Village of
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine A TOWN-CRIER PUBLICATION
The Village of
Royal Palm Beach
Recognized As One Of The 10 Best Towns In The United States To Raise A Family!
Royal Palm Beach Village Council
Royal Palm Beach A Tranquil Community
Main Number............................. 790-5100 Administration............................ 790-5103 Code Reinforcement.................. 790-5138 Community Development.......... 790-5128 Cultural Center.......................... 790-5196 PBC Fire-Rescue........................790-6105* Parks & Recreation.................... 790-5124 Planning & Zoning..................... 790-5131 PBC Sheriff Office......................904-8250* Public Works...............................790-5122 Senior Services..........................790-5149 *For emergencies,dial 911
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Royal Palm Beach Celebrates
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ROYAL PALM BEACH 60TH ANNIVERSARY SOUVENIR MAGAZINE Published by Newspaper Publishers Inc. in association with the Town-Crier newspaper and the Village of Royal Palm Beach
ROYAL PALM BEACH CELEBRATES
ROYAL PALM BEACH HISTORY
A Message From Your Mayor..................2
The Early Years...................................12
A Message From Your Village Manager....5
Village Government.............................17
A Message From Your Commissioner.......5
The Mayors.........................................18
A Message From Your Representative.....5
Schools & Education............................22
Fourth Of July Fun.................................6
Police Department...............................27
60th Anniversary Honorees
Fire Department..................................28
STEPHANIE RODRIGUEZ Art & Production Manager
Jackie Larson..................................8
Houses Of Worship..............................29
Phyllis Katz.....................................9
Parks & Recreation..............................30
M. DENNIS TAYLOR AND RON BUKLEY Senior Editors
Dan Splain......................................9
Business & Commerce.........................33
Diane DiSanto..............................10
A Last Look Back.................................37
Rob Hill........................................10
Jess Santamaria............................11
ROYAL PALM BEACH TODAY Facts & Figures...................................39 Village Parks.......................................43 Visioning The Future...........................45
JOSHUA I. MANNING Executive Editor DAWN RIVERA General Manager
STAFF: Betty Buglio, Yolanda Cernicky, Shanta Daibee, Evie Edwards, Denise Fleischman, Wanda Glockson, Jill Kaskel and Joetta Palumbo. SPECIAL THANKS The Town-Crier newspaper thanks the Royal Palm Beach Village Council for supporting this project, as well as Village Manager Ray Liggins and all staff members of the Village of Royal Palm Beach who helped gather information for this Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine. In addition, special thanks to all the people who worked on the souvenir magazines for the 40th anniversary in 1999 and the 50th anniversary in 2009. Many of the historical articles and photographs contained in this magazine were originally written and gathered for those publications and updated for this magazine, including articles written by Mark Esterly, Georgia Jacoviello and Barbara Isenberg. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TO CONTENT HEREIN. COPYRIGHT 2019, NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS INC.
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Local Landmarks.................................48
BARRY S. MANNING Publisher
1959 - 2019
Village Directory..................................41
12794 W. Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 33 Wellington, FL 33414 (561) 793-7606
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine • Page 1
A vintage postcard from the 1960s promotes the young Village of Royal Palm Beach.
Royal Palm Beach Celebrates
A MESSAGE FROM YOUR MAYOR
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
Happy 60th Anniversary!
ny tions to our residents for the ma ula rat ng co my d ten ex I t tha into It is with great pleasure ars. Our little Village has grown ye 60 t las the er ov ed joy en s safest successes our Village ha for being in the top 10 percent of ed niz og rec en be s ha ich wh , a thriving municipality place to raise a family. I ul erf nd wo a is h ac Be lm Pa l ya relationship among our cities in the State of Florida. Ro ing go on the of ult res a are es ess cc can tell you firsthand that our su sitioned to continue this high po llwe are we , ult res a As ff. ars. residents, civic leaders and sta the same tax rate for 20-plus ye ing ain ret ile wh es vic ser c bli level of pu ding Beach County and an outstan lm Pa in rks pa st be the of d have The Village offers some experienced planned growth an nts. ve ha e W . nts ide res r ou for reside recreation program shopping opportunities of our the ed nc ha en ve ha ich wh es, welcomed business so many well-known, great er off we e us ca be ke ma to lt Dining decisions are not difficu terways and everyone can enjoy wa r ou on g hin fis y da y laz a restaurants. Boaters can enjoy s Park under the stars. an evening concert in Common rpose met with the same sense of pu et be ll wi s ge en all ch y an t, gh ll me While our future is bri ars. I am confident that we wi ye 60 t las the d rke ma ve ha t and commitment tha l note, thank you for the na rso pe a On er. sp pro to e nu conti the demands of the future and as your Mayor. opportunity and honor to serve
Fred Pinto Mayor
Proudly serving your community for 17 years, Happy 60th Anniversary!
PATRICIA FORSYTHE, V.M.D.
SY WOON, D.V.M.
1959 - 2019
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
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Royal Palm Beach Celebrates
OPENING MESSAGES
An Anniversary Message From Your Village Manager
While the Village of Royal Palm Beach has seen six decades pass since its inception, I have been a part of the last two. When my wife and I decided to move to Royal Palm Beach, we wanted a family-friendly place to raise our children. A place our children can call home. When we look back, we know we got it right. Over the years, Royal Palm Beach has maintained its open spaces and natural beauty, continues to provide abundant opportunities for all ages to be active and continually looks for ways its residents can be connected. Royal Palm Beach entered this last decade following the worst recession since the Great Depression. Our tax revenues dropped 36 percent over the first four years, but because of several financially stabilizing decisions over the years, our level of service did not suffer. We were able to complete Commons Park, recondition other parks and with the help of thousands of volunteers, continue every youth recreation program. Recently, Palm Beach County voters approved a one-cent sales tax for our schools and local governments. Following the expansion and renovation of our Cultural Center, the Royal Palm Beach Village Council has earmarked funds to provide additional lighting throughout the Village, increase access
to Commons Park, expand and remodel the Recreation Center, build a new Village Hall that will double as our Emergency Operation Center, provide a continuous roadway-resurfacing program and planning for future transportation alternatives. The greatest concerns following a disaster is how quickly we get our community back to normal. Having standing, working government buildings and infrastructure following a disaster is paramount to this mission. It is my hope that at the end of this next decade, our public buildings, parks and roads are updated, debt free and meet the needs of all our residents for many decades to come. In a recent article, Town-Crier stated, “The Royal Palm Beach Village Council runs one of the most cost-effective, well-organized governments in the county. As we have said before, it is not unity of politics that makes that happen, it is unity of purpose.” The residents give us that purpose. Thank you. It has been a pleasure and an honor to be your Village Engineer for 10 years, and now your Village Manager.
A Message From Your County Commissioner
A Message From Your State Representative
Sincerely, Ray Liggins, Village Manager
1959 - 2019 • Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine • Page 5
Royal Palm Beach Celebrates
(Below) Fireworks rise over Commons Park.
FOURTH OF JULY FUN
RPB’s Holiday Celebration Will Honor 60th Anniversary
BY M. DENNIS TAYLOR
Page 6
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
Royal Palm Beach’s annual Star-Spangled Spectacular Fourth of July celebration will be a little more special this year as the village is celebrating its 60th anniversary — just in time to mark the village’s birthday at the same time as the birthday of our country. The afternoon and evening event promises to be the biggest celebration yet in the village’s history. “The festivities start at 4 p.m. at Royal Palm Beach Commons Park,” said Parks & Recreation Director Lou Recchio, who promised it will be a day with plenty to entertain kids and adults alike. “There will be live music with a Bruce Springsteen tribute band.” Recchio said that the village has lined up all the area’s favorite food trucks and craft vendors. “There will
be food vendors and craft vendors and free games for the kids,” he said. There will also be a full slate of activities during the day. “We are planning a volleyball tournament and a corn hole tournament in the afternoon,” Recchio said. The day will begin with the annual Royal Palm Bassmasters fishing tournament starting at 6 a.m., with the volleyball tournament at 8 a.m. Kayaking and paddle boarding will be available starting at 1 p.m. The entertainment on the amphitheater stage begins at 4 p.m., along with the kids fun zone, food trucks and vendors. The fun will continue well into the evening hours. Recchio noted that the evening program begins with a tribute to all the branches of the military service and the members of the community who have served in them. He added that the new Village of Royal Palm Beach slogan will be unveiled on a banner for all to see, and the six honorees being celebrated during the village’s 60th
anniversary will be welcomed to the stage to be acknowledged. The honorees are six residents who have made a significant contribution to the village: Jess Santamaria, Jackie Larson, Dan Splain, Phyllis Katz, Rob Hill and Diane DiSanto. Each is featured in this 60th anniversary souvenir magazine. Recchio said that the honorees will be recognized on stage at about 8:30 p.m., just before the fireworks begin. He promised that the 28-minute fireworks display —costing some $37,000 — will be truly spectacular and should be the best of the village’s efforts yet. “The display will be second to none,” he said. The Star-Spangled Spectacular, once held at Lakeside Challenger Park, has long been the largest annual event staged by the Village of Royal Palm Beach. It was moved to Commons Park when the park opened several years ago. “It has really grown over the years since we moved it from Lakeside
Star-Spangled Spectacular At Commons Park Schedule Of Events
6 a.m. • Bassmasters Fishing Tournament (Free Entry) 8 a.m. • Volleyball Tournament (Free Entry) 4 p.m. • Kayaking and Paddle Boarding (Free) • Entertainment on Amphitheater Stage Begins • Kids Fun Zone (Free) • Food Trucks and Vendors 5 p.m. • Saturday Night Special: Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd and Legends of Southern Rock (Amphitheater Stage) • Cornhole Tournament (Free Entry) • Ladder Golf Tournament (Free Entry) 7 p.m. • The Boss Project: A Bruce Springsteen Tribute (Amphitheater Stage) 8:30 p.m. • Mayor’s Welcome 8:45 p.m. • Military Branches Tribute (Amphitheater Stage) 9 p.m. • Zambelli Fireworks Display 9:30 p.m. • The Boss Project: A Bruce Springsteen Tribute (Amphitheater Stage) Challenger Park,” Mayor Fred Pinto said. “The numbers of people are enormous. We have had more than 20,000 people attend. It is really a special day.” Sponsorships cover about half the
cost of the event. The rest is covered by the village. It is an expense that village officials believe is well worth it — and the crowds seem to agree. Learn more about the event at www.royalpalmbeach.com.
Congratulations Royal Palm Beach on your 60th Anniversary!
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Royal Palm Beach Celebrates
ANNIVERSARY HONOREES
RPB To Honor Six Residents For Community Service At 60th Anniversary Celebration To Be Held June 30
BY M. DENNIS TAYLOR AND RON BUKLEY
In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Village of Royal Palm Beach, the village will host a special celebration on Sunday, June 30.
The celebration will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center, located at 151 Civic Center Way. The celebration will be held on the actual anniversary of the village’s incorporation on June 30, 1959. The event, which is free and
open to the public, will include light fare, hors d’oeuvres and beverages, showcasing the newly renovated and expanded Cultural Center facility. At the June 30 event, six residents will be honored for their service to the community. “Each of the council members
and the village manager named someone who has made a significant contribution to the village during its 60-year history to make it a better family community,” Director of Parks & Recreation Lou Recchio explained. The selected honorees, profiled over the next several pages, are
Diane DiSanto, Rob Hill, Phyllis Katz, Jackie Larson, Jess Santamaria and Dan Splain. “Each of the honorees will be recognized on the stage,” Recchio said. The village invites the community to take part in this special celebration.
“I was able to play a small role in reviewing that, and maybe making it a better project by passing on recommendations to the council. And the
council does listen. I’ve told that to many people — if you have an issue, talk to the council, they will listen,” Larson said.
JACKIE LARSON
Planning & Zoning Volunteer And Local Dog Park Advocate Larson has lived in Royal Palm Beach for some 32 years and served on the Royal Palm Beach Planning & Zoning Commission for 24 years, starting in 1994 and continuing until her retirement last year. “I was asked to serve on the Planning & Zoning Commission mostly because of my chemistry degree and my lengthy experience in the environmental consulting field,” Larson recalled. “My background is environmental consulting, which is a wide field where you literally are a jack-of-all-trades. You have to know a little bit about everything, and enough to know when you don’t know enough.” This was particularly useful on the zoning board, tasked to make recommendations on proposed developments to the Royal Palm Beach Village Council.
“There was no environmental expertise either with the board or the staff when I joined planning and zoning,” she said. “The board, at that point, was made up of land planners, landscape architects and engineers, and I quickly learned that there was a lot to learn between what the village ordinances say, and all the specialties related to every application that needed to be reviewed. It was quite a learning curve, but I went on to serve for 24 years.” Larson is also well-known as an animal lover who has worked to make the village a more dog-friendly place. She devoted her energies to getting ordinances changed to permit dog parks and helped secure funding for the four dog parks that now serve the village. “In between everything, we were developing dog parks. A bunch of us had been using parks as dog parks, but there was no ordinance to permit it,” Larson explained. Today there are four dog parks, three neighborhood dog parks and
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the large one at Royal Palm Beach Commons Park divided into three sections by dog size. “I am very proud of those,” Larson said. She enjoyed her many years of service during her volunteer career. “Over the course of 24 years on planning and zoning, I got to work personally with many council members and many staff members,” Larson said. “I learned how to properly review an application and give our recommendations to the council. I think I was able to experience things that most residents don’t get to.” She has worked closely with several of the people also nominated as 60th anniversary honorees. “Of the other people nominated, I’ve known three of them for decades, she said. “I’ve gotten more opportunities to know the village very well, to know what a safe place it is.” Larson added that she is proud to have been a part of anything that has been built over the last 24 years that went through the Planning & Zoning Department.
Happy 60th Anniversary Village of Royal Palm Beach!
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Broker Associate
561-324-8914
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
Vice Mayor Jan Rodusky selected longtime resident and village volunteer Jackie Larson as her nominee.
Located In The Royal Inn Building 675 Royal Palm Beach Blvd., Suite 135, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411
Happy 60th Anniversary Royal Palm Beach!
PHYLLIS KATZ
Community Volunteer Focuses On Recreation And Senior Issues Councilwoman Selena Samois named 30-year community resident Phyllis Katz as her nominee.
Katz enjoys her life in Royal Palm Beach. “I think what I like about the village is it is a warm, friendly place that has been very well-managed. We try to meet the needs of the entire community. We have programs for two-year-olds, and we have programs for 90-year-olds, and everything in between — that’s the way it should be,” Katz said. She is very proud of being a small part of the creation of Royal Palm Beach Commons Park. “It is a gem in the community. It’s a gem in Palm Beach County. It’s beautiful, and it has been planned carefully. You’ll always see me volunteering. I’m always out there in the park, usually it’s the information booth,” Katz said. “I am just very proud of the village and the way that we work for everybody in the community. I think it’s going to grow and grow well.”
1959 - 2019
Katz moved to the Village of Royal Palm Beach in 1990 with her husband Paul. Paul quickly became active on the Education Advisory Board at the time that Royal Palm Beach High School was being built. “When he passed in 2000, I wanted to continue to help the village where I lived, and I became a member of the Recreation Advisory Board,” said Katz, who still serves on the committee. “I volunteer with parks and recreation because it affects so much of the community. We do so much to help the young ones and the little ones with camps and teams and sports. The village wants to reach out to the entire population, and I became
interested in senior needs.” A longtime member of the Young At Heart Club, a community group for residents age 50 and over, Katz is just finishing up her term as president. She plans to continue to work with Young At Heart and its many and varied programs for seniors, as well as for the recreation board. “I’m very much impressed with what the village has to offer its citizens, and I want to be part of the community to help.” Katz feels confident that the village will be meeting future challenges that include new technology and proper expansion. “We have so many new people coming into the community, and we have to be able to provide for them,” she said. “We need more services and transportation for the seniors, and we need more healthcare facilities.”
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DAN SPLAIN Councilman Jeff Hmara chose NRI Institute of Health Sciences founder Dan Splain as his honoree. Despite his shorter time in Royal Palm Beach, Splain has nevertheless made a remarkable impact with his business and charity work, including deep involvement with the Royal Palm Beach Rotary Club.
Page 9
ed was 1,200 square feet with he and his wife as the only staff members. Today, the school employs 18 in 12,500 square feet of space and has 105 students. “We expect that to double soon with several new associate degrees available,” Splain said. Splain remains enthusiastic about his decision to relocate to Royal Palm Beach. “I live and work in Royal Palm Beach and find it to be a well-run community. Everyone from the municipal employees to the leadership, both appointed and elected, are outstanding,” said Splain, who especially likes Royal Palm Beach Commons Park. “It is right in the center of everything, like Central Park in New York. You couldn’t ask for more in a town of this size.” Splain has high hopes that Royal Palm Beach will continue to be a well-run, welcoming community well into the future. “The challenge is managing the resources to keep everyone happy and involved,” he said.
