Terran Orbital, based in Boca Raton, is in the process of being acquired by defense contractor Lockheed Martin. Photo provided by Proof Photography

By Christine Davis

Terran Orbital’s Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Inc. was recently awarded $254 million by the Space Development Agency to produce 10 satellites for the Tranche 2 Transport Layer Gamma contract.

Terran Orbital, based in Boca Raton and in the process of being acquired by Lockheed Martin, will undertake the design, construction, integration, testing and delivery of these satellites. This will include the integration of the associated ground control system and the execution of launch and early operations.

These satellites will carry equipment designed to detect and respond to threats through the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. PWSA envisions a constellation of hundreds of satellites in low-Earth orbit, featuring advanced satellite communications, data transport, missile warning and missile-tracking functionalities.

“Our ongoing collaboration with the Space Development Agency across multiple Tranche iterations has been immensely rewarding, and we deeply value their continued trust in our capabilities,” said Marc Bell, chairman, co-founder and chief executive officer at Terran Orbital.

Delivery for launch is scheduled to begin in 2027.

***

Dort Financial Credit Union, which was acquired by Flagler Bank last year, celebrated its new ownership with ribbon-cutting ceremonies at its four Florida branches, one of which is at 5255 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton.

Now being operated as Flagler Credit Union, a Division of Dort Financial, it is served by the same staff and will provide expanded services later this year. Former Flagler Bank President Ed Sterling is now the chief operations officer of Flagler Credit Union. 

Dort Financial Credit Union was founded in 1951 and serves more than 110,000 members with assets exceeding $2 billion across 11 locations in Michigan and four in Florida.

Membership is open to individuals in Michigan or Palm Beach, Martin, Hendry and Broward counties. For more information, visit flaglercu.org.

***

BrickTop’s restaurant plans to open a Delray Beach location at 12 NE Fifth Ave. by next summer.

The Nashville-based chain updated the site plan application it submitted in October 2022, which was reviewed and approved by the city’s Site Plan Review and Appearance Board on July 24. Sited on a 0.37-acre lot, the new 4,420-square-foot Deco-style restaurant will have a 580-square-foot mezzanine for additional dining and 21 on-site parking spaces. 

The site plan application listed Jeffrey A. Costello, principal of the Delray Beach-based JC Planning Solutions, as the restaurant’s agent. The lot is owned by 12 NE 5th LLC, with Pascal Liguori of Delray Beach-based Premier Estate Properties listed as the registered agent. The LLC paid Bethesda Hospital Foundation Inc. nearly $3.6 million for the commercial site in May 2021. 

***

The health food cafe Pura Vida, founded by Omer and Jennifer Horev in 2012 with more than 20 locations in South Florida, is scheduled to open this month at 6 S. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach, taking the place of the former BurgerFi, which closed this year. 

***

A newly completed seven-bedroom, 14,427-total-square-foot waterfront estate at 360 E. Alexander Palm Road, Boca Raton, in the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, sold in July for $28.5 million.

The 360 East Alexander Palm Road Trust, with Miami attorney Jay M. Sakalo as trustee, was the owner. The buyer is listed as Alexander Palm Road Trust, with Coral Springs attorney Larry A. Rothenberg as trustee. David W. Roberts of Royal Palm Properties represented the seller in the deal, while Carmen D'Angelo & Joseph Liguori of Premier Estate Properties represented the buyer.  

On a 0.48-acre property along a canal leading to the Intracoastal Waterway, the home was built by Boca Raton-based SRD Building Corp.

***

Alan B. Miller and his wife, Jill, sold their Manalapan oceanfront estate at 3 Ocean Lane for $18.25 million to Corinne Anna Buckley. Alan Miller founded Universal Health Services, a chain of hospitals and other health-care providers, in 1979.

The Millers paid $2.25 million for the house in 1992 and remodeled it in 2001.

Pascal Liguori and Antonio Liguori of Premier Estate Properties were the listing agents. Matthew Moser and Nicholas Gonzalez of The Matt and Nick Team at Serhant represented the buyer.

***

The 1964 East Royal Palm Trust — with Robert C. Kopple as trustee and Andrew and Stephanie Left as homestead property owners — sold a residence at 1964 Royal Palm Way, Boca Raton, in the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, for $15.8 million. It was purchased by RP 1964 Trust, with Paul A. Krasker as trustee. The Lefts bought the property for $11.25 million in January 2021.

Andrew Left heads the California-based Citron Capital. In late July, the SEC filed a civil lawsuit against Left accusing him of stock fraud. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California also charged Left with felony securities fraud. Both cases remain pending.

David W. Roberts of Royal Palm Properties represented the seller in the deal, while Jessica Schuble of Serhant worked with the buyer.

***

Boca Raton-based Concierge Property Solutions was named development consultant for the 28-unit Glass House Boca Raton residential development at 280 E. Palmetto Park Road.

***

The Lantana Chamber’s Leadership Program, which runs through March 2025, offers firsthand experiences, behind-the-scenes access, and an inside look at how the community works and the challenges it faces.

The program aims to help participants hone their leadership strengths, find new areas to make contributions and grow a network.

The kickoff event is scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 at Ravish Off Ocean, 210 E. Ocean Ave., Lantana.

The cost of the program is $350 for Lantana Chamber members and $400 for non-members. To register, visit lantanachamber.com/2024-2025-lantana-leadership.

***

Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters presents “The Constitution Today” with Emily Bazelon and Katie Phang at 2 p.m. Sept. 17.

Bazelon, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, will share her expertise on how the U.S. Constitution continues to shape and influence contemporary legal debates and social issues.

Phang, host of The Katie Phang Show on MSNBC and a legal contributor for NBC News and MSNBC, will provide analysis and commentary on the associated legal issues across the globe. A panel discussion will follow the presentations.

The event is sponsored by the FAU School of Communication and Multimedia Studies; Department of Political Science; Division of Student Affairs; and the Osher Lifelong Learning Society.

It will be held at the Osher Lifelong Learning Society’s Barry and Florence Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Road, on FAU’s Boca Raton campus. Tickets are $20 and are available at 561-297-6124 or fauevents.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx?id=6264.

Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.

Correction: An earlier version of this column misidentified the buyer's representative in the sale of 360 E. Alexander Palm Road in Boca Raton. The representatives were Carmen D'Angelo and Joseph Liguori of Premier Estate Properties.

By John Pacenti

Fearing businesses would leave Delray Beach over soaring costs, Mayor Tom Carney successfully spearheaded the move for a city tax cut at a meeting where department heads said such relief would necessitate significant reductions in services.

“The people who actually made Delray Beach, who gave it the buzz and did all the stuff that everybody wants to come to, well we’re crippling them,” Carney said.

Commissioners Juli Casale and Tom Markert joined Carney — all elected to the commission in March — in rolling back the preliminary tax rate July 25 to just a tad over $5.90 for each $1,000 of taxable value to support the city’s projected $187 million budget. The city also has a small second tax rate to pay off voted debt.

The $5.90 per $1,000 rate is the city’s “no new taxes” rolled-back rate that’s highlighted on tax notices that are sent out to property owners in August. Many cities lower their tax rates by a small amount from year to year to show their concern for taxpayers, even though they still rake in more tax revenue because property values have risen. That’s not what Delray Beach did.

“I’m freezing the taxes to at least what they were last year — that is the goal,” Carney said in a July 27 interview.

The only new property tax revenue for the city would be from new construction completed in 2023.

Both Carney and Markert said they campaigned on cutting taxes, while Casale at the meeting floated the idea of charging non-residents $35 to park at the beach to make up for lost revenue.

Commissioners Rob Long and Angela Burns voted against proposing the lower rate at the meeting — the commission’s third budget session in July.

Potential budget impact
In a dramatic show, Long asked Police Chief Russ Mager if under the rollback rate would he be able to have additional patrols, such as the one just added for the beach pavilion after June 21 gunfire there.

Carney and City Manager Terrence Moore tried to intercede, but Mager said, “If you cut my budget, it does not allow for me to do what I want to do, what’s necessary to keep the city safe at a level that we are expecting from our Police Department.”

Moore, at a budget workshop on July 16, said the rollback rate would result in a tax cut for residents.

A homesteaded property with a taxable value of $1 million last year would save about $278 in the property tax assessment tied to the city’s operating budget, bringing that portion of its tax bill to about $6,083. 

Moore originally proposed a slight reduction in the city’s operating tax rate — set at $6.36 per $1,000 of taxable value last year — to roughly $6.26 per $1,000. The tentative rate the commission approved would eliminate almost $5 million in expected tax revenue, according to a city budget presentation.

