EIGHT SEEK TWO COUNTY COURT SEATS SEE STORY, PAGE 3
LOX COUNCIL CONSIDERING RV PROJECT SEE STORY, PAGE 7
THE
TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
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INSIDE
Enjoy Fourth Of July Celebrations In Royal Palm And Wellington
Volume 39, Number 25 June 22 - June 28, 2018
Serving Palms West Since 1980
BRANDON GORDON FUNDRAISER
America’s birthday is coming up, and what better way to commemorate Independence Day than by spending time with friends and family at the free Fourth of July celebrations in Wellington or Royal Palm Beach? Page 3
Wellington Art Society’s New Officers Installed At Annual Dinner
The Wellington Art Society held its annual Installation of Officers and Dinner on Friday, June 15 at the Mayacoo Lakes Country Club. Outgoing board members received recognition and gifts from outgoing President Sandy Axelrod for all of their work during art shows and special events. New board members were sworn in as Axelrod turned over the gavel to incoming President Carolina King. Page 6
Minto Sells 400-Acre Westlake Site To FPL For New Solar Plant
Westlake will soon include the county’s first large utility-scale solar plant. Recently, Florida Power & Light received site plan approval to develop a 400-acre solar energy center. This week, FPL closed on the purchase from Minto. Page 7
Arden Hosts Summer FunFest To Celebrate First Phase Completion
The Arden community hosted its first Summer FunFest on Saturday, June 16 to celebrate the completion of its first phase of construction. The free event was open to the public, and guests were able to enjoy free food and refreshments, live music entertainment, games, face painting, a farmer’s market and all of the different vendors present. Page 17
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Garden of Hope and Pirate’s Well Royal Palm Beach hosted the B-Strong for Brandon “Bear” Gordon fundraiser on Tuesday, June 19 at Pirate’s Well. There were ticket auctions, raffles and bingo for prizes. Proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit Brandon Gordon, a 22-year-old University of Florida student battling cancer. Shown above are Maria and Bethany Enriquez with Tamara Casanova. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 7 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Wellington Seniors Club Change Concerns Committee Members By Eve Rosen Town-Crier Staff Report Members of the Wellington Senior Advisory Committee raised concerns Thursday, June 14 that the Wellington Seniors Club will be capping its membership and closing admission to additional senior citizens from Wellington. The issue was brought up by Committee Member Veronica McCue, who earlier in the meeting was tapped as the committee’s new chair. “To this committee, I would like to respectfully recommend that the Wellington Village Council investigate, discuss and answer the two main questions of, ‘Who made this decision?’ and ‘Why this decision was made?’” she said. McCue said closing the club to new members runs counter to its mission. “The Wellington Seniors Club, as a nonprofit organization,
who by familiarity, distinction and reference is associated as the Village of Wellington Seniors Club [should explain why it] will be permitted to close its admission to senior residents of Wellington for any reason, while still allowing non-residents to maintain their membership,” she said. The reason behind the policy change is due to the club’s popularity, and the fact that its monthly luncheon attendance is overwhelming the space available. “The reason is that we don’t have the facilities to handle them,” said Howard Trager, a member of the Senior Advisory Committee and also a director of the quasiindependent Wellington Seniors Club. Some 300 members attend meetings in the senior-friendly ballroom of the Wellington Community Center, and the fire mar-
shal’s order states that the room cannot hold any more. Capping membership did not sit well as a solution for McCue. “I’m not trying to tell the senior club what to do, far be it from that, we have now closed admission to the only social club for residents of Wellington ages 55 and over,” McCue said. “I don’t think that residents of Wellington should be deprived of a social activity from the town.” Trager said that the action falls within the rules to the club. “At the risk of violating the Sunshine Law, if you check, our bylaws state that we have the right to withhold membership at any given time for whatever reason,” he said. “The reason is that we don’t have the facilities to handle them.” The motion to bring this issue See SENIORS, page 15
Habilitation Center Plans New Facility In Wellington
By Dani Salgueiro Town-Crier Staff Report On Thursday, June 14, the Palm Beach Habilitation Center hosted a special event at the Wanderers Club to celebrate the nonprofit’s official plans to build a memory care group home in Wellington next year.
For nearly 60 years, the Palm Beach Habilitation Center has provided a helping hand to thousands of disabled individuals throughout Palm Beach County, explained Palm Beach Habilitation Center CEO David Lin. The Palm Beach Habilitation Center provides resources such
Director of Residential Services Kim Coughlin, CEO David Lin and STARS Program Director Lynn Eisele.
