Meet Our Council

Wellington’s Leaders Reflect On The Past As They Look To The Future

Story by Julie Unger    Photo by Abner Pedraza

As the Village of Wellington marks the 20th anniversary of incorporation, the community is being led by a Wellington Village Council whose members have set their roots in Wellington, are raising their families in Wellington and some who even grew up in Wellington.

Mayor Anne Gerwig moved to Wellington when she got married in 1990. She has seen the village grow and evolve over the last two decades into a great place to live, work and play.

“There’s no better place to raise a family,” Gerwig said, adding that she wants to bring all of the elements of Wellington together — from the parks, to the neighborhoods, to the shopping areas and to the equestrian community.

“My mission is to draw us all together,” she said. “We have a commitment toward the environment that I think is unmatched in South Florida. We need to think about that as we move forward.”

Wellington will continue its focus on the many elements that need to be taken into account, especially considering its proximity to the Everglades, she said.

Vice Mayor John McGovern moved to Wellington when he was in the seventh grade. “It was a very different place than it is today,” he said.

Wellington was just a fledgling community back then. There was, he recalled, perhaps one other house on the street where his family was moving, and it looked like a forest.

“There were no high schools, no middle schools, the hospital was just opening,” he said. “In a lot of ways, I grew up with Wellington. I was in the first class that went to Wellington High School for four years, and only two of those were on the campus that we now know to be Wellington High School. It was an exciting time.”

McGovern chose to raise his family in Wellington for the same reason his parents moved their family here, and why so many others move to Wellington.

“This is a beautiful place to live, a family-focused community, and a place that has great public schools at every level, elementary, middle and high school,” he said.

As vice mayor, McGovern wants to help move Wellington forward in a manner that prepares it for the planned development nearby while making sure that the things that make Wellington unique are protected and preserved.

“We are one Wellington,” he said. “It’s not equestrian versus non-equestrian, gated community versus non-gated community or old versus young. Everybody here in Wellington is here because they love this place.”

People want community, land, schools, safety, great neighborhoods and parks, McGovern said, adding that the unique equestrian element also attracts residents to Wellington.

Councilman Michael Drahos moved to Wellington in 1986 when he was in fourth grade. “I had a great childhood growing up in Wellington,” he recalled.

Moving away to attend college and law school, Drahos never found a community quite like Wellington. He chose to raise his own family here so that his children could have the same hometown experience he enjoyed.

While on the council, he wants to continue to be forward-thinking.

“There are a lot of things about Wellington that make it great — our education, our parks and rec program, and our lifestyle,” he said.

Drahos wants to advance those experiences for the residents of Wellington while continuously improving and engaging the community.

Transparency, communication and responsible spending are important to Councilman Michael Napoleone, who chose Wellington as his place to set down roots.

“When my wife and I got married, we didn’t know if we were going to have children or not, but we did know that if we did, we wanted to be somewhere where it was a family-friendly community with good schools, good parks and a neighborhood feel. That’s how we found Wellington,” he said.

They moved to the community in 2002 and have enjoyed life in Wellington ever since.

“We’ve just loved everything about Wellington,” he said. “We have to preserve the quality of life that we have.”

People live in Wellington, Napoleone said, because of the hard work of the previous councils and how the village has evolved. The parks and schools are part of what keeps Wellington great, he explained.

“As big as we are, we still have that small-town feel,” he said. “The decisions we make today will resonate into the future.”

Councilwoman Tanya Siskind moved to Wellington with her family 15 years ago from Maryland because of the schools and the area, knowing that Wellington would be a great place to raise children.

As a councilwoman, Siskind is focusing on what residents want by serving the community. Continuing Wellington’s great reputation of excellence, she said, is a priority.

“My goal is to continue all that Wellington is and all that Wellington can be with the great schools, the great parks and neighborhoods,” she said. “To have some amount of growth that is responsible, that people want to take Wellington in the direction that the people in Wellington want to see it go in.”

Siskind likes Wellington as is and would like to see the equestrian component, as well as all of the residents, represented and flourishing.

While it is difficult to predict what the next 20 years will bring, the current Wellington Village Council, like the councils before it and those to come, will aim to keep Wellington a great place to live, work and play.

Our Village Manager

Paul Schofield: Wellington Will Work Hard To Remain A Great Hometown

Story by Ron Bukley  Photo by Abner Pedraza

After 20 years of incorporation, Wellington’s next 20 years will be a time of redevelopment to make sure the village remains a great hometown.

Wellington has been in development mode for the past four decades — dating back to the mid-1970s. That puts the first homes, commercial developments and aging infrastructure in store for rebuilding, explained Village Manager Paul Schofield, who has been a senior manager at the village since 2001 and held the top spot since 2008.

“Wellington is 95 percent built out,” Schofield said. “As a municipality, we’re 20 years old, but as a community, we’re closer to 45 years old. The approval was in 1973. There are actually some homes out here that are older than that. On average, homes in Wellington are about 30 years old.”

Wellington is predominantly residential, and Schofield does not see that changing much in the next 20 years.

