Plans for the Boca Raton Innovation Campus at the former IBM site, west of Interstate 95 on the south side of Yamato Road, include 1,240 residential units, an entertainment venue, a hotel, grocery and more. Rendering provided

By Mary Hladky

CP Group’s ambitious plan to create a $1 billion live-work-play development that would attract major technology and life sciences companies to its Boca Raton Innovation Campus got a significant boost on Oct. 11 when the City Council approved zoning code changes that allow the company to re-envision the 124-acre site.

CP Group acquired the former IBM headquarters in 2018, rechristened it as BRIC, and has since spent about $100 million upgrading the iconic 1.7 million-square-foot building to meet current corporate expectations.

Now it wants to add 1,240 residential units, an entertainment venue, retail and restaurants, a hotel, grocery and more — uses that are not now allowed — to enhance BRIC’s appeal to companies and their employees who want live and recreate near where they work.

For the past two years, CP Group’s managing partner, Angelo Bianco, and his team have pressed city officials to move quickly so that Boca Raton does not lose out to other Florida cities that also are luring companies that are fleeing high-tax states.

“Tech companies are on the move now,” CP Group’s attorney Bonnie Miskel told the City Council in 2021. “I want to provide you with a sense of urgency.”

Bianco reinforced that point when speaking to the city’s Planning and Zoning Board in May.

“I know we need this for the future of Boca Raton,” he said. “If we don’t, we will continue to fall behind. It is an arms race in a sense, and we are losing.”

After a flurry of last-minute negotiations last month, the City Council unanimously approved a new kind of development called “enhanced mobility” that allows what BRIC wants to build, as well as fitness centers, bars and nightclubs, business and medical offices, child and adult care centers, museums, conference centers and schools.

Properties eligible for development as an EMD must be at least 100 acres. Residential density will be limited to a maximum of 10 units per acre and building height to 85 feet.

An EMD must be located within one-half mile of the Tri-Rail station that is south of Yamato Road and immediately east of BRIC. EMDs are to be designed to encourage the use of mass transit and bicycles so people living and working in one can largely forgo driving cars.

“This is an opportunity to create a real mixed-use district and take advantage of what is a landmark and milestone (IBM) building and still the largest single office building in all of South Florida,” Mayor Scott Singer said after the vote to create the EMD.

He also noted that BRIC now will be better able to attract new corporate tenants, while also offering retail and services to people who live near BRIC.

Council members Yvette Drucker and Fran Nachlas were pleased that the project will provide the city with additional housing. Asked by Nachlas if he would consider adding affordable housing units, Bianco nodded yes.

“It will allow us to change BRIC from an office-only project to a mixed-use project which is what you need to do today to add value to office space, as well as residential and retail,” Bianco said after the meeting.

While approval of the EMD is a milestone for CP Group, its development plans still need to go through the city approval process. That will begin with the group’s submission of a development master plan.

CP Group has already shown the City Council and Planning and Zoning Board renderings of the project, but those are conceptual plans. If the master plan is approved, Bianco said his team will complete the actual project design and will determine the sequence of the project’s phases.

If all goes smoothly, Bianco said construction would start in 2025.

The conceptual plans show the new buildings clustered around the existing office building. A “Main Street” with retail stores would be located on the north side of the site, south of Yamato Road.

The entertainment venue could be similar to Hard Rock Live in Hollywood. CP Group has said it would not compete with the Center for Arts and Innovation that is planned for Mizner Park.

CP Group’s plans for BRIC echo the Midtown development it proposed near the Town Center mall, an equally ambitious $1 billion live-work-play project that would have been located next to a new Tri-Rail station.

The City Council torpedoed that office, retail and residential development, prompting CP Group to file three ultimately unsuccessful lawsuits against the city. But the company quickly moved on, acquiring the IBM headquarters for about $179 million.

In another matter also intended to boost economic development in the employment-heavy section of the city that includes BRIC, the City Council unanimously approved changes for the Park at Broken Sound, formerly known as the Arvida Park of Commerce, which is north of BRIC.

Park at Broken Sound landowners have pushed for a zoning code change that would remove existing restrictions to the type of office uses allowed.

A much wider range of offices, including medical offices, will now be permitted. The change will create incentives for the construction of new office buildings or the expansion of existing buildings.

By Mary Hladky

Long dormant plans to build a new government campus and a pedestrian bridge that Brightline passengers could use to reach the downtown have been revived by the Boca Raton City Council.

Council members added $300,000 to this fiscal year’s city budget that would be used to hire consultants to start planning both projects.

The council first started that process years ago to replace the old, outdated and deteriorating city hall, police department and community center. Consultant Song + Associates submitted two options in 2019 for a new government hub on the 30-acre, city-owned site on West Palmetto Park Road.

But the projected $200 million price tag stunned council members, who said they wanted to find ways to trim the cost. The start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 brought the project to a halt.

Since then, the buildings’ conditions have worsened, requiring the city to spend money on costly repairs.

Mayor Scott Singer and City Manager Leif Ahnell have suggested that developers now may be interested in helping finance the project since the city land is located near the Brightline station.

Similarly, the idea for a Brightline passenger bridge is now back on the table.

When city and Brightline officials were negotiating to bring a station to Boca Raton, Brightline wanted the city to build a pedestrian bridge over Dixie and Federal highways so that people could safely walk between the station and downtown while being protected from the elements.

City officials calculated the cost at between $7 million and $12 million, much more than they wanted to spend. So they opted instead to improve the walkways to downtown on Northwest First Avenue and Northwest and Northeast Second Street at a cost of $3.3 million.

With the Brightline station now a reality, council sentiment has changed. Singer described the bridge as “vital.”

But the cost is unknown. Council members noted that Brightline is now building a pedestrian bridge at its Aventura station to give passengers easy access to the Aventura Mall.

They have heard that bridge will be very costly.

Brightline selected a contractor to do the work and expected to have a finalized contract with that company in October, the rail line said in an August construction report.

Brightline representatives did not respond to queries from The Coastal Star about the bridge’s cost.

