By Dan Moffett

    Lawyers for the town of Gulf Stream and those representing Martin O’Boyle and Chris O’Hare continue to exchange jabs about who’s willing to make peace and who isn’t.
    O’Boyle and O’Hare have filed at least 40 lawsuits against the town over some 2,000 public records requests, claiming officials have violated the state’s Sunshine Law in one way or another.
    Robert Sweetapple, the Boca Raton attorney whom the town hired as its lead counsel, says it’s been impossible to negotiate a settlement with the two men since hostilities began in 2013.
    “It’s a little difficult to take serious any statements that these individuals want to talk and settle in light of their past conduct, and that when we tried to do that, we were immediately sued,” Sweetapple said, pointing to similar lawsuits O’Boyle has filed in New Jersey, Tennessee and around Florida.
    Shortly after an attempt to negotiate with O’Hare last year in “a confidential meeting,” Sweetapple says, The O’Boyle Law Firm filed suit against him, Mayor Scott Morgan, and Town Attorney John Randolph and his law partner Joanne O’Connor. The suit claimed the meeting was another Sunshine violation.
    “I expect that every time I speak the truth I’ll be sued for defamation,” Sweetapple told town commissioners on Feb. 12.
    Jonathan O’Boyle, Martin’s son and a Pennsylvania lawyer affiliated with the O’Boyle firm, says Sweetapple and town officials have their own version of the truth about negotiating and aren’t willing to fight in court either. Sweetapple and O’Connor insist the town is seeking trial dates for all the cases.
    “First off, the town has its pants on fire,” Jonathan O’Boyle said in an email to The Coastal Star. “They have just begun filing tons of motions to change their defensive positions in every case. If granted, this will set the clock back to (zero) and we will have to start all over again.  This is the second time they have done this. They started in 2014 and successfully played transfer games and asked the courts many times for leave to change their strategy and reset the clock. The town wants to delay, make no mistake.”
    O’Boyle disputes Morgan’s claim that the town has been willing to negotiate all along and is stipulating only that a settlement must include dropping all lawsuits.
    “This statement is blatantly false,” O’Boyle said. “Morgan has been saying drop all of your lawsuits if you want to even come to the table to negotiate.  As in, ‘I will not see you unless you disarm.’ ”  
    The town’s attorneys say they were ready to come to the table late last year, but the other side canceled at the last minute. Sweetapple says that instead of negotiating, the O’Boyles and O’Hare are responsible for sending hundreds of new public records requests by automated email to Randolph, O’Connor and their colleagues at the Jones, Foster, Johnston & Stubbs law firm.
    On Jan. 20, O’Hare appeared in Town Hall before Special Magistrate Gary Brandenburg for a code enforcement hearing over a long-running dispute with the town over a roof for O’Hare’s home.
    O’Hare asked the magistrate for a continuance, saying he needed to hire a lawyer and that stress and family issues had interfered with his preparation. After Brandenburg denied the request, O’Hare complained of chest pains and asked for medical assistance. Delray Beach emergency medical technicians responded to a 911 call and took him to a local hospital, where he was treated and released.
    “We believe that the episode that took place today was a ruse,” Town Attorney Randolph told Brandenburg, who replied that he had no choice but to postpone the hearing, for a fourth time, to March 7.
“I am slowly working through my condition,” O’Hare said. “My doctors have instructed me to avoid all town stress and stay away from Town Hall. I have tried to do just that.”
O’Hare said he will continue to battle the town. “As much as I hate all of this, these issues are bigger than me or the town. I have no choice but to fight; I consider it a civic duty to fight and you can be sure I will fight no matter what the cost to me.”
    In other business, commissioners unanimously approved a policy motion that changes the limit on public comments from five minutes to three.
    “I think most municipalities, almost all of them, allow comments in the two- to three-minute range,” Morgan said.
The change doesn’t affect agenda items, which have no time limit on comments.

By Dan Moffett

    An important compromise in the Legislature appears to have allayed opposition to a controversial bill aimed at stopping people who exploit the state’s public records laws to shake down government entities for money.
    Under changes to the proposed legislation worked out in mid-February, judges still would be required to grant attorney fees to plaintiffs in lawsuits when governments are found to have violated public records laws. However, judges also would be allowed the discretion to deny the attorney fees if the court finds a suit was intended to harass, intimidate or mislead government officials into violating the law.
    In other words, people who act in bad faith when making public records cases shouldn’t expect to win court costs and fees.
    The proposed legislation, SB 1220 sponsored by Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, comes in response to the legal wars in the town of Gulf Stream, where residents Martin O’Boyle and Chris O’Hare have filed some 2,000 requests for public records and 40 lawsuits against the government during the last two years.
    Vice Mayor Robert Ganger testified before a legislative committee in January and told lawmakers Gulf Stream needed relief from the onslaught of requests and suits that is breaking the town’s budget.
    “The court today has no discretion and because we technically didn’t comply, they awarded legal fees,” Ganger said. “It’s killing us.”
    Robert Sweetapple, a Boca Raton attorney hired by the town, in court documents has accused O’Boyle and O’Hare of “a concerted pattern of abusive conduct directed at a local government,” a charge the two men deny.
    Sweetapple says Gulf Stream’s plight is an ominous example of what could happen to other governments and public agencies anywhere in Florida.
    “Give me 10 lawyers and 10 word processors and I can shut down the entire state,” he said of the potential damage from public records abusers.
    An earlier version of SB 1220 removed the requirement that judges award attorney fees to prevailing plaintiffs, leaving it up the judge’s discretion in each case. The amended version allows the judge to grant fees and court costs if the judge finds the government or agency violated the law, and the plaintiff acted in good faith and gave five days’ notice before suing.
    Garcia said he approved the changes to his bill “to address concerns that the language will cut off access to public records.” Open government advocates argued that citizens with legitimate complaints would be reluctant to take on governments if they knew they would have to pay lawyers out of their own pockets.
    The Florida League of Cities has supported Gulf Stream and Garcia’s bill. The First Amendment Foundation and its president, Barbara Petersen, opposed the first version, arguing that it went too far in trying to rein in a “small group of people, particularly when compared to the vast majority of citizens who simply want access to the public records they seek.”
    Petersen had proposed creating a public officer to referee public records disputes between citizens and governments before lawsuits get filed, but lawmakers didn’t embrace the idea.
    Both the League of Cities and the First Amendment Foundation have expressed support for the bill’s revised version, which could come to a vote before the legislative session is scheduled to end March 11.

