Missing and broken windows and doors on the second floor are among violations at the home on Coconut Lane. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By John Pacenti

Ocean Ridge commissioners, in a particularly ornery mood at their Dec. 9 meeting, rejected the town attorney’s advice to settle outstanding code violations and pending litigation with the owner of a dilapidated home.

Town Attorney Christy Goddeau and her staff recommended that the commission accept a settlement where the owner of 23 Coconut Lane would pay $30,000 of $117,000 in outstanding fines and dismiss his lawsuit against Ocean Ridge.

There was little sympathy for James Cooksey, owner of the home. He said a sale fell through because of liens against the home and he needs a clean title to resurrect the deal. 

“So instead of the buyer and the seller figuring out how to pay off that lien, you’re coming to the public to pay up that lien,” said Vice Mayor Steve Coz.

“They go for 509 days without doing the right thing. Then to come back and say, ‘Gee, it’s a lot of money,’” said Commissioner Ainar Aijala Jr. “If you would have done it when you were supposed to do it, you wouldn’t have had the big fines.”

Mayor Geoff Pugh called it disingenuous for Cooksey to seek relief after allowing the property to become not just an eyesore but unsafe for surrounding properties. He noted that the second-floor bedroom didn’t even have a door for a time.

“I’ve been watching birds fly in and out of that opening on the second floor for two years now. Enough is enough,” Pugh said. 

Cooksey said that he spent $150,000 on interior work to try to save the home, which according to Zillow is worth $3.9 million. “It’s completely unlivable. The house has basically fallen apart. It had very, very bad settlement cracks,” he said.

Pugh said there were things Cooksey could have done, such as mow the grass.

Cooksey sued Ocean Ridge in 2023, claiming he was not properly notified of a hearing in front of the special magistrate on code violations at his home. The lawsuit was dismissed but Cooksey appealed the ruling.

Coz said he was amenable to maybe knocking $10,000 off the fines upon the sale of the property. Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy said she didn’t want to set a bad precedent.

Cooksey said his attorney believes he has a valid case going forward. “We can litigate the thing for two more years, I don’t care if that’s what you guys want to do. Pay people $500 an hour rather than resolving it,” he said. 

By John Pacenti

Delray Beach Commissioner Rob Long voiced outrage at “a sweetheart plea deal” for a Clearwater man who in February allegedly defaced the city’s rainbow gay pride intersection by leaving a skid mark through it.

“We’re not going to allow Delray Beach property to be vandalized and we’re not going to allow messages of hate toward marginalized citizens in our community to stand,” Long said at the Dec. 10 commission meeting.

Dylan Reese Brewer, charged with felony criminal mischief, will plead to a misdemeanor, pay a $5,000 fine and avoid any time behind bars, Long said.

Long said Brewer got “a sweetheart plea deal.” He said LGBTQ groups are crafting statements to voice opposition to a plea deal at a Jan. 8 court hearing.

“If something like this happens to the LGBTQ+ community, it could happen to our Jewish community, it could happen to our Haitian Caribbean community. It could happen to the African American community,” Long said.

Long had hoped that commissioners could get behind a unified statement opposing the plea deal but the matter was not on the Dec. 17 meeting agenda.

Brewer will also serve 12 months of probation, perform 75 hours of community service and be required to take an eight-hour anger management course under the plea deal, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The 19-year-old will plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief and reckless driving with injury to a person or property.

Brewer’s attorney, Scott Sale, said he had no comment on the potential plea.

The pride intersection is at Northeast First Street and Northeast Second Avenue.

The February incident was the second time the intersection was defaced by burning out of a vehicle. Both had a connection to former President Donald Trump, who is now president-elect and set to be sworn into office again in January.

Alexander Jerich pleaded guilty to felony criminal mischief in 2022 after vandalizing the intersection while driving in a birthday rally for Trump. Video of the February incident showed a Trump flag flying from the back of Brewer’s pickup.

The plea deal sparked a war of words between Rand Hoch — founder of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council — and State Attorney Dave Aronberg.

Hoch issued a statement saying, “I cannot fathom why Dave Aronberg cut such a sweet deal for Brewer. It just makes no sense legally.”

Aronberg retorted that Hoch was showing “extreme ignorance” because he never served as a prosecutor.

“Our office will keep standing strong against hate in our community, and will continue to urge the (state) Legislature to give us additional tools to maximize punishment of offenders,” Aronberg said in a statement.

By Steve Plunkett

Future two-story homes along Gulf Stream’s signature Polo Drive and Gulfstream Road will have smaller second stories, while new one-story homes there will be able to be five feet closer to the street under new rules the town is considering.

After an ad hoc committee delivered its recommendations on how to limit large new residences that overpower their neighbors’ homes, the Town Commission declared a “zoning in progress” on Dec. 13 to stop building permits from being issued while it enacts the changes.

The overall recommendation was to create a zoning overlay district comprising the homes on the east side of Polo and the west side of Gulfstream to address massing in the Core District. 

“We’re looking at relatively small footprints,” said Malcolm Murphy, chair of the town’s Architectural Review and Planning Board and a member of the ad hoc committee. “We went through many ideas, but the main, overriding theme was, let’s make this desirable, let’s encourage people to want to build a one-story home.”

The committee — Murphy, chair Paul Lyons, and members Gary Cantor, Michael Glennon, Bill Koch III and Thom Smith — met monthly since being formed in March and sought input from architects, planners, other experts and the town of Palm Beach.

To incentivize building one-story homes in the overlay district, the panel recommended raising the floor area ratio, or building square footage to lot area ratio, from 33% to 36% for roughly a 10% gain for those homes. 

