By Dan Moffett

Ocean Ridge officially doesn’t take over policing in Briny Breezes until Oct. 1, but already there are signs of change.
Chief Hal Hutchins told the Briny Breezes Town Council on Aug. 22 that residents would see his officers and Ocean Ridge patrol cars on their streets well before the takeover date.
Hutchins said the early presence isn’t about trying to push out the Boynton Beach Police Department, which has served the town for the last three years. He said he wants to ensure that all his officers — some of whom are new to South Palm Beach County — are familiar with Briny’s layout and understand what the town expects from them.
“Ocean Ridge began orientation of officers because we want to have a smooth transition,” Hutchins told the council. “When you see them, stop and say hello.”
Hutchins also introduced the officer assigned to lead the community policing efforts in Briny. She is Debra Boyle, who came to Ocean Ridge in 2017.
The council unanimously approved the police contract with Ocean Ridge. The agreement includes stipulations that the department will try to improve communications with Briny’s corporate board.
Alderman Bill Birch told Hutchins it’s important that he attends board meetings as well as council meetings. The chief said he intends to provide daily activity reports to the corporate office as well as to town officials.
In other business:
• The council has scheduled a special meeting for Sept. 12. Beginning at 3 p.m., council members hope to hear from representatives of C.A.P. Government of Coral Gables, the company that handles the town’s permitting and code inspection work.
Town Manager Dale Sugerman and Deputy Clerk Maya Coffield have told the council of recurring errors and omissions in the paperwork C.A.P. submits, causing frustration and delays for contractors and homeowners trying to get projects done.
“They don’t seem to have improved,” Sugerman said of the problems, “and they have not gotten worse. They’ve stayed as bad as they were all along.”
Briny’s contract with C.A.P. expires Sept. 30, and the council must decide whether to renew it.
• Immediately after discussing C.A.P., council members plan to look at ways to streamline the permitting process. Alderwoman Kathy Gross has proposed changing procedures to involve the corporate office earlier.
• At 5:01 p.m. on Sept. 12, the council is expected to give preliminary approval to the 2019-2020 budget. Final approval would come at the regular meeting on Sept. 26.

ABOVE: Heather Bolint of Lake Worth and Bryan Galvin of Delray Beach stand on the steps of the state Capitol in Tallahassee, where they obtained a permit to display the burlap bags holding some of the trash they found. The placard reads: This is Ocean Plastic. BELOW: The two friends walked 1,200 miles around Florida’s perimeter to raise awareness of plastic waste on the state’s beaches. Photos provided

By Ron Hayes

In the end they piled their trash on the steps of the state Capitol in Tallahassee.
Last February, Bryan Galvin quit his job as a lifeguard at the St. Andrew’s Club in Gulf Stream, and on March 1, he and a friend, Heather Bolint, left Amelia Island, near the Georgia line, on a mission they called “PlasTrek 2019.”
Armed with 300 burlap bags, a blue Dodge Dakota pickup, a canoe and a smartphone, Galvin, 28, of Delray Beach, and Bolint, 32, of Lake Worth, would trek the 1,200 miles of Florida’s coast, picking up plastic litter along the sand. Bottles and bottle caps, straws, bags — whatever they found soiling our beaches.
They would photograph it, save it, store it, sort it, count it and, in the end, display it on the Capitol steps in a plea for the end of unsustainable plastics.
The plan was to reach Pensacola by mid-June.
But plans change. Plastic happens.
They started out averaging 15-20 miles a day, but once past Sebastian Inlet, nearing South Florida, the plastic waste increased and their progress slowed.
“This isn’t a beach cleanup,” Galvin proclaimed when the pair reached Gulf Stream on April 3, 34 days into the quest. “It’s an awareness trek.”
Their schedule had them at Spanish River Park in Boca Raton that evening. They made it as far as Atlantic Dunes Park in Delray Beach.
A week later, they were five miles from the south end of Miami Beach and April 29 found them resting in Everglades City after an eight-day, 100-mile paddle through the Everglades.
By May 24, they’d reached Manasota Key, about 35 miles south of Sarasota, and on June 27 they were enjoying Santa Rosa Beach, 80 miles east of Pensacola.
They didn’t make Pensacola by mid-June, but they made it.
“We finished on July 1,” Bolint reports, “four months to the day after we started,” and one day after she turned 33. “We drove to the very end of Fort Pickens and watched the sunset on the beach. It was one of the most beautiful we’ve seen in the entire four months.”
Now they needed a break. Galvin came home to Delray Beach, while Bolint visited her father on St. Simons Island in Georgia.
Of the 300 burlap bags, they’d filled about 250, which were stored at the homes of friends and family in Melbourne, Jupiter, Delray Beach and Panama City.
Galvin guesstimated they had about 3,000 pounds of plastic trash.
They also had nearly 10,000 photos capturing each piece of trash they found, sometimes group photos.
“When we upload them, we’ll get a final count,” he promised.
They wanted to display what they’d found on the Capitol steps in an unapologetic publicity stunt for the cause of clean beaches. Maybe the governor could drop by, along with some news media. For that, they’d need a permit.
“The lady was concerned that 3,000 pounds might damage the historic steps,” Bolint says, “but I assured her it would be all right, they were just plastic bottles.”
The permit was issued for Monday morning, July 29.
Let the sorting begin.
“We ran out of time to count it all,” Galvin concedes. Based on what they had counted, they’d found 55 categories of plastic waste, the top six being bottle caps and lids, bags, bottles, food wrappers and containers, beach toys and straws.
“I went the entire trek trying to keep plastic-free,” he says, “but it was impossible. Even the Whole Foods bags had little plastic windows in them.”
On Sunday, July 28, Galvin and his brother Sean left Delray Beach in Sean’s truck and trailer and retrieved the bags they’d left in Jupiter and Melbourne.
Bolint left St. Simons Island and headed for Panama City to collect another load stored there.
She reached Tallahassee at midnight, the Galvin brothers arrived at 5:30 a.m., and at 9:30 they met at the Capitol.
“It took us about two hours to set it up on the steps, and I still had a pallet and a half we left behind in the truck,” Galvin says.
“We didn’t even get through half of it before reporters were showing up and people were taking pictures.”
The governor didn’t drop by, but the local NBC and ABC affiliates put them on local TV news, and The Tallahassee Democrat and Capitol News Service did stories.
In the end, their four-month, 1,200-mile, 3,000-pound PlasTrek collection sat on the Capitol steps just about two hours. Then they gathered up all those bags and stored them in a friend’s barn stall in Tampa.
“It’s not going to the landfill yet,” Galvin says. “We hope to set it up in other places or maybe a little in each place, or several at a time.”
Bolint is back in Lake Worth, still scoping out a new adventure.
“I’ve applied to work at a sustainability school in the Bahamas,” she says.
Galvin is working at The Surf District, a surf shop in Delray.
And would they do it all again?
“No, I don’t think so,” Bolint says. “It was just getting really hot, and we were trekking in the middle of the day with the sun beating down on us, blistering.”
She pauses. “Well, maybe if it was a different time of year.”
Galvin is more amenable.
“It was hard,” he concedes, “but I don’t feel anywhere near done yet. Maybe the hiking part would have to be done differently, maybe with a team.
“But why would we stop? We need to solve a problem.”

By Dan Moffett

Despite budget constraints because of long overdue infrastructure repairs, Ocean Ridge commissioners have decided to go forward with a plan to equip the town’s police officers with body cameras at a cost of at least $20,000.
“I think it’s kind of like an insurance policy,” said Commissioner Phil Besler. “In the long run, we’re going to save it all on one case. Because if you’ve got the proof, then that person can’t sue you.”
The vote was 4-1 during an Aug. 5 commission workshop to put the cameras in the 2019-2020 budget, with Mayor Steve Coz voting no. He argued that the cameras would have “unintended consequences” and interfere with community policing, straining relations between residents and officers.
Vice Mayor Don MaGruder gave his support with the stipulation that Police Chief Hal Hutchins educate the public on how the department would use the cameras, in particular when officers would activate them.
“The money was allocated for the body cameras but it’s got an asterisk on it,” Coz said. “We have to know how they turn on and off, and different parameters that the chief is going to present.”
The cameras got a lot easier for commissioners to afford when Briny Breezes rehired Ocean Ridge to do its policing, ending a three-year relationship with Boynton Beach. The contract, effective Oct. 1, will generate $180,000 in revenue annually for Ocean Ridge.
In April, Hutchins told the commission he believed cameras were necessary to help clear “an air of distrust of the police” in the town. Hutchins said his officers “are not feeling well and safe in their job” and that all of them supported using the cameras.
Commissioners Kristine de Haseth and Susan Hurlburt also sided with the chief. Hurlburt said she believed the cameras would be “a positive for the town,” and de Haseth said they would give police “a vote of confidence.”
Even with the Briny contract, the town faces a budget deficit of about $264,000 because of repairs and replacements needed to the stormwater drainage system.
The town’s overall financial health is robust, however, with about $4.8 million available in unassigned reserves, or about 63 percent of the annual operating budget needed to run the town.
After a recent survey of salaries in local municipalities found Ocean Ridge dispatchers were underpaid, commissioners voted to raise the position’s pay level by $5,400.
The commission gave unanimous approval to a tentative tax rate of $5.35 per $1,000 of taxable value, the same as 2018. Because the town’s property values rose about 6 percent over the last year, the same rate represents a higher bill for taxpayers.
The commission could still choose to increase the millage to as high as $5.55 during a Sept. 9 budget hearing.

