Construction of new and larger houses has been chipping away at the tree canopy that used to shade most of Hypoluxo Island.  Many residents would like to see tougher rules to protect the trees. Google Maps 

Related: Lantana: Tales from a Tree City

Related: Editor's Note: With mature trees threatened, the answer isn’t more palms

Related: Delray Beach: Fight to preserve massive banyan at golf course pits city against drainage district

By Mary Thurwachter

Longtime Hypoluxo Island residents fondly remember the binoculared birders who roamed the island in Lantana in the mid-1990s. 

They were Audubon members who came from all over the world to spot birds on the Atlantic flyway, an avian superhighway that ran through the barrier island, designated as a bird sanctuary as indicated by signs leading into both the north and south sections of the island.

Patti Towle and others who have lived on Hypoluxo Island for three decades or more also fondly remember the shade trees where so many birds perched. Over the years, many of the trees have come down to make room for new and larger houses. The bird population has plummeted, too.

“You could hear the birders speaking different languages like German or Finnish,” Towle, a 35-year resident, remembers of that earlier time. 

When Towle noticed that a hardwood tree in her neighborhood was cut down recently, she emailed the Town Council and town manager on Jan. 5, not to complain but with hopes that together they could find a solution for the protection of native hardwood trees.

Towle had been instrumental in helping to draft some of Lantana’s tree protection laws. “These laws are currently shown in our Town Code but do not seem to be enforced,” Towle wrote.

“Over the weekend — when code enforcement could not be contacted — a spec builder removed a large hardwood tree, in the swale area, in front of the property at 505 SE Atlantic Drive,” Towle wrote. “The tree was home to one of the great horned owls who live on Hypoluxo Island. The owl is a desirable bird to have with benefits for conservation.”  

This mature ficus tree was cut down without permit at a spec home job site. Photo provided

The exterior of the house had already been constructed, and the hardwood tree posed no threat to the dwelling or the house’s future driveway, according to Towle. 

The tree was in the swale area adjacent to the street, an area which belongs to the town, not the owner. 

Towle said that last fall she wrote the building department and code enforcement calling their attention to a large, endangered tree at the corner of a new construction site at 717 SE Atlantic Drive, a tree that remains standing. 

“I believe the tree to be a kapok, which is a celebrated tree that other Florida townships protect,” she wrote. “I was informed by our building department that nothing could be done to protect our Lantana hardwood trees. I find that hard to believe, especially when they pose no threat to construction. There has to be a solution.”

Towle says hardwood trees were being removed in significant numbers “because out-of-town buyers are attracted by the lure of palm trees. If the property owner has not obtained a permit to remove the tree, he pays the town a fine and then is allowed to replace a hardwood with one or several small palm trees. Often developers factor these fines in as their cost of doing business.”

Back-and-forth with town

Her plea was slow to receive responses. She first heard from Vice Mayor Kem Mason, who told her he had asked Town Manager Brian Raducci to investigate what is happening at the two locations she referenced. 

“From your description, it is disturbing, but we do have to investigate and get all the facts before we take any actions,” he said.

Towle repeatedly asked the manager for a meeting with her and other residents, and one finally took place Feb. 9.

“Our most important result is the town door appears open, and so far reception has been graciously received,” Towle said. “Let’s see what happens when we follow up with our strong language to strengthen our town’s tree ordinances.”

After the meeting, Towle contacted Town Clerk Kathleen Dominguez about the establishment of a Lantana architectural review committee, a volunteer group used by other municipalities to ensure new construction and landscaping are compliant and the ordinances enforced.

After being reviewed by Town Attorney Max Lohman, that request was denied. Lohman determined that Lantana does not meet any of the narrow exceptions required by the state to enforce such regulations. One of those exceptions requires a board to have been created before Jan. 1, 2020. 

According to Towle, there doesn’t appear to be any accounting for the nearly $107,000 the town collected for the tree removed at 505 SE Atlantic Drive. “The money can be spent anywhere in the town on various and sundry” things, Towle said. “A Tree Fund does not even appear on the town budget. Where the money goes, I have no idea. I had hoped it would be used for replanting more hardwood trees on Hypoluxo Island. Sadly, that is not the case.”

How does it work?

“Protected trees are permitted to be removed if mitigation is provided,” Development Services Director Nicole Dritz told Towle. “If mitigation cannot be provided because of certain factors, such as space constraints, the code allows for payment to be made to the Tree Mitigation Fund. 

“We, of course, always encourage the protection of any protected tree, but it is not a code requirement. There are also state statutes which allow for protected trees to be removed in certain cases, sometimes without a permit from the town entirely.”

Few fines for tree removal

A public records request on how many tree fines had been issued during the past five years showed none. Going another five years back, the search showed that two fines (for $15,000 and $1,000) were assessed in 2019 and one fine (for $2,500) was assessed in 2021.