    Is Delray Beach sure it wants an “Urban Appalachian Trail”?
    If you have ever been on the actual Appalachian Trail, you would find that the users are hardy, backpacking, great folks who live in tents/sleeping bags, dig holes for latrines, eat prepared rations and really enjoy the outdoor life, some for a year at a time.
    Might the East Coast Greenway trail belong more in remote, unpopulated areas?
    Let the East Coast Greenway be directed to the beautiful scenery of our wildlife preserves, saving a whole lot of money, plus offering all of the open space that is really required for such a trail.
    Another location just might be along railroad rights of way, which should be perfect, as it would beautify those desolate looking areas.     
    Not sure what Resolution No 71-015 is, other than a misguided nightmare. Might there be a negative economic benefit from “long distance travelers”?
    We already have sidewalks and bike lanes in Delray Beach that have been built at great expense and serve local residents very well. Anyone who wants to go outside can already do so.
    Has the East Coast Greenway trail really been thought through?
Fred Taubert
Delray Beach

By Jane Smith

    Three former Delray Beach employees were arrested recently, charged with using a company that billed the city for goods that were never delivered, according to the State’s Attorney Office.
    The three were longtime employees with the city before they resigned last year when their departments were under investigation. In mid-February, they were charged with an organized scheme to defraud Delray Beach of more than $50,000 and grand theft of more than $100,000.
    The three men arrested are: Orlando Serrano, 46, who worked for the city for nearly 19 years and resigned his post as a traffic maintenance supervisor in March 2015; Cesar J. Irizarry, 51, who was a treatment plant operator for about 25 years before he resigned in August; and Howard Bellinger, 51, who worked for the city for about 24 years before he resigned from his post as streets and traffic superintendent in August.
    Serrano and Irizarry were released on $30,000 bond while Bellinger was released on $20,000 bond.
    Bellinger was to be arraigned March 1 and Irizarry on April 7. Serrano’s arraignment date of March 1 was canceled. A new date was not set.
    Prosecutors say the fraud occurred in this manner:
    American Traffic Products & Services Inc. provided street signs, street sign posts and diamond asphalt and concrete saw blades to Delray Beach. But the city didn’t know that Serrano and Irizarry owned and operated the company, a violation of the city’s code of ethics.
    Bellinger’s role required him to approve invoices for the streets and traffic divisions.
    The city made 59 purchases from American Traffic Products for $230,540.59 since 2007, prosecutors found. But because of record retention limits, investigators could review only purchase orders going back to Oct. 1, 2009. The amount of purchases reviewed was for $158,139.21. Prosecutors found a total loss of $133,444.87 to Delray Beach.
    The company’s address was the same as Irizarry’s home address in suburban Boca Raton, state records show. According to records subpoenaed from JP Morgan Chase Bank related to American Traffic Products, Irizarry is the company’s director and Serrano is an authorized signer and the contact person on the account.
    Bellinger is not listed in the corporate records or bank accounts of American Traffic Products.
    Between Oct. 6, 2009, and Oct. 28, 2014, the city paid $132,846.71 for sign equipment from American Traffic Products, but received only signs and posts worth $24,694.64. That resulted in a $108,152.07 loss for Delray Beach, prosecutors found.
    During that time period, Irizarry and Serrano withdrew a total of $112,920.39 from American Traffic Products’ bank account, with $51,480.39 withdrawn by Irizarry and $61,440 withdrawn by Serrano. Some of that money, $27,560, was deposited into Bellinger’s personal bank account, prosecutors found.
    Bellinger separately ordered $7,582.80 from that company on Oct. 8, 2009, for thermoplastic striping materials and reflective glass beads. The city paid for the items, which it never received, prosecutors found.
    Ten days later and through Oct. 24, 2011, Bellinger ordered the same thermoplastic striping materials, used for street markings, from Star Seal of Florida for $8,540.55. The city paid that invoice, resulting in a double payment.
    Between Oct. 7, 2010, and Feb. 13, 2014, Bellinger ordered 200 gallons of liquid road tack from American Traffic Products. The city paid $9,520, but the road tack was not delivered. During a similar time frame, Bellinger then ordered the liquid road tack from Star Seal of Florida. The city paid that bill totaling $9,535.20.
    Bellinger also ordered diamond saw blades from American Traffic Products for $7,920 between Oct. 10, 2012, and March 21, 2014. The city paid the bill, but it never received the saw blades. But between June 28, 2012, and Sept. 25, 2014, Bellinger ordered diamond saw blades from National Diamond Enterprises for $8.690.40. The city paid the bill for the saw blades that it received.
    None of the former employees could be reached for comment.

