By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

Palm Beach County and the city of West Palm Beach and have proclaimed the third week in May as Native Plant Week. To celebrate, the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society has helped organize a full schedule of events that fulfills its mission to educate the public about the importance of using these plants for landscaping.
These events also celebrate the revised landscape ordinance recently passed in West Palm Beach that encourages the use of native plants when landscaping private and public lands.
Birds need caterpillars to feed their young; insects have evolved with specific native plants for their life cycle. If there’s no native plants, there will be no insects and no birds, explains Susan Lerner, president of the local FNPS chapter.
And that’s why when you visit communities where the landscape is predominantly showy exotics, you don’t hear birds singing in the trees or see butterflies flitting about on diaphanous wings. There’s nothing to attract or support them.
“And that’s too bad because these plants are the gateway to sustainability,” Lerner says. “They not only support wildlife, but also require less water and fertilizer than most of the plants imported from elsewhere.”
The theme for the week is “Renewal.” And it will culminate in the 38th annual FNPS conference at the Miccosukee Resort and Gaming Center in Miami.
The celebratory events begin May 14 with “Renewal: Going Native,” an exhibition and sale of native plant photography at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre. Eighteen photographers from all over Florida are participating. These include Rufino Osorio, a longtime Palm Beach County resident, and Homestead resident Roger Hammer, who specializes in Florida wildflower photography, says Lerner.
As the week progresses, the local chapter of the FNPS will hold its 13th annual Rare and Unique Native Plant Auction on May 15, at the Mounts Botanical Garden. Involving both a live and silent auction, the evening is also about learning.
It will include presenter Craig Huegel, author of a blog celebrating native wildflowers (hawthornhillwildflowers.blogspot.com), and auctioneer Andrew Burr.
“Andrew is fun, energetic and appropriately cajoling,” says Lerner. “He knows this is one of our main fundraisers and he makes sure everyone has a good time.”
On May 16, renowned entomologist and author Doug Tallamy from the University of Delaware will present “Bringing Nature Home: Renewing Our World With Native Plants” at the Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton campus.
His message is that as Florida has been developed, it has less and less habitat for birds, bees and other critters. He urges everyone to landscape with native plants to help our native fauna survive.
Lerner invites the public to attend any or all of these Native Plant Week events.
“We’ve planned them for anyone who wants to help bring our native wildlife back into Florida,” she says.

Native Plant Week events
Renewal: Going Native
What: Exhibition and sale of native plant photography by 18 Florida artists
When: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. May 14-Aug. 4 Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Where: Palm Beach Photographic Centre, 415 Clematis St., West Palm Beach
Cost: Free
Information: 253-2600 or 247-3677

Renewal: Going Native, the Birds, the Bees, the Flowers and the Trees
What: The 13th annual Rare and Unique Native Plant Auction, a silent and live auction. Proceeds benefit the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society.
When: May 15. Doors open 7 p.m.; live auction begins about 7:30.
Where: Mounts Botanical Garden, 531 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach
Cost: Free admission; no charge to bid
Information: 247-3677

Bringing Nature Home: Renewing Our World With Native Plants
What: Seminar by entomologist Doug Tallamy
When: 7 p.m. May 16
Where: Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium, FAU, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton
Cost: $5 in advance, purchase tickets at bringing-nature-home.eventbrite.com; $10 at the door
Information: 352-7835

Renewal
What: 38th annual FNPS conference
When: May 17-20
Where: Miccosukee Resort and Gaming Center, 500 SW 177th Ave., Miami
Information and registration: fnps.org/conference/2018

To contact the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, call 247-3677.

Bathurst, Boylston, Frankel also take seats on council

New Mayor Shelly Petrolia brought an oversized gavel to her swearing-in. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach voters came out at the highest rate in more than 10 years in March when they elected Shelly Petrolia as mayor.
“I feel great,” she said the morning after the March 13 election. “All of the work paid off.”
The new commissioners and mayor were sworn in March 29.
Petrolia is the city’s third woman mayor, following the election of Rita Ellis in 2007 and the appointment of Catherine Strong in 1954. When Strong was chosen as mayor, she had the highest number of votes among the candidates. Back then, Delray Beach used that method to select its mayors, according to the Delray Beach Historical Society.
Petrolia, a Realtor, beat her opponent, Jim Chard, by having 809 more mail-in votes (2,184-1,375). She lost at the precincts by 392.
“We did a lot of door-knocking,” she said. “Not necessarily different from my competitor.”
Plus, her twin sons cast their first votes for her, she said. They turned 18 on Feb. 9. The registration cutoff date for municipal elections was Feb. 12.
Chris Davey, an election watcher and commercial real estate broker, knows the power of the mail-in ballots. He ran for City Commission in 2014 against incumbent Al Jacquet. Davey led at the polls by 429 votes and when the mail-in ballots were tallied, he lost by 265 votes.
When Ellis was elected in 2007, mail-in ballots (then called absentee ballots) were only 3 percent of the vote. By the 2018 Delray Beach election, mail-in ballots accounted for 42 percent of the vote, according to the county Supervisor of Elections Office website.
“It’s more convenient for people to vote that way,” Petrolia said.
Chard, a retired public administrator, believes he was the better candidate because of his background and experience. He was elected to the commission in March 2017 and threw his hat into the mayor’s race in the fall after Cary Glickstein said he would not run for re-election.
“I won on Election Day, but I lost on the mail-in ballots,” he said. “We tried hard to get those votes.”
After “licking my wounds,” Chard will become active again in the city’s nonprofits. “I could be more effective there than as an elected official,” he said.

