After being featured in The Coastal Star last year, Capt. Christopher Colletta finished his Army service, and while studying in France took part in a D-Day remembrance (above). Photo Provided

By Ron Hayes

At this time last year, Christopher Colletta, born and reared in Delray Beach, was the executive officer of a tank company deployed to Camp Casey in South Korea.

Delores Rangel, executive secretary to the Delray Beach City Commission, was the force behind Project Holiday, which sends boxes of candy, toiletries and paperback books to service members all over the world.

Over in South Korea, U.S. Army Capt. Colletta was hoping some of those boxes would reach his 75 comrades in Apache Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment. He had emailed Rangel after learning about the project.

By Christmas, 241 Project Holiday boxes had found Colletta and his men.

This year, Delores Rangel is still the city’s executive secretary, busily gearing up for her 13th annual Project Holiday.

Last year, Colletta was nearing the end of his military service.

“I’ll be in the Army for about six more months, until May, which is when I plan on transitioning to civilian life,” he wrote in an email then. “I intend to earn a master’s degree in international affairs at a school in Europe, but those applications are still in progress.

“Wish me luck!”

A year later, we wondered whatever happened to him.

Turns out Colletta has been around.

After leaving the Army on May 15, he returned briefly to Fort Hood, Texas, then took off on the sort of road trip many dream about and few take.

“I went west from Austin through El Paso, up New Mexico to the Four Corners, then all the way up to Yellowstone,” he reports by email. “I ended up visiting my brother in Colorado after that, and then driving all the way from there back home to Delray.

“I lived on my own out of my car, setting up shop at campsites along the way.”

And his plan to earn a master’s degree “at a school in Europe”?

He’s living in Paris these days, a long way from South Korea, and pursuing that degree at the prestigious Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po.

“I am studying International Affairs, focusing on security issues, diplomacy and East Asia. I figured that would provide the most continuity from my professional experiences serving in Korea to a future career. I am loving every minute of it.”

He’s in good company. Sciences Po was founded in 1872, and its alumni include 32 heads of state or government, seven of the past eight French presidents and three past heads of the International Monetary Fund.

But he hasn’t lost touch with the military. Through a former Army colonel teaching a class on American military power at the institute, Colletta was put in touch with the Paris chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which brought him to the Suresnes American Cemetery outside Paris for the Nov. 11 ceremony marking the end of World War I.

The VFW, along with the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and the Army’s 173rd Airborne, helped out by displaying all the flags containing the insignia of American military units that served in WWI.

“I just felt privileged to be in attendance,” Colletta wrote. “The president, secretary of state, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, chief of staff of the Army, NATO supreme allied commander, congressmen … they were all there.”

Colletta will have Paris until May 2020, when he expects to complete his master’s degree in international security.

“After my degree, I still have to decide where I will work,” he concluded. “I could continue serving in the federal government in the Department of State, for instance, or look to the private sector for work in a think tank, perhaps.

“The opportunities are many with my experience and in this city, and I hope to let you know where I end up in 2020!”
Meanwhile, back in Delray Beach, Delores Rangel is preparing to send another year’s mailing of packages to a few of the 1.3 million men and women on active duty, including about 450,000 who will spend the holidays in “hot spots” such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
“I have six names on the list to receive packages so far,” she reported just before Thanksgiving. “Of course one name is all I need, as I can send the boxes to that one person, who can then share.”
Project Holiday is accepting donated items through Dec. 7 and welcomes volunteers to help pack them on Dec. 9, at the Delray Beach Community Center, 50 NW First Ave.
“We are aiming for 11 a.m. for packing,” Rangel said. “We start at 8:30 to organize, but all are welcome to come and go as their schedule permits.”
Colletta’s parents, Kathy Schilling and Joseph Colletta, hope to be there.

For a list of requested items and drop-off locations, visit mydelraybeach.com.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach is streamlining its special events policy to make it easier for festival organizers to apply and know their public safety costs up front while keeping the focus on hometown events.
City commissioners unanimously approved the revised policy at their Nov. 13 workshop.
“We went from an 88-page guidebook to a trifold pamphlet,” acting Assistant City Manager Jeff Goldman told the commission. “We received feedback that we were overbilling and that the process to apply was overly long.”
The new policy will go into effect on Jan. 1.
Goldman said the public safety costs have been streamlined to cover the average salaries of a police officer and a firefighter/paramedic. Previously, the public safety costs could vary by the rank of the police officer and firefighter/paramedic who staffed the event.
Now, the event organizers will know their public safety costs when they apply, Goldman said, unless they make the event larger and need more protection as a result. He worked with Suzanne Fisher, the city’s Parks and Recreation director, to revise the special events policy.
The seven types of events of the past were reduced to three: commercial events that charge admission, community events that are free and athletic events.
Concerts and festivals that charge entrance fees are listed under the commercial events category. Community events are defined as parades, free concerts and festivals, and the GreenMarket. Athletic events include 5K, 10K and marathon races, charity/fitness walks and bike races.
The application fee for all events is $150, which is nonrefundable. The application deadlines are 90 days before the events for commercial and community, and 45 days for athletic events.
Applications for commercial and community events will be processed in 60 days and ones for athletic events in 30 days. Previously, the city had 180 days to process applications for “major events” and parades. The city will take late applications by charging an additional $100 fee.
The city also listed what it considers to be its hometown events. They are: Veterans Day ceremony, Turkey Trot races, Surf Festival, 100-foot Christmas tree and related events, Holiday Parade, First Night, Fourth of July festivities, Kids Fest, Spring Fest/Egg Hunt, National Night Out, Family Fun Day and free Friday concerts on the Old School Square grounds.
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade was not listed, but it will be another city-sponsored event, produced by the city’s Fire and Rescue Department, Goldman said. The March parade will be the 51st.
Goldman and Fisher also strengthened the definition of a nonprofit entity’s application to include providing “detailed information about how the proposed event serves a public purpose to foster an authentic and inspiring community that celebrates our history while building toward the future.”
That should eliminate for-profit companies that masquerade as nonprofits. “We were dealing with nonprofits that did not benefit our community,” Mayor Shelly Petrolia said.
The city will subsidize 50 percent of costs to the nonprofits in all three types of events.
The application size was reduced to four pages from six and now can be completed online, Goldman said.
For events on the Old School Square grounds, the commission had asked that no events be held on the front lawn between the Cornell Museum and Atlantic Avenue. “It looks junky with cars on the front lawn,” Petrolia said.
Goldman and Fisher will meet with Old School Square staffers to remind them of that requirement while discussing where they can hold the two events that are part of its 10-year lease with the city.
“We will make sure it works for us,” Goldman said.
Commissioners agreed to wipe the slate clean for four nonprofit organizations that owed the city a combined $12,954. In the future, those event producers, regardless of whether they are for-profit or nonprofit, will not be allowed to host an event unless they pay the amount owed to the city.
Event producers also will be asked to follow the city’s green practices that reduce or eliminate the use of plastic and Styrofoam and discourage the use of single-use plastics, such as straws.
In addition, Petrolia asked how the limit of major events to one per month in the previous policy would be accomplished under the revised policy.
“We have the right to say no,” Goldman said.
The City Commission now has approval power over commercial events with recommendations from the Special Events Office and its Technical Advisory Committee, consisting of staff from various departments such as police, fire, parks, code enforcement and public works. That power gave the commission some comfort.
“We need to give our citizens relief” from too many events, said Commissioner Bill Bathurst.

Bob Ganger’s Gulf Stream home was built by Lila Vanderbilt Webb. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

To say Bob Ganger has a passing interest in local history is like saying Shakespeare had a passing interest in writing plays.
After Ganger and his father went to check out a beachside house in Gulf Stream that had been built by a member of the Vanderbilt family, he not only bought it but wound up writing a book about the woman who built it and its history.
And after meeting Harvey Oyer (president of the Palm Beach County Historical Society at the time) at a dinner party more than 20 years ago, Ganger joined the organization, eventually joining its board of directors. He and Oyer also teamed up with others in a successful effort to restore the old Palm Beach County Courthouse.
Ganger, 82, blames the transient nature of this area for a lack of appreciation of history among its residents.
“When you realize a million new people come into the state every couple years, and with no background on who we are, over time the local history gets diluted,” he said. “We’ve found that, both in Palm Beach County and Delray, very few people have a clue as to who we are, and how we got to be what we are.”

