After Eta’s deluges, Floridians looking for all the help they can get

ABOVE: North Atlantic Drive looked more like a lake than a road on Hypoluxo Island after Tropical Storm Eta blew through Nov. 8-9. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
BELOW: Boca Raton resident Natalie Conte walks her dogs Nico and Rocky next to a flooded sidewalk in Highland Beach on Nov. 9. Tim Stepien/ The Coastal Star

By John Englander
Rising Seas Institute

Following the U.S. presidential election, many pundits speculate that Joe Biden will use executive orders to deal with many issues that do not require Congressional legislation.
That would follow the precedent of both Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama. It raises an interesting question as to whether executive orders can affect flooding. Of course, flooding fundamentally comes from forces of nature, which residents of South Florida learned once again last month.
Tropical Storm Eta dumped up to 14 inches of rain in western Broward County, a dousing that might have amounted to a once-in-100-years event, Robert Molleda, a Weather Service meteorologist, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
As the planet warms, scientists predict that we will have to cope with more tropical storms and that they’ll contain more water. Eta delivered that lesson. Florida has been called “ground zero” in the United States for climate damage, and 2020 has delivered the flooding to warrant that designation.
In recent decades it has become clear that rising seas are contributing to the increased flooding as the warming planet melts polar ice caps. In fact, there are two approaches for a president to try to reduce flooding: mitigation and adaptation.
Mitigation in this context refers to slowing the warming, by policies that might reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, one of the principal greenhouse gases. Executive orders could well focus on that issue, perhaps regarding vehicle emissions standards, rule-making with the Environmental Protection Agency, encouragement of renewable energy, and other policies. Taken together, over decades, such policies can flatten the curve of rising CO2 emissions and eventually slow the warming. Over decades such policies can begin to reduce the problem of rising waters that cause worse flooding.
The second approach is adaptation. To reduce flooding we can raise buildings and infrastructure in Florida and other coastal areas. In the United States, building codes — the regulations — are typically set at the state and county levels.
The president does not set them. But he can issue an executive order with regard to all federal buildings and infrastructure. In fact, Obama did just that. The order directed that all federal new construction and major renovations would allow for an additional two feet of higher sea level, or three feet for structures that were deemed critical. Also, the order used the 500-year flood plain as a reference point, far more conservative than the usual 100-year flood plain guideline.
Such an executive order to raise the design criteria for buildings and infrastructure has several virtues.
With the vast property of the federal government, raising elevations in flood zones can reduce the flooding potential, damages and recovery expenses, and result in fewer lives lost.
Perhaps as important, such a leadership policy sets an example for all the states, municipalities and private companies to emulate.
Just the idea of following “best practices” would help professions such as architecture, engineering and planning.
Presidential executive orders to raise the design criteria for federal buildings and infrastructure are perhaps the simplest way to reduce flooding, with the potential for the orders to make an impact for decades and centuries.
However, a weakness to executive orders is that another administration can reverse them: Obama’s 2015 Executive Order 13690 was rescinded by Trump’s Executive Order 13807 just two years later.
I think it’s reasonable to expect many executive orders under the new administration.

John Englander is an oceanographer and author of “High Tide On Main Street.” He is also president of the Rising Seas Institute, a nonprofit think tank and policy center.

Started in May 2018 by the editorial boards of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Miami Herald and The Palm Beach Post, with assistance from WLRN Public Media, the project now encompasses 25 Florida newspapers, including The Coastal Star.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach city commissioners finally fired their city manager on Nov. 20, after waiting a tumultuous five months.
The vote was 3-2, with Mayor Shelly Petrolia, Deputy Vice Mayor Shirley Johnson and Commissioner Juli Casale voting to fire George Gretsas on misconduct charges.
Vice Mayor Ryan Boylston and Commissioner Adam Frankel voted no because, they said, they had not heard anything during the hearing that warranted firing Gretsas.
At the June 24 meeting, where the vote was a 3-2 decision along the same lines, the commission first put Gretsas on notice of being fired. The elaborate process, part of Gretsas’ contract, played out during the summer and into the fall. He hired new attorneys in mid-October and the city agreed to postpone the hearing one more month.
Boylston and Frankel did not want to see Gretsas’ return to the city, because of the turmoil he had created during his five-month suspension, but voted no because they believed he deserved the $180,000-$190,000 payout stipulated in his contract if he were terminated without cause.
“We are hearing allegations, not facts,” Frankel said during the Nov. 20 hearing, which Gretsas did not attend.
Frankel has been averse to firing city managers in the past. Six years ago, during his first stint on the commission, Frankel refused to fire Louie Chapman as city manager in the spring of 2014.
The commission had just three votes to fire Chapman for buying $60,000 worth of garbage cans without City Commission approval. At the time the city required four votes — or a super majority — to terminate a manager.
Petrolia was not hesitant to get rid of Chapman. Then a city commissioner, she voted to fire Chapman. But without the super majority vote, Chapman received a nearly $73,000 taxpayer payout on his contract as part of a settlement agreement in which he resigned.
City voters later changed the charter in August 2014 to allow removal of the city manager by a simple majority vote, or 3-2.
At the Nov. 20 hearing, Frankel and Johnson said they wanted to hear from Gretsas.
He was in Montana, “dealing with the birth of a child,” said Carmen Rodriguez, his employment attorney.

Gretsas to appeal in court
Gretsas will appeal what he called a wrongful termination to the courts, and he is considering other claims as well, according to his Nov. 23 text to The Coastal Star. He did not say when a lawsuit would be filed.
“Every charge was false and the documents I provided proved that. Yet, they were ignored by three of the five commissioners,” Gretsas wrote.
At the Nov. 20 hearing, Rodriguez disputed the report made by Julia Davidyan, the city’s internal auditor. In July, the City Commission ordered Davidyan to investigate Gretsas’ actions.
“Davidyan was not charged with doing an investigation, but with bringing back a result,” Rodriguez said. “All of the resources were used to smear Mr. Gretsas.”
Robert Norton, the city’s outside labor counsel, gave an opinionated opening statement using information from Davidyan’s report. He talked about Gretsas’ hiring his “cronies” to work in Delray Beach.
Norton said Tim Edkin, an information technologies consultant Gretsas knew from his stint as Fort Lauderdale city manager, was hired to do a $64,000 report on Delray’s Information Technology department and later ran the department on an interim basis. That hiring was noted by Davidyan in her report.
Another alleged “crony” was Joshua Padgett, who was hired at $50 an hour to be a videographer. Gretsas had hired Padgett, who worked for Homestead in a similar capacity while Gretsas was manager of that city, according to Davidyan’s report. But the report stated that Gretsas did not explain why Padgett deserved such a high hourly rate or review his time sheets, as required.
Norton recounted Davidyan’s questioning Padgett about his work on weekends or longer hours during the week. Padgett told her, “When the creative process is going on you continue working.”
The third “crony” mentioned was Jason King, who also had worked for Gretsas in Homestead. Gretsas used an open Utilities Department position to hire King as the intergovernmental affairs director in Delray Beach.
King was paid about 35% more than the minimum salary and Gretsas did not provide any documentation to explain why, according to Davidyan’s report. In Delray Beach, new employees start at the base salary unless the city manager includes a memo stating why that person deserved a higher salary.
Davidyan never spoke during the hearing.
Instead, City Attorney Lynn Gelin answered questions as a witness, but did not sit on the dais providing guidance to the commissioners.
“I anticipated being called as a witness and the bar rules precluded me from doing both,” Gelin wrote in a Nov. 22 text to The Coastal Star.
Assistant City Attorney Lawanda Warren guided commissioners through the slightly longer than four-hour hearing. Of the four people who spoke during public comment, two were from Homestead. They were former Mayor Steve Shiver and Eric McDonough, publisher of the True Homestead online newsletter. Both made disparaging remarks about Gretsas, suggesting he was not always truthful.
The two others were Delray Beach residents. Retired accountant Ken MacNamee reminded the commission about his open public records requests. He had asked for the letters or emails sent to the commission from Gretsas about drinking water quality problems that Gretsas mentioned in a July 31 letter to the commission. Gretsas claimed he was a whistleblower in that letter. He said he wrote to the commission about the water quality problems and was being fired for disclosing the problems.