“Typically, you’re looking at (an extra) 300 to 350 square feet, which is based on the lot sizes in this area,” Assistant Town Attorney Trey Nazzaro said. The largest lot would get an extra 600 square feet.

Also for one-story homes, the panel said to count all covered, unenclosed area at only 70% for FAR instead of 100%, and to reduce the front setback to 25 feet instead of 30 feet.

To limit massing of two-story homes, the committee recommended reducing the second-floor FAR to 30% of the first floor FAR instead of 50% and to reduce the maximum roof height to 28 feet instead of 30 feet.

“Disincentive is the wrong word, but we wanted to make sure that people understood fully what they had to work with if they decided to go with this two-story home application,” Murphy said.

Mayor Scott Morgan said he was “more than impressed.”

“When I first came on the commission, massing was an issue that we wanted to address,” he said. “And we have tinkered around with it. This commission has changed a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but we never could really wrap our heads around it.”

Commissioner Joan Orthwein’s suggestion that the town incentivize building one-story homes led to the creation of the ad hoc panel, Morgan said. 

“I think what you’ve come up with is an excellent approach to dealing with the problem of massing in a fair and reasonable way that doesn’t punish two-story people but encourages what has been historically the aesthetic of the town, at least of the Core, and that is the single-story, more understated but elegant home,” the mayor said.

Morgan also said the Dec. 19 meeting of the ARPB was to be Murphy’s last as its chairman. The Place Au Soleil resident is returning to South Africa for an undetermined period of time.

“I just want to say you’ve been an outstanding chairman and member of the ARPB,” Morgan said. “You have a calmness about you. Maybe it’s the British accent, I don’t know. ... I just want to thank you for your service.” 

Liza Thornton (l-r), Joan Lorne, Darlene Duggan, Ginny Cairo, Sally Willis and Lydia Weis spend hours on the beach collecting discarded bottle caps to turn into art, such as this octopus. Photos provided

By Ron Hayes

When she’s home in Colorado, Sally Willis walks the ski country’s hiking trails, picking up trash.

When she escapes to Gulf Stream every April and November, she walks the beach each morning, picking up seashells and glass.

That was the plan, anyway.

“When I was here in 2019, I was looking for shells and glass and not finding much, but I kept finding bottle tops and caps,” she says. “So, I kept them as my seashells.”

Five years later, Willis’s bottle cap collecting has become an annual tradition, and an art project.

That first year, she put the caps she’d found in a glass jar, posted a photo to Facebook, and invited her friends to guess the number of caps.

The winner guessed 577 caps. The answer was 578.

Just for fun.

A year later, the coronavirus pandemic kept her home in Colorado, but in November 2021 she was back on the beach, along with a king tide, which upped her bottle cap bounty quite a bit.

“I used them to make a Christmas tree mural in the sand by my house, took some pictures, and cleaned it up and threw everything away.”

By November 2022, she was friends with Joan Lorne, Joan’s daughter Jackie Kingston, and Darlene Duggan, turtle monitors with Kingston’s Sea Turtle Adventures.

“We’re both out in the mornings,” Lorne says. “Sally would be getting trash off the beach while we were monitoring turtle nests, so we became friends. She’s just a super cool gal.”

With her new friends helping that year, they used the caps to create a sea turtle in the sand.

“I usually do the mural the Sunday after Thanksgiving somewhere in front of our house,” Willis says.

In 2023, they fashioned a mermaid mural.

“Everybody contributes,” Willis says. “We start to make the outline in the sand and everybody puts their two cents in. It’s not me saying this is how we’re going to do it. I explain my vision and we work around that.”

If you walk the Gulf Stream beach about 7 a.m. most days during her visits, you would spot Willis with her 5-gallon Home Depot bucket. Mornings she heads south from her home near the Gulf Stream Golf Club, evenings she turns north.

“It’s just amazing,” she says. “You put the bucket down and pick up five to seven caps in a pile of seaweed, all coming in from those cruise ships out on the Gulf Stream.”

On Dec. 1, Sally and her team of sea turtle monitors opted for an octopus, which they dubbed “Sandipi.”

“We didn’t have quite enough caps to make it as dense as I would have liked,” she says, “but we made it work.”

Willis’s bottle cap art is still just for fun, not posterity.

“We usually pick it up within 24 hours, depending on the tide line,” she says. “If I think the high tide will take it away, we pick it up right after we have taken enough photos. If we can do it way up on the beach like we did this year, then we leave it for 24 hours. I don’t want those bottle caps to end up back in the ocean.”

And for the first time, the 1,751 bottle caps Willis and friends used to create Sandipi were not thrown away when she left for Colorado.

In addition to monitoring turtle nests, Joan Lorne is a teachers’ aide at St. Vincent Ferrer School in Delray Beach.

Students there will use the caps to create an artwork for Earth Day, which is April 22.

In Colorado, the trash Willis collects in plastic bags winds up in trash bins.

In Gulf Stream, her 5-gallon bucket full of bottle caps that became art will become an educational project at the local Catholic school.

Driving back to Colorado in December, Willis carried a sense of satisfaction along, but not too much.

“I feel good that I can clean up some of the trash, but it’s just for fun,” she says. “We talk about what we’re going to do for a mural this year, and what are we going to find on the beach that we can incorporate.

“I know what we’re going to do next Thanksgiving,” she adds. “But I’m not going to tell you.”

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

By Steve Plunkett

For rescuing a woman pulled into the ocean by rip currents, veteran Gulf Stream Police Sgt. Bernard O’Donnell was handed a lifesaver award in an emotional presentation Dec. 13.

Tragically, he was unable to save the woman’s 15-year-old son, who went into the Atlantic at the county-operated Gulfstream Park with his younger brother while his mother watched from the shore early Nov. 10. When the younger child signaled her for help, she jumped into the water.

