Chef Suzanne Perrotto, the keynote speaker, takes questions from the student moderators at Plumosa. Perrotto opened Brulé in downtown Delray Beach in 2008. The 2019 book was Thank You, Omu!, a 2018 book by Oge Mora. The story and illustrations are about Omu, who cooks a stew and shares it with her neighbors; they show their gratitude by bringing her food. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Delray Reads Day is an annual community-wide event established in 2012 to support the Delray Beach Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. It brings community leaders and residents into area schools to learn more about how they can help schools and students.

The large glass-walled great room connects to the poolside lanai. A summer kitchen serves the lanai’s dining/lounge areas backdropped by a tropical, private setting.

New construction by Seabreeze Luxury Homes with clean, modern lines and chic design, this 4,502 +/- total square-foot home is just across from the ocean and a short stroll to Atlantic Avenue. The home has four bedrooms, four and one-half baths and a two-bay garage. Italian porcelain tile floors unify the main living spaces, and ceilings of 12 +/- feet heighten the first floor.

Energy-efficient impact-rated glass is used in all windows and exterior doors. For effortless ease, Control4 smart-house systems integrate the whole-house LED lighting scenes and media wiring.

Enjoy the free-flowing living/dining space; a chef’s dream kitchen with lacquer-finished cabinetry, Caesarstone counters, an island/bar, a Miele six-burner gas range and dishwasher and a SubZero refrigerator. Next to the office/den overlooking the lush back garden, the private master suite shares tranquil views and opens to the saltwater pool. The suite’s luxe bath features a soaking tub, shower, Italian vanity, separate water closet and wardrobe room.

Upstairs, the generous club room and the three bedroom suites open to an expansive treetop deck above the pool.

The beachside location is in the well-established, sought-after Seagate neighborhood.

Modern, crisp simplicity greets you as you arrive at the front entrance to this tropical oasis.

This home was designed to offer luxury and privacy for relaxation and entertaining.

Offered at $3,489,900. Contact Pascal Liguori, 561-278-0100, pascal@premierestateproperties.com or Judi Lukens, 561-271-6702, judi@premierestateproperties.com; Premier Estate Properties, 900 E. Atlantic Ave., Suite 4, Delray Beach, FL 33483.

Crews pumped 4,583 cubic yards of concrete from about 500 trucks in one day last month for part of the underground garage floor at Atlantic Crossing. Noise from trucks awakened neighbors as early as 2 a.m. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

The first concrete mixer truck rumbled into Delray Beach in the predawn hours the first Saturday in October.
When it was over nearly 15 hours later, some 500 trucks had delivered 4,583 cubic yards of concrete to create part of the underground garage floor for the massive Atlantic Crossing project.
It was, according to the city, the longest and largest continuous concrete pour in county history.
“It was neat to see,” said Andy Spengler, president of Spengler Construction & Masonry Inc., which partnered with Titan America.
He arrived at the job site to the northeast of the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Federal Highway just after midnight and stayed until 10:15 a.m. The work crews were already there, and the trucks began arriving about 1 a.m. That pour created one-fourth of the underground garage floor.
On Nov. 2 the trucks were scheduled to return again in the wee hours for another pour, although Spengler said that one would not be as large. Jordan Vance, who lives just south of the project, won’t be pleased to learn of another early morning. He posted on the Delray Raw Facebook page that he was awakened at 2 a.m. He shot a video of the truck caravan and added, “Will this project ever end, will I get to sleep again?”
Most of the nearly 40 people who posted responses agreed with the complaint about noise. Several bemoaned the change in Delray Beach from all the building, saying the city had lost its charm and appeal.

ABOVE: Workers smooth the concrete poured for the floor of the underground parking garage at Atlantic Crossing in Delray Beach. BELOW: Dewatering pumps run continuously to send groundwater from the site to the Intracoastal Waterway.

The city granted permission for the concrete mixer trucks to arrive in the predawn hours. The work was done early on a Saturday to minimize disruptions for commuters.
The site is only a block from the Intracoastal Waterway, so loud dewatering pumps run around the clock to rid the area of groundwater, which is filtered before flowing into the Intracoastal.
Records show the project complies with its permit from the South Florida Water Management District. That permit expires March 31, 2021.
The developer has said that after the garage is finished it will still need pumps and backup generators to use when the power goes out.
Excavation work on the other half of the site will continue as the underground garage is built. Two additional concrete pours will be scheduled depending on how quickly that work progresses. Spengler estimated the earliest date for the third pour would be in six weeks.
Now that the garage has begun, vertical construction can start by the end of the year, according to Edwards Cos. Vice President Don DeVere.
The $300 million mixed-use project occupies 9.2 acres and stretches along the north side of Atlantic Avenue from Northeast Sixth Avenue to Veterans Park.
Edwards has signed three lead tenants for its retail and office building, which is projected to open in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Two current Atlantic Plaza tenants that will move into the new building are Merrill Lynch and Chico’s, a women’s fashion store. The financial firm will occupy the entire 20,000-square-foot third floor of the new building and Chico’s will rent 3,150 square feet in a shop facing Atlantic Avenue.
The new tenant is Chicago-based Hampton Social, a lifestyle-experience restaurant that has leased 8,677 square feet.
DeVere also said the project’s first luxury residences would be finished in 2021 and park-side residential units would be added in 2023.

