Royal Palm delays Harvin Center demolition

YWCA’s home won’t be torn down until Sept. 1, council says.

ROYAL PALM BEACH — The Kevin M. Harvin Center has a little more time to stand, and a child care program has a little more time to find a new home, after the Village Council gave the facility a stay from the wrecking ball.

The Royal Palm Beach council’s unanimous decision at Thursday night’s meeting to not begin demolition until Sept. 1 came after supporters and the director of the YWCA’s Head Start program made emotional pleas to the council seeking more time in the building off Royal Palm Beach Boulevard in front of Commons Park.

Council members voted in November to demolish the aging, two-story Harvin Center in the face of mounting maintenance costs. Officials also extended the YWCA’s lease through the end of June to give children in the Head Start program time to complete the school year.

“Back in November, when it was decided that the Harvin Center would be closing on June 30, I certainly had no thoughts that I would be here tonight,” YWCA of Palm Beach County President Suzanne Turner told the council Thursday night. “Apparently I was a little bit overly optimistic.”

The program has had deals to lease new space fall through since the November vote, she said. But the process is not as simple as picking up and moving. The YWCA must give up its license and apply for a new one for its new space.

The program, which provides child care and support and education for families, has found what could be its new home — at another location in Royal Palm Beach — but it won’t be able to complete its move until the end of August, Turner said.

“This is not something we wanted to see leave the village,” Mayor Fred Pinto said. “We think it’s one of the things that makes Royal Palm Beach, Royal Palm Beach.”

Royal Palm Beach resident Deb Geller became choked up as she described what the Head Start program has done for her granddaughter.

“She attended three other schools in the area and, not to put them down, but this school loves and hugs and teaches kindness and teaches compassion,” she said. “And just the diversity in the school for 4-year-olds. You can’t compare it to anywhere else.”

The council also voted unanimously to award the contract for demolition of the Harvin Center to Almazan Construction LLC for $93,500.