By Rich Pollack

The owner of one of the few vacant parcels on the Intracoastal Waterway in Highland Beach is receiving slightly more than $600,000 after a judge ruled Palm Beach County installed a breakwater without the owner’s consent, and a jury last month awarded damages.

Miami-based Golden City Highland Beach LLC, owner of a 7.35-acre parcel near the middle of town, is also seeking more than $400,000 in attorney’s fees incurred during the multiyear battle to have the county remove the stone breakwater.

In court documents, Golden City says that the breakwater — installed in an effort to reduce erosion and other damage, and to create a wildlife habitat — impeded its efforts to build multi-family units on the parcel, just south of the Toscana condominiums.

The developer filed a lawsuit in 2018 and three years later a judge agreed that the county was remiss in not getting property owner approval to install the breakwater. A jury was convened and in June awarded $425,700 to Golden City.

In addition, Golden City will receive just shy of $180,000 in interest that has accrued from August 2015, when the breakwater was installed, until June of this year.

The developer in 2019 filed a request with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a 38-residence multi-family community on the property and proposed removing three acres of mangroves in exchange for preserving nine acres of mangroves in Ocean Ridge, about eight miles north.

That plan met with resistance from town leaders, who said at the time that the mitigated property is not in Highland Beach. Town leaders also pointed out that even if the development plan was approved by state and federal agencies, the developer would still need to comply with local codes and ordinances.

A search of town records shows no permit requests have been filed for development or work on the property since 2019.

Employees from Proshell Construction Services Inc. install rebar while employees from Pomeroy Electric Incorporated install conduit during the construction of the new fire station on State Road A1A in front of Highland Beach Town Hall. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

With just nine months to go before it starts its own fire-rescue department — the county’s first new municipal department in 30 years — Highland Beach is gearing up its recruiting process as it seeks to fill almost two dozen new positions.

At the same time, construction of a new fire station is under way with the foundation set and the pouring of what will essentially be the ground floor of the two-story building scheduled for this month.

“Everything is on schedule and we’re working through the details,” said Fire Chief Glenn Joseph.

The town recently closed applications for three fire captain positions — one per shift — and received 43 applications, Joseph said. Of those, 33 met the requirements for the job.

At the beginning of August, Joseph said he has narrowed down the applicants to 11 and soon will begin interviews, making a final selection within a few months.

While the number of captain applicants is much higher than the jobs available, the numbers of those applying for six driver positions and 15 firefighter/paramedic positions have been much smaller.

As of late last month, the town had received 11 applications for drivers and 33 applications for firefighter/paramedics.

The driver position has a pay range of $74,176 to $110,946 per year, while the firefighter/paramedic is $65,522 to $89,166 per year. The captain salary range is $84,500 to $114,993. There is also a maximum $10,000 incentive for all ranks for Florida-certified paramedics.

Joseph said the department wants to have at least twice the number of applicants needed for each open position.

The chief believes the disparity in the number of applicants for captain compared with those for driver and firefighter/paramedic may be due to where individuals are in their careers.

“A lot of the applicants for captain are either retired or retiring,” he said, adding that some have expressed an interest in being involved in a new fire department.

He said one of the challenges in hiring for the other positions is that people already in those jobs may be happy where they are and not ready to move.

Another possible obstacle in the town’s effort to recruit experienced firefighter/paramedics who are in the earlier stages of their careers may be the low volume of calls — an average of about three a day. That, says Town Manager Marshall Labadie, might deter people who are looking for more activity.

“We’re looking for someone with experience who either wants to return or who wants to get involved with starting a fire department,” Joseph said.

As it continues to prepare for the transition from having fire-rescue service provided by Delray Beach, the town recently hired Matt Welhaf, a former Boca Raton fire marshal, to be assistant chief of community risk reduction.

Welhaf will handle roles traditionally assigned to a fire marshal, including inspections and construction plan reviews, but he also will provide services to residents such as fall prevention inspections and oversight of CPR classes.

“We want to have a more active presence in the community so we can be proactive,” Joseph said.

Labadie and Joseph said that once the new department is in place, building fire inspections will be provided at no cost.

“We want to build a relationship between our fire-rescue department and our residents,” Labadie said.

By Rich Pollack

For Laura and Frank Troiano, the two pieces of property they owned — one on the east side of State Road A1A and one directly across on the west side — seemed like, well, two pieces of property.

But the land east of the highway, where the Troianos have a house that Frank Troiano’s father purchased in 1987, is zoned for single-family homes, while the vacant west side is zoned for multi-family homes.

It was not until they set about submitting plans for a home they wished to build on the west side that they — and town officials — found to their surprise that the two lots were officially one lot.

That discovery threw a monkey wrench into the Troianos’ plans and essentially made it impossible to build anything on the property other than a shed without the town’s coming up with a solution that would apply only to that specific property.

Fortunately for the couple, town commissioners took on the case, and with help of the town’s attorney and other staff members, came up with a plan that is likely to end the couple’s three-year battle to develop the site.

Commissioners in July voiced their support of a plan devised by attorney Len Rubin for the Troianos to apply for a variance that would make it possible for them to split the property into two separate parcels. The variance request would be heard by the town’s Board of Adjustment and Appeals and then come back to the commission for final consideration.

“Utilizing the variance process would allow the Commission to impose reasonable conditions on the grant of the variance,” Rubin wrote in a memo to commissioners.
“Such conditions could include limiting the new parcel to the construction of a single-family residence, approving the actual footprint of the proposed residence, and imposing a time-frame in which the residence must be constructed.”