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“Dan has been a resident in the village for about a decade,” Hmara said. “Dan came to the community bringing an educational business, which is a nursing school called the NRI Institute of Health Sciences, located in Royal Palm Beach, that specializes in teaching nurses and preparing them to serve the healthcare needs of our community and beyond.” Splain is an involved citizen and an upcoming president of the Royal Palm Beach Rotary Club. “He has
put ‘service above self’ and actually walks the talk. He is just one of the members who is a go-to kind of person,” Hmara said. “Whenever you need something done, Dan is always willing and capable, delivering on a wide range of things, usually behind the scenes.” After reviewing several potential locations for his business, Splain found himself drawn to the Royal Palm Beach community. “About nine years ago, we came from Pittsburgh to escape the cold,” Splain recalled. “I was in Juno Beach and saw a Palm Beach County Commission meeting on TV and was impressed by how articulate Jess Santamaria was and by what he said. My wife and I made an appointment to meet him and get his advice.” Splain said that Santamaria suggested he relocate his newly acquired school to the central part of the county, and Councilman (now Mayor) Fred Pinto suggested Royal Palm Beach. The first space he rent-
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
Local Business Leader And Active Rotary Club Member
Royal Palm Beach Celebrates
ANNIVERSARY HONOREES
DIANE DISANTO
Village Clerk Is Also The Longest-Serving RPB Employee Village Manager Ray Liggins named as his honoree choice the village employee who has been on the job the longest. This longest-tenured employee is Village Clerk Diane DiSanto, who has been with Royal Palm Beach for 34 years.
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
Starting in 1985 as a secretary, DiSanto spent the first 10 years of her career with the village supporting the building, planning and zoning, engineering and utilities departments. Then, in 1995, David Farber was hired as the new village manager. He tapped DiSanto to be his assistant, naming her as secretary to the village manager. “David Farber had a great in-
fluence on my career,” DiSanto recalled. “He was so encouraging. He encouraged me to get involved with the Florida Association of City Clerks in 2003, and then in 2006, I became the village clerk.” DiSanto continued to enhance her capabilities, earning her Certified Municipal Clerk certification and later became a Master Municipal Clerk. DiSanto, who loves animals and has a 16-year-old Yorkie named LeLe and a cat named Carl, moved to Royal Palm Beach in 1985, two days after she was married. She has lived in the village since “the day I started working here,” DiSanto said. She added that she loves Royal Palm Beach, especially the parks, events and entertainment. In her nearly three-and-a-half decades with the village, DiSanto
has worked with six mayors and seven village managers. Her duties include preparing the council agenda for publication and distribution, preparing the meeting minutes, and she is custodian and keeper of all records for the Village of Royal Palm Beach. As the village clerk, DiSanto conducts the municipal elections each March, edits the newsletter, distributes information to the public, handles public records requests and maintains the village seal to certify documents. Annually appointed by resolution, DiSanto enjoys her job because it is always interesting. “I get to deal directly with the residents and their concerns, and with the council as they cover issues for the community,” she said. “It is interesting to know what’s going on in the village.”
ROB HILL
Longtime RPB Employee Now The Community Development Director Councilman Richard Valuntas selected Community Development Director Rob Hill as his nominee.
“He is someone who was raised here, a homegrown kid who came back after college and raised his own kids here,” Valuntas said. “He has worked for the village for several decades and has always been very involved with his kids’ lives.” Valuntas added that Hill does a great job overseeing code enforcement in the community, which is often a thankless job, but one that is crucial to sustaining property values and keeping the community safe. Hill has lived in the western communities since 1972 and in Royal Palm Beach since 1992. “I was raised in Little Ranches,” Hill said. “I married my high-school sweetheart, Donna, and we’ve been together more than 30 years. We raised four children in the village, two girls and two boys.” He has worked for the Village of Royal Palm Beach for more than 25 years. “In 1993, I came to work for the village as a revitalization inspector,” Hill recalled. “They
were looking to rehab a lot of the substandard housing units, so we put together a program and rehabbed almost a hundred homes. We put the owners in touch with grants and loans to abate those problems.” He then continued with other village roles. “Next, I became the building official and directed the remodeling and rehabilitation of the Harvin Center, one of the original buildings in the village,” he said. “I am proud of that project.” The Harvin Center went on to be used as a community resource building for nonprofits for 25 years. Next, Hill led the Public Works Department. “I had young children at that time, and it gave me the ability to have my evenings freed up to coach youth sports,” he said. “I was a coach for t-ball, roller hockey, football and girls softball for more than 20 years.” The aspect of the village that Hill likes best is that, “It is just the right size.” He likes working for a community that takes different opinions into account. “I tell people that voices are heard, and ideas come to fruition, and that is because we are the right
size to be able to make things happen,” Hill said. “We can still get that small-town service in a professional and efficient manner.” He is proud to have spent his career serving the residents of Royal Palm Beach. “I’ve been here so long, I’ve seen the parks get remodeled the second and sometimes the third time around,” said Hill, whose focus today is helping the community maintain its high quality of life. That is a challenge given the growth surrounding the village and changes in demographics. “The number of people represents a challenge,” he said. “I also see young adults staying home longer, so we’re kind of dealing with increased cars and parking, and demand for services.” Yet Hill remains up for any challenge the job may bring. “I’d just like to say that I’ve enjoyed it all,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed the ability to help people through their hard times… and when they leave, they recognize that we’re trying to protect their quality of life and their property values, and we treat everybody with respect.”
JESS SANTAMARIA
Village Pioneer, Humanitarian And Former County Commissioner Royal Palm Beach pioneer, early developer, businessman and former County Commissioner Jess Santamaria was selected by Mayor Fred Pinto as his 60th anniversary honoree.
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Royal Palm Beach, where now lives. “I like Royal Palm Beach,” he said. “It’s middle class and very friendly, very simple. We can all make a difference if people are involved and active. There are a lot of good people who I’ve met over the years.” Pinto selected Santamaria for this most recent honor due to his long and varied service to the community. “If ever there was a father of the Village of Royal Palm Beach, it would be Santamaria,” Pinto said. “He has been a pillar of this community for close to 45 years or more.” Santamaria’s actions have made the community a better place to live, Pinto added. “He was instrumental in getting the first supermarket here, and he built a lot of homes that were nicely priced, so it was affordable for people to move into Royal Palm Beach and raise families,” Pinto said. “There is a long list of things that he has done for the community.”
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Outstanding Citizen of the Year in 2005 from the Caribbean-Americans for Community Involvement, Hero of the Year in 2013 from the Kids Cancer Foundation, the Frank Gladney Community Service Award from the Wellington Rotary Club, the 2009 Award for Ending Homelessness in Palm Beach County from the Lord’s Place, Champion of the Everglades from the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation and the Florida Environmental Institute, Environmental Champion of the Year in 2013 from the Sierra Club, Humanitarian of the Year in 2014 from the Black Educators Caucus and the Wellington Rotary Peace Award in 2015 for his numerous contributions to the betterment of the community and humanitarian efforts. As a developer, Santamaria has been recognized for non-discrimination in advertising and sales practices for his developments in Crestwood, Saratoga Pines and Saratoga Lakes, and the Estates of
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
that passed in 2010 with 72 percent of county voters in favor. Health and safety issues are also important to Santamaria. In the 1980s, he worked with the Royal Palm Beach Police Department and later the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to create neighborhood crime watch programs. He has also worked with the village and later county fire department to support paramedics. Santamaria was chairman of the board of Palms West Hospital from 1986 to 1992 and has been a member of Palms West Hospital’s board of directors from 2002 to the present. “When I started my first shopping center, I brought the first doctors and the first dentists to the community because healthcare has been very important to me,” he said. As a supporter of education, he has served on advisory councils of three schools in Royal Palm Beach and over the past 28 years provided more than 500 scholarships to students in the western communities. He pointed out that the original Wellington Mall, which he owns, is dedicated to “Children of the Community.” He is the founder of My Brother’s/Sister’s Keeper Scholarship Foundation and has also worked to support the community through his My Brother’s/Sister’s Keeper Charitable Trust. As a county commissioner, he donated his $93,000 annual salary to the homeless and the poor. “I have always been doing everything I can to support the underprivileged and the disadvantaged,” he said, adding that he has long given financial help to several different religious establishments in the community. His awards include: the Excellence in Enterprise Award from Northwood University in 1995 for enhancing the quality of life in Palm Beach County, the Reaching for the Stars Award in 1995 from the Center for Family Services as the top CEO doing the most to make the county a better place to live, Man of the Year in 1985 from the Royal Palm Beach Lions Club, Man of the Year in 1987 from the Citizens for Open Government, Leader of the Year in 1992 from the West County Political Coalition, Man of the Year in 2000 from the South Florida Opera Company, Citizen of the Year in 2003 from the Boy Scouts Gulfstream Council,
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Santamaria has been a key figure in the growth of the Village of Royal Palm Beach from a community of only 2,500 residents with few amenities to a community of more than 38,000 with an extensive park system and a full range of commercial services. With a wife and three young children in 1974, Santamaria sought refuge from Philadelphia for the peacefulness and large open spaces of Royal Palm Beach. Over the next few years, he and his wife Victoria got involved with real estate and offered homes for sale to his out-of-state friends and the public. Santamaria built his own house in La Mancha on Galiano Street, where he lived for the next 25 years. “When I arrived, it was a lot of open space with very little services, which I didn’t mind,” said Santamaria, who soon purchased the area’s first hotel, the Royal Inn. However, as the population grew, he realized a need for commercial services in the village. In 1981, Santamaria built the first shopping and medical center in the village at the northeast corner of Royal Palm Beach and Southern boulevards. Royal Plaza became home to the first supermarket in the western communities. That store, Miller’s Super Value, opened the gate for more commercial growth. Eckerd Pharmacy, now CVS, agreed to open in the Royal Plaza if a supermarket was there. That first shopping center also offered Royal Palm Beach its first fast-food restaurant (McDonald’s), its first gas station (Mobil), its first medical offices, a pizza parlor, a bank, a sports bar and more. Santamaria soon developed many close friendships in the community — some new, and some who joined him from up north. He and former Councilman Vivian Ferrin became friends in Philadelphia in the late 1960s, when their wives worked together at Pan American Airlines while he worked
on his master’s degree in business administration at the Wharton School of Business. “He followed me here. I encouraged him later to run for office,” Santamaria said of Ferrin, who was appointed to the council in 1998 to fill a vacancy and won election in 1999. After Ferrin’s death in 2004, a park on Okeechobee Blvd. was renamed in his honor. It was overdevelopment and the misdeeds of local officials that prompted Santamaria to get involved in local government. First as an activist, and later as a county commissioner. “What I didn’t like were the government abuses,” he explained. He won or settled seven lawsuits over time against the village for various incidents, including attempts to eliminate the golf course portion from the development that later became Madison Green. His goals for the village, then and now, are protection of the environment, honest government, and supporting public safety, medical services, education and financial help to the less fortunate. “We are running out of open green space,” Santamaria said, adding that there are two open parks, Commons Park and Veterans Park, and one golf course, Madison Green, that would not exist were it not for his actions to preserve them. In 2006, Santamaria was elected to the Palm Beach County Commission, succeeding Tony Masilotti, who had been jailed on federal corruption charges. In his first term, three elected officials and three businessmen were convicted and served jail terms for various crimes. He made honest government and ethics his mission during his two terms in elected office. During his first term, Santamaria was asked by State Attorney Michael McAuliffe to testify before a grand jury on corruption in Palm Beach County, and soon thereafter the Office of the Inspector General was created — an independent agency that Santamaria has worked to support ever since. “I testified in front of the grand jury, and that’s how we voted to have an inspector general, and I also lobbied the municipalities to join in,” he said of the referendum
Royal Palm Beach History
THE EARLY YEARS
Big Ideas Plant The Seeds For A Thriving Community BY MARK ESTERLY
There are many individuals who played key roles in the birth and development of the Village of Royal Palm Beach. But it all began with the vision of two men: Sam Friedland and Arthur Desser.
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In the 1950s, Sam Friedland owned the successful Food Fair supermarket chain and thought his company could turn better profits by growing its own produce. “That was the idea, to grow the fruit here and ship it up north,” recalled Chuck Walsey, who for two decades managed one of Friedland’s first agricultural ventures, Indian Trail Groves in Loxahatchee. In 1954, Friedland purchased the 64,000-acre Indian Trail Ranch, a sprawling expanse of wetlands and uplands west of State Road 7
and north of Southern Blvd. With the exception of citrus, farming never really worked out very well for Friedland. But he had other big plans. PALM BEACH WEST In 1957, Arthur Desser, a well-connected Miami-based developer, thought the vast wooded area north of Southern Blvd. was the perfect place to create an inland version of Palm Beach. Even though there was no actual ocean frontage, Desser wanted “beach” in the name. He also liked the idea of majestic royal palm trees lining the streets, thus “Royal Palm Beach.” Desser was the president of Lefcourt Realty Corp., which was developing Dade County’s Carol City at the time. The company was named after the famous Lefcourt Colonial Building in New York City. Its architect, Abraham E. Lefcourt, also designed the Brill Building.
Sam Friedland (seated), owner of the Food Fair supermarket chain, with Arthur A. Desser, founder of Lefcourt Realty Corp.
Desser approached Friedland with a business proposal to develop 4,200 acres of land, about half the size of Royal Palm Beach today. Desser hired Norm Cortese as his chief engineer in charge of drainage and infrastructure. Cortese brought in some of the best civil engineers in the business, including Kenneth C. Mock of Mock-Roos, drainage specialist Lamar Johnson and land planner Ewing L. Jones. All of them would eventually serve on the first, developer-appointed Royal Palm Beach Village Council. For taxing purposes, the Indian Trail Water Control District was established under Florida Statute 298. As the Indian Trail Improvement District, it still continues to provide roads, drainage and park services to residents in The Acreage. RESORT LIVING AT AFFORDABLE PRICES According to a 1959 Lefcourt marketing brochure, the first section of Royal Palm Beach “will be a completely planned, self-sustaining community offering all the services available to the residents of a modern city.” The ambitious master plan called for six elementary schools and three high schools, six shopping centers, six park-playgrounds, seven church sites, a large community services center, a lake with eight miles of canals for boating and fishing, and an 18-hole golf course and tennis courts. On June 30, 1959, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to commemorate the founding of the newly incorporated village and to kick off Lefcourt’s new residential project. Members of the Seminole Indian tribe, which had once controlled the territory, attended the event, and it was during this ceremony the tribe “renounced all claims to the land.” Royal Palm Beach was officially born.
A 1960 advertisement for Royal Palm Beach promises “dramatic new homes for only $200 down.” ROYAL PALM BEACH Lefcourt Realty Corp. had already COLONY STEPS IN been marketing home sites and Home sales in the new communiKeller Construction Company was selected to build the first section of ty were pretty good for the first few the village. Prospective buyers were years following incorporation. But told they could choose from nine drainage problems, storm damage different two- and three-bedroom and other unforeseen issues were models ranging in price from $8,750 taking a toll on Lefcourt’s finances. for the “Augustine” to $12,400 for Unable to market and build homes, the deluxe “Indian Trail.” With as maintain the infrastructure and manlittle as $250 down and $58 per age the day-to-day administrative month, “vacation resort living can operations of the village, Arthur Desser and Lefcourt Realty Corp. be yours.”
Happy 60th Anniversary Royal Palm Beach!
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and, of course, tours of the model homes by attractive guides. Many visitors were ready to sign a contract the next day. In 1965, attorney Herb Kaplan was hired to run Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc. The Colony, as it was known, had separate divisions for sales, home construction, financing, infrastructure and road maintenance, golf course operations and recreation, and also for managing the affairs of local government. “Herb Kaplan was one of the smartest and most articulate individuals I have ever worked with,”
said Randy Rieger, who started as a sales associate with the company in 1971 and eventually became managing partner. Kaplan served as Colony CEO and president of the Indian Trail Water Control District Board of Supervisors from 1965 until his death in 1990. He was replaced as CEO by Marty Katz, who died in a car accident in 1994. STEADY AND STABLE Growth in the village was steady under Kaplan’s direction. In 1969, the Colony opened a new sales center on Royal Palm Beach Blvd.,
• Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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(Above) Chief Billy Bowlegs and fellow Seminole tribe members participate in the June 30, 1959 groundbreaking for Royal Palm Beach to “renounce all claims to the land.” (Right) From this sales office, Arthur A. Desser’s Lefcourt Realty sold the dream of Royal Palm Beach to the village’s first residents.
Congratulations To Village Of RPB On Your 60th Anniversary
T H Y A O N U! K
Sales brochures touted pleasant weather and a carefree lifestyle at affordable prices.