An aerial fiber artwork by sculptor Janet Echelman would fill part of the space. Rendering provided

Artwork proposed
The developer also wants to replace proposed central artwork of a tall aquarium with a 209-foot, multicolored aerial fiber artwork by noted sculptor Janet Echelman.
She was inspired by fishermen in India when they were hand-tying their nets, according to her 2011 TED Talk. Echelman, a Tampa native, has a studio in the Boston area. She has said the work will mimic the flow of the Intracoastal from New England to South Florida.
Edwards CEO Jeffrey Edwards loves art and Echelman’s work, said Paul Campbell, one of the project’s architects.
Campbell represented Atlantic Crossing before the city’s Site Plan Review and Appearance Board in mid-October as he sought approval for landscaping and design changes in addition to the aerial sculpture.
The building engineers need to know whether the soaring artwork is approved, Campbell said, because they will have to design the buildings to carry the load.
One board member asked whether the artwork could withstand hurricane winds. Campbell said it could, but he did not know the exact wind speeds. The piece will not be removable, but will be attached to a cable that is then attached to the four buildings by metal cables.
Another board member asked about the artwork’s impact on birds and people below. Campbell said he did not know, but Echelman would. He said she would come to a future board meeting.
Board members said they liked the aerial artwork, but postponed the decision on the artwork and other changes because they were not given a complete list of requested changes from the 2014 plan. Most of the current members were not on the board when the site plan was approved.
The project will be discussed at the Nov. 13 board meeting.
Atlantic Crossing will transform nearly everything about that four-block piece of downtown Delray Beach.
The project will add traffic, stores, offices and restaurants to the area, which sits just north of the Marina Historic District, whose small houses and narrow streets date to the 1930s.

The curve’s posted 25-mph speed is advisory; the enforceable limit is 35. But the town hopes monitors that show each vehicle’s speed will slow down traffic. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Accident-prone curve lies south of Town Hall

By Dan Moffett

Months of persistence in dealing with state transportation officials has paid off for Manalapan.
Well, at least partly paid off.
Police Chief Carmen Mattox got a call from the Florida Department of Transportation just before the Oct. 22 commission meeting with news that the state has agreed to install speed monitoring signs at the accident-prone S-curve on A1A a little more than a mile south of Town Hall.
They won’t be the flashing warning signs that Mattox wanted. But they will be motion-activated signs that display the speeds of approaching northbound and southbound drivers.
“After a year and a lot of pushing and jumping over certain people to get us to this point,” Town Manager Linda Stumpf said, “we’re going to be getting speed monitoring signs. It’s a good start.”
Stumpf said she expects the signs to be up and running by the end of January. It will be the town’s responsibility to maintain them.
Results of a recent speed study gave the town some compelling talking points to use in making its case to FDOT.
The study found that, in general, 92% of vehicles entering the so-called Bentley Curve — named for the considerable number of luxury cars that have crashed there — are going over the posted speed of 25 miles an hour, about 50% of them at least 29 miles an hour.
Traffic engineers believe the greater the speed over 30 mph, the greater the likelihood of off-the-road crashes.
During nighttime hours, which has been when most of the worst accidents occurred, the number of drivers faster than 25 mph swells to 97%.
About 2,400 vehicles go through the curve every day. And the traffic mix of a residential neighborhood complicates the picture.
“The roadway is frequented by vehicle, bicyclist and pedestrian traffic,” Mattox told FDOT officials in an October letter. “There are no sidewalks in this area.”
Another complication is the difference between the state’s enforceable speed limit and the advisory posted speed.
Mattox wanted the state to make 25 miles an hour the enforceable limit, not just the advisory speed, so his officers could stop and cite violators. But the state has steadfastly refused, saying the enforceable speed limit would remain at 35 miles an hour.
In other business:
• The professional life span of town managers among coastal municipalities is often more accurately measured in months than in years.
Stumpf, however, is a notable exception. She just signed a five-year contract to work for the town through 2024, which will give her 15 years on the job.
Mayor Keith Waters said continuity was a more important factor than longevity in signing Stumpf for the long haul. Town Clerk Lisa Petersen plans to retire in three years, so Waters said he wants future commissions to have experienced staff as long as possible to guide transitions.
“What we’re trying to do is make sure we have a very clear succession path as to how the town is going to continue to operate,” Waters said. “So a five-year window works very nicely.”
The new contract calls for paying Stumpf a base salary of $140,028 in the first year and the same amount plus cost-of-living adjustments during each of the next four years. Her previous salary was $134,642.
• Commissioners approved a holiday schedule that sets their monthly meetings for Nov. 12 and Dec. 10, at 10 a.m. as usual. 

Thank you, loyal readers.
Once again your passion for our newspaper is inspirational. We always learn a lot from your feedback and this month exceeded expectations.
One thing many of you wanted to stress is that the plastic sleeve on our driveway-delivered newspaper is not wasted. It’s used for storing household items and for picking up dog poo. It’s good to know the plastic wrapper isn’t really single-use!
Some of you said you don’t mind taking the plastic delivery sleeves to the recycling bins at Publix. Thank you.
One reader suggested we run a contest with local universities and business incubators for innovative solutions. Good idea.
We were gently warned by another concerned reader that we are putting ourselves into an unenviable — even hypocritical — position by continuing to print on dead trees and tossing them into driveways. Can’t argue.
That’s why we’re exploring options to better provide local community news that won’t turn into a soggy mass of wood pulp on a rainy day.
Our business partners tell us they like the advertising display they get in our print product (we think it looks great!) and are willing to pay a premium for delivery into every household in our coastal area. It’s a business model that has worked for them (and for us) the past 11 years. Still, we don’t want to become complacent.
One model we see other newspaper companies embracing is underwriting. We’ve done the research and feel it might work for The Coastal Star as we explore switching hand-delivered home delivery to the U.S. Postal Service.
We’re still open to other business suggestions — keep them coming — but are hoping to move forward with offering underwriting opportunities before the end of the year.
So, if you know individuals, businesses or nonprofits that would like to reach our barrier island readers with a message of environmental awareness and concern, please ask them to contact us. Together we can find solutions.