Ryan Boylston is sworn into office accompanied by his wife, Cassidee, and their children, Madelyn, 10 months, Elliott and Preston (right)

Mitch Katz, who held City Commission Seat 3, was upset by newcomer Ryan Boylston. Katz received 397 more mail-in ballots, but he lost on Election Day when nearly 1,400 more people voted for Boylston.
Katz, who works for a private education company, said he lost because Boylston’s campaign had targeted him in the last few weeks before Election Day. Katz didn’t have the money to buy new ads or mailers to counter.
“It’s a combination of things,” Boylston said. “I’m the stronger candidate with the civic and professional résumé and I have a reputation in town that I can work with all segments of the city.”
Boylston has served on the city’s Downtown Development Authority board, including one year as the chairman. He sat on the city’s Education Board for nine months and stepped down when he was sworn in as commissioner. City rules ban commissioners from also serving on city boards.
Boylston will remain on the board’s Education Master Plan Committee as a parent member, he said.
He owns his own marketing agency, Woo Creative, with an office in downtown Delray Beach.
Katz said he would spend the next few months concentrating on his family and work, and then decide what public service role to play. He also volunteers as an assistant scoutmaster to his son’s troop.
Adam Frankel, a criminal defense lawyer, returns for his second stint as a city commissioner. He won both the mail-in and in-person votes in Seat 1. He could not be reached for comment.
At the candidate forums, Frankel said he wants to establish a $1,000 fee on transient homes that rent more than three times in one year. The fee is aimed at sober homes, but it also could target homeowners who offer their houses as vacation rentals. The money collected would be used to cover code enforcement costs. Frankel also wants to hire a full-time city attorney, decrease staff turnover and improve development between the interstate and Swinton Avenue.

With Bill Bathurst as he is sworn in are his wife, Debra (left), stepfather, Jim Marshall, and mother, Barbara.

Bill Bathurst, a Realtor, did not have any challengers to finish the remaining two years on Chard’s seat. Bathurst raised about $5,000, which he gave away in March to Delray Beach nonprofits. Because his family moved to Delray Beach in the 1930s, Bathurst will focus on historic preservation, but in the modern way so that historic buildings can be renovated for small businesses. He calls that ambition Village by the Sea 2.0. Bathurst describes the word “village” as an attitude of caring. He also wants to create a people-first mentality that translates into working together to get things done.
Petrolia’s priorities will be controlling developments that add to traffic and congestion; preserving historic buildings; creating a parking management plan for the downtown; building roads, sewers and sidewalks that are sustainable; and continuing to monitor sober homes so that safety can be maintained.
Boylston wants to focus on education and small businesses that provide jobs in The Set and Haitian communities. He also wants to provide stability to repair the city’s reputation to get things done.
“It will be a team approach to all of the rest that the commission wants to do,” he said. “Petrolia will be our head coach because she has five years’ experience as a commissioner. That’s the most important thing needed in a mayor.”

By Jane Smith

Boynton Beach will finally get a real downtown.
City commissioners in mid-March unanimously approved spending $118.3 million to redevelop 16.5 acres to create a walkable Town Square where people can live, work and play.
The new downtown area includes the essentials for city living: library and City Hall combined in a new City Center, the historic high school renovated to be a cultural center, a new fire station, two parking garages with 465 public spaces and a park with an amphitheater.
Private developers will construct two buildings to house 705 apartments, 13,800 square feet of restaurants and 15,000 square feet of office/retail space. They also will build a hotel with 125 rooms, and additional ground-floor retail will serve as the gateway into Town Square.
The Town Square project will be bordered by Boynton Beach Boulevard on the north, Northeast/Southeast First Street on the east, Southeast Second Avenue on the south and Seacrest Boulevard on the west. The police headquarters will be built on city-owned land on High Ridge Road, near the city’s Emergency Operations Center.
“We’re excited about the project,” said Assistant City Manager Colin Groff, who is in charge of Town Square. “We think it will be transformational for the city.”
City leaders have talked about the need for a downtown for at least 20 years, Groff said.
After the vote, City Manager Lori LaVerriere thanked the mayor and commissioners “for putting a lot of faith and trust in staff. It will be a wonderful and successful project. Staff has been working on it for 21/2 years.”
Some residents have mixed feelings about the project.
“I’m in favor of the project other than the eight-story buildings,” said Harry Woodworth, former president of the Inlet Communities Association.
Barbara Ready, who chairs the city’s Historic Resources Preservation Board, said, “I’m thrilled beyond belief that the high school is being saved. It’s a beautiful building that once was the heart and soul of the city.”
She and others held rallies to save the high school in 2015 when then-Mayor Jerry Taylor wanted to see it demolished.
Ready is not thrilled about the density in Town Square. She said an eight-story apartment building sits too close to the nationally historic Schoolhouse Children’s Museum. “It’s not compatible with the two-story Children’s Museum,” she said.
Former City Commissioner Mike Fitzpatrick bemoaned the smaller size of the Kids Kingdom playground. “It’s been moved and reduced by two-thirds,” Fitzpatrick said.
The playground needs to be at least 7,000 square feet, said longtime resident Susan Oyer. She sits on the city’s Planning and Development Board, whose members want to make sure the playground has a usable size.
“I don’t think the city gave developers everything they wanted, maybe about 95 percent,” Oyer said. She also talked about the eight-story apartment buildings as incompatible with one-story houses and apartments across two-lane Northeast First Street and Southeast Second Avenue.
Even so, she said, “There’s a lot for residents to like,” such as the renovated high school and the park with an amphitheater.
Town Square has an ambitious schedule: bonds issued in June, library and City Hall demolished in July, high school renovation complete in November, an energy plant to fuel the project finished in February, the south garage and Fire Station No. 1 complete in July 2019 and the City Center, housing the library and City Hall, finished in September 2019.
The city will own the land under the public buildings. It will sell the land for the apartment buildings, the hotel and the two garages.
The bulk of Boynton Beach’s share of the project will come from the sale of $76.1 million in bonds issued by a company called CFP Boynton Beach Town Square LLC. That partnership is run by the nonprofit Community Facility Partners, based in Minnesota.
Boynton Beach will lease the land to CFP in a complex agreement.
The city will use money from its general fund and a financial commitment from its Community Redevelopment Agency to make the annual payments. Depending on the interest rates, the annual payments will be between $4.4 million and $5.1 million, said Tim Howard, assistant city manager for finance.
The bonds will be paid off in 25 years, Howard said. At that time, the land and buildings will revert to the city.
Boynton Beach will use a variety of sources to pay the remaining $42.2 million, Howard said. Those sources include the city and utility budgets, the CRA taxing district, federal tax credits for the high school, land sales to private developers at an average price of $1.25 million per acre, and $3 million from the proceeds of the penny sales tax.
The plan to use penny sales tax money drew a response from Taylor. He sits on the committee that oversees how Boynton Beach spends those tax dollars. “The money should be used on existing roads and sidewalks, not on new projects such as the high school,” he told commissioners.
But LaVerriere insisted it was OK to use the sales tax to help pay for the high school renovation. That seemed to appease Commissioner Mack McCray, whose vote was needed to make the commission’s support of Town Square unanimous.
Fitzpatrick also questioned the wisdom of selling some of the land to the developers. “What if in the future, 25 or more years, when another City Commission needs that land?” he said. He wanted to see long-term land leases. He had sent the commission a lengthy email in August on the issue.
“That structure wasn’t offered,” Groff said. The developers insisted no one would be willing to lend money for a private project when they didn’t own the land. “In Mizner Park, Boca Raton financed the deal,” he said.
Woodworth said the project should be done in phases, eliminating the need to rent temporary space for the library, City Hall and police headquarters.
Groff, though, said the developers need to hit this market while it’s still hot. The apartment buildings will be built at the same time as the combination library and City Hall on Ocean Avenue.
During demolition and construction, the library will be housed in two locations: a temporary 5,000-square-foot branch on the west side of Seacrest just south of Boynton Beach Boulevard, and a larger location in Quantum Park on High Ridge Road, south of Gateway Boulevard. The temporary location for City Hall will also be Quantum Park, Groff said.
He expects to bring leases for commissioners to sign at the April 17 meeting.
“We have a good schedule that can be met,” Groff said, “and I think our guaranteed costs are accurate.”
At the end of the meeting, LaVerriere said to the public, “I hope you feel good about it. Town Square will transform our city.”

