The collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside in June created ‘an awakening moment’ in which insurers will ‘tighten their underwriting standards and demand information about inspections,’ says Mark Friedlander, from the industry’s Insurance Information Institute. AP photo

Related Stories: Boca Raton first in county to set standards for building safety reviews | Highland Beach tentatively approves ordinance for condo inspections

By Charles Elmore

The condominium collapse in Surfside sent instant shock waves through Palm Beach County’s southern coast, where condo sales help drive one of the nation’s hottest real estate markets but most condo buildings near the ocean bear the wear and tear of 25 years or more.
The news triggered “many calls and emails from panicked clients,” said Brendan Lynch, president of Plastridge Insurance, an agency more than 100 years old in Delray Beach.
“My initial reaction to this was, ‘Is this isolated to that one building?’” Lynch said. “I know condominiums so well and this is the first time I’ve heard of something like this happening.”
Yes, his agency had handled occasional claims over the years, such as a chunk of concrete falling off a condo balcony and hitting a car, he said. Thankfully no one was injured. 
But now a horrifying scene dominated the news. The partial collapse on June 24 of Champlain Towers South, a 12-story beachfront condominium in the Miami suburb of Surfside, killed 98 people.
Within days, insurers began sending letters to condo associations in South Florida asking for proof they passed safety inspections or other information, and serving notice they could lose coverage without it.
In August, a South Palm Beach condo association received a letter from the state’s insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., saying it had 30 days to produce a signed roof replacement contract or a policy that started in June could be canceled, Lynch said. The association was able to keep coverage by providing assurances improvements were on the way, he said.
An insurance company’s inspector at another condo reported a crack in the garage, causing a flare of alarm.
“I had to scramble and show them it was literally a crack in the stucco,” Lynch said.

Impact on rates uncertain
The full impact on the cost and availability of condo insurance might not be known for months or years, as insurers with regulated rates file new annual proposals for what they wish to charge and decide whether to renew policies.
But international insurers whose rates are not regulated play a big role in Florida’s condo market, as does last-resort Citizens, whose prices are regulated but designed to be anything but the cheapest in the market.
And already, agents say finding or replacing policies for condo associations or the owners of individual units since Surfside has sometimes meant prices 30% to 40% higher.
“We have been in business for 16 years and it has become increasingly difficult to place insurance with wind coverage on the condominium units in the tri-county area,” said Lisa Pacillo, owner and vice president of All Risk Insurance Group in Boca Raton, referring to Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
All of this represents a big deal economically in Palm Beach County. The Surfside collapse came as Palm Beach County was leading 86 oceanfront counties nationwide in condo sales in the second quarter of 2021, according to Attom Data Solutions, an Irvine, California-based provider of real estate data. 
The county’s 10,454 unit sales in the quarter led coastal America and came with a median price of $275,000, a leap of more than 47% in one year, Attom found.

Inspection rules scrutinized
Now local and state government officials are considering an urgent overhaul of regulations for building inspections, maintenance and repairs. Insurers are watching closely and taking stock of how much risk they are willing to take.
“Clearly it’s a moment where insurers are going to tighten their underwriting standards and demand information about inspections,” said Mark Friedlander, Florida-based spokesman for the industry-funded Insurance Information Institute. “It is an awakening moment not just for South Florida but nationally.”
Starting Aug. 1, the annual cost of policies covering individual condo units, known as HO6, began to rise an average of 9.8% in Palm Beach County from Citizens. These policies offer protection for a resident’s personal property inside a condo unit as well as liability coverage.
The average Citizens premium for such policies in the county rose from $1,009 per year to $1,108, in rates approved before Surfside.
Before the collapse, policies that cover the overall condo building and common areas might cost $275,000 to $300,000 for a typical association on a barrier island in southern Palm Beach County, Lynch said. Now all await what happens to those insurance costs, which could arrive on top of separate assessments to residents in condos that are making repairs or improvements on a building.
For buildings close to the coast, condo associations were already relying heavily on what are known as “surplus-lines” insurers, Lynch said. These are companies such as Lloyd’s of London whose rates are not regulated by the state. 
Surplus-lines companies collected $7.6 billion in premiums for a range of coverages including condo insurance in Florida in 2020, up 15% from the previous year, according to the Florida Surplus Lines Service Office. Palm Beach County was the third-largest market in Florida for surplus-lines carriers, generating more than $830 million in premiums.
A database at the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation offers a partial glimpse of companies that hold condo insurance policies in Palm Beach County, though it does not include surplus-lines insurers or those with regulated rates who block release of their information as “trade secrets.”
As of June 30, for example, Occidental Fire and Casualty Co. of North Carolina held 23 policies with condo associations in Palm Beach County to cover fire and other risks not including wind damage, records show. A statement by Occidental said decisions to write new business or renew policies are made on a “case-by-case” basis. 
In addition to other kinds of policies, Citizens maintained 168 “wind-only” policies for condo associations in the county in the second quarter, meaning it served as supplemental coverage that protected specifically against wind damage from events such as a hurricane. 
A somewhat larger array of insurers with regulated rates show up as writing policies for owners of individual condo units, sometimes with wind coverage sold separately. As of June 30, Allstate subsidiary Castle Key Indemnity Co. had more than 15,000 such policies in the county, followed by Citizens with more than 9,000. Allstate officials did not respond to a request for comment.
State law requires insurers to tell regulators if they plan not to renew at least 10,000 residential policies statewide 90 days before notices go out, but so far there have been no such notifications from companies with regard to condo insurance since June 24, said OIR press secretary Karen Roach.
The state’s Office of Insurance Regulation is “closely monitoring” the situation and will work with the governor, Cabinet and Legislature “to address any market challenges and ensure consumer protection,” Roach said.
Since June, Citizens has not seen an uptick in condo policies, either for associations or individuals, spokesman Michael Peltier said.
But Citizens officials say they are adding 5,000 policies a week statewide for single-family homes and other segments of the market as private insurers pull back to trim risk. Since 2019, Citizens has seen its total policy count grow from 420,000 across Florida to more than 700,000. Citizens expects to carry more than 1 million policies by next year. 
“Citizens is considering all ideas to reduce exposure, and to continue to operate as efficiently as possible during this unprecedented growth period,” Citizens President Barry Gilway said Sept. 22 at a board meeting in Miami.