Attorney responds to charges
In response to Norton’s presentation at the hearing, Rodriguez questioned how Norton’s firm could do an independent investigation into the bullying charges against Gretsas that were the subject of the June 24 hearing when his firm had a 10-year relationship with the city.
The bullying charges were dropped because the terms of Gretsas’ contract called for a new investigation. Rather than cast a negative light on the city and divide the staff again by renewing the bullying investigation, Gelin said at the Aug. 24 commission meeting that commissioners should focus on the policy violations because those issues were valid.
In addition, Rodriguez stressed that Davidyan’s report did not mention the emergency resolution the city had passed in mid-March in response to the coronavirus pandemic. That is why Gretsas had hired Padgett to set up a broadcast studio in the Arts Garage, a city-owned property, she said. Padgett produced daily shows on the pandemic.
Rodriguez also countered the city’s allegation that Gretsas refused to participate in Davidyan’s investigation of him.
“Tell us what you are investigating, so we can come prepared,” Rodriguez said she told Davidyan in response to her report. “We were told on four separate occasions that our ‘objection was noted.’” Rodriguez said the report had given them only a broad statement about what misconduct was being investigated.
The emergency declarations were about purchasing items such as hand sanitizers, Gelin said in response to a question from the commission. “We did not know about the hires from Homestead until they showed up at City Hall,” she said.
Everything that Gretsas did, “he could have done by following city policies,” Gelin said.
Gelin said she was consulted by Gretsas in early June when he wrote a pre-termination letter to Suzanne Fisher, then assistant city manager. Fisher was out on leave as a result of emotional distress she said was caused by bullying from Gretsas. He had referred to Fisher as a “cancer,” Gelin said.
Fisher was able to resign from the city in September with the promise of not suing the city for its handling of her employment contract.
“‘We don’t do that here,’” Gelin said she tried to warn Gretsas about not explicitly stating what the employee had done wrong. “It’s a little much, but I didn’t document it.”
That made Rodriguez say, “You didn’t document it. That’s the very thing you are accusing Gretsas of doing.”
Rodriguez also questioned why the mayor was participating in the hearing when she was biased against Gretsas.
Mayor Petrolia had received a written opinion from the state Ethics Commission that she could participate because doing so would not financially benefit her or her family. A copy of the Nov. 6 letter was included in the city’s response to a lawsuit filed Nov. 10 by a different law firm representing Gretsas.
He described that firm, Stuart Kaplan of Palm Beach Gardens, as his litigation firm seeking public records and injunctions.
Rodriguez said she never received the letter.
Gretsas was paid his annual salary of $265,000 plus benefits during the first four months of his suspension. That amounted to nearly $116,000, not including his accrued leave days. City commissioners agreed to postpone the termination hearing in October in exchange for no longer paying Gretsas.
Gretsas was the fourth city manager for Delray Beach in eight years. Five others have served as interim city manager, including one who served twice. Mark Lauzier, fired in March 2019, has a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the city. It will go to a jury trial in February, Gelin has said.
“The issue here is whoever doesn’t follow the agenda is dragged through the mud,” Rodriguez said of the commission. “It’s a reign of terror that has caused a revolving door of top administrators. The citizens deserve better.”

Tina VaLant of Boca Raton, who rescued HERbert, changed the spelling of the name when she found out the crab was female. The severed legs may grow back as part of HERbert’s molting process. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

On the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 29, Tina VaLant drove to Gulf Stream to pet-sit Racer, an adorable golden retriever puppy owned by her friends Linda and Turner Dean.
Sorry, but this story is not about that puppy.
As VaLant and Racer walked east along Banyan Road between Gulfstream Road and Oleander Way, her gaze fell on a very weird rock by the south side of the road.
VaLant walked over, picked up the weird rock — and screamed.
Oh, my God, it’s got eyes and it’s moving! She was holding a disabled Cardisoma guanhumi — a giant land crab — without any legs that would soon become a minor media sensation.
VaLant, 59, is a “freelance photographer, nature enthusiast and mental health advocate” who has raised and released butterflies — monarchs, yellow barred sulfurs, zebra longwings — for more than 20 years.
She brought the legless crab home to suburban Boca Raton and turned one of the mesh butterfly enclosures in her second bathroom into an apartment for the injured crustacean.
“Words have power, so you don’t want to call it a cage,” she reasons. “It’s an apartment.”
The apartment is adorned with an amethyst crystal and small American flag.
Now, for a name.
After her neighbors Martha and Larry moved to Orlando, VaLant named two of the ducks in her local park Martha and Larry so she would still see her friends every day.
“I name everything,” she explains. “I’m a highly sensitive person, so I looked at the crab and ‘Herbert’ came to me.”
After butterflies, VaLant’s latest passion was TikTok, the trendy social network that hosts homemade, 60-second videos both sweet and silly. VaLant had become a TikTokker back in April after a friend sent her an inspirational video.
“I had thought it was a stupid kids’ app,” she says, “but it’s great for people with short attention spans and hamster brains.”
On Friday, Oct. 30, Herbert starred in his first TikTok video, and then a second on Halloween.
“And when I came back from a walk, my phone was hot!” VaLant exclaims.
Before Herbert, her TikTok butterfly videos had garnered about 4,000 followers.
Now she had 16,700 in just two days, and 204,000 likes.
When Herbert’s third performance appeared on Nov. 1, her following jumped to 35,000.
“Not that I care about being TikTok famous,” she emphasizes. “I just want to spread positivity.”

He’s a she
Almost immediately, however, fame complicated her life.
Some of Herbert’s fans started messaging to insist, “That’s a girl.”
VaLant called Evan Orellana, a marine biologist at the Sandoway Discovery Center in Delray Beach, who watched one of Herbert’s videos and agreed with the messages.
“The underbelly of a giant land crab, called the apron, is wider on a female, more triangular on the male,” he told her.
This crab had a wide apron.
Herbert’s name is now HERbert, and by Nov. 18, her 30 TikToks had hit 1 million likes and 84,000 followers.
Orellana also told VaLant that HERbert had probably lost her legs in a lawn maintenance accident.
“Based on how it’s a clean cut, it’s very possible it crawled in a lawn mower,” he said. “A predator would have eaten her, and they don’t leave behind the crab.”
Orellana estimated HERbert to be at least 5 years old, an adult.
HERbert measures about 3 inches across, which might not seem to qualify her for “giant land crab” status, but size is relative, Orellana noted. Compared to fiddler or mangrove crabs, about the size of a quarter, HERbert is indeed a giant.
Giant land crabs can live to be 10 to 15 years old, if a bird, otter or raccoon doesn’t eat them first, which they often do.
But what VaLant wanted to know, of course, was whether HERbert would ever walk again.
Orellana gave her a firm “maybe.” It all depends on how the molting goes.
Snakes shed their skin and crabs molt.
Once a year or more, as they grow too big for their outer skeletons, crustaceans emerge from the back and hide while they grow a new shell.
“But molting is not just getting a new skeleton,” Orellana says. “If they lose a claw, after two or three successful molts they can grow back.”
It would take time, but HERbert’s claws may grow back.
“I’m optimistic,” Orellana says. “It’s eating, and it’s not cowering or hiding. I think that’s a good prognosis.”
Waiting for HERbert to molt, VaLant continues to release more TikToks while nursing her legless star.
“I’m giving her a critical care supplement,” she reports, “and sometimes I dust her food with a high density nutrient powder. She likes to have her upper shell rubbed horizontally but not vertically.”
HERbert is fed 10 times a day — mango, kiwi, pineapple. “And last night she had shrimp from my husband’s dinner,” VaLant adds. “My husband thinks I’ve lost it.”