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream needs $10 million over the next 10 years — roughly double what it usually budgets — to replace aging water pipes and repair streets, consultants say.
Joe Kenney, an engineer with Mathews Consulting, told town commissioners March 9 that overall the town’s water pipes provide good flow for daily conditions. But as another consulting firm warned Gulf Stream in 2012, the water mains are old and getting older.
“A lot of it is pre-1970s. It’s coming to the end of its expected service life,” Kenney said.
Kenney recommended replacing 19,700 linear feet of pipe, almost half the town’s total 44,367 linear feet, in the coming decade.
He also looked at the roadway and storm sewer systems and devised three strategies for Gulf Stream: resurfacing a road with minimal utility work, replacing a water main with trench paving and resurfacing the road, and reconstructing a road with grading and sewer adjustments and water main replacement.
The third strategy “is kind of starting over to make sure everything functions adequately,” he said.
The engineers also rated Gulf Stream’s streets and found none are perfect and none are failing.
“All the roads are generally in that middle category — minimal or moderate defects,” Kenney said. He also suggested widening roadways when possible.
“Some roadways it’s 11 or 12 feet. If you were going to build a new road in South Florida the standard is 20 feet. We see variances to 18 feet,” he said, promising to produce a map showing which streets could be wider.
Kenney said town commissioners could generate an economy of scale and minimize disruption to residents by bundling some projects together rather than trying to do one or two each year.
“The impact on the residents is going to be a major part of this equation,” Town Manager Greg Dunham said.
Included in the target list of future projects are reconstruction of Bermuda Lane, Old School Road, Gulf Stream Road, Oleander Way, Polo Drive and Middle Road and replacing the final 3,550 feet of water main under State Road A1A up to Sea Road.
Commissioners will review Kenney’s draft report; Dunham asked him to return with a possible timetable showing which projects to tackle first.
In other business, town commissioners adopted an ordinance lifting term limits on members of the Architectural Review and Planning Board and then reappointed ARPB members Thomas Smith and Malcolm Murphy.
Previously board members could serve only three consecutive three-year terms.

Builders with Republic Construction work on the roof of the addition to the Gulf Stream Town Hall on March 15. They were expected to punch through the existing building’s wall sometime in April. ‘You may see some temporary placement of individuals here in the commission chambers for offices,’ Town Manager Greg Dunham said. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett

The town has joined a growing effort to save sea walls, docks and moored vessels from boats speeding up and down the Intracoastal Waterway.
Gulf Stream resident Robert Souaid asked Town Manager Greg Dunham to write various agencies seeking a slow-speed zone for the town’s portion of the waterway, which Dunham said the town had previously done.
“A number of times,” Town Commissioner Joan Orthwein interjected as Dunham briefed her and her colleagues March 9.
Dunham said he went to Souaid’s house on Wright Way for a firsthand look at the wave action on his dock.
“Literally while I’m there, a boat came speeding down the Intracoastal and splashed all over us,” he said.
Kristine de Haseth, executive director of the Florida Coalition for Preservation, said Rene Gross, who lives in an unincorporated county pocket directly across the Intracoastal from Souaid, recruited Souaid to the cause and asked the coalition for assistance.
“We helped him get in front of Briny, and Briny is writing a letter. We helped him get in front of St. Andrews; it’s going to write a letter,” said de Haseth, who was elected to the Ocean Ridge Town Commission in March.
De Haseth said officials of the state’s Boating and Waterways Section, part of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, “haven’t been very receptive in the past” to speed limits on the Intracoastal south of Woolbright Road, “but this gentleman is trying as much as he can to at least include the municipalities, include the major clubs to have some letter.”
She said Briny Breezes has had to replace most of its sea wall and all its docks. “It’s an ongoing maintenance issue,” she said.
The FWC held a public workshop in March in Fort Walton Beach to consider expanding a “boating safety zone” in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway 415 feet to protect users of a county boat ramp.
It held another workshop in Apalachicola on a proposal to shorten a safety zone north of a bridge by 1,200 feet in an area “with no public fuel docks, boat ramps and boating launching and landing facilities along the shorelines.” The FWC proposal also would extend that safety area 300 feet south of the bridge to protect it.