“Wellington is different from a lot of communities,” he said. “Only 3 percent is commercial and industrial, and in a community our size, that number is typically 20 to 25 percent, so we really are a bedroom community, and we have to focus on things that keep us that way.”

A big challenge will be to encourage owners of older developments built for markets in the 1970s to reinvest to appeal to the modern market. Part of that will involve reworking the building code to make this process easier.

“When you look around us, there’s something on the order of 20,000 units that are going to be built around Wellington and the western communities over the next 20 years,” Schofield said. “If you want to come into Wellington and buy a $300,000 house, you’re also going to put $50,000 to $100,000 into it. How do we make sure that people are still coming into Wellington? I think we do that by emphasizing the things that have kept us where we’re at.”

Schofield believes that Wellington has done a good job maintaining roads and landscaping during the recent economic downturn, when other communities cut back.

“Part of the reason that we went to the four-day workweek was so that we could save money and put it into the roads,” he said. “Part of the reason we did the staff reductions — we didn’t let anybody go, but as people left, we didn’t replace them — is because we knew that in the long term, we must put that money back into the community, and we need to continue to do that.”

Wellington also devotes a lot of time and effort to keeping residents involved, Schofield said.

“We spend a lot of money on parks because we’re a family-oriented community,” he said. “There has been a lot of discussion about seniors in Wellington. Well, Wellington’s senior population is about half of what the county average is, but it’s growing. Over the last decade, it has grown, and we will continue to see it grow.”

Schofield said Wellington gives strong support to its schools, although they are under the jurisdiction of the Palm Beach County School District. “Great schools are always one of the top five things people look for,” he noted.

Financial stability is a major, ongoing concern.

“We have a relatively low tax rate,” Schofield said. “At 2.44 mills, we’re not the county’s lowest, but we’re among the county’s lowest.”

When Schofield became village manager in 2008, he advised Wellington Village Council members that if they kept spending at the rate they were, the village would be out of money by 2016. The council put in place a business services model that dropped spending from $118 million a year to a low of about $75 million.

“You look at our budget today, it’s up to $89 million, but when you adjust that value back to 2008, it’s about a 15 percent increase, so we’re keeping our spending in line with inflation, but we’re also spending more money on maintenance,” Schofield said. “We’re using automation and other things that we can do to make sure the cost of government doesn’t go up unnecessarily.”

The village is also making great strides in embracing technology and innovation. “One of the things that’s amazingly different for us today is how we talk to our residents,” he said. “Two years ago, we didn’t have a Facebook page or social media presence at all.”

Schofield said the character of the council has changed in that several members grew up in Wellington and now have school-age children themselves, where earlier councils were looking at a growing community and did not necessarily know what Wellington was going to be.

“We now have the third generation of Wellingtonians in town,” he said, citing Vice Mayor John McGovern and Councilman Michael Drahos, who both attended school here, and returned after college to raise their children.

He added that Mayor Anne Gerwig raised her family here and now has a daughter who is about to be married and plans to find a home in Wellington.

“They’re going to be having children and looking for a place to live, so when you have that mindset on the council now — they’re looking at making it a place for their kids and their grandkids — what I’m looking to do in Wellington is find a place where we can have a sense of place,” Schofield said.

Village officials are working to give Wellington a more unified appearance. Schofield recalled 10 years ago when Wellington’s streets and landscapes had mixed styles.

“There was nothing that clearly said, ‘I’m Wellington.’ We’ve been moving toward that, and one of the things that’s important for Wellington to develop over the next 20 years is that sense of identity and sense of place,” he said. “Twenty years ago it was, ‘Let’s make a community,’ but now we’ve got kids. We’ve got the original Wellington children coming back with their children. Our goal is to build this community not just for a lifetime, but for generations, and that’s what’s really exciting.”

As the central part of the county continues to grow beyond the village’s borders, Schofield said that Wellington will be challenged to remain relevant. Part of that will be to make sure that the things that make Wellington unique don’t change. That includes improving the business mix in Wellington.

“One of the things that you’ll see us talking about when we put the council into the visioning session this year is going to be the four commercial corners,” he said, explaining that some continue to thrive while another across the street is suffering.

Improving accessibility is also an issue to wrestle with, at shopping centers, and with middle schools and elementary schools, where parents drive their children rather than letting them walk.

Maintaining a strong Equestrian Preserve Area is another challenge for the village moving into the future. “That is a vexing issue that I’ve worked on in Wellington for close to 15 years,” Schofield said.

Schofield sees Wellington in 20 years as a vital community that continues to maintain good property values. “It’s going to be a great place, a great hometown,” he said. “That’s what our goal is, to keep it that way.”

Our Equestrian Community

Wellington’s Equestrian Industry Has A Storied Past And A Bright Future

By Deborah Welky

The village’s equestrian industry plays a huge role in Wellington, known around the world as a stellar horse community.

Originally brought to the area in the late 1970s as luxury entertainment and recreation — an important lifestyle factor allowing the community to compete more effectively with developments located on or near the beach — the equestrian element is now firmly intertwined with the Wellington way of life. Indeed, for some, it is the only way of life.