Even if the city does not copy the Aventura bridge, “we know it will be an expensive endeavor,” said Deputy Mayor Monica Mayotte.

In another downtown matter, the council has approved a new long-term lease of city-owned land to the Boca Raton Historical Society.

The city’s historic town hall at 71 N. Federal Highway houses the Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum.

The 30-year lease at $1 per year includes a renewal option for another 20-year term.

Walker Design & Construction Co. workers level a portion of the more than 100 cubic yards of concrete foundation that was poured Oct. 11 for bases of a multi-level ramp that will lead to a new observation tower. The ramp will make the top deck accessible to people in wheelchairs, using walkers or with other disabilities. The old tower was removed in 2015 after it and the adjoining boardwalk were declared unsafe. The 40-foot-high pilings, at rear, were installed in 2019. Tax money from the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District will pay for the bulk of the $2.4 million project, which will open next spring. Stephen Kosowsky and Sharilyn Jones of Boca Raton pledged $250,000 in return for naming the tower after their son, Jacob, who died in a car accident in 2018. Jacob’s grandparents donated $100,000 and the Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards collected more than $150,000 in a ‘Save the Tower’ campaign. Jacob’s Outlook will feature a plaque honoring Jacob. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Boca Raton’s Office of Sustainability is inviting residents to complete a survey, which is intended to get input that will guide the city’s sustainability initiatives over the next five years.

The survey allows residents to express their priorities, propose ideas and offer their suggestions on how the city can effectively address sustainability issues.

The city’s first Sustainability Action Plan was created in 2019. The survey results will be used to create the city’s second, updated plan.

“Community feedback in the strategic planning phase of our Sustainability Action Plan is a top priority,” said Sustainability Manager Lindsey Roland Nieratka. “We encourage all residents to participate.”

The survey is available at www.surveymonkey.com/r/XQ52NJG and on the city’s website, www.myboca.us.

— Mary Hladky

By Steve Plunkett

A construction company that was given a temporary easement through Ocean Strand Park so its trucks and crews could reach a waterfront job site just north of the park is not living up to its part of the contract.

Georgia-based JJ Morley Enterprises Inc. paid $15,000 for the easement, which ran from December 2021 through February 2023, and promised to repave the park’s only road and restore vegetation and anything else it disturbed at Ocean Strand.

At an Oct. 2 meeting Jacob Horowitz, a lawyer for the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District, told district commissioners that the company had offered to reimburse the district for the restoration instead of actually doing the work.

But two weeks later Horowitz recommended changing tactics.

“I’m reluctant and sad to report that the counsel for JJ Morley has been wholly non-responsive to all of our efforts. They’ve not returned phone calls. They have not responded to emails,” he said.

Commissioners authorized him to sue the company. They also told Briann Harms, their executive director, to give the remedial work to Maracore Builders LLC, the firm that cleared Ocean Strand of many of its invasive plants and installed an asphalt walkway, mulch path and picnic tables there.

Maracore suggested milling the existing road in addition to paving it, adding fresh mulch to the path and hiring an expediter for the permit process, for a total bill of $92,000.

But the agreement for the temporary construction easement noted only one dollar amount: $38,250 for repaving. It also said JJ Morley would be responsible for replanting vegetation and making other amends.

The construction company needed access through the park to build Manatee Pointe at Lago Mar, a three-unit condominium facing the Intracoastal Waterway. The multimillion-dollar project is at the west end of Lago Mar Lane, which has several homes along it and is too narrow for construction traffic.

Ocean Strand opened to the public as a pedestrian park in February.

In other business Oct. 16, beach and park commissioners got updates on plans for North Park from their consultants and from developer Malcolm Butters, whom they chose to build an indoor paddleball facility at the park.

“We’re in the very early stages. Obviously we’re going to get a lot of input from the board,” Butters said.

Mike Kroll of consultants Miller Legg told commissioners that the city had asked that an 8-foot-wide shared use path be added to the plan on Northwest Second Avenue from Jeffery Street north to 67th Street.

“Question: That’s not really on our property, right? So why are we responsible for widening that sidewalk?” District Chair Erin Wright asked.

“Our goal is to counter that with the city,” Harms said. “We’re certainly not just going to do it without questioning it more.”

Stewards work to return animals to Gumbo Limbo

By Steve Plunkett

Before sea turtles can return to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, the state says Boca Raton must transfer “ownership or control” of the center’s two multimillion-dollar aquariums to the nonprofit Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards.

The Stewards group is applying for a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission permit to bring back and house Cane and Morgan, two “resident” or non-releasable turtles that lived for years at Gumbo Limbo before the center lost its permit in March.

The FWC says before it can issue a permit, state rules require the agency to be given a document from the city that “clearly states” the Stewards group has control over the center’s Mangrove and Shipwreck saltwater tanks, which also house numerous fish and other marine life.
“GLCS must have unfettered rights to occupy, possess, use, and make managerial decisions about the facilities housing the non-releasable sea turtles,” the agency said in a Sept. 13 letter to the nonprofit group.

At a City Council meeting Sept. 27, City Manager Leif Ahnell said staff and the FWC were discussing the situation when asked if the turtles were almost back or already back.

“Let’s call it almost,” Ahnell said. “There’s some, as I understand, technicalities on who owns the facilities versus who’s caring for the turtles. And I know staff has been communicating with the state about resolving that … interpreting … resolving that interpretation, if you will.”

Contacted after the meeting, Assistant City Manager Chrissy Gibson said the city and the Coastal Stewards are not troubled by the FWC’s letter.

“We’re confident we’ll get the turtles back,” she said.

Not much has changed in the sea turtle treatment area since the city removed the previous team of turtle rehab specialists. March 15, 2023 file photo/The Coastal Star

The FWC ordered the city to move Morgan, Cane and seven injured or sick sea turtles to other facilities in March after the city fired its sea turtle rehabilitation coordinator and assistant coordinator. The rehab coordinator held the FWC permit to care for turtles.
The terminations came as part of a developing plan to transfer all the care of the resident and ailing sea turtles from the city to the nonprofit group, which had been paying for the unit’s contract veterinarian and medical equipment.
John Holloway, president and CEO of the Coastal Stewards, told the Federation of Boca Raton HOAs in early September that his group would soon apply for an FWC permit to provide veterinary care to turtles; its application was completed Oct. 2.