That solution is fine with Laura Troiano, who says she is happy to see a logical solution with both the town and her family working together.

“Our main goal is just to split the property,” she said.

In a memo to commissioners, Laura Troiano wrote that because there appear to be no other properties in the town in a similar situation, splitting the property would not set a precedent that Highland Beach would have to follow in the future.

“There is no negative impact on the health and safety of the public by recognizing the lots as distinct and separate,” she wrote. “By recognizing that the lots are separate our family would be able to build a beautiful home on the west side lot.”

Complicating the process is the fact that the property — on both sides — is 12 feet shy of the minimum lot width requirement of 80 feet. In essence, the property is a nonconforming use under the current town code, which also prohibits splitting a nonconforming use to create two nonconforming properties.

One option would be to change the town code, but Rubin dismissed that idea.

“This office does not recommend amending the town code to address a single parcel of property within the town,” he wrote.

Laura Troiano says she and her husband, a gastroenterologist in Indianapolis, will follow through on the request for a variance.

“We want to put something there that makes sense to our family,” she said.

While the process was at times frustrating, Laura Troiano is pleased with the final result.

“For me overall, it was a really good experience,” she said

By Mary Hladky

Boca Raton’s property tax rate likely will remain unchanged for the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1.

The proposed 2023-24 tax rate, presented by Deputy City Manager George Brown to the City Council on July 25, is the same as the current rate of $3.68 per $1,000 of taxable property value.

The city has long prided itself on its low tax rate that has remained steady for many years, greatly pleasing residents.

Even so, property owners will see higher tax bills because of soaring property values. Boca’s taxable values jumped by 12.4% this year, slightly below the previous year’s 14.5% rise. Increases in values for property with a homestead exemption are capped at 3%.

The city would have to lower its rate to $3.31 per $1,000 of taxable property value to bring in the same amount of tax revenue as the previous year.

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

The city’s tax rate will not be finalized until September. The City Council cannot raise the tax rate above what Brown submitted, but it does have leeway to lower it.

A public hearing on the tax rate and proposed 2023-24 budget will be held at 6 p.m. Sept. 11 in the city-owned building at 6500 Congress Ave.

A final hearing will be on Sept. 27

By Steve Plunkett

The rate on property tax bills this fall for the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District will likely be the same $1.08 per $1,000 of taxable value that it was last fall.

District commissioners set the tentative rate at their July 24 meeting. The rate will generate $41.8 million in collected tax revenue, up $4.4 million from the previous year.

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 supply staff at district facilities.

Commissioners agreed with Executive Director Briann Harms not to contribute to building a new maintenance facility at the city’s Spanish River Park.

They declined to remove anything from Harms’ list of proposed projects for fiscal 2024, which include $3 million for developing the Ocean Breeze/Boca National parcel, which they renamed “North Park” on July 10, and $1.3 million for unspecified shade structures in all their parks.

“I think what we have on our plate are things that we need to do, and I’m comfortable with all the things that are listed here,” Commissioner Steven Engel said.

Under the tentative rate the owner of a $1 million home would pay $1,080 in taxes to the Beach and Park District. Property values in the district, which includes residences west of the city limits, rose 10.5% over the previous year, lower than the city’s 12.4% boost. The value of a homesteaded property rose 3%.

The rollback rate, which would have brought in the same amount of taxes as the previous year not counting new construction, was 97 cents per $1,000.

The district will also give the city $2.5 million as its share of Community Redevelopment Agency tax increment funding. Arguing that the money is not used for recreation purposes, the district wants to limit or completely avoid the TIF payment. The subject will be discussed at a joint meeting of the District Commission and the City Council on Aug. 21.

The district’s first of two public hearings on the 2023-2024 budget will be Sept. 5.

By Mary Hladky

County Commissioner Marci Woodward’s recent offer to help Boca Raton improve East Palmetto Park Road received a noncommittal response from Deputy City Manager George Brown.

Woodward, whose commission district includes the city, has met twice with members of the Riviera Civic Association who for years have sought changes that would improve the appearance, walkability and safety of the short stretch of the road from the Intracoastal Waterway to State Road A1A.

So far, however, their requests have been rebuffed. In November, city Traffic Engineer Naresh Machavarapu said a city study concluded that no crosswalks are warranted and installing them could create safety hazards.

That frustrated both City Council and homeowner association members. Association president Katie Barr MacDougall said at the time her group would continue to press for improvements.

Woodward told council members on July 24 that the county is willing to add a crosswalk near the 7-Eleven store that sits at about the midpoint of that section of road and to remove parking spaces on the road’s south side so that bicycle lanes could be added.

“Our county engineering department had no objections,” she said.

Brown said city engineers would contact their county counterparts, but did not elaborate.

Collaboration between the two governments is needed because the county owns that section of the road and the city controls traffic along it.
Barr said Brown’s response was “less than enthusiastic.”

“He barely looked up from whatever notes he was taking,” she said. “I felt he was rude to the commissioner.”

Barr promised her organization would not give up.

“We will be the fly in the ointment until everything gets done,” she said. “It is an uphill battle, but we are in it for the long haul.”

While beachside East Palmetto Park Road improvements languish, the city is slowly moving forward with a project to upgrade the five-block section of the road from Federal Highway to Northeast Fifth Avenue.

