A possible fire station on the Rawlings Estates property near 180th Avenue North and Sycamore Drive is the latest hot topic for the Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors.
In fact, it became so heated that Supervisor Betty Argue left the Wednesday, Feb. 19 meeting, though she later participated via Zoom.
Argue told fellow supervisors she was frustrated that the board was not consulted about the location of the station, and that, “I do not support a fire station going on any ITID road.”
The roads that serve the ITID area are a combination of state, county and district roads.
“My concern is that 180th is already a narrow road,” ITID Executive Director Burgess Hanson said. “Putting a fire station in that neighborhood to me does not make sense.”
ITID President Elizabeth Accomando said the real need is for a station miles away in the northwest corner of the 110-square-mile district.
Argue asked fellow supervisors to support a letter to the Palm Beach County Commission, which oversees Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue, objecting to the location.
However, Supervisor Patricia Farrell and Supervisor Richard Vassalotti said they did not have enough information to decide. Argue’s request failed for lack of consensus.
This week, it was announced that George and Beverly Rawlings, the developers of the property, agreed under pressure from the commissioners to donate 2.1 acres to the county for the construction of a future fire station. The county’s Planning & Zoning Commission urged the county commission to make it a requirement for the zoning changes needed for the project to move forward.
Also needed is activation of the Rawlings land as a unit within ITID. The process was begun in April 2024. The developer is expected to come back before the board at its Wednesday, March 19 meeting in an effort to continue the approval process.
The developers originally planned 58 luxury homes for the 104-acre parcel. That number was later reduced to 54. The donation of the 2.1 acres for the fire station will cut that number to 52.
Vassalotti, a retired PBCFR captain, noted that Argue often has been critical of fire-rescue response times in the ITID area.
“To add a fire station would reduce response times and possibly save lives of residents,” he said.
The nearest fire station to the proposed development currently is Station 22, which is four miles away in Westlake.
PBCFR District Chief Amanda Vomero, who oversees fire-rescue services in the area, reported to the supervisors in February that the average response time for units in the ITID area is 8:34, which is more than a minute above the department’s target time of 7:30.
However, Eric McClellan of the county’s Facilities Development and Operations Department, told the Planning & Zoning Commission that analysis by his team indicated the response time to the area of Rawlings Estates was 10:30. He said such a response time “raises concern of elevated risk to life and property.”
This week, Vassalotti said that scrapping the idea of a fire station on 180th Avenue North without further study only because it would be located on an ITID road is “preposterous” and pointed out the Station 26, located just across from the ITID administration building on Avocado Blvd., is on a district road and has been for decades.
Vassalotti said a future fire station on 180th would provide important “overlapping coverage” with Station 22 and Station 21 at 14200 Okeechobee Blvd. in the Town of Loxahatchee Groves.
Argue could not be reached for comment. However, during the meeting she suggested that placing the station in that location was an effort to encourage higher density developments in the area. Argue, who was elected to a third term in November, has been an outspoken critic of development in and near the ITID area, especially the City of Westlake.
The cost of the proposed station, which the county would pay for, is estimated at approximately $12 million. The project would be part of a larger PBCFR plan to spend some $100 million over the next few years to construct at least five stations and renovate others. The plan is a reaction to growth and increased call volume from approximately 132,000 in fiscal year 2019 to some 155,000 in fiscal year 2023.
One of the new stations is to be located on Southern Blvd. about a mile east of the Arden development, located near 20-Mile Bend. It also will provide protection for the expected commercial and residential development at the intersection of Southern and Seminole Pratt Whitney Road.
Though Vomero said she was not involved in the Rawlings request, she told the supervisors, “We’re looking for property to try to keep up with future growth… As you are well aware, there is significant growth in the western communities, and it doesn’t look like there’s any end in sight.”
