Willa and Violet Sheldon of Hypoluxo Island sold lemonade to raise money for children in war-torn Ukraine. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

Local kids are showing their compassion for Ukraine’s children by raising money and awareness through a variety of projects and events.
The Sheldon sisters Violet, 7, and Willa, 3, of Hypoluxo Island in Lantana went old-school with a lemonade stand fundraiser on a sweltering day in March.
Hayley Sheldon, the girls’ mom, said Violet had asked about the bright blue and yellow flags she was seeing in the neighbors’ yards. “I thought, ‘she doesn’t really have to know that at age 7,’ so I told her in the most age-appropriate terms about the war.”
It’s funny how kids connect one thing to another, Hayley said. A few weeks before, Violet had read an American Girl book about a girl who had raised money for the polio vaccine back in the 1950s. Experts say reading books with empathetic characters encourages self-acceptance, which leads to accepting others.
“Violet really has a big heart,” Hayley said. The Sheldon family sponsors a child in Haiti who has become Violet’s pen pal, and she loves volunteering to fill shoe boxes for charity.
Violet had always wanted to do a lemonade stand, and Willa always wants to do what Violet is doing, and since it was spring break, the timing was right for the multiple-day project. One day they made their colorful signs offering homemade lemonade. The next day they made their lemonade from scratch, squeezing the lemons and adding just the right amount of sweetener.
The next day, Violet loaded up their little red wagon and she and Willa set up the stand out in the driveway.
In two hours, the girls sold out of lemonade, and they’d raised $300. Violet told her mom that she wanted to give the money to the kids of Ukraine, so they chose the international charity UNICEF and earmarked the money for Ukraine.
“I’m proud of my girls, but I’m so proud of the community,” Hayley said. “People were calling neighbors to come out and see the lemonade stand. Most people didn’t even buy lemonade. They just made a donation. I’m so glad the girls got that positive reinforcement.”
After the sale, Violet told her mother, “I’m so happy I could cry.”
Violet wasn’t the only local kid working to raise awareness and money for children in Ukraine, or the only person overwhelmed by the response.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi asked Delray Beach resident Kiki Casale to join her at the podium. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in Palm Beach County in mid-March to talk about the federal government’s $19 billion investment in Florida’s infrastructure, she spoke near the broken George Bush Boulevard drawbridge in Delray Beach (stuck in the up position until late April).
Kiki Casale, 12, was there handing out Ukrainian flags to raise money for the American Red Cross’s humanitarian work in Ukraine. Kiki proved that someone can make a clear statement without uttering a word when she handed Pelosi a Ukrainian flag. That earned Kiki an invitation to join Pelosi on stage. The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives said:
“Let me begin by saluting Kiki again for giving us the flag to remind us that children are suffering, that people are fighting for democracy in Ukraine,” Pelosi said. “Tell them what you are doing, Kiki.”
Without missing a beat, Kiki told Pelosi and a crowd of other elected officials and guests, “So we are gathering … still are gathering donations for the Ukrainian children going through funding programs. We are giving out flags today to spread the word, but we don’t need donations today since we are — have been very successful. And we’re just hoping that we can get out of this humanitarian crisis, because it’s very horrible and nobody should be going through this, especially not children.”
That earned the young woman a big hug from Pelosi, and it’s worth noting that Pelosi and Kiki were color-coordinated in Ukraine blue.
If Kiki Casale sounds like a born politician, she comes by it honestly: Kiki’s mom is Juli Casale, the deputy vice mayor of Delray Beach.

Bella Nazzaro belts out ’Not for the Life of Me’ from the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie on her way to winning the middle school vocal category at the 18th annual Future Stars Performing Arts Competition sponsored by the Rotary Club of Boca Raton. Bella, 12, is the daughter of Trey and Khrysti Nazzaro of Lake Worth. The competition included 72 middle and high school vocalists and dancers from Broward and Palm Beach counties. Co-chair Julie Vianale said the event was more emotional than previous ones because last year’s was canceled due to the pandemic. Students interested in next year’s competition can email bocarotaryfuturestars@gmail.com. Photo provided by Christina Pelino

The living room is welcoming, from the fireplace to the arched French doors that open to maximize the pleasant breezes from the Intracoastal. Photos provided

This fabulous Spanish Colonial-style, six-bedroom, custom-designed estate has 12,914 +/- total square feet. It features handsome wood-beamed ceilings and clay-tile flooring that were reclaimed from a French villa. The Intracoastal Waterway is the backdrop throughout ... from the reception foyer and grand stair hall through the formal garden-view dining room that connects via a butler’s pantry and wine room to the Intracoastal-view breakfast room.

A library, also with an Intracoastal view, features a wood-beamed ceiling, wood floor and custom built-ins.

The family room and center-island kitchen, which is fitted with custom wood cabinets, granite counters, tile back splashes, two pantry closets, a menu station and professional-grade appliances, are on the first floor. Also there is a guest bedroom suite that could serve as an office.

The master suite upstairs has a separate seating area and custom-fitted closets.

Upstairs, French doors in the primary bedroom suite open to a balcony overlooking the pool and Intracoastal, and the suite’s dressing area accesses a large walk-in custom-fitted closet and two spa-inspired luxury bathrooms, one with French doors that open to a private sunroom. Two guest bedroom suites and the VIP suite complete the second-floor layout.

A first-floor sunroom and second-floor master suite overlook the pool with views of the Intracoastal Waterway.

A guest house is accessed via a hallway from the main house or its separate entry, and a garage accommodates three cars. Additional amenities include impact-glass windows and doors, full-house generator and water softener systems, a Creston system, two 75-gallon hot-water heaters, central vacuum system, two laundry rooms in the main house and a washer and dryer in the guest house.

Located on Palm Trail on an abundantly landscaped half-acre, the home is directly on the Intracoastal Waterway.

The Intracoastal dock can accommodate a 20,000-pound craft and has a lift that can hold a smaller vessel or jet skis.

Offered at $14,495,000 by The Pascal Liguori Group, 900 E. Atlantic Avenue, Delray Beach, FL 33483. PascalLiguoriGroup.com or 561-789-8300.

Each month, The Coastal Star features a house for sale in our community. The House of the Month is presented as a service to our advertisers and provides readers with a peek inside one of our homes.

By Larry Barszewski

The George Bush Boulevard in Delray Beach is able to raise and lower its spans again after being stuck in the open position for the past eight weeks.

The drawbridge has been deemed safe and re-opened Friday afternoon, April 29, Palm Beach County officials said.

“All replacement components have been fabricated and installed. Three weeks of extensive testing and an inspection period followed while the mechanics of the bridge were continuously adjusted and fine-tuned,” the county announcement said. “Intermittent bridge closures are to be expected as continued monitoring is planned.”

The bridge has been unavailable to vehicular traffic since March 3, when it malfunctioned during an evening opening because of damage to a main shaft and gear section of the drive system. Boat traffic continued unimpeded.

A replacement shaft for the 1949 bascule bridge was fabricated March 11 and tested with the existing gear, but a structural engineering consulting firm determined other drive shaft machinery components, including a damaged bearing, also needed to be replaced, causing the longer delay.

There could be a longer closure in the bridge’s future if the county determines the whole bridge needs to be replaced. After the March breakdown, county engineering and public works teams said they were considering the possibility of conducting a $1 million bridge replacement evaluation.

