Joanne Stanley, the verger, leads the processional at the beginning of the dedication service at St. Gregory’s, a traditional role that dates back centuries. Photo provided

St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church celebrated the dedication of its newly renovated sanctuary on April 21 with a special Choral Evensong concert. Construction on the $3.6 million renovation, which began in the summer of 2023, was completed by the end of the year, but this was the official Service of Rededication and Open House Celebration commemorating the church’s 70th anniversary as the cultural and sacred hub of arts and service in downtown Boca Raton.

The Right Rev. Peter Eaton, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, and Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer kicked off the dedication. Then, led by Timothy Brumfield, the director of music ministry, organist and choirmaster, the performances in the acoustically exquisite space began. The choir and musicians, supported by the clergy, performed hymns, the Psalter, The Magnificat, The Lord’s Prayer, anthems, solos, Collects and prayers.

The festive evening wrapped with a party in the courtyard and Parish Hall and on the East Terrace, where Father Andrew Sherman led a prayer of thanksgiving topped with a champagne toast.

You can view St. Gregory’s Evensong Service of Rededication online at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fzGyhYH8u8

14 seminarians being ordained as priests
Fourteen seminarians are being ordained to the priesthood after completing studies at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach.

The men served as transitional deacons for the last year. Each of the candidates has completed at least seven years of study in the areas of human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation, diving deeply into philosophy, Roman Catholic theology and pastoral practice.

Those being ordained in May and June are John Buonocore, Milton Martinez and David Zallocco for the Archdiocese of Miami; Serge Dubé and Joshua Martin for the Diocese of Palm Beach; Diego Vasquez and Cristian Vergara for the Diocese of St. Augustine; Michael Batista and Phillip Mills for the Diocese of Orlando; Arturo Merriman for the Archdiocese of Atlanta; Peter R. O’Steen for the Diocese of Charleston; Ross Williams for the Diocese of Raleigh; Francisco Gamboa-Felix for the Diocese of Savannah; and for the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, Ronan Sarmiento.

The two from the Palm Beach diocese were ordained by Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito May 4 at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola in Palm Beach Gardens. During the Mass, the men lay prostrate before the altar. They received the Laying of Hands as the prayer of consecration is prayed over them, were anointed with chrism oil, and received their vestments.

Music at St. Paul’s is a wrap
Music at St. Paul’s season wrapped up on May 5 with a performance by the Delray String Quartet, but this was not the end of the series as first expected. May 5 was to be the final concert because of increasing costs and decreasing attendance for a series that brought the best classical and chamber music to St. Paul’s for 35 seasons. But the church reached an agreement with the Delray String Quartet to continue as artists in residence.

The quartet plans a series of concerts in late 2024 and early 2025 with three shows featuring St. Paul’s Chancel Choir. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is at 188 S. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. Watch for updates at https://stpaulsdelray.org.

Saint Mark Greek Orthodox: Hi to Alexa
An adorable post on Saint Mark Greek Orthodox’s Facebook page announced a new way to stay in touch with the church in Boca Raton. If you have the Amazon Alexa app on your smartphone or an Amazon Alexa at home, you can listen to services at Saint Mark with Alexa’s help.

To teach Alexa this new skill, say “Alexa, ENABLE Saint Mark.” Then anytime you want to hear Saint Mark, say “Alexa, PLAY Saint Mark.” When the service is live, you’ll hear the current service. When there is no service going on in the church, you can listen to one of more than 1,400 recorded services.
Thanks, Alexa!

More Vacation Bible Schools registering
St. Vincent Ferrer Vacation Bible School meets from 9 a.m. to noon June 10-14 in the Family Life Center for kids who have completed kindergarten through fifth grade. The fee is $60. Scholarships are available. Teens interested in volunteering for service hours are welcomed. Call Amy Sexton at 561-654-8649 or email amy@sextons.net.

First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach hosts Vacation Bible School from 9 a.m. to noon June 10-14. The theme of the event is “Hometown Nazareth: Where Jesus Was a Kid.” The church is at 33 Gleason St. VBS is free. Get more info and register online at https://firstdelray.com/upcoming-events.
— Janis Fontaine

Volunteers and instructors mingle with students of the class put on by the Boca Ballet Theatre. Jan Engoren/The Coastal Star

By Jan Engoren

Every week, dedicated people come to the Boca Ballet studios in Boca Raton for a movement class known as BBT4PD, short for Boca Ballet Theatre for Parkinson’s disease. It’s a dance class for people with Parkinson’s, a degenerative brain condition that affects muscle control and movement. 

Now in its 10th season, the class is taught by instructor Ines Lopez and program director Cindy Surman.

“Many physicians stress the importance of physical activity, social interaction and mental stimulation for patients living with Parkinson’s disease,” says Surman. “BBT4PD gives them all three.

“The joyful, lighthearted atmosphere we strive to maintain is welcoming [and] fun and encourages our participants to regularly attend and keep moving,” she says.

Surman is the only instructor in Florida certified by the founding organization, Dance for PD, based in Brooklyn, New York, and she thinks she is one of only 17 around the world. 

Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease include slowness of movement (bradykinesia), stiffness (rigidity) and tremors.

According to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, approximately 1 million people in the United States and more than 6 million people worldwide are affected by the disease.

To mitigate symptoms, experts suggest eating a healthy diet, exercising, finding a movement disorder specialist to determine the right treatment plan, building a support system, staying socially active and getting involved in the Parkinson’s community.

For Marylyn Ross, 80, of Boynton Beach, a retired business owner, getting involved with what class members lovingly refer to as the “shake, rattle and rollers” is just the ticket.

“The class keeps me going and gives me a mental and social boost,” she says.

After her symptoms were misdiagnosed as a stroke, Ross received the Parkinson’s diagnosis two years ago. Her symptoms include tremors, balance and gait issues, as well as fatigue.

She’s been coming to the BBT4PD for a year and a half and enjoys the camaraderie.

“It’s very uplifting, supportive and caring,” Ross says. “We laugh a lot.”

The benefits of the program include improved mobility, balance and posture, better mood, decreased symptoms and a reduced sense of isolation.

Classes are open for free to everyone with Parkinson’s, no matter their age, ability or the advancement of their condition.

Music is provided by professional ballet accompanist Aly Tejas on piano.

The class consists of both sitting and standing exercises, and Surman offers it on Zoom as well. 

To Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Fiddler on the Roof songs and the Drifters’ Save the Last Dance for Me, participants begin to rotate their arms, flap like eagles and extend their limbs in repetitive, coordinated cha-cha-cha movements. 

Several exercises require partners. One person poses while a partner pretends to sketch him. Or the partners shake hands and exchange greetings.

West Boca Raton resident Ed Kallen, 78, a retired attorney who has been coming to class for eight months, says the instructors and volunteers “all have great attitudes, are generous, supportive and positive.” Kallen was diagnosed two years ago.

Lopez and Surman work alongside assistant instructors Karen Wexler and Amanda Sewell and volunteers Judi Steinhardt, Judie Stewart, Romina Navaza and Bernie Krutchik.

The irreverent class members like to joke about their condition and even had T-shirts made up with slogans such as “I’m not drunk, I have Parkinson’s disease,” and “I have Parkinson’s disease. What’s your excuse?”

The main jokester is Mike Homer, 72, a former maintenance director from Boca Raton. In a recent class his T-shirt read:
“It’s okay I’m on 10,000 mg’s of carbidopa-levodopa.”

Carbidopa and levodopa is a combination medicine used to treat symptoms such as stiffness and tremors.

The music and mood in the class are lively and upbeat, with laughter, joking and camaraderie among the participants. Occasionally, a loud “yee-haw” erupts, as Surman leads the group in a communal expression of joy and excitement, courtesy of her Texas roots.

