News from the Town-Crier: “Officials Confident State Road 7 Plans On The Fast Track”.

Now that all these new communities have been created out in western Palm Beach County it’s the job of local, County, State governments and agencies to provide the infrastructure, for example, hurricane evacuation routes. Despite that the “City of West Palm Beach has led the effort, fighting the connection tooth and nail, to the tune of more than $2 million in legal fees”, State Road 7 is almost a certainty to be under construction in the near future.

To read the entire article by reporter Julie Unger, datelined May 19th, use this link. Here are some excerpts:

     In late March, Florida Administrative Law Judge Bram Canter wrote a long-awaited 51-page analysis not only building the coffin for every argument against the road’s extension, he hammered in almost all of the nails. [emphasis added]
     “In that order, the judge’s role was to determine if FDOT complied with all of the applicable permit criteria and all of the pertinent environmental protection criteria in order to qualify for the State Road 7 extension project,” Fumero [John Fumero, special outside counsel to FDOT] said. “The judge categorically determined that the FDOT, in all cases, either met or exceeded all of the permit criteria and all of the environmental requirements.”
     All eyes now turn to the SFWMD. The order, Fumero said, will be presented to the SFWMD for entry into a final order. If that order is issued, which many expect is likely, it will adopt the recommended order and constitute the issuing of a state permit authorizing the extension.

and. . .

     “The State Road 7 project is needed to alleviate traffic issues in and around The Acreage area and to create hurricane evacuation routes,” Fumero said. “Right now, for this part of western Palm Beach County, they need additional evacuation routes.”

and. . .

     “We’re glad that the judge saw that there’s a public purpose and it’s not causing the harm that others were claiming. It is definitely a needed project for the western communities,” Royal Palm Beach Village Manager Ray Liggins said.

Please proceed to the next blog post and consider this:

How can we find ways to revitalize the “Urban Core” in cities like Lake Worth when even more new communities are on the drawing board out in western Palm Beach County like Arden, a “new master-planned community in Palm Beach County” west of the Village of Wellington?