Declining visitor numbers
With the turtles no longer at Gumbo Limbo, the number of visitors to the nature center has dropped to pre-pandemic levels after a record-setting 2022. Walk-in visitors averaged about 17,000 a month from April through August last year and about 11,900 a month for the same time period this year. The comparable 2019 average was just over 11,800.
COVID closed the nature center to the public from March 2020 to mid-August 2021.
Leanne Welch, the center’s manager, said this year’s low attendance totals were continuing.
“September numbers are 7,586 as of Sept. 25, so definitely following the trend,” she said. “We had a busy summer, though. The majority of our programs sold out and our fall programming is already filling up. In fact, all of our field trip programs are filled for the school year and we have an extensive wait list.”
Council member Yvette Drucker was the one questioning Ahnell about the sea turtles’ whereabouts while the City Council was deliberating how much money to contribute to various nonprofits. For the first time, it gave $10,000 to the Coastal Stewards, partly because the city this year decided to keep donations collected at the nature center’s door instead of letting the nonprofit have them.
Once a charity gets on the City Council’s donation list, it rarely is taken off.

Tower construction begins
Meanwhile, construction of Gumbo Limbo’s observation tower has begun and the boardwalk next to it is blocked off to visitors.
“They have excavated the foundations for the ramp and should begin pouring the concrete” the first week of October. “Construction is on track for a spring 2024 finish, and we have already begun workshopping the educational exhibits that we will install,” Welch said.
Boca Raton and the Coastal Stewards signed an agreement on April 25 letting the nonprofit take over all responsibility, operation and financing of sea turtle rescue, rehabilitation and release efforts.
The city owns Gumbo Limbo and the surrounding Red Reef Park, including the land and all facilities; tax dollars from the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District cover all salaries, operations and improvements except for the turtle rehab costs that the Coastal Stewards pay. 

By Rich Pollack

Highland Beach commissioners last month approved a $30.5 million budget, which is 31% higher than last year while at the same time holds the overall tax rate steady.

Bloated largely by the town’s decision to create its own fire rescue department and the need to build a new fire station, the budget includes a total tax rate of $3.58 per $1,000 of taxable property value and does not require the town to pledge money from reserves.

That means that the owner of a home with a taxable value of $500,000 would pay just under $1,800 in Highland Beach taxes.

The tax rate is the same as last year’s and slightly lower than the previous year’s.

“This is a smart and financially prudent budget,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie said. “It positions us on strong financial footing moving forward after the fire department implementation.”

Overall, the town’s general fund budget, which addresses most operational needs, increased by about 9%, from about $15.6 million to $17 million.

The town’s overall budget, which covers other accounts including water and sewer and building department funds, as well as the partial cost of building a new fire station, increased from $23 million to just under $30.5 million, or about 31%.

The budget shows a very slight decrease in the operating tax rate and in general debt service but includes a separate, slight increase in the debt service tax rate to cover a bank loan being used to build the firehouse.

While the budget reflects a decrease in the overall tax rate, it is likely to be offset by a significant increase in property values.

Property values throughout the town increased by about 13% — more than town leaders had expected — making it easier to increase services without boosting the tax rate.

Property taxes, which are expected to increase by about $1.4 million, account for about 58% of the town’s overall projected general fund revenues.

The town also expects to see a significant increase in investment earnings, which are projected to grow by a little more than $50,000.

The town’s transition to its own fire department will have the biggest impact on the budget, with about $12 million allocated to the new department. A little over $4 million, which is coming from a bank loan, will be used to complete construction of the fire station while about $8 million will cover operating expenses.

The $8 million is misleading, however, since it accounts for the seven months the town will continue to pay Delray Beach for fire rescue service until the new department is operational on May 1. Also included in that number are the costs of having the full 24 fire rescue personnel on the payroll beginning in March for training, and preparation for the transition.

The budget reflects a reduction in the cost of health insurance for employees, which resulted in $250,000 earmarked in the town’s proposed budget being moved into a reserve fund specifically for future fire department apparatus needs.

Also included in the budget is a 6.5% pay increase for non-union employees and increases for employees in two collective bargaining units.

The budget includes a 10% salary increase for Labadie, the maximum allowed under his current contract.

Commissioners praised the town manager for the work being done on preparing for a new fire department, as well as for his overall performance, with some saying they wished they could give him more than 10%.

With the increase, Labadie is now paid $232,000 a year.

“Marshall is really the wheel that turns Highland Beach,” Commissioner Donald Peters said.

By Rich Pollack

Highland Beach residents will get a chance to pitch their objections to the development of a beachfront county park directly to the decision makers, but they might be swimming upstream if they hope to change their minds.

At the invitation of town leaders, County Commissioner Marci Woodward, Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Cirillo and other county employees will host a public outreach meeting in February that will include a short presentation on plans to develop the 5.6-acre Milani Park. Comments and questions from residents will follow.

While county representatives likely will be greeted with vocal opposition, they have remained steadfast in their determination to develop the property, which straddles State Road A1A.

“Commissioner Woodward was quite firm that she wants to move forward with a park,” Highland Beach Mayor Natasha Moore said. “She was also firm on her wanting to do it during her current term of office.”

During a two-hour meeting with Woodward, Cirillo and two other county representatives, Moore and Town Manager Marshall Labadie had a chance to point out longtime concerns that residents have about development of a park.

“It was a good dialogue,” said Labadie, who added that the outreach meeting will be hosted in Highland Beach but will be a county-run meeting.
“We will partner to house the meeting, but it will not be a Town Commission meeting,” he told commissioners during a regularly scheduled commission meeting last month. “We will be part of the audience.”

The meeting with county leaders came following a letter the town received in August in which County Administrator Verdenia Baker said that the county is beginning the design and permitting process for the park and plans to move forward.

The county could have delayed its decision to initiate development for another five years as part of a 2010 settlement agreement with the town that came 23 years after the county bought the property from the Milani family in 1987 for just under $4 million. The county chose not to exercise that option.

