Homes in the 33496 zip code are located between 441 and Military Trail, north of Yamato Road to the Delray line. Neighborhoods in this area include Long Lake Estates, St. Andrews, The Oaks, Woodfield Country Club, Newport Bay Club, Boca Gardens, Broken Sound, Whisper Walk, The Polo Club, Lakeridge and Seasons.
The Oaks is a gated family community with a large clubhouse and pool, 12 court tennis center and luxurious spa. Students go to Sunrise Park Elementary School, Eagles Landing Middle School and Olympic Heights Community High. Bordering Clint Moore Road between 441 and Lyons Road, it is close to shopping and dining.
The Mediterranean style home on a corner lot at 17961 Villa Club Way sold for $895,000. It has 4 bedrooms and 4.2 bathrooms in 4146 sq feet of living space. The large kitchen is open to the family room and has a wall oven and extra big island. The master bedrooms is on the first floor and overlooks the backyard. Situated on almost 1/3 acre, there are views of the lake, a screened in patio and an oversized pool. The home was built in 2005 for $933,881.
17808 Key Vista Way sold for $920,000. It has 5 bedrooms and 4.1 bathrooms in 4679 sq. feet of living space.
17802 Lake Azure Way sold for $810,000. It has 5 bedrooms and 4.2 bathrooms in 4404 sq. feet of living space.
18019 Lake Azure Way sold for $750,000. It has 3 bedrooms and 3.2 bathrooms in 3390 sq. feet of living space.
17841 Villa Club Sold for $610,000. It has 4 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms in 3183 sq. feet of living space.
The Polo Club is a gated community and exclusive country club. Owners must purchase an equity interest in the club. The club features 2 championship golf courses, a new 145,000 square foot clubhouse, 29 tennis courts, spa and community pool. There are also multiple dining options, a fitness center and playground. The Polo Club is located on Military Trail north of Clint Moore.
The beautiful ranch home at 17111 Huntington Park Way sold for $835,000. It has 3 bedrooms and 3.1 bathrooms in 2805 sq. feet of living space. There is an open floor plan and tall ceilings. The kitchen has stainless steel appliances and lots of counter space. The backyard boasts an in ground pool and spa overlooking the lake. There is also a screened in porch. The bathrooms have all been beautifully renovated. Built in 1988, it was last purchased in 2011 for $525,000.
5322 Ascot Bend sold for $680,000. It has 3 bedrooms and 4 full bathrooms in 3557 sq. feet of living space.
17637 Ashbourne Lane C sold for $645,000. It has 3 bedrooms and 2.1 bathrooms in 2438 sq. feet of living space.
St. Andrews Country Club, a gated community, boasts an expansive clubhouse with basketball courts, a large pool, and tennis courts. There is a large recreation and aquatic center as well as 2 golf courses. There is a mandatory golf membership which requires a non refundable initiation fee. The club also offers dining and catering venues. St. Andrews Country Club is located on Clint Moore Road west of Jog Road.
The gorgeous home at 17938 Lake Estates Drive sold for $775,000. It has 4 bedrooms and 5.1 bathrooms in 4456 sq. feet of living space. A long circular drive leads to a grand entrance. The kitchen opens to the family room and air-conditioned sun room. The master suite boasts his and hers bathrooms. A large pool and patio are situated on a private and lush backyard. Built in 1994, the home was last purchased in 1997 for $875,000.
6972 Queenferry Circle sold for $504,900. It has 4 bedrooms and 3.1 bathrooms in 4382 sq. feet of living space.
Other neighborhoods:
6520 NW 40th Court in Woodfield Country Club sold for $725,000. It has 5 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms in 3637 sq. feet of living space.
2386 NW 59th Street in Bermuda Run (Broken Sound) sold for $754,500. It has 4 bedrooms and 4.2 bathrooms in 3791 sq. feet of living space.
6532 NW 32nd Terrace in Seasons sold for $725,000. It has 4 bedrooms and 4 full bathrooms in 3045 sq. feet of living space.
5497 NW 23rd Avenue in Water Oak sold for $700,000. It has 5 bedrooms and 5.1 bathrooms in 4864 sq. feet of living space.
3164 St. Annes Drive in Hamptons sold for $665,000. It has 4 bedrooms and 3.1 bathrooms in 2918 sq. feet of living space.
5809 NW 25th Terrace in Bay Isle sold for $599,000. It has 3 bedrooms and 4 full bathrooms in 2811 sq. feet of living space.
6529 Somerset Circle in Somerset sold for $522,500. It has 5 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms in 3637 sq. feet of living space.
Month: December 2015
Restaurant Inspection Report: Not Terrible
It wasn’t a terrible week for inspections in and around West Boca. The worst in total number was Utopia Bagel (Boca Lyons Plaza) with 15 total violations, including 5 marked high priority.