Dritz’s assistant, Elizabeth Eassa, explained the dearth of fines.

“Trees by code are required to be removed with a permit,” she said. “When they are removed without a permit and code enforcement gets involved, there are two options that we can take. One is fines and the other is mitigation.

“Our preference is to protect the tree canopy so that was always done via mitigation. Either paying into the Tree Fund or replacing trees on their property.  There’s a formula to it. It’s like one and a half of what was removed has to be provided on site. That’s why the number of fines in the past five years was zero. In every situation we went for mitigation instead of assessing a fine.”

The town, Eassa said, is more interested in the tree canopy and replenishing it than to impose a code enforcement fine.

The code does allow for trees to be removed, both protected and non-protected trees. “There are property rights and we have to allow people to take trees down,” she said. “If it is a protected tree, they are required to mitigate for it and there’s list of trees they can choose from and some of them are palm trees.”

In the case of the protected tree removed at 505 SE Atlantic Drive, the tree was where the owners proposed putting a driveway, Eassa said, although Towle says the tree would not have been in the driveway’s path. 

“We have to accept their application, their request, but we can push back and encourage them to keep trees,” Eassa said.  “We prefer them not to remove trees, but at the end of the day, we come to some sort of agreement. In this case it was a large amount of money ($106,400) they paid into the Tree Fund to offset the tree’s removal. That’s money the town can use to replant new trees on our public properties to keep the tree canopy for the whole town intact.”

Property owners, in order to have the tree cut down, “provided an arborist’s report saying the tree had been compromised and wasn’t in the best condition and it wasn’t a great candidate to be relocated,” Eassa said.

The property owners provided their own arborist, although the town now has an arborist on staff.

Eassa said the Tree Fund  (no one could say when it was founded) currently has $185,480 in it. In the past year, Lantana Public Services planted trees in the swale along Marbella Lane and is proposing to install trees on Ocean Avenue and at the tennis courts.

Town Finance Director Stephen Kaplan said the Tree Fund is an account used to track related purchases. “Historically, we adjust this account during the fiscal year through a budget amendment, increasing the budget based on the payments received for that specific purpose,” he said.

The removal of this mature ficus without permit is one case in a growing concern. Photo provided by Town of Lantana

One resident’s initiative

Some residents aren’t waiting for the town to replace or plant new trees. Ellen Schweber is one of them. The former New Yorker moved to the island less than 10 years ago and found the block on which her house stands was “very uninspired,” with none of the canopy trees that made her fall in love with the neighborhood.

“It had been stripped of its old beauty, its jungle-like quality,” she said. “It looked so bare.”

To remedy that, Schweber began buying trees with her own money. Some of her neighbors chipped in, and a little money came from the town.

She asked her neighbor, Media Beverly, if they could start a group to inspire others to plant trees. “It turned out it would cost a lot of money to do it properly, so I did it improperly.”

Schweber began planting live oak trees with the goal of getting a canopy. “I know it’s a slow growing tree, but it’s native and we wanted something that would one day go over the road and be very beautiful.”

Eight trees were purchased for her block and the first ones are coming together. “They are not very lush yet, but they are actually meeting. I’d love to extend the project around the island,” she said. 

Schweber, Beverly and Towle are working on that.

A tree saved

Occasionally, efforts to save protected trees have been successful. 

The large ficus on the curve at 707 S. Atlantic Drive, adjacent to Pelican Lane, survived thanks to the efforts of former island resident Richard Schlosberg.

“The developer was about to saw it down,” Towle said, “having clear-cut the lot to build his house, when Schlosberg intervened and pointed out that the tree was in the swale and belonged to the Island — not the developer’s lot. The tree was spared. And it remains a lovely tree, still standing.”

Beverly called on future homeowners to make mindful choices. “Thirty-five years ago, we chose to live on historically significant Hypoluxo Island, a place of unique architecture surrounded by a lush, beautiful tranquility rarely found elsewhere,” Beverly said. “Sadly, this paradise is being slowly eroded by new huge structures replacing ageless landscaping. I am hopeful that future owners will be more mindful of their precious new surroundings.”

On a bright note, the great horned owl who lost his home in the tree cut down at 505 SE Atlantic Drive, appears to have found news digs — in one of Towle’s hardwood trees. 

Briny Breezes author Lee Godby published his auto-biography at the ripe old age of 100. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

A word of advice.

If you should meet Lee Godby, please do not congratulate him on having lived 100 years.

“I’m 100 and a half,” he will correct you — with a smile. “I was born on June 25, 1925, so that makes me 100 and a half. Every half counts when you’re 100.”

In addition to being 100 and a half, Godby has the honor of having published his autobiography at 100. Last year, before the half.

Age aside, he is not alone. In Briny Breezes, a town of 532, Godby is one of about 15 residents, children of residents, and grandchildren of residents, who have written books on display in this little town’s little library.

