Town-Crier Newspaper May 13, 2016

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MEET VALEDICTORIANS AND SALUTATORIANS FROM SEMINOLE RIDGE, WELLINGTON SEE STORIES, PAGE 3 THE

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

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INSIDE

Volume 37, Number 20 May 13 - May 19, 2016

Serving Palms West Since 1980

BALLET COMPANY TRAVELS TO OZ

Sackett Invitational Softball Tourney Raises Money For Foster Kids

The Jim Sackett Invitational Softball Tournament to benefit the Friends of Foster Children was held Saturday, May 7 at Okeeheelee Park. More than 500 people came out to support the 22 teams playing. The event raised more than $15,000 to help children in need in Palm Beach County. Page 5

School Board, County Commission Approve Amended Surtax Plan

The Palm Beach County School Board and the Palm Beach County Commission approved amendments to the proposed one-cent sales-tax increase at a joint meeting Wednesday. Page 7

Royal Palm Beach Seniors Enjoy Mother’s Day Lunch With ‘Elvis’

The Royal Palm Beach Senior Activities Group held a Mother’s Day party on Thursday, May 5 at the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center featuring a potluck lunch. Scott Ringerson performed as Elvis and gave out scarves to a few lucky ladies. Page 15

OPINION Congratulations, Graduates: Our Advice To The Class Of 2016

Next week, the South Florida Fairgrounds will begin hosting commencement exercises for the four public high schools serving the western communities. With that in mind, it’s time for us here at the Town-Crier to pull out every possible cliché about graduation. After all, isn’t that what we do every year? OK, fair enough. But we would still be remiss if we didn’t offer some words of wisdom to the Class of 2016. Page 4

DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS................................. 3 - 9 OPINION.................................. 4 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 6 PEOPLE................................. 11 SCHOOLS...................... 12 - 13 COLUMNS.......................14, 21 BUSINESS..................... 22 - 23 SPORTS..........................29 - 31 CALENDAR............................ 34 CLASSIFIEDS................ 35 - 38 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM

The Wellington Ballet Theatre presented The Wizard of Oz on Saturday, May 7 and Sunday, May 8 at Wellington High School Theater with artistic direction by Rocky Duvall and ballet direction and choreography by Melissa Waters. Shown here are Munchkins Jordyn Miller, Coco Bovett, Lola Simpson-Gay, Alyssa Gould, Mia Cyril, Savannah Main, Arielle Montpeirous, Izzy Main and Brandi Lee. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 17 PHOTO BY JULIE UNGER/TOWN-CRIER

Wellington Council Awards Contract For Hawthorne Park By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Wellington Village Council awarded a contract Tuesday to JMW Construction for $84,000 to make initial improvements at Hawthorne Park. Assistant Village Manager Jim Barnes said that this is the first phase of improvements at the new park, located at the corner of Veronica Court and Hawthorne Place in the southwest quadrant of Wellington Trace and Greenview Shores Blvd. Current plans call for a half basketball court. “This is an area for youth and adults to play basketball,” Barnes said. “Right now, the only two closest parks that residents would have to go to would be Primrose Park on one side, and the park in Chatsworth Village on the other, across Greenview Shores Blvd.” Future phases will include a playground and a gazebo similar

to the improvements at Goldenrod Park. “That location has the basketball at the rear of the property and a playground and gazebo at the front, and a pathway that encircles the entire playground area,” Barnes said. A walkway at Hawthorne Park will be sited once the playground equipment is in place, he said, explaining that the playground will include a fall area that the pathway must go around. Mayor Anne Gerwig noted that previous parks did not include pathways. “It really makes it easier for people in wheelchairs to have access to some of the park,” Gerwig said. “I’ve heard very good responses from the community about that. Even though it was kind of tough because they took out some trees, it makes it so children and parents in wheelchairs can participate in these parks.”

Barnes said that the pathways were instituted about 10 years ago when the village started a neighborhood park master plan program. Vice Mayor John McGovern said that the neighborhood parks offer a significant improvement in the quality of life for residents. “They give the youth in the neighborhood something to do,” McGovern said. “I think that this is going to be well-used, and I can’t wait to get the whole thing done here at this park.” Councilman Michael Napoleone agreed. “I love it that we do these neighborhood parks,” Napoleone said. “I think it’s a fantastic thing that we offer to the local sub-communities in each section to have a neighborhood park that they can all go to and congregate.” Barnes said that the goal is to have a park within a half-mile of See NEW PARK, page 16

Wellington Receives Clean Audit For Last Fiscal Year By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Village of Wellington received a clean audit for fiscal year 2015, with no comments from its independent auditor. The results of the audit were presented at Tuesday’s meeting of the Wellington Village Council. The report was the first in several years with no auditor comments. “We believe that the village’s financial statements are materially stated, so we have a clean opinion this year for the village,” said Racquel McIntosh with Grau & Associates. McIntosh said the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) had implemented a new standard in the past year for including governmental entities’ pension liabilities that the village had implemented.

