By Dan Moffett
    
    The hostilities between the town of Gulf Stream and two litigious residents appear destined to get a whole lot more hostile in the weeks ahead.
    And the case the town is preparing against Martin O’Boyle and Christopher O’Hare could ripple through dozens of communities across the state.
    Gulf Stream commissioners have given unanimous approval to a legal strategy that will invoke the federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) statute against O’Boyle and O’Hare, alleging they have engaged in a pattern of behavior intended to intimidate, harass and force settlements from public officials and governments.
    Beyond Gulf Stream, town officials say, the class-action RICO suit will allege that O’Boyle used a group he founded called the Citizens Awareness Foundation to generate settlements from frivolous public records suits across the state — in communities such as Fernandina Beach, Miami, Bradenton, Cutler Bay and Miami Lakes.
    “We thought this was about a feud in Gulf Stream,” said Mayor Scott Morgan. “But we learned it was a lot more.”
    Commissioners unanimously approved hiring a team of outside lawyers that includes Gerald Richman, a prominent West Palm Beach attorney, who will spearhead the federal RICO case.
    Richman told the commission that O’Boyle and his Citizens Awareness Foundation had used a “scorched-earth strategy” against Gulf Stream and many other communities.
    “We’re well familiar with their tactics,” he said.
    Said Morgan: “All the talk about open public access and white knights on chargers helping the common man is nonsense. This has all been about money.”

‘Volume of cases’ described
    O’Boyle founded Citizens Awareness in 2013 and Joel Chandler served as its executive director until the relationship soured after a few months earlier this year. A longtime advocate for Florida’s public records laws, Chandler says he quickly became disillusioned with how CAF was run.
    “I thought the foundation as originally presented to me would be a wonderful resource for open government across the state,” Chandler said. “What it ended up being is nothing more than a scheme to generate lawsuits for The O’Boyle Law Firm.”
    Chandler said he had a quota of 25 public records lawsuits per week to fill and, though he recommended other attorneys, O’Boyle insisted that all the work be done at The O’Boyle Law Firm.
    “The money was in the sheer volume of the cases,” Chandler said. “A lawyer could use a template and file a suit in 15 minutes. We filed hundreds of cases. The typical settlement started at $5,000. It all adds up to millions in legal fees.”
    Fernandina Beach paid $5,000 to settle a lawsuit with Citizens Awareness this year. Miami Lakes paid $2,000. Cutler Bay paid $2,250.
    In February, Citizens Awareness sued the city of Miami over a dispute about Mayor Tomas Regalado’s records. The complaint was signed by Marrett Hanna, a lawyer with The O’Boyle Law Firm who is the wife of attorney Mark Hanna, who represents O’Hare. Though O’Boyle and O’Hare filed most of their complaints individually, the town’s federal case will argue they often acted together.
    Chandler said he wanted to work with Gulf Stream, meet with Town Manager William Thrasher, and work out the foundation’s differences over public records.
    “O’Boyle was adamant that we wouldn’t do that,” Chandler said. “Marty said we’ll sue and that is all we do.”
    After Chandler resigned his $120,000 -a-year job at Citizens Awareness in June, O’Boyle sued him, alleging he had misused the group’s funds. O’Boyle did not return calls seeking comment for this story but has maintained his goal is to promote transparency in government.

Suit greeted with applause
    Gulf Stream has already spent about $370,000 since January in the legal fight against O’Boyle and O’Hare, and billable hours are likely to skyrocket with a new stable of lawyers onboard.
    Besides Richman, the town hired a team of three Broward County lawyers who specialize in laws governing sober houses — a business venture O’Boyle says he is planning in the town.
    Morgan says Gulf Stream has no choice but to defend itself, and if it can win the RICO case, the town can collect attorneys’ fees and triple damages from O’Boyle and O’Hare.
    “In my opinion, the town of Gulf Stream has suffered enough,” Morgan said. “The town has been expending funds, and time and resources and morale, and the difficulties of hiring and retaining employees as the result of the scandalously malicious and frivolous lawsuits and public records requests by Mr. O’Hare and Mr. O’Boyle. I think it’s time for the madness to stop.”
    Between them, O’Boyle and O’Hare have filed dozens of lawsuits in the state and federal courts against Gulf Stream, as well as more than 1,500 public records requests with the town. The two have joined in at least one of those suits. O’Boyle and O’Hare have both accused the town of being unwilling to negotiate a settlement.
    “It’s disappointing and unfortunate when a town sues one of its citizens,” said Mitchell Berger, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who represents O’Boyle. “It’s unfortunate it has come to that over such a matter as public records.”
In September, O’Boyle told the commission he was prepared to “cost the town a million dollars” in legal fees, if commissioners did not negotiate with him. He did not attend the October meeting, saying he was out of town, but had an associate deliver a letter to Morgan.
    “In connection with the proposed RICO action, Mr. O’Boyle wishes to provide the commission with a warning that any such launch will be met with an unfriendly response,” the letter said. “Mr. O’Boyle reminds the commission that the mayor has been inviting a fight for some time now. Mr. O’Boyle further reminds the commissioners, that should they decide to embark upon and support the mayor’s grand battle, the likely result will be the demise of Gulf Stream.”
    O’Hare told the commission that filing a federal case ensures a long and expensive battle: “I bet you $5 million from now, it’s still going on.” He urged the commission to settle.
    “RICO is for criminal activity, O’Hare said. “I didn’t know it was a crime to ask for public records.”
O’Hare said he didn’t know about Citizens Awareness until recent weeks and is unaware of the group’s activities. He said he only filed one lawsuit jointly with O’Boyle but did use The O’Boyle Law Firm.
“Mr. Morgan’s claim that this is all about money is simply not true,” O’Hare said. “There is no profit to be had by asserting your right to a public record in court.”
    He told commissioners they will cost the taxpayers millions in legal fees on the RICO strategy: “And it’s not your money.”

    A cluster of 20 residents at the October meeting broke into applause over the commission’s decision to file suit in federal court.
    “I don’t usually agree with what Mr. O’Hare says, but he did say something with which I fully agree,” resident Anthony Graziano told the commission. “It is our money. And we would like you to spend it fighting these gentlemen.”
    Morgan said the RICO action allows the town to settle many disputes in one case.
    “We can either take the approach of defending these individual cases as they come in and bleed to death by a thousand cuts,” he said, “or we can take steps necessary to stop those cases by advancing this case. From the evidence that I’ve seen, it’s a conspiracy of sorts to advance actions that essentially do nothing other than shake down municipal agencies.”