Casale said her beach parking proposal for non-residents would generate $5.5 million — if all available parking spaces were taken by non-residents every single day of the year. 

Moore had police, fire, parks and public works officials present proposed cuts that were politically painful at the commission’s July 25 meeting. 

In addition to Mager’s presentation, Acting Fire Chief Kevin Green said he would decrease the number of men per truck for some shifts. And events — such as the Christmas Village — would need to be curtailed.

“Instead of cutting one big event that might get people upset, it’s just reducing all of the events a little bit, right across the board, to pull them all back a little bit, and we can save upwards of $175,000 by doing that,” said Parks Director Sam Mettot.

After the commission’s decision was made, Moore said he was determined to make Carney’s plan work without substantial cuts and proposed an Aug. 13 workshop.

Long fears services will have to be cut to balance the budget, which he said is not what residents want.

“The integrity of our events impacted, and our maintenance impacted, potentially, our tourism economy impacted, I’m going to guess they’d be willing to pay that extra eight or nine bucks a month,” he said.

Now is the time, mayor says
Carney defended his plan, saying the upcoming fiscal year may be the only opportunity for the city to give tax relief because the previous commission approved a new fire employee contract that will cost an additional $22 million next year.

“We’re taxing people to death,” Carney said. “It’s got to stop. This is not a sustainable way to continue by just keep raising taxes every year without going in with a very sharp pencil and seeing what we can cut.”

The approved tentative rate is all but set in stone. The commission, before formally adopting the budget in September, could raise the rate — but it would need to pay to have new tax notices mailed out to all city taxpayers and give them additional time to weigh in.

Property values are skyrocketing throughout South Florida, so keeping the tax rate unchanged isn’t enough to hold the line on taxes. Even making small cuts to the tax rate can still result in tax increases.

Delray Beach saw a nearly 10.9% increase in property value citywide in the past year. Homesteaded properties catch a break because Florida caps their assessed value increases at 3% a year.

Businesses, rental properties and second homes are on the hook for more, with their annual assessed value increases capped at 10%. Those costs are often passed on to the diner and the renter. “We are going to price them out of the market,” Carney said.

Resident Joy Howell said property owners are also getting hammered with increases in property insurance. “I had one property that went from $12,000 to $18,000 a year in insurance for this year. That’s outrageous,” she said.

Carney — who was previously mayor in 2013 — said services don’t have to be cut. He said the city has about 30 open positions that have been advertised for more than a year and are fully funded.

“That’s a million dollars a year,” Carney said. “They would have been cut in every other municipality.”

A 2022 home in Ocean Ridge was built to a raised minimum elevation based on its flood zone. Under new FEMA flood maps that take effect in December, if this home were replaced, the new base level would have to be three feet higher -- and the ground floor of any home built on the empty lot next door would have to be just as high. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Long-term engagement with FEMA planned in effort to lessen burden on residents

By Anne Geggis 

New flood maps expected to take effect later this year will put 5,800 new Palm Beach County coastal parcels in special hazard zones, and thousands more property owners will be required to elevate their homes to even higher levels if they want to rebuild or make major renovations.

The new maps are the first flooding hazard update since 1979 based on a full study. These results may have some property owners wishing they could turn back time.

“A lot of people are going to be significantly impacted by this,” said Palm Beach County building division director Douglas Wise. “Along the Intracoastal is where we’re seeing the biggest changes.”

The flood maps help determine who is required to purchase federal flood insurance and who has to meet higher minimum elevations when rebuilding or undertaking major renovations.

Most South County homeowners near the coast must build to higher base elevations already. Many will see the levels rise another two to five feet.

The changes are set to take effect in December, but the Palm Beach County Commission agreed at a July 9 meeting to fund a technical partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to address what county officials believe is a bug in FEMA’s calculations that produced the maps.

Wise doesn’t think so many of the existing buildings need to be raised as the new maps show they should be if the owners go to make upgrades or repairs to structures on these parcels.

“We don’t agree with the science,” he said.

***

Is your property affected?

You can view your property and others on the FEMA flood-risk map by going to:
https://maps.co.palm-beach.fl.us/cwgis/?app=floodzones

***

County Commissioner Marci Woodward agreed that the county should make the investment to try to alleviate the impact of the new maps on residents — even if it might be several years before the technical partnership project gets completed and the new minimum elevations can be revised.

Funding the technical partnership will cost the county $500,000 initially and determine whether further study could result in significant changes in the mapping that could lessen the overall impact on residents.

“We have the best option, with this room full of experts, all of our different districts, to actually make these maps the most accurate, so that the rates and the building codes and everything that goes into this will be accurate,” Woodward said. “Honestly, I believe we are the only ones that can do this.

“Any local area is going to do a better job than the feds on this, because they have to look at it from such a high level,” she added. 

For now, though, the new maps — and new insurance and building level requirements — will take effect in December.

And the $7.7 billion worth of property that FEMA insures in South County is likely to grow — anyone with a federally backed mortgage who is in one of the high hazard zones is required to purchase the flood insurance.

The cost for homeowners depends on location.

The average premium cost ranges from $724 for property that lies between Military Trail and El Rio Canal in Boca Raton to the $1,377 average for Delray Beach parcels that lie between Dixie Highway and the Atlantic Ocean.

The premium cost can be reduced by up to 45% depending on how much a community does to ameliorate its flood risk, according to parameters that FEMA has set. The actions involve better planning and educating residents.

No municipality in the county has earned the maximum 45% discount that the program offers, but in South County, Boynton Beach comes the closest with a 25% discount.

Lantana’s rating was upgraded in 2020, so that FEMA flood policy holders were eligible for a 10% discount on their bills, instead of just 5%. It was given because of the town’s efforts to preserve open spaces, shore up flood-prone structures and manage stormwater, among other items, according to Nicole Dritz, Lantana’s development services director.

“The savings is a tangible result of the flood mitigation activities that the town implements to help protect lives and reduce property damage,” Dritz said.

Commissioners in Highland Beach, which qualified for a 10% discount in the past but now does not, voted 5-0 July 23 to tentatively approve an ordinance that has changes officials hope will again qualify the town’s property owners for a discount.

Currently, town homeowners can split a major renovation into separate work over two years, so the work in any one year does not exceed half the structure’s value, the point at which the home’s base elevation is required to be raised. Under the proposed ordinance, that would no longer be the case. It would require the higher elevation when any cumulative renovations over as many as five years exceed half a building’s value.

Larry Barszewski contributed to this story.

Flood insurance discounts
South County residents are eligible for FEMA flood insurance discounts based on actions their municipalities have taken to mitigate potential flooding. Here are the discounts by municipality as of April 2024:
Boca Raton: 15%
Boynton Beach: 25%
Briny Breezes: 0%
Delray Beach: 20%
Gulf Stream: 0%
Highland Beach: 0%
Lantana: 10%
Manalapan: 10%
Ocean Ridge: 20%
South Palm Beach: 10%
Source: Palm Beach County

Crows check out a nest on the beach in Ocean Ridge, while another (below, right) flies overhead. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

The crows know.

Along our beaches, the loud and large black birds show off their smarts by tracking sea turtle monitors, waiting for a chance to scavenge what’s left of a nest that’s been ransacked by a raccoon or fox.

The flying predators are also known to scoop up wayward turtle hatchlings scrambling to get to the ocean and have been seen trying to peek into the buckets rescuers use to carry new hatchlings to safety.

“If you walk away from your ATV and you have a bucket with a towel over it, they will try and pull the towel off,” says David Anderson, the sea turtle conservation coordinator at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton. “They associate the bucket with something in it.”

Seven crows gather at a turtle nest in Gulf Stream. They can associate the nest markers with the possible presence of hatchlings or eggs. Photo provided by Sea Turtle Adventures

Throughout southern Palm Beach County, fish crows — the more common type of crows in the area — are proving just how intelligent and adaptable they are.

Members of the corvid family of birds, which includes ravens and blue jays, crows are known for their cognitive ability. They are also known for their excellent memories, problem-solving skills and their ability to recognize human faces and behaviors.

“These skills make them incredibly adaptable,” according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologists who responded to The Coastal Star questions in an email.

It also makes them formidable predators.

Fish crows feed on coastal species such as marine invertebrates, as well as eggs and young shorebirds, seabirds and sea turtles.

In South County, fish crows on the lookout for easy meals are common sights on the stakes marking sea turtle nests — and often on limbs of Australian pines and other nearby trees.

