RPB BASKETBALL GROUP SEEKS VENUES SEE STORY, PAGE 3
ATTACK ON ‘HOME RULE’ WORRIES RPB SEE STORY, PAGE 7
THE
TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE Volume 38, Number 13 March 31 - April 6, 2017
Your Community Newspaper
INSIDE
Elbridge Gale’s Nicole Martinez Named County Counselor Of The Year
Serving Palms West Since 1980
SUNSET POLO & WHITE PARTY
Elbridge Gale Elementar y School counselor Nicole Martinez was recently recognized as the top school counselor in Palm Beach County. Martinez was also nominated for the teacher of the year award. Nominations for the counselor award come from school principals, while nominations for teacher of the year come from a teacher’s peers. Page 3
Gastro Health Celebrates Opening Of New Wellington Office
The new Gastro Health office in Wellington held a grand opening celebration Thursday, March 23. The event invited health professionals from around the western communities to meet and socialize with the doctors and staff at Gastro Health. Guests were given tours of the building and celebrated the grand opening with a ribbon cutting and refreshments. Page 9
Families First Holds Asian-Themed Event At Palm Beach Polo
Families First of Palm Beach County held an evening of Asian cuisine and entertainment on Thursday, March 23 at Palm Beach Polo and Country Club in Wellington. The Chinese Performing Arts Group performed a variety of Asian dances in colorful traditional costumes that dazzled the guests. Page 13
OPINION Become An Organ Donor During National Donate Life Month
April is National Donate Life Month, and there are multiple ways for individuals to help others in need of healthy organs. The focus of National Donate Life Month is visibility and awareness. The more people think about organ donation, the more they sign up to help. The life you save might be that of a close family member or friend. Page 4
DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 13 OPINION.................................. 4 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 6 PEOPLE................................. 14 SCHOOLS.............................. 15 COLUMNS...................... 16, 25 BUSINESS......................26 - 27 SPORTS......................... 33 - 35 CALENDAR............................ 36 CLASSIFIEDS.................37 - 41 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
Nic Roldan, along with Mark and Katherine Bellissimo, hosted the second annual Nic Roldan’s Sunset Polo & White Party on Friday, March 24 at the Wanderers Club. There were silent and live auctions to benefit Brooke USA, a nonprofit that helps working equines around the world. The poolside party featured live singing performances and a DJ, along with a short polo game. Shown above are Brooke UK’s Brendon Elliot with Brooke USA’s Development Manager Kendall Bierer, Executive Director Emily Dulin and Finance Manager Bobby Sutton. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 20 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Weekend Directions Workshop Looks At Wellington’s Future
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Wellington’s annual Directions Workshop and Drive Around set for this Friday and Saturday is the Wellington Village Council’s endeavor to develop a vision for what it wants the community to look like in the future. The focus this year will be on housing issues. Wellington Projects Manager Mike O’Dell said this annual meeting is intended to inform council members of trends and activities that village staff sees within and around Wellington. “We would like to get the council’s feedback and their reaction to those type of activities that are going on around us,” O’Dell said, adding that the focus will be both on immediate concerns and longterm issues. Part of the workshop includes a bus drive in and around the village focused on housing. “Last year… we kind of did all of Wellington,” O’Dell said.
“This year, we’re going to focus on housing. It’s one of our greatest assets as a community, and so we would like to talk to them about our aging housing stock. That goes in concert with the idea that we’ve got something in the neighborhood of 15,000 to 16,000 dwelling units to our north and west that will be coming online. So, as we look at those housing units coming online, and we look at the age of our housing stock, how is it that we want to market ourselves and be ready for that change?” O’Dell said he plans to share things both good and bad that are happening within the community. The focus on housing also fits in with the village’s review of the Uniform Land Development Code (ULDC), which is undergoing a full review by staff and advisory boards, with a refocus from development to redevelopment. “We’re looking for direction, but we also want to inform the council that in order to do some
redevelopment and reinvestment, we need to talk to them about where is it that they’d like to see reinvestment. Is it public dollars that they would like to see go into reinvestment? Is there redevelopment that they want to see? Are there incentives they are willing to talk about to make those uses happen?” O’Dell explained. The answers to those questions could lead village staff to bring back programs designed to stimulate redevelopment. The Saturday workshop will be at the Wellington Municipal Complex at 9 a.m. in conference rooms 1E and 1F. Village Manager Paul Schofield said the annual workshops have been going by a number of names, sometimes called “visioning” and other years “directions.” He added that this year’s document will be posted on the village’s web site soon. “I want to talk to them about See DIRECTIONS, page 19
Wellington Council OKs Amendment To Allow Another Hotel Near Mall
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Wellington Village Council approved a resolution Tuesday amending the Wellington Green Master Plan to allow another hotel in the area around the Mall at Wellington Green. The applicant wants to build a 125-room Fairfield Inn on 1.78 acres that will be built and maintained by Marriott Corp., on a parcel not far away from the existing Hampton Inn. Growth Management Director Bob Basehart said the amendment will change the original conditions approved by Palm Beach County before the mall property annexed into Wellington. The conditions limited the number of hotels to one, with a maximum of 125 rooms. The Hampton Inn has 122
rooms. The amendment would allow two hotels with a maximum of 250 rooms. Basehart also pointed out that the original Development of Regional Impact (DRI) approved for the mall by the county expired in 2016. “As of this year, any approvals on the property can be done at the local level,” he said, adding that the approval would not require an increase in the total square footage of the property. Basehart said that village staff has been working with Palm Tran to free up underutilized parking spaces in its adjacent Park & Ride lot for the planned hotel to purchase. “The original Palm Tran parking lot has 140 spaces,” Basehart said. See HOTEL, page 4
REGGAE4CURE IN WELLINGTON
The inaugural Reggae4Cure Family Fun Day & Food Festival was held at the Wellington Amphitheater on Saturday, March 25. Wellington residents and visitors from across Palm Beach County and beyond partied at the festival in support of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast, and in remembrance of entertainment promoter Taj James. People who attended enjoyed entertainment ranging from local bands to a performance from Bob Marley’s son, Ky-Mani Marley. Shown above are event organizers Shae Bullock, Gillian Smart, Deedra Lopardo, Tracy Thomas and Jacqueline Burke. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY JACK LOWENSTEIN/TOWN-CRIER
Lox Council OKs Rock-Hiding Social Groups Are About Art, Fun And Friendship Annexation Of ‘Old Groves’ Parcels
By Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report If you’ve been out and about in the Royal Palm Beach and greater Loxahatchee area, or really, just about anywhere lately, you might have noticed a brightly painted rock here and there. Many communities are participating in this scavenger hunt-style
rock painting, hiding and hunting game, where participants either keep the rocks they’ve found or hide them for others to find. They also paint and hide their own rocks. The goal? To bring joy and happiness to those who find these tiny treasures. Additionally, painting the small, manageable-sized rocks
Karen Estevez and Bella Nieves with rocks painted by Sydney Neff (center).