1959 - 2019
filed for bankruptcy. Sam Friedland needed a new strategy. Friedland and Irv Cowan, Friedland’s son-in-law and financial partner, formed a new company to handle everything from lot sales and construction, to marketing, maintenance and municipal administration. In August 1963, Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc. became the master developer of the Village of Royal Palm Beach. According to a report in the January 1964 edition of the Security and Exchange Commission News Digest, “Royal has not yet engaged in any substantial business, but has taken over operation of the motel, restaurant and bar, swimming pool and public utilities.” Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc. assumed control of Lefcourt’s remaining 4,108 undeveloped acres and was granted an option to buy an additional 5,593 acres of Friedland property at $400 per acre. That land would later become the first developed units of The Acreage. Friedland had no experience in residential home construction, but he envisioned a one-stop, all-in-one housing enterprise revolving around a first-class golf course. Well-known golf course designer Mark Mahannah had been brought in to build an 18-hole layout on 160 acres in what was then the north end of town. The Willows Country Club opened on Royal Palm Beach Blvd., surrounded by the Willows subdivision and across the street from what would become Greenway Village. Royal Palm Beach would now be marketed as a premier golfing community. “FLY AND BUY” “Fly and buy” was the sales concept that transformed Royal Palm Beach from a planned retirement village to a diverse and vibrant community with new residents from all over the country. Prospective buyers were flown in for a weekend, put up at The Inn, treated to great meals and a round of golf, maybe a trip to the ocean or out to Lion Country Safari
Royal Palm Beach History
THE EARLY YEARS
which later became the Harvin Center. Around this time, its construction division, Greenway Construction, began building Greenway Village North, and work was well underway on the Estates, the first single-family subdivision in the village. When the recession of 1974 caused interest rates to skyrocket, the Colony closed down its land sales division and concentrated on building houses and selling blocks of home sites to other builders. This was also when most of the company’s municipal service responsibilities were turned over to the village. “In the beginning, we needed to do a lot of those things so that our buyers would feel confident,” Cowan explained. “As the population grew, there was a need for some independence.” MORE SUBDIVISIONS By 1978, approximately half of the village’s original 4,200 acres had been developed. The Estates was completed, and home sales north of Okeechobee Blvd. were being
promoted. The new subdivision, La Mancha, featured another 18-hole golf layout, known today as the Village Golf Club. The subdivision was named after the popular Broadway show by the Colony’s head salesman. In 1979, the village’s new civic center opened, and the Colony submitted plans for two more major subdivisions west of Royal Palm Beach Blvd., Crestwood south of Okeechobee Blvd., and Hawthorn to the north. Crestwood developed pretty much according to plan, but Hawthorn was delayed for many years. When its original builder, Cenville Homes, went bankrupt, the tract was split up. About 400 acres on the north side was bought by Royal Professional Builders, which built Saratoga. The southern 500 or so acres traded hands a few more times before Minto Communities Inc. bought it and built Madison Green. The Colony had built nearly all of the houses in the two eastern sec-
tions of the village, Cowan said, but none in the western quadrants. “We were done with building by then,” he said, “but we were happy to sell blocks to the big builders.” In the 1980s, the Colony was busy selling land in The Acreage it had acquired in the Lefcourt bankruptcy agreement. The strategy was simple: offer spacious, 1.25-acre rural lots at a cheap price. Buyers would have to deal with poor drainage, few roads, and no schools or parks. But the price was right, and local contractors began lining up to take construction orders. At one time, more than 80 registered builders were operating in The Acreage. After Sam Friedland’s death in 1985, Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc. became a limited partnership and continued selling off the rest of its land holdings. The last of the company’s assets was liquidated in 2002. A county park northwest of The Acreage, carved out of that first orange grove, today bears Friedland’s name.
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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(Above) The 1978 master plan divided Royal Palm Beach into four quadrants: two in gray (Willows and La Mancha) were already complete and two in white were planned (Crestwood and Hawthorn). Crestwood was built in the 1980s and 1990s, while Hawthorn languished for years before becoming Saratoga and Madison Green. (Below) Ewing Jones (right), Lefcourt’s land planner, and Norman Cortese, chief engineer, go over the master plan.
RPB Colony President Herb Kaplan and Chairman Irv Cowan.
Randy Rieger started as a sales associate with Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc. in 1971 and eventually became managing partner.
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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Royal Palm Beach History
VILLAGE GOVERNMENT
As The Government Grows, Additional Services Arrive BY BARBARA ISENBERG AND JOSHUA MANNING
Arthur Desser of Lefcourt Realty Corporation and several supporters launched a revolutionary plan of action with the June 30, 1959 groundbreaking ceremonies for a new community — the Village of Royal Palm Beach.
(Above) Royal Palm Beach’s first village hall was also home to the police and fire departments. (Below left) Henry Dunn served as the first village manager, taking over in July 1960. (Below right) This vintage patch shows the old village logo.
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In more recent years, the village hall site was further expanded to add a separate village meeting hall for the council and other government bodies. This provided additional office space in the village hall building for municipal purposes. Meanwhile, Palm Beach County opened an office building adjacent to the cultural center across the street. A library building nearby opened in 1994 and was renovated and expanded in 2009, adding to the collection of government services conveniently located at the intersection of Royal Palm Beach and Okeechobee boulevards. An additional building, the David B. Farber Training Center, was added behind the PBSO building providing a gym and additional meeting space. It is named after the longtime village manager, who died in 2010.
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be held: from inns and lean-to buildings, to condo recreational halls and a building which housed the police and fire departments as well. It was not until 1977 that village government found a home in the present village hall complex, a $1 million municipal center that included the former police station and current fire station on Royal Palm Beach Blvd. In 1989, the village opened a new 11,000-square-foot police/civic center building within the village hall site. With the 1993 opening of the 6,300-square-foot free-standing cultural center across the street from village hall, as well as a new recreational complex on Sweet Bay Lane, the police department (now part of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office) took over the building it previously shared with the village’s recreation department.
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
she did so from 1970-72. Hunter, who moved to the village in 1960, also served as vice mayor and councilwoman. The civically minded Hunter also served as village clerk, typist to the village manager, tax assessor, tax collector, secretary to the police chief, supervisor of elections, and a member of the planning and zoning commission. During the ravages of Hurricane Donna in 1960, Hunter is credited with keeping village government running with her typewriter and files she managed to save from destructive flooding. In later years, Hunter served as president of the Palms West Hospital Auxiliary and, with her husband Jim, was active in the Lions Club. Today’s separation between elective and administrative posts is well defined. The council sets policy and the village manager, through direction to staff, carries it out. RESIDENTS TAKE OVER GOVERNMENT CONTROL With Lefcourt gone and Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc. assuming developer’s duties in the small, growing village, it became obvious by March 1964 that the residents rather than developer appointees wanted to hold council posts and control their own destiny. Colony officials soon handed over village control to residents. But it was to be another 10 years before the mayor would be popularly elected rather than appointed by other council members. In March 1964, Leo E. Schloss became mayor with Ed Vent, Lloyd McConnell, Hunter Virnelson and John Cloppet serving on the council. Council-appointed mayors followed with the terms of Lloyd McConnell, Leon Svirsky, Anna Hunter, Charles Deitel, Dr. Joseph Gayl and Herman Resnick. It was not until 1974 that Resnick, in his second term, became the village’s first mayor to be elected directly by village voters. Resnick, who faced Ray Claydon, received 357 votes to Claydon’s 247 in that first mayoral election. But Claydon proved to have greater longevity in local government and went on to serve for 13 years on the council and the planning and zoning commission. In the ensuing years, there have been many elections. Some were bitterly fought and hotly contested, and others not even held because candidates faced no opposition. MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS ADDED AS RPB GROWS During the 1960s and 1970s, village government was conducted just about anywhere a meeting could
1959 - 2019
Lefcourt and subsequent developer Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc. initiated plans for the new community to become self-governing. Although a developer-appointed council governed the village in its infancy, residents’ desire for autonomy soon mandated a popularly elected council. DEVELOPER-APPOINTED EARLY GOVERNMENT In 1960, the first annual publication of a police directory was issued with a message from developer-appointed Police Chief Joseph W. Klopp and notification that the department planned “to obtain a police two-way radio” to provide residents with “faster, more efficient police service in protecting your life, home and property.” Included in the directory was a list of village officials appointed by Lefcourt. There is, however, some confusion as to just which appointed council was the first to hold office. The police directory issued in June 1960 lists Roy Davenport as mayor with Reginald Pyle, K.C. Mock, Norman Cortese and W.W. White serving as councilmen. Yet a promotional booklet produced by Lefcourt, as well as village records, name Ewing L. Jones as the first mayor. Ben Irvin, Norman Cortese, Lamar Johnson and K.C. Mock served on the council. According to Cortese, everyone except Mock and Johnson was an officer and/or employee of Lefcourt. Mock and Johnson were area engineers who worked on drainage and utilities for the project. “We were names that needed to be on [a council roster] for the incorporation. We weren’t residents,” recalled the former Miamian when interviewed in the late 1990s. “I don’t even remember the group having a meeting. It was just something we had to do, and I don’t think [during that time frame] there were even any residents yet.” Although his recollections were not definite, Cortese said the original council appointees did not serve specific terms, and the first year may have seen some shifting of council members.
Cortese, Lefcourt’s former vice president of engineering, said when he first saw what was to become Royal Palm Beach, “there was absolutely nothing here. You left civilization long before you got out here. It was the boondocks.” The site was so remote that many in Palm Beach County did not believe the project would succeed. “None of the general public thought this area would ever be much of anything. It was so far out,” Cortese said. Since houses had not yet been built to accommodate those associated with the project, Lefcourt decided to build an inn alongside an engineered lake at the village’s south end. Like other key members of Lefcourt’s team, Cortese didn’t remain for very long. By the early 1960s, he had left to work for another developer. ROYAL PALM BEACH GETS ITS NAME Unlike every other municipality in the county with the word “Beach” in its name, Royal Palm Beach is not a coastal community. So why did this land-locked village get such a seemingly inappropriate name? “Arthur Desser lived in Miami and was smitten with Palm Beach. He was a multi-millionaire, and he wanted the name ‘Palm Beach’ to be used somehow,” Cortese recalled. “We told him we obviously could not call it Palm Beach. Then someone mentioned stately royal palm trees to him, so it was incorporated as Royal Palm Beach.” REQUIREMENTS CHANGE FOR VILLAGE COUNCIL Soon after the initial non-resident council appointees served, a village charter required that office holders had to be at least 21 years old, a registered voter and the owner of village property. But up to three of the five council members did not have to be village residents. A resolution required that council members choose one of themselves to serve as mayor and another as vice mayor. Council members were to serve staggered two-year terms with elections held the second Tuesday of each March. Council members were able to wear more than one hat in those early days. Other appointed posts included tax assessor, village clerk and village treasurer, and council members were eligible to hold any of these in addition to a council seat. Only one council person has ever served as mayor as well as every other available governmental post. The late Anna Hunter was also the only woman to ever serve as mayor, and
Royal Palm Beach History
THE MAYORS
Our Mayors: Leaders Change As The Village Evolves
BY BARBARA ISENBERG, JOSHUA MANNING AND M. DENNIS TAYLOR
With the exception of Anna Hunter who served from 1970-72 back when the role was appointed, no woman has become mayor during the village’s entire 60-year history. Nonetheless, women have played a significant role on the
on comments by the public during council meetings. Resnick was also critical of a controversial 1987 vote to rezone office commercial space to a general commercial zoning designation — a decision which enabled a Publix supermarket and the Crossroads plaza to be built at the corner of Okeechobee and Royal Palm Beach boulevards. Resnick predicted there would be a rash of bankruptcies filed by small retailers who couldn’t succeed with increasingly more competition. In the decades since Resnick’s warning, many village stores and restaurants have indeed closed — but were promptly replaced by others. SAM LAMSTEIN LEADS THE “BOOM” YEARS After Resnick, Milford Meyer took over as mayor in 1978, serving three years until his untimely death in a car accident. Harold Silverman served as mayor for a short interim period, before Sam Lamstein was elected.
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Unlike many large cities with a “strong mayor” form of government, Royal Palm Beach’s mayor, according to the village charter, has one vote like other council members and no more power or influence than the others. However, as the ceremonial head of the council who conducts meetings and signs all official documents, the mayor unquestionably wields prestige and influence.
council, as well as on council-appointed boards. The village is far different today than it was 60 years ago when Arthur Desser of Lefcourt Realty Corporation commenced development, and many of those changes can be seen over time in those who have served as the village’s mayor. HERMAN RESNICK: FIRST POPULARLY ELECTED MAYOR It was not until the village was 15 years old that the mayor became an elected post rather than an appointed job. It was a role first won by Herman Resnick in 1974. After serving a year as appointed mayor, Resnick defeated Ray Claydon in the first village mayoral election, taking 357 votes to Claydon’s 247. A former civilian instructor for B-24 Air Force aircraft, he took a dim view of future council practices. Thirty years ago, during the village’s 30th anniversary celebration, Resnick chided the council for imposing a three-minute time limit
The 18 Mayors Of Royal Palm Beach The 18 mayors who served Royal Palm Beach have been a diverse group. Despite differing backgrounds, each has shared the goal of giving residents the highest quality of life possible while maintaining an affordable tax rate. The office was appointed until 1974, when the village switched to a popularly elected mayor. • Ewing Jones and/or Roy Davenport — August 1959 - July 1961 • Edward Vent — November 1961 - March 1964 • Leo Schloss — March 1964 - March 1966 • Lloyd McConnell — March 1966 - March 1968 • Leon Svirsky — March 1968 - March 1970 • Anna Hunter — March 1970 - March 1972 • Charles Deitel — March 1972 - September 1972 • Dr. Joseph Gayl — September 1972 - April 1973 • Herman Resnick — April 1973 - March 1978 (appointed mayor, elected March 1974) • Milford Meyer — March 1978 - August 1981 (died while in office) • Harold Silverman — August 1981 - March 1982 (assumed post at death of Milford Meyer) • Sam Lamstein — March 1982 - March 1990 • Irving Shapiro — March 1990 - March 1992 • Tony Masilotti — March 1992 - November 1998 (resigned when elected county commissioner) • David Lodwick — November 1998 - March 2010 (appointed mayor, elected March 1999) • Matty Mattioli — March 2010 - March 2016 • Fred Pinto — March 2016 - present day
Lamstein led the council from 1982 to 1990 during a time when the village was literally the fastest-growing community (in its population category) in the United States. His first involvement with village government began in 1977 as a council appointee to the village’s planning and zoning commission, which he later chaired. In 1981, Lamstein ran for the council and was elected. He resigned his seat to run successfully for mayor in 1982. Lamstein noted that the “boom” decade of the 1980s was busy and challenging. When he took office as mayor, Royal Palm Beach was without a village manager and the finance director had just quit along with the police chief. Two village residents who were certified public accountants stepped forward to assist in running the village’s financial affairs, he recalled. As the trickle of new residents increased into a deluge of thousands, Lamstein and council members spent long hours grappling with a never-ending list of priorities. During his administration, Lamstein and fellow council members: reduced the permitted height of multi-family dwellings from five to three stories; finalized and passed a village comprehensive plan — the blueprint for the community’s growth; donated, with Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc., land to build Crestwood Middle School; computerized the internal functioning of municipal administrative offices; successfully lobbied the county (in conjunction with neighboring communities) to install traffic lights and widen Okeechobee Blvd.; formed the Western Communities Coalition to present a large, unified voice to the county and state on behalf of western communities residents; installed street lights in La Mancha, as well as initiating much-needed drainage relief for residents there; purchased the water and sewer utility in 1983 and didn’t raise utility rates for the average household; obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in developer donations to help fund needed equipment; expanded recreation facilities and programs; built a police station following approval of a voter referendum and added an enhanced 911 system; lobbied for the extension of State Road 7; purchased land across the street from Village Hall to build county government offices so residents didn’t have to travel to downtown West Palm Beach; fought to bring hospitals to the western communities; and began what was to become a decade-long negotiation with the county and the
Diocese of Palm Beach to bring Seminole Palms Park to the village off Southern Blvd. on what was later named Lamstein Lane. “We built on the council that came before us. They had nothing but the welfare of the village at heart,” Lamstein said of earlier mayors Silverman and Meyer, and former councilman Barney Ditkoff. Lamstein was a major proponent of maintaining green space and building parks. It’s a priority that the council has maintained in the three decades since Lamstein’s tenure. To this day, Royal Palm Beach maintains one of the highest parkland ratios per capita in all of South Florida. And when new parks were being proposed, Sam Lamstein continued to lobby for them, staying active in the community until his death in 2011 at the age of 96. IRVING SHAPIRO PUTS FOCUS ON ART, TREES The late Irving Shapiro followed Lamstein as mayor in 1990 after serving on the planning and zoning commission and the council. Unlike his predecessor, who accomplished goals through an unusually adept understanding of the political process, Shapiro’s focus was an aesthetic one. In a tenure that lasted only two years, it was Shapiro who spurred an interest in art in public places as well as beautification of the village through tree and flower planting programs. “I think Irv was the only one who knocked on every door in the village. He was like Governor [Lawton] Chiles. He loved meeting people,” recalled his widow Corinne Kresberg Shapiro back in 1999. Drawing his inspiration from Palm Beach, Biscayne Bay, Europe, great art masterpieces and countless museums, Shapiro envisioned Royal Palm Beach as an even lovelier community he believed it could and should be. Following the January 1986 space shuttle disaster that killed seven astronauts, Shapiro proposed a plan for a park at the village’s southern end, which included the installation of a sculpture by Colbert Collins as well as plantings and seven commemorative boulders. It is now known as Lakeside Challenger Park. The adjacent lake is known as Lake Challenger. Despite some criticism and even ridicule for his beautification projects, Shapiro remained undeterred in his enthusiastic quest to instill a love of beauty in the hearts of village residents. While others were concerned primarily with hard-core
HAROLD SILVERMAN 1981-1982
SAM LAMSTEIN 1982-1990
IRVING SHAPIRO 1990-1992
TONY MASILOTTI 1992-1998
DAVID LODWICK 1998-2010
MATTY MATTIOLI 2010-2016
FRED PINTO 2016-PRESENT
1959 - 2019
MILFORD MEYER 1978-1981
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younger, family-oriented outlook to the job. Despite those similarities, Lodwick’s style was significantly less assertive and more compromise-oriented, working to foster a team approach on the council. “The one thing that has been our strength is that we’ve been so open,” he said when interviewed for the village’s 50th anniversary. “It has all been a team effort of the whole council and a very consistent staff.” Regarding his top accomplishments in office, Lodwick was proud of a litany of structural changes that put the village in a stronger financial position to weather the economic storm of the Great Recession while improving services to village residents. During this time period, Royal Palm Beach merged its fire department and later it’s police department with the larger county agencies. It also sold its utility company to Palm Beach County at the peak of the real estate market, providing the village with a huge endowment that has continued to pay benefits to this day. These changes managed to trim
the budget while also providing residents with far more comprehensive, cost-efficient services. “I am proud of what we accomplished,” Lodwick said toward the end of his tenure. “If you look at the protection level we currently have from our police and fire, we’re a lot safer. Our parks are in far better shape than they were, and we’re still planning to make parks bigger and better.” During his tenure, the village purchased and undertook its largest park project to date — buying the old Tradition Golf Club and retrofitting it into the huge Royal Palm Beach Commons Park. As he left office, Lodwick was also proud of a number of road improvements, including major upgrades in drainage and aesthetics along Royal Palm Beach Blvd. MATTY MATTIOLI HELPS BUILD FAMILY-FRIENDLY ROYAL PALM BEACH Dominic “Matty” Mattioli was born on May 8, 1927 in Pennsylvania. He served honorably in the U.S.
