By Dan Moffett

    Ocean Ridge commissioners are waiting until the eleventh hour to approve a final budget for the new fiscal year while Town Manager Jamie Titcomb recalculates the numbers to try to correct a series of accounting errors.
    This is the first budget Titcomb has produced for the town — taking over the work that former Town Clerk Karen Hancsak handled for some three decades before retiring early this year.
    The commission hired Titcomb last October with the specific requirement that he would prepare the annual budget. His new approach and new format have resulted in several frustrating meetings for officials, and numbers that haven’t yet added up.
    Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella said he spent hours trying to make sense of Titcomb’s accounting and uncovered too many significant errors.
    “This is embarrassing,” Lucibella said. “I shouldn’t have to play detective.”
    What was to have been a final budget meeting on Sept. 21 ended with commissioners voting to go into recess until Oct. 3 to give Titcomb more time to correct the mistakes.
    Mayor Geoff Pugh told the town manager the bottom line is that his future in Ocean Ridge is tied to his numbers.
    “In my 14 years, I’ve never, ever had this situation occur,” Pugh said. “To postpone a meeting because of a budget? I’m appalled. If it’s not right at the next meeting, in my opinion, there’s going to be a problem with your job. I’m being point blank here. Because … this is the whole reason that we hired you. You sat there and told us you knew how to do this budget.
    “It’s your responsibility. It’s on your shoulders.”
 While acknowledging its errors, Titcomb says this is a “transitional budget” from old ways of doing things to new that ultimately will provide more transparency for taxpayers.
He asked the commission for more time, saying the problems Lucibella cited were too complex to solve during the meeting. He said the issues involve “thousands of computations” across many spread sheets.
 “My concern is to execute (changes) while you all sat here and wait is probably asking for error,” Titcomb said.
    Accounting issues aside, Ocean Ridge remains in robust financial health, with property values rising 7.5 percent over the last year. In July, commissioners approved a maximum tax rate of $5.35 per $1,000 of assessed taxable value, 7.2 percent above the $4.99 rollback rate that would hold revenues flat.

    Ocean Ridge is hardening its defenses against Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, the two mosquito species known to transmit the Zika virus.
    During the Sept. 12 town meeting, commissioners unanimously approved a new $62,890 contract with Clarke Environmental Mosquito Management Inc. to provide no-see-um and mosquito control services with emphasis on the Zika breeds.
    The contract calls for 36 backpack spraying treatments over the next year, and Clarke also will begin targeting the Zika mosquitoes with 26 scheduled truck spraying treatments between 3:45 and 4:45 a.m., street by street.
    Robert Santana, a Clarke consultant, told commissioners the company will use chemicals and application techniques that do minimal harm to bees and other beneficial species. He said the chemical spray will dissipate by sunrise, when the bees become active and fly off to do their work.
    Santana told the commission that the Zika mosquitoes are “container breeders,” meaning they do not like to breed in swamps and puddles but prefer to lay their eggs on the inside rims of containers such as buckets, cups and even bottle caps with standing water.
    Clarke has worked extensively in Miami-Dade County neighborhoods, including Wynwood and Miami Beach, the first United States locations with active transmission of mosquito-borne Zika.
— Dan Moffett

By Dan Moffett

    For the first time in its 53-year history, Briny Breezes is looking to hire a paid administrator to manage the town’s government business.
    Until now, Briny Breezes has relied on the unpaid volunteer service of elected officials to do its administrative work. But over the years, the demands have grown more time consuming and more complicated.
    Town Council President Sue Thaler estimates she puts in between 20 and 25 hours weekly, working for the town, often representing it in collaborative efforts with other groups and communities.
    “I’m really not able to do that anymore,” she said. “We’re hoping to start advertising for an administrator within the next couple weeks and have someone hired before the end of the year.”
    Of the 39 municipalities in Palm Beach County, Briny Breezes is the only one that does not have some version of a paid administrator, said Alderman Bobby Jurovaty — including the five towns that are smaller in population: Glen Ridge, Village of Golf, Cloud Lake, Jupiter Inlet Colony and Manalapan.
    “We’re the last of a dying breed,” Jurovaty said. “Sue has done a great job, but she can’t keep putting in so much time. Some people actually thought Sue was getting paid to do all she does.”
    Jurovaty said the new position will be part-time, perhaps 25 hours a week, and a combination job — part deputy clerk and part town manager.
    Steve Cooper, the current clerk, is leaving the town later this year, so the timing is right for change. Thaler would stay on as an alderman.
    No amendment of the town charter is required. Council members believe they can create the administrative job by passing a resolution.
    Thaler said there’s $50,000 set aside in the new budget to cover the hiring. Briny Breezes is saving about $27,000 a year by switching from Ocean Ridge police service to Boynton Beach, so that will cover the extra cost above replacing Cooper as clerk.

By Dan Moffett

    A Lantana resident and a Manalapan homeowners group have joined forces and filed suit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court to block construction of a Publix at Plaza del Mar.
    The suit claims the town acted illegally in July when commissioners approved a site plan for the plaza’s renovation and new supermarket. A specific complaint is that the town did not require an adequate traffic study before advancing the plan.
    The owners of the plaza, MSKP Plaza Del Mar LLC, are joining with the town to defend against the suit, filed by Barbara Federico and residents of La Coquille Club Villas.
    “Do La Coquille residents really understand that they are the defendant and the plaintiff in this case?” Mayor David Cheifetz wondered during the Sept. 14 commission meeting.
    Former Manalapan Vice Mayor Robert Evans, a homeowner at La Coquille behind the plaza, has made repeated appeals to the commission to rein in plans for bulldozing much of the plaza to accommodate the 26,000-square-foot Publix. Evans and other La Coquille residents said they favored a smaller grocery store, such as the one that operated on the property years ago.
    “We would have preferred a market in the old space,” Evans said in one of his appeals.
    Federico has lived on Beach Curve Road on Hypoluxo Island for 14 years in a home that’s 500 feet from the plaza. She says the proposed store is too large for the neighborhood and sure to cause traffic problems.
    “My main motivation is the size of the store,” she said of filing suit. “It is inappropriate for the community and incompatible with the area.”
    Town Attorney Keith Davis said the plaza owners intend to move forward with construction as they fight the lawsuit. He said the town’s legal fees “will be greatly reduced” because the owners are providing for most of the defense.
    In other business:
    • Many Manalapan homeowners will enjoy a reduction in their next tax bills as the town’s budget grows fatter from strong building fee revenues and higher property values.
    Commissioners unanimously approved a final tax rate of $2.79 per $1,000 of taxable value for the new budget, roughly 0.7 percent below the rollback rate of $2.81 that holds tax revenues flat.
    “This is the lowest it’s been since 2011-2012,” Cheifetz said, “and unassigned revenue is the highest it’s been since 2011.”
    Property values in the town continue to rise faster than those elsewhere in Palm Beach County — up 9.9 percent over last year, compared with the county average of about 6 percent. The town has an assessed value of $1.1 billion, according to the Property Appraiser’s Office, with an average market price of $4.2 million, the county’s highest.
    The new budget benefits from the impending completion of the Audubon Causeway bridge project, which drained close to $1 million from capital accounts. The town also has resolved several nagging legal matters and expects to have lower legal expenses.
    • Commissioners are waiting on the results of another consultant’s study to decide how to go about negotiating a new water contract with Hypoluxo.
    Town Manager Linda Stumpf said Kevin O’Donnell of Nova Energy Consultants of Cary, N.C., is doing a rate analysis of Hypoluxo customers, and also analyzing the potential impact on Manalapan’s system if Hypoluxo decides to go elsewhere for service. Stumpf said Boynton Beach’s water utility could offer Hypoluxo residents a deal with “very, very low rates.”
    • Vice Mayor Peter Isaac said reconstruction of the Audubon Causeway bridge is on schedule to be completed by the end of November. “There will still be a lot of tidying up to do” through the end of the year, he said.