Risks being assessed
Much will depend on whether insurers see Surfside as a tragic but isolated event, or an early indicator of widely underappreciated risks in coastal condos.
How insurers assess risks and set prices in the months and years ahead will take into account a whole range of factors — not least building age. The structure in Surfside was 40 years old. In Palm Beach County, local officials have been discussing stricter regulations for buildings 25 years and older near the coast.
More than 90% of the 348 condos along the barrier island from South Palm Beach to Boca Raton are at least 25 years old, a Coastal Star analysis found. That included 88 condo buildings in Delray Beach, 73 in Boca Raton and 71 in Highland Beach.
The older condo buildings grow, the greater the risk they tend to face from weakening or damage over time in wet, salty and windy conditions near the shore without proper maintenance, experts say.
“We often think of buildings as permanent, but they are not,” said Anne Cope, chief engineer at the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety in Richburg, South Carolina. Her group took part in a meeting Aug. 17 in West Palm Beach involving organizations concerned about improving building safety.
“The tragic events in Surfside have highlighted the need to look at the health of our buildings,” Cope said. “This building was sadly showing signs of distress. How can engineers better communicate about the health of structures and the need and urgency of repairs?”
Cope said she could not address the likely effects on the premiums insurance companies may charge in the future, but hopes the incident will lead to improved safety standards.
“It was Hurricane Andrew in 1992 that led Florida down the path of strong, modern codes that are now the example for jurisdictions across the country,” she said. “Andrew taught us that having a strong code on the books wasn’t enough; the enforcement and administration of codes was key to the building code.”

The drama at the Delray Beach commission meeting was expected to come from an audit report on the Old School Square Center for the Arts. But another number came up — deeply disturbing and having nothing to do with the beloved and troubled nonprofit.
The number was about death. It was about burials in the city’s municipal cemetery.
Employees of the Delray Beach Memorial Gardens Municipal Cemetery were recognized in September for handling a 60% increase in burials over the past 18 months, according to the city’s Parks and Recreation director.
They were given plaques and thanked for their hard work in keeping the city property attractive and running smoothly, and dealing with delicate graveside services during a very difficult time.
A few on the dais — seated behind and between plexiglass dividers — and meeting attendees — wearing masks — shook their heads when the number was cited, but no one gasped. No one seemed too surprised there had been a 60% increase in burials in the city cemetery.
It’s not a real surprise, after all, is it? We all know that COVID-19 is killing our neighbors. Overdoses and suicides have also been on the rise, but these too often are considered pandemic-related.
The CDC recommends 6-foot distancing and masks, even outdoors, when mixing in a crowd with strangers. But take a drive or stroll down Atlantic Avenue any evening and notice the lack of facial coverings and social distancing: indoors and out.
It’s easy not to care about who is being buried in the municipal cemetery, or not to consider the possible demise of more local residents.
In Palm Beach County, almost 4,000 residents have died from COVID-19. In Florida, the number of deaths has passed 53,000 and across the country, deaths are nearing 700,000.
In a city of 66,846 — with 57,823 over 18 — the chance of knowing one of those people in a coffin increases each day. In 2019, 179 souls were buried in the city’s cemetery. The numbers were 247 in 2020 and 186 so far in 2021. And these are likely a fraction of the overall deaths.
And yes, Delray Beach has had a 6,324 population increase since 2010, but that could have only a small impact on the number of burials. As we look forward with excitement to the coming arts season — including events at Old School Square — please keep these numbers in mind and respect the safety precautions in place.
Yes, there may be more rules to follow this season, but at least you’ll be attending in person again. That’s good news, right?
All of our arts organizations are struggling to come back from months of being closed and are doing the best they can to keep you, their staff and all the talent safe and healthy.
Please do your part and be careful. To keep the arts robust and flourishing, we need to keep our community healthy and alive. There have already been far too many burials in the Delray cemetery.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Jill Rose wants to involve new members and young donors in the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. Photo provided

By Amy Woods

Three decades have passed since a then 29-year-old Jewish woman embarked on a mission trip to Israel in an effort to make friends.
A recent graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, she had moved to Chicago to start her career.
“It pretty much changed my life,” Boca Raton resident Jill Rose said of the 1991 trip. “It created a home for me. I found a place to be.”
Rose returned to Chicago and immediately joined the leadership board at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. She has traveled to Israel more than 20 times since then — and counting.
“We try to go every year,” she said, referring to her husband, Michael, and three adult children. “We haven’t recently because of COVID.”
Rose is the 2021-22 season’s campaign chairwoman for the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. A volunteer at the organization since 2007, she previously served as campaign chairwoman for the federation’s Dorothy P. Seaman Department of Women’s Philanthropy and then as its chairwoman.
“I loved it,” she said. “I loved the women who were involved. The next logical step was to get involved in the broader general campaign.”
Rose, 59, will focus on three initiatives in her new role with the federation, the first of which is engaging families who have recently moved to South Florida.
“We are very, very blessed in Florida with the influx of people,” Rose said. “There are federations around the country, and many of them are watching their numbers dwindle. Our numbers are booming. The challenge is to make everyone aware of what’s going on in their new community, see the heart of their new community and feel vested in their new community so that they want to donate.”
Second, she wants to find ways to connect with young donors.
“Our hope is if we can educate and involve and become relevant and become a part of their lives, as people get more disposable income and more free time, they will turn to us and make us part of their lives,” Rose said. “I think everybody wants to connect with people with similar interests and similar values. We can help.”
Her third initiative involves maintaining ties with existing donors.
“I want to continue to engage our existing donors and make them aware and keep them apprised of all the good that their donations do,” Rose said. “The federation is just a tremendous social service. As our numbers are growing, our needs are growing. My job as campaign chairwoman is to raise money.”
The federation campus spans 100 acres and houses not only its administrative offices but also the Donna Klein Jewish Academy, Katz Hillel Day School of Boca Raton and Katz Yeshiva High School of South Florida.
“If people get to the campus and see what’s going on in there, they’re amazed and proud and astounded,” Rose said. “We’re really trying to touch people, expose them and involve them.”

South Palm Beach commissioners will hold a special meeting Sept. 22 to interview four firms interested in drafting plans for a new Town Hall. 

Representatives for CPZ Architects in Jensen Beach, Synalovski Romanik Saye Architects in Fort Lauderdale, Alexis Knight Architects in Boynton Beach, and Song + Associates in West Palm Beach will make presentations and answer questions at 1 p.m. 

If the council votes to hire a firm, it will mark the fourth time in six years, and first since March 2020, the town will take a hard look at renovating the existing 45-year-old building or building a new one. Since 2016, the town has spent about $55,000 on studying the idea.

— Joe Capozzi

A1A is lined with buildings in Boca Raton, where 77% of barrier island condos are 40 years or older. Google Maps

By Mary Hladky

Boca Raton is the first city in Palm Beach County to enact an ordinance requiring buildings to be inspected to determine if they are safe.

Moving rapidly after the horrific June 24 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside, City Council members unanimously approved the new law on Aug. 24 that took effect immediately.

“I think this is an important step to enhance safety and enhance confidence in Boca Raton,” said Mayor Scott Singer.

The ordinance establishes recertification standards like those that exist in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. But Boca Raton’s is more stringent, requiring inspections of buildings 30 years old rather than 40, with additional inspections taking place every 10 years thereafter.

