Town-Crier Newspaper March 10, 2017

Page 1

REGGAE4CURE FESTIVAL ON MARCH 25 SEE STORY, PAGE 3

RPB TO HOLD SENIOR NEEDS FORUMS SEE STORY, PAGE 7

THE

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

Your Community Newspaper

INSIDE

Zoning Commission Frowns On Tiki Hut Variance Request

Volume 38, Number 10 March 10 - March 16, 2017

Serving Palms West Since 1980

A DAY OF MALLETS AND CHUKKERS

The Royal Palm Beach Planning & Zoning Commission met Tuesday, Feb. 28 and spent the bulk of its time discussing a variance request for a backyard tiki hut. Queens Lane resident Justin Bell requested a variance to allow a reduced rear setback and side setback for his already-installed tiki hut. Page 3

Wellington Idol Holds Audition Round With Finals Set For March 10

Auditions for the sixth annual Wellington Idol singing competition took place Friday, March 3 at the Wellington Amphitheater. Contestants were divided into age groups for a chance to win the $500 grand prize, or one of the $250 prizes for the runnersup. The finals will take place Friday, March 10 at 7 p.m., also at the Wellington Amphitheater. Page 5

Royal Palm Beach Young At Heart Club Celebrates St. Patrick

The Royal Palm Beach Young at Heart Club held its monthly luncheon Friday, March 3 at the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center. The theme was St Patrick’s Day, and corned beef and cabbage was served to the seniors. Some members played Wheel of Fortune and won gift cards to Publix. Page 8

OPINION Town-Crier Endorsements

This week, the Town-Crier issues endorsements for the upcoming municipal races in Royal Palm Beach and Loxahatchee Groves, including Royal Palm Beach Village Council Seat 2 and Seat 4, Loxahatchee Groves Town Council Seat 5 and the Loxahatchee Groves bond referendum. Voting will take place Tuesday, March 14. Page 4

DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 10 OPINION.................................. 4 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 6 PEOPLE................................. 15 SCHOOLS.......................16 - 17 COLUMNS.......................18, 27 BUSINESS..................... 28 - 29 SPORTS..........................35 - 37 CALENDAR............................ 38 CLASSIFIEDS................ 39 - 43 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Foundation held “A Day of Mallets and Chukkers” on Sunday, March 5 at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington. The third class of scholarship winners received their scholarships and were recognized at the luncheon. Shown here is honoree Tyler Reis of Royal Palm Beach High School with Dave and Lori Kardashian and Deputy Darren Curci. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 22 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER

ELECTION 2017: RPB COUNCIL, SEAT 2

David Swift Puts His Focus On Experience, Accomplishments

By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Royal Palm Beach Councilman Dave Swift is being challenged by former Councilman Richard Valuntas for Seat 2 on the Royal Palm Beach Village Council in the Tuesday, March 14 election. Swift has served on the council for nearly three decades, although he did take several years off along the way. His most recent stint on the council began four years ago. Before his retirement, Swift worked for the South Florida Water Management District for 34 years. “I was an environmental scientist and worked in the Everglades and on Lake Okeechobee, primarily as a project manager for cleaning up pollution,” he said. “I have been a councilman and vice mayor here in Royal Palm Beach for 29 years, which my opponent feels is a problem.”

Before his time on the council, Swift was chairman of the village’s Planning & Zoning Commission in 1985 when Royal Palm Beach was listed among the nation’s fastest-growing communities. “I have a lot of planning and land development experience here in the village, and when I think of the council people, I have the most experience,” he said. “When I came to Royal Palm Beach, there was no high school, and there really was not a place to shop,” he said. “In 1985, I started the Education Committee, which still exists today. Our sole charge was getting a high school for Royal Palm Beach. It took 10 years, but we finally got a high school for Royal Palm Beach.” He is also proud of his work improving recreation facilities in the community. “My kids were young and recreation was a big deal, and I basically