Fantastic fan base

Most of HERbert’s fan mail is positive, including one message from an animal psychic who wanted VaLant to know that HERbert is very grateful for her loving care.
Occasionally, the rare cynics suggest that she just eat the crab and be done with it.
“But I’m a vegetarian,” VaLant tells them.
On Nov. 30, HERbert’s 47 TikToks had tallied 1.4 million likes and almost 117,000 followers.
“Most people who know me think I’m a little out there,” VaLant is happy to concede. “I’m a little woo-woo, but I embrace my weirdness.”
And should HERbert fail to regrow her legs, VaLant has already envisioned another way to spread positivity.
“Maybe she will become a therapy crab and go to hospitals to visit patients,” VaLant says. “What if somebody has lost their limbs? Here’s a crab who lost her limbs in a lawn mower accident, and she’s still inspiring millions.”

HERbert’s apartment:
https://www.tiktok.com/@tinavalant/video/6892827895522282757?lang=en

Evan Orellana, marine biologist, Sandoway Discovery Center:
https://www.tiktok.com/@tinavalant/video/6891472107889364229?lang=en

By Rich Pollack

Acting on orders from the state health department, Delray Beach will continue testing its drinking water for the presence of cancer-linked “forever chemicals,” even as the city reinforces its contention that the water doesn’t pose a health hazard and is safe to drink.
In a Nov. 23 letter to Delray Beach Utilities Director Hassan Hadjimiry, representatives of the Florida Department of Health ordered the city to conduct quarterly sampling at each of its 30 water wells — as well as at the point where finished water leaves the treatment plant — for the presence of perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
The state is asking that the sampling be conducted over a 12-month period and that results be submitted to the state within seven days.
PFAS compounds, which are synthetic chemicals used in stain repellents, nonstick pans as well as polishes, paints and coatings, have been linked to increased incidences of cancer as well as other health issues such as ulcerative colitis and thyroid disease. They are known as “forever chemicals” because they accumulate in the human body and stay in the environment indefinitely.
The federal government, through the Environmental Protection Agency, has set 70 parts per trillion as an advisory level and Delray Beach says that the amount of PFAS found in its water is well below that level.
In a Nov. 25 letter responding to the correspondence from state officials, Hadjimiry pointed out that the city conducted two tests since August. In the first test, he said, 49 parts per trillion were detected and a second test, conducted in October, showed .43 parts per trillion, which is considered a non-detectable quantity.
Hadjimiry said the city had already planned to conduct another test in December and has requested that a representative from the health department be present during testing.
City spokeswoman Gina Carter said that Hadjimiry had reached out to state health officials prior to receiving the Nov. 23 letter to advise them of the steps the city is taking.
“Our city is being held to a standard that no other city in the state has to meet and our Utilities Department has gone above and beyond to be transparent,” Carter said. “None of our neighboring cities, who use the same source aquifer, will be testing for PFAS.”
Delray’s efforts to reinforce the safety of its drinking water may in part be spurred by a report earlier this year from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility — or PEER, an environmental watchdog group — that criticized the city for what it contends are high PFAS levels.
“The city of Delray Beach is committed to regularly testing water samples for PFAS in order to refute the misleading claims made by PEER earlier this year and to provide clarity to our customers,” Carter said.

By Dan Moffett

Manalapan town officials have been busy huddling with engineers to try to figure out how to respond to newly released flood elevation standards from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the new requirements are “much higher” than levels set in the town’s current code. This creates the prospect of new multimillion-dollar homes being built with elevations 3 or 4 feet higher than those of their next-door neighbors, raising concerns about where the stormwater runoff would go.
“We’re trying to change the code so that property owners don’t always have to come and request a variance for construction,” Stumpf said.
If projects fail to satisfy the FEMA requirements, homeowners will be unable to buy flood insurance.
One possible solution is allowing retaining walls to the rear and sides of properties, which is not allowed in the current code. Stumpf said she hopes to bring options to the commission for consideration soon.
No matter what commissioners decide, the building rules in Manalapan are certain to change significantly because of FEMA’s response to rising sea levels. Ordinance proposals are expected to come before the commission by early next year.
In other business:
• The town is appealing a decision by FEMA to reject reimbursement for COVID-19 hazard pay. The reason the agency gave for denial is that Manalapan did not have a policy in place to deal with a pandemic before April 1.
The question Manalapan officials have is, “What municipality in the country had a policy in place to cover pandemics?”
The town spent roughly $13,500 through June in police and staff hazard pay connected to the COVID-19 outbreak. Full-time officers and water plant employees received $200 per month extra for working during the pandemic, and part-time police and sanitation workers got $100. Stumpf said she’s hopeful FEMA will reconsider the reimbursement request.
• The town has canceled its December holiday events because of the pandemic.
• The next commission meeting is scheduled for Dec. 15, beginning at 10 a.m. Seating is limited in Town Hall because of social distancing requirements and those wishing to attend will be admitted to the chambers on a first-come, first-served basis.
There are no plans to offer telephone or internet participation for the meeting.

By Steve Plunkett

Four former owners of timeshare weeks and the Delray South Shore Club have ended their courtroom battle over selling the beachfront resort to make way for condominiums.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Howard Coates Jr. dismissed the unhappy owners’ lawsuit on Nov. 13 after both sides agreed to pay their own legal bills.
John Runyon of Minnesota, Jacqui and Bob Derrick of Georgia and William Miller of Boca Raton had hoped to unwind a 498-156 vote by week owners to terminate the timeshare and sell the club for $12.3 million. Their suit, which originally sought to block the August 2019 vote, also named two barrier island residents, Kenneth MacNamee and Robert Deutsch, who as members of the club’s board of directors were accused of using “scare tactics” to sway the decision.
The ballots essentially asked owners to choose whether to sell each week for approximately $16,000 or face a special assessment of up to $2,500 per week to make repairs.
The directors, now called termination trustees, emailed owners on Nov. 24 to say a final check for $160 per interval would be mailed in early December, making the total payout $16,560 per week.
MacNamee said “countless interval sales” of similar timeshares have been for less than $1,000 a week and that he is “quite proud of what I did.”
The sale of Delray South Shore, at 1625 S. Ocean Blvd., will add $10 million or more to the city’s tax base, easing property taxes for all city residents, he said.
Runyon, he said, bought four prime weeks at Berkshire on the Ocean, another timeshare two doors south of Delray South Shore, for $27,000 and will receive almost $50,000 for his three DSSC weeks.
“I might be the best friend he has ever had,” said MacNamee, who with his wife owned 20 weeks, purchasing 13 of them, mostly foreclosed intervals, in the 2018 run-up to the sale for $500 to $760 apiece.
The 20 weeks translate into a $331,200 payout.
Similarly, Deutsch bought one week from MacNamee in mid-2018 for $1,000 and acquired 17 more that November. Deutsch’s payout: $298,080.
Runyon plans to alert other Berkshire owners to be on guard but declined to characterize MacNamee.
“Everybody looking at the facts of Ken MacNamee can decide what adjectives they want to apply to him,” he said. He’s also looking forward to using his new Berkshire weeks in February.
“I love Delray. I love walking the beach,” he said. “I love the place.”
But Jacqui Derrick said she and her husband are finished with owning timeshares. “We’re never going to do that again,” she said.
The plaintiffs got involved too late and did not have effective legal counsel, she added.
“A disaster from the start and the loss of a unique resort for regular people,” she said.
Derrick said their legal bill was about $10,000; Runyon said his was more but was unsure how much. Delray South Shore’s insurance company paid to defend the timeshare and MacNamee and Deutsch.
A subsidiary of U.S. Construction, which is building oceanfront condos where Wright by the Sea used to stand and on a parcel just south of Briny Breezes, won site approval in June to construct 14 luxury condos at the Delray South Shore property.
Units at the three-story development, dubbed the Echelon and just south of Atlantic Dunes Park, will range from 2,745 to 3,543 square feet, each with three bedrooms. The plan also calls for a pool deck facing the ocean, a fitness center, a concierge and 35 parking spaces, two underground for each unit and seven for guests.
Construction Journal, which monitors bid opportunities for contractors, says construction is expected to start in the second quarter of 2021.
Prices have not been announced, but condos at the former Wright by the Sea are offered at $5.7 million to $9 million.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach still needs to provide answers to the county Department of Health to close out the investigation of the city’s reclaimed water system, according to late November emails.
“The Department has requested and is waiting for more information from the City before a final determination is made,” Alexander Shaw, the county DOH spokesman, wrote in a Nov. 19 email to The Coastal Star.
Specifically, the county DOH is seeking the number of reclaimed water connections that did not have a backflow preventer and confirmation that one was installed; the exact number of physical cross connections found; and whether any resident became ill when the cross connection was discovered at 801 S. Ocean Blvd. in December 2018.
The former utilities director did not report any illnesses from that event. Most of the residents who live along South Ocean told a city utilities inspector they were sick at the time.
“Please provide the information above so that we may complete our investigation,” Steven Garcia, a DOH environmental supervisor, wrote in a Nov. 18 email to Victor Majtenyi, deputy utilities director in Delray Beach.
The county DOH became involved in inspecting the city’s reclaimed water system on Jan. 2 when a resident who lives at 801 S. Ocean called to say she did not understand the December 2018 cross connection that occurred at her house.
Cross connections happen when the drinking water pipes are mistakenly connected to the reclaimed water lines. Reclaimed water is highly treated wastewater that is suitable only for lawn irrigation.
In February, Delray Beach shut down the reclaimed water system citywide to avoid a boil water order.
It hired consultants and contractors to inspect each reclaimed water installation to make sure it was done properly and had the necessary backflow preventer installed. Backflow devices are used to prevent the reclaimed water from mixing with the drinking water.
The city has spent more than $1 million inspecting its reclaimed water system and installing backflow preventers, under the watch of the county DOH. Reclaimed water locations were activated only after the DOH approved.
Delray Beach also is trying to avoid civil fines from DOH, which sent a warning letter on July 1. That letter listed 13 possible violations of the reclaimed water program in Delray Beach.
City leaders met virtually on July 22 with county DOH staff to review the possible violations and Delray Beach’s response.
The city has created a regulatory compliance section with four employees who report directly to Utilities Director Hassan Hadjimiry. They will carry out the city’s cross-connection control program and audit all accounts requiring backflow preventers.
Delray Beach has 600 reclaimed water accounts, according to Hadjimiry. Of the 600, 11 are master reclaimed water service accounts that serve communities and golf courses west of Interstate 95.
The remaining 589 accounts serve individual properties, primarily on the barrier island, Hadjimiry told city commissioners on Aug. 14. Of the 589 accounts, 521 were working and 68 were not.
Fifty-five accounts converted back to potable water for lawn irrigation, despite the city’s 2007 ordinance that makes it mandatory to connect to the reclaimed water system if the lines are installed nearby.
“The city has not granted approval for any site that was previously connected to the reclaimed water system, to disconnect from it and then connect to potable water for irrigation,” Gina Carter, city spokeswoman, wrote in a Nov. 13 email.
An additional 130 city water customers were never connected to the Delray Beach reclaimed water program — most of them on the barrier island, Hadjimiry said. No records exist to explain why.
In the spring, Delray Beach hired an outside consultant, Fred Bloetscher, to review its reclaimed water system. The city paid him $20,000 for the report, which in part was supposed to pinpoint responsibility for installation and inspection of the backflow devices.  
He did not find a culprit.
Instead, according to his Oct. 23 report, he found that Delray Beach did not have a point person in charge and lacked “institutional control” over the reclaimed water system.

