............................ 18 BUSINESS............................. 19 CLASSIFIEDS................. 20, 23 SPORTS......................... 21 - 22 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
The Palm Beach Balloon Festival was held on Friday, Nov. 29 through Sunday, Dec. 1 at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington. The polo field was filled with colorful hot air balloons, and some guests opted for a tethered ride. There were also vendors and food trucks. The hot air balloons run on propane gas, and when they hit the burners, the sky filled with color. Shown above, the balloons fill the sky at IPC. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Lox Groves Trying To Resolve Easement Issues With Roads
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council heard Tuesday, Dec. 3 from Scott Bryson, head of surveying for the town’s engineering firm, Keshavarz & Associates. Bryson passed out GIS maps of B Road as reference for paving and road improvements in response to criticism that the road has crept out of its correct alignment. The town has recently been improving B Road with new rock, but calls from property owners that the project is encroaching onto their property has led the town to stop the project until a solution can be found. The improvements to B Road have long been planned, but now that they are underway, issues are emerging over what was once a matter of courtesy with drivers going off the road to yield to canalside traffic. Councilwoman Lisa El-Ramey, who lives on B Road, said the road has crept onto her property over the years due to grading and people driving off the road. “I used to be able to run my lawn mower in front of my property, and whenever the Loxahatchee Groves
Water Control District at the time would cut the road too wide, I’d call them up and say, ‘My mower’s falling off the front of my property again, stop doing that.’ They’d stop doing it for four, five or six months,” El-Ramey said. “I fought it for several years, but with the new material, I’ve got a six-inch grade over my grade, where I used to have a 10-inch grade below my grade in places. So, I’m going to have a flooding problem, and I have no way to stop people from driving off into my easement.” Assistant Town Manager Francine Ramaglia said the project has been stopped temporarily in response to several phone calls from B Road property owners. “Our workshop last night was mostly a discussion of North B Road,” Ramaglia told the TownCrier on Wednesday. “Several meetings ago, the council directed staff to go ahead and proceed with re-rocking close to two miles of North B Road.” After receiving the phone calls, the town stopped the project and staked the road based on the original 1929 plat of the community, which showed the original dedicated right of way.
“Then we staked the property line for each property owner based on where we believed their property line is,” Ramaglia said. “The third thing we staked was the eastern border of the maintenance easements recorded by the [LGWCD] in 2014. What those maps show are that we are any place from three to 12 feet or more into the maintenance easement, and if you went down the street when we staked it where the edge of the road was, we actually were on private property, in some cases beyond the maintenance easement.” Ramaglia added that she believes residents calling attention to the easements is a good thing, and the town is addressing the issue, although the final B Road alignment might not be a perfectly straight line. During the meeting on Tuesday, Councilwoman Laura Danowski said she did not see a clear and inexpensive solution to the problem. “The solutions are almost like a three-headed monster,” Danowski said. “If my property frontage was taken, and it’s now used as a roadway, option one is buy it from me. Option two is spend tons of money See ROAD WOES, page 4
Town Hall Forum At WHS Educates Parents On Issues Facing Teenagers
By Meredith Burow Town-Crier Staff Report Curious and concerned parents attended a town hall forum held at the Wellington High School theater on Monday, Dec. 2 hosted by the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office and the Palm Beach County School District’s Department of Safe Schools. The forum covered an array of issues students are facing in schools today, such as vaping, sexting, cyberbullying and mental health struggles. With more than 50 people in attendance, it was the fourth and largest turnout of four town hall meetings, the others taking place in September, October and November at schools in other Palm Beach County geographic regions. A continuous theme throughout the night was the urging of experts for parents to be actively aware and involved in their children’s physical and online lives. Cheo Reid, the State Attorney’s Office chief of the Juvenile Division, addressed the crowd early on in the night, educating parents on some of the cyber action in which their children could be engaged, specifically centering on social media and video games. Reid explained to the parents that video games have chat features, and students can fall prey to ill-meaning strangers they meet through these gaming applications. “We need to understand the dynamics of [video games],” Reid said. “We also need to be able to interpret the messages that are being sent back and forth.” Reid told the audience that today’s teens have their own language, and while this is not a