“That day, the winds were 25 miles an hour out of the northeast and the surf was so extreme that the 20-plus bystanders who were on the beach were unable to assist,” Police Chief Richard Jones told everyone assembled for the Town Commission’s monthly meeting. “So, had it not been for Sergeant O’Donnell, we would have lost the mother and a child. 

“So we appreciate your heroic actions. Thank you.”

O’Donnell, who is 59 and joined the town’s police force 12 years ago, had to take a few moments to compose himself before thanking the chief for providing good advice, Deputy Chief John Haseley for providing comfort and the townspeople for providing him the tools to do the rescue.

“You were able to provide the equipment and the training that also helped me that day. I had the equipment in the car that helped and if it wasn’t for that … I probably wouldn’t have been successful,” he said.

All town police units have a rescue throw disk with 75 feet of rope, a lifeguard water rescue flotation device and a Coast Guard-approved life jacket.

Townsfolk did even more, O’Donnell said, singling out Elizabeth Ruth for putting out a call for contributions.

“As you know, funerals can be very costly,” he said. “I attended the funeral and presented the check there so the family didn’t have to have an additional burden. I’m very thankful for that and for the residents that contributed to it, and it made the healing process a lot better.”

O’Donnell said his boss helped the healing process.

Chief Jones “made a great point, you know. If I wasn’t able to get to the mother in time, she would have had three children grow up without a mother. And I didn’t think about that, but he provided a great point there.”

O’Donnell thanked his wife, Maria, who was invited to attend the presentation.

“When I, when we get off duty we go home to the family, if it wasn’t for my loving wife who lives there for me,” he said, breaking up again. “Thank you very much.” 

Combining properties puts owner in a fix — The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office combined residential properties at 316 Andrews Ave. and 1137 Vista del Mar Drive North at their owner’s request, but Delray Beach regulations don’t allow for more than one principal residence per property in that residential zoning district.

The property owner has been seeking a certificate of occupancy for a newly built home on the southern portion of the combined property and said the other home would be used as a guest cottage and art studio. But the 1,432-square-foot cottage is more than double the size the city allows.

On a 3-2 vote, the commission agreed at its Dec. 17 meeting to a waiver. Mayor Tom Carney and Commissioners Rob Long and Angela Burns voted for the waiver, with Vice Mayor Juli Casale and Commissioner Tom Markert opposed, citing concern about setting a precedent. 

— Larry Barszewski

Mayor gives update on public safety — Mayor Tom Carney recently updated the Beach Property Owners Association on its request for an increased police presence on the barrier island.

The request came after recent “crime trends, issues and concerns,” Carney wrote in a Dec. 14 email to BPOA President Hal Stern. The most notable incident occurred on June 21 near the Delray Beach Pavilion, where four dozen gunshots were fired at a popup party.

Carney, in the email to Stern, identified several steps being taken:

• Police have increased their visibility and have upped enforcement of traffic measures, such as cracking down on cars with loud mufflers, playing loud music and speeding.
• There is an ongoing conversation with the Community Redevelopment Agency to redirect the downtown Clean and Safe officer east of the Intracoastal Waterway. “This initiative will increase our police presence on the barrier island, specifically related to the Atlantic Avenue corridor up to A1A,” Carney wrote.

The CRA funding of the Clean and Safe police officer program includes safety ambassadors who patrol on foot, golf carts and bikes and interact with the homeless population.

They respond to calls from police when homeless people are trespassing, panhandling or drinking in public.
Carney said the city’s community outreach team has also conducted beach sweeps where transient individuals have been identified.

$3 million from bond targeted for three facilities — About $3 million from the 2023 voter-approved $100 million public safety general obligation bond will be spent to make repairs to two city firehouses and its Ocean Rescue facility.

Fire Chief Ronald Martin says improvements are needed for the following facilities:

• Fire Station 112 at 35 Andrews Ave.; work includes concrete restoration, fire alarm system upgrades and weatherproofing.
• Fire Station 111, the department’s headquarters at 501 W. Atlantic Ave.; work includes painting, roof repairs and an interior design study.
• Ocean Rescue, 340 S. Ocean Blvd.; work includes exterior repair and possible storage and interior remodel.

City Manager Terrence Moore said the Public Works Department is working with Martin on the improvements while the Finance Department is working to get the money.

New city clerk is no surprise — Alexis Givings will be the new city clerk, City Manager Terrence Moore announced in his Dec. 13 newsletter.

Givings has served as interim clerk since September after serving as deputy city clerk. She replaces Katerri Johnson.

Givings’ work history includes administrative roles with Lauderdale Lakes and the Broward County Clerk of Court.

The duties of the clerk include maintaining official documents of the city, administrating municipal elections, and preparing and distributing agendas and minutes of city meetings.

Advocate criticizes DARE funding decision — Cat Kelly, a well-known advocate for addiction care, told the City Commission at its Dec. 10 meeting that city officials made a mistake in allocating their $239,000 share of opioid settlement money.

She was particularly critical of using settlement money for the police program DARE  — Drug Abuse Resistance Education.

“Multiple studies over the past few decades have shown that DARE has failed to reduce drug use among participants. Some evidence suggests that it may have inadvertently normalized the behavior it aims to prevent,” said Kelly, an Ocean Ridge resident who is on the board of the Crossroads Club, a safe space for 12-step meetings.

The city is expected to get irregular installments of the settlement money from the $50 million deal struck by the states with opioid manufacturers and distributors for fueling a pill epidemic that continues to take lives.

The City Commission and staff struggled for months to come up with a plan to allocate the money, deciding that $130,000 would go to DARE and that some of the money would be used to purchase the anti-overdose drug Narcan.