By Steve Plunkett 

Gulf Stream resident Joan Orthwein first took a seat on the Town Commission May 4, 1995.
Last month the Florida League of Cities officially praised her for 25 years of “unselfish leadership.”
In a resolution, the league’s board of directors noted that allowing multiple terms in office is the highest compliment voters can give to an elected official. 
“The league thanks you for your commitment to public service and for the greater good of Florida’s citizens,” it said in a video presentation on Nov. 13.
Mayor Scott Morgan added a local touch. 
“It is her intellect, her honesty, her integrity, her sense of humor that has helped lead Gulf Stream forward through those 25 years on this commission and making this town really one of character and ability that is unique in the state of Florida,” Morgan said.
Orthwein was surprised by the recognition, a late addition to the commission’s agenda.
“Oh my goodness. I don’t know what to say, but thank you,” she said. “It’s an honor to be on the commission. … It’s an honor to be here.”
The league named its honor the Mayor John Land Years of Service Award. Land was the mayor of Apopka for more than 60 years. 
The league also presented Orthwein with a 25-year pin to wear. 
Morgan said praise of Orthwein for a quarter-century of service was understating her efforts.
“Joan’s legacy is not just 25 years. It’s actually 32. She served seven years on the ARPB, was the chairman of that board before she moved on to the commission,” Morgan said.
In other business, Police Chief Edward Allen reported that two cars were stolen from residents in October and a third was burglarized. Both stolen cars were unlocked and had the keys inside, he said. One was recovered. The town is fighting a rash of stolen vehicles this year. 
Allen also introduced Gulf Stream’s 13th police officer, Justin Menard, a 25-year veteran of the Florida Highway Patrol.
The additional officer position was planned to expand police coverage in town, but Allen said another officer resigned a week after Menard started.

By Dan Moffett

Ocean Ridge is looking for ways to rein in nuisance construction projects.
During a three-hour joint workshop on Oct. 19, the Town Commission and the Planning & Zoning panel considered code changes that would tighten building rules.
Town Manager Tracey Stevens said the goal was to “gain an understanding of current town regulations” and “determine whether they’re working.” From there, Stevens said, she hopes officials can develop new measures soon.
“We want to maintain the character of the town,” said Mayor Kristine de Haseth, “while also protecting homeowners’ property rights.”
Among the construction issues considered for revisions:
• Project time frames: Residents and officials have complained that too many projects have received building permits but then languished for months without activity.
• Demolition: Commissioners say they want to ensure that tear-downs and renovations are as minimally disruptive to neighborhoods as possible and that debris is quickly removed.
• Site management, construction fences, flood mitigation: Homeowners have often complained that job sites are inadequately screened from view with temporary fencing.
• Property maintenance, abandonment: The town manager should have adequate authority to enforce the handbook of ground rules for contractors, who are required to keep sites orderly and protect the rights of adjoining property owners.
• Landscaping, tree canopy protection: Commissioners consulted a recent Boynton Beach tree study looking for ways to protect the town’s canopy.
• Light nuisance: Revising regulations for the location and direction of outdoor lighting.
Ocean Ridge is one of the few communities its size with a full-service, in-house building department, including a full-time inspector and clerk. Most small South Florida municipalities hire outside vendors for inspections and permit work.
The resurgence in the state’s real estate market in recent years has led to a surge in permit requests for renovation work throughout the town.
In September, the Ocean Ridge Building Department received 288 permit applications and performed 233 inspections.
In 2019, the town took in nearly $667,000 in building permit revenue. The downside of that construction boom was disruption in neighborhoods and building sites that were eyesores.
Stevens said the staff has completed work on recommendations for changes and will bring them to the Planning & Zoning Commission for review, with the Town Commission looking at passing new ordinances, probably early next year.
In other business:
• The West Palm Beach law firm of Torcivia, Donlon & Goddeau has named Pamala Ryan as the replacement for former Town Attorney Brian Shutt, who resigned in September to join another firm.
Ryan has 22 years’ experience in municipal government work, having represented several South Florida communities, including Riviera Beach.
She was appointed to the Florida Bar’s City, County and Local Government Certification Committee from 2014-2020.
In April, she co-hosted a webinar on the challenges of complying with Florida Sunshine laws during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The town canceled plans for a December indoor holiday event because of the pandemic.
However, plans for a Santa Claus “ride-around” are in the works, tentatively scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 12, from 3-5 p.m.
The time and date are subject to revision, and the town’s website will announce details or changes.
The idea is to have Santa ride in a vehicle through as many streets as possible and throw candy and dog biscuits to residents and their pets who are maintaining the proper social distancing. Ú