Email us at sales@thecoastalstar.com

Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Alex Ridley’s skills in fundraising and grant writing have helped bring in thousands of dollars to the center each year. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Stephen Moore

Five years ago, Alex Ridley, board president at Sandoway Discovery Center, moved his family from the Boston area to Delray Beach to start another chapter of the family’s life — and to escape the cold winters.
Ridley and his wife, Rosana, brought their children — Christopher, now 14, Leo, 12, and Alby, 7 — to South Florida, where he had often come to vacation.
“I had been coming to Ocean Ridge since the ’70s where my grandparents had a home,” Ridley said.
In Delray Beach, Ridley found a new lifestyle — a place where his kids could play soccer year round, and his Brazilian-born wife could enjoy the warmer climate she craved. Ridley could drive a couple of miles to his office — or a golf course on A1A, playing whenever he wanted. He runs a family business based in Delray Beach.
“I do a mix of investments, trustee work, estate planning and philanthropy, admittedly expert at none but a solid working knowledge of all,” he says.
Delray Beach is also where he found Sandoway and met Executive Director Danica Sanborn.
“I got involved with Sandoway because before we moved here I was on the board of a grant-making organization,” said Ridley, who grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “I wanted to get involved in a local organization. I poked around and met with Danica Sanborn and talked to her about some of the center’s needs. There was a clear skill set that they needed and I had from my previous career.”
Ridley, 46, has a background in finance and interest in conservation. After graduating with a degree in history from Pitzer College in Claremont, California, in 1995, he took a job with Merrill Lynch. After seven years there, he began working for The Nature Conservancy, one of the largest conservation nonprofits in the world.
“I was the associate director of development and also worked in fundraising,” Ridley said. “I worked in finance for a while and I wanted to do something different and was lucky enough to get a job at The Nature Conservancy, admittedly not knowing a lot about conservation but learned along the way. It was interesting to go from the world’s largest conservation organization to Sandoway, arguably one of the smallest.”
At Sandoway, he works closely with a supportive and experienced board — and with Sanborn, who oversees two other full-time employees and one part-time employee, a score of volunteers and more than 60 animals. The center attracts more than 22,000 visitors a year.
“Over the last five to 10 years, under the leadership of our previous board president, Ann Heilakka, the center has transformed from really a visitor center to a true education center,” Ridley said. “We now teach over 6,000 students who have participated in one of our tailored education programs. We teach to the Sunshine State Standards, a variety of classes. We teach Palm Beach County’s only climate change class, which won the 2019 Pine Jog Environmental Program of the Year.”
Sanborn says Ridley has had a big impact on the center. “His expertise in grant writing and donor cultivation has helped bring in thousands of dollars annually,” she said. “He is highly dedicated and eager to move Sandoway toward its mission of providing experiential environmental education to students and visitors.”
He and the center face some challenges — perfecting the balance between being a visitor center and an educational center; diversifying the revenue stream and moving from an event-based fundraising model to a donor-based model; and maximizing the space in the 3,581-square-foot, two-story Sandoway House.
Designed by noted architect Samuel Ogren Sr., the house was built in 1936 and is listed in Delray Beach’s local Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places.
The center has met some challenges with the hiring of Evan Orellana several years ago as a full-time director of education and Amanda Clough as a full-time naturalist.
“We have a goal that every visitor who comes in gets some personal interaction with one of our educators,” Ridley said. “Whether it is seeing a shark feeding or interacting with a snake — and they leave saying ‘Oh wow, I didn’t know that.’”
More improvements are in the works, from upgrading the appearance of the building to hiring a full-time membership director. And the board has plans to enhance the center with a new, larger stingray touch tank.
“For a small space, at times we are bursting at the seams,” Ridley said. “But I have expertise and experience in grant writing, so we have been lucky enough to secure some important funding from a number of Palm Beach County foundations, and that has allowed us to expand our offering.”
So this next chapter in the life of the Ridley family is taking shape.
“This place is too unique, too special to be constantly trying to stick your finger into the monetary dike,” Ridley said. “That’s my goal and, when my time is up, I hope I leave the place looking better and in better fiscal shape. I don’t always get it right, but I do care and I do try and two out of three is not bad.”

By Mary Hladky and Jane Smith

Less than three months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, iPic Entertainment has emerged from the legal process in the arms of its largest creditor.
Delaware U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein on Oct. 28 approved the sale of iPic’s assets for $51.8 million to an affiliate of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, which has loaned iPic about $220 million, Law360 reported. The sale is to close this month.
The affiliate, iPic Theaters, was the top bidder for the luxury theater chain’s assets at an Oct. 17 bankruptcy auction.
It beat out a competing $48.8 million bid by Cinemex Holdings USA, a subsidiary of Mexican movie theater operator Cinemex, which opened its first U.S. theater in Miami in 2016.
IPic’s 16 theaters, including in Delray Beach and Boca Raton, are expected to continue operating for now, but the long-term picture is less clear.
IPic attorney Jeffrey Pomerantz said RSA will keep open at least eight of the chain’s theaters and could continue developing six more sites, according to the Law360 Oct. 28 report. Those sites include planned theaters in Fort Lauderdale and Sunrise, according to filings in the case.
But the chain’s headquarters will not move to Delray Beach as long promised. RSA wants to keep it in Boca Raton, where it has been located since iPic was launched in 2010.
That is a blow to Delray Beach city leaders, who had conditioned approval of the construction of a downtown iPic on the headquarters move, and to the city’s business leaders, who wanted to score another corporate headquarters for the city.
An RSA spokeswoman declined comment. Two publicists for iPic founder and CEO Hamid Hashemi did not respond to emails.
The Delray Beach iPic opened in March after six years of wrangling with the city.
One week after iPic Entertainment filed for bankruptcy protection on Aug. 5, Hashemi lamented the time it took to complete negotiations with the city and build the theater, causing cost increases.
The theater project, now known as 4th and 5th Delray, includes office space, retail and a parking garage just south of Atlantic Avenue between Southeast Fourth and Fifth avenues.
IPic paid $3.6 million for 1.6 acres in April 2017. A few weeks earlier, a new entity called Delray Beach 4th and 5th Avenue paid $2.3 million for .14 acres to provide a loading zone.
The same day the 1.6-acre sale closed, Hashemi’s Delray Beach Holdings sold the land to Delray Beach 4th and 5th Avenue.
That entity has a joint venture partner in Boston and an investor partner in Los Angeles. Hashemi retained a small stake.
In contrast, the construction of a theater and adjacent Tanzy Restaurant in Boca Raton’s Mizner Park in 2012 generated no controversy. IPic’s headquarters also is in Mizner Park.
IPic offered a new concept: luxury theaters with reclining seats, quality food and drinks brought to patrons, and pillows and blankets.
The chain planned to grow to 25 theaters in the U.S. and to expand to Saudi Arabia. Its third Florida theater is in North Miami Beach.
But since iPic was formed, theater-going has decreased as people opt to stream movies at home. At the same time, larger chains copied iPic’s dine-in option and reclining seats.
IPic’s revenues declined in the first quarter of this year. On July 1 it missed a $10.1 million interest payment due to RSA.
Shortly after it sought bankruptcy protection, its stock was delisted on Nasdaq and traded over the counter at about 40 cents per share.
In recent documents in the bankruptcy case, landlord Delray Beach 4th and 5th Avenue said it is owed about $135,947 on its theater lease.
IPic’s Boca Raton landlord, Brookfield National Properties, said it is owed $79,907.
IPic disputed those amounts. A bankruptcy court hearing is set for Nov. 13 to resolve these and other remaining disputes.
Brookfield also objected to RSA’s assumption of the lease and asked for more information about its experience with theaters and restaurants and its financial health.
But in her order, Judge Silverstein said RSA had provided adequate assurance that it could operate the theaters.