Shops in California’s Carmel-by-the-Sea have distinctive style with paneled windows and carved doors. Photo provided

By Jane Smith

Downtown Delray Beach has a certain indefinable something, called an X-factor by urban consultant Bob Gibbs.
In late March, when Gibbs presented his analysis, he said Atlantic Avenue is a national standard for a walkable downtown with shopping and dining options.
He also gave suggestions about how the city could become the Southeast version of Carmel-by-the-Sea in California. The much smaller town has a population of about 4,000 with a strong style.
Delray Beach has an estimated population of nearly 66,000, according to the University of Florida’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research.
“Delray Beach has the potential to be known worldwide,” Gibbs said.
The city’s Downtown Development Authority sponsored his study and the Town Hall session where Gibbs gave his presentation at the Crest Theatre.
Gibbs touched on many of the city’s hot-button issues, such as parking, cleanliness, signs, architectural styles for the storefronts, landscaping and flowers, and the need for coordinated street furniture.
He thinks parking in the city garages should be free for at least two hours and possibly around the clock. “That would reduce the problem of employees parking in front of stores on Atlantic Avenue,” Gibbs said. The free parking also would appeal to shoppers who don’t mind walking.
Boca Raton and Naples have free parking in their city garages, he said.
Gibbs thinks meters on Atlantic, west of the Intracoastal Waterway, and the side streets could work in Delray Beach. He prefers single meters that can take credit cards, cash or coins or be operated via a smartphone.
“But Naples does not have meters on its streets,” Gibbs said. The rationale behind that decision should be explored by Delray Beach leaders, he said.
Gibbs thinks the city’s sign system needs work. “It should start at the interstate, continue into the downtown, point out the garages and the beachfront,” he said.
Then at key intersections, such as Atlantic and Northeast Second Avenue — the entrance to Pineapple Grove — signs should direct diners and shoppers to places in that area, Gibbs said.
Some people say brick-and-mortar stores are going away because of internet sales, but Gibbs remains bullish on downtown Delray Beach.
That prediction should hold true for the next five years, he said.
“We found the city could support 350,000 square feet more of retail space,” he said. “Stores want to be in a walkable downtown that Delray Beach has, not in a strip center.” The proposed developments of Atlantic Crossing and Midtown Delray plan to add 77,028 square feet of shops.
Speaking of strip-center styles, Delray Beach needs to stop allowing that design style with aluminum frame doors and dark-tinted windows. Gibbs didn’t want to share names, but he said there were seven or eight examples along Atlantic.
He suggested downtown Delray Beach shops aspire to be a version of Carmel-by-the-Sea stores, with paneled windows and carved doors.
Delray Beach hired planners from the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council to create design style guidelines. The City Commission has adopted them. The next step is to make sure the building owners follow the guidelines, Gibbs said.
“Tougher design guidelines were supported by a lot of developers,” he said. Gibbs talked with Delray Beach developers, along with retailers, for his analysis.
Landscaping and adding flowers are a quick fix to make the street look fresher, according to Gibbs.
For coordinated street furniture, Gibbs suggests that Delray Beach leaders decide on a design style for benches, bike racks, trash and recycling containers, and light posts. Then, as money allows, replace the mishmash of styles.
Gibbs called Delray’s DDA one of the most effective and best-managed organizations that he has worked for nationally.

Outgoing Ocean Ridge Mayor Geoff Pugh is flanked by his daughter, Alexis, wife, Lisa, and son, Jonathan, at a special reception in Town Hall on March 5 to recognize his 15 years of service to the town. Jerry Lower/ The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

Ocean Ridge commissioners unanimously chose James Bonfiglio to be the town’s next mayor, believing his experience as a lawyer could be useful in resolving some contentious legal matters on the horizon.
Bonfiglio, who was elected to the commission in 2014 after a long run on the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, has been an advocate of aggressively enforcing building codes and strengthening the Police Department to deal with looming growth issues. “I think you all know that there is a lot of pending litigation facing us over the next few months,” Commissioner Don MaGruder said during the town meeting April 2. “Jim is certainly qualified to help (Town Attorney) Brian Shutt oversee that. With that I think that Jim is the most qualified on the commission to serve as mayor.”
Ocean Ridge is facing potential problems from two cases in the courts. Former Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella is facing felony charges over gunfire at his home in 2016, and his attorney has accused a town police officer of using excessive force. Also, developer William Swaim is challenging the town for refusing his plans to build houses behind Town Hall.
Bonfiglio, 64, likely will have a short tenure as mayor, however. He is a Democratic candidate for the state House District 89 race and under Florida’s “resign to run” law must leave the commission by November.
Commissioners chose MaGruder as the town’s vice mayor. Newly seated Commissioner Phil Besler nominated Steve Coz for the position, but the motion died for lack of a second. Kristine de Haseth, the commission’s other newcomer, then nominated MaGruder, who won the job on a 3-2 vote, with Besler and Coz dissenting.
Bonfiglio replaces Geoff Pugh, who resigned last month with a chorus of compliments after serving on the commission for 15 years, the last six as mayor.
“It’s been a great honor and a pleasure serving with you,” Bonfiglio told Pugh during the March 5 meeting. “I think you’ve been a great mayor.”
“I so appreciate your common sense and your love for Ocean Ridge,” Coz told Pugh. “You’ve merged those two into making the proper decisions that benefit the citizenry. I don’t know how we’re going to replace you, frankly.”
Pugh said his wife, Lisa, had attended only about four of his meetings but has heard all about them.
“She has put up with the total recap of every single meeting for 15 years,” Pugh said with a laugh. “She’s been my best sounding board.”
In other business, Police Chief Hal Hutchins says he is working with Manalapan Chief Carmen Mattox to develop a proposal under which Ocean Ridge would provide dispatching services to its northern neighbor.
Besides the revenue Ocean Ridge would collect from Manalapan, Hutchins said, his department would benefit from sharing immediate radio intelligence and links to Manalapan’s license plate recognition cameras. He said the arrangement could enhance the performance of both departments.
The chief said he would bring the commission more details at the meeting on May 7.

