The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council was surprised Tuesday to find that a cut-through from East Road to 140th Avenue North was not a town road, but rather part of a Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District canal easement.
The topic came up during the town manager’s local government mileage report.
“What we wanted to do is update the mileage we got recently from the Office of the Inspector General and Palm Beach County Engineering and Public Works,” Town Manager Bill Underwood said. “They personally went out and measured. What we’re looking for is approval to submit the mileage report on behalf of the town.”
Councilman Jim Rockett asked about the design of a cut-through near Sunsport Gardens used by many residents to head north.
“Bill, am I reading this correctly when it says we’re going to take the cut-through in front of Sunsport Gardens and call it a private road when probably all the folks in this community who take their kid to middle school use that road?” Rockett asked. “And what about when we have to maintain it? Is there some reasoning that they had for that being a private road?”
Underwood said that county staff told him it that it has always been a private road and had never been identified as a public road in anything they’ve ever found.
“That’s going to create a problem for us if we want to maintain it,” Rockett said. “Now we have a private road that we can’t spend public funds on. I don’t know how we’re going to address that, but that’s an issue that somehow we need to identify, because it puts us in a quandary.”
Mayor Dave Browning said the cut-through has been in existence for the 38 years he has lived in the community. Underwood said he uses it, and Browning noted that the LGWCD grades it.
Rockett asked whether the town could get a clarification on its designation, since it is the town’s only outlet to the north in that part of community.
“I’m not concerned about losing the 600 feet or whatever it is,” Rockett said. “It’s the fact that we are now going on record that it is a private road.”
Underwood said he thought that the property owner would have to give the town an easement.
“Could we pursue that as the town looking to make that a town road?” Browning asked.
Town Attorney Michael Cirullo said that town staff could approach the property owner.
“The town has been maintaining it, and it has been historically used as a road,” Cirullo said. “Those are also criteria for determining what’s a public and what’s a private road, even under federal gas tax guidelines.”
Rockett said that the only record of ownership he was aware of was that it was owned by the LGWCD.
Councilman Tom Goltzené said the mileage is continuing to change as the town takes over roads from the district.
“That is an issue that needs to be resolved, especially when it comes to who’s responsible for maintenance, especially when it comes to a crash,” Goltzené said.
LGWCD Supervisor John Ryan said that he had been told by former LGWCD Administrator Clete Saunier that the little piece in front of Sunsport Gardens was part of the district’s canal maintenance road, but should have been part of the agreement between the town and the district when it gave the town a permit to use its roads.
Cirullo said he would get with Underwood and try to address that specific section of road.