The City Council action comes as other Palm Beach County cities, the county commission and the Palm Beach County League of Cities also are working to establish rules.

Singer did not want to wait until a consensus was reached before acting, but is willing to revise Boca Raton’s ordinance in the future so that it does not conflict with what will be required elsewhere in the county or state.

Though the final ordinance largely mirrors a draft released in July, it provides more detailed requirements for building inspections and engineering reports and requires building owners to promptly tell city officials how they plan to make any needed repairs.

It also explicitly states that single-family homes and duplexes are exempt from recertification rules.

The ordinance applies to buildings that are taller than three stories, or 50 feet.

Development Services Director Brandon Schaad said the ordinance will create an initial backlog of 242 buildings needing inspection and it will take four years complete that work.

Chief Building Official Michael DiNorscio will prioritize buildings based on age, location, construction materials and other factors. Waterfront condos will be high on the priority list.

DiNorscio will send a “notice of required inspection” to the owner of buildings requiring recertification at least one year before the recertification deadline.

The mandatory inspections must be conducted by both a structural and an electrical engineer, who will identify any deficiencies.

If repairs are needed, the building owner must submit a repair plan to the city within 30 days. The plan will include when repairs will be completed, subject to approval by the city.

Building owners are responsible for hiring the engineers to inspect and prepare reports.

Owners will have three chances to satisfy city officials that they are taking appropriate action. If issues are unresolved, the matter will be referred to the Permitting and Construction Review Board, which can turn the matter over to a special magistrate to enforce the requirements.

The city will hire an engineer, code enforcement officer and an administrative staffer to implement the ordinance at an annual cost of about $250,000.

State Road A1A is the main street for barrier island residents and routinely floods. This location in Ocean Ridge, with three sloped driveways and no swales, flooded June 15 after less than an inch of rain. Jerry Lower/ The Coastal Star

Related Story: Report identifies areas vulnerable to flooding, other extreme weather

By Mary Hladky

An in-depth assessment of how vulnerable southeastern Palm Beach County cities and towns are to climate change has found that the risks are increasing, with anticipated tidal flooding alone threatening more than $10 billion in property values by 2070.
A study by a team of consultants, commissioned by seven cities, towns and Palm Beach County, identified the top climate change threats to the area and pinpointed significant facilities in each city and town that are especially at risk.
In what may surprise people who live inland, the study predicts that rainfall-induced flooding caused by changing rainfall patterns will be the biggest threat to the southeastern part of the county. This type of flooding has a big impact on inland areas, where many residents don’t expect it, and can overwhelm stormwater drainage systems.
“It is really eye-opening that the flooding isn’t just coastal,” said Lindsey Nieratka, Boca Raton’s sustainability manager. “We need to be considering our stormwater systems and green space inland.” More green space would help absorb the rainfall.
Tidal flooding, long the bane of coastal residents, will become a bigger problem, the report says.
Sea levels are forecast to rise 33 inches by 2070, according to mid-range projections by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, causing a “near exponential increase” in the number of days of high tide flooding each year, the report states.
The third top threat is rising daytime and nighttime temperatures, which hit low-income and elderly people the hardest, the report says.
While previous assessments in South Florida have focused on sea level rise, the new study is more comprehensive, identifying 12 main threats.
It classifies sea level rise not as a threat in itself, but as a problem that exacerbates six of those threats — shoreline recession, tidal flooding, rainfall-induced flooding, storm surge, groundwater inundation and saltwater intrusion.
Other threats are algae blooms, pest and disease outbreaks, droughts, wildfires, extreme heat and high winds. Hurricane strengths will intensify and cause greater destruction, the study predicts.
Flooding and rising seas are the “gravest threat” to the area’s economy, with flood-prone properties becoming less valuable, which in turn would reduce property tax revenue to municipalities, the report says.
Governments often finance improvements with bonds, and bond rating agencies are watching what local governments do, giving better ratings to those that invest in adaptation.
The study is intended to provide detailed, up-to-date information on the threats and to assess vulnerabilities in each city and town. That will help them identify what they can do to adapt to the changing climate and to mitigate damage and loss.
“Adaptation and mitigation will be a long process that will require sustained effort and concentration and hard work from us and everyone in this community,” Megan Houston, director of the county’s Office of Resilience, told county commissioners when the report was presented to them June 22.
Boca Raton, Highland Beach, Delray Beach, Ocean Ridge, Boynton Beach, Lantana, Lake Worth Beach and Palm Beach County joined forces in 2019 to hire a consultant team to conduct the Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment. The team included Brizaga Inc., which develops adaptation solutions. The team worked in conjunction with sustainability managers and other city and town officials.
Briny Breezes, Manalapan and South Palm Beach did not participate.
The governments budgeted $366,797 to conduct the assessment, augmented by two grants totaling nearly $150,000 from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The report comes amid extreme weather in the United States. In the Pacific Northwest and western Canada, a drought and a series of heat waves bringing triple-digit temperatures have fueled intense wildfires and claimed hundreds of lives in the Pacific Northwest and western Canada. The record-breaking heat even caused mussels, clams and other sea creatures to cook to death.
The cost of protecting cities and towns from the effects of climate change will be much more than each can do on its own.
The report urges government leaders to seek out state and federal grants to help pay for mitigation and to boost resiliency. As awareness of climate change increases, more money is becoming available.
Legislation signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May and appropriations in the state budget made available $640 million to deal with the impacts of sea level rise, intensified storms and flooding.
Federal funding also is increasing. A $3.5 trillion budget proposal, whose fate was uncertain in July, includes one of the biggest efforts that Congress has considered to address climate change.
Municipal officials described the 236-page assessment as very helpful.
“It is so useful to have that,” said Rebecca Harvey, Boynton Beach’s sustainability coordinator. “It elevates the awareness of the threats and what we can expect going into the future.”
The amount of information is so voluminous, “we are still absorbing this,” Harvey said. The next step, she said, is to present study results to city staff in all departments so that they can integrate the information into their planning.
The report also recommended adaptation and mitigation strategies that they can use to take action, she said.
Boca Raton is taking similar steps. Nieratka said the city will incorporate the information into projects already underway and use it to identify and prioritize new projects. “I want to make it part of our process as we evaluate projects,” she said.
Ocean Ridge Town Manager Tracey Stevens said there is value in collaborating with other municipalities on the report.
“It is not something one town on its own can accomplish,” she said. “We can do better if we work together.”
Boynton Beach City Manager Lori LaVerriere said the report helps the city know where it is vulnerable.
Adaptation and mitigation “can’t be a back-burner thing,” she said. “Mother Nature will be forcing us to deal with it, like it or not.”
View the full report at https://discover.pbcgov.org/resilience/Pages/CoastalResiliencePartnership.aspx

The Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment study included key findings for each of the municipalities participating in the project, along with a list of buildings threatened. This is a partial list of the findings.