Prime Catch plans to close and renovate for all of September as the ground level of the parking lot at River Walk is brought up by 18 to 24 inches to meet current code. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

The Prime Catch restaurant in Boynton Beach will close in September while Riverwalk Plaza’s owner rips apart the parking lot to install underground utilities and trenches.
Flooding from heavy rains has exacerbated driving woes in the plaza during construction on ditches where stormwater and sewer lines will be placed.
“When it rains really hard, it affects us more,” said Luke Therien, whose family owns Prime Catch. “The parking lot floods easily.”
During September, the restaurant will do interior renovations. It will reopen in October “with our own beautiful new upgrades for the season,” Therien said.
Drivers entering the plaza’s parking lot from East Woolbright Road can’t reach South Federal Highway restaurants and retailers. They are stopped by barriers placed by construction workers who are installing underground systems for water, sewer, stormwater, wastewater, electric and gas lines for the new apartment complex.
In addition, parts of the parking lot along South Federal and East Woolbright are being raised 18 to 24 inches to accommodate exfiltration trenches to store runoff, said Gary Dunmyer, city engineer.
The South Florida Water Management District requires the trenches to sit above the water table, Dunmyer said. The trenches allow the runoff to ooze through a filter of rocks and enter the groundwater system. Excess water will flow out to the Intracoastal Waterway.
Stephanie Setticasi, who owns Josie’s Ristorante with her husband, said traversing the parking lot is challenging during and after heavy downpours. “Customers are complaining about the difficulty in reaching our restaurant,” she said.
Josie’s plans to stay in its location, Setticasi said, after it could not reach an agreement with the plaza owner to buy out the remaining 10 years on its lease.
Isram Realty of Hallandale paid $9.5 million for the aging center in March 2011 and paid $500,000 extra for a vacant 3.2-acre parcel behind the center. In March 2017, Isram purchased 5.76 acres of mangroves directly south of Riverwalk, adjacent to the vacant parcel and sitting on the Intracoastal Waterway, along with a .13-acre strip of land that connects the vacant parcel to South Federal Highway.
The nearly 10-acre plaza sits at the southwestern base of the Woolbright Road Bridge across the Intracoastal Waterway. The plaza contained a Winn-Dixie grocery store that closed in January 2015.
That closing allowed Isram to redevelop the shopping center to include a 10-story apartment complex. In January 2017, a previous Boynton Beach City Commission approved the 326-unit project despite residents’ objections to the height and mass at the base of the bridge.
Wells Fargo bank and Wendy’s fast-food restaurant own their parcels in the plaza, along with Prime Catch.
Other tenants are Walgreens drugstore, Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft store, Sushi Simon restaurant and Bond Street Ale and Coffee. The two restaurants had been in the Winn-Dixie building. They negotiated new leases with Isram and were moved into the renovated Walgreens building.
A new building on South Federal Highway, just north of Walgreens, will house two tenants.
One is Chipotle Mexican Grill, a fast-casual restaurant chain based in California. It will rent 2,326 square feet this fall, according to the Isram Realty website.
Isram is seeking a tenant for the remaining space. 
For Bond Street, customers have complained about not finding a place to park, said owner Phil Van Egmond. “The owner took away about two-thirds of the parking spaces,” Van Egmond said. “We have a very loyal base of customers who always find us.”
The plaza owners are apologetic, Van Egmond said. “But what can they do?” he said. “It’s a necessary evil for the new development.”
The heavy rains have delayed the parking lot work, said Baruch Cohen, chief operating officer for Isram. He visits the project daily.
“We have to stop, cover up everything and then begin again,” he said.
Most of the parking lot work will be finished by December, Cohen said.
In April, workers will start on the apartment building, which will be finished in two years, Cohen said.

Paul Resnick, 83, of Highland Beach, says he is at least 15 years older than anyone else in the group he joins for 30-mile bike rides at 6:30 a.m. several days a week. ‘If I don’t exercise, I feel sluggish,’ says Resnick, a retired Coast Guard captain. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Three to five days a week, Paul Resnick leaves his sixth-floor condo in Highland Beach at about 6:30 a.m., grabs his bike and goes for a 30-mile ride with a small group of other bicyclists.
On the road Resnick fits right in, staying close with the group as it proceeds north to Lake Worth Beach before turning around and heading to a restaurant in Delray Beach for coffee.
It’s when he takes off his helmet, however, that it’s evident there’s something different about Resnick — something that separates him from the rest of the riders.
“I’m the oldest in the group — by far,” he says.
At 83, Resnick is at least 15 years older than any other of the riders, yet he has no trouble keeping pace.
That’s not surprising considering that Resnick, a retired military man who spent four years in the Marines as a fighter jet pilot and another 29 in the Coast Guard, primarily as pilot, has always been devoted to exercising.
“It keeps me alive,” said the father of two boys and a grandfather of four. “If I don’t exercise, I feel sluggish.”
A wrestler in high school, Resnick stayed in shape throughout his military career, running with others during his lunch break and finding time to play racquetball with his boss in the Coast Guard, an admiral who enjoyed the game.
In 1987, at 51, Resnick completed the New York Marathon, which he ran with his son Jeff, and qualified for the Boston Marathon. He never got to run in Boston, however.
A short time after the New York Marathon, Resnick went to a doctor for a knee injury and was advised to stop running.
That’s when he started bicycle riding seriously.
A captain in the Coast Guard, who was the commanding officer of two air stations and the chief of search and rescue for the branch’s Pacific area, Resnick retired in 1990. But he continued to ride even after he and his wife, Myrna, the love of his life who died two years ago, moved to Florida to be with aging parents.
A highlight of his bicycling came in 2010 when he joined an active duty Navy SEAL and two retired SEALs on a 3,300-mile ride across country over six weeks. He was 74.
The group, which raised money for the Navy SEAL Foundation, rode 90 miles a day five days straight before resting. They started out in California and ended their trek at the Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce.
Last year, Resnick rode 192 miles in two days during the Pan-Mass Challenge, a bike hike through Massachusetts to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Foundation.
Not bad for a guy in his 80s, who seems to be always on the move.
For Resnick, riding not only provides physical exercise, it also keeps his mind sharp and offers a chance to be with friends.
“Most importantly,” he says, “I can eat whatever I want without gaining weight.”
Making time for exercise is something he’s done for most of his life and has become part of his routine.
“It’s what I do,” he says.

Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you? 
A. I grew up in Brooklyn, attended New Utrecht High School and City College of New York. I graduated in 1956 with a BBA and majored in public accounting. It gave me a good background in business and a good sense for it.

Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A. I worked as a public accountant for a small firm for about one year before entering the military. I was four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, followed by 29 years in the Coast Guard with primary duties as an aircraft pilot. I retired as a USCG captain. I’m most proud that there are at least a few people in this world that would not be here if it were not for me or my fellow Coast Guard people.

Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?  
A. Look around, try things. Find what you are really interested in and what makes you happy. Money is not the most important thing in the world, just so long as you can live reasonably comfortably.

Q. How did you choose to make your home in Highland Beach?
A. My wife, who died two years ago, and I moved from the San Francisco Bay area in 2003 to assist elderly parents and in-laws who were living in Century Village West Palm Beach. We found a condo in Boca Highlands that had everything we needed and wanted, especially the beach and beach club. As a former Coast Guardsman, we always lived near the water.

Q. What is your favorite part about living in Highland Beach?  
A. The small-town environment on the beach.

Q. What book are you reading now?
A. I’m reading a James Patterson novel, The First Lady. I just finished a Jack Ryan novel. I like the series by Tom Clancy and his successor ghostwriters. 

Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?  
A. I’m not much of a music listener but prefer vocals by old-timers like Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole and such.

Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?  
A. Do the right thing — or at least try to.

Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions? 
A. My first real mentor was an accounting professor in college whose firm I took a part- time job with and then worked for full time until resigning to enter the military. There were two others in the military.

Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
A. Kevin Costner — and only because of his role in the movie with Ashton Kutcher about the Coast Guard rescue swimmers. 

By Jane Smith

When Delray Beach residents saw royal palms lying on the side of East Atlantic Avenue, they took to social media to bemoan the loss of the majestic palms.
“Just terrible,” said a Facebook poster on Aug. 22. Several others thought the palms died from lethal bronzing. Others said the removal was “horrible.”
But most of the palms still had their root balls.
Turns out the royal palms were moved to new locations in the city. Ten were replanted in Veterans Park and two on the grounds of the Old School Square campus.
The moving and replanting was done by Bermuda Landscaping, paid for by the developer of Atlantic Crossing, a 9.2-acre project at the northeast corner of North Federal Highway and East Atlantic Avenue. The palms were moved to make way for new underground wastewater lines, wrote Don DeVere, vice president of Edwards Cos., the Atlantic Crossing developer. His comments came via email from the project’s publicist, Andrea Knibbs.
“The lines are being relocated from the interior of the eastern block to run parallel along Atlantic Avenue, then north along the boundary with Veterans Park,” DeVere wrote.
Palm Trail resident Gayle Clark, who is also a residential Realtor, said the noise is just “horrible. It goes 24/7 from the pump, the cutting of trees and paving over everything.”
A nature lover, she was sad to see two, 40-foot-tall palms lying on their side without their root balls. “They were the most majestic,” she said.

Pumping will be ongoing

Another nearby resident, George Walden, said, “Here’s what I don’t understand: If you want to maintain the beauty and integrity of Delray Beach, who would build an underground garage at the water table and so close to the Intracoastal and think it’s going to work?”
DeVere has said that after the garage is finished it will still need pumps and backup generators to use when the power goes out.
Atlantic Crossing has dewatering permits from the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The Water District permit allows the contractor to dewater 12 feet below grade at the rate of 1.5 million gallons a day, or more than two Olympic-size swimming pools a day. That permit expires March 31, 2021. The project had not exceeded its sediment limits, called nephelometric turbidity units, in the past six weeks through mid-August. Its dewatering permit allows a maximum reading of 29 NTUs above the turbidity level of the Intracoastal.
Turbidity measures how clear the water is.
John Miller, a former chair of the city’s Historic Preservation Board and a secretary of the Delray Beach Historical Society, said the filtered water flowing into the Intracoastal at the eastern end of Northeast First Street looks dirty.
As a boater, he’s concerned that the sediment will build up on the western side of the Intracoastal and have to be dredged.
DeVere wrote, “We’ve worked through the site preparation and excavation for the first section of the western garage and will begin the concrete form work and underground utility work within the first couple of weeks of September.”
He projected that the groundbreaking for the first retail/office building at the northeast corner of Federal and Atlantic will take place by the end of 2019. The midblock of Federal will see the start of the luxury apartments by mid-2020.
“The western block is fully financed with a $110 million construction loan and a $45 million preferred equity investment,” DeVere wrote. In January, Fifth Third Bank of Columbus, Ohio, lent the construction money. Pearlmark Real Estate Partners of Chicago made the recent investment.
The massive, mixed-use project will have 261 apartment, 91,000 square feet of office and retail space, 444 parking spaces and 82 condos.

St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic School in Delray Beach just finished a $6.5 million renovation and addition to accommodate its ever-growing 360-student body. ABOVE: On the first day of the 2019-2020 school year Principal Vikki Delgado talks to students in the new science classroom. BELOW: Sixth-graders play football during a PE class on the south side of the newly expanded campus.
Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

In mid-August, Delray Beach commissioners learned the city has a 19.8 percent shortfall in funding the city’s general employee pension fund.
Jim Smith, chairman of the General Employees Retirement Fund Committee, said the rate of return on investments will be reduced from 7.25 percent to 6.75 percent for the budget year that starts Oct. 1, and about $570,000 extra will be needed above the $2.3 million that was planned.
That’s because investment returns are declining while costs are rising. For example, in addition to the 20 employees hired in the current budget year, people are living longer, Smith said.
“The oldest retired Delray Beach employee receiving general fund benefits is 102,” he said. “She has received 479 payments over 40 years.”
There are two ways to close that gap, Smith told commissioners. The first is to reduce payouts and the second is to increase employee contributions.
The statewide average employee contribution is 5.9 percent, according to a Leroy Collins Institute report published in May. Delray Beach general employees now contribute 3.05 percent, the report indicated. The report gave an A rating to the city’s general employees fund.
The contract for the general employees is up in 2021. At that time, Neal de Jesus, interim city manager said, the commission could direct the city manager to negotiate for an increased retirement contribution from employees. But he suggested the City Commission should be prepared to give up something in exchange.
If the general employees choose to go with the Florida retirement system, they would pay 3 percent of their salaries but receive only half of the benefit amount that Delray Beach gives, Smith said.
In other budget news, de Jesus said the commission’s desire to cut the tax rate slightly will keep the city’s general fund reserves at 23 percent, down 2 points from the 25 percent goal. The proposed amount reserved is $31.9 million. The amount that cities hold in reserve varies statewide. No set amount is required.
Staff was asked to cut departmental budget requests by an average of 2 percent.
Several capital improvement projects will now be paid using the penny sales tax dollars, said Missie Barletto, assistant director of Public Works. They include the design of the Thomas Street Stormwater Pump Station and parts of other projects.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia asked the city clerk to reconsider purchasing a piece of equipment that would allow more meetings to be streamed live. The encoder was pulled from the next year’s budget because it cost $58,000, said Katerri Johnson, city clerk.
The city decided to use a service to provide captions of its City Commission and Community Redevelopment Agency meetings, instead of buying equipment that would have to be replaced in three to five years, Johnson said.
As long as the equipment doesn’t require additional software or other purchases, Petrolia wanted it for residents who can’t come to the various advisory board meetings, such as the Historic Preservation and Site Plan Review and Appearance boards. The city was set to have a tentative budget hearing on Sept. 5 and a final budget hearing at 4 p.m. Sept. 17.

By Jane Smith

The Delray Beach City Commission chose Michael Cernech on Aug. 20 as the next city manager.
Cernech, 51, is the city manager of Tamarac, whose population is similar to Delray Beach’s.
“I liked the steady demeanor of Cernech,” Bill Bathurst, deputy vice mayor, said a few days after the selection. “He’s the right pick for Delray Beach at this time.”
Commissioner Ryan Boylston agreed. “I picked him because I thought he was better for our staff and our residents,” Boylston said about a week after the choice. “The staff includes police officers and firefighters.”
In comments made after the public candidate interviews on Aug. 20, Boylston and Bathurst seemed to be leaning to another candidate, George Gretsas.
Bathurst pointed out the steadiness of Cernech compared with the high energy level of Gretsas, city manager in Homestead. “There’s a lot going on there,” Bathurst said about Gretsas.
Boylston described Cernech as a “prototypical city manager, but Delray Beach is not a prototypical city. It’s historic, but it has a cutting edge. It has a downtown and a beach. Gretsas can handle that.”
They also said they were not influenced by the heavy turnout of police the day before at the meet-and-greet event held at the Old School Square. Police also were present on Aug. 20 for the public candidate interviews, the one-hour break and the following meeting when the commission selected a city manager.
Police Chief Javaro Sims was at the Aug. 19 event along with a contingent that included Lt. Vinnie Gray. Gray said he attended as a member of the command staff. He is also a police union rep, who signed the three-year police union contract last year.
“We liked the gentleman from Tamarac,” Gray said in late August. “Let’s leave it at that.”
As to the interest in the city manager selection, he said, “We’re always there when a city manager is selected.”
Tamarac is a racially diverse city, but it does not have the wide income swings of Delray Beach.
Situated in western Broward County, Tamarac is a bedroom community without a downtown, coastline or historic district. It doesn’t have a commercial area or Community Redevelopment Agency district. The suburban community also lacks its own police department.
Bathurst is not worried. He believes Cernech will pick up the skills easily.
Commissioner Adam Frankel also voted for Cernech. Frankel, who sat on the city’s police pension advisory board from March, 2008 to June 2016, did not say which candidate he favored after the interviews.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia favored Gretsas, who has been Homestead city manager for nearly nine years.
Gretsas, 51, previously served as city manager of Fort Lauderdale for six years. While running Fort Lauderdale, he oversaw the largest capital improvement effort in the city’s history at $500 million, Petrolia said.
His contract was not renewed in July 2010 after he tried to make changes in the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.
In 2009, “I was asked to negotiate with the police union and reduce its pension costs,” Gretsas said during the candidate interviews.
After the contract was settled in May 2008, the police chief resigned. He was elected to the Fort Lauderdale City Commission in March 2009, creating a split commission with two who backed Gretsas, two who didn’t and the mayor in the middle, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
A few months later, Homestead hired Gretsas by a unanimous commission vote of 7-0.
During the Delray Beach candidate interviews, Gretsas said one reason he applied was to shorten his commute from Fort Lauderdale, giving him more time to spend with his young daughter. He also pointed out that the recruiter contacted him about the opening.
“As a city manager, I’m disciplined about staying in my lane,” Gretsas said. “You tell me what you want to do, and I will do it.”
Vice Mayor Shirley Johnson voted for Joseph Napoli, who has been deputy city manager of Miami for 18 months. Napoli, 60, has worked on issues concerning homeless people and sea level rise while in Miami.
“I don’t have an extensive background in city management, but I do have a broad background in leadership — clear, concise leadership,” Napoli said during the candidate interviews.
During the following meeting, commissioners voted three for Cernech, one for Gretsas and one for Napoli.
Then they voted to negotiate with Cernech by a 4-1 vote, with Johnson against.
Cernech makes $256,520 annually, plus benefits, in Tamarac.
Delray Beach advertised the city manager’s job with a salary range between $200,000 and $270,000.

