Unity of Delray Beach celebrated the blessing of pets in our lives at its 25th annual Blessing of the Animals.

ABOVE: Grace Mackler, 6, poses beside her dogs, Maya, 2, and Bella, 13, after her dogs were blessed.
RIGHT: Josie Willis’ parakeet, Perky, 3, perched inside his traveling cage.
BELOW: For two hours, Charlene Wilkinson blessed dogs (including 13-year-old Matilda), cats and birds in the gazebo of the church.

Each pet left the event with a personalized certificate, a small medal and a goodie bag. Photos of pets who had passed away were submitted to be displayed at the Rainbow Bridge table.

Photos by Rachel O’Hara/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter

The tail-wagging news keeps getting better for the dog play area at Maddock Park, the top spot for canines in Lantana.

A year ago, the hound-friendly park lapped up $180,000 in new fencing, benches and canine exercise equipment. But there’s more good news on the horizon.

Last month, the Town Council agreed to pay Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. $25,000 to get the ball rolling on the Maddock Park dog shelter project.

The firm will provide permitting and bidder information and construction details. The work includes professional design services for the addition of a pre-engineered bisected rectangular shelter that will provide coverage and access to both dog park sections ­— for large and small animals.

Public Services Director Eddie Crockett says a timeline has not yet been established for the work at the park, 1200 W. Drew St. Money for the project will come from a Florida Department of Environmental Protection matching grant the town received earlier this year. The state will pay $112,500 (75%) and the town will provide $37,500 (25%) as its match.

“The town’s matching funds were included in the FY 2023/24 budget,” Crockett said.

“The dog park is heavily utilized,” Mayor Karen Lythgoe said in support of the shelter. “People love it.”

The board of Crown Colony Club Inc., is compelled to respond to the October article your paper reported regarding the ongoing Ocean Ridge dispute involving “the walk.”

Unfortunately, your article was slanted, favoring the view of the Fayette Drive residents, and dismissive of, if not completely excluding, Crown Colony’s legal position.

We will give you credit in reporting the most telling and accurate comment and affirmative statement made, i.e., “Steis and Rodriguez [Fayette Drive residents] didn’t have a problem for decades with residents of Crown Colony using the walkway.” This admission by these residents confirms the decades-long usage of the walk.

However, to be clear, Crown Colony’s residents never needed the Fayette Drive residents’ permission. Absent from your article was any reference to that certain January 1972, 99-year lease agreement between Michael and Ann Susik and Crown Colony Club Inc., which expressly provides Crown Colony’s members beach access by and through the following property:

“The northerly 25 feet lying and being parallel to the northerly lot line of Lot A, Tropical Park Addition No. 1, per plat thereof recorded in official record book 23, Page 228, of the public records of Palm Beach County, Florida.”

Hence, Crown Colony’s residents have always possessed the absolute legal right to use the walk and the permission or acquiescence of the Fayette Drive residents is not needed.

Thus, the Fayette Drive residents’ signage which suggests the walk is private and solely for the benefit of Fayette Drive is patently false.

This is what should have been reported: The improper, inaccurate signage placed in the walk simply foments further dissent and confuses Crown Colony residents as to their access rights.

What you alluded to in your article in passing, necessitating greater emphasis, is that the Fayette Drive residents are more upset about a collateral dispute involving the Ocean Ridge Yacht Club. Yet they strangely seek to take out their frustrations on Crown Colony by placing signage on the walk that erroneously claims exclusive access for themselves.

Given the attention this issue has received in Ocean Ridge, Crown Colony requests a follow-up article be written reminding your readership of the 50-plus-years’ usage by Crown

Colony of the walk and more importantly, that there exists a 99-year lease agreement with express language bestowing Crown Colony’s residents with usage of the walk for beach access purposes.

Thank you.

Ronald E. Kirn, president,
board of directors, Crown Colony Club Inc.

By Thomas Ambrose

On the shore of Florida’s Gulf Coast, the islands of Captiva, Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach all have very low elevations, rich in sand and no rock outcrops. The area of Gulf Ridge on Sanibel is only 3 feet above sea level and they call it a “ridge.”

Typical of these islands is very shallow water offshore — a mile out from Fort Myers Beach is only some 10 feet deep. During storms, wind can quickly push water ashore as a “sea surge,” so this may be why Fort Myers Beach and other Gulf Coast islands got hit hard by recent hurricanes.

On Google Earth I recently checked ocean water depths off Ocean Ridge to Delray Beach, which range from 100 to 150 feet about a mile offshore.

Island elevations from 2 feet along the Intracoastal Waterway to 23 feet on the coastal ridge in Ocean Ridge should give added protection in a storm. Maybe more important is that islands along the Palm Beach County coast exhibit outcrops of hard, indurated and bedded sedimentary rocks which form a solid foundation for overlying buildings in rising waters.

Across the intracoastal in Boynton Beach, ancient sand dunes and rock ridges rise to some 34 feet in elevation between Seacrest Boulevard and Interstate 95 — something never to be found on the unstable sand island along the Florida Gulf Coast.

Aren’t we lucky!

Thomas Ambrose received a bachelor’s from the University of Oklahoma and a master’s from Rutgers in geology after serving in WWII. As a global oil exploration geologist, he has lived in eight countries (six of them island nations) and visited 128. He has lived in Ocean Ridge since 1991.

By John Pacenti

After a year of drama and turmoil surrounding Delray Beach’s previous fire chief, City Manager Terrence Moore failed to discover the replacement he hired had three internal complaints filed against him that were pending when he resigned as chief of the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District.

The complaints from the first week of March 2023 centered on a secret affair between Fire Chief Ronald Martin and the fire district’s human resources manager.

Among the allegations, staffers said the HR manager was promoted to leadership roles and that resources were expended so the couple could continue their romance on out-of-town business trips.

Moore was made aware of the complaints by Vice Mayor Juli Casale after Moore picked Martin in September.

