Patty Jones is chairwoman of the Palm Beach County Food Bank’s Empty Bowls fundraiser. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

Patty Jones was in her 20s when her father suffered an aneurysm at the age of 44 and went on disability.
“He was in rehab for two years, but luckily he had myself and other family, and we banded together to take care of him and pay his bills,” said Jones, who lives in coastal Delray Beach. “So I totally understand how someone gets in a position where they wind up living paycheck to paycheck because of a health issue.”
Three years ago, a friend invited Jones, 49, to join the board of the Palm Beach County Food Bank’s Empty Bowls program when it came to Delray Beach. She accepted and will serve as chairwoman when the program hosts a fundraiser at Old School Square from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 2.
“Realizing that one in six people in our community, a lot of whom are children and senior citizens, can’t afford meals, that really hits home to me,” she said. “It’s an event that brings awareness of the hunger in our community.”
The motto of the event is “Eat simply, so others may simply eat.”
For $25 in advance or $30 at the door, patrons get a picnic lunch of their choice of soup (more than 35 local restaurants will donate), bread and a cookie (donated by Old School Bakery) and water. Each customer takes a pottery bowl home as a reminder of all the empty bowls in the community. Additional bowls can be purchased.
Also available for purchase are painted pottery bowls that were created and donated by the local schools, and soup-to-go will also be for sale. Attendees will be able to support the restaurants by voting for the best soup.
All proceeds go to the PBC Food Bank.

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I grew up in Wyoming, Mich., where I attended the Godwin Heights school system all the way through high school. Wyoming was a suburb of Grand Rapids; it was a small hometown, and we played in the streets until dark and knew all the neighbors within a three-block radius. We were really raised “by the village.” I learned early how to be independent and responsible from my family and my surroundings. When I moved to Florida in 1987, I attended Palm Beach Community College while I worked.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I worked for the same company for 16 years. The company started as Circle K, was bought by several gas companies and was Conoco Phillips when I left. I started as a clerk and worked my way up, being promoted into the office and was administrative assistant to most of the departments: HR, marketing and operations. I learned how to adapt and accept change through the many restructures.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: College is a must in today’s world, but take your time to find your passion.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Delray Beach?
A: We lived on Hypoluxo Island for years, but we wanted to make it back to Delray Beach — my husband, Rod, grew up on Lake Ida — to be closer to the kids’ elementary school. We found the perfect location in the Seagate area and have stayed.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in coastal Delray Beach?
A: I love the feeling of Delray Beach. It has everything you need but still has the hometown feel. You can hop on the boat just about every day of the year. We have access to the beach, plenty of restaurants and shops. Who doesn’t love to drive a golf cart around town!

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I just finished The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, by David Lagercrantz.

Q: What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
A: I like to listen to everything, from the oldies to alternative music. I enjoy listening to music and going to concerts. My favorite band at the moment is Maroon 5, which inspires me. To relax, I listen to Jewel.

Q: Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
A: One is from Stephen King: “Get busy living or get busy dying.” I’m always busy and over committing myself, but I enjoy that. I’m lucky enough to go out and do things that I love. Another one is, “Motivation comes from work, and working on things we care about,” from Sheryl Sandberg. My motivation comes from things I love and that I care about. That inspires me.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: My former boss, Alex Brethauer, was a big influence on me. He taught me that hard work does pay off and if you make a mistake, always be the first to admit it.

Q: If your life story were made into a movie, who would play you?
A: Michelle Pfeiffer. That comes from my sister, but she made the point that I’m quiet and I’m motivated. She also mentioned Jodie Foster; I don’t look like her, but I guess I’m independent and quiet and tough. But I’d say Michelle Pfeiffer is the best one.

If you go

What: Empty Bowls Delray Beach, benefiting the Palm Beach County Food Bank
When: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 2.
Where: Old School Square
Cost: $25 in advance, $30 at door
Info: 670-2518, oldschoolsquare.org/events/empty-bowls/

By Mary Hladky

Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon has prevailed in her long battle to ensure vacation rental hosts pay the 6 percent tourist development tax to the county.
The Palm Beach County Commission on Oct. 16 unanimously passed an ordinance that requires vacation rental platforms to collect and remit to the county the so-called bed tax that hotels and other short-term rentals are required to pay.
“We need more tools in our toolbox to enforce our bed tax,” Gannon told commissioners.
Vacation rentals are a $36 billion industry in the U.S. and growing rapidly. Airbnb, one of the best-known companies, had 2,300 hosts in Palm Beach County last year.
Gannon has long contended the county is not getting all the bed tax revenue it is owed because vacation rental hosts either do not know they are supposed to pay or simply don’t want to.
The ordinance adds to rules already in place that require hosts to pay the bed tax. But now, vacation rental platforms will have to take on the burden of making sure that happens.
The platforms must verify that vacation rentals are registered with the Tax Collector’s Office and have a business tax receipt and a tourist development tax account before they can list the rentals on their platforms.
They also will have to file monthly reports with the tax collector that include the names of all hosts, each vacation rental’s location, and number of nights rented and amount paid for each stay.
Any platform or booking service that violates the rules faces civil penalties of up to $500 per unit per day.
Although the ordinance applies to all hosting platforms and booking services, much of the focus has been on Airbnb because of its strong resistance.
“We don’t need this shakedown-style ordinance,” Airbnb’s Florida policy director Tom Martinelli told commissioners on Sept. 18.
“This Tax Collector’s Office has been particularly hostile to this industry in her public commentary,” he added.
Martinelli asked commissioners at that meeting to reject the ordinance or postpone voting on it until after the resolution of a 2014 lawsuit Gannon filed that alleged Airbnb, HomeAway, TripAdvisor and CouchSurfing International have not paid the bed taxes.
Any resolution doesn’t look likely to happen soon. Both sides will argue motions for summary judgment on Nov. 27 before Circuit Judge James Nutt. Gannon, who has vowed not to settle the case, has said it will go to trial.
Martinelli wants Gannon to enter into an agreement with Airbnb under which the company will collect the bed taxes and remit them to the county. Airbnb has reached such agreements with 39 Florida counties, including earlier this year with Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Both counties at the time said they would seek similar deals with other home-sharing platforms.
Airbnb reached an agreement with the state Department of Revenue in 2015 in which the company collects state sales tax from its Florida hosts and pays the state. The same year, it began reaching agreements with counties on the bed tax collections.
But Gannon won’t sign on. The problem, she has said, is that the agreements don’t require Airbnb to release any information about hosts or property addresses and don’t require payment of previous uncollected taxes.
Without host and property location information, Gannon said she can’t do an audit to see if Airbnb is paying all it owes.
“They give us a take-it-or- leave-it agreement,” Orfelia Mayor, Gannon’s general counsel, said at the September commission meeting. “It is take our word for it. This is what we owe you.”
Mayor raised another complaint at the October meeting, saying Airbnb has staged “a huge campaign of misinformation,” wrongly telling hosts that the ordinance would impose a new tax.
Vacation rental hosts attending the meeting said they were not trying to evade taxes.
Maria Vale was one of several hosts who thought Airbnb collected the bed tax.
“We thought Airbnb took care of everything,” she said.
Many said they did not understand what the county requires of them. Some had scoured the internet for information but could not find where the rules were spelled out.
One problem, it turned out, was that the information is not included on the county’s website. Instead, hosts need to look at the tax collector’s site, pbctax.com.
Speakers generally said they were in favor of the ordinance. But some said the county’s system is confusing and cumbersome, and asked for it to be simplified.
Mayor said that is, in part, what the ordinance will do by requiring platforms to tell hosts what the requirements are.
“It puts it all in one streamlined ordinance … so anyone knows how to stay in compliance,” she said.
But she agreed that the information should be included on the county’s website and that the tax collector’s site should be made “more robust.”
No officials from vacation rental platforms spoke at the meeting. But afterward, Airbnb released a statement saying the ordinance violates federal and state law by divulging private information about hosts. Mayor has disputed that and said Airbnb has not prevailed on that claim in any legal case.
“We will consider all options to protect the privacy and property rights of our Floridian hosts,” the statement said.

