Unofficial results, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Unofficial results, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Unofficial results, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

The mayor, elected every three years, presides over a board of four commission members who are elected to three-year alternating terms. This year, Seat 2 became open when Jim Chard resigned to run for the No. 5 mayoral seat. William Bathurst is running unopposed for the remaining two years on Seat 2. Seats 1 and 3 and the mayor’s Seat 5 are up for grabs March 13.  — Steven J. Smith

Mayor Cary Glickstein, the incumbent, is not running. Vice Mayor Jim Chard, the incumbent in Seat 2, has resigned that seat to run for the No. 5 mayoral seat against contender Shelly Embler Petrolia, whose term on Seat 1 has expired.  — Steven J. Smith

Seat 5

The mayor, elected every three years, presides over a board of four commission members who are elected to three-year alternating terms. This year, Seat 2 became open when Jim Chard resigned to run for the No. 5 mayoral seat. William Bathurst is running unopposed for the remaining two years on Seat 2. Seats 1 and 3 and the mayor’s Seat 5 are up for grabs March 13.  — Steven J. Smith

Ocean Ridge has three candidates running for two open seats on the Town Commission, both with three-year terms. Following the election, commissioners will determine among themselves who will replace Geoff Pugh as mayor and James Bonfiglio as vice mayor. — Steven J. Smith

In South Palm Beach, six candidates have qualified for the March ballot for three open seats on the Town Council — including two incumbents. Two of the open seats are for full two-year terms and the other — held by Lucille Flagello, who was appointed last fall — is for one year. Town Clerk Maylee De Jesús said the two highest vote-getters will win the two full-term seats and the candidate who finishes third will claim the one-year seat. — Steven J. Smith

In South Palm Beach, six candidates have qualified for the March ballot for three open seats on the Town Council — including two incumbents. Two of the open seats are for full two-year terms and the other — held by Lucille Flagello, who was appointed last fall — is for one year. Town Clerk Maylee De Jesús said the two highest vote-getters will win the two full-term seats and the candidate who finishes third will claim the one-year seat. — Steven J. Smith

By Steve Plunkett

Improvements to Wildflower, South Beach, Spanish River, Palmetto Dune and Red Reef parks will cost $9.6 million to $13.3 million, the city’s waterfront parks consultant says.

The estimates do not include possibly buying another 0.7 acre at the Wildflower site, Kona Gray, with consultant EDSA Inc., said. They also omit the costs of refurbishing Rutherford and Lake Wyman parks, which are a separate project, and developing Ocean Strand, which the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District owns.

The Wildflower proposal is the biggest ticket item, at up to $3.6 million. That’s before adding the cost of acquiring the additional land and spending up to $900,000 fixing it up, plus anything spent to redo Silver Palm Park to the south.

EDSA’s concept for Wildflower introduces “some really wonderful elements, including a splash pad, an area for children to play, the waterfront promenade. You know the conversation earlier about art? Art would be fantastic in this park,” Gray told the City Council at its Feb. 12 workshop session. 

Gray and Jennifer Bistyga, the city’s coastal program manager, asked council members to sign off on allowing EDSA to develop more detailed plans for Wildflower, which Boca Raton opened late last year as a mostly undeveloped, passive park at the northwest base of the Palmetto Park Road bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway.

Later on, EDSA would develop a concept for Silver Palm, prioritize elements at the remaining parks and finalize a budget for the capital improvements.

“The other park renovations are very interesting, because we designed them but it’s kind of a menu. There are some really great elements of the projects that can be implemented, but it’s really up to you,” Gray said.

City Manager Leif Ahnell said it was premature to discuss changes at Silver Palm until the city firms up plans for boat launches at Rutherford Park. 

“Having four launches in the city is probably too many,” Ahnell said. 

(Residents at a public outreach Feb. 26 appeared to agree. See story, Page 20.)

Council members told Gray to push ahead on the Wildflower plans.

Mayor Susan Haynie said changes at Palmetto Dune Park might be a hard sell with neighbors but that EDSA “really knocked it out of the park” with its other conceptual designs.

