The Wellington Village Council agreed to move ahead with a $257,000 engineering consulting contract to get things moving with a roundabout at busy Lake Worth Road and 120th Avenue South, approving the deal in a meeting Tuesday, March 11.
That makes possible a timeline to get the project built by December 2026, rather than waiting for a possible $1.5 million grant that might not see the roundabout constructed until 2029.
“As much as I’d like to get grant money for this, I don’t want to push this out three more years,” Mayor Michael Napoleone said. “As we all know, this is an intersection that is highly used, and it is in desperate need of some sort of better traffic control than just a four-way stop sign… I’m for getting this resolved as quickly as we can.”
Vice Mayor John McGovern agreed. “You speak for us all,” he said.
Design options yet to be determined could include a four-way or five-way roundabout, which could ultimately cost $4 million or more. The village is budgeting for an amount in that range.
A five-entrance option could, for example, connect 40th Street South, which leads mostly to horse farms, directly to the circle.
“We have the [grant] application in,” Village Engineer Jonathan Reinsvold said. “We can certainly withdraw it and move forward. We have the budget for it, and if that’s the will, that’s the consensus, that’s what we’ll do.”
A Local Agency Program (LAP) grant could help defray the village’s cost in the long run, but waiting for an answer there could also set back the schedule.
A contract approved 5-0 by the council assigns $257,457 to Mock Roos & Associates to provide engineering consulting services related to roadway, drainage, landscaping, irrigation and lighting improvements.
Roundabouts guide traffic around a central island, relying on yield signs around the circle as opposed to traffic lights or multi-way stop signs. The idea is to move vehicles along and avoid static back-ups as much as possible.
More roundabouts could be coming to the 120th Avenue corridor. They will probably include one less than a quarter of a mile away, south of the Lake Worth Road intersection. That would manage traffic around the entrance to a new 42-home Pulte Homes development.
In other business:
- The council recognized the death of longtime village planning and growth management official Bob Basehart with a moment of silence. Village Manager Jim Barnes said Basehart’s experience, technical knowledge and sense of humor helped new and old employees alike. “It’s a huge loss,” Napoleone said.
Council members also took a moment to mourn another death in the community, that of a Wellington High School student in a medical emergency that began on campus. She was not named for privacy reasons.
- Village leaders lauded the Wellington High School cheerleading team for winning a state championship in the 2025 Florida High School Athletic Association Class 2A Extra Large Non-Tumbling category. (See related story here.)
- The council recognized Carmen DiAntonio, a teacher at Panther Run Elementary School, for saving one of her students from choking on a grape with the Heimlich maneuver. “Thank you for your quick thinking,” Napoleone said. “No one knows how they’re going to react in a crisis, but you now know how you’re going to react. You reacted cool-headedly, and you saved her life.”
- The council agreed to have McGovern to serve as the council’s representative in a group that will negotiate the renewal of a contract for Village Attorney Laurie Cohen. Cohen has indicated she wishes to continue in the role.
- On its consent agenda, the council unanimously approved a $120,000 contract to Devland Site Paving and Utilities Inc. for lime sludge hauling and disposal services, based on the terms of a City of Boynton Beach contract.
