Officials from Indian Trail Improvement District and the Acreage Athletic League met for more than two hours recently trying to work out a new service provider contract, but sparks continue to fly over competition for athletes and access to Acreage Community Park facilities.
“I want us all to get along, and the way that is going to start is with the leadership working with each other,” ITID Supervisor Patricia Farrell said during the July 15 meeting. “I want to take the rivalry out of it.”
However, AAL Treasurer Geoff Grafton shot back, “You guys allowed this whole division to happen when you allowed another league to come in and compete with us… [It] divided the community.”
Founders of the Breakthru Athletic League broke away from the AAL and began offering five-on-five flag football to boys and girls ages 4 to 17 in the Acreage/Loxahatchee area in the fall of 2022. Tensions remain, although the new league does not use ITID facilities for its games, instead training and playing at Palm Beach County’s Samuel Friedland Park on Hamlin Blvd. Breakthru now offers seven-on-seven flag football and pickleball.
Farrell pointed out that the flag football split happened before the ITID board got involved. She praised the AAL’s new web site at www.acreageathleticleague.org and the leadership of Wendy Tirado, who took over as league president in November 2022.
“Under your leadership, I’ve seen a lot of change,” she told Tirado. “I think you’re definitely taking the right steps, and you’ve got the kids in your heart to do this and grow the program… So, I appreciate what you’ve been doing.”
The AAL was founded in 1993 with some 200 youngsters participating. Today, it serves more than 2,000, according to its web site. AAL sponsors basketball, girls and co-ed 7-on-7 flag football, tackle football, soccer, baseball and softball programs.
However, board members and ITID staff suggested that there were issues to be ironed out before the district could enter into a new service provider agreement (SPA).
The issues include more in-depth background checks for coaches and volunteers; agreement on the amount of sponsorship dollars ITID will provide and how the money can be spent; the length of the new agreement; an effort to find ways to establish a resident and non-resident fee structure; and, most importantly, agreement on what is meant by AAL having “exclusive” rights to Acreage Community Park fields and facilities.
“I’m torn,” Farrell said. “This is Acreage Community Park, not AAL park.”
ITID President Elizabeth Accomando said that the AAL should get first-priority scheduling for its activities, “but if they’re not using it, I don’ see why someone else can’t.”
ITID Parks & Recreation Director Kenny Lawrence agreed but added that the exclusivity should include the understanding that no other group can come into the park and start a league of their own.
Supervisor Betty Argue, a longtime AAL supporter, agreed.
“Historically, the district has never supported a competing league to come in,” she said. “I just want to make sure of the distinction that this [Acreage Community Park] is the AAL’s home field.”
And in an unexpected legal twist, Lawrence told the gathering that he had found documentation stating that the AAL is a subcommittee of the Acreage Landowners’ Association.
On the AAL web site’s history section, it states that a group of local residents “approached the Acreage Landowners’ Association (ALA) and asked for a donation. The ALA advised them to create a committee, which later became the first Acreage Athletic League Executive Board of Directors. The ALA donated $500 toward the Acreage Athletic League… The AAL incorporated in April 1995.”
In those incorporation documents, the AAL lists itself as a subcommittee of ALA.
Tirado and Grafton said they were unaware of any formal connection to the ALA and believed that if such a connection ever existed, it had been severed long ago. ALA President Bob Morgan, who was not at the meeting, later agreed saying it’s “no big deal.”
However, Lawrence said it might be impossible for the district to enter into a new SPA with the AAL without proof of that severance, or the AAL filing a new set of incorporation papers with the state.
The ITID board and the AAL scheduled another workshop for Wednesday, Aug. 28.
Lawrence said this week that he has had no further discussions with the AAL. Tirado did not respond to phone calls or texts seeking comment.
Farrell, who has been critical of the AAL for what she sees as a lack of transparency among other issues, said later that she believed the session went well despite the moments of obvious friction.
“They’ve taken great strides so far,” she said. “They realize there are issues… What I appreciated was their willingness to listen.”
