Mobility Plan
I urge residents to get involved in the process for creating a Mobility Plan for our community. There has never been a more important time to become involved in the discussions about our community and to help shape our community vision. Yesterday’s discussion at the Palm Beach County Transportation Planning Agency solidified it for me. The need for us to do this is now. There are people who do not live in our community, don’t understand or even appreciate our lifestyles, who think our roads should and can be used to accommodate the regional traffic needs.
The Indian Trail Board of Supervisors is committed to preserving and protecting our lifestyles. The best way to do this is through a Mobility Plan that reflects our community vision and creates safer roads and trails serving the needs of our residents while keeping the surrounding development traffic off of our roads. Indian Trail has retained Kim Delaney of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning agency to assist us in creating a Mobility Plan for our community. A mobility plan includes roads, sidewalks, recreation trails and equestrian trails.
Having a Mobility Plan opens up the opportunity to obtain funds from other sources to subsidize the cost of improvements that are part of the Mobility Plan which is difficult for us to do without.
We had our first meeting last night at the Acreage Library with the community to describe the process of developing the Mobility Plan. Thank you to all those residents who attended. This was an introductory discussion on what a Mobility Plan is and why it is so important to receive community input.
The next meeting will be around the beginning of April at Hamlin House and will include a Food Truck Invasion. The meetings will be advertised on the Indian Trail website at www.indiantrail.com and our Indian Trail Improvement District facebook page.
Over the next month, please pay attention to problems and problem areas you see in our community whether it be sidewalk, equestrian trails or road and intersection issues. What are the things you like? What is working? How can we make our community mobility safer? What would you like to see be addressed? Where are there connectivity issues and safety concerns for sidewalks? Equestrian Trails? Crossings?
You can also submit comments to the facilitator Kim Delaney at kdelaney@tcrpc.org.
Our community resident and partner, Chad Hanna has also offered to have a clipboard for comments to be submitted, on a table outside his Reach Real Estate office at the Acreage Plaza.
The Acreage Landowners Association will also be participating in this planning process.We look forward to the discussions with our community and creating this Mobility Plan. As always, you can also contact me or any of the Board of Supervisors for discussion and input. My email is bargue@indiantrail.com.
I’m interested in anything that keeps our quiet, rural way of life out here. I want to see more horseriders. Feeling safe enough to ride down the dirt roads. And trails kept clean and safe. As much as I am not a fan of ATV’s….maybe a place where the kids/people can safely engage in that activity instead of the roads.
1. Change all internal roads owned by residents to 35mph (horse riders, bicycle riders and street legal LSVs would benefit).
2. Develop a designated equestrian trail system.
3. Perhaps devoting an under utilized park (dog park) for those wishing to carpool to meet up and park their vehicles; develop an app specific to our area that would connect those wishing to carpool.
Questions regarding the incorporation feasibility study for ‘The Town of the Acreage’ dated 11/21/16.
The study is the property of PLAN and was developed by Clifford McCue and Associates, Inc.
1) I see a ‘Clifford McCue and Consultants, Inc.’ listed in the State of Florida incorporation records
but no ‘Clifford McCue and Associates, Inc.’. Are they incorporated in another state or this this a
DBA name? What makes them experts in Florida incorporation process?
2) Page 1: What is the definition of the first goal stated? This is used throughout the document
but there is no definition provided which frames the context of ‘quality of life’ or ‘existing
natural environment’. What do those actually mean?
3) On page 7 there is a statement that the Acreage needs to compliment ongoing services provided
by Palm Beach County and Indian Trail Improvement District. Yet there are no details with
regards to the role of ITID and the Town of Acreage responsibilities; how those will be defined;
the costs associated with them; or any other details. Please explain these gaps in detail and the
role of ITID and the county with respect to the new town.
4) Figure 1, figure 2, and figure 3 have some designations regarding the use but there is no legend
provided. Please provide a legend for each of these figures including the color codes that have
been applied.
5) Page 8, “A majority of the property”….starts a sentence but majority is not defined in terms of
percent or percent estimated. What is meant in terms of percent by majority and how was this
determined?
6) Page 10, Parks are mentioned but it’s not clear with ITID role and county leased parks what will
happen to those and costs. Please explain in detail how these will be addressed.
7) Page 11, In the list of public agencies it states the acreage uses septic and well water but doesn’t
Seminole Improvement District or the county provide limited water services to the acreage?
Also what happens with those agreements and utilities costs if incorporated?
8) Page 12, ITID is not mentioned in list of proposed service costs; please explain why they are not
included.
