Could The Acreage become its own town? One with its own mayor and council members? That’s a question many will be exploring Monday night during a meeting about incorporating the area. However, there are opponents to the idea.
PLAN, or Preserving the Lifestyle of the Acreage Now, is the group leading the effort to incorporate.
“It has to do with home rule,” said William Gotthelf, a committee member with PLAN. “If we incorporate, we would have a chance to say where the traffic goes and what the development would occur outside our boundaries.”
Monday night, the group is holding a meeting to go over a feasibility study about becoming its own municipality. And this isn’t the first time the idea has been explored either.
Right now The acreage is governed by the Palm Beach County Commission. However, Gotthelf believes the residents of The Acreage should get more say when it comes to decisions impacting their community.
“There’s only one county commissioner that we get to vote for and there’s six others that make decisions,” he said.
Aside from having a say when it comes to development in this ever-growing area, Gotthelf says it could also help with police and fire response, adding it would actually bring back tax money.
“It’s really not another layer [of government.] It takes away the county and puts the city in its place.”
But the idea is controversial, and a lot of folks, like Betty Argue, are not on board.
“No, It does not have the support of the community,” said Argue.
Argue says she doesn't agree with the feasibility study or the charter. And she says there are concerns in the community about having an extra layer of government along with the fact that this is a special district.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m against the idea of incorporation,” explained Argue. “I don’t like the particular plan and I don’t like the particular process that has been used so far.”
PLAN says nothing is set in stone and that they are open to community input.
The feasibility study and charter would have to get approved at a state level, and this ultimately would have to be approved by The Acreage voters before it could happen.