The city hired Alta Planning and Design on March 28 and the company has embarked on data collection and analysis, a process that will take one year to complete. After that, planning for a road makeover will begin, city officials told council members at the same meeting.

Deputy Mayor Monica Mayotte has suggested hiring another consultant, Jeff Speck, author of the book Walkable City, to also advise on this project. City staff members are open to that idea, but they said elements of his thinking already are being incorporated into their planning.

They also said the council will be updated regularly and resident input will be solicited.

Investments Limited has submitted a proposal for a pair of nine-story towers with a total of 266 guest rooms to be built where the post office now stands downtown. Rendering provided

By Mary Hladky

James and Marta Batmasian, the largest commercial property owners in downtown Boca Raton, have proposed building a two-tower hotel on property where the downtown post office now sits.

The Batmasians’ submittal to the city is very preliminary and it is not clear if they will move ahead with the project. One official with their company, Investments Limited, who did not identify himself, declined to elaborate on the project, saying only that they are “not really sure what we will do yet.”

But the two-paragraph submittal and conceptual renderings show an ambitious project named Mizner Plaza that aspires to feature high-end retail such as Hermes, Cartier and Ferragamo and would locate restaurants on the ground floor and second floor.

The hotel’s nine-story towers would have a total of 266 rooms, one with 153 rooms and the second with 113 rooms. A pool amenity deck, lounge and restaurant would be on the fourth and fifth stories of the second tower.

An outdoor staircase to the second floor would separate the two towers, and the project would be “a destination and experience for all,” the submittal states.

A total of 423 parking spaces would be located in two levels of underground parking, including some mechanical parking.

The project would be located on 1.6 acres at 132 and 170 NE Second St., east of Federal Highway and north of the Tower 155 condo, where a one-story mixed-use building with restaurants and retail and the post office now sit.

City staff responded to the submittal with many questions and requests for clarifications, including an explanation of what would happen to the post office.

Potential loss of the post office in 2018 stirred outcry when postal officials notified the city that they planned to relocate their facility somewhere else in or near the downtown because their lease on the building was about to expire.

The Batmasians, who bought the property they now want to redevelop in 2013, were among those strongly objecting to the post office’s closure. Residents packed a public meeting to let the U.S. Postal Service know how they felt.

Postal Service officials said they wanted a long-term lease of at least 10 years but were unable to get one from the Batmasians.

James Batmasian, however, said at the time that he had no idea the Postal Service wanted a long lease and offered to provide one. The Postal Service signed that new lease, and it runs through 2028.

Investments Limited proposed building a 144-room extended-stay hotel and restaurants in Royal Palm Place in 2019, and the City Council approved the project one year ago. Construction has not yet started.

The effort to get Pearl City on the National Register of Historic Places is stalled because that designation could delay or halt renovation of the Dixie Manor public housing. Photo provided

By Mary Hladky

Marie Hester has worked for years to get Pearl City listed on the National Register of Historic Places and, at long last, her efforts were bearing fruit.

The state’s National Register Review Board was to decide on Aug. 3 whether Pearl City meets the criteria for the listing. If so, Pearl City’s application would go to the National Park Service for a final decision.

The Boca Raton Housing Authority board passed a resolution in support of the listing in June and the City Council was expected to do the same on July 25.

But an unexpected problem cropped up. The listing might endanger the Housing Authority’s effort to rebuild the dilapidated Dixie Manor public housing complex in Pearl City.

The Housing Authority board suspended its vote of support. The City Council pulled its resolution from the agenda.

If Pearl City received a historic designation, it might delay or halt the Dixie Manor project, said Housing Authority Executive Director John Scannell. He learned about that possibility in a letter he received from the state.

He isn’t certain that would happen, but Scannell said he won’t know for sure until the Housing Authority moves ahead with removing Dixie Manor from the federal public housing program so it has access to debt and equity that otherwise would not be available to help finance Dixie Manor rebuilding.

The designation “will definitely affect it, but you don’t know how until you are in the process,” he said.

That comes at a critical time because the Housing Authority recently learned it has received a tax credit award from the Florida Housing Finance Corp. that gives it the ability to start the project.

The Housing Authority will research the matter further and could support the historic designation later if is safe to do so, he said.

Hester, the president of D.I.S.C., or Developing Interracial Social Change, has worked for more than two years to gather information needed to apply for the designation.

The project included surveying and describing every home in the community and interviewing residents to gather their recollections of its history, she said. Hester’s grandparents, Will and Bell Demery, were among Pearl City’s first residents.

Pearl City was founded in 1915, 10 years before Boca Raton was incorporated.

The designation would enhance the ability of Pearl City to get grants and tax credits to maintain the community’s buildings and preserve their historic character.

But the loss of support, at least for now, from the Housing Authority and City Council is fraught.

Pearl City encompasses many more properties than Dixie Manor. Those property owners stand to lose out if the historic designation falls through.

Meanwhile, the Housing Authority is going through a transition. Scannell has resigned as executive director as of Sept. 30 to work for the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation, where he will head up building a property for disabled adults in west Lake Worth and affordable housing for farm workers in Immokalee.

Housing Authority Deputy Director Ashley Whidby will be interim executive director for six months while the board decides how it wants to fill the position permanently.

By Rich Pollack

Delray Beach police on Monday sought assistance from the community in their efforts to learn more about how parts of a woman’s body stuffed into three suitcases ended up in the Intracoastal Waterway between Monday, July 17 and early Thursday, July 20.

