Stoplight feud yields peaceful accord

After county caved, Gardens makes next move to allow installation of Bay Hill Estates stoplight.

While Palm Beach County and Palm Beach Gardens are heading to court over millions in developer fees, the saga of the Bay Hill Estates stoplight appears to be reaching a peaceful conclusion.

After getting city council permission May 6 to sue the county over its refusal to allow the stoplight, Palm Beach Gardens City Manager Ron Ferris sent the county an email late Tuesday accepting its conditions to move forward.

Continue reading “Stoplight feud yields peaceful accord”

County stops stopping Gardens’ stoplight

Lawsuit could be averted as Palm Beach County agrees to accept Bay Hill Estates stoplight, with conditions.

Palm Beach County relented Wednesday in its opposition to a stoplight on Northlake Boulevard outside Bay Hill Estates.

A week after Palm Beach Gardens threatened to sue, the county said it still didn’t believe the light is warranted but it acknowledged a 2016 agreement “inadvertently” gave Gardens the power to decide, as Gardens City Attorney Max Lohman had insisted.

Continue reading “County stops stopping Gardens’ stoplight”

‘Abuse of power:’ Gardens ready to sue county over Bay Hill stoplight

Residents says they take their lives in their hands at Northlake Boulevard west of Ibis but Palm Beach County says intersection is not dangerous enough for a stoplight.

The hostility building in recent months between Palm Beach Gardens and Palm Beach County officials has reached a boiling point.

The two governments have feuded in the past, from the spat over a regional park to the ongoing showdown over the city’s mobility fee

But a long-simmering dispute over a stoplight on Northlake Boulevard seven miles west of Interstate 95 may blow the lid off the kettle.

On Thursday, the Palm Beach Gardens City Council gave their attorney the authority to take the county to court — not over the county’s refusal to allow the stoplight, although that remains likely, but over the county’s failure to promptly fulfill a city public records request.

Continue reading “‘Abuse of power:’ Gardens ready to sue county over Bay Hill stoplight”