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Home My WebLink About1957-08 Planned Paradise (Florida Opportunity Journal)I' q 6- 71 • Facing U. S. No. 1 is the North Pala Beach Village Hall built at a cost of $125,000. Air- conditioned throughout, the structure houses all municipal offices as well as the business offices of the developers. &fated aitadae By ELENA K. MEAD "A home is not a detached unit, but a part of a neighborhood which in turn is part of a town; and the good quality of the home usually depends at least as much on its surroundings as on its design and construction. Hence the vital importance of ground planning and control of the develop- ment of neighborhoods." -Thomas Adams. This is the story of the Village of North Palm Beach, an astonishing new city just north of the famous Palm Beaches — beautifully planned and ideally located on Florida's famed "Gold Coast". You know, even as you drive through North Palm Beach along U. S. Highway No. 1, that this is not "just another de- velopment." There is an air of business about the place from its attractive city hall to its beautiful country club. But you don't realize how very different it is until you stop and talk to personable City Manager Albin R. Olson. He'll tell you "When I was appointed, there was nothing here but four square miles of bare land — and a drawing - board dream. My friends thought I was crazy to take a job where there was no population. But to me it was a challenge." Mr. Olson wasn't so crazy. He had 1. checked and found who and what was back of this new planned city — and he liked what he saw. The reasons why he accepted the job of managing the Village of North Palm Beach are the very reasons many of you may event- ually make your home there. North Palm Beach is located on land formerly owned by the late. Sir Harry Oakes. Only structure on the vast estate was a country club and golf course which Sir Harry had built for the pleasure of his friends when vacation- ing in Florida. Purdhased in September 1955 by Richard E. and Herbert A. Ross — brothers who came originally from New York — the development became a mu- nicipality August 13, 1956 by an act of the State Legislature. The Bosses, while gaining an envi- able reputation over the past 10 years in Florida as builders through the com- AUGUST 1957 • 7 pletion of over $20,000,000 in construc- tion in 11 subdivisions, were in a posi- tion to observe the mistakes of others and turn them to their own good. Planned Ahead Recognizing the reason many devel- opers were failing was because of in- adequate land -planning, they employed Seward H. Mott Associates of Wash- ington, D. C., famous community plan- ners, to assist them in designing one of the most attractive and desirable places one could hope to choose as a place in which to live. They didn't talk about constructing a water treatment facility and a sew- age disposal plant, obtaining a well - field, building a city hall — they did these things. And before the first lot was offered for sale, the street in front of it was paved. That's still the policy. And before the street is paved, all water mains, sewage and gas lines are laid. With the result that no "special assessments" are going to jump up and bite a home -owner a few years from now. And no streets are going to be torn up while utility lines are being laid. Consequently there will be no heavy bonded indebtedness for this brand-new city. rLocated on beautiful Lake Worth and intersected by the Earman River and the Intracoastal Waterway, the Village of North Palm Beach already offers water -front properties. When the de- - velopment is completed, there will be thousands of homesites where fishing and boating may be enjoyed "right in your own back yard." Cops Double Up There's a four -man integrated full- time police -fire department augmented by an 18-man volunteer fire force pro- viding 24-hour protection for Village residents. The department has a radio - equipped police security patrol car and a new 500-gallon fire pumper engine. And right back of the city hall is a 10-acre site which has been donated by the Ross brothers for the construction of a new 14-classroom elementary pub- lic school to cost some $294,000 and to be started in September of this year. A junior high school is located two - and -a -half miles south of the Village with transportation provided by county school busses. A brand-new high school is slated to be built within two miles of the town hall beginning in Septem- ber. The country club has been complete- ly refurbished and the greens put in good condition and opened for the use of residents of the Village. A social program is already in progress for both children and adults. A shopping center, medical and busi- ness center, additional recreational fa- Ace-19S 94 • Adequate water supply for the Village and a sewage disposal plant were constructed at a cost of $1,200,000 before any lots were offered for sale. No septic tanks are allowed within the corporate limits of North Palm Beach. • t_W VI LAG* OF WORTH PALM IEACN • A smartly -uniformed integrated police and fire department gives full-time protection to the new municipality. An additional force of 18 volunteers augments the strength of the de- partment. cilities, a site for a community church — all are included in the master plan for the Village. 