The broken bridge brought a visit from U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who stood in front of the bridge March 19 and talked about how the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by Congress in November could be used to help with such needed repairs across Florida and the country.

HIGHLAND BEACH — Distinguished dermatologist Dr. Thomas P. Nigra died March 21 from heart failure. He was 80.
The creator — and, for 43 years, chairman — of the Department of Dermatology at the
Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., he conducted pioneering clinical research on minoxidil as a treatment for hair loss and on the use of phototherapy for the treatment of a variety of skin disorders, including psoriasis.
A winner of that institution’s Gold-Headed Cane Award for a doctor who has “demonstrated the highest standards of scientific excellence and integrity,” Dr. Nigra mentored hundreds of residents and fellows in the residency program he initiated in the 1980s. He also diagnosed the first case of Kaposi sarcoma, often a manifestation of AIDS, in the Washington metropolitan area.
Apart from the hospital, he maintained a private practice at his historic house in Georgetown, using the same detached professional office Dr. Joshua Riley, a highly regarded 19th-century physician, built and used as a clinic and school for medical students.
Although The Washington Post once described Dr. Nigra’s practice there as one of “dowagers and diplomats,” it included many patients who were unable to pay and for whom he provided his services gratis. For, “above all, he believed in the Hippocratic oath,” observed his son, Peter, a dermatologist.
Tom Nigra also believed in fun, hospitality and sportsmanship. With his irrepressible smile, impish wit and inexhaustible gusto, he was as at home on horseback in the hunting field or shooting pheasant in England or dove on Maryland’s Eastern Shore as he was in a laboratory or in front of a stove, concocting original recipes.
Once, a moment after having been handed his drink at a party, he was approached by a woman with a rash. “I never diagnose while drinking,” he told her. “Come to my office tomorrow.”
A resident of Highland Beach, Dr. Nigra was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and was a graduate of both St. Vincent’s School and St. Vincent’s College there.
He received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, following which he completed: his internship in internal medicine (under Senior Resident Dr. Anthony Fauci) at New York-Bellevue Hospital in New York City; his residency in dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston; and Berry Plan service at the National Institutes of Health.
A keen collector of fine arts, but, most of all, of friends, he was an enthusiastic and generous host. He was a member of the Clinical Pathological Society, the Washington Investors, and the Alibi, Ausable, Chesapeake Bay Yacht, Chevy Chase, and Metropolitan clubs.
Dr. Nigra is survived by his wife of more than 51 years, the former Jane Brawley; a sister, Susan Nigra Snyder (who still recalls that, when she was a newborn, her brother, then age 7, attempted to flush her feet-first down the toilet); his son, Peter (Meaghan K. Nelan), and daughter, Jane H. Gallina (Parham Ranjbar), and five grandchildren.
A service of thanksgiving for the life of Thomas P. Nigra was held at Christ Church Georgetown on March 30. The family requests that friends make gifts in his memory to charities of their choice.

— Obituary submitted by the family

With the broken bridge to the east, Albert Chung, a surveyor with Ranger Construction, uses GPS tools to determine the new road edge and drainage slope as part of the reconstruction of George Bush Boulevard. It’s scheduled to finish in summer 2023. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Related stories: Broken bridge puts second whammy on neighbors; Pelosi visits broken bridge, says infrastructure bill could help

Residents say bridge closure on George Bush Boulevard feels worse than past shutdowns

By Rich Pollack

Betsy Cooke remembers when the George Bush Boulevard bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway closed for five months in 2010.
An eight-minute walk from her Delray Beach home on the east side of the bridge to her office on the west side became an eight-block drive south on State Road A1A to cross the Atlantic Avenue bridge before she then headed back north on Federal Highway.
While she and others took the work on the bridge in stride back then, the unexpected breakdown that closed it last month is different, she says.
“It was still an inconvenience back then, but it wasn’t as bad as it is now because of the amount of traffic and congestion,” Cooke says. “I go over that bridge sometimes five or six times a day. ... It’s a huge inconvenience.”
The bridge broke March 3 and could be closed until the end of April — if not longer — because the replacement parts have to be custom made.
The closure could be just a taste of frustrations on the horizon if Palm Beach County determines it’s finally time to replace the drawbridge, which opened in late 1949. County engineering and public works teams plan now to ask county commissioners for $1 million for a bridge replacement evaluation.
“We recognize the best solution is to start the process of replacing this 72-year-old bridge and will be expediting the process, which starts with hiring a consultant to do an evaluation this year,” County Mayor Robert Weinroth says. “Based on early estimates, we could potentially have a new bridge in about six years.”
Citing exemptions included in the state’s public records laws to protect critical infrastructure that could be subject to terrorist attacks, county officials would not release past inspection reports of the bridge or even discuss its operating system.
Past newspaper stories and limited information from Palm Beach County — which is responsible for maintenance of the bridge — show it has been closed for repairs and maintenance on multiple occasions, including three times between the summer of 2010 and the summer of 2011.
The bridge opened two years after the devastating 1947 hurricane closed portions of A1A and limited access to the nearby Atlantic Avenue bridge. In 2000, the city gave the bridge local historic designation.
In a statement issued March 18, county representatives said the cause of the recent problem was initially determined to be “damage to the original machinery, more specifically, a main shaft and gear section of the drive system.”
A replacement shaft was installed a little over a week after the bridge shut down, but an inspection by an engineering firm showed that other drive shaft machinery parts, including a bearing, needed to be replaced.
While it has been several years since the aging bridge was closed for long periods of time, major parts have worn out before, according to news and county reports.
A January 2011 story in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that the bridge had to be closed for several days to repair a broken shaft.
Those repairs came less than a month after the bridge reopened in December 2010 following five months of rehabilitation work. The maintenance included the replacement of the non-movable concrete approach slabs, replacement of original parapets with new concrete parapets to Florida Department of Transportation standards, and repainting of exposed steel girders and beams.
Six months later, the bridge was closed again for a few days for electrical equipment updates, according to published reports.

An engineer’s view
While there are many types of bascule bridges, or drawbridges, with different operating systems, those with shafts, gears and counterweights are among the most common.
Introduced in the 1870s to help get ships from the Great Lakes to industry while connecting downtown Chicago to the rest of the city, the most common bascule bridge is basically a level that rotates on an axle, according to Fred Bloetscher, an associate dean in Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering.
Essentially the spans of the bridge are attached to the shafts, which run perpendicular to where the bridge deck meets the existing roadway, similar to the direction of the crossing gates, said Bloetscher, a civil engineer. The shaft is connected to a motor and series of gears and operates like a hinge, opening and closing when needed.
In many cases, a counterweight is added to help the motor lift the spans. Often, bridge decks are not made of solid steel to help reduce the weight. Instead, they may have steel grates.
Bloetscher says that over time, the shafts on a bridge can warp and wear because of repeated use. The heavy weight can also wear on the gears, which along with the shaft are subject to steady corrosion because of the wet, salty environment.
County engineering and public works teams are hoping to determine just how much of an impact wear and tear and corrosion have had on the George Bush Boulevard bridge. If the county approves the evaluation for major improvements or a total replacement, it would then hire a consultant to determine the details. The county also would put together a grant application for federal and state funding.
Design for the project is expected to be $5 million while construction is expected to cost $40 million.
Any bridge improvements can’t come fast enough for Ocean Ridge residents like Matt Gracey. “I take that bridge just about every day,” says Gracey, whose office is in Delray Beach.
Both Gracey and Cooke say their new commutes have been made more difficult, especially when they’re traveling from east to west, because of construction for the Atlantic Crossing development on Atlantic Avenue between the avenue’s bridge and Federal Highway.
Construction and congestion were not such a problem when the bridge was closed in 2010, Gracey says.
“I missed the bridge back then, but it wasn’t as troubling as it is now,” he said.