By Steve Plunkett

If Ocean Ridge resident Richard Lucibella believed police were in his backyard illegally when he was arrested in 2016, he should have argued that before his trial began this year and he was convicted of misdemeanor battery, the state Attorney General’s Office says.
But Lucibella, at the time Ocean Ridge’s vice mayor, “did not move to suppress the evidence based on a warrantless entry and search. He did not move pretrial to dismiss the charges based on a warrantless entry,” Senior Assistant Attorney General Melynda Melear writes in her answer to Lucibella’s appeal.
Melear asks that the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach affirm Lucibella’s Feb. 21 conviction. Lucibella wants the appellate judges to vacate his conviction and order Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss to enter a judgment of acquittal or give him a new trial.
The case began Oct. 22, 2016, when neighbors called 911 to report hearing gunfire. Ocean Ridge police Officers Richard Ermeri and Nubia Plesnik and Sgt. William Hallahan responded to Lucibella’s backyard; a scuffle ensued.
Lucibella, now 66, was found not guilty of resisting arrest with violence and not guilty of felony battery on a law enforcement officer, but guilty of simple battery. He was ordered to pay $675 in court costs.
In her Oct. 16 brief, Melear says Lucibella’s contentions that police were not properly on his property, that there was no probable cause to arrest him and that the officers were trespassing are moot issues.
“Each one of these arguments bears on the element of the battery on a law enforcement officer charge that the officer was engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty,” she writes. The charge of simple battery “does not contain this element but only requires a showing of an intentional unwanted touching.”
Melear’s view of the facts presented at the trial differs sharply from that of Leonard Feuer, Lucibella’s appellate attorney. Feuer, for example, said in his initial brief that “It was undisputed by Ermeri he caused the first instance of violence in this case by grabbing Lucibella’s shoulders to obstruct his entry into his home or prevent him from obtaining a drink.”
Melear’s version: “The evidence not only showed that [Lucibella] poked the officer forcefully in the chest while threatening him, but also showed that he first walked aggressively into the officer’s extended hands and grabbed him by the neck.”
Lucibella’s case may linger into 2021. Feuer’s initial brief and Melear’s answer are the first salvos in the court battle. Generally, it takes two to three months after the last document is filed to get on the District Court of Appeal’s calendar, its website says. A three-judge panel renders its decision in most cases within six months, the website advises.

By Jane Smith and Dan Moffett

Three South County beaches will be restored this season with nearly 800,000 cubic yards of sand, costing $13.66 million.
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. of Oak Brook, Illinois, will dredge the sand offshore and then coat the southern coast of Delray Beach, from Casuarina Road to the city line with Highland Beach.
Boynton Beach’s Oceanfront Park beach, about 1,000 feet long, will receive extra sand.
The contractor also will restore about 3,000 feet north of Oceanfront Park and about 2,000 feet south of it. Both parcels sit in Ocean Ridge.
Heavy equipment will be stationed at Oceanfront Park, said Michael Stahl, deputy director of the county’s Department of Environmental Resources Management.
“The projects will restore sand lost during Hurricane Irma,” he said.
Initial assessments didn’t reveal that much sand was lost during the 2017 storm.
“It wasn’t until we did the studies that showed the substantial sand loss below the waterline,” Stahl explained.
The projects will be paid for with federal tax dollars, authorized by Congress in June under the Flood Control and Coastal Emergency Act. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will oversee the work.
The Delray Beach work is estimated to start in December and the Boynton Beach/Ocean Ridge project in February, according to David Ruderman, Army Corps spokesman.
In addition, Ruderman said the Army Corps office in Jacksonville awarded a separate $8.39 million contract to Great Lakes to restore the Jupiter area beaches in northern county. That work is scheduled to start by the end of 2019 and add 517,000 cubic yards of sand.
In South Palm Beach, the Town Council is hoping to partner with neighboring Palm Beach for a beach renourishment project early next year, paid for with federal tax dollars.
South Palm would purchase about $700,000 worth of sand from Palm Beach so the project can be extended five-eighths of a mile south. The town already has the money set aside.
But both municipalities are having the same problem getting the joint venture started: easements. Palm Beach needs 51 easements from property owners to reconstruct 2.8 miles of its beaches. As of October, only about 40 have agreed to grant access. The others are balking, saying they’re reluctant to open their private waterfront to public use.
South Palm Beach needs 16 easements and has 15 in hand, according to Mayor Bonnie Fischer. The holdout is one of the town’s few single-family homeowners.
Fischer said she remains optimistic that agreements can be reached with that homeowner and with those in Palm Beach.