The village’s net position as of Sept. 30 was approximately $369 million, of which $173 million was in business-type activities and $196 million in governmental activities. The only change in the statement was the addition of the new GASB standard. “Under your liabilities, you will see there is a net pension liability of $11.4 million for the village as a whole, and that got split $9.5 million for the governmental activities and approximately $2 million in the business-type activities,” McIntosh said. The village had a balance of about $65 million in assets, of which $34 million is in the general fund, with a total fund balance of about $51.7 million. The general fund had a $28 million balance, with an unassigned fund balance of $16.9 million,

which the council can use at its discretion. “That’s a healthy number,” McIntosh said, adding that the rest of the fund balance is either restricted or committed for programs and projects approved by the council. Revenue for governmental funds was $48 million, with $37 million of that in the general fund, and expenditures of $54.9 million, which shows a shortfall of $11.4 million, but that was due to refinancing of debt and some transfers that actually brought the shortfall down to $4.6 million, she said. “The village in fiscal year 2015 spent $4.6 million more than it brought in,” she said. “Most of that was through your capital projects, so your capital projects had a shortfall of almost $6.2 million, so that’s where that shortfall came See AUDIT, page 4

RPB Residents Ask For Traffic Calming On Sandpiper Ave. By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Recent accidents along Sandpiper Avenue brought several residents of cut-through streets to last week’s Royal Palm Beach Village Council meeting to complain about motorists who drive at breakneck speeds through residential neighborhoods. At the Thursday, May 5 meeting, Michael Gershberg said he represented residents along Sandpiper Avenue who are asking for speed bumps on the street in the aftermath of recent accidents. “I have been a victim in the past two weeks of an accident on my own road in front of my house,” Gershberg said. A driver careened through his yard, destroying his cars and causing about $23,000 in damage. The estimated speed was 50 mph. He added that a neighbor also had a car slam into his house. “I’ve been on discussion boards, on Facebook, as well as talking to other people in the community,

and saying Sandpiper Avenue is known as ‘Sandpiper Speedway,’” he said. Gershberg explained that Sandpiper Avenue is used as a shortcut for many local residents, including students, to get to Royal Palm Beach High School and other locations on Okeechobee Blvd. “Sandpiper is a main street,” he said. “There are other neighborhoods, such as La Mancha, that have put in roundabouts. Sandpiper is the main road through the neighborhood. Unfortunately, it’s not just being used by residents.” Village Manager Ray Liggins said that there have been discussions in the past to include traffic calming on Sandpiper and other cut-through roads, but it has been several years since the issue was last studied. “There are all kinds of techniques that can be used for traffic calming,” Liggins said. “I know you said speed bumps; that’s typically one that is not used. There are See SPEEDING, page 16

CULTURAL DIVERSITY DAY IN ROYAL PALM

The Village of Royal Palm Beach and Caribbean-Americans for Community Involvement (CAFCI) presented Cultural Diversity Day on Saturday, May 7 at Veterans Park in Royal Palm Beach. It was a day of fun, food, dancing and entertainment, while learning about and celebrating different cultures. Shown here are Janet Singh, Anika Sharsa, Leena Ganesh, Lakshmi Nauth and Dora Nauth. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 9 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER

County Engineer Visits ALA To Review Development Plans By Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report The Acreage Landowners’ Association hosted a presentation by Palm Beach County Engineer George Webb on Tuesday, May 10. Webb’s discussion focused on several large communities about to be built in areas bordering The Acreage and the effects that those developments will have on residents and the existing road system. The projects include Minto West/Westlake on the former Callery-Judge Grove property, GL Homes’ Indian Trail Groves project, the adjacent Iota Carol project, and Avenir, the development on the Vavrus Ranch land recently approved by Palm Beach Gardens. Westlake, a planned 3,800-acre development along Seminole Pratt Whitney Road, went through negotiations regarding its approvals

in 2014. Those negotiations, however, could be set aside if Westlake is allowed to incorporate. “These conditions are very lengthy and very detailed. They will not necessarily carry forward if they incorporate,” Webb said. “If they incorporate, the developer can go to the new elected officials and say, ‘You know, I got this great plan, or great idea. First off, I want to trash everything I had and I want to start over with you guys.’” Webb used the term “if” because the incorporation process in Tallahassee is long, he explained. “Things change, so we’ll see,” he said. “Yes, they have initiated the incorporation process.” The current proposal for Westlake includes 3,446 single-family residential units, 600 multifamily townhomes, 300 detached single See WEBB, page 16

Plaster Time In Royal Palm Beach Offers Fun For All

By Jason Stromberg Town-Crier Staff Report It’s the reactions of the boys who walk into the kid-friendly craft studio Plaster Time for the first time that make owner Dena Comfort chuckle. She explained that those boys give Comfort that look of, “We’re too cool for this.” “And then they give it a shot, give it their best effort, and relish it because of how much fun they had and how much they love what their final project looks like,” Comfort said. The staff at Plaster Time, which is entering its fourth year in business, features Comfort’s niece, Emily Fearon, as a manager. Comfort co-owns the business with her husband, William.

“We just recently finished up one of our four canvas painting classes,” Comfort said. “It featured the ladybug and flower for Mother’s Day. We worked on it with 200 students from a local elementary school.” It was a big project, she said. “With the amount of students that we had, seeing them in one room, doing their best to get it done, is really rewarding,” Comfort said. “They just eat this stuff up. They like it because the project comes out better than they think.” Jose Fernando, a student at JFK Medical Center Charter School in Lake Worth, can make a strong case that he is Comfort’s best customer. “This is my favorite place in the world because I know people

here,” Fernando said. “They let me feel like I’m part of the team. Whenever you need any paint, they give it to you. Like new things I haven’t painted yet. I just find it, get it, and go to work on it.” What Fernando is looking forward to painting next is an eagle statue. “That’s the next one I want to get going on. I want to paint that brown and yellow,” Fernando said. “I painted an alligator, a dolphin and a starfish. I like painting the alligator because there’s a lot more there to paint, and I like to paint a lot. That takes a long time to finish, and I enjoy it.” On the day before Mother’s Day last weekend, Fernando got See PLASTER TIME, page 7

Olivia Still puts the finishing touches on her castle jewelry box.

PHOTO BY JASON STROMBERG/TOWN-CRIER


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