By Mary Thurwachter

After a June 12 decision to use asphalt for the pathway at the Lantana Nature Preserve didn’t sit well with several residents who voiced their concerns at subsequent meetings, the Town Council agreed to revisit the issue. But the outcome of a second vote in August had the same conclusion — asphalt.
The discussion over what material to use for the pathway has stretched almost two years — after Hurricane Irma severely damaged the shell rock path.
In May 2018, the town considered replacing the path with a concrete trail, a $66,000 project that would be built over two years. But many residents said they weren’t thrilled with the idea of a concrete walkway in a nature preserve. Others said the cost was excessive.
Since then, various ideas on material have been proposed, including paver stones, treated wood, shell rock and gunite, which is a mixture of sand, water and cement.
Budgetary constraints — due to an agreement made when the Nature Preserve was built in the late 1990s — limit the town to spending no more than the $50,000 annual payment it receives from the Carlisle senior living facility next door. And that $50,000 includes maintenance.
Asphalt, with an estimated cost of $56,000, was the most affordable material considered. But some argued that asphalt, a petroleum product, would be environmentally harmful and not suitable for the 61/2-acre park.
Council members argued that asphalt has changed in consistency and contains much less oil than it did years ago. They also noted that asphalt was used for paths in county parks.
Vice Mayor Malcolm Balfour said he found that asphalt was the recommended choice for the pathway in the original plans.
But Balfour’s wife, Ilona Balfour, said there are other issues the town needs to be concerned about at the park.
“The Nature Preserve has been suffering from benign neglect for some time,” she said. “It’s overgrown with weeds and invasives. There should be someone checking in regularly.”
In other news, the council agreed to revisit its July vote to allow FPL to install 4,000-Kelvin streetlamps.
Council member Lynn Moorhouse said that since the vote was taken, he talked to residents and others who had done extensive research on the lights and they considered the 4,000Ks to be a poor choice.
“I met with a lot of people in town and I spent a good bit of time talking with Mike Bornstein, who went through this with Lake Worth,” Moorhouse said, referring to the city manager for Lake Worth Beach. “Studies had been done by environmental groups. The bottom line is a light of that intensity does a lot of harm to humans, animals, flowers, fauna, you name it. It’s not a good fit.
“I didn’t have that information when we brought it up and voted for it. I’d like to bring it up at a future council meeting.
“There are some people who have expertise,” Moorhouse said. “We got a one-sided story from FPL. We voted on it accordingly and it seemed good. There’s another side to the story and it should be presented.”
One resident who did extensive research on the subject is Media Beverly of Hypoluxo Island. She plans to share that information with the town when the matter comes up again on Sept. 9.
“I really do believe that had you been given all the information during the first meeting when FPL made its presentation that you really would have come to a different conclusion,” Beverly said. “My research shows that the 4,000K lighting is nothing but detrimental and that anything below 3,000 would be acceptable.”
Also coming up in September are public budget hearings at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 9 and Sept. 23 in council chambers. The town set its proposed tax rate at $3.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value for the next fiscal year.

By Jane Smith

The second phase of the beach master plan is underway in Delray Beach.
The $3.7 million project includes the design work; nautical fencing to protect the dunes; promenade lighting; roadway improvements at Gleason Street, Venetian Drive and A1A intersections with Atlantic Avenue; six renovated pedestrian crosswalks along A1A; and construction monitoring.
“We visited every business from the FEC railroad tracks to the beach to tell them about the work,” said Aaron Cutler, vice president at Baxter & Woodman, hired to oversee the project.
Cutler apparently did such a great job that only four people came to the city’s presentation July 31. They were a former mayor, the head of the Beach Property Owners Association, a jewelry store representative and the Downtown Development Authority executive director.
The work was supposed to start Aug. 12 at the Venetian intersection, but heavy rains delayed the onset by one week.
The Florida Department of Transportation owns Atlantic Avenue on the barrier island and won’t allow pavers in the roadway because they shift over time, said Isaac Kovner, city project manager. The pavers were removed, along with the lime rock underneath them. The lime rock was replaced, and a thin coating of asphalt was applied to allow traffic to pass.
This month, work crews plan to mill the street surface at the Venetian and Gleason intersections, then put down a 1.5-inch layer of asphalt. The asphalt has to cure for 30 days, Cutler said, before the crosswalk area will be painted brick red.
Then, white Thermoseal striping will be added to the crosswalk.
The area between the east and west crosswalks of the Venetian and Gleason intersections will be stamped in a herringbone-brick pattern to look like pavers.
Late last year, work on the Venetian and Gleason intersections was started, but it was paused to allow the work to be done in the off-season, said Gina Carter, city spokeswoman. The previous contractor was paid $118,143.
“Weather is the only thing that can hold up this project,” said Michael Boss, president of MBR Construction of Fort Lauderdale, the current contractor. He predicted most of the project would be finished by Nov. 19.
Along the beach, pedestrian-height lighting that is amber-colored and shielded from the beach side will be added to the promenade, starting at Harbor Drive to Casuarina Road.
The lights will be on timers and most will go off at 10 p.m., according to Missie Barletto, deputy director of Public Works. The central part of the promenade, close to Atlantic Avenue, will be lit until 2 a.m.
Solar-powered bollards near the main pavilion at Atlantic will not be on timers, she said.
Florida Power & Light has seven red-hued LED lights to replace the white LED lights nearest Atlantic Avenue, on the west side of A1A, according to Nina Frick, an FPL spokeswoman. The city will be charged for the change.
Last year, FPL decided it wanted only its own lights on the light poles and gave the city two choices: white LED or red-hued LED lights.
The white lights can be lit from Nov. 1 through the end of February annually and then go dark from March 1 through Oct. 31 for the sea turtle nesting season. The red-hued ones are considered turtle-friendly and can stay lit throughout the year.
The city chose the white lights, which were installed in January.
Meanwhile, FPL has been working with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to gain approval for amber LED lights. The lights were approved by the state but failed one of FPL’s field-worthiness tests, Barletto wrote in an email in early August.
“The light was sent back to the manufacturer to look at the issue that caused it to fail and I understand that they are doing additional testing now,” Barletto wrote. “If they get an approved light, then we can again approach the commission to consider replacing the white lights along A1A with the new, approved, amber lights. There will be a cost associated with that decision for the city.”
Delray Beach residents and business owners can call a special hotline number (833-335-7292) to ask about the second phase of the beach master plan. Another option is to look for updates on Twitter (@beachmasterplan) or Facebook (Beach Master Plan Phase 2).