By Jane Smith
    
    City commissioners kept the property tax rate the same, but most property owners will likely pay more in taxes because taxable values increased by 7.9 percent in Boynton Beach, according to Assistant City Manager Tim Howard. Homeowners with a homestead exemption will see their property values increase by .7 percent for tax purposes.
    The tax rate of $7.9 per $1,000 of taxable property value is 7.02 percent higher than the rollback rate of 7.38 percent, Howard said. The rollback rate is the tax rate needed to generate the same amount of property tax income as in the previous budget year.
    The general fund for the next budget year is $79.4 million, a 3.8 percent increase over this year’s level. The public safety departments account for more than 65 percent of the budget.
    To bring Fire Station No. 1 up to staffing level standards of six employees per shift, the city won’t dip into its reserves. Instead, it will postpone hiring the extra six firefighters until April, saving $210,000 while adding the same amount in the general fund.

Rob Steele, who is one year into his job as president and chief executive officer of Old School Square

in Delray Beach, stands with ‘Field of Blue’ at the square. The sculpture, unveiled in 1996,

is of a boy holding a U.S. flag and honors people in uniform.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Lucy Lazarony

    It’s been a year since Rob Steele took over as president and chief executive officer of Old School Square. He came from the 2,100-seat Williamsport Community Arts Center in Pennsylvania, where he was executive director for 10 years.
    His goal for the Delray Beach landmark and arts center was to transform it into a multidimensional arts and entertainment park.
    So how’s that working out, and what’s new this year? And what’s this we hear about moving the Christmas tree off campus? Here’s what Steele had to say during a Q&A with The Coastal Star.

    Q. What was your vision a year ago for Old School Square and what is it now? Has it changed?
    A. My vision a year ago was to evolve Old School Square into a multidimensional arts and entertainment park, and the vision has come into a clearer focus with each passing day. The first phase of landmark renovations are underway. Improvements to the landscape, buildings, lighting, and functionality of this historic campus will be the talk of the town. Rebranding the campus from the Delray Beach Center for the Arts to Old School Square has been embraced by everyone, and we believe the change will go a long way in helping our market to understand the multidisciplinary nature of our organization.
    Q. What new events can we expect in the 2016-17 performance season?
    A. In the 2016-2017 season, I would be remiss if I did not share my insider knowledge and draw your attention to a few sleeper shows: One Funny Mother, VoicePlay, Kobie Boykins, The Doo Wop Project, Shades of Bublé, the State Ballet Theatre of Russia and the Rhythmic Circus.
    Q. Are there changes/renovations to the Cornell Museum being planned? 
    A. The Cornell Art Museum is going through what can only be described as a comprehensive metamorphosis.  When the transformation is complete … I believe the Cornell Art Museum will be one of the most significant attractions in Delray Beach. By year end, the museum will have a new roof and fresh coat of paint. By the end of July 2017, the interior of the museum will have been completely transformed.
    In this landmark renovation of the Cornell Art Museum, it is our expressed intention to carry forward the intrinsic charms of a 1913 elementary schoolhouse into a unique and inviting space to enjoy visual art. We hope to leverage the good bones of this historic building … to allow the natural light from the enormous windows to shine in concert with the echoes of children’s dreams … to create an unforgettable museum experience for our guests. 
    We are committed to assuring that the space is designed and constructed to be practical and flexible to meet the present and future needs of the museum.
    Q. What can we expect in the upcoming season in the field house venue and outdoor pavilion?
    A. The Old School Square 2016-2017 season includes a number of events that will be held in the field house venue and the outdoor pavilion stage.  Acoustics in the field house have been dramatically improved, and this unique space will play host to a wide variety of acts throughout the season. Seating configurations will change to match the entertainment and the venue is absolutely charming.
    The pavilion stage affords us the opportunity to feature some larger scale acts for much larger audiences. We are very keen on making sure that people who have traditionally only visited one corner of Old School Square have the opportunity to discover everything we have to offer.
    Q. Is the city’s 100-foot Christmas tree destined to be moved from its previous location this year?
    A. We are very keen on moving the Christmas tree to the core area of the Old School Square Park by December 2017. The construction/erection process of building the Christmas tree lasts at least two months and the site is, well, unsightly during much of the construction. The precise location has not yet been determined. It will be located in the green area, which is directly south of the parking garage. This is the space where the green market is on Saturdays.
    Q. What have you enjoyed most in your first year as president and chief executive officer at Old School Square?
    A. I am truly very blessed to work with such a talented and committed staff and board of directors. They have embraced change and redoubled their already dizzying efforts to advance the mission of Old School Square.