More than 25 volunteers worked under the direction of the Institute for Regional Conservation to improve the native plant biodiversity of the dune at one of the IRC’s regular events Oct. 19. ABOVE: IRC chief George Gann worked with Keith Buttry, owner of Neglected Plants nursery, to carry sea lavenders that they mixed into existing native plants at the public beach. BELOW: So many people volunteered that the IRC’s Cara Abbott joined Kimberlee Duke Pompeo and more than a dozen other volunteers to pick up trash. The next IRC educational and planting event is scheduled for Nov. 16 at Ocean Ridge Town Hall. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

For the second time, Ocean Ridge commissioners considered a ballot referendum to the town charter that would require a four-vote supermajority for approving increases to height and density development rules.
And for a second time, the commission rejected the idea, again on a 3-2 vote at the Oct. 7 town meeting.
Mayor Steve Coz and Commissioner Phil Besler voted against the proposed referendum, as they did last November. They were joined by Commissioner Susan Hurlburt, who was elected to the commission in March, taking over the seat held by former Mayor James Bonfiglio, another supermajority opponent.
Hurlburt said she worried about “unintended consequences” of the charter change and urged residents to have more faith in their elected commission.
“You guys have got to trust us because we’re five residents here,” Hurlburt said. “We really care what our town looks like.”
Vice Mayor Don MaGruder and Commissioner Kristine de Haseth again cast the two votes for putting the supermajority requirement on the March 17 ballot.
MaGruder and de Haseth have argued that the town’s coming transition from septic tanks to municipal sewer systems could open the door to a new wave of development and put commissioners in the cross hairs of influential developers. They argued a supermajority requirement would help insulate the town from special interests and shortsighted development.
This time during supermajority discussion the commission heard from all five members of the town’s charter review committee. Last year it recommended advancing the proposal, but did so on a 3-0 vote, with two members absent and another, Polly Joa, later saying she reconsidered her yes vote.
“The one thing when we started out is we talked about how infrequently you make changes to the charter and how serious that is,” Joa told the commission. “I don’t think at this point we go back and change the charter.”
Two former mayors on the committee, Ken Kaleel and Geoff Pugh, said the supermajority requirement would hurt the town.
“Over the umpteen years I was involved with this town, I can’t tell you how many positive things came out of a 3-2 vote,” Kaleel said. “You wouldn’t even have this Town Hall if it wasn’t for a 3-2 vote.”
Pugh wondered why the supermajority idea had even come up. He said the town has “very, very strict zoning areas” and allows no commercial development. He said that although Ocean Ridge has changed over the years, it has controls in place to stop excessive development and protect its quality of life.
“If you look at our town and see the eclectic nature of our town, the town has changed but the character of the town has not changed,” Pugh said. “I do believe that the town and its very vocal residents tell the commissioners what they want and what they don’t want.”
Two former commissioners on the charter review committee, Terry Brown and Zoanne Hennigan, supported the supermajority idea. Brown said commissioners should approve putting it on the ballot so residents could make the decision.
“Why not let the voters have a direct vote on the way in which the character of the town remains,” Brown said. “Let them decide. What are you afraid of?”
Hennigan, who chaired the committee, said the proposal was needed to protect the town from narrowly approved development decisions such as those that have changed the character of Boynton Beach and Delray Beach.
“This amendment may be the single most important thing our community can do to preserve our unique and special lifestyle,” she said. “The bottom line is the voters in Ocean Ridge deserve their voice to be heard.”

ABOVE: The eighth annual Witches of Delray Ride along Atlantic Avenue on Oct. 26 consisted of about 300 witches and raised $15,908 for Achievement Centers for Children & Families in Delray Beach.  BELOW: The ‘Sea Turtle Rescue Witches of Highland Beach’ won first place in the category of best group theme.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Ocean Ridge town leaders will soon receive a recommendation from one of their advisory committees to turn over control of miles of water pipes to Boynton Beach Utilities — but they will have to wait for a suggestion from the team on whether to convert to a centralized sewer system.
Last month members of the Septic to Sewer Citizens Advisory Committee voted 4-1 to recommend that Ocean Ridge turn over responsibility for the town’s more than 85,000 linear feet of water pipes to Boynton Beach when an agreement between the two communities expires next year.
Boynton Beach Utilities is operated by the city of Boynton Beach but provides water and sewer services outside the city limits as well. It provides water to Ocean Ridge residents under the current agreement, but has no responsibility for maintenance or repair of the pipes still owned by the town.
In making its recommendation to the Town Commission, the committee included a stipulation from member Art Ziev that Ocean Ridge residents continue to pay the same water rates as Boynton Beach residents and that Boynton take full responsibility for maintenance and repair of the pipes “in perpetuity” at no cost to the town.
During discussion of the issue, committee Chairman Neil Hennigan and other members said they had heard from residents who opposed transferring ownership of waterlines to another entity.
“People are not comfortable with a large part of our infrastructure going to Boynton,” he said. “There’s a sense we’re giving something away.”
Committee members said they understood those concerns but felt they were not fully on point.
“The idea of Boynton taking over lines is more emotional than actual,” committee member Ron Kirn said.
Resident Terry Brown told the committee he didn’t think it would be wise to turn the lines over to Boynton. “This is not a smart idea,” he said. “You need to keep control of the pipes. I’m not sure why they would want the pipes.”
Representatives from Boynton Beach said one reason the utility wants to own the pipes is so it can have more overall responsibility for the quality of water getting into the homes.
“The utility needs to maintain the waterlines to ensure the high quality service to customers and it will lower the overall cost,” said Colin Groff, Boynton Beach’s assistant city manager for public services.
One challenge for Boynton Beach under the current arrangement is that the utility is held responsible by state officials for the quality of water delivered to homes in Ocean Ridge, but without oversight of the lines doesn’t have complete control.
Ocean Ridge has no water quality issues, Groff said.
Utilities director Joseph Paterniti said Boynton has the staff and equipment to ensure lines are property maintained.
“Boynton Beach Utilities have a full complement of utility field technicians that provide maintenance on all the utility’s infrastructure,” he said.
Should the Ocean Ridge commission accept the committee’s recommendation to turn over ownership of the pipes, terms of an agreement with Boynton Beach would be subject to negotiations.
Also at the Oct. 17 meeting, committee members rejected a recommendation to abandon the idea of installing a centralized wastewater system to replace septic tanks.
“There is no imminent need for a conversion at this time,” said Ziev, whose motion for a recommendation did not receive a second.
Kirn, who has been surveying the town’s multifamily units to determine what types of systems are used, said he believes there may be alternatives available other than installing an expensive and expansive centralized sewer system.
“An all-or-nothing proposal seems to be premature,” he said.
Further discussion of the issue is expected at the committee’s Nov. 21 meeting.