By Steve Plunkett

Defense attorneys for onetime Ocean Ridge Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella will be able to tell jurors in his January felony trial that he is 65 years old.
Judge Daliah Weiss on Oct. 12 denied prosecutor Danielle Grundt’s motion to bar any references to Lucibella’s age. “Any such reference would only serve to inflame the jury and suggest [an] improper basis for its verdict,” Grundt unsuccessfully argued.
Weiss granted Grundt’s request to not allow expert witnesses to testify on legal standards for probable cause, but reserved her rulings until the trial on requests to limit expert testimony that critiques the police investigation or focuses on an issue that is “within the realm of a common layperson’s understanding.”
She also reserved rulings on whether the defense can argue the search of Lucibella’s home was unlawful or the arrest was invalid.
Lucibella is charged with battery on an Ocean Ridge police officer and resisting arrest with violence, both felonies, and a misdemeanor count of using a firearm while intoxicated. The charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty.
The trial is scheduled to open Jan. 28.
Meanwhile, the insurance company lawyers representing Lucibella in a related civil lawsuit withdrew from the case Oct. 10, citing “irreconcilable differences.” Nubia Plesnik, one of the arresting officers, is suing Lucibella for battery and negligence during the course of the arrest.
Lucibella, who has a $10 million umbrella liability policy, is chief executive of a multimillion-dollar Medicare shared savings group and publishes a magazine for gun aficionados.
Plesnik’s lawyer filed notice of a “proposal for settlement” of the lawsuit on Aug. 31. Lucibella’s lawyers filed their motion to withdraw two weeks later.
Police went to the backyard of Lucibella’s beachfront home Oct. 22, 2016, after neighbors reported hearing gunshots. He resigned from the Town Commission that December.

Dan Moffett contributed to this story.

By Jane Smith

Trolley service was scheduled to return to downtown Delray Beach on Nov. 1.
The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency board, made up of the city commissioners and two citizens, voted 6-1 on Oct. 22 to pay for three months of the trolley operations along Atlantic Avenue, costing about $120,000.
To allow for flexibility in the season, the contract can be extended another three months, said Jeff Costello, CRA executive director.
During that time, data on the number of trolley riders and stops will be collected to adjust the trolley schedule every 30 days. An existing app, called Transit, will be available for riders with smartphones to find out when the next trolley will stop. And trolleys may have signs that say they’re free.
“Putting the trolley back into service is a Band-Aid,” said Bill Bathurst, a board member and city commissioner. “It won’t be one-size-fits-all with the trolley. … But when we pulled the trolley out and the Downtowner left at the same time, it showed how weak our system is.”
Both services stopped on Sept. 30.
The CRA board will meet with the Downtown Development Authority board for a Nov. 14 workshop to discuss downtown transportation. Members will talk about route changes, other sources of money to pay for the transportation services, natural gas or electric-powered vehicles and other topics related to reducing the number of vehicles downtown.
Board member Adam Frankel, who also is a city commissioner, was the lone no vote.
To ease his concern about whether the numbers provided by the trolley driver can be trusted, the DDA has some money to do a count of the riders at a particular stop, said Laura Simon, DDA executive director.
Four people spoke at the CRA meeting during public comments. All were for the trolley or some other form of downtown transportation.
Scott Roberts, general manager of the Fairfield Inn, told the CRA board members he’s OK with a nominal fee to keep the trolley operating. “If my guests have to use their cars or rental cars, they go to other cities to have dinner and not Atlantic Avenue,” he said.
When commercial real estate agent Christina Morrison sat on the Congress Avenue Task Force, the group wanted to supply transportation to allow workers west of the interstate to travel east to have lunch downtown, without using their cars. “Keep the trolley,” she said.
“Our tourism depends on the transportation system,” said Rick Konsavage, regional operations director for Ocean Properties. In Delray Beach, its holdings are the Marriott and Residence Inn hotels, Boston’s and 50 Ocean restaurants, and the tiki bar called Sandbar — all on the barrier island.
In mid-October, one group that stayed at the Marriott for its annual meeting was disappointed when it arrived, Konsavage said. “They picked our site because their members would not need to rent a car. But when they got here, there was no trolley and no Downtowner,” an electric vehicle ride service.
For the five properties, about 20 percent of the staff relies on the trolley to get to work, Konsavage said.
Even so, the two citizen members on the CRA board, Angie Gray and Pamela Brinson, don’t think the agency should have to pay the entire bill for the trolley’s operating costs.
“That’s a great question for the future,” said Shelly Petrolia, CRA board chairwoman and mayor. Petrolia suggested possible money sources may come from a nominal fee, advertising and the hotels. All will be discussed Nov. 14.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach commissioners will let a judge determine whether two East Atlantic Avenue property owners have the right to build an extra floor in the three-story district.
The split vote, 3-2 against settling the $6.9 million lawsuit by carving out the contested parcels, took place in mid-October. Commissioner Ryan Boylston was concerned that chopping away at the district would lead to more lawsuits against the city.
“Every time you move that line, a new property owner is on the line,” he said after the meeting. “The city attorney could not prove that this was a one-stop situation.” Boylston rents space for his marketing firm in a corner building on that block.
Boylston joined Commissioner Bill Bathurst and Mayor Shelly Petrolia for letting a judge decide.
“This is the first cut, a slow and steady chipping away at something we worked hard to get,” Petrolia said at the meeting.
After 18 months of meetings, a previous City Commission had capped East Atlantic’s height at three stories between Swinton Avenue and the Intracoastal Waterway.
Petrolia and Commissioner Adam Frankel were part of the unanimous vote in February 2015.
City Attorney Max Lohman told commissioners that the owners of two properties had not been notified in early 2015 as required by state law. He said notices were sent out in late January to the owners. They have a year to bring a site plan for a four-story project to the city. Lohman was not the city attorney in early 2015.
One owner, William R. Burke Jr., who bought the building at 123 E. Atlantic Ave. in 1996, could not be reached for comment.
In May, Old School Bakery owner Billy Himmelrich and his business partner sued the city for $6.9 million to be able to build four stories on their parcels just east of the Old School Square cultural center. They own two parking lots and two buildings that house Tramonti and Cabana El Rey restaurants. Both restaurants have leases that expire in 2024, Himmelrich said.
Himmelrich and David Hosokawa have a history with the city and its Community Redevelopment Agency. In the mid-2000s, they sold a parcel through eminent domain to the CRA to complete the Old School Square park and in return bought a small parcel with 26 parking places. The partners lease that parcel to the CRA for parking for the Greenmarket and other events.
At the mid-October meeting, Himmelrich said, “I don’t want anything special.” After the meeting, he said, “I offered them a great solution and they are playing Russian roulette with the taxpayers’ dollars.”
Delray Beach real estate agent Brian Rosen said at the meeting that Himmelrich had helped to create the Old School Square park. “It’s not setting a precedent,” Rosen said.
Longtime resident Linda Oxford spoke about the height cap. “We want to be able to walk downtown and let sun hit our faces,” she said.
Resident Kelly Barrette reminded the commission that when the height cap was passed in 2015, people in the chambers stood and clapped. “One of the few standing ovations,” she said. Barrette also said the commissioners are “the last line of defense against inappropriate development.” She urged the commission to fight the lawsuit.
Lohman, though, said settling the lawsuit was not about the merits of the case. “The settlement is about certainty,” he said.
He declined to say how his office determined that only the owners of two properties had not been notified, citing the “ongoing litigation.”
“The Florida Statute notice requirements do not require confirmation of receipt of notices,” wrote Tim Stillings, development services director, in response to how the city tracks the notices. “When we send notices, we keep a record of the mailing labels.
“With respect to the changes to the Central Business District, the city sent notices during the consideration of the changes but did not send any immediately following the adoption.”
Stillings was not employed by the city in 2015.
Longtime East Atlantic Avenue building owner Bruce Gimmy said he did not receive a notice, but he knew about the height cap because he sat on the city’s Parking Management Advisory Board.
At the mid-October commission meeting, Lohman said the hearing on the city’s motion to dismiss, set for Oct. 19, had been canceled based on the 3-2 vote to settle the lawsuit that took place Sept. 25.
As of press time, the hearing had not been reset.
“I’m really concerned that the city’s motion to dismiss was canceled, based on the vote from one public hearing. It was a close vote,” Petrolia said after the meeting. “There were a lot of questions that were not answered for us to be making major decisions.”