Businesses, church determined to press forward after construction on George Bush Boulevard first forced them to adapt

Profiles by Jane Smith and Rich Pollack
Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The Sail Inn, 657 George Bush Blvd.
Bass Raams, manager

“Happy hours have not been as happy” at the Sail Inn since George Bush Boulevard construction work moved east of Federal Highway in January, Raams says.
The $2 million project includes a road resurfacing, utility and drainage improvements and adding 5-foot sidewalks and bike lanes. Work started in July and is expected to go until the summer of 2023.
If that wasn’t enough, the bar was hurt again when the nearby bridge broke in the open position March 3.
“We had a great flow from the city’s St. Pat’s Parade in the past,” Raams said, referring to before the pandemic hit. “But this year, the customers just could not reach us.”
Bicyclists and walkers used to come to the Sail Inn on weekends from the beach, but they can’t get to the bar while the bridge is not usable, Raams says.
“I love the beautification of George Bush Boulevard,” he says. “I just wish there was a way to have the bridge be closed in the down position permanently. That way, the traffic could travel across and the bicyclists and walkers could use it. And let the boaters find another way.”

Related stories: Delray Beach: Stuck again; Pelosi visits broken bridge, says infrastructure bill could help

Gulfstream Travel Inc., 800 Palm Trail Suite 1
Alice Meiners, owner, right, with Julie Kessman, agency manager

At Gulfstream Travel, with all the surrounding traffic confusion, Meiners says “we do not try to explain how to get here.”
Besides the road construction work and bridge closure on George Bush Boulevard, sometimes Palm Trail from Bond Way is not passable because of condo and home construction, Meiners says.
The travel agency does most of its work online to assist clients who do not have easy access to the office, she says. It delivers tickets and other items to about 20% of its clientele, she says.
Since construction moved in front of the office, on the corner of Palm Trail and George Bush Boulevard, Meiners has had an up-close view of the road work.
“It’s been challenging,” Meiners says. But Kessman says they have endured worse.
“If we lived through COVID, we can survive anything,” Kessman says.

800 Palm Trail Grill, 800 Palm Trail
Darin Chelsea, manager

The George Bush Boulevard construction affected the 800 Palm Trail Grill “somewhat,” but the unusable nearby bridge “is costing us greatly,” Chelsea says.
Diners from Gulf Stream were flocking to the new restaurant when the bridge became stuck in the upright position. Chelsea estimates his restaurant, which had been open Tuesday through Saturday, has lost between $3,000 and $4,000 each day since the bridge became impassable March 3.
“We have free parking and it’s not on Atlantic Avenue,” features he says add to the restaurant’s appeal. It can be a slog to drive on Atlantic, where parking meters are in effect in the evenings.
Chelsea isn’t thinking about changing anything in an attempt to bring in more diners, saying it would be too confusing, though the restaurant was to begin Sunday brunches starting March 27 and will open on Mondays starting April 4.
Instead, the restaurant’s website lists detour info about the road construction with the phone number and email address of the project’s community outreach specialist. Along Bond Way and Palm Trail, Chelsea has posted signs for the restaurant.

St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, 840 George Bush Blvd.
Deacon Bob Laquerre, parish manager

Just when Laquerre thought the worst of George Bush Boulevard construction would be finished soon, the bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway became stuck in the open position.
Parishioners have still been finding their way to church, says Laquerre, but the road mess and bridge closure are presenting problems for others.
“Visitors are not finding us,” he says. “We count on their attendance.”
Even so, collections were up between 15% to 20% when compared to similar weeks in 2019, the year before the pandemic struck and the church was forced to close, Laquerre says.
St. Vincent did not have a parish festival in February 2021 because the vaccines were not widely available. This year’s has been rescheduled to April 29-May 1 because of the road construction.
“We will have more rides but not the indoor flea market,” Laquerre says. “We are also transitioning away from running our own food booths to providing food trucks. This provides more variety and helps reduce our need for volunteers.”

Second Time Around, 801 George Bush Blvd.
Jen Davis, owner

George Bush Boulevard construction work is “inconvenient … the price you pay for progress,” says Davis, owner of Second Time Around.
The roadwork, overseen by the Florida Department of Transportation, will add sidewalks to her block, making the street safer for walkers and bike riders.
But Davis says it hasn’t stopped sales at her upscale consignment shop, which features women’s clothing and accessories — including designer names — from going “through the roof.”
She credits pent-up demand for in-store shopping after the pandemic began to ease.
Her clients are not affected by the closed bridge, which broke March 3. They find her business by doing Google searches for consignment shops, she says.
Davis also sees more tourists visiting the area and more people moving to Delray Beach. “It’s no longer the sleepy village by the sea,” she says.

Bella Reina, 815 George Bush Blvd.
Nancy Reagan, owner

For Reagan and her spa, the closing of the George Bush Boulevard bridge has been something of a blessing in disguise.
Before the bridge got stuck in the up position, two-way traffic on George Bush Boulevard during roadway construction made it difficult for customers to navigate their way into the spa’s parking lot.
Now, with the bridge out and traffic coming only from the west, fewer cars mean customers have less congestion — and fewer headaches — to contend with.
“We’re really lucky the bridge didn’t break when it was in the down position,” Reagan says. Most of Bella Reina’s clients make appointments, so the staff has the opportunity to let them know that the bridge is out before they arrive.
“The bridge being out hasn’t hurt our business because we’re a destination,” she says.
“We’ve been very proactive in telling them how to get here,” Reagan adds, recommending barrier island clients use either the Woolbright Road bridge or the Linton Boulevard bridge and avoid the congestion of Atlantic Avenue.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, visiting the George Bush Boulevard bridge in Delray Beach on March 19, told residents and reporters that about $19 billion has been set aside for infrastructure work in Florida as part of a bill Congress passed in late 2021. Some of the dozens of officials who joined Pelosi were (l-r) Palm Beach County Vice Mayor Gregg Weiss, U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, Delray Mayor Shelly Petrolia and Palm Beach County Mayor Robert Weinroth. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Related stories: Delray Beach: Stuck again; Broken bridge puts second whammy on neighbors

By Rich Pollack

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the most recognizable women in the country, stood in front of the broken George Bush Boulevard bridge in Delray Beach on March 19 and talked about the community, commerce and the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill Congress passed in November.
She also took a poke at the majority of Republicans who voted against the bill.
In South Florida for a series of fundraising events, Pelosi talked about the positive impact the legislation will have on Florida and Palm Beach County. She pointed out that the state will receive $19 billion as a result of the legislation, with $245 million going toward bridges over the next five years.
Some of that money could be used to repair or replace the George Bush Boulevard bridge, which has been stuck in the upright position since March 3 and could remain that way for another six weeks or longer before repairs are carried out.
Surrounded by members of the Palm Beach County congressional delegation, including Rep. Lois Frankel and recently elected Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick — as well as county and city elected officials — during a news conference, Pelosi talked about the importance of bridges as connectors in a community.
“When this connection comes down, it affects so many people,” she said.
The disrepair of the Delray Beach bridge, which opened in late 1949, has an impact on businesses, she said, as well as coastal residents and others who use it on a regular basis.
Pelosi said the benefits of the infrastructure bill would be felt by people throughout the nation, including Palm Beach County.
“This legislation is very important to sustainability of communities,” she said. “It’s about safety, it’s about commerce, it’s about health, saving of time and quality of life.”
While her comments were largely focused on infrastructure, politics came into play as Pelosi answered questions and referred to the all but 13 Republican members of Congress who voted against the legislation as those who “just say no and take the dough.”
The news conference on the east side of bridge was not without disruption as a handful of trucks with Trump flags and motorcycles played loud music and revved engines from a short distance away. Pelosi took it in stride.
“It doesn’t bother me,” she said. “As a mother of five, I’ve always made my voice heard.”