Waves from Hurricane Sandy damaged many seawalls in Manalapan. This photo taken Oct. 30, 2012,

shows the Arcaini estate (left) and its adjoining lot. The musician Yanni’s estate, right,

lost its seawall and had damage to the swimming pool and home.

File photo/The Coastal Star

By Thomas R. Collins

    New Age musician and Manalapan resident Yanni has spent the last couple of years touring the globe on his World Without Borders Tour, performing soaring, soothing and mysterious numbers like Aria and Swept Away.
    But in the world offstage, borders are all too real — and when they’re crossed, there can be trouble.
    Yanni doesn’t have to look far for this to be apparent — it’s just as far as his own back yard.
    The waves from Hurricane Sandy crashed into Manalapan’s coastline in October 2012, taking out the superstar’s seawall, destroying his pool and causing damage to his $11 million home on South Ocean Boulevard.
    The seawall of his neighbor, Tonio Arcaini, also was lost to the storm — and it was lax maintenance of Yanni’s seawall that led to that failure, according to a lawsuit that is nearing trial.
    The suit again raises questions about the need for the town to set regulations on seawall maintenance.
    The corporation that owns the Arcaini home, 1260 Manalapan Properties, is suing the owner of the property next door, the John Y. Christopher trust, for the cost of the seawall’s reconstruction.
    The suit contends that water slipped through the Yanni seawall, and some of it ended up behind the Arcaini wall, causing it eventually to bow outward and fail.
    Kevin Richardson, the West Palm Beach attorney who represents the Arcainis, said the bill to repair the seawall and replace lost land was $375,000. Tonio Arcaini has real estate interests in Europe and owns companies that, among other things, market natural food products.
    The Christopher trust — Yanni’s real name is John Y. Christopher — has filed a countersuit, saying it was actually the Arcaini wall that was the culprit and caused the Yanni seawall to fail, along with the pool and house damage, said its attorney, F. Bryant Blevins of Miami.
    Richardson said that the lack of maintenance of the Yanni seawall was evident.
    “There were holes and cracks in this seawall that got worse and worse over time,” he said. “This is kind of like a cavity in a tooth — if you leave a cavity in a tooth, over time it’s going to get bigger and bigger.”
    The Yanni seawall received $2,750 worth of work to patch holes in 2008, and that is all the maintenance that was done between the time Yanni bought the house in 1998 and the day Sandy hit, according to maintenance documents Richardson said he has received.
    The Arcainis spent $85,000 to refurbish and strengthen their seawall when they bought their home in 2009, Richardson said.
    “There were no holes in my client’s seawall,” he said. The Arcainis also own a home at 1280 S. Ocean, which is not adjacent to the Yanni seawall — and did not suffer any damage although it was similarly constructed and maintained, he said.
    Blevins, the Christopher trust attorney, said the work that the Arcainis did to their seawall is not significant.
    He said he has testimony from the firm that did the work that “it was more aesthetic than functional. Their wall on the inside was just like ours,” Blevins said.
    Moreover, the damage sequence is the other way around, he said — the failure of the Arcaini seawall led to the failure of the Yanni seawall.
    “We have photographs of the plaintiff’s wall failing first,” he said.
    He added that the sheer strength of the storm was such that seawalls of all kinds failed.
    “It’s a superstorm, so if you look at the coastline, all types of walls failed,” Blevins said. “It was a storm of such magnitude that new walls failed, old walls failed, et cetera. Just as you’d expect from a storm of that strength.”
    Yanni himself has not had much of a role in the litigation — the main contact person has been his sister, Anda Allenson, who represents the Christopher trust. Richardson has not listed Yanni as a witness whom he plans to call to trial, but said he is pursuing a deposition from the musician because he believes he was at the home at the time and would like to get his account.

Backing off regulation
    The town of Manalapan has struggled with how much it wants to get involved in ensuring that oceanfront seawalls are properly maintained. It oversaw maintenance and repair for more than 50 years until 2003, when complaints over $1.8 million in repair cost assessments led town officials to leave maintenance up to individual homeowners.
    Then, after Sandy hit and its storm surge took out a dozen seawalls, commissioners revisited the idea, only to abandon the concept nine months after the storm when residents complained the approach would be too costly. The regulations would have required that seawalls more than 2 years old, including those on the Intracoastal Waterway as well as the ocean, be certified by an engineer as capable of withstanding a storm as strong as Hurricane Andrew.
    Some of the discussion of the issue has revolved around the ripple effects failing seawalls could have on the town as a whole — potentially making homes uninsurable and driving down purchase prices and property values.
    Former Town Commissioner Donald Brenner, an engineer by training who oversaw the review of possible regulations, said that the lawsuit that is now playing out between Yanni and the Arcainis is an example of why more oversight is needed, likening regulations to a national defense.
“Oversight of structures that have an effect on the overall community requires governments to act sensibly,” he said. “Sometimes it might not look like it’s good for you, but sometimes it’s the best way to do it. We can’t have each state have an army.”
    Mayor David Cheifetz said that after Sandy “it was our contention that the reason the seawalls failed was because they were in different states of repair.” But the reaction to regulations was resoundingly negative, he added, and that is unlikely to change.

By Mary Thurwachter
    
    The director of sales and marketing for The Carlisle Palm Beach and her husband have been charged with money laundering, organized fraud and grand theft.
    Lantana police arrested Natasha Deonath and her husband, Rodney Jagessar, of Lake Worth, last month after Deonath’s employer accused her of stealing $104,000 from the business.
    According to the police report, Lantana police got a call on Oct. 6 from Justin Brown, executive director of the six-story community at 450 E. Ocean Ave. in Lantana, about an employee who was possibly stealing from the business.
Officials at the senior living facility noticed that one real estate agent was being paid for an unusually high amount of referrals.
    Carlisle officials suspected Deonath, 38, of receiving kickbacks for referrals to the senior living residence. Many of the referrals came from Realtor Glenn Gatti,  63, of Royal Palm Beach, according to the police report.
    Fourteen people listed as being referred by Gatti said they did not know him, according to the police report.
    Deonath told police that she received a salary and commission for each person who rents an apartment. Investigators determined that Gatti would receive checks for referrals to the Carlisle, but that some of the apartments were never rented and some were already occupied. Police said that Gatti would, in turn, send checks to Deonath. Some of them were endorsed by Jagessar, 41, a Lake Worth Realtor.
    When people arrived to sign leases without a real estate agent, Deonath would sign paperwork and say that Gatti had referred them, according to the police report.
    Gatti, who said he received between 30 and 40 checks, worked with the police and said he is willing to repay the Carlisle and didn’t want to lose his job, according to the police report.
    Deonath and Jagessar were released from Palm Beach County Jail after each posted a $45,000 bond.
    In a statement released after the arrests, Brown wrote:
    “We recently discovered financial irregularities that warranted further review of a certain employee at The Carlisle Palm Beach. The financial irregularities in question did not involve any resident accounts, nor has it affected the quality of services and care we provide to our residents every day.
    “We immediately conducted a full review of the matter and made the decision to contact the appropriate authorities.
“The Lantana Police Department then initiated an investigation that has since resulted in the arrest of the employee, who is now no longer employed by the Carlisle.”