Here you’ll find a history of the town itself, mysteries, children’s books, World War II memoirs, and a celebration of dance.

Also, the story of one’s man triumph over prostate cancer called Bend Over and Say AHH!

“I figured I’d better get it down while my mind is still sharp,” Lee Godby said, sitting with his wife, Josefina, by the shelf where his book Ensley is waiting to be read.

Ensley is his given name, Ensley Godby, but he goes by Lee.

“I hated the name for a long time,” he recalled, “but then I thought, I’ve never heard of another Ensley in the world, so I thought it must be unique. Now I don’t hate the name anymore.”

Ensley the book began when Ensley the author started writing about his father, a steam engineer who ran a power plant up home in Canada, back in the days before electricity.

“I had written quite a bit when I saw an ad for LifeBook Memoirs,” he said.

An international company, LifeBook Memoirs works with aspiring memoirists to create their autobiographies, from the first word to the finished volume. The service is not cheap. According to the company’s website, Godby’s volume cost $18,000.

“They sent a really fantastic lady, and I started talking and she started recording,” recalled Godby, a year-round Briny Breezes resident.

Every Friday for three months, a freelance interviewer named Lauren O’Farrell interviewed Godby for 90 minutes. Her interviews were then forwarded to a ghostwriter, who returned written drafts for him to review, criticize, correct and expand on.

He told O’Farrell about growing up in Mountain Park, Alberta; about earning a master’s degree in electrical engineering; about his summer job with the Eldorado Mining & Refining Co., when he used a Geiger counter to look for uranium under the earth.

“At breakfast one day,” he remembered, “an old guy named Ed Cody announced that the atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, and I realized why we were doing what we were doing.”

He told O’Farrell about his time in Ottawa, working with the government’s National Research Council, using magnetometers to look for submarines.

He told her about his four children, Gavin, Scott, Mark, and Howard, all in their 70s except for Howard, the baby at 69. His six grandchildren, his six great-grandchildren.

He told her about his four wives, and how he met Josefina in 2013, when his son Scott introduced them.

“I liked that his name has ‘God’ in it,” Josefina says.

They married in 2017.

“It’s not just the final product,” O’Farrell says, “but the interaction between the subject and the interviewer and the writer. Working with Mr. Godby was amazing. He’s an incredible person who’s lived an incredible life. We had a great time working together.”

Ensley is an impressively produced, hardcover volume filled with photographs, many in color, and a century of memories.

The author was more than satisfied.

“I got 40 copies,” he said, “and I’ve ordered some more.”

Ron Vaughn, author of three books.

Working on his fourth book

None of Lee Godby’s fellow writers is 100 and a half, yet.

Ron Vaughn is a mere 84. His nickname is Butch, and it’s the title of his autobiography.

“It’s about growing up in a rural community outside Flint, Michigan, until the age of 11,” he says. “I never got in any real hard trouble, but I was always in mischief.”

A part-time Briny Breezes resident since 2000, Vaughn still spends most of the year up North, but between here and there he has found time to write Butch, as well as a crime novel and a medical memoir.

Skeeter Jones, the novel, is loosely based on a true story.

“A guy I knew had a son on drugs, and he took a shotgun and shot the pusher’s head off,” Vaughn explains. “I had Skeeter go on the run after shooting the pusher, but what really happened is, he put the gun down on the bar and said, ‘Call the police.’”

Which brings us to Bend Over and Say AHH!

“It’s rated G,” Vaughn quickly notes. “About my experience with prostate cancer four years ago. I was lucky, they caught it in the first stage. Twenty-eight treatments and so far, so good. There’s nothing to it if it’s caught early.”
The title is funny, but the message is serious. Get tested, and you can live long enough to be writing your fourth book.

“It’s another true story, about a young couple who tried to rob a gas station back in 1976,” he explains. “The gun went off and killed a guy in a paint shop across the street. The wife was pardoned after 26 years, but the guy’s still in prison.

“I’ve been working on it about six months, and I like this one even better.”

Andrea Olsen with her book The Place of Dance. 

Dancing, writing and beach

Most books by Briny authors are self-published, but not all.

Andrea Olsen’s The Place of Dance is available from Wesleyan University Press, along with her three previous books.

“The Place of Dance is about the role of dance in culture,” she says, “and how place influences dance.”

Briny Breezes has influenced Olsen’s dance for a very long time.

“We first visited Briny when I was 5 in 1953,” she explains. “We towed a long green trailer down from Decatur, Illinois, and then bought two lots in 1958. I’m 77 now, so I’ve been in Briny for 72 years.”

For 32 of her 77 years, Olsen taught dance and environmental studies at Middlebury College in Vermont, and she still leads workshops. Over her lifetime, dance has taken her to Paris, Denmark, New Zealand — and of course, Briny Breezes.

