By Steve Plunkett

    Gulf Stream will wait at least 18 months to repave six streets in its core area after the paving contractor realized there was almost twice as much work to do.
    In February, paving firm Anzco Inc. of Boca Raton estimated the needed repairs — on Banyan and Old School roads; Polo and Lakeview drives; and Wright and Oleander ways — would cost $170,550. But company representatives returned in October to remeasure the job site and discovered their error.
    “On the original proposal the total was approximately 7,400 square yards,” Town Manager Greg Dunham said. “The correct total square yardage of roadways, included in Anzco’s original proposal, is actually approximately 14,050 square yards.”
    As a result, the proposed price for the repaving “will increase significantly,” to $294,392, up about 74 percent, Dunham told town commissioners.
    Mayor Scott Morgan was not pleased. “It seems odd to me that Anzco would make such an egregious error in its calculations,” he said.
    Commissioners had tentatively approved a contract with Anzco for the road work last April.
    Dunham urged them at the Nov. 9 commission meeting to postpone the project, partly because there was not enough money set aside in Gulf Stream’s budget but more so because the town just hired engineers to develop a 10-year plan for capital improvements. The long-range plan may call for digging into roadways to work on water pipes, he said.
    Commissioners were quickly swayed by his arguments.
    “You don’t want to put in new roads and then cut them up,” Commissioner Joan Orthwein said.
    Vice Mayor Thomas Stanley said the commission probably will not review the capital improvement plan and reauthorize the paving before July 2019.
    “I think that would be kind of the general scope,” he said.
    In other business, commissioners heard a plea by resident Barbara Sloan in favor of smaller for-sale signs on homes.
    “I’m here to beg essentially that the ordinance regarding real estate signs be changed and to use the same signs that are in Palm Beach, Manalapan and Ocean Ridge,” said Sloan, who lives in the Bermuda House condominiums.
    “The signs are tiny little signs. I don’t think that the size of those small signs has hurt the real estate transactions or the prices in those towns. And I think that when you drive through Gulf Stream and see the signs that look like billboards frankly, that are in my estimation very bad.”

By Jane Smith
    
    The Boynton Beach police chief used a modern method to announce his new position.
    Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Chief Jeffrey Katz turned to social media to say he will retire from Boynton Beach at the end of December to lead the police department in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
    Katz, 45, tweeted: “Today, @ChesterfieldVa is announcing my appointment as the next @CCPDVa chief. Next month, I’ll retire from @BBPD & @cityofboynton after a fulfilling 20-year career. I’m grateful. Look forward to serving alongside the men & women of one of Virginia’s premier policing agencies.”
    The town of Briny Breezes contracts with Boynton Beach for law enforcement needs.
    Katz’s last work day will be Dec. 20, although his official retirement day is Dec. 29. He will leave Boynton Beach one month shy of 20 years.
    He was promoted to chief in July 2013 from his position as lieutenant in charge of the professional standards division. He joined the Boynton Beach Police Department in 1998 and rose through the ranks. Katz is a Florida native whose first law enforcement position was as a police cadet for Plantation.
    Katz will begin his Chesterfield County job on Jan. 2.
    Boynton Beach likely will promote one of its three assistant chiefs to police chief while a national search is done to find a new chief. The hiring process could take up to three months.
    Meanwhile, the City Commission is still working out the details of the Town Square project. That plan calls for the police headquarters to move out of downtown to High Ridge Road, just west of the interstate.

By Jane Smith

    The city will begin design work at its marina for a new sea wall, drainage system, docks and wheelchair-accessible sidewalks.
    In early November, the Delray Beach City Commission awarded a $99,494 design- and construction-administration contract to the Wantman Group of West Palm Beach.
    “It’s absolutely necessary,” said Commissioner Shelly Petrolia. Marine Way, between Southeast First and Second streets, floods during high tide events. Water from the Intracoastal Waterway flows over the sea wall and fills the road like a bowl, she said.
    The contract calls for Wantman to design a two-phase project to allow half of the marina tenants to stay during the construction. The marina has 24 slips.
    Wantman also will hold public meetings to solicit input from the tenants and other interested parties.
    Under the contract, the Wantman engineers will help city staff write the bid language and supervise the construction. The work is expected to begin in the next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, 2018.
    It’s the third contract awarded to Wantman for work along the Intracoastal Waterway and Atlantic Avenue.
    The city paid Wantman $80,000 to design the dock repairs and sea wall cap and supervise the construction at Veterans Park, north of Atlantic. That work should be finished in January.
    In October, Wantman was awarded a $284,373 contract for a one-block site analysis of Marine Way, from Atlantic to Southeast First Street. That stretch of Marine Way has a broken road bed that can’t support the weight of heavy trucks, private and unauthorized docks and a sea wall that is no longer usable. The project will require approvals from state and federal regulatory agencies.
    After the city finds out what’s allowed, Wantman will meet with property owners along that stretch of Marine Way and others interested, said Jeffrey Needle, the city’s stormwater engineer. The design work should be finished in the spring.
    Separately, in November, the city started a sea wall vulnerability analysis of the entire Intracoastal Waterway, estimated to be 21.4 miles. The city owns less than a mile of the sea walls.
    Aptim Environmental & Infrastructure of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was awarded the $198,473 contract in October to do the analysis. That work will be finished by June.
    The goal is to create a minimum sea wall height and a sea wall ordinance for property owners along the Intracoastal, Needle said.

By Jane Smith

    The beach master plan work is almost finished, according to Delray Beach staff. The project should be completed before Christmas, said Missie Barletto, deputy director of program and project management.
    The $3.1 million upgrade is taking place at the 1.25-mile municipal beach promenade.
    The enhancements are nearly 10 years in the making.
    The work, west of the dunes, will feature wider sidewalks and coordinated shower poles, benches, bike and surfboard racks, trash/recycling containers and signs. Smart parking meter kiosks are solar-powered.
    The new gazebos need some work, Mayor Cary Glickstein said at the Nov. 20 City Commission meeting. The decorative features, connecting the columns to the ceiling beams, are painted white but should be sanded and then stained to appear more natural, he told the city manager.
    The commission had agreed not to paint the wood because of high maintenance costs when the main pavilion and gazebos have to be repainted.
    The Downtown Development Authority’s Visitor Information Center will be reopened by late December, said Laura Simon, DDA executive director. The center will have triple the space of the old stand and sit across the street from the main beach pavilion at Atlantic Avenue.
    The renovated center will be designated the Official South Palm Beach County Visitor Center by Visit Florida.