“The gentleman’s personal relationship with the woman is not of concern, but in reading these complaints closely you see that there are accusations of abuse of authority and misuse of taxpayer funds,” Casale said in an Oct. 11 email to Moore.

The Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District did not take action to determine the merits of the complaints because Martin resigned on March 17, 2023, the same day that a district report says officials were to meet with him about the accusations.

“I categorically deny every single one of those allegations,” Martin told The Coastal Star on Oct. 21. The HR manager, Colleen Brooks, who is now Martin’s fiancée, was by his side during the interview but did not comment.

Casale told Moore in emails and at the City Commission’s Oct. 15 meeting that the “shocking” failure to properly vet Martin calls into question the city’s hiring practices.

“If you have somebody who’s been employed a long time in a city, they have a record, and we’re not even asking for that in the hiring process,” Casale said at the meeting without mentioning Martin by name.

“So, we hired an individual, and we’re very hopeful that it will turn out to be a great hire, but basically, it will be a matter of luck and not the competency of the process, because the process is flawed,” Casale said.

At the same meeting, Martin was introduced as the new chief.

During his interview with The Coastal Star, Martin said he was unaware of the complaints until the paper asked him about them. They were not brought up when he tendered his resignation or met with the fire district’s attorney and the chairman of its board of commissioners, he said.

Martin said he stepped down because of a cancer scare and that he felt the district could be dissolved in a changing political climate. Martin also spoke about the mental fatigue he experienced in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which made a catastrophic hit on Fort Myers Beach a half-year earlier on Sept. 28, 2022.

When asked if he thought the affair was inappropriate, Martin said, “Between two consenting adults? Absolutely not.” He said the romance was a blessing considering the issues he was dealing with at the time.

Martin said that the district was audited and the audit found no financial wrongdoing in his attending conferences during the period in question.

He also said that Brooks reported to the director of finance, not him. Brooks no longer works for the Fort Myers Beach district.

Yet one of the complaints said that in the months before Ian struck, “Chief Martin had been elevating Mrs. Brooks’ status in the organization, changing her scope of duties, and moving her up to the Senior Leadership Team” — adding that “these changes meant she was now reporting directly to Chief Martin.”

Mayor Tom Carney, reached for comment on Oct. 21, said he had not researched the hiring process or Martin’s past. “It would be irresponsible for me to make a comment until I have all of the facts,” the mayor said.

Commissioner Rob Long said he spoke to Moore about the hiring and was told that the complaints were known and that since the relationship was consensual — as opposed to unwanted advances — it did not dissuade the city manager from hiring Martin. “Terrence said that he knew about it, and it wasn’t something that they ignored,” Long said.

The email traffic among Casale, Moore and Delray Beach Human Resources Manager Duane D’Andrea, however, tells a different story — that Delray Beach didn’t know about the complaints when it hired Martin.

Moore announced Martin’s hiring in one of his weekly information letters in September. Casale on Oct. 8 asked Moore in an email if personnel files and professional references were requested. She said a simple Google search would discover that Martin resigned abruptly.

“This seems like a clear red flag,” Casale wrote to Moore.

When she was told by D’Andrea that the city did not request Martin’s personnel file from the Fort Myers Beach fire district, the vice mayor responded, “Wow. That is Shocking.”
Moore was asked on Oct. 22 whether or not he knew of the complaints. He didn’t answer but provided a statement:

“During the interview process, I had the opportunity to meet with Chief Martin to discuss his employment history and experience. There is no legitimate reason for an unsubstantiated claim or allegation to affect a prospective employee’s future. Martin has no disciplinary actions in his personnel records which might in any way negatively impact his ability to successfully serve in his new role.”

In coming to Delray Beach, Martin is inheriting a department still reeling from the drama surrounding its former chief, Keith Tomey.

Tomey was fired in May for allowing on-duty firefighters to participate in a charity softball game, taking an engine out of service for hours. A firefighter also got hurt during the game and sought worker’s compensation.

Tomey also accused Moore of sexually harassing him. An independent investigation found the allegation could not be substantiated. Tomey has filed suit against the city, saying he was retaliated against for making the complaint against Moore.

Martin worked for the Fort Myers Beach district, in various capacities, since 1992. After his resignation, he took a job with Lee County and then as the chief of fire safety for the Louisiana Office of the State Fire Marshal.

In the email exchanges with Moore and D’Andrea, Casale asked why they felt Martin’s file was “clean” and that the allegations were “unsubstantiated.”

D’Andrea explained under city policy there was a panel that interviewed Martin, who said he left his position at Fort Myers Beach for personal reasons. Background screening included a review of Martin’s driver’s license record, a physical, a drug test and two personal references, D’Andrea told Casale.

Casale, during the Oct. 15 meeting, said the city should consider hiring a headhunter to find candidates for open positions.

Fewer personnel on rescue trucks? — Delray Beach City Manager Terrence Moore warned the City Commission this summer that if a tax rate rollback was in the mix the current staffing on fire-rescue trucks might need to be reduced.

Moore told the commission he found other ways to make its “no new taxes” plan work. But in his Oct. 25 information letter to the commission, he cited a new operational analysis being done by Fire Chief Ronald Martin that may recommend that there should now be two — not three — people staffing rescue trucks.

He said in his memo that two-person trucks are now the national standard as the National Fire Protection Association has found that it would not negatively affect the community’s emergency response force.

Moore said he expects to bring a recommendation to commissioners during the next several months.

While the operational analysis initially was being driven by a new “24 hours on, 72 hours off” fire rescue schedule that starts Oct. 1, 2025, the city may not wait that long for any rescue truck staffing changes. Moore said “direction is also imminent to consider resulting adjustments during the current fiscal year.”

Long challenges $22,154 court-ordered payment — The attorney for Delray Beach Commissioner Rob Long is challenging a final order in the defamation case he filed against Chris Davey, a former chairman of the city's Planning & Zoning Board.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge James Nutt on Oct. 8 ordered that Long pay Davey $22,154 in attorneys’ fees, cost and prejudgment interest.