By Dan Moffett

    South Palm Beach council members have come to the conclusion that it doesn’t make much sense to have term limits in a town that has trouble finding candidates willing to serve in the first place.
    “We’re not a very large town,” said Vice Mayor Joseph Flagello, “so we unfortunately have a limited pool of people to draw from who want to do this.”
    Then there is the learning curve once a council member takes office.
    “The town invests a lot of money and the council invests a lot of time, and it takes about two years to get to know what you’re doing on the Town Council,” said Councilwoman Bonnie Fischer. “The fact that we have elections every two years, I think, doesn’t give anybody elected as a novice the time to really get into what they’re doing.”
    The town charter limits council members to three consecutive two-year terms. After that, the office-holder must either sit out a term or run for mayor, if he or she wants to continue to serve.
    That all could change in March, however. The Town Council wants to put a charter amendment on the ballot for the next election that would remove all term limits and allow council members to run for as many terms as they wish.
    “I’m not a big fan of no term limits, because I think when people get into a position, it sometimes becomes more difficult for someone new to come into that position,” Flagello said. “But by the same token, the way the process is supposed to work, if someone is not doing a great job, then the people will come and not vote for that person.”
    Last March, South Palm Beach needed no election after no opponents came forward to challenge incumbents Stella Gaddy Jordan and Robert Gottlieb. Competitive races have been relatively infrequent in the town over the years.
    Fischer raised the issue of term limits during a workshop on charter changes Oct. 9. Council members considered keeping the three-term limits but increasing the terms to three years, but ultimately settled instead on eliminating limits.
    “I understand that bringing this subject up tends to look a little self-serving,” Fischer said. “But this discussion is not because we all want to stay on forever. It’s because it’s good for the town and good for the council.”
    Town Attorney Brad Biggs and Town Manager Rex Taylor have told council members the charter also could use some housekeeping to clean up outdated language and provisions.
    One recommendation is eliminating the requirement that a candidate for the town manager’s job have 10 years’ experience in municipal management. “Ten years is an unreasonable requirement,” Taylor said.
The council also is likely to eliminate term limits for town boards and change procedures for filling council vacancies.
The final lineup of charter proposals for the March ballot is scheduled to be set at the Nov. 18 council meeting.

Steven Abrams (Republican, incumbent)

Age: 55
Education: Harvard University, George Washington University Law School
Marital Status: Married,
two children
Residence: Boca Raton
Experience: Appointed to the County Commission in 2009 and was elected in 2010 unopposed; former mayor of Boca Raton; served five terms on the Boca Raton City Council. Serves as chairman of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority and vice chairman of the Coastal Oceans Task Force.
Important Issues: Restoring economic prosperity and exercising fiscal responsibility; giving constituents a voice in county government; increasing funding for road and bridge repair.
Quote: “I understand the needs of District 4. I’ve lived and worked in the district
since 1985. My wife and I have raised our
family here and I have a lengthy record of local public service.”
Website: www.electstevenabrams.com

Andy O’Brien (Democrat)
Age: 62
Education: Coursework at the University of South Florida and the University of Miami
Marital Status: Married,
one child
Residence: Delray Beach
Experience: Retired from commercial real estate consulting and
investment, general contracting.
Important Issues: Responsible budget spending; controlled development;
preserving green space; green building and combating climate change; funding more public transportation; supporting small businesses; engaging citizenry on spending; bringing government entities together to carry out taxpayers’ wishes.
Quote: “In order to meet the challenges of the future, a change in leadership is required. We must protect our environment, keep our streets safe and devise methods of mass transportation that work for Palm Beach County.”
Website: www.andyfor4.com

Maria Sachs (Democrat, incumbent)
Age: 65
Education: University of Maryland, Boston University, University of Miami (Juris Doctor)
Marital Status: Married, three children
Residence: Delray Beach
Experience: Elected to the Florida Senate in 2010, reelected in 2012. Served in the Florida House from 2006-2010. Founder and president of Women for Excellence, past president of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers, Broward Chapter, member of the women’s Chamber of Commerce and Executive Women’s Organization and NOW.
Important Issues: Property insurance; adequate education funding.
Quote: “The voters continue to elect me to this seat because I reflect their values and their priorities. Their values include a topnotch educational system that will prepare our children for a global economy. The excellence in our educational system will also attract entrepreneurs from around the world to invest in Florida’s human talent as well as our industry. Also, we cannot afford to have property insurance that is not affordable for those constituents who live along the coast.”
Website: www.mariasachs.com

Ellyn Bogdanoff (Republican)
Age: 55
Education: University of Florida, Nova Southeastern University Law School
Marital Status: Married, three children
Residence: Fort
Lauderdale
Experience: Elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2004. Was appointed House majority whip in 2006. Chair of the House Finance and Tax Council in 2008. Was elected to District 25 of the Florida Senate in 2010.
Important Issues: Improving the education system; revitalizing Florida’s economy; protecting natural resources; keeping taxes low and reducing government spending; reforming the criminal justice system; protecting children
Quote: “As somebody who was born and raised in South Florida and has lived in the district for over 25 years, I look forward to the opportunity to represent the residents of Senate District 34. I’m proud of my experience and effectiveness in the Legislature and the work I’ve done to create jobs and keep taxes low. One of the most significant pieces of legislation that I’ve passed was the anti-bullying bill, which became a model for the nation.”
Website: www.ellyn
bogdanoff.com