If You Go

What: BBT4PD, A Certified Dance for Parkinson’s Disease program
Where: Boca Ballet Theatre, 7630 NW Sixth Avenue, Boca Raton
When: 3-4 p.m. June 4, 11, 18 and July 2, 9, 16; normal schedule resumes Aug. 13, from 1-2 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays
Zoom: Meeting ID for summer is 851 5563 8397 with password zoom.
More info: Cindy Surman at 561-995-0709 (ext. 226) or email csurman@bocaballet.org. Accompanying family members and caregivers are welcome.

Jan Engoren writes about health and healthy living. Send column ideas to jengoren@hotmail.com.

Dr. Roy C. Blake III points out X-ray results alongside a Palm Beach State College dental health student. Photo provided

Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science has created the department of biomedical engineering, with a focus on biomaterials and tissue engineering, smart health systems and bio-robotics.

Biomedical engineering integrates concepts in electrical and mechanical engineering, biology, computer science and medicine into a cross-disciplinary field.

“The impetus to create our department was spurred by the significant projected growth of job opportunities related to this field nationally, statewide and, in particular, in southeast Florida,” said Stella Batalama, the college dean.

“We have invested in a brand-new clean room that will help our students learn micro- and nano- manufacturing techniques for medical devices and sensors as well as a new biomedical laboratory with state-of-the-art instrumentation.”

The university expects to enroll about 25 students by the end of the year and about 200 students by year four. The department is on the Boca Raton campus with courses and laboratory work also available on the John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter.

For more information or to apply, call Javad Hashemi at 561-297-3438 or email jhashemi@fau.edu.  

Delray Medical Center offers new pacemaker
Delray Medical Center now offers the AVEIR DR dual chamber leadless pacemaker to treat patients with slow or irregular heart rhythms.

The first surgery was performed at the hospital by Dr. Mark Freher on April 18. Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June 2023, the AVEIR DR system, manufactured by Abbott, offers a minimally invasive option to treat people who require pacing in two chambers of the heart. 

Daniel Listi, Delray Medical Center’s CEO, says the new treatment “will help improve the lives of our patients by reducing their exposure to the kinds of lead- and pocket-related complications associated with traditional pacemakers.”

More than 40 dental patients treated for free
By 6:50 a.m. April 17, all slots were taken at Palm Beach State College’s sixth annual Free Dentistry Day, its first since the pandemic. By 6 p.m., 10 volunteer dentists, aided by the college’s dental health students, did fillings and extractions on 41 adults who otherwise could not afford dental treatment.

Dentists installed 26 composite fillings and did 25 extractions, aided by 19 students who obtained each patient’s medical history, did X-rays and assisted the procedures.

Dr. Roy C. Blake III has volunteered at PBSC’s Free Dentistry Day since its first year in 2015.

“The local dentists come because they feel like they can give back," Blake said.

All the dentists were affiliated with the Atlantic Coast Dental Research Clinic, which provides continuing education for dentists and reduced-fee dental services for the community. 

Local nurses honored during national week
The Palm Beach Health Network honored nurses during National Nurses Week, May 6-12, recognizing the role they perform for their communities.

“Every day, we are thankful to all of our nurses and humbled by the way they care for our patients,” said Maggie Gill, group president for Tenet Healthcare’s East Coast region.

Palm Beach Health Network includes Delray and West Boca medical centers.

The network also celebrated National Hospital and Healthcare Week, May 13-18, a time set aside to celebrate hospitals and show thanks and appreciation to people who work in them. 

Send health news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.

Samuel Reiter of Ocean Ridge plans to study aviation and business at The Ohio State University. Photo provided

By Faran Fagen

A lot of high schoolers take off with their friends on their 17th birthday, but Samuel Reiter chose to spend eight hours at the airport taking the hardest test of his life.

“I knew going in that I needed to prepare for the test as much as possible in order to get my pilot’s license,” Reiter said. “I needed to do well not only to pass the test, but for it to be a good birthday.”

Not long after earning his pilot’s license last year on his 17th birthday — the age at which one is eligible to take the aviation exam — Reiter was named valedictorian of his class at Boynton Beach Community High School.

“It was definitely a risky decision to take the pilot’s exam on my 17th birthday,” said the Ocean Ridge resident.

Reiter, now 18, graduated in May from the Boynton Aerospace Science Academy (also known as BASA), a Choice Program in Palm Beach County. At Boynton Beach High, he co-founded and served as president of the BASA Student Council, an organization that was formed to build a stronger sense of community and create opportunities for students to support their Choice program.

“My friends in the BASA program are really what pushed me to reach this level,” Reiter said. “We were all working together and studying together, and we all held each other accountable.”

Reiter worked with his fellow BASA seniors, board of trustees and Parents Council to launch an SAT and college prep program last year at BASA/BBCHS. The aim was to provide students with support and guidance in college planning as BBCHS had no college advisers, something Reiter and his peers hope will change soon.

“Sam’s enthusiasm and efforts to give back not only build up the BASA community, but also the Boynton Beach High School community as well,” said Moody Fuller, BBCHS principal. “He’s very effective at bringing people together for the greater good.”

This fall, Reiter will attend The Ohio State University, where he received a Morrill Distinction Scholarship, the highest merit-based scholarship offered at OSU.

The scholarship is awarded on a competitive basis to academically talented high school seniors who the university hopes will contribute to campus diversity and academic excellence.

The award is the value of the cost to attend Ohio State, including out-of-state tuition and room/board.

Reiter also considered Purdue, Stanford and Embry-Riddle universities, but chose OSU, where he plans to pursue a degree in aviation in the College of Engineering and minor in a business field.

Reiter said he did not pursue valedictorian status, but that he achieved it because he followed his passion for aviation, which forced him to focus on his studies. He flies out of Lantana Airport every chance he gets, renting from a flight school that provides an instructor.

In addition to being a private pilot, Reiter earned his drone license certification by passing the challenging FAA Part 107 test.

He began flying at home on a simulator that he assembled when he was 14 years old, after a successful summer of saving his earnings from babysitting his twin cousins.

The simulator is a dual-monitor gaming computer with several flying instrument attachments like a yoke, throttle and pedal.

When he is actually in the air, one of his favorite destinations is the Island Gypsy Cafe at Marco Island where he, his instructor and possibly a lucky passenger can enjoy grouper sandwiches.

Reiter got his start in aviation at age 8 when his parents, Russell and Susan, moved the family to Ocean Ridge from New York. Sam has three siblings. The family loved skiing, so they took frequent plane rides for ski trips.

“I’ve always been really big on transportation,” Reiter said. “When I lived in New York, we used to take the train a lot and I developed a love for the human ability to operate such powerful machines so delicately.”

He was amazed by how many buttons planes had and how each served a different function.

“There were so many screens, and someone had to learn how to read all that,” Reiter said.

In his spare time, he enjoys 3D printing and building models of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, and watches almost every SpaceX launch either from Ocean Ridge or Cape Canaveral, or online if it’s in Texas or California.

Reiter also rock climbs, hikes, skis and travels with his family. He works at Josie’s Ristorante in Boynton Beach.

The girls track and field team from Don Estridge High Tech Middle School in Boca Raton runs a victory lap to celebrate its 2024 county middle school championship. Coached by second-year head coach Keri Stevens, third from left, the Dragons went undefeated this season and captured the school’s first county championship in girls track and field. The trophy is carried by Trae’Anah Boyd, a sprinter and high jumper who propelled the team to victory by scoring 20.5 of the Dragons’ 61.5 points. Howell L. Watkins Middle School came in second with 59 points. A total of 24 teams from all areas of the county competed. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

ABOVE: Capt. Chris Lemieux holds a 43-pound kingfish that was caught kite-fishing with live bait.
BELOW: Lemieux also uses bonita strips as kingfish bait. Photos by Steve Waters/The Coastal Star

By Steve Waters

Late spring and early summer are when big kingfish can be caught off Palm Beach County, and boaters don’t have to travel very far or use fancy, expensive tackle to land a king mackerel. In last month’s Lantana Fishing Derby, the biggest fish of the tournament was a 40-pound, 8-ounce kingfish. The second- and third-biggest fish were kings of 34.25 and 31 pounds.

