Officials from Century Village near West Palm Beach say a homeless encampment has taken over part of the Reflection Bay construction site, resulting in multiple car burglaries at the senior community of nearly 8,000 condominiums.
Security recordings indicate that people living in the encampment climbed over fences on the Century Village property to commit the burglaries, said Fausto Fabbo, president of United Civic Organization, the umbrella organization that oversees the different condominium complexes.
Fabbo said another person from the encampment was seen carrying a machete in the Southampton section of Century Village, which is on Haverhill Road near Florida’s Turnpike.
The alleged car burglaries occurred at the Greenbrier, Kingswood, and Bedford buildings. Century Village has already increased patrols at the condo buildings that abut Reflection Bay, which was an active golf course until 2009 and will soon become the site of more than 600 townhomes.
In July 2022, the developer D.R. Horton and an affiliate of Kolter Group paid $36.9 million for the parcel, and then scaled back what would be built to gain community support for the project. D.R. Horton is expected to build the townhomes.
Century Village manager says more than 20 people living in encampment
Additional cellular cameras have been purchased by Century Village. Fabbo has called on the developer to provide its own security at the site and repair the existing construction fences at the parcel’s perimeter.
Don Foster, the community manager at Century Village, said he went to the construction site and found at least 10 tents housing more than 20 people.
“We brought this to everyone’s attention because of the crimes committed,” Foster said. “We believe the encampment has been there for a few months. We feel for these people. They have nowhere to go, but this has become a safety issue for our residents.”
Efforts to obtain comment from Kolter were unsuccessful.
Bulldozers and dump trucks were at the site on June 11, leveling the 57-acre parcel. The encampment was shut down.
A spokesperson for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said the people at the encampment were offered services by the agency’s homeless intervention team and that some of them have been relocated to shelters.
Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Homeless encampment near Century Village has been shut down
Reporting by Mike Diamond, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