“Go forth, create parks [and] livable spaces. We love it,” Haynie said. 

Four candidates running for one commission seat | RESULTS

Two vie to be vice mayor| RESULTS

Streetscape Project | RESULTS

By Rich Pollack

When voters in Highland Beach take to the polls March 13, they’ll be choosing from six candidates who all say restoring civility to the Town Commission is a key issue for the community — and who all think they’re the candidate who can help make that happen.  

“Civility is a big issue,” said Peggy Gossett-Seidman, who along with Carl Gehman, George Kelvin and John Ross, is running for the three-year commission seat held by Kelvin. “I’ve sat through many meetings that are so dysfunctional that it makes people uncomfortable.” 

Over the past several months there have been several 3-2 votes, with Mayor Carl Feldman, Vice Mayor Bill Weitz and Kelvin often voting in the majority, and commissioners Rhoda Zelniker and Elyse Riesa in the minority. 

Weitz, who has served as vice mayor for the last three years, is running for re-election and is being challenged by resident Alysen Africano-Nila.

“The commission is broken down into two camps and it’s all about winning,” said Ross, who is making his first bid for public office in Highland Beach.

Like the other candidates, Ross thinks the commission needs to focus on town business and stop the bickering that has become commonplace. 

“I’m not impressed by people shouting at one another,” he said. “The reason we’ve become uncivil is because the commissioners don’t know how to properly debate issues.”

Gehman, making his second run for a commission seat, echoes Ross’ concerns, saying commissioners should focus more on setting policy and less on personalities. 

“You can’t get anything done if you’re going to talk about each other,” he said. “Let’s talk about policy.”

He thinks that if commissioners kept their focus on policy, meetings would be shorter and more productive.

Kelvin, who was appointed to the commission in 2017 for one year following the death of Commissioner Lou Stern, thinks the commission would do better if everyone on the board followed Robert’s Rules of Order. 

“There are some commissioners who aren’t aware of Robert’s Rules,” he said. “I like to live by the rules — Robert’s Rules in particular.” 

Bringing the commission’s focus back to the issues is also a priority for both candidates running for vice mayor. 

“The whole goal should be to get things done and moving forward,” said Africano-Nila, also making her first bid for elected office in Highland Beach. “Mutual respect is of the utmost importance.” 

Weitz, who recently apologized for an outburst in November while criticizing Riesa, said he believes politics plays a role in the split.

“We need to focus on town business and forget about politics,” he said. 

While the split on the commission is along gender lines — and some in the community may see gender as an issue — the candidates say qualifications are more important. 

“It doesn’t matter if you’re male or female,” Gehman said. “It should be about policy.”

Says Africano-Nila: “Gender isn’t an issue. It’s about having the right person in the office.” 

The mayor is paid $15,000, while the vice mayor/commissioners are paid $12,000.

 In addition to casting ballots for a commissioner and a vice mayor, Highland Beach voters will be asked to give the town the green light to spend up to $2.1 million on a streetscape project, which includes replacing the existing 3-mile walk path as well as other improvements. 

The project needs voter approval because the town’s charter prohibits commissioners from spending more than $350,000 on any one project without it. 

Highland Beach voters will elect a town commissioner from among four candidates and a vice mayor from two running. Both seats are three-year terms. Voters also will decide on whether to fund the construction of a streetscape improvement project at a maximum cost of $2.1 million.  — Steven J. Smith

An incumbent is running against a political newcomer to be the town’s second-in-command. — Steven J. Smith

Boca Raton is governed by a five-member City Council elected at large to designated seats on a nonpartisan basis. The mayor and council members are elected for three-year terms. Members who have served two consecutive terms are not eligible to be elected to that office for the succeeding term. The mayor’s and council members’ seats designated A and B are elected in one year; the council members in the seats designated C and D are elected in the following year. The electorate changed the City Charter in 2006 to provide for two three-year terms. — Steven J. Smith

An incumbent is running against a political newcomer for the second council seat in Boca Raton.  — Steven J. Smith

Three candidates compete for Seat D | RESULTS

Two vie for Seat C | RESULTS

By Steve Plunkett

If campaign contribution dollars were votes, Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers would be the shoo-in for the March 13 City Council election.