adds a relaxing crafts project for the painter. Melody Owens began the Lox Rocks group on Facebook for the Loxahatchee, Acreage and Royal Palm Beach area after a friend in Stuart, who participates in the Martin County Rocks group, which has 19,727 members, mentioned the idea. The suggested guidelines are simple — if you find a rock, post a picture, and then either keep the rock, rehide it or replace it with one of your own. The goal is to inspire creativity while having a good time. Participants should not trespass on property, or take decorative rocks; rocks should be purchased. Rocks should not be hidden where they can be damaging to property like weed whackers or lawn mowers, or in potentially dangerous locations. Owens started the group page on Jan. 28 and has already accumulatSee ROCKS, page 4
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council approved the preliminary reading of an ordinance for the voluntary annexation of three pieces of residential property at the south end of Folsom Road last week. Currently under Palm Beach County control, the parcels are at 347, 397 and 455 Folsom Road, located south of the Palms West Veterinary Clinic. Totaling 3.85 acres, they recently went through the voluntary annexation process. The annexations include the adjoining 140-foot Folsom Road and canal rights of way up to Collecting Canal Road. The item was approved as part of the Palm Beach County Commission’s Zoning Hearing consent agenda on March 23. According to the county’s staff report, the parcels are located
within an area known as the Unincorporated Protection Area, which is defined as all unincorporated lands located outside the Urban Service Area established in the Palm Beach County Comprehensive Plan. It provides a different method for voluntary annexations outside the Urban Service Area. Annexations in the Unincorporated Protection Area require approval by an affirmative vote of at least five members of the county commission. The county’s Planning Division had not received any negative comments from the departmental review. Also, the parcels are within an existing unincorporated pocket, and their annexation will eliminate the pocket. The annexation requests to the town were from Sharon Spector, who owns a 0.75-acre parcel, and See ANNEX, page 19
Area Resident In Final Photo Of Slain British Officer
By Jack Lowenstein Town-Crier Staff Report Wellington resident Staci Martin was on vacation with her family on Wednesday, March 22, when a terrorist attacker struck on the Westminster Bridge near the British Parliament Building in London, killing three, including a British parliamentary guard officer. Martin and her family were out of harm’s way during the attack, but what connects her to the story more than her geographic location at the time was a photo she took with 15-year veteran officer Keith Palmer, the man who was stabbed to death by attacker Khalid Masood. Two others were also killed. Martin’s son took a photo of her
with Palmer at Westminster Abbey earlier that day, which is believed to be the last image taken of the officer while he was alive. “We walked along the outside, and we were coming toward Big Ben. I saw two metropolitan police officers, and they had interesting hats on, different than we wear in the United States. I was thinking ‘scrapbook pictures.’ I wasn’t thinking anything else. And, I walked up, and I don’t know what attracted me to go to Officer Palmer, because there was another person there. I couldn’t even tell you what he looked like, and I just asked him if he would mind taking a picture with me.” Palmer agreed, of course. “He came up and we posed.
My son took the picture,” Martin recalled. “My family was standing there. He joked around a little bit, and before I walked away I asked him, ‘Does this happen a lot?’ He said, ‘You would be surprised how often this happens.’” Martin and her daughter went down the block to have lunch at a restaurant. “When we came out, my daughter and I were getting into an Uber [car]… we were going to have high tea. My husband and my son went right around the corner to the military museum,” she explained. “When we got into the Uber, we went back into the circle from the other direction. This guy started banging on our window and saying there has been a shooting to our
left, where we had been earlier — still not knowing this officer was involved or anything.’” At this point of the day, the city was on high alert, and it became hard for them as pedestrians to get anywhere quickly. “We saw the helicopter there. We saw tons of emergency vehicles, and we had to detour. It took us quite some time,” Martin said. “Transportation was limited at best the rest of that day. My husband and my son had to walk almost 10 See LONDON, page 4 (Right) Staci Martin in the nowfamous photo with slain British police officer Keith Palmer. The photo was taken by Martin’s son.