Since the town received that letter, concerned residents have once again voiced opposition to the park’s development, opposition which has been going on for more than three decades.

Labadie said the public outreach meeting will be a chance for county leaders to hear directly from residents, including those who live in the Boca Highland Beach Club & Marina, which is adjacent to the planned park on the west side of A1A.

“This is their opportunity for the county leaders to hear from the community what you have been hearing,” he told town commissioners.

During last month’s meeting with county leaders held in Highland Beach, the county representatives reiterated their commitment to creating a passive park that would have a boardwalk to the beach on the east side of A1A and parking for about 40 cars on the west side.

That plan, which Moore said appears to be the final concept, comes after county officials had initially suggested the park would include more than 100 parking spaces plus lifeguards, bathrooms and other amenities that are not included in the current conceptual plans.

“The good news is that if there has to be a park, this is the better option,” Moore said.

Still, residents have concerns for safety and traffic impact.

“My community does not like this idea,” said Commissioner Evalyn David, who lives in Boca Highland.

While the county has the final say in how the park is developed, the town does have a bit of leverage from 43 conditions for development it placed in the 2010 settlement agreement.

Several of those conditions are outdated and the town and the county will need to come to agreement on any changes.

“The county recognizes the need to form some level of partnership with the town,” Labadie said.

By Rich Pollack

For more than 30 years, Highland Beach town commissioners have been handcuffed by a $350,000 spending cap on any one project unless voters approve otherwise.

Soon residents could have an opportunity to remove that restraint if a series of charter changes makes it onto the March municipal election ballot.

The commission plans to bring the spending limit issue before the voters a second time after they rejected it in 2022.

This time, however, the proposal is a lot different.

While the proposed change last year was based on a percentage of the total annual budget, the new proposal includes a defined dollar amount based on inflation.

At a meeting last month, Vice Mayor David Stern proposed bringing the spending limit up to $900,000 per project, an amount that translates into what the $350,000, first incorporated in the town charter in 1991, would be worth today based on the consumer price index.

“It’s the same amount in today’s dollars,” he said.

Stern also suggested an annual increase based on the consumer price index. That increase would begin in 2025, if the ballot issue receives voter approval.

Others on the commission appeared to agree with Stern that an increase from the $350,000 cap is long overdue.

“We are providing many more services than we were 30 years ago,” Mayor Natasha Moore said.

Stern has said in the past that one of the reasons the last effort to increase the cap failed was that it was difficult for voters to understand.

“You need a clear, simple number that voters understand,” he has said while pushing for an increase in the cap.

Because the proposal would be a cap on projects, it is possible the town could spend more than the $900,000 in any year, which could be a concern among voters.

Commissioners, however, pointed out that there are other factors, including approval by referendum for financing, that would require taking such projects to voters.

“It’s not like you are opening up a piggy bank with no limits,” Commissioner Evalyn David said. “There are limits.”

Efforts to change the cap have not had much success in the past. Besides the voters’ rejection in 2022, an effort in 2012 to raise the spending limit to $1 million by ordinance was later rescinded after Palm Beach County’s inspector general’s office determined that it could be changed only with voter approval.

In addition to bringing the spending limit change to voters, commissioners are considering asking voters to approve funding for a much-needed sewer pipe lining project that could cost an estimated $3.5 million. That number could change before referendum language is finalized after the town gets additional information from engineers.

Also being discussed as a ballot item is a charter change that would no longer require the town to provide members for the election canvassing board. Instead, commissioners would have the option of retaining that responsibility or giving it to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office, which provides that service at no cost to all but two other municipalities in the county.

During discussions of bringing items to voters, commissioners discussed a new state law that prohibits local governments from spending public funds to educate voters about upcoming referendum issues.

Commissioners pointed out, however, that they will be discussing the proposed charter changes at upcoming meetings and are hoping to get resident input before finalizing wording on any ballot items they decide to present in March.

By Mary Hladky

The city’s tax rate remained unchanged in the new fiscal year that began on Oct. 1 as City Council members maintain their emphasis on keeping it low.

The rate unanimously approved on Sept. 27 is $3.68 per $1,000 of taxable property value, an amount that has held steady since the 2015-16 fiscal year.

Last-minute additions to the budget included $500,000 to start a downtown circulator system, $150,000 for a pedestrian skybridge consultant and $250,000 for more recycling receptacles downtown.

“I do believe a pedestrian bridge is vital,” Mayor Scott Singer said at a Community Redevelopment Agency meeting the day before. “I think the planning for the bridge [connecting the Brightline station with Mizner Park] is more important than actually allocating money for the cost of a bridge.”

Under the approved tax rate, the owner of a home with a taxable value of $500,000 will pay $1,840 in ad valorem taxes to the city.

Even with the stable tax rate, property owners will see higher tax bills because property values increased 12.4% this year, slightly below the previous year’s 14.5%.
The city would have had to lower its millage by 10.6% to $3.31 per $1,000 of taxable value to bring in the same amount of tax revenue as the previous year.

But Boca Raton must provide services to a rapidly growing population now numbering 99,000, resulting in the need to hire more employees, buy more equipment and pay the increased costs of materials and supplies that have risen due to inflation and lingering pandemic-induced issues.

Yet most homeowners are shielded from the brunt of higher tax bills because state law caps the taxable value increase for homesteaded properties at 3%. Non-homesteaded properties are capped at 10%.

The council also unanimously approved a total operating budget of $633 million, up from last year’s $614.9 million.

The general fund portion of it is $222 million, or 6% higher than last year.

Nearly one-third of that $12.5 million increase is due to rising costs of city employees’ salaries and benefits, especially for the police and fire departments.

City budget documents note other continuing expenses related to investments in the Boca Raton Golf & Racquet Club property that was donated to the city by The Boca Raton in 2020.

They include the cost of operating the facility and $5 million budgeted to renovate and improve it.

Another expense stems from the City Council’s decision in 2019 to keep garbage collection and recycling services in-house rather than contracting with a private company. That results in paying the cost of salaries, equipment and expansion of the city’s sanitation vehicle maintenance and storage facilities.

