<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4QtECO_1H3S6eew00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4QtECO_1H3S6eew00" width="600" height="354" ><figcaption>ITID Board of Supervisors — (L-R) Richard Vassalotti II, Elizbeth Accomando, Patricia Farrell, Betty Argue and Michael Johnson.</figcaption></figure>It has been an unusually wet autumn. Just this month, more than 12 inches of rain have been recorded in parts of Palm Beach County, covering some roads and turning many yards into temporary lakes.All that brings into sharper focus the ongoing drainage problem in the Indian Trail Improvement District, as builders seek to develop more of the Northlake Blvd. corridor, ITID officials said.At the Thursday, Nov. 5, meeting of the ITID Board of Supervisors, they were told of revised plans for a residential/commercial/storage development on the south side of Northlake between Avocado Blvd. and 140th Avenue North. The property is part of a narrow strip along the roadway recently annexed by the City of Palm Beach Gardens.The back of the proposed development — featuring 169 residential units, 126,000 square feet of self-storage space and 132,000 square feet of commercial space — would face homes on Hamlin Blvd.Developers “aren’t waiting on us,” ITID Vice President Patricia Farrell said. “We’ve got townhomes and commercial space blowing up in the middle of us.”ITID President Elizabeth Accomando agreed.“[Developers] are covering what used to be wetlands in concrete and rooftops, and all that rainwater has to go somewhere,” she said. “It’s not right to put the burden on our residents, when [Palm Beach Gardens] is approving the developments.”Aside from retention lakes required in new commercial and residential areas, most of the water naturally flows south into canals and lakes of the unincorporated Acreage/Loxahatchee area.The Northlake strip “was supposed to be used for conservation,” longtime Supervisor Betty Argue said. “Where does it say we have to accept this? We don’t have drainage to give.”The only control that ITID has over such developments is demanding that they meet existing drainage requirements, ITID Engineer Jay Foy reminded the board.As tempting it as it might be, Accomando said, the board cannot create unreasonable permitting criteria that would be, in effect, a ban on such developments.“Development is not going to skip over ITID,” Executive Director Burgess Hanson said this week. “We can’t have a mindset that we’re just going to stop it. We’ve got to plan for what’s coming.”The supervisors instructed Hanson to send a letter to Palm Beach County and the municipalities of Palm Beach Gardens, Royal Palm Beach and Wellington stating that ITID cannot handle any more water flowing out of new developments.Looking long-term, Hanson said the key will be lobbying the South Florida Water Management District to increase the amount of stormwater that ITID can pump into major canals, such as the C-51, which runs alongside Southern Blvd.Hanson said that the amount of “discharge,” as it’s known, has not been changed in decades, but he warned that the process “is not easy or inexpensive. When the [SFWMD] considers a change, it has to look at how that will impact every other drainage area.”Completion of the M-1 Basin Impoundment Project — essentially a 640-acre reservoir — will help, but only in terms of the area’s historic needs, Argue noted, and not the extra requirements of new developments.The latest proposal for the Avocado Apartments project, as it’s being called, is for fewer residences than originally planned, which was 347 multi-family, attached units and 18,000 square feet of retail.“The number of residential units is going down, but the amount of commercial square footage is going way up,” Foy noted. “The size of the [retention] lake has gone way down… They’ll have to meet our equal compensating storage requirements.”The discussion came after supervisors dealt with two other water-related issues.The board voted 5-0 to authorize an underwater, remotely operated vehicle inspection for the M-0 Canal outfall project at a cost of $12,814.Staff said rainfall and bank erosion has complicated construction and prompted a stop-work order. Inspection of existing culverts is necessary to address their condition.If the underwater inspection fails, supervisors approved $360,000 to plug the pipes, install a cofferdam and dewater the area for visual inspection. Supervisors separately approved an extension of the project deadline to Dec. 31.Meanwhile, supervisors rejected the sole timely bid of approximately $900,000 for repairs at pump stations 2 and 3 and directed staff to revise the scope and solicit bids again. Staff had estimated the cost at $500,000.Also, Foy told supervisors that the drainage system for the Vintage Oaks development off Northlake is not functioning because a previously unknown control structure kept nearby Coconut Lake too high to accept the water. The control structure was created decades ago by the district but never filed with the county, Accomando said.The temporary request involved pumping over a weir while the developer pursued an alternative outfall through Bay Hill Estates. Foy said pumping would help only after water levels dropped, not during or immediately after a storm. The board approved the request 5-0.In other business:<ul><li>The board selected 10 primary road milling petitions and 10 backups from 48 entries. According to a district social media announcement, the 10 winners are: 46th Court North, east of Mandarin Blvd.; 83rd Place North, east of Mandarin Blvd.; Orange Grove Blvd., west of Cheetham Hill Blvd.; 71st Place North at 130th Trail North; 46th Court North, west of Cheetham Hill Blvd.; 75th Place North, east of Banyan Blvd.; 47th Court North; 46th Court North and Mango East; 74th Street North, west of Hall Blvd.; and 31st Road North, west of Cheetham Hill Blvd.</li><li>The board also asked staff to develop and present a comprehensive financial policy addressing banking authorizations and electronic signatures.</li></ul></div></body>

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It has been an unusually wet autumn. Just this month, more than 12 inches of rain have been recorded in parts of Palm Beach County, covering some roads and turning many yards into temporary lakes. All that brings into sharper focus the ongoing drainage problem in the Indian Trail Improvement...

ITID Seeks To Rally Support For SFWMD Changes

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It has been an unusually wet autumn. Just this month, more than 12 inches of rain have been recorded in parts of Palm Beach County, covering some roads and

ITID Seeks To Rally Support For SFWMD Changes

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