NPB a Planned community (All Florida Magazine) 3-9-58HE prevailing southeasterly breeze
which blesses Florida's famed Gold
Coast with an incomparable year 'round
climate rustled through 4,000 acres of
bull grass and scrub palms. This was a
;lay two years ago *hen Richard E. and
Herbert A. Ross stood on a spot of high
land. and looked eastward toward :the
waters of Lake Worth over part of a
multimillion dollar real estate purchase.
It has since become one of the most
talked -about planned communities in
the world.
Imbued with an unshakeable faith in
the area's future, in spite of the admoni-
tions of less venturesome developers, the
Ross brothers had already decided that
their village of North Palm Beach was
going to be "a planned community of
fine homes."
Located eight miles north of West
Palm Beach, the village was incorpor-
ated by legislative act on Aug. 13, 1956.
A $11/2 million water treatment and sew-
age disposal system, the first one com-
pleted in Palm Beach county, was con-
structed. A beautiful village hall, costing
$125,000, was erected. An 18 -hole golf
course included in the original land pur-
chase was refurbished and the stately
clubhouse on the grounds was com-
pletely remodeled. Streets, water mains
and sewer lines were laid in -the first plat
of the new village. An experienced vil-
lage manager was employed.
All of these things were done before,
a single homesite was sold.
Realizing that good schools are an
integral part of a good community, 10
acres of land with an assessed value of
'I By HENRY J. CONNOR
cornrnunit�
$96,000 were donated to the Palm Beach
County Board of Public Instruction by
the developers and accepted _ as a site for
a new $294,000, 16 -room elementary
school.
Junior high school students can attend
the new Riviera Beach Junior High
School only three miles away, and when
the new Riviera Beach Senior High'
School is constructed under plans al-
ready formulated by the County Board
of Public Instruction, senior high stu-
dents in North Palm Beach will have
one of -the finest 'of school facilities.
Acomplete zoning plan to eliminate
any possibility of "hit and miss" growth
was adapted by the village council in
August 1957, providing for a limited
commercial district along U. S. Highway
One, a neighborhood commercial district
to take care of a huge shopping center
of 24 stores to be completed by Novem-
ber, limited multiple -family dwelling dis-
tricts, a village marina area for -boating
enthusiasts, and one general industrial
district to provide for a boat repair fa-
cility. The rest of the land is zoned one -
family residential.
More than half of the 5,500 village
homesites will be located on waterways
which surround the village and on two
artificial lakes Wvithin it. Florida's famed
Intracoastal waterway ;borders the vil=
lage on, the north,. the. Eaf man River
(widened to 100 feet and deepened to , 6
feet) is on the south, a North Palm Beach
Canal linking the two lies on the west,
and'beautiful Lake Worth is on the e; qt.
North Palm Beach residents are only a
few minutes from the Atlantic Ocean via
Lake Worth and the Palm Beach Inlet.
An indication of how enthusiastically
homesites have been received is . con-
tained in the annual report of new home
construction in the village for 1957, just
released by L. E. Dickerson, building of-
ficial.
New home permits for the year totaled
152 and represented a valuation of $2,-
534,280. Since construction started in
North Palm Beach in Ottober 1956, per-
mits for 194 homes, completed or under
construction, have been granted for a
total value of $3,263;593.
Drainage in the.new village was given
a severe test in an early January. nor' -
easter which buffeted Florida's southeast
coast .for 60 hours. The run-off of heavy
rains left streets "high, dry and undam-
aged" -=-a municipal rarity and a tribute
to the engineering skill of the developers.
In a recent survey of water treatment
and sewage disposal facilities in the
state, representatives of the U. S. Public
Health Service hailed the North Palm
Beach facilities as the "finest and most
efficient" in their tour of inspection.
Believing that it is more practical and
economical to provide for the solution of
municipal problems before they arise,
North Palm Beach already has a more
complete governmental set-up than the
vast majority of larger communities in
the United States,
This is truly Florida living at its fin-
est. But, more than that, North Palm
Beach represents engineering and neigh-
borhood planning at its national best.