By Dan Moffett

    As Hurricane Matthew headed on a collision course with the Florida coast in October, Palm Beach County firefighters vacated the Manalapan station and drove their vehicles to shelter on the mainland.
    Now town commissioners are wondering why.
    “It seemed to a lot of us sitting up here that that was really inappropriate in the event there was an emergency on our side of the bridge,” Mayor David Cheifetz told county Battalion Fire Chief Doug Clark during the Nov. 15 town meeting.
    Commissioner Basil Diamond agreed: “It seems to me like we were being abandoned.”
    Clark had a simple answer for the commission. He said there should not have been anybody left in the town to abandon. County emergency managers gave a mandatory evacuation order to Manalapan and neighboring coastal towns, so residents should have departed to find shelter on the mainland, too.
    “When the state of emergency was declared and this island was ordered evacuated, our people were evacuated as well,” Clark said. “That’s our policy. I don’t think you want the rescuers needing to be rescued.”
    Clark said personnel and equipment for Manalapan were close at hand in Lantana and rode out the storm there. There was a “huge amount of resources” standing ready across the bridge, he said.
    No fire-rescue vehicle can operate in winds over 55 miles an hour, according to county policy.
    Though Hurricane Matthew veered to the north and didn’t strike the county, emergency managers said they had to guard against the potential danger of a Category 4 storm and had no choice but to order evacuation.
    Hundreds of residents in the station’s service district from Manalapan and South Palm Beach ignored the warning and stayed in their homes, however.
    Manalapan and South Palm Beach police remained on duty in their towns during the storm, and Cheifetz believes firefighters should maintain some presence on the islands — at least enough to respond to emergency medical calls.
    “It seems to me some accommodations can be made without putting people at risk,” the mayor said, and told staff to talk to county officials about changing policy.
    In other business:
    • Commissioners had hoped to hold a joint public workshop with the Hypoluxo Town Council in January to discuss the prospects for a new contract for water services from Manalapan. But those plans could stall because of the sudden death of longtime Hypoluxo Mayor Ken Schultz in November.
    Schultz, 86, also served as Hypoluxo’s town manager and would have been a key negotiator in dealing with Manalapan.
    Still, Manalapan Vice Mayor Peter Isaac remains optimistic about renegotiating the agreement after talking with the town’s water consultant.
    “It looks like we can put something very, very good in front of Hypoluxo,” Isaac said.
    The commission wants to lock in Hypoluxo to a long term-deal that prevents the town from switching to Boynton Beach’s system.

    • The newly rebuilt Audubon Causeway bridge is expected to open for two-way traffic some time this month. “We’re in the homestretch now,” Cheifetz said.
    One of the last hurdles is a 2 p.m. Dec. 8 workshop meeting during which the Architectural Commission will make the final decisions on landscaping.

The 30 units in the 3550 Ocean building all will have ocean views.

Rendering provided

By Dan Moffett

    What may be the quietest real estate boom in Florida is soon to start shaking South Palm Beach to its economic core.
    The developers of the much-anticipated 3550 South Ocean condo project have begun selling luxury units on the property once occupied by the ramshackle Palm Beach Hawaiian Inn, a forlorn icon that stood long beyond its useful years until demolition last year.
    “This is opening my eyes up to a whole new realm in South Palm Beach,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said after touring the project’s sales office in Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar. “This is totally amazing. It’s wonderful to see something exciting in the town after things being dead and the property vacant for so long.”
    It will take only several dozen new residents to usher South Palm into its whole new realm — enough to occupy the 30 units in the six-story 3550 building.
    By the town’s standards, the math is, as Fischer suggests, totally amazing: Pre-construction prices will start at $2.3 million for 2,500-square-foot units and likely climb over $5 million for 3,400-square-foot penthouse digs, topping out at around $1,700 per square foot.
    Consider that the median market price for condos in the town is about $260,000, according to tax records. Not only will  3550 South Ocean become the priciest building in town, it could account for as much as 30 percent of the town’s total taxable value — some windfall for a built-out, five-eighths-mile-long condo enclave that is just now getting over the real estate collapse of nine years ago.
    “The increased tax revenue is something we can really use,” said Fischer, who has pushed plans to repair the town’s eroding beach and its aging Town Hall. “I had some reservations about the project earlier, but after seeing what they’re doing, I think this is gorgeous and the people in charge are very interested in getting the town and residents involved in what they’re doing.”
    New York-based developer DGG, which joined forces this year with investor Gary Cohen of Boca Raton’s Paragon Acquisition Group, is intent on putting some Palm Beach style in South Palm Beach.
    The building features a saw-tooth design that gives each unit an ocean view through floor-to-ceiling windows. The project has formed a partnership with Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa to allow memberships for owners.
    Douglas Elliman of Palm Beach is in charge of sales. The project’s groundbreaking is scheduled for early next year and completion for 2018.

By Ron Hayes

    The Coastal Star has been honored with 10 awards for writing, photography and design, including six first-place winners, in the Florida Press Club’s 65th annual Excellence in Journalism competition.
    Writer Sallie James took a top honor for her coverage of the “Homeless in Boca Raton.”
    First-place recognition for feature page design went to Scott Simmons for a trio of entries.
    Photographer Tim Stepien won a first for his photos of an “Underwater Swimmer.”
    In the health writing category, Lona O’Connor won first place for “Cancer survivor climbs mountain.”
    Sports columnist Willie Howard won a first-place award for his coverage of “Delray’s Sailing Beach” and “The West Palm Boat Show,” and Ron Hayes for a trio of light features.
    Among second-place prize winners were Nick Madigan, in the Lucy Morgan Award for In-Depth Reporting, for his article “Xanax addiction and death.”
    For environmental news writing, Howard also took a second-place award for “Changing tides: A look at the impact of climate change.”
    Dan Moffett earned second place in the public safety category for “Fire district proposed along the coast.”
    Cheryl Blackerby earned a third-place award for her stories “Shrinking habitat for foxes” and “Temperatures control sea turtle hatchling sex.”
    The paper was honored for stories published between June 1, 2015, and May 31, 2016, in the category of non-daily newspapers.
    The winners were announced Nov. 5 during a dinner at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in St. Augustine.
    Founded in 1951 as the Florida Women’s Press Club to promote the advancement of women in journalism, the club was renamed the Florida Press Club as so-called “women’s pages” were eliminated and female journalists moved into more prominent positions.

Eighty-two veterans (79 men and three women) residing at Harbour’s Edge Senior Living Facility

felt appreciated on Veterans Day, with each arriving at a flag-raising ceremony in a decorated golf cart.

Executive Director Bob Scharmann spoke in celebration of these veterans and their importance.

The Delray Beach Fire Department raised the flag. The veterans were then treated to lunch

and a few words from the highest-ranking veteran resident, Maj. Frank Kennedy,

who served in both World War II and Korea. ABOVE: Beverly Agardy and Al Morfee.

