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Town s utilities undergrounding on schedule to be completed by 2026
The first three phases of the $128 million project are complete, and a fourth phase is nearly finished.
Jodie Wagner
Palm Beach Daily News
Progress continues on the town s 10-year, $128 million utilities undergrounding project, with three sections complete and another nearly finished, town engineer Patricia Strayer told the Town Council last week.
The multi-phase project, in which the town will bury all overhead power, cable television and phone lines, is proceeding on schedule and could be complete by 2026, Strayer said Friday.
Property owners have helped move that process along by granting the town easements to place ground-level equipment that is needed for the new buried system, she added.
Palm Beach Daily News
Despite a year of curfews, stay-at-home orders and a rise in COVID-19 cases as winter residents returned to Palm Beach, the 2020-21 season saw a light at the end of a very long tunnel.
When Gov. Ron DeSantis announced in January that seniors 65 and over would be the first group inoculated with the new COVID-19 vaccine, town officials were ready. An infrastructure and distribution system was put in place in September that allowed the town to secure an initial 1,000 vaccines for its residents.
On Jan. 5, the first doses of the Moderna vaccine were administered to eligible residents.
M.M. Cloutier
Special to the Daily News
On Monday, when pandemic-slammed restaurants around the country can start tapping a $28.6 billion grant fund designed for them, some Palm Beach restaurateurs plan to join what’s expected to be an onslaught of applicants.
“We’re in for applying (for a grant), 100%,” said Eric Lemonides, co-owner of Almond, which debuted on Royal Poinciana Way in early February 2020.
The Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) was authorized in March as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and provides grants to food-related businesses hit hard by the pandemic, including restaurants, bars and caterers.
It’s run by the federal Small Business Administration, which this past Wednesday announced grant applications would be accepted starting Monday via a special online SBA portal (restaurants can also use certain point-of-sale systems they’re already familiar with). Registration began Friday.
Palm Beach Daily News
The recent opening of a wine bar has prompted town staff to revisit the zoning code s clause on permitted use in the commercial district that includes South County Road and Royal Poinciana Way.
The Planning and Zoning Commission last month decided to seek an end to the permitted-use clause for bars and restaurants to ensure they have the approval of the Town Council in order to open.
Zoning Director Wayne Bergman told the March 16 commission meeting that Le Bar a Vin, which opened in December at 380 S. County Road, surprised residents, many of whom did not realize the business could open without council approval.
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