A staff plan to quarry thousands of tons of road rock and other aggregates worth millions of dollars from beneath Indian Trail Improvement District soil was approved by the ITD Board of Supervisors at their meeting Wednesday, May 21.
“We’ll be using the resources we have right under our feet to save taxpayer dollars,” ITID President Elizabeth Accomando said.
The plan requires the acquisition of an excavator, crusher/stacking conveyer and two rock trucks, mostly under a 36-month lease-to-buy agreement costing approximately $1.3 million, said Rob Robinson, ITID’s associate executive director and chief construction officer.
The board also agreed to unfreeze a crew chief position and two equipment operator positions to help with the project.
The plan became feasible when the cost of purchasing the materials from vendors increased dramatically, especially for the road rock needed to maintain ITID’s 260 miles of dirt roads.
In fiscal year 2025, ITID purchased 28,000 tons of road rock at a cost of $336,000. That same tonnage in fiscal year 2026 was expected to cost $560,000, Robinson has said. Doing the excavating, crushing and sorting in house will save the district $1.69 million in road rock over the next four years, he estimated.
Robinson’s team also will be quarrying and separating coarse aggregate, fine aggregate, No. 1 fill, No. 2 fill and washout/stabilizer — all of which are used to maintain ITID canals, swales, rights-of-way and more. When those aggregates are included, the total savings will be $2.9 million over four years, he said.
The rock initially will come from the M-2 Impoundment Area off 180th Avenue North and have the added benefit of creating more water storage, Robinson explained. But once the M-1 Impoundment project — also known as “the 640 acres” — begins in several years, approximately 6 million tons of rock valued at some $130 million will be available for excavation, he said.
Supervisor Betty Argue raised questions about the impact on residents near the M-2 Impoundment and how residents of the M-2 Basin would be compensated for use of the rock throughout the district. Argue said she supported the concept but “this is a significant burden on the M-2 Basin.”
After assurances that a compensation plan was being worked out, truck traffic would be limited to 180th Avenue and Sycamore Drive West, and the hours of operation would be reasonable, Argue voted in favor.
The plan passed 4-0 with Supervisor Richard Vassalotti absent.
“I want to thank you and your staff for being innovative and trying to save money and be more efficient,” Argue told Robinson.
In other business:
- ITID Engineer Jay Foy told the board that in his opinion, the proposed “West End Crossing” project planned for the southeast corner of Northlake Blvd. and Seminole Pratt Whitney Road presently does not meet district or Palm Beach County standards.
The controversial project includes a convenience store with gas pumps, a retail building and a medical office building.
The issue is “legal positive outfall,” Foy noted in his report. “The proposed outfall is into the proposed Palm Beach County lake to the east of this project that isn’t constructed. The district engineer believes either the county would have to modify its ITID special permit to include this parcel, or the applicant would have to wait until the lake is built and turned over to ITID to meet the county requirement.”
The current plan also seems not to include any on-site compensating water storage, Foy said, though there are ways around that requirement.
- The ITID board honored Temple Blvd. resident Edward Weiner for leading efforts to remove garbage and debris and keep clean the roadside of 180th Avenue North between Hamlin and Orange boulevards.
Weiner, who owns Pro-Tech Air Corporation and AC Repair of Royal Palm Beach, said several thousand pounds of garbage have been removed during each of the twice-a-year weekend cleanups.
While walking his dogs along 180th, Weiner said the idea for the cleanup came to him.
“This is my little piece of heaven… and I’d walk along and see all this trash,” he said. “I just saw a need… and I decided to do something because it was the right thing to do.”
Weiner said gloves, vests, grabber tools and cold drinks are provided during what is usually a two-hour effort on a Saturday or Sunday morning.
“A lot of neighbors come out,” said Weiner, who has lived in the area for 25 years. “Parents bring their kids and dogs. People make friends. It’s a nice event.”
Weiner said if enough interest can be garnered, he’d like to do the cleanup four times a year.
- The board tabled until June requests by ITID Parks & Recreation staff to host a “Sleepy Hollow Halloween Event and Parade” on Oct. 25 at Acreage Community Park South; a “Frontier Holiday Parade and Round-Up” on multiple days (Dec. 6, 12 and 13) at Hamlin House and Nicole Hornstein Equestrian Park; and a “Movies in the Park” series at Acreage Community Park South during the late fall, winter and early spring seasons.
Argue quickly opposed all three permit requests. “The district should not be hosting events… and wasting taxpayer dollars to do it,” she said. “We’ve got so many other needs. This is not a good use of money or staff right now.”
Accomando disagreed.
“I think these events are great for bringing the community together,” she said.
The Acreage Landowners’ Association traditionally has hosted such events but recently has struggled with insurance requirements.
Supervisor Patricia Farrell offered to be the “go-between” for the ALA and the district to “make sure we have successful events.”
- The board did approve a request by Loxahatchee Lost and Found Pets Inc. to host a bazaar and green market each Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept.14, 2025, through May 3, 2026, at Downers Park. The park is located at the corner of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road and Downers Drive West.