Boca Raton (above) and Highland Beach are the only two municipalities in Palm Beach County to require inspections of older condominium buildings. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

More local rules likely after bill dies in Legislature

By Joel Engelhardt

Legislators stood on the precipice of requiring condos statewide to conduct structural engineering inspections. But they couldn’t bring themselves to require that condos keep millions in reserve to pay for repairs.
The result is that nine months after Champlain Towers South collapsed in Surfside, killing 98 people, only two municipalities in Palm Beach County have added an inspection requirement: Boca Raton and Highland Beach.
“I’m glad we acted last year,” Boca Mayor Scott Singer said. “It means Boca Raton continues to lead when others didn’t.” 
The county, which put off rules of its own to see what the Legislature would do, will reconsider standards suggested by a task force of local building officials last fall, County Mayor Robert Weinroth said.
“We gave them a chance,” Weinroth said of state legislators. “They made the decision through their inaction to basically give it back to us. … We’re going to have to revisit this.” 
While Boca and Highland Beach moved forward on an inspection requirement, other municipalities that contributed to the task force held off on taking action after the county decided against it on Oct. 19.
Expressing disappointment in the Legislature’s failure, South Palm Beach Town Manager Robert Kellogg said in an email the cities and towns would renew their earlier work. 
“As you know, many of the provisions in the House and Senate bills were items we had in our draft reports,” he wrote. “I believe we need some uniformity for all of the coastal communities.” 
In August, The Coastal Star found that 90% of the 348 condos along the barrier island from South Palm Beach to Boca Raton are more than 25 years old.
In October, the county considered inspections for buildings 25 years and older east of Interstate 95 and 35 years or older west of the highway, a more stringent standard than the 40-year requirement in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Champlain Towers had stood in Surfside for 40 years when it collapsed. 
The buildings, four stories and above, would be reinspected every 10 years. But the county proposal did not force condo boards to maintain sufficient reserves to pay for repairs, a matter controlled by state law. 
By then, Boca Raton had already taken action, establishing rules on Aug. 24 that called for inspections of buildings taller than three stories after 30 years and then every 10 years thereafter. 
Highland Beach requires inspections after 25 years, with reinspections in some cases as soon as seven years later. 
But without legislation to get condos to start stashing money away early, condo boards could be facing huge bills to pay for crucial work. 
“If we’re not going to take the second step to financial ability, that just increases the liability of those condo associations,” Weinroth said. “We all have to agree that it’s not enough to identify the problems in the building if there’s not the wherewithal to correct them.” 
Added Richard Radcliffe, executive director of the Palm Beach County League of Cities, “Can you mandate inspections if there’s no way to pay for repairs? It makes it harder. … And that’s not a city function. That’s a state function.”
But such financial requirements are just what the Florida Senate stripped out of the bill March 10, when senators voted unanimously to support inspection requirements only. The House didn’t go along with the change, so no bill passed. 
Both sides approved bills that required a “milestone” structural engineering inspection for all Florida condos and co-ops three stories or taller 30 years after opening and then once every 10 years. Buildings within 3 miles of the coastline would be inspected after 20 years. An exception was carved out for two-family or three-family units with three or fewer habitable stories above ground. 
However, the House went further. In House Bill 7069, members approved language on Feb. 24 that called for a study of reserve funds every three years, starting in 2024.  
The study would have to include a summary of the findings of the milestone inspection report; an estimate of the useful life of the structural components of the building and of the cost of “maintenance, repair, replacement, or restoration” of each major component; an estimate of the total annual assessment that may be necessary to cover the costs; and a schedule for the full funding of reserves. 
A Feb. 17 version of the bill blocked condo associations from waiving the collection of reserves or collecting less than required, a House staff analysis said. The Feb. 24 version didn’t ban waivers outright but said that if a condo board waives reserves or uses existing reserve funds for other purposes, it must post a conspicuous message in condo documents saying:
“THE OWNERS HAVE ELECTED TO WAIVE RESERVES, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, OR ALLOWED ALTERNATIVE USES OF EXISTING RESERVES. … THE WAIVING OR ALTERNATIVE USE OF RESERVE FUNDS MAY RESULT IN UNIT OWNER LIABILITY FOR PAYMENT OF UNANTICIPATED SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS REGARDING THOSE ITEMS.”
The bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Danny Perez, R-Miami, told the Miami Herald that the Senate’s change was unacceptable, warning that it would not help avoid future tragedies. 
“We believe in the House that the bill we passed off the House floor was going to get us as close as ever to making sure that the incident that took place at Surfside never happened again,’’ Perez told the Herald. 
He also said that, while he was confident “that the Senate is in agreement with the fact that something has to be done, unfortunately, this couldn’t be the year that we do it.”

Ocean Ridge community policing officer Debra Boyle holds Remy, the 9-year-old German shepherd she rescued from the Intracoastal Waterway. Rachel S. O’Hara/The Coastal Star