“We’ve come to understand that the equestrian lifestyle in the competitions is unlike any other place in the world,” said Mike O’Dell, project director in Wellington’s Strategic Planning Department and the village’s staff equestrian expert. “Hunter-jumpers are obviously our dominant sport in the village, but we also have high-goal polo throughout the season and local polo throughout the year. The length of our season and the ability to put all these things together in one location is having an impact. It’s in the lifestyle we see.”

The number of horses and competitions is growing every year, O’Dell noted. “More and more people want to be here to be a part of that,” he said. “The lifestyle is the drive to what we see happening with the venues and the competitions.”

In addition to world-class equestrian contests, big hats and big hearts are an integral part of the winter equestrian season. Fashion and fundraising come naturally to those with the deep pockets necessary to support a small army of equine competitors, and Wellington’s social season quite naturally aligns with its equestrian season. It’s a lifestyle like none other.

Initial credit goes to the Palm Beach Polo Golf & Country Club for being the first equestrian-based development to arrive in the community, led by its polo-playing founder William Ylvisaker in the late 1970s.

In the 1980s, Ylvisaker brought horse show promoter Gene Mische to Wellington to start the Winter Equestrian Festival at what was then called the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club, now known as the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, equestrian sports grew and grew in the community. However, the hurricanes of the early 2000s sparked a crisis for the hallowed equestrian venues. Three major hurricanes roared through Wellington within 13 months, leaving devastation in their wake — not only of the show grounds and polo stadium, but of the spirits of those Wellingtonians involved in equestrian sports.

“Those hurricanes put a damper on polo,” O’Dell said. “The polo stadium had been damaged pretty significantly and the show grounds had taken a pretty good hit as well, so we were recovering. The show grounds also, because of the hurricanes and the financial issues they were having, were trying to keep things moving forward — trying to rebuild and get things back where they were.”

That is when horse show promoter Mark Bellissimo took over control of the Winter Equestrian Festival and the show grounds.

“Mr. Bellissimo came in and he was able to infuse some cash into the show grounds and move forward with its redevelopment,” O’Dell explained.

Likewise, polo also needed a new home. This led the Goodman family to create what is now the International Polo Club Palm Beach.

“In short, we had some noteworthy cash infusions from private investment that helped secure the equestrian community and secure its place in the world,” O’Dell said.

The most significant impact of the equestrian lifestyle may be yet to come. In the past, competition-minded equestrians traveled from their homes in the Northeast to winter in Wellington. Today, O’Dell sees a trend toward total reversal.

“We’re seeing people coming into Wellington who are changing their base of operations,” O’Dell said. “Many come from New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and so on. Their home base has not been Wellington. Now we’re seeing their homes as being in Wellington. They go to the shows in the summer months that take them back up north, but their homes are here. They often leave some of their horses here — and staff to care for their homes and horses year-round.”

That’s just one element of the lifestyle change for equestrians. The other is that they are getting more involved in other aspects of the competitions.

“These people know Wellington, and they know of all the competitions,” O’Dell said. “They want to be a part of the overall activity. So that’s growing as well. I think that we, as a community, need to look at and embrace these competitions and think about how we can continue to expand without changing our lifestyle. After all, it’s the consumers who will drive the competitions. If the demand is there, the venue operators will cater to that demand.”

Over the past year, several of the equestrian venues have been brought under common ownership. Bellissimo, whose Wellington Equestrian Partners already owned the Winter Equestrian Festival and the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, as well as their respective show grounds, has recently taken over the International Polo Club Palm Beach and the Wanderers Club.

“The future of the equestrian industry in Wellington is very strong,” Bellissimo said. “We have seen consistent growth since we took over the Winter Equestrian Festival in 2008, and the popularity of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival has grown in leaps and bounds since the first event in 2012.”

Bellissimo touts Wellington as an “equestrian lifestyle destination.”

“Even more now, there are opportunities for families to visit Wellington not only to watch or participate in horse sport, while also enjoying their time outside of the equestrian venue,” he said. “We have tried to facilitate that in our purchase of the Wanderers Club and the International Polo Club.”

Bellissimo has also seen more and more people buying property for homes and farms in Wellington, which directly translates into them spending more time here. “Our shoulder seasons in the fall and spring continue to grow as people recognize what a special place Wellington is and what a unique venue it provides for horse sport,” he said.

Bellissimo sees a bright future for Wellington’s equestrian industry.

“Over the next 10 years, we hope to see more corporate sponsorship enter the sports, more television coverage, and more mainstream appeal with a diverse audience for show jumping, hunters, dressage and polo,” he said. “There is a lot of room for growth. Everyone can appreciate the strength, grace and power of horses. They are a special animal, and we feel that a way to bring that to the forefront is to popularize the relationship between horse and rider and make sure that people know who the personalities are in the sport.”

Wellington Equestrian Partners will continue to market the community as an equestrian lifestyle destination.

“Having multiple venues within Wellington makes it very attractive for people who want to visit and see top sport, or move to the area for a portion of the year,” Bellissimo said. “We are very excited about the future of Wellington and equestrian sport over the coming decade.”