By Dan Moffett

    BRINY BREEZES — John “Jack” Lee arrived in Briny Breezes back in 1958 as an 8-year-old from Central Illinois and instantly forged what would be an enduring relationship with the mobile home park on the ocean.
    Mr. Lee would visit Briny dozens of times over the three decades that followed, while he was establishing a successful career as a mental health professional in Illinois.
    He would leave Briny but Briny never left him — he told friends the town “gets in your blood” and stays there. In 1995, he bought his parents’ mobile home and became a permanent resident of the town, working as a case management supervisor for the 45th Street Mental Health Center in West Palm Beach.
    In 2001, Briny Breezes’ Town Council appointed him mayor and he served for six years. Last March, the council, faced with a difficult agenda of administrative change, appointed Mr. Lee to the position again.
    “I’m good at building relationships,” Mayor Lee told council members. He promised to help them tighten the budget and protect what he called “Briny values.”
    “He asked a lot of questions about how the town was being run,” says Alderman Jim McCormick. “He moved the ball.”
    Mr. Lee’s second term as mayor appeared to be just taking off when he surprised the council with the announcement he was resigning his seat in October, citing personal reasons. On Nov. 2, he died unexpectedly in the Boynton Beach office where he had continued work as a practicing psychotherapist. Mr. Lee was 68. Mr. Lee is survived by his wife, Ann, in Briny Breezes and several adult children and stepchildren living in the Midwest.
    During his first term in office, Mayor Lee helped the town navigate through the grandiose overtures of developers who talked of a $510 million deal to buy Briny Breezes and make its residents instant millionaires. He said it was unthinkable “to sell your hometown.” Mr. Lee was fond of telling friends that his greatest achievement as mayor was something more mundane than big real estate deals.
    “When we appointed him mayor,” says Council President Sue Thaler, “he told us the thing he was proudest of was getting rid of dog beach.”
    In 2004, thanks to Mayor Lee’s lobbying and the objections of Briny’s residents, the county scrapped a plan to allow dogs on a narrow strip of beach south of the town.
    “Jack was a lifelong resident of Briny,” Thaler said, “and his death is shocking to all of us.”
    Gulf Stream Town Clerk Rita Taylor was a Briny alderwoman during Mr. Lee’s first term as mayor.
    “When I served on council with Jack a number of years ago, I found him very dedicated to preserving the town and making sure it fulfilled its responsibilities as town to the residents,” Taylor said.
    Edith Behm, a member of one of the town’s charter families, knew Mr. Lee since the 1960s, when they spent their teen years in Briny. She expressed the thoughts of many longtime residents about Mr. Lee’s death: “The community of Briny Breezes will not be the same without him.”
    A memorial service was held Nov. 19 at St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Boynton Beach.

By Rich Pollack

    HIGHLAND BEACH — As mayor of Highland Beach from 1989 to 1993, Joseph Boulay made it a point to have an open-door policy and to try his best to solve any problem residents brought to him.
    “You could go to him with anything,” his wife, Dottie, said. “He was a go-to kind of guy.”
    Following the conclusion of his second two-year term as mayor, Mr. Boulay and his wife moved to Florida’s west coast to be near family and were living in Palm Harbor when he died on Oct. 15. He was 89.
    A well-respected boat dealer in the Baltimore area, Mr. Boulay and his wife moved to Highland Beach in 1984 and quickly fell in love with the town.
    “He really cared about Highland Beach,” Dottie Boulay said.
    After a stint on the town’s planning board, Mr. Boulay decide to run for mayor, bringing with him a promise of a welcome change in the town’s governance.
    His willingness to listen and to be a part of the community helped him easily win a second term. The fact that he set up a card table on A1A and listened to residents walking by probably helped his campaign and his reputation as a mayor who would listen.
    “He was very interested in everybody and he never said a mean word to anyone,” said his wife of 66 years. “He really wanted everyone to be happy.”
    An active member and usher at St. Lucy Catholic Church in Highland Beach, Mr. Boulay was also an early proponent of building a reverse-osmosis water treatment plant so the town wouldn’t have to rely on neighboring communities for water service. The plant was built after he left office.
    If there was a down side to his public service, his wife said, it was that his work on behalf of residents kept him away from something he loved to do — fishing.
    “Once he got involved in the town, he couldn’t go fishing quite as often as he wanted to,” Dottie Boulay said.
    A graduate of Loyola University Maryland in his hometown of Baltimore, Mr. Boulay early in his career worked in the auto retail industry before joining his father-in-law in the boat business. He later took over the business and was the distributor of Chris-Craft marine engines and parts for five states. In the 1970s, he became known for his success as an early retailer of Boston Whalers.
    A member of the board of the National Soap Box Derby, Mr. Boulay was also active in many organizations while in Maryland. He was a past president of the Maryland Marine Dealers and Brokers Association and served on an advisory board of the Baltimore public schools.
    He was also a devoted family man, proud of the couple’s three sons: Dr. Joseph Boulay Jr., of St. Petersburg; Richard Boulay, who took over the family boat business when his father retired; and retired Navy Cmdr. William Boulay.  
    In addition to his wife and sons, Mr. Boulay is survived by eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
    A memorial service was held on Nov. 11 at the Alumni Memorial Chapel at Loyola University Maryland.

By Ron Hayes

    BRINY BREEZES —  Bev Williams was partial to bright red colors, sweet desserts and simple acts of kindness.
She was made for Christmas, and for 15 years residents of Briny Breezes seldom thought of one without the other.
    “I started out just baking cookies for neighbors who were sick or alone,” she explained. “Maybe 15 people.”
    That was in 1998.
    By 2015, she was a holiday tradition. Beginning in September, she baked two batches of 30 cookies every day until the auditorium’s freezer held about 3,000.
    Then, in the days before the holiday, she donned a bright red suit to become Mrs. Santa Claus, parading through the town in a golf cart, doling out cookies and hugs to one and all.
    Mrs. Williams died Oct. 29 after a brief battle with ovarian cancer. She was 84, and had lived in Briny since 1998.
    “Christmas was the big thing for her,” recalled her daughter, Laura Proffitt. “Even as kids we made all kinds of fudge and cookies and gave them to everyone in the world, so this was just an extension of her personality, and her way of making people happy.”
    She didn’t do it alone.
    A week or so before the parade, a gaggle of volunteer “elves” gathered in the auditorium to thaw and pack the cookies in individual bags, then accompanied Mrs. Williams on her Christmas rounds.
    Nancy Bayless was the “advance elf,” knocking on doors to announce that Mrs. Santa Claus was nigh. Like many, she came to the cookie project by way of Mrs. Williams’ weekly Friday luncheons.
    “We’d bring a dish and she’d always fix dessert, and she made a special punch that maybe had a little alcohol in it,” Bayless recalled. “It was just a time to get together, or maybe thank her church choir or other people for things they’d done.”
    Beverly Williams was born Dec. 18, 1932, and came to Briny Breezes from Laytonsville, Maryland, where she had worked as a teacher’s aide for 28 years.
    In addition to holding her Christmas cookie parade, she was a former president of the town’s swimming club, a vice president of the hobby club and provided refreshments for the travel club. She and her husband, Lewis, were proud of having visited all of the 48 contiguous states.
    In 2015, she announced that her husband’s failing health would prevent her from continuing the cookie parade, but last year she continued to bake and deliver small samples to her doctor’s and dentist’s offices, her church and close friends.
    In addition to her husband and daughter, she is survived by a son, Michael Williams, of Green Bay, Wis.; four grandchildren, Olivia and Nikki Proffitt and Jason and Matthew Williams; four great-grandchildren; and Cindy Pearce, a dear friend during her illness.
    When Laura Proffitt went to the Panoch Funeral Home in Boca Raton to make the funeral arrangements, she spotted a large red cremation urn.
    “My mother loved the color red,” she told the funeral director. “I don’t care how much it costs.”
    Bev Williams’ ashes were returned to Maryland in the red urn.