Photo provided by Kim Agardy Coe

Carpenter-turned-sculptor Norman Provost with some of his work.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Norman Provost has a passion for working with wood.
    Provost, 75, started wood carving 10 years ago, and for the past eight years has been taking carving classes at the Northeast Focal Point Senior Center in Deerfield Beach.
    “I always felt that I had some kind of artistic flair, but I didn’t have a way to express it,” said Provost. “Working with wood gives me a creative outlet.”
    Having worked as a union carpenter for 10 years, taking up woodcarving was an easy transition. Provost, an Ocean Ridge resident since 2001, tries to carve an hour a day. Living right on the beach, he enjoys taking his chair, some tools and sandpaper, and sitting down there by himself.
    “It’s kind of like communing with nature,” said Provost. “You have this organic piece of wood in your hand and you’re creating something. It’s very satisfying and relaxing.”
    For the past three years, Provost has entered his woodcarvings in the Florida Winter National Wood Art Expo and Competition in Punta Gorda every January.
    In 2014, he earned a second-place recognition ribbon for a relief carving he made of an eagle’s head. The following year he entered two works that earned him first- and second-place ribbons.
    This year, he received a first-place ribbon for a large, intricate carving of a woman’s face surrounded by sea creatures, which took him two years to complete; and a second-place ribbon for a small female bust. The large carving was also up for a Best of Show award.
    “As I enter my work and get recognition from professional high-end wood carvers, it validates what I’m doing, and makes me feel good that I’m on the right track,” he said.
    There’s a saying in carving that Provost likes: “Let the wood speak to you.”
    “As you’re carving a piece and you’re looking at it, it keeps changing, and you start to see different things, and it kind of evolves into a new carving,” he said.
    Over the years, Provost has carved out a life for himself that has evolved in a similar way.
    When he was a 4-year-old growing up in Newark, N.J., his father was killed while working as a pipe fitter, just four months after returning from World War II. Soon after, Provost’s mother and her six children were evicted from their home and went to live in unused army barracks near Newark Airport. About a year later, they moved into the first federally funded housing project in the country.
    After graduating from vocational school with a diploma in carpentry, Provost enlisted in the Army for two years and served on a missile site in Okinawa. When he returned to New Jersey, he spent a decade working as a carpenter.
    Then Provost worked for five years as a maintenance mechanic in the Hackettstown School District. He developed friendships with teachers and guidance counselors at the schools where he worked, and they encouraged him to go to college.
    “If there was a boy who was getting into trouble, they would send him to me for one period a day to putter around the school and do little things, so I was informally working with some of the kids,” said Provost.  
    When his professional friends became aware of a position that opened up at the county vocational school for a building maintenance teacher, they told him to apply for it. He did, and was hired.
    Because he had six years of experience in a trade, he was able to get an emergency teaching certificate. In order to keep it, he was required to take a certain number of courses every year. When he realized that it could lead to a degree, he took as many courses as he could each semester.
    Provost began his college courses when he was in his early 30s and married with three children. It took him 10 years, but he eventually got a bachelor of science degree in vocational education from Trenton State College and a master’s in vocational education/special needs from Rutgers University. He went on to work at several high schools, teaching special needs children in a vocational setting.
    At age 62, Provost and his family moved to Palmer Township, Pa. He worked as the adult school coordinator of a county vocational school, and then at the Pennsylvania Treasury Department to promote college tuition savings accounts, which was his last job.
    Now that Provost and Laura, his wife of 51 years, live in Ocean Ridge, he has time to pursue his passion for woodcarving. He enjoys making carvings for his wife, their children, grandchildren and for friends.
    He plans to enter three of his works in the Florida Winter National Wood Art Expo in Punta Gorda next month.
    “It’s all about doing something that you enjoy. I think that in our human nature there’s a need to be productive, and that people start to fade when they lose that need,” said Provost. “I’m retired, but I’m kind of busy.”
— Marie Puleo

    Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
    A. Born in Newark, N.J., in 1941. I went to Essex County Boys Vocational School, got a bachelor of science from Trenton State College and a master’s in education from Rutgers University.

    Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
    A. I worked as a union carpenter, a vocational special needs teacher, a vocational education specialist, and a field representative for tuition account savings program for the Pennsylvania Treasury Department.
    I’m proud of being the first person in my family to earn a master’s degree; receiving the New Jersey Vocational Special Needs Teacher of the Year award; returning to the school where I had worked in building maintenance as the supervisor of applied technology; and supervising some of the teachers who encouraged me to go to college and do more with my life.

    Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?
    A. When I struggled trying to pick what trade to study, it was my mom who advised me to take carpentry. Who knows you better than your family? Talk to your family and listen to them and consider their advice.
    The interest you have is there. Pick an occupation that matches that interest. Dream big and have a plan to achieve your goal. I would tell them my story.

    Q. How did you choose to make your home in Ocean Ridge?
    A. On our first visit to South Florida in 2001 we fell in love with the weather, beach and the beautiful vegetation, and without a second thought we purchased our condo on that vacation.

    Q. What is your favorite part about living in Ocean Ridge?
    A. Without doubt the beach road is what I thought Florida would be like. I walk the beach road with my wife, Laura, and I can’t believe this is where we live. When we say we live in paradise, we really do.

    Q. What book are you reading now?
    A. I just finished reading Killing Reagan. I enjoy Bill O’Reilly’s books because they are based on historic record.

    Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
    A. Having grown up in the ’50s, I love that old rock ’n’ roll.

    Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
    A. I’m not sure who said it: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” When I faced hardship and turmoil in my life, I would tell myself, “Just get going.” It wasn’t always easy, but it worked for me.

    Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
    A. Working in the Hackettstown school system, I was encouraged to continue my education by the professional staff. Most influential was a guidance counselor named Frank Joseph. We are still good friends today.

    Q. If your life story were made into a movie, whom would you want to play you?
    A. Brad Pitt — just kidding. Jon Voight. I think he could tell the story of a street kid from New Jersey.

By Jane Smith
    
    City leaders want to reclassify some “agencies” that receive taxpayer dollars as “service providers.”
    “We need to move away from using ‘nonprofit status’ to describe them,” Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein said in mid-November. “The cultural change needs to start at the top.”
    The city would add performance and other requirements in its leases with the Arts Garage, Old School Square, the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, the Historical Society and the Public Library. The commissioners want more accountability from the providers and remedies if they default, which can be included in a lease.
    They also want to reserve the term “nonprofit” for the socioeconomic agencies such as the Boys & Girls Club, the Sandoway Discovery Center and the Achievement Centers for Children & Families.
    “In doing so, traditional nonprofit funding can be maintained at or below the city’s long-standing, but ignored for many years, policy of capping nonprofit spending at 1 percent of the general fund,” Glickstein said after the meeting.   
    “By creating separate agreements with the service providers, future funding will be individual budget line items.”

Arts Garage lease reviewed
    The Arts Garage lease was the first one reviewed at the mid-November commission meeting. Its five-year lease calls for a cut-rate annual rent of just over $1 per square foot for the 10,289-square-foot space and a 3 percent annual increase.  
    In return, the Arts Garage will provide the city with a cultural hub where its diverse population would feel welcome. The city also requires an annual business plan, which outlines the Arts Garage’s operations, business structure, fundraising and capital development plans, and a five-year strategic plan.
    In addition, the city wants to see an independent audit after each financial year, the number of incidental non-arts-related uses limited to two per month, collaborations with other Delray Beach arts organizations, plans to diversify its board membership and the results, and an annual budget with properly kept financial records.
    Missing any of the reporting requirements would be considered a default under the new lease, the city attorney said.
    New Arts Garage President and CEO Marjorie Waldo asked that the incidental uses wording allow more flexibility and suggested it be relaxed to allow a total of eight hours monthly, so that if the organization wanted to host a six-hour wedding reception and a two-hour chamber meeting it could. The commission approved that change and welcomed Waldo, who has a 25-year educational background. She spent 12 years as principal of Tomorrow’s Promise Community School in Delray Beach, which served at-risk students before closing in 2014.   