Ocean Ridge officer honored for rescuing German shepherd that fell into waterway

By Joe Capozzi

Not long after the rains stopped, another intruder dropped in from the sky.
A pesky pelican, as other pelicans had been doing about every other day for the past several years, settled onto the top of a wooden post on the dock behind Bill Wright’s home on the Intracoastal Waterway in Ocean Ridge. 
And once again, “the boys,’’ as Wright refers to his two adult German shepherds, weren’t pleased. 
The big dogs, who take pride in patrolling the backyard, responded the same way they had to previous pelican intrusions: Gunner, 10, hanging back and barking; Remy, 9, giving chase across the tiled patio next to the dock and sea wall. 
The previous encounters always ended with Remy, on full charge toward the dock, slamming on the brakes as the startled bird flew away. 
But this time, on the morning of Jan. 11, the rain added a slick, unfortunate twist that would prompt a call for help to Ocean Ridge’s finest. 
“Remy runs out, he puts the brakes on, but the brakes did not work because it was all wet,’’ Wright recalled. “He flew 20 to 25 feet straight into the water.’’
Although Remy is a dog of many talents — including an ability to open and close door latches — swimming is not one of them. He managed to paddle his way back toward the sea wall but got stranded under the dock, unable to reach safe ground. 
Wright, who was reading a newspaper when he heard the loud splash, tried to coax Remy to safety with treats. But the frightened dog kept treading water. 
“I thought, ‘What in the heck am I gonna do?’’’ said Wright, whose wife died in October. “I’m 80 years old. I can’t go into the water.’’
He called the police. 
Within minutes, three officers were in his backyard searching for the source of the desperate yelps echoing across the water.
“The first officer to arrive tells me, ‘The dog’s under the dock. I don’t know how we’re going to get down there,’’’ recalled community policing officer Debra Boyle, who was the third officer to arrive.
Boyle, a dog lover who owns a Cavalier King Charles spaniel and a German shepherd-Lab mix, said Remy’s cries for help emboldened her to act. 
“It was more of a scared howl,’’ she said. “If you heard it, it just went through your body. I was like, ‘I’ve got to get in there. I’ve got to help this dog.’’’
Without saying a word, Boyle removed her gear, kicked off her boots and jumped into the water. Doing her best to walk near the base of the sea wall, she waded waist-deep toward the German shepherd, not sure how the dog would react when she got close.
“He was in open water and he was just in distress. He was trying to keep himself up,’’ she said. “I thought, ‘I am going to save this dog whether he bites me or he doesn’t.’’’
As she got closer, she talked to Remy in a calm, low voice.
“I just kept telling him, ‘It’s all right. You’re a good boy,’’’ she recalled. “Then I put my hand out and just grabbed his collar and pulled him back over to” a floating dock. 
Remy, who was uninjured, shook the water from his fur and sprinted up a ramp to the patio, where he was welcomed back by Wright and Gunner. 
“He went to his owner and I walked to my car,’’ Boyle said. “I did what I needed to do and I went back to the station, took a shower, got dressed and went back on duty.’’
Nearly two months later, Boyle was ordered to attend the March 7 Ocean Ridge Town Commission meeting, where Police Chief Richard Jones publicly recognized her for rescuing Remy. 
As a token of his appreciation, Wright donated a boat to the Police Department. Jones said the boat, a 14-foot hard-bottom inflatable with a water jet engine similar to a water scooter, would be used for patrols and rescues on the Intracoastal.
Mayor Kristine de Haseth said she wants the boat to be named The 4 Paws.
Wright said Boyle exemplifies why he believes Ocean Ridge police officers “are beyond normal police officers. She just kicked her boots off, went in the damn water; there were no questions and she brought him right out. She just did it. She saved him.’’

Connie Siskowski, president and founder of the American Association of Caregiving Youth in Boca Raton, displays art from some of her clients in AACY headquarters. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Tao Woolfe

It’s difficult to get Connie Siskowski to talk about herself.
Seated in her sunny, plant-filled office, she deflects questions about her status as a local — and even national — hero by talking instead about the secret world of caregiving children.
The children, she says softly, are the real heroes.
When a family member is ill, and hiring help is not possible, kids become caregivers. Their grades suffer, school participation falls off, and their demeanor changes.
About 22% of these children drop out of school to administer medicines, keep house, shop, cook, provide companionship, and help a disabled relative shower or walk.
“Schools look at dropouts and the dropout rate, but often they don’t consider what goes on behind closed doors,” Siskowski says.
Children won’t talk about caregiving, fearing ridicule or reprisal. It’s a hard, lonely role.
Siskowski knows about the weight. She was raised in New Jersey by her grandparents and when her grandfather became ill, she cared for him until she came home from school and found him dead.
Such situations are not rare. An estimated 3.4 million to 5.4 million children in the U.S. help care for ailing adults, according to 2020 statistics.
In Florida, according to Siskowski’s groundbreaking research, more than 290,000 children are helping a sick parent or sibling.
After her grandfather’s death, Siskowski became a nurse — earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in Baltimore.
She moved to Boca Raton in 1990, bought and sold a home-care business, and continued a career in family care. Through that work, Siskowski learned about the underground world of child caregivers here and abroad.
A few years later, she took the advice of her husband, Gary: Go get your Ph.D. from Boca Raton’s Lynn University. For her doctoral dissertation Siskowski studied young caregivers in Palm Beach County.
“When I realized the extent of the population, I began wondering how to make a difference,” Siskowski says.
After finishing her degree at Lynn in 2004, she founded the nonprofit American Association of Caregiving Youth and eventually changed the lives of hundreds of children who know her as “Dr. Connie.”
She worked with county middle and high schools to identify children who might be slipping under the tide of their families’ needs. She talked with anyone willing to look beneath the patina of Palm Beach County.
Today, AACY is the only organization of its kind in the United States, offering free support to caregiving kids ages 8-18. It has won many awards.
In 2012, CNN profiled Siskowski’s work in a nationwide telecast.
Municipalities beyond Boca Raton have since asked for AACY’s help to set up similar programs.
AACY’s services include counseling, in-home help, tutoring, equipment, a getaway camp, help with scheduling work, play and caregiving, and — perhaps most important — networking with other caregiving kids.
“When they meet others caring for family members, they realize they are not alone,” Siskowski says.
Julianna Doran was one of the children touched by AACY.
Now 21 and getting ready to start her own life, Doran was in the sixth grade when she met Siskowski.
Doran helped care for her brother Joshua, who has cerebral palsy.
“I would feed, bathe, change — anything you can think of — to help my brother,” Doran says. “Sometimes I did more than I should.”
AACY held events that allowed Doran to meet other caregiving youths.
“I could see that some kids had it worse than me,” Doran says. “It really helped to hear that I was not the only one dealing with that situation.”
Doran says Siskowski is a good listener who does not judge.
“She never had that ‘I’m better than you’ mentality. Everyone has positive things to say about Dr. Connie,” Doran says. “I’m happy to be part of her amazing group.”
Siskowski, 75, says that when her path grows especially steep, her faith keeps her going.
Ken Roughton, Siskowski’s pastor at First United Methodist Church in Boca Raton for more than 20 years, says Siskowski, in turn, “makes a difference in the life of everybody who meets her.”
“Though she’s quiet and understated, she is a strong person who has a clear sense of what God wants her to be doing.”
Every minister hopes his congregants can find ways to embody the gospel, Roughton says. But Siskowski seems to do that effortlessly.
“Connie always finds ways to bring faith to life in the community,” he says.

The American Association of Caregiving Youth relies on donations and volunteers to keep going. For more information, go to https://aacy.org.

NOMINATE SOMEONE TO BE A COASTAL STAR
Send a note to news@thecoastalstar.com or call 561-337-1553.

It’s not that I’m slowing down or losing interest. There are no urgent responsibilities that must be addressed. My health is good. But like the dropping barometer before a storm, there’s an ever-present pressure nagging at me to slow down, urging me to analyze how I want to use what’s left of my time on this Earth.
So, I’m scaling back my daily involvement at The Coastal Star and passing along a few of my myriad responsibilities to other extremely capable journalists. Although none of them is new to the paper, they should get recognition for the roles they play in the paper’s success:
Mary Thurwachter (marytg@bellsouth.net) is our features editor. All the great content in our Around Town section is under her leadership — as are the people profiles inside our News section.
Steve Plunkett (gplunk99@gmail.com) directs and edits our coverage of Boca Raton and Highland Beach.
And new to the management team, Larry Barszewski (larrybarszewski@bellsouth.net) is now our editor for Gulf Stream, Delray Beach, Lantana and Boca Raton’s Beach and Park District.
I’ll still edit the remainder of our municipalities. I’m not going away.
All three of these managing editors have extensive daily newspaper experience in South Florida. They are award-winning professionals. Trusted pros. The newspaper remains in good hands.
Starting, owning and running The Coastal Star is one of the most immensely gratifying experiences of my life. Working with the talented journalists who contribute to the newspaper each month has sped my time since 2008 — when we first began filling a news void by reporting on the coastal communities in southern Palm Beach County.
It’s been, dare I say, fun, but it’s also been time consuming. My hope is that by passing on a little more responsibility to these three managing editors, it will lift some of the pressure and allow me to take back some needed personal time.
Rest assured that Advertising Director Chris Bellard and Publisher Jerry Lower have no plans to slow down. They’ll continue to lead our amazing sales, production, photography and circulation teams.
That’s how I know we’ll keep delivering the local news and information our readers have come to expect. They will keep the business running. Let them know if you have questions.
If you have news tips or story ideas, feel free to drop me an email. I’ll still be around.