Phil Besler and Kristine de Haseth won in their first attempts at running for public office. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

Coastal advocate Kristine de Haseth said she “did a lot of door-to-door canvassing” in campaigning for a seat on the Ocean Ridge Town Commission, and growth-related issues ranked high on voters’ minds.
“When it affects daily life, that’s when they start paying attention,” she said.
Relief from traffic congestion, tighter code enforcement, more community policing — Ocean Ridge residents, de Haseth said, are looking for ways to cope with the impact of growth in surrounding communities and redevelopment within the town itself.
De Haseth, 55, director of the Florida Coalition for Preservation, struck the right chord with voters. She coasted to victory in the March 13 election, receiving 424 votes of the 585 ballots cast, or 72.5 percent.
Political newcomer Phil Besler claimed the other commission opening with 330 votes (56.4 percent).
Incumbent Gail Adams Aaskov, a 15-year commission veteran and former mayor, lost her seat, finishing a distant third with 175 votes (29.9 percent).
“I think people are ready for a change,” de Haseth said.
And more change is coming in Ocean Ridge. The commission will work under a new mayor, James Bonfiglio, who takes over for Geoff Pugh. He stepped down in March after six years at the helm. Then Bonfiglio’s seat is expected to open in November once he resigns to enter the state House District 89 race. Besler, 63, told voters his 40-year career as an accountant gives him experience that will help the town’s budgeting and fiscal management. A 13-year resident of Ocean Ridge, he says the commission has to develop a new strategic plan to prepare for the challenges that are coming.
“If you read the strategic plan for 2000, it’s not going to address what’s going to happen to us in the next 10 to 20 years,” Besler said. “We’ve got to get our arms around that.”
De Haseth said her work with the coalition over the past 12 years has enabled her to develop connections with neighboring communities that will benefit Ocean Ridge as it tries to maintain its character in the wake of regional growth.
“I bring a lot of knowledge about issues and the process of government,” she said. “I bring relationships with surrounding governments.”
Aaskov said she’s looking forward to moving on to other things and that her public service likely has ended.
“I donated 15 years to Ocean Ridge and wrote two books about it,” she said. “Enough is enough. I never had a personal agenda, which is more than I can say about some of the others.”
Turnout on Election Day was 35.8 percent of the 1,633 registered voters, with 107 voting by mail. There were 241 undervotes, meaning that many voters chose only one of the three candidates instead of the two selections they were allowed.
De Haseth said many of her backers intentionally under-voted to concentrate their support with her campaign and avoid raising the tallies of her rivals. “Why dilute your vote?” she said.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach can now boast it has two historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places.
The newest register listing came in mid-March when the National Park Service, which keeps the Historic Places list, decided that the Old School Square Historic District could join the Marina Historic District.
“We are delighted that this honor has at last been bestowed on one of our most cherished historic districts,” said JoAnn Peart, president of the Delray Beach Historic Preservation Trust. The city asked the group in 2014 to begin working on the district for submittal to the National Register. “It took a lot of time and sweat to get the district listed.”
The district, which runs along Swinton Avenue from Northeast Fourth Street to Southeast Second Street, is home to some of the city’s most significant buildings, including the Old School Square campus and the 1902 Sundy House, home of the city’s first mayor. Both are listed individually on the National Register.
After the state approved sending the district listing to the federal level in late November, Hudson Holdings — developer of the proposed Midtown Delray project in the southern half of the district — put out a flier with misinformation about what the National Register listing would mean to property owners, according to Historic Preservation Trust members.
“SAY ‘NO’ TO THIS DAMAGING DESIGNATION,” the flier copy read. Instead of being a feather in the cap, the National Register listing was described as limiting property repair and renovation, she said.
But the historic building changes and renovations are reviewed on the local level by the city’s Historic Preservation Board, Peart said. Nothing is done on the federal level, she said.
Steve Michael, Hudson Holdings co-founder, said he no longer opposes the designation.
“We originally thought they were trying to stop the development of Midtown Delray,” he said. “But we don’t think that anymore.”
Historic Presevation board chairman, John Miller, called the flier “mean-spirited and punitive.” On the flier, Hudson Holdings offered the services of its notary to have the statements certified, he said.
Michael said his team was trying to educate property owners about the designation. Midtown Delray received conditional approval from the city one week before the district was listed on the National Register in mid-March.
“We need to make them aware of the changes to our site plan that includes demolitions and slight relocations of historic buildings,” Michael said. “I don’t know when we will alert the National Park Service. We are trying to work on our site plan.”
The listing was delayed by 30 days after another district property owner appealed to the National Park Service in mid-February to postpone the decision. The owner promised to provide details, but didn’t produce them.

By Dan Moffett

South Palm Beach Mayor Bonnie Fischer says she met with county environmental officials in March and left convinced they are committed to going ahead with the town’s controversial beach stabilization project.
“The county is definitely moving forward,” Fischer said. “There’s been too much money spent by the county not to take it to fruition.”
Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management officials are working to secure the state permits necessary to begin construction of the project — a $5 million plan, 12 years in the making, to install a network of seven concrete groins along the beaches from the northern boundary of South Palm Beach to the southern edge of Lantana Municipal Beach.
The plan faces fierce opposition.
Manalapan and the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa have threatened legal action, claiming the groins would disrupt the natural flow of sand and hurt their beaches.
Opposition within South Palm Beach has been led by the Concordia East condominium group. The condo association has refused to grant the town and county an easement, and without it workers can’t access the beach for groin installation. Concordia homeowners worry about liability issues and potentially opening their beachfront to public access.
In February, Fischer and other Town Council members softened their support for the project, saying they would be open to other solutions — perhaps a more traditional beach renourishment plan. The mayor says she wants to discuss alternatives with the town’s neighbors.
“We’re trying desperately to get a meeting with Manalapan and Lantana to see their take and keep options open,” she said. “We also want to have a meeting with Concordia East about their easement.”
Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb believes negotiation is in the best interest of all parties.
“We need to work together, neighbor with neighbor, to solve our mutual problems — that includes Manalapan, Lantana, ourselves and Palm Beach,” Gottlieb said. “We need to get something that doesn’t hurt any community and helps all the folks involved, especially the public beach in Lantana.”
Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan thinks the county is doing the right thing by continuing to seek permits for the groins.
“Once we get the permits in place, then we can change what we want to do,” she said. “Then we’d have the options. It doesn’t mean that we have to go with the groins. We can go with restoration and other options.”
After years of watching their beach drift away, South Palm residents likely still have months of waiting ahead before they find out whether government can come up with something to slow the erosion.
“We just have to wait and see,” Fischer said.
In other business,
• Town Manager Mo Thornton says the town is switching to a different AT&T phone system to improve communications at Town Hall. She said the new phones cost “almost exactly the same” as those employees currently use and, frankly, hate.
“It’s almost impossible to carry out the town’s business on the telephone,” Thornton said, “because the service is so bad.”
• The council unanimously approved moving its meetings from the fourth Tuesday of each month to the second Tuesday. The change resolves a scheduling conflict for Town Attorney Glen Torcivia. The council’s new meeting schedule will begin at 7 p.m. May 8.