By Jane Smith

Free rides in electric cars are returning to downtown Delray Beach.
Freebee vehicles are set to take to the streets in September, offering point-to-point service that starts or ends in the city’s downtown core. BeeFree Holdings, based in Miami, operates under the Freebee name.
Because the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency board members did not want advertising on the vehicles in the first six months, the CRA will have to pay $90,000 extra for the six vehicles, which will cost $401,560 annually.
The Freebee vehicle wraps will have four Delray Beach themes, said Ivan Cabrera, CRA project manager. All will have white lettering that says: Welcome to Delray Beach.
“Frogs will represent Frog Alley, pineapples for Pineapple Grove, the Crest Theatre building for Old School Square and palms for the beach,” Cabrera said at the Aug. 13 CRA workshop.
Operating hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Wednesdays and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays.
Freebee rides serve only the CRA district.
That area has the interstate as its western boundary, the beach as its eastern one. It straddles Atlantic Avenue and goes north to Lake Ida Road and south to Southwest 10th Street.
On the barrier island the district covers two blocks north and south of Atlantic.
The limited coverage area concerns Shelly Petrolia, the CRA chairwoman.
“When the Downtowner operated, it served the Lake Ida area and the north and south areas of the beach,” she said at the Aug. 13 workshop. Residents living there may be disappointed, she added.
Cabrera said the CRA staff would track the calls and let the CRA board know the results in six months.
In addition, the fixed-route, free service continues to serve the Tri-Rail station, west of the interstate, with a stop at the beach.
Its new route was to start Sept. 3.
The gas-powered minibus will go east on Atlantic Avenue to Swinton Avenue where it will turn north, then east on Northeast First Street and stop at the Old School Square garage. The vehicle will continue east on Northeast First and then turn south on Northeast Fourth Avenue and then east on Atlantic to the beach.
That route was selected to avoid the congested traffic of Atlantic Avenue.
The minibus has two vehicles, operated by First Transit. The first runs 6 a.m. through 7 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends. The second vehicle runs 6:45 a.m. through 11:15 p.m. weekdays and noon to 11 p.m. weekends.
The white minibuses each have a blue wrap that depicts palms and white lettering that says: “Welcome to Delray Beach.”
Riders using either transportation option can use the Freebee app for smartphones to call for a Freebee ride or find the schedule for the minibus.
The electric car and minibus services operate under the brand Connect Delray.
At the Sept. 10 CRA meeting, board members will decide whether they want to rebid the fixed-route portion to get electric-powered vehicles and will hear about an upcoming $900,000 federal transportation grant and the types of vehicles it covers.

By Jane Smith

The controversial Midtown Delray project in Delray Beach may soon have a new owner.
The original investors, MGM Delray and Hudson Holdings, settled dueling lawsuits in July, allowing Pebb Capital of Boca Raton to resurrect its $40 million bid for the 7-acre project.
Pebb Capital could take control of the project in October. Its principals have asked to meet with the city’s Development Services staff, Delray Beach spokeswoman Gina Carter confirmed.
Pebb officials could not be reached to discuss their Midtown Delray plans despite numerous phone messages and an email request seeking a response.
Midtown Delray sits at the southwest corner of Swinton and Atlantic avenues.
The project approval came with several community requirements. One was for the developer to pay $100,000 to establish historic preservation grants before receiving its first building permit.
The agreement also required the Midtown Delray developer to establish a jobs program that includes requiring subcontractors to hire local workers, provide mentorship opportunities for local workers, provide bonding assistance to small local companies and establish jobs fairs for the northwest and southwest areas of the city. The city manager must approve the jobs programs.
The development order expires on April 19, 2022, based on extensions granted for governor-declared emergencies for the opioid epidemic, Hurricane Maria in 2017 and the 2018 algae bloom.
In March, Hudson Holdings, managed by Steven Michael, sued partner MGM Delray, managed by Rick Marshall, over the proposed project sale to Pebb Capital. Hudson claimed the $40 million price was too low.
MGM Delray — in a May counterclaim — estimated that Hudson’s share was $1.86 million if the property was sold for $37.86 million. In addition, Marshall claimed to be the major investor of the $26 million spent buying the land.
Marshall, originally from Raleigh, N.C., but now living in Fort Lauderdale, declined to discuss the project’s sale, saying “it’s not appropriate for me to comment now.”
Michael declined to reveal the amount his firm received to walk away.
Hudson Holdings has its office at 20 S. Swinton Ave. and will soon move. The exact date has not been determined, Michael wrote in an email response.
He also disagreed with Marshall’s reason given in the counterclaim of why the project needed to be sold: Neither firm had the skills “to complete such an extensive redevelopment project.”
Hudson, Michael wrote, “had a clear vision of how this project would be a center jewel on Atlantic Avenue … [and]was quite capable of taking it to completion.”
Midtown Delray was rejected twice by the city’s Historic Preservation Board in 2017, primarily because the new three- and four-story buildings would appear massive compared with the one- and two-story historic structures.
Board members also did not like that the historic homes would be moved twice: the first time to make way for an underground garage and the second time to move back to their original locations on new foundations.
In addition, they didn’t like that the lush landscaping would be stripped off the western side of a South Swinton Avenue block while the underground garage was built. The developer agreed to pay the city $124,050 to compensate for tree removal, down from a $139,800 price tag in December 2017 when the Historic Board reviewed the project.
Midtown Delray sits in the southern half of the Old School Square Historic Arts District. The area is designated a local historic district and on the National Register of Historic Places.
The development houses some of the city’s oldest structures: Cathcart House and Sundy House, built in 1902, and the Rectory, built in 1912.

GULF STREAM — Betty Brown Van der Wolk, 89, of Gulf Stream and Osterville, Massachusetts, died Aug. 23 in Boynton Beach.
Betty Brown was born on July 18, 1930, in Fort Worth, Texas, where she spent her early life and later graduated from Texas Christian University. She was married in 1958 and had her first child a year later. A product of the Depression era and her Texan roots, Mrs. Van der Wolk lived with strength, determination and self-reliance.
Mrs. Van der Wolk enjoyed taking morning walks and was recognized for her long stride. She was a voracious reader of The New York Times, commonly reaching for the Style section first and sharing articles of interest with family members. An avid entertainer, she orchestrated gatherings of all sorts, from the lavish dinner dance to luncheons by air or by sea.
Mrs. Van der Wolk possessed a mix of wit, grace and glamour — always elegantly dressed — and drew more than her fair share of attention when she entered a room.
Mrs. Van der Wolk will also be remembered for her quiet gestures of kindness. A dedicated wife and lovingly referred to as “Betts” by her husband, she and Jeff could often be found dining at one of the clubs with which they had affiliations, including The Gulf Stream Bath and Tennis Club, The Wianno Club, and The Beach Club of Centerville, Massachusetts. She had also been a longstanding member of The Hyannis Yacht Club, The Gulf Stream Golf Club, and Society of the Four Arts.
Usually dining out and always the last to leave, Mrs. Van der Wolk liked to joke that she didn’t know where the kitchen was located in her house.
While Mrs. Van der Wolk will be sorely missed by many, all are reassured as she joins her husband for the last and final stop on what they referred to as “The Good Life Express.”
She is survived by her daughter, Hope Powell Van der Wolk of Santa Fe, New Mexico, her sons, Philip Jefferson Van der Wolk of Santa Fe and Peter Walton Van der Wolk of Richmond, Virginia, as well as seven grandchildren.
She was predeceased by her mother, Minnie Mae Brown, her father, Lawrence Walton Brown, her sister, Lucille Brown Williams, and her husband, Jefferson Feigl Van der Wolk, as well as by many of her dear friends.
The family will have a private burial in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, on Sept. 14. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Unity Church of Delray Beach, 101 NW 22nd St., Delray Beach, FL 33444.
Obituary submitted by the family

OCEAN RIDGE — Frances Evelyn Nolte died in her home in New Branford, Conn., on Aug. 4 at the age of 93.
She was born in New York City on April 14, 1926, to Evelyn and Manfred Messner. She graduated with a bachelor’s in literature from Duke University, after which she worked at B. Altman & Co. and Condé Nast in New York City.
In 1951, she married Henry R. Nolte Jr., whom she met during their days at Duke.
“Sis” was a supportive and loving wife and mother who enjoyed painting, gardening, sailing and entertaining friends at their homes throughout the years in New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, England, Connecticut and Florida. She loved traveling, playing tennis and golf with her friends and children and having wonderful family holidays in Michigan, Florida and abroad.
She was a supporter of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Institute of Arts, Cranbrook Educational Community, the Society of the Four Arts and Planned Parenthood. She was a member of the Ocean Club of Florida, the Everglades Club and Gulfstream Golf Club.
She is survived by: brothers Warren and Robert Messner; son Henry Reed Nolte and daughters Gwynne Conn, Jennifer Stevens and Suzanne Saunders; grandchildren Diana Conn, Hannah, Emma and Henry Nolte, Suzanna and Alexandra Stevens, and Isabella and Ethan Saunders; daughter-in-law Leslie Nolte and sons-in-law Mark Stevens and Scott Saunders.
Memorial contributions may be made to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 188 S. Swinton Ave, Delray Beach, FL 33444.  