Library, Old School Square present complicated leases
    City Manager Don Cooper said he expects to bring three other lease agreements to the commission before he leaves the city’s employment at the end of December.
    “Old School Square, Spady and the Historical Society all occupy city-owned property, hence the need for a lease,” Cooper said. He described them as fairly simple, but Old School Square’s lease may be a problem. Its board would have to approve the lease first, but board members might not be able to meet before the end of the year.
    Cooper characterized the library as a complex deal. The library has a 99-year ground lease with the city and its Community Redevelopment Agency. The lease was signed on Dec. 28, 2005, just before the library opened in its new location at 100 W. Atlantic Ave. Terms of the lease allow the library to buy the property for $1 after 20 years.
    The library board would have to approve the new lease.
    Library Board President Nancy Dockerty agreed its land lease is complicated. She also said her board has not been approached by the city about the deal. “We just know what Mr. Cooper said at the end of the commission meeting,” she said, referring to the Nov. 15 session. “We want to work with the city.”
    Library Director Alan Kornblau resigned Nov. 14.

   Three board members met with library staff the next day at 8:30 a.m. to let them know of Kornblau's resignation, Dockerty said.
    Kornblau stopped by the library the day before Thanksgiving and chatted with his former employees. He told them about his new position as president and CEO of a membership-based organization for libraries called Amigos Library Services. Its main office is in Dallas.

Michelle Quigley contributed to this story.

By Willie Howard

    Lantana’s Town Council recently hired consulting engineers to oversee the renovation of a water-damaged building on North Eighth Street to create a new headquarters for the Lantana Police Department.
    The council unanimously approved an $83,450 contract with Mathews Consulting Inc. at its Nov. 28 meeting for the design, permitting, bidding and construction administration needed to transform the vacant, uninhabitable building into fresh offices for the town’s police officers and administrative staff.
    Design work should be completed in time to put the project out for bid in January, Lantana Police Cmdr. Robert Hagerty said. If the project moves forward on schedule, construction will begin in March and will be completed by mid-July.
    The town’s 42 police officers and administrative employees currently work from two small buildings near Town Hall, which is on Greynolds Circle south of Lantana Road.
    The 10,000-square-foot building that will be renovated is about three times the size of the existing police building.
    The Nov. 28 vote to proceed was made with no discussion from the council.
    The town plans to use a $500,000 state grant to pay for the renovation work, along with some town funds if needed. The town’s lease on the building extends through 2048.
    The new location will allow police to keep a close eye on the town’s new sports fields and will be close to the Water Tower Commons, the retail and residential complex being developed at the former A.G. Holley hospital site on the north side of Lantana Road east of Interstate 95.
    In other business at its Nov. 28 meeting, the Town Council approved a $59,565 contract with Mathews Consulting to oversee the design and construction of an 8-foot-wide path along North Eighth Street, extending from Lantana Road north to the sports complex. The North Broadway neighborhood project includes two basketball courts and traffic-calming work on North Eighth Street.
    The town is scheduled to receive $362,000 from Palm Beach County for the improvements, including $46,700 in Community Development Block Grant money.
    The town will contribute $26,000 to match the block grant. Lantana Development LLC, the developer of Water Tower Commons, will chip in another $33,000 in exchange for having the walking path extended along its property.

By Emily J. Minor

    OCEAN RIDGE — Phyllis Anderson Callaway, a Midwestern-born mother of three who grasped the importance of women’s issues early on and never let go, eventually turning her earnest volunteer work into an impressive resume of causes and accomplishments, has died after a seven-year fight with breast cancer. She was 80.
    Born in South Bend, Ind., on Feb. 22, 1936, Mrs. Callaway died on Oct. 30, 12 years to the day after the death of her husband of 40 years, Trowbridge “Toby” Callaway III.
    Raised by her single mother, Althea Trent — described by one granddaughter as a woman of “strength and charisma” — Mrs. Callaway attended John Adams High School and Ball State University. She moved to Chicago, where she worked for a prominent market research firm, then on to Seattle to work at the 1962 World’s Fair.
    In 1968, she married Mr. Callaway after meeting him on a blind date back in Chicago.
    A social activist before most of the other mothers on the block, Mrs. Callaway worked in the late 1960s and early 1970s to support the programs and missives of Planned Parenthood, said her daughters.
    “It just seemed that she always looked out for the well-being of women,” said Leslie Anne Callaway, who lives in Delray Beach.
    Another daughter, Susan Callaway Stein, of Chattanooga, Tenn., said their mother’s social convictions made for some interesting dinner times. “We grew up in a pretty conservative family,” Stein said. “But my mom had progressive ideas and she shared them with us.”
    Her mother, Stein said, spoke freely about issues like pregnancy and birth control, and taught her daughters and others to lift the shame from these personal decisions, Stein said.
    “Once the shame was gone, she felt you could deal with the issues that matter,” Stein said.
    Before her husband’s job brought the family to Delray Beach in 1979, Mrs. Callaway also served on the board of the Gorton Community Center in Lake Forest, Ill., and on the Women’s Board of the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Ill.
    In Florida, missing the more quintessential neighborhoods full of kids and stay-at-home moms, Mrs. Callaway quickly immersed herself in more volunteer work, her daughters said.
    Mrs. Callaway began by giving time to the kids’ school. Eventually her expanding list of causes became “a fabric of the community,” Stein remembered.
    Her community devotions included: Wayside House (1991-2008); Old School Square (1996-2002); and she was on the board of trustees of Gulf Stream School (1982-1991). At the school, she organized and served as the first president of the Parents’ Auxiliary.
    Mrs. Callaway was also named a Bethesda Hospital Foundation Woman of Grace in 2003.
    In addition to her two daughters, Mrs. Callaway is survived by a son, William Trowbridge Callaway, and his wife, Lynn, of Yardley, Pa. Three grandchildren and two step-grandchildren also survive her.
    Gifts in her memory can be given to Gulf Stream School, 3600 Gulf Stream Road, Gulf Stream, FL 33483 or Wayside House, 378 NE Sixth Ave., Delray Beach, FL 33483. Mrs. Callaway’s services were Nov. 12, and a reception followed at the Gulf Stream Bath and Tennis Club.

