Town-Crier Newspaper January 20, 2017

Page 1

GL HOMES SUGGESTS ITID IMPACT FEE SEE STORY, PAGE 3

CENTANNI CAFÉ FINDS A NEW HOME SEE STORY, PAGE 7

THE

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

Your Community Newspaper

INSIDE

Lox Groves Council Removes 8th Place North As A Public Road

Volume 38, Number 3 January 20 - January 26, 2017

Serving Palms West Since 1980

POLO FOR A PURPOSE EVENT AT IPC

Under pressure from possible litigation, the Loxahatchee Groves Town Council voted 4-1 to remove 8th Place North as a public road, although council members were concerned about repercussions that might result if more residents want their roads removed. Page 3

CAFCI, RPB Honor Dr. King’s Legacy

CAFCI and the Village of Royal Palm Beach presented the 15th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration on Monday, Jan. 16 at the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center. Singers, dancers, musicians and speakers demonstrated the theme, “Love is the most durable power in the world.” Page 9

Polo for a Purpose was held Monday, Jan. 16 at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The event was led by co-chairs P.J. Rizvi, Visse Wedell and Penny Bradley, along with honorary chair Brandon Phillips, a polo player and lymphoma survivor. Shown here are fellow cancer survivors Bruce Steinberg and Piper Apfel with Phillips. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 7 PHOTO BY JULIE UNGER/TOWN-CRIER

Art Fest On The Green Returns To Amphitheater Jan. 28-29

JustWorld Gala At Belle Herbe Farm Raises Money To Help Children

JustWorld International Founder Jessica Newman hosted the nonprofit’s 14th annual JustWorld Gala, presented by the Palm Beach Masters and Caryl Philips and Frank Zeiss, on Friday, Jan. 13 at Belle Herbe Farm in Wellington. The event highlighted JustWorld’s equestrian ambassadors and featured a performance by Johnny Rez from The Voice. Page 16

OPINION There Is Much To Celebrate As A New Era In Baseball Begins

For what seemed like the longest time, Roger Dean Stadium was the only game in town for baseball fans. But that changes this year, with the inaugural season at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach. Like Roger Dean Stadium, the new state-of-the-art complex is the spring training home to two Major League Baseball teams — the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals. Let’s hope the promise of the stadium lives up to the hype. Page 4 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS................................. 3 - 9 OPINION.................................. 4 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 6 PEOPLE................................. 12 SCHOOLS.............................. 13 COLUMNS.......................14, 21 BUSINESS..................... 22 - 23 SPORTS..........................25 - 27 CALENDAR............................ 28 CLASSIFIEDS................ 29 - 33 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM

By Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report Organizers of the Wellington Art Society’s Art Fest on the Green are putting the finishing touches together for the 11th annual juried fine art and craft show, which will take place Saturday, Jan. 28 and Sunday, Jan. 29 at the Wellington Amphitheater. This is the first year that the group utilized digital applications, Wellington Art Society President Sandy Axelrod said, which significantly increased the number of applications. More artists were attracted to the event due to the ease in applying, First Vice President Leslie Pfeiffer added. “The talent was amazing,” Axelrod said. About 70 artists applied to fill the more than 50 slots for Art Fest

Leslie Pfeiffer and Sandy Axelrod invite you to visit Art Fest on the Green next weekend. on the Green, including almost a dozen local Wellington Art Society members, event co-chair Adrianne Hetherington said. With people on a wait list, artists are coming from as far as New

York to attend and show at Art Fest on the Green in Wellington. Artist Len Jagoda from Georgia will be attending and unveiling one of his newest pieces — a comSee ART FEST, page 4

Joint Meeting Seeks To Hash Out Lox Groves Road Issues

By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council and Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District Board of Supervisors held a long-awaited but positive joint meeting Tuesday, Jan. 17 to discuss the transfer of remaining district roads to the town. Other issues discussed included road maintenance responsibility and the future of the LGWCD. “I think it would be a lot simpler if the town takes care of roads and the district takes care of drainage, and we try to figure something out with the trails,” Vice Mayor Tom Goltzené said. “We could assign the gas tax money essentially to the function of taking care of the roads, which is all we’re trying to do. I would like to see that as a first step. As to the dependence or independence of the district, I do not see why the district cannot

remain independent if it’s a drainage district.” Goltzené said much confusion has arisen over part of the roads belonging to the district and part of them to the town. “Make it simple,” he said. “If we can work toward turning the roads over, I think that would be a productive move.” Supervisor Simon Fernandez said that he would like to see what is in the best interest of the community. “Some of us are going to be staying here for the next couple of years, some of us won’t, so I think that we have a perfect scenario here to make it positive, reduce whatever cost we can to the taxpayers in this town, and once and for all get this done with the politics on the roads,” Fernandez said. Councilman Todd McLendon agreed with keeping the district

independent as long as it continues to do maintenance for the town. “The roads and whatnot, that’s where the contention is all the time,” McLendon said. “It’s confusing to the residents. They call and have an issue with the road and the question is, is it a town road or is it a district road? I see it completely different from that. They are all town roads, every single one of them. If it’s open to the public, it’s a town road.” He explained that in 2008, the town took responsibility for the roads, although the district still keeps a list of district-maintained roads. “Some of the roads the district maintains and we supplement that,” he said. “That’s where the issues come up. I think that they all need to be turned over to the town. I understand there’s disagreements See LOX ROADS, page 15