Paulette Dale of Highland Beach says she made President Donald Trump blush when she complimented his smile. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Paulette Dale wasn’t planning to tell the president of the United States he had a great smile — not in person and certainly not on national television with 14 million people watching.
But that’s exactly what the retired former Miami Dade College professor did during an October town hall meeting with President Donald Trump, which aired live on NBC.
“It was my honest reaction,” said Dale, whose compliment heard around the world quickly drew criticism — and praise — and was even parodied on Saturday Night Live.
The last of several people on the broadcast chosen by NBC to address the president, Dale had practiced her question about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program before heading to Miami for the town hall presentation.
“I simply prepared myself to say, ‘Good evening, Mr. President,’ and follow with my question about his plans for DACA,” said Dale, who lives in Highland Beach.
Then the president smiled at her while waiting for her question and she reacted.
“I thought his smile was warm and welcoming, so I said so — on national television,” Dale said. “Holy smokies. My sincere compliment went viral on social media.”
Within minutes Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and dozens of other social media sites were peppered with comments about Dale and her compliment.
Her words, Dale said, even made the president blush — although you couldn’t really see that on TV.
Among those chiming in to show their chagrin were actress and singer Bette Midler, who suggested that Dale would benefit from better eye care. There was also an altered photo of Dale’s face on the body of someone in a straitjacket.
It was a Saturday Night Live skit, in which Dale was portrayed as somewhat scatterbrained, however, that may have brought most attention to her words.
That portrayal couldn’t be further from the truth.
After earning a doctorate in communication sciences and disorders/linguistics, Dale has taught and mentored hundreds of students who have entered careers as speech therapists. She has also taught thousands of students basic interpersonal communications skills as well as public speaking.
In addition, the 68-year-old professor has spent time working as an English language specialist for the U.S. Department of State, teaching workshops and training educators on how to teach American English to non-native speakers. During school breaks, Dale has traveled to South and Central America and the Philippines on the government’s behalf.
A native New Yorker, who like Trump grew up in Queens, Dale came from a working class family and learned that education would become the key to success. Her involvement in education — and with students who were brought here illegally by their parents — in some ways played a role in her being asked to participate in the town hall with the president.
Her interaction with those students led to her writing the question about the DACA program when she was contacted by Ask Miami, a focus group she had signed up with several years ago, to submit questions for a possible appearance at the town hall session. She had mixed emotions when an NBC representative contacted her and told her she should prepare to ask her question of the president on live television.
“I thought, ‘Oh boy, now I’ve done it,’” she said. “I was excited but also wondered what did I get myself into.”
Despite the criticism of her smile comment, Dale says she was encouraged by people who were happy to see someone compliment a candidate who wouldn’t likely get her vote.
“I would say that the vast majority of individuals realized that the compliment was genuine,” she said.
So would Dale ask a question at a town hall meeting again if the opportunity presented itself?
“Absolutely,” she says. “Certainly not for the attention but to get a very vital message out. The ability to pay the president a sincere compliment and simultaneously disagree with his political and philosophical views should not be mutually exclusive.”
— Rich Pollack

Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you? 
A. I grew up in Queens, New York City. I left New York after graduating from Queens College at the age of 20 to attend the University of South Florida for my M.S. degree in speech pathology — before attending the University of Florida in Gainesville for my doctorate in communication sciences and disorders/linguistics. I’ve lived in Florida for 48 years, 43 of them in Miami. Growing up in New York has prepared me for all of life’s challenges. After all, like Frank Sinatra said, “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.”

Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of? 
A. As a college student, I worked summers as a showroom model in the New York City garment center. Other part-time jobs throughout the years included waitressing, being a receptionist and a switchboard operator. I was a speech pathologist in Broward and Miami-Dade County public schools before becoming the director of the Speech and Hearing Clinic at Miami Dade College. I was a full professor at Miami Dade College for 35 years, teaching courses in public speaking, phonetics, communication disorders, and general speech communication.
I am immensely proud that many of my professional efforts have helped people to live better lives. I am proud that I was able to be a role model for thousands of college students during my teaching career.

Q. How did you choose to make Highland Beach your home? How long have you lived here? 
A. I’ve lived in Highland Beach for five years. My son and daughter-in-law moved to Boca about five years ago for a career opportunity. There was absolutely no reason for me to stay in Miami any longer.

Q. What’s your favorite part of living in Highland Beach? 
A. The safe environment, low (if any) crime rate, the wealth of services within close proximity — the beach, library, post office, Police Department, fire station — the cleanliness and the physical beauty of the area.

Q. What book are you reading now? 
A. I just finished The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Before that The Alice Network, about a ring of female spies for the Allies during World War I.  My favorite genre is historical fiction. I’m currently reading Ken Follett’s latest book, The Evening and the Morning.

Q. What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired? When you want to just sing along out loud? 
A. Amazon Alexa is great. I just ask it to play whatever I’m in the mood for — Céline Dion, Adele, Simon and Garfunkel, for example. My favorite relaxing music is piano oldies. When I want to just sing out loud, provided nobody is around, I will listen to the Beatles. 

Q. What advice do you have for young people today? 
A. “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” If you set your goals high and try to reach them, you will still end up being successful, even if you don’t attain your original goals. If you strive for excellence, you will end up accomplishing so much more than if you just settle for mediocrity.

Q. What do you do in your free time?
A. I’m a strong believer in volunteerism. I am a trained volunteer crisis counselor for the Crisis Text Line. I do individual crisis counseling for teens and adults experiencing suicidal thoughts, anxiety and depression.
I am also a trained volunteer arbitrator for the BBB Auto Line. I arbitrate Florida Lemon Law cases. It’s very interesting and challenging. So far, I have decided in favor of the consumer about 50% of the time, and in favor of the manufacturer approximately 50% of the time.
I’m an avid pickleball player. I love to play canasta and Rummikub with friends. During COVID we play online. I love to FaceTime friends around the world as a way to stay close and in touch with them.

Q. What makes you laugh? 
A. Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Jimmy Kimmel, Saturday Night Live. Except, I didn’t think the SNL skit about me telling the president he had a great smile was funny. Maybe because I was the subject of the parody!

Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would play you?
A. Sarah Jessica Parker. She is a kind, down-to-earth, generous person. That’s more important to me than having a physical look-alike.

Mayor Bonnie Fischer wears the model of mask selected for distribution to residents. A secure fit and easy breathing fabric make it her favorite.
The ones given to residents will have the town seal.
Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

The South Palm Beach Town Council has approved buying thousands of high-quality face masks to distribute to all residents in response to the growing rate of COVID-19 infections in South Florida.
The council, during a November special meeting, authorized spending about $10,000 to supply each resident with five masks by December.
This is the town’s second mask distribution campaign. Last spring, shortly after the pandemic began, South Palm Beach handed out 3,000 masks, with Mayor Bonnie Fischer personally delivering most of them to each condo building.
“I’m willing to do that again,” Fischer said. “There’s not a lot we can do, but giving people masks is something, and it’s very important.”
The town has brought in the Palm Beach County Health Department’s mobile testing unit three times this year to screen residents, and another test day is scheduled for Dec. 11. The last visit was Nov. 6, when 102 residents were tested and offered ice cream outside Town Hall for their participation.
Fischer said making masks available has helped make them more acceptable and has played a role in reducing the spread of the coronavirus. South Palm Beach has had seven confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the Health Department testing and reports from condo managers. There are two known resident deaths from the disease.
In other business, town officials are reviewing options to find alternate easements for beach access, so South Palm Beach’s long-awaited sand restoration project can begin early next year.
The plan to haul in up to 1,000 truckloads of dredged sand from neighboring Palm Beach has stalled because property owners near the two towns’ borderline have balked at allowing easements for access to the beachfront. Officials are hoping that either Lantana will support opening a southern pathway for the trucks near Municipal Beach Park, or condo owners in the southern end of Palm Beach will allow access. “It could mean bringing the sand farther,” said Fischer, “but it’s one of the different options we’re working on at the moment.”
It’s been a tough summer and autumn for South Palm Beach’s beaches. The combination of an active storm season and king tides has swept sand away and damaged condominium sea walls.
“There’s no beach in places,” Fischer said. “This time of year we lose a lot, and that’s just the nature of the beast.”
Besides cooperation from Lantana, South Palm Beach is heavily reliant on cooperation from Palm Beach.
“They’re basically doing us a huge favor,” she said.
Palm Beach has an expansive beach restoration dredging project underway and has committed to selling South Palm the sand it needs to replenish its beaches — at a cost of somewhere between $700,000 and $900,000. The town has the money set aside and needs only an access route to deposit the sand.
The project is scheduled to begin sometime between February and April, and it must be completed before the turtle nesting season begins in May. Ú