By Jane Smith
    
    Delray Beach City Commissioner Al Jacquet has his eyes on the soon-to-be-vacated state House District 88 seat, currently held by Bobby Powell Jr.
    Powell has indicated he will run for the new state Senate District 25 that was created through court-ordered redistricting.
    If Powell makes that switch, that would clear the way for Jacquet’s state run.
So far, he is unopposed for the House District that begins in Riviera Beach and ends in Delray Beach.
    Jacquet filed to open a campaign account in early January for the state House seat. He won’t have to step down from the City Commission until he files to run for that seat when qualifying opens during the third week in June.
    The City Commission then may ask for applicants to fill the remainder of Jacquet’s term. He is up for re-election in March 2017.
    Jacquet could not be reached for comment. In January, he raised $20,050 with more than 40 percent coming from builders and developers.
    He was first elected to the Delray Beach City Commission in March 2012 to fill the remainder of the term when Commissioner Fred Fetzer resigned for health concerns the previous June. Jacquet was re-elected in March 2014.
    Under the city’s charter section on term limits, Jacquet would be able to run for re-election in 2017 because he would not reach his sixth year as a commissioner until 2018. The city charter allows for him to complete that term.
    On the City Commission dais, Jacquet’s state run comes up at most meetings.
    In early February when state Sen. Maria Sachs tried to get portions of Atlantic Avenue renamed for dedicated Democrats without notifying the county, Delray Beach or their officials, city commissioners expressed outrage. Because of the outcry, Sachs pulled the renaming of Atlantic Avenue from the bill.
    Commissioner Jordana Jarjura said, “Commissioner Jacquet, when you get elected to the state, you’ll make sure that no bills go through that affect Atlantic Avenue.”
    Jacquet said, “That is why it’s important to start on the local level. You learn home rule is very important. As to the street renaming, I agree that home rule — rules.”

By Jane Smith

    A Delray Beach agency scrapped responses from two potential partners and decided to go forward alone to turn its Arts Warehouse into an arts incubator.
    “My position is that we made a promise to the artists,” said Paul Zacks, a board member of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. He made those comments at the agency’s first February meeting when the board discussed the two responses received on its Arts Warehouse.
    Neither response fit the request, said Thuy Shutt, CRA assistant director.
    The Institute for Civic Achievement Inc. is run by Tom Fleming. He described his firm’s role as “facilitating the role of developers,” but he did not provide financial details of how that would happen.
    The other respondent, SW Artist Alley LLC, is run by lawyer Joe White, whose company had outbid the CRA on the Artists Alley warehouses last year. After buying them, he raised the rents so that the space was not affordable to many artists. His latest plan calls for razing the CRA’s Arts Warehouse and creating a 30,000-square-foot art-themed project called Artist Alley.
    White did not provide any specifics about how it would be managed. As to the financing, he wrote, “I have the financial resources to advance this project.”
    His architect, George Brewer, told the CRA board members, “There’s no question that artists need to be supported … our project will provide the foot traffic.”
    But artists and their supporters disagreed.
    “The bottom line is: Do you have a commitment to the arts or to a high-rent development,” said Susan Romaine, an artist in the Pineapple Grove Arts District, just north of Atlantic Avenue and home to many artists.
    Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon, a board member of the Pineapple Grove Arts District, said, “Arts bring a huge amount of economic impact. … Let’s help our artists.”
    The board voted 6-0 to close the partnering process, focus on renovating the warehouse and start a search for a management company. Board member Cathy Balestriere was absent.
    The CRA has nearly all the permits needed to renovate the warehouse that it bought for $1 million.
    “I’m struggling with spending $2.5 million for this when West Atlantic needs it,” CRA Board Chairman Reggie Cox said before voting to support it. “I want a connection with the West Atlantic neighborhood.”

By Jane Smith

    The popular Arts Garage venue received reprieves recently from two Delray Beach agencies, but the nonprofit organization can no longer rely just on its programming.
    The organization needs a strategic plan, city commissioners and their Community Redevelopment Agency board members said.
    In its short history, the Arts Garage has developed a loyal base of fans who love the intimate setting of a small performing and visual arts space. The organization remains dependent on city tax dollars for its below-market rent of $800 a month for 10,000 square feet where it serves as the gateway to the Pineapple Grove Arts District.
    In addition, the Community Redevelopment Agency  supplies about 18 percent of the Arts Garage’s $1.5 million budget.
    The Arts Garage ran afoul of the CRA last fall when it failed to produce an audit of the previous financial year showing the Delray Beach money was segregated from the money used in its Pompano Beach operations. The CRA withheld the fourth-quarter payment for the last financial year.
    Eight days later at the CRA board meeting, longtime Arts Garage board member Robert Schmier described the financial situation as “a severe cash crunch.” Executive Director Alyona Ushe said the organization is operating day to day and needs the money to help pay for the audit.
    The following Friday, the CRA board held a special meeting to release the fourth- quarter payment of $68,750. Before the CRA makes an allocation in its current financial year, it wants to see an audit of the last financial year, a long-term lease with the city, separate accounts for the Arts Garage’s Delray Beach and Pompano Beach locations, and a strategic plan.
    The Arts Garage has relied on the generosity of its volunteers and board members, including Schmier. He loaned the organization $68,000 without interest in the summer of 2014 while it waited for payment from the city’s CRA, according to the organization’s tax return. The loan was repaid that October.
    He also donated $6,000 during that year. The tax return listed $80,000 as the salary for Ushe, the Arts Garage executive director.
    Recent renovations costing more than $50,000 were done for free by Chuck Halberg, a general contractor who volunteered his services, according to the Jan. 15 letter sent to the City Commission. Schmier and his wife also agreed to pay $25,000 for new lighting and sound equipment, the same letter said.
    The Arts Garage had a March 15 deadline from the city to buy its space for $2.5 million. The city didn’t hear from the Arts Garage staff until the city manager sent a letter in early January asking for a written reply. Its executive director said the organization wanted a 10-year lease at the same rental rate with an option to buy.
    That letter set up a Feb. 16 confrontation with the Arts Garage on the City Commission agenda.
    “The Arts Garage created a silo in Delray Beach,” Commissioner Jordana Jarjura said, “and became a competitor when it partnered with Pompano Beach.”
    She said the City Commission is accused of using “taxpayer dollars to support a private club.”
    Mayor Cary Glickstein added, “We are here because the Arts Garage failed to perform.”
    He said that he believes the arts can be an economic driver. “It was a terrible idea to sell the space to a law firm when we need public gathering places,” he said. “I support what the ideal represents to the town in the branding opportunity for the arts.”
    Glickstein pointed out that 35 people either quit the Arts Garage staff or were fired in the past few years, which he called an “exploitation of human capital.”
    Glickstein said he talked with the auditors who called the Arts Garage finances in 2013 and 2014 a “train wreck.”
    Commissioner Mitch Katz said his wife is a member of the Arts Garage guild and volunteers for it. Later he said they both pay to be guild members, but they don’t partake of any benefits listed on the Arts Garage website.
    Commissioner Al Jacquet wants to see a change in the board composition of the Arts Garage. “Then you could offer more programming that attracts people different than yourselves,” he said.  
    In January, the Arts Garage had started a social media campaign urging its supporters to sign a petition to save it and email the city commissioners asking them to renew its lease.
    Commissioners said they received hundreds of emails.
    The emails said the city is attacking the arts. But the city gave the Creative Collaborative Community, which oversees the Arts Garage, ample opportunity to grow, Jarjura said.
    The collaborative was supposed to be an umbrella group for Delray Beach arts groups; instead, it morphed into the Arts Garage board and burned more bridges than created collaborations, the mayor said.
    Commissioners finally agreed to offer a month-to-month lease for six months while the Arts Garage board comes up with a plan to address specific issues:
    • Provide quarterly updates to the city about how it will solve financial problems raised by its auditor.
    • Seek city approval before subletting its space.
    • Add minority members to its all-white board.
    • Provide an out clause for the commission.
    • Expand its programming to attract a more diverse audience and youths citywide.
    • Consider other uses in its space, including a small independent bookstore.
    If all that were accomplished, then the commission would consider offering a shorter-term lease, between three and five years.