9) Page 13, multiple questions:
a. Are these estimated fully burdened costs? Meaning considerations for payroll taxes,
benefits, etc.
b. Where are these operations housed and including the town offices? Where are these
costs represented?
c. What is the capital outlay for infrastructure of the town, debit service, and depreciation
represented?
d. Please explain Publics Work expenses and their nature of work scope.
e. Explain vehicle maintenance operations cost and where / how those will be performed
along with considerations for environmental / regulatory costs associated with those
operations.
f. Where did the cost of police originate and how is it calculated? How many regular
patrol officers represent and shifts?
g. Please explain why there is no cost for fire rescue services.
h. Please explain the scope of what ‘Leisure Services’ represents?
i. Why there would be in excess of $2M cost per year for equipment related to Leisure
Services?
j. There are operational expenses with regards to Leisure Services but nothing is allocated
for town operations and related expenses, nor is there any operating expenses
identified for public works. Please explain.
10) Page 15, Table 3 Revenues; multiple questions:
a. Please clarify the source of these taxes shown. Are these existing service taxes being
paid or will these be new service taxes on the residents? Which are new and which are
existing? Is there any proposed increase over any that are existing and if yes, how
much?
b. Water utility tax revenue is anticipated but prior statement on page 11 mentioned no
water utility and only well water and septic. Please explain where the town will find a
water utility to tax for revenue within its boundaries.
c. Please explain the source and estimate for Gas and Propane utility taxes. Is ‘Gas’ =
‘Fuel’ or ‘Gasoline’? This is not clear.
d. Please explain the source of local option gas tax and communication service tax and
impact to residents if this is an excise tax not currently collected.
e. Building permits and fees is forecast through 2023 but it’s mentioned in the study that
the Acreage will be built out at some point. Why is revenue expected to grow through
2023 and what year would the town expect to see a significant reduction in permit / fee
revenue given the impending build out of residential lots?
f. State Shared Revenue is explained in the study as a complicated calculation deemed too
detailed to explain. Yet on page 25 of the study ‘a’ calculation is provided. Since the
state shared revenue represents approximately 45% of the anticipated $15.5M revenue
please provide details on how this was derived, probability of attaining this level of
revenue, and risk if these goals are not met.
g. Although these are small amounts please explain ‘Charges for Services’ and
‘Miscellaneous’ revenue lines.
h. Given current interest rates please justify the $50K investment income estimate; this
seems unreasonably high.
i. Please explain with > $5M annual surplus to expenses why tax burdens on residents
would not be lowered instead of accumulated by the town.
j. Explain how surplus would be used for the benefit of the taxpayers since this seems to
be extraordinarily high with respect to the number households (~5,000).
11) Page 16, It is indicated there is no consideration for building acquisition, construction, or debt in
the 5 year plan. This appears to be a large gap in the fiscal analysis and may result grossly
understating the costs of running the town and incorporation in general. Explain in detail why
this was not included and what will be done to address these costs. Further provide estimates
for these costs and locations for these operations as might be needed for the town.
12) Page 18, Mentioned in year 4 the millage rate will be minimal to maintain a high level of
services. Given the prior questions and fiscal analysis issues please explain why the expectation
is to be at minimal ad valorem taxes.
13) Page 21, what was the basis for the sister-city comparison? What is the ratio of commercial vs
residential in these cities and the revenue derived from each? The acreage has a very small, tiny
some might say, amount of commercial vs. residential entities. Explain how this might impact
the results of the study and the assumptions that were used in calculating the financials.
14) It’s not clear in the study if the town would anticipate taxing on home based businesses. There
are many home based business operators in the acreage or home owners that use their
property in part for supporting their business or others; this includes agricultural type
businesses including plant nurseries, micro farms, etc. Please explain any anticipated revenue
from these sources.
15) Page 24, last paragraph. It states a per capita approach was used. Is this per household, per
head of household, per registered voter, adults over certain age? What?
16) Page 25, Franchise Fees are noted as water, sewer, natural gas (none of which we seem to
have). How was this considered in the scope of the tax estimates?
17) Page 25, Franchise Fees currently charged by the county but would be adopted by the town –
thus no impact to residents. HOWEVER it is noted the county levy is for solid waste and cable
TV. The estimates provided in Table 3 have $2.6M (17% of the total anticipated revenue) in
electrical revenue which is apparently NOT levied by the county. Explain this increase in fees to
the residents and if this is not additional levy then identify the source of the revenue and how
this was calculated.
18) There is no definitions provided for ‘Leisure Services’ see prior questions regarding estimates of
cost for these services and provide a definition.
19) Page 26. Sister Cities
a. How were the cities chosen for comparison and the criteria?
b. What were the original 18 cities selected?
c. What were the criteria for narrowing the selection?
d. Why were 5 cities identified as comparable? Why not more or less?
e. Why was the median income used and not the mean?
f. From what source / year census where these utilized?
20) Appendix B Charter is blank – seems to be incomplete study.