ABOVE: The initial mixed-use building is proposed to front on Federal Highway. BELOW: A later phase of the project is planned for the northeast section of the property. Renderings provided

By Mary Hladky

    Nearly two years after withdrawing plans for redeveloping Royal Palm Place, Investments Limited is back with new plans for two portions of the 14-acre site that would dramatically change the look of the longtime shopping and dining destination.
    The largest owner of commercial properties in downtown Boca Raton plans two buildings. If the city approves, the first one out of the ground will front Federal Highway between Southeast Second and Third streets. It will include 69 luxury rental units, 11,156 square feet of retail and restaurants, and parking for 301 cars, with construction starting next year.
    Shortly thereafter, Investments Limited plans to start work on a larger building on the northeast section of the property at the intersection of Southeast Mizner Boulevard and Southeast First Street. It would include 220 high-end rentals, 4,560 square feet of retail and restaurants and parking for 500 cars.
    Plans call for restaurants and retail to fill the first floor, parking masked from public view to be on the next floors and residential units to top the building.
    The city allows buildings as tall as 140 feet, with an extra 20 feet for architectural elements, in that part of downtown. Architect Doug Mummaw, of Mummaw and Associates, said heights would be varied in both buildings.
    The overall aim of the redevelopment is to transform Royal Palm Place, built in 1966, from the appearance of a suburban-style shopping center to an urban center that meets current demands of retail and restaurant tenants. It will include landscaped outdoor areas that adhere to the city’s requirement that 40 percent of the property be open space.
    “It is the first two steps to bringing Royal Palm Place from the 1960s to the 2020s,” said Robert Eisen, of Investment Limited’s legal department.
    “We are creating essentially a modern interpretation of Renaissance-style architecture in a vertical form,” Mummaw said. “Each building will have a unique personality.”
    Five architectural styles will be used.
    Investments Limited also is addressing Royal Palm Place’s well-known parking problem. Although it met the city parking code in 1966, the code has since been revised. When the site is completely redeveloped, it will meet current code and could have 1,600 spaces.
    Plans submitted to the city in June are for the second phase of redevelopment. The first phase came in 2006 when Investments Limited built a 185-unit luxury apartment building adjacent to the retail and dining area.
    Although Investments Limited plans to redevelop the entire site, Eisen could not yet say when it will submit additional phases to the city.
    Eventually, the Garden of Humanity will be expanded at the center of the site and an “entertainment district pedestrian promenade” lined with shops and restaurants will course through the south end of the property and could host special events. The Addison Mizner statue will remain.
    Investments Limited’s plans to redevelop Royal Palm Place in phases differs from its previous proposal to redo the entire property at once.
    The luxury rentals in the second building would be across Southeast Mizner Boulevard from the proposed Mizner 200 luxury condos.

Universal Electric of Florida employee Barry Bowman installs a permanent license plate recognition camera along A1A in Highland Beach on July 13. The scanners are an important way for the police to find stolen cars and catch up with people who have expired licenses or active warrants. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

    As town property values rise to a record high, Highland Beach residents are likely to see their tax rate drop for the third consecutive year.
    Town commissioners late last month set a maximum operating tax rate for the 2017-2018 fiscal year of $3.25 per $1,000 of assessed property value, the same rate as the current fiscal year.
    Commissioners, however, gave every indication they would lower the rate before determining a final number by the end of September.
    This year, property values in Highland Beach reached slightly more than $2.4 billion, exceeding a record $2.3 billion set in 2007, according to the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office.
    During a special commission meeting last month, in which the public got its first glimpse of the proposed $13.8 million budget, Mayor Carl Feldman hinted that commissioners might consider dropping the tax rate to as low as $3.08 per $1,000 of assessed value.
    That rate, the rollback rate, would generate approximately the same amount of tax revenue as the current tax rate, plus an additional $180,000 brought in from new construction.   
    “If we go down to our rollback rate we can keep the town running smoothly,” Feldman said.
    Included in the tentative budget is a transfer of about $2.5 million from the town’s reserve funds for capital improvements, with the bulk of that money expected to pay for a proposed renovation to the town’s 3-mile walking path.
    Voters in a March referendum must first approve the spending for the improvements due to the town’s spending cap, which requires voter approval of any expenditure over $350,000.
    Feldman has proposed using an expected $200,000 per year from Palm Beach County’s 1-cent sales tax increase to replenish the reserves over 10 years.
    Other highlights of the proposed budget include a 5 percent salary increase for town employees based on performance and the addition of one police officer.
    During their meeting, commissioners praised town staff for coming up with a reasonable budget, with Vice Mayor Bill Weitz pointing out the town has reduced its tax rates while many others have opted for increases.
    “We’ve been very astute in coming up with reasonable budgets while maintaining quality services,” he said.
    The town has scheduled public hearings on the proposed budget for 5:01 p.m. Sept. 7 and Sept. 19.