By Dan Moffett

    After months of discussion, South Palm Beach Town Council members moved closer to giving themselves pay raises that would start next year.
    The council, on a 3-1 vote at its Nov. 15 meeting, approved a proposal to have Town Attorney Brad Biggs draft an ordinance that could phase in $150 monthly raises for council members — increasing their pay to $400 per month — and $250 for the mayor’s position, doubling the monthly salary to $500 — beginning after the March election.
    Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan said the demands on the mayor’s time justify raising the compensation for the job.
    “I cannot explain to you all this woman does,” Jordan said of Mayor Bonnie Fischer. “The mayor is worth way more than what she’s paid.”
    Councilman Robert Gottlieb said council members voluntarily took a $50 monthly pay cut eight years ago when the Great Recession put South Palm Beach in a financial bind, so it makes sense to give raises now that the town is in a stronger financial position.
    “The council took a cut when we were being pinched,” Gottlieb said. “We never restored that. The council never asked for it to be put back where it was.”
    Under the proposal, the raises would begin after the election with the winners of the three seats up for a vote — those held by Fischer and Vice Mayor Joseph Flagello, and the one left open by the death of Woody Gorbach in October.
    At the meeting, the council unanimously approved allowing Elvadianne Culbertson to serve out the remainder of Gorbach’s term.
    Gottlieb and Jordan would not be eligible for an increase until they come up for reelection in March 2018. Flagello said he voted against the change because he opposed the timing of giving raises now instead of budgeting them into the next fiscal year. The council is expected to vote on the new ordinance at the Dec. 20 town meeting.
    In other business:
    • Council members didn’t hesitate in accepting Culbertson’s application for the open seat, saying she is ideally suited to serve.
    “She certainly has her finger on the pulse of the town and knows the community,” Flagello said.
    Culbertson, who has lived in South Palm Beach for some 15 years, is the editor of the town’s newsletter and has worked on the zoning board and Community Affairs Advisory Board. Jordan said Culbertson has attended hundreds of meetings and “has done so much for our town.”
    The new council member is scheduled to be sworn into office at the December meeting.
    • Two representatives of the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association told the council that negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement are foundering over arbitration rights and pay.
    Union negotiator Vinnie Gray said the town should consider eliminating its department and contracting with the sheriff’s office “so officers can earn a living wage.”
    Union attorney Angela Barbosa said, “Every single police officer would receive a raise under the sheriff’s office.”
    Town officials say they remain hopeful a new three-year agreement can be reached before the current contract expires in January.
    • In November, South Palm Beach Police Commander Robert Rizzotto graduated from a three-week leadership program sponsored by the Florida Criminal Justice Executive Institute in Tallahassee. Rizzotto was one of 20 law enforcement officials from around the state who completed classes on risk management, succession planning, strategic change and policing trends.

    SOUTH PALM BEACH — Samuel M. Faysal, who for many years ran a popular beachside restaurant and music lounge in his hometown of Revere Beach, Mass., before moving south to enjoy the sunshine and water with his wife, died Nov. 19.
    Mr. Faysal was 81, and had lived in the Palm Beaches for almost 30 years.
    His wife, Adeline Reil Faysal, preceded him in death in 2004, but the couple’s six children and 13 grandchildren survive him. Most of them still live in Massachusetts, but one daughter, Joanne Faysal, lives in South Palm Beach.
    Before moving here in the late 1980s, Mr. Faysal was well-known in Revere Beach for running Sammy’s Patio, a still-famous restaurant and nightclub. Upon coming south with his wife, they quickly began to give back to both church and community here.
    For many years, both Sam and Addie Faysal volunteered as active members of the Palm Beach Power Squadron, a civilian unit that patrols the waterways to ensure boaters’ safety and familiarity with Florida navigational laws. Within the family, the couple was famous for taking jaunts on the water and showing visitors the intricacies of local waterways.
    But Mr. Faysal’s biggest commitment was to provide love, security and laughter to his family, survivors said. He was known by his loved ones for always putting family first.
    Mr. Faysal was an active member of St. Mary’s Orthodox Church in West Palm Beach, and a member of the Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch organization. He was also an avid racquetball player.
    A funeral service was held Nov. 25, and the family asks that memorials be made to the charity of your choice.
— Obituary provided

By Rich Pollack

    BOCA RATON — Irving Gutin was a generous philanthropist who took the task of giving to his community very seriously.
    Over the course of more than two decades, Mr. Gutin and his wife, Barbara, supported dozens of local organizations including Boca Raton Regional Hospital, where they gave more than $6 million to fund three da Vinci robotic surgery systems and to help start a comprehensive stroke center.  
    “Irving was a man who had risen to the highest echelons of corporate America yet he was one of most humble, soft-spoken people I ever met,” said Jerry Fedele, the hospital’s president and CEO.
    Mr. Gutin, a resident of Boca Raton and previously of North Hampton, N.H., died on Nov. 6. He was 84.
    He is remembered as a man with a passion for making a positive impact on people in the community, said Fedele, a close friend of Mr. Gutin’s who delivered the eulogy at his funeral.
    “Irving was very thoughtful about where he put his money,” Fedele said. “He was interested in tracking his contributions so they could have an impact.”
    In an interview with The Coastal Star last fall, Mr. Gutin spoke about the effort he put into his philanthropy.
    “Giving is a tough job,” he said. ‘It’s a very difficult task to understand where your funds are going and to make sure they’re having the impact that you were promised.”
    A native of New York City, Mr. Gutin was a graduate of Brooklyn Law School and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. In the early 1980s, Mr. Gutin became head of mergers and acquisitions for Tyco International and played a role in its growth from a company with $200 million in sales to a Fortune 100 company with sales of more than $40 billion.
    In the 2015 interview, Mr. Gutin said Barbara’s and his philosophy of philanthropy was developed while they were living in a small New Hampshire community, where charitable giving had a strong impact on the area.
    “We continue to follow that concept of giving today,” Irving Gutin said.  
    Mr. Gutin was an active member of Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s board of trustees, where he also served as head of the finance committee and was on the board of the hospital’s foundation.
    “He was a man of few words,” Fedele said. “When he spoke, people listened, because of the genuine person he was.”
    Fedele said Mr. Gutin was very humble, as is his wife, and was more interested in helping others than in receiving recognition for himself.
    In addition to contributions to the hospital, the Gutins supported Family Promise of South Palm Beach County, where they served on the community advisory board. The couple also supported several other organizations both here and in New Hampshire.
    In addition to his wife, Mr. Gutin is survived by his daughters, Nina Gutin and Cheryl Elliott; his granddaughters, Brooke and Alana Elliott, and Jamie Gutin.
    “I will miss him as a board leader, a personal friend and a mentor,” Fedele said.

By Rich Pollack

    Crime remained low in south Palm Beach County’s small coastal communities during the first six months of this year, although a rash of thefts from unlocked cars led to a significant increase in reported crimes in one town.
    In all, there were about 75 crimes reported in the five communities, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, with larcenies making up the majority of those crimes.  
    The number of reported crimes in Manalapan and South Palm Beach declined slightly from the same period last year, while Highland Beach saw no increase. In Gulf Stream, one additional crime was reported.
    Ocean Ridge, however, saw a big jump in the number of reported crimes, largely due to thefts from unlocked cars and the theft of some of those vehicles that had keys left in them.
    Of the 47 reported crimes in Ocean Ridge, 37 were larcenies and seven were motor vehicle thefts.
    Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins says that increased awareness among residents combined with increased efforts by his department have slowed the number of thefts from unlocked vehicles.
    “It appears as if the trend has slowed in Ocean Ridge, although it seems to be continuing elsewhere,” he said. “Our education efforts to encourage residents to lock their cars and remove valuables — and keys — appears to be working.”
    While the thefts from unlocked cars have slowed, Hutchins is still encouraging residents to take steps to secure their valuables, including calling police when they see something suspicious.
    “Residents should continue to be aware of what’s going on around them,” he said.
    While Ocean Ridge was hit by the thefts from cars, neighboring towns seem to avoid being targeted by criminals.  
In Manalapan, the number of crimes reported dropped almost 70 percent, from 19 to just six for the six-month period. The number of larcenies dropped from 13 to five.
    South Palm Beach reported the fewest number of crimes, just three larcenies, down from seven total crimes during the same period last year.
    In the larger south county communities, Lantana reported a 7 percent drop in overall crime, while Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach all saw increases. Boca Raton, which reported two homicides, had an increase of 13.2 percent, while reported crime in Delray Beach, with three homicides, increased by 12 percent. Boynton Beach, which had one homicide, had an increase of about 10 percent.  
    As they were in Ocean Ridge, reported larcenies were up significantly in Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Boca Raton.
    Overall, Palm Beach County had a 3.7 percent increase in the number of reported crimes.