“As it goes for Narcan, we are able to get Narcan for free,” Kelly said. “Approving this allocation is not just an oversight, but it is a missed opportunity.” The commission did not address her remarks.

 — John Pacenti

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream is ending its decades-long contract with trash hauler Waste Management Inc. of Florida and shifting instead to Boca Raton-based Coastal Waste and Recycling Inc.

The move means monthly bills for picking up trash from residents’ back or side doors will drop slightly, from $47.82 to $46. 

“Our residents aren’t going to see a lot of change,” said Assistant Town Attorney Trey Nazzaro, who spent most of 2024 negotiating the contract with help from Kessler Consulting.

But the switch also avoids Waste Management’s planned price change to $61.34, a 62% hike from the $37.86 it was charging as recently as last March.

“They really did not want to do backdoor service anymore,” Town Manager Greg Dunham said.

The Coastal Waste arrangement will have an initial 10-year term with an option to renew for two five-year extensions.

“So it’s a potential 20-year agreement,” said Nazzaro.

The contract wording also provides for annual increases tied to the Consumer Price Index, rather than the higher “Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Water and Sewer and Trash Collection Services” that Waste Management had proposed.

Proposals were received  from Waste Management, Coastal Waste and Waste Pro USA, with Coastal Waste receiving the top ranking. Nazzaro said he will bring a final contract to the Town Commission in January.

Waste Management, the town’s trash hauler since at least 1997, had sought a five-year contract extension in 2019 at a 26% increase plus an annual cost adjustment tied to the water-sewer-trash index. But the town negotiated a 6% increase for the five years with annual increases tied to the specialized index.

This time the company insisted on the 62% increase and rebuffed any talk of lowering the rate. 

Civic Association invites residents to centennial party — The Gulf Stream Civic Association will host a centennial celebration of the town’s incorporation with “a casual event” at The Little Club on Feb. 22.

The group will also sponsor a beach cleanup and a “Gulf Stream Gives Back” day with a deserving nonprofit still to be selected. It also sold 96 commemorative belts and 70 coasters. 

“If there’s demand we will offer additional orders on that,” said Kirsten Stanley, the association’s president.

The cost for attending the outdoor buffet, weather permitting, is $50 a person, and there will be a capacity of 220 people. Stanley thanked Suzanne Lanigan, Lisa Morgan and Jennifer Coulter for coordinating the effort.

“It will be a first-come, first-serve basis and we encourage and hope all residents are able to attend. We want it to be very inviting and very inclusive,” Stanley said.

Mayor Scott Morgan said he hopes residents will take part.

“This is our hundredth anniversary for the town, founded in 1925. So hopefully the word gets out and we have a great turnout,” he said.

— Steve Plunkett

By Mary Thurwachter

Lantana signed off on flood management regulations to meet National Flood Insurance Program standards, which meant the town also had to revise its ordinance as it relates to mobile homes. On its first reading of the ordinance in November, the Town Council voted affirmatively, although not all members agreed.

“We wanted time to do some homework to be sure we knew what the implications were,” Mayor Karen Lythgoe said at the Dec. 9 meeting. But even with further discussion, the vote remained the same: 3-2 in favor of the changes. Council members Lynn “Doc” Moorhouse and Christopher Castle cast the dissenting votes.

Development Services Director Nicole Dritz gave some background.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s revised flood insurance rate map became effective on Dec. 20.

“As a condition of eligibility in the National Flood Insurance Program, the town must adopt the flood plain management regulations to meet the standards set by the NFIP,” Dritz said. “In addition to the NFIP requirement that we must adopt, the ordinance also revises language related to how we as a town regulate our mobile homes.”

That’s the part that concerned council members.

“The town has participated in a voluntary program called the Community Rating System for over 15 years,” Dritz said. “The voluntary program is meant to incentivize communities to implement flood plain management practices and procedures that exceed the minimum set by the NFIP.”

Communities earn points for various flood plain activities that reduce flooding risk or enhance resiliency, such as improving drainage systems or promoting public education, she said. As communities accumulate points, they can achieve different rating levels that can lower flood insurance rates for property owners.

Flood insurance premiums in town currently receive a 10% discount with its Class 8 rating.

“As a prerequisite, and for the town to retain that Class 8 rating, all manufactured homes installed or replaced in the special flood hazard area must be elevated to or above the base flood elevation outlined by the NFIP, by FEMA or one additional foot,” Dritz said.

While the new elevation requirements don’t apply to existing homes, they will apply to homes undergoing major renovations or repairs.

Annemarie Joyce, who lives in View Street, a mobile home park south of The Moorings on the Intracoastal Waterway, said she’s concerned “that the wording in here says that we can only do repairs (for damaged homes) up to 50% of our appraised valuation by the property appraiser’s office.”

“With inflation the way it is, this is going to leave people in the lurch by a great deal. Because the property appraiser’s valuation of our homes is not high enough that we would be able to do many repairs. I am extremely concerned about that.”

But that’s not the only worry for owners of mobile homes in a flood zone.

Moorhouse said those homes could be difficult to sell given the new requirements. “I just think it’s totally unreasonable,” he said.

The reduction in the cost of insurance wouldn’t amount to much, perhaps as little as $50 a year for people in mobile homes, he said. “I’m not going to put somebody out of their home for $50 a year. I think it’s a burdening hardship.”

But Lythgoe said she would be voting in favor of the changes.

“I’m going to vote for this primarily because in 2027, Citizens Insurance is going to require all policy holders in Florida to have flood insurance, whether you’re in a flood plain or not. If we’re not in good standing in the program, we’re not going to be able to get flood insurance through the NFIP, and in that case when someone goes to purchase a home or if you have a mortgage that requires you to have windstorm insurance, you’re not going to be able to keep it.

