Royal Palm Beach will pay for irrigation system move

The village of Royal Palm Beach has hammered out the concrete details, as it were, with the Saratoga at Royal Palm Property Owners Association. The company and the municipality have reached an agreement regarding an irrigation system that must be moved in order to complete walkway improvements along Crestwood Boulevard, the Palm Beach Post reported. Saratoga has said that it does not have funds to pay for the move and asked the village to cover costs.

The village city council voted to pay for the move at a recent council meeting, providing Saratoga would reimburse the money when possible. It could cost as little as $30,000, or as much as $90,000, to move the system, the Post said. 

Councilman Richard Valuntas voted against the decision, saying the city shouldn’t have to foot the bill.

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“This is something the village has never done, and I don’t know if this is something the village wants to get into — doing work for a private entity that they should be doing,” Valuntas said.

Proponents of paying for the move were nervous that if sidewalk improvement project stalled, the village would lose the grant money that the Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organization issued for the plan.

“There’s no way we want to even think about losing (grant money),” Councilman Fred Pinto said. “If we don’t appropriately handle this grant opportunity, it will hurt us in the future when we apply for grants. That’s a financial reality.” [The Palm Beach Post]  –Evan Bleier