OUR MAYORS

Visionary Leaders Helped Wellington Grow Into The Community It Is Today

By Julie Unger

Time sure flies when you’re building a community. It was just 20 year ago that Wellington made the jump from a collection of neighborhoods to an incorporated community. Since then, it has been two decades of amazing growth — topping 60,000 residents this year — and impressive milestones. The winter equestrian capital of the world boasts A-rated schools, great shopping, amazing parks and spectacular amenities, such as the brand-new Wellington Community Center.

After a razor-thin incorporation referendum in November 1995, the Village of Wellington was officially born on Dec. 31, 1995. Official governmental operations commenced after the village’s first election in March 1996.

On March 28, 1996, the inaugural Wellington Village Council took the oath of office. One of its first acts was to choose the community’s first mayor — a role that was awarded to Kathy Foster.

Foster was not new to local government. In 1990, she was elected to a seat on the Acme Improvement District Board of Supervisors, Wellington’s pre-incorporation government. She was a natural choice to be the village’s first mayor, at a time when “mayor” was a title appointed from among the five elected council members.

Foster, who served as mayor from 1996 to 1998, has fond memories of the village’s early days.

“We spent almost the entire first few years concentrating on developing a comprehensive plan for the overall village that would hold up over time and protect the individual lifestyles of the various communities,” she recalled. “We were nine separate subdivisions that were bundled together to become the Village of Wellington. It was our promise to the community that everyone’s lifestyle would be protected and that we would try our best to make sure that the lifestyle that they enjoyed was not negatively impacted in the years to come.”

Wellington became the first municipality in Florida to create an equestrian preserve area in its comprehensive plan, she added.

“I’m thrilled to say that, 20 years later, it still holds up, and at buildout, which is right around the corner, the ideas and the concepts that the first council put in place hold true today,” Foster said. “It has been a great guideline, and in some ways, a bible for the community, as we grew and developed so quickly in the last 20 years.”

Approximately 20,000 people lived here when Wellington incorporated. The village has tripled in population since.

Foster recalls being able to accomplish so much in so little time because the original council members were committed to working together for the good of the community. Through public hearings and open forums, the council was able to learn about what residents wanted. This was formalized in writing when the village adopted its comprehensive plan in 1999.

“Honestly, we had no concept then how amazing Wellington would be 20 years later,” Foster said. “I’ve been here for more than 36 years now. When I came, there were fewer than 1,000 people and 300 homes. No one could imagine what Wellington would become. I’m just honored and privileged that I had a part in it.”

Also a member of that inaugural council, Dr. Carmine Priore served as Wellington’s next mayor, from 1998 to 2000. The village’s longest-serving elected official, Priore was elected to the Acme board in 1994, becoming a councilman in 1996, and continuing to serve the village in that role until 2012, with one short break. This included winning five elections.

“I’m really proud of that because it was a feeling that was passed on to me that I was doing a good job, and that was important,” Priore said.

One of his biggest decisions as mayor was the purchase of the 5-acre parcel that now houses the Wellington Municipal Complex and the other nearby Wellington facilities, in what he calls the “heart and soul of Wellington.”

“We did two things in purchasing that,” he said. “We bought a great piece of land at a very reasonable price, and we were able to eliminate 90 additional units planned for Forest Hill Blvd. It was $500,000 for a 5-acre parcel, and it is a piece of land that now houses a $15 million building.”

That deal, he said, gave Wellington one of its largest pieces of village-owned property.

“Wellington has been an accomplishment that few say could happen today. Who would have believed in the 1990s that a new city would be born?” Priore wondered. “Being a part of it actually taking place was a great feeling of something being very, very good. We think we did a very good job at the time. I’m proud of my tenure and service to the community.”

Priore is looking forward to seeing the changes that the new generation of Wellington’s leaders will bring to the community.

After two years on the Acme board and four years on the council, Tom Wenham took the reins as mayor in 2000. The village’s longest-serving mayor, he kept the title until 2008. Along the way, he became the village’s first elected mayor, when the village switched to a directly elected mayor in 2003.

“Aside from being the first elected mayor of the Village of Wellington, I am most proud of Wellington Regional Medical Center annexing into the Village of Wellington and the opening of the Mall at Wellington Green during my years of service,” Wenham said.

The mall and the hospital added to the village’s tax base and provided large-scale employment for the community.

“I’ve always felt that a hospital completes a town,” he said. “If you have a hospital in your community, that’s the place. If somebody needs to go to the hospital, it’s your hospital and you take ownership of it, and it’s very important. The mall, that’s great also. To have the mall here, and the hospital not too far apart, this is our town. This is the community that has both its own mall and its own hospital, and I’m very proud of that.”

Wenham is also very proud of the Wellington Veterans Memorial. “That’s near and dear to my heart, too, being a veteran,” he said.

Along with his wife Regis, Wenham sponsored the Korean War column at the memorial. As a young man, Wenham served as a member of the 8th Bomb Squadron 3rd Group in Korea.