“I dance on the beach every morning at 9 a.m.,” she says, “and then I journal on the beach, writing about what happened the day before. Walking on the beach every day, you get used to the broad horizon, the seashells, the palm fronds, the breeze. Dancing outdoors changes how you move. In Briny, it’s the sense of being by the ocean and the rhythm of the waves.

“I wrote parts of all four books in the winters here.”

For the young ones

And there are children’s books.

Rosie’s Song, by Mary Kate Leming, The Coastal Star’s founder and editor emeritus, with illustrations by Deborah LaFogg Docherty, follows Rosie the sea star’s search for her brothers lost in a storm.

Sassyquatch: Yeti Or Not, Here I Come is inscribed, “This book was written by Lindsey Stansfield, daughter-in-law of Patricia Stansfield, K-28. For all the youngsters at Briny.”

Turtlee in Paris notes it was written by “Paris Stankewich, granddaughter of Stan and Carole Brunell.”

And other books:

From a Branch and a String by David Lindmark tells how his fishing guide service grew into a Christian ministry.

Suzanne Snyder-Carroll offers her “Joe The Plumber” mystery trilogy.

And of course, the writings of Dorothy McNeice, the town’s historian.

100 and then some

And now for the inevitable question before Lee Godby returns to his trailer: How do you get to be 100 and a half?

“The secret is having the right ancestors,” he says. “But I can’t prove that because most of mine died of tuberculosis. My father’s mother and father both died of TB, and my mother’s father died of TB. But my mother’s mother lived into her 90s.”

He never drank or smoked, and he never followed any strict diets. “I eat whatever she cooks,” he says, nodding at Josefina. “She’s my life.”

Being memorable

For You The War Is Over: A Flyboy’s Experience of World War II by Carl Weller is in the Briny Breezes library.

And so is Seagoing Veterinarian, by Harold “Doc” Burton, a memoir of his work delivering farm animals to Europe in the 1940s.

Both Weller and Burton have died, but their memories still live, on the shelves of that tiny, one-room library next to the shuffleboard courts in Briny Breezes.

At 100 and a half, Lee Godby spoke for all the town’s writers.

“Why does anybody write anything?” he asked. “The feeling of wanting to be immortal.

“I’m happy about that.” 

A set of shelves in the Briny Breezes library celebrates the town’s authors.

Liebelson in dispute with Thomson over campaign funding

Related: Ballot includes decision on new police headquarters

By Mary Hladky

With the March 10 city election fast approaching, Boca Raton’s mayoral race erupted into a brawl between Mike Liebelson and Andy Thomson.

Tensions flared on Feb. 25 when an attorney representing first-time candidate Liebelson accused Thomson’s campaign political consultant of making defamatory and misleading statements about Liebelson in political flyers sent to residents.

In his letter, attorney Ricardo Reyes demanded that Rick Asnani, well known throughout Palm Beach County for his work representing candidates, retract the statements and issue a written apology to Liebelson.

Attached to his letter were copies of flyers that, among other things, accuse Liebelson of benefiting from a dark money political action committee’s raising funds for Liebelson’s campaign whose “secret” donors would not be disclosed until after election day.

They accuse Liebelson of not disclosing his donors, a charge Liebelson disputes.

It was not clear before The Coastal Star’s March 3 deadline if Asnani had responded. He did not immediately reply to two messages requesting comment.

Thomson noted that the letter was sent not to him, but to two PACs raising money for his campaign.

Yet he did not dispute the accuracy of the messages in the flyers.

“There is nothing in any of their messages that is false at all,” he said. “It is accurate. … Everything the political committee said is documented fact, from what I can tell.”

Any response to the allegations should come from Asnani, he said.

Along with Liebelson and Thomson, City Council member Fran Nachlas is vying to replace term-limited Scott Singer as mayor.

The allegations are notable in part because of the astonishing amount of money Thomson and Nachlas have raised in their race to become mayor.

As of March 2, Thomson had raised $422,566 and Nachlas $489,905. But that does not include the amounts raised through some PACs since Dec. 31. That information won’t be released until April.

Liebelson has raised $203,390, including $190,000 in personal loans and $5,000 in a personal donation.

He also has a PAC, Friends of Mike Liebelson. Its end-of-year report said it had raised no funds. Updated information won’t be available until April.

But Liebelson said it has raised a total of $25,000 from his 90-year-old father-in-law and a former business partner.

Liebelson has made an issue of the amount of money Thomson has raised from developers, particularly through PACs.

While not a member of Save Boca, Liebelson agrees with its stance against the proposed redevelopment of the downtown campus by One Boca. He has vowed not to accept developer money for his campaign.

Nachlas has received developer donations, but Liebelson has not highlighted that because he says she is upfront about supporting development.

He singles out Thomson for saying he opposes the downtown campus redevelopment while also accepting developer contributions.