The city has budgeted $31 million to construct a new fleet maintenance building.

The city plans to hire 15 additional employees this fiscal year, including a fire inspector, a public safety dispatch radio technician, traffic signal technician, two building inspectors and three information technology workers.

The amount homeowners will pay for fire protection services will remain unchanged from last year’s $155. The amount for commercial and industrial properties is based on the class and size of the buildings.

Sanitation rates will increase 4%, or $1 to as much as $26.02 per month for single-family residences and 60 cents to $15.74 per month for multi-family dwellings.

Utility rates will increase 4.9%, or an average of $2 per month. According to the city, it has one of the lowest water and sewer rates in the state.

The annual beach and parks pass will increase to $85 from $75.

An updated list of all user fees was posted on the city’s website, www.myboca.com, on Oct. 1.

Steve Plunkett contributed to this story.

A section of Glades Road between Federal and Dixie highways has been named “Lois D. Martin Way” in honor of the community activist and educator who passed away in 2022 at the age of 93.

Community leaders, including City Council members, attended the Sept. 23 dedication event that was hosted by Developing Interracial Social Change (D.I.S.C.) at Ebenezer Baptist Church to pay tribute to the lifetime resident of Pearl City. The historic black community in Boca Raton was recently approved by the state to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The designation awaits approval by the National Park Service.

“Mrs. Martin was considered a community champion,” said D.I.S.C. President Marie Hester. “She was a public official, community leader, concerned citizen, a human/health service worker and volunteer. She was always there willing to do whatever had to be done to keep things going.”

Among her many community activities, Martin served as vice chairwoman of the Boca Raton Housing Authority, secretary to the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, member of the city’s Historic Preservation Board, and Sunday school teacher and treasurer for Ebenezer Baptist Church. Her high school and middle school teaching career spanned 40 years.

The Lois Martin Community Center, also named in her honor, serves underprivileged communities in Boca Raton.

— Mary Hladky

By Mary Hladky

Boca Raton has an affordable housing problem.

As the cost of homes and apartment rentals rise throughout South Florida, many people who would like to live in Boca can’t afford it, and some have shared their problems with the City Council.

“We have been fortunate in Boca to have increases in property values. We have the highest property valuation of any municipality in Palm Beach County,” said Mayor Scott Singer. “The by-product is housing is becoming less affordable.”

Yet developers had shown no interest in building affordable housing in the city until the Florida Legislature passed the Live Local Act, which went into effect on July 1 and gives them financial incentives in the form of tax breaks and low-interest loans to do so.

Now, they are rushing forward to propose projects that combine market rate and affordable housing and are pressing the council to enact local regulations so they can submit their plans and get the go-ahead to build.

But council members are struggling with how to implement the Live Local Act. In an effort to understand what developers would propose and how the regulations should be crafted, they invited developers to present their project ideas on Sept. 11.

Five developers outlined projects that totaled 1,890 units, including 190 that would be affordable.

In one example, Mutual of America Life Insurance Co. wants to replace its existing office building with a new one, and add retail and 275 residential units, including 28 that are affordable, with one, two or three bedrooms, in the Park at Broken Sound at 1150 Broken Sound Parkway.

A one-bedroom market rate apartment would rent for $2,887 a month, while an affordable unit would be $2,143.

Critics assail the Live Local Act because it lacks clarity and strips away the ability of local elected officials to control what is built within their borders. The new law, they say, is a continuation of years of actions by the Legislature to assume control and override local decision-making.

“It is something that is being forced down our throats,” council member Yvette Drucker said at the Sept. 11 meeting.

The state law says that cities must allow multifamily and mixed-use residential in areas zoned for commercial, industrial or mixed use if at least 40% of units are affordable for people who meet certain income criteria. The units must remain affordable for at least 30 years.

Municipal leaders cannot restrict the density of a project below the highest allowed density on any land in the city. They can’t restrict the height below the highest allowed within one mile of a project. They also can’t impose rent controls.

That leaves cities able to control only matters such as setbacks and parking.

The law has prompted fears that developers will build huge projects after minimal city staff review, and none by the City Council, no matter how much residents don’t want them.

But in Boca Raton, developers and their lawyers told city leaders they have absolutely no interest in building projects with 40% affordable units. The reason: They can’t make enough profit doing so.

Instead, they want to build under a state statute that was amended by the Live Local Act. It allows projects to be built with only 10% affordable units in areas zoned commercial or industrial, throwing doubt on whether that would make much of a dent in the housing crisis. Developers, however, contend it still will create a significant amount of affordable housing.

At an Aug. 22 meeting, developers urged the council to drop their effort to craft a 40% ordinance, or at least put it on a back burner, since it might never be used.

But they pleaded with the council to move rapidly to enact a 10% ordinance so they can move forward quickly to build.

For developers, the 10% option has the advantage of allowing them to build more lucrative market rate units.

But it also helps the city because the statute gives council members discretion to impose controls. Local regulations, including those governing density and height, would not be preempted by the state.

City staff recommended in August that to be eligible for the 10% option, a development must be mixed-use residential, the site must be zoned for commercial or industrial use, be located near a transit stop and its density limited to 20 units per acre, the same limit that now exists in most portions of the city.

Developments with affordable housing under the 40% or 10% options generally would be located in the Midtown area near the Town Center mall, the Boca Raton Innovation

Campus west of Interstate 95 and south of Yamato Road, and the Park at Broken Sound on the north side of Yamato.

They also could be located along Dixie and Federal highways.

Residential is not allowed so far in Midtown. More than 1,000 residential units have been built in the Park at Broken Sound and its owners want to build more. The city recently gave preliminary approval for 1,240 residential units, among many other new uses, at BRIC.

All five developers proposed projects using the 10% option.

Council members generally liked the conceptual plans the five presented. None of them sits next to single-family homes.

“I saw five projects that I think aesthetically will look and feel like what we want,” said Deputy Mayor Monica Mayotte.

But seeing them didn’t do much to help council members resolve how to implement the Live Local Act.