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areas be set aside for recreation and preservation. In response, Masilotti and other council members made changes to the village’s comprehensive plan to increase parks and open space. A landscaping program was also carried out throughout the village to beautify the medians and entrances to subdivisions. The former Kevin M. Harvin Center, formerly the offices of Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc., village hall and later a library, was transformed by Masilotti into a multi-purpose community building. DAVID LODWICK: THE LONGEST-SERVING MAYOR OF RPB Mayor David Lodwick was appointed to the job by fellow council members upon Masilotti’s departure in November 1998. He narrowly won election in March 1999. The council veteran, who was first elected in 1993, barely edged fellow Councilman Matty Mattioli by a 13vote margin. Like Masilotti, Lodwick worked in the insurance field and brought a
•
no previous elected posts but had served on the village’s architectural and aesthetic review commission and charter review committee. Masilotti, who at the time was also running a thriving insurance office, had a willingness to maintain a high visibility within the community and for years attended countless events to mingle with constituents. In return, Masilotti garnered many awards for his service, including being named the county’s top mayor. During his years as mayor, Masilotti ran for re-election unopposed and parlayed what began as a lack of political experience into a six-year administration that ended only when he resigned his mayor’s seat to take one on the county commission. When he assumed the mayor’s office in 1992, Masilotti tackled the task of transforming a community originally geared more to retirees into one which met the needs of an increasingly diverse population. An aging infrastructure and utilities also needed improvements, and residents were demanding that green
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
governmental issues, Shapiro, an avid amateur painter known as “Nunya,” delegated much of that job to the village’s administrative staff and directed his focus on village beautification and approving and building what would become the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center. “I used to scold Irving and tell him he was more concerned with [beautifying] the village than our own home,” Kresberg Shapiro said. TONY MASILOTTI BRINGS YOUTH, AMBITION TO JOB In the years before his controversial and ill-fated time on the Palm Beach County Commission, Tony Masilotti made a name for himself as a dynamic, hyperactive mayor of Royal Palm Beach. He became mayor in 1992 by handily defeating incumbent Shapiro and several others. Masilotti showed that youthful enthusiasm, ambition, popularity and a background as a successful businessman were traits village voters wanted in a mayor. Prior to his election, Masilotti had held
Royal Palm Beach History Navy during World War II, and he was employed by Corning Glass for most of his adult life. Retired from work when he arrived in the village, Mattioli served 22 years on the council, including six as mayor. After being elected to the council in 1994, he first ran for mayor against Lodwick in 1999. After narrowly losing that race, he returned to his council duties, running once again when Lodwick stepped down in 2010. During his tenure with the gavel, from 2010 to 2016, he oversaw the change from long-serving Mayor Lodwick and Village Manager David Farber, during the depths of a recession that dropped taxable property value by some 30 percent from $2.7 billion to $1.9 billion. However, the village’s strong financial position allowed it to weather the economic downturn far better than other communities with few cuts in services. Ray Liggins took over as village manager during Mattioli’s tenure and worked closely with him during his years in office. Liggins credits Mattioli as one of the council members who saw a vision for Royal Palm Beach as a community centered on the entire family, and not solely as a retirement community.
“During Mattioli’s time on the council is when the shift toward enhancing recreation programs began, creating the Parks & Recreation Department, building the Royal Palm Beach Recreation Center and the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center, and promising seniors in the community that the tax rate would be maintained,” Liggins said. “It’s really the vision we’re still living with today; a vision of a hometown family community.” Liggins remarked that Mattioli always kept things in perspective, leading a council that set policy and stayed out of day-to-day operations. Accomplishments during the Mattioli era included developing Royal Palm Beach Commons Park, which opened March 2, 2013. “Mayor Mattioli always did everything with the eye that we’re not going to raise taxes and we’re going to get through this. We did use our reserves to float us through some of those years, but we didn’t raise taxes,” Liggins said. Mattioli was one of the founding members of the Young at Heart Club, a seniors group that is still going strong 30 years later. He was also a supporter of using Palm Beach County for police and fire-rescue
Page 20
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
THE MAYORS
Mayor Matty Mattioli cuts the ribbon to open the new Commons Park on March 2, 2013.
services and supported selling the village’s water utility to the county as well. Mattioli was particularly proud of getting the Aldi distribution center to locate in Royal Palm Beach. His parting words when he retired from public office to the new council were, “I am leaving the finest and best-managed community in Palm Beach County… I hope you move forward with respect to each and every resident.” Mattioli died in January 2018 at age 90, just under two years after leaving office. FRED PINTO LEADING RPB INTO THE FUTURE Fred Pinto was a leader in Royal Palm Beach’s thriving Caribbean-American community when he was first elected to the council in 2003. The New York native brought with him years of service in the U.S. Army and two decades working with big investment firms on Wall Street. When Mattioli retired, Pinto was elected to succeed him in 2016, after already a veteran of 13 years of council service. His top priority has been consistent with that of previous councils. “We are working to be debt free, and we are about to get over the finish line,” he said. The work to expand and renovate the village’s signature parks and recreation facilities has continued under his watch with the newly expanded and completely refurbished Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center that opened earlier this year. He is also focused on getting more services for senior citizens. “Early next year, a new assisted living facility and memory care facility will be opening,” Pinto said. “We were able to get that done over the last two years, and there is the possibility that more facilities of this type are considering coming to the village.” He is also working on accomplishing a longstanding village goal.
Outgoing Mayor Matty Mattioli hands the gavel to newly elected Mayor Fred Pinto on March 17, 2016. “It’s not official yet, but I think it’s huge for the village what we’ve been working on with Palms West Hospital. They have agreed to become part of the village,” Pinto said. “It’s not official yet because the paperwork isn’t completed. It just adds to the village as we continue to work on maintaining and improving the quality of living.” Improved communication with residents has also been a priority for Pinto. “We have better outreach to the citizens with communication,” he said, noting the monthly Mayor’s Vector publication. “It is not a newsletter. It is what we call pushing out information to make sure that people who subscribe to it get early alerts on things that are going to be on the agenda at the council meetings. It includes things that are coming down the road and gives a recount of what we did at the last meeting. It has several hotline buttons where they can click on topics and do a deep dive and get additional information.” There is also the village’s monthly newsletter. “It comes from the village manager and it talks about different topics going on in the village,
different initiatives and the different services that we offer for seniors and the youth,” Pinto explained. “In the near future, a new and improved, up-to-date web site will launch. It is going to be a lot easier to navigate and will make available information that people need in order to conduct business in the village.” A new video promoting the village premiered at a recent council meeting. “It tells about the village and who we are,” Pinto explained. “It is another mechanism to help communicate information about the village. This is something people can look at that tells them a lot about the village, about who we are and what makes us special.” This focus on communication came about because of concerns raised by residents several years ago that they didn’t feel welcome at council meetings. Pinto has paid special attention to this issue. “We’ve completely turned that around,” Pinto said. “We’ve created a very friendly environment, and I think that’s healthy and is something that we want to continue to do. That’s who we want to be in Royal Palm Beach.”
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A milestone anniversary for our community Baptist Health South Florida is delighted to congratulate the Village of Royal Palm Beach on the occasion of its 60th anniversary. We are devoted to caring for the South Florida community as a local, not-for-profit healthcare organization that has been helping people for more than 75 years. We are committed to caring for the residents of Royal Palm Beach for many years to come.
1959 - 2019 • Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine • Page 21
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Royal Palm Beach History
SCHOOLS & EDUCATION
As Community Grows, Schools Scramble To Keep Up
BY GEORGIA JACOVIELLO AND JOSHUA MANNING
Ann Killets, who served as principal of H.L. Johnson from 1985 to 1995, later became chief academic officer for the School District of Palm Beach County. She was impressed by how the Village of Royal Palm Beach and its residents work hard to support their schools. “Royal Palm Beach was way ahead of its time,” Killets recalled years later. “The community and the village staff always supported education.” Overcrowding was already on the horizon for the village’s first middle school before it was even built. With an enrollment projection of 700 back in the early 1980s, Crestwood Middle School was eventually built for 1,200 students thanks to its first principal, Beverlyann B. Barton. With her innovative style, Barton and her staff were able to get to know the total child, and it was the first time a middle school in Palm Beach County had six assistant principals — one for each grade and three in student services acting as guidance counselors. Today, schools throughout the county use this model.
Page 22
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
Now home to three public elementary schools, one middle school and a high school, it is hard to remember that public schools did not arrive in Royal Palm Beach until 1983 with the opening of Crestwood Middle School, followed a year later by the opening of H.L. Johnson Elementary School. Before that time, village students were bused to schools “out east.”
Barton officially retired in 2000 as the district’s central area superintendent. But her creative ways of getting the job done right prompted the district to bring her back in 2002 to serve as a principal on assignment for low-performing schools, where she facilitated academic improvement in the classroom while mentoring teachers and principals to do the same. Years after leaving the Royal Palm Beach school, she reflected on her time at Crestwood and the beautiful memories of the children. “I always have and always will say that those students were the smartest and most special children in Palm Beach County,” she said. At first, H.L. Johnson Elementary School was housed in portables on the campus of Wellington Elementary School in 1984. The school’s permanent campus opened in August 1985 with Walter Murray as its first principal. Just months later, Murray left to open Loxahatchee Groves Elementary School. When it was time to choose a name for the new school, Howard Johnson, a project planner for the school district, submitted his father’s name. H.L. Johnson Sr. was a longtime educator in the county and principal at Melaleuca Elementary School. Built for 764 students, it opened well over capacity. A few years later, H.L. Johnson appeared on the national television show Good Morning America as the largest elementary school in Florida with more than 1,700 students. There were 13 kindergarten classes alone. Today there are about 750 students. In 1989, Cypress Trails Elementary School opened in Royal Palm Beach in an effort to ease school
Principal Walter Murray (far left) with students in Mrs. Mauney’s 1985 fifth grade class at H.L. Johnson Elementary School — among the first kids to graduate from the school.
overcrowding in the fast-growing community. As growth continued, it soon became obvious that still another elementary school would be needed. In 2002, Royal Palm Beach Elementary School opened. Penny Lopez served as its first principal with an enrollment of about 900 students. It was built specifically to alleviate the overcrowding at both H.L. Johnson and Cypress Trails. The school was built in an innovative way through a partnership between the district and the village. The Village of Royal Palm Beach donated part of the land through an interlocal agreement and the school was built on a public park site now known as Vivian A. Ferrin Memorial Park, which also includes softball fields used by the village. In 1997, the doors of Royal Palm Beach High School opened and students were welcomed by Principal Dr. Brenda Montgomery. The first year there was no senior class because the district allowed those students to remain at Wellington High School to graduate. Lots of controversy surrounded the opening of the village’s first high school, ranging from construction delays to outraged Acreage parents whose children were not assigned to the new school, which opened with only half of the expected enrollment of 2,500. Due to the senior rule, the school opened with grades nine through 11 — a convention that other new district high schools have since adopted — and didn’t have a graduating class until 1999. That first graduating class consisted of only 200 students, but that didn’t stop them from walking proudly on that day in June, as the first of many graduating classes to come. The current principal, Dr. Jesus Armas, has focused on bringing academic programs for high-achieving students to the school, including the Excelsior Academy and the International Baccalaureate program. Today, whenever the school district looks to build more schools, the Village of Royal Palm Beach continues to actively lobby for neighborhood schools in an effort to make sure that future students never need to be bused out of town to get an education. Aside from district schools, there are also several charter schools and private schools serving Royal Palm Beach. Among them is the Western Academy Charter School, serving kindergarten through grade eight. It opened in 2003 and has about 500 students. The Palms West Charter School, operated by Renaissance
Beverlyann B. Barton, Crestwood Middle School’s first principal.
(Above) An aerial view of Royal Palm Beach High School under construction. (Below) Superintendent Joan Kowal cuts the ribbon at the school’s dedication ceremony Aug. 17, 1997.
Charter Schools, opened in 2013 on the site of vacant Albertsons supermarket. It has a capacity of 1,145 students. The Ideal Elementary School and Dream Middle School is a private school founded in 1993, and the Learning Foundation of Florida is another private school located in the community. There are even local options for higher education today, with South University’s campus locat-
ed at State Road 7 and Belvedere Road, as well as the NRI Institute of Health Sciences located in the Royal Plaza at Southern and Royal Palm Beach boulevards. Just south of Royal Palm Beach on SR 7 is the Wellington campus of Palm Beach Atlantic University, and the Loxahatchee Groves campus of Palm Beach State College is located on Southern Blvd. just west of the village.
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• Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine • Page 23
ROYAL PLAZA
Conveniently Located On North East Corner Of Royal Palm Beach Boulevard & Southern Boulevard
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Suite 603 • (561) 791-1535
India Grill & Bar Restaurant
Suite 650-1 • (561) 249-7168
NRI Institute Of Health Sciences
Al Pan Pan Restaurant & Bakery
Suite 300-A • (561) 792-4123
Suite 630-2 • (561) 790-7301
Suite 601 • (561) 530-3700
Suite 650-16 • (561) 793-2424
Suite 507 • (561) 795-6886
Food Mart
Wellington Delivery Dudes
Kabayan Restaurant/Mart
Burrowes Insurance
Chartered Law Firm of AUBIN WADE ROBINSON
United Special Patrol
Iglesia Cristiana Restaurando Las Almas
Suite 246 • (561) 371-1298
Suite 650-7 • (561) 795-3156
Buchanan’s Accounting & Tax Service
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PaintLux Auto Body & Paint
F.D.O.E. SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE
Tree’s Wings & Ribs
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For Leasing Information Call Chris Santamaria (561) 793-4500
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To Our Friends in Royal Palm Beach, On behalf of Wellington’s Council, I am honored to wish you congratulations and good luck on the occasion of your 60th anniversary. We strive to maintain good working relationships with all our neighbors, and I am proud of the strong familial bonds between our two communities. Over the next 60 years, I am sure we will continue our joint efforts to make central Palm Beach County an ever-better place to live, work, and play. Village Manager Paul Schofield
• Page 26
Celebrating 60 Yea
587 105 Ave., Suite 27, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411
•
1959 - 2019
ne • 1959 - 2009 561-333-6444
Happy 60th Anniversary Village of Royal Palm Beach!
Happy Anniversary Royal Palm Beach
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Royal Palm Beach History
POLICE DEPARTMENT
From ‘Klopp The Cop’ In 1960 To The Full Resources Of PBSO BY MARK ESTERLY AND M. DENNIS TAYLOR
The Royal Palm Beach Public Safety Department was founded on June 6, 1960, beginning a long and unwavering commitment to putting the safety of village residents first. The village’s first police chief was Joseph Klopp. According to an original Royal Palm Beach police directory, the impressive resume of “Klopp the Cop” included stints as a special investigator for the U.S. government and as Maryland’s chief criminal investigator.