“The Wellington Veterans Memorial was important to me, and we dedicated it on May 30, 2005, when I was the mayor,” he said. “I thought it was important to recognize the people not only who I served with, but all the veterans who served in Korea during the war. When Regis and I sponsored that monument, it was in honor of all Korean War veterans.”

During Wenham’s years as mayor, the village’s horse community was growing strong. He enjoyed working with equestrian leaders to help expand Wellington’s equestrian venues. “I was proud to work with Winter Equestrian Festival founder Gene Mische to expand the equestrian venues and grow the industry,” he said.

Darell Bowen, the first person to serve as mayor who was not part of the inaugural council, led the community from 2008 to 2012. He presided over construction of the Wellington Municipal Complex, which replaced an aging facility supplemented by portables with a modern, state-of-the-art governmental building. Bowen calls that building his proudest achievement.

“The way we were operating was extremely inefficient and expensive. We had been sitting on that land for a number of years, and to get to move forward and to get the building built was a nice accomplishment,” he said. “It was something that really needed to be done.”

Taking office at the start of an economic downturn, Bowen’s time as mayor saw the village’s budget cut from $120 million to $75 million. Under most circumstances, such a budgetary decrease would result in a decrease in services. However, Bowen said that he was able to create an extremely efficient administration that was able to use targeted spending to achieve its goals.

“We were able to move ahead and accomplish a lot of things with a lot less money,” he said.

Bowen enjoyed accomplishing things he thought were important during his mayoral tenure, which he said was gratifying, especially for someone who doesn’t identify as a politician.

The biggest thing he misses from his time as mayor, he said, is giving credit to those who are often overlooked.

“I certainly have never missed the politics of the position,” Bowen said. “I have, however, missed the relationships with all of the people who make up the staff — the people who pick up the trash, who fix the roads, who run the sports programs and who run the water and sewer plant. I think Wellington is blessed with the best people anywhere who do those jobs, and sometimes they’re taken for granted.”

With six years of service on the council under his belt, Bob Margolis was elected mayor in 2012. He served in that role until 2016. He is very proud of being able to bring a number of new amenities to the village.

“I am most proud of the new tennis facility as well as the new community center,” he said.

The council led by Margolis continued to add to the area around the Wellington Municipal Complex. In late 2013, the village agreed to purchase the Lake Wellington Professional Centre, and the next year agreed to move the aging Wellington Tennis Center to a brand-new facility on Lyons Road. This allowed for the complete rebuilding of the Wellington Community Center into a more modern, larger facility that was nearly complete by the time Margolis left office.

After six years on the council, Anne Gerwig was elected mayor in March 2016. She is very proud of her new, relatively young council, which now includes two people — John McGovern and Michael Drahos — who actually grew up in Wellington.

“This is really a fantastic group of people,” she said.

Everyone on the current council, she explained, has a different past and different leadership backgrounds, but they are all working together for the good of the community.

Gerwig was proud to preside over the grand opening of the new Wellington Community Center on Aug. 6.

“It’s a very exciting time to be the mayor because of the young council, and the unique environment that that brings,” she said.

Gerwig wants to focus on bringing more arts and culture to Wellington. “I think it’s time. We’re tired of leaving the area for entertainment,” she said.

As the council and its mayor move into the next era of Wellington, great things are bound to happen in our hometown community.

Our New Community Center

Take A Tour Of The New Wellington Community Center

By Jason Stromberg

A new era began in August with the opening of the new Wellington Community Center. After years of planning, the state-of-the-art facility opened to rave reviews.

Last year, the village knocked down the old community center, a 35-year-old facility, to create a blank canvas upon which to create a versatile, new building. Now, village officials want residents to check out and tour the new Wellington Community Center, home to many community programs.

“There is no comparison between the two,” Wellington Parks & Recreation Director Bruce DeLaney said when comparing old versus new. “The views from our ballroom and meeting rooms are outstanding. It is like a brand-new world. It’s brighter and more vibrant. It’s everything you want in a new facility.”

Wellington Cultural Programs & Facilities Manager Joe Piconcelli is excited to see the new building in operation.

“I think residents are going to be amazed with how nice the finishes are on the inside of the facility,” Piconcelli said. “It has a nice, crisp, clean look. It follows today’s theme of a more modern look. Some of the outdoor features are really unique.”

Those outdoor amenities include a large grass area around the building where special events can be held, and the walkways that lead to Lake Wellington, the dock area, the new rowing club building and the Wellington Aquatics Complex.

One of the nice things about the new Wellington Community Center is that visitors no longer need to walk up a steep hill to enter the building — an important consideration since the facility will host many programs for senior citizens.

“What it means for the seniors is that they can just pull up to the building and walk straight in,” Piconcelli said. “The seniors don’t have to walk up a big hill to get to the community center. The entryway and the landscaping is really fabulous.”

The new building is a 25,000-square-foot facility featuring a ballroom on the second floor that overlooks Lake Wellington. The first floor has several multipurpose meeting rooms. There is also a beautiful small banquet room.

“The new facility fits in with our overall municipal complex area,” DeLaney said. “You have to remember, the original building was a sales center and a clubhouse that went through multiple renovations.”