Bill Hager (Republican, incumbent)
Age: 67
Education: University of Northern Iowa, University of Hawaii at Manoa, University of Illinois
Marital Status: Married, two children
Residence: Delray Beach
Experience: Elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2010, re-elected subsequently; current vice chair for the civil justice and insurance and banking subcommittees; former deputy mayor of Boca Raton, seven-year member of the Boca Raton City Council
Important Issues: Reducing regulations on small businesses; cutting taxes; proponent for education.
Quote: “My No. 1 priority is continued focus on regulating sober homes, where drug-addicted individuals go when they have completed all of their medical treatment and intervention. My second priority is beaches and beach renourishment.”
Website: billhager.org and expertinsurance
witness.com

David Silvers (Democrat)
Age: 35
Education: University of Florida, University of Miami
Marital Status: Engaged
Residence: Boca Raton
Experience: President of Tekno Books LLC; serves as a trustee for the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce and as a member of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County Inc. board of directors; is a member of both the Rotary Club at Via Mizner Country Club and the Young Friends of the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.
Important Issues: Protection of coastal communities from beach erosion; revamping budget cuts and over-testing in educational system; investing in job creation and improving the economy; standing up to special interests; bringing down insurance rates; finding solutions to budget challenges.
Quote: “My goal is to get effective legislation in Tallahassee for sober homes, which are residential homes that are bought then turned into rehab facilities overnight. They’re fly-by-night and are unregulated. Also, property insurance is a huge issue in this area, specifically wind insurance. People are unhappy that their wind insurance is going up every year and we haven’t had a storm in eight years.”
Website: www.votedavidsilvers.com

Candidate Profiles: State House, District 89 | County Commission, Seat 4 | Florida Senate, District 34

By Steven J. Smith

    The polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 4, as voters across our area will once again cast their ballots for candidates, constitutional amendments and countywide questions.
    Statewide and regional races include governor and lieutenant govaernor, attorney general, chief financial officer, commissioner of agriculture, the Florida Congressional District 22 seat and the Palm Beach County School Board District 4 seat. Those candidates are:

Governor and Lieutenant Governor
Rick Scott/Carlos Lopez-
Cantera (Republican,
incumbents)
Charlie Crist/Annette Taddeo (Democrat)
Adrian Wylie/Greg Roe
(Libertarian)
Farid Khavari/Lateresa A. Jones (No Party Affiliation)
Glenn Burkett/Jose Augusto Matos (No Party Affiliation)

Attorney General
Pam Bondi (Republican, incumbent)
George Sheldon (Democrat)
Bill Wohlsifer (Libertarian)

Chief Financial Officer
Jeff Atwater (Republican, incumbent)
William “Will” Rankin
(Democrat)

Commissioner of Agriculture
Adam Putnam (Republican, incumbent)
Thaddeus Thad Hamilton (Democrat)

Florida Congressional District 22
Lois Frankel (Democrat, incumbent)
Paul Spain (Republican)

School Board District 4
Tom Sutterfield
Erica Whitfield

Three constitutional amendments and two countywide questions are on the ballot for a yes or no vote.

Constitutional Amendments
Amendment No. 1, Article X, Section 28: Water and land conservation — Funds the Land Acquisition Trust Fund to acquire, restore, improve and manage conservation lands by dedicating 33 percent of net revenues from the existing excise tax on documents for 20 years.

Amendment No. 2, Article X, Section 29: Use of Marijuana for Certain Medical Conditions — Allows the medical use of marijuana for those with debilitating diseases as determined by a licensed Florida physician.

Amendment No. 3, Article V, Sections 10, 11: Prospective Appointment of Certain Judicial Vacancies — Allows the governor to fill judicial vacancies by appointing a justice or judge from a slate of nominees.

Countywide Questions
Both questions reauthorize existing property tax
levies and do not raise taxes, according to the League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County.

Question 1: The Children’s Services Council — A “yes” vote approves continuation of its Special Taxing District status and assures the CSC has a dedicated source of funding. A “no” vote removes the CSC funding guarantee, removing certainty that the county could absorb the cost in its current budget.

Question 2: Palm Beach County School Board — A “yes” vote authorizes the School Board to continue levying a tax of $.25 per $1,000 of taxable value that funds teachers and programs such as arts, music, physical education, career and academic programs through Fiscal Year 2019. A “no” vote decreases funding for those programs.

For more information on candidates, polling places, sample ballots and more, visit www.pbcelections.org or call the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office at 656-6200.

By Tim Pallesen  
 
    The city has ordered a halt to new downtown development applications as city commissioners try to agree on new height and density limits.
    Commissioners are split over whether to limit new buildings to four floors and 30 residential units per acre — or give bonus incentives to allow a fifth floor and higher densities.
    “We’re a four-story town,” Mayor Cary Glickstein declared at an Oct. 14 workshop where three commissioners discussed proposed new downtown development regulations for the first time.
    “It’s time to show restraint,” the mayor said, receiving a standing ovation from about 40 residents in the audience.
    Commissioner Shelly Petrolia agreed with Glickstein, but Commissioner Jordana Jarjura supported the incentives.
    “The bonus program would provide exceptional development and tangible public benefits,” Jarjura said. “We will have missed an opportunity for better designed buildings.”
    Glickstein said incentives are pointless until the city knows what it wants downtown.
    “We still lack any coherent policy, other than more-is-better, that reflects who we are today, what we want in our downtown and what is the best path to get there,” the mayor said. Commissioners Adam Frankel and Al Jacquet were absent from the meeting.
Downtown developers scrambled a week before when commissioners voted 4-1 for the immediate moratorium on new applications.
    The developer of a proposed Federal Highway hotel said he raced to file an application the day before the vote. But Steven Michael, the developer of the Sundy House townhomes on Swinton Avenue, didn’t make the deadline.
    “This is putting us into a holding pattern that could really be devastating,” Michael told commissioners at the Oct. 7 meeting. He pleaded for his project to go forward if he promised to meet the proposed new regulations.
    “People didn’t know this was coming down now,” real estate broker Jim Knight said.
    Frankel and Jacquet sympathized with the developers, but Glickstein said they would “have to be dropped in from Mars to not know about the significant ongoing discussion about changes to our code.”
Developers are most concerned by a proposal to require developments of 40,000 square feet or more to set aside 5 percent of the land for public open space.

The Mar Lago Beach Club stood on the south side of the Boynton Inlet. It was torn down in 1974.

INSET BELOW: The former owners, Martha and Leon Robbins.