Briny Breezes residents say that having a crosswalk stop at an intersection with a traffic light is confusing. The state may have erred when it put in the sign. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

Briny Breezes residents will get the chance to learn a lot more about plans for the Gulf Stream Views townhouse project next door when developers come to town for a question-and-answer session on Nov. 13.
The event, which is open to the public, is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. in Briny’s ocean clubhouse.
Mayor Roger Bennett said he expects Ocean Ridge officials and County Pocket representatives to attend, as well as members of Briny’s corporate board and the Town Council.
“I’m getting a lot of questions and comments from returning snowbirds,” Bennett said during the Town Council meeting Oct. 25. “So everyone’s invited.”
The developers, NR Living, a division of National Realty Investment Advisors of Secaucus, N.J., plan to build 14 three-bedroom townhouse units on a roughly 2-acre site just south of Briny’s boundary line, north of the County Pocket, with pre-construction prices ranging from $1.8 million to $2.7 million.
Briny Breezes Town Manager Dale Sugerman said work to prepare the site for construction has already begun, with trucks hauling in large amounts of fill to “bring the grade of the property up significantly.” The developers have not yet released a work schedule for the project, Sugerman said.
In recent weeks, the Town Council has tried to clarify ownership of Briny Breezes Boulevard, a street that would provide access to the townhouses from the north off A1A. The town appears to own only a part of the 45-foot-wide right of way, Sugerman said, but it remains unclear exactly which part.
“The story gets interesting,” he said of talks with Palm Beach County officials over ownership.
Sugerman says it would appear that Briny owns the northern 30 feet of the right of way and the county owns the southern 15 feet. “However, there is only 18 feet plus or minus of pavement,” the manager said.
It remains unclear whether that 18 feet of pavement is under control of Briny or the county, he said, and that the county’s engineering department is working to resolve the matter.
With the townhome development on the horizon, several council members have said it may benefit Briny Breezes to assume full control of the right of way, if the county is willing to give up its share.
In other business, Sugerman said he is working with the Florida Department of Transportation to determine whether a “Stop for Pedestrians Within Crosswalk” sign belongs in the A1A crosswalk at the Cordova Avenue intersection.
Sugerman said FDOT inexplicably put the sign there recently, not long after the town requested a replacement sign for the one damaged by a motorist in September at the Ruthmary Avenue crosswalk. FDOT installed a new sign at that crosswalk two weeks prior to the Cordova replacement.
Residents have complained that the Cordova sign causes confusion because the intersection has a traffic light to assist pedestrians.
“I agree that there are conflicting commands,” he said, telling the council FDOT plans to examine the sign to see if it is appropriate.

The 29-room hotel will be demolished to make way for a condo project. Photo provided

By Christine Davis

This will be the last Thanksgiving holiday that Dorothy Gay “GiGi” Wright Vela, her siblings, their children and grandchildren will gather for dinner at Wright by the Sea, the beach hotel that has been in her family since 1950.
“My daughter cooks the turkey,” Vela said. “We eat it in the chickee hut that the Seminoles built for us 40 years ago.
“Its roof has been replaced only once and that was after Hurricane Sandy,” she says of the 2012 storm. “All of our children and grandchildren get to be with each other.”
On Oct. 1, Vela and her family sold their oceanfront property, the 29-room Wright by the Sea at 1901 S. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach, to National Realty Investment Advisors and U.S. Construction Inc. for $25 million. The Wright family corporation is leasing it back through November, then the hotel will close permanently.
“We never put it up for sale. The buyer came to us. When I signed the contract, I felt like someone had socked me in the stomach. I couldn’t take a breath,” said Vela, 83.
Candace Friis, an agent with the Corcoran Group, brought the buyers and handled both sides of the off-market deal.
It was time to sell, Vela acknowledged.
“We were being taxed out of business. The property taxes were a quarter of a million for 29 rooms. And then there’s the 10 percent bed tax, and there are other taxes and we had health insurance to pay for our employees.”
No one connected with the hotel is happy about the sale, Vela added.
“Our family is devastated. Our staff is devastated — they’ve been with us for years. And we have 7,500 guests who come stay with us a year and they will now have no place to go.
“We are directly on the beach. Our property is so lovely, and when I walk through the breezeway, I think it’s just like paradise. But we realized that we couldn’t keep a hotel that’s not making money, and decided we had to sell it.”
On the upside, longevity runs in the family. Vela’s father lived well into his 90s, and Vela, who received a doctorate in psychology and human development in 1996, feels time is on her side. She looks forward to working in her new field.
“My friends say, ‘Now you have time to play bridge with us,’ but I don’t think so. I don’t want to play cards when there’s so much to do that’s exciting.”
And where will the family celebrate Thanksgiving in the future? “That’s to be determined,” Vela said.

Plans for property
National Realty Investment Advisors and U.S. Construction will redevelop the property into a condominium project and beach club on the almost 2-acre beachfront parcel. On the half-acre across the street at 1060 Del Harbor Drive, a parcel that was included in the deal, they plan to build townhomes.
The buyers received a $22 million mortgage from affiliates of New York-based Ares Commercial Real Estate Management.
“It’s going to be totally new construction, a luxurious offering of 19 units on the ocean, envisioned to feel like you are living in your own private beachfront residence,” said Stephann Cotton, president of the Stuart-based marketing and advertising firm representing the owners. “Today’s sophisticated buyers will appreciate the rare opportunity of buying direct oceanfront in one of America’s most sought-after towns. It’s the best design, the finest quality and oceanfront location to come to market in decades.”
Delray Beach architect Randall Stofft has already put together some designs, which will, in time, be released along with timetables on a registrants website, oceandelray.com.
National Realty Investment Advisors is a New Jersey-based development and investment firm with a focus on construction and renovation of townhomes, condos and multifamily projects in the Northeast. It has developed about 715 units since 2010 and has $335 million worth of projects in progress.
Local projects include the purchase of a $7 million waterfront development at 1248 and 1240 Seaspray Ave. in Delray Beach, and the $13 million purchase of two vacant waterfront lots at 2929 and 3565 N. Ocean Blvd. in Gulf Stream.
In June, the firm secured a $16.5 million loan to build a 14-townhome project, Gulfstream Views, on 2 acres at 30 Briny Breezes Blvd. in the County Pocket.
U.S. Construction Inc. of Philadelphia has developed and constructed more than 1,500 luxury homes and units among 50 complexes over the past 10 years. Its website notes the following Delray Beach projects underway: residences at 316 N. Ocean Blvd., 322 N. Ocean Blvd., 707 N. Ocean Blvd., 2929 N. Ocean Blvd. and 3565 N. Ocean Blvd.; four residences at 142 NE Seventh Ave.; a residence at 1239 Laing St.; and two townhomes at 837 Denery Lane.
Stephann Cotton’s Cotton & Company will take the marketing lead on this project. IMI Living will manage sales.