The original Wellington Club opened in 1979. Piconcelli remembers it like it was yesterday. The country club, a meeting place for early Wellington residents, eventually became the village’s community center.

“I was a housing salesman for the original developer,” Piconcelli said. “We would have dinner with clients, looking out over Lake Wellington, and enjoying the sights. It became a focal point for all the local residents. The clubhouse is where you would bring people to have a good time. It became the community center after incorporation.”

A focal point of the fledgling community, Piconcelli has fond memories of the old building.

“There was nothing out here at the time — no shopping, no malls. The club was the center of town in Wellington. It was where people met,” Piconcelli said. “Of course, it was a sales tool to sell property here in Wellington. It was a place to go. A lake you could row on and boat in, along with swimming and tennis. It was just a very unique place. Basically, it was a good country club.”

The decision to build a new Wellington Community Center didn’t happen overnight. The concept was discussed for a number of years. “The original facility had come to the end of its useful life cycle,” DeLaney said. “The Wellington Village Council made the decision to replace the existing facility with a new one, as opposed to putting an investment into rehabilitating the old one.”

Now, it is a better community center, with an incredible number of scheduled programs, from dance to meditation, and a meeting place for local groups, such as the Wellington Seniors Club, the Wellington Art Society and the Wellington Garden Club.

“Those are the kinds of organizations and programs that will be here,” Piconcelli said. “There is the other aspect of the community center. There are two magnificent rooms that can be rented for weddings, baby showers and birthday parties. Both rooms overlook the lake, with excellent views of Lake Wellington. There are catering kitchens adjacent to both rooms. There is a wonderful outdoor patio and a covered lanai.”

It doesn’t stop there when touring the new building.

“You’re going to have wonderful views from all vantage points,” Piconcelli said. “You will have a warm and inviting feeling in the new Wellington Community Center. When you walk in, there is a 25-foot ceiling. On the second floor, there are extra celestial windows that give the room a bright and cheery feeling. The ballroom upstairs is magnificent. You can seat about 300 people. It has a separate alcove for a stage area. The list goes on and on.”

The new building offers expanded views of Lake Wellington, as well as more parking spaces for the handicapped.

“I came to work here when I was 30 years old. I’ve lived here all my life. I wouldn’t live anywhere else but Wellington,” Piconcelli said. “It’s one of the most unique places in the country. Where else do you have the most fabulous schools, sporting and aquatic facilities? Now, you’re adding the final jewel on the crown — a brand-new community center that the whole community can enjoy. We’ve gone from 300 families to now 60,000 people who live here.”

Piconcelli believes that the new building will offer more amenities while keeping the spirit of old Wellington alive. “We’ve expanded, but kept that hometown feeling,” he said. “It just shows you how Wellington has caught on and how it has become such a vibrant community. It’s one of the premier places to live.”

For more information about the new Wellington Community Center, call (561) 791-4000 or visit www.wellingtonfl.gov.

Our Wellington

There Are Many Interesting PlacesTo Visit In Our Great Hometown

By Hailey George

The Mall at Wellington Green, a great place for both shopping and family outings, is located at 10300 W. Forest Hill Blvd. The mall opened in 2001 and has had several expansions since, including a current project to add a high-end movie theater to the 1.3-million-square-foot facility.

“The Mall at Wellington Green is a beautiful blend of Mediterranean architecture with many community-friendly features,” Marketing Director Rachelle Crain said.

Mall features include seating areas, a children’s play area, a guest services desk that provides complimentary wheelchairs and stroller rentals, and free wi-fi — all in addition to more than 150 retailers.

“We offer terrific shopping, dining and entertainment,” Crain said. “The Mall at Wellington Green is family-oriented. We see lots of friends enjoying time together, co-workers spending time after work at our restaurants and lots of shopping. We are also very proud of our community partnerships.”

With increasing demand for local entertainment, the mall staff continually works hard to enhance the experience for shoppers.

For additional information, call (561) 227-6900 or visit www.shopwellingtongreen.com.

 

Tiger Shark Cove Park, located at 13800 Greenbriar Blvd., is a place for great outdoor fun. The park has two batting cages, four softball fields, a concession stand and three pavilions. However, the park’s main attraction is its unique Leathers Playground.

The playground was designed by residents of the village and built by volunteers. It includes a large tiger shark play sculpture, sand castle, crab shack and sunken pirate ship play areas. Obstacle courses, a submarine with portholes, swing sets and soft, rubberized flooring with shaded areas make it great fun for the younger set.

The playground has a capacity of more than 100 people and has pavilions available for free from Monday through Friday. The pavilions are also available for rent on the weekends. For more information, call (561) 791-4005 or visit www.wellingtonfl.gov.

 

Scott’s Place, a barrier-free playground, is another fun play area, but with a few features that make it very special. Located at 12190 W. Forest Hill Blvd. near the Wellington Municipal Complex, it is designed to allow disabled and able-bodied children to play side by side. The park, made possible through a donation by Del and Barbara Williamson, was built in memory of their late son, Scott. It is set on a full acre of land and includes restrooms, picnic tables, a playground, swing sets, shades, wheel chair ramps, water fountains and slides. For more information, visit www.wellingtonfl.gov.

Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue stations are also an integral part of Wellington. In Wellington’s early years, the entire community was served by Station 25 on Wellington Trace. Before long, Station 27 on South Shore Blvd. came online serving the southern portions of the community.

Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue has since expanded to four stations in Wellington, with 22 firefighters serving the area, Capt. Albert Borroto said. Newer stations include Station 20 on Greenview Shores Blvd., serving the western areas of Wellington, and Station 30 on Stribling Way, serving the eastern areas.

The services the department provides go far beyond putting out fires.

“We provide everything that comes with fire-rescue. It’s not just fire suppression,” Borroto said, adding that PBCFR also sends out rescue personnel and first responders, while dealing with hazardous materials and brush fires. “Wellington is a big equestrian community, so we do train on large animal rescues in case a horse gets stuck in a canal. We do all the things that people think of when they think of fire-rescue, but we’re big on community education. We have done events at the mall for hurricane preparedness. We are more than just putting out fires. We take an active role in the community.”

For more info., visit www.pbcfr.org.

 

The Wellington branch of the Palm Beach County Library System, located at 1915 Royal Fern Drive, is a place for fun and learning. It opened with 8,000 square feet in April 1997. The library re-opened in July 2007 after a major expansion project. It is now 30,000 square feet and includes a teen area, free wi-fi, study rooms, large and small meeting rooms, copiers and 29 public internet computers, said to Community Relations Manager Nicole Hughes.

The library is not just a place for books. “Children’s classes are offered on a seasonal basis where pre-learners are introduced to reading in a fun and educational fashion,” Palm Beach County Library System Area Coordinator Karen Williams said. “These classes also give parents an opportunity to meet their neighbors and create a sense of community. The teen area gives older kids a unique place of their own to read, use the computers and connect with friends. Activities for adults range from crafting workshops, to educational lectures and entertainment to meet the diverse needs of the community.”

For more information, call (561) 790-6070 or visit www.pbclibrary.org.

 

Did you know that you can play the classic New York City street game of stickball here in Wellington? The Wycliffe Golf & Country Club Stickball League currently has 88 players and is going into its 15th season.

With help from the Village of Wellington, the league created a stickball boulevard in Village Park, located at 11700 Pierson Road, where teams play on Tuesday afternoons. Created in 2002 by Marty Ross and Harry Klaff, the league contains five teams: the Big Apple Boys, the Bronx Clippers, the Brooklyn Bums, the Long Island Whalers and the New York Egg Creams.

“The mission of the stickball league is to keep it a tradition, not a game. It was played in the northeast, and since there are many transplants, I thought a lot of people would like reliving their childhoods,” said Ross, also known as “The Commish.”

The league seeks to build friendships while helping players improve hand-eye coordination and providing exercise.

“The best part of the league is the camaraderie amongst the competitors. We’re out on the field trying to improve, trying to have fun with each other, remembering playing as we did as kids,” Ross said. “It’s a great fun activity.”

For additional information about the stickball league, e-mail wycliffestiffs@aol.com or visit www.wycliffegolfccblog.com.

Over 20 Years In Business

Pioneer Entrepreneurs Helped To Create The Wellington We Call Home

By Deborah Welky

Schaefer Drugs

Significant changes in the Wellington business community have taken place over the past 20 years. With a front-row seat to everything that has happened are the pioneer businesses, those whose founders risked their livelihoods to establish retail enterprises in the fledgling community of Wellington in the years before incorporation.

 

Chuck Schaefer opened Schaefer Drugs in October 1979 and, although more and more drugstores have opened up in the area, it has not affected his business much.

“People like to do business with people, not institutions,” Schaefer said. “I’m lucky enough to have long-term employees, and my customers can usually walk into the store anytime and talk to myself or a member of the family. My son Jay is the store manager now. Six or seven years ago, I signed a lease to take us to 2025 whether I’m here or not. I don’t do all the work anymore anyway. I’ve got two other pharmacists with me.”

Schaefer said that the biggest change to his business model has been dealing with insurance companies. “The insurance companies are making it more and more difficult for independent drugstores to survive,” he said. “It’s a level playing field for us right now because we do compounding. We can make specific drugs and also have a big veterinary business. We can accommodate some needs that are not met by the big chains. We do 95 percent of our business with the people who live here full-time, and the community continues to grow.”

 

Horizon Pool & Patio

Chuck Grove opened Horizon Pool & Patio in 1985, and has worked hard to keep up with the times.

“I think the main thing that has happened in our business has occurred in the last five to eight years,” Grove explained. “Many pools in our area are now 20 to 25 years old, so we are now doing a lot more pool remodeling. It’s very common that, instead of downsizing, people are choosing to stay in their houses and put the money they’d spend on a move into improving it.”

Horizon also benefits from two complementary seasons. “When people who live here year-round stop using their pools in the winter months, then the snowbirds start using their pools. They realize they need a heater, which is a fairly big-ticket item and compensates for customers not buying floats and toys. Plus, a large portion of our business is maintaining pools, and that stays steady all year long.”