By Jane Smith
    
    Delray Beach’s long-awaited property value analysis put numbers on what most people in the city already knew: The downtown core area saw the biggest gain in the past 30 years — at $649 million.
    Chris Wallace, president of Munilytics Inc., said the next two areas were the beach area, at $222.3 million, and North Federal Highway corridor, at $157 million.
    “We don’t recommend pulling any areas out. You need income from them to do projects in other areas,” said Wallace, whose firm won the bid last year to analyze the property values.
    Despite opposition from the City Commission, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency board members decided to analyze the income and expenses in each of its eight areas. The expense breakdowns will be available on March 24.
    At the agency’s first February meeting, Wallace also told board members, “There is a disconnect between what the city thinks you are doing and what you are doing. Plus, the city is not executing on its end,” leading to delayed projects.
    In the current financial year, the CRA has nearly $8 million in projects that it could not finish in the previous year.
    As part of the CRA analysis, Wallace’s firm also interviewed most of the city commissioners and department heads. “The commission regrets not holding the joint workshops more frequently,” Wallace said.
    Just two were held between the City Commission and CRA board last year. The joint workshops need to be institutionalized, Wallace said, and the CRA board members agreed. The next one is planned for April, but no date has been set.
    “The city holds all the cards,” Wallace said. “We heard over and over about the alleys, streets, sidewalks that are not getting done.” The city and CRA are working on a joint plan that shows missing sidewalks and alleys so that they can be completed.
    “But you also have to keep the rents high (in the downtown and at the beach) because you need to keep the customers coming,” he said. He recommended reducing the city and county contributions instead of eliminating an area.
    When Delray Beach created its CRA district in 1985, a base taxable value was set for each area. Any amount above the base went to the CRA, with the city contributing 60 percent and the county 40 percent. In recent years as the size of the check that the city writes has grown to more than $8 million, Delray Beach has talked about pulling one or two areas out of the CRA district and into its own tax base. Most recently, the city is exploring reducing its contribution while trying to hold onto the county share.
    During public comments, County Tax Collector Anne Gannon explained the reason northwest area values were low. The area has mostly single-family homes whose owners have homestead exemptions. The homeowners also hold onto their properties for a long time, allowing them to enjoy the annual property tax increase limit of 3 percent.
    CRA board member Paul Zacks was pleased with the analysis. “Everyone likes the report,” he said. “We were criticized early on for spending the money.”

    Delray Beach will hold a special election in conjunction with the presidential preference primary on March 15 to present two ballot questions to the city’s voters. One ballot question asks voters if they want to change the city charter and the other asks whether voters want to repeal the act that created the city’s civil service code.
 
Ballot Question #1:
Charter Amendment — Authority to appoint internal auditor
    The charter currently does not provide for the appointment of an internal auditor. Under the proposed charter amendment, the City Commission would have the discretion to appoint an internal auditor, to serve at the pleasure of the City Commission, to review the business practices, procedures, internal controls and procurement practices of the City of Delray Beach.

Ballot Question #2:
Repeal of special act creating the civil service code for the city employees.
    Florida law requires a referendum to change any rights of municipal employees contained in a special law. This proposed repeal would allow the City Commission to amend its civil service code by ordinance rather than holding a referendum and submitting a local bill to the Florida Legislature.

For additional information about these ballot questions, visit www.mydelraybeach.com.

    These candidates are competing for a three-year term on the Ocean Ridge Town Commission.

