Town-Crier Newspaper February 8, 2019

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LOX COUNCIL PLANS ADA COMPLIANCE SEE STORY, PAGE 3

WHS GRAD MISS SOUTH FLORIDA FAIR SEE STORY, PAGE 20

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

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Foundation Awards More Than $5,000 In Middle School Grants

Volume 40, Number 6 February 8 - February 14, 2019

Serving Palms West Since 1980

BOYNTON FINANCIAL CELEBRATION

On Thursday, Jan. 31, Wellington Community Foundation board members Tom Wenham, Mickey Smith, Maria Becker and James Seder visited three local middle schools to deliver checks as part of the foundation’s annual “Our Schools” grant program. Checks totaling more than $5,000 were presented to Principal Dr. Eugina Smith Feaman of Emerald Cove Middle School, Principal Michael Aronson of Polo Park Middle School and Principal Blake Bennett of Wellington Landings Middle School. Page 3 Ben and Joanna Boynton of the Boynton Financial Group held a grand opening celebration for the firm’s newly renovated offices on Wednesday, Jan. 30. Catered food as well as passed hors d’oeuvres and wine added a party vibe. Shown above are Boynton Financial Group’s Joe Williams, Alex LoBiondo, Ben and Joanna Boynton, Debbie Piconcelli, Anna Morra and Ryan Leffler. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 9 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER

The 10th Annual Great Charity Challenge Awards $1.3 Million

Resilient Fitness Celebrates Grand Opening Of Studio

Resilient Fitness CEO Cheryl Love has had a vision for her fitness studio for many years, and she watched it come to life at a grand opening party on Thursday, Jan. 31. Resilient Fitness, located at 11596 Pierson Road, Suite 10, in Wellington, offers a variety of wellnessrelated services on site, ranging from fitness classes and weight training to skin treatments and chiropractic care. Page 8

By Callie Sharkey Town-Crier Staff Report Despite threatening skies, the weather held out and presented a beautiful night under the lights for the 10th annual Great Charity Challenge, presented by Fidelity Investments, on Saturday, Feb. 2 at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. An annual highlight of the Winter Equestrian Festival, $1.3 million in grants and prize money was awarded to a wide array of Palm Beach County charities. The evening’s theme of “We are the World” focused on bringing the

community together, and it did so with great success. The top spot and largest purse of $150,000 went to Holy Ground Shelter for the Homeless with team sponsor Pine Hollow and corporate sponsor Havensafe Farm providing support. The team of winning riders — David Blake, Carly Dvorkin and Madelyn Ruskin — put up the impressive time of 91.904 seconds in the pro/ am relay race format. After 10 years of hard work, the Great Charity Challenge has distributed $13.5 million to more than 230 local charities.

“Equestrian Sport Productions and Wellington Equestrian Partners take on all the costs associated with this event,” GCC Executive Director Anne Caroline Valtin explained. “Which means that every single penny we fundraise goes straight to local charities, which is an amazing achievement in itself.” The impact of the money raised reaches far beyond one-time assistance for the winners. Gregg Weiss, with Speak Up for Kids Palm Beach County, not only drew one of the names for a grant during last weekend’s event, but See GCC, page 7

The top three winners at the 2019 Great Charity Challenge were the Holy Ground Shelter for the Homeless, the Kids Cancer Foundation and Speak Up for Kids Palm Beach County.

Groves Council To Seek Funding For Okeechobee Horse Trail, Roundabouts

By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Mary McNicholas with Geoffrey B. Sluggett & Associates, the town’s advisor on legislative issues, updated the Loxahatchee Groves Town Council on Tuesday, Feb. 5 regarding the status of several items she is working on. “I have a couple of really great items that I want to discuss with you,” McNicholas said. “First of all, your legislative appropriations were filed on time, actually early yesterday, and State Rep. Matt Willhite has done the four items that you discussed. It starts with North B Road improvements, South D Road improvements, the North Road equestrian trail and two horse crossings on Okeechobee Blvd.” McNicholas said that State Sen. Bobby Powell has agreed to co-sponsor the bills, which will be filed next week. More importantly, she said that she and planning consultant Jim Fleischmann, Vice Mayor Todd McLendon, engineering consultant Tricia Barr with Simmons & White and lobbyist Geoffrey Sluggett met with Florida Department of Transportation and Palm Beach County Transportation Planning Agency officials to discuss two potential projects. Those officials included TPA Executive Director Nick Uhren, Deputy Director Valerie Neilson and Pedestrian & Bicycle Coordinator Nicholas Hernandez. Discussion centered on putting a horse trail on Okeechobee Blvd. to connect other horse trails on north/ south roads as a transportation alternative project. “These projects get very detail oriented,” McNicholas said. “Everything has to be around an arterial road, which is Okeechobee Blvd. Because we had already talked about priorities being those equestrian crossings, we went ahead and expounded upon that… We discussed trails that actually go down Okeechobee Blvd. and connect in with the trails, or po-