Thomson does not dispute that developers have donated to his campaign, “but not in the overwhelming scale that Mr. Liebelson suggests. That is just false,” he said.

Related: Mayoral race takes nasty turn

By Mary Hladky

With so much crammed into Boca Raton’s March 10 election ballot, residents can be forgiven if they have lost sight of the fact they also will be voting on whether they are willing to finance the construction of a new police headquarters.

Even if they know that, the measure has created some confusion.

It is one of two referendum questions on the ballot, with the other one giving residents the final say on whether the city can redevelop a portion of the 31-acre downtown campus in partnership with developers Terra and Frisbie Group.

That has led some to conclude that the two matters are linked.

That perception has been fueled in part by Save Boca, which strongly opposes the proposed public-private partnership (P3) with Terra/Frisbie, now branded as One Boca.

Save Boca says, correctly, that if the P3 is approved, two new residential buildings will be built roughly on the site of the city’s current police headquarters located immediately east of City Hall.

But the group is also intimating that the city wants to move the police headquarters off site to free up land for downtown campus redevelopment.

City officials insist that is not so. They also are responding to residents’ complaints that the $190 million projected cost of a new headquarters is excessive.

To make their case, officials have been holding information sessions and meeting with any organization, homeowner association or civic group that wanted to be briefed. By election day, they will have held about 40 meetings.

A new headquarters is needed, officials say, because the existing one is far too small and in poor condition. As a result, various functions are now located in seven buildings, creating inefficiency and coordination problems.

Further, the department has space needs it would not have envisioned years ago, such as the addition of drone teams.

In response to suspicions the city is in league with One Boca, officials say they have known since 2001 that they needed a new building. Planning began in earnest even before they received proposals to redevelop the downtown campus.

They determined that the current site no longer meets the city’s needs. That’s because most of the city’s population growth has been west of the downtown, making the city’s geographical center generally in the area of the Boca Raton Innovation Campus.

Wanting to avoid the expense of buying land, they selected 17 city-owned acres adjacent to the Spanish River Library at the intersection of Spanish River and Broken Sound boulevards.

That site also provides good access to major roadways. Police Chief Michele Miuccio says the new location would not affect police response times for any part of the city.

Regarding the $190 million cost, Miuccio said what’s proposed is not one building but a police campus.

The campus would include an energy plant so police no longer will have to move out when a bad storm or hurricane approaches, as they do now.

There also will be a firing range and evidence storage building. A parking garage has been put on hold for now to shave $20-25 million off the project cost.

At a Feb. 17 community meeting on the project at the Downtown Library, Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer Jim Zervis noted that, unlike the redevelopment plan with One Boca, the police project is not a P3.

Rather, the city will issue up to $175 million in tax-exempt general obligation bonds for a 30-year term. This, Zervis said, is the traditional way governments pay for such projects. The city will pay the remaining $15 million cost out of the general fund.

City property owners will pay for the $175 million through a property tax increase of 26 cents for every $1,000 of taxable value. That would come to $260 more a year on a property with a taxable value of $1,000,000.

The project will be competitively bid. So if the final tab is less than $190 million, the cost to property owners would be reduced.

If voters approve the bond issue on March 10, construction is expected to begin in early 2027 with completion two years later. 

Agreements adhere to law but came with no public debate

Florida Atlantic University students and others protested in February the university police department’s partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via a 287(g) agreement. It mandates that police officers work with ICE to apprehend immigrants who are not in the country legally. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By John Pacenti

Delray Beach — like municipalities throughout Florida last year — found itself in a vise. 

Capitulate to Gov. Ron DeSantis and turn local police officers into de facto federal immigration agents or be labeled an illegal “sanctuary” city and face the consequences.

“Everyone’s in the same position, right?” said State Rep. Rob Long, a Democrat who was still on the Delray Beach City Commission when the issue surfaced for elected leaders last summer. “Cities don’t want retribution either. God knows, we’ve had enough from the state.”

The city already tangled with the governor when it refused to paint over its LGBTQ rainbow intersection — the state stepped in unannounced and did the job itself — and the city even briefly considered joining a lawsuit. 

As detailed in The Coastal Star in January, municipalities have seen the state Legislature erode home rule, and it is now looking to get voters to starve the cities, towns and villages of their financial lifeline by eliminating ad valorem taxes for homesteaded properties.

In the end, the city signed the cooperation agreement on Oct. 27 with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to train officers in enforcing immigration laws.

But City Manager Terrence Moore did not put the 287(g) Memorandum of Agreement on the commission’s agenda for a public discussion. Instead, he and Police Chief Darrell Hunter met with elected officials one-on-one.

“If anybody had read it or discussed it, it might have come out that all of a sudden, we no longer have a Police Department. We’re going to have a sub-ICE agency,” said former Commissioner Shirley Johnson.

The agreement was signed before ICE made Minneapolis the center of its enforcement action — before immigration agents shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti and before they detained a 5-year-old boy. 