Capt. Chris Lemieux of Boynton Beach has had great success catching kingfish this time of year by trolling strips of bonito behind his 27-foot center-console boat.

“Generally we get the spring run right now and catch a lot of kingfish,” Lemieux said. “June and July are good, then it’ll kind of slow down and pick back up in August or September.”

Fishing on a sunny afternoon in 90-110 feet of greenish water just south of Boynton Beach Inlet, the charter missed a couple of kings before an 8-pounder made it into the boat.

That was followed by a kingfish doubleheader of a 10-pounder and a 13-pounder for Lemieux’s customers.

His anglers also caught four bonitos, which are members of the tuna family that don’t taste anywhere near as good as their relatives. The hard-fighting fish are a challenge to land, and as one angler labored to reel in his third bonito, Lemieux joked, “Are you trying to let that fish get bigger?”

Lemieux kept those bonitos to fashion future strips, which consist of a thin layer of meat on the fish’s shiny skin cut into the streamlined shape of a baitfish. Fished in combination with a flashy, feathery lure known as a Sea Witch, bonito strips are especially effective this time of year.

He fished the strips behind planers on heavy two-speed conventional outfits spooled with 80-pound braided line that were trolled from rod-holders on each side of the stern.
“You catch them this time of year on the planer, the smaller ones,” said Lemieux, a Boynton Beach firefighter who on his days off runs trips for Lemieux Fishing Charters (www.lemieuxfishingcharters.com). “I’ve caught kingfish on planers everywhere.”

The charter anglers fish for everything from snapper, tuna and dolphin to sailfish, sharks and swordfish.

Lemieux rigs a bonito strip on an 8/0 long-shank J hook. He slides a Sea Witch down the leader so it rests atop the strip, giving it the appearance of a flying fish or other baitfish.

On this day, Lemieux used a blue-and-white Sea Witch and a pink one. Both colors were effective.

Another proven kingfish tactic is to fish live baits from a fishing kite. The kite flies behind the boat and baited lines are attached to clips on the line attached to the kite. That gets the baits away from the boat and allows them to splash on the surface to attract attention from kingfish as well as sailfish and tunas.

Lemieux put up a fishing kite with three lines baited with live goggle-eyes. He also put out three flat-line live baits on spinning outfits.

Things got interesting when the kite bait closest to the boat got whacked by what turned out to be a 43-pound kingfish. Moments later, a huge bonito took off with a flat-line bait.

Fortunately, the two fish did not tangle the lines.

The big king dumped a bunch of line, but Lemieux chased it down, gaffed it and lifted it into the boat. After that kingfish and the bonito, his exhausted anglers called it quits.

Tournament results
The Lantana Fishing Derby was held May 4, with the 45-boat fleet weighing in at the Old Key Lime House dock. Cash prizes of $1,250, $750 and $500 were awarded for the first-, second- and third-heaviest kingfish, dolphin and wahoo. Fishing on the boat One N’ Done, Raymond Devine caught the biggest kingfish at 40.5 pounds. Mike Minia on Chasin’ Shade was second at 34.25 and Jimmy Berry of Cat-Ching was third at 31.

Mike Genovese had the biggest dolphin at 20.5 pounds. Matthew Mejeur of Dutch Babay was second with a 19-pounder and William Gerlach of No Patients was third at 15.5.

David Trigg of Loose Trigger caught the biggest wahoo at 17 pounds, 2 ounces. Robert Purdy of Slots Matter was second at 12-2. No other wahoo were weighed, so the $500 prize went to Jimmy Berry of Cat-Ching in a random drawing.

Outdoors writer Steve Waters can be reached at steve33324@aol.com.

Arden Moore demonstrates the canine Heimlich maneuver on her dog Kona. Photo provided

By Arden Moore

Take a look at dates on calendars and you will discover dozens of days and months designated as pet holidays or awareness dates.

But the one I regard as the most lifesaving date arrives every June 22. It is called National Pet Choking Prevention Day (https://nationalpet chokingpreventionday.com) and was launched last year by Dr. Judy Morgan, an integrative veterinarian.

“I saw many choking cases involving dogs and cats during my career and some of these cases did not have good outcomes, which is very sad as this is something that is preventable,” says Morgan, who practiced veterinary medicine for 36 years, including a decade in emergency medicine. She now operates Dr. Judy Morgan’s Naturally Healthy Pets site (https://drjudymorgan.com) to empower and educate pet parents on ways to keep their pets healthy and safe.

She says that each year there are more than 200,000 cases of cats and dogs choking and needing medical care, as reported by veterinarians across the country. Sadly, some of these pets do not survive.

Learning pet first aid and regularly doing room-by-room inspections to remove potential choking items are two ways to keep our pets safe.

I’ve been a master certified pet first aid/CPR instructor for 12 years. In my classes, I train pet parents and pet professionals how to perform abdominal thrusts safely to dislodge objects in cats and dogs.

Recently, one of my students, Linda Brown Hall, co-founder of Cat Behavior Alliance (https://catbehavioralliance.com) in Defiance, Ohio, reached out to share how she saved the life of her cat, Gallway.

“Gallway’s body was jerking, but he was not making any sound,” says Linda. “When I placed my hand against his nose and mouth, I did not feel any air. Opening his mouth, I discovered he had Saran wrap blocking his airway. I performed the Heimlich maneuver you taught us in class and saved his life.”

Step-by-step Heimlich maneuver guide
For cats and small dogs choking due to having their airways partially or completely blocked by an object, follow these veterinarian-approved steps to perform abdominal thrusts effectively:

• Stand and hold your dog with her back against your stomach.
• Hold her up with one arm around her upper abdomen.
• With your other hand, make a fist, tucking in your thumb.
• Position your closed fist at the end of her ribcage in the soft spot.
• Thrust your fist in and upward five times in a row on the pet’s exhale to try to dislodge the object.
• Every five thrusts, open and inspect the mouth to see if you can dislodge any object.
• Be ready to perform rescue breaths if the pet becomes unconscious.
• Use the speaker function on your cellphone to alert the nearest veterinary clinic of your arrival as you continue the abdominal thrusts.

For medium to large dogs whose airways are partially or completely blocked by an object, follow these steps:
• Stand behind your dog if she is standing.
• With one hand, make a fist and tuck in your thumb.
• Position this closed fist at the soft spot just past the ribcage.
• Use your open-palm hand to hold this fist in place.
• Thrust your hands up and forward (toward the dog’s mouth) five times in a row on the dog’s exhale to try to dislodge the object.
• Every five thrusts, open and inspect the mouth to see if you can dislodge any object.
• Be ready to perform rescue breaths if your dog becomes unconscious.
• Use the speaker function on your cellphone to alert the nearest veterinary clinic of your arrival as you continue the abdominal thrusts.

Many dogs, including Kona, my terrier mix, love fetching balls. Many cats, including mine, hone their hunting skills by stalking feather wand toys and other wiggling linear objects.

To reduce the risk of your pet choking, heed these safety tips:

Opt for using balls that are made of pet-safe materials. Select balls that are too big to fit inside your dog’s mouth to reduce chances of blocking the airway. Get in the habit of playing with your cat with wand toys and other linear toys and then storing them in a cat-safe container to prevent accidental choking.