By Mary Hladky

    Efforts to build a downtown parking garage are bolstered by a new study that finds Boca Raton needs more public parking.
    The peak demand area around Mizner Park needs 108 more parking spaces now, and that number will grow to as many as 150 by 2020, according to the study by Kimley-Horn and Associates. By 2040, as many as 350 more will be needed.
    Kimley-Horn collected parking data March 30-April 1 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Demand around Mizner Park was strongest from 2 to 9 p.m. on all three days.
    The 1,275 existing spaces downtown, stretching from Camino Real to Northeast Mizner Boulevard, are enough to meet demand since they are only 70 percent used, the study found.
    The problem is that those public spaces are not all located near where many people want to shop and dine, Kimley-Horn’s Chris Heggen told the City Council on July 24. So while vacant spaces are available, many people don’t want to park and walk several blocks to their destinations.
    Council member Scott Singer said he was concerned about reports that people unable to find public parking downtown go instead to other cities.
    Heggen said he too has heard those stories, but the study could not measure if that is happening.
    “We have all heard anecdotal stories of people coming downtown, not being able to park and leaving,” he said. “That is not what we want to happen.”
    Asked if ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft will reduce the need for downtown public parking, Heggen said that hasn’t happened yet. Even if ride sharing increases in the future, that doesn’t eliminate the need for more parking near-term.
    Heggen suggested that a new downtown parking garage be built in a way that it can be converted to another use if the need for parking decreases.
    The council is still mulling where to build a garage. While members initially considered city-owned land behind the downtown library north of City Hall, they now are leaning more toward a location east of Dixie Highway.
    Concerns about crossing Dixie Highway and the FEC railroad tracks will dissuade many people from parking on the city-owned property, Heggen said. That problem could be alleviated by a good shuttle service, he said.
    Kimley-Horn will conduct another study later this year so the city will have more robust data that take into account the opening of several downtown restaurants and more people moving in to new downtown residential units.
    Options Kimley-Horn outlined to alleviate present and future parking shortages include:
    • Acquiring 1.25 to 3.5 acres for a surface parking lot somewhere between Dixie Highway and Mizner Boulevard.
    • Acquiring a 1- to 2-acre parcel for a parking garage in the same area. The garage would cost $6.5 million to $10 million to build, not including land acquisition.
    • Using existing parking lots near downtown during off-peak times and providing shuttles to and from downtown.
    • Providing parking in the proposed new city government campus and using shuttles.

Workers tend to the outside and driveway of the new Customs Office in late July. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

    A new U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility will soon be opening its doors at the Boca Raton Airport — just not as soon as expected.
    Members of the Boca Raton Airport Authority hoped to see the facility working this month, but issues with weather and personnel caused unanticipated delays.
    Now, airport officials hope to have the 47,000-square-foot center up and running in October.
    One reason for the delays, airport Executive Director Clara Bennett said, was turnover in contractor West Construction’s field supervisors during the construction process.
    “We now have a good project manager in place who is trying to make up lost time and minimize delay,” Bennett said.
    Airport tenants, including owners of corporate jets and a company that offers private charters, are eager to see the center open, but “most are just glad to see the work being done and they’re happy knowing that the center is coming,” she said.
    The new $4.3 million station will make it easier for air passengers coming from outside the country to clear Customs.
    Now, planes coming from outside the country planning to land at the Boca Raton Airport must first stop at an airport with a Customs facility, such as Palm Beach International Airport or Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.
    Bennett says the new Boca Raton center will enhance convenience for air travelers coming in from overseas, improve safety and decrease fuel costs because it will eliminate an additional landing and takeoff.
    The benefits, however, will come at a cost to those using the center, which will be open Thursday through Monday from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., considered the busiest times for international travelers at the airport.
    While Customs centers at Palm Beach International and Fort Lauderdale Executive airports are funded by taxpayers with no costs to arriving travelers, Boca Raton Airport’s center will be a user-fee center, with travelers paying for the service.
    The Airport Authority will pay the Customs and Border Protection Service to operate the center and will cover a variety of costs, including the salaries of assigned officers.
    To recoup the estimated annual operational costs of $244,000 for the first year and about $205,000 every year afterward, the airport developed a fee structure that will enable it to pay for the service in approximately five to six years.
    “Our ultimate goal is to break even,” said airport Deputy Director Scott Kohut.
    Under the proposed schedule, propeller planes will pay anywhere from $50 to $150 per aircraft, depending on the type of engine and the number of passengers.
    For jets, the range is anywhere from $225 to $425, based on the aircraft’s weight.
    Bennett thinks many users will be more than happy to pay to use the facility because of its convenient location and likely reduced wait times compared to other facilities.
    To help pilots and aircraft owners see the advantages firsthand, one authority member has proposed offering a 50 percent discount at the station for the first three months.
    “Once they use it, they may want to be here more often,” board member Jack Fox said during a recent Airport Authority meeting.
    Bennett said that’s a good idea, but she is checking to make sure there are no federal or state regulations prohibiting the discount.

Proponents of a park for the beachfront parcel are happy to see plans being offered, but some critics think this plan proposes too many options. Rendering provided by the City of Boca Raton