Iota Carol Planners Make Their Pitch To ITID Supervisors

By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors heard a presentation last week on the proposed 1,287-acre Iota Carol development, also known as Delray Linton Groves. The land in question is north of 60th Street North and west of 190th Avenue North, just south of the GL Homes site. The project is to the west of Osceola Creek Middle School and Frontier Elementary School. Ken Tuma with Urban Design Kilday Studios gave the presentation on Jan. 11. Tuma noted that the Palm Beach County Commission transmitted a comp plan amendment with a density of 0.8 homes per acre allowing 1,030 total units. It will be back for final adoption by the county on Jan. 30. Also proposed are 112,000 square feet of non-residential uses, as well as 26 acres for civic use and 11 acres of recreation areas. The development also proposes 431 acres of open space to be given to ITID for stormwater management. “Almost 70 percent of the site will be dedicated to open space,” Tuma said, adding that 10 percent of the development will be designated for workforce housing, with 6 miles of pedestrian pathways and 4 miles of horse trails that connect to already approved horse trails at GL Homes. “Those are open to the public for anyone to use.” The total equestrian pathways between the two adjacent projects will be 26 miles. “There are some significant public benefits with this project,” Tuma said. “One of the key ones is a part of the transmittal that the Board of County Commissioners did at its hearing… that we would not have the ability to annex into any municipality. That’s an important one in relation to Westlake, and that was important to the Board of County Commissioners, so we agreed to that.” He said they are still working with ITID staff to dedicate the 431 acres to the district for stormwater management, as well as ceding

part of the site’s drainage allowance to ITID. “The way that our project has ended up being built, we actually have more lakes onsite than we need. Because we have such a small density at 0.8 dwelling units per acre, our lakes have actually gotten bigger,” he said. “On a typical project this size, the lakes are about 15 percent of the development area. We’re actually going to be 23 percent.” Tuma explained that under the site’s existing drainage permit, they will be able to reduce the discharge, and the remainder will be available to ITID. Delray Linton Groves will provide $1.32 million above its required proportionate share requirement to the county for roadway improvements. “We’re also agreeing, which is important to this board, to be an active unit of the Indian Trail Improvement District,” Tuma said. Supervisor Betty Argue was concerned about the horse trails proposed along 190th, which is planned to be the major north/ south connection for Delray Linton Groves and GL Homes’ Indian Trail Groves. Argue pointed out that Minto/Westlake had recently proposed an amendment removing horse trails from Seminole Pratt Whitney Road. “Their justification is because Seminole Pratt is not an appropriate place for the horse trails, so I want to know how are you doing with the horse trails along 190th, because it will be the busiest road through that area, and I don’t want this to be an excuse down the road,” she said. Tuma said the road’s easement will be almost 300 feet wide, and the horse trail will be set far from the main roadway. ITID President Jennifer Hager said she found the horse trail proposals to be oxymoronic. “We have all this influx of development that’s going to produce all this traffic, and horses and traffic just don’t mix, so if you’re saying that just to appease any one of us or any of our neighboring See IOTA CAROL, page 4

SOUTH FLORIDA FAIR GETS UNDERWAY

The South Florida Fair kicked off Friday, Jan. 13 with a New Orleans Mardi Gras theme. The fair continues through Jan. 29 at the South Florida Fairgrounds. Shown here are South Florida Fair CEO Rick and Denise Vymlatil with grandson Lucas Harneck on a Mardi Gras-themed parade float. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 17 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER

Aronberg Touts Many Successes As New Term Starts

Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg began his second term as the county’s top prosecutor this month.

BY JULIE UNGER/TOWN-CRIER

By Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report After four years on the job, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg is proud of what his office has accomplished so far, and he is working to further those accomplishments as he begins his second term as the county’s top prosecutor. “When I campaigned for state attorney four years ago, I spoke of the need to increase our conviction rates, which were the lowest in the state, and decrease our juvenile direct file rates, which were among the highest in the state,” he said. “I’m proud that we’ve been able to do both.” Things have been busy at the state attorney’s office, with 120

prosecutors, 200 support staff and 60 volunteers spread across five locations. Each year, 60,000 cases are prosecuted; 13,000 of those are felonies, 3,000 are juvenile cases and the rest are misdemeanors. Aronberg’s office is the largest and most diverse law firm in Palm Beach County, he said, with women now making up the majority of prosecutors. Recent statistics showed that 75 juveniles were charged as adults in 2015-16, which is down from the 136 juveniles charged as adults in the previous year. “We wanted to steer nonviolent juveniles away from the adult court system and into the juvenile system, which is the purpose of having a juvenile system to begin

with,” Aronberg said. “We need to focus on rehabilitation and ensure that we don’t create a new generation of violent criminals.” For juveniles who commit violent crimes, or are habitual criminals, where juvenile sanctions haven’t worked, they will continue to be direct filed as needed, he explained. “Ultimately, the No. 1 priority of this office is to protect public safety and stand up for victims of crime,” Aronberg said. The office focuses on differentiating between a violent juvenile and a nonviolent juvenile. For example, it has been found that a nonviolent juvenile can be reformed, but if you place that See ARONBERG, page 15


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.