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school?  How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I grew up in Bronxville, a tiny New York City suburb newly inhabited by recent veterans of World War II who were motivated to make up for lost time and provide their families with a great home.  The local high school was highly competitive. My class graduated 75 students who achieved well over 125 advanced educational degrees.  I managed to graduate with honors from Yale and Harvard Business School, based largely on the disciplines taught at an early age. 
Believe it or not, my high school class still gets together for five-year reunions. The latest was the 65th!

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: My professional career was almost entirely in the food industry. After a brief stint in the Air Force Reserves, I started at General Foods as an assistant product manager on Jell-O, and retired 32 years later as VP of planning and development. Our company was purchased by tobacco giant Philip Morris in 1985 and I was tasked to recommend a long-term strategy for the company’s future participation in the food industry. I’m proud of the fact that my plan is still being executed almost 30 years later, even after Philip Morris divested their food interests. 
After executing the first add-on acquisition, Kraft Foods, I retired to become a consultant to start-up consumer product companies, some of which have been quite successful. 

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: The business world has changed dramatically since I began my career, but one fact is still apparent: Life is too short for someone not to enjoy his or her work, but one is naïve if a “perfect job” is a career assumption. In 32 years at General Foods, I probably had 20 jobs, some of which were unpleasant but educational nonetheless. Each job provided new perspectives on the business world. In today’s fast-moving environment, gaining new perspectives is a must for success in virtually any career plan.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Gulf Stream?
A: On Easter Day 1969, my dad and I visited a house on the beach that was willed to Good Samaritan Hospital and had been empty for years. It was built by a Vanderbilt but divided during the 1930s into two separate dwellings. A developer had an option to acquire both dwellings when the original owners, both widows, passed away. Both houses were slated to be torn down. We decided to find another potential owner and make a bid. 
Then Joe Kennedy, a patient in the hospital, passed away, leaving the institution a large gift. The hospital decided that our quick nickel was superior to a slow dime. We acquired the house in late 1969, and I moved in full time after my father died in 1991.
Parenthetically, my wife, Anneli, and I restored our house starting in 1994. To assure that the restoration was legitimate, we researched the plans of the original owner, Lila Vanderbilt Webb, granddaughter of Commodore Vanderbilt. Her story compelled me to write a book on who Lila was, and why she decided to build a house in Gulf Stream.  The book, titled Miradero, was judged by the Independent Publisher Book Awards as the best nonfiction for 2005 among independently produced U.S. publications.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in Gulf Stream?
A: Besides living in a lovely home, Gulf Stream provides an environment allowing me to engage in “small town” public service. My interest in local history led to a position as vice chair of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, and chair of the Delray Beach Historical Society. I have also served as chairman of the Florida Coalition for Preservation, president of the Gulf Stream Civic Association, and as a commissioner for the town of Gulf Stream. Believe it or not, these assignments all relate to one another from time to time.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I am re-reading A Land Remembered, by Patrick Smith. While fictional, it captures the essence of pioneer life in Florida during the last half of the 19th century. 

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax?
A: When my friend Dana Gioia was chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, I made the mistake of telling him how guitar music was my ultimate “relaxer.” He sent me enough guitar CDs to play for the rest of my life.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life?  Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: Late in my business career, I became associated with Hamish Maxwell, then chairman of Philip Morris. He was an extraordinary thinker. He surrounded himself with very bright people, and absorbed information like a sponge. In retrospect, his decision-making saved his company and industry from an almost certain early demise. We both retired on the same day and remained in contact until he died in 2014 at age 87.   
By the way, I have “smoked” one cigarette in my life, on April Fool’s Day 1952.

Q: If your life story were made into a movie, who would play you?
A: Possibly Michael Caine — for revenge. Years ago, we were both in Fort Lauderdale at the same time, and some teenagers mistook me for Mr. Caine. I signed dozens of autographs and had photos taken. 

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: Bring back Rowan and Martin. I love corny humor.

Related story: Boca Raton, Delray cases put state’s property rights law in spotlight

By Jane Smith

Two weeks after the City Commission reversed course and rejected a settlement of their lawsuit, two East Atlantic Avenue property owners sent Delray Beach a 60-day notice to stop using their property near the Old School Square grounds.
“It’s in retaliation for the settlement being rejected,” City Attorney Max Lohman said at the end of the Nov. 6 City Commission meeting. He resigned later in that meeting.
At the Nov. 13 commission workshop, interim City Attorney Lynn Gelin said the city has 60 days to remove the palms and other landscaping from both ends of a horizontal parking strip. The palms will be replanted near the city’s Train Depot, west of the interstate, Gelin said.
“I hope the citizens are paying attention,” Mayor Shelly Petrolia said. “This is a reaction to their settlement being rejected.”
One of people who sued the city, bakery owner Billy Himmelrich, declined to comment.
In late May, Himmelrich and his business partner sued the city for $6.9 million in an attempt to build four stories on their parcels just east of the Old School Square cultural center. They own two parking lots and two buildings that house Tramonti and Cabana El Rey restaurants. Both restaurants have long-term leases that expire in 2024, Himmelrich said.
They claimed they did not receive the written notice required by state law when the city changed the zoning in 2015. After 18 months of hearings and meetings, a previous City Commission decided to foster a small-town feel and limit East Atlantic Avenue heights to three stories between Swinton Avenue and the Intracoastal Waterway.
On Sept. 25, the City Commission agreed to accept the settlement offered by a 3-2 vote and carve out the Himmelrich parcels from the limited height district.
Lohman then joined with Himmelrich’s attorney to cancel an Oct. 19 hearing on the city’s motion to dismiss.
When all commissioners were present for a second vote in mid-October, Lohman took about 10 minutes to tell the commissioners about the location of another property owner who also wasn’t notified of the height reduction.
The other property owner’s building sits next to the Himmelrich buildings, prompting Commissioner Ryan Boylston to switch his vote to oppose settling the lawsuit.
As of press time, the city’s motion to dismiss did not have a hearing date.
Attorney resigns
Lohman resigned before his contract was terminated.
Petrolia listed four reasons for ending his contract, including his canceling the city’s motion to dismiss in the Himmelrich lawsuit after one 3-2 vote and his inability to quickly find the other property owner who had not been notified.
Petrolia also prefers an in-house city attorney who will contact the commissioners before their meetings or workshops.
On Nov. 13, Gelin, already assistant city attorney, was selected to be the interim city attorney. She said Lohman worked out of the city two days a week and that she was up to the challenge.
“This is my dream job,” Gelin said. “I am 200 percent devoted to the city.”

Michael LaCoursiere, civil engineer for the Gulf Stream Views development, answers questions from residents of the County Pocket and Briny Breezes. Pocket residents say the townhomes will be on land that historically takes runoff from their neighborhood. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

Representatives of the Gulf Stream Views townhouse project say they are committed to being good neighbors to Briny Breezes and County Pocket residents as construction at the site is about to begin in earnest.

“If we damage anything, we will fix it,” Glenn La Mattina, senior vice president of developer NR Living, said during a question-and-answer session with some 100 residents in Briny’s ocean clubhouse on Nov. 13. “We’re willing to work with you.”

Questions from the County Pocket side of the room focused mostly on potential drainage issues. From the Briny side, the questions were mostly about traffic and possible road damage issues.

Michael LaCoursiere, the project’s civil engineer from West Palm Beach, said the plans passed “rigorous review” by Palm Beach County, particularly concerning stormwater drainage.

“We’ve done everything they’ve asked us to do,” LaCoursiere said. “The site is going to hold its water. Less water is going to run off the site after construction than before it.”

He said developers are installing an underground system of storage chambers to catch water, and the site will be bowl-shaped to prevent runoff from moving to the north or south.

Pocket residents Liz Loper and Susan Knowles told LaCoursiere that although the site may hold its own water, it could cause flooding to the neighborhood on the south side. For decades the vacant lot has functioned as a drain field for the pocket’s runoff, they said.