foreign concept, parents need to be able to interpret that language. Ruthe Francis, manager of the Department of Safe Schools, briefed the parents on a few of the acronyms that could make up their children’s “secret language.” For example, “PIR” is an acronym for “Parent in Room.” Others noted by Francis included, “P911” (“Parent Alert”), “KPC” (“Keeping Parent Clueless”), “LMIRL” (“Let’s Meet in Real Life”) and the everdisturbing “GNOC” (“Get Naked on Camera”). These are only a few of the acronyms Francis noted, and she encouraged parents to be alert and in the know when it comes to their children’s forms of communication. “If you don’t know what it means, look it up, or ask them,” Francis said. “And if you’re uncomfortable with the answer, Google it.” In terms of “GNOC,” Reid explained that sexually explicit pictures or videos on a student’s phone or computer involving a person under the age of 18 are considered child pornography, and each picture or video qualifies the holder for up to five years in prison as an adult. So, if the student has two pictures, that could lead to 10 years in prison. Reid also noted that whether or not the student is legally an adult, possessing child pornography can be a ticket to the state’s sex offender registry. Written threats posted on social media or sent through message apps, Reid explained, are also grounds for imprisonment. In the State of Florida, these written See TOWN HALL, page 4
SANTA VISITS ST. RITA
Home Purchase Part Of Plans To Improve Access To RPB Park
By M. Dennis Taylor Town-Crier Staff Report With an eye toward getting residents out of their cars and out of traffic during the congestion of major events held at Royal Palm Beach Commons Park, the Royal Palm Beach Village Council is expected to take up the matter later this month of purchasing a nearby property to improve access to the popular facility. Placing a high priority on improving access to Commons Park for pedestrians, bicyclists and even boats, the property at 180 Sandpiper Ave. was identified at Royal
Palm Beach’s 2019 strategic planning session and budget workshop as one to purchase to potentially remove hundreds of cars during events by providing alternative transportation options. “We have a signed contract with the owner, and we are expecting it will pass at the Dec. 19 meeting,” Village Manager Ray Liggins told the Town-Crier. “It was pulled from the Nov. 21 meeting because of a technical issue with advertising — the notification only gave six days and the regulations require seven.” He believes that the property is
important for its future use to the village. “Our objectives are two-fold,” Liggins explained. “We want to get the land for expanded future public use, and we want to demolish the house. For now, there will just be a flat, grassy area. The council has directed me to identify pieces of property to provide public access, and this will be one.” However, it will not see immediate use in that regard. “The property will need a fairly expensive bridge to make it pedestrian and bicycle accessible, See SANDPIPER, page 4
Knights of Columbus Council #8419 and the Council of Catholic Women held Breakfast with Santa on Sunday, Dec. 1 at St. Rita Catholic Church in Wellington. Santa heard Christmas wishes as his helpers gave out gifts. There were balloons and face painting, as well as coloring and ornament making. Meanwhile, Knights of Columbus members cooked up sausage and pancakes. Shown above is Santa (Ken Deischer) with Nancy Wall. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 10 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Sales Surtax Has Garnered Wellington $11.6 Million
By M. Dennis Taylor Town-Crier Staff Report When the appointed hour for Wellington’s Parks & Recreation Advisory Board meeting rolled around on Monday, Dec. 1, no members of the public showed up. That’s not unusual at committee meetings, but the committee also couldn’t muster a quorum of its membership. Still, Board Chair Dr. Samuel Falzone called for an informational meeting to relate how $11.6 million in sales surtax funds have been spent over the last 33 months. “The committee also serves as the village’s sales surtax review committee,” Director of Administrative & Financial Services
Tanya Quickel told the TownCrier, repeating the information her team had prepared for the committee. At the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, Wellington had collected $4.2 million in money from the one-cent sales surtax approved by voters in 2016. The total collections since January 2017, when revenue from the sales surtax began, is $11.6 million, Quickel said, presenting a chart with the exact revenue. The Village of Wellington collected $4,232,966 last year in surtax revenue on a budget of $3,496,000, or approximately 121 percent of budgeted revenues. Since its inception, Wellington has collected $11,584,968 in sur-
tax revenue. However, the village has spent just a fraction of the money — $997,190. Quickel said that the majority has been spent on updates and improvements to the pavilions, playgrounds and dugouts at Village Park. “$583,710 has gone to Village Park, and the majority of the balance of the $1 million spent is for design work,” she said. That design work has gone mostly into the Town Center Boardwalk project and the Wellington High School Sports Complex project. “The money for the Greenbriar Park expansion and then the South Shore Park expansion has kind of daisy chained as
each project went on hold and the money was re-budgeted into the sports complex,” Quickel said. “The main project that we are focused on right now is the Wellington High School Sports Complex. It is estimated to be a $10 to $12 million project.” The joint use project utilizes land belonging to the school district in which to build stateof-the-art fields, thus preserving other village land for future, undetermined uses. “Designs for that project will be coming before the council in the first quarter of 2020, and they will see large contracts encumbered for the completion of that complex,” Quickel said. That $10 to $12 million figure
does not include a possible swimming pool that is an open option to be considered in the future. “The council has not made that determination on a pool yet,” Quickel said. “They have a window of time before they have to make a final decision. If they did want to do it, it could be funded from future collections, but all those decisions have yet to be made.” Sales surtax money will be paid out soon for the Town Center Boardwalk project. “It’s under construction behind the Wellington Community Center — and it is moving along very nicely,” Quickel said. “It’s a great project, and it looks great. We’re See SURTAX, page 18