 

Visions Salon

Tom Monticello opened Visions Salon in 1988 and has been keeping up with local styles for nearly 30 years. “Yeah, I was 6 years old when we opened,” Monticello laughed. “We started in a small space, then expanded to 2,500 square feet. We remodel every five years or so to stay modern.”

Through the changes, Monticello’s mission is the same. “We focus 100 percent on hair services — hair design and especially color. We have about six master colorists on staff, doing everything from touch-ups to hair painting, the latest trends in the color world,” he said.

Today, Monticello is doing the hair of his original clients’ children’s children. “We have every age group of stylists. Our protégée hairdressers may be age 19 and overseen by a master stylist, then we have senior master designers for people who need a more experienced touch,” he explained. “We try to advise both men and women to stay contemporary as they age… We don’t do anything that’s dated.”

 

Woody’s

Richard Wood opened Woody’s, his shoe and leather repair shop, in June of 1987 and has seen some major changes in his industry over the decades. During the equestrian season, he takes his show “on the road,” setting up a trailer at the show grounds to be available for on-site repairs.

“I’ve upgraded my trailer to a 29-footer,” Wood said. “We needed to bring out more equipment, and we needed more workspace. The riders have a big impact on our business over the five-month equestrian season. Things do break. If I wasn’t here on the spot, I don’t know what they’d do. In the beginning of the season, we get bombarded with boots from all over.”

As a cobbler, Wood doesn’t think much of many shoes on the market today. However, he keeps his focus on high-end footwear.

“Many of today’s shoes are injection molded — they’re made by chemists. They’re glued together using 100 different kinds of glues. They’re not repairable ladies’ high-heeled shoes and men’s good loafers and dress shoes like they used to be. Society women buy the best shoes, and some have them for 40 years,” he said. “In riding boots, we used to have five big names, and now there are about 50. Your good brands are still making quality products. I’m old school. I’ve been in the original Wellington Mall for 29 years, just trudging along doing a quality job using quality materials.”

 

Wheels of Wellington

Stan Kilbas of Wheels of Wellington has also seen materials change over the past 20 years. Kilbas opened his store in 1995, moving to its current location in the original Wellington Mall in 1997.

“Since that time, the biggest change in the bike business itself has been the products we sell,” Kilbas said. “The road bikes have gone from steel and aluminum to carbon fiber. It used to be that mountain bikes were hot sellers, then the road bikes, and now it’s gone to more of a comfortable cruiser-type ride.”

Kilbas now also has to compete with big box stores along State Road 7. “We put a major emphasis on providing the best customer service,” he said. “Our summers have gotten busier than previously, but the kids aren’t riding bikes like they used to. A lot of the equestrian folks use bicycles to get around the show grounds, so we do a lot of selling and servicing in those months. And we have customers bring in bikes that they’ve tried to assemble themselves.”

 

Wellington Florist

While many still identify founders Dean and Melinda Varvarigos with Wellington Florist, it’s their son J.P. who has managed the shop for the last 10 years.

“We’ve had substantial growth since we opened in May 1991,” J.P. said. “In 2014, we expanded our shop, doubling our size, to accommodate the needs of Wellington. The equestrians are a big part of our customer base, but we also do deliveries for those who want fresh flowers in their homes weekly. Those people want what’s trendy, so we educate ourselves at different symposiums and workshops to learn what’s new. We get busy for dance troupe recital season and prom — and Wellington’s Father-Daughter Dance is huge. There’s always something going on. Valentine’s Day has grown out of control. We do 500 to 600 deliveries. Mother’s Day is also huge. NuVista, the new local nursing home, is big now, so we send a lot of flowers there.”

With many year-round customers, Wellington Florist is now a less seasonable business. “For 20 years, we weren’t profitable in the summer, but now we are,” J.P. said.

 

Van Dell Jewelers

Jack Van Dell opened Van Dell Jewelers 40 years ago in Wellington and has been selling custom, handmade jewelry ever since.

“Eighty percent of what we sell, we make in the stores,” Van Dell said. “The internet and social media is what has changed for us. The digital world has had a big effect. Rather than looking through the cases, clients send us downloaded photos and say, ‘I want one of these,’ and we create the piece. The majority of what we do is hand-done and requires expertise.”

Embracing this new way of shopping is what has allowed Van Dell to open several shops in the western communities. “The population of the Royal Palm Beach-Loxahatchee-Wellington area is well over 110,000. Each of our stores has a base of 1,000 to 2,000, so I can put them in close to each other and not hurt the original store,” he explained. “The convenience of the computer has made it easier for clients to shop quickly and, if you don’t have a shop close to where they want to go, you’re going to miss out. It behooves us to put more, smaller stores in a wider area rather than having one big store and expecting them to come to us. That’s why I’ve just signed to open my fourth store.”

Van Dell’s business has always flourished during the winter season, but he has also seen more year-round business. “We used to live for the season,” he said. “Now the season is more like dessert, and the rest of the year is meat and potatoes.”