The presentations didn’t impress Development Services Director Brandon Schaad, who has drafted proposed ordinances for the 10% and 40% options.

“Overall, what I heard was ‘we want this,’” he said about the developers. “Why? What makes it rational?”

A big sticking point for council members is that they think the 10% option won’t create enough affordable housing. They grappled with what the city could do to get developers to build more.

The 10% option does not limit developers to that number of affordable units. They could build up to 39% without triggering the loss of city control that happens under the 40% option.

Asked by Singer what the city would have to do to incentivize developers to provide more, Schaad cautioned against allowing developers to control the process.

“If we ask developers what they need to do more, they will say what benefits them,” he said.

City Manager Leif Ahnell suggested keeping it simple and moving gradually for now, since ordinances can be amended after council members can evaluate whether they are satisfied with the results of the first projects that are built.

That’s generally what the council has settled on for now.

They and staff will see if there is a way to persuade developers to increase the number of affordable units to 15%, likely by offering incentives.

They also will cap for now the number of total new units that can be built to no more than 3,000 so they can hit the brakes on more development if the projects are not to their liking.

And to address council member Fran Nachlas’ concern that developers might build a lot of tiny apartments to minimize their costs, 500 square feet will be the smallest that can be built, a 100-square-foot increase.

It is not expected that the council will complete Live Local Act work until sometime in October.

In other city business, council members agreed to spend about $60,000 to repaint the Mizner Park Amphitheater.

Council member Marc Wigder, who also chairs the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, suggested that several months ago, saying the facility looks shabby.

If all goes as planned, the amphitheater will be completely renovated by 2028 when the Center for Arts and Innovation cultural complex is completed. But Wigder thought the existing building needed a better look before then.

It will be painted white with pink trim. The pink will match the lighter shade of pink on the adjacent Boca Raton Museum of Art.

The International Coastal Cleanup 2023 was a renewal of a volunteer effort to clean up the marine environment that has taken place annually for 38 years and is supported in more than 100 countries. ABOVE: (l-r) FAU students Sandra Delgado, Kaleigh Harbin and Zachary Jones remove trash from the dunes at South Inlet Park as part of the local ICC effort. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett

Indoor, air-conditioned courts for racquet sports could open to the public in Boca Raton by the end of 2024.

The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District chose a proposal on Sept. 11 for an almost 60,000-square-foot building at its recently renamed North Park — 5800 NW Second Ave. — to contain 14 indoor pickleball courts and four courts for padel, a cross between tennis and squash.

“Boca is in dire need of a climate-controlled, professional racquet sports facility so people can be able to escape our unpredictable weather … whether it’s rain or stifling heat,” said Dr. Stewart Davis, a physician, medical device entrepreneur and one of the partners of Boca Paddle LLC.

In addition to the indoor courts, Boca Paddle’s proposed structure would include a children’s play area, restrooms and locker rooms, a pro shop, sports bar, lounge and community room. Outside would be eight more pickleball courts and two more padel courts.

Davis’ “extremely well-capitalized” team projected that its proposal would cost just shy of $15 million, which Boca Paddle would pay.

“We’re doing this with all cash and no debt,” he said. “We have the cash secured in the bank and we’re ready to go with this project.”

In return, Boca Paddle wants a 49-year concession agreement with the district. The two sides are negotiating details of the deal.

Davis’ partners are Brian Levine, the former CEO of Major League Pickleball; developer Malcolm Butters and his philanthropist wife, Catherine; and Farmer’s Table restaurateur Mitch Robbins. All are residents of Boca Raton.

District commissioners ranked the Boca Paddle proposal better than four others, from entities named Camp Pickle, Chicken N’ Pickle, the Robbie Wagner Tournament Training Center and the YMCA of South Palm Beach County.

The Y was drawn to the request for proposals process by the lure of possibly free land for another YMCA site within the city.

“We’re full — in preschool, after school, summer camp — full. We need additional space to continue to grow and meet the needs of the community,” said Jason Hagensick, the organization’s president and CEO.

Commissioners made the Y their No. 2 choice and said they were amenable to letting it have another site at North Park, the 212-acre parcel surrounding the Boca Teeca condominium community that they bought in 2018 with the idea of making a golf course. It’s also known as Ocean Breeze, the name of the former golf course on the property.

In other business, commissioners:
• On Sept. 18 approved a 2023-24 tax rate of $1.08 per $1,000 of taxable value, the same millage as the previous year. The rate will generate $41.8 million in tax collections, up $4.4 million from 2022-23. The owner of a $1 million home will owe $1,080 in Beach and Park taxes.

The district will pay the city $27.6 million, down 3.3%, mostly to operate and maintain Red Reef Park and the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and to supply staff at district facilities.

• On Sept. 5 said the public can still watch their meetings live online but can no longer speak to the meeting remotely after someone “Zoom-bombed” the Aug. 28 meeting with an inappropriate video. The district had to stop recording the video of the meeting that night to deny the hacker access.

The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District’s long-standing frustration over annual payments it must make to the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency has reached the point that district commissioners decided to take steps that could lead to legal action against the city.

Commissioners unanimously agreed on Oct. 2 that Executive Director Briann Harms and the district’s legal counsel should “pursue any and all options” to be exempted from making the payments, to cap the amount of the payments and to press its claim that the CRA has breached a 1986 agreement with the district.

“It still seems (city officials) look at us as their personal piggy bank,” said Commissioner Craig Ehrnst. “The City Council and (city administrators) need to be more responsive to us and work with us.”

The district’s annual payments increased to $2.3 million the last fiscal year and rose to $2.5 million for the year that started Oct. 1.

Rather than going to the city, the money would be better spent on improvements to parks operated by the district, commissioners repeatedly have said.

District officials asked to be exempted from making the payments in 2020, but city officials declined. They renewed their request in August, but City Council members, who also sit as CRA commissioners, offered no assurances that would happen.

District officials had thought the payments would come to an end in 2019 when the bond for building Mizner Park was paid off. That didn’t happen.

They then thought it would end in 2025 when the CRA was scheduled to sunset.

But in June, City Manager Leif Ahnell proposed extending the CRA to 2042, and with it the district’s obligation to make payments.