“We’re asking for the public’s help in reviewing video surveillance cameras during that time frame,” said Detective Sgt. Casey Kelly.

Kelly said investigators are specifically looking for unusual vehicles or people and “certainly anyone carrying or moving luggage” anywhere from the Linton Boulevard bridge to just north of the George Bush Boulevard bridge.

The three suitcases were discovered Thursday afternoon, with the first one noticed by a construction worker who spotted a body part protruding from the luggage just south of the city’s northern city limits.

The two other suitcases were found near Casuarina Road and Southeast Seventh Avenue about 2 miles south of where the first suitcase was found.

Investigators say the victim in their homicide investigation is a white or Hispanic woman who was 35 to 55 years old with brown hair and about 5-feet-4-inches tall. She may also have had tattooed eyebrows. She was wearing a floral tank top and black mid-thigh shorts.

The tank top, Kelly said, is a unique brand believed to be from a Brazilian company.

Investigators received information about the case over the weekend, he said, but detectives continue to seek leads, including information about possible missing women matching the description.

Detectives declined to discuss a possible cause of death.

While teams from the police department are looking at surveillance video and any other related relevant information from the area, Kelly said the size of the area being covered makes that effort “a very daunting task.”

“The stretch of the waterway is very large, that’s why we’re asking for the public’s help,” he said. “We’re asking the public to do some of the legwork for us.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Mike Liberta at 561-243-7874.   

Repairs continue on a sewer pipe that leaked into the Intracoastal Waterway near Marina Village in Boynton Beach. It is estimated that some 12 million gallons of wastewater emptied into the Intracoastal Waterway during a a three-day breach. The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County has put out an advisory alerting the public to avoid contact with water in the area. The cleanup is expected to last into August. Tao Woolfe/The Coastal Star.

By Tao Woolfe

 Yellow police tape and bulldozers at the east end of Boynton Beach Boulevard on Saturday, July 8 kept traffic from entering areas where repairs to a sewer pipe that had been leaking millions of gallons of wastewater have been underway since Monday, July 3.

Although the crews by Friday had sealed off the leak by creating a system that bypasses broken piping, the chugging of unmanned pumps and generators could be heard throughout the neighborhood just east of Federal Highway.

Florida Department of Health signs posted near entrances to Mangrove Park warn visitors to avoid contact with canal and lake water “due to high amounts of bacteria.”

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection continues to investigate the wastewater release into the Intracoastal Waterway, a spokeswoman for the department said on Friday. 

It has been estimated by city officials that some 12 million gallons of wastewater emptied into the Intracoastal in the three days following the breach on Monday. The cleanup is expected to last into August.

City officials said the 50-year-old clay piping that runs beneath Boynton Beach Boulevard was on the books to be replaced, but that replacement had not yet taken place.

Poonam Kalkat, Boynton’s utility director, told reporters that the city’s drinking water was not affected and that the city is working with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to continue sampling and testing.

The city hired contractor Clean Harbors Environmental Services to help with the repairs.

“Because the spill impacted surface waters, water quality samples are being taken to ensure bacteria levels remain within safe parameters,” an FDEP spokeswoman said. “The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County has put out a health advisory alerting the public to avoid contact with water in the area.”

Within the next five days, the City of Boynton Beach will submit a thorough summary report that includes a detailed description of the incident, amount of wastewater released, the city's response and the water quality sampling results, the FDEP spokeswoman said.

This information will be used to inform the department's ongoing regulatory review.

“Protecting Florida’s environment and the health and safety of our residents and visitors is DEP’s top priority, and every unauthorized discharge is taken seriously,” the spokeswoman said.

DEP takes a three-pronged approach, the spokeswoman said:

— Work with the facility or utility to identify any releases and ensure the release is stopped as quickly as possible.

— Gather and analyze information surrounding the circumstances of the incident to evaluate it from a regulatory perspective.

— Identify any further corrective actions needed, including solutions to avoid future discharges and possible enforcement, which may include fines and penalties.

The Florida DEP has several enforcement tools to address any identified violations, the spokeswoman said. Depending on nature of the violation and circumstances surrounding the event, FDEP will determine which measure is best-suited. Along with the possibility of fines and penalties, enforcement can also necessitate restoration and/or remediation actions through a consent order or other enforcement mechanism, she added.

ABOVE: A crowd gathers at the 11th annual Father’s Day Classic Car Show at Mizner Park in Boca Raton, which drew more than 100 vehicles. Proceeds benefited Make-A-Wish Southern Florida.
BELOW: The grille of a 1958 Buick Riviera Estate Wagon.

Photos by Tim Stepien
/The Coastal Star

ABOVE: A crowd gathers at the second annual Delray Beach Concours d’Elegance, which brought together more than $70 million worth of collectible, rare and vintage vehicles to Old School Square for Father’s Day weekend.
BELOW: Detail of a 1967 Amphicar Model 770.