A crow on a stake with a sea turtle hatchling in its mouth. Photo provided by Sea Turtle Adventures

Joanne Ryan, the FWC permit holder for the volunteer Highland Beach Sea Turtle Team, remembers the early morning not long ago when a female green sea turtle nesting high on the dune drew a crowd of avian spectators on the top of an adjacent 14-story high-rise, perhaps hoping for a fresh egg breakfast.

“I was guarding the turtle with my life,” she said.

Jackie Kingston, executive director of Sea Turtle Adventures, which monitors beaches in Gulf Stream, Briny Breezes and part of Ocean Ridge, says crows are always on the lookout for a quick meal.

“We’ll have our head down in a nest and when we look up, they’ll be circling all around,” she said.

Kingston, Ryan and Anderson do their best to keep crows away from hatchlings, but they’re not always present to protect them.

The birds will patrol the line of seaweed on the beach looking for errant baby turtles and have been seen snatching them up and taking them to nearby trees.

The birds that catch hatchlings are quick.

“It happens in the blink of an eye,” Kingston said.

Anderson said he has also seen a crow grab a hatchling and bury it, almost as if it is hiding it for a later meal.

Kingston said she’s seen crows bury eggs as well, on the rare occasions when the sea invades a nest and the eggs start washing away.

“They’ll get one and then come back and get another,” she said.

Although crows are a threat to sea turtles, Anderson said they are much less of a problem than some of the other major predators such as raccoons, foxes, skunks and coyotes, which have been known to rummage through nests looking for eggs or hatchlings while damaging everything in the way.

A bigger avian threat, both he and Ryan say, are yellow crown night herons, which pluck hatchlings from the beach often before daylight.

“Crows are way down on the list,” Anderson said.

Though the birds can be pesky, both Anderson and Ryan have developed a respect and dialogue with the crows.

“I talk to them all the time,” says Ryan. “They’re very cool birds and they’re very smart.”

Crows, like other corvids, have been known to use tools to solve problems. They have been documented, for example, dropping stones into a glass tube of water in order to get the water level to rise to where they can reach it.

Crows are also cooperative breeders, according to FWC biologists, meaning offspring from past nests help their parents raise new young.

Individuals can work together to solve problems and identify unusual resources, such as food sources especially present in urban landscapes.

Because they are opportunists, crows can often be attracted to trash and food not in their natural diet, and that, say FWC biologists, can have a negative impact on shorebird and seabird colonies as well as turtles because predators will linger in the area.

People can help minimize the predation by crows and other animals by cleaning beaches of trash and by not feeding them and other wildlife, the FWC team says.

Over the years Anderson, Kingston and Ryan have found that people and crows on South County beaches can be friends.

“They’re our companions on the beach,” Anderson said. “We have a fun love-hate relationship.”

Crow facts
• There are two types of crows — fish crows and American crows. Fish crows are more common in coastal Palm Beach County.
• Crows are members of the corvid family whose members are known for cognitive ability. They are also very social.
• Crows can recognize human faces.
• Fish crow populations in Florida appear to have grown from 2012 to 2022.
• Fish crows have a distinct nasally call.
Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

In wake of tumult, commission changes public comment policy

By John Pacenti

Boynton Beach Mayor Ty Penserga said that the FBI is investigating a death threat made against him in July.

City Commissioner Thomas Turkin said he has also been the target of threats.

The threats came after a contentious July 2 commission meeting where Penserga cut off public comments from two women who believe the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, leading Turkin to criticize the mayor for not letting them speak. Commissioners abruptly adjourned the meeting as one of the speakers who refused to stop talking was being led out of the chamber by police on orders from the mayor.

Penserga said he was enforcing a policy that public comments had to pertain to items that are within the purview of the City Commission — a policy that commissioners agreed to do away with July 30 in the aftermath of the meeting meltdown, the threats that followed and an unsuccessful staff attempt to delay public comments until late in the commission’s regular agendas.

Penserga’s actions at the July 2 meeting led Turkin to shout at the mayor that he felt citizens had a First Amendment right to address the commission as they saw fit. When some in the gallery applauded, Turkin said, “Don’t clap, because I don’t agree with a lot that has been said.”

One of the women — Candace Rojas, a former candidate for Palm Beach Town Council and the Palm Beach Soil & Water Conservation District — is a well-known, vocal election denier who has appeared before many area commissions. She told the commission she was speaking to “restore the republic.”

Boynton Beach resident Candace Rojas is escorted out of the July 2 City Commission by police after Mayor Ty Penserga cut her off for speaking during public comments about items not in the purview of the commission. At a July 30 commission workshop, commissioners said they would end that public comment policy and allow speakers to talk on whatever topics they would like. City of Boynton Beach meeting video

“As a sovereign American I am putting you on notice,” Rojas said before being cut off by Penserga and escorted out by police when she refused to leave the lectern.

While officials would not comment on the specific threats, the video of the July 2 meeting was removed from the city’s YouTube and website pages after threats were made to city commissioners, Boynton Beach spokeswoman Chelsea Sanabia said July 17. The threats were under police investigation, she said.

Police spokeswoman Holly Piccano told a reporter from The Coastal Star to make a public records request when asked if the threats stemmed from the July 2 meeting.

The first public mention of a death threat occurred when a speaker mentioned it during public comments at the July 16 commission meeting. Penserga and Turkin were absent from that meeting.

Penserga, returning a phone call July 26, said he was reluctant to speak further about the death threat without consulting the FBI. He did elaborate that the threat was made in an anonymous voicemail.

Turkin, who said he also received threats, responded July 24 to a text message seeking comment:

“Due to the plethora of investigations that are ongoing internally and with other three-letter agencies pertaining to multiple threats/conspiring actions against myself and other members of the commission, I will refrain.”

At the commission’s July 16 meeting, new public comment rules created by staff caught commissioners by surprise.

The three commissioners in attendance at that meeting balked at the changes and chose to follow the commission’s past practices until they had an opportunity to discuss any changes in how they do business.

The new rules would have pushed public comments from near the beginning of commission meetings to near the end. They also would require each resident who wanted to speak to fill out a comment card and file it with the city clerk.

“I was disappointed they were added to the agenda without having input from my colleagues,” Vice Mayor Aimee Kelley said at the meeting.

“I was blind-sided by this and I don’t like it,” Commissioner Woodrow Hay said.

At the July 30 workshop, commissioners agreed to remove the limitation that speakers must address city issues and to allow comments —as Penserga said — to be about “basically anything and everything.”

They also agreed to keep public comments at the start of the commission meeting, allow online comments and not to require public comment cards.

Penserga and Turkin, though, complained about a July 29 community meeting where they said they were defamed.

“Lies were said about something I did last meeting. I wasn’t even here,” said Penserga, who told residents to “ask for receipts” when they hear criticism of him.

He said he doesn’t set the agenda and can’t get funding for causes without consensus of the commission.

Turkin said that free speech is all fine and good but the commission would not tolerate personal attacks or hate speech.

“We’ve seen what such political rhetoric does. We’ve seen it at the highest level, an attempted assassination on the former president.”

By Rich Pollack

State Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman knew something was wrong after she leaped into the Intracoastal Waterway last year to cool off on the Fourth of July.

“It looked like green pea soup,” she said, adding that she washed off as soon as she got back into her boat.

What she didn’t know then was that the water she had jumped into just north of the Boynton Inlet was most likely contaminated by a sewage spill in Boynton Beach.

That incident led Gossett-Seidman to continue her efforts to hasten public notification of waterway spills and beach contamination and to introduce the Safe Waterways Act into the Florida Legislature.

The bill sailed through both the state House and Senate, but it didn’t make it past the veto of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who stopped it from becoming law with no explanation June 26.

Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland Beach, who says she is not sure what the governor’s objection is, plans to continue pushing for changes she says will improve the safety of those swimming and boating in the ocean and other waterways and using the beaches.

“The incident that happened last year isn’t the only incident, it just highlighted what needs to be done,” she said, adding that she hopes to bring a revised bill back next session.

“When I did the research, we found out that it was happening all over the state.”

Standing behind Gossett-Seidman are environmental lobbying groups including the Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit that works to preserve and protect the world’s oceans and beaches.

“Everyone should be able to go to the beach and know if it is safe to get in the water or not,” said Emma Haydocy, a former Florida policy manager with Surfrider who now holds a national position with the organization.

Gossett-Seidman said her proposed legislation would have put more teeth into rules governing notifications of contamination in beaches and waterways that now come under the jurisdiction of either the Florida Department of Health or the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, depending on where the contamination is. Beaches fall under the health department’s jurisdiction while inland waterways are the DEP’s jurisdiction.

