More rain is forecast through the weekend and into next week, but officials in the low-lying Indian Trail Improvement District said they have a good handle on water issues in the face of more downpours.
Residents, however, must take more responsibility for keeping their own swales and culverts clear and understand that some water collecting on their property is not a sign of flooding — it’s an indication that the drainage system for the 110-square-mile district is working, ITID President Elizabeth Accomando said this week.
“There was just so much rain so fast… but our staff did an amazing job,” she said. “They worked from 6 a.m. until past dark.”
Some 20 inches of rain fell on the area over several days, ITID Public Information Officer Rebecca Stewart said Wednesday. On Sept. 17 alone, more than nine inches fell over the area, according to local meteorologists.
Accomando said that it wasn’t only the staff working outdoors on the district’s 164 miles of canals and 458 miles of roads, and thus more than 900 miles of swales, putting in the long hours. Extra staff members were called in to answer phone calls and e-mails from residents concerned about water collecting in their yards, filling their swales and sometimes covering roads.
“As far as I know, no houses got water in them,” ITID Executive Director Burgess Hanson said.
Many of the calls were from residents who’ve recently moved to the area and have never experienced a significant rain event in The Acreage, said Supervisor Richard Vassalotti, who has lived in the area for 31 years.
“I don’t call this a ‘flooding event.’ Most of the issues were minor,” he said. “I think our staff did a great job handling that water.”
However, Vassalotti added that with ongoing development at ITID’s perimeter, and larger homes being built within it, the likelihood of serious flooding has increased.
Many of ITID’s canals “were built 75 years ago, in the 1950s, when I suspect no one anticipated the kind of development we see out here today,” Vassalotti said.
On top of that, he continued, the amount of permeable soil in the area that lets excess water drain into the aquifer has been substantially diminished by aggressive building on many of the district’s 17,000 lots and by nearby developments, such Avenir and Westlake.
Hanson said that the ongoing issues between ITID and the nearby Seminole Improvement District (SID) over the M-2 Canal had no impact on the high water in parts of the area. SID staff “communicated and coordinated with us very well,” Hanson said.
In March, ITID sued SID to preserve what ITID said are longstanding rights to use the canal, which runs through SID/Westlake and drains much of ITID’s west side. SID has demanded roughly $3 million in outfall-structure work and about $300,000 annually for continued use.
ITID contends that it has historic access rights dating to the mid-1960s and sought an injunction before hurricane season to prevent interruption of drainage access.
Hanson noted that “staff-level discussions” are going on between ITID and SID in an effort to avoid further legal wrangling.
Meanwhile, the ITID Board of Supervisors held its monthly meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 16.
At that meeting, ITID staff told the supervisors that approximately $6.36 million would be needed to complete the final four segments of the R3 Road Plan — 180th Avenue North, Tangerine Blvd. between 180th and Mandarin, and portions of 73rd and 74th streets.
However, only some $3 million remains from the 2022 bond issue, leaving a gap of about $3.31 million.
ITID Engineer Jay Foy attributed the overage to inflation in the price of materials and labor, and the fact that cost estimates were created in 2020 — before geotechnical work, survey and final design — plus added scope, such as a school turn lane and speed tables that were budgeted at $900,000 but actually cost roughly $1.5 million.
Foy suggested a scaled-back version of the Tangerine Blvd. and 180th Avenue work near Frontier Elementary School and Osceola Creek Middle School using existing engineering plans.
“This is something we could do now to get part of the promised improvements done,” he said.
Supervisors postponed the decision to its Oct. 21 meeting and asked staff to come back with detailed plans for how to move forward.
In other business:
- The supervisors voted 5-0 to deny a side-road access request from the Loxahatchee Muslim Community Center on Seminole Pratt Whitney Road at 62nd Road North despite its meeting county and district legal requirements, according to staff.
Supervisor Betty Argue made a motion for denial anyway. She said her opposition had nothing to do with it being a Muslim center, instead framing it as being consistent with the district’s broader position that it can bar commercial and institutional uses from connecting to district-maintained roads.
“I don’t care what the county does,” Argue said. “This is not [the county’s road] and they cannot force us.”
- The supervisors spent more than 40 minutes in open conflict over a motion by Supervisor Patrica Farrell to strip Argue of her board secretary title and other duties.
Farrell said that Argue has repeatedly engaged in cursing, false accusations on the dais and attempting to micromanage the executive director and his staff.
Argue did not return calls and texts requesting comment. Farrell withdrew her motion after Accomando said she would not support it.
- The board voted 5-0 to award a one-year park security contract to Regions Security Service Inc., replacing after-hours Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office patrols at a projected savings of about $260,000.