Attorney David K. Markarian, representing Long, filed a motion for rehearing on Oct. 23, noting Nutt’s comment at the hearing “to the appropriateness and zealousness of the undersigned’s activity in the case.”

Markarian said in the motion that the comment — if determinative — was inaccurate regarding his work and that of his firm, Jeck, Harris, Raynor & Jones.

Long filed his suit against Davey in February 2023 as he ran for office against incumbent Commissioner Julie Casale.

Davey and Long served together on the Planning and Zoning Board. Davey had used social media to say Long was corrupt and a criminal, according to the motion.

Long went on to defeat Casale — who herself was elected again earlier this year and is now vice mayor.

— John Pacenti

Train depot now city’s wellness center — Renovations at the historic Delray Beach Train Depot, which was severely damaged in a 2020 fire, are complete, with a grand reopening and ribbon-cutting set for 10 a.m. Nov. 8 at the station, 80 Depot Ave.

The city-owned station is situated north of Atlantic Avenue on the west side of Interstate 95. It was built in 1927 and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1986.

It will be home to the city’s Health and Wellness Center and Human Resources Department. Trains stopping in Delray Beach now use the Tri-Rail station off Congress Avenue south of Atlantic Avenue.

— Larry Barszewski

Correction: An earlier version of this briefs column incorrectly identified a connection between Delray Beach City Commissioner Rob Long and Chris Davey. The two served together on the city's Planning and Zoning Board. Neither Long nor Davey has served on the Downtown Development Authority governing board.

A man who the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office described as mentally ill was spotted driving recklessly at the Lake Worth Beach parking lot on State Road A1A. After seeing a deputy, the driver fled in his van south to Lantana, where he crashed through the gate at the beach at the end of Ocean Avenue.
His vehicle fell over the wall and partly onto the sand. The sheriff’s office took the man into custody.

ABOVE: The vehicle came to rest in the beach sand. The Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, just over the town line in Manalapan on the south side of Ocean Avenue, is in the background. Provided by Eddie Crockett
BELOW: John Martinache with Zuccala Wrecker Service works to remove the van. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By John Pacenti

Manalpan’s first-ever Beach Committee meeting found members grappling with what — if anything — to do about the condition of arguably the town’s most vital resource.

The Oct. 22 meeting included Town Manager Eric Marmer and the three-member committee: Commissioners Cindy McMackin, Dwight Kulwin and Elliot Bonner. The Beach Committee will make recommendations to the Town Commission about Manalapan’s stretch of sand.

Its first meeting was lively with McMackin asking pertinent questions, Kulwin showing his knowledge of beach renourishment and Bonner looking to move — if even a little bit — toward a solution.

Marmer injected a dose of hard reality. When McMackin asked if anybody knew the exact condition of the beaches, the town manager said, “They’re not in a good place.”

Manalapan is not alone. Coastal communities in Palm Beach County are grappling with beach renourishment and whether it’s worth the money. If Manalapan decided to spend $8 million over the next four years, Marmer warned, “A storm can come through and wash all of that away. ... It’s a complete gamble.”

Kulwin said there are measures the town could take in the short term that are not expensive and noted “beaches have big cycles” where sand comes and goes over decades.

“So, I think it’s important to get some perspective and be sure that this is not a cyclical problem, (but) a real problem,” Kulwin said.

Some communities allow for beach wrack to develop, forgoing raking and allowing the seaweed, grasses and invertebrates that wash ashore to cover the sand. Kulwin said such beaches — the Florida Keys are good examples — are less expensive to maintain for municipalities.

Kulwin said beach wrack attracts all types of birds and other wildlife but it is not groomed sand seen in postcards. The community, he said, needs to weigh in on what type of beach it wants.

The committee did decide to recommend Dr. Peter Bonutti — husband of Vice Mayor Simone Bonutti — to serve as a liaison with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Palm Beach County. The recommendation was approved at the commission meeting later that morning.

Peter Bonutti proved full of knowledge and told the committee the real problem was the South Lake Worth Inlet, also known as the Boynton Beach Inlet. He pointed to a 2010 study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that blamed the waterway for beach erosion to its north.

The county manages the inlet, every six years dredging sand that has accumulated and placing it along the beach in Ocean Ridge, south of the inlet. There is a curved barrier that keeps some sand from moving to the north of the inlet.

“According to the federal government, they are literally destroying our beaches here in Manalapan — specifically Manalapan — which is where the turtles nest, which is critical to our wildlife,” Bonutti said.

Marmer said he would also research how much it would cost to bring on a consultant to assess the beach. He said he would have the information at the next meeting. He welcomed Bonutti’s help.

“I just need to be clear that we have to not only hire a consultant, we would have to hire a coastal management person here,” Marmer said. “I don’t have the staff or the capacity to handle all these issues.”

One phase of the work, along State Road A1A just south of the Boynton Inlet, is nearing completion. Jerry Lower/ The Coastal Star

By John Pacenti

To steal a lyric, every plan is a prayer to Father Time. And that is no truer than when municipalities meticulously plan an infrastructure project only to discover what lies under the ground are surprises that derail, delay and defeat.

And thus is the case with Ocean Ridge’s replacement of its aging water pipes.

Town Manager Lynne Ladner told commissioners at their Oct. 7 meeting that issues were cropping up on Ocean Ridge’s southernmost island on Inlet Cay and River Drive as they connect to State Road A1A where work is already being done.

As the contractor installed the connection on the north side of River Drive at A1A, it was discovered that the steel piping that goes down River Drive is extremely corroded. “We’ve had a couple of different emergency breaks in the last couple of months due to the condition of these pipes,” Ladner said.

Complicating matters is that the fire hydrants on River Drive are barely meeting the required standard of 1,425 gallons per minute.

“But if anybody wants to do remodeling or one vacant lot on River decides to build, then it will be substandard because their minimum now for any new construction is 1,500 gallons per minute,” Ladner said.