Boca Raton
81% of commercial properties in the north-central area of the city have medium or high vulnerability to rainfall-induced flooding.
80% of residential properties in the southwestern corner of the city have medium to high vulnerability to rain-induced flooding.
But residential properties are not as threatened elsewhere in the study area because they are more recently constructed.
65% of the residential properties in the eastern part of the city are vulnerable to storm surge inundation.
Buildings threatened by flooding, high winds or storm surge include Fire Rescue Stations 3, 5 and 6. Dixie Manor is vulnerable to rainfall-induced flooding and high winds, as are Florida Atlantic University and Verde and Calusa elementary schools.

Boynton Beach
The most vulnerable areas are those with aging infrastructure. Some are west of Interstate 95 and Congress Avenue, including Lake Boynton Estates and Industrial Way.
Areas near North Lake Drive are vulnerable to flooding due to low topography.
43% of buildings are vulnerable to flooding in a major storm.
55% of major roads and 45% of minor roads potentially would be inaccessible in a major storm.
Boynton Harbor Marina is vulnerable to storm surge, flooding and high winds. Fire Stations 3, 4 and 2 are vulnerable to rainfall-induced flooding, wind or storm surge. Hester Community Center, Congress Middle School, St. Mark Catholic School, Trinity Christian Academy, Bright Horizons Preschool and Greentree Villas are vulnerable to rainfall-induced flooding and high winds.

Delray Beach
Historic properties are highly vulnerable to high winds.
Many roads likely will be inaccessible during large storms.
King tides will cause property damage in older buildings at low elevations.
Veterans Park, La Hacienda Gardens and Catherine Strong Park are vulnerable to storm surge and tidal flooding. Delray Beach Swim and Tennis Club, Delray Beach Golf Club and Fire Station 2 are vulnerable to rainfall-induced flooding. Parking areas at 134 and 148 S. Ocean Blvd. are vulnerable to storm surge, tidal flooding or rain-induced flooding.
Atlantic Community High School, Delray Full Service Center, Unity of Delray and St. Vincent Ferrer School are each vulnerable to rainfall-induced flooding.

Highland Beach
Although Highland Beach has fewer critical facilities than larger cities, residential properties have high vulnerability to storm surge that can make roads impassable during large storms.
Residential vulnerability to high winds is twice that of the area as a whole.
The town is one of the most vulnerable to shoreline recession.
The municipal complex and vacant government-owned coastal lands are vulnerable to storm surge, tidal flooding, rainfall-induced flooding and high winds.

Lantana
Rainfall-induced flooding is a major threat to roads, potentially making many properties inaccessible.
High numbers of residential and commercial properties are threatened by rainfall-induced flooding and storm surge.
Of 10 health and medical facilities, nine are highly vulnerable to high winds.
Coastal parks and McKinley Park on Hypoluxo Island are vulnerable to storm surge, flooding and high winds. The Town Hall and the library are vulnerable to rainfall-induced flooding and high winds, as are Lantana Community Middle School, Lantana Elementary and Palm Beach Maritime Academy.

Ocean Ridge
The town has few critical facilities, but residential properties and roads are highly vulnerable to storm surge.
Residential properties are highly vulnerable to high winds because of their age.
The town has increased risk to severe storms and sea-level rise due to shoreline recession.
Town Hall and town-owned coastal lands are vulnerable to storm surge, rainfall-induced flooding, tidal flooding and high winds.

— Mary Hladky

By Larry Keller

Rob Patten recalls the first time he stepped foot on Beer Can Island. “I thought if I was a homeless person, I could make a fortune selling aluminum cans. It was just a huge party island. Litter was everywhere. Biologically speaking, it was pretty much a wasteland.”
That was three decades ago. Today, the islet is known as Bird Island — a roughly 7-acre private wildlife sanctuary adjacent to the Boynton Inlet — thanks to the years-long efforts of Patten and others, and the billionaire who owned the land and paid for its transformation.
The island’s future is unclear now, however, since the Ziff family sold its 15.65-acre ocean-to-Intracoastal estate in Manalapan for $94.17 million in March. Bird Island is west of the estate and was sold for $200,000 as part of the same transaction.
Patten, an expert in coastal habitat and dune restoration, says altering the island “was a challenge. As a professional, you don’t often get a chance to do something like this at this scale that is totally funded. When we started looking at it, we thought there was a unique opportunity to create something, not only beautiful, but environmentally beneficial.”
The recent acquisition was made in the name of a trust. The buyer is widely believed to be James Clark, a founder of Netscape and other major tech companies.
The buyer’s trustee for the sale, attorney Ronald Kochman, says he doesn’t know the owner’s plans for the island or what condition it’s in, and couldn’t comment even if he did.
Manalapan town officials say they haven’t been contacted by the buyer and don’t know what the future holds for Bird Island.

How job was done
Like Peanut Island near Palm Beach, Bird Island is a man-made spoil island. It was created when dredging was completed in 1927 to establish the South Lake Worth Inlet — Boynton Inlet — to connect the south end of Lake Worth Lagoon with the Atlantic Ocean. It resulted in sand accumulating to form the island.
When the late publishing mogul William Ziff Jr. bought the Manalapan mansion in the 1980s, the island came with it. He retained Patten to restore a dune on the beach east of the estate, called Gemini, and Richard Moyroud to landscape the grounds.
Patten, a retired Sarasota County environmental consultant and former manager of that county’s environmental sciences division, worked on various projects for the Ziff family for about 26 years.
Moyroud, who owns a native plant nursery west of Lake Worth Beach, is a consultant and an authority on regional Caribbean plants.
After Moyroud had worked for about eight years in the 1980s and 1990s landscaping the Gemini grounds, Ziff’s interest turned to the island.
Patten, Moyroud and the Audubon Society collaborated on devising a plan to convert the island to a natural state. “We wanted to create a habitat that was beneficial to migratory birds, resident birds and native wildlife,” Moyroud says.
The island was choked with tall, nonnative Brazilian pepper trees, and especially, very tall Australian pines, which sometimes displace native flora that provides wildlife habitat.
“A complete biological desert,” Moyroud says.
Moyroud’s job was to oversee placement of several types of plant communities into the soil, all blending seamlessly into the next, and to obtain the equipment for doing so.
Patten oversaw securing permits for the work, and collaborated with Moyroud and Audubon’s wildlife biologist Richard Paul (who has since died) to enact the restoration plan.
Moyroud’s team ripped Australian pines out by their roots. The trees were devoured by a huge grinder that Patten had barged over to the island, even erecting a temporary bridge at the site. The rapacious invaders were reduced to mulch and replaced by other vegetation.
The core of the island was then planted so as to become a maritime hammock, with West Indian trees native to the region such as black ironwood, strangler figs and cabbage palms, to name a few.
Mangroves and other flora were planted on the north side of the island, along with salt marsh grasses. Saw palmetto palms and spider lilies were among the vegetation planted on the south side facing the inlet.
Boulders and riprap were added to shallow waters to slow erosion and provide marine life with habitat. A crane was used to install the huge rocks, with some workers diving below the water to position them, Moyroud says. “It was a tremendous accomplishment,” he adds.
Moyroud says the birds “that really caught our attention were least terns. We wanted to create a safe nesting area. That was part of the design.”
Least terns prefer nesting in colonies on sandy beaches and have lost extensive habitat because of development and human activities. The state lists them as endangered.
As part of the Bird Island makeover, Richard Paul placed least tern decoys on sandy portions of the island in an effort to entice them to nest there, says his widow, Ann Paul, a longtime Audubon advocate in Tampa.
All of this was approved and financed by Ziff.
“Bill Ziff was an incredible individual — by far the most intelligent man I know of,” Patten says. “He had a strong environmental ethos. He wasn’t afraid to be bold. When he looked at a project, it was not how much did this cost … how long will it take. His criteria were to do this right.”
Ziff established a private foundation, Bird Island Trust Inc., to manage the island. His widow, Tamsen Ann Ziff, is listed as president. The foundation spent $5,202 in 2018, according to federal tax records.
The Ziff family declined to comment for this story. The foundation’s vice president and treasurer, New York City attorney Spencer Lehv, did not return a phone message.