RESULTS (unofficial):

Allison: 44.44% | 356 votes

Coz: 55.56% | 445 votes

Lynn Allison (incumbent)
Age: Did not disclose
Education: Bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in sociology, American University; master’s degree in social work, Howard University; Ph.D. in administrative management, Walden University
Marital Status: Married, three children
Employment: President and founder, International Enterprise Development Inc. — performs economic development in the field of micro financing
Political/Community Service Experience: Town commissioner of Ocean Ridge for the last 12 years, elected four times
Important Issues: Stormwater management, infrastructure, increasing the town’s reserves, maintaining the current property tax rate, construction of pedestrian crosswalks, town signage upgrades
Quote: “Right now we want to maintain Old Ocean Boulevard as a two-way street, despite the desire for those in the town to make it one-way. We also want to maintain our beaches and minimize bad behavior at those beaches by increasing police protection.”

Steve Coz
Age: 58
Education: Bachelor’s degree in English, Harvard University; postgraduate study at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
Marital Status: Married, three children
Employment: President of Coz Media Group, a publishing company
Political/Community Service Experience: President, Ocean Ridge Dunes Preservation Society; member, Board of Adjustments; member, Planning and Zoning Commission; honored by Time magazine as one of 25 most-influential Americans of 1997
Important Issues: Overdevelopment, increased population, traffic safety, fire rescue, beach preservation
Quote: “I’ve been a resident of Ocean Ridge since 1985 and an active participant in town meetings since 2006. My overriding issue is preserving Ocean Ridge’s quality of life. We have tremendous population pressures over the bridge with Boynton Beach, which has flat-out said they want to develop that entire corridor along the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway with housing, condos, etc. That puts tremendous pressure on Ocean Ridge’s infrastructure, including its traffic and its lifestyle. It creates a safety issue for the town. That’s something that needs a long-range plan put in place for how Ocean Ridge is going to deal with that population pressure.”

    The presidential preference primary will take place on March 15, and the towns of Ocean Ridge, South Palm Beach and Lantana will also hold their elections on that date.
    The municipal elections are nonpartisan, meaning voters of any party are eligible to vote in their city of residence. Polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
    Absentee ballots were mailed on Feb. 12, but people interested in voting absentee have until March 9 to request a ballot. The ballots must be returned to the Supervisor of Elections Main Office by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
    Voters interested in making their choices before Election Day may do so during early voting, which takes place from March 5 through March 13. All of the county’s 13 locations will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Visit www.pbcelections.org for more information about absentee ballots, early voting locations or other election questions.
— Staff Report

    These candidates are competing for a three-year term on the Lantana Town Council. Lynn J. Moorhouse was re-elected unopposed to the Group 1 seat in December.

ELECTION RESULTS (unofficial)

Anthony Arsali: 31.29% | 506 votes

Malcolm Balfour: 68.71% | 1,111 votes

Anthony Arsali
Age: 29
Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science and criminology, University of Florida; J.D., University of Virginia Law School
Marital Status: Married, no children
Employment: Attorney, Arsali LLC
Political/Community Service Experience: No experience holding public office
Important Issues: Land development
Quote: “This community has provided so much for me and my wife and we want to give back. We want to make sure this community stays like the one we grew up in. My wife and I are planning a family here and I hope we’ll stay here for many, many years. I think it’s important that the community comes together to have a vision for what our future holds. A lot more could have been done with the Water Tower Commons and the Cenacle projects — which have been approved by the Town Council — if we had a vision for this town; if we had connected those projects better to our downtown area on Ocean Avenue and linked our town together in one vision that the community sees as where we want to go and how we’re going to go there.”

Malcolm Balfour (incumbent)
Age: 78
Education: Mississippi State, New York University, Palm Beach State College; degrees in English and sociology
Marital Status: Married, two children, three grandchildren
Employment: Retired freelance writer and television producer
Political/Community Service Experience: Member since 2013, Lantana Council; Lantana Nature Preserve Commission
Important Issues: Responsible development, education, beach renourishment
Quote: “I’ve lived in Lantana for 44 years. I want to keep Lantana as a very successful small town. It’s important to keep on top of the people who are building the biggest transformation we’ve ever had — the development of Water Tower Commons and the Cenacle property. We’ve fought to keep the height of these buildings to five stories. We don’t want Lantana to become another Boynton Beach. As for the future, I’m going to fight in every way that I possibly can to restore our beaches that have washed away.”

By Willie Howard
    
    Lantana Councilman Malcolm Balfour and challenger Anthony Arsali shared their views on the state of the town, including plans to develop the former A.G. Holley hospital site, during a Feb. 18 candidate forum at the town recreation center.
    Arsali, a 29-year-old lawyer, said residents need a fresh voice on the council and more community involvement in planning the town’s future, while Balfour, a 78-year-old retired journalist, said residents should be pleased with the current Town Council and its recent work to attract new development.
    “It’s a very, very healthy town,” said Balfour, who has lived in Lantana since 1972 and was first elected to the council in 2013. “I’ve never seen a better town council than the Lantana Town Council.”
    Balfour said residents should be proud of work that the mayor and council did to put the A.G. Holley site back on the tax rolls and attract a private company to develop it.
    The council recently approved a site plan for Water Tower Commons, a mixed-use development planned for the site that will include stores and restaurants along Lantana Road and dwellings on the north side of the property.
    Balfour said residents should be pleased with the new baseball and soccer fields, built at no cost to the taxpayers, that replaced old fields demolished along with the 1950s-era tuberculosis hospital.
    “I think most people in Lantana are highly satisfied,” Balfour said, noting that the council held the town tax rate at $3.24 per $1,000 taxable value, even when property values were depressed following the housing bust.
    But Arsali, who moved to Hypoluxo Island in 2014, said the Town Council can do better and needs to start with a town vision developed by the community.
    “We need a jolt of energy,” Arsali said. “We need a new voice on our Town Council.”
    Arsali said the town needs more homeowners and fewer renters as well as a transportation system, such as a trolley, that would connect residential areas to Lantana Beach and the restaurants and shops along Ocean Avenue.
    He said the council should push for fewer apartments and more owner-occupied dwellings at Water Tower Commons. A site plan for the residential portion of the project is expected to come before the council later this year.
    “It’s a shopping center,” Arsali said, referring to the plan for Water Tower Commons. “All I’m suggesting is we could have put a little more thought into it.”
    Arsali said stricter code enforcement should be used to clean up the look of the town. Balfour said the town’s code enforcement officers are “on the ball.”
    Both men acknowledged that parking along Ocean Avenue is a problem.
    Balfour’s Group 2 seat will be the only one on the March 15 ballot. Nobody challenged Councilman Lynn Moorhouse for the Group 1 seat, so he was automatically re-elected to another three-year term.
    Council members earn $400 a month. The council recently approved a salary increase that will boost their monthly pay to $600 beginning in March 2017.
    Forum moderator David Arm, president of the Greater Lantana Chamber of Commerce, urged the 50 or so people attending to vote on March 15 and to encourage their neighbors to vote, too.
    A second debate was scheduled for March 2 at Heroes Sports Bar & Grill.