By Steve Plunkett

    The verdict for the latest proposal to develop Ocean Strand: Too much.
    “My impression is we’re trying to be too many things to too many people,” Steve Engel, vice chairman of the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District, said after seeing a consultant’s concept for the vacant beachfront parcel.
    “It’s got to be very passive. It cannot be intense,” District Commissioner Craig Ehrnst said.
    The reactions came as Kona Gray, of architecture and planning consultant EDSA Inc., presented a plan July 17 for the nearly 15-acre parcel that included docks, a lookout pavilion, restrooms, trails, a playground, a drop-off area for the beach and educational treehouses.
    Ocean Strand “is really a place that sort of lends itself toward something eco-friendly, very natural,” Gray said. “That connection to the environment is very rare. A lot of people are missing that right now.”
    Gray said the concept his firm developed was just an idea and he wanted commissioners and members of the public to suggest improvements. At a meeting at the downtown library the week before, people said the proposed development seemed too intense at the Intracoastal Waterway and too close to single-family homes to the north. They also wanted only nonmotorized vessels at the dock, botanical gardens and someplace to eat, Gray said.
    EDSA is in the midst of developing a comprehensive plan for Boca Raton’s waterfront parks. In May Gray suggested a restaurant at Ocean Strand like Guanabanas in Jupiter, which once was interested in building a sister site at the city’s Wildflower property.
    “That is not necessary here. We could do something way scaled down, that’s just offering some hot dogs, hamburgers or something more healthy so that when you come and you have your kids and you want to stay a little bit longer, you don’t have to leave,” Gray said.
    The crowd in the commission chamber, mostly neighbors from just north and south of the site, would have none of it.
    “We definitely don’t want to have any restaurants,” said Andrea Stekloff, who lives in Boca Towers directly south. “We don’t want the noise from the band like Guanabanas, we don’t need any smelly food cooking, any rowdy bars, any boat dockage and valet parking and music until 2 a.m.”
    Stekloff said the Intracoastal side of Red Reef Park could be the model.
    “You have one little gazebo, one little grill so one little family, whoever gets there first, gets it, and you don’t have 5 million people cooking,” she said.
    Commissioner Erin Wright agreed.
    “I would prefer actually no restaurant or food. I don’t think it’s necessary,” Wright said. “Love all the walking trails and back-to-nature type of things.”
    Sharon Picker, also a Boca Towers resident, compared the parcel to the world’s rainforests.
    “If you just put pathways to walk through and a couple of other things and make it accessible to the public to just see its awesomeness and its natural state, that might be enough,” Picker said.
    Gray said because the proposal is only at the conceptual level, his colleagues didn’t really anticipate a hard number of parking spaces at the site.
    “From what we’re hearing, we shouldn’t have more than 10 spaces,” he said.
    Engel also said Ocean Strand does not need a playground.
    “I want to see something where the development is limited, where the accent is really on the flora and fauna … almost a nature preserve, and make it congruent with what’s going on at Gumbo Limbo so that one almost is an extension of the other,” Engel said.
    Commission Chairman Robert Rollins said any talk of developing Ocean Strand starts with a concept.
    “You have to have some design in order to move forward, and the conversations that we’ve had here tonight I think will be invaluable when it comes down to our discussion at this commission what we wish to do with our park,” Rollins said. “I can almost assure you, it’ll be a very passive park. As someone said, [Gray’s proposal is] a little too busy.”
    District commissioners agreed to give the city $50,000 to start developing a master plan for Gumbo Limbo. The city wants an additional $200,000 in the coming budget year to complete the plan.
    EDSA and another consultant, Cambridge 7 Associates, will do the work.

Critics have complained that Mizner 200 is too large and would obstruct sunlight and views for adjacent buildings. Rendering provided

By Mary Hladky

    Boca Raton City Council members have demanded yet another redesign of the proposed Mizner 200 luxury condominium, giving developer Elad National Properties one month to complete the task before they reconsider the project Aug. 21.
    Council members, sitting as Community Redevelopment Agency commissioners at a July 24 meeting, praised the design of the project, which would replace the 246 Mizner on the Green townhouses on nearly 9 acres along Southeast Mizner Boulevard.
    But four council members said they want more design tweaks before they will give the project their blessing. Only one, Robert Weinroth, said he was ready to vote in favor of it.
    “I personally feel this is a project that has come to the point it deserves to be embraced by the city,” Weinroth said.
    Other council members recognized that Mizner 200 has been redesigned four times in an effort to win support of vocal critics who contend it is too massive. Even so, they want more space between three sections of the project to open up views toward the ocean, more landscaping along Southeast Mizner Boulevard, and developer meetings with critics in an effort to win them over.
    “I think we are on our way. I think this is going to happen,” said council member Andrea O’Rourke, who then added, “It is important we reach out to the people concerned. Please get with the neighbors.”
    “I don’t feel we are all the way there,” said Mayor Susan Haynie.
    Elad chief executive Amnon Safran contended his team has met with critics, to little avail.
    “We negotiated for a year and a half with everybody. They would never agree to anything,” he said.
    Elad is unwilling to start over on the design, Safran said, noting that the developer and architects GarciaStromberg/GS4Studios already have cut the size of the proposed 384-unit condo by 60,000 square feet to decrease its density.
    Other changes included increased setbacks, additional green space, varied roof heights and increasing the distance between the project and the neighboring Townsend Place condominiums.
    After a brief huddle between the Elad team and city staff, Elad agreed to meet again with critics and make additional changes.
    “As quickly as we can, we will reach out to interested parties and talk to them about our ideas,” said Elad attorney Bonnie Miskel.
    Within days of the meeting, architects for Mizner 200 and architects hired by project critics were working to make design changes acceptable to all by the first week of August to meet a city deadline to place the project on the Aug. 21 agenda.
The changes will be presented to two city consultants for their review before going to the City Council.
    The strongest criticism has come from Townsend Place unit owners, who complain Mizner 200 will block their eastward views and sunlight, reducing their property values.
    “The residents of Townsend Place are against this project in its present form,” said Townsend Place president Craig Sherman. “We are not against development.”
    Investments Limited, a prominent city developer which is planning a makeover of its Royal Palm Place shopping and dining destination on the west side of Southeast Mizner Boulevard, joined them.
    The views from Royal Palm Place, whose residential component would compete with Mizner 200, also would be partially blocked and its representatives contend the condo project does not comply with the city’s architectural guidelines.
    Architects Doug Mummaw, who has designed several downtown projects, and Derek Vander Ploeg, who is on the Downtown Boca Raton Advisory Committee, and former Boca Raton CRA executive director Jorge Camejo support Investment Limited’s objections.
    The meeting was punctuated by the spectacle of Mizner 200 attorney Robert Sweetapple employing a little-used procedure that allowed him to cross-examine some of those who spoke against the project.
    Sweetapple questioned other attorneys in sometimes testy exchanges.
    “I felt I got to witness Law and Order, Boca Raton edition tonight,” quipped Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers, referencing the TV show.
    Sweetapple’s intent, in part, appeared to be to show that some opponents had been recruited to the cause by Investments Limited, which had paid at least one of the opponents to review the project.
    Elad has struggled for three years to get approval to begin construction. The tide began turning in its favor this year when two city consultants reviewed plans for Mizner 200 and determined it complies with the city ordinance that governs downtown development.
    In May, the Community Appearance Board and Planning and Zoning Board voted in favor of it. City staff also has recommended that the City Council approve it.
    At nine stories, Mizner 200 meets the building height limit for that part of downtown. It also meets the city’s requirements for setbacks, parking and open space. It incorporates a reinterpretation of design elements that appear in architect Addison Mizner’s signature buildings.
    The building has supporters, including a number of downtown residents who would love to see the old Mizner on the Green rental units replaced with a more visually appealing project.
    The City Council has been lobbied intensely on the project. At the start of the meeting, Weinroth and Haynie held up thick binders filled with emails they have received.
    Regardless of whether the council gives the project the go-ahead or nixes it, a court battle is likely to follow. Elad’s legal team now includes Sweetapple, a well-known litigator.
    BocaBeautiful, a citizens group that opposes the project, and two residents of Townsend Place also have hired attorneys.