Gossett-Seidman’s bill, which was co-sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach, would have required the Department of Health to issue a health advisory within 24 hours or the next business day “if water quality does not meet certain standards and must require the closure of beach waters and public bathing places if necessary to protect public health, safety, and welfare.”

The bill, she said, would also officially give the Department of Health the authority to close beaches, something she says now happens on a local level once a health advisory is issued.

The current language, Gossett-Seidman says, uses the word “allows” instead of requiring the agency to act within 24 hours of a first spill. The process used by state agencies, she says, usually takes more than 24 hours before the public is notified.

The bill would also have included provisions for notifications by municipalities within 24 hours to the Department of Health any time water quality failed to meet state requirements, for notification to local television network affiliates when the department issues a health advisory against swimming, and for notifications for municipalities and private docks and marinas when contamination occurs.

In addition, the legislation would have required the Department of Health to create a standardized sign to be posted and “maintained by municipalities and counties around waters they own and by the Department of Environmental Protection around state waters.”

“There are no strong requirements to post those signs,” Haydocy said. “There is no clarity on when that information has to be posted.”

In an email to The Coastal Star, the Department of Health’s Palm Beach County office said that local beaches are tested weekly and that if fecal bacteria levels are found to violate standards, a second sampling immediately takes place and a water quality advisory is issued. Lifting of the advisory depends on resampling and could take 24 to 72 hours.

Gossett-Seidman said that notifications don’t go out until the second test is conducted and the timing of when the results from that test come in depends on the location of the contamination and proximity to the testing site.

In its email, the Health Department said that it posts signs and issues a water quality news release, but Gossett-Seidman says those notifications need to go out sooner.

The state also has a process for a sewage spill in which a wastewater facility is required to contact the FDOH and FDEP and issue a public health notification. In the event of an emergency, the Health Department works with local authorities and conducts an assessment and testing.

“The procedures sound good but they don’t always work in a smooth manner,” Gossett-Seidman said, adding that it took at least three days before the public was notified of the July 2023 spill in the Intracoastal.

Gossett-Seidman said earlier versions of her bill had other notification provisions that were removed during the legislative process. Those included setting up an emergency phone number to report a spill and putting responsibility for beaches and inland waters under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environmental Protection.

“It makes sense to have all the clean water concerns in one place,” Haydocy said.

Gossett-Seidman said she would also like to see a joint website from the FDOH and FDEP that would be updated within 24 hours.

“People are driving two to three hours to get to the beach and when they get there they find out they can’t go in the water,” she said.

By John Pacenti

Delray Beach city commissioners positioned staff to begin programming at the Crest Theatre by allocating $118,000 for “rapid activation” of its Creative Arts School, intent on utilizing the building’s classrooms that are ready even if the playhouse is not.

With classes anticipated to start in mid-October, the project will be overseen by Communications Director Gina Carter, who has a master’s degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The measure was unanimously adopted at the commission’s July 9 meeting.

“We want to reduce the cost and we want to cut down on all the things that slow down the government, like hiring, contracts, all of these things. We want to move along as quickly as possible,” Carter told commissioners at the meeting.

The city will leverage available resources and key staff, such as Carter, her four-member staff, and some Parks and Recreation Department workers. Carter said the challenge is hiring a full-time program administrator at $80,000 annually and five art instructors who will work on a contractual basis. 

Advertisements looking for local talent who could teach art classes at various levels went online July 17.

It’s the latest chapter in the saga of Old School Square, which includes the Crest Theatre, the Cornell Art Museum, the Fieldhouse and the Pavilion. 

The smoke still lingers from the dispute between the city’s movers and shakers from when a commission majority — including then-Mayor Shelly Petrolia — in August 2021 voted to sever the lease of longtime operator Old School Square Center for the Arts, citing alleged financial mismanagement.

The commission eventually turned over the keys of the operation to the Downtown Development Authority, except for the Crest Theatre. The theater itself remains in much disrepair after the former operator pulled out lighting and other equipment on the way out the door — but the building’s classrooms have since been renovated and are ready for prime time. 

The Boca Raton Museum of Art earlier this year expressed interest in moving its art classes north to the Crest Theatre before withdrawing the proposal.

Carter foresees about 17 classes per term with approximately 20 students each — and the city netting $85,000 a year after paying for the administrator, instructors and supplies.

She wowed much of the commission with her presentation, but Commissioner Rob Long — a supporter of the former leaseholder, Old School Square Center for the Arts — expressed some misgivings.

“It’s crazy that we’re here. In my opinion, we’re out of choices,” he said. 

He said he had full faith in Carter and her staff but didn’t understand why there was such a rush. The plan seems “frenetic, and dare I say, desperate,” the commissioner said.

Long told Carter, “You have a super-demanding job already, right? And we are just going to make you work like two full-time jobs?”

City’s fireworks almost didn’t happen — For all the complaints on social media about the July Fourth fireworks in Delray Beach, residents were lucky to have any pyrotechnics at all. The barge that was supposed to be used for the display got stuck in the Gulf of Mexico due to Tropical Storm Alberto and then Hurricane Beryl.

City officials briefly considered the Delray Beach Golf Club and Old School Square as alternative sites for a display before deciding that a truncated show could be launched from the beach, where the city’s celebration with live music and food trucks was already planned on State Road A1A and Atlantic Avenue.

Mayor Tom Carney said City Manager Terrence Moore told him at one point that the prospect of fireworks appeared bleak when word came to the city that the barge was not making the trip.

“Which I responded, ‘We have to have fireworks,’” Carney said at the July 9 commission meeting. “Ten minutes is better than no minutes.”

Parks Director Samuel Metott said fireworks launched from the shore rather than the ocean are more expensive and require additional safety measures. The Fire Rescue

Department spent the holiday watering down dunes, he said. The usual 20-minute show was cut in half and the city issued a release telling residents as much on June 28.

“We apologize to the public on our behalf that it wasn’t the show we wish it was. We look forward to another great show next year,” Metott said at the meeting.

Commissioner Rob Long said he had gotten an earful from upset residents — and mentioned the complaints leveled on Facebook pages dedicated to the city. “Cut us a little slack here. We still had an awesome event all day, right?” Long said. “A lot of cities don’t have anything like that.”

Commissioner Tom Markert said he didn’t mind the change of pace. “The shorter fireworks allowed me to spend more time with the food trucks,” he joked. 

‘Game of Thrones’ on DDA — It’s certainly an eye-for-an-eye when it comes to some recent appointments to the Downtown Development Authority — a volunteer board chosen by city commissioners. By a 3-2 vote on July 16, the commission refused to extend gallery owner Mavis Benson the appointment it had awarded her a month earlier, before problems with her application surfaced. 

Rick Burgess, whose vacancy Benson sought to fill, had been ousted by the commission after Benson filed a complaint last year with the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics, saying Burgess lied on his DDA application when he said his business was in the “tax-qualified” area of the DDA. The ethics commission found that was the case and city commissioners removed him from the DDA in April.

After the commission appointed Benson to the DDA in June, Burgess wrote to City Attorney Lynn Gelin that Benson’s Avalon Gallery on Atlantic Avenue was not registered with the state, leading Gelin to conclude Benson’s appointment was not valid.

Benson told commissioners at their July 16 meeting that she rectified the registration and submitted an updated lease agreement. But Commissioner Rob Long, who previously nominated Burgess, said Benson failed to resubmit an application for the DDA position as requested. Commissioner Angela Burns said she was conflicted, but “to be fair and consistent, we have to do the same that we do for everyone.”

Long and Burns were joined by Mayor Tom Carney in voting no. Commissioners Tom Markert and Juli Casale were in the minority.

Burgess had sued the city in May, seeking to have his removal overturned, but the case was dismissed by Palm Beach County Circuit Judge John Parnofiello on June 26.

Committee to consider how to spend city’s opioid settlement money — Delray Beach will form an advisory group to make recommendations on how to allocate the city’s share of opioid settlement money.

The committee is to consist of appointed professionals and community members, similar to numerous other advisory panels in the city, Assistant City Manager Jeff Oris told commissioners at their July 16 meeting. A formal policy is expected to come back to the commission for approval Aug. 19.

As of June, Delray Beach had netted $239,000 from the $50 billion settlement between the states and opioid manufacturers and pharmacies. The settlement — and future payments — could be affected by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling against Purdue Pharma, which invented the highly addictive OxyContin.

Of the 7,769 overdose deaths in Florida in 2022, 6,157 were attributed to opioids, according to the state Health Department’s latest report.

Maureen Kielian, the chair of a county advisory committee on the issue, has said cities should consider giving their portion of the opioid settlement money back to the county so that there would be a bigger pool to provide more substantial services. 