Island still in good shape
Over time, the island’s new vegetation flourished, but the least terns did not. “It was almost impossible to keep boaters and their dogs off of that sandy spit. The terns didn’t have a chance,” Moyroud says.
True, Patten says, but the lagoon on the north side of the island attracted shorebirds, a fish nursery and even horseshoe crabs.
Like Moyroud, Patten devoted several years to revamping the island. He was asked to return to Manalapan and Bird Island around 2008. William Ziff had died, but his right-hand man wanted Patten to do additional work on the island, such as mitigating erosion.
“I didn’t find it to be trashy. I was really surprised,” Patten says of the island. “The family wanted to continue to keep it at a high level.”
Boaters reacted angrily in the 1990s when the island became a wildlife sanctuary and was declared off limits to them. They still can intrude despite the no trespassing signs.
Trespassing “takes more of an effort” now because of some of the changes, Patten says. “Most of the people did not want to jump over the rocks.”
John Ferber estimates that the dock at his Manalapan home is no more than 500 feet from Bird Island. He’s seen perhaps 200 boats at times in the cove on the north side of the island. “It’s not a big collective party,” Ferber says. “It’s more like tailgating on the water.”
Some folks set up barbecues, and it’s not uncommon to see dogs running around, Ferber says. But this occurs at low tide on a sandbar, not on the island itself, he adds.
“The island itself is relatively unperturbed. There definitely are birds on the island. It’s a very peaceful place,” Ferber says.
Paul Davis, sanctuary coordinator at the Audubon Everglades chapter, says it’s hard to know definitively without taking a census which birds and in what numbers make stops at Bird Island.
There’s no question, however, that migratory birds find it to be an inviting rest stop and a place to refuel on their journeys north and south. The shallow waters around the island also appeal to wading birds, small fishes and crustaceans. And the sea grasses and mangroves there improve water quality.
Davis paddled near the island in the last year or two. “I didn’t notice any exotic vegetation. It looked like it was in good shape. The canopy had matured. It’s kind of an oasis.”
Years later, Moyroud and Patten remain proud of what wasn’t a restoration of the island, but rather a complete and complex re-creation of how it would look in its natural state.
Patten hopes that the new owner “will maintain it as the refuge from development that it is now.”

History is hard.
What passes as history is most often written by those with the means to quickly share their view of events with a wide audience. Often that means newspapers.
In 1943, journalist Alan Barth called news “the first rough draft of history,” and even when that draft is about history it still leaves room for error.
Such was the case with errors in two stories in our June/July edition.
In a story about the town of Lantana’s centennial, a comment by local historian Janet DeVries Naughton regarding two of the town’s pioneer settlers was incorrectly transcribed by reporter Ron Hayes. He quoted her as saying that E.R. Bradley had opened several general stores in South Florida. In fact, Naughton said this of M.B. Lyman. Oops, wrong pioneer.
In a story on the founding of Ocean Ridge and Manalapan, the founders of Boynton Beach were referred to as the Byrds. It was Byrd Spilman Dewey who bought the land. Historian Ginger Pedersen pointed out this slip-up.
She also questioned some background material used by our writer — another local historian, Eliot Kleinberg. Kleinberg checked his notes and was unable to confirm past hotel and restaurant interests of George W. Harvey, who purchased the Boynton Hotel. Oops, misplaced notes.
These may seem like small items to most readers, but to the local historians dedicated to chronicling our communities, they are details that require correction.
We understand, and have done so in our online copy, but the print version will be archived with these errors. Only this column will stand as a correction. Hopefully future researchers will find both the original and the correction.
Historical oversights present another challenge for newspapers writing about local history.
Another local historian, Lori Durante, graciously pointed out our oversight of the Black and Bahamian workers who settled in Lantana as they labored to bring Henry Flagler’s railroad through the area and were later “relocated” to a segregated neighborhood.
The history of these often forgotten pioneers — many of whom were formerly enslaved or descendants of enslaved people — is an interesting one that reminds us of the prejudicial Jim Crow laws active here during those post-Civil War years.
So, as The Coastal Star celebrates local history this summer, we take our role in the interpretation and perpetuation of history seriously. We are very aware that even simple errors are often difficult to correct.
And even more important, we are cognizant that each generation of people sees previous interpretations of history through a new lens and their written records will be based on their experiences. Historians often uncover new — or buried — information that alters what had been previously accepted as fact.
In other words, carving the past into marble — or newsprint — is fraught with hidden risks. Getting history right is hard.

Caring for our community
The coronavirus continues to mutate and the Delta variant is spreading rapidly among unvaccinated and vaccinated residents. Emergency rooms are seeing an increase of infected patients once again. The local positivity rate is back in double digits.
At The Coastal Star, we care about the people and businesses in our community and want to see them healthy. Toward that end, we encourage our readers to get vaccinated (it’s free) and wear masks (it’s easy) when indoors in crowded places. Let’s do this. I think we can all agree we want this pandemic to end.