By Sallie James

    Driving an electric car makes sense in so many ways: no gasoline costs, no toxic emissions, and one of the quietest rides around. But access to a charging station is essential if the battery runs low.
    For Boca Raton residents, that worry may soon be a thing of the past.
    In the spirit of “going green,” council members recently proposed that new multifamily dwellings such as apartments and condominiums put chargers in their parking lots.
    The proposal comes after the city recently installed two new stations at City Hall, 201 W. Palmetto Park Road, and one at the Spanish River Library, at 1501 NW Spanish River Blvd. Each can recharge two vehicles at a time, enabling users to top off their cars within hours while visiting the libraries or downtown.
    The first EV charging station was installed in October 2015 at the Downtown Library.
    “The hope is that the stations are an added benefit and that they support and encourage drivers of electric vehicles,” said Dan Grippo, municipal services director for Boca Raton.
    The Boca Raton City Council recently passed a resolution adopting a climate action pledge and is continuing its efforts to integrate “green” actions within the framework of the Regional Climate Action Plan.
    “We hope that more commercial businesses will follow our lead and start installing stations as well,” said Mayor Susan Haynie. “Transportation models are changing and electric vehicles are a big part of that change; we all need to do our part.”

ABOVE: The ultra-modern four-story duplex could feature wide open glass exposure on the beach side. BELOW: The side facing A1A would have access to the four-car garage. Renderings provided

By Steve Plunkett

    A volunteer group led by a barrier island resident is mounting a last-ditch effort to stop construction of a four-story duplex on the beach between Spanish River Park and Ocean Strand — the second project planned in the area.
    Boca Save Our Beaches opposes the 14,270-square-foot project planned for the east side of A1A at 2600 N. Ocean Blvd. The proposal is hurtling toward a City Council showdown perhaps as soon as October.
    In late July, group founder Jessica Gray opened an online fundraising campaign with a goal of $5,000.
    “Once our beaches are gone, we cannot get them back,” she wrote on the GoFundMe.com website.
    Gray’s group also collects PayPal donations via a link on www.bocasob.com, its main webpage. So far the group has about $4,000, she said.
    The group equally opposes a 10,432-square-foot house proposed for a parcel two lots south, at 2500 N. Ocean Blvd. That project sparked Gray to form Boca Save Our Beaches in December 2015, right after the City Council granted a zoning variance allowing the single-family mansion to be built on a parcel less than 100 feet wide. Gray and other furious residents complained that the structure  would change the face of the beach, disorient nesting sea turtles and set a precedent for more development.
    The proposed duplex site is wide enough not to need a zoning variance, but both sites will need the council to grant a variance for building seaward of Florida’s restrictive Coastal Construction Control Line.
    The state issued 2500 N. Ocean a “notice to proceed” in October, ruling that the project would not “weaken, damage or destroy the integrity of the beach and dune system.”
    Boca Raton’s procedure for granting a CCCL variance is separate from the state’s.
    “Neither project is currently scheduled for Environmental Advisory Board or City Council review,” city spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson said.
    But the city sent coastal engineering consultant Applied Technology Management Inc. the 2600 N. Ocean duplex’s applications for the CCCL variance and EAB review on June 26, Gibson said. It has until Aug. 8 to return its recommendation.
    ATM’s review must be put on the environmental board agenda within the following 30 days, and the board’s recommendation must go to the City Council 30 days later.
    Gibson said paperwork for the CCCL variance and EAB applications at 2500 N. Ocean has not been sent to the consultant yet because the applicant has not provided an updated environmental assessment.
    Each side of the planned duplex will have four bedrooms, five full baths, one half-bath, a glass elevator and a four-car garage, according to Delray Beach-based Azure Development, which is marketing the site. It will also boast a 40-foot boardwalk and a rooftop swimming pool. No price has been set, Richard Caster, an Azure principal, said.
    Gray, 31, moved to east Boca Raton in 2004 to attend Florida Atlantic University and fell in love with the area. She moved to the barrier island four years ago.
    “I’m right in front of these two properties,” she said.
    She and the group’s two other directors sponsor events to create awareness and raise money. Attendance varies from 50 to 140, she said.
    The mission of the group is clear on its Instagram page: “Boca Save our Beaches was organized in Boca Raton, Fla., with one purpose: to save our beaches from coastal construction.”