Parting message from Morgan, “Every pet parent should watch a video on performing the Heimlich maneuver or take a course in pet first aid. Having knowledge prior to an incident will save valuable time and potentially save the life of a dog or a cat.”

Household hazards
Common items in homes that can cause choking or even unconsciousness if swallowed by cats or dogs:
avocado pits, baby bottle nipples, baby carrots, bully sticks, buttons, chew toys, corn cobs, dental floss, diapers, food wrappers, game pieces, hair ties, hot dogs, jewelry, kibble pieces, plastic bags, rawhide chews, refrigerator magnets, rubber bands, shoelaces, socks, squeakers from plush toys, sticks, string, tennis balls, tinsel, underwear, window blind cords, yarn.

Arden Moore is an author, speaker and master certified pet first aid instructor. Learn more by visiting www.ardenmoore.com.

Gary Chancey, an engineer-driver for the new Highland Beach Fire Rescue, receives his department badge from his wife, Liz Chancey, an engineer-driver for Riviera Beach Fire Rescue. The ceremony at the new Highland Beach station included (l-r) Chief Glenn Joseph and his assistant chiefs Tom McCarthy and Matt Welhaf. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

New department is first of its kind in Palm Beach County in 31 years

By Rich Pollack

The critics said it couldn’t be done.

They said starting a new fire department in Highland Beach would be too expensive and would bankrupt the town. They said the quality of service would slide downhill, and that navigating the state and county bureaucratic requirements would prove insurmountable.

They even told the town’s fire chief, who had been a chief in Boynton Beach and a deputy chief in Boca Raton, that he was crazy to take the job.

Yet this month, Highland Beach Fire Rescue launched operations, the first new municipal fire department in Palm Beach County since Tequesta’s in 1993, with promises to provide improved services at a significantly reduced cost.

“Everyone says you can’t do it because that’s the easy answer,” says Highland Beach Fire Rescue Chief Glenn Joseph. “But when you do an objective assessment, you see there’s costs, but you weigh that against the benefits.”

The benefits, town leaders say, are not just cost savings and enhanced service, but also long-term control over expenses and operations.
“This is another chapter in Highland Beach becoming a full-service community,” said Town Manager Marshall Labadie. “Not only did we do it, we did it right.”

Mayor Natasha Moore said getting the new department up and running took a “Herculean effort.”

“This was an incredibly important and complicated task that Highland Beach was able to accomplish,” she said. “The lesson here is that towns want to have services that address the specific needs of their residents and are willing to put in the work to make it happen.”

The new station went into service May 1, the date Highland Beach officially launched its own fire rescue department.

Contract costs escalate
For more than three decades, Highland Beach received fire rescue service from neighboring Delray Beach. However, as annual costs climbed above the $5 million mark, town leaders began wondering if they could do better on their own.

In recent years, Highland Beach has challenged the city’s billing and the method the city uses to calculate its charges. While town leaders think that the city has overbilled for its services, a recent state audit showed that the town could actually owe Delray Beach as much as $2 million that was never billed.

Three years ago, after receiving the conclusions of a consultant’s study they requested, commissioners decided to create a town fire rescue department that they believed would meet the needs of residents at a lower cost.

They gave Delray Beach the required three years’ notice and now that day has finally arrived.

“This new town-run fire rescue department allows us to fully reach our commitment to provide the best service to our residents so we can ensure their health and safety to the best of our ability,” Labadie said.

Essential to the town’s success, Labadie said, was the support of the community, which in a 2021 vote overwhelmingly approved spending up to $10 million on a new fire department, with just shy of 90% approval. “We were able to do this because the community wanted it, the community was willing to pay for it and to put in a leadership team to make it happen,” he said.

Small town, single station
That Highland Beach is small, just 3.3 miles long with a population under 5,000, also helped make a new fire department possible, since the department has only about 30 employees and operates one station. The town also has a wealthy population that can financially support a new fire department.

“A single-station community with a smaller staffing requirement is easier to start up than a department in a larger community,” said Robert Finn of Matrix Consulting Group, which provided the study the town used in deciding to start the department.

Town leaders say that they expect to save more than $1 million a year in operating costs by having their own department and believe they can recover the estimated $10 million in start-up costs — about $8 million of which covered the cost of a new fire station — in five to seven years.

“Now the town has control over how the costs will escalate,” Joseph said.

Most of the new department turned out for the formal opening of the completed station. TOP (l-r): Tyler McCarthy, Rodrigo Landeo, Justin Henry, Daniel Rush, Alisha Vidal, Ricardo Robinson, Kristian Williams, Kristi Kemper, Megan Cyr, Alex Lutz, Kyle Pavelka (behind Lutz) and Stephen Burt. BELOW: (l-r) James Peterson, James Steyn, Erik Lenzen (behind Steyn), Daniel Stearns, Gary Chancey, Assistant Chief Matt Welhaf, captains Mike Benoit, Alex Fernandez, Chris Zidar and Robert Kruse, Assistant Chief Tom McCarthy, Chief Glenn Joseph,T.J. DiGangi, Cameron Abraham, Kevin Maxwell, Sean Conner, Cale Brader, Raynier Charafardin and Joe Nolan.
Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

More staff, more vehicles
Although the operating costs will shrink, the number of firefighter paramedics based in town will increase as will the number of trucks and rescue units, town leaders say.

Prior to the town’s taking over, Delray Beach provided five firefighter paramedics per shift in Highland Beach. They staffed a rescue unit and a fire truck. With the new department in place, there will be seven firefighter paramedics on each shift and two rescue units and two fire trucks available.

Labadie has pointed out that in most cases there will be three firefighter paramedics on the rescue truck as opposed to the two on the rescue vehicle staffed by Delray Beach.

In addition to Joseph, the town has two assistant chiefs and a public safety administrative assistant on the team.

The Delray Beach firefighters in town responded to calls in the city as well as in Highland Beach. Joseph said his new department would always have a rescue unit on the barrier island to respond to calls in the town.

‘Concierge’ department
Joseph and Labadie have both referred to the new department as a concierge fire department that will put a higher focus on the needs of residents.

“What makes it a concierge fire department is that we’re going to be proactive,” the chief said. “Most fire departments are reactive.”

With an expected average of 2.5 calls per day, the new department staff will have more opportunity to meet with residents and address prevention issues.

Matt Welhaf, an assistant chief, focuses on risk reduction. Welhaf, who is also the town’s fire marshal, will perform routine fire prevention inspections at no cost. Previously that service came with a charge to condo associations or residents.

Joseph said that the department hopes to bring a service called Community Connect online that will enable residents to volunteer information — such as pets and medications — that firefighter paramedics will receive when being dispatched to a specific address.

The new fire station is named after former Mayor Doug Hillman, who led the charge for the new department before he died in March 2023. During a ribbon-cutting ceremony, residents had a chance to tour the facility.

The station includes an Emergency Operation Center, as well as a lobby with restrooms accessible to residents, and was completed on time and about $200,000 under budget.

Highland Beach will keep the existing fire station, which town leaders said was obsolete, and use the two bays for the backup truck and rescue unit. The living quarters of the old station could eventually be transformed into a public area that would house community events.

Among those supporting the department is the town’s Police and Fire Foundation, which provides items not included in the budget.

“We will continue to work with Chief Joseph on needs not met by the normal budget process,” said Jason Chudnofsky, who serves as the foundation’s president. “We will make sure that the men and women of the fire department have the community support needed to better serve all residents of Highland Beach.”

The fire rescue staff trained at a facility in Riviera Beach. ABOVE: (l-r) James Steyn, Joe Nolan and Gary Chancey watch as Erik Lenzen prepares to go up a ladder during training. BELOW: Tyler McCarthy simulates the rescue of a child.

