Dirt, OGEM, & Paving

For many who have lived here prior to 2012, the answer to this question is easy. For those new to the community, please read further to understand why some roads have a stabilized, hard surface and others are still dirt.

The roads most residents, landowners, visitors, and vendors traverse in the town are not technically “paved”. These roads are stabilized with a surface known as Open Grade Emulsion Mixture or OGEM. The bulk of the OGEM roads in the town were paid for 100% by the residents/landowners deemed to be “served” by those roads. The process for any road to become stabilized was done through the Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District (LGWCD). Landowners could cast their vote for or against this project. Votes were cast through the process used by the LGWCD, amount of acres determines the number of votes (i.e. 5 acres = 5 votes). For example, A Road north was paid for through special assessment taxes to residents of A Road N, 161st Terrace, 160th Street N, 42nd Street N, 44th Street N, and North Road SEE PROPERTY LIST DOCUMENTS HERE.  It should be noted that the vote for A Road north exposes the process that was utilized and how it was done improperly.   SEE IMAGE  Also at the time of these projects, the LGWCD Board of Supervisors voted to change how votes were calculated for the OGEM road projects as they would not have had enough votes with the previous process to pass.  In addition to the OGEM surface the original design required drainage to be installed. In order to lower the cost and get the approval of the voters, the necessary drainage was not done and contributed to the surface damage the OGEM roads experienced.  Similarly to A Road North, C Road North and South and D Road North were covered with OGEM at a 100% cost to the landowners along those roads.

The bank loan obtained by the LGWCD for this project required these surfaces to be maintained. This would have been a micro-resurfacing/sealing suggested to be done by year 5. This maintenance was not done by either the LGWCD or the town once the town “received” ownership of the roads from the now dependent LGWCD.   Instead of the maintenance being performed with the loan funds set aside for this purpose, the town council voted to “return” those funds to the bank and shorten the assessment period for the affected landowners.  This reduced the tax assessment to landowners by one year.

F Road North and South, Compton and Marcella are a different story. These road improvements were funded 100% by Palm Beach County at the time of installation. These projects were promoted and supported by then Palm Beach County Commissioner Tony Masilotti READ MORE HERE.  Commissioner Masilotti ultimately served time, and settled a fraud case, which resulted in his forfeiture of real estate CLICK HERE.  Marcella is the only OGEM road that received the suggested maintenance.

Portions of North Road were paid for by assessment to affected landowners off A, C, and D roads and the remaining "open" dirt sections were paid for by the town.   The action of the town to "complete" sections of North Road was deemed improper by the annual audit and the fact that at the time of the North Road project the town did not have "control or ownership" of the road.

To clarify, the only “paved/asphalted” road prior to 2021 in town was B Rd South. This road cost over $1 Million.   The total costs for B Road South was $1,331,103.62.  The construction costs paid for by the town were Change Orders #1-#9 primarily for second layer of asphalt and striping.  SEE INVOICE 

The majority of the construction cost were incurred by the developers Solar Sports, Atlantic Land Investments, and Palm Beach State College.  The developers used Gunster as their representative who paid the majority of the Keshevarz & Associates engineering fees for the surveying, design, permitting, construction phase service, etc. for the project.  The fees that the Town paid directly to Keshevarz & Associates were associated with the preparation of sketch and legal descriptions and coordination with the property owners for the drainage EASEMENTS as well as offsetting fees that were paid to the contractor by Gunster for added items that were supposed to be paid for by the Town.  The total fees paid to Keshevarz & Associates by Gunster/Developers $148,688.29 and the town  $53,475.52.  Total cost to the town for B Road South $166,107.60

The total cost of this project $1,331,103.62 or approximately $832,000/mile
By comparison, the 2021 paving/asphalting of D Road South (the same length of road as B Road South) was approximately $400,000.  The D Road South project did NOT include ANY drainage, acquisition of easements, or engineering. 

B ROAD SOUTH MAINTENANCE SURVEY
B ROAD SOUTH ENGINEERING