By Christine Davis

    On Nov. 1, Douglas Elliman Florida acquired Tauriello & Co. Real Estate Inc., creating its 19th regional office, which will be led by managing broker Ingrid Carlos.
    Explaining why Douglas Elliman Florida opted for a Delray Beach office, Carlos pointed to a surge in building out west, as well as the growth of town homes and condos downtown and new developments on the beach.
    Delray Beach “is lucrative for consumers from all over the world who come to visit, work and live here. Buyers are coming from all over. People from South Florida keep moving north and Delray is in that path. We are also seeing more international buyers coming into Delray because of the lifestyle minus the congestion. Also, because it has a hometown downtown appeal that international buyers crave as it reminds them of their homes in Canada, Europe, England and South America.”
    Tauriello & Co. agents are staying on, as is Sue Tauriello, who said she will continue as a broker/associate in sales.
    “I am beyond pleased for myself and my company team to have been chosen by Douglas Elliman to become part of its expansion in the South Florida marketplace,” she said. “This is a company I have long admired and we are all very excited for our clientele to have access to Douglas Elliman’s marketing and branding.”
    Delray Beach has consistently shown rapid growth in luxury sales each quarter, said Jay Phillip Parker, CEO of Douglas Elliman’s Florida brokerage. “Sue Tauriello and her incredible firm have been instrumental in the development of the bustling community of Delray Beach. The acquisition of her powerful team, coupled with the expertise and national network of Douglas Elliman, results in a driving force second to none.”
    Douglas Elliman now has five county offices, and in Delray Beach, its office is at 900 E. Atlantic Ave.
                                
    The Fite Group, founded by David Fite in 2008, announced that it has reached $3 billion in sales. While the firm’s average sales price is $1.4 million, the Fite Group brokered two of the five top sales in Delray Beach in the past nine months: the home at 502 N. Ocean Blvd. for $26.4 million, and the home at 410 N. Ocean Blvd. for $9.15 million. The Fite Group has three offices and 120 agents. Its Delray Beach office is at 648 George Bush Blvd.
                                
    On Sept. 30, Randy Ely and Nicholas Malinosky, agents with the Corcoran Group, sold the home at 1046 Melaleuca Road, Delray Beach, for $4.25 million. The asking price was $4.35 million. The buyer was represented by Ashley Michelle Velez, an agent with P.U.R.E. Investments, Miami. The new contemporary-style, four-bedroom residence with 7,100 total square feet was developed by Marc Julien Homes, which received a certificate of title for the property from Florida Capital Bank in February 2014.
                                
    Jeffrey Ray, owner/broker of Jeffrey Ray & Associates, Manalapan, represented both the buyer and seller of the Point Manalapan home at 1545 Lands End Road, which closed on Nov. 4. It was a quick sale, Ray said. “The new owners viewed the house 10 days earlier.”
    The six-bedroom, 7½-bath home with 7,870 total square feet sold for $6.7 million. According to public records, the seller was 1545 Lands End LLC, with Boris Bonutti listed as title manager. The new owner is Hammon Avenue Trust, which is connected to Carolyn Rafaelian, founder of Alex and Ani.
    In October, Jeffrey Ray listed 1340 S. Ocean Blvd. for $43.9 million, “marketing it as a private resort,” he said. On a 2.5-plus-acre lot with 270 feet on the ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway, he sold the house to its current owners, David and Margaret Lumia, in 2008.
    “She was on a professional tennis tour at that time, and the first thing they did was put in a fabulous clay tennis court, then they built a 5,306-square-foot tennis house, then a grass court. Then, they took down the original house and put up a 24,000-plus-square-foot house on the ocean,” Ray said.

    The couple didn’t intend to build a new house, but David, a retired engineer, started getting involved, Ray said. “It took him five or six years, and when the house was completed, he thought about his sons who are in Idaho and New York, and told me, ‘What am I doing here? This house is too big for the two of us.’”

This unfinished ocean-to-lake custom estate built by Casto Homes at 1040 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan

sold for $29.45 million in November.

Photo provided

                               
    In November, an unfinished ocean-to-lake custom estate at 1040 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan changed hands for $29.45 million in an off-market transaction. According to the deed, the PNC Delaware Trust Co., acting as trustee for the Daniel Kloiber Dynasty Trust, sold the house to Whimsical Florida LLC, 2161 Lakeside Drive, Lexington, Ky.
    Built by Casto Homes, Juno Beach, the 23,795-square-foot house and guesthouse are on a 2.14-acre lot with 200 feet of beachfront as well as 200 feet fronting the Intracoastal Waterway. In 2008, the property was purchased for $9.23 million.
                                
    Christel Silver, broker and owner of Silver International Realty in Delray Beach, is one of 43 appointed by the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches to serve on the 2017 board of directors for Florida Realtors, which constitutes its governing body.
                                
    The Young Professionals Committee of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches raised nearly $14,000 at its fourth annual White Attire Fundraiser, which benefited its Pay It Forward Foundation as well as The Senator Philip D. Lewis Center, an organization that is part of The Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Palm Beach County.
    The event was held at The Senada Adzem Team’s listing, at 5678 Vintage Oaks Circle, Delray Beach. The home, owned by the Civog family, is listed for $5.49 million.
    Sponsors included All My Sons Moving & Storage, Off Lease Only West Palm Beach, Cornerstone Home Lending Inc., All About Closing Inc., Brightway Insurance Cole Family Agency, WIN Home Inspection Wellington, and Picture It Sold Photography. Also, Kendra Scott, a boutique in Mizner Park, Boca Raton, sold jewelry at the event and donated the proceeds.

Corcoran’s Susan Long (l-r), Ryan Cooper, Sarita Harty and Jennifer Kilpatrick

participated in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer fundraising walk in Boca Raton.

Photo provided

                               
    The Corcoran Group sponsored this year’s American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in Boca Raton on Oct. 22. The second-largest fundraising walk in South Florida, it had 23,000 walkers and reached its goal of raising $500,000 for research grants, programs, advocacy and resources.  
                                