— John Pacenti

By Steve Plunkett

Work on the Core district’s road and drainage project was at a near-standstill in July as Gulf Stream’s contractor and consulting engineer waited to receive a “dewatering permit.”

“The contractor is in the process of obtaining a dewatering permit. Schedule for next week is TBD,” www.corearearoadwork.com, the site created to inform residents weekly, reported on July 10.

The South Florida Water Management District issues dewatering permits to make sure, among other things, that water from construction sites does not muck up lakes or the Intracoastal Waterway. Roadway Construction LLC, Gulf Stream’s contractor, has finished some work by pumping extra water into a pond at The Little Club under a different dewatering permit.

But, Town Manager Greg Dunham told town commissioners on July 12, “The Little Club golf course said that they would not like for them to do that anymore.”
Mayor Scott Morgan was outraged.

“We knew there was going to be water. You found it on Day One — Day One you found the water,” Morgan said. “To rely on a country club to dump all this water seems, I’m not going to use the word ‘negligent’ but certainly ill-advised. But we’re in a situation now where you just stopped work, right? I mean, there’s nothing you can do. Is that what you’re telling us?”

Thomas Weeks Jr., Roadway’s senior project manager, said the company had dug test holes on Bermuda Lane, comparatively higher ground, but ran into water too close to the limit. The new piping requires a dry trench at least 4 feet deep.

Other options suggested by commissioners, such as pumping water into a tanker truck and driving it somewhere else, would still need a dewatering permit, Weeks said.

Phase 1 of the project, on and west of Polo Drive, started in late April and was supposed to be completed by mid-February 2025. Phase 2 east of Polo would then begin and end the following December.

But three months into the 20-month schedule, the update website said only 3% of the work was done. Weeks said he expected the water management district to issue the permit in three or four weeks. Baxter and Woodman Consulting Engineers told commissioners in May a new permit was needed.

Before work began, the schedule was changed to start construction in the north end of the Core district, along Wright Way and Old School Road, instead of on Golfview Drive in the south. The north end is the lowest part of Gulf Stream and more susceptible to the rainy season and king tide flooding.

The website skipped a July 17 update then said July 25: “The contractor is working on drainage installations on Wright Way and Old School Road. Schedule for next week is TBD.”

By Steve Plunkett

For the third year in a row, Gulf Stream will likely levy the same property tax rate: $3.67 per $1,000 of taxable value.

Also, like last year, resurfacing roads and improving drainage in the Core district consumes the bulk of the town’s proposed FY 2025 budget. Town Manager Greg Dunham set aside $10 million in the general fund and $2 million in the water fund for the capital improvement project.

And he anticipates borrowing perhaps $7 million this fall to keep the town’s unrestricted reserves above $4 million as construction continues and as the town prepares to switch its water provider from Delray Beach to Boynton Beach.

Otherwise, the budget he and Mark Bymaster, his chief finance officer, presented July 12 to town commissioners was fairly ho-hum.

“This is very much like the seven previous budgets that I’ve presented to the town,” Dunham said. “I will say this from the outset, this is really a normal Gulf Stream budget.”

Included are $132,500 to buy two police cruisers and $40,000 to repair the sea wall at the town’s bird sanctuary south of the Hidden Harbour neighborhood.

After surveying other towns, Dunham is recommending a 4% cost-of-living adjustment to town workers’ paychecks. He said he prefers giving COLA raises over handing out merit raises, which typically require an end-of-year evaluation.

“This is a small town, 20 employees,” he said. “I do an assessment of everybody on every day of the week.”

Town commissioners tentatively approved the $3.67 per $1,000 rate, which will bring in roughly $400,000 more in tax revenue than the $6.1 million that Gulf Stream collected the previous year. The owner of a house with a $1 million taxable value would pay $3,672 in town property taxes in addition to county, school and other levies.

Commissioners can lower that rate but not raise it at public hearings they scheduled for 5:01 p.m. on Sept. 13, after their regular monthly meeting, and on Sept. 24. But to do so, they said, would require dipping into reserves.

“I like running the surplus up,” Commissioner Michael Greene said.

By Brian Biggane

In a significant turn of events, South Palm Beach Town Attorney Ben Saver said at the regular Town Council meeting on July 9 that he was “cautiously optimistic” that negotiations with CPZ Architects of Fort Lauderdale would soon result in a design contract for the long-delayed Town Hall project. And he was right.

During a special meeting on July 30, the council voted unanimously to sign off on the contract.

Joe Barry, vice president of CPZ, told the council service would be divided into phases, the first being programming and site analysis. Other phases include schematic design, design development, construction documents and specifications, construction bidding and construction administration.

“We’ll move you forward at your pace,” Barry said. And his firm will have regular meetings with individual council members for their input.

Public input will also be sought, possibly through charettes.

“This is just a boilerplate, stuff just to get us going,” Vice Mayor Monte Berendes said of the contract. “All ideas are good ideas right now.”

Saver, who spent four months in fruitless negotiations with Moonlight Architecture of Cincinnati before the council approved a move to CPZ in June, said he and Town Manager

Jamie Titcomb had a “very productive” phone conversation with two top CPZ officials, including Barry, on July 1.

Saver said CPZ was asked to submit its fee schedule for the project, which he said he received the morning of July 9, hours before the monthly council meeting. His plan was to review it, incorporate it into a standard contract and send it back to be signed.

The council plans to start soliciting construction bids at its Aug. 13 meeting.

But the news wasn’t all good. When CPZ submitted its first designs for the project as part of its presentation last February, it based its drawings on a 10,000-square-foot building that would house council chambers, a coffee shop, administrative offices and a community center — costing about $400 per square foot.

Saver said CPZ, due to its cost increases, now estimates the project will cost $550 per square foot. With a $4 million total budget, Saver said the adjusted square footage would now be in the range of 7,000 to 7,500 square feet, or a building that would be up to 30% smaller than earlier proposed.

Council members said it was too early to get caught up in specifics.

“I think 7,500 is more than doable,” Berendes said, adding that the current Town Hall is just under 7,000 square feet.

“It’s premature to know what the cost is going to be,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said. “I just want to make sure we’re still using SIPs,” or structural insulated panels. Barry, at the July 30 meeting, assured her SIPs would be used.

Council member Elva Culbertson had been reluctant to give up on Moonlight as she considered its expertise in SIPs to be superior to that of CPZ. Moonlight deals almost exclusively in SIPs while CPZ stated it had only a SIP manufacturer on its team.

Toward that end, the council still hopes to have Eric Schuermann, a SIPs expert based in Fort Lauderdale, brought in as its owner’s rep.

Fischer said she was also not happy with the initial design for the building CPZ offered in its February proposal.

“It’s kind of a Key West style, which to me that doesn’t flow with the town,” she said.

Berendes dismissed that, insisting it was “just an idea.”

Culbertson said her bigger concern was that, just as the cost of materials and workers has risen during the delays of the past several months, so will other costs associated with the project.

“We need to figure out all the expenses sooner rather than later,” she said. “For example, is it going to cost money to house the people who are going to be working here? That’s not five dollars. All of it costs money, and that’s not in the budget.”

Titcomb said it will be important going forward for the council to study the plans of how the architects allocate space, and Berendes agreed.

“We have to sit down with them and see things like, how big an office does Jamie need? How big is the restaurant? Maybe it’s 8,000, maybe 6,000. I would like it to be smaller, so we can afford it.

“We’ve done well financially. We’re in a good place right now.”

Mary Thurwachter contributed to this story.

New generator will take time — After months of discussion, the Town Council authorized Town Attorney Ben Saver to draw up a request for a competitive bidding process on a new backup generator for the town’s lift station. Saver said that based on preliminary figures, the cost will be approximately $125,000 and that his research indicated it will be another 12 to 18 months after a new generator is ordered that it will be up and running due to a shortage on the market.

PBSO gets new contract — The town agreed to a new one-year contract with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office with a 2% increase in compensation over the old contract.

Mayor Bonnie Fischer called the ongoing agreement with PBSO one of the best decisions the council has made in recent years.

Council hopes to cut tax rate — The council adopted a maximum preliminary tax rate of $3.40 for every $1,000 of assessed value — the same rate as the current year — in hopes that it can be brought down to $3 per $1,000 of taxable value when the council sets a final rate in September. “It’s a good year to give the residents a break,” Vice Mayor Monte Berendes said, though Fischer cautioned that projects such as the Town Hall may make that difficult.