— Mary Kate Leming,
Editor

Delray Beach resident Julie Travis greets and instructs fellow Trashy Mermaids prior to their monthly beachside cleanup on Delray Beach. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Julie Travis loves mermaids and just about all things ocean-related.
If there’s one thing she can’t stand, however, it’s debris scattered along her favorite stretches of Delray Beach’s public beach.
So when Travis decided to create a group of beach-cleaning women who would scour the sand looking for debris, the name Trashy Mermaids was the perfect fit.
The moniker — and the goal — tells you a lot about Travis, a Bostonian who transplanted to Florida decades ago to spend more time near the ocean.
“Julie has this flair for fun, but she takes a serious approach to environmental issues,” says Joan Fisk, her longtime friend and fellow Trashy Mermaid.
Just how much of a flair for fun can be seen in the titles Travis and Fisk have come up with for the leadership team of the Trashy Mermaids‚ an informal group that has an air of sisterhood.

Travis gets to work picking up the litter she finds cluttering the shoreline.

Travis is the SEA-EO, instead of the CEO, and Fisk is the SEA-OO. There’s also SEA-IO. The group meets once a month for what Travis appropriately named “trash talk.”
Start chatting with Travis about the beach and the junk she and others in the group have found and the wordplays and the lighthearted conversations vanish, replaced with a passion-filled denunciation of debris left on the beach and those responsible for it.
A longtime Delray Beach resident who works full time in sales support for Sensormatic Retail Solutions, Travis makes being at the beach every weekend part of her routine.
“I get to the beach every chance I get,” she said. “But I can’t come here every Saturday and Sunday and look at all the disgusting things on the sand.”
Among the things she’s seen are used personal hygiene products, underwear and even buried soiled diapers.
It was a dead sea turtle at the shoreline, however, that led to Travis’ transformation from a silent spectator into a mermaid with a mission.
“That was the spark that made me say I had to do something, even if it was just me, myself and I,” she said.
What really struck Travis was the group of people who had gathered around the turtle — whose death she was told was caused by ingesting trash in the ocean — and were taking photos.
“Julie felt the turtle was being disrespected,” Fisk said.
With the idea for Trashy Mermaids building momentum, Travis contacted a friend who designed T-shirts and then she went online to find other trash grabbers.
Through email and word of mouth with friends, the Mermaids organized their first cleanup on the first Saturday in May, gathering on the beach across from Sandoway Park.
“We expected 10 people and there were probably close to 20,” Travis said.
The Mermaids’ first-Saturday-of-the-month cleanups have continued, and in July, a similar size group picked up trash, using grabbers and buckets — including 15 donated by the local Home Depot store.
The group included several mermaids in training (children) as well as a few “mermen.”
About half of the women who joined the cleanup were there for the first time, some having learned about the group through the Trashy Mermaids Delray Beach Facebook page (facebook.com/groups/trashymermaidsdelraybeach).
That Travis decided to include mermaids as part of her beach-cleaning effort comes as no surprise to anyone who has been to her home.
“I have mermaids everywhere,” she says. “My entire house is mermaids.”
She has mermaids on her mousepad, mermaids on her lipstick holder and mermaids just about everywhere in her kitchen.
Travis, who turns 60 in August, was the mermaid of honor at her niece’s wedding and even did a photo shoot where she and her cousin and an aunt are in full mermaid costume. Travis’ husband, Craig, the owner of a yacht brokerage, is dressed as Neptune.
“Mermaids are beautiful and come in every shape, size and color,” she says. “You look at all the mermaids and even if you’re having a bad day, it makes you happy.”

The next beach cleanup begins at 9 a.m. Aug. 7 on Delray Beach across from Sandoway Discovery Center.

Boca Raton’s property tax rate will remain unchanged for the coming fiscal year, while the Beach and Park District may raise its levy by 19%.
The city’s proposed rate, presented to the City Council by City Manager Leif Ahnell on July 27, is $3.68 per $1,000 of taxable value.
While the tax rate is staying the same, it amounts to a modest tax increase because the city’s property valuations rose 3.8% this year.
The amount homeowners will pay for fire protection services will be $145, the same as last year.
Meanwhile, Beach and Park District commissioners on July 19 set a tentative rate of $1.05 per $1,000 of taxable value, up from 88 cents, which would give them an additional $5 million for capital improvements and park operating expenses. The increase, if approved, would mean an extra $168 in property taxes on a $1 million home.
Commissioners can lower the tax rate but not raise it further at budget hearings in September.
The first public hearing on the city’s tax rate and proposed 2021-2022 budget will be at 6 p.m. Sept. 13 at the city-owned building at 6500 Congress Ave.
A similar hearing on the district’s rate and proposed budget will be at 6 p.m. Sept. 15 at Sugar Sand Park’s Willow Theatre.

— Mary Hladky and
Steve Plunkett

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach city commissioners will keep the tax rate steady, but there was disagreement on doing so during their July 13 meeting.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia wanted to reduce the rate slightly to give taxpayers a break, as did Commissioner Juli Casale.
“I would like to find $1 million to give back to our residents,” Petrolia said.
Vice Mayor Shirley Johnson reminded the commissioners that in the next budget year they will have to negotiate contracts with the police and general employees unions.
The final vote was 3-2 to keep the current tax rate.
Tax rates had to be set by the end of July for the property appraiser to mail notices in mid-August to every property owner. The notices cover assessed and taxable values and proposed tax rates. The rates can be lowered but not raised during budget hearings in September.
The city’s proposed rate is the same as last year’s, $6.66 per $1,000 of taxable value. In July 2020, Delray Beach commissioners kept the tax rate the same as the previous year’s.
Delray Beach will soon receive its first half of a total $10.96 million payment from the American Rescue Plan. More details of how the city will spend that money will be provided at the Aug. 24 budget workshop, said John Lege, the city’s new finance director.
The city’s debt service for the next financial year dropped to $0.02 per $1,000.
The 2021 taxable value for Delray Beach totaled $12.52 billion, a 5.3% increase over 2020.
Lege also told the commissioners at their budget discussion earlier that income from building permit fees should be in a separate fund and not mingled with other revenue in the general fund.
The city will take in $5.67 million from building permits and plans, Lege said. The division will have about $2.86 million in expenses, leaving about $2.81 million that can be spent only on building code enforcement, he said.
The building revenues have been restricted for at least 20 years, Lege said. In 2019, the state Legislature defined how the money can be spent.
The commissioners were skeptical about the need for a special building fund.
Anthea Gianniotes, Development Services director, said her predecessor had tried to move the building permit fees out of the general fund, but then-City Manager Mark Lauzier moved the revenue back into the general fund.
“It’s a bit of an accounting exercise to separate the building department needs from the planning department needs up until 2019,” she said. “Then, the Legislature passed a law explaining how to do this.”