By Rich Pollack

Highland Beach’s battle to stop the controversial Milani Park was dealt a pair of powerful blows in April, with county leaders saying they are developing the park based on 15-year-old town approvals — and with the Milani family blessing the county’s decision.

For decades town residents have been fighting development of the 5.6-acre beachfront site which the Milani family sold to the county for use as a park in 1987 for $3.9 million.

While previous county commissions have put off a decision on building the park after a settlement agreement was reached following a legal battle over the property, current county leaders announced last summer that they would go forward — a move that touched off another drive by Highland Beach residents and officials to prevent development.

After months of back and forth, including an often-contentious community meeting, county leaders have said the town’s efforts to stop the park are futile.

“No park is not an option,” said County Commissioner Marci Woodward, whose district includes Highland Beach and encompasses the park site.

In a letter to Highland Beach residents sent late last month, County Parks & Recreation Director Jennifer Cirillo and Facilities Development and Operations Director Isami Ayala-Collazo said that the wheels are in motion to develop the park with full amenities including more than 100 parking spaces, public restrooms and a lifeguard station. The site straddles State Road A1A in the south end of town.

“This letter serves the primary purpose of notifying community stakeholders that county staff is proceeding with development of Cam D. Milani Park as per the town-approved site plan, development order and SSA (stipulated settlement agreement),” the letter said. “Notwithstanding the constraints imposed by the aforementioned documents, our commitment to work with the surrounding community remains intact.”

That letter appears to negate a previously discussed compromise offered by the county that would have reduced the number of parking spots to 40 and removed the restrooms and lifeguard station from the site.

Woodward and Cirillo say that compromise was withdrawn after Highland Beach commissioners passed a resolution in February urging the county to sell the property to developers rather than build a park.

“It seems like lines have been drawn,” Woodward said.

Is compromise possible?
But while Woodward said she didn’t know what a compromise would look like and Cirillo said such a decision would not be coming from her office, Highland Beach hopes a compromise is still possible.

Town Manager Marshall Labadie says the town is open to compromise.

“The resolution doesn’t say anything in absolute terms that we are not willing to compromise,” he said.

While he acknowledges that the county has the right to develop the property it owns in accordance with the settlement agreement that followed legal challenges, he questions whether the decision to move forward is coming from Woodward and county staff as opposed to the full County Commission.

“We would hope they would put it as an agenda item and have a discussion of the project in public,” he said.

Woodward says it is not necessary to have the issue come before the commission again since a previous commission voted in 2019 to move forward with the project.

Mayor Natasha Moore, in a note to Highland Beach residents following the arrival of the recent county letter, said the lack of public involvement is “deeply concerning.”

“It gives the appearance of decisions being made without proper due process and transparency which goes against the principles of our ‘government in the sunshine’ laws,” she wrote.

Road trip in works
Moore urged residents to join her and other town commissioners at the County Commission’s May 7 meeting with hopes of giving the full board of seven commissioners a chance to hear their concerns.

To encourage attendance, the town has arranged for two buses to take residents to the meeting.

Among the concerns the town hopes to share are traffic problems as well as security and the safety of those who would be crossing A1A as they walk from the parking lot to the beach.

Ron Reame, president of the Boca Highland Beach Club and Marina, which borders the west portion of the park site, said he believes residents would accept a compromise if there must be a park.

“We don’t want a park but if you’re telling us we have to have something, then what’s the best alternative for us,” he said.

Family supports park plan
While Labadie and Reame say they hope a compromise on the scope of development is still on the table, Milani family members have let county leaders know that they hope the park will be developed in accordance with the 15-year-old settlement agreement.

Tom Carney, the attorney for Lucia Milani and her family, wrote Woodward that the family has always wanted the property to be a public park named after Lucia’s husband, Cam, who died in 1986.

“Mrs. Milani is urging that the county decide in favor of the provisions set forth in the settlement agreement which would allow the greatest use of the park by the public and not agree with the Town of Highland Beach that the use of this park should be severely limited by creating only a few parking spaces,” wrote Carney, who is also the mayor of Delray Beach.

Woodward says that even without a compromise, much of what has been discussed regarding the portion of the property on the east side of A1A will be preserved.

The parcel includes what is believed to be a native American burial ground as well as native vegetation.

“There are a number of concerns we can address to protect it,” she said.

Woodward says that the proposal by Highland Beach to have the county sell the land, which the town had appraised at over $45 million, would go against the will of residents who approved a bond issue decades ago that included funding for the park.

“This land belongs to all the people of Palm Beach County,” she said.

By Steve Plunkett

Two years after the air horns on the Camino Real bridge started blaring every 20 minutes, neighbors are enjoying the sounds of silence.

“What a pleasure,” said Tom Tyghem, who lives on the Intracoastal Waterway two doors south of the bridge and spent several thousand dollars for a lawyer to pursue his noise complaint.

Having complained in 2022 to the Palm Beach County Engineer’s Office and to then-County Commissioner Robert Weinroth without success, residents along the Intracoastal turned to state Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman.

County officials had maintained that they were bound by rules from the Florida Department of Transportation and the U.S. Coast Guard to sound the horn every time the bridge went up. But Gossett-Seidman secured documents from those agencies saying otherwise and presented her case to the full County Commission in October.

In response, the county hired outside consultant Kimley-Horn and Associates to evaluate the situation, and on April 11, County Engineer David Ricks notified county commissioners that he had changed the horn-blowing procedure.

“A bridge horn sounding will ONLY be used when the vessel requesting passage uses a horn or when deemed necessary by the bridge tender for emergencies,” Ricks said in an email accompanying the Kimley-Horn study.

Commissioner Marci Woodward, who had arranged meetings with Gossett-Seidman, County Administrator Verdenia Baker and other county officials, relayed the news to her South County constituents.

“I am confident that the new procedures will strike a balance between the safety of boaters and the quality of life for residents living near the bridge,” she said.
Gossett-Seidman, who said she “probably spent a hundred hours” investigating the rules, empathized with residents living near the bridge and with The Boca Raton resort, which called the alarm “a distraction to our Pool Club and restaurant guests.”

“That horn was so loud that people would literally jump,” she said. “I’m very happy and grateful that the people get their peace back.”

Gossett-Seidman said the bridge’s neighbors had come to her because they knew she was a boater and would know which agencies to contact.

“Everyone who’s a boater gets it,” she said.

The county consultants measured the sound levels at the Camino Real bridge and other county-operated spans at Palmetto Park Road, Ocean Avenue in Lantana and Donald Ross Road in north Palm Beach County. The single, electric horn at Palmetto Park made 17.2% less noise than Camino Real’s dual air horns, they said.
They also determined that the Coast Guard is the authority having jurisdiction over Intracoastal marine traffic and that it allowed a choice of ways to request bridge openings: by sound, visual signals or marine radio.

Coast Guard rules allow a boater to request a bridge opening with one long blast of the boat’s horn followed by a short blast, which the bridge tender then acknowledges with the same signal.

But most vessel operators ask for an opening via channel 9 on their VHF marine radio.

The neighbors started complaining about the horns’ noise in 2022 after what they said were decades of non-use. County officials offered no explanation for why the horns were not used previously.

By Mary Hladky

With Boca Raton about to celebrate its 100th birthday next year, city officials already are planning a year-long series of events in 2025 to commemorate this milestone.

The centennial date is May 26, but since that is Memorial Day, the main celebration will take place on May 24.

Much more is in the works.

The Boca Raton Historical Society is creating a glossy coffee-table book with photos that chart the city’s progress, achievements and changes decade by decade. The society also is creating lesson plans aimed at fourth-graders and will hold a series of lectures.

The city is partnering with O, Miami, an organization that helps local emerging artists create public art, to replicate its efforts in Boca Raton.

