03/10/2024
Indiantown’s Village Council members learned at their Sept. 26 meeting that the presence of Timer Powers Park within Indiantown’s village boundaries handicaps efforts to expand the village’s recreational land.
The county-owned park doubles the village’s available recreational land required by its Comprehensive Growth Management Plan, although Timer Powers Park cannot be used to add sports fields or other recreational amenities for Indiantown residents.
The village’s Comp Plan requires that five acres of land be set aside for recreation for every 1,000 residents. Since Timer Powers Park is included, the village appears to have 10 acres of land already set aside for each 1,000 residents.
As a result, land developers are not required to provide any additional recreational land for village residents in their development plans. Yet, according to the 2023 Indiantown Parks and Recreation Master Plan, an additional 40-60 acres of land is needed to meet the village’s goal of a robust sports and recreational program.
In addition to the Youth Sports Fact-Finding Committee report that examined the sports programs for 13 Florida cities, the council gave their unanimous approval to raising the millage rate to 1.825 to make up for the loss of revenue over the previous four years.
The increase will grow revenues by nearly half a million in 2025, giving more leeway in the budget to hire additional personnel and provide matching funds for current and future grants.
Both the budget PowerPoint presentation and the line-item budget for the 2024-2025 budget year are available on the village website, or contact Village Clerk LaRhonda McBride at [email protected] to get a copy.
The council also approved the first reading of an ordinance to change the village’s Land Development Regulations for special events. It streamlines the process and eliminates permits for events at Timer Powers Park, for family or business events on privately owned, school, or church property, entitles applicants to a pre-application meeting with village officials, gives authority to the village manager for approvals or denials, thus eliminating the need for full village council approval of event permits. If a permit is denied, however, the applicant may appeal to the village council.
Mayor Carmine Dipaolo requested that additional language be inserted into the LDRs to prohibit events being held on the village's athletic fields.
“We’re talking about spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on these fields for sports for the kids,” he said. “…this is just to protect that investment…”
Although the village does not currently have the estimated $300,000 to restore the Booker Park athletic fields at this point, Dipaolo suggested the village should prohibit potential damage caused by heavy trucks, numerous golf carts and food trucks crossing back and forth over athletic fields and buried irrigation lines.
He likened the situation to having a flat tire, and choosing to repair the flat to stop the damage, instead of driving on the tire’s rim causing damage that’s more costly to repair. No motion followed the mayor’s request for additional language to protect athletic fields.
Instead, the discussion devolved into the pros and cons of the SwampFest, which uses the former baseball and soccer field at Booker Park for their now-annual festival hosted by the Concerned Citizens for Booker Park.
Vice president of that group, Kim Jackson, accused Dipaolo of “throwing up obstacles” to prevent approval of their current permit application for their inaugural Black Heritage Festival in February 2025, which plan for a smaller crowd than attends SwampFest.
“…We’ve bowed down and done everything, everything, that we were asked to do,” she said. In fact, the village staff had recommended approval of the permit.
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Dipaolo said. “That (permit) is already approved.”
Actually, the permit was not yet approved, because it was processed under the old special-events rules. Had the new rules, (which were the topic under discussion) been in effect, the application would not have been required to have council approval.
After the council approved unanimously the proposed changes to the LDRs for special events, they also approved the permit for the 2025 Black Heritage Festival permit. The final hearing on the changes to the LDRs for special events will likely be at the Oct. 12 council meeting.
The council also will be seeking volunteers with an interest and/or experience in youth sports for appointment to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, the next step in tackling the issues facing the establishment of a youth sports program in Indiantown.