“And if you have Citizens, which a lot of people do, you’re not going to be able to keep your insurance policy because you’re not going to get flood insurance. Very few insurance companies are writing flood insurance, you have to get it through the federal government.”

The special flood areas are all east of Dixie Highway, according to Dritz.

Vice Mayor Pro Tem Kem Mason said that while this vote was for him “heart-wrenching, there comes a time you have to think of the majority.”

He said insurance can get as high as $10,000 a year and a 10% reduction was a significant one.

Vice Mayor Mark Zeitler said he empathized with Joyce and other mobile home residents, but would join Mason and Lythgoe in voting for the revised language.

After the vote, Joyce told The Coastal Star she was one of those people who looks at both sides.

“I can understand that some people who can afford insurance stand to benefit,” she said. “My main concern is for people who don’t have unlimited resources.

“I don’t see any upside for them.”

Library employee receives top honor — Jennifer Sweeten has been working at the Lantana Public Library for less than a year but has made a big and wonderful impression on colleagues and regulars at the library.

Sweeten, who transferred from the town’s Development Services Department in February, was named the town’s Employee of the Year and received a plaque marking the occasion at the Dec. 9 Town Council meeting.

Never before has a library staff member become Lantana’s Employee of the Year — and no one could have been prouder to make that announcement than Library Director Kristine Kreidler. “She is one of the best, if not the best, customer service and problem-solving employees I have ever worked with,” Kreidler said. “She saved us during our summer reading program, as our statistics have continued to grow exponentially and the flow of traffic increases month over month. I don’t know how we would’ve done it without her.” 

Kreidler called Sweeten a genuinely caring person “and everyone she interacts with walks away knowing Jen cares about them, illustrating a rare native emotional intelligence. One of our older patrons even asked Jen to be her power of attorney.”

Working in a public library in a community like Lantana means “you are part social worker, part mediator, part teacher, part tutor, part crime prevention, part mentor, part party planner, part friend, part community activist, part mom, part dad, and on and on. Jen wears them well,” Kreidler said.  

Vote on Kmart development delayed — A special Town Council meeting was held on Dec. 10 to vote on amending the comprehensive plan to allow a change in the density from 15 to 25 dwellings per acre at Lantana Village (the former Kmart site), but voting was postponed until 5:30 p.m. Jan. 9.

Mayor Karen Lythgoe said the reason for the delay was that Town Attorney Max Lohman could not attend and the town needed a little more time to smooth out the details.

Since the December meeting had been advertised, town officials needed to convene, but a presentation on the development plans was not given. Public comment was allowed, but without having seen the PowerPoint, residents opted to wait until the next special meeting to make their comments.

— Mary Thurwachter

Walking tour participants pause at the site of the Orange Grove House of Refuge while local historian Tom Warnke (green cap) describes its history as the first building in the Delray Beach area. The shelter for shipwrecked sailors was built in 1876. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Hannah Spence

There are cities in the United States whose history is well-known, especially to their residents. But despite its rich past, Delray Beach does not seem to get the same kind of attention. The Delray Beach Historical Society is helping change that by resuming walking tours that cover the historic coastline. 

“It’s an assemblage of the history of the Delray Beach area going back hundreds of years,” said Tom Warnke, a local historian and the society’s archive coordinator. “We also talk about the natural history going back 10,000 years because that relates to the ocean environment, and a big part of the walk is about the coastal processes and why Delray is so unique.”

The walking tour takes attendees to landmarks such as the Sandoway Discovery Center and the Orange Grove House of Refuge — the first structure in the area, built before the area became known as Linton, which was the precursor to Delray Beach. The first tour, on Dec. 14, was cut short due to rain. Guests received a rain check to a Jan. 18 tour. Another one will be held on Jan. 25. The society will list other tours online later this month.

Participants were educated on stories from the old days such as when, on a New Year’s Eve during Prohibition, a boat broke up and dozens of cases of rum washed up on the beach. Also provided is information on the Barefoot Mailman, a legendary South Florida symbol.

The historical society is resuming the tours that stopped  because of the coronavirus pandemic. Warnke said the tours meet a demand. 

“I would even say the majority of people who live here complain that there’s no history, but if they dig down a little bit, there really is a deep history there,” Warnke said.

He said the misconception that Delray Beach does not have an interesting backstory developed because “it just doesn’t look old. If you’re from New England or most places in the country and you come here, the area doesn’t have the architecture that looks old. But even here on Atlantic Avenue, we’ve got structures that are over a hundred years old. A lot repurposed, but like the Colony hotel, it’s still the way it was 100 years ago.”

Participants meet at the Delray Beach Pavilion at the beginning of the tour.

The walk is 2.7 miles long and typically scheduled on a Saturday. Participants follow Warnke through earpieces that enable them to hear from even 50 feet away. Breaks and snacks are incorporated into the event. 

The chance to learn is why historical society member Tim Sharp decided to join the walk. 

“I’m constantly trying to learn about Delray Beach, its history and what’s going on with the town,” said Sharp, who moved to the city from Boca Raton about three years ago. “I thought this tour sounded like a great opportunity to do that.”

Although Sharp admitted he knew some of the information from reading signs on the beach and generally just being a history buff, he thought Warnke made the walk enjoyable. 

“He was really good,” Sharp said. “Very knowledgeable and funny and a wealth of information.”

The tour has people walk right down to the water’s edge to connect with the ocean up close. 

“When you connect people with it, they are more likely to want to save it,” said Warnke. “As more and more people move down here, they get to know a little bit more about how we came to be and how we continue to grow.” 

If You Go

What: Historic walking tour of A1A in Delray Beach

When: 10 a.m.-noon Jan. 25

Where: Meet at the beach pavilion at Atlantic Avenue and Ocean Boulevard

Cost: $25 for Delray Beach Historical Society members, $30 for others

Info: 561-274-9578;

delraybeachhistory.org, under events

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified when the Orange Grove House of Refuge was built. It was built even before the area was known as Linton.

