What started off as a neighborhood event for children along Citrus Grove Blvd. has morphed into a Halloween monster, one of the event’s founders told the Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors on Wednesday, Sept. 18.
“It has turned into an absolute nightmare,” Citrus Grove Blvd. resident Mary Ellen Doherty said during the ongoing discussion of how ITID should handle the event that now draws an estimated 3,000 people annually, some from as far away as Broward County. “It’s supposed to be a community event. What it has turned into is not that.”
What it has turned into for the board is a major point of contention between supervisors who want to support a modified event and those, along with ITID staff, who wish to distance the district as far as possible for fear of liability.
The Citrus Grove event has become a multi-block party that happens “organically” without obtaining a Palm Beach County permit on a boulevard maintained by ITID, said Burgess Hanson, ITID’s executive director. People on motorcycles, off-highway vehicles and golf carts mix with little trick-or-treaters and older revelers on foot, he said.
Supervisors and staff members “could be held criminally liable if something went really wrong,” Hanson warned.
“We’re not trying to shut down what the residents are trying to do,” ITID President Elizabeth Accomando said. “What we’re trying to do is to protect the district, all 45,000 residents, the staff and the board.”
In the end, board members voted 4-1 to approve a permit request from the Acreage Landowners’ Association to host an event from 5 to 9 p.m. geared toward young trick-or-treaters in Citrus Grove Park, located at the corner of Citrus Grove and Avocado boulevards.
Accomando cast the lone dissenting vote. “I feel like there’s still way too much liability,” she said.
The park event will include bounce houses, food trucks and four to six Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies to watch over the gathering, ALA President Bob Morgan said this week. The park also contains the only public restrooms in the area.
“The idea is to create a safe space,” ITID Supervisor Betty Argue said. “This gives the younger children and parents a place to go. I believe the ALA and the community can host a safe event.”
Still, the park will be open to anyone with no age restrictions or ID checks, said Morgan — if it happens.
As of Wednesday, Oct. 2, Morgan was trying to find an affordable “sexual predator rider” to add to ALA’s existing event insurance as part of a special requirement of ITID approval. The rider is expected to cost $2,000 to $3,000.
A search by the Town-Crier of the U.S. Department of Justice’s sexual offender web site shows that 24 offenders or predators live within two miles of the park. Still, such an insurance add-on has never been required before for events run by the ALA, Morgan said.
The ALA usually operates under a service provider agreement (SPA) with the district, but not for this event, Hanson said. “They’re doing this as an independent entity. The district has no involvement.”
In fact, the board also voted not to hold the Halloween parade that ITID staff had planned for the weekend of Oct. 26 along Citrus Grove and Hall boulevards, ending in a trunk-or-treat event at Nicole Hornstein Equestrian Park.
“I hope things go well at the Citrus Grove [Park] event, but it makes me nervous,” Supervisor Patricia Farrell said. “This could fall back on the district.”
Morgan said he reached out to an individual in the Citrus Grove community who was seeking help to stage a more kid-friendly event away from but in conjunction with the raucous street party that has been growing for some 20 years. He added that weeks of ITID board and staff debate about who should do what or nothing related to the Halloween event points to what he sees as deeper problem.
ITID staff is trying to take over all the events, including a Christmas parade that traditionally has been run by the ALA, Morgan said.
“I don’t get it,” he said. “All of a sudden, it has all changed. They want to shoo us out the door.”
Argue, a longtime supporter of the ALA, noted that historically, the organization has run local events and concerts.
“I don’t think the citizens of ITID want the district running events and paying for them with taxpayer dollars,” she said.
Doherty said she wished she could turn back the clock to when the Citrus Grove Halloween party was a neighborhood event that made it easier for children to trick-or-treat in an area with large lots, fences and long driveways. It was a time of hayrides and recipes made and shared with neighbors along the street.
“It was a beautiful thing,” she said. “It was never intended to be food trucks and all this. We just wanted an old fashioned trick-or-treat.”
In other business:
- The supervisors saw a presentation from ITID Engineer Jay Foy regarding drainage issues being created by individuals building homes or adding such things as multi-car garages, large workshops or mother-in-law suites.
Such construction can push excess water onto neighboring properties and into swales, streets and canals, especially during heavy rain events, supervisors were told.
Argue asked Foy to gather further information and do modeling based on that data.
“We need an idea of where we’re at and what we need,” she said. “What the county is allowing [property owners] to build is way more than what [ITID’s] water control plans were based on… We can’t ignore this. This is a serious problem.”
- The supervisors directed staff to bring to the board’s Wednesday, Oct. 16 meeting a resolution stating that the district will “defend and assert” all of its rights under a May 14 circuit court ruling stating that ITID roads belong to the district and are not “public roads.”
The ruling came in response to a suit by the City of Westlake’s major landowner and developer Minto Communities USA and the Seminole Improvement District, which provides most of Westlake’s infrastructure. Minto and SID had been seeking to connect Westlake’s roads to those owned by ITID at 140th Avenue North near Persimmon Blvd.
“Whatever we do and have been doing is always about the district and the residents of the district and protecting our taxpayers,” Argue said. “This lawsuit in particular was very important… to answer the question about the roads.”
Accomando agreed. “It’s important for residents to understand what has been going on, what we’re up against today, and what we’re going to be up against in the future,” she said.