By Sallie James

  Property taxes will hold the line if city officials approve the proposed tax rate for 2017-2018.
  However, residents could be asked to pay $125 for the city’s fire services fee, up from the current $105.
  City Manager Leif Ahnell proposed a tax rate of $3.6788 per $1,000 of assessed property value at the July 25 council meeting. The rate is slightly lower than last year’s rate of $3.6789.
  Under the proposed tax rate, the owner of a $300,000 single-family home would pay about $1,103 in municipal property taxes, slightly less than a year ago.
  Council member Robert Weinroth expressed concern about the proposed increase in the fire fee.
  “I’m just concerned with the trajectory of this fee,” he said. “I think we increased it by $20 last year and this would be another $20 increase. Where are we headed with this kind of fee going forward?”
  Ahnell said the fire fee hikes are due to increased costs and planned Fire Rescue Services Department expansion, a dynamic that could continue to be a factor in coming years.
  “I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s not going to go up in the future,” Ahnell said.
  Residents will have a chance to ask questions about the budget at 6 p.m. Sept. 11 during a public budget hearing at City Hall, 201 W. Palmetto Park Road.

By Sallie James

    The Boca Raton City Council July 25 introduced an ordinance that would ban the practice of allowing private individuals or entities to place “unattended, expressive installations, displays, exhibits and similar objects” in Sanborn Square during the winter holiday season.
    Chalk up the proposal as a win for at least one Palm Beach County resident.
    “I think religion poisons everything,” said Preston Smith, a middle school teacher from Lantana and self-proclaimed atheistic satanist. He erected a controversial pentagram display at Sanborn Square last year and is happy the city may soon ban the practice. “Let the community decide how much they want to mix religion in government property.”
    Smith erected the pentagram and a banner disavowing the existence of heaven and hell in December and wasn’t surprised when it was vandalized eight times. He wanted to let others know that atheists in the community have the same right to make a statement as Christians, Jews and any other religious groups.
    The pentagram display was erected under the protections of the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of religion and speech. The city has allowed religious groups to set up seasonal displays such as a Nativity scene and a menorah in the park, at 72 N. Federal Highway, since 1990.
    Preston thinks the practice becomes problematic when someone erects a display that doesn’t mesh with what most people think is acceptable, which is what happened with his pentagram display.
    “It’s not my place to decide what the city wants, but I intend to put up the satanic display for years to come as long as other religious displays are allowed. That is not a bluff, not a threat, but that is equal rights for all,” Smith said. “The Supreme Court has been clear if you allow one you better be ready for anything.”
    The proposed ordinance, which will be voted on at a later date, says the city “does not intend to limit other forms of expressive activity” within Sanborn Square, including protests, rallies, speeches and the carrying of banners or other similar types of messages.
    Smith said he would consider it a “win” if the city approves the proposed ordinance.
    “That is strict adherence to the separation of the church and the state,” he said. “That is my ultimate goal. But if they have a city-owned Nativity and menorah, they can expect a lawsuit from me and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, whose attorneys have indicated they will fight.”

By Steve Plunkett
    
    The short era of the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District’s rubber-stamping the city’s proposed parks budget appears to be over.
    Craig Ehrnst, one of the district’s new commissioners, led the first assault. The city wants $16.9 million in the coming year to operate and maintain district parks and Boca Raton’s Red Reef Park and Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, up from $15.6 million it expects to spend this year.
    “We can’t give them a blank check,” said Ehrnst, who is corporate treasurer at NCCI Holdings Inc. and ran for a district seat last year in part on a pledge to boost cooperation between the district and the city. “That, to me, is an unrealistic budget, and it’s also to me not a very good stewardship of taxpayer money.”
    Ehrnst complained that some items that would lower the budget request were missing, such as the installation next April of artificial turf at Patch Reef Park, which should lower maintenance costs. He also said Mickey Gomez, the city’s recreation services director, should be at the district meeting to explain the budget request.
    Commission Chairman Robert Rollins said Gomez usually attends the district’s budget discussions.
    “I have to tell you, it gets pretty hot at these meetings, because there’s not always agreement with the budget,” Rollins said.
    Gomez was on vacation and missed the district’s subsequent meeting July 26. That did not deter Ehrnst, who noted the city’s operating budget was $13 million in fiscal 2014, $13.4 million in 2015 and $14.6 million in 2016.
    Ehrnst called the $16.9 million request “unrealistic” and suggested giving the city $16 million.
    “Last year the approved [amount] was $16.3 million but they never spent it. They’re not even close to spending it,” he said. “So $16 million gives them enough, assumes they spend the same as they did this year and gives them another $400,000-plus increase for inflation, whatever it is.”
    Rollins embraced Ehrnst’s approach.
    “I like it better than trying to go through it each individual park,” he said. “I think there’s still some fluff in there.”
    Rollins emphasized he has no complaints about how city workers do their jobs.
    “The parks are in as good a condition as I’ve ever seen them with the number that we’re paying them to do this project,” he said. “I’ve never been happier.”
    Commissioners decided to set a tentative rate for property taxes of 91.47 cents per $1,000 of taxable value. They will have more budget discussions on Aug. 9, 14 and 30. Public hearings will take place in September.
    Last year, in the heat of the election season, commissioners approved the city’s budget request in full with little comment. In earlier years they insisted that Gomez postpone some purchases and hold the line on other items.