Photos by Tim Stepien
/The Coastal Star

By Mary Hladky

The City Council has unanimously approved the One South Ocean luxury residential project that will replace a now-demolished three-story office building and 20 townhomes at the intersection of Palmetto Park Road and State Road A1A.
The project’s 70 units, ranging from 1,500 to 4,000 square feet, are planned to be rentals for now. But landowner Ramon Llorens could decide they will be condominiums, project attorney Bonnie Miskel said during the Boca Raton council’s June 13 meeting.
Members of the Riviera Civic Association, which includes residents of the Riviera, Por La Mar and Sun & Surf neighborhoods, have negotiated for years with Llorens and architect Jorge Garcia of GarciaStromberg over changes they wanted and were pleased that many of their requests were granted. Most recently, they wanted to be protected from noise they feared the project’s occupants could make.
In response, Llorens and Garcia agreed to relocate one pool from the fourth to the seventh floor and eliminate plans for a ground-floor restaurant that would have been used by residents and their guests, as well as for a children’s recreation area.
Two more conditions were imposed at the June meeting. No outside sound amplification system can be used from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., even though Llorens did not plan to have one, and a ground-floor pool bar and summer kitchen will be closed from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Half of the 3.5-acre site will be landscaped, far more than the city requires.
Objections aside, neighbors and city officials have praised the project’s appearance.
“I think it is a thoughtful, beautiful design,” City Council member Marc Wigder said.
“The building is beautiful,” said civic association president Katie Barr MacDougall. “It will be an asset to the neighborhood.”

By Steve Plunkett

The Boca Raton Community Garden in Meadows Park will bear the name of one of its original guiding lights, the late Mayor Susan Whelchel.
Whelchel, who died in November, “was a wonderful steward for our great city,” said Jamie Sauer, past president of the Junior League of Boca Raton. “She loved and cared for everyone and made a huge difference in so many ways for the city of Boca Raton.”
At the City Council’s June 13 meeting, Sauer told how in 2008 in her first year as mayor, Whelchel reached out to the Junior League, which she had joined in 1984, with an idea for a partnership.
“Not only had she researched a community garden, but she knew our organization was the one to make it happen,” Sauer said.
Not only would it be the first community garden in the city, but it would also help feed the community by donating 10% of everything it grew to Boca Helping Hands, Sauer said.
The city donated the land, first beside the Downtown Library and currently at Meadows Park, and helped pay for the startup costs and upkeep. The Junior League began the garden, built and leased plots, and grew “this incredible partnership,” Sauer said.
“It’s cultivated by the Junior League of Boca Raton and we, along with volunteers throughout the city, will continue to pour love into this garden like Susan did,” she said. The proposal to rename the facility the Susan Whelchel Community Garden touched everyone on the City Council dais.
Deputy Mayor Monica Mayotte recalled how Whelchel had appointed her to the city’s Green Living Advisory Board, which had two of the first plots in the garden.
“And we, the advisory board members, took turns watering it every day; we had our assigned day. So the community garden is near and dear to my heart, too,” Mayotte said.
Council member Fran Nachlas said: “It is the only place that I’ve ever been able to grow something that keeps living.”
Council member Yvette Drucker, who belongs to the Junior League, remembered working to find grant money to get the garden built next to the library downtown.
“So it’s something that she really pushed forward to bring to the city and to get it done. And I was on a volunteer side before I was elected,” she said.
Mayor Scott Singer called it “the perfect overlap” given the unity between Whelchel’s Junior League service and city service.
Whelchel was elected to the City Council in 1995 and later served as deputy mayor and vice chairwoman of the Community Redevelopment Agency. She was elected mayor in 2008, reelected in 2011 and was named the Junior League’s Woman Volunteer of the Year in 2016. She also served two years on the Palm Beach County School Board.
“Her dedication and unselfish service to the residents of Boca Raton are greatly appreciated and worthy of recognition,” said the resolution the City Council unanimously approved.
Later this summer or in the fall, the Junior League and the city will have a ribbon-cutting to officially honor the former mayor, Sauer said.

Recent renourishment efforts not only widened the beach, but also improved navigation at the Boca Raton Inlet. Photo provided

Boca Raton has received a “Best Restored Beach Award” from the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association for its collaboration with Deerfield Beach and Hillsboro Beach to renourish beaches in the three municipalities.
By working together, the three municipalities saved money on renourishment projects that they conducted independently in the past. The municipalities used about 370,000 cubic yards of sand dredged from the Boca Raton Inlet.
The ASBPA’s annual award honors restoration projects around the U.S. that improve a shoreline’s resiliency and mitigate damage and flooding from severe storms.

— Mary Hladky

By Mary Hladky

Attorneys who prevailed in litigation that resulted in a court ruling striking down Boca Raton and Palm Beach County ordinances banning the controversial practice of conversion therapy on minors are now seeking $2.1 million in attorney fees and costs they incurred fighting the ordinances.
Liberty Counsel, which represented two therapists — Dr. Robert Otto of Boca Raton and Dr. Julie Hamilton of Palm Beach Gardens — stated in a June 12 federal court filing that its attorneys spent 2,274.8 hours representing their clients pro bono at a cost of $1.4 million.
The attorneys increased the amount they are seeking, saying they are entitled to a fee “enhancement” because the therapy provided by their clients and Liberty Counsel’s efforts to represent them are widely condemned by medical professionals and local governments that passed ordinances banning conversion therapy.
The attorneys represented the therapists without asking them to pay and now want to collect the amount they spent doing so from the city and county.
Conversion therapy seeks to change a person’s sexual identity or sexual orientation to align with heterosexual norms. Many professional medical organizations have denounced it for causing depression, hopelessness and suicide.
The city and county repealed their ordinances after a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2020 that the bans were unconstitutional because they violated the free speech rights of Otto and Hamilton and the full court declined to reconsider that decision.
In an effort to end the protracted litigation, the city and county both made “offers of judgment” earlier this year that Otto and Hamilton accepted. Boca paid Otto $50,000 and Hamilton $25,000. The county paid both Otto and Hamilton $50,000.
The offers did not specify how much the two governments would pay for attorney fees and costs.
In a June 26 response, the city’s outside attorneys said the amounts Liberty Counsel is seeking are “not reasonable” and “an excessive windfall” when compared to the hourly rates charged by Palm Beach County attorneys, and asked U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg to reduce the city’s share of the fees and costs to $213,000. The county had not filed a response as of June 26.
In a June 13 news release announcing that Liberty Counsel was seeking fees and costs, founder and chairman Mat Staver said, “Minors who are struggling with gender confusion now can get the help they need from counselors who are free from political censorship. As a result of the victories over these counseling bans, Liberty Counsel is now entitled to attorney’s fees and costs.”
City Council members repealed Boca Raton’s ordinance last August. Shortly thereafter, they adopted a resolution that opposed conversion therapy on minors.
Otto, who spoke to council members at a June 13 meeting, noted the resolution was almost identical to the ordinance.
“That is offensive,” he said. “It shows you don’t understand the Constitution of the United States.”
He asked council members to repeal the resolution. They did not respond.