By Jane Smith

    City homeowners will enjoy a slight reduction in next year’s property tax rate under a $110 million budget passed on Sept. 20.
    A Delray Beach owner of a home valued at $550,000 with a $50,000 homestead exemption will pay $50 less in property taxes next year under the plan.
    The current property tax rate is $7.06 per $1,000 in property value, and for the next budget year the rate will slide to $6.96 per $1,000. The tax rate needed for debt service also fell slightly, to 25 cents.
    The assessed value used for the debt service is $3.3 million higher than the $8.8 billion value used for the operating budget. The difference comes from the tax exemptions the city gives for improvements on historic properties. The exemptions apply only to the city’s operating budget.
    Even so, at $6.96 per $1,000 in property valuation, the proposed tax rate is higher than the rollback rate of $6.53 per $1,000 by 6.36 percent. At the rollback rate, the same amount of property tax revenue would be generated as during the prior budget year.
    Two commissioners, Mitch Katz and Shelly Petrolia, wanted to reduce property taxes even more.
    Katz worked with the city manager to devise a plan to reduce the tax rate another 0.1 percent. The city coffers were strong in August, allowing Delray Beach to pay in cash for two fire engines needed and passing the $300,000 saving to property owners.
    But City Manager Don Cooper did not recommend changing the budget. He wanted to keep the money in his contingency budget for emergency expenses.
    The two other commissioners and the mayor agreed.
    “We gave marching orders to our staff in October at the goal-setting session,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said. “If those sessions are to have any meaning, we need to stand behind our staff.”
    He also asked his colleagues to remember the need for revenue when the parking meters expansion comes up next year. “That is a game changer that doesn’t penalize residents in the way property taxes do,” he said. “You want to park for convenience, you pay for convenience.”
    The commission also took the following actions:
    • Approved historic property tax exemptions for improvements on three historic homes: a 1937 frame vernacular-style single-family home in the Marina Historic District, a 1941 single-family home in the Nassau Park Historic District and a 1950 ranch-style single-family home in the Nassau Park Historic District.
    The exemptions are for the improvements and last 10 years regardless of who owns the property.
    • Renewed an agreement with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that calls for a city police officer to work on a DEA Task Force to disrupt the illegal narcotics traffic in South Florida. The city will pay for the officer’s salary, benefits and overtime.
The DEA, subject to availability of money, will pay up to $17,753 in overtime.
    • Approved purchase of 65 bulletproof vests for fire-rescue personnel to use in the event of a mass shooting.
The vests, at a cost not to exceed $79,000, will be purchased from Municipal Emergency Services Inc. at the state’s contract price.
    • Approved stainless steel showers and drinking fountains made by Most Dependable Fountains as the city standard and approved purchasing them for the beach master plan in an amount not to exceed $138,000.
    • Agreed to pay $200,000 to Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. consultants to determine whether the city’s streets and sidewalks are wheelchair accessible.

By Jane Smith

    When Delray Beach passed the final version of its special events policy, no residents tried to sway the City Commission to vote for or against it.
    “You won’t get a lot of people coming out to speak about it,” said Commissioner Shelly Petrolia. “But if you don’t do what they want, they will vote against you.”
    The commission chamber was calm on Sept. 20 compared with the raucous scene in June when teens wearing dance or band uniforms pleaded to save the Garlic Fest. During the festival, they earn money that allows them to pay for outfits needed to participate in the Atlantic High School band or jazz dance team.
    Garlic Fest has since found a new home in a county park that will allow it to be larger but still gated.
    The same organizer hosts the Wine and Seafood Fest for November and the Bacon and Bourbon Fest in March. They were canceled when faced with increased costs and short lead time.
    Two crafts festivals, run by promoter Howard Alan Events, also were canceled because of increased costs. But the organization kept its fine arts festival that shuts down East Atlantic Avenue over a January weekend.
    Faced with increased public safety expenses related to the addiction crisis, Delray Beach is trying to recoup the costs of city services for special events. Its Finance Department devised a way to calculate the true costs, including staff time for public safety workers that covers hourly wages, benefits, overtime and pensions.
    Most private promoters saw at least a doubling of their costs. To offset the sticker shock, the City Commission agreed to phase in the costs over three years.
    For nonprofit events, such as the AVDA 5K/10K run, city commissioners will consider providing in-kind security services so that most of the money raised can go to the organization.
    AVDA is Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse. By supporting the runs, the city also will help promote healthy activities, said Commissioner Jordana Jarjura.
    “When you boil this down to those not benefiting by the events, residents and business owners, they appreciate the reduction,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said.
    The policy was approved by a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Mitch Katz voting no.

By Jane Smith

    City leaders and railroad officials want to prevent another pedestrian from dying while illegally cutting across the tracks in downtown Delray Beach.
    In early August, a woman left Johnny Brown’s on Atlantic and took a well-used shortcut across the FEC tracks. She was killed by a southbound freight train.
    The group met in early September to discuss the situation and the need for pedestrian barriers in the four blocks north and four blocks south of Atlantic Avenue.
    “It was a very productive meeting,” said Mayor Cary Glickstein. “They are open to just anything.”
    The city wants pedestrian barriers installed in time for the expected start next summer of the Brightline express passenger rail service between Miami and West Palm Beach. Brightline trains will reach up to 79 mph between the two cities. There is no estimate for the number of trains passing through Delray Beach in this phase.
    The second phase, which will end in Orlando, will feature 32 trips daily.
    The city’s engineers will bring design proposals to the City Commission workshop in January. The group may meet before then, Glickstein said, “subject to how well we can generate a feasible, responsible strategy. The ball is in our court.”
    The county’s Metropolitan Planning Organization head, Nick Uhren, attended the group meeting. A week later, he told his board of elected officials that Delray Beach is taking the lead and working with Brightline and FEC to prevent another tragedy.
    “The MPO would walk alongside them and share the information with coastal communities,” Uhren said.
    The barriers also please Delray Beach safety advocate Patrick Halliday. As vice chairman of Human Powered Delray, he pressed for them.
    “I made an issue out of it,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that we have to have something terrible happen before we wake up.”
    A check with city police showed no citations or warnings issued to pedestrians for trespassing along the FEC rail lines near Atlantic Avenue for the first eight months of this year and the first eight months of 2015. It’s possible that pedestrians may have been cited or warned because the city Police Department keeps records by street names and not the FEC lines, said its spokeswoman.
    The types of barrier were not decided at the group meeting. The barriers could be as elaborate as fence with landscaping or done for a lower cost where the railroad owns most of the land.
    “There are examples in West Palm Beach by the courthouse where a mature bougainvillea hedge is enough of a deterrent,” Glickstein said.
    “Most people do not realize much of the paved roadway between the west side of the tracks, just north of Atlantic — where the recent accident occurred — and the commercial establishments are within the FEC right of way,” he said.
    All Aboard Florida, the precursor to Brightline, is working with the city as it “determines the next steps and preferred improvements,” said Ali Soule, All Aboard spokeswoman.
    She provided its track maps to the city’s Environmental Services Department for engineers to use to determine where the pedestrian barriers can sit.
    “They prefer us to stay off of their land,” said John Morgan, head of Environmental Services. “But they are open to it if we can show them it can’t be done otherwise.”
    Morgan also said they discussed having a Volpe Center study done in Delray Beach, similar to the one finished two years ago in West Palm Beach. Volpe leaders reviewed trespasser incidents along two railroads from 2009 to 2013 in the city and made recommendations about what to do to prevent pedestrians and bicyclists from trespassing.
    Delray Beach does not have the time to do the study, Morgan said, if it wants the barriers in place for the start of the Brightline service. His staff will review the Volpe recommendations and use the best ideas for Delray Beach.
    The Volpe Center, named for former Secretary of Transportation John Volpe, is the research arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
    Later this year, a Brightline train will be tested between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, after the repair facility is finished in West Palm Beach, Soule said.
    Who will pay for the barriers is to be determined. It could be the city, its Community Redevelopment Agency, grants through the MPO, federal grants or a combination of the sources, Glickstein said. A legislative aide from U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel’s office attended the group meeting.
    Florida ranked second last year for trespasser deaths along rail lines nationwide. Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit public safety organization based in Virginia, works to raise awareness of the dangers of being near the tracks, said Libby Rector Snipe, communications director.
    Its “See Tracks? Think Train” national campaign has radio and TV public service announcements designed to prevent trespassing along the rail lines. In Florida, the organization ran an anti-selfie digital ad in April. The ad was geared to teens and young adults about the dangers of taking selfies along the tracks, Rector Snipe said.
    Soule agreed about the importance of safety.
    “All Aboard Florida is working on a comprehensive plan to educate all communities along the corridor about the importance of train safety,” she said.