— Mary Kate Leming
editor@thecoastalstar.com

Endless, a 34-foot Bristol sailboat, came ashore after the anchor line failed and high winds blew the boat to the beach. Jason Harris of Key West, the live-aboard owner, did not have the money to get the boat towed out to sea or repaired, so he abandoned it and has since moved to North Carolina.
‘Harris is agreeing to sign over the ownership of the boat to the Town of Ocean Ridge and we will take the responsibility of having it removed,’ Police Chief Richard Jones said.
Because the $10,000 to $12,000 estimate from Sea Tow to remove the boat would exceed the town manager’s discretionary spending limit, the topic will be on the agenda of the Town Commission meeting April 4.
Sea turtle nesting season means the boat cannot be cut up and removed by a bulldozer on the beach. Nearly $7,000 has been raised since local resident Charles McIntyre set up gofundme.com/f/emergency-shipwreck-relief-fund to help Harris start his new life. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi

Releasing balloons and sky lanterns into the sky can be a festive and visually stunning sight. In Briny Breezes, it may soon be outlawed. 
Concerned about the environmental impacts after what goes up eventually comes down, the Town Council has asked the town attorney to draft language for a proposed ordinance that would prohibit the release of balloons and sky lanterns in town. 
“We go out on our boat and walk on the beach all the time and we are constantly picking up balloons,’’ Alderwoman Christina Adams said when she proposed the ordinance at a March 24 council meeting. 
“Not that they’re coming from Briny and these surrounding areas but they’re still littering our beach.
“One of our biggest sea turtle populations in the state nest right here. The sea turtles can get tangled in them. They think they’re jellyfish and (try to) eat them.’’
Adams said Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Palm Beach Gardens are among municipalities that prohibit the release of balloons and lanterns. So do Palm Beach County parks, including Gulfstream Park nearby.
Council members agreed with her and suggested adding cigarette butts and fireworks to the ordinance. 
Attorney Keith Davis said regulating fireworks might be difficult but he’d look into the request and present a proposal in a month or so.
Alderman Bill Birch asked how the town would enforce such an ordinance, especially since Briny Breezes hasn’t done any code enforcement other than parking violations.
Ocean Ridge Police Chief Richard Jones, whose officers patrol Briny, said he’d look into ways citations could be issued, along with a schedule of fines. 
“I do like the enforceability of it,’’ Mayor Gene Adams said. “I think it’s the impression of control: If you write one or two tickets, the (word) will get out.”

Council jobs filled
At an organizational meeting on March 15, the council reappointed Sue Thaler as president, swore in Christina Adams for another term and re-elected Gene Adams as mayor. 
Kathy Gross, who won another term because she was unopposed, was sworn in March 24 after she was unable to attend the March 15 meeting.
Although the council always appoints its president, it rarely elects a mayor. The vote on March 15 resulted from a campaign paperwork error that disqualified Adams from the regular March election. 
Since no one else filed to run for the mayor’s post on March 8, the council was required to seek mayoral candidates and appoint a new mayor on March 15 in order to avoid paying for a special election. Gene Adams was the only person in town to request consideration for mayor.
Gross was reappointed as the Town Council’s deputy bookkeeper.
The council made the following appointments to the Planning and Zoning Board: Keith Black for District 1, Tom Goudreau for District 2, Jerry Lower for District 3, Brad Keller for District 4 and Kris Weir to an at-large seat. Bob Jurovaty was appointed as an alternate. A second alternate spot is still open. Interested candidates should contact the town clerk. 
In other business:
• The council asked the police chief to look into how much it would cost to relocate two license plate recognition cameras from the State Road A1A intersection at Cordova Avenue two blocks south to the intersection at Briny Breezes Boulevard. 
If the cameras are moved, Jones asked the council to also consider adding a third camera at the Briny Breezes Boulevard intersection to capture northbound, southbound and eastbound traffic. 
A third camera would cost $2,500. 
• The town will hold its first workshop for the 2022-23 budget on June 23 at 3 p.m., one hour before the start of the council’s regular monthly meeting.

On Monday, April 4, the Ocean Ridge Town Commission will vote on the town’s purchase of an undeveloped wetland parcel adjoining the Intracoastal Waterway. The price tag is $2 million. The stated reason for the purchase is to a create a nature preserve.
The motivation for the purchase is more likely a fear that the property will be purchased by a developer.
The residents of Ocean Ridge and town commissioners need to consider the purchase in the context of the town’s numerous capital spending priorities.
In the most recent capital budget, over $400,000 of budget priorities were deferred to future budget years. Additionally, the $200,000 annual road repaving budget has been deferred for the past four budget years.
The town’s infrastructure is aging and in need of upgrade or replacement. Our municipal water lines must soon be replaced along with the multimillion-dollar cost of the septic to sewer conversion. I believe that rebuilding our town’s infrastructure is a higher priority than the purchase of an Intracoastal wetland.
If the motivation for the land purchase is the fear of the development of a private property, I believe it is an unfounded fear. The development of this wetland parcel would require years of governmental reviews and litigation. Approvals must be obtained from numerous agencies, including the Army Corps of Engineers, South Florida Water Management District and the town of Ocean Ridge. While it may not be impossible for a developer to obtain all the necessary approvals, it is unlikely.
What is the real risk if Ocean Ridge does not purchase this property? The risk is that a number of years down the road this property gets developed into a residential enclave of multimillion-dollar homes that become part of our community and add to our property tax base. That’s a risk that I think our elected commissioners should be willing to take and we as Ocean Ridge residents should wholeheartedly support them in taking.

Ric Carey
Ocean Ridge

Work crews contracted by FPL were unloading wooden power poles at a temporary storage site at the Gulf Stream Golf Club. More than 15 poles had been removed by March 22. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett

Folks who 10 years ago paid special assessments to have the town’s electric, phone and cable TV lines buried underground are visually about to get their money’s worth.
Crews from Florida Power & Light Co. started removing the unsightly power poles in Gulf Stream in early March, Town Manager Greg Dunham told town commissioners at their March 11 meeting.
“In fact, I saw one of the trucks go by during (this) meeting,” Dunham said.
He also reported that Gulf Stream was set to make its last payment in March on the $2.43 million loan it took out in 2012 to fund the project while it collected the property owners’ assessments. Owners of single-family homes paid $11,907 on average, while owners of condominiums paid $7,057 on average, either upfront or in annual installments.
“It’s kind of poetic,” Commissioner Paul Lyons said of the coincidental timing of electric pole removal and debt repayment.
The entire project cost $6.5 million.
Removing the poles will take six to eight weeks, Dunham estimated. The FPL crews started on Golfview Drive and will work their way north through the Core district.
Dunham said they took out three roadside poles on March 10, but said those were easier to remove than poles in easements behind homes, such as those on Polo Drive.
The last poles to go will be those along State Road A1A.
The underground project began in earnest south of Golfview in 2012. That phase finished in 2018. Work on the second phase, from Golfview north, started in late 2016.

