STRATEGIC PLANNING IN WESTLAKE SEE STORY, PAGE 3
‘IMAGINE THE FUTURE’ AT THE 2025 FAIR SEE STORY, PAGE 4
WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE • WESTLAKE Your Community Newspaper
INSIDE
Wellington’s New Freebee Ride Service Growing In Popularity
Volume 46, Number 1 January 10 - January 23, 2025
Serving Palms West Since 1980
FLAGS FOR THE CURE TOURNAMENT
A free Wellington ride service introduced last year is racking up thousands of takers for trips serving folks 55 and older within village limits. It is certainly hard to beat the price of Freebee, a village-funded service available since last spring. Page 3
No Easy Answers In Area Used To Freewheeling Fun
Kerala Association Holds Christmas & New Year Celebration In RPB
The Kerala Association of Palm Beach held a Christmas & New Year Celebration on Saturday, Jan. 4 at the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center. The event included a holiday message from Father Santhosh Thomas, vicar of St. Mary’s Malankara Catholic Church. An array of performing groups took to the stage for singing and dancing. Page 8
WEF Premiere Week Success For Richard Vogel Of Germany
Premiere week at the Winter Equestrian Festival was recordbreaking for Germany’s Richard Vogel. Ranked sixth worldwide, Vogel demonstrated why he is a leading international contender when he took home four wins, including the $75,000 WEF Premiere Grand Prix aboard Event De L’Heribus. Page 16
Local nonprofit Flags for the Cure held its annual flag football fundraising tournament at Wellington’s Village Park from Wednesday, Jan. 1 through Sunday, Jan. 5. A total of 56 teams participated during the five-day event to help raise money for the American Cancer Society. The event also remembered those who lost their cancer battle and celebrated those who won their fight during a special recognition ceremony on Saturday, Jan. 4. This year, Flags for the Cure raised $30,000, bringing the 18-year total funds for the American Cancer Society to $500,000. Shown here are Flags for the Cure board members Logan Jones, Emily Dodge, Tricia Jones, James Dodge, Pat McCarthy, Samantha Belohlavek and Hart Collier with the big check. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 18 PHOTO BY FRANK KOESTER/TOWN-CRIER
Equestrian Advisory Board Balks At Isla Carroll Proposal
By Charles Elmore Town-Crier Staff Report Wellington’s Equestrian Preserve Committee unanimously rejected plans to put 40 luxury homes and a club for up to 300 members on land in the village’s Equestrian Preserve Area on Wednesday, Jan. 8. Whether that means much, as the Isla Carroll proposal proceeds to Wellington’s Planning, Zoning & Adjustment Board and ultimately the Wellington Village Council, remains to be seen. “I think it’s a guise of an equestrian-themed club, but it really isn’t,” Committee Member Sarah Goos said. “It would not fit my definition of an equestrian lifestyle community,” Committee Member Kirsten Kopp agreed.
The committee is composed of people actively working in the village’s equestrian world, but an earlier version of the panel did not prove to hold much sway in other recent big developments in the space closely tied to Wellington’s signature industry. This latest proposal plan comes from a team including a development company founded by Frank McCourt, former Los Angeles Dodgers owner, billionaire, Wellington property owner and equestrian enthusiast. Discussion about the Isla Carroll project wrestled with whether it is reinforcing the village’s equestrian identity or harming it. The applicants said a unique club concept can serve as an “incubator” for aspiring equestrian families, who may be new to that world but eager
to embrace it. As skeptics would have it, it lets developers make a buck by selling to wealthy newcomers who can fill their coffers. Isla Carroll covers 79.2 acres at 3665 120th Avenue South, about 1,350 feet south of its intersection with Pierson Road. The property is just north of the National Polo Center and directly across the street from where Wellington is building its new aquatics facility. One piece of the plan would change village zoning rules on the property from a designation known as “equestrian residential” to accommodate “planned unit development” housing within the preserve area. A second part sets up a controlling master plan. That clears the way for 40 homes, with 35 of those See ISLA CARROLL, page 14
Change Approved Allowing Hotel At Groves Town Center
Veteran Area Coach Pete Walker To Lead WHS Football Program
The Wellington High School football program is now under the direction of veteran area coach Pete Walker, who officially started as the head football coach at WHS on Monday, Jan. 6. Here in South Florida, Walker has been the head football coach at Clewiston High School, Glades Day School and the King’s Academy. Page 21 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 18 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 7 SPORTS..........................21 - 24 BUSINESS............................. 25 PEOPLE................................. 26 SCHOOLS.............................. 26 CLASSIFIEDS.................27 - 28 COLUMNS............................. 29 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
ATV, Motorcycle Deaths Trouble Local Officials
By Joshua Manning Town-Crier Staff Report The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council approved a change Tuesday, Jan. 7 that continues the process to drop the long-abandoned plan to put an assisted living facility at Groves Town Center in favor of an 81-room hotel. Included in the change was moving the hotel site closer to the center of the property and placing the “Town Commons” civic site further north. At issue is the 90-acre Groves Town Center at the northeast corner of Southern Blvd. and B Road. It is currently under construction in phases. The change approved this week updates the master plan for the parcel and included discussion regarding traffic issues in the area and how aggressively to protect tree cover on the property. Town consultant Kaitlyn Forbes