Long said the city was just trying to “fly under the radar” so neither the governor nor ICE would make South Florida its next Minneapolis. 

“It’s a conundrum as a commissioner,” Commissioner Tom Markert recalled. “I mean, you just, you try to weigh everything as best you can, and you try to do what’s absolutely best for the citizens.”

Johnson didn’t hold back during public comments at the Jan. 20 commission meeting, calling for dissolution of the commission, describing “the prostitution of our Police Department via the agreement, an MOA, with ICE. Outrageous. Shame. Shame. Shame.”

Residents along the coast who spoke to The Coastal Star declined to go on the record. Residents in Delray Beach known to support ICE also did not respond to efforts to reach them.

For many residents, immigrants are their neighbors. Some are here legally, some have green cards or are working toward them — and some crossed the border without proper papers for work or safety. They are found throughout the barrier island as yard workers, in the trades, as nannies, as housekeepers.

Not just Delray

Delray Beach is not alone. Boca Raton, Gulf Stream, Ocean Ridge and Highland Beach also did not bring the 287(g) agreements up in a public forum. Gulf Stream, with a force of 13, has four officers trained to assist ICE, Police Chief Richard Jones said.

In Boca Raton, resident Christina Escalante asked the City Council at an Oct. 27 workshop why the 287(g) agreement was not posted on any city or Police Department website. She wanted to know if local officers — like ICE agents — would obscure their identities and make language-based stops and target domestic workers’ identification.

About 100 Florida Atlantic University students in Boca Raton staged a protest on Feb. 25 about FAU’s signing a 287(g) agreement for campus police to be trained to be ICE agents. 

Organizers of the protest also pointed out that FAU President Adam Hasner is a former executive for the private prison GEO Group, which is profiting mightily from the detention of immigrants. GEO pulled in $254.3 million — a net increase of 700% — as President Donald Trump’s government has amassed a network of detention centers, buying former big-box stores.

Student protests in 2012 stopped the FAU football stadium from being named after GEO Group.

Some of the concerns regarding the 287(g) agreements stem from the way DeSantis has used the Florida Highway Patrol, which has been documented as detaining U.S. citizens after pulling them over because they looked Hispanic. 

“The Florida Highway Patrol has basically been turned into a show me your papers patrol,” Thomas Kennedy, a consultant with the Florida Immigration Coalition, posted Feb. 18 on X. 

The Republican governor has also been denounced by Amnesty International for building the Alligator Alcatraz immigration facility west of Miami, saying detainees face human rights violations.

Impact in Delray

Back in Delray Beach, the issue bubbled up at the Beach Property Owners Association commission candidate forum between Andrea Keiser and Judy Mollica. “Would you be supportive of ICE here to support getting rid of the criminal, illegal or not?” asked a resident attending, demanding a yes or no answer.

Many in the audience shouted the questioner down, saying the issue wasn’t relevant. All the candidates for the open seat — including Delores Rangel, who wasn’t at the BPOA forum — have said the agreement should have been a public matter. Mollica, though, added, “Because, much like the (Pride) crosswalk thing, they didn’t give us a choice.”

Delray Beach is also home to 15,000 Haitians —  20% of the city’s population. A federal judge on Feb. 2 blocked Trump’s efforts to strip Haitians with temporary protected status of that status even as their homeland remains in what the United Nations has called a “deepening security, humanitarian, and governance crisis.” 

A federal immigration enforcement action against Haitians could put ICE agents on the streets of Delray Beach, Johnson said.

“The things that happen in Minneapolis could happen in any USA town,” Johnson said. “You can’t send people back to that country. It is in turmoil — turmoil. They’re killing people as they step off the plane.”

When asked, Commissioner Juli Casale referenced the 2024 campaign when she, Mayor Tom Carney and Markert campaigned on ending back-room deals.

“We were elected on a firm commitment to transparency and public accountability,” she said. “While Mr. Moore acted within his administrative authority to resolve this matter, in retrospect, an issue of this significance should have been presented for public discussion.”

Casale said she requested a copy of the Memorandum of Agreement from Moore for a meeting on Sept. 24. Moore did not give her a copy of the 287(g) but insisted that the city would not incur liability and cost for the local police officers who were trained to become ICE agents.

Casale then made a public records request for the MOA. “Upon reading the MOA, I disagreed with Mr. Moore’s assessment as to liability and cost,” she said.

The commissioner also contacted City Attorney Lynn Gelin to request that the document be amended to clearly state that there would be no costs or liability — which she called her bigger concern — to the residents of Delray Beach.

‘It’s a state law’

Neither Moore nor Chief Hunter would comment on the ICE agreement. The Coastal Star, through a public records request, received 101 pages of emails and documentation.