A complex of 14 three-story townhomes is being proposed for the vacant 1.5-acre parcel

on the south side of Briny Breezes Boulevard.

Photo from Google Maps

By Jane Smith
    
    The small oceanfront parcel that once housed the Pelican Apartments along the informal Dog Beach could become the spot for 14 three-story townhomes, with construction to start next year.
    One of the landowners, Joseph Basile Sr., said representatives from 30 Ocean met with the county zoning staff in June to see whether they could revive plans from 2005.
    “We are just going through the process,” Basile said on Sept. 23. “We are not asking for any approvals, so there won’t be public hearings.” He estimated it would take another six to nine months to receive the permits needed to start work on the site, which is 1.5 acres, according to the county Property Appraiser’s website.
    But the potential owner’s land-use law firm, Dunay Miskel and Backman of Boca Raton, estimates the property size at 1.98 acres with 16 townhomes allowed. The parcel was approved for 12 townhomes and the potential landowner wants to build 14 townhomes. Sitting in a county pocket east of Ocean Boulevard, the parcel is bordered to the north by the mobile-home community of Briny Breezes.
    James Arena, a Briny Breezes resident and Boynton Beach real estate broker, said he can’t imagine someone building high-end townhomes without getting control of a segment of Old Ocean Boulevard that splits the east side of the parcel, leaving a sliver along the beachfront.
    “Maybe as they start going through the process, they will see they really need the road,” Arena said.
    But using Old Ocean Boulevard was never part of the plans, Basile said recently.
    However, in spring 2014, he met with the Villas of Malibu owners in the county pocket and discussed the abandonment of Old Ocean and the eastern half of Seaview Avenue.
    If the landowner follows the county zoning code and doesn’t request any waivers or roads to be abandoned, the project can be approved administratively without public hearings, according to Maryann Kwok, deputy zoning director.
    She said as many as 16 county agencies will have to review the application after it’s submitted. One-third of the project’s land sits east of the state’s coastal construction line. Any buildings erected there would have to be approved by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
    The 30 Ocean land-use law firm submitted a pre-application letter for a contract purchaser, Guardianship Properties LLC, which is not active, according to state records. They show the company listed Daniel Azel as president. He also is president of the Miami construction firm Andale Group.
    Azel could not be reached for comment by press time.

By Jane Smith

    The head of the Community Redevelopment Agency was handed her walking papers when its board members voted 3-2 to not renew her annual contract.
    A small, loyal group of Boynton Beach residents spoke in support of Vivian Brooks’ remaining the executive director at the agency’s Sept. 13 meeting.
    Again, Woodrow Hay and James “Buck” Buchanan told the CRA board members to look inside themselves because they might not have given her clear direction about what they wanted. They were removed from the CRA board in a reorganization after they expressed that opinion last year.
    “It’s not Vivian Brooks who makes the decisions; it’s you guys on the dais who make the decisions,” said Hay, a former mayor. “She gives you recommendations and you can either go with them or turn them down.”
    Her last day was Sept. 30. Brooks made $130,169 annually and had a $3,000 car allowance. The next day, Assistant CRA Director Michael Simon became interim director until a replacement is hired. That could take up to six months, according to the city manager.
    Brooks said she was saddened by the vote, but thanked the public for its support.
    Her departure comes at a critical time for Boynton Beach. The CRA is revising plans for the entire district to promote connection between the areas and point out where increased height and density can be. The City Commission will take the final vote on the plan in October. The changes will shape the city’s eastern half for the next 20 years.
    Residents agreed with many of the changes, but not the increased height at the intersection of Federal Highway and Woolbright Road. Three of the four corners recently were redeveloped.
    Some residents think  the plan update was done specifically for Riverwalk Plaza at the southeast corner. The new plan allows up to 10 stories, which coincides with what Riverwalk’s owner wants to build there — a 10-story apartment complex. The current zoning and land-use plan allow only seven stories.
    Last year, Brooks survived when Commissioner Joe Casello wanted to remove her as CRA head. He was able to change the composition of the board to elected officials only, removing Hay and Buchanan as independent members.
    Casello said he was disappointed in her performance this year and rated it 2.75 on a scale of 1 to 4. He agreed Brooks is the “consummate professional,” but cited her shortcomings as not sharing complete information and difficulty in taking a leadership role.
    He persuaded a new commissioner and the new mayor to vote with him this year.
    Commissioner Justin Katz wants to see who else is out there and willing to apply. He gave Brooks’ performance a 2.5.
    Mayor Steven Grant said he was elected in March on a change platform and didn’t think that Brooks was responsive to what the residents want. He also said she is not the best negotiator for the CRA.
    In addition, when he would ask what type of conditions would be possible on a property, her response of “anything you like” was not specific enough for him. “She should have recognized that this is my first time working through such contracts,” the mayor said.
    Brooks was in her 12th year at the agency. She had served as its executive director since April 2011.
    Grant wants to see more development and reduced crime in the Heart of Boynton, where he lives. He wants to save the old high school that is on the city’s registry of historic places, but Brooks doesn’t share that interest with him, Grant said. He rated her performance a 2.
    Vice Mayor Mack McCray, among the three board members last year who wanted to replace Brooks, has since changed his mind and rated her performance a 3.5.
    “We have not given her the proper direction of what we want to do and when we can arrive,” he said. He advised the “newbies” on the board to work with her for at least a year before doing an evaluation. “Her performance is not the problem. … You don’t like her style, we all have our shortcomings.”
    New Commissioner Christina Romelus was in favor of extending Brooks’ contract for another year. She received a 3 rating from Romelus, who said, “Brooks needs to build a better relationship with the public.” Romelus also chided Brooks for giving personal opinions along with the facts.
    Casello wanted to extend her contract for six months while advertising for her position. Brooks declined what she called a “generous” offer.
    She became emotional on the dais.
    “I want to say to the public: These guys up here can’t make me cry, but you guys can make me cry,” she said. “Your support and working with you has meant everything to me. This has been a very unfortunate political environment that you have to live with and I’m sorry for you.”
    Resident Harry Woodworth, who spoke at the meeting in support of Brooks, said, “It’s a sad day in Boynton Beach. Now we’ll see development for development’s sake.”  
    Also at the meeting, the CRA board members agreed to:
    • Extend the completion time for the Little House to convert into a restaurant, Fork Play. The new date is Feb. 28, 2017. The extra two months will allow time to enclose the porch so that it can be air-conditioned.
    • Increase rental rates for annual tenants at the city’s marina from $16 a linear foot to $18, a 12.5 percent increase. The last time rental rates increased was in 2012. While the access road is torn up in October, tenants will not have to pay rent. They still will have a 20 percent discount on fuel purchased at the marina.