And then came the rub. The town could save between $50,000 and $75,000 if the River Drive and Inlet Cay pipes were replaced now because the contractor for the A1A work has the needed drill bit on site.

But the cost of doing that road would come in at $695,000 and for the commission to do a change order of that magnitude — under the law — it needs to put the work out for bid again.

Mayor Geoff Pugh got frustrated after Vice Mayor Steve Coz and Commissioner Ainar Aijala Jr. started playing engineer — and even a resident joined in — and terms like “drill shot,” “drill bit thrower” and “pulling pipe” started being bandied about.

“I want to see a town engineer in front of us. OK, I want to see the research,” Pugh said.

And so it came to be that Town Engineer Lisa Tropepe appeared before the commission at a special meeting on Oct. 21. And she spoke the gospel from the book of municipal infrastructure.

“We thought it was going to be an extremely difficult project because of all the underground infrastructure, the lack of plans to show all of that underground infrastructure, and we really didn’t know every single connection to the residential properties on either side of the road,” she said of A1A.

Despite it all, Ocean Ridge is beating Murphy’s Law for the moment. The A1A project is ahead of schedule and under budget, she said.

Ladner and Tropepe proposed that the A1A project take on additional work on Inlet Cay Drive from A1A to River Drive. The steel pipe on the stretch is the same as the steel pipe on A1A. The addition to the current project would cost no more than $300,000 and would not have to go out for bid.

The commission approved the strategy, authorizing the town to negotiate with the current contractor.

It also approved for staff to commence design of the next phase of the project to address replacing the most corroded pipes in the town — such as on River Drive — for $925,000.

Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy said she is working with the town’s new lobbyist to try to get the Florida Legislature to appropriate some money to fix the town’s water pipe woes.

The Legislature has been open to helping coastal communities, many of which are replacing their pipes.

Tropepe told commissioners she had just returned from Italy and what she took away from an engineering standpoint was, “You better take care of your infrastructure, or else civilization is not going to survive.”

A man arrested in Georgia for the Sept. 20 murder of two people in a Boca Raton hotel parking lot on State Road A1A was extradited and placed in the Palm Beach County Jail on Oct. 4.

De’Vante LaShawn Moss, 30, of Boynton Beach, is being held without bond on two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm and one count of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm in connection with the shootings at 365 Ocean, an extended-stay hotel at 365 N. Ocean Blvd., a few blocks north of Palmetto Park Road.

Court records show Moss has also been charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Moss is accused of killing Christopher Liszak, 49, and Chandler Dill, 32, both of Oakland Park, who had been staying at the hotel in separate rooms. He is also charged with the attempted murder of Tuan Duy Hoang Ho, 41, who was taken to Delray Medical Center, where he was treated for multiple gunshot wounds, admitted to the trauma ICU and later released, police said. No place of residence was provided for Ho, whose name had been withheld by police because he was a witness, but which appeared in court records.

The next hearing date in the case has been scheduled for Dec. 5 in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.

— Larry Barszewski

By John Pacenti

The resident who declared war on Ocean Ridge’s height restriction on hedges said the Town Clerk’s Office put him and his family in danger by telling police that he made a threatening comment while dropping off a permit application.

The clerk’s office, however, insists that Jay Wallshein made a threatening remark.

Wallshein and his two children, ages 5 and 2, were in the backyard of a house he is renting on Island Drive South when police arrived at 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 11. His mother-in-law, who is from Kazakhstan and doesn’t speak English, was too frightened to open the door, he said. One officer, Jimmy Pilon, left a business card.

Wallshein said the situation was akin to the clerk’s office swatting him — that is, calling the police under false pretenses to intimidate a person. “It’s bullying,” he said.

“They’re coming to the house. They have guns on them, they are armed, and they think that I made a threat, or they are suggesting or considering the possibility of it,” Wallshein said. “This is how people get hurt and die.”

In September, the town apologized to Wallshein for forcing him to cut his 16-foot clusia hedges at the home he is renovating on Marlin Drive.

After receiving a citation for his hedges, Wallshein went around town cataloging and filing complaints on every residence with a hedge over 6 feet. Town Attorney Christy Goddeau then discovered Ocean Ridge actually had no restriction on hedge heights.

Wallshein has asked for repayment for the mistake. He says a bulldozer had to be brought in to remove the cut-down vegetation, tearing up the lawn and his sprinkler system. He says his backyard now “looks like the face of the moon.”

Town Clerk Kelly Avery, responding to statements Wallshein made in a story published about the dispute in early October in The Coastal Star, said Wallshein was not truthful about their interactions, making her look bad.

“Like I’m just sitting here taking money and doing whatever, that I don’t care about this town,” Avery said. “I care about this town very much.”

Town Manager Lynne Ladner said no formal complaint was made from the clerk’s office to the police.

“The clerk did speak to others, including the police chief, about the concerns that the front office staff had in relation to the frequent and not always positive interactions that they were having with Mr. Wallshein,” she said.

Ladner added, “He does seem intent on utilizing a large amount of the town staff’s time for issues that he is bringing forward.”

Police Chief Scott McClure said clerk office employees Lindsay Winters and Danielle Buzzetta told police Wallshein made a comment about the bulletproof glass and how “somebody could shoot through it.”

“I had a sergeant and officer go there to make contact to say, ‘Hey, did you say this? And if you did, you know that’s not an appropriate thing to say in a public building,’” McClure said. He said Wallshein didn’t break the law since his alleged comment wasn’t implicitly about violence.

When Wallshein discovered Pilon’s business card at his door, he called the officer back and heard about the accusation. Wallshein told the officer he commented on the glass because he was installing glass at his Marlin Drive home and that he never said anything remotely threatening.

“It’s their word against his word at this point, but it’s a moot point for me,” McClure said.

Maybe not.

Wallshein on Oct. 16 went back to Town Hall to discuss the matter with Avery, videoing the interaction. Avery had another clerk employee taking notes by pen and paper of the interaction.

In the video, Wallshein asks Avery about the complaint to the police.

“No complaints were made about you,” Avery says.