By Dan Moffett

    MANALAPAN — Louis DeStefano served two terms as an elected official on the Manalapan Town Commission, but perhaps his greatest public service was as the community’s unofficial spiritual counselor.
    When illness struck friends and town employees, they could expect Mr. DeStefano to come around with an herbal milkshake or vitamin supplement to hasten their recovery. When the town’s yoga and tai chi classes couldn’t make ends meet, Mr. DeStefano was there to write a check to keep them afloat.
     In 2013, Mr. DeStefano opened Tranquility Park on a site adjacent to the town’s library as a tribute to his mother, Phyllis, a longtime Manalapan resident. The park has a gazebo, a walking path, a dog fountain and, on most days, a striking view of the sunset.
    “The gazebo isn’t like most gazebos,” says Town Clerk Lisa Petersen, who helped Mr. DeStefano design the project. “It isn’t raised, and that had a purpose. Louis decided to do it flat on the ground so Phyllis could roll onto it easily with her wheelchair.”
    Petersen says that was typical of Mr. DeStefano’s concern for others. “There was no one else like him.”
    Mr. DeStefano was 75 when he died on Nov. 2, four years after the death of his beloved mother at 97.
    The grandson of Italian immigrants, Mr. DeStefano grew up in Brooklyn and built a successful career in business as president and owner of Cartolith, a specialty paper and film company. In recent years, Mr. DeStefano was the CEO of Theramedix, a pharmaceutical enzyme company in Boynton Beach.
    “He was extremely generous,” says Marcelle Miller, who now resides in Flagler Beach and knew Mr. DeStefano for 30 years. “When he sold his business, he gave the employees some of the profits. He lent people money knowing he’d never get it back. Much of what he did stayed anonymous.”
   When former Mayor Peter Blum, who served on the Town Commission for nearly three decades, was ready to leave in 2010, he turned to Mr. DeStefano to take his place.
    “I said, ‘Louis, please. Do this. The town needs you,’” Blum recalls. “He agreed and he followed in my footsteps and did a great job, like I knew he would.  Louis loved the town. He was a good guy,  and the town will miss him.”
    A 25-year resident of Manalapan, Mr. DeStefano was appointed the town’s vice mayor by the commission in 2011. He resigned his seat three years later, saying he wanted to devote more time to business and yoga. “I’ve always tried to be fair with everyone,” he said when asked about his service. “I tried to listen.”
    Petersen says that, in recent months, Mr. DeStefano was easy to find around sunset, sitting quietly on a bench in Tranquility Park. “He’d say he was talking to mom there,”  Petersen says.
    The family of Louis DeStefano requests that, instead of flowers, donations go to Tranquility Park. Contributions will be used for the park’s maintenance. Please make checks to the Town of Manalapan/Tranquility Park, 600 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan, FL 33462.

By Willie Howard

    COUNTY POCKET — Robert “Smitty” Smith, an accomplished craftsman and a member of a pioneering wave of surfers who helped popularize the sport in Palm Beach County during the 1960s, died Oct. 31 of heart failure at his apartment in the County Pocket.
    He was 71.
    Also known as Bob, Mr. Smith was best known for his long affiliation with Nomad Surf Shop, a focal point for area surfers founded in 1968 by Ron Heavyside, who befriended Mr. Smith the day he arrived in Briny Breezes on Oct. 31, 1962.
    Mr. Smith helped Heavyside remodel the buildings that became the surf shop and helped maintain them over the years. He was a well-known handyman in Briny Breezes and Gulf Stream, accomplished in carpentry, plumbing and electrical work as well as painting and wallpapering, trades learned from his father.
    Heavyside said Mr. Smith was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and moved to Briny Breezes with his father, Ben, and stepmother, Mary.
    After attending Seacrest High School in Delray Beach, Mr. Smith took the entrance exam for the Air Force and scored so high that he went out and bought a new Chevy Corvair Monza convertible, longtime friend Dana Littlefield said.
    But the Air Force rejected Mr. Smith because of poor hearing in his left ear.
    “He would have gone places because he was really smart,” Littlefield said.
    Mr. Smith was not able to return to high school after his attempt to join the military, Heavyside said. He went to work with his father in the painting and wallpapering business and later spent time in California and Tennessee before returning to the Briny Breezes area.
    Littlefield and Heavyside recalled carefree times they enjoyed with Mr. Smith in the 1960s and ’70s, including camping on the beach and boisterous beach parties.
    During one night of beach camping, a front came through and pushed waves up the dune, pulling Mr. Smith into the surf in his sleeping bag. He was such a heavy sleeper that he didn’t wake up, but was mad as a hornet when he finally did, Littlefield recalled.
    Heavyside’s sons, Ronnie and Ryan, remember Mr. Smith as an avuncular figure who was quick with a joke and sometimes grumpy but always willing to share his knowledge of how to build and repair things.
    Gemma Dinanath of Gulfstream Texaco said Mr. Smith installed the lighted sign bearing the Texaco star at the gas station just north of Briny Breezes Town Hall.
    “He was a very smart guy,” Dinanath said, but noted that he shied away from doctors and hospitals that could have helped him with health problems in his later years.
    Mr. Smith enjoyed lounging in the chairs in front of the Texaco station office, talking with friends, drinking Budweiser and smoking Marlboro 100s, Dinanath said.
    Ronnie Heavyside said Mr. Smith helped him mend a wooden fence damaged by Hurricane Irma a few days before he died, even though he was very weak.
    “Anything you needed help with you could ask Bob and he would know,” said James Russell, a longtime friend of the Heavyside family.
    James Arena, a real estate broker who grew up surfing the waters off Briny Breezes, said Mr. Smith was like a father to many of the area’s young surfers.
    “He treated us all like we were his kids,” Arena said. “Everybody knows him in Briny. It’s definitely the loss of an icon around here.”
    As a surfer in his younger days, Mr. Smith garnered respect on the waves. He continued to paddle out now and then in recent years, even as his frame withered from the effects of diabetes.
    “He was one of the bulls who would go out when it was really rough,” said Tom Warnke, a longtime surfer who attended Seacrest High School with Mr. Smith in the 1960s. “He hardly ever wore a wetsuit, either.”
    In his heyday, Mr. Smith was a muscular man about 6 feet tall, 180 pounds, with brown hair, a beard and a penchant for big waves.
    “He was a big guy, strong and just totally cool,” Littlefield said.
    A tattered newspaper photo hanging on the wall at Nomad Surf Shop shows Mr. Smith and friends in his 1937 Plymouth, windshield folded down, surfboards jutting out over the hood.
    “He was a waterman,” Ron Heavyside said. “He liked riding the big waves.”
    Members of the Heavyside family organized a group “paddle out” into the ocean in honor of Mr. Smith in late November. His ashes were scattered in the waves.