Town manager evaluation coming — The council agreed to work up an evaluation regarding Town Manager Jamie Titcomb for action at its August meeting. Council member Elva Culbertson distributed a more thorough evaluation than has been used in the past; the council agreed to decide on what form it will use at a future meeting.

— Brian Biggane

By John Pacenti

Manalapan is pressing pause for now on cutting back the 24/7 hours of guards at the entrance of Point Manalapan, Assistant Town Manager Eric Marmer said.

“There’s no formal decision. We got a lot of feedback from residents. They didn’t want to decrease the hours of the guards at the gatehouse,” Marmer said. “We budgeted for the full amount for the year. It seems that’s the way it is going to go.”

The town has allocated $270,000, an increase of about 2%, in the current proposed budget to man the guard gate. Police Chief Carmen Mattox has said the guard house serves as a crime deterrent.

At a July 23 meeting, Commissioner David Knobel suggested making the guards more visible in the guardhouse for even more of a deterrent effect.

In setting the proposed budget, Marmer said commissioners used the same tax rate on residents as last year, $3 per $1,000 of taxable value. Residents will still pay more because property values have gone up — but not as much as in other municipalities in South Florida.

Unlike many municipalities that saw property values go up 10% or more, Manalapan saw increases of about 5.3%, excluding new construction, Marmer said.

A homesteaded parcel worth $2 million — with its tax value capped under state law — would pay an increase of $180 in Manalapan taxes. A similarly valued commercial, rental or second home that matched the town’s 5.3% value increase would see an increase of $318.

At least two barge-loads of sand are being deposited every day to create the two new islands in a restoration project called Bonefish Cove. The red buoys and yellow silt curtains help to contain the sand and sediment until the islands are complete and ringed with limestone boulders. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

BELOW RIGHT: La Renaissance, shown in the 1960s Photo provided

By Mary Thurwachter

Residents of north Hypoluxo Island and South Palm Beach, who for decades have been navigating through La Renaissance channel for deep- water access to the Intracoastal Waterway, weren’t alone in being blind-sided this year by news of the construction of Bonefish Cove in the middle of the channel.

Also in the dark was Gail Martucci Klewicki, who lives on the south side of Hypoluxo Island. She and her sister Judi Martucci Hildebrandt own the submerged land in the central Lake Worth Lagoon beneath what has become known as La Renaissance channel. The land has been in the family since the mid-1960s.

Klewicki first learned about the lagoon project as she read the April edition of The Coastal Star, where a story told of the island residents’ battle to retain use of the channel, which — if plans had gone as designed — would have been buried under the middle of three Bonefish Cove islands. Boaters would have had to travel farther north to gain deep-water access through an unmarked, narrow and potentially dangerous passageway.

Bonefish Cove is a partnership between Palm Beach County and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers designed to create valuable habitat for flora and fauna that had otherwise been lost or degraded because of past dredge and fill activities, stormwater discharges and shoreline hardening.

In February, residents on the northeast end of Hypoluxo Island received flyers in the mail about the project a few weeks before construction was scheduled to start.

Klewicki didn’t get one of the flyers. But when her community newspaper arrived, her eyes were drawn to the story — especially as she saw the words “La Renaissance channel.”

She hadn’t heard of that before, but she was very familiar with La Renaissance condo at 3230 S. Ocean Blvd. in Palm Beach.

Gail Klewicki and her sister own submerged land in the Intracoastal west of La Renaissance).

“Our father, Frank Martucci, and grandfather Carmine Martucci built La Renaissance in the mid-1960s,” she said. “They were true pioneers in the early development of condominiums in Palm Beach along the Atlantic Ocean.

“These adjacent parcels were planned for townhouses in the Intracoastal with a guaranteed path to the beach,” she said.

At one time, consideration was given to using some of that submerged land across A1A in the Intracoastal for building a condo resort extending over the water much like what is now called the Palm Beach Resort, parallel to the Lake Worth Bridge.

“We actually owned a time share there (Palm Beach Resort) that we just used in trade and travel,” Klewicki said, “but someone bought it about two years ago.”

She says the town of Palm Beach would still allow for docks to be built and she has the required survey.

Both her father and grandfather owned units in La Renaissance facing the Intracoastal, although they have since been sold. But Klewicki, who was renovating her grandfather’s unit decades ago, recalls routinely seeing boats cruising north up the Intracoastal and making a turn west of La Renaissance. She realized a channel was there.

“Turned out it’s got a name — La Renaissance,” she said. “It’s not on charts, but it has a name.”

Caught off-guard
Klewicki said she was “surprised” not to have been kept in the loop by the county, the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corps of Engineers because they had been in touch years before when efforts were made to allow docks in the Intracoastal Waterway across the street from La Renaissance.

While the boatyard never came to fruition, the plan did get approval from the town of Palm Beach. And throughout discussions on the matter, she was cc’d by officials from the county, water district and the Army Corps.

Had she been aware of the Hypoluxo Island boaters’ dilemma earlier, she said she could have offered another solution.

“I could have just sold the parcel to the boaters and they would own it and never have to worry again,” Klewicki said. She had read how Hypoluxo Island boaters were getting ready to hire an attorney to fight the loss of the channel and said she would have likely been able to sell the submerged land for less than the cost of a high-priced litigator.

“Of course, now there seems to be resolution, but that could have been the easy answer,” she said. The resolution involved eliminating the middle island and making the north and south islands of Bonefish Cove larger.

Klewicki and her husband, Raymond, have lived on Hypoluxo Island for 26 years. Until he died recently, her father, Frank Martucci, lived a few doors away from them.

Carmine Martucci, her grandfather, was 104 when he died in 2007.

The father/son team opened the luxurious seven-story La Renaissance in 1968.

Bonefish Cove update
Mayra Ashton, the county’s point person on the Bonefish Cove restoration project, said Palm Beach County continues to collaborate with the Army Corps on a design modification that leaves the traditional navigational route to the Intracoastal Waterway unaffected.

“Once a drawing of the new configuration is finalized by the Corps we will share it,” said Ashton, senior environmental analyst with Environmental Resources Management. “We’ve also maintained open dialogue with the municipalities and residents to keep them updated with status and information as it has become available.

“Sand to build the intertidal mangrove islands and oyster reefs will be transported from Peanut Island’s dredge material management areas and barged to the Bonefish Cove restoration project location south of the Lake Worth Avenue bridge,” Ashton said. “Once the intertidal islands are created, they will be stabilized with limestone rock breakwaters.”

She said yellow turbidity curtains (silt barriers) are in place around the northern portion of the active work area “to contain and minimize any turbidity plume resulting from placement of the sand within the turbidity curtains.”

Boaters aren’t likely to have problems crossing the channel during construction, but it’s possible.

“While permanent impacts to the locally preferred navigational route are expected to be eliminated with ongoing efforts to modify the project, short-term disruption due to staging of equipment is always a possibility as the project is constructed,” Ashton said.

The project is managed by Army Corps, so the construction schedule and work areas are not designated or approved by the county.

“Boaters should take extra precautions since it is an active construction site with construction activities planned both to the north and to the south of the local preferred route,” Ashton said. “To further prioritize safety, USACOE has committed to appropriate signage as needed in any areas temporarily requiring avoidance during construction. The current work area is well to the north of the route Hypoluxo Island boaters use.”

The first barge-load of sand was delivered to the project July 8.

Work hours will be 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, as approved by the town of Palm Beach. Construction of each island will take several months, with the contractor scheduled to complete construction of all the islands and oyster reefs and planting mangroves by summer 2025.

“When completed the islands and oyster reefs will provide critical habitat for threatened shorebirds and protected native mangroves, while below water sea grass and oysters will colonize, improving water quality,” Ashton said.

Steve Bernstein of Boca Raton and his daughter, Abby Bernstein Henderson, have teamed up to co-chair the 2025 Rock ‘n’ Roll Classic Party to benefit HomeSafe, which helps neglected children. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Steve Bernstein was well on his way to becoming a successful entrepreneur in the cell-tower industry more than 20 years ago when he came across HomeSafe, a nonprofit geared toward helping at-risk children.

“I always wanted to give back,” said Bernstein, 63, “and children’s charities are important to me because I really believe that how we raise children factors into society and what they become as adults.

“I did some research and found there are a lot of neglected children just in Palm Beach County as well as everywhere else. So, as I met the management team at HomeSafe I got inspired to help out.”

One aspect of HomeSafe that hit home with this coastal Boca Raton resident was that each child, who typically shared a room with another child at that time, was given a footlocker with permission to decorate it however he or she wanted.

“Everything they owned was in that footlocker. And it just broke my heart. So from that point I got involved, and I brought my daughter, Abby, into the loop because it was important for her to see and give back.”