By Jane Smith

When Boynton Beach issued a systemwide precautionary boil water advisory in early October, not all its customers knew about the notice until hours later. In a few cases, it took days.
“I found out about 9 p.m.,” said Marie Chapman, a County Pocket resident. She made a pot of chicken soup for dinner, bathed her kids, made sure they brushed their teeth, put them to bed and then checked Facebook — about five hours after the notice was issued.
“They know how to find me when I don’t pay my bill,” said Chapman, who wanted to be personally notified. “I want to be informed and then let me make that choice for my children.”
Ocean Ridge residents also were not notified directly.
“About five residents called or sent emails to Town Hall, saying they were frustrated,” said Tracey Stevens, Ocean Ridge town manager.
The town’s Police Department first checked with Boynton Beach leaders to verify the notice affected all water customers. Then, police notified Ocean Ridge residents at 9:28 p.m. using the CivicReady application, Stevens said.
Stevens spoke with Boynton Beach officials two days later and reached an agreement that they would notify Ocean Ridge officials next time a boil water advisory or order is placed.
“We will notify our residents,” Stevens said.
It turned out that no bacteria entered the system and the water was safe to drink.
The problem started about 12:15 p.m. Oct. 8 at the main Boynton Beach water plant, according to the description given at the Oct. 15 City Commission meeting.
Workers were testing a generator. When they turned it off and switched over to electric power, nothing happened because the main breaker had failed, said Colin Groff, assistant city manager.
Staffers tried to reset the breaker manually for about 2 minutes, said Groff, a former utilities director. When they couldn’t do it, they immediately called the other plant operators to turn on the pumps to maintain pressure.
“Workers did not realize the pressure had dropped until about 10 minutes later when customers began to complain about low pressure,” Groff said.
Staffers reviewed the data for about 30 to 40 minutes. They found five or six points in the system where pressure dropped below 20 pounds per square inch.
That’s the pressure needed to make sure the water reaches customers and flows out of their faucets. When water stays at the plant or in the pipes, naturally occurring bacteria can grow, Groff explained.
“About 2:30 p.m., staff determined there was a pressure drop in the system,” Groff said.
Boynton Beach, as other water utilities, operates under a state permit that falls under the Florida Department of Health.
“We called the Health Department and spent time discussing the incident,” Groff said. “About 3 p.m., out of an abundance of caution, we decided it was advisable to do a systemwide notice that we had an issue. The law does not require us to do that. We could have just notified very specific customers, such as hospitals and dialysis centers.”
He told commissioners that it took until 4:15 p.m. until the city and the Health Department agreed on the wording of the notice.
The notice then went to the city’s utilities and marketing departments to decide how to inform its 112,000 water customers.
Under state law, the city had three choices, Groff said.
The first was door hangers.
“That’s what we do when we have a boil water order that affects a small number of customers. With 112,000 customers that notification could not be done in the (required) 24 hours,” Groff said.
The second option was telephone calls.
“We have 35,000 accounts with multiple customers. Homeowner associations, apartment buildings and condominiums all get one bill,” Groff said. “We talked about doing reverse 911 calls, but this incident did not rise to the level of an emergency.”
The third option, which Boynton Beach used, was the media.
“We sent the notice to the 24 media outlets that serve Boynton Beach. We also posted the notice on the city’s website and Facebook and Twitter accounts,” Groff said.
He added, “It was not required.”
The city chose to use the media because it would have the biggest impact, Groff said. “Many people have text alerts on their smartphones to be notified when news happens in their area,” he said.
“The water system was completely clear,” Groff said when the last notice was lifted five days later.
After the city had the test results, staff could say no one’s life was in danger. “But at the time, I could not say that,” Groff said when answering a commissioner’s question.
Next time, the city will send out an email to its water customers to notify them of a precautionary or urgent boil water notice, Groff said, agreeing with Mayor Steven Grant’s suggestion.
City staff is also testing the CivicReady application to notify its residents and water customers.
People would have to opt in, Groff said. The system contacts users by calls, texts or emails.
While the Health Department found that Boynton Beach followed the guidelines in notifying its customers, the city could not control the reporting by media outlets.
“I learned about the notice on the 6 p.m. news,” said Dale Sugerman, Briny Breezes town manager.
“From the news report, I could not tell whether it was an isolated area or the entire system. I called the Boynton Beach city manager and utilities manager to learn it was systemwide.”