Workers have been removing the windows and doors from the old high school as they prepare to renovate the historic building.  Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith
    
    Boynton Beach wants to zip into the 21st century by creating a bustling downtown with high-rise apartment buildings, shops, a high-tech library and a large LED screen outdoors to serve as a focal point for community gatherings.
    The largest project planned, the 16.5-acre Town Square, will cost an estimated $250 million, Assistant City Manager Colin Groff said at a public meeting in early November. Town Square, whose construction is tentatively set to start next spring, sits between Boynton Beach Boulevard on the north and Southeast Second Avenue on the south.
    “We want to give people a place to come together, Boynton Beach’s family room,” said Groff, who is in charge of the Town Square project.  
    The city picked E2L Real Estate Solutions as its partner earlier this year for Town Square. E2L consists of more than 10 real estate-related companies. The partnership will build a combined city hall/library and renovate the historic high school to house the city recreation and arts classes on the ground floor and events on the second floor.
    The Schoolhouse Children’s Museum and high school will stay at their current locations on Ocean Avenue.
    E2L partners also will build a new fire station just outside the project on the northeast corner of Northeast First Street and Northeast First Avenue. It will have space for a third bay, which can be used for another rescue vehicle as the city’s service population grows.
    In early November, city commissioners gave a tentative OK to the plan. The police headquarters will be built on city-owned land on High Ridge Road, next to the fire-rescue headquarters. On Dec. 5, commissioners will review a guaranteed price for Town Square and decide whether to proceed.
    The city’s share is now estimated at $133.8 million, up about $38.8 million since June. The extra costs can be explained, Groff said. The combined city hall/library is now planned for four stories. Instead of $14 million for a new city hall and renovated library, the combined structure will cost $26.98 million.
    The change was made because the City Commission wanted to have more work-force housing in the project, he said.
    The developers will build apartments at rental rates that start at $850 for a studio and rise to $1,200 for a two-bedroom, two-bath unit, Groff said.
    Although at least one city commissioner wants units residents can purchase, “right now, the market wants to fund apartments,” he said. “If that changes, then the units could be converted into condos.”
    The additional units translate into three more stories on the south parking garage to park the 450 extra vehicles. That change raised the garage cost by more than 71 percent to $14.2 million, according to city data.
    Boynton Beach also added a district energy plant to supply power to all of the buildings in Town Square. That raised the project cost by at least $10.4 million, Groff said.
    The city owns all of the land in Town Square. Boynton Beach plans to sell or lease the land it doesn’t need to its private partners to build a five-story hotel, apartment buildings and restaurants or shops in the project.
    Former City Commissioner Mike Fitzpatrick suggested that the city do a long-term lease.  “Half or more of the land will go into private hands,” he said at the Nov. 1 meeting. He wants the city to do a 99-year land lease, similar to the one Boca Raton did when it created Mizner Park.
    Work on the old high school started in August with $2.1 million from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. The city will contribute another $2 million to the total renovation cost of $10.5 million.

By Jane Smith

    Boynton Beach administrators want to combine the library with a new city hall in the ambitious Town Square development.
    To do so, they are determining whether the Boynton Woman’s Club, recently purchased by the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, will work as a temporary location for the library from around April to the project’s scheduled completion in late 2019, said Colin Groff, assistant city manager.
    “It will be smaller,” Groff said in late November. “The library will have to come up with a creative storage system that works for patrons.”
    The temporary library will have a Wi-Fi system to allow patrons to connect to the internet and check their emails, Groff said.
    The Woman’s Club, now formally called The Historic Woman’s Club of Boynton Beach, at 1010 S. Federal Highway, sits about a mile away from the current library at 208 S. Seacrest Blvd. The structure housed the first city library.
    Because the Woman’s Club is a historic building, the CRA purchased it on an as-is basis. The building has an elevator to provide access to the second floor. “However, as a historic structure, there are limitations to full compliance (with wheelchair-accessibility requirements) and there are provisions in the Florida Building Code which acknowledges these conditions,” said Thuy Shutt, CRA assistant director.
    To prepare and move, the library will have to close for two to four weeks, said Craig Clark, library director. The timeline calls for the library to be in its temporary place by April 1. Demolition of the library will start May 1, according to the schedule.
    Earlier this year, the Town Square plans called for the library to be renovated and connected to the new city hall. That changed, Groff said, when commissioners requested more workforce housing units in Town Square, a 16.5-acre area that will become the downtown for Boynton Beach.
    “To open up space for the residential units, the library was combined with the city hall,” he said. The units will be rentals because that’s what lenders are willing to underwrite now, Groff said.
    Between 1,200 and 1,600 patrons use the library daily, Clark said, and people flocked there after Hurricane Irma when power was out throughout the city but the library had electricity and air-conditioning.
    Clark listed the most popular sections as newer books, fiction collection and medical and travel books in the nonfiction collection.
    Clark said the library has evolved to become the community’s living room.
    “The library was among the first organizations that handled email. It’s where you go to learn about new technology,” he said. “It’s relevant today and will still be relevant in 20 years.”
    The library is becoming known worldwide for its Boynton history archives, Clark said.
    “I recently spoke with a man from Melbourne, Australia,” he said. “The man is writing about a boat that sank in the Boynton Inlet in 1993. He traced the boat’s history back to 1915.”
    In the combined building, the library will have about 13,000 square feet less space.
    But that doesn’t bother Clark.
    “There’s a lot of wasted space in the library and city hall,” he said. “The commission chambers are used about eight times a month for City Commission, CRA and other board meetings. In the new building, the chambers will double as a children’s story-telling space.”
    Construction of the 105,000-square-foot city hall/library building is set to start  on June 1 and end by Sept. 1, 2019.

By Mary Thurwachter

    The Lantana Town Council approved the final plat for Water Tower Commons, the 72-acre retail and residential project on the site of the former A.G. Holley tuberculosis hospital east of Interstate 95. But some council members expressed their dismay about the property’s appearance, particularly after Hurricane Irma, during a Nov. 13 meeting.
    “It should be called Water Tower Dump by the way it looks right now,” said council member Phil Aridas. “All the screens are down and most of the trees they replanted look like they’re dying. It’s an eyesore.” Developers had moved 50 protected oaks from their original locations to another area on the property.
    Council member Ed Shropshire agreed with Aridas, suggesting the property, at the entrance to the town on Lantana Road, looked terrible.
    Lyn Tate, a Hypoluxo Island resident, called it “a pigsty.”
    Town Manager Deborah Manzo said code violations had been issued, adding that developer Lantana Development LLC said supplies needed to correct the problems were hard to get after Irma.
    The violations, according to code enforcement supervisor Sammy Archer, were for fence disrepair and obstruction of public easements (sand blocking sidewalk).
    But no fines will need to be paid.
    “The good news is that Water Tower Commons has two crews repairing the fence,” Archer said. “For us, this is a win-win. Voluntary compliance is our No. 1 goal.”
    Above-ground construction on the development is expected to begin in January.
    In other business, the town:
    • Gave Manzo a 5.5 percent raise (to $138,000) and extended her contract another year after giving her a glowing review.
    • Prohibited medical marijuana treatment center dispensing facilities in the town.
    • OK’d the purchase of a $25,000 Harley-Davidson motorcycle for the Police Department.
    • Reappointed Erica Wald and Tate to the Planning Commission; voted in Shane Laasko as a regular member and Joe Farrell and Michelle Donahue as alternates. Already on the commission are Rosemary Mouring and Arthur Brooks.

By Mary Thurwachter
    
    Poker Night, a benefit card-playing event planned by the Lantana Chamber of Commerce and scheduled for Nov. 10, didn’t have a chance to unfold.
    Chamber members received word via email from Chamber Executive Director Lynn Smith that the event had to be canceled because state law considered the fundraiser — for a new awning for Chamber headquarters — gambling and therefore illegal.
    State law enforcement officers did not come knocking on Smith’s door.
    “I found out because we wanted to use the town’s recreation center and needed a special event permit,” Smith said of the site at 418 S. Dixie Highway. “The application was denied because they said it was gambling.”
    Arini Wiryomartono, the town’s community planner, said that a condition for approval requires that “you need to be in compliance of 849.11 of the Florida Statute, which prohibits prizes for the event.” Prizes for Poker Night would have been prepaid Visa cards ranging in value from $100 to $500. Tickets for the event would have been sold for $50.
    “Whoever sets up, promotes or plays at any game by lot or with dice, cards, numbers, hazards or any other gambling device for the disposal of money or other thing of value shall be guilty of a second-degree misdemeanor,” according to Florida Statute 849.11.
    Smith said the Chamber needs about $1,600 for a new awning and will look for another way to raise the money. The board of directors met to discuss how to do that after Poker Night was canceled, but decided to wait until next year to tackle the matter, Smith said.
    “I’m not familiar with any other organizations using the recreation center for similar reasons,” Town Manager Deborah Manzo said. But Smith said the Chamber has held similar events in the past without a problem.