Obituary submitted by the family

By Charles Elmore

A new state law billed as holding down home insurance rates won’t stop average premiums from breaking through the $3,000 mark for the first time in Palm Beach County at a company important for coastal residents.
Increases approved by state regulators become effective Dec. 1 for state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the second- largest insurer in the state and county. One area public insurance adjuster’s take in written comments to regulators: “Very concerned.”
For example, make it a 9.1 percent increase to an average of $3,109 annually for Palm Beach County residents who buy Citizens coverage only for the windstorm portion of their policy. Many such customers live near the coast where storm risks are higher. That’s up from an average of $2,851, calculations provided by the company show.
County homeowners buying full coverage from Citizens face an average hike to $3,016 from $2,901 for a standard policy known as an H03, according to company filings. That represents a 4 percent boost.
Individual policies differ and virtually no one pays the exact average, of course. Projections from the company can vary slightly from those of state regulators. Still, the bottom line remains higher costs ahead for most customers.
Citizens refiled 2019 rates to reflect passage of a state law this spring. Insurance industry officials say HB 7065 makes it harder for contractors, attorneys and others to inflate costs when consumers sign papers that let third parties take over control of insurance benefits for a claim. That’s known as “assignment of benefits.”
Supporters say the new law is designed to control abuses particularly prevalent in certain claims, such as water damage from a broken pipe. These are often the costliest kind of claims besides damage from hurricanes and other natural disasters, particularly if plaintiff attorneys take the cases to court. The costs are ultimately passed along to consumers through rates.
Passage of the law after seven years of legislative stalemate represents “a major step forward in our efforts to stem rising premiums caused by unnecessary litigation and assignment-of-benefits abuse,” Citizens President Barry Gilway said. “It is going to make a difference.”
Statewide, Citizens raised premiums 2.3 percent for HO3 policyholders, compared to an 8.5 percent increase requested before the law. An original filing would have raised Palm Beach County HO3 rates more than 7 percent, with the final increase landing at 4 percent.
The effect is far less pronounced in “wind-only” policies, because full-service policies tend to have more claims affected by the new law. Increases for wind-only coverage remain at more than 9 percent in Palm Beach County, for example, even after the new legislation.
In addition, state law caps Citizens’ premium increases at 10 percent in any given year, and company officials say they have pent-up rate need in parts of the state, including southeast Florida.
The law puts new restrictions on attorney fees and changes requirements for how insurance companies must be notified of lawsuits, among other changes. The law could face challenges in court.
Passage of the measure came over the objections of some legislators and professional groups that insurance companies wanted to get rid of rules that encouraged them to pay claims fully and promptly.
“This bill is designed to cure a crisis that has not been actuarially shown and does things that treat some vendors unfairly,” Democratic state Sen. Gary Farmer, an attorney whose Broward County district abuts Boca Raton, said during session debate.
Citizens had more than 36,000 policies in Palm Beach County as of March 31, the second-largest market share, according to state records. It continues to play a key role particularly for coverage near the coast, where many private carriers seek to limit their risk.
Some backers of the new law say they hope it encourages private insurers to write more policies in South Florida and increase competition, but that remains to be seen.
Residents such as Eli Casper of Highlight Realty in Boca Raton told regulators in written comments they opposed the rate increases.
“I am very concerned for myself and my fellow consumers,” Casper said. He said customers are already paying more money for less coverage and said he must “strongly recommend and request” no increase.

Biggest home insurers in Palm Beach County
Company and number of its local policies:
1. Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Co.: 86,355
2. Citizens Property Insurance Corp.: 36,211
3. FedNat Insurance Co.: 28,443
4. American Bankers Insurance Co.: 21,513
5. Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Co.: 15,437
Source: Florida Office of Insurance Regulation as of March 31, 2019

Citizens’ insurance hikes in county
Coverage/average annual premium after Dec. 1, 2019/current premium/% increase
Multi-peril homeowners (H03): $3,016, $2,901, 4%
Wind-only homeowners (HW2): $3,109, $2,851, 9.1%
Multi-peril condo (HO6): $1,043, $976, 6.9%
Wind-only condo (HW6): $990, $920, 7.6%
Source: Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

These five are among 180 new impact glass windows at the restored Boynton Beach high school. Photos by Rachel O’Hara/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

The renovation of the historic Boynton Beach high school is nearly finished.
The restoration work will end in early November, city staff said in mid-August while giving a tour of the restored building.
Among the challenges to restoring the 92-year-old building were adding a sprinkler system and 180 impact windows. The frames had to be rebuilt to withstand the extra weight of the impact windows, said Andrew Mack, Public Works director.
A newly hired cultural events person will start in September, said Lori LaVerriere, city manager.
The new employee’s first task will be figuring out the rental rates for the second-floor auditorium and other rooms. The city plans to begin taking deposits as soon as rental rates are set, including for weddings on the second floor.
“We need to start making money from this restoration,” LaVerriere said.
Classes and rentals aren’t expected to start until late spring 2020 — after the City Center next door is completed and a new parking garage is built. The City Center building will combine City Hall and the library and sits directly across Ocean Avenue from the high school. The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency plans to move to the fourth floor of the City Center building.

ABOVE: The southern yellow pine ceiling of the old high school gym is original, and the space will be rented out for concerts and other events. The building will be the city’s cultural center. BELOW: Of the two kapok trees on the property, this one on the west side of the school was preserved in place in what will be a park area. The other tree was moved across the street.

The high school and City Center will be among the first to be finished in Town Square, a $250 million, 16-acre project that will create a downtown for Boynton Beach.
The ground floor of the high school building will create “a nucleus of arts uses,” LaVerriere said. The rooms will hold arts and dance classes, once held in the now demolished Civic, Madsen and Arts centers nearby. The classes are now scattered throughout the city in various park buildings.

Nick Sacco, lead superintendent of the project for Straticon Construction, and Jess Brancaccio, director of sales and marketing, point out some details for the news media during a tour.

Plans include two outdoor patios accessible from the first floor of the high school. On the west side, visitors will exit into Kapok Park with four exercise stations for use by older teens and adults. A small park for kids under 5 will also be on this side, along with a meditation water fountain.
Brides will be able to take wedding pictures under the large kapok tree.
The east side will have a small patio for relaxing and a playground for kids.
The high school’s second floor, where the city expects to make the most of its rental income, features a new roof, restored wooden trusses and a new hardwood floor. It can seat about 250 people at tables or 500 for concerts.
The high school has a warming kitchen on the first floor but not a full kitchen.
On the second floor, performers and brides will have a green room to use.
The high school was added to the city’s list of historic places in February 2013. It was designed by prominent school architect William Manly King, who used features from the Mediterranean revival and art deco styles, according to the Boynton Beach Historical Society.

Michael Holzheid (left) has purchased the Sail Inn property and bar.  Longtime bartender, Bastian Raams (right) is now the general manager. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star 

By Christine Davis

Rick Jankee, who owned the Sail Inn in Delray Beach until Aug. 15, has sailed out, so to speak.
He talked to us briefly after a farewell thank-you party at the neighborhood bar at 657 George Bush Blvd.
“We are the oldest bar, 66 years, with the same name, same address,” Jankee said. “No one comes close to our age and our history, our philanthropy and the camaraderie we’ve had during hurricanes, sickness, death, and I’m really proud of that.”
Prior to owning the bar for 21 years, he was its manager for 10. The Sail Inn’s former owner, Bobby DeMario, gave Jankee the opportunity to buy the bar, and Jankee decided the time had come for him to do the same. Michaelk Holzheid now owns the property and the bar and Jankee’s former employee Bastian Raams now manages the Sail Inn.
“I wanted them to work for themselves and own their own business,” Jankee says. “Bastiaan worked for me for six years or so and he stepped up and I let him have it.”
A bout with throat cancer last year was a wake-up call, he says. “That changed everything for me; it humbled me and I decided it was time.”
His secret for longevity in the bar business? Fairness and consistency, he said.
Jankee says he plans to travel with his girlfriend, Kerri Hussey, help people out and do some charity work.
“I’ll miss the good times, though, the people, the camaraderie, and the quirky stuff I used to do,” he says, recalling the fire truck, the short bus that won the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the mariachi band and the pony that he drummed up for birthdays.
Jankee promises not to be a stranger to the Sail Inn. He’ll be back without the liability worries that come with bar ownership, he says. “I’m still only a block away. When in town, I’ll pop into the bar if they’ll have me.”

Dog Activity World is open in Boynton Beach, just north of Home Depot, at 1510 SW Eighth St. The center, started by Hannah Wickins, offers resort-style daycare, a 160-foot-long running path with a mechanical rabbit or squirrel as a lure, boarding, training, photography and more. The dog daycare hours are: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Call 340-3740 or visit www.dogaw.com.

