Indian Trail Improvement District officials returned from Palm Beach County Days in Tallahassee last week after completing a full schedule of meetings with state officials to bring attention to their needs.
“It was really good this year,” ITID Manager Jim Shallman told the Town-Crier on Tuesday, a week after he and the others returned from the Jan. 12-13 visit to the state capital.
He added that the trip was much better organized than years before. “We made appointments with some of the legislators before we got up there,” Shallman said.
The district’s priority list includes obtaining $200,000 and $50,000 grants for construction at Acreage Community Park, a $100,000 grant for Hamlin House improvements, an additional $3 million for completion of the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area berm, $400,000 for M-1 Canal rehydration and $875,700 for a new inverted siphon on the M-1 Canal.
After the Tropical Storm Isaac flooding in 2012, the Corbett berm was almost breached and could have spilled even more floodwaters into The Acreage. An enhancement project received partial financing of about $4 million for reconstruction, with millions more needed to complete the job.
The old Corbett berm, separating the wildlife management area from The Acreage, was a spoil mound formed from digging the district’s M-O Canal that divides the two areas and was not designed to withstand the desired water levels sought by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission for managing ecological resources in the Corbett area.
ITID also seeks cooperative use of the Moss property between controlling entities, including the federal government (which owns the property), the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Palm Beach County, ITID and other local entities to maintain healthy balances of water, including storage of excess water. The Moss property has been shown to need more water for hydration, and should become part of the regional water resources project, according to ITID’s priority list.
ITID representatives also lobbied for road construction money. Shallman explained that as a special taxing district, ITID does not receive outside help such as gas tax money for the maintenance of its roads.
They lobbied state representatives for funding for roadway capital assets, including roadway upgrades such as shoulders, drainage, driveways and canal crossings to meet anticipated traffic increases, and possible expansion of some roads that are currently considered local roads, plus traffic calming to reduce cut-through traffic.
The legislative priority list explained that ITID needs to know what the transportation plan is for the western communities due to numerous planned and future developments that must be included in order to properly project the road network needs. Those uncertainties include the future of undeveloped and redeveloped lands, and all connecting roads. ITID roads are not currently included in the county’s traffic modeling for future roadway development.
On Tuesday, Jan. 12, Shallman, ITID President Carol Jacobs and ITID supervisors Michelle Damone and Ralph Bair toured exhibits in the Capitol Rotunda and attended the Palm Beach County Days luncheon. That evening, they visited the hospitality suite at the Doubletree Inn.
Wednesday appointments included meetings with Secretary of Transportation Jim Boxold, State Rep. Mark Pafford, State Rep. Patrick Rooney, State Sen. Joseph Abruzzo and State Sen. Maria Sachs.
ITID representatives met with Boxold to encourage the expeditious completion of State Road 7 to Northlake Blvd.
Construction of the two-lane road is complete to 60th Street North, and improvements are complete on 60th to Royal Palm Beach Blvd. with other connections on Orange Grove and Persimmon boulevards. However, none of those roads are intended as collectors to serve through traffic.
The Florida Department of Transportation has stated its intention to complete the extension to Northlake Blvd. on the original intended alignment on the east side of the Ibis development.
ITID has been consistent in its efforts to encourage the completion of the road, and the initiative is supported by FDOT and remains a priority of the Palm Beach County Metropolitan Planning Organization.
“[Boxold] agreed with us, and we’re happy about that,” Shallman said. “It was a busy day. We got all of our appointments in. It was a great year because we had all of our appointments set up. We talked to all the people we wanted to. Most of the board was there.”
He said that supervisors Gary Dunkley and Jennifer Hager had previous commitments.
“We also met with county representatives the day before we went up,” Shallman said. “That was also a really good meeting that we had with [County Administrator] Verdenia Baker, [County Engineer] George Webb and Johnnie Easton [aide to County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay]. We’re planning meetings over the course of the next couple of months with GL Homes to try and figure out where we can accommodate each other’s desires and hopefully help each other.”