Abby has turned that introduction into a career of her own, working as a certified mental health therapist.

“She also has two kids, so it’s important to me she has taken that route,” Bernstein said.

Steve and Abby — now Abby Bernstein Henderson — will team up again next January when they become co-chairs of the 2025 Rock ’n’ Roll Classic Party.

“HomeSafe relies on about $2 million of donations every year and this is our biggest fundraiser,” Bernstein said. “This event alone raises about $500,000, which goes a long way.”

Since Bernstein has gotten involved, HomeSafe has grown to four campuses throughout Palm Beach County and gone from two beds to a room to one in the newer campuses.

“It’s better for children with behavioral problems to have their own room,” he said. A campaign launched in 2021 strives to make that a reality on all four campuses.

The renovated campus on Ipswich Street in Boca Raton hopes to open in December. It is named the Bernstein Family Foundation Campus.

“The foundation is our charity and we give to several nonprofits, and HomeSafe has always been on the top of our list,” Bernstein said.

“When they were redoing campuses, I walked through our Boca campus and said we have to redo this one, too, so we made a significant gift toward that campus. But it’s not just us, there are other donors as well.”

Bernstein said the gift was $1 million.

He enjoys golf and tennis and walking on the beach as well as spending time with his grandchildren and his fiancée, Lori Keezer.

— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I grew up in New York City, and at the age of 14 our family moved to Sarasota, which was quite a culture shock since at that time Sarasota was full of rednecks and retirees. I attended the University of Florida and majored in real estate. I was selling houses to the parents of fraternity brothers. I always liked the freedom of being my own boss and the ability to make money based fully on my own efforts. I was always very entrepreneurial.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What accomplishments are you most proud of? 
A: One of my first jobs out of college was with MCI, the first pure long-distance phone company, and I was assigned to a division that was trying to obtain the very first cellular phone licenses.
As a real estate specialist, it was my job to travel across the country to lease properties and secure zoning for cellular tower sites. Over time, as the cellular industry grew, I saw a great opportunity to capitalize on a niche business, and provide site acquisition, zoning and construction services to the cellular industry.
I started the business with credit card cash advances, and over time became the largest provider of these services to the cellular industry. With the continued growth of cellular providers, I transitioned the company to owning tower sites for ourselves and renting them to all the different carriers.
Today, SBA Communications — which originally stood for Steven Bernstein and Associates — is an S&P 500 public company with a market cap of $20 billion; we own approximately 40,000 towers in more than 13 countries.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: When in college, know what you want to do early and find internships or jobs in your field. You want to set yourself apart from the rest when you graduate, and having experience in your field is the best way to do it. 
If you are entrepreneurial, work for someone in your field of interest, and focus on obtaining all the knowledge, experience and most importantly contacts that you can, so you can prepare for going out on your own.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in coastal Boca Raton? 
A: I started my business in Pittsburgh, but since I was working all over the country, I could headquarter anywhere. Boca seemed to have the best of everything: lifestyle, climate, beaches, etc.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in coastal Boca Raton? 
A: I’m an avid golfer, tennis player and beach walker. Where else can you get all those 365 days a year!

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I’m into historical fiction lately, so I’ve been reading a lot of Ken Follett: The Pillars of the Earth, Fall of Giants, etc. History repeats itself and I’ve always been a history buff. The climate today is such that we ought to learn from our mistakes.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired? 
A: I’m a classic rock listener, which can go anywhere from relaxed to inspiring. Because of my age I’m still stuck in ’70s classic rock. I don’t listen to anything else; I try to but I really don’t. So Eagles, Rolling Stones, Billy Joel. Just using him as an example, he has songs that are mellow and relaxing and also has songs that are upbeat, that tell a story.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions? 
A: When I started my business, I used to have to drive three hours to Harrisburg and back to Pittsburgh once a week to do zoning hearings. Back then, I had a cassette player in my car and had listened to the Anthony Robbins 30-cassette tape series — and that really motivated, inspired and gave me tools for success.

Q: Is there something people don’t know about you but should?
A: I have a new side hustle — I enjoy renovating and building homes. So, Lori and I buy, build, fix, decorate and sell homes.

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?
A: I recently read the book Shoe Dog by Nike founder Phil Knight, which talks about his early days of starting Nike and all his trials and tribulations. Then I saw the movie Air, which again highlighted the early days of Nike and making their deal with Michael Jordan. Ben Affleck did a great job of playing Phil Knight, so I pick him to be me.

By John Pacenti

Ocean Ridge discovered to its chagrin that the days of the trustworthy postman are a thing of the past. For the third time in two years, it has been the victim of alleged fraud by postal workers pilfering checks. 

A $40,000 check on July 16 was stolen and washed from a Boynton Beach postal branch, said Town Manager Lynne Ladner. The latest fraud followed a minor incident where two checks were stolen in August 2023 and a fraud of about $100,000 in June 2022.

Ladner said the $100,000 fraud occurred when a postal worker picked up checks inside Town Hall. Ocean Ridge then started hand-delivering checks to Seacrest Boulevard and Boynton Beach Boulevard postal branches, she said.

“We’ve used both of them and it doesn’t seem to matter,” Ladner said.

The latest fraud disrupted town business. “We ended up having to stop payment on the other two checks that we sent out that day because we didn’t know if they all got pulled,” she said. 

After the first two incidents, the town moved to electronic payments in recent months except only for when a printed check is necessary.

The fraud was discussed during the July 25 Town Commission meeting as commissioners followed up on their previous approval of transferring the town’s accounts from City National Bank of Florida to TD Bank.

Ladner, who discussed the fraud after the meeting, said City National took a year to reimburse Ocean Ridge for the 2022 fraud.

“We had, at any given time, between $5 (million) and $8 million in their bank and we can’t even get people to pick up the phone to talk to us,” Ladner said.

When Ocean Ridge installed a new financial management system, City National didn’t update its contacts promptly, Ladner said. “They failed to process our payroll so none of our employees got paid,” she said.

City National and the post office did not immediately reply to email messages seeking comment. 

Criminals see snail mail as a gold mine these days.

Delray Beach police announced on July 16 that they had arrested five people in connection with a ring that would rob postal workers at gunpoint to get the keys that opened cluster mailboxes and blue collection boxes.

Investigators say they identified at least 2,000 victims who were defrauded of at least $800,000.

By John Pacenti

Ocean Ridge’s proposed $10.4 million budget includes money for a lobbyist and a part-time code enforcement officer.

Town Manager Lynne Ladner told commissioners at their July 25 meeting that a $30,000 appropriation for a lobbyist would be money well spent.

“That is not something we’ve done the last couple of years,” Ladner said. “But we’re continuing to ask for grants from the state and for potential legislative appropriations.”

Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy said the state Legislature this year granted Ocean Ridge a $250,000 appropriation to find, fix or replace buried water valves. Gov. Ron DeSantis, however, vetoed it.

“It was made very clear to us that without a lobbyist you are not going to get through the governor’s office,” Cassidy said.

A code enforcement officer would be added by expanding the town’s professional services agreement with Hy-Byrd Inc. Inspections, which currently provides services for the building department, Ladner said.

The code enforcement officers would work between 12 and 20 hours per week, relieving police from having to write up residents for dirty roofs or unmowed lawns.

Commissioners worried that the hourly rate agreement could lead to abuse and told Ladner they wanted to cap the contract at $40,000.

The commission will meet on Aug. 5 to hammer out further details of the budget.

Ladner proposes that the tax rate stay the same as last fiscal year at $5.40 per $1,000 of taxable value. Residents can still expect higher bills next year, though, because property values rose 9.6%, excluding new construction, she said.

Homesteaded properties, however, are capped at a 3% increase under Florida law, while business, rental property and second homes are capped at 10%.

That means the owner of a second home or rental property with a $1 million taxable value last year, which also matched the town’s 9.6% growth in value, can expect to pay about $518 more in taxes to Ocean Ridge. However, for most residents, the homesteaded rate for the same $1 million home would be $162 more.

By John Pacenti

Former Delray Beach Fire Chief Keith Tomey is gone, but the drama is not.

In his whistleblower lawsuit against the city filed on June 25 over his dismissal, Tomey includes a 2022 text message exchange between himself and Delray Beach City Attorney Lynn Gelin in which she disparages City Manager Terrence Moore.

Tomey was fired May 1, one day after an investigation found no evidence to support his accusation that Moore inappropriately touched and groped him. He claims in the lawsuit the firing was retaliation for making a formal complaint against Moore.

