ARE YOU ON OUR MAILING LIST YET? SUBSCRIPTION FORM, PAGE 7
ERICKSON: MPO SNUBS SEM PRATT SEE STORY, PAGE 2
T H E W E L L I N GTO N
TOWN-CRIER
Wellington’s Hometown Newspaper
INSIDE Opinion
Volume 30, Number 41 October 9 - October 15, 2009
VINCEREMOS HARVEST FEST
SWA Landfill Vote: Sometimes The Right Decision Is To Wait
The Palm Beach County Commission deserves high praise for not making a hasty decision that would ridiculously overpay for a landfill while putting it in the wrong place. While a landfill needs to go somewhere in the western part of the county, the proper space needs to be found that won’t harm our shared economic and environmental futures. Page 4
News
Homecoming At Palm Beach Central
Palm Beach Central High School celebrated homecoming last week, and the rain last Friday could not dampen the school spirit as the Broncos trounced the visiting John I. Leonard Lancers 25-0 on the football field. Page 5
Kindergartners Visit St. Peter’s Pumpkin Patch
The kindergarten classes at Golden Grove Elementary School in The Acreage were treated to some fall fun Wednesday at the pumpkin patch outside St. Peter’s United Methodist Church in Wellington. Page 7
PBCFR Open House For Fire Prevention Week
Palm Beach County FireRescue held an open house/safety fair on Saturday, Oct. 3 to kick off Fire Prevention Week (Oct. 410) and celebrate PBCFR’s 25th anniversary. The event was held at the Chief Herman W. Brice Fire Rescue Training Complex on Pike Road just east of Royal Palm Beach off Southern Blvd. Page 9
Sports Injury Adds To Pain Of Wolverines’ 13-0 Loss To P.B. Lakes
The image is a familiar one. Another long delay. Another rushed ambulance. Another serious head injury to a Wellington High School football player. The victim: sophomore running back Grant Smallridge. Page 15 THIS WEEK’S INDEX NEWS ........................ 2 - 9 OPINION ......................... 4 CRIME NEWS ................. 6 BUSINESS .................... 10 SCHOOLS ..................... 12 PEOPLE ........................ 13 CALENDAR .................... 14 SPORTS ....................... 15 COLUMNS ..................... 17 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
The Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center held its Third Annual Harvest Fest fundraiser last Saturday at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center on Forest Hill Blvd. The event featured carnival games, a barbecue lunch, pony rides, costume contests and riding demonstrations. Shown here is first-place costume winner “pirate” Victoria Carroll with “convict” Cassandra Zyavmensky. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 3 PHOTOS BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
SWA Drops Landfill Sites In Favor Of Future Land Swap By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Palm Beach County Commission, meeting as the Solid Waste Authority Governing Board, rejected the two existing offers of a new landfill site Wednesday, instead pinning hopes on a future land trade with the South Florida Water Management District. The SFWMD is the public entity negotiating the state’s purchase of 73,000 acres of U.S. Sugar property for Everglades restoration, and the commissioners decided to delay choosing a new landfill site for 12 months with the goal of getting some of that land in exchange for 1,600 acres already owned by the Solid Waste Authority near the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. The commissioners generally agreed that the prices being asked for the two sites on offer were inflated to about three and a half times their appraised value, and also noted that falloffs in the
county’s population growth and economic activity have extended the life expectancy of the existing county landfill, giving them more time to reach a decision. The Solid Waste Authority is also planning a waste-to-energy plant that will reduce the waste going to the landfill by as much as 75 percent, according to SWA staff. The commissioners also agreed to remain open to other possible garbage disposal alternatives. The current SWA site west of the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge was purchased in 1996, but plans to place a landfill there have drawn opposition from environmentalists, refuge representatives and others, according to SWA Deputy Director Dan Pellowitz, who gave commissioners status reports on the landfill sites. The site’s previous owner, a subsidiary of Florida Crystals, retains an option to buy it back for $10.5 million if the SWA decides not to use it for a landfill.
A search for alternative sites and willing sellers began in August 2007, and of 11 initial submissions, the SWA narrowed its choices to two: one at State Road 80/U.S. 98 and another on County Road 880. The SR 80/U.S. 98 site drew opposition from residents both of Wellington and the Glades over concerns of “visual pollution.” The County Road 880 site drew objections from environmentalists over its proximity to Stormwater Treatment Area 1West. The 1,733-acre SR 80/U.S. 98 site was offered for about $68 million. The 1,493-acre site on County Road 880, dubbed the “Hundley site,” was offered for about $54 million. Although both of the sites were priced at more than 3.5 times the appraised value, Pellowitz pointed out that the SWA has the right to negotiate the best and final price. A cost analysis projected See LANDFILL, page 16
Brockovich: Answers Needed On Acreage ‘Cancer Cluster’ By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report About 500 people concerned about a possible “cancer cluster” in The Acreage turned out at the Palm Beach County Convention Center on Thursday to meet with well-known environmental activist Erin Brockovich and two legal firms she serves as consultant for. Brockovich gained fame after she led a successful water-contamination case in California — an effort chron-
icled in the Julia Roberts film Erin Brockovich. The two legal firms present at Thursday’s meeting became involved in the Acreage “cancer cluster” after the Florida Department of Environmental Protection started testing to determine if heightened cases of cancer are present in The Acreage, then testing wells in The Acreage for possible contamination that could be causing it. Attorney Lem Srolovic of See CANCER, page 5
Erin Brockovich meets with reporters Thursday.