The City Council is expected to vote on the extension on Oct. 11

— Mary Hladky

Brightline will double its train service between Miami and Orlando starting Oct. 9, with 15 daily round-trips for a total of 30 trains.

The increased service comes two weeks after the privately funded rail line, whose speeds reach 110 miles per hour, launched its long-awaited service to Orlando on Sept. 22.

Since the launch, Brightline has been running a total of 16 trains, or eight round-trips, between the two cities.

The inaugural trip culminated with a celebration attended by about 500 government leaders and other dignitaries at the new station near the Orlando International Airport.

Under the new schedule, the first train will leave Miami for Orlando at 6:41 a.m., arriving in Orlando at 10:19 a.m. The last train will depart Miami at 9:41 p.m.

Passengers boarding at Boca Raton’s station can expect the trip to Orlando will take about two hours and 45 minutes.

For a limited time, Brightline is offering one-way regular fares starting at $79 for adults and $39 for children. Its premium fares for adults start at $149.

Brightline launched operations in South Florida in 2018 with stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. It added stations in Boca Raton and Aventura last year.

The company will add one more station in the Treasure Coast and then will push west to Tampa.

—Mary Hladky

By Jane Musgrave

When Jennifer Rey heard that Delray Beach police in July were trying to find out who shot a woman, dismembered her body and stuffed it into suitcases, she immediately suspected a husband or a lover.

“My gut reaction was this was a domestic,” said Rey, chief program officer at the Palm Beach County chapter of Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse. “Domestic murders are very violent.”

Others, who have spent decades analyzing what drives otherwise law-abiding people to kill, agreed that the level of brutality signaled that the woman’s assailant was someone who knew her well.

“The chopping her up,” said Palm Beach Gardens forensic psychologist Adam White. “This shows the perpetrator was very angry and hated the person. It’s a symbolic way of showing hatred.”

Ultimately surprising were the ages of those involved. 

While an artist rendering of the victim depicted a woman between the ages of 35 and 55, police eventually identified her as 80-year-old Aydil Barbosa Fontes. Her husband of two decades, 78-year-old William Lowe, was charged with the murder. 

Lowe was indicted after police found blood in the condo the couple shared just blocks from the ocean and on a chainsaw they discovered in a storage unit Lowe rented. He has pleaded not guilty.

Murders among the elderly are rare. Of the roughly 16,500 people who were murdered nationwide in 2021, only 1,250 were over the age of 65, according to numbers compiled by Statista.

Although research is ongoing, studies have shown that many elderly murder victims are women and their assailants are people who are known to them, often their longtime partners.

“For many older women, the latter stages of their life are not the golden years,” Canadian researcher Myrna Dawson wrote in a 2021 paper. “Instead many older women’s lives are rife with abuse and violence which sometimes ends in their deaths.”

Further, the notion that elderly women are killed by loving husbands who simply want to end their suffering is simply wrong, said Donna Cohen, professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of South Florida.

Her research showed that men are almost always the perpetrators. She also found that in most cases there was no suicide pact and no evidence that the woman wanted to die. They were not  “mercy” killings.

“Homicide-suicides in older people are not acts of altruism,” she wrote. “They are acts of depression and desperation.”

There is nothing about Barbosa Fontes’ killing that resembles a murder-suicide, White said.

Rather than a crime of desperation, it was meticulously planned, he said. After Barbosa Fontes was shot and dismembered, her body parts were stuffed into suitcases and thrown into the Intracoastal Waterway, where they were discovered by passersby.

Clearly, her assailant didn’t want to get caught, White said. 

Lowe’s former attorney said it appeared Lowe suffers from mental health problems that may have stemmed from his service in the Marines during the Vietnam War. 

Lowe, who owned an auto parts store in Kentucky before moving to Delray Beach, qualified for a state program that allows veterans who are permanently and totally disabled to avoid paying property taxes. Lowe, who shows no signs of a physical disability, was also involved in Delray’s alcohol recovery community.

Little is known about his relationship with his wife. Neighbors told police they didn’t know the couple well. Barbosa Fontes owned two rental units in Pompano Beach. A tenant, who saw her shortly before her death, said she seemed healthy — both mentally and physically.

Delray Beach police said their officers had not been summoned to the couple’s home in the two years before Barbosa Fontes’ death. Lowe has never before been charged with a crime, according to records in Palm Beach County and Kentucky. White said neither is unusual.

But, he said, regardless of any claims of mental woes, the careful planning of Barbosa Fontes’ murder would likely thwart any efforts to mount an insanity defense:

Whoever killed Barbosa Fontes knew what he was doing was wrong and tried to hide it. 

Rey, who has spent more than two decades working with victims of intimate partner violence, said Barbosa Fontes’ slaying confirms an ugly truth: “Domestic violence can and does happen to people of any age group.”

For years, health experts have warned that women are at risk from men they know. Noting that 38% of all women globally who were slain were killed by their intimate partners and many more sustained life-altering injuries, the World Health Organization in 2013 declared violence against women a serious public health problem.

But, despite its declaration and a call to action, little has changed.

According to a 2022 report by the Violence Policy Center, 89% of U.S. women who were murdered in 2020 were killed by men they knew and 60% died at the hands of intimate partners. Eight times as many women were killed by men they knew rather than by strangers, it found in its annual report, “When Men Murder Women.”

The vast majority of victims of domestic violence are women of child-bearing age and they are most often shot to death.

But less research has been done into domestic violence among the elderly. With the elderly population skyrocketing as the last of the Baby Boomers reach retirement age, researchers such as Dawson and others say more study is needed.

Dr. D’Andrea Joseph, chief of acute care surgery and trauma at NYU School of Medicine, said the information would help doctors identify elderly abuse and help those who are suffering.

“Intimate partner violence in the abuse of elderly and vulnerable adults is common in the United States but often remains undetected,” she wrote in 2019, pushing for a sweeping study to identify warning signs.

Many elderly women are loath to report abuse. ElderSafe, a Washington, D.C., organization that provides shelter for elderly abuse victims, estimated that just one out of every 23 battered seniors seeks help. By comparison, overall, about 50% of domestic violence cases nationally aren’t reported.

