Due to a lack of opposition among candidates for the Westlake City Council, there will be no municipal election in the fast-growing community on Tuesday, March 8. However, if you are a Westlake resident and would like to be a member of the council, step right up. You’ve still got a chance.
The City of Westlake will be accepting applications and résumés from March 15 until March 30, after Vice Mayor JohnPaul O’Connor vacates Seat 3 on March 14 to become mayor.
Also taking their place on the dais on March 14 will be Bottlebrush Drive resident Julian Martinez, 33, a Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue driver, in Seat 2; and Greg Langowski, 43, a resident of Goldfinch Circle and a longtime aide to U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, in Seat 4.
In December, Pilar Valle Ron, was chosen to fill Seat 1 following the November resignation of former Councilman Patric Paul.
An April 4 workshop will be held to allow O’Connor and the remaining three council members to meet applicants, who must be Westlake residents, interview them and generate a list of finalists.
At the April 11 regularly scheduled council meeting, the newest and final member of the reshuffled group will be selected, leaving O’Connor as the only holdover in the council chambers with more than a few months of tenure.
Also, on a 5-0 vote, the existing council codified through ordinance the procedure by which drop-out candidates for council or mayor are removed from the ballot and to deem elected those candidates running unopposed.
In other business, the council unanimously approved the final plat for Cresswind Palm Beach Phase 5, which will contain 199 residences on 65 acres. The plat is for the central portion of the overall development, which is located east of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road, south of Town Center Parkway and north of Persimmon Blvd.
Donaldson Hearing, who was on hand to represent the property owner KH Westlake LCC and Kolter Homes, pointed out that there would be three sizes of lots in this section — 40, 50 and 60 feet — with the majority (115) being 50 feet. There will be 66 of the larger size.
“We’ve been trending toward selling the larger lots and the larger houses,” said Hearing, of the Cotleur & Hearing landscape architecture firm, which represents several interests in Westlake. “That’s been somewhat of a theme in Cresswind.”
Hearing told councilmembers that 800 homes are planned at build-out for the age-restricted, active adult community.
“Most of the homes are amenitized, being on a lake or some open space. So [the homes] will be very nice,” he said. “Consistent with what we’ve been doing in Cresswind.”
Meanwhile, Hearing said trees are going in on Cresswind’s 10-acre clubhouse property, which could be open this spring.
Council members also unanimously approved the plat for Town Center Parkway Phase III and Riverbend. Once completed, the road, which will be more than a mile long, will serve as a collector artery connecting, among other areas, internal residential pods and 60th Street North.
“That’s a lot of roadway,” pointed out Hearing, at this point representing master developer Minto.
O’Connor agreed and noted that “it’s a long road… from today to getting it done. What are we talking about? A year?”
“Probably less than a year,” Hearing said. “There’s probably two or three months before construction starts, and six or seven months of construction… Before you know it, you’ll blink your eye, and it will be there.”
