The cleanup in the wake of a fierce tornado that tore through The Acreage and nearby areas has taken big strides, though there is work left to be done, according to local and Palm Beach County officials.
“I think everyone would like to see it done yesterday,” said District 6 County Commissioner Sara Baxter, who saw significant damage to her property in the Oct. 9 storm. “But I’m satisfied with the pace.”
“The biggest thing now is coordinating with [debris] haulers and making sure the roads are clear,” Indian Trail Improvement District Executive Director Burgess Hanson said.
ITID is in charge of roads, drainage and parks in much of the affected area.
In terms of ITID property, the major damage was to a recently renovated pier at Coconut Park near the intersection of Coconut and Northlake boulevards. Parts of the pier were found hundreds of yards away across Northlake.
“Most of the district is back to normal,” ITID Supervisor Betty Argue said. “There’s still some debris that needs to be picked up… but things are moving along.”
At the Wednesday, Oct. 16 meeting of the ITID Board of Supervisors, President Elizabeth Accomando called for a moment of silence to “reflect on the lives lost [in St. Lucie County] and the damage to our community” by the tornado.
In other business:
- The board voted 4-0 to table until the Nov. 13 meeting a petition for D.R. Horton Inc. to initiate the unit activation process for the Vintage Oaks planned community in the City of Palm Beach Gardens.
Vintage Oaks is a 17.89-acre property located on the south side of Northlake between Bay Hill Drive and 112th Terrace North. In September 2023, Palm Beach Gardens approved 111 townhouses and supporting amenities for the site.
However, Argue said that ITID may be under no legal obligation to move forward with the 2002 agreement signed with the previous owner. If conditions set forth in the agreement were not met, it would be null and void, she said.
“We have an obligation to do our due diligence,” said Argue, pointing out that 100-plus condos were not part of the agreement. “We don’t have sufficient drainage [in the area] as it is.”
- Supervisor Patricia Farrell asked ITID Parks & Recreation Director Kenny Lawrence whether the Acreage Athletic League has provided the documents requested by the board in order to renew the AAL’s service provider agreement. Lawrence said they had not.
“And we haven’t heard hide nor hair from them,” said Farrell, who has often expressed frustration with what she has called a lack of transparency from the group.
The AAL has been the district’s youth athletics provider for some 30 years.
“We’re waiting on them to update the organizational documents with the State of Florida,” Hanson said this week. “We can’t continue with the process until we are sure they have the proper standing.”
Argue, a longtime AAL supporter, called it a “non-issue.”
- The board accepted a $277,000 bid for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Grant M-2 Bypass Project. The project includes excavation and rebuilding a section of the impoundment levee, installation of 36-inch reinforced concrete pipe, a control structure and end walls.
The next lowest bidder was Hinterland Group Inc. at $344,561. The grant is for a total of $389,324. Indian Trail and FDEP are obligated in the amount of $194,662 each (a 50-50 split). However, should the cost exceed the projected amount, ITID is obligated to fund any extra.
- The board approved the purchase of used guardrails for $69,055 to be installed along 162nd Drive North, one mile from Okeechobee Blvd. to East Alan Black Blvd., and on East Sycamore Drive, a little less than half a mile from Seminole Pratt Whitney Road to 162nd Drive North.
According to the backup material provided, “The guard rail will restrict access from unpermitted, unauthorized and non-assessed connections by landowners within the jurisdiction of the Town of Loxahatchee Groves.”
- The board held its second annual millings lottery. To find out which roads were selected, call the ITID office at (561) 793-0874.
- At the meeting, Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue District Chief Amanda Vomero said that the department took almost 500 calls for service in the hours after Oct. 9’s late-afternoon tornado.
“We had major, major issues going on all around us,” she said, adding that she was “very impressed” by how quickly the ITID staff went into operation clearing roads that allowed PBCFR vehicles to get through.
Vomero said she also was impressed by the way the community rallied together. “It was awesome,” she said.
“Our work force was very quick to react,” Hanson said this week. “We had a strike team that went into action that night to clear some roads. And we were back on it by sunrise the following morning.”
Most of the roads were cleared by Friday, Oct. 11, Hanson added.
The unusually strong EF3 tornado was spawned in a feeder band of Hurricane Milton as it approached landfall as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key on Florida’s west coast. The tornado wrecked homes, trees and cars in Wellington, Loxahatchee Groves, The Acreage and the Palm Beach Gardens Avenir development along Northlake Blvd. before finally lifting back into the clouds above Jupiter Farms.
Aid to tornado victims has come from many entities, including Florida Power & Light, the Palm Beach County Division of Emergency Management, the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, along with many nonprofits and church organizations.
Residents still in need of disaster assistance should visit www.disasterassistance.gov, call (800) 621-3362 or use the FEMA App.
To view a list of Palm Beach County resources, visit https://discover.pbcgov.org/publicsafety/dem/Pages/hurricane-recovery.aspx.