Serving Palms West Since 1980
RPB Mayor David Lodwick To Retire By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report After serving in the top spot on the Royal Palm Beach Village Council for 11 years, Mayor David Lodwick announced this week that he will not run for re-election when his current term expires in March. Lodwick, who has been on the council for the past 17 years, hopes that upon looking back, residents will approve of the accomplishments of the council he has led. Among those accomplishments, Lodwick pointed out, are major road and park improvements, the merger of the village’s fire and police departments with county agencies, and the sale of the village’s water utility to the county during the height of the real estate market, which created an ongoing revenue stream that has reduced taxes. Some of the challenges were heartening and some are still unresolved, said Lodwick, who will retire as the longest-serving mayor in the village’s 50-year history. “It has been a challenge,” he told the Town-Crier on Tuesday. “That’s not to say in a bad way. You meet lot of different challenges. Some are a lot of fun to see them resolved; some you shake your head and wonder how you got there.”
Dealing with issues outside the village, such as getting the Roebuck Road extension built, tends to be more frustrating, Lodwick said. “Once you get out of our little part of the world, you get into politics downtown or politics in Tallahassee, it almost stops being about the residents,” he said. Holding a degree in chemical engineering while working in the insurance industry, Lodwick said he prefers to address problems directly. He credits his four partners on the council with the village’s successes. “I have served as mayor with four other people on the council who truly care about the residents more than worrying about their own personal agenda,” Lodwick said. “We’ve had a staff that worries about getting things done and getting things done right.” Several controversial decisions during his tenure turned out extremely well for the village, Lodwick said. “On my first night as mayor, we merged with Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue,” he said. “As we look back, hopefully history judges that we’re getting a much higher quality service, great response times and better public safety.” Lodwick is also proud of the village’s police departSee LODWICK, page 16
Mattioli Launches RPB Mayoral Bid By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report It has been over a decade since Royal Palm Beach Vice Mayor Matty Mattioli narrowly lost a mayoral bid to David Lodwick, and now that Lodwick has announced plans to step down, Mattioli has launched another try for the job. Mattoili confirmed to the Town-Crier this week that he will indeed run for Royal Palm Beach mayor in the March 2010 election. The mayor’s seat is one of three seats up for election next year. The others are Seat 3, currently held by Mattioli, and Seat 1, occupied by Councilman David Swift. In what may shape up to be an active election season, RPB community activist Richard Valuntas declared his candidacy for Mattioli’s Seat 3 last week, although he did not know at the time that Mattioli would be running for mayor. Mattioli, a 30-year RPB resident, will try again for the top position after losing a close election to Lodwick in 1999. “I lost by 13 votes,” recalled Mattioli, who is 82. “I just didn’t quite make it. Now that Lodwick’s not running, I thought I might get to hit that last rung of the ladder before I retire.” Mattioli feels that the RPB council has been very cohesive during his 16 years on the dais.
“I think we did a lot for the village, moved in the right direction,” he said. “With the economic crunch that we’re having — and I hope that it’s over in a year, but it might not be — I’d just like to keep us on the steady course that we all seem to agree on.” Mattioli said there are several big projects he and the council have worked hard on that he would like to lead to completion, such as the extension of Roebuck Road, which he considers his number one priority, the completion of improvements on Royal Palm Beach Blvd. north of Okeechobee Blvd. and the construction of Royal Palm Beach Commons Park. Extending Roebuck Road to the western communities is in the county’s road plan but had been hotly contested by West Palm Beach and residents of communities near the road’s future path. The Royal Palm Beach Blvd. work, meanwhile, is currently in progress. “The median has been done, as well as the landscaping and utilities, and now they’re getting ready to let a contract for curbing and guttering like they did on the south end of Royal Palm Beach Blvd.,” Mattioli said. The infrastructure is currently going in at the 160-acre Commons Park, formerly the Tradition Golf Course. The park, being built in phases, See ELECTION, page 2
Initiative Focuses On More Employment Centers By Lauren Miro Town-Crier Staff Report The Palms West Chamber of Commerce unveiled plans this week to bring more employment opportunities and economic growth to the western communities. At a luncheon Monday at the Wellington Community Center, members of the chamber’s Economic Development Committee unveiled an initiative to bolster local industry. The initiative aims to attract key industry employers to the area by buying land and developing employment centers that are “shovel-ready,”
or able to be purchased and built upon within 12 to 18 months. In a video presented by Vice Chair for Economic Development Susan Giddings, committee members explained that although the population of the western communities is close to 250,000, many residents commute to work each day, leaving the area a “ghost town.” Commuting residents don’t shop in local stores or eat at local restaurants during the week, and the area functions as a bedroom community for many.
According to the presentation, the communities of Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee Groves, The Acreage, Greenacres and the Glades have essentially fed major employment centers in West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and the Jupiter/ Palm Beach Gardens area, who banded together in the past to promote employment and capitalize on their location along the I-95 corridor. Now the chamber hopes to band all the western communities together to capitalize on the recent expansion of See CHAMBER, page 16
Palms West Chamber Vice Chair for Economic Development Susan Giddings presents a certificate of appreciation to Andrew Duffell of the Business Development Board at Monday’s luncheon. (L-R) Mike Horwitz, Giddings, Duffell, Neil Shpritz and Mike O’Dell. PHOTO BY LAUREN MIRO/TOWN-CRIER