Photos provided

By Mary Thurwachter

    During World War II, hotels along the coast were called to duty. The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach served as a military hospital. Soldiers were stationed at the Boca Raton Hotel & Club. And at the defunct Seacrest Hotel in Delray Beach (the current site of the Delray Beach Marriott at Atlantic Avenue and A1A), volunteers kept watch 'round the clock from a faux bell tower while soldiers patrolled the beach by horseback.
    A five-room mom-and-pop motel called Mar Lago, Latin for “sea to lake,” played an important role, too. Stationed on the south side of the Boynton Inlet, the motel and neighboring marina were  located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway. There was a cottage in back for a cook and housekeeper.
    Mar Lago had been open since Leon and Martha Robbins built it in 1932. They had moved from Cleveland, Ohio, with their young sons, Bart and Lee.
    During the war, the Coast Guard held quarters at Mar Lago and free accommodations were offered to spotters who used the upstairs cocktail lounge, the Mirador room, as a lookout for the U-boats sinking freighters off the coast.
    Bart Robbins, a retired engineer, lived there between the ages of 9 and 23 — that is, when he wasn’t off at military school or college. He remembers spending some of his time fishing, although he said his younger brother Lee, who died 10 years ago, “was a more committed fisherman.”
    His most vivid memory of the five-room motel, where rooms were named for different fish, wasn’t so much what it looked like, or the people who stayed there. Rather, it was the day his dad announced the dreadful news.
    “I returned to Mar Lago for lunch on Dec. 7, 1941, and Dad told me that Pearl Harbor was attacked by the [Japanese],” Robbins, now 86 and living in Wilmington, Del., said.
    As time passed, he found himself volunteering, like so many others, for the war effort.
    “I was one of the spotters at the watch station at the inlet,” remembers Robbins, a University of Florida graduate who has been married to his classmate, Betty, for 63 years.
    “Dad was the chief of the station — as well as the Ocean Ridge mayor for 10 years. While I was on watch, I saw three U.S. tankers torpedoed off the coast. I saw fishermen, captains of then fishing boats, sailing out to rescue the U.S. merchant sailors who survived the torpedoing.”
    By then Mar Lago had already established itself as a hotspot for anglers and snowbirds alike. The motel was in the town of Boynton Beach; the seaside area where the motel stood changed its name to Ocean Ridge in 1939.
    The Robbins resort was, of course, much smaller and less flashy than the 1927 Palm Beach estate with a similar name, Mar-a-Lago. Currently a private club owned by Donald Trump, that mansion was built in 1927 for Marjorie Merriweather Post.
    After the war, the Mirador room was turned into a luxury apartment, making Mar Lago a six-room inn, Robbins said.
    Tucker Marston of Manalapan and Gates Mills, Ohio, has fond memories of Mar Lago.
    “It was wonderful and I had great times there,” he said. “I went down there many years. I would come down with my mother (Martha Robbins’ sister) and my grandfather when I was 13 or so,” Marston said. “There were no businesses on Ocean Avenue and the inlet. There was nothing there, but the fishing boats went out.”
    He stayed in one of Mar Lago’s smallest rooms, facing west. “Lee and I were close friends and Lee worked on one of the fishing boats,” he said.
    “I do remember a couple times seeing the wreckage of German ships coming up on the beach,” Marston said.
    About 18 years ago, Marston bought a home in Manalapan near the former Mar Lago site.
    “Now I live 100 yards from it,” Marston said.
    Ginger Pedersen and Janet DeVries of the Boynton Beach Historical Society, researched the inn and its owners after DeVries found an old postcard of Mar Lago. They wrote about it for the Historical Society’s blog, www.boyntonhistory.org.
    Leon A. Robbins, the researchers found, was born in Pennsylvania, grew up in Cuyahoga, Ohio, went to Yale, and even copyrighted a song. His occupation, according to the 1940 Ohio census, was “salesman.”
    By 1955, Leon and Martha Robbins retired from the motel business, sold Mar Lago and moved to Delray Beach.
    A developer had planned to tear down the motel to build a larger one, but that never happened, Robbins said. Mar Lago remained vacant until about 1974, when it was torn down to make way for Palm Beach County Inlet Park.
    Martha Robbins died around 1965. Leon Robbins was 84 when he died in Delray Beach in 1984. And Mar Lago lives on as an important slice of local history.

The corner of Atlantic Avenue and southbound Federal Highway.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Tim Pallesen  

    Federal Highway will be a traffic bottleneck in downtown Delray Beach this winter as a $12.5 million construction project continues.
    A 20-block stretch from George Bush Boulevard to Southeast 10th Street previously had three lanes of traffic in each direction. The highway reconstruction will shrink that to two lanes in each direction to make space for pedestrians and bicyclists.
    But road work won’t be finished until next July. Shopkeepers along Federal Highway are frustrated.
    “All of this should be finished by now,” said Michelle Esposito, manager of the Bethesda Bargain Box. “The season is about to start.”
    Even before the snowbirds arrive, road work this fall has caused traffic backups when only one lane remains open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
    Project manager Ted Dietz acknowledged that traffic backups can only get worse this winter. “I anticipate that the same (lane closures) will continue,” Dietz said.
    His comment came Oct. 14 in the hallway after city commissioners received an update on the construction that began last year.
    “I’m glad to hear you are on schedule,” Commissioner Jordana Jarjura told the contractor. “I’m sure people will appreciate it when it’s over.”
    City officials hope the transformed Federal Highway will slow traffic and extend Atlantic Avenue’s charm onto the busy roadway. Decorative pavers, street lights and landscaping will beautify a street geared to pedestrians and bicyclists.
    Sidewalks that were 5.5 feet wide before will be widened to 11 feet for two blocks on each side of Atlantic Avenue. A new bike lane will be 4 feet wide.  
    “I love the wider sidewalks and bike lane,” Commissioner Shelly Petrolia said.
    The city is paying 60 percent of the construction cost, with the state paying the additional 40 percent.