The Boynton Beach Civic Center, library and surrounding buildings were demolished in October. City Hall, police headquarters and other areas north of Ocean Avenue are scheduled to be torn down this month. Courtesy city of Boynton Beach

By Jane Smith

About a month into the Town Square project that will create a downtown for Boynton Beach, “everything is on track,” said Colin Groff, assistant city manager in charge of the project.
In October, the Civic Center, Art Center, City Library and Madsen Center buildings were demolished to make way for the 16-acre project. The area is under development by a public-private partnership among the city, its Community Redevelopment Agency and the development team of E2L Real Estate Solutions.
On the south side of Ocean Avenue, the new downtown will include a City Center that combines City Hall and the library, an amphitheater, a play area and a garage. The buildings should be finished in early 2020.
On the north side of Ocean Avenue, the existing City Hall, police headquarters and Fire Station 1 are slated to be torn down in November. The north side will have a district energy plant and a new Fire Station 1, along with a privately built hotel, retail space, offices, restaurants, apartments and a garage.
In past years, the city’s holiday tree lighting occurred in front of the Schoolhouse Children’s Museum, just east of City Hall. Because of the ongoing construction, that location is not suitable for the tree lighting ceremony because public parking is not available.
Instead, Boynton Beach Mayor Steven Grant suggested using the banyan tree in Dewey Park as the city’s “Christmas tree.” The park is three blocks east and out of the construction zone.
At the city’s October CRA meeting, board member Justin Katz joked, “It’s imperative that if an article is written about this that it says: Jewish mayor saves Christmas.”
The CRA board unanimously agreed to spend up to $25,000 to light up the banyan tree and the surrounding area after the city’s holiday parade on Dec. 1. The parade starts at 4 p.m. The banyan tree will be lit nightly through early January.
The CRA received three bids with costs ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 for the banyan tree lighting. Last year, the holiday tree lighting cost $36,000 to light up the artificial tree near the Children’s Museum.

Martina Navratilova (with racket) is a regular at Chris Evert’s charity event and is among those set to be part of the festivities again Nov. 9-11. 2017 photo provided by Camerawork, USA

By Christine Davis

Tennis stars John McEnroe, Patrick McEnroe and Martina Navratilova and actors Chris Noth and Jon Lovitz are scheduled to be among the celebrities on hand when Chris Evert hosts the 29th annual Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic Nov. 9-11 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center.
A staple on the south Palm Beach County sports calendar, the event has raised more than $24 million for charity while featuring luminaries such as former President George H.W. Bush, Chevy Chase, Matthew Perry and Olivia Newton-John.
Sports celebrities featured over the years have included tennis stars Jimmy Connors, Lindsay Davenport, Tracy Austin, Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams and Serena Williams. Other sports luminaries involved have been Don Shula, Pat Riley, Jim Palmer, Sugar Ray Leonard and Keith Hernandez.
Festivities begin with Tennis With Chrissie and Friends, an exclusive pro-am from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. that Friday at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, and continue with the Classic Cocktail Reception from 7 to 9 p.m. at the club’s garden pool.
Action moves to the Delray Beach Tennis Center beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday, where tennis legends will be paired with an array of celebrities from the entertainment and sports worlds.
Saturday evening will feature the 29th annual Pro Celebrity Gala starting at 6, featuring Blood, Sweat and Tears back at the Boca Raton Resort. The event concludes with more matches at the Tennis Center on Sunday.
Tickets start at $20 general admission, with a wide range of ticket packages available at www.chrisevert.org or by calling 394-2400.

While Evert prepares for her Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic, she’s also trying to sell her west Boca Raton estate and she’s offering an unusual incentive: a private tennis lesson.
Evert, who retired from professional tennis in 1989, listed her property at 8563 Horseshoe Lane last spring for $4.99 million. Built in 1995, the house and two guesthouses are sited on more than 5 acres. Evert bought it for $2.8 million in 2003, when she was married to Olympic skier Andy Mill. Katia Reisler of Douglas Elliman and Rebecca Spooner of Siemens Group Realty are the listing agents.

A Hillsboro Beach mansion at 935 Hillsboro Mile, known as Le Palais Royal and Playa Vista, will sell to the highest bidder in November, forgoing its previous asking price of $159 million and without a reserve price. Mayi de la Vega, owner of One Sotheby’s International Realty, is the listing agent. Concierge Auctions will handle the auction, which begins Nov. 12 and ends Nov. 15.
The 60,000-square-foot estate has 11 bedrooms, 22 bathrooms, an IMAX home theater, six waterfalls and two deep-water docks. Robert Pereira, president of the Middlesex Corp., a contracting firm based in Massachusetts, owns the property, which was first listed on the market in 2014 for $139 million, going up in price the following year. It was taken off the market in 2016.

Andrew Robins sold a new home, designed by Jag Design and Development, on a half-acre at 3833 S. Ocean Blvd., Highland Beach, to software entrepreneur Michael J. Rothberg and his wife, Judith, for $21.5 million. Robins bought the property for $3.675 million in 2014. The recent sale was recorded on Oct. 10. Michael Rothberg was previously the head of Boca Raton-based Sengent, which is now owned by New York-based Clarifi.

National Hockey League star Max Pacioretty sold his five-bedroom and 41/2-acre estate at 434 Areca Palm Road, Boca Raton, after it spent only five days on the market in mid-October. The property sold for $3.1 million and was listed with Devin Kay, an agent with Douglas Elliman, for $3.45 million. Features include smart house technology, safe room and indoor/outdoor basketball and sports court. Pacioretty plays for the Vegas Golden Knights after spending 10 years with Montreal.

The Fite Group Luxury Homes, a real estate firm headquartered in Palm Beach with offices in Delray Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and Wellington, has partnered with William Raveis Real Estate.
“This partnership with Raveis expands our network for our clientele, gives our agents access to cutting-edge technology and combines the high levels of service and luxury market positions for which both companies are known,” said David Fite, founder and principal of the Fite Group.
This partnership presented an opportunity for both companies. Since many Palm Beach County home buyers come from the Northeast, the Fite Group offers Raveis local expertise in Palm Beach County. “We have great respect for the Fite Group’s expertise and commitment to the discerning communities of Palm Beach County, demonstrated by David and Nadine Fite’s strong leadership,” said chairman and CEO Bill Raveis, who founded William Raveis Real Estate 44 years ago.
According to its websites, the Fite Group, founded 10 years ago, has 100 agents and has completed more than $5 billion in sales.
Over four decades, Raveis has grown from a single office over a grocery store in Connecticut to a family enterprise with more than 4,000 professionals in 130 offices across nine states, resulting in $10.2 billion in real estate sales in 2017.

Delray Beach was selected by Expedia as one of the best honeymoon destinations in America.
The honor was based on four sweet spots: Delray Beach got four out of five “bicycle” icons for action, four out of four “cityscape” icons for scenery, three out of four “roses” for vibes and two out of four “dollar signs” for affordability. In other words, Delray Beach scored well in three out of the four criteria. Delray Beach is so great, the article reads, that “you might want to tie the knot all over again.”

Planning the perfect day in Delray Beach just got a whole lot easier. The Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative recently launched an app on visitdelraybeach.org that provides an interactive way to map out things to do in the city.
Users can explore everything from events to popular restaurants to points of interest, as well as hotels and attractions — all with driving directions.
“See a beach activity you don’t want to miss?” asked Stephanie Immelman, the cooperative’s executive director. “Click ‘Join’ and the event will be added to your plan. Want to invite some friends? Share your plan with them directly or via social media, email or SMS.”

The Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority’s Delray Beach Fashion Week received a Silver Award in the special event category from Visit Florida’s 2018 Flagler Awards at the Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Orlando.

On Small Business Day, Nov. 24 in downtown Delray Beach, shoppers can enjoy a holiday stroll and avail themselves of in-store and outdoor promotions, entertainment, festive decorations and light bites.
For this event, the Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority partnered with the City of Delray Beach, CRA and the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce.
Recent additions to the downtown area include Biba, Doughnut Works, JuiceBuzz Mrkt & Juicery, Ramen Lab Eatery, Beachfront Properties, Wine House Social, Nada’s Italy, Style de Vie and Jennifer on the Avenue.
They join longtime local businesses Vince Canning Shoes, Avalon Gallery, Murder on the Beach Bookstore, Hand’s, Snappy Turtle, Delray Camera Shop, Huber’s Pharmacy, Periwinkle, Richwagen’s Delray Bike & Sport, and many more. 
At the Shop Small hospitality booths, customers who spend $50 at a downtown Delray Beach small business can receive complimentary gifts and Shop Small giveaways. 
The booths will be in Pineapple Grove by the banyan tree in front of Addison Gallery, 206 NE Second St., Delray Beach, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and in front of Hand’s Office & Art Supply, 325 E. Atlantic Ave., from 2 to 4 p.m.
Visit DowntownDelrayBeach.com/ShopSmall for a list of participating merchants.