Sandra Featherman of Highland Beach has spent much of her life as an educator, including 11 years as president of the University of New England in southern Maine.  She recently wrote a book about solving problems in higher education in this country.  “I care about education,” she says. “I really care.”  Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

    Here in South Florida, especially in Highland Beach, Sandra Featherman is known mostly as the wife of the town’s previous mayor, Bernard Featherman.
    Go north to Maine, however, where the couple lived for many years, or to Philadelphia, where she grew up, and you’ll discover Sandra Featherman is well known in her own right.
    “Here I am Bernard Featherman’s wife,” she says. “In Maine, I’m President Featherman.”
    The title comes from her 11 years as president of the University of New England, a private university in southern Maine, between Kennebunkport to the south and Portland to the north.
    Although she left the university in 2006, Featherman remains president emeritus and is still recognized for her accomplishments, that include overseeing substantial growth at the school.
    To label Featherman, 83, as “just” a college president, however, would be an injustice. She is also a well-respected political scientist, an author of books and more than 50 professional papers, a television- and radio-show host, a social activist and a philanthropist.
    Even now, after more than a decade of retirement, Featherman stays busy serving as a commissioner of accreditation for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
    In Florida, she is on the board of Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland and the board of Gulf Stream School.
    Her understanding of higher education is based on decades of experience, including four years as vice chancellor of academic affairs at the University of Minnesota in Duluth.
    That experience helped her as she wrote her recent book, Higher Education at Risk: Strategies to Improve Outcomes, Reduce Tuition, and Stay Competitive in a Disruptive Environment.
    Featherman is well regarded as a political scientist with a knack for accurately predicting election outcomes, especially local elections. She did not try to predict the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, however, believing it would be too close to call.
     “I’m a very good election prognosticator,” she says. “I understand politics, it’s in my bones.”
    Her skills earned her regular election-night appearances on local television stations and to being quoted in newspapers across the country, including The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
    As an activist in the areas of education, women’s rights and civil rights, Featherman has joined and led many organizations, including the presidency of the PTA of Philadelphia while her two sons were growing up. She also served on the board of the Community College of Philadelphia for 21 years, including a stint as chair.
    “I care about education,” she said. “I really care.”
    Part of that stems from her upbringing in a household where her mother struggled after the death of her father when she was in her late teens.
    “We were very poor when I went to college,” she said. “I saw education as a way forward for everybody.”
    Although she says she is selective in the causes she supports both with participation and philanthropy, Featherman still stays involved in many organizations.
    “I can’t help it,” she says. “It’s who I am. When I see a problem, I want to fix it.”
    If there is a reward for her efforts, it is the sense of accomplishment and pride she gets knowing she has had an impact.
    “I’m very proud of the fact that people will still write me and tell me I’ve made a serious difference in their lives,” she said.


    Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
    A. I grew up in Philadelphia and went to school there, at the University of Pennsylvania.  Growing up in the city gave me a very urban-oriented sense of the world.
    
    Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
    A. During college, I worked part-time for a community newspaper. I later taught math in public schools for a few years. I have spent most of my career as a college professor and administrator. I am proud of building the institutions where I served, and I am particularly proud of the active role I have taken on behalf of women’s rights.
    I have participated in and delivered presentations on women’s and other human rights issues at numerous colleges and organizations across the United States, and have given talks or delivered papers in many other countries, including Kenya, France, England, Israel and Russia, among others.

    Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today? 
    A. Choose to do something you love. It is hard to commit to a career you don’t care deeply about.

    Q. How did you choose to make your home in Highland Beach?
    A. My husband’s brother had lived in Highland Beach before we moved here, and we each had cousins living here. We had visited them a lot of times and loved it here.

    Q. What is your favorite part about living in Highland Beach?
    A. The people are great. We have made a lot of friends here. And, as many people say, living in Highland Beach is a little bit like living in heaven.

    Q. What book are you reading now?
    A. I have just finished Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow, Jennifer Egan’s Manhattan Beach, and Jacqueline Woodson’s Another Brooklyn, which was my favorite book of the year. It is poetic and powerful.

    Q.What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax? 
    A. I love all music, but especially show music and jazz, and relax with Mozart and Beethoven.

    Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
    A. I grew up before women had mentors.  I have tried to mentor a number of promising women. My own role model was Eleanor Roosevelt, who I met when I was 19 years old. She spoke at a political rally I had organized at my college. She gave me the privilege of sitting with her on the drive to her train afterwards.

    Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
    A. Ingrid Bergman, if she were still living.

    Q. Who/what makes you laugh?
    A. I laugh a lot. I love comedy that is not foul-mouthed, ethnic, racist, homophobic or anti-feminist.

Nancy Steiner sits at one of the Sanctuary recovery homes. The Crossroads at Antigua Foundation board plans to close the Delray Beach operation as Steiner retires. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

    After 35 years in the addictions treatment industry, Nancy Steiner should be able to retire at 71, feeling good about the lives she helped to save.
    As founder and manager of the Sanctuary, a high-end trio of recovery residences in Delray Beach, she has helped 250 people who have passed through in search of sobriety during its nearly 13 years of existence. Each residence houses five people.
    But her retirement will be bittersweet.
    When the Crossroads at Antigua Foundation board members met in July, they decided to close the Sanctuary in December when the last residents leave, citing Steiner’s retirement and the recovery industry’s troubles in Delray Beach.
    The foundation plans to sell the homes and use the money to provide scholarships to its Crossroads Centre facility located on Antigua in the West Indies. The foundation owns the Delray Beach property and supports the operation of the Sanctuary.
    The Sanctuary’s homes were not yet on the market as of late November. The county Property Appraiser’s Office has valued them between $396,729 for the smallest one to $567,091 for the largest. Homes usually sell for more than the market values set by the Property Appraiser’s Office.
    “The main thing was that Nancy was retiring,” said Nicos Peraticos, CEO of the Crossroads Centre.
    The Antigua center has a detox unit with a full-time nursing staff and a full-time physician, Steiner said. It also has 30 beds in two wings for sober living, allowing men to sleep separately from women. Guitarist Eric Clapton, who struggles with substance abuse, founded the center in 1998.
    The month before the board members met, two national news outlets ran stories about patient brokering and other abusive practices in the recovery industry in Delray Beach.
    “We considered [Delray] a dangerous environment that we did not want to continue in,” Peraticos said.
    NBC Sunday Night News led its June 25 broadcast with Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg — who has received state money to create a Sober Homes Task Force. He said “most of the apples are rotten” when talking about the drug rehab business in South Florida.
    The same month, The New York Times ran a story that called Delray Beach the relapse capital of the country. Poorly run treatment centers have been proven to be making more money off drug addicts who relapse than recover.
    Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein was interviewed for both reports. He still considers Delray Beach to be “very dangerous” and would advise any parents outside the immediate area not to send their children here for recovery help.