Winter storms in the Northeast that produced lots of snow and intense wind meant high surf for Palm Beach County in early March.
ABOVE: John Shipley of Delray Beach surfs down the line after being pulled into the wave by a jet ski at the Boynton Inlet. Photo provided by James Arena
BELOW LEFT: Surfers at the Boca Raton Inlet. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
BELOW RIGHT: Waves pound the sand-pumping station at the Boynton Inlet, sending spray more than 35 feet into the air. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

C. W. ‘Bill’ LeRoy, who moved to South Palm 2 ½ years ago, won election with the third-most votes. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb went into the March election with a simple message for South Palm Beach voters.
Gottlieb told them that, after 45 years of living in the town and more than a decade of service as an elected official, no one knows the community better than he does. And because of that long relationship, voters pretty much knew everything they needed to know about Robert Gottlieb.
“In this town, it’s all about the beaches,” he said. “That has to be our priority. People understand that. ”
Gottlieb’s message carried him to an easy victory on March 13 as he led the six-candidate Town Council field with 268 votes. The other incumbent in the race, Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan, finished a distant second with 190, and newcomer C.W. “Bill” LeRoy took the third open seat with 161.
“I’m honored, and I’m humbled and the only thing I care about is our town,” Gottlieb said.
Gottlieb and Jordan claim full two-year terms, and LeRoy takes over the one year remaining on the seat formerly occupied by Joe Flagello, who died suddenly after winning re-election in March 2017.
Jordan, an eight-year veteran on the council, said she will continue to press for tighter fiscal responsibility and transparency on spending. She said the council needs to take a hard look at its state pension obligations to employees and may have to consider other ways to provide benefit compensation.
“Controlling expenses is very difficult with the Florida retirement system,” Jordan said. “A 401(k) might be a way to create savings for the town and encourage employees to contribute their money.”
Gottlieb and Jordan agree that the town has to explore other options to restore its eroding beachfront because the long-awaited beach stabilization project with the county — a plan to install concrete groins to capture and hold sand — appears indefinitely stalled.
“It seems to be moot now,” Jordan said, because of problems obtaining the necessary easements and opposition from Manalapan officials. Jordan said the council has to turn more of its attention to renovating or reconstructing the aging Town Hall.
“A big priority is maintaining the town’s flavor and character,” she said.
LeRoy said he won his seat without putting forth an agenda. “I don’t really have any issues,” he said. “I just want to keep South Palm Beach the beautiful town it already is.”
A native of Peoria, Illinois, LeRoy moved to the town 2 ½ years ago. “I’m very grateful for the friends and neighbors who came out to support me in the election,” he said.
The other three candidates in the race were Raymond McMillan (110 votes), Mary Alessandra Hall (74) and Kevin Hall (68). In all, 349 residents cast ballots, 23.7 percent of the town’s 1,277 registered voters. Fifty-two of the votes were absentee ballots.
There were 175 under-votes, meaning dozens of voters either did not understand they could select three candidates for the three open seats, or consciously chose only one or two and ruled out the other entrants.

Candace Friis, at home in Gulf Stream, says her real estate career feeds her love of people and spaces. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

Degrees in sculpture and economics don’t typically point one to a career in real estate, but that’s where Candace Friis has found her niche for the past 25 years.
“It’s an interesting tale how I got to that,” said Friis, whose work for The Corcoran Group has earned a top Realtor ranking in beach waterfront property by sales volume from both The Wall Street Journal and REAL Trends.
“After college, I went to Denmark and then met my husband, Nils, who’s Danish, back in West Virginia (where she grew up),” the Gulf Stream resident, who chose not to share her age, said. “He was very esoteric, with a Ph.D. in chemical engineering.
“My plan was to go back and get a degree in architecture, but he said, ‘Don’t do that, go back and get something more solid,’ and he suggested economics. I wouldn’t have planned it, but as it turned out both disciplines worked out for me.”
Their travels ultimately brought them to South Florida, and having done some interior design work in New York City, Friis said she was “attracted to spaces” and decided real estate could “be a great avenue for me.”
“I loved working with people, and I loved the interior spaces, and ultimately I wound up going back to the architecture I never did pursue. I wouldn’t have planned it, but it worked out great.”

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you? 
A: I grew up near Charleston, West Virginia, where my parents owned an historic inn.
Growing up, I was constantly meeting new people and helping out where needed. This “pitch in and help get the job done” attitude was instilled in me as a child. After high school, I attended Goddard College in Vermont and graduated with a BFA in fine art specializing in sculpture. Then, after graduation, I traveled throughout Europe and studied sculpture in Sweden at the renowned Swedish glass factory Orrefors. I fell in love with everything Scandinavian and enrolled in school in Copenhagen, where I studied and became fluent in the Danish language. 
When I returned to the USA, I attended Lehigh University and earned a B.S. in economics. I am fortunate to have a background in both the arts and economics, because both have contributed greatly to the success in my real estate career as well as the other business that my family has developed, Essio Shower, a company which produces a shower device that allows one to take an aromatherapy shower with essential oils.
My background has definitely provided me with an ability to understand people’s needs and to relate to the use of space in our everyday lifestyles. My background in fine arts, specifically sculpture, has provided me with the ability to be instrumental in the design of our products at Essio and the marketing of the products.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of? 
A: I have worked and specialized in luxury real estate for the past 25 years and am proud to have been recognized by The Wall Street Journal as one of the top 100 real estate professionals in the USA. Further, I consistently achieve the honor of being placed in my firm’s elite Presidents Council, which is comprised of the top 30 producers nationally. I am also on the board of directors for our shower company, Essio Shower.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today? 
A: Work from your passion. Without passion and a love for what you do, you will never have success. Be willing to work hard and never give up.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Gulf Stream? 
A: When we relocated from New York to Florida, we had three small children. The proximity to the Gulf Stream School was really important as it gave us more flexibility with work.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in Gulf Stream? 
A: The sense of community and the sense of safety that a small town provides. I believe this feeling of community builds confidence in small children. The beach access and laid-back lifestyle are both awesome and a big wow for me.