- Employee touching ready-to-eat food with their bare hands – food was not being heated as a sole ingredient to 145 degrees F or immediately added to other ingredients to be cooked/heated to the minimum required temperature to allow bare hand contact. Establishment has no approved Alternative Operating Procedure. – fresh vegetables being sliced for immediate service using bare hands. **Warning**
- Employee washed hands with no soap. – after handling cash at point of sale employee placed fingertips under handsink water for “less than 1 second” then dried on a soiled terry cloth towel. **Warning**
- Food-contact surfaces not sanitized after cleaning, before use. Do not use equipment/utensils not properly sanitized. – wood topped prep tabled have accumulation of soil / debris. **Warning**
- Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. – REACH IN COOLER – (Front Display Cooler) deli ham 48° deli turkey 51° cream cheese salmon smear 48° potato salad 63° cole claw 54° AMBIENT TEMPERATURE 39° **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
- Vacuum breaker missing at hose Bibbs or on fitting/splitter added to hose bibb. – at rear exterior mop sink. **Warning**
They’ve had good inspections in the past, and this one is not terrible compared to many we’ve seen. One off inspection like this would not deter us from eating there.
Just behind in number was the TooJay’s in Regency Court (aka Woodfield Plaza), with 14 violations including 5 high priority and a “stop sale” order:
- Employee failed to wash hands beforechanging gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food.
- Employee switched from working with raw food to ready-to-eat food without washing hands.
- Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. – FRONT COUNTER (Display Case) shrimp salad 46° potato salad 46° Hummas 47° AMBIENT TEMPERATURE 46° (Display Case 2) salmon 53° tongue 52° corned beef 51° beef risked 52° tongue 52° roast beef 50° potato pancakes 52° Knishes 53°
- Stop Sale issued on potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food due to temperature abuse.
- Vacuum breaker missing at hose bibb or on fitting/splitter added to hose bibb. – at mop sinks
TooJay’s had a follow-up inspection the same day with only one minor violation. Their previous inspections have also been pretty good.
Hashi Sushi Thai (Shadowood) had 10 total violations, but only one was high priority – the vacuum breaker. This is actually much better than the 24 violations they had in September, and the 8 high priority violations in March.
Oba Brazilian (SW 18th near Powerline) had 7 violations with only one high priority. The report shows a few outstanding problems that have not been fixed despite previous reports requiring fixes, including the vacuum breaker and issues with the outdoor garbage area.
On the positive side, some of the restaurants and cafes inside the Polo Club community were inspected and did well, including their Bistro with a perfect inspection.
We also see a licensing inspection for a new “Crepe Cafe” in Royal Palm Place in East Boca. They had only one minor violation.
Fresh Bites Cafe in Mission Bay (next to Padrino’s) had a pretty good inspection with 5 violations (1 high priority). Zinger’s on Beracasa had 3 violations with 2 high priority.
As usual our spreadsheet for the week is below:
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/allinsp-12-7-2015.pdf”]
Teacher Sold Grades and Community Service Hours?
We received a tip this morning that a teacher from West Boca High was suspended for selling community service hours to students. That led us to reach out to our readers as well as to the school district and we learned more.
Before we get into the details we remind our readers that West Boca High was already an excellent school and that every school has problems. We’ve reported previously that the school is moving forward with a new principal and a new performing arts academy. From what we can see Principal Sommer is working overtime to fix inherited problems while also giving the school better overall direction.
But with that said, a teacher was removed from West Boca High this past summer. A reader forwarded us this message from Principal Sommer, sent around 12:30 pm today (after we had contacted him and the district):
Last summer, the School District’s Office of Professional Standards began an investigation into a teacher from West Boca Raton High. That investigation is still ongoing, so I am unable to share any details, but I assure you that we are taking the matter seriously. The teacher was reassigned to another location where there is no contact with students, and has not been on West Boca’s campus this school year.
The district has confirmed what our sources told us, that the teacher involved is John Critelli. He taught science, including anatomy in the medical academy. We do not have firm confirmation about the accusations against him.
Multiple sources told us it was about the teacher selling community service hours to students. These hours are important for students for a variety of reasons. From the district’s guide:
Students of the Palm Beach County School District are required to obtain a minimum of 20 community service hours to graduate from high school. Community service is also a requirement for many scholarships (i.e. Bright Futures) and college entrance programs.
In addition to the hours, another source tells us that the teacher is also being investigated for selling grades. While we consider this particular source to be well informed, we have only heard that detail from the one source.
It is unclear why the district is taking so long to investigate what seem like straightforward allegations. Either an innocent man is having his reputation damaged unnecessarily, or taxpayer money is being wasted.
From LinkedIn, Critelli is a 2009 graduate of SUNY Potsdam in northern New York State and he either has or is working on a PhD at FAU. He started teaching at West Boca High in 2009, and worked actively with students in a variety of clubs. He has generally positive ratings as a teacher on the Rate My Teachers website.
This positive student review is oddly timed in August of this year after he had already been removed, and the last bit is just weird:
Critelli is one of the best teachers I have ever had. He helps you out so much, no matter who you are. He’s harder on you if he sees you have potential but don’t take advantage of that. He helped me through my first year of high school and even when I went to homeschooling, he kept in touch and made sure I was doing okay. If you have him, I will consider you lucky, just don’t get on his bad side!