By Rich Pollack

Highland Beach commissioners got their first glance at a proposed budget that is larger than the previous one — thanks mainly to the creation of a new fire department — but does not require an increase in the tax rate.
“This is a balanced budget with no millage rate increase and no need to pledge money from reserves,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie said.
Unless there are major changes as the budget weaves its way through the commission review process, the town will hold its total tax rate at $3.58 per $1,000 of taxable property value.
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 $21 million to just under $30.5 million, or about 45%.
The proposed 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 a new fire station.
While the proposed 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 new 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 is the cost of having the full 24 fire rescue personnel on the payroll beginning in March for training, and preparation for the transition.
“We’ll be operating two fire departments for a while,” Labadie said.
Overall, public safety accounts for 55% of the town’s proposed general fund budget, with the Police Department showing an increase of almost 17% to $3.5 million. That increase is due largely to the new union contract.
Also having an impact on the budget is the cost of trash and garbage removal, which increased dramatically as a result of a new contract with Waste Management. Solid waste expenses rose from $492,000 to $1.02 million, an increase of 105.6%.
Salary increases for town employees, excluding union members, average about 5%, according to town staff.
Although the town has allocated $6 million from its reserves for the fire department, it still has about $6.2 million available.
“We’re not only financially healthy, we’re financially healthy moving into times of economic uncertainty,” Labadie said.

By Steve Plunkett

Boca Raton’s only billboard might disappear if its owner and the city can agree on how soon it would happen and what types of advertising would not appear.
City Council members signaled a willingness to reach an agreement on June 12 after Outfront Media LLC offered a 40-year deal to replace the sign with an LED board, give Boca Raton at least $8.2 million of its advertising revenue, and then demolish the billboard in the year 2063.
But council members weren’t keen on the agreement lasting 40 years.
“The length of the period of time does seem to be quite long,” council member Marc Wigder said.
“The 40 years for me seems extraordinarily long,” Mayor Scott Singer said.
“That’s a huge thing for me as well,” council member Fran Nachlas said.
Boca Raton got jurisdiction over the billboard, at Butts Road and Glades Road, in its 2003 annexation of unincorporated county land that brought it and the Town Center mall into the city limits.
Attorney Ele Zachariades, representing Outfront, said the LED proposal would modernize the “tri-face” sign, which uses mechanical moving parts, to a digital, changeable message.
“We are, if I recall, the home of the personal computer, of IBM, and we have one billboard that sits there quite archaic,” she said. “We are merely asking to bring it forward to the 21st century.”
Chris Ashley of Outfront said an electronic billboard would be more aesthetically pleasing and his company would landscape the base with native plants to help hide the support column.
He also offered to give the city free public service announcements and messages such as hurricane warnings and endangered children or seniors, and to abide by a list of prohibited advertisements such as for political campaigns or adult services.
“In summary, it’s a win-win,” Ashley said. “We get the upgraded structure, we get increased revenue, you all get a revenue share of that. You get the benefits that we discussed on Amber Alerts, emergency management, community messaging.
“The alternative is the billboard stays there as it is for the foreseeable future.”
The City Council with a different makeup turned down a similar offer two years ago that would have given Boca Raton only about $50,000 a year in ad revenue.
“If we really, really, at the end of the day, want the billboard to go away, this is how we get that to happen. And I would just like to see newer technology,” Deputy Mayor Monica Mayotte said.
Zachariades will continue to work with city staff to come up with a proposal more in line with the council’s thinking.

Once built, the Aletto at Sanborn Square complex would be at Palmetto Park Road just east of Sanborn Square. The Tower 155 condominium is the white building behind the Aletto. Rendering provided

By Mary Hladky

Over residents’ strong objections, City Council members have approved the first Class A office project to be built downtown in more than two decades.

Boca Raton needs more Class A space near residential and retail that employers and their workers now demand if it is to avoid falling behind West Palm Beach and other cities that are providing it, they said.

“I have been talking about the need for Class A office space for a year and a half,” said Deputy Mayor Monica Mayotte. “I am excited to see this project come to fruition.”

The Aletto at Sanborn Square, located between Palmetto Park and Boca Raton roads just east of Sanborn Square, will create “a true downtown environment” where workers can ditch their cars and walk from their downtown condos and apartments to offices, restaurants and cultural venues, she said.