Q: What book are you reading now? 
A: A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles. It is a book about Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, who was placed under house arrest in 1922 when the Bolsheviks spared him from death because of the 1913 revolutionary poem he wrote while he was still in university. 

Q: What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
A: When I need inspiration, I like to listen to Adele. Her voice is full of soul, and the fact that she writes most of her own lyrics makes her music more inspirational to me. When I want to relax, I am fortunate enough to live near the ocean, and the sound of the ocean is the most soothing sound I know. It is great to hear it at night.

Q: Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions? 
A: “Whatever you want to do, if you want to be great at it, you have to love it and be able to make sacrifices for it.” — Maya Angelou

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: I am inspired by innovators and people who pursue ideas that go beyond existing constraints and create novel solutions born from their own sheer creativity. I am totally inspired by Elon Musk and his ability to view the world through an open lens. My father was definitely an inspiration. He was kind and smart and he let me know he believed a girl could do anything a boy could do and without a shadow of a doubt. He continually believed in me.

Q: If a movie were made of your life, whom would you like to play you?
A: Annette Bening, because she is charismatic, funny, intelligent and sensitive, making her very relatable. But she has a strong presence and is capable of carrying a leading role. She seems like a multifaceted and interesting individual, thus choosing the same in characters/roles.

Concrete power poles have been installed along Southeast Seventh Avenue in the Marina Historic District. Photo provided

By Jane Smith

Florida Power & Light will move four recently installed concrete power poles on Southeast Seventh Avenue in the Marina Historic District.
FPL obtained the proper permits from the Florida Department of Transportation to install 12 poles in the area, according to Lauren Hills, utility spokeswoman. Upgrading the power grid began in March to supply the Atlantic Crossing project and future development in the area, she said.
But the utility did not apply for city permits for the work, City Manager Mark Lauzier said.
As a result, Lauzier stopped the work March 27 until the proper permits were pulled. Four poles were found to be on private property, he said. These will be moved into the city’s right of way.
Lauzier told the City Commission on March 29 that he is starting a new city policy requiring FPL or its contractor to pull a permit if the utility is doing work in the city. He also directed staff to come up with a way to note offsite power supply requirements to major developments going through the city’s review process.
Builder and property owner Michael Marco was pleased with the swift action.
“Although this situation seemingly caught some city officials by surprise, the quick response by the city manager, attorney and engineer under the direction of the outgoing Mayor Cary Glickstein was truly commendable,” Marco said via email on March 29.
“Many Marina Historic District residents were resigned to being overwhelmed and outmaneuvered by FPL, but in this case the city government worked hard on behalf of the citizens.”
Marco’s company bought a Southeast Seventh property in 2015. It subdivided the land into two lots and spent about three years going through the city’s approval process to renovate a home at 55 SE Seventh Ave.
“I’m happy to pay the price to keep the historic character,” he said. “But overnight, FPL just came in and destroyed the character of the neighborhood” by placing a 55-foot-high concrete pole between the lots on private property.
He and four other district property owners appealed to the City Commission on March 20.
“If we had received notice of the power poles or the poles were brought to the attention of the city’s Historic Preservation Board, we would have lobbied against them,” said Dan Sloan, former president of the district homeowners association. “We would have requested they be buried or rerouted from our district.”
Sloan was involved in last year’s negotiated settlement with the proposed Atlantic Crossing project.
At the time of the meetings, Edwards Companies didn’t know how FPL would service the Atlantic Crossing site, said Andrea Knibbs, the project publicist.
“To this date, they still haven’t shared details regarding the design or schedule,” said Don DeVere, Edwards’ vice president.
On March 30, Lauzier met with two FPL representatives to let them know of the policy change and “to improve communications with the city.”
The utility was contrite. “We apologize for the miscommunications to the city and its residents,” Hills said April 2 via email.
After the city permits are obtained, FPL will notify the affected property owners, Hills said. She predicted work would finish at the end of April.

Beads, bands and beer
just part of the fabric
of annual event

More than 100,000 Floridians and snowbirds gathered March 17 along Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach to celebrate the city’s 50th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The current parade organizer has announced that he intends to retire from coordinating the event, but the city pledges to keep the event alive next year.

ABOVE: Over the past decade, the parade has focused on being a patriotic celebration of firefighters, including this group from West Palm Beach. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

LEFT: Joan Fisk of Deerfield Beach, who has attended numerous Delray parades, wears a vintage Power’s Lounge shirt in honor of the late Maury Power, the parade founder. RIGHT: Delray Beach friends Lisa Ophel and Ellie Beckworth are dressed for the occasion. 

ABOVE: David Russo, from West Palm Beach, was one of dozens of marchers from Bethesda Memorial Hospital who gave away beads.

By Jane Smith

The Riverwalk Plaza renovation continues to inch forward.
In late March, the Prime Catch restaurant owner traded a small mangrove strip along the Intracoastal Waterway for 50 guaranteed parking spaces for his patrons in the renovated Riverwalk Plaza.
“The deal is done,” said Luke Therien, whose family owns Prime Catch. “We were sure it would happen. It was just a question of when.”
As of April 3, the exchange was not recorded in the county property records.
Riverwalk Plaza sits at the southwestern base of the Woolbright Road Bridge in Boynton Beach.
After the Winn-Dixie grocery store left the plaza in January 2015, the owners sought land-use and zoning changes for a 10-story apartment complex.
The controversial building — with 326 units and 41,976 square feet of retail space — was approved in January 2017. Construction work for the renovated outparcel buildings is underway. The renovated space will house two restaurants currently in other locations within the plaza: Bond & Smolders and Sushi Simon.
Shaul Rikman, founder and CEO of Isram Realty, which owns Riverwalk Plaza, could not be reached for comment.
The owners of Josie’s Ristorante in Riverwalk questioned Prime Catch’s deal for parking spaces. The Setticasi family said their lease gives them first dibs on the parking in Riverwalk and does not allow for cross agreements.
Isram agreed in February that it could not pay to buy out the 10 years remaining on the restaurant’s lease, Stephanie Setticasi said.
The firm planned to build around the restaurant, Setticasi said.
As of April 2, no updated designs were submitted to the city’s Planning & Zoning Division.