A group of “Pirate Princesses,” who attend Morikami Park Elementary School in Delray Beach,

pose for a photo with the owners and staff of Naked Hair Salon & More

during Trick-or-Treat Along the Avenue, which took place Oct. 25.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

    Louis De Stefano would rather not say he is resigning his seat on the Manalapan Town Commission.
    “Just say I’m retiring,” he said. “I prefer that.”
    The town’s vice mayor made the surprise announcement at the commission’s Oct. 28 meeting, saying that the demands of the office were taking a toll on his duties as CEO of Theramedix, a pharmaceutical enzyme company. And those infamous three-hour Manalapan meetings were also cutting into his yoga time.
    De Stefano’s retirement means Mayor Pro Tem Tom Thornton will take over as vice mayor and Commissioner Peter Isaac becomes the new mayor pro tem. De Stefano’s Seat 4 ocean position doesn’t come up for election until 2016, so Mayor David Cheifetz says the town will be looking to appoint a replacement to serve out the rest of the two-year term.
    “Since being elected in 2010, I have witnessed a complete turnover in personnel on this commission,” De Stefano said. “The town is fortunate to have this very competent and responsible group.”
    A 25-year resident of Manalapan, De Stefano came to office after a decade of service with the town’s library and its architecture and zoning boards.
    Former Mayor Peter Blum coaxed him to run for the seat. “He said the town couldn’t afford for me not to run,” De Stefano said.
    Because he has owned property on Point Manalapan and the oceanfront, De Stefano has been able to offer a balanced perspective on a commission that over the years has found itself divided over geography and street addresses.
    Asked about his proudest achievement as commissioner, De Stefano takes a typically broad view. “I’d say my consistency — not any one thing,” he says. “I’ve always tried to be fair with everyone.

Water floods part of the northbound lane of A1A

in front of Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa

during October’s king tides.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

    The high tides of October invaded areas of Manalapan that only torrential downpours had flooded before, giving residents and town commissioners reason to worry about the future impact of rising sea levels.
    Standing water greeted motorists on sections of Lands End Road on Point Manalapan when the king tides hit their peak, lapping up onto the lawns of homeowners.
    “This recent flooding has nothing to do with storms, but with the high tides,” said Mayor David Cheifetz. “We’re not talking about a (Hurricane) Sandy thing.”
    Town Manager Linda Stumpf said much of the recent flooding on the Point was due to swales that aren’t playing the roles they used to. Instead of relieving the buildup of water on the roadways, the swales are funneling it onto the streets. Flooding is happening more frequently because of the change in the grass slope and the inability of catch basins to keep up with the high volume of water.
    “Our swales are not acting like swales anymore. The grass and roots have grown over the years and made the swales higher over time,” Stumpf said. “On Lands End we now see grass that’s higher than the road.”
    A possible solution would be to dig up the swales, regrade them and plant new sod. Stumpf told commissioners at their Oct. 28 meeting that she would consult with Engenuity Engineering, a West Palm Beach civil engineering firm, and report on possible courses of action to the commission on Nov. 18.
    Stumpf said the state has a drainage plan in the works for sections of A1A that also flooded during the king tides.
    “We need to attempt to figure out if there’s anything we can do to minimize this situation or mitigate it,” Cheifetz said. “Because it’s a pain in the neck, and we haven’t had it before really.”
    Commissioner Chauncey Johnstone suggested it might be time for the town to begin taking a hard look at the long-term consequences of climate change and rising seas.
    “Perhaps we can do something to be proactive,” Johnstone said, “and maybe we can get a jump on this thing.”
    In other business:
    • Commissioner Peter Isaac reported that engineers’ preliminary estimate for replacing the Audubon Causeway bridge has come in at $850,000, slightly higher than projected. But he said after the bids are sent out on Dec. 7, the price is likely to drop as bidders compete against each other.
    Isaac said all the permits but one are approved, and the project is on track to begin construction by April. The Architectural Commission has agreed on a “clean and simple” design for the bridge’s railings that will keep the fabricated detailing to a minimum.
    • The newly created police discretionary fund has received roughly $24,500 from residents who want to contribute to buying equipment for the department. Commissioners have approved the creation of a committee of residents and officials to oversee how the money is spent.

By Tim Pallesen
 
    City commissioners have narrowed their search for a new city manager to five candidates, with a final selection possible as early as Nov. 7.
    The five finalists include interim City Manager Terry Stewart, whom a majority of commissioners say has proven himself capable for the permanent job.
    Stewart, who began working in Delray Beach in June, has previous experience as city manager of Cape Coral and Fort Myers Beach.
    Other finalists are:
    • Michael Woika, a Boca Raton assistant city manager since 2004. Woika, who has a civil engineering degree, has supervised utilities, public works and economic development for Boca Raton.
    • Donald Cooper, the former city manager in Port St. Lucie for 19 years. The city grew from 56,000 to 165,000 residents during that time. Cooper now works at the Torrey Pines Institute of Molecular Studies.
    • Andrea McCue, the county manager for Lancaster County, Pa., for 10 years. She previously worked in finances for R.R. Donnelley, the world’s largest printing company.
    • Roberto Hernandez, who has been deputy county administrator in Broward County and deputy city manager in Coral Springs.
    Commissioners picked Pat Salerno, a former city manager in Sunrise and Coral Gables, as an alternate candidate if one of the top five drops out. They will interview candidates on Nov. 6-7.

By Willie Howard

    Lantana officials want to restrict marijuana dispensaries to industrial sections of the 3-square-mile town if Florida voters on Nov. 4 approve the constitutional amendment that would allow marijuana use for medical purposes.
    On Oct. 27, the Town Council directed the town manager and attorney to draft an ordinance that would limit marijuana sales to areas zoned industrial and bring it back to the council for a vote on first reading by Dec. 31.
    The zoning approach was one of several options Town Attorney Max Lohman suggested for the town to begin the process of regulating medical marijuana sales.
    Lohman said regulations made before marijuana sellers set up shop would be grandfathered in, making them more difficult to challenge.
    Mayor David Stewart said the town should create restrictive regulations on marijuana sales, noting that they could be loosened later if necessary.
    “I’d like to see our regulation so tight that it’s not allowed in our town,” Stewart said.
    Council members discussed whether to impose a one-year ban on sales of marijuana in the town — a move taken by city officials in Boynton Beach and Boca Raton to give those municipalities time to draft regulations governing marijuana sales and to find out what regulations the state will impose if Amendment 2 is approved by voters.
    But councilmen Tom Deringer and Philip Aridas favored zoning restrictions instead of a ban.
    “This is a compassionate thing and a medical thing,” Aridas said, referring to the possibility of marijuana sales for medical purposes.
    Vice Mayor Lynn Moorhouse said he wants to ensure that zoning restrictions don’t forbid drug stores in the town from selling marijuana if voters approve the medical marijuana amendment.
    “I wouldn’t want to see it sold in head shops,” Moorhouse said.
    Ryan Padgett, assistant general counsel for the Florida League of Cities, said about 20 of the state’s cities and towns have adopted either moratoriums on the sale of marijuana or zoning restrictions in preparation for the possibility that voters will approve Amendment 2 on Nov. 4.  
    In other action, the council authorized the town’s Police Department to use $2,539 in forfeiture money to cover legal fees associated with seizing two cars, a 2004 Nissan Xterra and a 2000 Saturn.
    Both vehicles were used in the commission of a felony. Chief Sean Scheller said the department is training staff members to handle the legal aspects of seizures in the future to reduce the cost of taking property used in the commission of crimes.