tential development of trails that go north/south. One thing brought up was that we are going to need to start working toward a master plan on that.” McNicholas noted that Wellington has already developed a master plan for equestrian trails. “We’re looking at what they have done, and we’re trying not to reinvent the wheel,” she said. “It was brought up that there might be some other potential avenues in order to pay for that.” McNicholas said the grant must be applied for by March 1 and will need community involvement and resolutions of support by April 3 and May 3. “It’s kind of quickly that we need to be moving on it,” McNicholas said. “We would like your approval to start working on it. The team that we talked about was Tricia Barr with Simmons & White. She has an equestrian hunter jumper background, is an engineer and has done quite a few different designs for you, and also has done work in Wellington.” McNicholas also recommended getting Fleischmann involved, as well as Sluggett, who is a member of the Roadways, Equestrian, Trails & Greenway Advisory Committee. “I’m representing you as your coordinator here,” McNicholas said, explaining that the grant program could be for $250,000 to $1 million, and the town has to do the design and engineering portion, but the grant can be used for anything past that. “The grant cannot be used for something already in place,” McNicholas said. “We have trails, but we don’t have developed trails. We have rights of way that are designated to become trails… It can be for the bollards, it can be for the signalization, it can be for the material, it can be for small fencing like what Wellington has now that would be next to a road.” McNicholas said they looked at the right-of-way area between the See OKEE TRAIL, page 4

VINCEREMOS GALA

PHOTO BY CALLIE SHARKEY/TOWN-CRIER

Wolverines Avenge Early Season Loss To Broncos With 61-43 Win

The Wellington High School basketball team avenged an early-season loss to Palm Beach Central High School on Friday, Feb. 1, grabbing a 61-43 victory before a capacity crowd. Page 23 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 20 LETTERS.................................. 4 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 7 SCHOOLS.............................. 10 COLUMNS............................. 18 CALENDAR............................ 20 BUSINESS............................. 21 CLASSIFIEDS................. 22, 25 SPORTS..........................23 - 24 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM

Lake Worth Road Resurfacing Project Gets Underway Feb. 11

By M. Dennis Taylor Town-Crier Staff Report A roadway maintenance and resurfacing project on Lake Worth Road from the west side of Panther Run Elementary School heading west to South Shore Blvd. will get underway next week requiring periodic lane closures, and the Village of Wellington is warning that delays are expected.

“Lake Worth Road remains open, so it is not expected to be a burden,” said Liz Nunez, public information officer for the village. Nunez pointed out that the work will be done during evening, night and early morning hours and shouldn’t have too great an effect on residents and equestrian visitors. Construction will take place

The Lake Worth Road project runs from Panther Run Elementary School west to South Shore Blvd. in Wellington.

starting at 6 p.m. and stop for the day at 6 a.m., Sundays through Thursdays, to lessen the impact on commuters, Nunez said. Work begins Monday, Feb. 11 and will last until the early part of March. “That’s barring any unforeseen circumstances,” noted Assistant Village Manager Jim Barnes, referring to unpredictable rain. “The weather here can have rain almost any time. It is supposed to rain Saturday and Sunday, but they should be able to start Monday evening.” Barnes added that this section of road has needed work for a long time. “We evaluate all the village’s roads on an annual basis, based on a condition assessment. We develop a list of what needs to be done and prioritize our needs compared to available funding,” he See ROAD WORK, page 4

Approximately 440 guests gathered at the International Polo Club Palm Beach for the 32nd annual Vinceremos Dinner & Benefit Auction held Friday, Feb. 1. “Horses + Hope = Miracles” was the theme for an evening that honored the organization’s mission to assist children with disabilities and veterans with equine-based therapy. Shown above are Volunteer of the Year Evan Hubner, Charlotte Prince and horse adopter Neva Rae Powers. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY ALEXANDRA ROLAND/TOWN-CRIER

Chamber 5K Puts Focus On Local Health Offerings

By Alexandra Roland Town-Crier Staff Report When fitness consultant Meghan Buser started running about eight years ago, she hated it. Always into fitness and finding ways to be active, she was slowly introduced to the sport when she started training moms at local parks. “One of the girls in my group was a huge runner. She said to me, ‘Let’s get into running.’And it was awful. I was never a runner. And then the more I did it, the more I used to get peace and quiet,” she recalled. From there she ran a half mara-

thon and started running competitively. It was an outlet for her as a mother and a way to mingle with other runners in the community. Wellington, a very active community, has its fair share of running opportunities and events throughout the year. For the past four years, the Health & Wellness Committee of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce has hosted the Meet Me at the Race Sunset Stride 5K in an effort to promote local health and wellness opportunities available for residents right in their backyard. This year, the 5K run will take

place Saturday, March 2 at 4 p.m. at the Wellington National Golf Club. Between 600 and 700 participants are expected. “I love health and wellness in our area, which is why I joined the committee,” said Buser, who also plans to run this year. Buser is active in the chamber through her position as the Live360 community liaison for the Mall at Wellington Green. Lisa Banionis, event chair for the past four years, had similar motivations. The owner of two medical practices in the communiSee SUNSET RUN, page 4

Runners take part in last year’s chamber 5K event.

PHOTO COURTESY WELLINGTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE


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