By Emily J. Minor

    BOCA RATON — Dr. Samuel S. Stephenson III, who picked up his wife and two small children in 1968 to move to Florida and help lead a fairly new college called Florida Atlantic University, died June 21 in hospice care. He was 93.
Born in Manhattan in New York on April 18, 1924, Dr. Stephenson would go on to fall in love with both engineering and teaching. He first attended Manhattan College and then the Stevens Institute of Technology in nearby Hoboken, N.J.
    Eventually, he earned a doctorate of engineering from New York University and taught for many years at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island.
    In 1965 while walking along the street in New York City, he would reunite with the woman who would become his wife, Jeanne Godfrey Stephenson. The two met years earlier during their families’ annual summer beach vacations in Madison, Conn.
    “And that was that,” said their daughter, Karlen Stephenson. “They were 6 years old when they met.”
    The couple eloped in Manhattan in April 1966. They were both in their 40s at the time, and neither had been married before, their daughter said.
    Two years later, they uprooted their young family and moved to Florida when a colleague invited Dr. Stephenson to join the leadership faculty at FAU.
    The couple bought one of the first lots in Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club. Mrs. Stephenson wanted their new home away from the water, because of their young children, and near the guard gate, because her husband often traveled, said their son, Sam Stephenson of Boca Raton.
    In Boca Raton, Dr. Stephenson quickly immersed himself in scholastic and community circles.
    A boater at heart, he served for 20 years with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 36, teaching boating and sailing for many years.
    “He loved that,” Sam Stephenson said. “He loved teaching, and his students loved him.”
    In 2004, he retired from FAU as a professor emeritus after 35 years. Through those years, he was a business and IT consultant to many major corporations, including PepsiCo Inc., said his children.
    Always laid back and looking at life with a positive attitude, Dr. Stephenson was stricken with aggressive cancer three times in his life, first with carotid cancer at the age of 18. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer in 1986. Again, he survived.
Dr. Stephenson was diagnosed with bladder cancer in his early 80s. He lived cancer free until it returned and eventually contributed to his death, his daughter said.
    “I honestly think the reason he was able to live so long was that he didn’t worry about things,” she said. “He was so laid back.”
    He was also thoughtful, even bringing the bank drive-thru tellers chocolates at Christmas time, she said.
    And he served on the board of directors of the Habilitation Center for the Handicapped in Boca Raton for more than 10 years.
    “He always found the good in whatever was,” said his son.
    Dr. Stephenson was buried July 1 at Boca Raton Cemetery alongside his wife, who died March 6, 2006. In addition to his children, he is survived by a daughter-in-law, Kirsten, and his six grandchildren.

Construction crew members plan for the demolition of several buildings in the Plaza del Mar shopping center

to make room for construction of a Publix grocery. Businesses in the mall will remain open

during the projected year-long process.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

    Demolition has begun to make way for a Publix supermarket at Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar after the mall’s landlord cleared the last two obstacles to the $10 million renovation project in June.
    For one, town commissioners ended seven months of negotiation with Publix and Kitson & Partners over the store’s sign design in finally approving 3-foot white lettering with backlighting for the marquee space above the front entrance.
    “We have ourselves a sign,” said a smiling Mayor Keith Waters after com-missioners’ unanimous vote on June 13.
    The other obstacle to fall was a civil suit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court that sought to block the supermarket’s construction. Lantana resident Barbara Federico and homeowners from Manalapan’s La Coquille Villas had accused town officials of procedural errors and failing to follow their own building rules.
    Federico also objected to the size of the supermarket — 25,000 square feet — and its potential negative impact on traffic. La Coquille residents complained the store wasn’t in keeping with Manalapan’s “unique ambiance.” But the plaintiffs decided to withdraw their lawsuit before the case made it to the courtroom, ending a legal fight that could have stalled the project for months.
    Matt Buehler, Kitson’s retail vice president, said construction of the Publix, as well as a facelift for the adjoining stores and parking lot, will take about a year to complete. The target date for the supermarket’s opening is June 8, several months later than Kitson and Publix had wanted.
    The approved sign design will share similarities with signs across the street at the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa and will be restricted to the same level of illumination. Two monument signs marking the plaza entrances will not have the words “Food and Pharmacy” as Publix had wanted.
    Illumination of the store’s main sign is restricted roughly to business hours from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
    “When the store is closed, we’d like that light to go off,” Waters said.

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Is the town’s barrel of litigation half-empty or half-full?
    Resident Chris O’Hare, who inundated Gulf Stream with expansive requests for public records, then sued the town when it did not quickly respond, in mid-June notified judges he was withdrawing the lawsuits he had filed.
    O’Hare’s lawyer filed the motions the same way O’Hare asked for public records — in batches, three on one day, six on another, 15 on another.
    The filings came after O’Hare and Gulf Stream agreed June 9 to settle all legal differences.
    “This was a total attack on any government as we know it, any legal system as we know it,” said Robert Sweetapple, Gulf Stream’s outside lawyer.
    The lingering question is when — and whether — resident Martin O’Boyle and the town will settle similar cases he filed; O’Boyle and Gulf Stream have at least 10 actions pending.
    Mayor Scott Morgan, who ran for office promising to mount an aggressive defense against O’Hare’s and O’Boyle’s lawsuits, was elated with the settlement.
    “This essentially brings to a conclusion nearly four years of public records abuse and litigation from Mr. O’Hare. It is a testament to the determination of this town not to voluntarily pay out in response to extortion demands,” Morgan said.
    O’Hare said he worked closely with Morgan and others over several weeks and together reached “a balanced and equitable settlement.”
    “The town is a much different place now than it was when this all started,” O’Hare said. “The town’s new, once nonexistent Records Department is first-rate and the new town manager and police chief are a welcome change.”
    If O’Boyle agrees to settle, the mayor said he would call a special meeting of the Town Commission to endorse the document.
    In all, the release O’Hare and the town signed calls for the dismissal of 36 lawsuits and appeals O’Hare filed and the withdrawal of all requests for public records.
    Neither side will pay the other’s legal expenses. There is a clause preventing O’Hare from winning legal fees in future disputes.
    “What that would do would be to de-incentivize any further litigation over public records. There would be no fee entitlement based on this waiver,” Sweetapple said.
    The settlement also requires O’Hare to pay a $250 “facilitation fee” if he ever decides to make another public records request. Failure to pay the fee “will conclusively render such public records request withdrawn,” the release says.
    The O’Hare and O’Boyle saga has included demands for hundreds of documents and caused Gulf Stream to hire extra workers, upgrade its computer software and raise property taxes 40 percent.
    Gulf Stream maintained that O’Hare filed wide-ranging requests in hopes that the town could not timely respond and thus run afoul of the state’s public records law. In one case last month, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Thomas Barkdull III found that O’Hare “intended to harass and intimidate the town’s employees to generate litigation and fees with ‘gotcha’ type requests.”
    O’Hare began asking Gulf Stream for public records in 2013. From late August through December that year, he made more than 400 requests, Sweetapple said. Together, he and O’Boyle have filed more than 2,000 requests and dozens of lawsuits.
    In comparison Boca Raton, with more than 100 times the population of Gulf Stream, handled 2,263 requests for public records in 2016.
    An example of the cases being dismissed is one in which O’Hare on Sept. 29, 2013, asked for “Any photos of the Gulf Stream property of Anthony Pugliese in the town’s public record.” The town said it would review his request “within the next three business days” and “will promptly send you the appropriate response or an estimated cost to respond.”
    O’Hare filed suit 66 days after making his request. Pugliese, a developer, lives in an oceanfront mansion valued at more than $30 million. The property appraiser’s office labels the address a “confidential record.”