Little League agreement reached — Boynton Beach city commissioners approved a five-year agreement Dec. 17 that will allow Boynton Beach Little League to use the city’s Little League Park facilities and will end the lawsuit the league filed against the city in January 2024.

The agreement, in exchange for the league having the suit dismissed, was approved without comment at the commission’s regular meeting following a closed-door session on the subject that same evening. It comes after the two sides had a meeting of the minds in August. The league is also known as East Boynton Beach Little League.

“This agreement emerges from a recent legal settlement and establishes clear operational guidelines for the organization’s use of the City’s ballfields and resolves all litigation and potential attorney’s fees and costs,” a city staff report said.

Beach park treatment plant to be repaired — Boynton Beach city commissioners approved an agreement for upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant at Oceanfront Park to Close Construction Services, LLC, of Okeechobee, which bid $907,000 for the work, with an additional 10% contingency.

City staff reported the existing treatment system is more than 20 years old and “showing signs of wear and corrosion.” The work is mainly for rehabilitation of the rotating biological contactor system.

“Several events during 2018-2019 identified flows exceeding the permitted capacity, causing the plumbing fixtures in the park infrastructure to leak,” staff reported.

— Larry Barszewski

By John Pacenti

Replacing a portion of Ocean Ridge’s water main running down State Road A1A turned out to be a delicate operation as the 70-year-old pipe proved especially brittle, causing numerous unexpected breaks.

This led to a hopscotch pattern of asphalt patches. Now the Florida Department of Transportation wants the town to repave the affected parts of A1A at a cost of up to $325,000.

“Because there were so many breaks and so many patches, they’re asking us to go above and beyond what our engineering plan showed,” Town Engineer Lisa Tropepe said at the Town Commission’s Dec. 9 meeting.

Initially, Mayor Geoff Pugh was reluctant. “Why would we do that?” he said. “That’s a state road.”

Though FDOT will be repaving A1A in southern Delray Beach, there are no plans to continue northward, commissioners were told by contractor Foster Marine.

Tropepe and Foster Marine said FDOT has made unexpected demands after greenlighting the initial plans. “They approved it and they sat over here at the pre-construction meeting and didn’t say a word,” Tropepe said.

Commissioners authorized the money needed for the additional road work.

Pugh told Tropepe and Foster Marine he felt the repaving costs were a surprise. “We’re getting basically, you know, slapped in the back of the head,” he said.

Commissioners were told the delay was getting information from FDOT on whether the state would resurface the road in the near future. They also approved a $45,000 emergency change order to shut off the old pipe for the last remaining residents using it. And there was also $101,000 approved for cost overruns due to field directives.

In all, the commission approved up to $471,000 in new spending on Dec. 9.

The cost coming into the meeting for that A1A leg of the water pipe replacement project was $2.58 million.

Replacing the A1A pipe from Island Drive to Inlet Cay Drive is just the first step. Tropepe provided a chart for the work for the rest of the town — broken up into seven phases — estimating the cost would be $38.8 million over eight years.

Not all is bad news, Tropepe said. The town has 3,600 linear feet of new pipe and 95% of the impacted residents are hooked up to the new main.

“We’re just so happy to get that pipe out of commission. And we need to do everything we can ... to get that type of pipe wherever it is in town, we need to get it out of here,” she said.

There appears to be a bonus for residents in a $1 million-plus grant that reimburses Ocean Ridge for much of the purchase price of the submerged Priest property behind Town Hall.

The Florida Conservation Trust, as a condition of the grant, requires some type of public recreation, said Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy. The county owns the other submerged lands next to the Priest property — all of which is a pristine mangrove swamp teeming with marine life.

“We have been talking to the county, because the county owns several of those parcels, and they’re going to work with us in kind of creating and marking a kayak trail,” Cassidy said. “We’re just in the beginning stages of talking about that.”

One of the decisions that needs to be made is where the kayaks will be rented and launched. When established, the kayak trail will give residents access to marine life.

“There’s a lot of wildlife back there,” Cassidy said. “I talked to some people that have been at Ocean Cay (just north of Town Hall) for a while and they’ve seen manatees. It’s really kind of a nice place.”

— John Pacenti

By John Pacenti

The Delray Beach City Commission voted to permanently close Northeast Seventh Avenue at First Street, to the delight of Palm Trail neighborhood residents who feared it would reopen once construction at the massive Atlantic Crossing complex is finished.

“It’s a big night for us tonight,” Jack Indekeu told commissioners at their Dec. 10 meeting. “This has been a priority for the neighborhood for many years, and we’ve had countless discussions with many of you, and we appreciate now that we get to this point.”

The commission agreed that there was no legal obstacle to closing the street, as it was outside the settlement agreement for Atlantic Crossing, which sued the city for $40 million in 2015 accusing officials of trying to stall the development.

Staff recommended to commissioners a gated structure on Seventh Avenue at Northeast First Street to allow access to emergency vehicles while preventing traffic.

Mayor Tom Carney and Commissioner Tom Markert attended a Palm Trail neighborhood meeting the night before and heard how adamant the residents were about closing the road and not opening it to service Atlantic Crossing and its restaurants.

“We’ve put the residents through some harder times there. They talked about that last night. And I’m in support of this, so I think we should do this right away,” Markert said.

Palm Trail resident Gayle Clark, who lives on Northeast Seventh Avenue, said many drivers are still using the street, unaware that it is closed.

The commission directed staff to design and implement the permanent closure utilizing funds already allocated for this purpose in the Atlantic Crossing settlement agreement.

