‘We want to help:’ D.R. Horton explains $650,000 payment

While the Rustic Lakes Property Owners Association took the money, many residents remain opposed to plan for 111 townhomes on Northlake Boulevard.

The lawyer for one of the nation’s largest homebuilders drew derisive laughter Thursday as he explained a $650,000 payment to a homeowner’s board at a Palm Beach Gardens City Council meeting.

Brian Seymour, attorney for D.R. Horton, said the developer had made many concessions to the Rustic Lakes Property Owners Association but in the end the association had needs that concessions just couldn’t meet.

“So, in addition … there is some monetary payment that goes to them being able to fix some of the problems that they have,” Seymour said. 

“We want to help our neighbors,” he concluded, drawing laughter from opponents who made up the bulk of a crowd of about 90 at the meeting.

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Northlake widening study pits county vs city. Again.

Palm Beach Gardens City Manager tells council that Palm Beach County engineer abruptly backed out of a meeting to share information about county’s $400,000 study of eight-laning Northlake Boulevard east of the Beeline.

Palm Beach County wants to spend $400,000 to study eight-laning Northlake Boulevard from Military Trail to Beeline Highway. 

Palm Beach Gardens and its many homeowners associations along the six-lane roadway want no such thing. 

But the potential to talk out their differences blew up publicly last week when County Engineer David Ricks refused to attend a meeting with Palm Beach Gardens City Manager Ron Ferris.

“I got a phone call from David Ricks, who said he was advised from higher ups at the administration level he is not to meet with the city of Palm Beach Gardens,” Ferris told City Council members Thursday night.

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Relief for U.S. 1 bridge two years away

FDOT pays for submerged land despite contentious fight over ownership of Earman River bottom.

The U.S. 1 bridge near Northlake Boulevard has been reduced to two lanes in each direction for more than four years since a 35-foot section of sidewalk and roadway plunged into the Earman River in October 2017. 

The yearlong task of rebuilding the bridge won’t start until spring 2023. 

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No flyover? No problem. FDOT says U-turn solution better

Residents fear nearly complete design at Northlake-Beeline intersection could become a chokepoint to The Acreage, Avenir, other western communities.

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U-turns and a newfangled left-turn lane at the Northlake-Beeline intersection will do a better job of moving traffic smoothly and safely than a flyover, FDOT officials said Wednesday during a community Zoom meeting.

Not everyone at the meeting was convinced.

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State plans U-turns, crossover lane at Beeline-Northlake

With flyover out, planners propose ways to avoid left turns at critical western intersection.

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Years after local politicians scrapped plans for a Northlake Boulevard flyover at the Beeline Highway, the state has called for U-turns and an unusual lane configuration to smooth traffic flow at the major western intersection.

With construction expected to start in summer, the biggest change is how cars would turn without gumming up the intersection that funnels traffic in and out of The Acreage and nearby communities and handles truck traffic feeding the Port of Palm Beach. 

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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.

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‘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.

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Running on empty: No fix in sight for Northlake at I-95

Traffic will get worse before it gets better.

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What will it take to get the Northlake Boulevard interchange at Interstate 95 rebuilt?

It’s been under study since 2015 and first scheduled for construction in 2021. 

But not anymore.

Now it’s set for 2025. And there’s no guarantee that will happen.

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