Loper worries that after the development is built, the water will have nowhere to go, especially during storm surges and king tides. Historically, she said, runoff flows north from the pocket to the development site.

“I’ve been here for 18 years and it’s not perception, it’s reality,” Loper said. “It flows down the street into that field, and now with the walls going up, that’s not going to happen. And that’s what our concern is.”

No parking on road

Briny Mayor Roger Bennett said the town recently received word from Palm Beach County officials that it is the sole owner of Briny Breezes Boulevard, a public thoroughfare that will be an important access road to the development.

“The nice thing about having ownership of Briny Breezes Boulevard is that we can put up ‘no parking’ signs on the south side,” Bennett said. “And that’s one of the first things we’ll do.”

He said the town has received assurances from the developers that they will repair any construction damage to the road. “They gave a guarantee to the Town Council,” Bennett said.

Bradley Miller, the project’s land planner, said the impact on traffic flow will be negligible. He said the development should add about 98 vehicle trips per day to the neighboring streets, well within statutory limits. The gated entrance will be on Old Ocean Boulevard. Each unit will have a two-car garage and the site will have 10 spaces for guest parking.

Miller said pedestrian access to the beach will continue to be open north and south of the complex, though Gulf Stream Views residents will have private access through a gated entrance on Old Ocean.

The six-building, 14-unit project is scheduled for completion in December 2019 and will deliver a community of “high-end, luxury” two-story homes, La Mattina said. Pre-construction prices range from $1.8 million to $2.7 million. The 3,400-square foot units will have three bedrooms and 41/2 baths.

NR Living, based in Secaucus, N.J., paid $5.4 million for the site in June and took out a $17 million construction loan shortly after.
Briny’s corporate board and the Florida Coalition for Preservation organized the question-and-answer session.

By Jane Smith

Fido and Bella can scamper the beach on Dec. 15 at Boynton Beach’s Oceanfront Park when the city operates a pop-up dog park from 9 a.m. to noon.
“We will staff it to make sure everyone has a good time,” said Wally Majors, Recreation and Parks Department director.
The northern half of the 960-foot-long beach will be fenced off that Saturday morning to contain the dogs in one area. “People will be required to keep their dogs on leashes until they reach the sand,” Majors said.
The fencing will aim to keep dogs from property to the north, which is county beach and does not allow dogs; and to the south, away from other Oceanfront Park guests and the private beaches in Ocean Ridge.
Park rangers will monitor the dogs and their owners. The rangers will ensure the dogs have Palm Beach County licenses, which show their rabies vaccines are current. Owners won’t have to register for their dogs to use the beach.
Parks maintenance workers will set up the fencing, starting at 7 a.m.
Although Boynton Beach owns the beach at Oceanfront Park, it is in Ocean Ridge and subject to its ordinances. Ocean Ridge does not allow animals, including dogs on leashes, on the public beach. Owners of private beaches can allow dogs on their beaches.
Jamie Titcomb, Ocean Ridge town manager, plans to update the commission at its Dec. 3 meeting.
“I already told them about Boynton Beach’s plans,” he said. “It falls under the same purview of anyone holding an event on the beach.”
Boynton Beach parks staff will make sure the dogs are spayed or neutered, Titcomb said.
“We will hope for the best,” he said.

Mark Stowe, his wife, Karen, and son Mark Jr. celebrate 50 years of the Nutrition Cottage in Boynton Beach. Mark Stowe is a licensed nutritionist. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Sallie James

Boynton Beach residents Dolores and Danielle Arsenault have been shopping at the Nutrition Cottage for 20 years for specialty items like algae-based calcium supplements, whey protein and a turmeric-infused anti-inflammation syrup.
Dolores Arsenault became a fan years ago after store owner Mark Stowe — a Florida licensed nutritionist — resolved Danielle’s digestive issues with nutritional counseling when she was a young child. Today the mother and daughter won’t shop anywhere else.
The family-owned store, which first opened for business in Texas, celebrated its 50th anniversary in November, with organic wine tasting, health food samples and giveaways. The business has been operating from 1815 S. Federal Highway since 1975.
“I would come here before going to a doctor,” Dolores Arsenault said. “(Danielle) had a lot of problems when she was younger and he straightened her out. I trust him.”
It’s that kind of loyalty that has kept the doors open so long, despite competition from national health food chains like Whole Foods. The Nutrition Cottage stocks everything from supplements and soaps to frozen foods, vegan snacks and cosmetics.
The store’s motto is “the difference is knowledge,” and customers who frequent the 1,500-square-foot business swear by the owners’ expertise.
“We call ourselves the supplement specialist. I do personal nutritional counseling. We help educate people to eat the right things to get the right results,” said Stowe, 70, a Delray Beach resident who runs the store with his wife, Karen. “We started as a small independent and that is what we are today.”
Stowe had another store on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach for many years, but doesn’t aspire to be like the big chains.
“We didn’t want to change. We like what we do in the space and size we do. We don’t want to be a Whole Foods. My intent was to educate people on nutrition or health and beauty,” Stowe said.
And that’s what he and his wife do every day the store is open.
Stowe knows what he’s talking about. He’s a former president of the Natural Products Association, which represents more than 10,000 retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors of natural products, and a former co-host of the radio show The Natural Grocer.
Stowe realized the value of healthy living in his 20s, when his weight ballooned to 245 pounds and he began to have headaches and feel lousy. His mother had diabetes so he knew he needed to make changes.
He began reading books by Adelle Davis, considered “the most famous nutritionist in the early to mid-20th century,” and made some lifestyle changes that truly changed his life.
His weight dropped to 190 pounds, where it remains today through “commonsense stuff in nutrition,” he said. His mission has been to share what he’s learned.
“The average person is eating wrong with a diet high in white sugar and refined flour. You wonder why we have all these ailments today because everyone is making the wrong choices,” Stowe said.
Boynton Beach resident Lou Jannacone, 60, discovered the store two years ago after he’d been ill with vertigo. He knew he had to change the way he ate and he turned to Stowe for nutritional counseling.
“Now I don’t eat processed foods. I eat whole foods. I was also very low in vitamin D and no one had ever pointed that out to me,” Jannacone said. “Today I’m here to celebrate.”

The 3 miles of Highland Beach’s beach has been allowed to become a trash dump of human garbage, a minefield of buried dangerous objects and an environment unfit for both humans and wildlife.

Whenever the town and its attorney were asked about beach cleaning, the answer was virtually all the beach is private, but when asked about the entire town’s use of the beach it was virtually all public. The town has used this philosophy for years to get out of spending any money for beach cleaning.

Some individual beachfront property owners have hired tractor cleaning companies while others have done nothing or very little to maintain both their private property and the state-owned beach.

The tractor companies sign a five-page beach cleaning field permit with the Department of Environmental Protection to operate on the beach, stating that they remove everything down to a cigarette butt.

Some of the DEP requirements in the permit are: removal of all accumulated debris from the beach after cleaning; no burial or storage of debris seaward of any frontal dune; no ruts formed on the beach; 10-foot clearance of dune vegetation by equipment; no more than 2 inches penetration into the beach surface; and no blades used. There are additional regulations for turtle season.

The town is working on an ordinance to mirror these regulations, since it has neglected providing any control to date. DEP issues these permits with little oversight and no enforcement.

The tractor companies sign the DEP beach cleaning permit, advertise the work and bill their customers for beach cleaning — while never cleaning anything, other than picking up items the size of a log or pallet that are too big to bury.

It is impossible for them to comply with any of the above permit requirements since the town has not provided contractors or residents any vehicle beach access. All the above rules are impossible to perform and make the beach look like it has been cleaned by raking and burying.

They are in violation of the DEP regulations every minute they are on the beach and now will be in violation of the town’s new ordinance.

Since nearly all of the debris lands on the state portion of the beach before it is dragged up into the soft private property sand by the tractors, or eventually washed or blown up on private property, the town should be responsible for properly maintaining the state (public) portion of the beach.