Chief Joseph Klopp and his “force” in 1960 as shown on the cover of an early Royal Palm Beach directory.
• Page 27
(Above) Tony Araujo and Eric Coleman, shown here in 2009, both commanded the District 9 substation in Royal Palm Beach following the RPBPD and PBSO merger. (Right inset) The current District 9 commander is Capt. Ulrich “Rick” Naujoks.
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
(Above left) Joseph Klopp, the village’s first police chief, served from 1960 to 1965. (Above right) Jeff Waites, the village’s longest-serving chief, retired in 1996 after 13 years on the job.
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nowski, who opted to retire. Today, there are 55 sworn officers and six civilian staff members. The merger with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 1, 2006, may have signaled the end of the independent village police department, but not the community-oriented approach to law enforcement that village residents had come to know. The Royal Palm Beach substation was initially headed by Capt. Tony Araujo Jr. from 2006 to 2009. He is currently the PBSO’s Colonel of Uniform Operations. Araujo was followed by Eric Coleman, who became captain from 2009 to 2011. Coleman currently holds the rank of major and oversees the PBSO’s West Regional Bureau. Paul Miles followed as captain in 2011 until his retirement in 2017. Capt. Ulrich Naujoks became commander of PBSO District 9 in 2017 and oversees law enforcement in Royal Palm Beach today. Araujo, Coleman and Naujoks are all longtime residents of the Village of Royal Palm Beach. All three have raised their families here and are committed to keeping the Village of Royal Palm Beach a safe place for all residents and visitors. 21ST CENTURY POLICING During the merger process, existing personnel were evaluated and reassigned with a focus on service, crime prevention and crime reduction. A Criminal Intelligence Analyst position was created to identify developing crime trends throughout the village. This analyst is part of a network of other analysts within the PBSO and throughout the state that utilizes the Fusion Centers as an information conduit to fighting crime. A district Street Team was also established at that time, consisting of a sergeant and four deputies selected from existing personnel. This team works covertly and overtly to address developing crime trends such as burglaries, vehicle thefts, narcotics complaints and other quality of life issues. From “Klopp the Cop” to today’s sophisticated hierarchy, the law enforcement professionals sworn to protect the residents of Royal Palm Beach have dutifully answered the call. They take great pride in the fact that throughout the village’s 60-year history, no officer has been killed in the line of duty, something that’s attributable at least as much to good training as it is good luck.
1959 - 2019
Those early years of law enforcement in Royal Palm Beach may have been a lot like the fictional town of Mayberry patrolled by Sheriff Taylor and Deputy Fife. Besides Klopp, there was one full-time officer and a secretary/dispatcher. A handful of auxiliary officers were recruited as needed to assist with emergencies and weekend traffic duty. The department’s only police car, a radio-equipped Mercury station wagon, easily covered the 10 developed streets where approximately 300 residents lived. The main concern in the sleepy retirement community was speeding. The village couldn’t afford to have its few officers spend half the day traveling to West Palm Beach for traffic court appearances, so a small municipal court was set up in the village hall trailer on Camellia Drive. The judge was H. Lawrence Cooper. There were no schools in the village; students were bused into West Palm Beach. And there was one parttime crossing guard, who helped the children get across Royal Palm Beach Blvd. where the bus picked them up and dropped them off. The police officers wore brown uniforms, switching to blue in the 1980s. In 1997, shorts became an official uniform option. 13 POLICE CHIEFS Joseph Klopp served as police chief until 1965 when Emory Pickren assumed the post. Subsequent chiefs were Robert Horn, Fred Everett, Michael Manning, Richard McMonagle, Clifford Pittard, David Mulberry, Noah Huddleston, Jeff Waites, Phil Redstone, Michael Bruscell and Ed Stepnowski. Wait-
es served the longest of any police chief, 13 years, retiring in 1996. Through the 1960s, the police department occupied a small room in the village hall trailer on Camellia Drive. In 1973, a separate public safety trailer was purchased. Three years later, the police department was sharing space with the fire department in the municipal complex on Royal Palm Beach Blvd. The village “jail” was a one-cell lockup located in the back of the building. The Planning, Zoning & Building Department later used the jail cell for records storage before moving its operations into the expanded village hall complex. In 1989, the police department moved to the civic building fronting Okeechobee Blvd., where it operated until being absorbed by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) in 2006. The building now serves as the PBSO’s District 9 substation. EVER EVOLVING AND IMPROVING In the 1990s, laptops were purchased for patrol cars, further improving accuracy and accessibility to information. Also, in the 1990s, at the insistence of Chief Jeff Waites, the department gained national accreditation, which significantly improved how the department’s records were kept and procedures were followed. A central communications system was installed, automatic pistols replaced revolvers and video cameras were mounted in patrol units to record road incidents. Public outreach also took on new importance. The Royal Palm Beach Police Athletic League was established to give at-risk youths a safe place to hang out away from drugs, alcohol and gangs. The DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program helped thousands of youngsters avoid getting involved with drugs. The police marine unit kept a watchful eye on village lakes and canals, National Night Out was regularly observed, and the Community Service Unit initiated by Chief Phil Redstone provided extra eyes and ears while handling routine police tasks. RPBPD MERGES WITH THE PBSO At the time of the merger, the RPBPD had 50 sworn officers and 26 non-sworn administrators, office assistants, dispatchers and part-time crossing guards. All were hired by the PBSO except for Chief Ed Step-
Royal Palm Beach History
FIRE DEPARTMENT
A Proud Firefighting Tradition Begins With A Few Volunteers
BY MARK ESTERLY AND M. DENNIS TAYLOR
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
On Jan. 2, 1963, a meeting was held at the trailer serving as village hall for the new Royal Palm Beach community to see if there was any interest in organizing a volunteer fire department. Eight individuals signed the roll call sheet that evening, laying the groundwork for the village’s first firefighting corps.
The following year, according to village records, Arthur Quigley was named the first fire chief, while Lloyd McConnell was named assistant chief, and Cortland McCombs was appointed secretary-treasurer. In 1965, the group recruited an elementary school teacher named Karl Combs in a move that would change his career path. “Most of them were retired people, and I guess that’s why they were interested in me,” recalled Combs, who was 35 at the time. “They knew they needed some younger guys.” Quigley resigned as fire chief in 1969 and was replaced by Clarence Gollwitzer. Combs replaced Gollwitzer in 1972 and would remain chief for the next 25 years. Combs retired in 1997 and moved to Tennessee. Combs recalled well the early struggles of the tiny volunteer fire department. The first “station house” was a makeshift lean-to behind village hall. A donated 1949 Dodge pickup with a small water tank and a portable pump was parked underneath. In 1969, the fire department
moved into a large metal building near the east end of Camellia Park. The village leased the building from Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc., which only needed about a third of the floor space to store its maintenance equipment. The metal building featured three large bays and two fire trucks. It was later moved from Commerce Park to the public works complex on Okeechobee Blvd. On July 4, 1976, the village celebrated the nation’s bicentennial with the grand opening of the municipal complex at 1040 Royal Palm Beach Blvd., where the fire department’s 11 full-time employees shared space with the village’s police department. In 1991, Station 2 in Counterpoint Estates opened, significantly reducing response time in the east side of the village. VOLUNTEERS GIVE WAY TO PAID PROFESSIONALS The all-volunteer fire department protected the residents and property of Royal Palm Beach for eight years before the first paid positions were approved. Combs had just become chief when he persuaded village officials to allow him to start paying his personnel. Ed Gatchell and Fred Bulifant were the first full-timers, earning about $6,000 per year. The following year, three more full-time firefighters were hired. Combs became the first paid chief in July 1975 at a salary of $13,500 per year. It was about $3,000 less than his teaching job paid, so his wife Karen went to work at Photo Electronics Corp. to help make ends meet. One of Combs’ priorities was to find paramedic-trained firefighters. He had been in charge of the village’s rescue squad since 1966, a program that was borne out of tragedy. One of the original volunteer
firefighters suffered a heart attack at his home, and it took too long for an ambulance to arrive from West Palm Beach. “The department was very upset about that and [Chief] Art Quigley said, ‘Well, we’re just going to start a rescue squad ourselves,’” Combs recalled. Combs and Quigley went for training in Miami and became certified triple-As: advanced ambulance attendants. A village resident purchased a used Cadillac hearse from a funeral home and turned it into an ambulance, and Combs was promoted to lieutenant. “All we could do was basic first-aid and CPR, but that was really important,” he said. Another program Combs initiated was the junior cadets, which gave teenagers a chance to learn about the firefighting profession firsthand. There weren’t many takers, probably because it involved a lot of manual labor, but one eager cadet was Combs’ son Chris. “We took first-aid classes and cleaned the vehicles,” Chris Combs recalled. “When my father became the chief, I started hanging out at the station a lot. I liked the people. It was sort of like I had all these big brothers.” Chris Combs and Gary Weiss, the only other junior fireman, went on to become professional firefighters. A NEW BEGINNING WITH THE COUNTY The village’s independently operated municipal fire department was absorbed into Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue (PBCFR) in March 1999. Tom Vreeland was the village’s fire chief at the time. Twenty-nine of Royal Palm Beach’s 32 firefighters became county personnel. Back then, Combs, who had
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retired 18 months earlier, did not support the merger. “And I have to admit that I was wrong. I think it was a good move for the village,” he later said. “It gave them a lot more fire protection. Of course, they are paying more for it, but I see that it turned out to be a good thing.” The village’s former Station 1 on Royal Palm Beach Blvd. is now Fire-Rescue Station 28 Battalion Headquarters with one district chief unit, one battalion chief unit, one EMS captain unit, one engine, one rescue unit and one brush unit. The old Counterpoint station became Fire-Rescue Station 29 with one truck company and one rescue unit. Between the two, a total of 15 county personnel currently serve the village. Station 28, which also serves as the headquarters for Battalion 2, serves most of the western communities. Chief Nigel Baker was the first battalion commander. District Chief Mike Arena followed Baker, then after Arena’s retirement, District Chief William Rowley came back in to run the battalion.
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Rowley had been a member of the Royal Palm Beach Fire Department, going to work for PBCFR after the merger. “The greatest benefit of Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue is the depth of service, having 49 stations, which includes two special operations teams, makes sure there is no incident too large or complex for fire-rescue to deal with,” Rowley said. PBCFR’s average response time for fiscal year 2018 was 5:43 minutes for the Village of Royal Palm Beach. “I would like to say, from a personal note, that I really enjoy being back serving the Village of Royal Palm Beach,” Rowley said. “It is interesting when you think about it, the number of original Royal Palm Beach Fire Department personnel who have promoted out of the village, just to return later in different ranks. My current command staff, including myself, is over 50 percent original Royal Palm Beach Fire Department personnel.”
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(Above) A $10,000 donation from Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc. helped the village purchase its first new fire truck in December 1973 for $25,800. Shown here, Chief Karl Combs accepts a check from RPB Colony’s Mel Bell. (Right inset) After 25 years on the job, Combs retired in 1997.
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Royal Palm Beach History
HOUSES OF WORSHIP
Religious Groups Arrive To Form A Diverse Community
BY RON BUKLEY
When the Village of Royal Palm Beach was founded, residents traveled to West Palm Beach to attend religious services — but not for long. The first house of worship built in Royal Palm Beach was Evangelical Covenant Church, which in turn offered meeting space for services to several other congregations in the village’s early years.
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
The village’s first church was Evangelical Covenant Church. (Inset) Rev. Eugene Lundberg, the church’s first pastor, in 1968. and Rudnicki took over in 2006. He to build a memory care facility on remains the pastor there today. adjacent village-owned land. In 2009, the church completed One of the largest local congreits long-awaited 24,000-square-foot gations is Christ Fellowship, which sanctuary building. The $4.2 million in 2005 took over an abandoned big structure is funded largely through box store at the northeast corner of contributions from parishioners. State Road 7 and Southern Blvd. It Another large local congregation is part of a large church organization was the First Baptist Church of based in Palm Beach Gardens with Royal Palm Beach, now known as a dozen different locations. Connect Church under the leaderOpportunities for worship in and ship of longtime Pastor Dale Fair- around Royal Palm Beach have cloth. The church dates back to the multiplied in the past half-century, early 1990s, and it has built a large helping to build the sense of comcampus on Okeechobee Blvd. It munity and spirit that prevails after recently partnered with the village 60 years.
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religious organization with locations in Missouri and Florida. Temple Beth Zion was the first Conservative Jewish congregation in the western communities, formed by eight families in 1980. Beatrice Mishkit Freeman was president of the temple from 1983 to 1987 and again from 1990 to 1993. The congregation built its temple on Sparrow Drive in 1986. By that time, Freeman said, the temple’s membership had grown to more than 200. “I was president when they built the temple and walked into it,” she recalled in 2009. After being hit hard by demographic changes and a difficult economy, Temple Beth Zion closed its doors in 2013. However, the site stayed as a Jewish congregation, taken over by Chabad Jewish Center Royal Palm Beach. Our Lady Queen of the Apostles Catholic Church got its start in 1988 when a group of about 140 parishioners left St. Rita Catholic Church in Wellington to form a parish in Royal Palm Beach. Father Kevin MacGabhann conducted the first service at the Royal Palm Beach Lions Club on Sept. 2 of that year, and the first baptism was held on Sept. 25. “They started looking almost immediately for a permanent site,” recalled Father Andy Rudnicki back in 2009. A 17-acre property on Crestwood Blvd. was purchased in 1989. Father Leo Pembert was appointed parish administrator in 1992, and a groundbreaking for the pavilion, where services initially took place, was held in July 1993. One year later, ground was broken for a multipurpose building that was finished in March 1995. In July 2000, Father Tom Skindeleski was named pastor,
1959 - 2019
Evangelical Covenant Church got its start in 1961 when residents Mr. and Mrs. Bill Larson asked retired pastor Arvid Jones to organize a church. Its first service took place in an empty house, but it found a place to call home in 1962 on a one-acre lot at 600 Royal Palm Beach Blvd., and a concrete-block structure was built the same year. The church acquired an organ in 1963 through a $500 contribution from Mr. and Mrs. Ed Bolt and got its first full-time pastor in 1964 when the Rev. Eugene Lundberg and his family moved to Royal Palm Beach from New York City. Lundberg’s daughter Bonnie Leonard was 21 when she accompanied her parents on the move and became the church organist. “I was single at the time, and I moved down with my parents,” she recalled. Lundberg was pastor at the church for 25 years, until he retired in 1989. “There were 29 members when he first moved down,” Leonard said. “By the time he left, there were 150.” A variety of other congregations held services in the building
those first few years, and Royal Palm Beach’s interfaith cooperation gained national attention. Newspapers in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles carried the story of a Jewish family from California seeking out Royal Palm Beach, which they considered “paradise on earth” because everyone got along so well. Leonard recalled the church sharing space with other worshippers, including members of the fledgling St. Rita Catholic Church in Wellington. “They met there for four years,” she said. “The Jewish group would come in for their High Holy Days before their temple was finished, and there were a few other congregations that met there,” she said, along with community groups and scout troops. When the church was damaged in a fire in 1970, the Jewish community reciprocated the hospitality. “It was pretty awful,” Leonard said of the fire, which destroyed the church’s wooden roof, its organ and the pastor’s study and library. “It was a lot of work to get it all back. After the fire, it was the Jewish community that rallied around and allowed us to meet in their activity room for four or five months until our church was back in order again.” Eventually the church was rebuilt, and in 1976 a Sunday school and classrooms were added, along with a fellowship hall to meet the needs of the growing congregation. The church later became Royal Palm Covenant Church led by Rev. Michael Rose. Royal Palm Covenant Church moved out in 2016, and the property was recently approved by the village for a number of upgrades by its current owner, Amazing Grace Family Church, which is part of FaithChurch.Com, a
Royal Palm Beach History
PARKS & RECREATION
Community Parks: 60 Years Of Striving To Be The Best BY MARK ESTERLY AND M. DENNIS TAYLOR
By 1974, the village had taken over most municipal functions and public works duties from Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc., and with more young families moving in, there was a growing need for recreation programs. Work had begun on Camellia Park, a donated 10-acre parcel behind the Evangelical Covenant Church along Camellia Drive. Tom Bolinski was hired to run the new parks and recreation department with an annual budget of $30,000. “I was a staff of one,” Bolinski recalled. “Umpiring, dragging the fields, lining the fields, putting out the schedule, getting kids to the games, you name it.” Bolinski, who was also in charge of code enforcement, worked initially out of the village hall trailer, then moved into the first municipal recreation center, a house-like structure at the east end of Camellia Park. The parks “division” at that time was also one employee, George Morris, who cut the grass
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
During Royal Palm Beach’s early years, village residents had limited recreational opportunities. There was golf at the Willows Country Club, swimming at the Royal Inn, and cards or dancing at the Lions Club. But there were no community parks, baseball fields, soccer fields or public tennis courts until the early 1970s.
at Camellia Park. Morris didn’t really have an office, unless you count the maintenance building where the mowers were stored. Camellia Park had a picnic area, a playground, two tennis courts and a sandlot softball field, but with no organized baseball program, local baseball players had to travel to West Palm Beach and Lake Worth for Little League and Pony League play. But Bolinski thought the village should have its own program, and Tom Bolinski, the first director One of the first organized recreation programs was youth to drum up interest, he and of the Royal Palm Beach Parks golf. In this 1965 photo, Bill Kaplan, the first club pro at the Morris drove around in a & Recreation Department. Willows Country Club, demonstrates a proper backswing. van with a PA system urging youngsters to sign up. In order to have would organize and manage youth baseball, Bolinski said. “It got a lot more parents and enough players for the games, Bolinski would softball and soccer. Lou Recchio, who later sponsors involved.” The baseball and softball fields at Camellia often pick kids up and drive them to Camellia went on to lead parks and recreation programs Park. The recreation department held summer for the village, scheduled the meeting in the Park and Crestwood Middle School were camps and adult arts and crafts classes at the school library. Recchio was hoping maybe 50 in constant use, and more athletic facilities small recreation center, swimming lessons and parents would show up. “They had to move us were needed. A village-owned tract of land lifesaving courses at the Royal Inn pool, and into the cafeteria, which is a lot bigger, and it on Okeechobee Blvd. was designated, and by 1980, youth basketball and flag football was standing room only,” he recalled. “That’s Bolinski wound up designing the layout himwhen we knew there was a major interest in self. The land was swampy with thick weeds, games were also being held. so Bolinski donned a pair of hip-huggers and In 1986, adult softball and baseball leagues getting something going here.” In just a few months, the Royal Palm Beach began slogging around, scribbling down where were enormously popular at Camellia Park, but youth sports programs were still lacking. In Youth Athletic League had formed a Saturday he thought certain things should go. “I’m not November of that year, an informational meet- baseball league. The season kicked off with a an engineer,” he said. “I guess it turned out ing was held at Crestwood Middle School to parade, just as it does today. “The athletic pro- OK.” Willows Park opened in 1988 and featured gauge interest in forming a nonprofit entity that gram in the community really mushroomed,”
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(Left) A groundbreaking ceremony is held for Lindsay Ewing Park. (Right) A new pavilion is dedicated at Lindsay Ewing Park in November 1999.