South Palm Beach holds an in-person Town Council meeting late last month, but with social distancing measures in place and a thermometer to screen attendees. The town also has allowed residents and council members to attend via phone. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Resident Glenn Gromann thinks Boca Raton got it wrong when the city disregarded an edict from Gov. Ron DeSantis that required municipal governments to essentially abandon virtual public meetings and return to in-person meetings beginning Nov. 1.
Gromann, a frequent participant in city meetings, says the city is overstepping its bounds and, in the process, doing a disservice to people who want to see their government in action, up close and personal.
“I want to go to a public meeting and I want to be able to participate,” he said.
While Gromann argues that his City Council is exceeding its authority, the city and a growing number of other municipalities — including Boynton Beach and Palm Beach — say a combination of emergency powers invoked during the pandemic and the principle of home rule allow them to decide how their public meetings can take place.
In a resolution authorizing the continuation of virtual meetings after Nov. 1, Boca Raton cites a Florida attorney general’s opinion that local governments can meet without a quorum if “the in-person requirement for constituting a quorum is suspended during a state of emergency.”
Armed with that opinion, Boca argues that it can then invoke the Municipal Home Rule Powers Act and at its discretion suspend any in-person meeting requirements because it has declared a state of emergency.
The city also points out that although some attorney general opinions say local governments must have an in-person quorum at public meetings, no actual Florida law mandates in-person attendance.
“There are a lot of gray areas here,” says Glen Torcivia, a longtime municipal law attorney whose firm represents Highland Beach, Ocean Ridge, South Palm Beach and other towns.
So far no legal challenges have arisen to cities holding virtual meetings, but Torcivia says those governments could be taking a risk should a judge rule in favor of mandatory in-person meetings.
“If the meetings are determined by a court to be in violation of state law, then any action taken at those meetings could be determined to be invalid,” he said.
With that in mind, several municipalities are moving cautiously, with some choosing to hold only in-person meetings, while others are holding hybrid versions in which elected officials meet in person but make public participation available with programs such as Zoom.
In Delray Beach, commissioners were meeting in person with limited availability for public attendance, but late last month the city announced it would go back to virtual meetings effective Dec. 1.
Boynton Beach city leaders were the first to utilize the home rule provision to avoid meeting in person, deciding in late September to continue meeting virtually until the end of the year. In the interim, the mayor conducts meetings — with residents able to attend — at the City Hall community room while commissioners attend virtually.
In Briny Breezes, where elected officials now meet in person, Council President Sue Thaler is concerned about the rising rate of COVID cases. She is asking residents to write the governor, asking him to once again allow virtual meetings, and she plans to write him and local lawmakers herself.
Thaler says that while residents can attend the meetings or can listen by phone, council members aren’t afforded that option.
“We are the only ones required to be there in person,” she said, adding that the town’s attorney has advised against going back to virtual meetings.
In Highland Beach, which uses a hybrid setup with commissioners meeting in person and accommodating a small number of residents in person while allowing public comment in person and by Zoom, commissioners balked at holding their meetings virtually because of the possible legal ramifications.
They are, however, looking into the possibility of allowing two advisory boards — financial and natural resources preservation — to meet virtually since neither makes final decisions that could be overturned.
While safety is a key reason some municipalities are pushing to hold meetings virtually, logistics may also be a driving force, says Richard Radcliffe, executive director of the Palm Beach County League of Cities.
“There are some cities that because of their physical configuration, can’t hold in-person meetings,” he said.
In South Palm Beach, where in-person meetings take place in a small auditorium, spacing requirements could be difficult to meet, although two council members participated by phone last month and residents can do the same.
“When you’re trying to maintain six-foot social distancing the room fills up fast,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said.
Boca, for example, was considering a move from tight chambers at City Hall to a larger room at another city building, if the council were to go to in-person meetings.
Gromann believes that space limitations and other obstacles should be overcome and in-person meetings should be held to accommodate people who may not be able to take part virtually.
“In order to participate, you have to have a computer, you have to have the internet and you have to know how to use the technology,” he said.
Torcivia, for his part, counters by saying that not everyone can attend in-person meetings.
“Aren’t you limiting in-person meetings to those who can get there?” he said, adding that hybrid meetings may be a way to address both concerns. Ú

By Rich Pollack

In what may be more a shot across the bow than a serious salvo, Highland Beach is again signaling it does not want sand off its coast used for another city’s beach restoration project — even though it has no legal claim to the sand.
In its latest effort to preserve the sand off its coast — should it be needed onshore — Highland Beach is taking aim at a Delray Beach renourishment project set to begin late next year.
Even though some leaders privately acknowledge that the town could benefit from the project as sand is driven south by currents, Highland Beach voiced its objection in a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has permitting authority over the project.
The letter comes after the Corps of Engineers, which is helping to fund the project, contacted Highland Beach as part of its requirement to seek public comment on a permit modification for the restoration project.
“The Town of Highland Beach objects to the city of Delray Beach project that seeks to renourish its beach with sand dredged from a borrow area located, in part, off our shoreline,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie wrote.
In response, Delray Beach officials point out that the borrow area from which sand is taken extends only about 700 feet south of city limits.
“The city is following all state and federal guidelines and is coordinating with all the regulatory agencies,” spokeswoman Gina Carter said. “The permit modifications proposed will support the city’s long-term beach nourishment program and provide the sand source for the city’s sixth periodic beach nourishment project planned for winter 21-22 and subsequent renourishment events.”
Delray Beach will use about 1 million cubic yards of sand to restore about 2.8 miles of beach from above Atlantic Avenue to just south of Linton Boulevard, according to the Army Corps.
Highland Beach’s objection comes several months after dredging off the town’s coast for a Boca Raton restoration project caused an uproar among residents and community leaders.
After doing research, town officials learned that Highland Beach did not object to the project years before, when it received notification from permitting agencies. The town also learned that it has no legal claim to sand off its shores, which is in state waters, and little power to stop properly permitted projects.
Highland Beach town staff has been in contact with staff in Boca in hopes of having input on future restoration projects.
In his letter to the Army Corps regarding Delray Beach’s project, Labadie spells out several reasons for the town’s objection, including environmental concerns such as potential damage to offshore reefs and disturbances to turtle nesting sites.
He also addresses concerns about the dwindling amount of beach-compatible sand off the Florida coast due to beach restorations. Without enough sand available offshore, some cities, especially in Miami-Dade County, are forced to truck in sand, which is more expensive.
“Continued sand dredging in a borrow area located offshore of the town is compromising our ability to effectively and efficiently restore our beach areas following large storm events and/or damage resulting from other climatic and sea-level rise impacts,” Labadie wrote.
Town officials recognize that their efforts to stop Delray’s restoration project have only a slight chance at success but say they are hoping to send a message to state lawmakers and regulators about flaws in the permitting process.
“The town is hoping the state will rethink the way they’ve been doing this for the last 30 years,” Labadie said. “We’re not trying to be a bad neighbor, we’re just concerned about the long-term ramifications of this process.” Ú

