I want to give a thank you to Mayor McKinlay and the Palm Beach County Commissioners for listening to the residents along 60th and ITID and unanimously voting not to move forward with increasing the right of way on the long range thoroughfare map for 60th Street from 80ft to 100ft as well as, giving direction to staff to review and respond to ITID’s letter submitted.
Hopefully moving forward serious consideration will be given to how to address the overwhelming traffic from more development with the least amount of impact to the ITID road network, as well as including ITID in these efforts.
Below is the letter we sent:
INDIAN TRAIL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
13476 61ST STREET NORTH
WEST PALM BEACH, FL 33412-1915
Office: 561-793-0874
Fax: 561-793-3716
Established 1957 www.indiantrail.com
April 25, 2018
Hon. Melissa McKinlay, Mayor & Commissioner, District 6
Hon. Mack Bernard, Vice Mayor & Commissioner, District 7
Hon. Hal R. Valeché, Commissioner, District 1
Hon. Paulette Burdick, Commissioner, District 2
Hon. David Kerner, Commissioner, District 3
Hon. Steven L. Abrams, Commissioner, District 4
Hon. Mary Lou Berger, Commissioner, District 5
Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners
301 North Olive Avenue
West Palm Beach, Florida 33401
Re: Palm Beach County Comprehensive Plan, Initiation of Proposed Amendment to Thoroughfare Right-of-Way Identification Map TE-14.1 60th Street North, BCC Meeting of May 2, 2018
Dear Mayor McKinlay, Vice Mayor Bernard and Commissioners:
The Board of County Commissioners (BCC) will consider the above-referenced matter at its Comprehensive Plan Public Hearing on Wednesday, May 2, 2018. The County Engineer proposes to amend Thoroughfare Right-of-Way Identification Map (TIM) TE-14.1 to increase the ultimate right of way from 80 to 100 feet for the segment of 60th Street North between 140th Avenue North and 120th Avenue North.
We appreciate the BCC’s previous deferral of this proposal so its impacts could be more fully assessed. County Staff met with ITID representatives on January 26, 2018 and with the Board of Supervisors on April 4, 2018. Our discussions were professional and positive. While ITID disagrees with the County Engineer’s assessment that this roadway expansion is justified solely on the basis of traffic generated by Acreage residents, we share the County’s goal of improving 60th Street North as a vital regional transportation link. This roadway improvement can benefit both the Acreage and the wider community the BCC serves.
As a special district, ITID is a service provider and has no legislative authority to engage in comprehensive planning. County development decisions impact the Acreage Community and the road and drainage facilities the District provides. ITID relies on the County to reflect our interests in its planning. Based on our discussions with your Staff, we respectfully offer the following suggestions with regard to initiation of this proposed Comprehensive Plan Amendment:
1. Take a broad, regional approach to roadway expansion that explicitly considers and gives priority to enhancing benefit to the more than 40,000 residents of the Acreage, to the adjacent landowners immediately affected and to ITID’s road and drainage system. County Staff should look beyond the narrow technical issues of adding 20 feet to a two mile segment of 60th Street right-of-way. Consider instead plausible alternatives for an area-wide thoroughfare network that reduce or redistribute traffic demand or defer the need to improve 60th Street or ITID roads, such as Persimmon Boulevard. These alternatives should include continuing Seminole Pratt Whitney Road north to Beeline Highway using the right-of-way the County acquired through the Mecca Property.
2. Persimmon Boulevard is an ITID road maintained exclusively by District landowners. It is not and will not be available to accommodate traffic from outside the Acreage. Future land use proposals should therefore be required to analyze the Thoroughfare Roadway Network with this assumption in mind and be required to adjust their density or intensity accordingly. The expansion of 60th Street should be viewed as the exclusive alternative to Persimmon. Persimmon Boulevard should therefore be removed from the Thoroughfare Plan between 140th Avenue and State Road 7. If this approach to traffic analysis cannot be accomplished within the current structure of the County Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations, these ordinances should be amended as necessary.
3. With regard to the 2-mile section of 60th Street currently under consideration, the design of the roadway section in the additional 20’ should respect the legitimate concerns of the adjacent homeowners whose land is going to be taken and whose homes and lifestyle are directly affected. ITID understands the need to protect the City’s water resources, but the additional 20 feet requested by the County Engineer is not required to provide surface water filtration; it is needed because the M Canal meanders outside its legal limits, constraining and making roadway design more difficult. The design process should consider the City’s interest in protecting its drinking water supply of equal but no greater importance than the adjacent homeowners’ interest in being buffered from the effects of having their rural front yards transformed into a major regional transportation corridor.
To accomplish this balanced goal, ITID suggests the expanded, 100 foot roadway section should be designed generally as follows — from north to south:
• The “M” Canal;
• A concrete buffer wall to prevent vehicles from entering the “M” Canal. The wall need only be 2 to 4 feet high and should not require more than two feet in width;
• An 80′ road section, beginning with a 3-lane section expandable ultimately to 5 lanes, as currently planned. Roadway drainage will be designed to slope away from the M Canal and can be accommodated in ITID’s system with a permit, as it currently is on 60th Street between State Road 7 and Royal Palm Beach Boulevard;
• The remaining +18 feet planted as a landscape buffer between the road and adjacent homes.
This design should be considered an interim, “short-term” response. Development to the west, including the City of Westlake, GL Homes and Iota-Carol Properties, will increase traffic on 60th Avenue in the long-term far beyond any demand generated by the Acreage. In ITID’s opinion. this demand, funneled eastward to State Road 7 along 60th Avenue, will require more radical solutions, including but not limited to expanding the right-of-way beyond 100 feet to accommodate a rural parkway. We understand the County Engineer will continue our dialogue regarding long-term traffic impacts and area-wide solutions that reflect ITID’s and the Acreage Community’s concerns.
4. As part of any analysis of this Plan Amendment, the County should include amending its Land Development Regulations as necessary to assure that, following any taking through eminent domain, lots along 60th Street North between 120th Avenue North and 140th Avenue North are not treated as non-conforming as to minimum lot size, setback or other code requirements. This can be accomplished by adopting an overlay zone specific to this limited area.
ITID appreciates the courtesy of the Board of County Commissioners and County Staff, and remains prepared to work closely with the County as the design of 60th Street North advances.
Sincerely yours,
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
INDIAN TRAIL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
By: ____________________________
Betty Argue
Its: President
cc. Verdenia Baker, County Administrator
David Ricks, P.E., County Engineer
Patrick W. Rutter, Executive Director, PZB
Lorenzo Aghemo, Planning Director
Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors
Betty Argue ▪ Jennifer Hager ▪ Ralph Bair ▪ Carol Jacobs ▪ Gary Dunkley