The commission also asked staff to explore an alleyway situation related to the Seventh Avenue closure to ensure it does not create other traffic issues.

Palm Trail resident Joy Howell said closing Seventh Avenue fulfills another campaign promise by Carney. She said not permanently closing the road would turn the neighborhood into a speedway. 

“The bottom line is the neighborhood wanted to push this at this time because we have a pro-resident majority on the commission,” Howell said. “You know, political winds of change come most elections.” 

Manalapan will conduct a space utilization study to assess whether it needs a new Town Hall or if the current building can be renovated, Town Manager Eric Marmer said.

“A lot of people in the town and on the commission feel that this building doesn’t really represent the town anymore, and are potentially looking to update it,” Marmer said.

The selection committee to choose an architectural firm to do the study met on Dec. 20. The firm will present commissioners with options. Voters in March 2026 will most likely get to decide if they agree to what the commissioners decide — renovate or build anew, Marmer said.

The current Town Hall, built in 1981, is outdated and does not adequately accommodate the current size of town government, he said.

Palm Beach County has a stake in what Manalapan decides since its fire rescue department shares space in the current building. The county will pay up to 50% of the cost of the study, Marmer said.

— John Pacenti

HIGHLAND BEACH — Mary Jo (McCoy) Pollock died Dec. 3 after a lengthy illness. She was 69.

Born in Akron, Ohio, she was raised in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where she eventually attended the university there and graduated with a degree in physical education. Professionally she worked in the insurance industry and taught physical education in Boardman, Ohio.

Throughout her life she has lived in Austintown, Ohio; Lisbon, Ohio; Hudson, Ohio; Red Bank, New Jersey; and for the past 18 years in Highland Beach.

Her greatest pleasures in life were her family, dance and travel. Married to and survived by her husband, Richard Pollock, she took great pleasure in calling herself “the Y wife” due to his career as a YMCA president and CEO. Other nicknames included MJ, Mama Jo, and her favorite, Grandma Jo.

She was a member of the Delray Beach Club, the YMCA Alumni Association and the Heritage Club of the YMCA of South Palm Beach County. She was a founding member of the Jack and Bodhi Girard Youth Hockey Fan Club. She was predeceased by her first husband, Jack “Fozz” Mills, and her mother, Joan Barker McCoy. She is survived by her father, Robert McCoy; husband, Richard Pollock; daughter Shenley Mills Girard and her husband, Peter Girard; daughter Shelby Mills and her partner, John Lewer; siblings Barbara Cramer and husband, Danny; Dale McCoy and wife, Kris; Lynn Clancy and husband, Michael; brother and sister-in-law Dave and Anita Pollock; many nieces and nephews, members of the Mills family, and her beloved grandsons, Jack and Bodhi Girard.

A celebration of her life is planned for a future date. Contributions in her name may be made to the Boca Helping Hands organization in Boca Raton.

— Obituary submitted by the family

By John Pacenti

One thing you can say for certain about Ocean Ridge Town Manager Lynne Ladner: She is fiercely loyal to her staff.

During budget season, she fought for pay increases for some non-union police employees while commissioners bristled. She succeeded in getting pay increases for some, including Police Chief  Scott McClure.

Ladner has told the commissioners it is important for equitable compensation between non-union and union employees (police line officers) for morale and retention reasons.

At the commission’s Dec. 9 meeting, Ladner told commissioners that under the new police contract, union members earn more vacation time than non-union employees based on their time with the town. Past commissions routinely rectified this discrepancy, she said.

“I think it will show consistency and stability across the organization. It will also vastly simplify the calculation of vacation approvals within the payroll system and the accounting system to have just one set of accruals for all employees,” Ladner said.

McClure tried to explain to commissioners why having all employees on equal footing was a good idea. 

“If I have a sergeant who is under the contract gaining more time than a lieutenant would, why would you want to get promoted and have a lesser benefit package,” he said.

The non-union police employees affected are the chief, lieutenant, dispatch manager and dispatchers. 

As happened during the budget scuffle, the commissioners were not on board with Ladner’s proposal. Commissioner Ainar Aijala Jr. said the recent consultant’s report — which cost taxpayers $14,000 — found town salaries and compensation to be competitive. He said he was disappointed Ladner didn’t provide a competitive analysis — no easy lift.

“I don’t know why we would feel in any way that we should give everybody the same vacation,” he said.

Aijala then took a shot at the regular staff, saying police officers have demanding schedules. “If we let the police go home at 3 o’clock every day, and if we gave them every weekend off, then I would say you have parity.”

Ladner said that though Town Hall closes to the public at 3 p.m., administrative staff continues to work and puts in a 40-hour week — including some weekends. 

Vice Mayor Steve Coz then said new employees start at two weeks’ vacation, which is typical in the United States. “That sounds pretty good,” he said.

Ladner had a warning for commissioners. “I really hope you’re prepared for the potential that our employees will seek employment elsewhere,” she said.

Recently, a longtime police dispatcher — a position that is hard to train and fill — left the town to go work at Gulf Stream. 

Coz then complained — similar to Aijala — that the material presented by Ladner to commissioners for the Dec. 9 meeting was scattered, incomplete, late and incorrect. “I wouldn’t get on my high horse about this,” he told the manager. 

It wasn’t all Scrooge and humbug. The commission did approve allowing staff employees to work half days on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve — though a resident told commissioners to be aware of those shrewd employees who will try to take the whole day off and still get paid. 

Louis M. Canter, aka Lantana Lou, gained notoriety for donning a cape, a crown and carrying a colorful, cutout fish on Groundhog Day to predict Lantana’s next six weeks of weather. Photo provided

By Mary Thurwachter

LANTANA — It’s been a decade since Louis M. Canter, aka Lantana Lou, made his final splash at the beach, emerging on Groundhog Day to predict “six weeks of sunny weather.” Wearing a jeweled crown and snazzy cape and carrying a trident and a large cutout fish, he was Lantana’s answer to Punxsutawney Phil every Feb. 2.