Stopping bad operators
    The city and state are working to keep the “bad actors” from running treatment centers and sober homes.
    “We and every other city absolutely need ethical patient-driven recovery/treatment providers, like the Sanctuary,” Glickstein wrote in a November email. “Part of the problem with the tidal wave of unscrupulous profit-over-patient operators is that it has made it more difficult for the responsible operators to work.”
    Aronberg also is tempering his message, said Al Johnson, his chief assistant who runs the Sober Homes Task Force.
    “The Sanctuary closing is a sad byproduct of this environment with 592 overdose deaths countywide last year,” Johnson said. “We are turning the corner. It’s like trying to turn a battleship, it goes slowly.”
    Steiner sits on the Sober Homes Task Force and on the Delray Beach Drug Task Force.
    Before running the Sanctuary, Steiner spent three years working at the Antigua Crossroads as clinical outreach and marketing director.
     Steiner and her husband bought three Delray Beach homes between 2004 and 2006 and turned them into recovery residences. Then, the Crossroads foundation purchased the Osceola Park homes and asked Steiner to run them.
    Residents pay $4,700 a month. The cost covers a double room, linens, towels, a beach towel, and laundry and cleaning supplies. Each person is responsible for his own meals, except for the Sunday night community meal that is mandatory.
    “Ninety-five percent of what we have is structure and accountability,” Steiner said. “I knew treatment alone was just not enough — keeping them ‘planted in recovery’ and using the tools they learned in treatment was the continuum of care needed.”
    A New Jersey native, Steiner received her nursing degree from Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. Her addictions industry career began in 1981 when she worked as a detox nurse in a Peoria, Ill., hospital.
She moved to Florida in 1993 to become nursing director at the now-closed Comprehensive Alcoholism Rehabilitation Programs in West Palm Beach. She later worked at Fair Oaks Pavilion, Hanley Hazelden and LifeSkills South Florida.   
    Steiner served on the original board of the National Association of Recovery Residences. She founded the Florida Association of Recovery Residences, helped to write its standards and served two years as its president.

Standards, structure pay off
    One of these standards involves being a good neighbor. Steiner wanted the Sanctuary to have a low profile and insisted that its van and residents’ vehicles park in the rear of the homes. To give back to the community, residents help to clean a nearby city park each week, Steiner said.
    A few years after the Sanctuary opened, one of the homes housed women, but it now caters to men only. The homes are certified, registered with the city, operate on an all-cash basis and provide residents with sober living and life skills.
    Sanctuary residents don’t overwhelm the city’s public safety departments with overdose calls. In the past three years, no emergency calls were made to the Sanctuary addresses, according to the Delray Beach Police Department.
    Vice Mayor Jim Chard, who lives next door to the Sanctuary homes, was initially disappointed that his neighbors were transient residents. Sanctuary clients must stay for three months but the average stay is six months, Steiner said.
    “My thinking has evolved over time,” Chard said. “I got to know the management and they are very committed to their profession. … They go beyond what is required for their residents.”

By Dan Moffett

     South Palm Beach council members have cut their list of candidates for the vacant town manager position down to three, and Mayor Bonnie Fischer hopes to offer one of them a contract before the end of the year.
    “We want to get this filled as quickly as possible,” she said.
     Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb said: “These are outstanding candidates. It’s an honor for this town to have that kind of response.”
     The council picked the three finalists during a special meeting on Nov. 16 after considering the resumes of at least seven candidates.
     The town manager’s job opened in October when the council abruptly terminated Bob Vitas through a unanimous vote of no-confidence. Vitas and council members bickered for months over the details of his new contract, including cost-of-living raises and the requirement in a charter provision that calls for an annual review — which he never received.
     Since his ouster, Town Clerk Maylee DeJesus and Police Chief Carl Webb have taken over the manager’s administrative duties.
     With plans for a beach stabilization project in the works and considering a possible renovation of the Town Hall building, the council can ill-afford to go too long without a manager on the scene.
     The contract is expected to call for a salary of around $100,000, with merit raises possible only at the council’s discretion, and a six-month probation period.
     The finalists are:
     • Mike Hein, who has worked the last two years as the assistant town manager in Longboat Key. Before coming to Florida, he was city manager of Tucson, Ariz., for four years and then Pima County’s director of emergency management and homeland security.
     Hein told the Town Council he gained considerable experience with beach projects when he oversaw a renourishment plan in Longboat Key that called for hauling in 16,000 dump trucks (430,000 cubic yards) of sand. South Palm Beach hopes to begin a beach stabilization project late next year.
     During the 1990s, Hein worked as the town manager of Marana, Ariz., and also took on budget issues for the Nogales, Ariz., finance department. He was also the city of South Tucson’s director of economic development.
     Hein holds an under-graduate degree from Wisconsin -Stevens Point, and earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Arizona. Hein also did postgraduate work at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
     • Teresa Lamar-Sarno is special assistant to the city manager of Stuart. A certified planner, for the last 10 years she has served as the city’s community redevelopment administrator.
     Lamar-Sarno told the council she has experience in social media — Facebook, Twitter and website construction — and could help South Palm Beach develop its Internet connections, an improvement Gottlieb has frequently supported. Lamar-Sarno told the council she has experience in grant writing that could bring in money for social media development.
     Originally from Brooklyn, Lamar-Sarno earned a master’s degree in political science and government from the University of Central Florida.
     • Mo Thornton is known to many government officials in Palm Beach County. For the last 21 years, she has worked as the manager for the City of Atlantis and has served as treasurer of the county League of Cities for 20 years. Thornton told council members that the many contacts she has made throughout South Florida would be valuable to the town.
     Thornton’s first job in Atlantis was as the city’s bookkeeper in 1989, and she then became its finance director. Thornton has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Florida Atlantic University.
     Earlier this year, she did some consulting work for South Palm Beach, advising the counsel on how to go about selecting an auditing firm. Thornton is originally from St. Paul, Minn.
     In other business:
     During the regular town meeting on Nov. 28, the council unanimously approved a contract hiring Grau & Associates as the new South Palm Beach auditors. The Pinecrest firm replaces Nowlen, Holt & Miner of West Palm Beach who worked for the town for many years.
     Grau agreed to an eight-year contract that starts at $18,000 annually and increases to $21,500 in 2024.