David Swift got the recreation center built,” Swift recalled. “I bugged them so much we finally got it built.” Swift is proud of all that Royal Palm Beach has to offer and feels he deserves some of the credit. “If you moved to Royal Palm Beach in the last 20 years, evSee SWIFT, page 21

Zoners Give First OK For A Second Hotel Near Mall

By Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report Wellington’s Planning, Zoning & Adjustment Board reviewed a proposal Wednesday to build a new hotel near the Mall at Wellington Green. “The request is to amend certain conditions of approval to allow an additional 125-room hotel,” Project Manager Damian Newell said. The Wellington Green Development of Regional Impact (DRI) was approved with seven multiple use planned developments (MUPDs) and one planned unit development zoning for the property at the southwest corner of Forest Hill Blvd. and State Road 7. Originally, one hotel was permitted, Newell said, explaining that the Hampton Inn hotel was constructed within MUPD A. “This request is to allow a sec-

ond conditional use hotel within MUPD B,” Newell said. The specific rules for the project’s DRI sunset on Dec. 31, 2016. With the sunset, he said, regional or state review is no longer required. From now on, only Wellington’s review of a development order is required. MUPD B is currently zoned with a maximum 163,000 square feet, with approximately 89,425 square feet of retail and a 4,936-squarefoot bank approved. To the west of the proposed hotel is Palm Tran’s Park-n-Ride parking lot, owned by Wellington, currently being used at less than 1 percent of its capacity, Newell said. The village is working with the applicant to purchase the parking lot while still providing Palm Tran access to parking for a few years. Access to the site is from Olive See HOTEL, page 21

CHARACTER BREAKFAST

Temple Beth Torah’s Leonie Arguetty Preschool held a character breakfast on Sunday, March 5 to celebrate the Purim holiday. Parents and children danced to music provided by DJ Billman Productions and got to interact with superheroes and princesses from the entertainment company A Fairy Tale Come True. Shown above are Rabbi Andrew Rosenkranz and Rabbi Erica Rosenkranz with Laila and Haviv Rosenkranz. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 10 PHOTO BY JACK LOWENSTEIN/TOWN-CRIER

Valuntas Puts Focus On Legal Loxahatchee Groves Expertise And Need For Change Voters To Weigh-In On Bond Proposal

By Jack Lowenstein Town-Crier Staff Report Former Royal Palm Beach Councilman Richard Valuntas is challenging incumbent Councilman Dave Swift in the race for Seat 2 on the Royal Palm Beach Village Council. The election will be held Tuesday, March 14. Valuntas wants to bring his advanced education and years of professional experience as a lawyer back to the council after a year’s hiatus. He served on the council for six years before narrowly losing his seat to Councilwoman Selena Smith last year. “I bring a legal expertise that no one on the council brings,” he said. Valuntas has worked for the Florida Attorney General’s office as a board-certified criminal appellate attorney for 12 years and has five years of experience at civil law firms. He received his bachelor’s, master’s and law degrees from Florida State University, and later also earned a master’s degree in

public administration from Florida Atlantic University and a criminal justice degree from the University of Central Florida. Valuntas grew up in Broward County, where he attended public schools. He moved to Palm Beach County in 1998, and then to Royal Palm Beach in 2001. “When I came to Royal Palm Beach, I immediately got involved with the community,” Valuntas said. He was a member of the Recreation Advisory Board from 2002 until 2010, when he was elected to the council. Valuntas recognizes his three children as his top accomplishment in life beyond his work experience. All of his children attend school locally, he noted. At the local level, Valuntas said one of the biggest things he managed to change was the elimination of the village’s red-light camera ordinance. “It didn’t really, number one, seem to be a good fit to me, and

Richard Valuntas number two, I was questioning the legality of it,” Valuntas said. “These red-light cameras are supposed to stop crashes at the intersections, and I asked, ‘Well, how many intersection crashes have we had in the past three years here in Royal Palm Beach?’ The answer was like three or four.” Right now, Valuntas thinks that See VALUNTAS, page 21