By Emily J. Minor

BRINY BREEZES ­— Alma Coir, who began coming to Briny Breezes in the 1940s when the view out the car window was citrus and cattle, died March 10 after a brief illness. Many town residents grew to know her for her love of reading and, near the end, she spent many hours on the porch, a book in hand, a dog on her lap. Mrs. Coir was 93.
Born in Germany on Aug. 16, 1924, she was the daughter of Dorothea and Wilhelm Gnosa, who moved to the United States very soon after Mrs. Coir was born. The couple chose to settle in rural Michigan because Mrs. Coir’s mother had a brother there. A farm girl who wore homemade dresses, Mrs. Coir often told her children about the one-room school she had attended. 
“She’d often remember being in the third grade and hearing the 12th-grade students get their exercises,” said her son Mark Coir. 
When she got home from school, her parents made a point of sitting with her and her older sister as they learned English and other subjects from the day. 
Later, in middle school, the family moved to Detroit, where Mrs. Coir attended the now-defunct Thomas M. Cooley High School. When she graduated in 1942, she had already met her future husband, Donald Coir, a tool and die worker at Burroughs Corp. Later, Mr. Coir — who died in 2002 at the age of 84 — became an engineer at Burroughs, which manufactured adding machines, typewriters and eventually computers. 
It was Donald Coir who brought Alma Coir to Briny; his parents had discovered the simple beauty of this oceanside campground a few years before the couple’s marriage. After Mr. Coir’s parents died, Donald and Alma Coir bought into Briny Breezes in 1983.
Mark Coir’s father didn’t live long enough to know about the development offer that almost made many Briny Breezes residents millionaires. The 2007 deal never came through. But Mrs. Coir certainly remembered that, said her son, and it was just one of the many excitements she handled with care and deliberation, he said. 
“She was a very kind, compassionate and wise woman,” he said. “She knew how to serve counsel within the family and to keep confidences. That’s a very unusual thing.”
For the most part, the family spent its growing years in Novi, northwest of Detroit, but there were plenty of road trips to Florida when Mark Coir and his three siblings were kids. 
“It was a different Florida,” he said. “We would see those big houses along A1A and wonder about all that money.
“As we got older and more sophisticated and traveled the world, we became more wise and realized that Briny was very unique.”
After her husband died, Mrs. Coir told her kids she wasn’t going to Briny any more. But the very next year she “went a little early and stayed a little longer,” he said. Her last months were spent in the oceanside park she’d come to love, he said. 
In addition to Mark Coir and his partner Diane Schmale, who live near Jacksonville, Mrs. Coir is survived by daughter Kathlyn and her husband, Doug Weier, of Connecticut, who are well known in Briny Breezes; son Ronald and his wife, Sandie, of Michigan; and daughter Doris Hambacher of Chicago.
Seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren also survive her. 
Mrs. Coir was cremated, and services were held March 27 at the Briny Breezes clubhouse. The family asks that Mrs. Coir’s favorite charities be considered for memorials: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Guide Dogs for the Blind.

By Jane Smith

Dogs won’t frolic at Oceanfront Park anytime soon.
That’s the recommendation the Boynton Beach Recreation & Parks Board made in late March.
Members voted 5-1 after reviewing a residents’ survey where nearly 70 percent were for allowing dogs on the beach during select days and hours. About 56 percent of the survey takers wanted the dogs to be leashed. Slightly more than 1,100 people responded to the unscientific survey posted on the city’s website.
“Our beach is not the right place to have it,” said Charles Kanter, a board member who made the motion despite the poll result. He said the short length of the beach at 960 feet does not provide enough space for a dog park.
Board member Christina Johnson was for allowing dogs at Oceanfront Park. “Not that many residents would buy the permits,” she said.
The City Commission will discuss the issue on April 20.
Commissioner Joe Casello raised the topic last August after taking his cairn terrier, Charlie, to the dog beach in Jupiter. “He really loves it,” Casello said.
At Jupiter’s Dog Beach, no permits are required for the 2.5-mile stretch of beach. Lately, the town’s vice mayor has talked about decreasing the beach portion where dogs are allowed.
In December, Boynton Beach Mayor Steven Grant asked the parks board to poll residents about allowing dogs on the beach at Oceanfront Park.
The park, while owned by Boynton Beach, sits within the town of Ocean Ridge. That arrangement led to an October meeting between Boynton Beach city staffers and their Ocean Ridge counterparts. The message from Ocean Ridge was clear: Its laws do not allow animals on the public beach. Private beach owners, though, could allow dogs.
Boynton Beach staff delivered that message in December. Even so, Casello wanted to proceed with creating a dog beach.
At the start of the parks board’s discussion, Recreation & Parks Director Wally Majors proposed allowing dogs at Oceanfront Park on three days, Fridays through Sundays, for a limited time each morning and evening.
The morning time would be 7 to 8:30, Majors said. In the evenings from November to March, the hours would be 4:30 to 6, and in the off-season from April to October, the hours could be 5 to 8, he said.
Two board members wanted to know what would happen to the owners who kept their dogs on the beach longer. Would they be fined? That’s to be decided, Majors said.
Monitoring the dog beach at Oceanfront Park would cost between $15,000 and $20,000. The amount would cover hiring a park ranger to enforce the boundaries and time limits and then for a maintenance crew to clean the beach, Majors said.
He didn’t think volunteers could be counted on to do the work, although volunteers run the dog beach in Jupiter.
Majors also wanted people to buy permits to ensure the dogs are up to date on shots.
Asked whether they would be willing to buy a permit, 430 survey takers, or slightly more than 66 percent, said yes and 225 said no.
But 475 people skipped the question. Their lack of response created uncertainty about how many people would buy the permit.