“I appreciate your concerns, but I don’t share them,” Mayor Scott Singer told project opponents, including many residents of the Tower 155 condo which sits immediately north of the project site. “There are a lot of benefits here.”

But objectors, who jammed the May 18 Planning and Zoning Board and May 22 Community Redevelopment Agency meetings, disputed the rosy vision of a project that would help transform the downtown.

They contended it is too massive for the 1.3 acres on which it will sit, and said it would increase traffic on already overcrowded downtown streets and harm Sanborn Square.

“We aren’t against revitalization,” said Victoria Milazzo, who along with her husband, Alan Neibauer, led the opposition. “We are against too big of a place in too small of a space.

“Aletto Square, simply put, will increase traffic six-fold. That is undeniable,” she said.

As of late May, 1,741 people had signed an online petition opposing Aletto.

The Aletto principals, including Carl Klepper, vice president of developer Compson Associates, proposed two office towers and a garage. A 10-story tower would face Palmetto Park Road and a six-story tower would be on the corner of East Boca Raton Road and Northeast First Avenue near Sanborn Square.

The complex will include four restaurants, including one on the roof.

A 550-space garage will be located north of the 10-story building, with two levels underground and six levels above grade. Office workers and the general public will share the garage. Valet parking attendants will use 94 spaces in the garage that are “double stacked” and operated by mechanical lifts.

A plaza in the middle of the site will have a valet parking station and space to accommodate ride-sharing vehicles.

To reduce traffic, the developer will offer tenants a 50% subsidy for Palm Tran and Tri-Rail monthly passes, and a 20% subsidy for a Brightline monthly pass. A Palm Tran bus stop is in front of the property on Palmetto Park Road. A shuttle will bring people to and from the Brightline station.

All buildings on the seven-parcel assemblage will be demolished. The historic Mediterranean Revival Cramer House was torn down last year.

When proposed two years ago, the project contained both office space and luxury apartments. It also had a fully automated parking garage which would have been the first of its kind in the downtown.

But the automated garage drew heated complaints from residents, who said drivers would clog roads waiting to get into the garage and warned about potential problems tied to the garage’s technology.

In a project overhaul last year, the apartments were eliminated in favor of more office space, and the automated garage for the most part gave way to a standard one. In an effort to appease opponents, the building near Sanborn Square was downsized by one floor and the 12-story building on Palmetto Park Road was reduced by two floors.

In addressing the planning board and City Council, sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, Klepper said he was meeting the city’s call for more Class A office space “in a big way.”

He also touted the project for giving the downtown a needed garage, increasing the tax base and drawing companies that would pay good salaries.

But fresh outrage was spawned by an April 10 letter the development team sent to CRA chair Marc Wigder, requesting that the project be considered by the Community Appearance Board, planning board and CRA on three dates in May.

That fueled charges that pressure was being placed on city staffers to cut short their review of the project and that it was being fast-tracked.

Shortly after getting the letter, Wigder pressed for the project to be placed on meeting agendas. Two weeks later, he said fast-tracking claims were “false and largely political in nature” but said the city needed to streamline the development review process.

Singer, speaking at the May 22 CRA meeting, also denied fast-tracking. “It is not a fast-tracked project when it has taken two years to get here,” he said.

Speaking after the CRA meeting, Klepper said the claims were “absolutely inaccurate.”

The purpose of the letter, he said, was to find out the project’s status with city staff members. If they were ready with their recommendations to city boards, he hoped they would consider the project before the summer months when the city has fewer meetings. That would likely mean the project wouldn’t come up for a vote until sometime in the fall.

After the unanimous City Council vote in favor of Aletto, a disappointed Neibauer said simply, “We tried.”

Asked if opponents would challenge the decision in court, Neibauer said they would now have to make a decision. Although he didn’t consider litigation likely, “I am not ruling it out.”

In other business:
• Council members on May 23 unanimously voted in favor of changing the ordinance that governs downtown development to reduce the influence famed architect Addison Mizner has on building designs.
With little discussion, the council approved 10 changes to the ordinance’s architectural standards that would provide architects with more flexibility to forgo reinterpretations of the Mizner vision. The city will now “encourage” architectural treatments that are “appropriate to the overall architectural character of the building.”
The changes, requested by Singer, were unanimously approved by the Planning and Zoning Board on April 20.
This is a first step in an eventual overhaul of the massive downtown development ordinance.
Deputy City Manager George Brown told planning board members that the intent is not to eliminate Mizner’s influence on building design but to give architects more leeway.

• City Council members have approved plans for a luxury condo at 343 E. Royal Palm Road two months after they urged the developer and project opponents to reach a compromise.
They did so just days before council members, sitting as CRA commissioners, met on May 8. Judith Teller Kaye, who lives in the next-door 327 Royal Palm condo, called the resolution a “settlement” that left both sides “a little unhappy with the outcome.”
The developer, 343 Royal Palm LLC, made 11 concessions that satisfied most of the neighbors’ objections, even though they still contend the project is too big for the 0.17-acre parcel on which it will be built.
The neighbors’ most critical demand was eliminating mechanical parking that would have provided 10 spaces, three more than now will be in a regular garage.
The developer also agreed to eliminate almost half of the building’s west-facing windows to provide more privacy for 327 Royal Palm residents, added trash chutes to all units and removed mechanical equipment from the roof, placing it within the garage.
The five-story building will contain four condos of about 4,300 square feet. Each owner will have a landscaped rooftop terrace.