By Mary Hladky

The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District has hired a former West Palm Beach communications director, who was fined $4,500 last year for violating state ethics laws, to handle its public relations work.
Elliot Cohen, now principal of My PR Guru in Boca Raton, and the state’s Commission on Ethics agreed to settle the ethics case in 2019, with Cohen admitting to three violations and agreeing to pay a fine.
The case arose from a complaint filed by the Palm Beach County Office of Inspector General, which had conducted its own investigation and issued a 40-page report in 2016 detailing Cohen’s ethical and other lapses.
The ethics commission found probable cause that Cohen misused his public office to solicit business for a previous PR company he ran on the side, worked for a company that was in contract negotiations with the city while on the city’s payroll, and solicited business for his company based on information he learned working for the city.
The OIG’s investigation examined those ethics matters and also found that Cohen disclosed confidential police information that included the identities of undercover officers and confidential informants and other sensitive information about criminal investigations.
The president of the county’s police union called for Cohen to be fired, saying he had jeopardized lives. At least one confidential informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration was moved to a safe location. City officials kept Cohen on the payroll.
The OIG said that Cohen should have known to redact confidential information, which was posted to the city’s website in response to a public records request.
Beach and Park District commissioners voted unanimously on June 7 to approve a contract with Cohen on the recommendation of Executive Director Briann Harms.
In a memo to commissioners, Harms said a public relations firm was needed to provide residents with accurate information about the district.
She cited incorrect information reported to the media about district projects and unfair characterizations of the district’s goals, priorities and financial abilities.
In an interview, Harms said she was aware of Cohen’s ethics violations, saying they were “unfortunate” and that Cohen should have left his city job when he launched his company. “It happens,” she said. “That doesn’t make it right.”
But Cohen’s missteps won’t interfere with what he will do for the district, she said. The work he has done for cities, Harms said, is comprehensive and “can give a message in a positive way that is easy to understand.”
“There is a lot of misinformation out there that is disinformation,” she said. “If we aren’t controlling the narrative, someone else will.”
Under terms of the contract, My PR Guru will be paid $18,000 annually to do work similar to what the company is doing for South Miami, which includes writing a newsletter that is published on the city’s website and on social media. He was hired by South Miami in December.
Harms used the terms of South Miami’s contract, including the payment amount, rather than seek bids. South Miami solicited bids, and Cohen was the low bidder.
Cohen, a former TV news reporter, served as the public information officer for West Palm Beach for about eight months in 2005, leaving to become the director of media relations for the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. He was rehired by West Palm Beach as PIO in 2012, promoted to communications director that year, and resigned in 2016.
The ethics commission found probable cause that Cohen improperly used his position with the city to solicit business for Cohen Publicity, his company at the time.
The commission concluded he offered his services to a Pahokee official after learning that the official had sought guidance from West Palm Beach on human resources and communications matters.
Also while working for the city, Cohen signed a contract with Redevelopment Management Associates in 2013 to provide public relations and marketing guidance. When RMA sought a contract with the city to run its Community Redevelopment Agency that year, Cohen told RMA he would suspend his work for the company until the contract was awarded.
But the ethics commission found that Cohen maintained contact with RMA officials and was paid by the company while he was also involved with the city’s process of awarding the contract.
In a text message to The Palm Beach Post after he agreed to settle the case, Cohen said that “it was easier to simply settle and pay a fine” rather than “reconstruct the same explanations” he had given to the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics, which cleared him in 2016.
The Beach and Park District and the city have an acrimonious relationship, with disputes including how to develop the Boca National golf course and, when that project became moot, what to do with the golf course property.
Golf course disagreements have obscured the important role that the district has in providing recreation to residents and the district’s responsiveness to residents’ requests, such as opening six pickleball courts at Patch Reef Park, Harms said.
A more robust public relations effort can highlight the district’s achievements and explain how residents’ tax money is being spent, she said.
“We need the public to understand what we do in this community and how we support (the city’s) parks and recreation department,” Harms said.

By Joe Capozzi

Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, coastal communities in south Palm Beach County are returning to mandates to wear protective masks while inside government buildings. 

But the mandates vary depending on the town. 

On July 29, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach started requiring vaccinated and unvaccinated people to wear facial coverings while inside municipal buildings. Highland Beach adopted the same rule on Aug. 2.

On July 30, South Palm Beach started requiring anyone entering Town Hall to wear a mask, including employees unless they are sitting at their desks. 

Also on Aug. 2, Palm Beach County required protective masks for anyone in county buildings, including constitutional offices.

In Boca Raton and Ocean Ridge, the new rules don’t go that far. They exclude the public and require only municipal staff to wear masks at City or Town Hall and in police headquarters.

"We realize several cities have reimplemented their policies for face masks,’’ a Boca Raton spokesperson said. “At this time, we are requiring city staff to wear masks and strongly encourage the public to do so when in city facilities.’’

On Aug. 2, Ocean Ridge Town Manager Tracey Stevens asked the Town Council for a mask mandate that included the public, in accordance with CDC guidelines announced on July 27 to help contain the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus. 

Stevens said she proposed the mandate after she and Police Chief Hal Hutchins met July 30 with the county’s Division of Emergency Management and learned the county has “high levels of community transmission.”

But a motion requiring anyone, including the public, visiting Ocean Ridge Town Hall and the police station to wear a mask did not pass. The vote was 2-2 with Commissioners Geoff Pugh and Steve Coz against and Vice Mayor Susan Hurlburt absent. 

Coz suggested the town encourage members of the public to wear a mask at Town Hall, a strategy questioned by another commissioner. 

“It is foolish to think that the unvaccinated people who are walking into Town Hall will actually go, ‘Oh yeah, let me put a mask on.' It's exactly those people that are so hard against masks,’’ Commissioner Martin Wiescholek said. 

Two residents spoke in favor of including the public in a mandate. 

“What's the big deal in wearing a mask and making sure people are safe?’’ asked Zoanne Hennigan, a former town commissioner. “Nobody is telling you you have to wear it everywhere else, just Town Hall.’’ 

Although Ocean Ridge’s mask policy applies only to employees, Stevens said a sign will be placed outside Town Hall suggesting visitors wear a protective covering. 

Delray Beach is also requiring employees to show proof of vaccination or COVID-19 test results. Delray Beach’s Fire Rescue Department will be administering vaccinations to employees as well as performing regular PCR testing.

The town of South Palm Beach consists primarily of condominiums and co-ops. According to an analysis of records from the town and the Palm Beach County property appraiser, there are 27 condos within the town's 5/8 of a mile length along State Road A1A. Of these, 20 were built before 1982. Google Map

“It’s something the town manager should look at between now and when we address the budget because we don't want to be sitting here like they are in Surfside in the future,’’ Councilman Mark Weissman said July 13.

Like other communities in Palm Beach County, the town is waiting for recommendations from a countywide task force of building officials on inspection benchmarks.

Unlike Miami-Dade and Broward, Palm Beach County does not have a law requiring inspections every 40 years. 