One of the projects is dubbed “Zip Odes,” which are five-line poems written by residents with the number of words in each line corresponding to their zip codes. Someone in zip code 33432, for example, would write a poem with three words each in the first and second lines, four words in the third, three again in the fourth line and two words in the last.
O, Miami has placed the poems on rooftops, highway overpasses and even on gas station nozzles.

City officials are meeting with community members to come up with more ideas and expect to hire a marketing consultant by June to get the word out about planned programs and events.

At the April 8 City Council meeting, members urged Anne Marie Connolly, the city’s communications and marketing manager, to develop a robust celebration.

“I want it all. I want more,” said Deputy Mayor Yvette Drucker.

“Think big. Think bold,” said Mayor Scott Singer, who suggested a concert featuring nationally known artists.

Council member Fran Nachlas proposed recording interviews with Holocaust survivors. Council member Marc Wigder suggested celebrating the uniqueness of each of the city’s neigh-borhoods and its quality of life.

Connolly said she would share more of city staff’s plans as soon as possible.

The Boca Raton wants to build more residential units on its 160-acre property.

The resort has proposed building two eight-story towers with a total of 80 units, a five-story parking garage and a new golf maintenance facility, according to a city summary of the project and a resort submission to the city.

The resort is seeking zoning and other changes that would allow the project to go forward.

The proposed residential buildings and parking garage exceed currently allowable heights and the residential units would be built on land now zoned for recreation and open space.

“As we consider ways to elevate The Boca Raton experience for our club members, resort guests, and community, we are assessing future projects,” Sara Geen Hill, the resort’s executive director of communications and brand management, said in an email. She declined to offer additional information about the project.

The resort’s owners — MSD Partners and Northview Hotel Group — completed a $250 million renovation in 2022. In March, the resort announced a $100 million renovation of the Beach Club hotel that includes upgrades to its 207 guest rooms and suites, new restaurants, fitness facility and outside event space, and a refreshed lobby with a new bar and cafe.

The changes, the resort said in its submission to the city, have returned it to being a “world-class resort. At this time, the ownership group are continuing to explore ways to further enhance the property to truly become a main player in the global luxury hotel market.”

— Mary Hladky

By Rich Pollack

It has been a convenience, a place to go to mail packages or get your tax return in the mail without having to fight long lines and big crowds.

Now, however, it appears that the small community post office tucked in behind Town Hall and operated by the town of Highland Beach will close on May 15 after 60 years.

The decision to close the post office, which operates much like the commercial contract post offices sprinkled among nearby shopping centers, comes following a decision by the U.S. Postal Service to remove its credit card processing machine, combined with a decision by the town’s postal clerk to retire after 24 years.

In one of the rare splits among a normally united board, town commissioners voted 3-2 to close the post office, which has been a cash-only operation since mid-April, with Vice Mayor David Stern and Commissioner Donald Peters voting against the shutdown.

“You never like to see a service diminish, but there are circumstances beyond our control,” said Commissioner Judith Goldberg.

In a notice to residents, town leaders said that about 90% of all transactions at the post office are done by credit card and that the number of cash payments is limited.

“The USPS’s recent decision to discontinue the acceptance of credit cards has presented significant and insurmountable challenges,” town leaders wrote in the public notice. “The conditions imposed by the USPS to use our own credit card machine are unmanageable and highly inefficient.”

Town Manager Marshall Labadie said that the town is continuing to look for ways to work around the post office’s new policies but added that the requirement to provide receipts on a daily basis proved insurmountable.

“We would have to send a check for total receipt every day,” he said, adding that the town would be required to reconcile the transactions, create a check request, process the request and have staff sign off on the request, print the check and then have either two commissioners or himself and a commissioner sign the check.

“All of this would have to be done between 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. every day,” he said.

Town leaders said that they have been unable to speak with anyone from the postal service regarding the issue despite numerous requests, leaving some to suspect that the post office would prefer not to have the town’s post office open.

“It sounds like they don’t want to do this,” said Commissioner Evalyn David.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service said that Highland Beach did not renew its contract, but town officials said that was only after they received the letter discontinuing the credit card machine.

The spokesperson said that the post office is open to creating a contract post office nearby and is taking steps to let customers know of the Highland Beach Post Office closing.

“In order to minimize disruptions to our valued customers, local postal management is taking steps to notify customers about the closure and provide them with options for their mailing needs,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

While Commissioners David and Goldberg and Mayor Natasha Moore favored closing the post office, saying it was a business decision that made sense, both Stern and Peters suggested that the town look at possible ways to keep it open.

“It’s like an old community post office like years ago,” Peters said.

Town leaders factored in the upcoming retirement of longtime postal clerk Valerie Jacoby, who staffs the post office along with part-time help, in making their decision to close the station after Labadie pointed out that hiring and training a replacement for Jacoby would be time-consuming.

In the public notice, the town also pointed out that closing the post office would save about $150,000 a year and would provide much-needed additional daytime parking spaces.
While it appears the town’s post office will be closing, Labadie did leave the door open to bringing the matter back to the commission should the postal service adjust its policies.

“We are continuing to exhaust all options,” he said.

By Mary Hladky

A year after Boca Raton hired a consultant to reimagine East Palmetto Park Road, residents finally have the opportunity to weigh in on how to improve the street’s appearance and make it safer and more inviting for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Residents are able to take an online survey about the entire downtown, including East Palmetto Park Road, that asks why they come downtown, their priorities for transportation improvements and their experiences finding and paying for parking.

The city and consultant Alta Planning + Design, which has a $431,645 contract, also are offering an interactive map that allows residents to report downtown problem areas for pedestrians, bicyclists and people with mobility issues.

The city and Alta held a heavily promoted community meeting on April 17 at the Downtown Library where Alta principal Alia Awwad gave a high-level view of the work the company is doing for the section of road from Dixie Highway east to Fifth Avenue.

About 50 attendees, joined by 23 people attending virtually, used their cellphones to post comments on an audience interaction platform.

Although attendance was modest, more people have responded to the online survey and interactive map. Almost 1,500 people identified problems on the interactive map, Awwad said.

Alta staffers have gone door to door to speak with business owners, and Awwad hopes to speak with Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce members this month.

Awwad said her firm would finalize its work to improve East Palmetto Park Road in early fall and then present its recommendations to the City Council.

But she offered no hints as to what the final plans would include or what they would look like.

“Saying this project is important to me is an understatement,” said Awwad, a city resident. “Our goal is to recreate a corridor that is the best it can be.”

Safety, she said, “is definitely a core goal.”

Data she presented showed that from 2018 through 2023, 1,868 crashes occurred in the downtown, resulting in six fatalities and 31 serious injuries. Along East Palmetto Park Road, there were 534 crashes, with 3% involving bicyclists and pedestrians. There were five fatalities or serious injuries.

Asked to give a short description of their impression of East Palmetto Park Road, attendees’ responses included “speedway traffic,” “traffic nightmare,” “unsafe,” “dangerous,” “poor walkability,” “outdated,” “dangerous for pedestrians,” and “unsafe for bicyclists.”

Asked later what a reimagined road should be, they said “more walkable,” “pedestrian friendly,” “safer crosswalks,” “connectivity for bikes,” and “reason to walk.”

City officials and residents have talked for more than a decade about the need to improve the road, with not much to show for it except for the installation of crosswalks with flashing lights between Federal Highway and Fifth Avenue.

Former Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke pressed her fellow council members and city staff to make improvements, saying that the construction of the Brightline station, the planned building of the Center for Arts and Innovation at Mizner Park, and the opening of Wildflower and Silver Palm parks created an urgent need for a revamped roadway.

The council approved hiring a consulting firm in June 2022 and selected Alta the following March.

The online survey and interactive map are available at myboca.us/2440/Make-Connections-East-Palmetto-Downtown and on Alta’s site at bocaraton.altago.site

By Mary Hladky

Get ready to ride.

