It was evident at the Friday, Nov. 1 meeting of the Westlake City Council that growth is continuing to roar forward in Palm Beach County’s newest municipality.
During the session, the council approved the plat for another 492 homes, and this week, City Manager Kenneth Cassel said that a Lowe’s Home Improvement store and a Walmart are “in the pipeline.”
Both retail outlets are slated to be located on the west side of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road across from the Westlake Sales Center at the northern end of the community. The Walmart store will include gas pumps. Plans previously had been announced for a Chick-fil-A restaurant in the same area.
Representatives of Walmart and Lowe’s are expected to bring site plans before the council in January or February, Cassel said.
The city and its largest developer, Minto Communities USA, have been negotiating with the companies for several months, he said, adding that the arrival of the two stores will have an impact beyond the 6.5-square-mile community.
“I think it speaks to the fact that there’s no commercial within a decent distance for a lot of people out this way,” said Cassel, noting that Lowe’s chose Westlake as one of a small handful of locations for new outlets this year in the U.S.
Aside from big box stores, Councilman Gary Werner said this week that Westlake’s central location among Palm Beach County’s western communities also makes it appealing to “start-ups and boutique businesses that are unique to Westlake.”
Landscape architect Donaldson Hearing, who frequently represents Minto and other development interests before the council, noted that Habit Burger recently opened and is “doing very, very well.” Hearing also said that Chipotle, Orangetheory Fitness, 3Natives and Heartland Dental are expected to open in “early 2025, if not sooner.”
Meanwhile, Minto plans 266 single-family homes in a development to be known as the Oaks of Westlake. The homes will be east of River Bend, south of its sister development, the Pines of Westlake.
Also approved were 266 townhomes on 22 acres as Phase 3 of the Terraces development on Ilex Way across from Christ Fellowship Church. When all phases are completed, the Terraces will contain 477 townhomes.
By South Florida standards, the homes and townhomes are designed to be moderately priced with single-family units in the $400s and 500s, and townhomes in the $300s and $400s.
Both plats were accepted 5-0.
“I’m excited that we have affordable housing that’s selling so well,” Councilman Julian Martinez said. “We should add more.”
Councilwoman Charlotte Leonard agreed. “This means we’re continuing to grow while making it affordable for young families to purchase a new home and live the American dream,” she said.
Mayor JohnPaul O’Connor noted this week that GL Homes is expected to soon bring in a plat for council approval for 400 to 500 homes on 100-plus acres on the east side of Westlake, also off River Bend.
“Our growth has not slowed down. It has not waivered,” O’Connor said. “It remains tremendous… based on the lifestyle, safety and affordability the city offers.”
However, even Westlake’s biggest elected cheerleader acknowledges that there are growing pains for a municipality that was carved out of orange groves and incorporated just over eight years ago.
“We have to have mobility and transportation,” O’Connor said. “Not just for Westlake but for all the western communities. These are county issues that affect the whole area, and we’ve got to get our arms around them.”
O’Connor said at the Nov. 1 meeting that for the first time, all 39 of the county’s municipalities and the county seem to be actually working together to create a transportation master plan.
“It’s really encouraging to see,” he said. “We understand we’re never going to pave our way out of this. We’ve got to find better ways.”
One innovative way could be the establishment of a helipad and vertiport on a small area of land in the 50-acre regional park that the city and the Seminole Improvement District (SID), which provides most of Westlake’s roads and infrastructure, are developing together south of Seminole Ridge High School. A vertiport is a physical structure that allows for the arrival, departure and parking of automated, battery-powered aircraft that take off and land vertically.
Presently, the only substantial way in or out of Westlake is north and south via Seminole Pratt Whitney Road connecting Northlake and Southern boulevards, both of which already are overburdened with traffic, especially during rush hours.
So far, the east-west connections agreed to by Minto during negotiations with the county prior to development have not occurred. Efforts by Minto and SID to connect to roads in the adjacent Indian Trail Improvement District were thwarted by an ITID lawsuit. Minto and SID are appealing a circuit court ruling that came down in May.
At the same time, County Commissioner Sara Baxter said this week that a plan floated last year for Minto to construct 60th Street North in cooperation with the county from 140th Avenue North two miles to Seminole Pratt Whitney Road “isn’t dead but it is stalled. 60th Street is a county road, and improvements to it and the connection to Seminole Pratt have been needed for a long time.”
If the connection were made, it would give Westlake a direct east-west outlet all the way to State Road 7, more connections to Northlake Blvd. and access to 140th Avenue North, along with other ITID roads.
In other businesses:
- Werner objected to a request by DKC Westlake Landings LLC to modify its site plan to allow the use of striped crosswalks rather than pavers between several outparcel buildings.
Werner said he was concerned that doing so would set a precedent that eventually would damage the aesthetic consistency of the community.
The council voted 4-1 to approve the change because city employees already had inadvertently OKed it. However, they agreed that pavers should be the standard and suggested that the requirement be added to the city code.
- The council appointed Kim Lanza of St. Armands Way to the Arts in Public Places Advisory Board. Lanza has a degree in architecture.
- The third annual Westlake Holiday Pop-Up Market will be held Sunday, Dec. 8 from noon to 5 p.m. on Kingfisher Blvd. Also, the second annual Westlake 5K Run/Walk will be held Saturday, Jan. 25 starting at the Lodge at Westlake Adventure Park at 5490 Kingfisher Blvd. Discounted registration is now available. For more information, visit www.westlakegov.com.