    At the Boca Chamber’s 64th annual celebration in October at the Boca Raton Resort & Club, the chamber welcomed the new chair of its board of directors, Ethel Isaacs Williams, and honored outgoing chairman Jerry Fedele, president and CEO of Boca Raton Regional Hospital. Issacs Williams is director of corporate engagement, diversity and inclusion for NextEra Energy Inc.
    The Boca Chamber also introduced seven new board members: Michael Allison, Office Depot; Clara Bennett, Boca Raton Airport Authority; Andrew Duffell, Research Park at Florida Atlantic University; Ahnich Khalid, Maggiano’s Little Italy; Ken Lebersfeld, Capitol Lighting; Keith Sonderling, Gunster; and Bob Tucker, ADT.
    Alison Miuccio and Christie Workman have joined the Chamber team. Miuccio is sales and member relations manager; Workman leads the Golden Bell Education Foundation and Young Entrepreneurs Academy.
                                
    Toby Davis joined the Katz & Associates team at its new Boca Raton address, 1900 NW Corporate Blvd., East Tower, Suite 450.
                                
    Six Palm Beach arts organizations received $75,000 in 2016 from the PNC Foundation’s Arts Alive program, part of a three-year $185,000 commitment PNC announced in November. Recipients were Armory Art Center, Boca Ballet Theatre, Core Ensemble, Palm Beach DramaWorks Ethics Project, Palm Beach Symphony’s Children’s Concerts, and Delray Beach Chorale.
                                
    In October, the Friends of Mounts Botanical Garden held its official groundbreaking for Windows on the Floating World: Tropical Wetland Garden, which is funded in part by Boynton Beach resident Margaret Blume as well as The Batchelor Foundation, the Friends of Mounts Botanical Garden and Palm Beach County. 
    Expected to open in spring 2017, Windows on the Floating World will feature transparent open-grid walkways over wetlands. Within the walks are four “windows” that will be planted with aquatics and changed out with rotating and seasonal exhibits growing from submerged containers.
    The display will include waterfalls, an area for wading birds, and a wall covered with bromeliads. Mounts Botanical Garden of Palm Beach County, at 531 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach, is open Monday to through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.
                                
    Crane’s Beach House Boutique Hotel & Luxury Villas hosted 200 guests in November at its fifth annual Best Bite restaurant competition. For the third year in a row, the winning eatery was Caffe Luna Rosa, which offered its Florida yellowtail snapper with a crab crust, topped with shrimp in a saffron cream sauce. Tim Finnegan’s Irish Pub was the runner-up with its chicken curry, and Pizza Rustica came in third with gourmet pizza bites.
    Other contenders were Che!!! with Spanish-style bean empanadas, Papa’s Tapas with traditional Spanish omelets, Patio Delray with garam masala-rubbed ahi tuna seared rare, and Streb’s with ahi tuna and asparagus sesame sake.
                                
    The Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative has prepared the city’s Christmas activities and New Year’s Eve celebration. The 100-foot Christmas tree will be at its usual spot at Old School Square on Atlantic Avenue through Jan. 1; Santa will be on hand through Dec. 23, with related activities held at Old School Square Park. The menorah lighting at Old School Square will be 6 p.m. Dec. 24.
    Other holiday happenings include a carousel ride, kiddie train, ice-skating and mini-golf, plus the Holiday Boat Parade and the Holiday Parade. The New Year’s Eve Celebration will be 5-9 p.m. at Old School Square Park.
    Delray Buick GMC is now the annual automotive sponsor of all major Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative events over the next year, including the lighting of the Christmas tree  and Delray Beach’s First Night on New Year’s Eve.
    For a complete schedule and list of events and activities, visit www. 100FtChristmasTree.com.

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

Picture-perfect greens will welcome members and hotel guests back to the course.

Repairs to the course substrate, improvements to the tee areas and installation of a turf grass

known as Celebration make the course more inviting.

The pond is cleaner and a heron sits where a splintered pedestrian bridge to the 18th green used to be.

Players now take carts around the pond.

New golf carts with onboard GPS displays are among the improvements.

New beds of tropical plants border many of the holes.

Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

    Fifteen months ago, the Resort Course at the Boca Raton Resort & Club had fallen into disrepair, with bald patches in fairways and yellowing greens.
    One sweeping renovation later, the same course opens this month with lush new Celebration grass on its fairways and TifEagle on lush sloping greens that have been restored to their original size and quality.
    “Everybody is excited,” head professional Jimmy Gascoigne said. “I’ve been getting calls from people every day looking to get back out. It’s something our members deserve, and they’re all looking forward to it.”
    The first renovation of the course since 1997 began when the club, typically open year-round, closed in April. Frank Kynkor and his company, Marquee Consulting, oversaw the process, which maintained the original routing but added a new practice green, expanded the tee boxes and redid each of the 18 greens.
    The use of Celebration grass on the fairways and TifEagle on the greens has been popular on top courses in South Florida for a few years.
    “They tend to be the trend down here for the right reasons,” Gascoigne said. “It’s a great mix, not only from a playability standpoint, but from a color and resiliency standpoint.”
    The changes resulted in the course playing at 6,262 yards from the tips, nine yards longer than in the past, down to 4,500 from the red ladies’ tees. That doesn’t include a big addition: Each hole features a marker in the fairway designating a so-called Family Tee, playing to about 3,700 yards.
    “We call it the barefoot golf experience,” Gascoigne said, “and it caters to a wide variety of people: The couple that just wants to go out and play a quick nine, a starting point for a junior golfer who’s gaining experience, or a person who’s taking up the game. It follows along the lines of the PGA of America’s Tee It Forward program. It’s an experience within the hotel.”
    Gascoigne, 34, a graduate of Penn State, said the Family Tees are a result of both feedback from club members, who account for about 60 percent of the rounds compared to 40 percent by hotel guests, as well as the changing nature of the game.
    “No longer do people have six hours to play a round of golf; some only want to take two,” Gascoigne said. “So it’s a quicker experience, and a more enjoyable one as well. The challenge is still there, but it’s a way to introduce golf to everyone.”
    Longtime members will notice no more than subtle changes in the layout, which has been around since 1927 and boasts Sam Snead and Tommy Armour on its roll of former club pros. Gascoigne said all of the bunkers have been reconstructed and “dozens” of trees — primarily oak, silver leaf palms and poincianas — have been added.
    As before, 15 of the 18 holes feature one or more water hazards.
    “It’s not a drastic change, but the way we phrase it is, if you played the golf course before you’ll recognize it, but you have to play it a little differently.”
    Also, a new fleet of golf carts has been brought in, each equipped with a GPS system.
    Gascoigne sounded confident that the renovation has brought the Resort Course back up to the high standards of the hotel, a Waldorf Astoria/Hilton Hotels property that has long been considered among the most prestigious in South Florida.
    “Coupled with the services standards of our hotel,” he said, “we can offer a world-class experience for everyone.”