The city has hired Circuit Transit Inc., a Fort Lauderdale-based national shuttle company, to ferry passengers around Boca Raton’s core areas. Service was expected to start in mid to late June.

City Council members had pushed city staff to get a shuttle service up and running ever since the Brightline station opened in late 2022. After they voiced frustration in March that the city still had not inked a deal, staff hustled to finalize a contract with Circuit for an April 9 vote.

“We have arrived. I am so happy. I pushed for this for a really, really, really long time,” said Deputy Mayor Yvette Drucker.

She urged City Manager George Brown to heavily market the service, and he assured her that the city would.

“In order to be successful, people need to know the service is out there,” Drucker said.

Municipal Services Director Zachary Bihr told council members that service was expected to start in late May, but that date since has been pushed back as vehicle designs are evaluated and finalized.

Council members hope the service will allow the city to better capitalize on Brightline.

They have said repeatedly that they want to give passengers a reason to get off the train in Boca Raton and patronize the city’s restaurants, stores, parks and cultural attractions.

Easily accessible transportation from the station to these destinations could help that happen.

But Brightline, which had hired Circuit to carry its passengers to and from the station and Mizner Park, recently discontinued that service due to low ridership.

The city has had shuttle services in the past, most notable the Downtowner, an on-demand electric vehicle service that operated for several years before leaving at the end of 2016.

But previous city councils were unwilling to subsidize the service, so the companies had to rely on fare and advertising revenue. None could make a go of it and they eventually ended service.

This time, the city will pay Circuit $395,728 for the first year of operation. The amount can be recalculated in future years.

The service is being launched as a one-year pilot project that can be extended.

Circuit, whose service proposal was judged by city staff as the best of five submitted, will provide the city with three types of all-electric vehicles — six-seaters known as GEM, sedans and vans.

Residents can download the Circuit app to book rides and find out when to expect pickup.

All rides must begin or end in the downtown area, defined as within the boundaries of the Community Redevelopment Agency and including the Downtown Library, Brightline station and Wildflower and Silver Palm parks.

The overall shuttle service area will run from Glades Road to the south city limits, and from Interstate 95 to Fifth Avenue/Royal Palm Way.

Trips in the downtown will be free for residents and non-residents.

A rider going from the downtown to the rest of the service area, or vice versa, will pay $2 per trip. Each additional rider will pay $1, with a fare cap of $5 per ride.

Riders will not be able to book a ride from one location outside the downtown to another outside location.

The shuttles will be available Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Friday, 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 2 a.m.; and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. These times can be adjusted, based on demand.

The city has identified locations that could be added to the service area in the future. These are the Yamato Road Tri-Rail station, Spanish River Library, Florida Atlantic University, Town Center mall, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, and Red Reef, South Beach, Sugar Sand, Patch Reef and South Inlet parks.

Beachside service left out
Beachside residents living in the Sun and Surf, Riviera and Por La Mar neighborhoods between the Intracoastal Waterway and State Road A1A are lobbying the City Council to expand the service to them as soon as possible. Newly elected Council member Andy Thomson made the same pitch at the April 9 meeting.

Beachside was left out because the city officials had specified in the contract that ride wait times cannot exceed 10 minutes. But that could not be guaranteed for Beachside because of transit delays caused by the opening and closing of the Intracoastal drawbridges.

Katie Barr MacDougall, president of the Riviera Civic Association, which advocates for Beachside residents, said members understand the service is intended to promote the downtown.

“But I would venture to say that barrier island condo and single family residents make use of the downtown amenities more than any other group in the city,” she said in an email.
In South Florida, Circuit is providing service in Boynton Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Wilton Manors and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

By Mary Hladky

Annual Boca Raton “State of the City” speeches typically are modest affairs, taking place in venues such as the Downtown Library or at Chamber of Commerce breakfasts.

But Mayor Scott Singer morphed this year’s event into an April 10 “community celebration” at the Mizner Park Amphitheater with live music by Remix, food trucks offering seafood, barbecue and churros, a water station and a bar.

Employees from every city department staffed tables facing the stage, providing residents with information on their most recent initiatives, answering questions and giving them the chance to take surveys on how they want to see East Palmetto Park Road improved and what should be included in a public art master plan.

And plenty of swag was available, including city-branded lanyards, stress balls and plastic sunglasses.

But the main event was Singer’s 14-minute speech, a high-energy recitation of Boca Raton’s strengths and accomplishments and an exhortation to do even better.

“I am elated to tell you tonight that the state of our city is stronger than ever,” he said. “Still, we must, and we will, grow even stronger to reach that ideal of what our city can be.”

He hit on all the city’s favorite talking points — its low crime and property tax rates, strong financial position, high-quality services, rising property values and vibrant cultural offerings.

“We have a thriving economy,” he said, noting that Boca Raton has the most corporate headquarters of any city in Palm Beach County.

The Brightline station, opened in late 2022, is measuring up to the hype, he said.

“Our downtown Brightline station saw far more ridership than expected in its first full year and it continues to be a game-changer,” Singer said.

To capitalize on that, the city is working to create a transit-oriented development zoning district immediately west of the station that is intended to usher in redevelopment of the area. That “may soon be the cool side of the tracks,” he said.

Singer acknowledged that Boca Raton faces challenges, citing complacency and correcting old perceptions of the city.

“We do not yet stand out to everyone moving a business or a family to Florida as the pinnacle of destinations,” he said.

People must be convinced that Boca Raton offers “small-town charm, big-city opportunity and unmatched quality of life,” Singer said.

“We must quell outdated and false perceptions — a sleepy town, a challenging business environment, a community resistant to change,” he said. “We are none of those things.

The Center for Arts and Innovation may include large open spaces that may use translucent material to protect from rain. Rendering provided

By Mary Hladky

The Center for Arts and Innovation and its architectural firm, the renowned Renzo Piano Building Workshop, have unveiled their new design for the performing arts center that will be built in Mizner Park.

Instead of rebuilding the amphitheater and constructing a new theater building, the design combines them into a three-story main venue with an outdoor piazza. Underground parking will replace a parking garage.

The design echoes the one proposed in 2020 when center chair and CEO Andrea Virgin was seeking the city’s support for a project that she said would transform the downtown and raise Boca Raton’s status as a cultural destination.

While the overall concept for the center remains unchanged, RPBW, whose partners include Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner Renzo Piano, has infused its own vision.

A work in progress
The design, though, is still a work in progress.

“We are in the very early stages of the project,” RPBW architect and partner Antoine Chaaya said at the April 19 unveiling at the Boca Raton Museum of Art.
The center’s and RPBW’s ambitions are unbounded.

“The Center for Arts and Innovation will pioneer a new approach to how the world imagines, designs, utilizes and embraces its cultural infrastructure,” Virgin said.

“All this is our aspirations, our excitement,” said Joshua Dachs, principal-in-charge of New York City-based Fisher Dachs Associates, the project’s theater and spatial planner. “We are going to have a space that is so large and so special we will be able to do extraordinary work.”

The new plans leave unchanged the intention to build a center that has the flexibility to accommodate many types and sizes of events, with a partial list including concerts, stage productions, conferences, banquets and weddings, product launches, antique fairs, farmers’ markets and festivals.

“We are building it for wherever the imagination wants to go,” Virgin said.

Shaping a public square
The piazza can be used for performances and special events, filling the role that the aging 3,500-seat amphitheater has long played. As was the case in the original plan, it can be covered with a translucent material that lets in the light but protects from the rain.

The main venue’s third floor will have a rooftop terrace with food and beverage service. Hybrid photovoltaic solar collectors on the roof will produce electricity and hot water.

An entirely new element will be a 100-person capacity elevated structure called the Belvedere, which will have 360-degree views of the city and ocean. It can be used for special events or meetings but also will be available to the public to take in the sights.

