The Westlake City Council approved plans for several roadways Monday, including one that will make the connection to Seminole Pratt Whitney Road and Persimmon Blvd.
Consultant Donaldson Hearing, speaking on behalf of developer Minto, presented two new pieces of roadway, Ilex Way and Town Center Parkway South, for final approval.
“We are continuing to fill in the pieces that will be part of your comprehensive plan,” Hearing said. “Both of these roadways are part of your comprehensive plan roadway network, and they are being built one at a time. We hope to have a couple of pieces of roadway back in front of you in August.
Town Center Parkway goes from the roundabout back to the Hammocks subdivision, which is currently under construction.
“That is just about completed, and very shortly you will see construction of… Town Center Parkway Phase 2, which basically will go farther east and provide access to Parcel P, which we hope to have on your agenda pretty soon, which will go up to Parcel R, which is the Meadows,” Hearing said. “You will see more discussion on that at your Aug. 13 meeting.”
Hearing also discussed Ilex Way, which will be a connector between Persimmon Blvd. and Town Center Parkway South.
“We’re adding to that connectivity, and within the next few months, we anticipate bringing in Ilex Way Phase 2 and Phase 3, which will extend all the way down farther to the south,” Hearing said.
Hearing said that the goal is to get ahead on construction of roads to make sure they are planned and designed to accommodate the infrastructure and drainage, as well as meet the needs of some of the development opportunities.
“All these roadways are designed consistent with your adopted comprehensive plan, so they have requirements for multi-modal paths of different sizes and widths depending on the nature of the roadway,” he said. “They also have bicycle paths in addition to the multi-modal paths on the outside.”
Councilman Phillip Everett made a motion to approve plans for Town Center Parkway, and Councilwoman Kara Crump made a motion to approve Ilex Way. Both motions carried unanimously.
In other business, the council approved or renewed several agreements with the Solid Waste Authority for collection of recycled materials and waste.
City Attorney Pam Booker said the agreements expire in September, and these agreements extend them for an additional year. Vice Mayor Katrina Long Robinson made a motion to approve the extension, which carried 5-0.
The council also unanimously approved an agreement with SWA for disaster debris removal and a revenue sharing plan for reimbursement on recycling.
In his report, City Manager Ken Cassel noted that some residents have moved into their new homes.
“That’s progressing well, and we’re delivering the recycling and trash containers, and people are coming with their payments,” Cassel said. “Their account information is getting set up also.”
He also said that work is progressing smoothly on Seminole Pratt Whitney Road.
“They’re getting ready to put the final lips on it,” Cassel said. “Probably in the next week or so, they will be splitting traffic, so it will be one lane northbound on the east side, and southbound will be a single lane on the west side, and they’ll finish off the medians. By the end of the month, they should probably be pretty much closed out.”
The council received a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office report that showed the agency had made 70 traffic stops along Seminole Pratt Whitney Road in June.
During public comment, Minto Vice President John Carter said they are continuing to see significant sales to the point that there is pressure to get Hammocks Phase 2 underway.
“That will continue just in time so that we can continue the momentum,” Carter said. “As Don [Hearing] alluded to earlier, relative to Pod R, which is the next pod east of the Hammocks, which we have already named the Meadows, we are planning that to be after the Hammocks, because currently, we are projecting by June of next year we will be out of that entire subdivision, which is something short of incredible.”
Carter said the Meadows will bring about 380 units similar in lot and home size to the Hammocks.
“For those of you who are adding pieces, Parcel R, which is the Meadows, and a new product offering that will come in Pod P, will bring almost 900 units in the pipeline for the city,” Carter said. “That’s in addition to the 330 units in the Hammocks, so being eight months into our sales program, we are looking at 800 more units in the pipeline and well over 1,000 assigned.”
Carter added that a well-known trade journal in homebuilding recently ranked all the national planned communities, and Westlake cracked the top 50.
“What we’re looking at with Pod P will bring more velocity to sales that I really think bodes well for us,” Carter said.