As of Feb. 9, Rodgers had collected $57,970 in donations and a $5,000 self-loan, campaign finance reports show. His election war chest far eclipsed that of his challenger for Seat C, Kim Do, who had $1,800 in contributions and a $30,889 self-loan. It also outpaced donations for all three hopefuls for Seat D: Monica Mayotte ($19,325 from contributors; $25,000 from herself), Armand Grossman ($23,405 in contributions; $50,000 self-loan), and Paul Preste ($850 self-loan; he is not seeking contributions). 

Grossman and Preste did not become candidates until Jan. 10 and Jan. 8 respectively, around the time incumbent Robert Weinroth withdrew from the council race to run for County Commission. Mayotte opened a campaign finance account in October.

Similarly, Do became a candidate Dec. 27; Rodgers started his re-election account in July.

At the city’s first forum for this election, the candidates introduced themselves, answered questions and pleaded for votes. Comcast, AT&T U-verse and Hotwired are replaying the Feb. 8 session on Sundays, Mondays and Fridays before the vote, said the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowner Associations, which sponsored the event. 

The federation also planned a “speed meet” session with the candidates for 8 a.m. March 6. And The Boca Raton Tribune scheduled a forum for 6 p.m. March 8 at the Wayne Barton Study Center, 269 NE 14th St.

Rodgers, a computer security expert at IBM and a cryptologic warfare officer in the Navy Reserves, said he seeks re-election to continue the work he has started as a council member.

“In my three years here, I’ve fought for limiting building heights, for controlling heights on the beach, protecting development rights on the beach, [and] not allowing our beach to be overrun by mansions,” Rodgers said. “I’ve fought for responsible growth in development. I’ve also really fought for the best use of your tax dollars — my tax dollars and your tax dollars.”

Rodgers wants to woo more corporate headquarters and entrepreneurial startups to Boca, partly because he knows his IBM job could end at any time. “I don’t want two or three or four places in this community where I can send my résumé. I want 10, 20, 30, 40, 50,” he said.

Do is a newcomer both to politics and to Boca Raton, having moved to the city in 2017. Born in Vietnam, Do came to the United States as a teenager in 1983. She is a certified public accountant and lawyer who began her career at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. Her two children attend Boca Raton Community Middle School. 

“With all my CPA and my experience working in finance, I believe that adds a lot to making sure that your [tax] money is well-spent,” Do said.

Do said she entered the race when she realized Rodgers was unopposed. “No one should win by default,” she said. “I’m presenting you choices.” 

Mayotte is a part-time sustainability specialist at JM Family Enterprises after having information technology stints there and at Burger King headquarters in Miami-Dade County. She also is a former chair of the city’s Green Living Advisory Board. She is endorsed by city firefighters, the police and council member Andrea O’Rourke.

“I won’t tax you more, and my technology background will help bring the kind of efficiencies and improvements that will keep our city on fiscal track. We should be working together more, residents and businesses, to move our community forward,” Mayotte said.

Grossman graduated in Florida Atlantic University’s inaugural class, then spent 30 years as a teacher and administrator in Miami-Dade schools. He won two terms to the Miami Springs City Council and more recently was president of the FAU Alumni Association, chairman of the FAU Foundation board and on the Palm Beach County Planning Commission. He has the endorsements of County Commissioner and former Mayor Steven Abrams, former Mayor Susan Whelchel and FAU coaching legend Howard Schnellenberger.

“I first came to Boca Raton 53 years ago, in 1965. I fell in love with South Florida in general and Boca Raton in particular, and I’ve had a longstanding love affair with the area,” Grossman said.

Preste, an internist with a medical practice and health-care delivery business in Fort Lauderdale, said the current City Council is too reactive. 