Mayor Tony Masilotti presides over the grand opening of the new Royal Palm Beach Recreation Center in 1994.
(Left) Workers beautify boulders dedicated to the Challenger astronauts at Lakeside Challenger Park. (Right) Councilwoman Carmela Starace speaks at the park’s 2001 rededication ceremony.
Current Royal Palm Beach Parks & Recreation Director Lou Recchio at Royal Palm Beach Commons Park, which opened in 2013.
PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN
village maintains every park in the community to high standards. As for the future, Recchio said that the village will be upgrading the parks with new tennis courts and refurbished tennis and basketball courts. “We are replacing baseball field lighting and have added four enclosed racquetball courts and two basketball courts,” he said. “There are two new playground areas, and we are adding more. One is a boundary-less
playground with no boundaries so any child can use it.” At Commons Park the future will bring additional upgrades. “We are looking to pave some grass parking areas, add some permanent lighting, additional security cameras and lighted bollards on the walking trails so they can be used at night,” Recchio said, adding that his goal is always to have facilities that are second to none.
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A dedication ceremony is held for improvements to Todd A. Robiner Park in 2002.
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
slightly more than $5 million with 27 full time and eight part time employees in parks, eight full time and eight part time in cultural and 11 full time and 20 part time in recreational,” Recchio said, adding that approximately 220 recreation programs are offered with more than 3,700 children participating. With the help of $2 million in federal, state and county funding, the village has developed and maintains some 1,050 acres of active and passive park space, open space and outside facilities at schools. The gem of this high parks-to-resident ratio is Royal Palm Beach Commons Parks, which opened in 2013. It was developed on the site of the 160-acre former Tradition Golf Course on Royal Palm Beach Blvd., acquired in 2005. “It has a three-story sporting center with room for weddings and graduations,” Recchio said. “It has a full kitchen that can accommodate concessionaires. There is a new kayak and canoe launch with 12 acres of water, a splash pad interactive fountain and an amphitheater for concerts with new restrooms added.” Part of the former golf course was used to create an 18-station disc golf course. “There is a complete training center for the short [golf] game,” Recchio said. “There are chipping greens, a driving range and an 18-hole tournament putting green.” The list of amenities at this signature village park are impressive. “We have an official, 5K paved, walking, biking and running trail,” said Recchio, who added that there is a dog park with three sections, one each for small, medium and large dogs. “There are 20 picnic pavilions, six with fishing docks and one each in the three sections of the dog park for dog-friendly gatherings.” Park facilities include baseball/softball fields, soccer fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, children’s playgrounds, bocce courts, volleyball courts and fishing docks. The Royal Palm Beach Recreation Center is contained within the 65-acre Preservation Park and has outdoor basketball courts, a roller hockey rink, soccer fields, a bike and nature trail on 25 acres just to the south. Since 2009, major improvements have taken place at all facilities, such as Todd A. Robiner Park, Bobbie Jo Lauter Park, Crestwood Park, the Bob Marcello Baseball Complex, Vivian A. Ferrin Memorial Park and Homeplace Park. Recchio said that the
1959 - 2019
five adult and youth baseball fields, two soccer fields and a multipurpose practice field. Everyone was thrilled with the new facility — well, almost everyone. “We had a big opening night event for Willows Park,” Recchio recalled. “I remember hitting the switches with Tom Bolinski to turn the lights on. I can’t remember the man’s name who lived on the corner, but boy, he comes running out and just cussed us out for putting lights on in his backyard.” The anti-park neighbor was clearly in the minority, as the athletic league would soon have more than 1,000 youngsters playing ball at Willows Park. Now known as the Bob Marcello Baseball Complex, facilities include a total of eight ball fields for players age four to 15, plus tennis and basketball courts, a picnic pavilion, jogging trail and tot lot. In 1991, the recreation department moved into the civic center building on Okeechobee Blvd., sharing space with the police department. The former recreation building at Camellia Park was donated to the Jaycees. Three years later, the Royal Palm Beach Parks & Recreation Department took a huge leap forward with the simultaneous openings of the Royal Palm Beach Recreation Center and the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center, both facilities funded by a voter-approved bond issue. “There were so many people in town who needed a venue for their meetings, luncheons, local performances, and the Cultural Center really opened things up for our seniors, too,” Bolinski said. The 33,000-square-foot Royal Palm Beach Recreation Center wasn’t overwhelmed with children right away, Recchio recalled. “We’re sort of tucked away behind the school, so not everyone knew we were here,” he said. But that changed when the department started issuing quarterly brochures and direct mailers to residents promoting community recreation. Teens and adults began to flock to the center to play basketball, shoot pool in the game room or work out in the weight room. With the village’s recreation program being the envy of the booming western communities, Bolinksi left in 1995 to take a similar position in Ocala. He retired in December 2008. Recchio was the assistant director for a little over a year, before becoming the director in 1997, a job he still holds 22 years later. At the time, the department had an annual budget of $1.2 million. “In 2019, the annual budget is now
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Royal Palm Beach History
BUSINESS & COMMERCE
Mini-Marts To Mega Stores: Shopping Arrives In RPB BY BARBARA ISENBERG AND JOSHUA MANNING
It was hardly a “shop ’til you drop” experience for Royal Palm Beach’s pioneer residents in the early 1960s. Although an inn, Olympic-size swimming pool and ninehole golf course provided recreational and social amenities for local residents and guests, getting to the market was quite a trek.
In 1970, the extension of Okeechobee Blvd. to Royal Palm Beach Blvd. paved the way for the development of the village’s northern half, and eventually created a new shopping district.
• Miller’s Super Value, Royal Palm Beach’s first supermarket, opened in 1981 in Jess Santamaria’s Royal Plaza. Shown at the grand opening are: (L-R) landscape architect Bob Nelson, Jess Santamaria, Mayor Harold Silverman, grocer Darrell Miller, property manager Raymond Kahn, architect Rodrigo Saavedra and contractor Jim Bernard.
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
bingo parlor, served as a health club and is currently a school. In 1978, Santamaria purchased what is now the Royal Inn, the village’s early hub of social and dining activities. Over the years, Santamaria has expanded the inn’s room capacity and has continued to modernize and improve the facility. The decade of the 1970s drew to a close with a flurry of building activity, which brought other much-needed services to the village. Fidelity Federal Bank opened a village branch in March 1976 and was followed one year later by a Southeast Bank branch. GROWTH EXPLODES, COMMERCIAL SPACE MUSHROOMS If the 1960s and ’70s were the years of mushrooming residential and commercial growth in the village, then the 1980s could only be characterized as the boom years. By then, the formerly reluctant grocery chain leaders were nearly knocking themselves over to open supermarkets. By the mid-1980s, Winn-Dixie had opened in the Village Royale plaza on the northwest corner of Okeechobee and Royal Palm Beach boulevards. Following a controversial rezoning of an office commercial property across the street on the northeast corner to a general commercial designation, Publix built a store in the Crossroads plaza. Although many residents were eager for the Publix store, some residents, including Santamaria, contended that there was already enough general commercial retail space in the village and the two supermarkets already in the village were sufficient for residents’ needs. Cries of “over-commercialization” began to resound in the village. The Royal Palm Beach Village Council initially turned down the developer’s rezoning application. However, the March 1987 council elections resulted in the ousting of two council
1959 - 2019 •
Early Royal Palm Beach residents got basic supplies at McConnell’s Colony Food Market, the first store to open up in the village.
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SHOPPERS HAD FEW CHOICES, TRAVELED FOR EVERYTHING Prior to the 1962 opening of the village’s first general store, residents were faced with a lengthy drive east to West Palm Beach on a narrow two-lane Southern Blvd. to purchase their basic needs. Okeechobee Blvd. ended at State Road 7 in those days, as did Forest Hill Blvd. In fact, sales brochures for “America’s newest executive retreat” noted, “there’s plenty of shopping, sightseeing and glamour in the neighboring cities of Palm Beach County.” The community’s few residents may have experienced a collective sigh of relief in 1962 when Lloyd and Edith McConnell moved to the village to open Colony Food Market, which featured fresh meats, groceries, beer, ice cream, ice and dairy products. Located on a site now occupied by the Royal Plaza at the intersection of Royal Palm Beach and Southern boulevards, the convenience store/mini grocery also featured hardware, including electrical and garden supplies, as well as tools and fishing tackle. A laundromat and tiny post office were also part of the one-stop shopping complex, and village ladies seeking a fashionable coiffure to withstand the Florida heat could visit a beauty salon next door. The late Ellie Hope, who moved to Loxahatchee Groves in 1962, remembered McConnell’s as a “good little place to go for the incidentals. You wouldn’t do a week’s shopping there, and it couldn’t compete with prices at Publix.” Hibiscus Drive resident Betty Naze and her husband Fritz were next-door neighbors to the McConnell family. In a 1999 interview, Naze agreed with Hope that McConnell’s store was better suited to offering fill-in items than a week’s worth of groceries. “The store was a 7-Eleven type we had for emergencies,” she recalled.
Lloyd McConnell, who served as mayor from 1966-68, sold the grocery store and laundromat in 1969. GROWTH SPURS PLANS FOR FIRST SUPERMARKET By 1966, Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc. unveiled a $100 million plan to develop 55,500 acres, which included the village, plus vast areas north and west of the community in what is now known as The Acreage. The development plans included extensive national and international promotion of the village and featured complimentary stays at the Royal Inn, meals and rounds of golf for prospective buyers. Soon the village’s streets began to stretch north past the canal at Hibiscus and Camellia drives with the influx of new residents. The demand for better shopping and services was evident. In 1977, the former McConnell’s store property was sold to Jess Santamaria, who moved to the village in 1974 from Philadelphia. The former chemical engineer and Wharton Business School alum had previously worked for Exxon and IBM but had become involved in real estate before moving to Florida. It was Santamaria who was to build the village’s first full-fledged shopping center at the southernmost end of Royal Palm Beach Blvd. By early 1978, there were 877 single-family homes and 702 apartment-style residences in the village, according to a “welcome to the village” publication compiled that year by the Homeowners Association of Royal Palm Beach. Santamaria built the Royal Plaza in phases, beginning construction in 1979 and completing the first phase in 1980. The plaza’s second phase, built the following year, included the 21,000-square-foot Miller’s Supermarket. “I approached Winn-Dixie, and I approached Publix,” Santamaria recalled. “Both told me that the village was too small and too slow.” Although the food giants rejected Santamaria’s proposal to become the village’s first supermarket, West Palm Beach grocer Darrell Miller was eventually convinced by Santamaria’s vision of what the growing community would soon be. For seven years, Miller’s Supermarket served local shoppers under the ownership of Miller, followed by Canadians Georges and Aline Trottier, and finally under the operation of Certified Grocers of Ocala, suppliers to V. Richard’s, the store’s name prior to its abrupt closing Oct. 1, 1988. Since the market’s departure, the store space was reconfigured into a flea market, operated for a time as a
Royal Palm Beach History
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1959 - 2019
BUSINESS & COMMERCE
members opposed to the project, and the plan was ultimately approved. Santamaria and Wally Sanger, his business partner at the time, were meanwhile busily creating commercial office and retail space in addition to building homes throughout the village. The final phase of Royal Plaza was completed, as well as the addition of Royal Commerce Park, a 38,000-square-foot commercial and light-industrial center located on Royal Commerce Road. The pair also built Royal Plaza North on Okeechobee Blvd. east of Royal Palm Beach Blvd. as well as many of the free-standing professional offices and shops in the neighborhood commercial zone. The annexation of the northwest corner of State Road 7 and Southern Blvd. into the village’s boundaries added what is now called the Village Shoppes plaza to the growing list of retail/commercial properties and on the village’s eastern edge, and John C. Bills Enterprises built the Royal Palm Beach Business Park, an industrial complex off State Road 7 just north of Counterpoint Estates, a neighborhood of 1,000 homes which was annexed into the village Dec. 16, 1988, and added about 3,500 residents in one day.
BUSINESS IN ROYAL PALM BEACH TODAY The village now boasts three Publix supermarkets, one Winn-Dixie store, an Aldi store, and Super WalMart and Super Target stores, each with full supermarkets attached. Professional offices of all kinds provide the village’s 37,000-plus residents with medical, legal, insurance, accounting and other services.
A multiplex movie theater opened on SR 7 near the Royal Palm Beach Business Park in the late 1990s. The most dramatic change in the village’s commercial base over the past two decades has been the emergence of State Road 7 as the shopping hub of the western communities. While the Mall at Wellington Green is located just south of the
village, many leading national retailers have chosen Royal Palm Beach’s portion of SR 7 from just south of Southern Blvd. to just north of Okeechobee Blvd. to establish local outposts. The nation’s leading home improvement stores Lowe’s and Home Depot operate across the street from each other. Nearby are clothing giants such as TJ Maxx/Marshall’s, Burlington
and SteinMart. Two wholesale clubs, BJ’s and Costco, also now have a village presence, as does Bed Bath & Beyond, Buy Buy Baby and Office Depot. There are also several car dealerships along Southern Blvd. with another in the planning stages. Aldi, the large discount grocery chain, added to Royal Palm Beach’s industrial base when it broke ground
The 1980s saw the construction of several shopping centers, including Village Royale at Okeechobee and Royal Palm Beach boulevards.
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in 2013 on a 650,000-square-foot distribution center off SR 7 to serve the company’s growing South Florida footprint. Nearby, Aldi also built what has been described as its “flagship” South Florida store, which opened in 2015. Additional industrial space was suggested for the community’s north end at the site of the village’s old wastewater treatment plant. However, after an outcry from the community, the village eventually decided in 2013 to put a residential development there, later selling the land to Lennar, which is currently
building the new BellaSera community. As for the future, additional commercial uses are planned as part of developer Brian Tuttle’s Tuttle Royale project along the south side of Southern Blvd. The former Acme Ranches site will also have a mix of residential development. Today, some of the older shopping plazas are undergoing redevelopment to modernize for the future. It’s a far cry from the 1960s, when residents wanting more than a convenience store had to head east to Military Trail.
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
(Above) Royal Plaza, located at the corner of Royal Palm Beach Blvd. and Southern Blvd., was the village’s first shopping center. It is shown here under construction in March 1981. (Left) Aldi expanded the village’s industrial base when it built a store and a 650,000-square-foot distribution center on State Road 7.
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
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Royal Palm Beach History
A LAST LOOK BACK
Before we turn the page to look at Royal Palm Beach today, here’s one final look back at the early days...
Royal Palm Beach’s two founding fathers, Arthur Desser (left) of Lefcourt Realty and property owner Sam Friedland (right).