The Club at Boynton Beach Assisted Living and Memory Care community opens in September, right in the middle of hurricane season, but is prepared with a state-of-the-art generator to provide emergency backup power and climate control to residential apartments and common areas.
Because of Hurricane Irma in 2017 when several nursing homes and assisted living communities in Florida were without air-conditioning after the storm, former Gov. Rick Scott issued a mandate requiring that assisted living communities have at least 96 hours’ worth of fuel and the capacity to cool 20 square feet per resident. 
The Club, at 623 S. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach, goes beyond the mandate’s minimum requirements. The community has enough backup power to cool 64,313 square feet. Air-conditioning will be maintained throughout the entire building, private residential apartments and common areas. Daily operations will have enough energy to continue providing for residents to receive all of their nursing care, meals and activities without interruption.
“We designed our community keenly aware of the new mandate,” said Oliver Von Troll, founder and owner of The Club. “But we weren’t satisfied with simply meeting the minimum legal standards. The idea that our residents would have to squeeze into a single air-conditioned common area in the event of an outage just wasn’t acceptable to us. So we’ve put in place a system that covers the whole building. Our residents can stay in their climate-controlled apartments if they choose, minimizing disruption to their daily routines.”

Several Palm Beach County businesses have launched a new networking group, the Boynton Beach Professionals, which meets on the first and third Fridays of the month at 8 a.m. in Boynton Beach. It’s set up as an “exclusive seat” organization, so just one member per business category is allowed to join.
John Campanola is chairman of the group. For more information, contact boynton beachprofessionals@gmail.com. 

The legal and consulting firm Erin L. Deady, 54 1/2 SE Sixth Ave., Delray Beach, has formed a new practice area, a title company for residential real estate transactions.  
“This new area made sense for us as a way to expand our client services in the real estate industry,” said Deady, the firm’s president. “The fact that we are attorneys will give us a leg up since our experience allows us to look at the big picture for our clients.” 

Co-Developers National Realty Investment Advisors and U.S. Construction have begun demolition work on the future site of Ocean Delray at 1901 South Ocean Blvd., previously the site of the Wright by the Sea hotel. The new development will have 19 residences, priced from $5 million to $10 million.
IMI Worldwide Properties, sales and marketing representative for Ocean Delray, has already sold 40 percent of the project, totaling $45 million. For more information, contact 800-793-9783.

The Delray Beach Housing Authority received approval from the Palm Beach County Housing Finance Authority for a non-revolving pre-development loan of up to $750,000 and a $1.7 million revolving construction loan for Phase III of its Island Cove project.
The Phase III project, which will include nine buildings with six townhomes that will be offered for sale on Southwest Eighth Street and Southwest 12th Avenue, will cost approximately $18.5 million. The $750,000 loan will cover some of the costs of the architect, project manager, marketing, legal, survey and testing.
The $1.7 million loan will cover the construction of one of the nine buildings. The revolving-construction amount may be increased by an additional $1.7 million, subject to availability of funding. The project will provide “workforce for sale” housing.

The Boca Real Estate Investment Club will hold its annual Locals Night at 7 p.m. Sept. 12. Registration begins at 6:30 p.m. It will be held at the Gold Coast School of Real Estate, 2600 N. Military Trail, Boca Raton. Cost is $15 for nonmembers. For more information, call 391-7325.

Boca Chamber’s Pulse, business professionals under 40 years old, will host a lunch featuring Kevin Ross, president of Lynn University, at Wynham Hotel-Boca Raton, 1950 Glades Road / Wyndham Way, from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Sept. 17.
Ross, the fifth president of Lynn University, took office in 2006, succeeding his father, Donald E. Ross, who founded Wilmington College before serving as Lynn’s president for 35 years. Non-members pay $50 for the lunch.
For more information, contact Sarah Pearson at spearson@bocachamber.com or Chasity J. Navarro at cnavarro@bocachamber.com or at 395-4433.

In collaboration with FAU’s Jaffe Center for Book Arts and its exhibition Building Stories: Alternative Storytelling, the Palm Beach Poetry Festival is screening the film Sita Sings the Blues, an animated romantic comedy and musical interpretation of the Hindu epic poem The Ramayana, at 7 p.m. Sept. 26. It will be at The Jaffe Center for Book Arts, Florida Atlantic University Wimberly Library 3rd Floor East, 777 Glades Rd., Boca Raton. Tickets are $10.

The Faulk Center for Counseling will host its Community Impact Awards reception and dinner at 6 p.m. Nov. 7 at Broken Sound Club. The event will be co-chaired by Eileen Sands and Lois A. Weisman. Honorary chairs will be Pamela & Robert Weinroth.

This year’s honorees include Dr. Virginia Crist, licensed marriage and family therapist, recipient of the Caring Heart Award; Rotary Club Downtown Boca Raton, recipient of the Mental Health & Wellness Award; and Dr. Paul Peluso, Chair, Department of Counselor Education, Florida Atlantic University, recipient of the Education Excellence Award. 

The individuals and organizations are recognized for their support of the Faulk Center’s mission of providing free and low-cost mental health counseling services to uninsured, underserved and at-risk individuals of all ages.
 Ticket price to attend the event is  $125 per person. For more information, call Ali Rubin at 483-5300 or email a.rubin@faulkcenterforcounseling.org.

Jane Smith contributed to this report.

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

By Steve Plunkett

The Camino Real bridge — closed nearly 16 months for reconstruction — will reopen Aug. 6, Palm Beach County officials say.

County Commissioner Robert Weinroth's office said it would hold a short ceremony starting at 10 a.m.

"We estimate the opening will take approximately 15 to 20 minutes," Weinroth's senior aide, Lucia Bonavita, said.

Valet parking will be available at the Boca Raton Resort & Club, Bonavita said.

Contractor Kiewit Construction missed a June 20 target for reopening the bridge and then a less definite goal "towards the end of July," county officials said. As recently as July 31, Deputy County Engineer Tanya McConnell said she was not able to give a date for the reopening.

"We are in the latter stages of construction but that is as much as I am able to say at this time," McConnell said.

Kiewit is being fined $10,000 per day for the opening and about $3,000 per day for the overall contract, McConnell said.

The bridge closed to land traffic on April 12, 2018. Crews started working nights in mid-May to meet the anticipated June 20 reopening. 

Health, environmental and cost concerns loom

Doug Levine, manager of the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment plant, checks on one of the trio of million-gallon secondary clarifier tanks where solids are removed from sewage. About 17 million gallons are treated each day at the plant, which is undergoing a multiyear upgrade. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Related Stories: Cities rush to fix aging sewer systems | How sewage flows | Boca Raton's multi-year project targets older underground pipes | Editor's Note: Sewage disposal issues leave no time to waste

By Rich Pollack

We live in a flush and forget world.
Most of us don’t fully understand what happens when we flush our toilets, or send gallons of water down the drain while taking a shower, doing laundry or washing dishes.
Yet at a time when our sewer lines are aging and our septic systems are being blamed for everything from algae blooms to illness, ignoring what is under our roads and yards may no longer be an option.
“You can’t just put something in the ground and expect it to last indefinitely,” says Jason Pugsley, vice president of Florida operations for Baxter & Woodman, an engineering firm that works with several municipalities in Palm Beach County. “Our infrastructure in Palm Beach County is getting to the point where we need to consider either replacing it or significantly improving the systems.”
There is a huge cost associated with replacing or improving traditional sewage-collection systems — largely coming out of the wallets of water and sewer customers.
There is also a significant cost to the environment, to health and to other existing infrastructure that comes with not acting now and recognizing that some types of buried pipes — though not all — are close to the end of their life expectancy.
While we often hear about water service failures, such as the one in Fort Lauderdale last month that affected about 220,000 people, we hardly ever learn about sewer line problems.
For example, through mid-July this year, 67 spills in Palm Beach County were reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which keeps records of such incidents.
They ranged from a spill of 100 gallons from a broken main in Boca Raton in April to a spill of 2,500 gallons of raw sewage just last month in Delray Beach. That spill, due to a sewer line blockage caused by grease buildup, led to sewage flowing into a parking lot near Veterans Park and into a storm-drain system leading to the Intracoastal Waterway.
A barrier that had been previously installed by a contractor at a nearby project contained 90 percent of the discharge before it got into the waterway, according to the city.

ABOVE: A pair of 36-inch pipes, one from Delray Beach and the other from Boynton Beach, flow into the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Plant. BELOW: Two screen devices remove non-biodegradable items from the sewage before it is treated. Toys, jewelry and even rolls of cash have been recovered from the flow.