Project faces further review from city

after OK catches some off-guard

By Steve Plunkett
    
    The state’s environmental agency has issued a “notice to proceed” on construction of a controversial beachside mega-mansion, but Boca Raton officials say the owner of the undersized lot has more hurdles to cross.
    “You are hereby granted final authorization to proceed with construction” of a four-story, single-family dwelling at 2500 N. Ocean Blvd., according to the notice issued Oct. 18 by the Department of Environmental Protection.
    The entire lot, located on the ocean between Spanish River Park and Ocean Strand, is east of the state’s Coastal Construction Control Line, which calls for stricter scrutiny of proposed projects.
    But the landowner, Natural Lands LLC, still must pass review by the city’s Environmental Advisory Board and obtain a Coastal Construction Control Line variance and a building permit from Boca Raton, Deputy City Manager George Brown told the City Council on Nov. 22.
    Brown said the city was surprised that the DEP issued the permit without receiving a letter directly from Boca Raton stating that the proposal does not conflict with city zoning codes. The DEP confirmed that “although it is not their usual practice, they accepted a copy of [a city resolution] for the lot width variance, instead of a letter,” Brown said in a memo.
    The state agency’s files show the resolution was sent to Natural Lands with a cover letter in June from city zoning officer John Harbilas, who called it his “response to a request for a zoning confirmation letter.”
    “The subject property satisfies the minimum requirements of the [multifamily zoning] district, including the minimum lot size requirements, and also the minimum setback requirements,” Harbilas wrote the landowner. Natural Lands forwarded the letter to the DEP.
    The City Council in December 2015 reversed a Zoning Board of Adjustment decision that prohibited construction of the 10,432-square-foot house. The zoning board had declined to approve variances for property width and front-yard setbacks.
    Furious residents complained that the structure would change the face of the beach, disorient nesting sea turtles and set a precedent for even more development.
    Council members defended their decision, claiming the city would likely face litigation because more than a dozen similar variances had been approved before. Natural Lands had dropped its request for a front-yard setback, moving the proposed home almost 15 feet closer to the ocean. Approved in a resolution was an 11.5-foot variance from the minimum lot width of 100 feet.
    At the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District’s Nov. 14 meeting, Al Zucaro, of citizen watchdog group Boca Watch, said residents were “misled” by the City Council, who told them the proposal “had many steps to go before any reality might be attached to it.”
    “All the other side had to do to get that permit was to demonstrate that the city of Boca Raton had granted the zoning approval. And the variance did that,” Zucaro said.
    Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Dee Ann Miller said the CCCL is “a line of regulation, not prohibition” and “should not be confused with setback lines or lines of prohibition which are established through comprehensive plans and local zoning laws.
    “That being said,” Miller continued, “as part of the permitting process an applicant is required to submit written evidence from the local government stating the proposed activity does not conflict with local setback requirements or zoning codes — which the applicant did.”
    The DEP permit, which is posted at the site, expires Oct. 7, 2019. Natural Lands contacted the city Nov. 4 to begin the Environmental Advisory Board review, Brown said. The item will be scheduled for an advisory board meeting once the landowner resolves questions from city staff, he said.

By Sallie James

    It’s over — at least for now.
    A proposed orthodox synagogue and museum that spawned three lawsuits and packed City Hall with angry residents will not be built.
    The 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach in November decided not to hear an appeal by Chabad of East Boca Raton to allow the proposed 18,000-square-foot project at 770 E. Palmetto Park Road. Chabad filed the appeal after a lower court in June ruled the city erred in allowing the project because zoning in the area did not permit a museum.
    The Chabad must submit a new site plan that doesn’t include a museum if it wants to proceed or find another location for the museum, according to City Council member Robert Weinroth.
    Rabbi Ruvi New, the congregation’s spiritual leader, said his congregation would seek another location for the My Israel museum and submit a new site plan for Palmetto Park Road without the museum.
    “It means we have to redo the site plan to comply with the court’s ruling. We have already begun,” New said. “[We’re] very disappointed, yes. But our attitude is really to not dwell on the disappointment but simply to look for the way forward and to continue the journey.”
    David Roberts, the owner/broker of Royal Palm Properties across the street, asked a lower court to review the City Council’s approval of the site plan, saying its resolution “departed from the essential requirements of the law.”
    The appeals court decision strikes a serious blow to the project’s viability, said John R. Eubanks Jr., attorney for Roberts.
    “Based on the fact that all five judges approved and there is no written opinion, it would be very hard to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court,” Eubanks said. “Instead, the Chabad will need to start all over again with a new application.”
    Weinroth stood by the decision to approve the site plan.
    “The council continues to believe the lower court erred in concluding that a museum could not be approved by the City Council within a zoning district that did not specifically list it as a permitted use,” Weinroth said. “This was notwithstanding the fact that museums have been permitted in other areas of the city where the zoning district made no specific mention of museums.”
    Weinroth also noted that height allowances in the area were revised since the Chabad’s original site plan was approved and the project’s extra 10 feet above the area’s 30-foot limit would be denied in a new plan.
    The council approved Chabad’s plans in May 2015, despite the zoning in the area not permitting a museum, Palm Beach County Circuit Judges Meenu Sasser and Lisa Small and County Judge Ted Booras wrote in an earlier opinion that disallowed the project.
    That decision resulted in the Chabad’s motion to the 4th District Court of Appeal.
    Even granting the property owner’s contention that a museum in this case is a “place of public assembly,” Sasser, Small and Booras said, officials should have insisted that the .84-acre site have 239 parking spots, not 81.
    It’s been a difficult month for the Chabad. Benefactor Irwin J. Litwak, who donated $2.7 million toward the proposed synagogue property in his parents’ honor, died Nov. 25 at age 80.
    As for finding another location for the museum, New said that “it’s a more scenic route to our destination than we would have liked. We will just keep moving forward.”
    Chabad has been trying to find a larger place to meet for years. This is the second time parking has tripped up its plans.
    In 2008, the congregation wanted to move into a 23,000-square-foot building near Mizner Park but was unable to meet parking requirements there.

By Mary Hladky

    A referendum preserving city-owned land along the Intracoastal Waterway for public use gained wide approval from residents in all parts of the city when they voted in the Nov. 8 election.
    A precinct-by-precinct breakdown of votes compiled by the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections shows the referendum did not fail in any of the 37 precincts where ballots were cast. Voters approved the measure by more than 70 percent in 11 precincts. The lowest favorable vote was 58 percent, recorded in two precincts.
    Voters in the western edges of the city supported the referendum by margins generally equal to those who live near the Intracoastal.
    Overall, the initiative won a whopping 67 percent of the vote.
    It limits use of city-owned land on the waterway primarily to public recreation and boating access, effectively torpedoing City Council plans to lease 2.3 acres along the Intracoastal just north of the Palmetto Park Road bridge to the Hillstone Restaurant Group for a restaurant.
    City resident James Hendrey, who spearheaded the citizens’ initiative, said he was “delighted” with the result.
    Although optimistic the initiative would pass, Hendrey said he didn’t expect such a landslide vote because powerful and well-financed interests wanted the referendum to fail.
    “They confused the voting audience,” Hendrey said. “We feel if they had not spent the amount they did trying to cloud the issue, the number would have been significantly higher.
    “They don’t see that people are tired of development,” he added. “It is such an overwhelming win for the people.”
    With the vote results in, Hendrey threw down the gauntlet when he addressed the City Council at its Nov. 22 meeting.
    “All of you representing the development interests in this city, get on board” with the results, he said.
    Council member Robert Weinroth, who opposed the referendum, said it passed because it seemed intended to protect park space citywide from commercial development.
    “It is basically like apple pie. We want a park,” he said. “The way it was presented to voters made it appear there might be something afoot, that we were contemplating developing the areas that are recreation or park land, but that was not the case.”
    With the referendum’s approval, the city will not be able to lease the former Wildflower property to Hillstone, he said.
    “I have heard from the attorney representing Hillstone. They understand the passing of the referendum has essentially ended the possibility of us entering into a lease with them,” Weinroth said.
    Under the terms of the deal the city was hammering out with Hillstone, the city would have reaped as much as $33 million from a 45-year lease for the land, which has sat vacant for seven years.
    Now, the city could potentially face a lawsuit if Hillstone decides to pursue a claim for damages. An attorney for Hillstone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
    “I certainly accept the will of the voters,” Weinroth said. “Notwithstanding the fact I was against the referendum and thought the city was going in the right direction with a waterfront venue, with a 2-1 margin the voters have spoken and we will go accordingly.”
    Troy McLellan, president and CEO of the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce, which also opposed the referendum, agreed with Weinroth that voters read the referendum to mean, “let’s not develop on city-owned waterfront land. That sounds positive.”
    But the vote in favor could also affect what the city can do with the just over 200 acres of other waterfront land it owns.
    “That makes it very challenging for elected officials,” McLellan said.
    They can abide by the exact wording of the referendum, which would result in no commercial use of any of that land. Or, he said, council members could interpret the wording so that, for example, they might decide a hot dog stand or a Starbucks is an amenity that serves park patrons.
    Regardless of what decision they make, McLellan sees a “missed opportunity” to have a waterfront restaurant and for the city to receive a return on investment for the $7.5 million spent on the Wildflower property.
    “I think it is disappointing for this community not to have a waterfront restaurant on the Intracoastal Waterway in a downtown that is thriving,” he said.