By Rich Pollack

    Crime in South Palm Beach County’s five coastal communities remained low during the first half of 2017, dropping more than 20 percent from the same time last year, according to statistics released late last month from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
    The number of crimes dropped in both Gulf Stream and Ocean Ridge, with Gulf Stream reporting five crimes in the first six months of this year — two fewer than in the same period last year.
    The total number of crimes in Ocean Ridge dropped almost 60 percent, from 47 in the first half of last year to 19 during the same time period this year.  
    South Palm Beach and Manalapan experienced two more crimes each during the first half of 2017 than during the same time frame last year. Highland Beach had an increase in total crimes from 12 in the first half of 2016 to 22 in the first half of this year.
    “Sometimes we see increases in the number of crimes reported because we ask people to report any and all crimes,” Highland Beach Police Chief Craig Hartmann said. “We’re fortunate that most of the crimes reported were minor with minimal losses.”
    Of the area’s larger cities, Boca Raton saw an 8 percent increase; Lantana was up 20 percent. Delray Beach saw a 4 percent decrease while Boynton Beach — which provides police services to Briny Breezes — remained essentially flat.
    Overall, Palm Beach County saw about a 1.5 percent decrease in crime during the first six months of this year, dropping from 24,172 crimes in the first six months of 2016 to 23,804 in the first six months of this year. Statewide, crime dropped by about 2 percent.
    Ocean Ridge was plagued by thefts from unlocked cars and motor vehicle thefts in 2016. However, police created an awareness campaign focused on the need to lock cars and protect valuables. The program, as well as changes in patrol techniques, may have played a significant role in reducing those crimes.
    “We had a very impactful public education campaign, not just here but countywide,” Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins said. “Not only is the public more vigilant, but so are police officers.”
    Overall larcenies in Ocean Ridge totaled 37, of which 23 were thefts from vehicles, in the first six months of 2016. The number of larcenies in the same period this year dropped to nine, including five thefts from vehicles.
    Ocean Ridge also saw a significant drop in motor vehicle thefts, with seven reported in the first half of last year and only one reported in the same time frame this year.
    Hutchins suspects some of the motor vehicle thefts last year were because the owners left the keys in their unlocked vehicles. There were no indications that ignition systems had been tampered with on the stolen cars that were recovered.
    Keys left in cars also played a role in crimes in Highland Beach. The number of stolen cars increased from one in the first six months of last year to five in the same period this year.
    Hartmann said the keys had been left in three of the five cars reported stolen.
    To reduce the number of thefts from vehicles and stolen cars, Highland Beach police launched a massive educational campaign in May. The campaign included delivering door hangers with crime prevention tips and spreading the word through presentations at condo and homeowners associations along with other means of communication.
    Hartmann said the department also recently installed a license-plate recognition system and took steps to increase law enforcement visibility.

By Dan Moffett

    Briny Breezes Town Council members have interviewed three finalists for the newly created town manager position and hope to have it filled by the end of the year.
     In all, seven candidates applied for the part-time job with an annual salary of about $50,000. After two hours of interviews on Nov. 17, council members said they were pleasantly surprised with the qualifications of the finalists.
    “People said we’d have a hard time getting good candidates because we’re a small town,” said Alderman Bobby Jurovaty. “These are good candidates.”
    Alderwoman Christina Adams also wants the council to consider a fourth option: Special District Services, Inc. With an office in Palm Beach Gardens, SDS creates and manages special taxing districts throughout the state. The company was among the original seven applicants and says it can handle management of a town, using a team approach with its staff of specialists.
    Council President Sue Thaler is seeking legal advice from Town Attorney John Skrandel to determine whether the council can consider the company’s application or whether the position must be filled by an individual.
    Thaler said the council planned to discuss the next steps in the manager’s hiring at the town meeting Nov. 30.
    The three finalists are:
    • Annmarie Burke: Originally from Brooklyn, Burke had a 24-year career with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office during which she rose to rank of captain supervisor. She was the first woman in the department to run a patrol district.
    Burke told the council that, as an emergency responder, she gained experience dealing with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. She also helped negotiate collective bargaining agreements for the sheriff’s office.
 As a sheriff’s supervisor at Palm Beach International Airport, she wrote a federal grant that enabled the Transportation Security Administration to acquire explosive detection dogs.
    “The budget will be my No. 1 priority,” Burke told the council, saying she believes Briny can cut spending.
    She has a bachelor’s degree and doctorate in criminology from Barry University. A marathon runner, Burke owned and operated the Delray Beach Running Store until selling it recently.
    • Dale Sugerman: With 40 years’ experience in municipal management and 29 years of it in Florida, Sugerman told the council there isn’t much about running a town’s business that he hasn’t seen before: “Nothing will take me by surprise.”
    He was the town manager in Highland Beach from 2005 to 2011 and an assistant city manager in Boynton Beach and Delray Beach. In 1989, he became the first manager in Sunrise’s history, taking the job after the Broward County city changed its form of government.
    Sugerman has an extensive record of working with FEMA, holding 13 certificates for training courses. He said he will try to promote a culture that is “appreciative of the differences” to diminish the discord between Briny’s corporation and the town.
    He holds a doctorate in global leadership from Lynn University and bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati.
    • Dan Winters: Over the last 30 years, Winters has helped develop parks and recreation systems in Palm Beach and Broward counties. He was director of leisure services in Greenacres for a decade beginning in 1987 and helped develop a park system from scratch. He also has worked in the private sector as a consultant for Pompano Beach.
    Winters said he has forged working relationships with county officials over the years and will draw on those to benefit Briny Breezes. He told the council that he knows how to deal with government budgets (“like shooting fish in a barrel”) and write grants. But he said his priority is to improve relations between the town and corporation.
    “It’s almost like ‘them’ and ‘us’ now,” he said. “My goal would be to make it ‘we.’”
    Winters has a bachelor’s degree from Wittenberg University and did post-graduate work at the University of Georgia.

The veterans enjoy lunch at 50 Ocean following a day at nSpa in Delray Beach. The 10 women were honored for their service by the Henry Morrison Flagler Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. They also were recognized during the city’s Veterans Day ceremony and attended a lecture at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach. Photo provided

By Christine Davis

    Ten female veterans were honored for their service — and treated to pampering beauty treatments and seaside dining — by the Henry Morrison Flagler Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The special attention provided for the women, with help from several local businesses, was the DAR’s way of celebrating Veterans Day this year.
    On Nov. 10, the women were treated to a day of beauty at nSpa at the Delray Beach Marriott, followed by lunch at 50 Ocean on A1A, just steps away from the hotel and across the street from the Atlantic Ocean.
    On Nov. 11, Veterans Day, they were recognized during a ceremony in Delray Beach presided over by Mayor Cary Glickstein. Following the ceremony, the women were taken to the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach for recognition and a lecture was given by curator Janel Trull.
    “We want our brave women veterans to know how much we appreciate them for their service to America,” said Marjorie Ferrer of the Henry Morrison Flagler DAR Chapter.
    The veterans clearly felt the love.
    “The thought of giving us a wonderful day of beauty treatments to celebrate our military service is more than we could ever ask for,” said U.S. Marine Sgt. Judith Kephart, a retired nurse. “The massages, manicures and pedicures were much appreciated. The ladies of the DAR really know what women enjoy to feel pampered and appreciated. We made new friends and we will never forget the special treatment.”
    Besides Kephart, honored veterans were Jennifer Hughes, Army (retired); Violet Galloway, Army enlisted veteran; Laquantis Morton, Army enlisted veteran; Yvette Avila, Army enlisted veteran; Eileen Torricelli, Army sergeant; Anna Torres, Navy enlisted veteran; Debra Carter, retired Navy nurse; Mary Anderson-Kokeel, Army enlisted veteran; and Tiffany Jackson, Army enlisted veteran.
    Businesses donating gifts to the project include nSpa, Sequin Jewelry, Spodak Dental and The Flower Market.
                                
    Arielle Feinberg is now the spa and leisure director of Eau Spa. Previously, she served as general manager of Haven on the Lake, a mind-body wellness center in Columbia, Maryland.
    Throughout her career she has been a spa and fitness director at Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa in Rancho Santa Fe, California; Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee; Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Singer Island, and The Bath Club in Miami. A certified master personal trainer, she also served as director of the U.S. Marshals Fitness Facility where she led training of U.S. marshals.
                                