The text exchange included in the lawsuit allegedly occurred Oct. 18, 2022. Tomey told Gelin that Moore had repeated his request to demote Craig Mahoney or get him to step down. Tomey had recently promoted Mahoney — the president of IAFF Local 1842, the firefighters union — to division chief of logistics without telling Moore first.

In the text exchange, Gelin said if Tomey did what Moore was asking, Mahoney would sue for retaliation. “It’s a stupid argument that reflects poorly on Terrence.”

Tomey had said he felt pressure to demote Mahoney because Moore was his boss.

“And stop referring to him as your boss, Lol,” Gelin said in the same text, court documents show. “He’s your boss in title and nothing else. Every time he opens his mouth he confirms how incompetent he is.”

Screenshots of the text exchange are included as an exhibit in the lawsuit.

When asked if the city, Gelin, or Moore would comment on the lawsuit or the text exchange cited, spokeswoman Gina Carter said as a policy Delray Beach does not comment on pending litigation.

But the city didn’t waste any time seeking a dismissal. Attorney Tonja Haddad Coleman, outside counsel retained by Delray Beach, wrote in a July 17 motion that Tomey’s complaint recites “discursive and conclusory unsubstantiated facts.”

Tomey does not meet the definition of a whistleblower under state law for a multitude of reasons — such as the former fire chief never made an official complaint of harassment until March 2024 while under investigation for his actions, Haddad Coleman wrote.

Tomey was fired for his decision to allow on-duty firefighters to participate in the annual Guns and Hoses softball game in November, compromising the city’s readiness, according to Moore’s termination letter to him. An on-duty firefighter was injured in the game and filed a workers compensation claim.

“I believe residents will find there is ample support for Mr. Tomey’s termination,” said City Commissioner Juli Casale. “It is unfortunate that a random text sent out of frustration is being used to bolster a claim that has already been found to be meritless by an outside investigator.”

Tomey was hired in 2016 and named chief in April 2020. Moore became city manager in August 2021 and Gelin has been the city’s top attorney since 2018.

The city employed an outside law firm to investigate Tomey’s sexual harassment complaint, finding there was no evidence to support the claim.

Tomey’s attorney, Isidro M. Garcia, said Gelin’s texts “speak for themselves.”

“There is some disconnect there between the City Manager’s Office and the City Attorney’s Office, especially when it comes to the Mahoney thing,” Garcia said.

There have been other incidents as well.  

Tomey received a traffic ticket on June 17, 2023, from the Florida Highway Patrol on Florida’s Turnpike for unknowingly driving on a suspended license, according to court records. At the time, Tomey often drove city-owned vehicles.

The lawsuit also revisits Tomey’s five-day suspension for not promptly reporting an Oct. 26, 2022, fender-bender on Interstate 95. While on paid leave as the city investigated the incident, Tomey suffered a stress-induced atrial fibrillation which resulted in a hospital stay, according to the lawsuit.

Tomey was denied workers compensation and sued the city and won, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims the firing violated the state’s Whistleblower Act. Tomey reported Moore made sexual advances toward him on Aug. 3, 2022, as the two drove in Moore’s car to and from the Arts Garage. Tomey said Moore “rubbed up his thigh and just briefly made contact with his groin area.”

Tomey claimed in the lawsuit that Gelin was dismissive of his report of sexual harassment, which he first mentioned to her in August 2022. “As long as he doesn’t rub anyone’s knees I’m cool,” she allegedly said about Moore in a text from that time that is included as an exhibit.

The new boat will address what Chief Hugh Bruder calls a ‘staggering’ number of water rescue calls. Photo provided

By Jane Musgrave

When you think about firefighters and water, forget hoses. Instead, think boats.

Boynton Beach Fire Rescue is expanding its land-based operations and moving to the water with the purchase of a $400,000, 28-foot fire boat and the construction of a $250,000 dock it will share with the city’s Police Department.

The city also plans to spend $1.8 million to renovate a 1950s-era building in Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park to create a 24-hour-a-day marine headquarters where three firefighters will be stationed, Fire Chief Hugh Bruder said.

Although several fire rescue agencies, including Palm Beach County, Delray Beach and Boca Raton, have boats, Bruder said the idea of a marine unit was initially viewed with suspicion.

“When I started the bandwagon four years ago everyone looked at me like I was from another planet,” he told the City Commission in July as he explained why he will need $37.3 million to run the department in the year beginning Oct. 1. That is a 16.6% jump from this year.

Calls for service justify the expense of the marine unit, Bruder said.

“The number of water rescue calls are staggering,” he said.

The agency receives an average of one water rescue-related call a day — up 50% from four years ago.

Bruder recalled the day in June when ocean rescue crews and firefighters were summoned to help other agencies find an 8-year-old boy who fell off the south jetty at the Boynton Inlet while fishing with his father.

Within an hour, rescuers realized that there was little chance of finding the West Palm Beach boy alive. Even though firefighters aren’t typically involved in recovery operations, they stayed until the body of Saul Cerrato-Vasquez was found, Bruder said.

“We stayed to give the family closure and we stayed because it was the right thing to do,” he said.

To offset the increased costs of running the department, Bruder said he is beginning to renegotiate contracts with municipalities that receive fire service from Boynton Beach. Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes are among them.

Costs to municipalities will increase, Bruder said. For instance, under a proposed 10-year contract with the Village of Golf, the village would pay 10% more the first year, putting an extra $30,000 in Boynton Beach’s coffers, then have annual increases tied to the Consumer Price Index, Bruder said.

Ocean Ridge Town Manager Lynne Ladner said the town will pay nearly $1.6 million next year to Boynton Beach for fire protection. While the contract doesn’t expire until Oct. 1, 2028, it is up for a 4-year review this month.

She said she hadn’t been contacted by Boynton Beach officials about renegotiating the contract.

Under the existing agreement, the cost to Ocean Ridge increases about 4% each year, she said.

Bruder said he is also working to improve the department’s rating from the Insurance Services Office. An upgrade would decrease insurance rates for homeowners, including those who live in municipalities that contract with Boynton Beach for service.

The department wasn’t able to get a Class 1 rating in 2017, largely because of water pressure problems, Bruder said. He voiced confidence the agency would get the top rating when it is reinspected in 2025.

The fire boat is to arrive in August 2025. What is being called the “public safety dock” is to be completed in March. A grant is covering half of the construction costs with the city kicking in the rest.

Money for the renovation of the city building the U.S. Coast Guard was using in Harvey Oyer Park is to be generated by increasing the annual fire assessment from $120 to $145.

The flat fee, separate from property taxes, is paid only by Boynton Beach residents and business owners.

The increased assessment would generate $1.46 million annually. That money would be used to repay a $13.1 million, 15-year bond. The loan would also pay for other projects, including the estimated $10 million replacement of a 40-year-old fire station on Congress Avenue and Miner Road.

City commissioners tentatively approved the fee hike. But, Commissioner Angela Cruz said she may ask that it be trimmed to $140 during budget hearings in September.

Commissioner Thomas Turkin said he wants it to be reduced once the loan has been repaid.

Overall, Cruz said, the proposed tax rate of $7.80 for each $1,000 of taxable value, down from a rate of $7.85 per $1,000 this year, represents the biggest tax rate cut the city has had in years. However, because property values in the city increased 8.7% overall, the city will rake in nearly $4 million more in property taxes.

As proposed, the city will spend $130 million next year, a 9.4% increase over this year.

The tax rate, if approved, would find the owner of a home assessed at $400,000 after exemptions paying $3,120 for city services next year, not including the fire assessment.

Corrections: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect date for when the city's new fire boat will arrive. It is expected to arrive in August 2025. It also misstated when the department was last ISO inspected -- it was in 2017 -- and the terms of the contract with the Village of Golf (after a 10% increase the first year, future year cost increases are connected to the Consumer Price Index).

The Briny Breezes Town Council tentatively set the property tax rate for the coming fiscal year at $3.75 per $1,000 of taxable value, the same rate as the current year and the one Town Manager Bill Thrasher recommended.

At the council’s July 25 meeting, Thrasher noted that the town’s tax base had risen 11.3%, to $95.2 million, but he advised the aldermen not to lower the tax rate.

Briny Breezes is in the process of borrowing millions of dollars to fix its sea walls and redo its drainage system as a defense against rising sea levels.

“In my opinion we’re going to need all the revenue that we can garnish going forward from this point,” Thrasher said.

The town’s first public hearing on its budget and tax rate will be at 5:01 p.m. Sept. 12 with a final public hearing at the same time Sept. 26. The new budget takes effect Oct. 1.

— Steve Plunkett