Mr. Canter hung up his eye-catching regalia in 2014, after a beloved 10-year stint as Lantana Lou.

On Dec. 6, 2024, Mr. Canter, 94, a former vice mayor of Lantana, died at his home surrounded by family and close friends.

“Mr. Canter has given much time and devotion to residents of Lantana and has earned the respect and admiration of the community at large for his wisdom and community spirit,” former Mayor Dave Stewart said at the time.

“As Lantana Lou, he brought favorable recognition to the town through television and newspapers and amused hundreds of residents over the years.”

Current Mayor Karen Lythgoe shared her admiration for Mr. Canter at December’s Town Council meeting and said she wanted the town to honor him with a plaque at the beach.

Twenty-year Council member Lynn “Doc” Moorhouse said Mr. Canter was an admired council member who encouraged him to run for office.

Palm Springs Village Manager Mike Bornstein, who was Lantana’s town manager when the concept of Lantana Lou was born, said organizers of the Groundhog Day celebration were looking for someone who looked like a retiree to play the part and Mr. Canter, who was on the Town Council, fit the bill.

“He was incredibly gracious and had fun with it,” Bornstein said. “Mr. Canter was always very direct. You always knew where you stood with Lou.”

Longtime friend Norbert McNamara, who made Lantana Lou’s cape and trident, admired his friend’s community service.

“You couldn’t have a better councilman,” McNamara said. “He was honest and fair.”

Mr. Canter was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, Nancy Olian Canter, and his grandson Nathaniel Canter.

He is survived by his children Rebecca (Jon) Ryan, Edie Canter (Fred Wellisch), Marcia Canter, and Andrew Canter (Jane Fraser); his grandchildren Daniel Ryan (Alexis Scheer), Rachel Ryan, Leah Ryan, Julia Wellisch and Benjamin Canter; his brother Edward (Lynn) Canter; his sister Patricia McCue; and other relatives and friends. 

He was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1930, graduated from Boston University in 1951, and served in the U.S. Army from 1951 to 1953 before starting his real estate career. First an agent and then a developer, he built hundreds of homes in the Boston suburbs.

Mr. Canter had a full and successful life, said his daughter Marcia, a Realtor herself. She will miss their weekly discussions on real estate. She said he did a lot of good things in life, but “wasn’t seeking accolades.” He just did what he thought was right.

Mr. Canter and Nancy married in 1955 and raised their four children in Framingham, Massachusetts, where he was involved in Temple Beth Am. He owned racehorses, flew a small plane, and played many games of gin rummy. 

In 1986, the Canters moved to Lantana, where he enjoyed fishing in his boat.

He developed many close friendships in Lantana, his daughter Edie wrote in his obituary, “including fishing buddies, his regular lunch group at the Grumpy Grouper and The Hive, and people involved in town politics.”

He joined the Lantana zoning commission, then Town Council and eventually became vice mayor.

The Canters enjoyed domestic and international travel during their retirement. Mr. Canter’s most recent trip was a visit to Washington, D.C., through Southeast Florida Honor Flight for veterans.

Funeral services were on Dec. 17 at Beth Israel Memorial Chapel in Boynton Beach. In lieu of flowers, donations in Mr. Canter’s memory can be made to Southeast Florida Honor Flight, www.honorflightsefl.org.

During the Read for the Record competition, Lantana Police Chief Sean Scheller belts out a tune in the library as part of a mini opera, to the amusement of library staffer Jennifer Sweeten (left) and Director Kristine Kreidler. Photo provided

By Mary Thurwachter

For the second consecutive year, Lantana has won first place among small municipalities in the Read for the Record competition sponsored by the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County. 

The book selection, Piper Chen Sings by Phillipa Soo and Maris Pasquale Doran and illustrated by Qin Leng, is a story about a young girl who loves to express herself through singing but is struck with self-doubt and nervousness when asked to perform solo in front of an audience.

Kristine Kreidler, Lantana’s library director, came up with a creative way to tell the story by recruiting some of the town’s top leaders to stage a mini opera for the children in the library. 

Using a book called A Soup Opera by Jim Gill, she had Police Chief Sean Scheller, Mayor Karen Lythgoe and Town Manager Brian Raducci improvise with her, belting out their parts as opera singers. The performances were caught on video and greeted with laughter when the animated performances were played during the Dec. 9 Town Council meeting.

The children at the library loved the show, Kreidler told council members. 

“The kids in the audience couldn’t stop talking about it and asked for it again the next time we saw them,” Kreidler said. “We overheard one boy telling his dad excitedly how funny it was that the chief and mayor were actually singing with it (the book) in real life.”

Kristin Calder, CEO of the Literacy Coalition, mentioned the chief’s and mayor’s singing in opera voices as part of Lantana’s victory when she announced the winners. Read for the Record was held in schools and libraries through the county on Oct. 24.

Winners were chosen based on a combination of how many children were read to, creative events on the day of the program, and fun/inventive marketing.

 The town promoted Read for the Record with videos across various platforms, a StoryWalk in the Town Hall breezeway displaying Piper Chen Sings, allowing residents to read the book, and two library events. 

Lantana recruited 41 volunteer readers and read to 2,488 children at 21 sites.

The Village of Wellington was the winner of the large municipality category, and the Village of Palm Springs was the winner in mid-size municipalities. 

Lantana won bragging rights and a large basket of children’s books. 

The town won previously in 2013, 2015-2019, came in second when COVID came around in 2020, and started winning again in 2023.