By Steve Plunkett

Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s observation tower, missing in action since 2015, is now scheduled to be rebuilt and open in nine months.

Briann Harms, executive director of the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District, announced the timeline at the district commission’s May 15 meeting.

“The Gumbo Limbo tower is a project that everybody’s kind of been waiting to see it happen,” Harms said. “It looks like it’s going to start construction July 3 and anticipated to finish in February of 2024. So we may have a tower at Gumbo Limbo again, which is super-exciting news.”

The new tower will have a multi-level ramp to make the top deck accessible to people with disabilities. The Boca Raton City Council in February approved a $2.4 million bid for the project, down about $200,000 from a bid a year earlier.

The city owns and manages Gumbo Limbo, which is part of Red Reef Park. Except for the now-shuttered sea turtle rehabilitation unit, which the nonprofit Coastal Stewards have pledged to fund, the Beach and Park District pays for all of Gumbo Limbo’s salaries, operations and maintenance, as well as all capital improvements.

Engineers in early 2015 declared the tower and the adjoining boardwalk unsafe, and the city removed them. The boardwalk was rebuilt and reopened in July 2019.

Around that same time, six 40-foot wooden posts for the tower were embedded in concrete, but construction stopped when officials decided the replacement would have to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Coastal Stewards, then known as the Friends of Gumbo Limbo, proposed building an “inclined elevator.” A Boca Raton couple, Stephen Kosowsky and Sharilyn Jones, gave $250,000 for the project in return for naming the tower after their son, Jacob, who died in a car accident. The Friends collected more than $250,000 to match their donation.

City officials later scrapped the elevator plan in favor of the multi-level ramp, which they estimated, along with the tower itself, would cost $1.4 million. They and district officials were shocked early last year when they received only one bid — for $2.6 million.

The project was rebid in November and three companies responded, with the award going to Walker Design & Construction Co. West Palm Beach-based Walker’s portfolio includes construction of the Mizner Park Amphitheater.

By Mary Hladky

After abruptly abandoning plans to hire an executive recruitment firm to help find City Manager Leif Ahnell’s successor, City Council members have chosen Ahnell’s top lieutenant to take the reins.

The council unexpectedly anointed Deputy City Manager George Brown on May 9, saying his invaluable experience and historical knowledge of the city would allow him to slide seamlessly into his new role.

But before that, council member Fran Nachlas asked the crucial question: Did he want the job?

“Yes, it is something I would like to do,” Brown told her.

He will take over when Ahnell, who has served as city manager for 24 years, retires on March 31, 2024.

Council members have known for years that they would need to replace Ahnell, who has long been held in high regard for how he runs the city, and have fretted about how to handle the transition. Ahnell entered the city’s Deferred Retirement Option Plan in 2017 and is required to retire next year.

Brown joined the city’s building inspection division in 1977 and rose through the ranks to become assistant city manager. He left for a five-year stint in real estate management and for a brief period later to work with a nonprofit, but was recruited to return to the city both times. He was elevated to deputy city manager in 2004.

Brown has handled many of the city’s most complex matters, including the sale of the city’s western golf course in 2021 and the lease of city land in Mizner Park last year that cleared the way for construction of the proposed $115.4 million Center for Arts & Innovation.

Deputy Mayor Monica Mayotte first floated the idea of elevating Brown in February.

“I think George is our heir apparent,” she said at the time. But there was almost no discussion of the idea and only Nachlas voiced support.
Council member Marc Wigder, who was sworn into office on March 31, raised the matter anew the evening before the council was to hold its annual three-day strategic planning meeting when the topic of succession planning was likely to be discussed.

“We have a clear transition path,” he said. “With Mr. Ahnell’s retirement looming, Mr. Brown is clearly ready to be our city manager.”

Other council members quickly agreed. “The continuity will serve us well,” said Mayor Scott Singer.

Speaking after the meeting, Wigder said he thought it best to identify Ahnell’s replacement before strategic planning so that more time would be available to discuss other matters.

“The continuing of stable city management is perhaps the most critical thing we can do,” he said.

Wigder and some of the other council members thought that they might not have enough time to select another high-quality replacement before Ahnell must leave.

City officials had chosen a recruitment firm and were in the process of negotiating a contract with it. Once onboard, the firm would conduct a nationwide search and identify the best candidates, with the council making the final selection — a process that could be lengthy.

One question, though, is how long Brown will serve in the top spot. He also is at retirement age and had been expected to leave last year.

Wigder said that hasn’t been specified, but he anticipates Brown would serve as a transition city manager.

“There was a general understanding that everyone knew this would not be a 20-year appointment,” he said.

Mayotte was pleased that Wigder broached Brown’s appointment again.

Citing Brown’s “wealth of knowledge,” she said, “I thought he should be afforded the opportunity to be our city manager for as long as he wants to be with the city.”

She too foresees Brown as a transition manager who will run the city capably while giving the council more time to select a person to succeed him.

City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser proposed at the May 23 council meeting that the city’s human resources department gather information on what other similar-sized cities are paying their city managers whose qualifications match Brown’s. Frieser will negotiate an employment agreement with Brown, which would need council approval.

She indicated the talks with Brown would be straightforward and simple.

Wigder objected to human resources’ involvement, saying that since the department reports to Ahnell, a conflict of interest exists. Instead, he said that either Singer or an outside attorney should handle the negotiations.

His proposal, however, drew no support from other council members.