By Dan Moffett

    South Palm Beach residents are going to have to wait longer for their long-awaited beach stabilization project to begin.
    Mayor Bonnie Fischer said county project planners have told her work on the town’s beaches won’t begin before November 2018, a delay of a year from the target start date.
    Fischer said the problem is that the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa has decided not to participate in the project, according to county environmental officials, who told her the hotel worried about allowing heavy equipment on the beach during tourist season. With the hotel out, planners will have to submit new permit requests to state and federal agencies, a process that typically takes months.
    Fischer said engineers likely also will have to redesign the project, relocating the seven concrete groins that are to be installed to capture sand. The work now will stop at the southern boundary of Lantana Municipal Beach.
    “We’re going on 10 years with this now and we just got another delay,” she said. “Sand does not stay within political boundaries. Municipalities really need to work together. Unfortunately, with Eau Palm Beach out, we’ve got a little issue where they’re not interested in working together.”
    The resort was the only private commercial enterprise in the project’s half-mile footprint. The town of Manalapan has no public beaches and is not included in the stabilization plan.
    Michael King, the Eau’s managing director, said the resort was “never really part of the project” and had environmental concerns.
    “We thought the groins were not good for the southern coastline because they would be disrupting the natural flow of sand to the south,” he said.
    Town Manager Bob Vitas criticized county officials for failing to communicate with the project’s prospective participants. Vitas and Fischer have worked for months to line up easements for construction with condo associations and homeowners. Now much of that likely will have to be redone, Vitas says.
    “You would have thought that this county and its environmental management agency department would have reached out long ago to the folks at the Eau and got this thing taken care of before we jumped through all those hoops,” he said. “And now we have a 12-month delay and that translates into 12 months of cost. That’s not anything that this town is responsible for. This delay is truly not ours. It is the county’s delay.”
    The $5 million plan for stabilizing South Palm Beach’s shore is built on a partnership among governments that have committed to split the bill: The federal government will pay half of the project, the county 30 percent from its tourism bed tax, and the town the remaining 20 percent.
    In other business, council members awarded a $34,300 contract to Alexis Knight Architects of West Palm Beach to study and report on possible Town Hall improvements by the end of the year.
    Vitas said the cost is about half what the town was prepared to pay. Alexis Knight will determine how the town might remodel its building and use space better.

By Dan Moffett

    Two coastally iconic Manalapan businesses that were headed for the wrecking ball to make way for a new Publix at Plaza del Mar are planning to relocate soon in larger spaces at the center.
    Manalapan Italian Cuisine, with its Basil Bar and Grill, is moving to the west end of the plaza, near Thaikyo Asian restaurant in a storefront formerly occupied by Guido the Tailor.
    Owner Earl Bass says the new pizza eatery will be called Basil.
    “We’re going to keep it simple,” Bass said of the name change. “There will be seating for 132, compared to the 79 seats we now have.  It’s one huge room that will all flow together with outdoor seating and a bar with twice as many seats.”
    Relocating next door to the new Basil restaurant is Palm Beach Travel, which also is moving into a bigger unit with 2,200 square feet, compared with the business’ current 750-foot store. Owner Annie Davis says she intends to be open by early October and also will run an art gallery, Palm Beach Art and Travel, in the adjacent space.
    “We’re really excited,” Davis said. “The plaza has been great, and our clients have been very supportive, but we’ll be glad to get this behind us.”
    At the other end of the plaza near State Road A1A, Pedro Maldonado is about to move his Jewelry Artisans business into space alongside Evelyn & Arthur Clothing & Gifts. Maldonado said Evelyn & Arthur will downsize by half and turn over the eastern side of the unit to the jewelry store.
    “A miracle happened,” said Maldonado, who has had his shop at the same plaza location for nearly three decades. “I was freaking out wondering what we were going to do. Then this came as a surprise at the last minute.”
    Maldonado said Fred Weissman, the president and chief financial officer of Evelyn & Arthur, approached him and offered about 2,100 square feet of the boutique’s space, roughly twice what the jeweler has now.
    “I thought he was joking with me,” Maldonado said. “We’ll be visible from the road now and have people walking over from the Eau (Palm Beach Resort & Spa). It’s an unexpected positive thing for us.”
    Both Basil and Jewelry Artisans hope to have their rebuilt businesses up and running before the end of October. Bass and Maldonado said Kitson & Partners, the plaza’s landlord, agreed to help pay for some of the relocation expenses.
    Bass, who owns the restaurant with his wife, artist Hedy McDonald, thinks the new location will improve the business’ visibility.
    “You’ll be able to see us from the road,” Bass said. “We’ve been buried for four years where we are now.”
    He said Basil will keep its popular karaoke shows and add Motown and blues acts for the weekend. Bass said he is overhauling the menu, adding more fish entrees. Pizza will remain a signature dish.
    Maldonado says neighboring with the Evelyn & Arthur could be good for his jewelry business and the fashion boutique: “We may be able to bring customers to each other.”
    The jeweler said a friend of his next door at the plaza’s Chabad of South Palm Beach gave him some words of encouragement weeks ago that seem to have come true.
    “The Chabad lady said that sometimes good things can come from something bad,” he said. “Maybe that’s what’s happening to us.”