By Larry Barszewski

The lead developer of Boynton Beach Town Square wants to put its mark on a second city-owned property critical to downtown revitalization.
E2L Real Estate Solutions LLC would create a destination spot with walkways running through a hotel and two apartment buildings — all three providing ground level shops and restaurants — and alongside outdoor landscaped and gathering areas. The project between Federal Highway and Northeast Fourth Street would also include a parking garage and potentially a train station.
The E2L proposal — called Banyan Oasis — puts the company in competition with a separate group of developers that submitted its own ideas in August for the land immediately north of Hurricane Alley Raw Bar and Restaurant on Ocean Avenue. The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency purchased the 2.6-acre site for $3 million in 2018.
“The current situation of 2020 has taught us that outdoor areas and recreational spaces are necessary for the mental and physical health of the community. This urban development brings contemporary ideas for the design of the future,” says the E2L proposal. Company President Mark Hefferin wrote that his proposal takes into account “post-COVID‐19 considerations.”
City commissioners, who make up the city’s CRA board, have not reached consensus on how to move forward with the CRA’s 115 N. Federal Highway property. The site is several blocks east of Town Square, which includes a new City Hall and library and renovation of the Old Boynton Beach High School as a cultural center.
Commissioners discussed but took no action on the earlier proposal at the CRA’s Nov. 10 meeting and didn’t review the Banyan Oasis proposal, which had been received only a day earlier. Both proposals were unsolicited.
Commissioners could decide to work with the developers of the original proposal, consider the additional proposal or have the city come up with its own ideas for the site and put out an official request for proposals, or RFP. An RFP would invite others to propose how they would develop the site to meet the city’s goals.
“I haven’t been swayed one way or another. I’m more in neutral in all this,” Commissioner Christina Romelus said at the end of the commission’s discussion about the property.
The original proposal, submitted by a group called Ocean Avenue Residences and Shoppes LLC, has run into resistance from Hurricane Alley owner Kim Kelly, who says the downtown area doesn’t need another mixed-use development. She said the plan, developed by William Morris of Southcoast Partners and Max and Harold “Sonny” Van Arnem of Van Arnem Properties, won’t attract the people needed for downtown businesses to prosper. She started an online petition that has amassed more than 4,200 signatures opposing the plan and mixed-use developments in general.
Kelly had not reviewed the Banyan Oasis proposal yet, but she has talked with Hefferin and thinks the hotel it includes is critical to downtown’s success.
“We’re going to get more business from tourists than people that are living here,” Kelly said. “We feel for the whole downtown, that a hotel would be much more beneficial to all the businesses around here, rather than just another mixed-use, another 250 apartments.”

Business coalition forms

Kelly, concerned that business voices aren’t being heard, in November began forming the Downtown Business Coalition for a Brighter and Better Boynton Beach. She said it has been a long time since a group represented downtown business interests. Within a few days, she said, she had positive replies from about 10 businesses and she planned to hold the group’s first meeting Dec. 1.
The coalition’s meeting was scheduled so that it could take place prior to the CRA’s Dec. 8 meeting, when commissioners are expected to discuss the two proposals.

Comparing the projects

Banyan Oasis proposes 220 apartments, 34,000 square feet of retail space, a 130-room hotel and a 686-space garage, while the Ocean Avenue Residences plan calls for 229 apartments, 18,000 square feet of commercial space and a 544-space garage.
Banyan Oasis would provide 150 public parking spaces in the garage and Ocean Avenue Residences 120, but both say they could add more based on the city’s desires.
Ocean Avenue Residences estimates its project at $65 million, while Banyan Oasis pegged its development at about $107 million, including $14 million in public financing for the parking garage.
Each includes an eight-story building as its tallest structure.
The Ocean Avenue Residences proposal currently encompasses just the city-owned property, while the Banyan Oasis developers include the integration of the Davis Camalier Federal Highway property rented out to Boardwalk Italian Ice & Creamery.
Both proposals contemplate a Brightline train station if the city were to secure a future stop on the passenger rail service line. The two plans incorporate the city’s Dewey Park on Ocean Avenue into their overall designs and turn the alleyway behind Hurricane Alley into a dynamic part of their pedestrian experiences.
Commissioner Justin Katz said he is leaning toward supporting an RFP, while Mayor Steven Grant said he would be comfortable trying to work with the first proposal from Ocean Avenue Residences.
“I don’t want to just keep on doing studies and RFPs. I’d like to see what we can do with the developer on hand,” Grant said.
Commissioner Woodrow Hay disagreed.
“I don’t want to rush this because this is going to stand for the next hundred years or more,” Hay said. “I don’t want it to be said that we did anything that was shady, not that I’m suggesting that anything is shady. … Let’s get the best package that would be best for Boynton. If it takes a little bit longer, it takes a little bit longer.”
Commissioners are also interested in expanding development of the site to include other adjacent properties between Ocean Avenue and Boynton Beach Boulevard.
“We need to work with a partner to expand the CRA’s portion of the land, as the center portion excludes the valuable property along Boynton Beach Boulevard, Ocean Avenue and has a very small frontage on Federal Highway,” Grant said.
Both project teams say they are willing to pursue additional parcels.
Sonny Van Arnem told commissioners his team would issue nonbinding letters of intent to adjacent property owners to purchase parcels to increase his project’s footprint. He also said he had spoken to a representative of the Oyer family, which owns three adjacent parcels on Ocean Avenue, including Hurricane Alley. Van Arnem said he was told the two closest to Dewey Park were negotiable, but that the Hurricane Alley property would not be for sale.
“I think it’s perfect where it is and should stay where it is,” Van Arnem said of Hurricane Alley.
The Banyan Oasis proposal also would leave Hurricane Alley where it is.
Hay said other adjacent properties, which include the Ace Hardware store on Boynton Beach Boulevard, should also be considered.
“The property at the north end of [the CRA land], it would be ideal to have that,” Hay said.

By Steve Plunkett

State Rep. Mike Caruso easily won re-election to his District 89 seat, buoyed by in-person votes both early and on Election Day.
The final margin was 56% for the Republican incumbent to 44% for Democrat Jim Bonfiglio.
With 98% of the vote counted (the last point that election officials posted a breakdown), Bonfiglio outpaced Caruso in the vote by mail, 28,673 to 21,121. But Caruso was the early voters’ choice, 20,918 to 11,312, and the Election Day favorite, 13,427 to 4,335.
“Delray seaside I basically tied, and Delray Beach is a Democratic stronghold, so I feel pretty good about that,” Caruso said.

Bonfiglio said pre-election polls showed him winning and led his campaign strategy astray.
"The messaging was wrong and we didn't get the votes we thought we were going to get," he said.
The outcome was a far cry from their first matchup in 2018, which included an automatic machine recount, a state-required recount by hand and a lawsuit by Bonfiglio to have the result tallied before the governor’s contest was counted. Caruso won by just 32 votes out of 78,474 cast.
This year’s official ballot total, with 100% of ballots counted, was 101,577, and Caruso enjoyed an 11,241-vote cushion.
House District 89 extends north from Boca Raton along the barrier island to Singer Island.
Caruso said he’s had little chance to wind down from the campaign following the decision by his wife, Tracy, to run for mayor of Delray Beach.
“What I thought was going to be a calm post-election proceeding has turned into a pre-campaign crisis for lack of a better term,” he said.
Bonfiglio said it was "not definitive but probable" that this was his last political campaign.
"I'm 67 and it's time for me to take some time off," he said.Ú

By Jane Smith

Boynton Beach wants a circuit court judge to declare the city has met its obligations to the private developer in the city’s public/private Town Square development project, according to a Nov. 19 lawsuit.
At issue are three items the developer disputes: natural gas lines the city says it has supplied to each of the three parcels, geotechnical reports the city says it has made available saying each parcel is cleared and ready to be developed, and verification that contractors for the public portion of the project have removed their equipment and materials from each parcel.
The items are part of the March 19, 2018, developer’s agreement the city made with John Markey, principal of JKM Developers. Markey plans to build mixed-used residential buildings with retail and restaurants on the ground floor. He has agreed to set aside public parking spaces in two garages.
By affirming the city has met its obligation, the suit claims Markey has not upheld his part of the contract, which gave him 18 months to finish one parking garage and 24 months to finish the other.
At the Nov. 4 commission meeting, City Attorney James Cherof told the commission that lawyers for both the city and Markey were going to maintain their positions on the stalemate and it was time for a judge to say which party was correct. The commission then agreed to file the lawsuit, estimated to cost $10,000 to $20,000 to initiate.
JKM has until Dec. 31 to respond to the suit.
JKM gave no definitive deadline in the contract for the construction of the two garages the city needs for staff and public parking, Cherof said. Boynton Beach’s combination City Hall and Public Library building was finished in July and officials hoped to have at least one of the parking garages completed when it opened to the public.
“The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on construction debt lending are unknown and indeterminate in nature,” Markey wrote in an Oct. 2 letter to the city. Boynton Beach, like other cities around the country, temporarily shut down in mid-March in an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, a respiratory infection that can be fatal.
Markey added that he hoped to get financing in the first quarter of 2021.
Cherof, though, called that statement “wishful thinking” at the Nov. 4 meeting.
“It’s not anything you can hang your hat on,” he said. Cherof referred commissioners to a Dec. 17, 2019, letter sent by the city to JKM, saying the city had met its obligations.
But JKM's attorney wrote the city on Oct. 2 saying the city's obligations had not yet been met.
The city gave JKM three parcels that total about 8.6 acres, $1.9 million in cash and new water and sewer lines and underground utilities at no cost in its Town Square project.
Town Square is a private-public partnership between the city and its Community Redevelopment Agency and private developers. The 16.5-acre area sits between Boynton Beach Boulevard and Southeast Second Avenue.
When complete, the $250 million Town Square will have a mix of municipal buildings and privately developed apartment buildings, a hotel, restaurants and shops. The city’s share is slightly more than $118 million.
The south garage was supposed to be finished by June 5, 2021, Colin Groff, assistant city manager, said in July. The north garage was to be finished by Dec. 5, 2021.
“The timelines are completely gone,” Markey said at the time. Ú