Before the village was even a year old, the first baby had been born. Debbra Louise Persson was born on June 6, 1960 and arrived home to spend her early years at the Persson family home on Dahlia Drive.
Joseph Klopp is sworn in as the village’s first police chief by Mayor Ewing L. Jones.
1959 - 2019 •
Early marketing brochures invited buyers to visit “Royal Palm Beach: The City Planned for Florida Living.”
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
Members of the first Junior Police Patrol in front of village hall.
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Ray Claydon, who later served as vice mayor, relaxes with his wife in front of their new home on Gardenia Drive, circa 1963.
(Above left) An early magazine promoting the young village. (Above right) The village newsletter from November 1962 announces the near completion of the village’s first golf course. The Mark Mahannah-designed course is now the site of Commons Park.
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Royal Palm Beach Today
FACTS & FIGURES
Useful Information About Royal Palm Beach In 2019
The Village of Royal Palm Beach was legally incorporated June 30, 1959. It has a council-manager form of government. The mayor is elected by the voters, as are four council members. The council selects a vice mayor annually. ELECTED OFFICIALS The current Royal Palm Beach Village Council includes: Mayor Fred Pinto — Elected to the council in 2003 and elected as mayor in 2016, he is a retired lieutenant colonel in the United States Army and served as a technology executive for several Wall Street investment banking firms. Vice Mayor Jan Rodusky — Appointed to the council in 2016 and elected in 2017, she is the chief grants officer for the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County. Councilman Jeff Hmara — Elected to the council in 2012, he is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army and held senior level management positions in Washington, D.C. Councilwoman Selena Samios — Elected to the council in 2016, she is the owner of Quad S Solutions, which supports small businesses and nonprofits with social media, marketing and public relations. Councilman Richard Valuntas — Elected to the council in 2010, he served until 2016 and then returned to the council again in 2017. He is a board-certified criminal appellate attorney.
ROADS & UTILITIES There are 148.66 miles of streets within the Village of Royal Palm Beach. The Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department (561-740-4600) provides water and sewer service within the village.
SCHOOLS Royal Palm Beach is served by five Palm Beach County School District schools, as well as several charter schools and private schools. Crestwood Middle School, 64 Sparrow Drive, (561) 7535000. There are 740 students at the school. The school opened in 1983. The principal is Dr. Stephanie Nance. Cypress Trails Elementary School, 133 Park Road North, (561) 904-9000. Built in 1989, the school has 464 students. The principal is Bruce Saulter. H.L. Johnson Elementary School, 1000 Crestwood Blvd., (561) 904-9300. There are 753 students at the school. The school opened in 1984. The principal is Jennifer Makowski. Royal Palm Beach Elementary School, 11911 Okeechobee Blvd., (561) 633-4400. There are 686 students at the school, which opened in 2002. The principal is Tracy Gaugler. Royal Palm Beach High School, 10600 Okeechobee Blvd., (561) 753-4000. Completed in 1997, the school currently has 2,205 students. The principal is Dr. Jesus Armas. Non-district schools include: Palms West Charter School, (561) 214-6782; Western Academy Charter School, (561) 792-4123; the Ideal School of Leadership, (561) 791-2881 and the Learning Foundation of Florida, (561) 795-6886. FIRE-RESCUE In 1999, the Royal Palm Beach Fire Department was merged into Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue. There are two stations inside the village: Station 28, located just south of Okeechobee Blvd. on Royal Palm Beach Blvd. and Station 29, located at State Road 7 and Belvedere Road inside Counterpoint Estates. They responded to 4,076 calls last year. The stations are run by Battalion Chief William Rowley, who can be reached at (561) 790-6105. For emergency fire-rescue service call 911.
BUSINESS & COMMERCE There are 913 acres of commercial zoning and 350.3 acres of industrial zoning in the village. There are 1,003 active business licenses in the village, excluding home business and outside contractors. More than a dozen major shopping plazas are located along Southern Blvd., Royal Palm Beach Blvd., Okeechobee Blvd. and State Road 7.
The amphitheater at Royal Palm Beach Commons Park.
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LAW ENFORCEMENT In October 2006, the Royal Palm Beach Police Department was merged into the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and became PBSO District 9. The District 9 office is located at 11498 Okeechobee Blvd. It is run by Capt. Ulrich “Rick” Naujoks. The District 9 office can be reached at (561) 9048219. For emergency PBSO service call 911.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION Royal Palm Beach is served by several Palm Tran buses. For more information about the Palm Tran busing system call (561) 841-4BUS.
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VILLAGE BUDGET For the 2018-19 Fiscal Year, the Village of Royal Palm Beach has a total budget of $48,828,181. Of that money, $23,537,651 is in the General Fund, used for day-to-day operations. A total of $4,932,829 was raised from ad valorem taxes on property and represents a millage rate of $1.9200 per $1,000 of assessed value. Royal Palm Beach has an estimated taxable property value of $2.695 billion.
OTHER REPRESENTATIVES The Village of Royal Palm Beach is represented by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (561-775-3360) and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (202-224-5274), as well as U.S. Rep. Brian Mast (561-530-7778), U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings (561-676-7911), U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel (561-998-9045) and U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch (561-470-5440) in Washington, D.C. Representatives in Tallahassee include Gov. Ron DeSantis (850-488-7146), as well as State Sen. Bobby Powell Jr. (561-650-6880) and State Rep. Matt Willhite (561-791-4071). Palm Beach County officials include County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay (561-355-2206) and School Board Member Marcia Andrews (561-434-8139).
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
GEOGRAPHY The Village of Royal Palm Beach encompasses 11.7 square miles within Palm Beach County, Florida. Although annexations have blurred the borders somewhat, the general boundary lines are: State Road 7 to the east; 40th Street North to the north; Folsom Road to the west; and Southern Blvd. to the south. Neighboring communities include: Wellington, West Palm Beach, Loxahatchee Groves and The Acreage.
VILLAGE STAFF The Village of Royal Palm Beach is staffed by 140 full-time and part-time employees.
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POPULATION The population of the Village of Royal Palm Beach as of 2018 was 37,934 living in 13,275 households with an average household income of $72,386. There were 25,358 registered voters.
www.royalpalmbeach.com
PARKS & RECREATION The Royal Palm Beach Recreation Center, located at 100 Sweet Bay Lane off Sparrow Drive, can be reached at (561) 790-5124 and offers more than 200 programs serving more than 10,000 participants ranging from toddlers to seniors. The department conducts more than 60 community events annually and runs 1,056.5 acres of parks and green spaces, including the newly expanded Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center, which is located at 151 Civic Center Way and can be reached at (561) 790-5192. Community Event Venues: Bob Marcello Baseball Complex (23.4 acres); Camellia Park (8.5 acres); Preservation Park (82.7 acres); Royal Palm Beach Commons Park (161.6 acres); Todd A. Robiner Park (6 acres); Veterans Park (5.2 aces); and Vivian A. Ferrin Memorial Park (7.7 acres). Major Athletic Event Venues: Seminole Palms Park (68.9 acres). Neighborhood Parks: Bobbie Jo Lauter Park (2.2 acres); Crestwood Park (5.8 acres); Earthday Park (1.6 acres); Homeplace Park (3.1 acres); Lindsay Ewing Park (3.6 acres); Moonlight Park (0.6 acres); Penzance Park (0.5 acres); Pine Road Park (4.6 acres); and Pippin Park (1.8 acres). Open Space (passive-walking-jogging-biking): Civic Center Campus (7.5 acres); H.L. Johnson Park (8.7 acres); Lakeside Challenger Park (4.3 acres); Pathway Park (123.8 acres); Royal Palm Beach Pines Natural Area (449.2 acres); RV & Boat Parking (14 acres); Trailhead Park (5.7 acres); Village Hall Campus (16.3 acres); and Wetlands Park (9.8 acres). School Parks: Crestwood Middle School (12.4 acres); H.L. Johnson Elementary School (4.4 acres); and Royal Palm Beach High School (12.8 acres). Seminole Palms Park, located at 151 Lamstein Lane, is 68.9 acres and includes eight baseball/ softball fields, the Calypso Bay Water Park, restrooms, three concession buildings, a playscape and a picnic area owned and maintained by Palm Beach County, as well as four soccer/ football fields on 12 acres maintained by Royal Palm Beach.
1959 - 2019
VILLAGE MANAGER The current Village Manager is Ray Liggins. He was hired as the village engineer in 1999, and then served as the assistant village manager for three years before becoming the village manager in 2010. He is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the village. The village offices are located at 1050 Royal Palm Beach Blvd. Main phone number: (561) Ray Liggins 790-5100.
The Seal of the Village of Royal Palm Beach
LIBRARY The Royal Palm Beach branch of the Palm Beach County Library System is located at 500 Civic Center Way, (561) 790-6030. Open six days a week, closed Sunday. The original branch opened in 1983 on Royal Palm Beach Blvd. It moved to the current location in 1994. After a 2009 expansion, it now features 20,000 square feet of space.
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1959 - 2019 •
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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Royal Palm Beach Today
VILLAGE DIRECTORY
Royal Palm Beach Departments And Phone Numbers ELECTED OFFICIALS (561) 790-5100 Mayor Fred Pinto Vice Mayor Jan Rodusky Councilman Jeff Hmara Councilwoman Selena Samios Councilman Richard Valuntas
RECREATION CENTER 100 Sweet Bay Lane (561) 790-5124 Main Number (561) 753-1228 Lou Recchio, Parks & Recreation Director (561) 790-5198 Mike Mikolaichik, Assistant Parks & Recreation Director (561) 790-5149 Carmen Bumgardner, Admin. Assistant I-Seniors (561) 790-5164 Eva Hernandez, Administrative Assistant II (561) 791-7097 Dolly Hughes, Program Coordinator-Seniors (561) 790-5189 Jeannine Delgardio, Program Supervisor (561) 790-5125 Sheryl Sawyer, Program Supervisor (561) 753-1241 Steven Poyner, Program Supervisor
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561.225.2658
Business
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CULTURAL CENTER 151 Civic Center Way (561) 790-5192 Jaclyn Rodriguez, Events & Facility Manager (561) 790-5196 Nicolas Wishart, Program Coordinator II
PALM BEACH COUNTY UTILITIES 9045 Jog Road, Boynton Beach (561) 740-4600 Customer Service www.pbcwater.com
PARKS 11801 Poinciana Blvd. (561) 790-3408 Armando Puentes, Parks Superintendent (561) 790-3844 Rich Wishart, Parks Supervisor
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
PUBLIC WORKS 10996 Okeechobee Blvd. (561) 790-5122 Carol Saunders, Administrative Assistant II (561) 790-5123 Paul Webster, Public Works Director (561) 753-1139 Sean Bulaskas, Skilled Trades Worker (561) 753-1226 Kurt Riggott, Facilities Superintendent (561) 790-5158 Mechanics Shop (561) 790-5199 Michael Cheatham, Field Operations Superintendent (561) 790-1583 Ernest Richardson, GMWII (561) 790-5184 Charles Duncan, GMWII (561) 790-5187 Johnathan Moorer, GMWII (561) 790-5173 Anthony Genovese, Electrician (561) 790-0942 Joe Gonzales, Electrician (561) 790-3940 Rick Moore, Foreman (561) 790-3362 Merson Malivert, GMWII
PALM BEACH COUNTY FIRE-RESCUE Call 911 for Emergency Service Station 28 (Battalion Command) 1040 Royal Palm Beach Blvd. (561) 790-6105 William Rowley, District Chief Station 29 10055 Belvedere Road (561) 790-6067
SHERIFF’S OFFICE DISTRICT 9 11498 Okeechobee Blvd. Call 911 for Emergency Service Non-Emergency Dispatch (561) 688-3400 Western Regional Bureau (561) 904-8250 Diane Howell, Executive Assistant to Major Coleman (561) 904-8254 Major Eric Coleman District 9 (561) 904-8251 Capt. Ulrich “Rick” Naujoks (561) 904-8272 Lt. Mike Ferrante (561) 904-8241 Diane Smith, Community Outreach (561) 904-8284 Tami Shoemaker, Administrative Assistant (561) 904-8285 Alyssa Dominguez, Clerical Specialist (561) 904-8270 Harry Hook, Criminal Analyst (561) 904-8255 Sergeant’s Office (561) 904-8294 Detective Gentilcore (561) 904-8273 Detective Vance (561) 904-8278 Detective Scantland (561) 904-8252 Cynthia Richardson, Records (561) 904-8289 Minita Oliva, Records
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ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT (561) 791-7092 Vickie Day, Administrative Assistant III (561) 790-5161 Chris Marsh, Village Engineer (561) 790-5121 Winston Blake, Construction Coordinator (561) 790-5163 Adamo DiSisto, Project Engineer (561) 790-2612 Jeff Sullivan, GIS Coordinator (561) 791-7084 Matthew King, GIS Technician (561) 790-0221 Tim Tack, Project Manager
VILLAGE MEETING HALL (561) 790-5104 Conference Room
SPORTING CENTER 11600 Poinciana Blvd. (561) 790-5140 Brandon Pendergrass, Events & Facility Manager (561) 753-1232 Rochelle Wright, Program Coordinator II
1959 - 2019
ADMINISTRATION 1050 Royal Palm Beach Blvd. Village Manager’s Office (561) 790-5103 Chris Wax, Executive Administrative Assistant (561) 790-5162 Ray Liggins, Village Manager (561) 790-5109 Council Office Clerk’s Office (561) 790-5100 Robin Cronk, Administrative Assistant I (561) 790-5101 Jacqueline Shimhue-Davy Administrative Assistant II (561) 790-5102 Diane DiSanto, Village Clerk Human Resources (561) 790-5120 Pat Steinborn, Human Resources Coordinator (561) 790-5116 Monika Bowles, Human Resources Director Planning & Zoning (561) 790-5131 Lauren McPherson, Administrative Assistant II (561) 753-1120 Bradford O’Brien, Planning & Zoning Director (561) 753-1233 Kevin Erwin, Development Review Coordinator COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Building Department (561) 790-5128 Main Number (561) 790-5183 Stephanie Langston, Administrative Assistant II (561) 790-5108 Rob Hill, Director of Community Development (561) 753-1242 Todd Wax, Plan Reviewer (561) 790-2493 Josephine Melnick, Permit Technician Code Enforcement (561) 790-5138 Lou Hosford, Administrative Assistant I (561) 790-5139 Lynda Walker, Code Enforcement Supervisor (561) 790-5142 Gail McClain, Code Enforcement Inspector (561) 790-5134 Margaret Hancotte, Code Enforcement Inspector (561) 791-7094 Denna Foley, Code Enforcement Inspector
FINANCE DEPARTMENT Accounting (561) 790-5112 Stanley G. Hochman, Finance Director (561) 790-5195 Shernett Lee, Accounting Manager (561) 790-5111 Stephanie Wulff, Accounting Clerk (561) 790-5113 Janet Campbell, Financial Budget Analyst (561) 790-5194 Louis Pengue, Purchasing Specialist Information Systems (561) 791-7078 Marina Quintero, Information Systems Manager (561) 790-5143 Randy Brown, Network Support Specialist (561) 753-1141 Curtis Darr, Information Systems Specialist Payroll (561) 790-5117 Rookmin Ramsaran, Payroll Specialist
congratulations on your 60th Year Royal Palm Beach!
Happy 60th Village Of Royal Palm Beach!
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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Royal Palm Beach Today
VILLAGE PARKS
RPB Offers Something For Every Park Lover
Home to an impressive array of parks, Royal Palm Beach has one of the highest parkland-per-capita ratios in South Florida. From large athletic complexes like the Bob Marcello Baseball Complex to small passive park areas like Bobbie Jo Lauter Park, the village has something for every park lover to enjoy. In recent years, the focus has been on the development of the 160acre Commons Park, which opened in 2013.
Rivera Avenue: A passive park with large pavilion and park benches. Grandview Linear Park (2 acres) Grandview Way: Park benches and walkway. Homeplace Park (3 acres) Grandview Circle: Playscape, pavilion, fishing dock, basketball court, benches, dog park and open areas. H.L. Johnson Park (9 acres) 3701 Royal Palm Beach Blvd.: Nature trail, exercise stations and park benches. Lakeside Challenger Park (4 acres) 701 Royal Palm Beach Blvd.: A passive park with one gazebo, a fishing dock, park benches and a restroom facility. Lindsay Ewing Park (4 acres) Linnet Lane: Baseball field, multi-purpose field, pavilion and restroom facility. Moonlight Park (1 acre) 1041 Moonlight Way: Playscape, gazebo with picnic tables and park benches. Penzance Park (1 acre) 10100 Penzance Lane: Fishing dock, playscape and park benches. Pippin Park (2 acres) Pippin Lane: Fishing dock, canoe/kayak
launch, picnic pavilion, dog park, basketball court, playscape and two barbeque grills. Preservation Park (83 acres) 100 Sweet Bay Lane: 33,000-squarefoot recreation center with a gymnasium, seven multi-purpose rooms and a weight room. This park also contains one lighted R/C racetrack, one lighted skateboard park, six lighted soccer/football fields with concession, playscape, four lighted basketball courts, and an off-road bike and walking trail through a 20-acre natural area. Todd A. Robiner Park (6 acres) 350 Las Palmas Avenue: Four sand volleyball courts, two basketball courts, playscape, picnic pavilion, new restroom facility with an outside shower, fishing dock and a dog park. Veterans Park (5 acres) 1036 Royal Palm Beach Blvd.: Playscape, swings, interactive fountain, market building, amphitheater, walking path, waterfall, two large picnic pavilions with grills, eight small gazebos, outdoor classroom, two restroom facilities and parking for 110. Village Hall Park (16 acres)
RPB also has a village-wide network of bicycle paths. 1050 Royal Palm Beach Blvd.: Village Hall, Fire-Rescue Station, PBSO Substation, Community Development Department and walking trail. Vivian A. Ferrin Memorial Park (8 acres) 11921 Okeechobee Blvd.: Three lighted softball fields with restroom/concession facility and walking trail. Wetland Park (10 acres) Crestwood Blvd. South: Paved walking trail, park benches and boardwalk.