“Two cops don’t just show up at your house unless there is a complaint,” Wallshein responds. “It’s called swatting.”

Wallshein continues, “I make a comment saying, ‘Wow, that’s a beautiful piece of glass,’ and someone says I’m nervous, and two cops show up. That’s weird.”

Avery responds, “I don’t believe that was the comments that were made.”

Wallshein asks for a meeting with Avery and Ladner, at a later time, saying, “I don’t think you would like two police officers showing up at your house.”

“No I wouldn’t,” Avery says.

Wallshein then asks Avery “Did I ever use a threat here?”

She says, “Nope.”

Wallshein then asks, “Have I always been congenial?” Avery’s answer cannot be heard clearly in the video.

Avery on the video is trying to move Wallshein along, saying she has work to do. Her comments, thus, may have been designed to appease him so he left. She did not return an email seeking comment on the video.

Wallshein said the accusation remains absurd. The day of the alleged threat he was in casual attire and just asked a general question while dropping off a permit application.

“I have a family in Ocean Ridge, right? Two kids, one’s 5, the other is 2 years old — like the least conspicuous person you think of for, you know, being a threat.”

The road and drainage project in Gulf Stream is gathering steam after a slow start because of high water, permitting issues and a pause in October for Hurricane Milton. ABOVE: Workers prepare to install curbing at the intersection of Polo Drive and Old School Road. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Force also trained on handgun conversions

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream’s police force is eagerly waiting for free software and hardware to arrive to check for security weaknesses at the Gulf Stream School.

Police Chief Richard Jones applied for the school safety grant from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and “it appears, based on the grant award, that we were the first agency in Florida to be awarded the grant.”

Officer Vincentina Nowicki was handed the new assignment and has already been trained to conduct security risk assessments and use the new computerized program.

The state money, Jones said, will also let his department build an operational plan “that is relevant to how the school would respond in a critical incident in conjunction with the Police Department.”

Mayor Scott Morgan was happy to hear of the grant, whose amount was not released. “Good job, Chief. I think the school and particularly the parents will be very pleased to hear that,” he said.

Jones had already advised Head of School Gray Smith that the security grant money was on the way.

“We are going to talk more about how we work together to continue making it a safer and better environment for our students as well as the community,” Jones said.

FBI offers tips
The grant is another step in a growing partnership between the Gulf Stream School and the Police Department.

In mid-July the school gave Jones meeting space for an FBI specialist to give officers from the town, Ocean Ridge and five more agencies tips on how to recognize handguns that had been converted to much deadlier automatic weapons.

Jones had learned about the alterations weeks before as one of 70 law enforcement officers invited to an FBI-hosted conference “to see things that we might not be aware of.” He was shocked to learn that bad guys can buy a 3D printer online, download plans from the internet and make a pistol that will last for a few shots.

What’s worse, they can use the same process to manufacture a small, snap-in part that turns a revolver into an automatic weapon. Just possessing that part is a federal crime, Jones said. Hence the need for local officers to be able to recognize the part when they make a traffic stop.

This year has seen a number of gun seizures in Gulf Stream, with four unsecured weapons confiscated from vehicles on State Road A1A in the three-month span from April 8 to July 3. The guns were observed “in plain view” on a center console and a passenger-side floorboard, as well as under the driver seat and in a satchel in the backseat.

Ocean Ridge Police Chief Scott McClure, who sent six officers to the ATF seminar, called the existence of 3D-converted automatic handguns “very scary.” His department seized three unconverted weapons in 2024, two last year and six in 2022.

Other attendees were from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Atlantic University police, Atlantis, Palm Beach Gardens and Lake Clarke Shores. 

Police captain promoted
Gulf Stream Police Capt. John Haseley, who joined the department in 1992, was promoted to deputy chief as of Oct. 1, swapping the two gold bars on his shirt collar for two gold stars. His badge has been updated to show the new rank.

His salary was not changed because of the promotion, but he received the same 4% cost-of-living-adjustment as other officers. Haseley now makes $150,780 a year, while Chief Jones receives $152,100.

Rank-and-file officers were given a $4,000 salary bump in addition to the COLA.

After Hurricane Milton exited Florida late Oct. 10, it left behind optimal surf conditions south of the Boca Raton Inlet. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Related: Carlisle and Eau open doors to Tampa evacuees from storm; Briny Breezes: County orders evacuation of manufactured and mobile homes as hurricane approaches

By Rich Pollack

With Hurricane Milton still several hours away, the small group of Briny Breezes residents who stayed home despite being urged to evacuate weren’t about to let expected tropical force winds stand in the way of the regular afternoon social hour.

“A bunch of us went down and watched the ocean and talked a bit” on the porch of the oceanfront clubhouse, said Briny Breezes Mayor Ted Gross. “Everyone was prepared.”

The town, like most of the other coastal communities in south Palm Beach County, saw little or no impact from Hurricane Milton, which made landfall later that day, Oct. 9 near Sarasota.

“We prepared for the worst and the best happened,” said Gross, who along with several other residents of the mostly mobile home community hunkered down despite a county evacuation order.

“We have a decent amount of communication with one another,” Gross said, adding that he and other residents were ready to leave if it appeared a change in Milton’s path would have a greater chance of affecting the town.

 Law enforcement personnel were out in force when a boat carrying migrants beached in the 4000 block of North Ocean Boulevard in Gulf Stream on Oct. 9 ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall on Florida’s west coast later that day. Authorities said 11 migrants were taken into custody. The boat was removed the following day. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Just to the south of Briny Breezes that same afternoon, Boynton Beach fire rescue personnel and other agencies responded to the arrival of a boat with refugees coming ashore.

Gulf Stream Police Chief Richard Jones said that 11 migrants were taken into custody at about 4 p.m. in the 4000 block of North Ocean Boulevard after the boat beached near the Ballantrae condominiums. Gulf Stream police assisted in the effort along with other first responder agencies including those in Delray Beach and Ocean Ridge.