Isabelle Paul, the Florida Commander of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller Commandery,

has been a dutiful dame in the organization since she was knighted in 2005. She’s wearing the red and white colors

of the Order of St. John. Paul’s home in Boca Raton has a painting of her from the 1990s.

Tim Stepien/ The Coastal Star

By Amy Woods

    She has led the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller Commandery of Florida since 2011, raising an impressive $800,000 for local charities that aid the sick and the poor. She has served as a dutiful dame in the religious organization since 2005, when she was knighted during an elaborate ceremony in Malta.
    She has devoted her life to philanthropy since 1987, when her husband died.
    “My husband and I were benefactors of many charities,” said Boca Raton resident Isabelle Paul, rattling off a list of nonprofits including the Mayo Clinic, The Salvation Army, World Vision International and others. “After my husband passed away, I decided I was going to spend the rest of my life doing the Lord’s work.”
    Paul’s husband was a builder and developer. He also manufactured parts for the space program.
    “He received a commendation from President Nixon for helping get Neil Armstrong to the moon,” Paul said.
    The couple owned a resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica, which now is Sandals. “The highlight of the hotel was that the queen of England chose it for her reception when she visited Jamaica in 1966,” Paul said.
    Paul spends six hours each day in her role as commander, meeting with the agencies that have received money from the order, reviewing applications of those seeking financial assistance and overseeing details of the annual gala.
    “I’ve always had a passion for the sick and the poor,” she said. “It really started from childhood watching my parents help others. They were not doctors or ministers. They were just good Christians who liked to help others.”
    Traveling around the world, Paul said, made her aware of the thousands of people in need.
    “I have, and continue to, help people who I will never get to meet,” she said.

    Paul met Henrietta de Hoernle while volunteering for the Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League. De Hoernle, a board member, was a dame in the order and invited Paul to join.
    “We became good friends, and I knew her until the day she died,” Paul said. “We were very close, to the extent where she even had me plan her funeral.”
    De Hoernle, who died last July at age 103, left a legacy for the order by becoming one of three members worldwide to receive its highest award, the Cross of Merit.
    “She was a driving force,” said Paul, who did not wish to share her own age. “She is dearly missed.”
    Among the charities the order supports are Boca Helping Hands, Gulfstream Goodwill Industries, Home Safe, Place of Hope and Spirit of Giving Network.
    “All of these organizations are helping people in so many ways,” Paul said. “Many children are no longer going to bed hungry. We are housing homeless veterans. There are boys and girls who are abused and are being taken away from their parents.
    “There’s just such a need,” she said. “It’s unbelievable. The world has changed so drastically. People don’t care about each other like they used to, and I’m praying we get back to that.”
    Although she has no children of her own, Paul sponsors children in Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Portugal, Rwanda and Thailand.
Mary Csar, a member of the order, said it has grown in scope and size under Paul’s leadership.
    “She’s really tried to expand the organization rather than just being happy with a handful of members,” Csar said.“She’s been very steady, and she keeps it going. We keep voting her in as commander because she has done such a good job.”

    During a budget workshop on June 12, Manalapan commissioners tentatively agreed to maintain the current tax rate of $2.79 per $1,000 of taxable value for the 2017-18 fiscal year.  That’s roughly 5 percent above the projected rollback that would keep total tax revenues flat year-over-year.
    Mayor Keith Waters said the extra revenues are needed to make improvements to the Town Hall chambers and possibly to cover the legal expenses the town might have if it takes on the county and South Palm Beach over their beach stabilization project.
    “We still have one of the lowest tax rates in the county,” the mayor said.
    Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the proposed budget includes a 3 percent raise for employees, including police officers who are close to agreeing on a four-year contract with the town.
    The next budget workshop is July 17 at 10 a.m.
 —Dan Moffett