By Charles Elmore

The latest episode in the managerial saga of Briny Breezes ended faster than a typical pop song.
The seaside mobile home community that not so long ago stood as Palm Beach County’s only municipality without a town manager found itself with no manager in sight again at an Oct. 24 meeting — and missing half the Town Council that was supposed to discuss finding a replacement. 
“We do not have a full quorum,” Mayor Gene Adams said. Agenda items would be taken up at the next meeting, on Dec. 5, he said.
Adams, flanked by council members Christina Adams and Bill Birch, presided over a meeting that formally ended in about three minutes. Members said afterward they understood travel and schedule complications accounted for the absences of colleagues on the six-member council.
In the aftermath, Police Chief Hal Hutchins, whose Ocean Ridge department provides law enforcement services to the town, met informally with residents to discuss parking and other issues while sharing pastries.
In the audience, resident Nancy Boczon said, “Where is everybody? That’s unusual.”
As for the postponed business at hand, she said she hopes the manager will be replaced soon: “It was good to have a town manager.”
Not present for the proceedings: Town Manager Dale Sugerman. He submitted his resignation after serving since the start of 2018 as the town’s first person in that role.
Among the issues arising in recent months was whether the workload matched up with compensation and benefits, including time off, for what Briny Breezes officials anticipated would be a position requiring 20-25 hours a week. But Sugerman, who was paid $40,000 annually, told them he was working at least 10 extra hours each week.
The town has grappled for years with how best to administer business such as permits, contracts, dealings with federal agencies and other matters. 
Tasks referred to the town attorney can grow expensive on an hourly basis, but unpaid volunteer work can leave elected leaders feeling overwhelmed.
The next council meetings are Dec. 5 and Jan. 23 at 4 p.m.
Pushed forward to the Dec. 5 agenda is council discussion of “selecting a date to interview candidates for the position of town manager.”

Patrick Wollmering walks his dog, Jack, through ankle-deep water in the typically dry parking lot of Sportsman’s Park on the west side of Lantana’s Ocean Avenue Bridge on Oct. 12. Seasonal high tides, also known as king tides, increasingly flood our communities in the fall. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

South Palm Beach residents can expect to see some of their former police officers patrolling the town again as deputies by mid-November after they completed five weeks of training with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Maj. Chris Keane, supervisor of the sheriff’s South Regional Bureau, said the town’s seven officers went through two weeks of classroom work and three weeks of field training to make the transition into the ranks of sheriff’s deputies.
“The classroom training primarily consists of our general orders, first aid and the kind of things that provide a foundation for what the Sheriff’s Office is all about,” Keane told the Town Council during its Oct. 8 meeting. “Then they get to go out and do some practical application on the street and spend some time learning our neighboring district.”
Keane, a 25-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, oversees about 365 deputies in the southern bureau, a sprawling South County district that includes Lake Worth Beach, western Boynton Beach, western Delray Beach and western Boca Raton.
While the officers were attending PBSO school in October, a group of veteran deputies patrolled South Palm Beach. Keane said these deputies worked alongside the town’s police in September to become oriented with the five-eighths-mile-long community of roughly 1,400 people — “a chance to get our existing deputies to start to know the nuances and uniqueness of the town of South Palm Beach.”
Said Keane, “We didn’t just throw people in here without having some understanding of the town.”
The deputies will use the police station in Town Hall as an administrative headquarters. PBSO has upgraded the computer system there and improved the building’s small kitchen.
Former South Palm Police Chief Mark Garrison is expected to become one of two sergeants assigned to oversee the town. The positions and assignments of the six other officers are uncertain and up to PBSO.
When Sheriff Ric Bradshaw came to the town for the officers’ swearing-in ceremony on Oct. 1, he made it clear that they would work for and answer to him, not any local constituency.
In June, the council voted to approve a 10-year contract with PBSO for its law enforcement services. The terms call for the town paying $1.05 million the first year, with 2% increases the following two years. Council members say the agreement could save the town about $1 million over the 10 years.
In other business:
• The council decided, after experimenting with different starting times during the summer, to return to scheduling town meetings for 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month. 

By Jane Smith

A 4.3-mile stretch of Federal Highway from George Bush Boulevard in Delray Beach to Murano Bay Drive in Boynton Beach will be redone in the next 18 months.
Murano Bay Drive sits just north of the Boynton Canal.
Work started Oct. 17 just north of George Bush Boulevard, according to Meredith Cruz, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Transportation project. “For now, we anticipate work to take place on the east side of the project first, moving north,” Cruz wrote in an email to The Coastal Star.
The work has an estimated completion date of early 2021. “It is an estimate and does not include holiday time, weather delays (rain, hurricanes, etc.) or unforeseen circumstances,” Cruz wrote.
The $5.4 million contract, awarded to Hardrives Inc. of Delray Beach, covers milling and resurfacing; roadway reconstruction; installation of concrete curbs, gutters, driveways, sidewalks and bike lanes; and new bridge railings.
The contractor plans to start with sidewalk replacement and drainage pipe lining operations along the corridor, according to Cruz. Traffic signals will be upgraded in Delray Beach at Northeast 14th Street, and in Boynton Beach at Gulfstream Boulevard, Southeast 23rd Avenue, Woolbright Road, Ocean Avenue, Boynton Beach Boulevard and Northeast 10th Avenue. The upgraded signals will be able to detect waiting pedestrians.
The work will be done from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays, with the possibility of one lane closed in each direction. During the nights of Sunday through Thursday, work will take place between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Cruz also wrote that temporary nightly closures of two Federal Highway intersections will take place in early 2020. The Ocean Avenue and Boynton Beach Boulevard intersections need to be rebuilt. Only one intersection will be closed at a time.
“The operations are expected to last for approximately one month, weather permitting. Motorists will be directed to use a marked detour route around the intersections during the nightly full closures,” Cruz wrote.
Advance notice will be given about the closing of each intersection.
The landscaped medians are not included in the project. The width of travel and bike lanes and sidewalks will remain the same, according to Cruz.
For more information, contact Cruz at 641-6440 or mcruz@corradino.com.