Researchers suggest that an elderly woman who is financially dependent on her husband feels trapped. Her age or health problems make it impossible for her to find a job to support herself.

She is less likely to be able to defend herself if she is attacked. She also may have grown up believing she couldn’t and shouldn’t talk to anyone about violence inflicted on her by her husband. She may worry what friends and family will think.

Rey said younger women fall silent for similar reasons. Financial dependence, children, religious beliefs, family support and peer pressure are all part of the mix.

But, she said, fear is always the driver. “I’ll kill you if you leave me,” is a constant threat.

And the threat isn’t an idle one. Roughly 75% of women are killed after they leave or attempt to leave their abusers, Rey said.

“It’s a very dangerous time,” she said. “People don’t come to us because they need a place to stay. They come here to be safe.”

When the coronavirus pandemic forced unhappy couples to remain together in their homes, domestic violence exploded and it hasn’t abated, Rey said. “It’s unprecedented,” she said.

In the last year, Rey’s agency has received bomb threats and been warned to expect a mass shooting. It has been forced to spend extra money to beef up security, leaving it desperate for cash, she said. Fundraising has become critical.

Abused women desperately need help, she said. No matter their age, they all suffer similar trauma. The motives of their abusers, people who supposedly love them, are nearly always the same.

“The goal is to exert control over that one person and use violence and manipulation to do so,” Rey said. “It’s all about what can I do to instill fear in you.”

Sometimes, the rage intensifies with tragic results.

“I believe I own you and I’ll make sure no one else can have you,” as Rey described it.

Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse has a 24-hour crisis line for those who need help. It can be reached at 800-355-8547. Its administrative office is 561-265-3797. Information about its services is available at www.avdaonline.org.

 By Rich Pollack

A 78-year-old Delray Beach man has been charged with fatally shooting his 80-year-old wife last month and then placing pieces of her dismembered body into suitcases and bags before pushing them into the Intracoastal Waterway close to his Venetian Drive home.

In court documents, Delray Beach detectives say evidence led them to believe that William Lowe Jr. killed his wife, Aydil Barbosa Fontes with a single gunshot behind her ear and then used a chainsaw to carve up her body.

In a charging document released Thursday after Lowe made an initial court appearance, investigators wrote that witnesses had seen him several times at a boat dock near where two of the suitcases were found.

Video surveillance also indicated that someone matching Lowe’s description was seen in the area climbing down a dock ladder carrying a Cheesecake Factory bag, which he no longer held after climbing back up the ladder.

In addition, investigators armed with a search warrant found evidence of blood splatters throughout the apartment Lowe shared with his wife. A chainsaw was later located in a storage unit owned by Lowe. Police also found a 9mm firearm in the apartment.

When detectives asked Lowe where his wife was, he told them she was in Brazil, they wrote in the court records.

During a news conference soon after Lowe appeared in court Aug. 3, lead detective Mike Liberta said that investigators have not determined a motive for the homicide, nor did they receive any information from Lowe, who requested an attorney soon after being charged.

“The defendant obtained counsel and did not give a statement,” Liberta said.

While investigators had been asking the community for help in identifying the woman whose body was found in suitcases and bags, Liberta said they focused on Lowe as a suspect first, before they were able to identify Barbosa Fontes as the victim.

Liberta and Police Chief Russ Mager said that information from residents who lived near where two of the suitcases were first discovered was critical to them solving the homicide.

“We want to recognize and thank the community for the assistance in providing vital information that was greatly beneficial in the outcome of this investigation,” Mager said.

Two days after the bags were found, witnesses told police that they saw a man in his 50s or 60s looking at the suitcases in the Intracoastal Waterway five or six times over a three-day period. Other witnesses later told investigators they saw a man with a similar description using a brush on a metal pole trying to push something in the water.

Detectives said they first identified Lowe as a possible suspect after one of the investigators took a photo of a tag from a car that had been seen in the area near where the bags were found. The tag came back to Lowe and to his address, which was a tenth of a mile from where two suitcases were found.

                           The condo building at 315 Venetian Drive in coastal Delray Beach where police say the murder took place. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Lowe was brought to the police department to give a DNA sample, while at the same time investigators armed with a warrant searched his home. When Lowe was done, he returned home while police were still doing their search. He tried to get into the home through a back window but was stopped by investigators. He told them he wanted to get his phone and the key to his storage locker, the same locker where the chainsaw would later be found.

Knowing that Lowe and Barbosa Fontes shared the apartment and that she hadn’t been seen by neighbors for weeks, investigators were able to then confirm her identity using dental records and DNA.

Liberta, who has been with the Delray Beach Police Department for 10 years and has been a detective for four years, said the nature of the crime — with the victim’s body dismembered — made this case particularly disturbing.

“This is probably the worst I’ve seen,” he said.

Lowe has been charged with first degree murder and abuse of a dead body and was being held without bond in the Palm Beach County Jail.

By Rich Pollack

A 78-year-old Delray Beach man has been charged with fatally shooting his 80-year-old wife and then placing pieces of her dismembered body into three suitcases before pushing them into the Intracoastal Waterway close to his Venetian Drive home.

In court documents, Delray Beach detectives say evidence led them to believe that William Lowe Jr. killed his wife, Aydil Barbosa Fontes, with a gunshot to her head and then used a chainsaw to cut up her body.

In a charging document released Thursday after Lowe made an initial court appearance, investigators wrote that witnesses had seen him several times at a boat dock near where two of the suitcases were found. Video surveillance also indicated that someone matching Lowe’s description was seen in the area climbing down the dock ladder carrying a bag, which he no longer held after climbing back up the ladder.

In addition, investigators armed with a search warrant found evidence of blood splatters throughout the apartment Lowe shared with his wife. A chainsaw was later located in a storage unit owned by Lowe. Police also found a 9mm firearm in the apartment.

When detectives asked Lowe where his wife was, he told them she was in Brazil, detectives wrote in the court records.

Lowe has been charged with first degree murder and abuse of a dead body.