Event-goers can have fun playing cards while raising money to feed local seniors in need at Viva Las Vegas, an event that benefits the Community Caring Center of Palm Beach County. It will be from 6 to 11 p.m. Nov. 10 at Mercedes-Benz of Delray, 1001 Linton Blvd. After a cocktail reception, gaming will open with blackjack, Texas hold ’em, slot machines, roulette and craps. There will also be music by the Sound Proof, a silent auction, a carving station, heavy hors d’oeuvres, dessert buffet, coffee and tea. Tickets are $100. For tickets, go to cccgbb.org/2018-viva-las-vegas.

Through Dec. 7, the 13th annual Project Holiday will accept donated items for deployed members of the U.S. military.
For this initiative, the City of Delray Beach is partnering with two local organizations: You Are Not Alone and One Soldier at a Time.
You Are Not Alone provides encouragement and emotional support to family members and friends of troops, while One Soldier at a Time sends care packages and words of encouragement to deployed military members.
For a list of requested items and drop-off locations, visit mydelraybeach.com. 
If you are a resident of Delray Beach or Boca Raton and have a family member serving overseas in the military, request a care package by contacting Delores Rangel at 243-7010 or rangel@mydelraybeach.com. You can also contact Rangel if you want to volunteer to pack items to be shipped.

Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business has announced a partnership with the Dow Jones Barron’s in Education program. Students and faculty will receive a digital subscription to Barron’s, a weekly review, an email newsletter summarizing business and investment stories, and Barron’s MarketWatch Virtual Stock Exchange interactive game.
The program includes an invitation for a small group of faculty and students to visit Dow Jones headquarters and tour the newsrooms at Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch. Also, students will have free access to Dow Jones’ online recruitment for internship and job opportunities.
The program, funded by Barron’s magazine, is sponsored by the wealth management firm PagnatoKarp, whose founder and CEO Paul A. Pagnato earned his bachelor’s degree from the Florida Atlantic University’s College of Science in 1986. PagnatoKarp is based in Reston, Va.

Local high school poets have until Dec. 1 to enter the Palm Beach Poetry Festival contest. Photo provided

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival launched its 15th annual Palm Beach County High School Poetry Contest in October in partnership with Old School Square in Delray Beach. Through Dec. 1, Palm Beach County high school students can submit one original poem (30 lines maximum) for consideration. Original poems should be submitted by email before midnight on Dec. 1 to PBPF1@aol.com. For contest rules, visit palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/event/2018-high-school-poetry-contest.
The winning poet will receive $200, and the four runners-up will each receive $100. All five poets will read their poems at the festival’s award ceremony on Jan. 21. The judge for the contest will once again be Dr. Jeff Morgan of Lynn University’s Department of English.

The League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County with the School District of Palm Beach County coordinated a successful voter registration effort at 23 local high schools on National Voter Registration day, Sept. 25.
More than 250 volunteers participated in this campaign, which happened over the lunch hour in public schools from Boca Raton to Jupiter. Now, many of the 1,940 high school students who registered can vote on Nov. 6.
“Our aim was to motivate young people to take the first step toward participating in the democratic process by registering to vote,” said Pam Maldonado, chairwoman of the Voting Service Committee for the League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County.

The League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County will host a Hot Topic Luncheon Nov. 21 to analyze election results. The Palm Beach Post editorial writer Howard Goodman will discuss “Where do we go from here?”
The luncheon is at the Atlantis Country Club, 190 Atlantis Blvd., Lake Worth. Doors open at 11 a.m., and lunch will be served at 11:30. The cost is $25 in advance or $35 at the door. RSVPs are requested at lwvpbc.org or by calling Estelle Friedman at 968-4123.

Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards has recognized six resorts in our area. They include The Boca Raton Resort and Club, No. 10; Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Manalapan, No. 11; Palm Beach Marriott Singer Island Beach Resort & Spa in Riviera Beach, No. 14; Boca Beach Club in Boca Raton, No. 18; The Breakers in Palm Beach, No. 24; and Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, No. 29.

Brian Biggane, Amy Woods and Mary Thurwachter contributed to this column.

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

By Jane Smith

Oceanfront Park will soon have upgraded playground equipment and a fitness area for adults after Boynton Beach city commissioners approved the $150,000 project in early October.
Kompan Inc., a Texas-based playground equipment maker, awarded a $50,000 grant to Boynton Beach, said Andrew Mack, the city’s public works director. “We were one of five nationally this year to receive the grant,” he told commissioners on Oct. 2.
Assembly of the playground will start in November and finish in January.
The playground site will be moved closer to the parking lot to allow two “megatowers” to be built. One unit will have climb-up ropes and slides, while the larger one will have a walking deck, Mack said.
The adult fitness area will have stair-climbers, pushup bars and stretching equipment, according to the drawings. Commissioner Mack McCray asked about shade coverings over the slides so that the equipment would not be too hot to use by kids wearing bathing suits.
Shade sails will not be installed, but the equipment will be placed close to the trees to provide some shade, Mack said.
The playground equipment should last 10 years, Mack said. It uses galvanized steel fittings and recyclable plastic that can “withstand the salt air.”

Lantana will be 100 years old in 2021, and town officials are seeking residents and business folks to join town staffers to form a centennial planning committee.
Once formed, the committee will meet quarterly to plan festivities, says Town Manager Deborah Manzo. “We’ll be brainstorming for creative and unique ideas for the town’s celebration of this historic event.”
Those interested in applying for the volunteer committee are asked to visit Lantana’s website, lantana.org, to complete an application, or email Town Clerk Nicole Dritz at ndritz@lantana.org.
— Mary Thurwachter

By Rich Pollack

Attorneys for David Del Rio, the financial adviser accused of siphoning nearly $900,000 from the accounts of a Highland Beach widow who was later found slain, will be in court this month hoping to get him released on bail.
Del Rio, who served as the financial adviser to Elizabeth Cabral, 85, has been in custody since mid-September after being charged with 27 counts of grand theft and financial fraud stemming from what detectives say were unauthorized withdrawals from the woman’s bank accounts.
“It’s very clear that he’s entitled to bond,” defense attorney Michael Salnick said. “He’s never been in trouble before.”
Although bail was originally set for $27,000 soon after his arrest, Del Rio remains in jail following contentions by prosecutors that any money used to post bail would be from ill-gotten gains. Prosecutors also contended that Del Rio was a flight risk, something Salnick says is not the case.
In court documents, prosecutors argued that “to allow the defendant to use funds and collateral that were obtained by his participation in an organized criminal scheme to defraud in order to secure his release is contrary to the purpose and intent of the statues.”

Salnick said he will argue that the money Del Rio, 35, will use to post bail is not connected to the charges. He also said Del Rio knew for months that he was under investigation by Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office detectives but did not flee.
The attorney pointed out that law enforcement has seized Del Rio’s passport. He said that if Del Rio is released on bail, he would return to his home in Lee County and to his family.
“My client is going to do the right thing and show up for court when required,” Salnick said.
While in Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office custody, Del Rio has frequently been visited by his wife, his parents and other family members.
“He has a very strong support base,” Salnick said.
While investigators have been tight-lipped about their investigation into Cabral’s death — she was found in her apartment in late April — Salnick denied any link between his client and the homicide.
“He’s unequivocally not involved in the homicide,” Salnick said.

By Steve Plunkett

Starting next spring, homeowners will be able to hold only two weekend garage sales a year, or four days in all, and must get a free permit beforehand from the city.
Brandon Schaad, Boca Raton’s development services director, said issuing permits would let the city keep track of how many times a particular resident holds a garage sale.
“There’s been some complaints received by the city regarding excessive numbers of garage sales held on some properties, to the extent that on some properties they essentially constitute a business operation,” Schaad told City Council members at their Oct. 10 meeting.
The frequent sales cause parking problems and noise for neighbors, Schaad said. Council members unanimously approved an enabling ordinance.
Schaad said his department would spend the next six months educating residents on the new requirements. After the outreach program ends, violators will receive one warning and face a $150 fine for a second occurrence. Permits will be available online and at City Hall.
“The whole point is not to make it difficult for regular residents,” Mayor Scott Singer said.
Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers asked if Development Services could publish the list of garage sale permits so shoppers could plan their trips.
“It gives a way to publicly advertise for free in the city what yard sales are going on. … In that way we’re adding value I think,” Rodgers said.
In other business, council members authorized the sale of $36.7 million in capital improvement bonds to be paid back with proceeds from the county’s 1-cent sales tax. The bond money will finance projects that include Lake Wyman Park, Wildflower Park and Silver Palm Park.