Royal Palm Beach Commons Park
1959 - 2019
Bob Marcello Baseball Complex (23 acres) 100 Wildcat Way: Eight lighted baseball fields, one lighted basketball court, two lighted tennis courts, picnic pavilion, jogging trail, two playscapes and three restroom facilities, three pavilions and concession facilities. Bobbie Jo Lauter Park (2 acres) 179 Sandpiper Avenue: A passive park with benches, bike racks, two picnic pavilions and playscape.
Camellia Park (8 acres) 6845 Camellia Park Drive: Two softball fields (one lighted), six lighted tennis courts, four bocce courts, one sand volleyball court, playscape, pavilion, four racquetball courts and a restroom facility. Commons Park (160 Acres) 11600 Poinciana Blvd.: Features a 10-acre great lawn, a 15-acre lake, a sporting center facility, banquet garden, wedding pavilion, two playscapes, an interactive fountain, walking paths, two large picnic pavilions with grills, 20 small picnic pavilions, two volleyball courts, a golf driving range, a putting course, a short game area, a dog park and more. Crestwood Park (5 acres) 2700 Pine Road: Paved walking path, two basketball courts, two small picnic pavilions, neighborhood dog park and open areas. Cultural Center (8 acres) 151 Civic Center Way: 16,500-squarefoot building with a large auditorium with staging area and four multi-purpose rooms. Facility is available for rentals. Earthday Park (2 acres) 135
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Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center
CONGRATULATIONS,
Village of Royal Palm Beach, on your 60th anniversary! The Community That Builds Communities
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Learn more about our work in Florida by visiting www.erdmananthony.com/FloridaProjects
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Erdman Anthony proudly serves the village as its engineer, providing infrastructure solutions to support the residents of and visitors to Royal Palm Beach.
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
RV Storage Lot
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
Village of Royal Palm Beach
It’s a PrivilegeTo Serve The Village of Royal Palm Beach
Royal Palm Beach Today
VISIONING THE FUTURE
Village Leaders Seek To Protect Quality Of Life In RPB BY M. DENNIS TAYLOR
As the Village of Royal Palm Beach passes its 60th anniversary milestone, community leaders are looking forward to the next 60 years with a unified sense of purpose and an eye toward maintaining a high quality of life for residents.
THE VILLAGE COUNCIL IN ACTION
(Above left) Councilman Jeff Hmara, Vice Mayor Jan Rodusky, Mayor Fred Pinto, Councilwoman Selena Samios and Councilman Richard Valuntas observe Veterans Day. (Above right) The Royal Palm Beach Village Council welcomes residents to Winterfest. (Right) Mayor Fred Pinto and Parks & Recreation Director Lou Recchio cut the ribbon to dedicate the newly renovated Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center.
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region, village officials aim to manage its impact on the community. “I think you’re going to find that the traffic is everywhere, and I don’t want people to go through us. I want people to come to us,” Samios said. “So, there are challenges that we can’t control, that we face with our surrounding municipalities. There’s a whole other city that just came into existence that is just west of us.” Yet pass-through traffic also offers opportunities. “Yes, you’re going to have people going around us or try to go through us,” Samios said. “However, the amount of people coming through the village present opportunities for shopping our stores and eating at our restaurants… I look at that as a positive more than a negative.” Samios and Hmara noted that the entire region needs to put more effort into mass transit opportunities. “One of the biggest challenges, of course, is transportation traffic,” said Hmara, who noted that there is a plan to actually develop an attractive mass transit system, perhaps bus rapid transit with express routes from the western communities to West Palm Beach and areas to the east.
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in between focused on art classes, sports, community band concerts, movie nights and much more.” In addition to the abundance of activities to engage the residents, Rodusky is also proud of how Royal Palm Beach is responsive to the needs of its residents and noted the thoughtful planning that goes into long-range maintenance. “The village does a tremendous job of being responsive to the community’s needs for services, public safety being the most important, as well as attending to infrastructure,” Rodusky said. “Our relationship with the PBSO and Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue is strong and healthy.” DEALING WITH GROWTH While there is a limited amount of development planned within Royal Palm Beach, dealing with growth elsewhere in the western communities is a concern. “There’s a lot of planned developments going on around us,” Pinto said. “We have to do what we can do to ensure that we maintain Royal Palm Beach’s quality of living that we have had in the past.” While developments like Westlake will bring more people to the
Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
“We’re looking at budgeting to build a new Village Hall and expanding the Recreation Center by another whole gym and several thousand square feet of meeting space over the next 10 years,” Liggins said. “In the process, we’re going to be adding two more parks due to growth.” Liggins said that the village plans to do all this without taking on debt and without a tax increase. “We keep on track by keeping our revenues and expenditures in line,” he said. Rodusky is proud of the village’s wide array of community events. “Our community has a tremendous amount of gathering places and recreational activities to appeal to all interests and ages,” she said. “We host four major annual events at Commons Park and numerous activities around town throughout the year, including Memorial Day and Veterans Day celebrations, and co-sponsored events with CAFCI [Caribbean-Americans for Community Involvement], such as our Dr. Martin Luther King Celebration and Diversity Day. The village offers numerous leisure activities for toddlers, seniors and every age
1959 - 2019
For this souvenir anniversary magazine, each member of the Royal Palm Beach Village Council, as well as the village manager, were interviewed individually about their vision and goals for the present and the future. While the discussions were done separately, the topics generated showed a remarkable consensus found among the leadership team that runs the village. THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT Current members of the council are uniformly positive about the future of Royal Palm Beach. “The future of the village is bright. It’s going to be great as we go forward,” Mayor Fred Pinto said. “We’re constantly vigilant about what we can do to maintain the quality of life for the village.” Village Manager Ray Liggins noted that Royal Palm Beach is moving forward with a fiscal endowment handed down through generations of good stewardship. “We are, obviously, in a good financial position. This is due to decisions that were made by this council and previous councils,” Liggins explained. “Our current mayor was a part of the council when it made the decisions of selling the water utilities to Palm Beach County, to transition to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and other key decisions.” Meanwhile, the decision of voters countywide to invest in their communities will be a boon for Royal Palm Beach moving forward. “All this put us in a good position, and the voters voted for the sales surtax that will enable us to rebuild most of our parks over this next decade and maintain all of our roads well,” Liggins said. Councilman Jeff Hmara agreed that the future of the village is bright. “We’ve got a great foundation to start with,” he said. “I didn’t know until I started looking into it, but from 1980 to 1988, the village was the fastest-growing city in the United States.” While census data from 1990 showed that Royal Palm Beach’s whopping growth in the 1980s expanded the community some 247 percent, growth rates have since
become far more sustainable as the community approaches buildout. However, livability remains high. Councilman Richard Valuntas looks back on his decision to move to Royal Palm Beach with pride. “I’m very happy with the village 18 years later,” Valuntas said. “When I moved to this area, I knew I wanted a local government, and I wanted water and sewage service. I didn’t want to have a septic tank. After living here, I know I chose well. The tax rate is not going up. There’s recreation, parks and programs for any age, and the services are responsive.” Vice Mayor Jan Rodusky points to the village’s ability to provide this wide array of services at an affordable tax rate. “Today, Royal Palm Beach is thriving,” Rodusky said. “The most impressive indicator of our thriving community is our financial stability. Through prudent spending, the millage rate has stayed the same all these years.” Pinto noted that the village today is mostly built out, although there is some privately held land that could lead to a limited amount of future development. Aside from the Tuttle Royale development at the village’s south end, there is also space planned for another automobile retailer and room for one or two more assisted living and or memory care facilities — services Pinto feels are important for village residents. Annexation can also grow the village, but right now there is only one such annexation proposal on the table. “There are still ‘I’s to dot and ‘T’s to cross, but an agreement has been made for Palms West Hospital to join the village,” Pinto said. Councilwoman Selena Samios said that having the hospital in the village is in the best interest of Royal Palm Beach residents. “We’re looking into annexing the hospital to make sure that we are able to continue to offer what our residents are looking for,” she said. Through the six decades since incorporation, Royal Palm Beach has matured well. “The village council has carried on and gotten even better over the years,” Valuntas said, noting that Royal Palm Beach was recently named one of the safest communities in the state. “The future is bright.” IMPROVING QUALITY OF LIFE In addition to an ongoing program for updating parks and recreation facilities and resurfacing village roadways, other projects aim to improve services for residents.
Royal Palm Beach Today
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
VISIONING THE FUTURE “Perhaps this will even be by rail someday when the demand is large THE VILLAGE COUNCIL IN ACTION enough,” he said, envisioning Royal Palm Beach as a potential transit hub
due to its central location linking east and west. “If people aren’t required to drive their cars, there’ll be some relief from the traffic.” Pinto, who sits on the board of the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency, also sees other transportation options coming online in the future. “One of the things I see is a significant increase in mobile transportation options. We’re concerned about traffic whenever there’s a project going on to the west of us,” he said. “Yes, there’s traffic. There’s no getting around that, but the way to solve it is with other options — how to get places without a car.” Working with the TPA, the goal is to look for solutions with a local perspective, Pinto said. “We take ownership for our part of it, for what we called the first and the last mile,” he explained. “The concept that a lot of people across the country have adopted is providing a ‘transportation hub’ solution. Within the village, there will be different modes of transportation. That could be light rail to bus service, to cab or Uber service.” The job of the village in the future will be to get residents to and from transportation hubs. “We will take ownership to come up with solutions to get from your house’s door to that hub, so you don’t have to take your car,” Pinto said. “It’s not a park-and-ride scenario. It connects all the main transportation arteries to include Brightline and Tri-Rail. We’ll get you in that first and last mile to get you back to your front door.” Pinto believes that future transportation options are going to be a significant issue over the next decade. Valuntas said he envies those who live and work in the village and hopes to see more of that in the future. “It would be nice to live and work in Royal Palm Beach, but, unfortunately, I work downtown,” he said. “I’m hoping that alternative transportation comes to pass because the commutes east and west are terrible.” Liggins agreed that new transportation options are important. “When you’re able to get alternate transportation into the area, that’s a good thing,” he said. “It opens up a lot of doors for the area going forward.” AN AMERICAN HOMETOWN Hmara wants to make sure that Royal Palm Beach continues to keep its hometown image.
(Above left) Councilman Richard Valuntas, Councilman Jeff Hmara, Mayor Fred Pinto, Councilwoman Selena Samios and Village Manager Ray Liggins at the annual Citizens Summit. (Above right) Councilman Jeff Hmara, Councilman Richard Valuntas, Vice Mayor Jan Rodusky and Mayor Fred Pinto pay their respects on Memorial Day. (Right) Mayor Fred Pinto joins the rest of the council to welcome residents to last year’s Star-Spangled Spectacular, RPB’s largest event of year. “One of the things that we need to build on is who we are,” Hmara said. “My impression of Royal Palm Beach is clearest to me is when I’m standing at the middle of the ballfield at the Bob Marcello Baseball Complex when we’re doing our opening day ceremony. It feels exactly like the hometown I grew up in. I think Royal Palm Beach is just that — the real deal on an American hometown. As we grow, we need to make sure we don’t lose track of that key characteristic.” Liggins believes that connected feeling comes from really being connected. “In the communication area, I am looking at having a newsletter with all of our information about the parks and recreation on a monthly basis,” he said, noting that the village’s web site was recently updated to be more modern and responsive to residents. “It will help people who use the information to do business in the village,” Pinto added regarding the new web site. Hmara also sees connectedness in walkability and the 100 miles of bike lanes and pedestrian trails in the village. “One of the keys to walkability is more shade trees. It offers all kinds
of health benefits, as well as getting to know your neighbors,” he said. “We are meeting the needs of not just the current residents but also the future residents.” From new kinds of businesses, such as microbreweries, to new kinds of walkable, contained communities, Royal Palm Beach is investing in the future. “Tuttle Royale seems to be a good direction — a mixed-use, compact development that provides things within walking distance for residents and a mix of different types of businesses and services,” Hmara said. “It is actually a mix of just about everything, including residences, all within walking distance.” Samios said that the residents give suggestions, and that drives what the council does. “As the residents change and grow, so will the programs that we offer them,” she said. “As our surrounding communities develop, we must also stay relevant and maintain our hometown feel while offering state-of-the-art facilities and programs that our residents are looking for. We now have considerations about what to do with Uber or shared ride programs versus taxi service, and 10 years ago that wasn’t even a choice.”
Samios said she appreciates the high level of experience of the village’s staff. “I love the longevity of our staff,” she said. “Our founding fathers, and those who came before us, had a vision and did a good job for the village. We have to give credit to previous officials. We have that hometown where we see each other at our children’s games and parks, and we get to know our neighbors. We have that relationship. I’m just fortunate to be a part of it all.” Rodusky envisions a future Royal Palm Beach that continues to value community engagement and leisure activities. “I anticipate that services will change with the needs of society, like different mobility options, new roads and new public safety measures to combat cybercrimes,” she said. “I think Royal Palm Beach will remain very attractive to families who want great schools, recreational activities and the convenience of being in the heart of a community.” Pinto said that residents should feel comfortable and welcome at council meetings and being a part of their local government. His informational Mayor’s Vector goes out monthly to maintain a push of information to village residents.
Valuntas wants to see young adults who grew up in Royal Palm Beach return to the community. “We should be the kind of place people grow up in, go to college, come back and live and raise their families,” he said. “I don’t ever want to move again. If ever my mom can’t live in her house or stay with me, I like that there are assisted living facilities and memory care facilities nearby.” Valuntas also noted the high quality of local schools, which have shown strong improvement and increased choice over the past decade. Pinto noted that one focus for the future will be improving the village’s storm-battered tree canopy. “We’re going to focus on the interior of the village in terms of our tree canopy,” he said. “We’ve lost some trees because of hurricanes. We’re working on that, working with commercial properties and residences, to make sure that we maintain that canopy going forward. After all, we are a Tree City USA.” Liggins expects that Royal Palm Beach will see results in that regard over the next few years from an aggressive landscape ordinance that the village passed recently to protect its tree canopy. “Hopefully, we’ll have a shade tree in front of everyone’s yard,” he said.
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
Bowen Realty,Inc.
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1959 - 2019
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Royal Palm Beach Today
LOCAL LANDMARKS
Veterans Park Fountain: This interactive splash fountain is at the center of Veterans Park surrounded by benches. It’s a place to relax and allow children to play. The fountain shoots water up from the ground and showcases alligators spraying water onto the splash pad. Veterans Park Memorial: The memorial area at Veterans Park is a tribute to our soldiers. The monument was constructed in 2006 and is dedicated to the men and women of Royal Palm Beach who have selflessly committed themselves to the service of the nation through membership in our armed services.
© KIM SENG
Commons Park Fountain: Built-in seating, benches and picnic tables with shade covers surround the interactive splash fountain at Commons Park, making it a great place to enjoy with the entire family. Children cool off by running through the fountain and enjoy any of four panther monuments.
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Royal Palm Beach 60th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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1959 - 2019
Entry Sign: The village entrance sign on Okeechobee Blvd. greets visitors and residents alike as they enter Royal Palm Beach. Incorporated on June 30, 1959, the Village of Royal Palm Beach today has a population of approximately 38,000.
© KIM SENG
Lakeside Challenger Park: Lakeside Challenger Park is located along a small lake at the edge of the Village. The scenic park occupies 4.8 acres and offers a fishing dock, walking trail, gazebo and benches wrapped around the lake.
Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center: The 16,500-squarefoot Cultural Center recently underwent a complete renovation. It provides for community events, private parties, functions and business meetings. It includes a 4,500-square-foot grand ballroom or auditorium with a stage, and a 2,400-squarefoot banquet room that can be divided into four rooms with two kitchens for catering.
© KIM SENG
Commons Park Sporting Center: The 17,000-squarefoot Sporting Center at Commons Park consists of a furnished lobby and dining area, and a furnished patio overlooking the fountain and great lawn. The banquet room accommodates up to 150 guests with a 360-degree view of the entire 160-acre park.
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