84 Homes Advance planning and the construc- tion of public facilities is already pay- ing off for the Village of North Palm Beach. In less than a year, all of Plat No. 1 of the development has been sold and 84 homes built or are now un- der construction at an approximate cost of $1,374,072. Homes generally fall between the $16,000 and $20,000 class and minimum sizes for lots- are 75 by' 100 feet — with most of them larger. Population as of June 1, 1957 stood at 111 satisfied residents — 80 adults and 31 children. Not bad for a city not yet a year old! Plats No. 2 and No. 3, adjacent to the County Club and Intracoastal Wa- terway extension are under construc- tion now and will soon be opened for development. What kind of folks are buying home - •sites in North Palm Beach? They fall into no special category. There are young families and retired couples, and newly-weds. Some are from out-of-state, some from other Florida communities. All have the same aim — to live in a well -planned community. (Continued on Page 25) 8 i FLORIDA OPPORTUNITY JOURNAL '11111011.;.7 stm.mity • f „ itE • :,g,,Y.'„, ' ... 7...,,..-i....k.ilr-ri 1m . - - i_ .. -"f• ''' ' ': ‘.‘il,,,; , fr.,...„,:n;i., ,...,,....•.,- •,,, ..411%mo. •Yit.A.L.1... ....,,sjr....,-1,..........,..., ‘te44.4:14. .t 1,1 I, III • • Aerial view i of Plat No. 1 of the Village when it was first openea to the public. In upper cen- ter is 10-acre site donated by the Village to the county for the construction of a new 14-class- room elementary school scheduled to be built this fall. City hall is in upper left. Construction of a new Pratt -Whitney jet engine plant twelve miles to the West is already bringing new families into the Village. Many older couples are buying sites for the construction of that retirement home a few years hence. Whether you build your own home in North Palm Beach or have it done by a contractor, you are protected by a set of "covenants" outlined by the Village. Your house -plan will be in- spected and approved by an architec- co' 6 tural committee. All homes are requir- ed to be fronted with a five -foot -wide sidewalk and the parkway area sodded. Driveways must be paved. Another must — a tree must be planted! In a surprisingly short time, with these plans, and aided by the semi- tropical climate which is Florida's great- est asset, the Village's streets will be shaded by waving palms and flower- ing trees — a perfectly planned com- munity of happy people and attractive homes — truly a planned paradise. Industrial Park Powerline Industrial Park, located in the Pompano Beach area, a mile south of Route 810 presents great advantages to any manufacturer using raw materials for concrete products. Only county taxes are levied here, yet you are adjacent to main arteries. Ideal for warehouses, wholesalers, lumber yards and like in- dustries. Pompano and surrounding communities offer a ready labor market, as well as adequate housing for em- ployees. We will be glad to furnish complete details to interested parties. La+, •ubjasa. +a price ckon, and pr.>, solo wi.hou., no4ica z to 8 40 • SO' • r- 7e' 1,0 3,0 X. POWERLINE INDUSTRIAL PAPK IN e,ROWAR ID COUNTY, FLOR 10A J.L.GEARWART- DEVELOPE R REG. REAL E STATIIE BROKER 2535 ATLANTIC !tamp. POMPANO REACH , FLA. PHONE 9761 ; 6- 6' By the way, a good boat launching area is not always easy to find. North Palm Beach residents will have one of the best equipped small boat launching areas in Florida within the next sixty days. An electrically operated boat launching system will take the strain out of boating. Boats will move me- chanically from the covered storage sheds provided into the water and back into the storage sheds as easy as. pushing a button. - —R-GA D ) o J 101a4 - 54 I W.E. 44 3, F4. .W. t• too • X. X . (s 8 iSo• 150'1 tae• t ,So• 46 n 0.. 4 ! ammo* g ' g 300.! .5` 3 10 IV 3io ! Scala: 1... 19 .15, too • 14' • 7 0 EA.( lir' ZZ go 100 too Zo.' •• AVE. 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