By Steve Plunkett

    The first big change at the city-owned Wildflower site after a decisive public rejection of a planned restaurant may be the installation of bleachers to watch the Dec. 17 boat parade.
    A citizen initiative to permit only public uses of city-owned property on the Intracoastal Waterway was the runaway winner on Boca Raton ballots Nov. 8, taking 67 percent of 43,862 votes cast.
    Resident Lenore Wachtel fired the first shot at the Nov. 21 City Council workshop, imploring council members to take down the fence and put in some grass so that people could use the 2.3 acres at the northwest base of the Palmetto Park Road bridge.
    “Why should it be vacant? I mean, we paid for it, we own it. It ought to be able to be used,” she said.
    City Council member Scott Singer said, “There’s a bunch of debris and some brushwork, a lot of foliage, vegetation that’s on the ground, but I think that could probably be cleared.”
    Singer said some temporary bleachers could be positioned at the site for the boat parade. Before the popular vote, the city had been negotiating for years to lease the site to the Hillstone Restaurant Group.
    “That’s one way to open it up, it’s just one evening, and then we’ll go from there,” Singer said.
    Red Reef Park has historically been the viewing point for the parade, Mayor Susan Haynie said. “To have additional bleachers here, we’re going to have to be very careful to preserve the boat ramp parking” at Silver Palm Park next door, she said.
    Council member Robert Weinroth said adoption of the citizen initiative carried “unintended consequences” for activities at parks along the Intracoastal that some people might not view as strictly public, such as the gift shop at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. He said the council should pass a grandfather ordinance protecting all current uses at the parks, “so we don’t run into a situation where we have to be the bad guys and start saying uses don’t comport with the ordinance.”
    But the rest of the council was content with the status quo and decided to take up the issue of what to do with the Wildflower parcel in January.
    “It’s up to us to interpret this ordinance,” council member Jeremy Rodgers said. “I don’t see someone suing us over Gumbo Limbo.”
    The city bought the parcel for $7.5 million in 2009. Nearby residents led by James and Nancy Hendrey successfully collected enough petition signatures this summer to put the question on the ballot.
    “I’m so glad that everybody stood up to that situation and said, ‘We want our parks to remain for recreation and for boating,’ ” James Hendrey said.
    The Wildflower site was one of three green spaces that council members discussed. The bulk of the meeting centered on 10 proposals by developers to acquire the municipal golf course, which is outside city limits, west of Florida’s Turnpike.
    Council members decided to discard seven. Still on the table are proposals from GL Homes, which would pay Boca Raton $73 million; from Lennar Corp., which would swap the Ocean Breeze golf course around the Boca Teeca condominiums in the north end of the city and also pay $41 million for the main course; and from Compson Boca Argent LLC, which would pay $73.18 million and donate 26.4 acres for a Torah Academy campus.
    “I see great value in maintaining Ocean Breeze as a golf course,” Haynie said.
    Lennar values the course at $10 million. The Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District told the council it could repay the city for the acquisition and pay to upgrade the course, which would be open to the public, and maintain it.
    “Not everyone in this community can afford to write big checks to belong to private clubs,” said Arthur Koski, the district’s executive director.
Koski said famed golfer Greg Norman is interested in putting an eponymous golf school on part of Ocean Breeze like the one he has in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.
“I would have to say that Boca Teeca would be the ideal location for creating a similar world-class training center,” Norman wrote Koski.
    The council will consider the golf courses again in January.

Delray Beach Fire Rescue and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue

responded to a small fire Nov. 29 at 3201 Beach Walk East in Highland Beach.

The fire is under investigation, but officials suspected it started

from workers soldering wires earlier in the day, which resulted in a fire in one of the units.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett

    The Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District’s longtime attorney has given up the third of three jobs there that paid him a total of $330,000 a year.
    Arthur Koski, who is also yielding his role as the district’s executive director, recommended Nov. 28 that beach and park commissioners hire Michael Fichera, Boca Raton’s recently retired chief building official, to do their contract administration work, a task Koski has handled since 2010.
    Koski said Fichera “probably is the most knowledgeable person in the city of Boca Raton relative to permitting and inspections and making sure work passes inspections.”
    Fichera “supervised all of the individuals at City Hall who are involved with issuing permits for any construction within the city … and had the direct supervisory responsibility of all of the individual inspectors who do the various inspections on all the construction,” Koski said.
    Commissioners approved his hiring unanimously.
    “This is a coup in my opinion,” Commissioner Earl Starkoff said.
    Fichera, who retired from his city position Nov. 1 after starting out as a construction inspector for the city in 1981, will get $6,000 a month as a consultant without benefits.
    Koski said the rebuilding of the district’s Sugar Sand Park playground, which is winding down, along with building a new community center at the Swim & Racquet Center and converting a grass field at Patch Reef Park to artificial turf will keep Fichera busy for two to three years. Also on the horizon may be construction of additional sports fields at DeHoernle Park.
    Koski will end his part-time job as the district’s executive director in January, a task that paid him $90,000 a year. He took the interim position in 2012 when Robert Langford retired. But his additional role drew complaints from city officials, culminating in March with City Council member Robert Weinroth’s demand that he be replaced with someone full-time.
    In May, Koski said he would step aside as director on Oct. 1, the start of the new budget year. But he was persuaded to stay until January, when commissioners will choose their chairman for the calendar year and commissioners-elect Craig Ehrnst and Erin Wright will take their seats.
    Koski started giving the Beach & Park District legal advice in 1978 and is paid $132,000 a year for it, more if the district is involved in litigation. Commissioners value his institutional knowledge.
    Koski, who has a bachelor’s degree in engineering, has said contract administration work is “something that I enjoy very much.”
His total district pay — $330,000 a year — dwarfed that of other public officials, though most government employees receive pension and other benefits that Koski does not. Koski, who pays office and staff expenses, also has a private law practice downtown.