Blockages are just one reason sewage lines can fail, according to local utility directors. Another is corrosion, caused often by the buildup of gases inside the lines, and yet a third — perhaps the most common — are accidental ruptures caused by work crews.
Weather can also play a role in system failures, with heavy rains shifting the ground on which lines rest and causing separation at the joints.
Age doesn’t always equate to system failures. A big factor is the material used to produce the pipe and whether that material is right for the environment the pipe is in.
Improper installation can also be an issue.
“If a pipe is really old and installed correctly, it can last a long time,” said Brent Whitfield, District 1 vice president of the Florida Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Failure has many impacts
When sewer lines do fail, the impact can be widespread and problematic. Raw sewage, in extreme cases, can seep into homes, wash out or flood roads and flood waterways. It also can attract mosquitoes and other unwelcome pests.
Then there’s the indirect impact. Boca Raton Utility Services Director Chris Helfrich recalls being in a Broward County restaurant on Christmas Eve years ago when a sewer-line break forced the restaurant to close — not because of sewage but because utilities will often shut off water service when there’s a sewage failure to stem the flow.
There are also health and environmental concerns that come from raw sewage leaks.
“Sewage can be one of the major contributors to nutrient pollution problems,” says Dr. Brian Lapointe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. Sewage, he says, is a big contributor of nitrogen, which is a factor in the growth of algae as well as the seaweed that invades the beaches.
Earlier this year Lapointe presented to the Florida Senate Agriculture, Environment and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee research linking septic systems and algae blooms. But he also points out that sewage leaking from failing lines can seep into groundwater and create environmental and health problems due to fecal bacteria and viruses.
Then there are the costs associated with spills — not just of the cleanup but of the work that’s done to keep failures from happening in the first place.
In southern Palm Beach County, communities are allocating millions of dollars in their 2019-2020 budgets to evaluate the condition of their sewage collection systems and making improvements.
“Our City Commission has made it very clear that infrastructure is a top priority,” said Delray Beach Assistant City Manager Caryn Gardner-Young.

Plan rather than react
For those responsible for municipal wastewater treatment systems, the possibility of a major failure or an undetected leak is what keeps them up at night. It’s also what keeps them planning ahead to ensure their systems are structurally sound and properly maintained.
“You never stop your diagnosis,” Gardner-Young said.
Boca Raton’s Helfrich says that the focus is on preempting problems rather than reacting to a crisis.
“Let’s not get into a catastrophic failure,” he said. “Let’s plan, be preventative and be proactive.”
In addition to closely evaluating the integrity of the lines, utility departments keep a close eye on lift stations, which pump sewage through the pipes. Lift station failures, often caused by power outages especially after a storm or hurricane, can also cause spills, but technology is making it possible for operators to monitor stations remotely and respond to disruptions.
Like most cities, Boca Raton is always monitoring its 550 miles of wastewater infrastructure, making sure the lines are properly maintained and keeping an eye on potential trouble spots. Now, with aging pipes in certain sections of town, the city is sinking $20 million into infrastructure improvement in the coming year; it will include roads, sidewalks, water lines and sewer lines.
In Boynton Beach, where the utility serves 115,000 customers in a area that includes about 450 miles of wastewater pipes and extends outside the city limits, $6 million is earmarked in the city’s proposed budget for renewal and replacement of the system. The utility also recently completed improvements to the wastewater system in the Leisureville community.
Delray Beach, which has about 275 miles of wastewater lines, has close to $10 million tentatively allocated for sewer improvements in the coming fiscal year.
Projects are also underway in some of the smaller coastal towns. In South Palm Beach, for example, the town is undergoing a lining of the sewer pipes, with the cost expected to be somewhere between $225,000 and $250,000.
Highland Beach, which has some aging clay pipes, is evaluating the infrastructure and looking at the possibility of using a lining system on gravity pipes, similar to those used in South Palm Beach and Leisureville.
Lantana is allocating about $150,000 in next year’s budget for lining of pipes.
In most cases, lining old non-pressurized pipes is an effective and cost-efficient alternative to replacing those lines.
“When you line pipes, you save money,” says Colin Groff, Boynton Beach’s assistant city manager for public services.
One of the most ambitious upgrading projects in the area is taking place at the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Plant, which treats about 17 million gallons of sewage a day from Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Highland Beach. The plant is located on South Congress Avenue at the Delray and Boynton Beach border.
The raw sewage pumped into the plant is first screened for foreign objects — think toys and jewelry — and then filtered to get out grit and sand. Then the sewage is treated with a process using natural bacteria before solids and liquids are separated. Treated wastewater from the plant is either used as reclaimed water — often for irrigation — or injected into a deep well.
Work on the 40-year-old plant began last year and will continue for another two years. It is focused on replacing aging equipment and systems, helping the plant operate more energy-efficiently and adding about 6 million gallons per day of capacity through these improvements.
Funding for the $20 million project — and for just about all of the projects in the area currently planned or in the works — comes not from taxpayer dollars but from user fees.
Utility customers in most communities with central sewage collection systems pay for basic infrastructure costs such as pipes and upgrades in the base rate in their monthly utility bills. They pay for the cost of treating wastewater in the portion of their bills based on consumption.
“All customers pay this part of the rate based on how much they use,” Groff said.
New customers pay an additional fee to connect to the utility.

It’s an ideal time to do work
So why are all of these system evaluation and improvements happening now?
The economy may play a role, say those in the industry, including Boca Raton’s Helfrich. During the Great Recession, many municipalities saw less money coming in as a result of foreclosures and a slowdown in building. With the economy improving and new users coming online as a result of a building boom, enterprise funds are growing.
Another factor may be the improvements in technology that make it easier for utilities to determine the condition of pipes without having to dig them up.
In Boynton Beach and several other communities in the area, a motorized camera inside a segment of pipeline can record a 360-degree view. Geographic information system (GIS) mapping technology is also helping utilities get a better understanding of what is underground.
Then there’s the lining system that towns and cities are using on pipes that are generally not under pressure.
“The lining process consists of inserting an epoxy-infused fabric into the pipe segment where it is expanded, by use of steam,” says Joseph Paterniti, Boynton Beach’s utilities director. The material, which is just millimeters thick, then sticks to the pipe and hardens to a rigid liner.
Perhaps the biggest reason for the focus on evaluating the condition of systems and plants is the fact that infrastructure is aging.
Although some types of pipes — such as ductile iron — can last for a century or more, pipes made years ago with materials including cast iron, asbestos cement and vitrified clay don’t hold up to time as well.
“Infrastructure is aging and all the pipes that are clay will have to be replaced or lined,” the society of civil engineers’ Whitfield said.
With many of those pipes installed in the late 1960s or early 1970s, there is a strong belief it’s time to make sure they’re holding up or are ready to be hauled out.
“Once you get to the 50-year mark you should do a comprehensive review or overhaul the system,” Baxter & Woodman’s Pugsley said.

Next month: A look at septic systems in coastal communities.

How our cities, towns dispose of wastewater

Boca Raton — Sewage from the barrier island crosses under the Intracoastal Waterway in two pipes and is treated at the city’s treatment plant.
Highland Beach — Wastewater is pumped to Delray Beach and treated at the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Plant.
Delray Beach — Wastewater from east of the Intracoastal Waterway is taken to the regional treatment plant via a single pipe across the waterway.
Gulf Stream — Many homes have septic systems, but some wastewater from multifamily communities is pumped to Boynton Beach, then onto the treatment facility.
Briny Breezes/St. Andrews Club — Sewage is pumped to Boynton Beach via one pipe under the Intracoastal Waterway, then onto the treatment facility.
Ocean Ridge — There is no central wastewater collection system. Homes are on septic systems. Some multifamily communities rely on small “package plants” that treat wastewater and release it to drain fields or through injection deep into the ground.
Manalapan — Most of the properties are on septic with the exception of the shopping plaza, hotel and Town Hall, which are connected to the Lake Worth Beach system. That city sends wastewater it collects to the East Central Regional Wastewater Treatment Facilities in West Palm Beach.
Hypoluxo Island/Lantana — Town sends wastewater to Lake Worth Beach via a pipe under the Intracoastal Waterway for treatment at the regional treatment facilities.
South Palm Beach — Sends its wastewater to Lake Worth Beach for treatment at the regional facilities.

Ocean Ridge septic-to-sewer discussion
The Town of Ocean Ridge invites residents to a meeting of its Septic to Sewer Citizens Advisory Committee at 9 a.m. Aug. 8 to speak about residential septic tank and/or drain field issues. Condo association representatives are also invited to speak about the status of their wastewater treatment facilities.