The only way to have a clean, healthy, environmentally safe and natural beach is by manual removal of the man-made trash, leaving the weed line — “an important food source for beach and near-shore food chains,” according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Robert Patek
Highland Beach

LETTERS: The Coastal Star welcomes letters-to-the-editor about issues of interest in the community. These are subject to editing and must include your name, address and phone number. Preferred length is 200 words or less. Email to editor@thecoastalstar.com. or mail to 5011 N. Ocean Blvd. Suite #2, Ocean Ridge, FL 33435

By Noreen Marcus

Having just won his battle against Boca Raton to build Concierge, a high-end assisted living facility, landowner Robert Buehl gave a verbal thumbs up to the Bert J. Harris Jr. Private Property Rights Protection Act.
“The Harris Act is a wonderful tool,” Buehl said a few days after the Nov. 13 settlement. “It shouldn’t have to be used, but if a municipality forces your hand, then it’s a wonderful tool to have.”
Under the Harris statute, a landowner whose property is “inordinately burdened” by a government action can sue for compensation. Once a claim is filed, there’s a 150-day window to settle or mediate it to conclusion; failing that, the owner must prove how much the government’s action is costing him or her to reach a damage figure.
Buehl never actually filed a Harris claim, but he had threatened a $100 million lawsuit in August, when the Boca Raton City Council rejected his $75 million downtown project. Pre-filing negotiations led Buehl and developer Group P6 to agree to pare down the number of units in Concierge.
They have plenty of company in using the Harris law as a strategic warning shot, or at times a courtroom weapon. Also targeting the Boca council, Crocker Partners has a pending $137.6 million Harris claim over its proposed live-work-play Midtown project. Crocker’s planning partner, Cypress Realty of Florida, has filed its own suit alleging the city is slow-walking its development efforts.
And Delray Beach has a pending Harris case. Old School Bakery owner Billy Himmelrich is challenging the city’s height restriction for a commercial stretch of East Atlantic Avenue.
Just as landowners are attracted to the Harris strategy, cities seem to be repelled by it.
“As far as cities go, it’s a challenging law,” said Lynn Gelin, the interim Delray city attorney who has filed a motion to dismiss the Himmelrich lawsuit. She said a city is allowed to change its development plans, and that Harris burdens a city with having to notify landowners about those changes — or, the law gives them “the opportunity to seek redress in the form of damages.”
Max Lohman, the previous Delray city attorney, said he has handled only three Harris claims during his 15 years as a municipal lawyer. “They don’t come up very often,” he said.
“Most people realize the folly in trying to bring suits for something that’s hard to quantify,” Lohman said. He was referring to exactly how much a government action has reduced a property’s value.
That can’t be what Bert Harris had in mind. Harris, who turns 99 this month, was known as a property rights champion during his 14 years in the Florida Legislature. In 1995, just before the Lake Placid citrus farmer left the House, his colleagues passed his namesake law.
Robert Rhodes, counsel to Foley & Lardner in Jacksonville, remembers that period well. The longtime real estate attorney helped write the Harris law as executive director of the first Florida governor’s study commission on property rights.
Legislators were hearing sad stories about property setbacks and height restrictions, he said. “Any type of land use regulation can be taken to an extreme, and that’s what they were concerned about.”
Eminent domain protections didn’t help because they focus on government “takings,” meaning actions that wipe out a property’s value to its owner.
“So the gap was, what about a situation where the government takes a good chunk of value away, not all of your value?” Rhodes asked. “Should that be compensable for the property owner? That was the policy issue and that’s what generated the Harris Act.”
One important goal was to encourage settlement, Rhodes said. “It’s fair to say litigation is really the last resort in the Harris Act because it provides so many opportunities for the parties to get together to resolve their differences.” He noted companion legislation that created an informal, land use dispute-resolution mechanism involving a special master.
How far the Harris law should reach has incited extensive discussion and some litigation over the past 23 years.
“Florida courts still grapple with its interpretation,” Anthony De Yurre of Bilzin Sumberg in Miami wrote in the National Law Review earlier this year. He extolled a March 2018 decision of the Fourth District Court of Appeal that protected an Indian River landowner’s interest in building a cement plant after rezoning scuttled that plan. The owner had a “reasonable investment-backed expectation” that had been stymied by a board of county commissioners, De Yurre wrote.
The Harris statute has been amended three times: in 2008, 2011 and 2015. Also in 2015, Rhodes won a case in the Florida Supreme Court that reinforced the Legislature’s call to put the brakes on overextending the law. It could not be applied to property that’s adjacent to land “inordinately burdened” by government action, the court ruled.
“The argument could be made about adjacency and even beyond adjacency,” Rhodes said. If Harris covered neighboring land, why not land that’s two blocks away? “People were talking about that possibility, in the property rights realm and those who are familiar with the act.”
The Legislature and the Supreme Court said no that time. But Rhodes said he wouldn’t be surprised if land use lawyers who represent owners and developers devise some other way to extend the Harris law.
“Lawyers can be creative,” he said with a laugh.

By Mary Hladky

A major residential and retail project that would rise in a blighted area on the southwest edge of downtown has Planning and Zoning Board support despite opposition from nearby residents who argue the development is too big and will worsen already clogged traffic on Camino Real.
The planning board voted 4-1 on Nov. 8 to recommend that the Boca Raton City Council approve Camino Square on a 9-acre shopping center site at 171 W. Camino Real, where a Winn-Dixie operated for years before closing in 2010. The Community Appearance Board earlier recommended approval 6-0.
The first phase of the project would include two, eight-story luxury apartment buildings with a total of 350 units and two parking garages on the eastern portion of the site, just west of the Florida East Coast Railway tracks. The second phase on the western portion would have two retail buildings that would be visible from Camino Real and surface parking.
The developer is FCI Residential Corp., a real estate subsidiary of sugar producer Florida Crystals Corp.
After the planning board unanimously rejected the project in January, FCI made numerous changes to its plans.
City staffers acknowledged that the project is much improved, but even so recommended against approval. They want the apartment buildings constructed on the northern portion of the property near existing residential and improvements to internal driveways to make them more pedestrian-friendly.
But the staff’s biggest concern was that the development will worsen already bad traffic congestion on Camino Real.
FCI attorney Ele Zachariades said Camino Square would enhance the city.
“There is one parcel in the downtown that is still blighted,” she said. “We would like to be good neighbors and clean up this area.”
FCI has addressed many of the previous objections and now the project is in full compliance with city rules, she said.
The developer does not want to move the apartments to the northern portion of the site because it makes more sense to build the parking garages along the FEC tracks to act as a sound buffer and the residential buildings west of them. The developer’s traffic consultant said the project would add 565 net daily trips to streets, but would not worsen congestion.
Many residents at the meeting said they welcomed redevelopment of the blighted area. Even so, only two, including a representative of major downtown landowner Investments Limited, spoke in favor of Camino Square.
J. Albert Johnson, president of the 2,400-member Camino Gardens Association, said the city has not kept its promise to upgrade traffic infrastructure.
As a result, the project “will create a nightmare,” he said. “It will create absolute chaos.”
Many other speakers agreed, and a number said the city needs to improve traffic infrastructure before allowing new development in the area.
“We are being overwhelmed by traffic,” said Camino Gardens resident Gertrude Lewis.
When board member Larry Snowden asked whether the city is working to resolve existing traffic problems on Camino Real, city traffic engineer Maria Tejera said there are no plans to do so. He also asked if the developer was willing to decrease the number of rental units to lessen the project’s impact on traffic.
Zachariades said FCI would not. Downtown development ordinances allow FCI to build taller buildings with more units than those proposed, but the developer chose not to do so to avoid creating too much density, she said.
Board member Rick Coffin said Camino Square is a good project, but the developer is at a disadvantage because the city has not addressed traffic issues.
“I am voting in favor of [Camino Square] to put more pressure on the city to live up to their obligations,” he said.
The planning board imposed one condition in granting approval: FCI will have to add a southbound left-turn lane at the intersection of Southwest Third Avenue and West Camino Real to improve road safety and traffic flow.

Many of us who live on the beach in Highland Beach are frustrated with the tractors’ beach “cleanup.” The trash and massive amount of seaweed is churned and buried — and with it all the plastic tangled up in it, from old, barnacled shoes to plastic forks and knives, plastic bottles and styrofoam.