By Dan Moffett

    During a contentious three-hour budget meeting, South Palm Beach council members decided to give residents a small dose of tax relief — roughly $40 per homeowner next year.
    But the decision comes with consequences. The town runs the risk of having to dip into its reserves to avoid going into the red in 2017, and the dispute over taxes has strained relations among council members.
    A heated debate erupted between Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan and Vice Mayor Joseph Flagello during a Sept. 8 hearing that was scheduled to be a formality during which the council would rubber-stamp budget numbers already debated.
    Late in the night, Jordan proposed cutting the tentatively approved tax rate for 2017 from $4.3174 — the rate the town has had for the last half-dozen years — to a figure halfway to the rollback rate of $3.938 that would hold tax revenues flat. Jordan’s idea was to allow an increase in homeowners’ net taxes but only half as much an increase as the council had previously agreed on.
    “It’s not that sufficient of an amount that it will make a big deal,” Jordan said, pointing to the loss of about $54,000 in tax revenues the town would incur.
    Flagello vehemently disagreed. He said it was reckless for the council to deviate from the steady fiscal approach that had gotten the town through some hard economic times. Flagello said it was premature to count on revenues that might come from a proposed 1-cent county sales tax on the November ballot, or from the development of the old Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn site.
    “I think there’s a 70 percent chance that the sales tax is not going to pass,” Flagello said. “We’re always talking about how we’re being fiscally conservative. Now at this moment we’ve decided to move away from that policy. Doing a rollback rate in the future is something I totally agree with, but we’re deciding to go away from our fiscally conservative ways for about $40 a person.”
    Flagello said it was too early to dip into the tax windfall that could come from the Oceanfront Inn project: “We should pick the fruit when it’s ripe. It’s not ripe yet.”
    Jordan argued that the town’s budget and the economy were healthy enough to finish in the black: “I’m confident next year we’ll have an overage in revenue. I’m sure of it.”
    Jordan said she believed the reduction wouldn’t have a significant impact on capital projects, including plans for improvements to the Town Hall and pedestrian lighting.
    The council agreed with Jordan, voting 4-1 against Flagello to approve a lower rate of $4.13 per $1,000 of taxable property value, halfway between the rollback rate of $3.94 and the current $4.32.

By Mary Thurwachter

    For the fifth time this year, Lantana’s Municipal Beach was slapped with a no-swimming advisory because of high bacteria levels.
    In tests administered by the Palm Beach County Health Department on Sept. 19, bacteria levels were in the “poor range,” showing 740 enterococcus CFU (colony-forming units) per 100 milliliters. The “poor” range is 71 or greater enterococcus CFU. A good rating is 35 enterococcus per 100 milliliters of marine water; moderate is 36-70. Enterococci are bacteria that normally inhabit the intestinal tracts of humans and animals.
The no-swimming advisory was lifted three days later, when tests showed the water to be in the good range again.
    “The Department of Health along with our partners at the Department of Environmental Protection are looking at all possible sources of the high contamination levels at Lantana Beach,” said Tim O’Connor, county Health Department public information officer. “So far nothing conclusive has been found.”
    O’Connor said 13 beaches from Boca Raton to Jupiter are tested regularly. All the other beaches in Palm Beach County (including Lake Worth and Ocean Inlet Park) tested on Sept. 19 were in the “good” range.
    Causes of the elevated level could be associated with heavy recreational usage, wildlife, high surf and high tides or runoff after heavy rains, O’Connor said.
    Swimmers can check beach water quality at www.palmbeach.floridahealth.gov and click on Beach Water Sampling.

Related story: Chiefs express concern for first responders’ mental health

By Jane Smith

    The addiction crisis in Delray Beach has affected every city department within the past year. Police and fire-rescue workers have seen the most direct effect because of their role in responding to overdoses, City Manager Don Cooper says.
    To a lesser extent, staffers from community improvement and parks and recreation have to deal with the results of the addiction crisis, he said.
    Two drug users overdosed in the Veterans Park bathrooms in the past year. Parks maintenance workers “keep an approved container for sharps/needles in their maintenance trucks,” said Suzanne Fisher, parks and recreation director. Once the container is filled, the employee takes the container to the Fire Department for replacement with an empty one. “Some parks/crews drop off their container more frequently than others,” Fisher said.
    Most of the increased costs go to pay for more public safety officers and Narcan, a medication that blocks the high from heroin and other opioids. The police and fire departments account for 61 percent of the city’s budget, leaving other departments with less-immediate needs to wait, the city manager said.
    From Jan. 1 through the morning of Sept. 7 this year, the Fire-Rescue Department administered 1,115 doses of Narcan, ranging from a single 0.4 mg dose to multiple doses up to 10 mg, said Fire Chief Neal de Jesus.
    The department buys its Narcan through a cooperative arrangement with the Boynton Beach Fire- Rescue Department, de Jesus said.
    Through Sept. 7, Delray Beach Fire-Rescue has spent $29,662.50 on Narcan. The department estimated it had $5,000 worth of the medication in stock, he said.
    De Jesus said Narcan is not the only expense on the overdose calls. Rescue workers also use breathing masks, IV lines and other disposable items.
    He doesn’t know of any rescue personnel who sought assistance in dealing with the stress from the increase in overdoses. The department offers counseling through a paid city benefit, an early assistance program. But the program is confidential and names are not revealed, he said.
    The department is taking a proactive approach to dealing with the addiction crisis and working to create critical incident stress debriefing training. The city program would provide the initial counseling and referral, as necessary, de Jesus said. A county program is available on request, he said.
    “The addiction crisis has played a role in the call volume increase we are experiencing,” de Jesus said.
    The City Commission approved hiring eight new firefighters/paramedics, totaling $697,060, for the new budget year. The extra staff will respond to overdoses and help by adding a third person at the busiest fire stations, he said. That would allow reduced response times, faster turnaround and in-service times at local hospitals, allow the second unit to be kept in the zone and have less wear and tear on the fire apparatus.
    The 412 overdose calls as of Sept. 7 tied up fire-rescue staff for more than 309 hours, or nearly 13 days, including hospital wait times, according to the department.
    To transport an overdose patient to a hospital, the department charges $12 a mile. “As of this date we have billed $777,703.60 and collected $151,033.60 leaving an unpaid balance of $626,670,” de Jesus said on Sept. 20. The city also will seek legislative approval to allow a lien for the unpaid amount to be placed on the sober home or treatment center.
    Ocean-rescue lifeguards, who are part of the Fire-Rescue Department, find syringes and other drug use items on the beach weekly, said Phil Wotton, ocean-rescue supervisor. Those items are not tracked by ocean-rescue.
    His lifeguards have never administered Narcan and the division’s auto-injection Narcan supply recently expired. Wotton is waiting for new direction from the Fire Department. His lifeguards may have to use the Narcan in the upcoming budget year, he predicts.
    For the Community Improvement Department, staff is restricted in what it can say or do by federal housing and disability laws that protect sober homes, said Assistant Director Janet Meeks.
    A part-time rental housing inspector who works 29 hours weekly in the department said earlier this year that he spends most of his time inspecting sober homes. He’s a retired police lieutenant who earns $18.89 per hour.
    Police officers used Narcan 65 times from March 1 through Aug. 31, according to department data. The department received that medication from the Delray Beach Drug Task Force and the city’s Fire-Rescue Department with purchases paid for by grants.
    As of Aug. 31, 433 drug users overdosed in the city, compared with 93 for the same period in 2015, according to department data. Three hundred sixty overdosed on heroin this year through Aug. 31, resulting in 31 deaths.
    Officers who respond to the overdoses are offered counseling through the city’s early assistance program.
    “Of course it’s disheartening to see what sometimes seems like a string of unending overdoses, but as always, they are doing everything they can to ensure public safety,” said Chief Jeff Goldman. “The city does offer services and they are spoken about to the officers. We don’t know who has gone or been seen. This is all confidential information.”
    City police officers also respond to crimes connected to addiction when a drug user might break into a vehicle or steal a purse for items that can be pawned in order to feed a drug habit. The department has no way of tracking these types of crimes; they are listed under the general categories of vehicle burglary, larceny, etc. “We can’t even run all the calls we’ve responded to at recovery homes because those addresses aren’t technically known to us,” Goldman said.
    To help with the addiction crisis, the Police Department has a pilot program using the services of the Guardian Recovery Network to persuade drug users who overdose to go back into treatment or return home. The data collected show a 20 percent success rate, according to Dani Moschella, department spokeswoman.
    The department will use that data to justify hiring a licensed clinical social worker to function as the service population advocate to help drug users who overdose, along with homeless people and people with mental health problems.
    The city approved hiring four officers in the budget year starting Oct. 1. That hiring is part of the department’s strategic plan to return to 170 sworn officers. “Officers are needed to handle all types of calls, including those related to the recovery community,” Goldman said.
     If Delray Beach was not burdened by the addiction crisis, “officers would still be responding to and investigating other crimes,” he said, “but our employees would not be spread so thin.”