By Mary Thurwachter
    
    The lease isn’t up for three more years, but Dune Deck Café owner John Caruso was able to persuade the Lantana Town Council to extend the popular beach restaurant’s contract until 2022.
    “It’s important for us to have that security,” he said at the Oct. 13 council meeting. “It’s a family business, and repairs are always needed.”
    Caruso agreed to pay more rent, $40,000 a year or about $20 a square foot — a fair market price, according to a rental market analysis the town paid appraisers at Anderson & Carr to complete. He had been paying about $30,000 plus sales tax.
    Caruso will continue to pay taxes, but will also pay for water and garbage. He said he plans to add restrooms, as well. Currently, his patrons have to use the public restrooms at Lantana Beach.
    “This (lack of restrooms) has been an inconvenience and a major complaint,” Caruso said when he appeared before the Lantana Town Council on Oct. 13.
    This wasn’t Caruso’s first attempt to get the town to commit to extending his lease early. He appeared before the council a year ago asking for a contract extension, even though the lease is good until the end of 2017.
    At that time, Mayor Dave Stewart said he felt the current rent was too low and not in line with what other restaurants are paying for similar space. Stewart said then he thought the town should issue a formal Request for Proposals. The council directed Caruso to meet with Town Manager Deborah Manzo to negotiate an agreement to present to the council before it made a decision about going out for RFPs.
    The two met three times since and came up with the $40,000-a-year price.
    While the council voted for the lease renewal last month, not everyone thought it was a good idea.
    “I really think we did the residents a disservice by not putting it out on RFPs,” said Stewart, who was alone in voting against the early lease renewal. “It’s not personal, John, I love the restaurant,” Stewart said to Caurso. “You’ve had 22 years over there. I don’t feel it’s responsible for the council if we don’t put it out on RFPs.”
    But Vice Mayor Lynn Moorhouse said keeping a restaurateur that has been successful for 22 years rather than taking a chance on some unknown business would better serve the town.
    Stewart said he was also concerned that the Palm Beach County Inspector General would have problems with the town for not putting the lease out for bids. But Max Lohman, the town’s attorney, said he didn’t feel that would become an issue in this case.
    Support for the Dune Deck was evident through statements from a variety of meeting-goers, from residents who said the restaurant was a community gem that attracts customers from all over the globe, to a priest who said the Dune Deck was one of the reasons he took a job at his church.
    Others said the lease needed to go out for bids.
    “I want to make sure we get a fair price,” said Erica Wald of Hypoluxo Island.

    In other action, the town recognized its Police Department for receiving accreditation by complying with 260 standards, many that are critical to life, health and safety issues.  
    “Accreditation (from the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement) is a highly prized recognition of law enforcement professional excellence,” Police Chief Sean Scheller said.
    The accreditation program manager for the Lantana police was Officer Nelson Berrios.

The new Harbor Master building at Boynton Harbor Marina.

Willie Howard/The Coastal Star

The proposed marina master plan.

Rendering provided by Boynton Beach CRA

By Willie Howard

    The Harbor Master building near the fuel docks at Boynton Harbor is almost complete, bringing a fresh look to the marina along with public restrooms, a store for boaters and a dockmaster’s office.
    The $1.6 million building is expected to be completed later this year but will be officially dedicated in February, according to the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, which owns the marina.
    The turquoise building with white trim features a chocolate-colored inside floor and will be surrounded by white paver bricks. A circular “sitting wall” under a gumbo limbo tree on the south side of the building is designed as a place for marina visitors to linger.
    New coconut palms shade the east side of the building, and a sloped lawn between the building and the fuel dock will be a “viewing lawn” where the public can watch boats passing in the Intracoastal Waterway, said David Trindade, project manager for Collage Design and Construction Group.
    The ship’s store and restrooms in the Harbor Master building will be open from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. daily, said Michael Simon, assistant director of the Boynton Beach CRA.
    Collage began work on the Harbor Master building in March, despite a lawsuit from competing contractor West Construction that sought to stop it. West was the low bidder on the Harbor Master project but was disqualified based on stipulations in the invitation to bid. West withdrew its lawsuit in June.
    Meanwhile, the CRA plans to solicit bids in December for the “waterfront open space” project near the south entrance to the Marina Village condos.
    The conceptual design calls for a landscaped promenade running along the marina boat slips, which hold private boats as well as rental boats and fishing and diving charter boats.
    Simon said the CRA has budgeted $700,000 for the open space project, including a realignment of the intersection of Casa Loma Boulevard and East Marina Way to improve traffic flow.
    Still to be decided is the fate of a vacant two-story building near the Sea Mist III drift fishing boat that was the subject of a lawsuit by Splashdown Divers, which used to operate a dive shop in the building.
    Splashdown Divers settled its lawsuit with the CRA in 2011, but owner Lynn Simmons said she still is interested in preserving the waterfront building.
    When the county gave the CRA $2 million from a waterfront bond issue for marina renovations in 2006, it restricted the redevelopment agency from making renovations that would “materially alter” the marina or otherwise eliminate uses.
    Palm Beach County’s facilities staff recommended in 2012 that the CRA be allowed to demolish the two-story building. But county commissioners have not voted on the demolition.
    Commissioner Steven Abrams, whose district covers the marina, said he is leaning in favor of the CRA’s request to demolish the building, which he said is “literally falling apart.”
    But Abrams said Boynton Beach officials need to bring their case to the County Commission for a vote.
    “I’m inclined to be supportive of the city’s position,” Abrams said.

A cemetery tour group examines a worn tombstone.

