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Wellington Names Rec Board As Surtax Oversight Committee
Volume 38, Number 4 January 27 - February 2, 2017
Serving Palms West Since 1980
PET HAVEN RESCUE CASINO NIGHT
The Wellington Village Council passed a resolution Tuesday designating the village’s Parks & Recreation Advisory Board as its Infrastructure Surtax Citizen Oversight Committee. Director of Administrative & Financial Services Tanya Quickel said the resolution is one of the requirements of the 1-cent surtax referendum. Page 3
Wellington High School’s Dance Team Presents Showcase
The Wellington High School Royals Dance Team presented its annual showcase on Friday, Jan. 20 in the Wellington High School theater. Led by head coach Brittany Tobasco and summer trainer Kelly Dennis, the students performed dances choreographed by Tobasco, Joyanna Peterson, Yeri Peguero and the dancers themselves. Page 8
Fair Fun Continues This Weekend At The Fairgrounds
The 2017 South Florida Fair, with its New Orleans theme, continues through Sunday, Jan. 29 at the South Florida Fairgrounds. For more info., visit www.southfloridafair.com. Page 19
OPINION Securing Vehicles Helps The PBSO Fight Crimes Of Opportunity
It takes just 20 seconds for someone to break into a vehicle, grab things like electronics, a car stereo, important papers, CDs or anything else that looks useful or valuable, and take off. There has been a recent increase of Wellington residents who can attest to this. This particular crime is one that has plagued Wellington, and other area communities, seasonally for many years. Don’t become the next victim. Make sure that your vehicles are locked with no valuables in view. Page 4 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS................................. 3 - 9 OPINION.................................. 4 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 6 PEOPLE................................. 14 SCHOOLS.............................. 15 COLUMNS...................... 16, 23 BUSINESS......................24 - 25 SPORTS..........................27 - 29 CALENDAR............................ 30 CLASSIFIEDS.................31 - 35 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
Pet Haven Rescue held its third annual Casino Night on Saturday, Jan. 21 at the Wellington National Golf & Equestrian Club. There was dinner, dancing, casino games, entertainment, and live and silent auctions. The money raised will provide medical care, neuter/spay services and food for rescued animals. Shown above are Bob and Karen Cavanagh, Lynn and State Attorney Dave Aronberg, and Trisha and Neil Saffer. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 7 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
PBSO Commander: Protect Yourself By Locking Vehicles
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Village Manager Paul Schofield told the Wellington Village Council on Tuesday that a recent uptick in auto thefts and auto burglaries has been thwarted by a continuing operation that the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is conducting. “I asked that the PBSO take a look at what they could do,” Schofield said. “There was an interdiction done this past weekend that was pretty successful.” Wellington’s District 8 commander, Capt. Rolando Silva, said the PBSO put together Operation Vigilance with collaboration among his deputies and some from District 9 in Royal Palm Beach, the Violent Crimes Division, the Gang Unit, the South Florida Task Force and the Robbery Division. “The action plan has been put in place for a week, and I’m not going to tell you when it is going to end, but it’s going to go on for
a little bit,” Silva said. “What it’s doing is bringing all these units to the table so there is good communication, and the nature of the operation is covert. We’re going to do surveillances, both rolling and standing surveillance.” The team executed an operation one recent weekend that resulted in three felony arrests, seven misdemeanors, drug seizures and 12 criminal citations. “We’re making good progress, and it is true, we had an uptick in vehicle burglaries starting from the beginning of this year,” he said. “Starting from [Jan. 1], we had 29 in one week, which was almost unprecedented. We really haven’t had those kinds of numbers in Wellington. Of those, 21 were unlocked cars, so if there is a message to take away to give to everyone, it’s don’t make it easy for them. Let’s lock our cars at night, and that’s when this stuff is occurring.” Silva noted that it is easy for one See VEHICLES, page 17
Royal Palm Beach Clears Path VINCEREMOS BUCK OFF For Brewpubs, Microbreweries
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Royal Palm Beach Village Council approved the preliminary reading of an ordinance last week that would create regulations to allow breweries, brewpubs, microbreweries and taprooms/tasting rooms as special exception uses in general commercial and limited industrial districts. At the Jan. 19 meeting, Village Attorney Jennifer Ashton said that the council had asked for regulations adding the uses in shopping centers in need of rehabilitation or revitalization. “This was created in an innovative way to do that, so the council directed staff and myself to draft an ordinance for review proposing some regulations for microbreweries,” Ashton said. Her research on microbreweries revealed that there are several different iterations, including brewpubs and distilleries. “I found some sample ordinances that I have utilized in crafting this, so these are tested regulations
already,” she said. “I looked at the City of Tampa, the City of St. Petersburg and the City of Orlando, which have developed downtown areas that are very successful, so the majority of these regulations come from those cities.” Ashton explained that the council had several goals in moving forward with brewery uses. Microbreweries would encourage innovative new businesses and help revitalize struggling shopping centers. Further, there is a need to create criteria to encourage and facilitate these businesses in a way so as not to make them too restrictive, but at the same time consider that they have manufacturing and distribution components. Under the definitions, a brewery or brewpub is more like a restaurant in commercial districts, where they have a food menu, and 50 percent of the beer must be sold for consumption onsite. A microbrewery would be limited to 20,000 square feet in the industrial district, or less than 5,000 square feet in the commercial district.