High costs of treatment
Delray Beach paramedics responded to 412 overdose calls this year as of Sept. 7.  The charts give an approximate breakdown of the costs for each. The amount of Narcan given is an average. One dose or multiple doses up to 10 mg may be used. The costs do not include department personnel or vehicles, which vary from call to call.

Suspected OD with possible respiratory arrest

       Item                                                        Cost
Narcan (3 doses at $36.50 each)                 $109.50
Mucosal atomizer device                                  $6.50
IV (catheter, start kit, flush, extension)      $115.50
Bag valve mask                                                  $16.50
Miscellaneous supplies                                   $30
          Total                                                         $278
 
Cardiac arrest in suspected OD with respiratory arrest

       Item                                                     Cost
Respiratory arrest (all items above)           $278                 
Lucas II suction cup                                          $45
Defib pads                                                           $32
Thomas endotracheal tube lock                    $4
Endotracheal tube                                              $2
Suction catheter                                                  $1.50
Suction container                                              $18
Epinephrine (3 doses at $6 each)                  $18  

          Total                                                           $398.50
 
Source: Delray Beach Fire Rescue Department

By Jane Smith

    Consideration for the mental health of first responders in the heroin epidemic is being voiced by their chiefs in the South County.
    At a U.S. attorney’s town hall meeting called to build awareness of the exponential increase in heroin and opioid overdoses, Boca Raton Police Chief Dan Alexander said he is concerned about the impact on his staff.
    “Each one of the cases is an individual,” Alexander said. He said Boca Raton police responded to 80 overdoses this year and witnessed 10 fatalities, far fewer than in other South Florida cities.
    Alexander participated on the law enforcement panel along with Delray Beach Police Chief Jeff Goldman. Delray Beach police saw 465 overdoses and 45 fatalities this year as of Aug. 31, according to Police Department data. Most of the overdoses and fatalities involved heroin.
    Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg moderated the panel. He is leading a Sober Homes Task Force designed to weed out rogue opertors by strengthening laws and making recommendations to the 2017 Florida Legislature.
    In April, Danielle O’Connor, who was then Delray Beach fire chief, told the City Commission about the rise in overdose calls and their effects.
    “We are running on 10 to 12 overdoses a day. Sometimes the same person will overdose three days in a row,” she said. “We had a death this morning. It takes a toll on my personnel.”
    But the depth of the emotional toll is not clear because counseling sessions, a benefit offered by cities, are confidential.
    To address the mental health issues, Jeff Dill, a 26-year firefighter veteran who is a mental health counselor, started the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance in Arizona.
    Each fire-rescue person has an individual emotional response to an overdose, Dill said by phone. “It depends on what is going in your life at that moment. If it is one (overdose) after another, the fire-rescue person could be blasé. Or it could be traumatic for someone who lost a friend or a family member to a heroin overdose.”
    His 5-year-old organization offers workshops about stress on the job that leads to anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Workshops also cover suicide prevention.
    “There’s cultural brainwashing when you are trained to be a medic,” Dill said. The training often neglects the behavioral side, he said.
    Dill also tracks and verifies suicides by firefighters. As of Sept. 15, he had verified 91 suicides nationally, compared with 131 for 2015. He estimates he finds out about 40 percent of the suicides.
    Police officers also can have emotional responses to overdose calls, said Debra Lynn Weiss, a licensed mental health counselor at the University of Florida.
    “Does the officer have a ritual after arriving home — take a shower or go for a run?” Weiss said. “Do they have supportive family and friends?”
    The frequency of overdose calls definitely takes an emotional toll and it can affect relationships, she said.
    The problems could show in trouble falling or staying asleep, having nightmares, avoiding the overdose calls and increased edginess, said Weiss, who served two years as victim advocate for the UF police force.
    “If alcohol or pot was a coping mechanism, its use could increase,” Weiss said.