In other business:
• Commissioners passed ordinances on first reading to regulate trash collection and outdoor lighting. When approved, the trash ordinance will prohibit residents from putting bulk waste or vegetative debris out for collection more than 24 hours before pickup. Lawn maintenance companies will have to take vegetative debris with them the same day it is created or accumulated.
The outdoor lighting measure will update the town code to refer to the measurement of brightness “using lumens instead of the outdated standard of watts.”
• Heard from Police Chief Edward Allen that a Porsche stolen in 2020 from the 4000 block of North Ocean Boulevard was recovered in Houston, Texas, in February with changed VIN numbers and a black vinyl wrap disguising its original color. Even with the new VIN numbers authorities were able to track the vehicle’s ownership. “There’s hidden VIN plates on all your cars,” Allen said.
• Approved 3-0, with Commissioner Donna White absent and Lyons recusing himself, the site plan for a new home at 4225 N. County Road for Lyons’ daughter, Olivia, and her husband, David Endres.
Lyons and Endres are building a two-story, 2,498-square-foot Gulf Stream Bermuda style dwelling. The house needed four special exceptions: for a 25-foot front setback; for 10-foot side setbacks and a 17-foot-8-inch rear setback; for a 10-foot rear setback for the swimming pool; and to allow for a home of up to 2,500 square feet on a lot of less than 7,576 square feet.
“It’s a nice looking house. Special exceptions are deserved,” Commissioner Joan Orthwein said.
Mayor Scott Morgan said the proposal was in direct contrast to a request in February for a special exception at 588 Banyan Road, which he alone on the commission opposed.
“Last month we debated large homes on large lots and special exceptions; interestingly this month we have a small lot and … the interest of the town in developing, particularly on North County Road, small lots. We don’t want too small a home, but there’s an interest for the town in maintaining a certain architectural integrity,” Morgan said.
“And I think that is what you are attempting to do, that is, put a more spacious home on what is a compromised, small lot. And so it justifies the need for the special exceptions that you have requested,” he said.
“We are trying to balance the need for attractive homes, contemporary homes on small lots by allowing special exceptions whereas on the other hand,” he said, “with large homes on larger lots we may not be quite as forgiving.”

By Jane Smith

The Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency is demanding the return of $187,500 it gave to the former operators of the Old School Square campus that is the cultural heart of the city’s downtown.
The CRA board, composed of the five city commissioners and two independent residents in the redevelopment district, also voted March 22 to cancel the rest of the agreement that would have given the fired arts organization another $562,500.
The board voted 6-0 to accept the staff recommendations. Board member Adam Frankel did not vote, having left the meeting about 30 minutes earlier.
The CRA said the nonprofit, formally known as the Old School Square Center for the Arts, failed to meet a March 10 deadline to provide financial documents, such as canceled checks, for the money it received for the first quarter of the 2020-21 budget year.
“In response to the CRA’s recent decision to retroactively void its grant agreement … and ask OSSCA to return money that has already been spent on CRA-approved programming, the CRA is forcing OSSCA to enter into litigation with the CRA,” wrote Carli Brinkman, the group’s spokeswoman, in a March 24 email to The Coastal Star.
The nonprofit already filed suit against the city in November and the two have been at odds for more than eight years.
Former Mayor Cary Glickstein tried to constrain the group in December 2016 with a tighter lease that included financial reporting obligations. After the group could not fulfill those obligations the past two years, the City Commission voted 3-2 in August to terminate its lease as of Feb. 9. The organization had been paying the city $1 annually for the 4-acre campus at Atlantic and Swinton avenues.
The former Old School Square operators had received more than $9 million from the CRA in the past 18 years, ranking them first among nonprofits receiving CRA assistance. For that money, the CRA requires nonprofits to undergo annual independent audits.
The Old School Square group did not submit audits for the past two budget years, using the pandemic as an excuse, while other nonprofits were able to meet the requirement.
Marko Cerenko, an attorney representing the former operators, wrote in a March 14 response to the CRA that the nonprofit “has timely and continuously responded to the requests made of it.” He estimated the CRA’s public records request would cost between $750 and $1,500 for the time needed to retrieve the documents, redact personal information and copy the records. The CRA staff deemed the cost too high.
No OSSCA representative spoke at the March 22 CRA meeting, despite an invitation from CRA outside counsel Sanaz Alempour.
Patty Jones, the OSSCA board chairwoman, did write a March 21 email to CRA Executive Director Renee Jadusingh, calling the city’s decision to terminate the lease “improper.” She said the CRA’s failure to talk with the board led to the diminishing size of the organization.
“We have no office, no program of work and no employees,” Jones wrote. “We have provided reams of documents, but the agency has consistently and predictably moved the bar.”
Delray Beach Mayor Shelly Petrolia at the March 22 meeting called Jones’ comments “incendiary,” denying any impropriety.
As to the failure to talk with the former operators, Petrolia said, “That’s what happens when you file a lawsuit. Our attorney said not to talk with them after their lawsuit was filed in November.”
She also bristled about Jones’ describing the Old School Square campus as sitting dark. “The city stepped up and made sure things were happening” after OSSCA “started canceling the events in October,” she said.
While Jones lamented that the city was negotiating “to hand the keys to the heartbeat of our community to a Boca Raton-based nonprofit,” Petrolia said she has visited the Boca Raton Museum of Art and was impressed. That museum is negotiating with Delray City Manager Terrence Moore to run Old School Square’s Cornell Art Museum.
In other OSSCA news, the organization filed its amended lawsuit against the city and three officials on March 1.
Joy Howell, an ex-board OSSCA chairwoman, and Shannon Eadon, former OSSCA executive director, were dropped as defendants. City Commissioner Juli Casale was dropped in January after her attorney filed a motion for attorney’s fees if she wins.
The current lawsuit has 10 counts against the city, including breach of the lease with the former Old School Square operators and two counts each against Petrolia, Vice Mayor Shirley Johnson and City Attorney Lynn Gelin for violations of the Sunshine Law and civil conspiracy to end the lease. The organization is seeking a jury trial to assess damages. According to its lease with the city, disputes are supposed to be settled by arbitration.

The stand of mangroves (outlined in red) that the town wants to acquire and rezone from residential single-family to preservation/conservation could ensure no residential development would occur in an area that is always flooded. Graphic provided