Elsewhere along the coast, Highland Beach Fire Chief Glenn Joseph said his department responded to some downed and arcing power lines on State Road A1A due to Milton, while in Delray Beach and Gulf Stream officials said damage was limited to a tree branch or two in the streets.

Boca Raton also emerged from the storm in good shape.

“All generally OK and grateful for it,” Mayor Scott Singer said in a text message.

“No major impacts at all,” said city spokeswoman Ileana Olmsted in an email.

This half-sunken sailboat at Sportsman’s Park Marina in Lantana crashed into the sea wall because of the wind from Hurricane Milton. This photo was taken Oct. 10, when the storm’s approach spawned tornadoes to the north and west. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Officials in Manalapan, Lantana and South Palm Beach reported little or no issues with beach erosion — with the storm coming from the west — or with street flooding as a result of minimal rainfall.

Much of the focus was on Milton itself, but a tornado spawned in one of the hurricane’s outer bands was blamed for multiple deaths in a Fort Pierce-area senior mobile home community that was similar in many ways to Briny Breezes.

In Palm Beach County, other tornadoes caused destructive damage in parts of Wellington and Palm Beach Gardens.

Jay Kelley (left) and his wife, Jo Bennett, help Briny Breezes resident Holly McCarthy secure her home on Oct. 8 after Palm Beach County urged evacuation for people living in mobile or manufactured homes. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

That potential threat led some in Briny Breezes to heed the county’s evacuation notice announced Oct. 8 for people living in mobile and manufactured homes.

The order from county leaders was all that was needed to persuade Holly McCarthy to fasten her shutters and flee to Lake Worth Beach and stay with a friend.

“She wasn’t going to leave until they told her it was mandatory,” said friend Jo Bennett. Bennett and her husband, Jay Kelley, helped McCarthy prepare to leave.

Briny Breezes sent information to residents encouraging evacuation, but added that police would not be forcing anyone to leave. The town urged residents choosing to stay to shelter in one of a handful of bathhouses in the park because they are more secure than the community’s mobile homes.

Mary Thurwachter, Jerry Lower, John Pacenti, Mary Hladky, Brian Biggane and Steve Plunkett contributed to this story.

By Rich Pollack

With Hurricane Milton bearing down on them and a new evacuation order issued, the team at Tampa’s Estate at Hyde Park memory-care facility knew it needed to flee — and fast.

So, at 5 p.m. Oct. 8, the day before the storm was expected to batter Florida’s west coast, the staff packed up about 50 residents and their belongings — and about as many staff members — loaded up two large coaches and headed east.

Nine hours later — at 2 a.m. — the buses rolled into the parking lot of the Carlisle Palm Beach in Lantana, where they were greeted with open arms by several staff members who had been anticipating their arrival.

“It was all hands on deck,” said Carlisle General Manager Jim Alexander. “We all came in to get them settled.”

Related: South County catches break during Hurricane Milton

The Carlisle, a luxury senior living center tucked between the Intracoastal Waterway and the ocean, was able to house 35 of the Hyde Park residents as well as 11 staff members, while the remaining residents and staff from the Tampa center took refuge at the five-star Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, across State Road A1A in Manalapan.

‘It went off without a hitch’
“We were able to accommodate around 30 evacuees from Florida’s west coast, providing a comfortable place to stay,” an Eau spokesperson said.

While the people from Estate at Hyde Park were here — they returned to Tampa Oct. 11 — the Carlisle provided all the meals and laundry facilities, as well as just about anything else that was needed.

Senior facilities helping each other is not uncommon, with Alexander saying that most, including the Carlisle, have a reciprocal agreement with three or four other facilities they can turn to in a crisis.

This situation was a little different, he said.

“The Estate at Hyde Park wasn’t on our list but it didn’t matter,” he said, adding that he and his team learned of the Tampa facility’s need through their corporate office. “We had the capacity and it went off without a hitch.”

Alexander credited the staffs at both Hyde Park and the Carlisle for ensuring that everything turned out well.

“They brought their staff members, who were well in tune with their residents,” Alexander said. “We had good systems in place and our whole staff did an incredible job.”

Christy Gray, executive director at the Estate at Hyde Park, said that thanks to the help her team received from both the Carlisle and its corporate parent, Bridge Senior Living, the stay was seamless with no disruption to the seniors’ daily routines.

“It truly was a team effort, and this collaboration allowed us to keep our residents safe, comfortable and well cared for,” Gray said.

As for the Estate at Hyde Park, its facilities weathered the storm just fine.

Turtle refugees, too
Coastal South Palm Beach County served as a refuge for some from the west coast who fled the earlier Hurricane Helene — although not all were human.

Several sea turtles from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium arrived at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton in late September after the facility that housed them suffered severe flood damage.

The turtles — six green sea turtles, a Kemp’s ridley and some hatchings — are being cared for by the nonprofit Coastal Stewards’ Sea Turtle Rehabilitation and Release Program until they can be returned to Clearwater.

By Brian Biggane

The South Palm Beach Town Council voted at its October meeting to solicit applications for its vacant fifth seat, conduct interviews among applicants at its Nov. 12 meeting and make an appointment by the end of the meeting.

Applicants have until 2 p.m. Nov. 6 to apply. Anyone seeking appointment must be a town resident for at least a year and be a registered voter.

There was much discussion among council members regarding a quote from Vice Mayor Monte Berendes in the October edition of The Coastal Star that someone had “put their hat in the ring,” with Council member Elva Culbertson stating that would violate the Sunshine Law. Town Attorney Ben Saver said that was not the case as the Sunshine Law applies only to members currently serving.

Town Manager Jamie Titcomb said an application had in fact been received in the spring, but the applicant had been told the vacancy would not be filled at that time.

Culbertson said anyone applying for the position should be required to have attended at least six council meetings a year, but Berendes said no one in town would meet that requirement as most meetings draw only a handful of people.