Albert Bowen died after accidently drinking poison.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star & Boynton Beach Historical Society

By Ron Hayes

    It’s not the largest gravestone in Boynton Beach Memorial Park. Not the most elaborate. Not the most expensive.
    But it is the earliest legible marker in the earliest part of the cemetery.
Albert J. Bowen
Sept. 16, 1865-Sept. 12, 1903
    “And it’s one of the sadder stories,” Janet DeVries said. “When I saw that he’d died at only 37, I wanted to find out what had happened to him.”
    On this last Saturday in October, a blue and breezy morning, DeVries, president of the Boynton Beach Historical Society, and her colleague Ginger Pedersen, its first vice president, led about 30 men and women on a “Weekend History Stroll” among the cemetery’s oldest graves.
    “In 1900, there were only 83 people in the town,” Pedersen began, “but as they died, of course, they realized they needed a cemetery.”
    The land, donated by Henry M. Flagler, was a small square of piney woods at what is now the southwest corner of Seacrest Boulevard and Woolbright Road.
    Thomas E. Woolbright (1875-1953), who came down from Centralia, Ill., and got rich planting pineapples, is resting not 200 feet from the road that bears his name.
    “There used to be big trees shading the graves,” Pedersen explained, “but they were lost to a hurricane, and in the 1950s the cemetery banned upright markers.”
    Over here most of the stones stand. Some tilt, some are windblown and hard to read, but they stand. Look to the southwest and the land, once a pine forest behind these markers, is a vast expanse of flat ground markers. This morning, two tents are waiting for funerals over there, but here there will be no more burials. These are the pioneers.
    Here lies the town’s first doctor, who came in 1925.
Nathaniel Weems
1898-1978
    “He delivered me!” one of the women tagging along called out.
    “Me, too!”
    And beside him, Dr. Weems’ son, a tiny stone for a tiny life.
 Oct. 13, 1928 — Oct. 14, 1928
    Here’s Frank Austin (1857-1927), who opened the town’s first feed store.
    And Walter Lyman (1891-1967), the first man to navigate the new Boynton Inlet in 1927. The original Lyman home of the 1880s is now Lantana’s Old Key Lime House restaurant.
    Clara White (1872-1959) was paid $2 a month to run the town library and later wrote “Boynton Happenings” for the Boynton News and Palm Beach Post.
    Somewhere around here lies Katie Andrews, whose family didn’t mark her grave.
    “She married a Confederate war veteran from Milledgeville, Ga., named Charles Andrews, who was about 60 years older than her,” Pedersen revealed. “Of course, the U.S. government didn’t give pensions to Confederate vets, but at that time the state of Florida did, and when she died in 1971, she was still getting $15 or $20 a month.”
    At the very northeast edge of the cemetery, almost to the sidewalk, you’ll find Diana Coldbrook. Her stone is nearly illegible, weather-worn and tilting. The carving is amateurish, the Cold broken on one line, brook on the next.
    A domestic, born in the Bahamas in 1898, she died here in 1930.
    “The Works Progress Administration survey and the genealogical survey of Palm Beach County indicated that the west half of the old section was for African-Americans and the east half for whites,” DeVries said. “But we noticed that the markers on the east side were mostly homemade folk markers and several said ‘Asleep In Jesus,’ which was common in African-American culture.”
    And now we have reached Albert J. Bowen, who died on Sept. 12, 1903,  at 37 — the oldest legible grave in the oldest corner of the cemetery.
    After a search, DeVries happened on the Aug. 22, 1903, edition of Guy Metcalf’s Tropical Sun newspaper, and found a headline: “Took Strychnine and Died in Agony: Tragic End of A.J. Bowen, of Boynton.”
    Born in Canada, he and his wife, Flora, came to Florida in late 1900 or so, and he found work as truck farmer. The couple and their two children lived in Joseph Freedlund’s boarding house.
    On Sept. 12, 1903, Bowen returned from the fields feeling tired and sore and drank what he thought was a dose of quinine.
    It wasn’t.
    Beneath his name and dates on the marker is a line by the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell: “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.”
    “And now we do remember him,” DeVries told the men and women gathered before his grave, “and he is not forgotten.”
    The next Weekend History Stroll  will visit the Richard & Pat Johnson History Museum at the Historical Society of Palm Beach County starting at 10 a.m. Nov. 8.
    The 90-minute tour is free, but participants are urged to sign up in advance by calling 327-4690.
    The museum is at 300 N. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, across from the Palm Beach County Courthouse.

By Jane Smith

    Stormwater runoff from agriculture areas in the west and from lawns in the eastern urban areas continues to plague the southern segment of the Lake Worth Lagoon.
    Fewer seagrass plants were found in a 2013 survey, and it looks like the same will hold true for 2014 in the southern part of that estuary, according to the county’s Department of Environmental Resources Management.
    The southern segment starts at the Lake Worth Bridge and runs south to the Boynton Inlet.
    Between 2007 and 2013, sea grass in the south section slipped 1 percentage point, dropping from 23 percent, or 1,688 acres of seagrass, to 22 percent, or 1,592 acres of seagrass.
    “In the past, we’ve done aerial surveys. But the water clarity was so poor in 2013 from the runoff of Tropical Storm Isaac in 2012 that we went to divers,” said Eric Anderson, an environmental analyst with DERM.
    The divers survey costs about $130,000, which is comparable to the aerial survey, Anderson said. “Divers tell a better story of what is going on because of the poor water clarity and small size of the seagrass plants.”
    One variety, called Johnson’s sea grass, is the first marine plant to be listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. It is a food source for manatees and sea turtles, acting like a “coastal canary” that indicates the health of the lagoon.
    “The seagrass is as an important part of our ecosystem,” said Ed Tichenor, director of Palm Beach County Reef Rescue. “The discharges from the ag area and the urban runoff water laced with herbicides and nutrients just degrades the whole environment.”  
    His group is concerned about the health of the coral reefs along the oceanfront. Because the lagoon water drains into the ocean, its poor quality hurts the reefs. “It won’t get better until there is more filtering of the runoff,” he said.
    Stormwater treatment areas are already in place in the western part of the county, Anderson said. One is set up to divert runoff from flowing into the C-51 Canal that drains into the lagoon. It holds 2,078 acre-feet of water that is filtered before flowing south into the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. (An acre-foot of water is the amount of water covering 1 acre to a depth of 1 foot, or 325,900 gallons.)
    Water managers are hoping that when the first phase of the C-51 reservoir is done that it can store 16,000 acre-feet of water to help stop more ag runoff from flowing into the lagoon via the C-51 canal.
The reservoir sits on land owned by Palm Beach Aggregates, a rock mining company, on Southern Boul-evard, west of Wellington.