    Douglas Elliman agents Zaicha Martell-Spodak and Gayle Clark were named to lead sales at 3550 South Ocean condominiums in South Palm Beach. It’s a DDG development, and construction is expected to be completed early 2019. Each of the 30 two- and three-bedroom residences will have direct elevator access, entry foyers, balconies, direct water views and layouts ranging from 2,700 to over 3,000 square feet. Five penthouses, with ocean and Intracoastal Waterway views, will have rooftop terraces with plunge pools and outdoor kitchens.
    The design team includes Garcia Stromberg of Palm Beach, Kobi Karp Architecture of Miami and Champalimaud of New York. KAST Construction is the general contractor. The sales office is in Plaza del Mar at 205 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan. For information call 232-2976, email sales@3550southocean.com, or visit www.3550southocean.com.
                               

    Ocean Ridge resident Valerie Coz has moved from The Fite Group to Douglas Elliman’s Delray Beach office, joining as senior director of luxury sales, and bringing with her four listings totaling $5.5 million. Coz is a member of the Top Broker Forum, an industry organization of multimillion-dollar sales agents. Previously Coz co-founded SafferCoz Real Estate in Delray Beach.
                                

    Kaufman Lynn Construction, a construction management and general contracting company, has moved to new 23,298-square-foot headquarters at 3185 S. Congress Ave., Delray Beach. Since establishing itself as part of the community in 1989 with a team of 10, Kaufman Lynn Construction has grown into a multimillion-dollar company, with 130 associates.
                                
    Abbey Delray senior living community broke ground in November on a $36 million expansion and redevelopment project. The expansion will add 48 assisted-living apartments, 30 memory-support suites, a new dining venue and enlarged meeting spaces.  
    Abbey Delray is at 2000 Lowson Blvd., Delray Beach.
                                
    The old Beachway Therapy Center on North Federal Highway in Delray Beach is becoming the Delray Oasis Business Park.
    The .75-acre property contains five small buildings from five decades, said David Marulli, an owner. “They will be unified through the Mediterranean style of architecture,” he said.
    The renovated buildings will have barrel tile roofs, canopies and trellises.
    Marulli and partner Howard Dean, of Tarrytown, New York, found the property listing on the Loopnet.com site. They paid $1.59 million for the property in March 2016. Their first tenant was Loosen Up Massage.
    Twelve blocks north of Atlantic Avenue, Delray Oasis is a viable alternative to that high-rent district, Marulli said.
    The partners secured a $50,000 Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency grant in June to help with exterior upgrades of nearly $400,000, Marulli said. One tenant, the Family Yoga Zen Zone, received a $6,000 CRA rent-assistance grant.
    The complex is about 80 percent leased, with rents ranging between $35 and $50 a square foot, Marulli said.
                                
    This year, Florida Redevelopment Association honored the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, city of Delray Beach and Delray Beach Community Land Trust for their Courtyards on 12th Workforce Housing Project partnership.
    The Courtyards on 12th project, consisting of six duplexes, adds to the city’s affordable housing stock. In 2012, the CRA, Delray Beach and Palm Beach County funded the beautification of SW 12th Avenue and two other streets, along with adjacent alleyways.
    They then acquired and renovated the first five duplexes in 2013, and partnered with Delray Beach Community Land Trust, a nonprofit that specializes in affordable housing. In 2016, the remaining duplex was purchased and renovated.
                                
    The Boca Chamber celebrated its 65th annual gala in October at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. The event honored Ethel Isaacs Williams, who will serve a second term as chair of the board of directors during the coming year. Also, Jerry Fedele, president and CEO of Boca Raton Regional Hospital, and his leadership team were presented with the M.J. “Mike” Arts Award of Excellence, for the impact they’ve had on the Boca Raton community.
                                
    Bring the children to see Santa, and visit Delray Beach’s “famous 100-foot Christmas tree,” which is brand new this year, says Stephanie Immelman, executive director of the Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative, which puts on the city’s holiday celebrations.
    Other holiday happenings throughout the month include The Holiday Boat Parade, the Holiday Parade, Screen on the Green, the Menorah Lighting, and the family-friendly New Year’s Eve Celebration in Old School Square Park from 5 to 9 p.m. with fireworks.
    Also, in partnership with nonprofits, donations can be dropped off at the Gingerbread House located next to the Christmas tree in Old School Square during December. For a list of local nonprofits participating, as well as a detailed schedule of events, visit www.100ftChristmasTree.com.
                      

Delray Beach Fashion Week swim and surf show models pose near the railroad tracks for the 2017 event. The 2018 Fashion Week is scheduled for Jan. 24-28. Tickets are available online. Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit two local charities. Photo provided

           
    VIP passes, priced at $160, for Delray Beach Fashion Week, Jan. 24-28, are available online. Ticket proceeds benefit the Achievement Centers for Children and Families and the Arts Garage’s educational programming for children. The event, created by the Downtown Development Authority and downtown merchants, highlights local designs and will take place throughout downtown Delray Beach.
Fashion Week sponsors include In the Grove Hair Studio, Glavidia Hair Studio, VUP Media, Victoria DeSilvio Group, Park View Realty, Che!!!, The Colony Hotel & Cabana Club, The Sandy Shoppe, Shear Luck Salon, Tipsy Salonbar.
    For information and to purchase tickets, visit www.DelrayFashionWeek.com or call 243-1077.
    

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

Volunteers with Sea Turtle Adventures install collection canisters for used fishing line at the Boynton Inlet. Photo provided

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Sea turtles nested on South County beaches in mostly record numbers in 2017.
    “We had a record-breaking year, and so did many other beaches along the east coast of Florida,” turtle monitor Jackie Kingston told the Gulf Stream Town Commission on Nov. 9, nine days after nesting season ended.
    Gulf Stream proper had 806 sea turtle nests from March 1 to Oct. 31, said Kingston, who monitors the beaches from about Woolbright Road to George Bush Boulevard. Her 3-mile stretch counted 1,077 nests.
    “This is a great beach for sea turtle nesting. It’s very high-density, the majority of it is private, the homeowners do a great job of shielding the lights during nesting season, and it’s really a prime location,” Kingston said.
    Highland Beach, also with 3 miles of sand, reported even better results. Barbara James said her monitors recorded 3,721 exits from the ocean with 1,829, or 49 percent, resulting in nests.
    “It’s a large number for a short beach,” James said.
    Curiously, James said, a “huge number” of loggerheads crawled up on the sand in July but did not dig nests.
 If they had, their eggs would have been hatching about the same time as Hurricane Irma struck in early September.
    “Maybe they know about the hurricanes two months in advance,” James said.
    Boca Raton logged 1,072 nests, up from 785 in the previous year but below the record 1,178 posted in 2013. Green turtles dug 300 nests (up from 38 in 2016), leatherbacks only five (down from 18) and loggerheads 767 (up from 729). The city has 5 miles of beaches.
    Monitors in South Palm Beach recorded approximately 380 nests.
    Kingston, the Gulf Stream monitor, also heads a nonprofit group, Sea Turtle Adventures, that brought a program called the Responsible Pier Initiative to the Boynton Inlet on Nov. 18.
    Volunteers installed collection canisters for used fishing line in Ocean Inlet Park and put up signs telling fishermen what to do and whom to call if they accidentally catch a sea turtle. The canisters will be emptied regularly and the monofilament line recycled.
    The initiative, started by the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, is now at more than 50 locations and has resulted in the rescue of more than 220 sea turtles that were hooked or entangled in fishing lines, Kingston said.
    “We’re really excited to bring it here to Boynton Inlet,” she said. “Thousands of people visit Ocean Inlet Park every single year, and I think it’s about time we increase the environmental visibility there and show that we’re doing the right thing for the community and the fishermen that are out there.”