Our beach has gone from having beautiful pristine white sand to having seaweed-with-plastic sand. Not comfortable to walk on barefoot, unhealthy, not pretty and very smelly, too. We spend all our time gathering the trash that’s merely been hidden just under the surface. 

The beach trash-removing companies should do what snow-removal companies do in the North with the snow: They cart it away and dump it at a central location off-site — in this case dump the plastic-laden seaweed in the landfill. It’s as good as trash, unfortunately. 
I really hope the town can resolve this to our residents’ satisfaction. We would like to get our beautiful, clean beaches back and stop being surrogate trash removers ourselves, cleaning up what the hired companies bury or leave behind. 

Kiri Borg
Highland Beach

LETTERS: The Coastal Star welcomes letters-to-the-editor about issues of interest in the community. These are subject to editing and must include your name, address and phone number. Preferred length is 200 words or less. Email to editor@thecoastalstar.com. or mail to 5011 N. Ocean Blvd. Suite #2, Ocean Ridge, FL 33435

By Steve Plunkett

In two words, the state of the city of Boca Raton is “very strong,” Mayor Scott Singer says.

“We have world-class services and low taxes and, most of all, nearly 100,000 people making this an unparalleled place to live, work, learn and play,” said Singer, who delivered his first State of the City address since becoming mayor in April to the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowner Associations last month.

High among the city’s accomplishments for the year that ended Sept. 30 were the opening of the U.S. Customs facility at the Boca Raton Airport, providing city-owned land for a new elementary school, and decreasing the time it takes to get a building permit from 31 to 21 days, Singer said.

Fiscal 2018 also saw the opening of the Spanish River Boulevard interchange on Interstate 95 and the establishment of quiet zones for the Brightline express railway, soon to be rebranded as Virgin Trains USA.
Boca Raton’s guiding principles remain the same as they have been for years: to be financially sound, provide world-class services, have a strong partnership with the community and be vibrant and sustainable.

In the coming year, city officials plan to develop a master plan for Boca Raton’s government campus, decide how to revitalize Dixie Highway and promote more art in public places. The city will collect $71.5 million in property taxes; it has 1,873 full-time employees and a AAA bond rating. While Boca Raton’s population is estimated at 98,150, about 250,000 are in the city on an average day, Singer said.

Signature events for the city include college football’s Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl, to be played Dec. 18 at Florida Atlantic University, golf’s Boca Raton Championship at the Broken Sound Club in February and the Festival of the Arts Boca, starting Feb. 28.

By Steve Plunkett

After one public outreach session on how to design Wildflower Park and a separate outreach session and an online survey for neighboring Silver Palm Park, consultant Kona Gray was not happy.
“Individually as parks they work. But together it kind of seems disjointed and we’re wondering to ourselves, ‘How can we make that better?’” he told the Boca Raton City Council on Nov. 26.
So Gray and his EDSA Inc. colleagues brainstormed again and decided to revise the drawings for both parks with areas shaped like water drops to have a unifying motif.
“It’s about celebrating water. It’s about giving people the opportunity to engage adjacent to the water,” he said.
EDSA also envisioned replacing its proposed children’s splash pad on the north side of the park with a “signature” water feature and boosting spaces for boat trailers even more, to 60 spots from the current 33. It would also add “floating wetlands” and cantilevered “overlooks” north and south of the Palmetto Park Road bridge to get people closer to the water.
Still in the plans are a third boat ramp, a wide promenade along the Intracoastal Waterway and “shade sails” over park benches.
“It’s festive, it’s fun, it’s a really cool place,” Gray said.
Mayor Scott Singer said “we’re getting there” but warned that money is a concern.
“A dollar spent here is a dollar not spent elsewhere on city needs,” Singer said before he and the four council members debated changes they wanted.
Their alterations included more play opportunities for children, perhaps combined with public art; more parking (the Wildflower dropped to 32 spaces from 50 in the previous plan); moving the restrooms farther from the Intracoastal Waterway; removing a turnaround and any other vehicular uses from under the bridge; and adding concrete stairs from the bridge down to the park on the north side similar to the ones on the south.
Council members also told City Manager Leif Ahnell to explore getting land on the east side of Northeast Fifth Avenue to add a sidewalk and perhaps a turn lane. That corner parcel is vacant now, but the owner wants “eight figures” to sell it to Boca Raton, Singer said.
The city will hold a contest to name the combined parks. Singer and EDSA independently suggested “Centennial Park” (the city turns 100 in 2024), but council member Andrea O’Rourke said too many other cities already use that name.
“I’d much rather it be named for the donor who’s going to give us $25 million for all this, the $25 Million Man or Lady Park, that’s fine with me,” Singer said.
Gray said moving the restrooms will cost $500,000; in all, the consolidated parks will cost $8 million.
Ahnell budgeted $1 million this fiscal year and $2 million the following year to build the park on the Wildflower side. The 2019-2020 budget also has $1.5 million set aside for the Silver Palm side.

By Rich Pollack

When Highland Beach Town Manager Marshall Labadie arrived to lead the town’s staff in October, he inherited a team with quite a few key vacancies.
Outside consultants were temporarily leading the Finance Department, and the Building Department and the Public Works Department director’s positions were unfilled. At the same time, an outside firm was handling code enforcement.
Fast forward less than six weeks after the town manager’s arrival and Labadie is on his way to building a staff that will bring fresh eyes and new approaches to how Town Hall addresses key tasks.
Labadie has hired a new finance director, who is taking a strategic-oriented approach to budgeting, a new building official whose background will come in handy as the town prepares for the potential of sea-level rise, and a code enforcement officer with a focus on being proactive.
Labadie also hopes to have a new public services director and an assistant to the town manager in place by the end of the year.
Filling staff positions quickly, Labadie says, was a priority.
“There are things that have to be in place in order to move forward with mission-critical projects and functions,” he said.
At least one town commissioner credits Labadie’s experience in local government for helping to make sure positions were filled quickly with qualified candidates.
“He’s done this type of work for so long that he knows what to look for,” said Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman. “Everything is definitely moving forward.”
Labadie’s arrival coincided with the town’s transition from an outside firm handling Building Department and code enforcement functions to building and code enforcement services being brought in house.
He quickly hired Jeffrey Massie, an experienced building inspector who held positions in Pompano Beach and Oakland Park in Broward County, to head up the team. Massie’s background as a structural plans examiner will be an asset, Labadie says, as the town faces the potential threat from sea-level rise.
“He will help us ensure that what we build is properly suited for the future,” the manager said.
To reinvigorate the town’s code enforcement functions, which had come under fire from several town commissioners who thought enough wasn’t being done, Labadie brought in Jason Manko, who had previous experience in code enforcement also in Broward County.
“He has a fresh set of eyes on code enforcement with a resident-focused proactive approach,” Labadie said.
Already, Manko is getting praise from residents for his visibility within the community.
“We had a resident stop and say that he’d seen the code enforcement officer about eight times in one week,” Gossett-Seidman said.
Also new to the staff is Matthew Lalla, the town’s finance director. Lalla, who served as a finance director in Hollywood and as interim treasurer in Fort Lauderdale, will help the town reshape its budgeting process to add a more strategic approach, Labadie said.
“We want to ensure that we’re budgeting for our goals and objectives,” the manager said.
Labadie said he is reshaping the public works director position and changing the name to public services director. The goal, he said, is to have that position more focused on key projects and the big picture and less on the day-to-day operations.
Labadie still plans to hire an assistant to the town manager, someone he hopes will focus on communications with residents as well as assisting with project management.
The town has received résumés from more than two dozen people interested in the position, he said.