By Rich Pollack

Change may soon be coming to the processes many pilots use as they arrive and depart the airspace surrounding the Boca Raton Airport, but chances are they’ll hardly be noticeable to most residents.
For months, the Federal Aviation Administration has worked on a project to implement satellite-based processes to modernize air routes across the county, and it has created the South and Central Florida Metroplex as part of that project.
When the FAA begins implementing the plan early next year, pilots flying in or out of the Boca Raton Airport using instrument navigation will find new arrival and departure procedures designed to improve safety and efficiency.
Because the procedures closely mirror the ones currently in use, according to the FAA, there is expected to be little change to flight paths used by planes as they prepare to make their final approaches to the airport or as they depart.
Scott Kohut, deputy director of the Boca Raton Airport, says that satellite navigational technology will replace ground-based technology as arriving planes get closer to the airport and as departing planes get closer to their flight paths.
“Before, to get from point A to point D you had to go through points B and C,” he said. “Now you can go directly from point A to point D and skip B and C.”
In the past, Kohut said, planes were assigned routes to get them into or out of the airport’s airspace and those routes were often changing.
Now, he said, pilots will be assigned one of the standardized routes every time they approach Boca Raton airspace or leave it.
He said that the FAA has told airport representatives that no changes will occur below 3,000 feet, so any noise impact would be minimal.
Using standardized procedures based on satellite technology adds a level of precision to departures and arrivals and can reduce the interaction needed between pilots and air traffic controllers, according to the FAA.
“The technology provides a smoother and more efficient way to manage aircraft and reduces both the controller and pilot workload by minimizing the complexity of air traffic procedures,” an FAA spokesperson said in an email. 
Although the South and Central Florida Metroplex project has been controversial in some parts of South Florida, specifically Miami-Dade County where residents feared additional noise, few if any concerns have been voiced about changes that will occur surrounding the Boca Raton Airport.
Kohut believes that could be because no major changes are coming to this area and because large commercial planes do not fly into the local general aviation airport. Ú

By Mary Hladky

A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down as unconstitutional Boca Raton’s and Palm Beach County’s bans on the controversial practice of conversion therapy.
The 2-1 ruling on Nov. 20 held that the bans violate the free speech rights of therapists who offer “talk therapy” to children who have “unwanted same-sex attraction or unwanted gender identity issues.”
“This decision allows speech that many find concerning — even dangerous,” Judge Britt Grant wrote for the majority. “But consider the alternative. If speech restrictions in these ordinances can stand, then so can their inverse.
“Local communities could prevent therapists from validating a client’s same-sex attractions if the city council deemed that message harmful.
“People have intense moral, religious and spiritual views about these matters — on all sides,” she wrote. “And that is exactly why the First Amendment does not allow communities to determine how their neighbors may be counseled about matters of sexual orientation or gender.”
In her dissent, Judge Beverly Martin wrote that conversion therapy — which seeks to change a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation — is known to be harmful. She cited many professional medical organizations that have warned it causes anger, anxiety, depression, guilt and hopelessness.
“It was reasonable for the localities to enact the ordinances based on the existing evidentiary record as to harm,” she wrote, while also noting that the ordinances were narrowly written to apply only to children.
Grant and Judge Barbara Lagoa were appointed to the 11th Circuit by President Donald Trump. Martin was elevated to the court by President Barack Obama.
Jamie Cole, an attorney representing Boca Raton, said the city “is analyzing the decision to determine how to proceed.”
“This is a difficult legal issue, as evidenced by the split decision,” he said. “The city is disappointed with the majority decision but agrees with the well-written and well-reasoned dissent.”
County Attorney Denise Nieman told commissioners they could accept the ruling or ask for a hearing before the entire 12-judge federal appellate court, The Palm Beach Post reported. If the plaintiffs lost there, she predicted they would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Boca Raton passed its ordinance, proposed by then-Mayor Susan Haynie, in 2017. It was based on a model ordinance drafted by the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council.
Two therapists, Robert Otto and Julie Hamilton, sued the city and county, arguing the laws violated their free speech rights. U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg did not grant their request for an injunction, and they appealed to the 11th Circuit.
Otto and Hamilton were represented by Orlando-based Liberty Council, a religious liberty organization that provides legal services on religious issues and is opposed to LGBTQ rights.
Twenty states and many cities, including Delray Beach, have passed similar ordinances on grounds that conversion therapy not only causes psychological harm but wrongly presumes that homosexuality and gender nonconformity are mental disorders that can be “cured.” Ú

Dave Stewart, who has been Lantana’s mayor for 20 years, received a 20 Years of Service Award from the Florida League of Cities during a meeting of the Town Council. Stewart was president of the Palm Beach County League of Cities in 2007-2008. His association with the leagues, Stewart said, ‘taught me a lot and I would not be as effective as I am without the Palm Beach County League of Cities and the Florida League of Cities.’ ABOVE: (l-r) Sam Ferreri of the Florida League of Cities, Stewart and Richard Radcliffe, executive director of the Palm Beach County League of Cities. Mary Thurwachter/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter

It’s been a long time in coming, but work is imminent on rebuilding the trail at the Lantana Nature Preserve. Left in shambles by Hurricane Irma in 2017, the 6½-acre preserve at 440 E. Ocean Ave. is on track for a new concrete pathway.
The original trail was made of shell rock.
At the Nov. 9 Lantana town meeting, council members unanimously voted to accept a $144,494 contract with American Design Engineering Construction Inc. to build a new walking trail and repair the retaining wall at the preserve. American Design was the lowest of four proposals, with bids going as high as $193,922.
The town will use $76,800 it has collected in maintenance revenues from the Carlisle assisted-living facility next to the preserve, and borrow the balance, $67,700, from town reserves. Money taken from reserves is to be repaid from future maintenance revenues from the Carlisle.
According to an agreement made when the Nature Preserve was being developed in the late 1990s, the town cannot spend any more on the property than the $50,000 annual payment it receives from the Carlisle.
The Carlisle had purchased 13 acres (including the preserve) from the town. The annual cost to maintain the park is about $20,000, leaving $30,000 to spend each year on needed improvements.
Town Manager Deborah Manzo said the Department of Environmental Protection has approved the permit for the concrete walkway and retaining wall.

In other action, the town:
• Approved the Lantana Chamber of Commerce’s request to manage the Centennial Adopt-a-Tree Program. Businesses or individuals who adopt a tree will pay $150 toward the tree and an individual plaque. The town will be responsible for choosing locations and planting the trees.
• Approved a request from the Chamber of Commerce to install a memorial stone at the Veterans Monuments at Bicentennial Park and to hold a dedication ceremony open to the public at a later date.
“We feel this final stone will make the experience of viewing the Veterans Monuments even more meaningful,” said Dave Arm, the chamber president.
The stone will read: “To honor all who served in times of war and peace and in memory of those who gave their lives for our freedom.” Ú