Then Police Chief Russ Mager, in a March 3, 2025, email to then Assistant Chief Hunter, discussed the new MOA. “We need to designate 10% of the agency for ICE training,” he states. There are around 160 sworn police officers in the department, meaning that 16 would be trained on immigration enforcement.

In a 10-point summary of DeSantis’ proposal, Mager says by Jan. 1, 2026, any law enforcement agency with 25 or more sworn law enforcement officers must enter into a written agreement with ICE and participate in “every program model offered.”

Carney told The Coastal Star he had no appetite to revisit the 287(g) agreement when asked about it.

“It’s a state law. You obviously didn’t watch the governor the other day,” the mayor said. “The governor essentially said that if people are going to fight him on it, he’s going to remove them” from office.

State Attorney General James Uthmeier has said that not signing the agreement violates state law by creating an illegal “sanctuary policy” and impeding enforcement.

South Miami took the DeSantis administration to court, citing liability and cost concerns. A judge dismissed the lawsuit in March 2025, saying the litigation was premature since the city had yet to incur any real damages.

South Miami leaders remain in office and have not faced punishment from the state. 

Nearby Key Biscayne, a wealthy community with a lot of immigrants, has also not signed the agreement after opposition from residents and has faced no repercussions.

Delray Beach resident Ken MacNamee, a retired CPA, started asking questions in December after he said he was “blindsided” when he learned of the MOA. 

MacNamee wrote to commissioners on Dec. 8, saying municipalities had every right to object to or modify the agreement according to the MOA itself: “It is convoluted, lacking, and very poorly constructed. It protects ICE but not the City. I find it tantamount to conscripting the Delray Beach Police Dept. to do ICE’s job.” 

Related: Lantana/Hypoluxo Island: Out on a limb: Hypoluxo Island residents grapple with how to protect their tree canopy

Related: Lantana: Tales from a Tree City

Related: Delray Beach: Fight to preserve massive banyan at golf course pits city against drainage district

Palms reign in South Florida, a visible reminder to so many northern transplants that we’re not in Kansas anymore (or New York, or Massachusetts, or … ).

We may grumble about traffic and never-ending construction — not to mention the stifling heat that comes with our extended summers — but right now our address is paradise: a tropical oasis with balmy temperatures and sun-splashed beaches, and a backdrop of stately palms most anywhere you turn your gaze.

But South Florida needs more trees, and our fixation on palms isn’t helping. Tree City USA — and botanists — don’t even consider palms to be trees. And palms don’t add much to the shade canopy that’s needed for heat reduction and for capturing carbon emissions.

That’s why it’s important to protect decades-old trees of great stature, replace them with a similarly sized arbor canopy when we can’t, and add more shade trees wherever possible.

More large trees seem to disappear every day. A massive oak two doors down from my Boca Raton home was there when I left for work a few days ago but gone when I returned that night — it appears its roots had become a threat to my neighbor’s sewer line.

On Hypoluxo Island in Lantana, concern is growing that too many of its mature trees are being uprooted to fit the design plans of new construction, with developers treating the fines or fees merely as a cost of doing business.

In Delray Beach, the Lake Worth Drainage District is forcing the city to cut down a massive banyan rooted in a canal bank at the city’s golf course. The city has objected, but the district has been unwavering, concerned that the tree could fall into the canal in a hurricane and lead to flooding in nearby communities.

In Boca Raton, three century-old banyans were recently cut down to make way for a 12-story apartment complex, but only after the developer had arborists show proof that while the trees were big and beautiful, they were also diseased and a danger. 

There are tree preservation efforts, some more popular than others.

Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and Lantana hold Tree City USA status and have for decades. They’re developing policies, such as tree giveaways, to promote a larger tree canopy in their communities.

Elsewhere, Ocean Ridge stopped short of joining Tree City USA in 2022, but it has regulations on the books regarding tree removals. And the state has allowed Gulf Stream to preserve the invasive Australian pines that provide a unique canopy over the town’s stretch of State Road A1A.

The downtown campus proposal Boca Raton voters will decide March 10 would preserve a half-dozen large banyan trees near City Hall — not that they’re under any threat now — if voters approve a denser development on the other side of Northwest Second Avenue.

While I’ve never considered myself a tree hugger, my wife and I try to do our part. Though we have close to 20 palms on our less-than-quarter-acre lot, we have some older trees and have made room for new ones.

Two 70-plus-year-old oaks cover our front yard — no threat to any pipes yet — along with a relative newbie, a 5-year-old pink showers tree we hope will have its first bloom this spring. 

We also have an eclectic mix of 10 other trees, including a royal poinciana that covers a large part of our backyard. 

When they developed our 65-year-old neighborhood, they planned around our oaks and dozens of others in the community. We can use more developments sticking to that ideology today. 

It would also be great if more homeowners planted trees of their own, ones that add to the region’s canopy and not only to its tropical feel.