One resident of the Barclay condo said she understood people were reluctant to apply because of the Form 6 financial disclosure. Mayor Bonnie Fischer said Form 6 is being contested in court and thus is not a requirement at this time.

As the discussion concluded, Rafael Pineiro, a two-year resident of the Palmsea condominium, said he would be interested in the position.

Presentation postponed — A presentation by Town Planner Walter Keller regarding the South Palm Beach Comprehensive Plan was postponed until the November meeting.

Budget report — Ron Bennett, who serves as the accountant for the town, reported that interest earnings were approximately $220,000 over budget, due in large part to a decision the council made several months ago to move its savings into an account with a significantly higher interest rate.

Bennett reported that the only department that was over budget was Public Works, because repairs and maintenance expenses were higher than projected.
The council voted to write off approximately $700 in accounts receivable, as Bennett said most of the charges dated back several years and thus were difficult to track.

Grant returned — Town Manager Jamie Titcomb reported that the town had decided to return a $75,000 Florida Department of Environmental Protection Vulnerability Grant, stating that it had become “kind of an albatross,” was requested by the previous administration and was no longer feasible.

Town Attorney Ben Saver said he had told Titcomb that a requirement of the grant was to go through the process of requesting bids for a consultant, doing the hiring and then having the consultant do much of the work the town expects to have done in hiring a Fort Lauderdale firm to design and build the new Town Hall.

Fischer attends beach meeting — Mayor Bonnie Fischer reported she had attended the 67th annual meeting of the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association in Bonita Springs in an effort to stay abreast of technology regarding sand replacement.

South Palm Beach has a tentative agreement with the town of Palm Beach to receive a shipment of sand for its beaches in January.

— Brian Biggane

Lindsay Hays Saraj and her husband, John Saraj, have made Highland Beach their residential home and Delray Beach the home of their bakery cafe, Paris Baguette. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

John Saraj has a background in hospitality while wife, Lindsay Hays Saraj, has spent her career in public relations and marketing. When the Highland Beach couple decided to open a cafe not long ago, they decided on a chain that had no previous presence in South Florida.

The result was Paris Baguette, a bright and airy bakery on Federal Highway just south of Linton Boulevard and Trader Joe’s plaza in Delray Beach. The chain has two other locations in the state, in Winter Park and Winter Garden.

“We looked in a variety of places and felt like this area didn’t have anything like this,” said Lindsay.

“We had a big patio here and the location is pretty accessible,” she said. “We get people who appreciate what we’re doing and the artisanal aspect of this. Once they come, they come back. They’ll say, ‘We wish we had this in Miami.’”

Lindsay grew up in the Midwest but had moved to New York when the couple was married. After having their first of two children, they decided seven years ago they would prefer to raise their family in South Florida and found their spot in Highland Beach.

The restaurant space was vacant when they found it in a small shopping plaza. The bakery opened in April and is gearing up for its first season.

Aside from the rows of brightly lit pastries and confections, Lindsay is proud of a mural that covers the entire south wall. It depicts several aspects of life in Delray Beach, from tennis to golf to the bridges spanning the Intracoastal Waterway to people strolling Atlantic Avenue.

Having the bakery minutes from the family home and easily accessible from the barrier island helped the decision to locate in Delray Beach.

“The access to other towns [was good] and it had plenty of parking,” Lindsay Saraj said. “We were very excited to bring the products here, because we think they’re incredible.

We thought the community would love it and we hope they do. It’s near where we live, our kids loving coming here, we love doing sweets and hope the community enjoys it.”

— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: Growing up in the Midwest, in Carmel, Indiana, a great town to grow up in, I was surrounded by a lot of family-oriented, down-to-earth people, with a “do what you say” kind of mentality. It has influenced me in my personal and professional life to be forthright and hardworking.
I majored in both communications and business at Miami University in Ohio. Writing came naturally to me and I loved people, so public relations was a better route. I love having clients, connecting with them, and finding their needs, and I learned a lot about business as well.
When later I studied abroad in Luxembourg, I not only furthered my love of literature, but my interest in freshly baked sweets.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I’ve had a lifelong career in public relations and marketing. After hooking up with a global firm, Weber Shandwick, right out of college, I started my own PR firm in Chicago, working with a variety of restaurants, hotels and talented chefs. Chicago is an amazing town and there are a lot of marketing and communication opportunities. ... Eventually my repertoire expanded, but I’ve always had a soft spot for the hospitality industry.
One of the professional accomplishments I’m most proud of is opening Paris Baguette in Delray. It feels like a culmination of many things: serving our community, a business with my husband that brings joy to others and one that our children can enjoy as well.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: Pursue your passions. If you do what you love or comes naturally, you won’t feel like you’re working. This coupled with hard work and determination is a recipe for success and fulfillment.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Highland Beach?
A: We explored up and down the east coast of Florida and we felt like this beach town was so special, a true gem.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in Highland Beach?
A: The mix of beach and Intracoastal access on the barrier island is unique. The people are warm and friendly, and I can honestly say we feel lucky to call it home every day. 

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I’m reading it for the book club I’m a part of, with other tennis players (and this book happens to be about tennis). It’s interesting because I picked it up before it was even assigned in our book club. It’s about a tennis player who is ranked No. 1 or 2 in the world, who is past her prime but then gets pushed to make a comeback.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: I love a wide range of music and listen to it throughout the day. Everything from rock, chill house music, to dancing to Rihanna with my daughter, to Billy Joel, Queen, and I can’t leave out ’80s hits.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: Through some of my inspirational work events such as TEDx Events and Women’s Entrepreneurship Day I’ve been inspired by female leaders determined to evolve and innovate. Clients that have put a lot of trust in me through the years certainly keep me activated, and my parents and family taught me about civility and grace. 
I’m very self-driven but also always wanted to have someone to look up to. If there’s one person I could name it would be Maye Musk. Her story is inspirational because she figured out different ways to be successful on her own and support her family. She’s raised interesting children, written a book, and signed with IMG Models after the age of 70.