By Sallie James

BOCA RATON — Laurel Kaplan Swaye, a founding member of the Yacht & Racquet Club of Boca Raton and an avid tennis player, died Oct. 20 after a long battle with cancer. She was 86.
Her resilience and determination to live life fully and her refusal to give up after a dire cancer diagnosis nine years ago inspired those who knew her.
“She had a great attitude,” said her son Ricky Swaye, of Cromwell, Conn. “She looked at it clinically and not from an emotional perspective. She went through it all with a tremendous amount of courage and dignity and grace. It didn’t stop her from doing anything she wanted to do.”
Born in New Britain, Conn., on May 7, 1932, to William and Zara Kaplan, Mrs. Swaye grew up in New England. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband of more than 64 years, George, and brother Elihu Kaplan.
Mrs. Swaye worked in the family business, the S&A Dept. Store in Hartford, Conn., before entering the real estate construction business with her husband and managing and developing several commercial properties in the Hartford area.
But the real fun began when the Swayes retired to South Florida, where they spent decades together boating throughout Florida and the Bahamas.
“To them it was like living in a resort or paradise. They got to see Boca Raton grow up. It was nothing when they got here,” Ricky Swaye said.
Their lives soon focused on tennis and boating.
“My mother started the tennis club at the Yacht & Racquet Club and took them to many championships,” Ricky Swaye said. “She grew up a tennis star in New England and began winning championships at age 13.”
But their real love was boating.
“They had been certified by the Coast Guard, so they were able to chart their own courses and handle the boat in any condition, up and down the East Coast, throughout Florida, both coasts and the Bahamas. They were gone for months,” Ricky Swaye recalled.
Their preferred means of transportation was a much-treasured 36-foot Grand Banks boat, he said.
Mrs. Swaye also served as treasurer for Association “E” at the Yacht & Racquet Club until just weeks before her death. And she never lost her love of mahjong, which she played with her friends at the condo.
Next-door neighbor Sharen Cutler remembered Mrs. Swaye as a warm, smiling woman who adored children, whether they were her own grandchildren or someone else’s.
“She was just a lovely lady and a very independent person,” Cutler said.
Her son said she loved to show the kids around when they came to visit her from up North.
“It was always an opportunity for her to get to know them better and give them new experiences — to take them up and down the Intracoastal, take lessons on the tennis courts or take them fishing. She did enjoy very much an opportunity to spend time with the kids,” Ricky Swaye said.
She is survived by her sons, Daniel, and wife, Rita, of Roswell, Ga; Ricky, and wife, Marge, of Cromwell, Conn.; and Gary, of Boynton Beach; a sister, Elsa Gassner, and husband, Peter, of Sedona, Ariz.; a brother-in-law, Ronald Swaye, and wife, Maria Montanaro, of Tamarac; and four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

HIGHLAND BEACH — Leo J. Pruner of Highland Beach died on Nov. 7. He was 90.
Mr. Pruner is survived by his wife of 61 years, Joan Pruner. Mr. Pruner graduated from Bloomfield High School in 1948 and married Joan in 1957. They lived in Montclair, N.J., for five years, and Caldwell, N.J., for 29 years. After he retired from GE in 1990, they moved to Florida.

Mr. Pruner ushered at St. Aloysius Church in Caldwell and St. Lucy Church in Highland Beach. He was involved in scouting in Caldwell for 18 years with Pack 3.
He was actively involved in the Cross Trail Squares square dance club from 1976 to 1990, where he served as president for two years and ran its youth group for four years.
Mr. Pruner was an active member in four camping clubs in New Jersey: the Scouts, the Caldwellites, Cross Trail Square Wheelers and the Garden State Square Dance Club.
In Florida he served on the Seagate board of directors for two years and was responsible for installing sprinkler systems, air conditioning, painting the buildings, managing the grounds and installing new docks.
In 2001 Mr. Pruner joined the Community Emergency Response Team and in 2002 was made leader of that group. While leading the group he was able to build it up to 40 members and had access to $5,000 in medical supplies for Highland Beach to use in case of a hurricane or other emergencies.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his sisters, Marion Dietrich and Agnes Kearns; his children, James, Robert and Frank (Lisa) Pruner and Linda (Fred) Fay; his grandchildren, James, Matthew and Amy Pruner, Robert and Lorraine Fay, and Jessica Sarli.
He was preceded in death by his brothers, Francis, Eugene and James Pruner.
He was entombed at the Gardens Mausoleum, 4103 N. Military Trail, Boca Raton.
Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent to St. Lucy Catholic Church, 3510 S. Ocean Blvd., Highland Beach, FL 33487, or to the Alzheimer’s Association.

— Obituary submitted by the family

BOCA RATON — James Herman Dance, a 47-year resident of Boca Raton, died on Oct. 31. He was 82.
Mr. Dance was born in Irwin County, Ga., and was raised in Jacksonville. He graduated from Robert E. Lee High School and Jacksonville University.
As a young boy, he worked countless hours in the Duval County Courthouse assisting lawyers, where his interest in real estate title searches began. He was employed by the Title Insurance Company of the South in Jacksonville before moving to South Florida in 1970 to manage Chelsea Title Insurance Co.
In 1973, Mr. Dance founded and became president of Gold Coast Title Company, which he operated for more than 25 years. In his professional work, he was past president of the Florida Land Title Association and of the board of governors of the American Land Title Association, recipient of the Raymond O. Denham Award, which is the highest honor to be received in the title insurance industry, and he was an honorary life member of the Florida Land Title Association.
Mr. Dance was a member of the First United Methodist Church and was active in community service in Boca Raton for many years.
He served on the building committee of the YMCA, as an honorary trustee of the Boca Raton Historical Society, a founding member of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County, and as an active member and second vice president of the Florida Atlantic Builders Association. He was a member of the Delray Beach Club, the Florida Farm Bureau and the Boca Raton Elks.
In addition, he served for many years with the Boca Raton Board of Realtors, where he received numerous honors. He was a bank director of United Bank, a benefactor of the Boca Raton Community Hospital, and was active in the Riviera Homeowners Association and the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowners. He was also a sponsor of many local youth programs throughout the years.
Mr. Dance’s special interests were antique cars, golfing, fishing, car racing and traveling. His humor, kindness, warmth and strength will be missed.
He is survived by his loving wife of 50 years, Esther; an aunt, Mildred Scribner of Michigan; two cousins, Karl Scribner and Kenneth Scribner; two sisters-in-law, Carole B. Tiedeman (Walter) and Diane E. Barber; two nieces, Joy B. Mischley and Lisa B. Mischley; two nephews, Jay Wells Tiedeman (Leslie) and Clayton E. Tiedeman (Jocie); two grandnieces, Sara and Clayton; and three grandnephews, Andrew, Jackson and Wesley Tiedeman.
A memorial service was held on Nov. 10 at First United Methodist Church, Boca Raton. Contributions may be made in honor of Herman Dance to First United Methodist Church or the American Heart Association.

— Obituary submitted by the family

Related story: Boca Raton, Delray cases put state’s property rights law in spotlight