By Steve Plunkett

    The barrier island-based Florida Coalition for Preservation wants Gulf Stream and its neighbors to budget money this summer to determine where to locate a new fire-rescue station and how much it would cost.
    “It’s important for you to understand that when you see your first budget … that we at least identify a possibility that we’ll be asking for some money from each of the towns on the barrier island,” said former Gulf Stream Vice Mayor Robert Ganger, who founded the coalition.
    The study would be a follow-up to an exploratory study that seemed to scuttle the idea of forming a unified fire-rescue department for Ocean Ridge, Briny Breezes and Gulf Stream.
    “If we don’t start now, you’ll never be ready when Boynton in particular is redeveloped and there is a real problem getting over the bridges,” Ganger told Gulf Stream commissioners at their June 9 meeting.
    Mayor Scott Morgan asked how the proposed study would differ from last year’s effort. Ganger said the earlier study identified the cost of putting a facility on the barrier island and the possibility of two locations, but it was “all just speculative.”
    “Now we’ve got to get down to the real nitty-gritty and determine whether or not it’s run by Boynton Beach — which is probable, certainly possible — and where it would be located,” Ganger said.
    New Town Manager Greg Dunham said he would give commissioners their first look at his 2018 budget proposal July 14.
    Ganger said he hoped commissioners would set aside a “material” amount for the fire study, $15,000 to $20,000.
    “But don’t quote me on that because I literally do not know,” he said.
    Kristine de Haseth, the coalition’s executive director, warned commissioners in May that development in Boynton Beach on Woolbright Road and Ocean Avenue could impede emergency medical service access to the island.
    Ganger explained: “We are planning to talk to all the town managers and see their level of interest, their commitment to participate financially in a study, which at this point in time we haven’t really figured out what the study’s going to be.”
    Ganger said his group has talked to Bethesda Memorial Hospital, “and they’re very interested in what we’re trying to do.” The proposed station may turn out to be “non-civic, may be Bethesda, but you just don’t know,” he said. “You’ve got to do the work.”

    I am addressing the Editor’s Note, “Extra drive time a necessary nuisance this time of year,” that appeared in the June 2017 issue of The Coastal Star.
    Upfront, I totally agree with the opinion that most construction projects on the barrier island reflect necessary improvements to our transportation infrastructure. However, I am reacting to the comments concerning A1A in Delray Beach that seem to me to unfairly blame the MBR construction company, contractor on the beach master plan project.
    The editorial states that “Delray Beach’s oceanfront traffic has been barely inching along because of restricted parking and construction movements along the beachfront.”
    I live directly on the west side of A1A facing the beach walk and constantly observe the progress of the project and the traffic flow. Believe me, MBR is super-organized in facilitating traffic flow and the availability of beach entrances. I do not see traffic tie-ups as you described.
    The parking has been removed, but the traffic and bike lanes are in place in both north and south directions. The construction crews rarely impact traffic when working or even when debris is being removed. My impression is that all equipment remains within the original parking and bike lanes that are fenced off.
    Frankly, the major traffic tie-ups are at other A1A locations, where the parking meters are still in place, caused by motorists stopping to wait for a parking spot to become available. This can be a long wait.
    In relation to the new-home construction sites on A1A, this equipment has no place to park except partially on A1A, but seems not to impact traffic flow significantly.
    I do not feel that I am biased as president of the BPOA, which is partnering with the city in initiating the beach master plan. Compliments are due MBR Construction. I understand they are on schedule to complete the project by October or before.

Bob Victorin
Delray Beach

By Jane Smith
    
    The rainy weather in the first half of June did not delay the contractor working on the promenade along Delray Beach’s municipal beach, a city staffer said.
    But the contractor has asked for a three-day extension because of the work shutdown over the Fourth of July weekend, said Missie Barletto, deputy program director in the Environmental Services Department.
    The city and the contractor plan to allow pedestrians full access for the July 4 festivities through open and protected walkways to the beach.  
    Parking will be limited along the ocean, with meters removed from the south side of the municipal beach. Festival-goers are urged to park west of the Intracoastal Waterway in city garages and parking lots and then take the Downtown Trolley to Northeast/Southeast Seventh Avenue, and walk or bike over to the beach.
    For the event, city police will close Ocean Boulevard at 2 p.m. from Thomas Street to Bucida Road, one block past Casuarina Road on the south. That stretch won’t be reopened until the crowds clear after the fireworks end on the north end of the city’s beach, according to the Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative. The fireworks show will start at 9 p.m.
    City police also will close East Atlantic Avenue at Northeast/Southeast Seventh Avenue at 1:30 p.m. July 4. Festivities start at 8 a.m. with a sandcastle-building contest on the beach. For a list of activities and parking information, festival-goers are urged to check this website: JulyFourth DelrayBeach.com.
    Meanwhile, the $3.1 million upgrade to the municipal beach promenade is moving toward an early fall completion date for the 1.25-mile project.
    In June, the contractor finished removing the entire sidewalk from the south end. Access remains the same on the north end. South of Atlantic Avenue, beach-goers are urged to use the designated entrances. Signs are posted to help pedestrians find the way.
    Underground piping for the showers and fountains continues to be installed between the Sandoway parking lot and Boston’s Sand Bar. Concrete forms for the new sidewalk, north of Lifeguard Tower No. 5, continue to be installed, along with concrete pouring for the sidewalk.
Starting July 5, the work zone will shift north of the Sandoway parking lot to the Marriott Hotel. The sidewalk and parking in that area will be closed. The contractor will begin installing smart meters between Casuarina Road and the Sandoway lot the week of July 10.
Sandblasting of the knee wall, north of Atlantic Avenue, continues.
    The promenade enhancements are nearly 10 years in the making. The work west of the dunes will feature wider sidewalks and coordinated shower poles, benches, bike and surfboard racks, trash/recycling containers and signs to replace the current hodgepodge of styles. Smart parking meters will be solar-powered.
    Bicyclists can still ride on Ocean Boulevard, but they are urged to use caution. The bike lane on the east side will be narrowed with barriers to protect the public from the construction work.
    Beach benches, plaques and stone memorials have been removed and are stored. The city is asking donors to contact project manager Isaac Kovner at 243-7000, ext. 4119, to discuss options.