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?
A: I have no idea! The actress I can remember being told I resemble is a woman who was big in the ’70s; her name is spelled the same as mine, Lindsay Wagner.

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: Watching our son make impressions and be silly.

Smart traffic signals that coordinate flow may be able to help with the typical congestion on Atlantic Avenue in downtown Delray Beach. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By John Pacenti

The tourist season is almost upon us and Delray Beach’s Atlantic Avenue — like a bear coming out of hibernation — will soon roar to life.

Foot traffic will rival that at Disney World. Good luck with restaurant reservations. And local motorists will curse aloud, finding themselves on Atlantic, stuck in the traffic equivalent of lava, possibly wondering if they are destined to be discovered — still clutching the wheel — in the faraway future by archeologists.

Could new technology be the salvation?

Delray Beach Mayor Tom Carney said he is pursuing a pilot of smart traffic lights to relieve congestion on Atlantic Avenue, recently setting up a meeting with city staff and the Florida Department of Transportation.

Using old and new technology, smart signals employ sensors to collect data and modify the timing of signals according to traffic volume and velocity. Smart signals also can be used by emergency vehicles and public transportation to get them through faster, and even provide data that newer cars can use to provide drivers with better route suggestions.

“When I was running for office, one of the things I heard the most was, you know, what are we going to do about the traffic? The traffic is terrible both from a vehicular and a pedestrian experience, right?” Carney said.

At the same time, he heard about how Palm Beach County was planning test pilot programs of smart signals.

County Commissioner Gregg Weiss said there will be one pilot program in Palm Beach Gardens along Hood Road and State Road A1A. Another is planned for Okeechobee Boulevard east of Interstate 95 in West Palm Beach. The state is also planning to install smart signals on State Road 7, he said.

With more high-rise development nearer the coast, cities like Delray Beach, West Palm Beach and Boca Raton are each looking at one main east-west artery into their downtowns — Atlantic Avenue, Okeechobee Boulevard and Palmetto Park Road, respectively.

Weiss said there is simply no way to build more lanes on those roads; the rights-of-way don’t exist.

“If we’re going to try to move people more efficiently and in a way that is better for the environment, then we are going to have to do some things differently,” Weiss said. “Technology is one of the ways to help us to do that in managing our traffic networks.”

Smart traffic lights use old technologies (cameras) with new (artificial intelligence) to determine the quantity and type of vehicles on the roadway.

Carney said he reached out to Palm Beach County shortly before his election in March.

“I think Atlantic Avenue is the best test area you can have because it has all the features that you’re worried about,” Carney said. “You’re worried about traffic, you’re worried about cross-traffic, you’re worried about the safety of pedestrians.”

Weiss said there was no county money this year for another pilot. Yet, as luck would have it, Carney was at an event when he ran into County Commissioner Marci Woodward, who the mayor said is heavily involved in transportation issues.

Woodward arranged a meeting with Delray Beach staffers and FDOT at the mayor’s office in late September. FDOT officials explained to the city the criteria they needed and that Delray Beach would indeed be a great test area, Carney said.

“So it’s evolving,” Carney said. “We are waiting to hear back but there is dialogue going back and forth.”

Public Works Director Missie Barletto, in an Oct. 17 email to City Manager Terrence Moore, said FDOT’s liaisons to the city were assigned hurricane recovery duties. “Once they return to the regularly assigned duties, we will be working with them to coordinate these ideas into the Swinton and Atlantic Intersection Improvement Project,” she wrote.

The discussion between FDOT and the city was to use smart signals on Atlantic from Congress Avenue east to A1A. Carney said he is excited to see how smart traffic lights can help the intersection at Swinton and Atlantic, the source of many backups.

The smart signals are pedestrian-friendly and will respond to foot traffic, decreasing jaywalking, “because the lights will be responsive as opposed to waiting to cross for two minutes when there is no traffic,” Carney said.

Weiss said public transportation would also be able to use smart signals to be more time-efficient.

The length of a bus trip would be shorter, giving people more incentive to use public transportation. That would decrease the number of cars on the road and reduce pollution, Weiss said.

As viewed from the Intracoastal Waterway, one of the homes in the Bluewater Cove portion of Place Au Soleil will be two stories. Rendering provided

By Steve Plunkett

The second of two Bluewater Cove houses on the Intracoastal Waterway has, as predicted, two stories fronting the water, and the empty parcel just to the north will be home to two mangrove nurseries.

The new residence will be a 6,967-square-foot single-family home in the Anglo-Caribbean style with a three-car garage and swimming pool.

Getting the OK to build a sea wall and 5-foot-wide docks for that home and the other Bluewater Cove waterfront property was arduous, developer Paul Courchene told the Gulf Stream Town Commission on Oct. 11.

“It took us over 3½ years to get the Army Corps of Engineers’ approval,” he said.

Neil Wood, an engineer with Delray Beach-based Sea Diversified Inc., said part of their proposal included changes to the Florida Inland Navigation District acreage to the north of the 14-home development in Place Au Soleil.

“We needed to provide mitigation for the removal of some black and red mangroves, so on the FIND property we have these two mangrove planters which are, combined, about 1,400 square feet,” Wood said. “They’ll be planted with 1-foot or 1½-foot staggered red and black mangroves.”

These nurseries will be at the north and south ends of the FIND parcel, with rock revetment in between sloping down to the water.

After their brief presentation, Mayor Scott Morgan called for votes to permit the bulkhead, revetment and home construction on a portion of the town on the west side of the Intracoastal.

“We don’t want to hold you up any more than the federal government has,” Morgan said.

Cary Glickstein, also on the development team, told commissioners last December that he expected both Bluewater Cove houses on the Intracoastal would be two stories, but the people who bought the first waterfront lot opted for a one-story, 6,343-square-foot Georgian-style home.

The land that is now Bluewater Cove was previously owned by FIND, which swapped its waterfront acreage with the Gulf Stream Golf Club, which then sold the property to the developer of the street. FIND commonly keeps its land undeveloped to use as storage sites for ICW dredging.