By Mary Hladky

Bowing to strong push-back by a developer who contended the Boca Raton City Council improperly rejected its proposed luxury adult living facility, council members have sharply reversed course and approved the downtown project.
The council, sitting also as Community Redevelopment Agency commissioners, quickly approved settling a lawsuit filed by Group P6, and then immediately approved its Concierge project unanimously on Nov. 13.
Group P6 gave up some ground in the settlement by reducing the number of living units from 110 to 88 and the number of parking spaces from 127 to 106.
But the deal also required the council members to approve the Concierge if they wanted to settle the case.
It also removed the threat posed to the city by project landowner Robert Buehl, who had announced that he would file a Bert Harris Act lawsuit against the city seeking as much as $100 million in damages. That suit now won’t be filed.
The city did not admit that it had acted wrongly when it voted 3-1 to deny the Concierge on July 23.
Two council members cast the settlement and project approval as the developer and landowner responding to council concerns rather than a hasty retreat from a decision that posed a financial risk to the city.
“So take note any potential litigants to the city of Boca Raton,” said Mayor Scott Singer. “The path to victory is not the mere filing of litigation. Significant response to council concerns is what I think you are seeing here today.”
After the meeting, Group P6 co-owner Ignacio Diaz said the reduction in living units will not hurt the project and will allow him to increase the size of some units.
“This is the optimal mix [of units]. We think it will be more in line with what the market is,” Diaz said after the meeting. “It is a win-win for us and the city.”
Buehl said in an email that he remains “extremely excited” about Concierge, which he said meets a social need in the city.
“I am pleased that the city decided to do the right thing but find it unfortunate we had to force their hand,” he said.
The developer and landowner will build the $75 million senior living facility at 22 SE Sixth St., and will have 26 assisted living and 42 independent living units as well as 20 memory care units. Construction is expected to begin at the end of next year.
Amenities will include a rooftop pool, summer kitchen and lounge, yoga and music areas, wine bar and bistro, full-service restaurant, theater, salon, spa and gym.
The council’s July rejection was unexpected because the project was not controversial. Group P6 has a reputation for following the city’s development rules, its previous condo projects were easily approved, city staff recommended approval of the Concierge, and the City Council unanimously supported a separate downtown luxury ALF last year.
But some council members expressed concerns that the facility would overburden the city’s fire-rescue services and lacked adequate parking.
Council members Andrea O’Rourke and Monica Mayotte questioned whether another ALF was a good fit for the downtown. Speaking of the city’s vision of a vibrant downtown, O’Rourke said she was not sure how much the Concierge’s residents would be engaged in the community since the Concierge would provide many services.
“I’m not against ALFs in our city,” Mayotte said. “I’m just not sure that the downtown is the right location for them. Other places within our city limits are probably more applicable for these types of residents and I just wanted to make that clear.”
Mayotte and O’Rourke suggested the city may need to create a way for ALF developers to pay for the increased cost of providing ambulance service. Group P6 said its ALF would not result in significantly more fire-rescue calls.
City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser said there are legal impediments to levying a special assessment only for increased demand for a service.
In his August announcement that he planned to file a lawsuit, Buehl highlighted council member comments about the elderly.
“The statements made by elected officials regarding our city’s elderly residents were absolutely discriminatory and shameful,” Buehl said at the time.
Group P6 echoed Buehl’s age discrimination claim in its August lawsuit that sought to have the court quash the city’s denial of the project.
The developer also noted that it is the city’s obligation, not the property owner’s, to provide fire-rescue services.
The American Seniors Housing Association filed an amicus brief in support of Group P6 in October, saying the project denial “represents an unlawful discriminatory bias against seniors with disabilities and the providers of care and services that seek to meet their needs.”
Other lawsuits remain
The city has another contentious development-related legal headache.
Developer and landowner Crocker Partners sued the city in May, seeking to have a judge compel the city to write land development regulations for the Midtown area and to rule that the City Council’s January delay in adopting them, and instead voting to develop a “small area plan” for Midtown, are illegal.
Crocker Partners filed a Bert Harris Act lawsuit against the city in October, seeking $137.6 million in damages on grounds that the city has failed to adopt the regulations.
Cypress Realty of Florida, a landowner that partnered with Crocker Partners on Midtown planning, also went to court in October, saying in its lawsuit that the city has been “stonewalling” its efforts to develop 10.2 acres.
Crocker Partners and other landowners originally wanted to redevelop 300 acres east of the Town Center mall. But without land development regulations, that plan has died.
In the Concierge case, neither side admitted fault or liability, and each will pay its own attorney’s fees and costs.

The Dec. 9 concert, to start at 5 p.m., will mark the eighth year that players of tuba family instruments have entertained crowds in Boca Raton. Coastal Star file photo by Tim Stepien

By Christine Davis

Want to start a new holiday tradition? Consider this family-friendly event.
Tuba Christmas is an annual free concert held worldwide to celebrate the holidays, but also as a tribute to teachers whose passion is teaching music. Harvey Phillips, a tuba student, created the concert as a tribute to his music teacher, William J. Bell, who was born on Christmas Day in 1902.
The first Tuba Christmas was in 1974 in New York City, and this year at least 200 such concerts are planned in the United States.
The Dec. 9 event in the Mizner Park Amphitheater will mark the eighth year of the local Tuba Christmas concert, which is led by Dr. Marc Decker, assistant professor of music and the associate director of bands at Florida Atlantic University.
The concert is a kind of come-as-you-are performance, open to students of all levels who play instruments in the tuba family, including the sousaphone, baritone, euphonium and its rare cousins the helicon, ophicleide, serpent and double-bell euphonium.
Concerts range in size from a tiny tuba quartet to several hundred performers at the biggest concerts in Los Angeles and New York. Because musicians’ holiday schedules are packed, the only rehearsal is the one right before the show. There is a nominal fee ($10) to play.
Boca Raton players will check in from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. and rehearse from 2:30 to 4. After a short break, they will be back on stage for the 5 p.m. concert.
Players are asked to wear festive attire, and they do. From a Christmas sweater made by grandma to Santa hats and Rudolph’s antlers, if it’s red or green, it’s a hit. Even the instruments get decorated with garland and lights. The music book the players use, “Carols for a Merry TubaChristmas,” is available for sale.
You can bring your own chairs or blankets or rent a chair for $5. Food and drink vendors will be on site. Admission is free. Info: www.myboca.us/826/Mizner-Park-Amphitheater

Holidays for Delray Beach will be produced this year by Stephanie Immelman’s new company, Grapevine Communications. At the center of the festivities will be the city’s iconic 100-foot Christmas tree.
“A whole generation of children has grown up with the tree,” Immelman said. “People share their memories with us all the time and we see a marriage proposal in the tree nearly every year.”
Visitors can walk inside it through Jan. 1 for a dollar donation, and Santa will be at the tree until Dec. 23. He will also make an appearance at the annual Cookie Cruises throughout the month on board the Lady Atlantic.
The Seas & Greetings holiday parade will take place at 6 p.m. Dec. 8 along Atlantic Avenue, and other holiday happenings include the Holiday Boat Parade on Dec. 14, a Kwanzaa celebration at the Spady Museum on Dec. 30, and the Delray Beach Historical Society Holiday Craft Workshop at 6 p.m. on Dec. 11.
A family-friendly New Year’s Eve celebration in Old School Square Park is scheduled for 5 p.m., with fireworks at 9 p.m. For details, visit www.100FtChristmasTree.com.

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival launched its Ekphrastic Poetry Contest, which uses as its inspiration the “Tech Effect” exhibit at Old School Square’s Cornell Museum of Art. The deadline for entries is Feb. 17. To enter, writers should submit up to 30 lines of original poetry inspired by one of eight designated images featured in the exhibition.
The images are: Back Up, by Ellen de Meijer, Emotion #2, by Walter Brown, Fractal, by William Montgomery, Galloping Towards the Dream, by Camomile Hixon, Graine, by Alain Le Boucher, No More Dialectics #4, by Daniel Fiorda, Mona Lisa, by Antoine Geiger, and Skull, by Brian Dettmer.
The winning poet will receive a $100 prize, and $25 will be given to each of the four runners-up. For information on how to submit and to view the tech effect images, visit  www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/news/tech-effect-poetry-contest/.

Offering awards totaling $15,000 in prizes, the Palm Beach Student Showcase of Films competition is open to student filmmakers, writers, graphic designers and digital media artists enrolled in Florida high schools and colleges. To enter, visit www.pbfilm.com/ssof. Deadline for submissions is Jan. 25.
This student showcase is funded by the Palm Beach County Commission through the Department of Housing and Economic Sustainability. Major sponsors include Lynn University and the Palm Beach County Film & Television Commission. Category sponsors include Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful, Inc., Film Florida, Michael Chasin, and the Information Television Network. 

On Nov. 14, in celebration of Veterans Day, the cadets from Boynton Beach High School joined the residents of Barrington Terrace, a senior living community, for a day of remembrance and learning.  After the cadets marched through the community, presented the colors and shared lunch, they heard an educational presentation offered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and participated in a pinning ceremony as their expression of gratitude to the veterans. Barrington Terrace is at 1425 S. Congress Ave., Boynton Beach.

Since this summer, Copperpoint Brewing Co., headquartered in Boynton Beach, has won a variety of medals from top beer competitions by distributing its beers in can form. They include a gold medal in the chocolate beer category at the Great American Beer Festival; two grand champion awards at the 24th annual United States Beer Tasting Championship; and three international awards as well as a silver and two bronze medal national awards at the 2018 U.S. Open Beer Competition. 