“I would like to suggest that we at the council and mayoral level try to be and work at a more proactive level regarding our future plans for our wonderful city,” he said. 

The mayor is paid $38,000 a year, while council members are paid $28,000 a year. 

By Mary Hladky

A new downtown construction spurt will be starting soon.

Demolition work started in January to make way for the Mandarin Oriental Boca Raton hotel and Monarch Boca Raton, the new name of the Mizner 200 luxury condominium.

Coming down are buildings along Federal Highway north of Camino Real. The 164-room Mandarin Oriental will go up next to 101 Via Mizner, a 366-unit apartment building that marked the first phase of the luxury Via Mizner project developed by Boca Raton-based Penn-Florida Cos.

Al Piazza, Penn-Florida’s senior vice president for development, said construction of the hotel’s foundation would start by mid-March. He anticipated that construction of the third component of the project, the 92-condo Residences at Mandarin Oriental, would start a few months after that.

“We are finally on our way,” Piazza said in February. The 12-story hotel and condos will open in 2020, he said.

Also in March, Penn-Florida will start a redo of the now-named Via Mizner Golf Club, an 18-hole course about 3 miles away between Palmetto Park Road and Camino Real just west of Military Trail. Golfing legend Jack Nicklaus redesigned the course, at 6200 Boca Del Mar Drive.

Six months after a contentious battle over approval of plans for the now-rebranded Monarch Boca Raton ended in compromise, developer Elad Group is about to begin construction of the 384-unit, nine-story luxury condo.

Demolition of the Mizner on the Green townhouses, now occupying the Monarch site on nearly 9 acres along Southeast Mizner Boulevard, began in January. Some of the townhouses were still occupied as of February, but all occupants were expected to be out in April.

Elad plans to break ground on Monarch Boca Raton this summer.

Downtown residents were stunned when the project was unveiled in 2014 as four towers rising as high as 30 stories. 

That concept was shot down because the towers well exceeded downtown height limits. The project was redesigned five times until neighbors and city officials were satisfied. 

“The demolition process marks an important milestone in our journey to bring this landmark project to the Boca Raton market,” Elad CEO Yoel Shargian said in a news release. “After working collaboratively with the city of Boca Raton and its community members to create a plan for this unique development, we are eager and enthusiastic to bring this project to market over the next few months.”

By Sallie James

The legal wrangling surrounding a fiercely contested proposal to build an orthodox synagogue and Israel museum near Boca Raton’s beach continues to rage nearly three years after the project was proposed.

A panel of three judges in Miami heard yet another round of legal arguments in late January at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami. The case stems from a 2015 proposal by Chabad of East Boca to construct a sprawling 18,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art synagogue and interactive Israel museum at 770 E. Palmetto Park Road. 

City activists Kathleen Barr MacDougall and Gerald Gagliardi in February 2016 accused the city of ignoring parking deficiencies and approving a building that exceeded allowed heights. They claimed the city approved deviations and variances that did not meet legal criteria.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra dismissed the case in July 2016, ruling the pair had no standing to challenge the city’s decision because they failed to prove injury because of the city’s actions. The duo specifically failed to demonstrate how the change in zoning laws harmed them. They also failed to prove how a building can be “injurious” without stating how it caused injury. Attorney Arthur Koski subsequently filed an amended complaint on behalf of MacDougall and Gagliardi, upon which the arguments on Jan. 31 centered. 

The case focuses on what MacDougall and Gagliardi claim was an “illegal” zoning change they say was unfairly beneficial to Chabad and would harm their neighborhood. They want the zoning invalidated and a federal injunction banning further application approvals.

“We are awaiting a ruling,” Koski said. “They could affirm the District Court’s ruling that the plaintiffs don’t have standing to bring an action, or they could rule the plaintiffs do have standing to bring an action and remand it back to the district judge.”

The city is again seeking to have Gagliardi and MacDougall’s latest attempt dismissed as well.

The city submitted a brief to the court claiming the issue is moot because a Palm Beach Circuit Court panel in June 2016 ruled that the city should have denied the project because it lacked proper parking.