Robert Patek left two poles but was forced to remove ropes he put behind his home to block tractors that bury beach debris. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Robert Patek had seen enough.
A Highland Beach resident with a home on the east side of State Road A1A, Patek has been complaining for years about tractors that rake the beach behind his home.
He has stood before town commissioners several times, complaining that the tractors leave deep tracks in the sand and bury garbage on private beaches.
“It’s like a tractor highway behind my house,” he said.
So several weeks ago, Patek put up poles and ropes on his beach to keep the tractors away. In doing so, he ran afoul of state law. Florida Department of Environmental Protection officials made him take the ropes down but allowed him to keep up two of the four poles.
However, those poles may be coming down soon, either as a result of an ordinance the town is considering or because Patek voluntarily removes them.
Although Patek may be losing a battle, it appears he’s getting closer to winning the war over how beaches are cleaned.
The Town Commission is discussing beach raking and considering ordinances to license and regulate the companies that homeowners hire to clean beaches. Two city advisory boards and town staff are also considering action.
“There is no consistency on how the beach raking is done on the beach,” said Commissioner Elyse Riesa. “The first step in protecting our beaches is to have the right rules in place.”
A proposed ordinance for mechanical beach raking would in essence mirror rules established by the state DEP, which Town Attorney Pamala Ryan says are difficult to enforce because of limited state resources.
With an ordinance in place and permits required, the town would be in a better position to enforce rules designed to preserve the beach, she said.

ABOVE: Fresh tracks from beach cleaning equipment are a common sight in Highland Beach. How deep the tracks can be may come under new regulations. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
BELOW: Robert Patek’s home lies between a house to the south and condo to the north that use different companies for beach cleanup. The tractor drivers use Patek’s property to turn around, and he installed poles in an attempt to block them. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

At least two other small coastal towns, Ocean Ridge and Gulf Stream, have no specific rules about beach cleaning, but Manalapan does have restrictions.
“We don’t regulate cleaning of the beaches specifically,” said Ocean Ridge Town Manager Jamie Titcomb. “We defer to the DEP and work closely with them.”
Gulf Stream Town Clerk Rita Taylor said the town requires any company working there to be registered but does not have any specific regulations for beach cleaners.
“We haven’t had any complaints,” she said.
In Manalapan, however, those who clean beaches mechanically are required to have permits and are required to comply with conditions set forth by the state. Manalapan also requires that mechanical beach cleaning be done between sunrise and 11:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday.
Among the provisions of the draft ordinance are requirements that all debris collected from the beach be removed, not buried, and that tracks from equipment not be more than 2 inches deep.
Clayton Peart, president of Universal Beach Services — one of two beach cleaning companies serving Highland Beach property owners — said his firm most likely would be able to comply with the proposed ordinance.
“We don’t think we’ll have a problem following nearly the same conditions of the ordinance, which are nearly the same as those required by DEP,” he said. “We’ve been working in Highland Beach since the 1970s and we want to do the best job we can for the town and all the residents.”
Commissioners are also considering including provisions to regulate manual beach cleaning on private beaches.
While there is agreement that rules are needed, town leaders are wrestling with whether private beach property owners should continue to be responsible for cleaning their beaches or whether the town should take on that role.
Who should be financially responsible for beach cleaning, should the town take over the task, is complicated by the fact that all of the beaches above the mean high-water mark in Highland Beach are privately owned.
During a meeting last month, the town’s Natural Resources Preservation Advisory Board agreed to recommend that the town hire one company to take over the beach raking. The board recommended having the cost shared by all residents in the town.
In addition to the draft ordinance regulating beach cleaning, town leaders discussed an ordinance drafted as a direct result of the barrier Patek put up on the beach.
Several commissioners said they heard from residents who complained that the poles and ropes Patek put up constituted a safety hazard to those walking on the beach.
To address that concern, the town attorney’s office drafted an ordinance that would prohibit any structures on dune or beach areas with sand. The ordinance does, however, allow for temporary recreational amenities, including volleyball nets or beach chairs. It also excludes seawalls and steps needed to access the beach.
In addition, commissioners are considering allowing property owners to post Private Property or similar signs near the foot of the dune.
For his part, Patek said he understands why the town and the state wanted his yellow rope and his poles removed. He said he plans to remove the two remaining poles soon.
But he said he’s going to be watching to see if the town can prevent tracks that he says are as deep as 2 feet and what he claims is trash being buried on private beaches.
If the town can’t control the rakers, he said, the poles and ropes might go up again.
“I just don’t want the tractors damaging the dune,” he said.

From left, the five-star Mandarin Oriental hotel and its adjacent condos will join the existing 101 Via Mizner luxury apartments on Federal Highway north of Camino Real. Rendering provided

By Mary Hladky

Construction will begin soon on the downtown 164-room Mandarin Oriental hotel and 92 luxury and ultra-luxury branded condominiums.
The Boca Raton City Council, sitting as Community Redevelopment Agency commissioners, unanimously approved redesigned parking garages and 24/7 valet parking plans on Oct. 22, clearing the way for the five-star hotel and The Residences at Mandarin Oriental to be built on Federal Highway north of Camino Real.
Buildings on the site have been demolished, and crews are readying the ground for construction.
Al Piazza, senior vice president for development for developer Penn-Florida Companies, expects construction to begin in late January, with both buildings completed by the end of 2020.
The hotel and condos are phases 2 and 3 of Via Mizner, a $1 billion project that is the biggest development in the downtown’s building boom.
Phase 1 is 101 Via Mizner, a 366-unit luxury apartment building with the most expensive rentals in the city. The building, completed in 2016, is almost fully leased, Piazza said.
Monthly rents for one-bedroom, one-bath units range from about $1,900 to $3,700, and three-bedroom, two-bath units range from about $4,700 to $5,700, according to listings.
The hotel will be the 32nd Mandarin Oriental and the condos will be the ninth branded residences in the world.
The hotel and condos are “going to be a major contribution to our community,” CRA chair Andrea O’Rourke said at the meeting. “I am counting on the brand to meet our expectations.”
The project includes 52,000 square feet of restaurants and luxury shops and a private club. An 18-hole golf course will be located about three miles away just west of Military Trail.
The CRA approved the project in 2015, but Penn-Florida recently sought approval for redesigned parking garages and the addition of valet parking.
The Planning and Zoning Board voted 4-3 against both changes on Sept. 20 after members voiced concerns that the parking garages would be difficult to navigate and that valet parking spaces would inconvenience residents.
Piazza said the objections were the result of misunderstandings, and Penn-Florida officials clarified their planned parking and valet operations in a five-page response given to city staff.
Senior planner Susan Lesser told the CRA commissioners that the developer had “successfully addressed” the issues.

