The Explainer: Lake Osborne Estates. “Suburban Lake Worth Fire Hydrants” vs. “Lake Worth Fire Hydrants”.

And if you happen to live in unincorporated Lake Osborne Estates the topic of annexation may be one scheme in particular you will want to learn more about.

For example. . .

Briefly, within the City of Lake Worth is a “pocket” (also called a ‘finger’) of unincorporated Palm Beach County. Some day this area between Sunset Dr. and Grove St. will be annexed into the City of Lake Worth.

Click on image to enlarge:

Palm Springs Village Manager Richard Reade explained this process very well. The “[I]nvoluntary annexation process is critical . . . because within these pockets there are code enforcement and policing issues that the municipality cannot handle until the areas are made part of the city.”

Now back to Lake Osborne Estates: “Suburban Lake Worth Fire Hydrants” vs. “Lake Worth Fire Hydrants”.

Did you see the headline in The Palm Beach Post today? The headline reads, “Lake Worth Fire Hydrants” referring to Lake Erie and Crest drives but that is very misleading; Suburban Lake Worth Fire Hydrants would have much more accurate. And also part of this blog post is a map which is more educational than the map provided by the editor(s) at the Post.

The most land area of Lake Osborne Estates
IS NOT in the City of Lake Worth.

However, there is a very small area of Lake Osborne Estates (LOE) within the City of Lake Worth between Lake Geneva Dr. and Nanette Ct. (see map below) and part of LOE is within the Town of Lantana as well. But mostly LOE is unincorporated (“suburban”) Lake Worth.

By the way, last week “Suburban Lake Worth” was officially recognized by the editor(s) at the Post so maybe a clarification or a correction will be published in tomorrow’s print edition. So stay tuned for that.

Educating the public about municipalities and unincorporated areas in Palm Beach County is an important function of the press and news media. Why? Because some day in the future more land area in LOE will be annexed by either the Town of Lantana or the City of Lake Worth and this process can be very confusing for the public.

Before we proceed, you may recall in 2016 there was shocking news about Lake Osborne Estates when they were getting their water from a different water utility, from reporter Alyssa Hyman at NBC5/WPTV:

E. coli found in Lake Osborne Estates Water

Later in 2016 was this news:

Boil-water order lifted for Lake Osborne [Estates] after E. coli bacteria scare

In the print edition of the Post today is this line:


Lake Worth has scheduled to replace the [fire] hydrants at the corner of Lake Erie [Drive] and Crest Drive [emphasis added] this week, Kerr [Public Information Officer Ben Kerr] said, but will install the rest as the work week permits.


Note that following that shocking news about E. coli in LOE they switched over to the Lake Worth Water Utility. A very good decision on their part.

Note the image of the LOE area below, take note of Lake Geneva Dr. and Nanette Ct. (top center). City of Lake Worth is shaded green.

Click on image to enlarge.

In lower left is ‘Lake Erie [Drive] and Crest Drive’ as quoted in the Post. This area is located in suburban Lake Worth. The Town of Lantana (shaded red) is to the east and the City of Lake Worth is to the north of unincorporated LOE.

However, it is very important to note a significant area of LOE is located IN THE LAKE WORTH WATER UTILITIES SERVICE AREA.

Whilst on the topic of
Lake Worth utilities. . .

Let’s briefly discuss the Lake Worth Electric Utility.

In the continuing effort to educate the public, press and news media about the Lake Worth Electric Utility and answering the question, “Where the hell is Lake Worth!” please continue reading and hopefully this information will help.

You may have read or heard something about
Jon Smith Subs in The Palm Beach Post,
a very puzzling story indeed:

It was a story about Mr. Jon Smith — the owner of Jon Smith Subs on Congress Ave. in the Village of Palm Springs — and an unfortunate and major electrical incident created by the high winds of Hurricane Irma in September 2017:


“There was a giant billboard on the property in one corner and it just fell on top of our building and wiped out the roof . . . I thought we missed the bullet but I guess we didn’t.”
     Smith said he paid about $160,000 in repairs and was closed for 17 days. “We lost about $150,000, maybe a little less,” he said.

Here’s where it gets confusing. . .

     He [Mr. Smith] owns eight sub shops in the county in Lake Worth [sic; emphasis added], West Palm Beach, Jupiter, Royal Palm Beach, Lake Park and Boca Raton.
     The suburban Lake Worth store has been in business for 29 years, Smith said.
     “The city of Lake Worth was extremely helpful to us,” he said. “They understood the damage and were very helpful so we could get back open. The site looks great.”

So you’re asking yourself,
“What the heck is going on here!”

The answer is below.

First of all, sadly, there is not a Jon Smith Subs

location in the City of Lake Worth.

But you can call Mr. Smith at 561-642-4300 and say, “I want Jon Smith Subs in my City of Lake Worth too!”

Jon Smith Subs is located at 3900 S. Congress Ave. in Palm Springs. But guess what? Jon Smith Subs IS in the Lake Worth Electric Utility service area. That area is not FPL territory.

In other words: Just because your electric bill comes from the City of Lake Worth doesn’t necessarily mean you are a resident or have a business in the City. So. Did “The Explainer” help?

Thank you for visiting today and hope you found this information helpful.