By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report A referendum question asking Loxahatchee Groves voters whether they favor a bond for up to $6 million to pave roads is on the Tuesday, March 14 ballot. If approved, the bond would be repaid solely through local-option gas tax revenue or from the town’s share of the county surtax recently approved by voters. It would have no effect on ad valorem tax rates, according to Town Clerk Virginia Walton. The Town Charter states that the council cannot borrow money above a small amount, and it has to be paid back within three years, Walton said. “As the residents know, we did three charter amendments on last year’s election,” she said. One of them was to allow the council to borrow money, and it

failed. This second attempt refines the language to be more specific, stating how the money will be used, and how the money will be repaid. Walton explained that the bond’s approval would allow the town to repair and pave roads more quickly. “You can’t fix the roads in Loxahatchee Groves with the way the charter reads,” she said. “[The previous referendum question] was voted down because we were told by the residents that it was too vague. It sounded like we were just opening up the town to borrow whatever we want, wherever we want. That was not the intention, but that was the way it was interpreted.” Walton said the town’s office receives constant complaints about the condition of the roads. Staff See REFERENDUM, page 21

Royal Palm Council Finalizes Traffic Calming Policy

By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Royal Palm Beach Village Council gave final approval to its new traffic calming policy on Thursday, March 2 with changes based on residents’ input at prior meetings. The adoption was the result of several meetings to take comments from residents, after authorizing studies of four residential streets being used by cut-through traffic, largely to avoid heavy traffic on Royal Palm Beach Blvd. “We’re still putting the final touches on the policy,” Mayor Fred Pinto said at the start of the discussion. Village Engineer Chris Marsh said that village staff had made

some changes based on direction from council members at previous meetings, which include enabling any resident or homeowners’ association to initiate an assessment of their street. Consulting traffic engineer Bryan Kelley with Simmons & White said that at the council’s direction, they had changed the 50 percent plus one for approval to 33 percent for the initial approval of a study, and 66 percent for actual approval of traffic-calming measures for residents living on those streets. “The study will include only those residents adjacent to the roadway link receiving the traffic calming, and this is the initial petition,” Kelley said. “Assuming

that we get that initial 33 percent, the traffic study will be conducted with traffic counts, a speed study, a cut-through study and crash reports.” After determining that traffic calming is warranted for a road segment, a conceptual trafficcalming plan would be developed, and a special meeting for residents on the street would be scheduled so they could review and vote on traffic calming, he said, explaining that residents would receive notice by certified mail two weeks prior to the special meeting. “Residents will see exactly what they’re voting on,” Kelley said, adding that final approval must be by 66 percent of the residents in the study area.

If approved by residents, the traffic calming would be installed, then evaluated six months later for effectiveness. Marsh pointed out that the initial 33 percent petition approval process had been bypassed for Sandpiper Avenue, La Mancha Avenue, Ponce De Leon Street and Sparrow Drive because it had already been determined that studies are warranted there. Vice Mayor Jeff Hmara asked whether the consultant and staff had developed a scale of size for traffic study areas and approval. Marsh said they would break up the roadways into logical links. “Once we get the data back from the traffic study, then we’d go from there and what links would look

like for traffic calming,” he said. Councilman David Swift said 66 percent seemed like a high number for final approval. “I look at elections; 66 percent is a landslide,” he said. “I wonder if the council might want to think more about 60 percent or some range like that. It seems like a difficult number if so many people are unengaged.” Pinto said dividing long roads into segments for study and approval seemed like a logical process because one segment might not be affected by traffic as strongly as others, and approval by that smaller segment of residents would not be so difficult. “If there are three phases, each See TRAFFIC, page 7


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.
Town-Crier Newspaper March 10, 2017 by Wellington The Magazine LLC - Issuu