By Jane Smith

    The City Commission agreed by a 3-2 vote to pull the latest Atlantic Crossing site plan from its March 1 agenda.
    Commissioners Shelly Petrolia and Mitch Katz voted no because they want to have a hearing on giving two alleys to the Atlantic Crossing project on which there are plans to build.
    The latest site plan will be sent to the city’s review board to discuss at a special meeting on March 7. Then the commission will take up the revised site plan on April 5.
    The Harbour House Homeowners Association had triggered the review.
    Harbour House sent a letter on Feb. 25 objecting to the commission reviewing the revised site plan without input from the city’s Site Plan Appearance and Review Board.
    The developers’ law firm reluctantly agreed.
    “Process does matter,” said Bruce Leiner, Harbour House president.
    “It’s been a contentious issue,” said Commissioner Al Jacquet. “The community wants input.”
    The latest site plan for the $20 million mixed-use project now shows a two-way access road off Federal Highway into the garage, a circular internal valet loop, a more defined loading dock area and safer, raised crosswalks.
    In late February, the Atlantic Crossing team sent a large postcard to Delray Beach voters urging them to say: “Yes to Atlantic Crossing!” and avoid a potential “$40 million judgment.”
    Atlantic Crossing developers sued Delray Beach in June, claiming the city has not issued a site-plan certification that was approved in November 2013 and affirmed by a previous City Commission in January 2014. In the fall, the lawsuit was moved to federal court.
    Mayor Cary Glickstein is concerned about a potential multimillion-dollar jury award that Delray Beach taxpayers may face. He called an impromptu meeting in late February of former elected and community leaders, town elders and friends from different parts of the city. They provided a longtime local perspective without a connection to the Atlantic Crossing project, he said.
    “I value their objectivity and insight,” he said. “I called them together not to hear my thoughts, but rather for me to hear from them.”
    The lawsuit is so complex that a jury might not be able to understand the city’s position that it still owns two alleys and one block of Northeast Seventh Avenue needed for the Atlantic Crossing project. Instead, the jury may focus on the unapproved site plan, awarding multiple millions in damages to the developers.
    The proposed Atlantic Crossing sits stalled on 9.2 acres at the northeast corner of Federal Highway and East Atlantic Avenue in the city’s downtown.
    The project, developed by a partnership between Ohio-based Edwards Cos. and Ocean Ridge resident Carl DeSantis, will contain 343 luxury condos and apartments plus 39,394 square feet of restaurants, 37,642 square feet of shops and 83,462 square feet of office space.
    Atlantic Crossing’s team continues to try to reach an amicable settlement with the city, said Don DeVere, vice president of Edwards Cos.
    In January, the city’s Review Board rejected a modified site plan that showed two options: a one-way or a two-way drive into the garage.
    The city’s traffic engineering consultant said the roads created too much internal conflict along Northeast Seventh Avenue without benefiting the traffic flow inside the project. The alternate routes were designed in June at the behest of the City Commission.
    The city and the developers sent a joint motion to the federal court asking for the stay to be extended until April 5.

    These three candidates are competing for two seats on the South Palm Beach Town Council. Each seat carries a two-year term

ELECTION RESULTS (unofficial)

Robert Gottlieb: 43.41% | 336 votes

Stella Jordan: 36.56% | 283 votes

Robert Gargano: 20.03% | 155 votes

Robert Gargano
Age: 68
Education: Ph.D. in chemical engineering, University of Connecticut
Marital Status: Divorced, one child
Employment: Semi-retired owner of an IT consulting firm that installs software in the public sector
Political/Community Service Experience: No experience holding public office
Important Issues: Waste Management contract, beach renourishment
Quote: “The people on the current Town Council are nice people, but they don’t have the time or qualifications to do the job. They’re in over their heads. They just signed a 10-year contract with Waste Management, whose profit margin is going to go from 10-50 percent over the next 10 years. The profit margins in this contract can only go up. I don’t think anybody on the Council actually read that contract or did their homework. They need to be looking out for the taxpayers of our town and they’re looking out for everyone but the taxpayer. Also there is a beach renourishment project coming in and there’s not one member on the Town Council who has a scientific background.”