Suspended mayor to fight probable cause finding
from Florida Ethics Commission advocate

By Mary Hladky

The Florida Commission on Ethics has found probable cause that suspended Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie violated state ethics laws in eight instances.
The examination of Haynie’s financial links to downtown landowners James and Marta Batmasian and their company Investments Limited found that she failed to disclose income, acted to financially benefit herself and her husband, and improperly voted on matters that benefited the Batmasians without declaring a conflict of interest.
Commission advocate Elizabeth A. Miller, an assistant attorney general, minced no words in a stinging report to the commission.
Haynie “consistently voted on measures benefiting the Batmasians and/or their affiliates between 2012 and 2016 while surreptitiously reaping the financial rewards of their business association,” Miller wrote.
“When confronted with the possibility of impropriety, [Haynie] consistently denied any association, involvement or knowledge. The bank account records revealed her deception. These acts and omissions indicate a corrupt intent,” Miller stated in her recommendation that the commission find probable cause.
In her concluding analysis, Miller said that Haynie knew her ties to the Batmasians created a conflict of interest “because, for years, she concealed her private interest to the public and, even more recently, to the commission’s investigator.”
Haynie could not properly discharge her duties as a public official concerning the Batmasians “when a source of her livelihood was dependent upon their continued business relationship and the success of the Batmasians’ companies,” she wrote.
The Oct. 19 probable cause findings are not a determination that Haynie violated state laws, but a conclusion that enough evidence of violations exists to allow the investigation to proceed. Haynie now has the option of trying to reach a settlement with the commission. If not, a full evidentiary hearing will be held on the allegations.
Bruce Zimet, Haynie’s criminal defense attorney, said after a brief case status hearing on Oct. 26 that she will seek an evidentiary hearing.
Haynie’s ethics attorney, Mark Herron, did not comment.
Haynie was suspended from office in April by Gov. Rick Scott after the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office lodged seven public corruption charges against her, but she has not resigned. The state Ethics Commission has the power to seek her removal from office.
But that rarely happens. It’s more typical that a public official is fined up to a maximum of $10,000 per violation.
The state Ethics Commission followed the same investigatory path blazed by the State Attorney’s Office and the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics, which settled with Haynie after she admitted to violating the county’s ethics code and agreed to pay a $500 fine for failing to disclose a conflict of interest.
Investigators examined her financial disclosure reports, business dealings, bank records and the votes she cast as a Boca Raton City Council member and Community Redevelopment Agency commissioner.
The evidence gathered against her by the three agencies is similar. One key difference is that while state prosecutors determined that Haynie voted on four matters that financially benefited James Batmasian from 2014 through 2017, state ethics investigators found 17 votes between 2012 and 2016.
State ethics investigators found that Haynie did not list on financial disclosure forms income she derived from two companies she and her husband, Neil, had formed — Community Reliance and Computer Golf Software of Nevada.
Bank records show that she wrote checks to herself from 2014 through 2016 totaling $72,000 from the Computer Golf Software of Nevada bank account.
She also wrote checks to herself totaling at least $5,600 from the Community Reliance bank account.
And while Haynie has said she was not involved with Community Reliance or Computer Golf Software, bank records show she signed Community Reliance checks that were made out to businesses including Allstate, AT&T and Office Depot.
She also did not report rental income deposited in the couple’s joint bank account from two properties they own in Key Largo and Boca Raton that totaled $182,307.
Community Reliance, a property management company, was paid by the master association of Tivoli Park, a 1,600-unit apartment complex in Deerfield Beach, where 80 percent of the units were owned by James and Marta Batmasian and most of the board members worked for Investments Limited.
Haynie “intentionally concealed several years’ worth of business and financial dealings with James and Marta Batmasian and/or their companies,” Miller wrote. “She failed to disclose any common interest even though Community Reliance did tens of thousands of dollars in business with the Batmasians while [Haynie] cast votes benefiting their companies.”
The criminal charges against Haynie, 63, include official misconduct, perjury, misuse of public office and failure to disclose voting conflicts.
She has pleaded not guilty and waived her right to a speedy trial.
The state investigation found that Haynie failed to report $335,000 in income in disclosure forms required by the state, including $84,000 from Batmasian or Investments Limited, from 2014 through 2017.
Former BocaWatch publisher Al Zucaro, a Haynie adversary whom she defeated in the 2017 mayoral race, filed complaints against her with both the county and state ethics commissions after The Palm Beach Post published an investigation that detailed financial links between Haynie and the Batmasians.
“These things were uncovered during the course of the race and they have proven to be accurate,” said Zucaro, who added that he was sure the probable cause finding “is not welcome news to Ms. Haynie and her criminal defense team.”
Mark Bannon, the county Ethics Commission’s executive director, has said he did not act on Zucaro’s complaint because he received it after his office had launched an investigation.
In the county ethics case, Haynie denied she acted improperly and said she had requested in 2013 an opinion from the county Ethics Commission on whether she should recuse herself from voting on matters involving Batmasian. The opinion said she could vote.
But the opinion was narrowly written, and Bannon has said Haynie should have understood the opinion to mean she should not vote when Batmasian was a developer or applicant of a project coming to the City Council for approval.

By Steve Plunkett

A long-anticipated review of controversial plans to build a four-story duplex on Boca Raton’s beach has been delayed indefinitely.
The city’s Environmental Advisory Board was scheduled to review the proposal for 2600 N. Ocean Blvd. on Oct. 18, but its meeting was canceled Oct. 12.
“The applicant for 2600 submitted last-minute revisions to the plans that required review by staff and the consultant,” city spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson said. “I don’t have an estimate on how long that might take, but the item will be rescheduled for EAB when staff and consultants have had time to review the changes.”
Property owner Grand Bank N.A. proposes building each side of its 14,270-square-foot duplex with four bedrooms, five and one-half baths, a glass elevator and a four-car garage, according to Delray Beach-based Azure Development, which is marketing the site. The duplex would also have a 40-foot boardwalk and a rooftop swimming pool.
The site needs the Boca Raton City Council to grant a variance for building seaward of Florida’s restrictive Coastal Construction Control Line. The City Charter directs the Environmental Advisory Board to advise council members “on the environmental impact of proposed developments which contain environmentally sensitive lands, listed species, or wetlands … and to recommend ways in which adverse environmental impact might be minimized.”
The idea of building on the beach erupted into public view in 2015 when the council approved a variance for the owner of 2500 N. Ocean Blvd. two lots south to build a four-story, 10,432-square-foot “mini-mansion.”
Both lots are east of State Road A1A between Spanish River Park and the undeveloped Ocean Strand parcel.
“2500 is under review and has not been scheduled,” Gibson said.
The council’s newest member, Andy Thomson, reported Oct. 23 that a lawyer for 2600 N. Ocean told him the owner is still willing to sell the lot. The council told city staff to ask if the price has come down.