By Mary Thurwachter

    Developers for Water Tower Commons received approval from the Lantana Town Council for several changes to the commercial plan for the 72-acre retail and residential project at the old A.G. Holley State Hospital site. But they’ll need to add something new to their proposal, as well — art.
    The call for public art came from Mayor Dave Stewart, who said at the Sept. 12 town meeting that he had recently “been educated on the benefits of art in public places.” He said he learned that developments with public art are more sustainable and attract good businesses and good residents.
    “I don’t want Norman Rockwell and stuff that costs a million, but I’d sure feel more comfortable having public art around there,” he said.
    Stewart’s suggestion was well received, although council member Lynn Moorhouse wondered if public art would translate to anything resembling The Siren, that well-endowed mermaid statue once commissioned as a work of art for Wellington.
    Moorhouse’s remark drew laughs. So did the tongue-in-cheek suggestion from Dave Thatcher, the town’s development services director, that a large statue of Mayor Stewart be added to the mix.
    The Water Tower Commons development team will need to come up with a proposal on art, and Town Manager Deborah Manzo was directed to work with the team. She was charged with the final thumbs up or down on public art on the site.
    The outline of changes for the commercial plan was presented by Sandra J. Megrue, of Urban Design Kilday Studios, who works for Lantana Development, a partnership between Southeast Legacy, headed by Kenco Communities’ Ken Endelson, and Wexford Capital, which owns the land just east of I-95 off Lantana Road.
    Requested changes included reducing the commercial area from 36.5 acres to 32.76 acres, reducing the commercial square footage from 270,111 to 231,150 and adding a Water Tower Park and a traffic circle.
    Reducing the commercial area was necessary in part to meet green space requirements and add parking spots, developers said.
    Another plan change will mean adding a sign or two on the 127-foot water tower that will read “Water Tower Commons.” A public park will be fashioned around the water tower. Planners had second thoughts about a water feature for the project’s main street in their original drawings. They want to replace it with landscaping to give it less of a country club entrance vibe.
    Stewart told developers he wants to see a top-scale development and would be looking at this first phase to see evidence of that. “Please don’t stub your toe because you might fall,” Stewart warned.
    Water Tower Commons is expected to create 700 new, permanent jobs and generate $13 million in new tax revenue for Lantana during the next 20 years. The commercial phase is expected to last about 18 months, followed by the residential phase.
    A.G. Holley hospital was built in the early 1950s on state-owned land and sold in 2014 for $15.6 million to Lantana Development.

By Mary Thurwachter

    The Lantana Town Council postponed for one month a vote on a request for a change to a shared parking agreement for Love Lantana Point properties at 201-239 E. Ocean Ave.
    Tom Prakas, manager for Love Lantana Point since April 1, asked the town at its Sept. 26 meeting for a modification to a shared parking agreement the town had previously made for one of the properties, Mario’s restaurant at 225 E. Ocean Ave.
    Prakas said he wanted to reconfigure the parking spaces on the 200 block of Ocean Avenue and to jointly use the town-owned Third Street parking lot currently leased by Mario’s owner Henry Olmino.
    “We could use that lot for my tenants (commercial and retail) during the day,” Prakas said. Mario’s is open only after 5 p.m. for dinner.
Prakas said he has storefronts to rent and first needs to address parking requirements.
    “We’re deficient seven spots,” he said. “Without those seven spaces for parking I have to leave retail spaces dark. Those spaces need to have the lights on.”
    Prakas said his properties have 44 spaces not including the 24-34 he said could be added by co-leasing the Third Street lot with Olmino.
    Mario’s requires 43 parking spaces but has only 15 in its own lot. Love Lantana Point owns three adjacent parcels and has 28 shared parking spaces, which can be used by Mario’s customers. Mario’s also offers valet parking to customers.
    Olmino said he was in favor of sharing the Third Street parking lot with Prakas. Olmino leased the lot a year ago for employees but hasn’t needed it. “I don’t think we put a car on it all year,” he said. “Most of my employees walk, bus or bicycle.”
    Council members questioned how many parking spaces Love Lantana Point really has.
    “I like your concept, your idea, but I don’t think there are 44 spots over there,” said council member Lynn Moorhouse, who also said he didn’t think the town could legally enter into an agreement to share the Third Street lot.
    “I’ve never been comfortable with shared parking,” Mayor Dave Stewart said. “Before I can have a level of comfort with this, I’d need to see a survey to show this (parking) meets the requirements … and for Third Street, absolutely not without getting neighbors on board
    The council, at Prakas’ request, will revisit the shared parking modification request at its Oct. 24 meeting.

Members of the Marine Animal Rescue Society wrestle with the body

of a deep-water beaked whale that had beached itself in Gulf Stream.

Michelle Quigley/The Coastal Star

By Willie Howard

    A deep-water beaked whale beached itself in Gulf Stream on Sept. 18, marking the third reported beaching of a beaked whale along Florida’s east coast during September.
    When Marine Animal Rescue Society volunteers responded around 4:30 p.m. that Sunday, they found the whale dead on the beach.
    The response team was unable to reach that section of beach near the Gulf Stream Golf Club with a truck to haul the whale’s carcass away for examination, so they left it in the surf.
    Blair Mase, marine mammal stranding coordinator for NOAA in Miami, planned a necropsy on the beach for the morning of Sept. 19 to search for clues to the whale’s demise.
    But when the examination team arrived in Gulf Stream that morning, the whale was gone, apparently swept out to sea by the tide.
    The next morning (Sept. 20), sea turtle nest monitors found the whale’s mutilated carcass washing up on the beach just north of the Gulf Stream Bath & Tennis Club.
   They secured the whale’s decomposing carcass with a piece of rope tied to stakes in the sand until a MARS volunteer could come to the beach to extract skin and blubber samples, used to positively identify the species.
    MARS volunteers usually measure the length of beached whales, but Mase said this whale’s tail flukes had been eaten, so no accurate length could be taken.
    Mase had planned to have the whale’s carcass towed out to sea after tissue samples were taken, but the body was too badly decomposed to tow. It was left in the surf.
    Whales and other marine mammals instinctively beach themselves when they’re sick or injured so they can breathe without having to exert themselves to reach the surface.
    Mase said the whale was probably a Gervais’ beaked whale (Mesoplodon europaeus).
    Gervais’ beaked whales washed ashore during September in Hobe Sound and Hollywood Beach. Both whales were still alive when they came ashore, but later died.
    Laboratory work to determine what illness might have led the other two whales to beach themselves had not been completed as of late September.
    Named for their elongated snouts, beaked whales are known to dive deep for long periods of time before surfacing for air. One species, the Cuvier’s beaked whale, regularly dives for an hour to depths of 3,300 feet.
    Gervais’ beaked whales have spindle-shaped bodies with small, shark-like dorsal fins and slightly concave tail flukes, according to Whale and Dolphin Conservation. Their bellies are often marked with irregular white blotches.