Robert Gottlieb (incumbent)
Age: 75
Education: Bachelor’s degree in business administration, University of Miami
Marital Status: Single
Employment: Retired owner of a yarn business, Gottlieb Brothers
Political/Community Service Experience: Member since 2005, South Palm Beach Town Council; board member, Palm Beach County League of Cities; member, Palm Beach Impact Fee Committee
Important Issues: Beach renourishment, tax relief
Quote: “I care about this town. I have owned property in South Palm Beach since the early ’70s. I also care about our beaches. We are currently working with the county on an environmental impact study. When that is completed, the [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] will approve it and we will put groins — hard structures that will hold the beach in place — on the beach and cover them with sand. I’m also against raising taxes and I’m in favor of lowering the millage rate next year. It’s time to give back to the citizens.”

Stella Gaddy Jordan (incumbent)
Age: 76
Education: Studied at Florida State University
Marital Status: Widow, three children
Employment: Retired first vice president for Sun Trust Bank of Tampa Bay
Political/Community Service Experience: Member since 2010, South Palm Beach Town Council; member, Independent Referendum Oversight Committee for the Palm Beach County Board of Education
Important Issues: Real estate development, fiscal responsibility
Quote: “The top of my to-do list is to prioritize all of those issues that are within our town and begin an action plan for them. At this point we have a new town manager and so we have the right management, and Council, in place to begin moving in that direction to better improve those areas of the city that need it — particularly beach restoration and financial accounting. We need to take better control of our incoming and outgoing expenses. We have no debt, but we need to reserve appropriately.”

By Dan Moffett

     South Palm Beach council members are preparing to boldly go where no town official has gone before: five years into the future.
    New Town Manager Bob Vitas is helping the council develop a long-term plan that tries to capture what life in the town might look  like in 2021. This is a major departure for a town that typically has run itself on a year-to-year basis.
    “It’s the first time any of us have ever seen this in the town,” said Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan.
    “Historically, we have not had any plans,” Vitas said. “None to my knowledge.”
    To remedy that, the council spent four hours brainstorming with Vitas during a special workshop on Feb. 18, trying to chart a course for South Palm Beach into the next decade.
    “How to prioritize — that’s the key to the whole thing when it comes to strategic planning,” Vitas said. “And always remember the first law of prioritization: If everything is a top priority, run to the nearest exit, don’t walk.”
    It wasn’t surprising that beach renourishment ranked at the top of the list. South Palm Beach is working with federal, state and county officials to install groins to protect the town’s eroding beachfront, but “visible action” isn’t likely to happen until at least 2018, Vitas said.
    What to do about the structural deficiencies in Town Hall and deciding what police and fire services are needed five years out also ranked high on the council’s list.
    Improving communication with residents through website and social network connections is another goal, pushed by Councilman Robert Gottlieb.
    Vice Mayor Joe Flagello said the town should consider going directly to residents through a survey and asking their opinions about the town’s future.
    “It was very participatory,” said Mayor Bonnie Fischer of the workshop. “We were all given the opportunity to give some feedback, and we did.”
    Vitas said during the Feb. 23 town meeting that he intends to meet individually with each council member during the next month to hear more ideas, and then bring back a completed five-year plan for the council to revise and then approve.
    “This is going to give us an excellent road map,” Vitas said. “We’ll know what priorities to focus on.”
    In other business:
    • Vitas said he expects the demolition of the Oceanfront Inn to accelerate during March, and he thinks the structure will be completely torn down “by Easter.”
    After that, developer Gary Cohen’s construction plans are largely unknown, though the town has given him the go-ahead to build a six-story, 33-unit condo building. “He hasn’t said anything to us,” Fischer said. “But an empty lot is better than what we have now.”
    • On Feb. 4, 97 residents gathered at Mario’s Ocean Avenue restaurant in Lantana to celebrate the town’s 60th anniversary of incorporation in 1955. “It was absolutely magnificent,” said Lucille Flagello, who helped organize the event for the Community Affairs Advisory Board. “I received 29 phone calls from people who couldn’t stop talking about how delicious the food was.”

By Jane Smith
    
    Marine Way property owners are seeing the city’s efforts to cure problems caused by extreme high tides.
    The Delray Beach road, which has been restricted to residents’ vehicles since November, will get a new water main on the western edge, under an emergency order approved in mid-February by the City Commission.
    The existing water main along the eastern edge was only 24 inches below grade, though city standards call for at least 30 inches. That section of the road is deteriorating from tidal action and the wake from boats passing nearby in the Intracoastal Waterway. If a heavy truck were to travel on Marine Way, the water main could burst, making repairs difficult and cutting off drinking water to eight single-family residences.
    The commission approved an emergency contract for $98,634 with AKA Services, which is performing similar work for the Tropic Palms upgrade project. The cost will cover 432 linear feet of 8-inch pipe.
    The new water main should be in place in 30 days, said John Morgan, Environmental Services director.
    The city already has an engineering study underway on the 600-foot seawall along Marine Way and the 704-foot dock at the City Marina. The commission approved spending $28,850 to the Wantman Group in early February. The study will be completed by the beginning of June, according to the terms of the contract.
    In the meantime, Morgan will meet with the property owners in the Marina Historic District in March to tell them about a 2008 study done to connect Marine Way with Veterans Park. If there’s consensus, Morgan said, he will move forward with a plan to limit vehicles on Marine Way to residents, public safety and trash removal. The plans also call for a wider walkway.
    “Then we’ll try to find money to do the project,” he said.
    In other business at its mid-February meeting, the City Commission:
    • Authorized spending $39,096 to the Wantman Group for design services of a failing seawall at the southeast corner of the Island Drive bridge and the Intracoastal Waterway. Morgan assured Mayor Cary Glickstein it was a city-owned seawall and that some of the damage was caused by a city-owned tree. The contract calls for a completion date in early June.
    • Agreed to put quiet zones at most of the 12 FEC railroad crossings in the city. The county’s Metropolitan Planning Organization will pay for the upgrades, while the city shoulders the annual maintenance cost. The quiet zones are needed because of the anticipated 32 passenger trains, now called Brightline, which will run daily in 2017 between Miami and Orlando.
    Also outside the city’s control are the location and size of cell phone towers in the railroad’s right of way so that Brightline passengers can have continuous Wi-Fi service along the route.