By Mary Hladky

Boca Raton City Council members are clearly impressed by a cultural group’s ambitious proposal to build a performing arts complex on city-owned land east of the Spanish River Library.
“Very, very compelling,” Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers said at an Oct. 9 workshop meeting where the proposal was unveiled to the council.
“I love the concept,” said council member Andy Thomson.
Even so, council members did not immediately support the newly formed Boca Raton Arts District Association’s request that the city essentially donate the 21-acre site by agreeing to a long-term ground lease with a token lease payment of $1 a year.
While council members did not close the door to the idea, they wanted more assurances that the association, an outgrowth of 15-member Boca Raton Cultural Consortium, has a financially sound plan to build the complex and keep it running without city subsidies.
“This is a bold vision, but fortune favors the bold,” said Mayor Scott Singer. “You are off to a good start, but you have a lot of work left to do.”
The association’s vision includes building four performing arts buildings that would house a main theater with up to 1,200 seats, music complex, music recital hall, dance complex and a black box/flex theater totaling 162,000 square feet on the lakeside land.
Surrounding those venues would likely be a 240-room hotel and convention center, restaurants, an open-air gathering and performing space and parking garage. The hotel, restaurants and other tenants would pay fees to help support the cultural venues.
The entire project could cost as much as $140 million, said Boca Ballet Theatre treasurer David Hammond, chief executive of CSI International.
The association modeled the performing arts complex on Liberty Station in San Diego, a mixed-use development on city-owned land focused on the arts.
The venues would provide new homes to existing cultural groups including the Boca Ballet Theatre and the Symphonia chamber orchestra, which now stage productions at borrowed school and Florida Atlantic University auditoriums.
The school venues lack lobbies, locations for receptions, concessions and will call, adequate restrooms and valet parking, said Boca Ballet Theatre board member Andrea Virgin, president of Boca Raton-based Virgin Design, a planning and engineering firm.
“I believe it has become incumbent on us and the other arts leaders, as well as the City Council, to create a legacy of culture for our current citizens and our children of tomorrow,” said Dan Guin, executive director and co-artistic director of Boca Ballet Theatre.
Virgin said the group scoured the city and concluded that the land along Spanish River Boulevard is the best location because it is big enough, undeveloped, on a lake, has easy access to and from Interstate 95, is near Florida Atlantic University and close to downtown.
The proposal has FAU’s support. Michael Horswell, dean of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, said the university has outgrown its performing arts spaces. It makes sense, he said, to collaborate with city cultural groups and share space rather than build new facilities on campus.
City approval of a ground lease would spur the interest of potential donors who would be more likely to contribute if they see the cultural arts complex has city support and therefore is more certain of becoming reality, presenters said.
The ground lease also would allow the association to solicit a developer who, in addition to finalizing plans for the complex, would be asked to invest in an endowment fund that would support the project, Hammond said. Money also will be solicited from the state, county and corporations.
Association speakers stressed that the complex would be an economic boon to the city.
“The arts are really a big economic engine for a city,” said Jay Dick, senior director of state and local government affairs for Americans for the Arts in Washington, D.C. Nonprofit arts organizations employ 17,000 people in Palm Beach County, and cultural patrons spend a lot of money on things such as dining before a show on top of what they spend on tickets.
While lauding the concept, council members were cautious.
Singer said the city needs the 21 acres, and suggested philanthropists might be willing to donate other land. Rodgers questioned if a land donation is in the city’s best interest.
They wanted to know more details about project financing and whether the cultural community will provide adequate financial support.
Council member Andrea O’Rourke, a big proponent of the arts, said she thinks the organization’s financial plans are sound, but wants to see a “buy-in” from the cultural community.
“You have done incredible work,” she said. “Is it big? Yes, it is huge. We are all concerned about the financial side of it.”
The association has launched a capital campaign. Guin said he is certain Boca Raton residents will support the project now that they know what is proposed.
“The last thing we want to do is become a white elephant and dump it back on the city,” he said.
“Our job is to make sure your plan is viable enough for us to consider it,” Singer said.
After the meeting, Guin was upbeat about his prospects. He said his group will be able to demonstrate that it can raise enough money.
“We got what we were looking for,” he said. “We didn’t expect to walk in and walk out with the ground lease. It doesn’t work that way.
“There wasn’t one question from the council that I didn’t think was valid, and nothing we were discouraged about at all,” he added. “We know we have a heavy lift. But we also think we have the best plan to do that.”
The group, he said, popped open a bottle of champagne after the meeting.

By Steve Plunkett

The lawyer seeking repayment of a $406,000 business loan from two-time Boca Raton mayoral candidate Al Zucaro subpoenaed Zucaro’s wife, philanthropist Yvonne Boice, for a deposition in October.
Bernard Lebedeker represents hotel owner Joseph Della Ratta’s DR Palm Beach Inc., which lent Zucaro the money in 2003. The attorney asked Boice, who married Zucaro in 2009, to come to his office in West Palm Beach with “any and all documents” that reflect “the transfer of any money or any property from you to Alfred Zucaro,” “any gifts you have given” and “the transfer of any funds from any trust for which you are a trustee or beneficiary.”
Lebedeker also wanted “any and all bank statements” for any accounts titled in Boice and Zucaro’s name “or in which both you and Alfred Zucaro have signing authority.”
Lebedeker has said Zucaro’s debt with interest now tops $700,000.
Zucaro did not return a phone call seeking comment before deadline.
Lebedeker similarly did not reply to emails asking about the deposition.
Zucaro, 69, lost to Scott Singer in the Aug. 28 special election for mayor. He or his law firm loaned and gave his campaign $15,500; others contributed $44,133.
He was more generous in his 2017 mayoral race, lending or giving his campaign $62,750. Other supporters gave him $48,267 then.
On his 2018 campaign Statement of Financial Interests, Zucaro, an immigration lawyer who also started the now-dormant BocaWatch.org blog, listed his law practice, his International Council of Advisors LLC consultancy and Social Security benefits as his primary sources of income.
He reported secondary income from his World Trade Management LLC, his Palm Beach Investment and Finance LLC and in legal fees from Shoppes on 18th Street Inc., a holding company owned by his wife. That business sold Boice’s Shoppes at Village Point shopping center west of the city in 2014 for $12.25 million.
Zucaro, who lives with Boice in a house she owns on Golden Harbour Drive, also reported that he owns no real property. The only liability he listed was his debt to DR Palm Beach.
Della Ratta’s company lent Zucaro and World Trade Management $240,000 in 2003 and sued four years later after not being repaid. In 2009, Palm Beach Circuit Judge Donald Hafele said the evidence showed Zucaro used much of the money for personal expenses instead of spending it as intended to lure international business to the county. He entered a judgment requiring Zucaro to repay the money with 8 percent interest, making the total then $406,000.
Zucaro, who had come under fire in West Palm Beach for how he managed his struggling World Trade Center, appealed and lost.
Della Ratta’s company owns the Best Western Palm Beach Lakes Inn and the Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham hotel in West Palm Beach.

By Mary Hladky

The developer of the luxury condo now rebranded as Alina Residences Boca Raton has cleared two hurdles in its effort to build the 384-unit downtown project in two phases.
The Community Appearance Board recommended that the Community Redevelopment Agency approve the phasing request by a 4-2 vote on Oct. 16, and the Planning and Zoning Board unanimously recommended approval without debate two days later.
Those votes set the stage for the CRA commissioners, who double as Boca Raton City Council members, to make a final decision on Nov. 26.
“We are very disappointed, and we don’t believe there was enough attention paid to the community at large and the impact of extending the building process as a result of phasing,” Norman Waxman, an opponent to the proposal who is a condo board member at Townsend Place, said after the planning board meeting.
Opponents of the phasing plan now will meet to “develop our game plan” to convince CRA commissioners to reject developer El-Ad National Properties’ request, he said.
Alina Residences, formerly known as Mizner 200, is one of the most contentious projects in the city’s history. Downtown residents complained that it was too massive and a symbol of downtown overdevelopment.
El-Ad made concessions on building design, landscaping and setbacks that eventually won over critics, and the project was approved after a flurry of last-minute deal making in 2017.
But tensions flared again earlier this year when El-Ad asked to build the project in two phases, add valet parking and to not fully complete a pedestrian promenade until the second phase was finished.
Critics cried foul. They said they had a firm deal with El-Ad, and now the developer is reneging.
The most vocal objectors are Townsend Place residents who live next to the project site, but they have an important ally in Investments Limited, a major downtown landowner which was among those who negotiated with El-Ad.
Their main complaint is building the three-tower project in phases.
“If phasing is adopted for the Mizner 200 project, we cannot find this acceptable,” Waxman told the planning board. El-Ad’s proposal is “a bait and switch,” he said, and “we believe in the adage a deal is a deal.”
City records and El-Ad’s submissions to the city state that it was to be built all at once. But Noam Ziv, El-Ad’s executive director of development, told The Coastal Star in September that El-Ad never intended to do that.
“It would saturate the market,” he said.
Waxman and other critics argued at the planning board meeting that the change would benefit the developer, but not city residents.
They fear that if the condos don’t sell well, the second phase will never be built. That would result in one condo tower next to the run-down Mizner on the Green townhomes that Alina Residences was to replace.
If El-Ad decides to sell the second phase property, Townsend Place residents won’t know what the new owner would do with the property.
“That is one of the reasons we are against phasing,” Waxman said after the meeting. “If they decide not to build phase two, we have no control over what would happen next.”
Robert Eisen of Investments Limited said in an email that the company “stands with the good citizens of Townsend Place and Boca Beautiful and does not support the revised plan.”
El-Ad’s request calls for 140 condos in one tower built on the northern portion of the nearly 9-acre site on Southeast Mizner Boulevard. Phase 2 would be 244 units in two towers on the southern portion adjacent to Townsend Place.
El-Ad attorney Bonnie Miskel told planning board members that the developer wants to build both phases but has the right to build only one.
“It is unfair to say we are changing the deal,” she said.
El-Ad agreed to changes to satisfy critics, and those changes stand, she said.