PHOTO BY DANI SALGUEIRO/TOWN-CRIER
as job training, employment opportunities, recreational activities and a social setting for adults living with developmental and physical disabilities. “We have brought in programs to help individuals of all types of disabilities live life to the fullest within the community that they choose to live in,” Lin explained. In the early 1990s, the Palm Beach Habilitation Center initiated its Seniors in Transition And Retirement Services (STARS) program, through which they were able to help seniors with disabilities from having to prematurely go into nursing homes or assisted-living facilities. The STARS program has provided the proper nutrition, exercise and community involvement that many disabled adults lack. “The idea is to provide resources and activities for residents to remain as active and engaged in their communities as possible,” Lin said. In other words, the simple mission of the Palm Beach Habilitation Center is to give disabled See HAB CENTER, page 4
State Road 7 Extension Under Attack, Again
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The State Road 7 extension plans to Northlake Blvd. are again under potential attack by the City of West Palm Beach, which has offered to pay the Northern Palm Beach County Improvement District (NPBCID) about $3 million to clean up waters at the city’s Ibis Golf & Country Club in exchange for the city’s ability to review the approval of the proposed road’s stormwater discharge permit, which has expired, according to an NPBCID official. NPBCID Executive Director O’Neal Bardin said that the district was scheduled to appear in a trial on May 13, where West Palm Beach was suing the district to clean up waters that were flowing from Ibis lakes into the city’s water catchment area. “The city asked if we would like
to go into settlement negotiations, and we responded yes,” Bardin told the Town-Crier on Wednesday. “We had spent somewhere in the neighborhood of a million dollars defending this thing, and the trial was going to cost us more, so we entered into negotiations.” As a result, the takeaway is that NPBCID has agreed not to issue any permits that would allow additional stormwater to enter the Ibis system without the consent of the City of West Palm Beach. Bardin added that prior to the negotiations being settled, the permit that the district issued to the Florida Department of Transportation for the State Road 7 connection for discharge of water into Ibis had expired. “We did not revoke the permit,” he said, explaining that NPBCID cannot renew the permit without See SR 7, page 15
VETERAN REUNION
Project 425 hosted the Southeast Asia Army Security Agency Veteran Reunion on Friday, June 15 at the G&M Ranch in Loxahatchee Groves. The “Old Spooks and Spies” reunion group was comprised of Army top secret crypto communication specialists. Shown above is Bill Arcuri and Indian Code Talker Rowdy Yates. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Lox Groves Council Frowns On Church Expansion Proposal
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Community of Hope Church’s plans for expansion to as much as 114,000 square feet were dashed by the Loxahatchee Groves Town Council, sitting as the Local Planning Agency, in a public hearing on Tuesday. Council members turned down the request in a 3-1 vote, although the church has plans already approved for as much as 40,000 square feet. Jennifer Morton representing Community of Hope said the church was asking for a comprehensive land use change from agricultural residential to institutional, allowing for development of the church on 35 acres at the northwest corner of Okeechobee Blvd. and E Road. The campus was first contemplated in 2002 with the purchase of 25 acres where the current church stands. In 2006, the existing church was built under county applications before the town was incorporated.
“The congregation had an initial vision for a portion of the 25 acres,” Morton said. “They filed an application, and that application was transferred to the town to finalize the approvals. At that time, the town had not developed its own comprehensive plan.” In November 2010, the town adopted a new zoning code that limited churches to 5 acres in size, although Community of Hope already had 25 acres. “There was a provision that vested current approvals, but they had only come in with a portion of their properties, so there was a little question what was vested and what was not,” Morton said, adding that the church met with town staff about two years ago at about the same time the church acquired two more parcels. “At that time, we were meeting with staff to develop a master plan for the campus. We needed to make minor changes to the site plan, but we couldn’t make any changes to See CHURCH, page 15
Bruce Saulter Tapped As New Cypress Trails Principal
By Dani Salgueiro Town-Crier Staff Report Longtime educator and Royal Palm Beach resident Bruce Saulter was recently chosen by the School District of Palm Beach County to be the new principal of Cypress Trails Elementary School, replacing Shari Bremekamp in that role. Originally from Indiana, Saulter moved to South Florida in 2006 and taught hundreds of students at Royal Palm Beach Elementary School from 2006 through 2012. “I started my career here in Palm Beach County,” Saulter said. “At Royal Palm Beach Elementary School, I had the opportunity to grow as a teacher and leader. I learned the value in and importance of parent involvement, [as
well as] the importance of bringing in resources and volunteers from within the community.” In 2012, Saulter was tapped to serve as assistant principal of Seminole Trails Elementary School in West Palm Beach. “When I became assistant principal, I took those same values with me and worked hard to develop a positive and supportive climate for students here at Seminole Trails,” Saulter said. With his latest promotion, Saulter is excited to return to the Royal Palm Beach community, where he has lived since 2014. He looks forward to serving the families of his home community. “My wife, son and I live in Royal Palm Beach,” he said. “We
are residents and active members of the community. I’m aware of what kind of support and what kind of beliefs the residents of Royal Palm Beach have, and they always support their schools. As a community member, I look forward to, as principal, getting to support the students and families of Royal Palm Beach at Cypress Trails.” One of Saulter’s top priorities going into the 2018-19 school year will be working with the school district to ensure school safety for the students, staff and volunteers of Cypress Trails. “I want to have a safe and positive environment on campus. Once the school year begins, that will be my number one priority,” Saulter
said. “Some key things that we will do to ensure that all-around safety is being met is ensuring everyone on campus has gone through a check at the front office. I want to ask our families and volunteers for their flexibility and understanding, as we will ask for ID and do a little background check to ensure that everyone entering has a purpose on campus.” Along with closely monitoring everyone entering the school, Saulter will also work with teachers and staff to assure that all are properly prepared for any emergency and capable of protecting students. “I want to also be sure that teachers and staff are knowledgeSee SAULTER, page 15
Bruce Saulter