Brewpubs and microbreweries must have a public access component. There needs to be either a taproom, educational facility, visiting center or retail center that attracts the public. “That is really what differentiates a brewpub and microbrewery from a standard brewery,” Ashton said. At brewpubs and microbreweries in the commercial general and industrial limited areas, the common areas must make up at least 25 percent of the facility. “Only 75 percent of the facility can be used for the manufacturing and distribution,” she said. “It sets limits on the maximum barrel production of brewpubs and microbreweries each year. The maximum production is 15,000 barrels per year. That is a pretty standard regulation across the board.” She noted that the people who brought the concept to the village told her that 15,000 barrels is a large amount of beer, and explained that the amount of production is regulated by state See BREWERIES, page 4
RPB Council Acts To Control Medical Marijuana Facilities
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Royal Palm Beach Village Council last week gave preliminary approval to an ordinance that would create regulations and definitions for medical marijuana treatment and retail centers as a special exception use. The action at the Jan. 19 council meeting follows approval of a state constitutional amendment Nov. 8 to allow such facilities. The ordinance would allow those uses in commercial and industrial areas of the village, subject to significant regulations. Village Attorney Jennifer Ashton explained that a sizable majority of voters approved the constitutional amendment allowing people to purchase and use medical marijuana in all forms. “Previously, in 2014, the state
legislature had allowed medical marijuana only in low-THC form,” Ashton said. “Now it is allowed in all forms.” This includes the sale of medical marijuana in food products and other variations. The State of Florida is now undergoing a rule-making process, and the Florida Department of Health will be coming out with new rules and regulations. The legislature will most likely take up the issue in the current legislative session, Ashton said. In the meantime, Ashton and other village officials believed it important to propose regulations to the council immediately, rather than impose a moratorium. “The question before you tonight is not whether medical marijuana is a good thing or a bad thing,” Ashton said. “That has
already been decided by the voters. The question for you tonight is do we regulate it now or do we regulate it six months from now? My strong recommendation is that we go ahead and pass regulations now.” The ordinance creates new definitions for marijuana, marijuana retail and treatment centers, and what type of centers would be allowed in the village. “They have different uses attached to them and they have different regulations,” Ashton said. “It is going to be adding medical marijuana retail centers as special-exception uses in the general commercial district, and it is adding treatment centers as a special-exception use in the industrial general district.” In addition to having a special See MARIJUANA, page 17
The Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center held the second of its three Buck Off qualifying rounds Thursday, Jan. 19 at the White Horse Fashion Cuisine. Teams of riders tried their hand at staying on the mechanical bull. The third round was held Thursday, Jan. 26, before the finale, which is set for Friday, Feb. 3 at the International Polo Club Palm Beach during the 30th annual Vinceremos Benefit Auction. Shown above, the “Real Bucking Deal” team of Brandon Ratchford, Donnie Mills, Trent Ferreir and Andrey Ferreir won the evening’s competition. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 9 PHOTO BY JULIE UNGER/TOWN-CRIER
RPB Senior Needs Consultant Gets Right To Work
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Royal Palm Beach’s newly contracted consultant to do a study of seniors’ needs in the village explained to the Recreation Advisory Board on Monday how the study will be undertaken. Last Thursday, the Royal Palm Beach Village Council contracted with Phil Gonot of PMG Associates to do the study. Parks & Recreation Director Lou Recchio noted that this is not the first senior needs assessment that has been done by the village. The first was done in 2008, which led to the relocation of many seniors programs to the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center. “What PMG is going to be do-
ing is surveys with various groups like this one, Young at Heart, some of the local citizen groups and homeowners’ associations, and staff,” Recchio said. Gonot will gather information about what is currently offered to seniors and put all the information together to find out what is available and what is not. “What direction do we need to go to fulfill some of those needs?” Recchio asked. “The last time we did this, one of the things was that the seniors wanted to have their own facility. Out of that, as you know, we moved to the Cultural Center, where seniors use the Cultural Center during the daytime hours and different clubs See SENIORS, page 4
Stallion Grading Event The First Of Its Kind In Florida
Guy Huybrechts and Corine Taymans with Galando.
BY JULIE UNGER/TOWN-CRIER
By Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report Guy Huybrechts, Anglo European Studbook representative for the United States, and Corine Taymans, president of Vizcaya of the Sun Farms, are bringing a day of special events to Wellington on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Taymans has more than 30 years of equestrian experience. She was on the pre-Olympic team for Belgium and was a 2015 finalist for the Belgian Dressage Cup. Together, Taymans and Huybrechts have more than 20 years of experience breeding and managing farms. The first ever Anglo European Studbook Grand Prix of Florida and Stallion Grading Event in the U.S. is coming to the Global
Dressage Stadium on South Shore Blvd. on Feb. 21 starting at 9 a.m. Stallions four years old and older will be divided into four classes based upon their age — four years old, five years old, six years old, and seven years old and older — for jumpers, as well as dressage horses. They will then be assessed, or graded, on different levels, such as their ability, competition level, offspring production and offspring competition levels. Registration is $250 per horse. To be in the brochure, the fee must be submitted by Feb. 7. Dressage horses are presented before international judges, Huybrechts said, and the horses will be asked to walk or trot with a rope rather than a rider. In the afternoon,
the horses will be asked to perform various elements with a rider. Then, they will be asked to do a freestyle demonstration. The horses receive points, and at the end, the horse with the most points is the winner. Then, it will be determined if the horse is good enough for breeding. It is possible for the winning horse and the runner-up to be approved in a class. However, it is also possible to have a winning horse that isn’t approved. The jumpers have a similar schedule, and will jump a few small jumps in the afternoon. There are cash prizes for the winners, up to $2,500. “It depends on who is going to See STALLIONS, page 17