Most of his positive reviews are from a few years ago. On the other hand he received a few negative reviews in the last couple years.
May 2015: I am not gonna lie. He sucks. I can’t stand how rude and disrespectful he is. He finds favorites & ignores everyone else. He won’t acknowledge you no matter how smart you are. He thinks he’s always right but he isn’t. He might be a little funny sometimes but most of the time, the “funny” things he says are incredibly rude. He thinks he’s doing us a favor by making us learn on our own but no, as a freshman teacher, he has to guide us through how high school will work, not throw all the work at us.
March 2015: As a person, he is great. He’s fun and friendly. But he has a way of making sure he’s always right. He is kinda a hypocrite and wants students to feel open in his class but then yells at them for asking a question. Doesn’t review with us at all and then throws a huge test on us and blames it on us when we don’t do well.
May 2014: His favoritism with some of his students is deplorable and annoying. He is bipolar and enjoys tricking his students. His favorite thing to say to students is “cry me a river”(in a condescending/sarcastic way).
West Boca High has taken a few hits in the last year, with the biggest being the former principal’s plagiarism scandal that led to his removal.
We are optimistic that Principal Sommer will steer the school through these issues and make WBHS an even better school than it already is.
West Boca Congressional District Lines: Deutch and Frankel
The Florida Supreme Court has ruled on challenges to congressional district lines. For statewide coverage you can read more in the Miami Herald. Meanwhile Sunshine State News reports that Ted Deutch and Lois Frankel will switch districts under the new plan.
As we read the Florida Supreme Court’s opinion, the district lines for West Boca (Districts 21 and 22) will follow the “CP-1 plan” (“Coalition Plaintiffs”):
The trial court found that CP-1 … was preferable with respect to Districts 21 and 22. … CP-1 creates a more tier-two compliant configuration of the two districts. … Compared to the Legislature’s proposal, Districts 21 and 22 in CP-1 are more visually compact. … CP-1 also keeps the cities of Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, and Lantana whole within District 21, and keeps Deerfield Beach whole within District 22, whereas those municipalities are split in the Legislature’s proposal.
We were able to combine district maps with Google Maps to create a clearer view of the lines locally. Here’s how it looks for West Boca (extending a bit into East Boca):
The area in green, mostly west of the Turnpike and north of the Boca-Delray line, is in District 21. The area in pink, east of the Turnpike and south of Delray, is in District 22. There is a small area in zip code 33496 where the line gets weird, splitting up both the St. Andrews Country Club and the Polo Club communities.
Most of St. Andrews will be in District 21 with a small and oddly shaped sliver on Clint Moore going to District 22. For Polo Club the northwest section goes to District 21. The east section goes to 22 except for another oddly shaped section on the Delray line that goes to 21.
Congressman Deutch, who lives in Boca Falls at the far west end of Glades Road – District 21 – plans to run for the seat in District 22. Florida does not require its representatives in Congress to live within their district, but many politicians in this situation choose to move into the district. We would not be surprised to see him move somewhere east of the Turnpike.
Below are additional images and documents for the new district lines.
District lines for Palm Beach and Broward
PDF of the CP-1 district lines for all of southeast Florida. We did not review the Supreme Court decision for anything other than Districts 21 and 22, so we’re not sure if the rest of these apply.
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/CoalitionCP1_Regional_Southeast_8x11.pdf”]
New Theater on 441 in Parkland
The Marquee Theater Company also performs at West Boca High School, but they have upcoming shows in Parkland, just south of the county line. From their press release:
“Songs for a New World” is the first musical from Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown. This moving collection of powerful songs weaves together characters and history, examining life, love, and the choices we make; ultimately illuminating the timelessness of self-discovery. A powerful diverse cast and a supercharged, well-crafted score appeal to old and new generations alike as each character — in their own way — takes hold of that one moment that alters their path and brings them into “a New World”. Marquee plans on raising the bar and heightening the caliber of this contemporary song style by adding the element of Dance to tell each characters story.
“Songs for a New World” stars vocalists (alphabetically) Jordana Forrest, James Giordano, Leah Sessa, and Elijah Word. “Songs” also includes featured dancers (alphabetically) Taurean DeVou, Jonathan Eisele, Alissa Kane, Abi Perl, Ben Solmor, and Emily Tarallo. Directed and Choreographed by Co-Founder, Vice President, and Artistic Director Ben Solmor, and Musically Directed by Phil Hinton and Paul Reekie.
The Marquee Theater Company’s production of “Songs for a New World” runs December 11th through December 20th. Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm with Sunday matinees at 2pm.
The Marquee Theater Company’s production of “Songs for a New World” will be performed at the newly renovated Next Level Performing Arts Black Box Theater, 7533 N. State Road 7, Parkland Florida 33073. Located on US-441 just North of Hillsboro in The Waterways Shoppes. Single seats are $28; industry tickets are $25; and student tickets are $18 (with valid I.D. at the door).
Tickets are available for purchase at the door, online at www.marqueetheatercompany.com or by phone at (954) 464 – 8249.
Doors open at 7:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays at 1:30pm for our Sunday matinees.