explained that the changes also require amendments to the comprehensive plan and updated site plans. The council approved the first reading of the comp plan amendment last month, which will come back later with the updated site plans. Those plans will include the specifics of the design for the hotel and other changes. “The biggest change, and the subject of the request, is the modifications to Pod TC and Pod G,” Forbes said. Pod G, which is further north, would become the civic space, while Pod TC, closer to the center of the site, would be the 81-room hotel, which replaces the 128-bed assisted living facility, which was the original approval for Pod G. Much of the discussion at the meeting was regarding existing traffic issues on B Road near the site, particularly at the cross-exit
with the adjacent Publix shopping center. Some improvements have been made, including additional stacking, a new wayfinding plan and “don’t block the box” road lettering. There is also a new “porkchop median” that blocks cross-traffic movements from the Publix shopping center into Groves Town Center. Council members did not feel the “porkchop” was going to solve the problem. “The median needs to be sturdier,” Mayor Anita Kane said. “This needs a more permanent solution.” Forbes explained that the “porkchop” was an initial step to see if the median concept works. It blocks the current access at Avocado Avenue and redirects people exiting to Southern Blvd. During public comment, Todd See HOTEL, page 7
By Louis Hillary Park Town-Crier Staff Report Out west of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road, past 180th Avenue North, Orange Blvd. turns into 70th Road North and leaves suburban homes behind. Then 70th turns into dirt where it meets Hay’s Trail and Antoinette Road. It’s there that you’ll find the wind riffling the row crops and the tops of interlocking canals, whispering over the crosses and candles and other artifacts of remembrance left for Nicholas Bunchuk, 24. Bunchuk, who grew up in the Acreage/Loxahatchee area, lost his life there in the early morning hours of Nov. 23, when his yellow 2021 Can-Am Renegade went into a canal. Some 36 hours later, friends who’d joined in a search for Bunchuk saw tire tracks at the edge of a canal and maybe the shadow of something in the water. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to the scene. A PBSO helicopter hung above. It was night. Deputies said wait. His friends didn’t. They went into the water layered over by lily pads. The son of Adam and Christine Bunchuk, Nick was raised on 68th Street North. He was a talented baseball player who graduated from Seminole Ridge High School in 2018. In 2012, he was a slugger who led the Palm Beach Sharks 12-andunder baseball team that made a run at the championship of the Cooperstown Classic in Cooperstown, N.Y., facing off against 103 teams from the United States and Canada. “Nick was a good player… [and] he was a pistol on the ballfield,” said Brian Healton, who was one of the team’s coaches, along with Nick’s father. Even today, Nick Bunchuk re-
A cross and other remembrances at the site of the accident that claimed the life of Nicholas Bunchuk. mains listed on the prefectgame. org scouting site as a 5-foot-8, 150-pound, switch-hitting catcher and utility player. When Nick’s friend came out of the water, he knew all that was gone. The county medical examiner’s office ruled his death due to massive head trauma and various other severe injuries. “Everyone wants to have a good time. Everyone wants to have fun, but people are losing their lives,” Indian Trail Improvement District President Elizabeth Accomando said at the Dec. 14 ITID board meeting. “It’s so hard,” said Accomando, describing herself as a personal friend of the Bunchuk family. “Where do you draw that line, and how do we protect lives?” Bunchuk is one of four young men from the Acreage/Loxahatchee area who died in 2024 on either an all-terrain vehicle (ATV)/ off-highway vehicle (OHV) or a motorcycle. On Feb. 24, Phillip Clayton McCutcheon, 37, died while riding a 2009 Kawasaki ZX-6R on Okeechobee Blvd., east of C Road. On Aug. 31, Warren Bryce Vanderplate, 16, died when his 2022 Yamaha TT-R125 trailbike was inSee ATVS, page 4
CHANUKAH CIRCUS AT WELLINGTON GREEN
On Sunday, Dec. 29, Chabad of Wellington hosted a fun “Chanukah Circus” celebration at the Mall at Wellington Green. Activities to celebrate the Jewish holiday included arts and crafts, face painting, acrobatics from Sunshine Circus Arts, a menorah-lighting ceremony and delicious holiday food. Shown here, Andrea Cavrich attracts a crowd with her acrobatic display. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY MARGARET HUNT/TOWN-CRIER
El Bodegón Brings RPB More Supermarket Diversity
By Denis Eirikis Town-Crier Staff Report With the recent opening of El Bodegón supermarket at the northwest corner of Southern Blvd. and State Road 7, Royal Palm Beach has become even more of a food oasis, now with 10 supermarkets and a variety of smaller specialty food outlets serving the community. El Bodegón has operated Hispanic-themed supermarkets in Palm Beach and Broward counties for more than 20 years. The company already boasted six area stores before opening Supermercados el Bodegón #7 in the Village Shoppes plaza at a site previously occupied by Bealls department store. The company’s web site describes how, “Our Latino roots help us market traditional, high-quality Hispanic products at great discounts.” El Bodegón Royal Palm Beach
opened its doors late last month to offer a wide selection of fresh Latin products, including meats, bakery items, seafood, dairy and more. The store also offers financial services, such as sending money overseas. The meat and fish department offers unusual delicacies, like 12-pound fish heads and pork bellies. The bakery department is one of the area’s largest. In addition, the store includes a large sit-down restaurant with table service. On a recent day, law enforcement officers were enjoying a midday meal. “This is my first time here. A bunch of people at work have said good things about this restaurant, so we decided to try it,” Deputy Riccardo Aime said. “They are right, it’s delicious.” The restaurant offers a wide seSee BODEGÓN, page 4
El Bodegón is in the Village Shoppes plaza at the northwest corner of Southern Blvd. and State Road 7.