By Jane Smith

The Boynton Beach fire station that serves much of Ocean Ridge will be finished in February, said Fire Chief Glenn Joseph.
Firefighters/paramedics will be able to move in the week of Feb. 22, Joseph said.
The new station will sit one block off Northeast First Street in the Town Square, and will respond to fire-rescue calls east to Ocean Ridge, west to Old Boynton Road, south to Southeast Sixth Avenue and north to the Boynton Canal.
The construction of Fire Station 1 was halted in late August by the approach of Hurricane Dorian, pushing back the scheduled opening, but it proceeded through rains in early October.
“Work was shut down a few days before the projected arrival of the hurricane,” Joseph said. “Then, it took a week to get the contractors back on the site.”
Emergency calls to the barrier island are mostly medical, Joseph said. Fire Station 4, on South Federal Highway, responds to most of the incidents in Briny Breezes and the south end of Ocean Ridge.
When finished, Fire Station 1 will have two brass plates. A 50-year-old one will commemorate when the original station was finished in 1969, listing the names of the mayor, city commissioners and city manager.
A new plate dated 2020 will go underneath, Joseph said. It also will list the names of the mayor, city commissioners and city manager.
Retired Fire Capt. Mike Smollon has parts of the fire pole from the old Fire Station 1. Smollon, who lives in the County Pocket, will donate it so that it can be displayed in the new station.
“But we have to move in first and then determine an area for the display,” Joseph said.

Town Square details
The new fire station is part of the city’s massive Town Square project that officials hope will create a downtown. The 16-acre development is a public-private partnership of the city, its Community Redevelopment Agency and the development team of E2L Real Estate Solutions.
Its boundaries are Seacrest Boulevard on the west, Boynton Beach Boulevard on the north, First Street on the east and Southeast Second Avenue on the south.
The project also includes the renovation of the city’s historic high school, a new City Center that combines the city hall and public library, the current Children’s Schoolhouse Museum, a parking garage, play areas and an amphitheater.
The high school work will be finished in November. A person was hired in September to determine rental rates for the second-floor auditorium and other rooms.
The first floor will house arts and exercise classes formerly held at the Civic Center and Madsen Center, which were demolished to make way for Town Square.
But the staff move-in date has not been determined, said Eleanor Krusell, city spokeswoman. Parking remains problematic while Town Square is an active construction zone.
In other city news, Boynton Beach will hold its second pop-up dog park from 9 a.m. to noon Nov. 23 at Oceanfront Park. The dog area likely will be on the southern half of the beach, said Wally Majors, Recreation and Parks director. No admission will be charged.

By Steve Plunkett

The neighbor of the Place Au Soleil eyesore that racked up $1.89 million in code enforcement fines is buying the property with plans to tear down the house and build a larger home on adjoining lots.
Gulf Stream commissioners in August told Assistant Town Attorney Trey Nazzaro to begin foreclosure proceedings on the house at 2775 Avenue Au Soleil, dismissing a request by heirs of recently deceased homeowner Richard Lavoie to slash the lien to $20,000 so they could sell the property for $420,000.
This time the heirs more than doubled their offer as part of a deal in which Daniel Stanton, the CEO and founder of fast-growing retail chain Stanton Optical, would buy the house next to his for $430,000 and pay for its demolition.
“We’re here to offer you $50,000, which is, realistically speaking, a year’s salary to an average human being, and a demo and a sale to another member of this community,” the Lavoie estate’s lawyer, Cory Carano, told commissioners Oct. 11.
But Mayor Scott Morgan called the sweetened proposal “woefully deficient.” 
“While it’s not the purpose of this town to cash in on liens, it is our responsibility and our duty to enforce our rules and ordinances to make sure that those standards are maintained,” Morgan said. 
Nazzaro said Gulf Stream reduced a code enforcement lien only once in recent memory, collecting 15% of the total amount levied. For the Lavoie property, that percentage would be close to $285,000.
“I think this has been such a horrific situation for so long, I don’t think $50,000 is the right number,” Commissioner Joan Orthwein said.
Lavoie died in March. Carano noted that Lavoie’s personal representative, who lives in New Jersey, took just 58 days after being appointed to replace a temporary fence around the swimming pool and rejuvenate landscaping, resolving the code enforcement issues. He argued that at the town’s maximum fine of $500 per day, that would make the heirs liable for roughly $17,000.
“I’m not here to really address what the decedent did or did not do. I’m here on behalf of the estate,” Carano said.
Morgan said the heirs should pay $150,000 but the other commissioners talked him into $125,000. The heirs accepted.
Stanton, who bought the neighboring house with his wife, Hanna, for $1.05 million three years ago, said their goal was “to be compliant with the architectural codes and expectations of the town … and to have a bigger place to have my new baby born in March to run around in.”
His architect and contractor already were evaluating what could be built on the joined lots, Stanton said. “We’re able to do this with whatever speed we can,” he promised.
Gulf Stream’s file on Lavoie was 150 pages long. The Place Au Soleil Association wrote him twice in 2002 about his lawn and landscaping not being maintained. Lavoie told a special magistrate in April 2005 that he had put in new sod and an irrigation system the week before, after getting two letters from the town.
Gulf Stream sent a repeat notice of violation that August after the grass died again; a month later a special magistrate fined Lavoie $4,000.
A December 2005 letter noted code violations including “tall grass, dead trees, a pool that was completely black and a collapsed pool screen,” Nazzaro said. After two more letters and another special magistrate hearing, Lavoie cleared the debris and erected a temporary fence around the pool in April 2006.
In July 2006 he was fined $200 for again neglecting his lawn. And in April 2009 Lavoie was fined $500 a day again over the status of the lawn and because the temporary pool fence had collapsed.