By Joe Capozzi

Ocean Ridge commissioners plan to vote on whether to spend $2 million to acquire roughly 9 acres in a mangrove-filled lagoon north of Town Hall. 
If commissioners approve the purchase on April 4, the town plans to rezone the 8.95-acre tract from “residential single-family” to “preservation/conservation’’ as part of a long-term plan to possibly open the area for recreation, Town Manager Tracey Stevens said in a March 7 memo. 
Palm Beach County and Spanish Creek LLC have already applied to the town for the same zoning change on land they own immediately south and east of the land the town wants to buy for $1.999 million from the William Priest Family Trust. 
Purchasing and rezoning the 8.95 acres would create an expanded area “to preserve the precious mangrove areas and related marine habitats and resources,’’ and offer potential savings to town residents through improved flood ratings, Stevens said. 
Her memo doesn’t mention the fact that the acreage borders a 3.3-acre sliver to the east owned by Waterfront ICW Properties, a company that’s been fighting the town and nearby condos in court over its plans to build a road and residential homes in the lagoon.
The town has been under contract with the Priest Family Trust since Feb. 22, with a 60-day due diligence period allowing the town to receive two appraisals, as required by state law.
Stevens said she expected the appraisals to be done before the April 4 Town Commission meeting. If the appraisals come in under the $1.999 million price, the purchase can move forward only with a supermajority vote of the Town Commission. If the appraisals meet or exceed the asking price, a simple majority would be needed to approve the purchase.
Commissioners plan to vote on the purchase April 4 after hearing comments from the public.  
“We are delighted to purchase this property and work with the county to make sure the area is completely rezoned for conservation,’’ Mayor Kristine de Haseth said of the potential opportunity. “We would hope that one day in the future that residents might have the ability to access the property for recreation.’’
If the land buy is approved, the commission will need to do a budget amendment April 4 to take the money out of the reserve fund.
According to realtor.com, the same land was relisted for $1,595,000 on July 22, 2021, a month after it had been listed for $1,999,000. The owner raised the asking price to $1,999,000 in a new listing Feb. 4, 2022.
On Feb. 10, the town submitted an offer that met the asking price, but that was rejected because the seller had accepted another offer, which was later withdrawn during the due diligence period, paving the way for the town to submit its offer again, Stevens said. 
Although the seller had other “competing offers on the table,’’ the town’s offer was accepted Feb. 22, Stevens said. 
 Though the 8.95 acres is in a lagoon off the Intracoastal Waterway, research by town staff shows the land has been zoned for residential use since at least 1975, Stevens said.  
In other town business:
• The salary ranges for Ocean Ridge police officers and sergeants will rise under a new three-year police union contract approved by the Town Commission on March 7. 
The range from officers will change to $54,500 to $94,000 from the previous $54,500 to $86,500. For sergeants, the new range is $72,000 to $104,000, from the previous $67,500 to $97,500. 
The new contract goes from Oct. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2024.
• The commission approved $115,000 in improvements at Town Hall: $70,000 to replace the audiovisual system in the commission chambers and $45,000 to paint Town Hall. 
• A “Save the Seas” event hosted by the Ocean Ridge Garden Club is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 2 at Town Hall and will include a beach cleanup.

By Larry Barszewski

Because of all the poles, stakes and cones being put out for construction projects or just to keep vehicles off swales in front of homes, Manalapan Mayor Keith Waters said streets in town are “starting to look like a slalom course.”
“You’ll have houses three or four down that have nothing to do with the construction and they just put them up all over in front of their houses,” Waters said.
To get a handle on these “parking encroachments,” town commissioners tentatively approved new restrictions March 22 for where such markers are allowed and for how long they can be up. A final vote is expected following an April 26 public hearing.
“The recent proliferation of construction markers, flags and parking cones, and concrete anti-parking stops throughout the town has become a growing concern as it negatively impacts both the free flow of vehicular traffic, and aesthetics of the neighborhoods,” a town report on the situation says.
“The stakes are everywhere, they’re all the way down the street,” Town Manager Linda Stumpf told commissioners during a discussion at the commission’s February meeting.
If approved, the new ordinance will prohibit any parking cones from being placed at the front of driveways or in swales, and will prohibit the dome- or pyramid-shaped concrete stops residents put in their swales or along the front of their property.
Commissioner Chauncey Johnstone said the concrete anti-parking stops can also pose a danger to motorists trying to avoid a turning vehicle or an obstacle in the road.
Under the proposed ordinance, which in part applies to “construction markers, flags, reflector rods,” such markers would be allowed only on the property undergoing construction, the immediately adjacent properties and the properties directly across the street from those residences.
The construction would have to be tied to an active and valid building permit issued by the town and the markers would have to be at least 3 feet away from each other.
In addition, the parking of heavy construction equipment in swales would be prohibited, although light construction vehicles could be parked in swales at a construction site with prior town approval.
The markers at a construction site — and not at adjacent properties — would be allowed for up to 30 days following the issuance of a certificate of occupancy.
Commissioner Richard Granara spoke in favor of also allowing protections for residents with newly installed landscaping. “Some of them are trying to get their swale to take,” Granara said.
The proposed ordinance now says a property that undergoes a town-approved landscaping installation — or landscaping modifications — may have markers for up to 30 days following the installation to protect the newly planted vegetation.
In other action at the March 22 meeting, commissioners:
• Appointed Commissioner Stewart Satter as vice mayor and Granara as mayor pro tem.
• Appointed departing Commissioner Simone Bonutti to an alternate position on the town’s Architectural Commission.
• Tentatively approved an ordinance that gives the code enforcement special magistrate the authority to consider all requests to lower a fine or code enforcement lien on a property. Currently, only the commission has the authority to lower the assessments. A final vote is scheduled for the commission’s April 26 meeting.

By Larry Barszewski

The Town Commission has appointed Aileen Carlucci, a Manalapan resident for little more than a year, to replace term-limited Commissioner Simone Bonutti.
Town Manager Linda Stumpf recruited Carlucci for the position, saying Bonutti had suggested to her that Carlucci might make a good addition to the board.
No one filed to run for Bonutti’s Seat 4, so the election scheduled for March never happened and it fell to town commissioners to appoint someone to fill the vacancy for the two-year term at their March 22 meeting.
“I reached out to her and she said, yes, she was very interested,” Stumpf said.
Stumpf also contacted another resident who had expressed an interest in the past, but he was not available to serve now, she said.
It can be a challenge to keep the seven-member commission vacancy-free.
There hasn’t been a commission election in town since 2011, Stumpf said. Either candidates have run unopposed or it has been left to commissioners to appoint someone to a vacant seat.
There are only about 400 people in town and about half are only part-time residents who aren’t Florida voters, Stumpf said. The seat held by Bonutti had to be filled by someone living along the ocean, making the task even more difficult.
“There’s not a very big pool to choose from,” Stumpf said.
But the opportunity was great for Carlucci, who has never held elective office before but was looking for ways to be active in her new hometown.
“I am very interested in being a part of this beautiful community I live in,” said Carlucci, 63. She moved to Florida from Maryland about three years ago, and then to Manalapan in December 2020.
“We initially moved to Delray to see if we could acclimate to Florida and be a family here,” she said. “We started to look for a forever home and we identified Manalapan as the place we wanted to be.”
Carlucci and her husband, Bob, purchased an ocean-to-Intracoastal Waterway property in town. They were attracted by that dual access and the instant membership town residents have in La Coquille Club at the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, she said.
“It would allow us to be quickly involved in the community,” Carlucci said. “We moved to the community during the pandemic, which made it very difficult to meet new people.”
Originally from New York City and a graduate of SUNY Potsdam, also known then as Potsdam College, Carlucci said she has always been interested in the arts.
“I do a lot of needlework and sewing, a lot of creative crafts,” she said. Carlucci said she helped found Yumi CARES in Baltimore with Yumi Hogan, wife of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.
Carlucci serves on the board of directors of the organization, which provides art therapy for children facing health challenges such as cancer.
She previously served on the Maryland State Arts Council.
Her husband is a developer and restaurant franchisee, she said. Although Carlucci said she helps at her husband’s business, she adds, “I am the happiest woman alive to be a homemaker.”
The couple has two married children.

Correction: A previous version of this story had an incorrect date for the last contested election in town. That last election was in 2011.