Board members of the Delray Beach Housing Authority were appointed in October. They include Krystina Buckley, James Hiler, Marcus Metcalf and Jesse D. Saginor, who will serve as chairman.

Jet Coast Homes of One Sotheby’s International Realty has partnered with Inspiration Charity to raise money in the fight against breast cancer. The launch party event, which was held at Tim Finnegan’s Irish Pub in Delray Beach, raised more than $15,000. The Jet Coast team members will donate a portion of each sale in the names of the buyers and sellers. Jessica Rosato, co-founder of Jet Coast Homes along with Eva Blow and Theresa Melocco, said “being able to make a difference in someone’s life is priceless, and it’s something that we are so excited to do in the name of our buyers and sellers.”
“Instead of a traditional closing gift, we give an impactful gift that can help someone fighting the battle against breast cancer. We’ve all been touched by cancer in some way, and giving back through Inspiration Charity is one of the ways we’ve decided to make our contribution.” 

One Sotheby’s International Realty announced in October the acquisition of affiliate brokerage Nestler Poletto Sotheby’s International Realty, a nearly 80-agent firm with offices in Boca Raton and Delray Beach.
“We’re honored and privileged to join forces with another real estate powerhouse in the Sotheby’s brand, especially one that is growing with tremendous strength like One S.I.R.,” said Mark Nestler. 
“This is the absolute best decision for our exceptional sales associates and staff in keeping us on the forefront of luxury real estate sales in South Florida,” said John Poletto.

Motivational speaker and author Grant Cardone sold a 102-unit apartment complex at 1202 and 1300 SW First Ave. and 1150 SW Second Ave. in Boca Raton for $16.8 million. Records from Nov. 5 show Boca Islands East secured a $10.1 million loan from Hunt Real Estate Capital to purchase the property, which includes apartments and office space. Cardone’s company, Realm 102, paid $12.5 million for the 1.2-acre site in 2015.
Cardone has acquired multifamily properties across the country, including in South Florida, and in September, Cardone Capital paid about $90 million for the 346-unit Atlantic Delray Apartments in Delray Beach at 14050 Pacific Point Place. Previously, the property was owned by a joint venture between Atlantic | Pacific Companies and the Rockpoint Group.

The 30,683-square-foot Winfield Plaza in Boca Raton sold for $13.1 million to 20th Street Investments LLC, with James Batmasian listed as title manager. The sale was recorded Nov. 1. The seller is Taormina Investments S.A., led by Giovanni Cannavo, Juan Alvarez and the Panamanian law firm Galindo, Arias & López. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler’s Eric Williams, Manny de Zárraga, Danny Finkle and Luis Castillo represented the seller.
The retail strip center is on 2.82 acres at 471-515 NE 20th St. and 2001, 2151 and 2181-2201 N. Federal Highway. It’s 93 percent occupied, with tenants including Osha Thai Restaurant, Sweet Deals Chocolates, Subway and Señor Burrito.

Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation sold its Nissan dealership at 2200 S. Federal Highway in Delray Beach to HGreg for $11 million in November. The dealership comprises 47,694 square feet on a 3.76-acre site. The last sale price for the dealership was $5.2 million in June 2005. Canada-based HGreg got a $10.5 million mortgage loan from Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. in connection with its acquisition of the Delray Beach dealership.

For sale: McKinney estate, tree house too. Photo provided

Home builder and designer Frank McKinney’s restored 1930s John Volk oceanfront compound, Ocean Apple, was recently listed for sale for $5.49 million with Steven Presson, an agent with the Corcoran Group. Located at 610 N. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach, McKinney’s six-bedroom, six-bathroom home features 100 feet of Atlantic Ocean frontage, cypress walls and ceilings, Dade County pine flooring, a newly renovated kitchen, and let’s not forget his tree house, which has ocean views, a bathroom, a bamboo desk, hardwood flooring, cedar walls, and a king-sized bed loft area with a TV.
“Frank definitely wants to stay in the area, but he is looking to downsize now that his daughter is in college,” Presson said. “Even though Frank has a long career of building and designing modern beachfront masterpieces, he always preferred to live in more historical, older homes with character. But now Frank finally wants to move into something more modern like homes he’s famous for designing.”

Cathy Balestriere was voted Chamber Business Person of the Year at the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce’s annual fundraiser in October. Balestriere, who is the general manager of Crane’s Beach House Boutique Hotel & Luxury Villas, was recognized for her dedication and expertise in her business operation and her continued support of the Chamber and the community.
The Delray Beach Elks Lodge was voted the Chamber’s Business of the Year for its continued service to the community. A long-standing member of the Chamber, the Elks are committed to supporting programs that help young people in the community. Former Mayor David Schmidt was awarded the Crystal Palm Award for exceptional and continued service and dedication to the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Delray Beach community. 

My Palm Beach Box, a new subscription-based service headquartered in Boca Raton, offers gift boxes that include gift cards, event tickets, and beauty products from South Florida businesses such as Ouzo Bay, Jupiter Candles, Lost Harbour Distillery and The Original Popcorn House.
Individual boxes cost $39.95; four boxes per year cost $160; birthday boxes and foodie boxes cost $49.95.
“You can find at least $300 worth of products from local businesses in each one,” said Delray Beach resident Sarah Schuh, who co-founded the business with Palm Beacher Krisann Simon. 
For more info, visit www.mypalmbeachbox.com.

Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.
Janis Fontaine contributed to this report.

By Mary Hladky

A compromise between antagonists in the most recent dispute over construction of the luxury Alina Residences Boca Raton condominium appears likely to clear the way for quick city approval of the project.
Bonnie Miskel, the attorney for developer El-Ad National Properties, told Boca Raton City Council members, sitting as Community Redevelopment Agency commissioners, on Nov. 26 that a tentative agreement had been reached and she thought El-Ad would approve it shortly.
Council members agreed to delay their vote until Dec. 10, giving time for the agreement to be finalized.
“I am all for postponing this for them to work out a deal,” said council member Monica Mayotte.
Alina Residences, formerly known as Mizner 200, is one of the most contentious projects in the city’s history. Downtown residents complained that it would be too massive and a symbol of downtown overdevelopment.
El-Ad proposed a 384-unit condo on about 9 acres along Southeast Mizner Boulevard that would replace the 246 Mizner on the Green townhouses.
El-Ad made concessions on building design, landscaping and setbacks that eventually won over critics, and the project was approved after a flurry of last-minute deal making in 2017.
But earlier this year, El-Ad asked for approval to build the project in two phases, add valet parking and to not fully complete a pedestrian promenade until the second phase was finished.
Residents of the neighboring Townsend Place condo strongly objected, saying they had a firm deal with El-Ad in 2017 and the developer was now reneging. They had the support of Investments Limited, a major downtown landowner, and the BocaBeautiful downtown activists.
Their chief concern was that the three-tower project would be built in phases, even though El-Ad originally said it would be built all at once. That raised the possibility that the second phase would not be built if the condos did not sell well, which would leave them with one new condo tower next to the run-down townhouses.
They also objected to delays in completing the pedestrian promenade along Mizner Boulevard, fearing it never would be finished if the second phase was not built.
Under the new deal, project opponents no longer are objecting to the project’s being completed in phases.
“In trying to get a settlement, we backed off the phasing,” said Norman Waxman, a Townsend Place condo board member.
“You have to pick your battles,” said Robert Eisen of Investments Limited.
But Waxman got something he wanted. The pedestrian promenade in front of what would be Phase 2 would be an enhanced version of what El-Ad said it would build earlier this year, and it would be built more quickly.
El-Ad also would add landscaping between Townsend Place and the Phase 2 property to buffer the condo residents from the construction.
Investments Limited would get the concession that if El-Ad asks the city to approve changes to Phase 2, it will not be allowed to change the pedestrian promenade or the spaces between the three condo towers that allow for eastward views to the ocean. Investments Limited wants to redevelop its Royal Palm Place across the street from the Alina Residences property.
“We all kind of got what we wanted,” Eisen said.
As of Nov. 26, Waxman was crossing his fingers.
“I do think we are close to agreement,” he said.