“We anticipate in the next 60 to 90 days to have some kind of standards and guidelines requiring inspections of buildings,’’ Town Manager Robert Kellogg told the council. “I anticipate instead of 40 years it will be probably be a minimum of 25 years and then an inspection each 10 years after that.’’

South Palm Beach has 27 condominium buildings, 20 built before 1982. 

When new rules are enacted, they will likely come with a price tag — not only for the mandated inspections of condo buildings but also for possible repairs and renovations recommended from those inspections. 

While Weissman said in an interview after the meeting that he agrees that condominiums should be responsible for covering the inspections, he said the town should still consider at least helping with the costs, perhaps by creating a grant program. 

“They should pay for it themselves, but I don't want a tragedy in our town either,’’ he said.

The council is expected to discuss the idea during its budget workshop on Aug. 31. 

Many condo buildings in town have been proactive with inspections and renovations, even before the Champlain Towers South collapse, town officials said. They said they would hope all condo buildings are taking the same approach.

“Kicking the can down the road seems to be difficult within the condominium community and not facing the reality of living in a building that’s constantly being attacked by the elements,’’ said Weissman, who lives in an oceanview unit on the sixth floor of the Dune Deck, built in 1990. 

“I think it's time we should get the word out to our buildings to make sure they're doing the proper things and if there's a way we can build into the budget some way of assisting them with the inspection process, and if it means not lowering the millage rate in order to accomplish that, I think the safety of our community is paramount and more important than the few dollars that might be saved.’’

No condo buildings were singled out during the council meeting as being at risk. But the Surfside collapse is on the minds of many condo dwellers in town, Mayor Bonnie Fischer said.

“With the tragedy in Surfside, we have been getting some calls, but we are waiting until the task force comes up and gives us directives on proper inspections. I know some people are getting nervous and want their building inspected right now,’’ she told the council. 

The council opened the meeting with a moment of silence for the Surfisde victims. 

Only two residents attended the meeting, including a condo president who thanked the council for being proactive with their calls for condominiums to undergo timely inspections and repairs.  

“I wish there were more people here,’’ said Jody Barrett of Horizon West, an eight-story condo built in 1974 next door to Town Hall. “Nobody wants to see their assessments or their fees raised (but) it's like, you know what? Pay now or pay later. It's all about being safe.’’ 

Horizon West is structurally safe, Barrett said, thanks to recent concrete restorations of balconies and catwalks and other renovations. 

For example, she said, the condo installed cameras in two plumbing stacks to monitor the conditions of pipes. And the association passed an amendment requiring residents who want to do renovations to first open the walls to check the conditions of pipes. 

When the inspection rules from the task force are enacted, they will lead to more work for companies that provide inspections.

“It’s going to happen, codes are going to change,’’ said Barrett, who works in real estate. “But I don't think there’s enough people. We can't get inspections done now.’’

The mayor also called for a town-wide inspection of seawalls.

“To me that is one of the major things that needs to be looked at for the integrity of the buildings. I lived through it. I know what it is. Thank God we didn't collapse,’’ she said.

Fischer lives in the Imperial House, where pounding surf whipped by Tropical Storm Noel led to the collapse of the building's seawall in 2007. At the time, many residents didn’t know that the condo was built in 1961 on pilings, which she said saved the building from collapsing into the sea.  

“We were within, the engineer told us, six hours of collapsing before they finally realized we were on pilings. If we weren't, the way our building was built it would have been like dominoes and down,’’ she said.

“We really need to look at the seawalls. That's a real Achilles' heel in this town because we have no access to the beach and there's no way for anybody to even address or repair the seawalls.’’

The town of Highland Beach (above) believes not all municipalities have the same concerns regarding condo inspections. An analysis of Palm Beach County property records shows about 74 condos and co-ops along the town's 3-mile-long stretch of the barrier island. Of these, 38 were built prior to 1982. Google Maps

By Joel Engelhardt

As Palm Beach County officials, under mounting pressure from residents, prepare rules to discuss regulating condominium inspections, there’s one thing they already agree on.

“Everyone thinks 40 years is too long,” said Kim Glas-Castro, president of the Palm Beach County League of Cities.

Requiring inspections after 40 years is the rule in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, while Palm Beach County has no requirement. The league is thinking of 25 years for seaside high-rises and 35 years for inland buildings, Glas-Castro said.

While County Administrator Verdenia Baker called a meeting last week with building officials from the county’s 39 municipalities, the league is likely to take the lead on rules that could temper concerns among oceanside residents after the tragic June 24 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside. 

The league is better positioned to lead because almost all the oceanfront high-rises in Palm Beach County are in cities, not the unincorporated county, according to Glas-Castro. A technical group made up of building officials plans to meet July 9.

But it faces a challenge: Finding a template everyone can agree on.

Uniformity will be key, said Glas-Castro, Lake Park’s vice mayor and the assistant village manager in Palm Springs.

“All the building officials are on the same page that we need to do something collectively so we have similar requirements,” she said.

However, Boca Raton is drafting rules of its own, and Highland Beach is considering doing so, two municipalities with a preponderance of oceanfront condos.

“I’m not sure it should be a one-size-fits-all solution for the whole county,” said Peggy Gossett-Seidman, a Highland Beach commissioner who attended the league’s initial meeting. “Highland Beach is a 3-mile-long barrier island. It’s hard to say our needs are the same as Wellington, Greenacres or Jupiter Farms.”

While the building industry favors uniformity, there is room for cities to tweak the universal protocol, Glas-Castro said. For instance, she said, the league is looking at inspections only of buildings four stories or higher but Highland Beach could decide to require all buildings within town limits to comply.

The prospect of inspections paid for by building owners raises difficult questions for government watchdogs, Glas-Castro pointed out. What happens if a condo board throws out an inspection that calls for expensive repairs? What teeth does government have to make sure repairs are made? Will the Legislature step up next year and require condos to maintain higher reserves? 

Building officials, who oversee permitting and inspection of all construction in a city or county, worry that they don’t have the authority to avoid another Surfside. Code citations often lead to lengthy, years-long exchanges before magistrates, with small fines accruing. 

“At what point does the building official red tag the building as unsafe and order it be evacuated?” Glas-Castro asked. “It’s very political and very sensitive.”

The league expects to produce a draft ordinance within weeks. Whatever the local governments do, it will be temporary until the Legislature acts next year, Glas-Castro said.

And the prospect for legislative action is great, said state Rep. Mike Caruso, R-Delray Beach. 

“Something will be done. Something has to be done,” he said.

The calls from residents are pouring in, he said. 

“It’s kind of like a hurricane is coming and they want to be able to turn on the news and see if it’s coming. And you can’t do that with this problem.” 

Ideally, government wouldn’t be in this position, forced to oversee practices typically decided by condominium boards and their insurers, Glas-Castro said. 

“Unfortunately cities have to babysit property owners, but we have to do what we need to to assure the safety of our residents,” she said.