On the same day as the unveiling, a retrospective exhibition titled “Renzo Piano and RPBW: Le Fil Rouge of Contemporary Architecture” opened at the art museum. It will be on view through May 19.

The cost of the project, funded through donations, is not clear. Financial documents released last year pegged it at about $140 million, but that number was based in part on data that will be updated.

Completion expected in 2029
If donations meet expectations, Virgin still wants to break ground in 2025 to coincide with Boca Raton’s centennial. That date might slide to early 2026, she said, with completion in 2029. Construction is expected to take three years.

Virgin has met with City Council members individually to show them the new design and get their feedback. She plans to make a formal presentation to the council in the near future.

The city is not providing project funding. But the City Council in 2022 authorized the lease for $1 a year of city-owned land in Mizner Park to the center for 74 years, with two 10-year renewals.

The Center for Arts and Innovation announced that RPBW, with offices in Paris and Genoa, Italy, had been selected to design the project last September.

The fact that such a prestigious firm, which accepts only two or three commissions worldwide a year, wanted to be part of the project is considered a major coup, both for the center and for the city.

Its long list of projects includes the Shard in London, the new Whitney Museum in New York, the Kansai International Airport terminal building in Osaka, Japan, and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

Two highly regarded local architects who attended the unveiling, Juan Caycedo of Boca Raton and Jorge Garcia of West Palm Beach, gave the new design rave reviews.
“It is a renaissance for the city — a game changer,” Caycedo said. “We have been waiting for the ‘wow.’ This is it.”

(l-r) Lauren Hitselberger, Dr. Shelby Loos and Kara Portocarrero work on Terra, the first turtle to be rehabbed at Gumbo Limbo since March 2023. Photos provided by Coastal Stewards

By Steve Plunkett

Armed with a new state permit, the nonprofit Coastal Stewards were poised to care for their first sick or injured sea turtle. That first patient, Terra, arrived on April 26.

The juvenile green sea turtle was discovered four days earlier, on Earth Day, with fishhooks in a flipper and down its esophagus. After X-rays and sedation, veterinarian Shelby Loos removed the hooks. Terra was receiving ongoing care to ensure it was eating and recovering before being released, the Coastal Stewards said.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had issued the group a permit to rehabilitate and release ailing sea turtles on April 9. Even before Terra arrived, the Coastal Stewards had scheduled a “Grand Opening Splash” and open house at Boca Raton’s Gumbo Limbo Nature Center from 12:30 to 4 p.m. May 9.

“We are thrilled,” John Holloway, the nonprofit’s CEO and president, said in a release.

“Sea turtles have long been synonymous with Gumbo Limbo Nature Center,” Leanne Welch, the center’s city-employed manager, said in the same release. “We are excited for our visitors to once again have the opportunity to witness firsthand the threats faced by turtles and share in their hopeful journey of rehabilitation and release.” 

Also in residence now at Gumbo Limbo is a third non-releasable sea turtle that checked in on April 29. Named Lady McNubbins, the green sea turtle has injuries to its front flippers and is staying in Boca Raton temporarily until an under-construction permanent home in Port Canaveral is ready.

The FWC ordered all sea turtles transferred away from Gumbo Limbo in March 2023 after the city terminated its sea turtle rehabilitation coordinator, who held the FWC permit, and her assistant coordinator. Also moved were the center’s two “resident” sea turtles, which could not survive on their own in the ocean and were deemed non-releasable.

The firings came as the city was developing a plan to transfer the rehab unit, including its financial obligations, to the nonprofit and a month after the unit’s on-call veterinarian resigned.

Since then, the Coastal Stewards hired veterinarian Loos full-time and two other employees to qualify for a new permit. They also paid to repair the plywood floor under the rehab unit’s holding tanks and shortened their name from Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards to just Coastal Stewards.

Originally the group was called the Friends of Gumbo Limbo with a focus on caring for sick and injured sea turtles at the nature center.

The road to the new permit was hampered by a series of missteps. The Coastal Stewards applied for a permit both to keep non-releasable turtles in captivity and to treat ailing turtles. As time went on, the city applied for a non-releasable permit without telling the nonprofit. When the Coastal Stewards objected, the city withdrew its application.

But later, the FWC said the Coastal Stewards would have to show “ownership or control” of the nature center’s multimillion-dollar aquariums to be able to keep non-releasable turtles in them. The nonprofit withdrew its application, and the city submitted its own.

Again in an attempt to speed the process, the Coastal Stewards amended their application for veterinary care to delete seeking to treat sea turtles with Fibropapillomatosis (FP).

But the state said treating FP, a tumor-causing disease, was a major reason for a Gumbo Limbo permit, so the application had to be resubmitted.

Under Holloway, the Coastal Stewards have expanded their mission to include saving sea grass, dolphins, manatees and whales with an eye to expanding their base of members and donors. Last summer they created a Youth Leadership Council.

In December, the group hosted a “Winter Wishes Celebration” at FPL’s Manatee Lagoon in West Palm Beach. In February they moved their offices from Federal Highway in Boca Raton to an unincorporated pocket on State Road A1A between Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes. On April 13, the Coastal Stewards were the supporting sponsor for the city of Boynton Beach’s Earth Day celebration at Centennial Park.

With their announcement of receiving the FWC permit, the Coastal Stewards said they had increased their membership tiers. A student membership is now $25 a year, individuals are $65, couples are $100 and families are $200.

And they have renamed the rehab unit at the nature center “Robyn’s Place” after Robyn Morigerato, who died recently, a west Boca volunteer who joined the Friends of Gumbo Limbo 17 years ago and served in various posts on its board of trustees.

Morgan, one of Gumbo Limbo’s former resident turtles, returned to the center in January. A new resident, a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle named Lefty, arrived in February.

Gumbo Limbo continues to be a busy place, with work crews finishing construction of an observation tower, ADA-compliant restrooms, ADA parking spaces and new decking around the main building.

They are all on schedule to be completed in late May or early June, “but that is dependent on many factors,” said Welch, the nature center’s manager.

By Mary Hladky

The Boca Raton City Council has approved the Concierge, a nine-story multifamily residential project at 22 SE Sixth St. that became embroiled in litigation in 2018 when it was proposed as an assisted living facility.

The council, acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, unanimously blessed the 42-unit downtown building with almost no comment on April 24.

It will include a ground-floor covered outdoor seating area. A fitness area with a terrace will be on the third floor. A pool with deck, spa, summer kitchen and covered seating areas will be on the roof deck. A mechanized garage below ground will have 60 spaces and valet service.

The plan does not say whether the units will be condos or rental apartments.

The Concierge ALF was originally proposed by developer Group P6. Former Deputy Mayors Andrea O’Rourke and Monica Mayotte questioned whether an ALF was a good fit for the downtown, even though the council had approved another one a year earlier.

Saying the city wanted a vibrant downtown, O’Rourke said she was not sure how much the Concierge’s residents would be engaged in the community. Mayotte said other locations would probably be better for “these types of residents.”

Some council members also questioned whether the ALF would overburden the city’s fire rescue services.

After the council rejected the project, Group P6 filed suit and landowner Robert Buehl promised to file another one. They said the council comments amounted to discrimination against the elderly.

The American Seniors Housing Association filed an amicus brief in support of Group P6, saying the project denial “represents an unlawful discriminatory bias against seniors.”

Council members quickly reversed course and approved the ALF as a condition of settling Group P6’s suit.

But Group P6 did not build it and sold the 0.61-acre property to a partnership for $10.2 million in 2021.

The new landowner is 22-26 Southeast Sixth Street LLC. State corporate records show it is affiliated with Maryland-based Omega Healthcare Investors, which was one of three companies in the partnership.