By Jane Smith

    More barrier island property owners will be able to use reclaimed water next year for their sprinkler systems.
    In April, Delray Beach contractors will begin working in the area between Casuarina Road and Poinsettia Road, a roughly .7-mile stretch. The area north of Casuarina to George Bush Boulevard is finished, with customers already receiving service.
    The $2.2 million project involves tearing up the streets to install 5,300 linear feet of 4-inch pipe, 6,000 linear feet of 6-inch pipe and 3,000 linear feet of 10-inch pipe, according to Scott Solomon, the city’s water, sewer and network manager. The project will take a year to finish.
    Property owners will be required to hook up to the system and allow workers to install separate meters for the reclaimed water, Solomon said. He estimates that up to 150 meters will be installed.
    Using reclaimed water to irrigate landscape will save the property owners money, he said. The city’s water rates have a tiered pricing structure. Solomon gave these rates: Reclaimed water costs $1 per thousand gallons for the first 25,000 gallons compared with drinkable water that costs $1.25 per thousand gallons for 4,000 to 12,000 gallons and $2 per thousand for 13,000 to 25,000 gallons. The more water used, the higher price paid per thousand gallons.
    Property owners need to use special precautions with the reclaimed water.
    “Don’t aim it at your swimming pool or use on vegetation that will be consumed,” Solomon said.

By Jane Smith
    
    The owner of Riverwalk Plaza expected a quick approval of its redevelopment application in Boynton Beach, but it’s slogging through the process.
    City staff compiled 132 comments to Isram Realty’s December application. At the behest of Mayor Jerry Taylor, the two sides met on Feb. 11. Taylor did not see his early intervention before the city staff report was complete as unusual. “I didn’t do anything special,” he said.
    The Isram representatives told city staff, “We thought you liked our plan.”
    “They were under the opinion that the design and extra height was supported by staff,” said Michael Rumpf, the city’s planning and zoning director, after the first meeting. “But we said the city has design requirements.”
    A second, technical meeting was held in mid-February on the details for the mixed-use development. The former Winn-Dixie shopping center at the southeast corner of Federal Highway and Woolbright Road is slated to house a 10-story, U-shaped apartment building with 326 units.
    It also will contain 41,970 square feet of retail space, the 7,889-square-foot Prime Catch restaurant and the 2,988-square-foot Wendy’s with a drive-thru lane. The Wells Fargo bank branch will remain, along with a Walgreen’s drug store and Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store in a separate building.
    Walgreen’s has 42 years left on its lease if the drugstore chain exercises all of its options, said Steven Wherry, Isram’s land-use attorney.
    The plaza also contains the Bond and Smolders coffee shop/bakery, Josie’s Ristorante & Pizzeria, Sushi Simon and Rice Fine Thai & Asian Fusion that Isram will either relocate within the new project or buy out their leases.
    The 9.8-acre complex sits in a zoning district that allows building heights of seven stories, but Isram wants to build 10. The Planning Department would consider some extra height if the developer put in what Boynton Beach planners are calling “view corridors.”
    But Isram objects to redesigning the whole project, because of the cost involved, Wherry said. “We need to build higher to allow upper floors to get an ocean view,” he said.
    Wherry also said the tall building would not block anyone’s views or create shadows on nearby properties. As to the precedent it would set for others who want to construct tall buildings along the Intracoastal, he said residents can vote out the commissioners who approve those plans.
    Isram will submit an addition that calls for a 4,500-square-foot retail building just north of Walgreen’s on Federal to address the staff’s concerns about limited retail along Federal, Wherry said.
    The developer also will create a public linear park along the Intracoastal Waterway, Wherry said. Art festivals and other similar activities could be held there, he said.
    The Florida Coalition for Preservation, a grass-roots group that promotes responsible development, held two meetings in late February for members of its newly created Boynton Coalition for Responsible Development. The Boynton Coalition represents 3,500 Intracoastal residents. The meetings focused on the Riverwalk Plaza redevelopment.
    Wherry and Mati Rikman, Isram president, saw the flyers about one meeting at the Crown Colony Clubhouse and decided to attend, Wherry said. They tried to stay in the background, but Kristine de Haseth, executive director of the Florida Coalition, noticed them.
    When asked why 10 stories, Wherry said, “The city is asking for it. They want a high-density building filled with people who will use mass transit.”
    The other choice, Rikman said, would be to have a Whole Foods or other grocery store as a tenant there, which the Boynton Coalition members liked, according to de Haseth.
    Isram Realty will keep tweaking its plan for the 10-story apartment building with the hopes of going to the city’s Planning and Zoning Board in May and then onto the City Commission in June.
    If its current plan is not approved, Wherry said, Isram has a backup measure: Company founder and Mati’s father, Shaul Rikman, said he would freshen up the grocery store to find a new tenant, restripe the parking lot and let his grandchildren worry about it.

Nearly 200 members of the Palm Beach County Classics Car Club brought their vintage treasures —

including the ’57 Chevy convertible below — to the Plaza del Mar shopping center in Manalapan

to help South Palm Beach celebrate its 60th anniversary. Here, South Palm Beach Councilman Woody Gorbach (center),

with wife Lois and son Donald, gets close to a 1932 Ford. Gorbach, who helped organize

the event for the town, said the overflow turnout was ‘far more than we expected.’

Photos by Cheryl Blackerby/The Coastal Star