As a result, Chabad must file a new site plan with the city to pursue the project.

“The result of the circuit court’s decision is that Chabad no longer holds necessary development approvals entitling it to build on the property,” attorney Jamie Cole wrote in a brief filed with the court. “Consequently, appellants’ only remaining constitutional complaints are merely generalized grievances that this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to consider.”

The brief also states Gagliardi and MacDougall lack standing because they have not proved injury.

“All we’re asking for is equal treatment,” said Rabbi Ruvi New, head of the Chabad of East Boca Raton. “We’re grateful that the City and our local community have long treated us fairly, and we’re hopeful that the Court will protect our right to be equal members of the Boca Raton community.” 

The synagogue proposal was controversial from the start. Residents who live in neighborhoods on the barrier island near the proposed site turned out in force to protest it, claiming it was too ambitious, would draw too much traffic and create parking issues on the 0.84-acre property. Residents also voiced opposition to the height of the proposed synagogue, claiming it would be intrusive.

The Chabad has been trying to find a new home since 2008, when the congregation wanted to move into a building near Mizner Park, but was unable to meet parking requirements there. 

By Steve Plunkett

The city and the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District were poised to take ownership of the Boca Teeca golf course as soon as $19 million from the sale of municipal bonds came through. The deal was expected to close March 1.

Beach and park commissioners also hired Pro Links Sports, the company that managed the Boca Raton Championship in February, to help them rank the 15 firms that want to design the new course.

Commissioners sat through seven-plus hours of presentations from the design firms over three days in late January and February.

“The next project that we have, however, is selecting a design architect and that … from my observation of these presentations, is going to be a monumental task for commissioners,” said Arthur Koski, the district’s executive director. Commissioners also reopened their request for proposals to see if any other golf course architects are interested.

The district will pay Pro Links $12,000 a month for its consulting services. Eddie Carbone, tournament director of the Boca Raton Championship, will be the point man for the Boca Teeca guidance along with Pro Links’ chief executive, Hollis Cavner.

Commissioner Susan Vogelgesang, who dealt directly with Cavner and Carbone at the championship, said both men are “very reasonable people — they listen.”

Koski said Pro Links would work with the district at least six months and possibly as long as two years. Commissioners can cancel the consulting contract with 30 days’ notice.

“They’ve already come up with a couple of good ideas for us,” Koski said.

Carbone was instrumental in persuading the city and the district to contribute $500,000 apiece to keep this year’s tournament in Boca Raton after insurance firm Allianz SE of Germany pulled out as corporate sponsor. 

But Boca Raton and the Beach & Park District both said their bailouts were one-time only. Pro Links separately is looking for another corporation to fill the sponsorship role.

For the Boca Teeca deal, the Beach & Park District planned to purchase nine holes of the course, all east of Northwest Second Avenue in the north part of the city, for $5 million cash. The city’s bond money was to pay for the 18 holes west of the road. Currently called Ocean Breeze, the course will be renamed Boca National.

The city was to take ownership of the 18 holes, then transfer title to the district after it pays off the bond issue.

At a candidate forum, Monica Mayotte and Kim Do, who are running for City Council, said part of the $65 million the city will get from the sale of its western golf course should be spent rehabilitating the Ocean Breeze purchase.

“That makes sense — golf for golf,” Mayotte said. 

Boca Teeca residents started pressing the city and the Beach & Park District more than a year ago to save Ocean Breeze, fearing developer Lennar Homes LLC would plow it under and replace their golf course views with views of more condos. 

The Tri-County Humane Society will receive a $104,000 city grant to help with repairs and reconstruction to buildings damaged by Hurricane Irma.

The City Council in February unanimously agreed to provide the no-kill animal shelter with the funds. The shelter sustained significant damage Sept. 10 when a large tree fell on the facility’s isolation building during the storm. The building housed about 40 dogs and cats with contagious diseases.

The 2,400-square-foot building was too severely damaged to continue to use.

 — Sallie James