— Larry Barszewski, editor

Jackie Lorne’s passion led her to create Sea Turtle Adventures Inc., which monitors sea turtle nests in Gulf Stream, Briny Breezes and southern Ocean Ridge. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett

On the eve of nesting season 2026, Jackie Lorne was busy rounding up people for her sea turtle group’s annual fundraising walk and reminding folks that it’s time again to leave room on the beach for mama turtles and turn off lights at nights.

“We’re expecting another steady year,” Lorne says of nesting season, which runs from March 1 to Oct. 31. “Last year was a pretty stable, steady year and I think we’re predicting the same for this year as well. It’ll be interesting to see when we get our first nest.”

Her group, Sea Turtle Adventures Inc., counted 652 nests in 2025 along the roughly three miles of beach it monitors in Gulf Stream, Briny Breezes and southern Ocean Ridge. The nonprofit also conducted five nighttime lighting surveys to ensure beaches are dark for nesting turtles and their hatchlings.

The group, now in its 10th year, has two other full-time employees, three part-timers and about a dozen volunteers. They keep active during the off-season rescuing injured turtles and organizing beach cleanups and educational events.

“We stay busy 365 days a year,” Lorne says. “We’re one of the main nonprofits that rescues turtles throughout the whole county.”

Her fascination with marine life started early.

“I always just wanted to be a marine biologist, ever since I was a little kid. Looking back, my favorite gift I ever got for Christmas was a fish tank when I was 10. It was just, I’ve always had a love for the ocean,” she says.

Lorne, who was born and raised in Boynton Beach, had another childhood dream to live in Briny Breezes. She accomplished that four years ago.

“I have wanted to live in Briny Breezes since I was a kid, and I always knew I was going to make it happen one day,” she says. “I love the community, the people, the clubs. And it’s just unlike anywhere else. It is so unique. It’s my favorite place to be and I can’t picture myself ever leaving.”

The town is also the perfect spot for Lorne and her significant other to raise their toddler son. “It’s just an amazing community for him to grow up in,” she says.

Lorne, now 44, recommends that youths start as soon as they can in following a career path.

“The earlier you start in the field, the better. Volunteering your time, essentially getting off the couch and doing something useful,” she says.

Lorne began monitoring turtle nests and volunteering at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach when she was 13. That gave her a leg up when it came to going to college and getting a career. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology and spent 15 years as a project manager at Florida Power & Light before turning full-time to nonprofit work.

Her group’s annual “Turtle Crawl” fundraiser is at 8 a.m. March 7.  

The nonprofit will also host nighttime sea turtle walks and its nest adoption program this year. It offers a Mommy and Me program where moms and their little ones read a story, do a craft and go to the beach to dig up a nest, and a ride-along program “where families hop on our five-seater ATV with us and they spend an hour with us on the beach watching us dig up a sea turtle nest.”

Nests are excavated three days after they hatch to free any remaining hatchlings.

Lorne, whose grandparents started Lorne and Sons funeral home in Delray Beach, is also proud of her efforts to improve the lives of people with special needs through a weekly Conservation Club.

“It’s something God has put in my heart since I was a little kid,” Lorne said. “I wanted to provide nature-based experiences to that population. Their activities were more traditionally indoor-based and more isolated to being around others with their same condition. I wanted to get them out in nature, on the beach and integrating with the public and helping with conservation.”

The program proved so popular that it spun off its own nonprofit to organize bingo nights, dances and cooking classes.

“It started with seven members in 2016, and last year we had over 250 members,” Lorne says. 

Turtle Crawl

What: 2.25-mile fundraising walk

When: 8 a.m. March 7

Where: Nomad Surf Shop, 4655 N. Ocean Blvd. 

Register: seaturtleadventures.com

Cost: $35

NOMINATE SOMEONE TO BE A COASTAL STAR 

Send a note to news@thecoastalstar.com or call 561-337-1553.

An eager crowd awaits the chance to dig in and find natural treasures among rocks, shells and pieces of coral dumped Feb. 23 in Anchor Park. Their removal from the beach is an effort to protect the outflow area of sand pumped during the renourishment process. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Sephora Charles 

In Delray Beach, seashell hunters don’t have to comb the shoreline for treasure — they’re sifting through a city-made mound across the street instead.

Residents dug through a fresh pile of dredged shells at Anchor Park, chatting quietly as they filled their buckets and bags on Feb. 23. The chilly Monday morning shifted when a sudden squeal cut through the air.

Tiffany DeSilva of Lake Worth Beach laughed in excitement as she held a junonia, a rare find in Florida that can sell for about $200. Junonia shells are considered rare because they live in deep water and typically appear ashore after a major storm, DeSilva said.

This special treasure wasn’t found after a hurricane or tropical storm, but as a by-product of Delray Beach’s beach renourishment efforts that began Feb. 6.  

The sporadic delivery of shells is temporary, lasting only until the end of the sand project, which has an April 30 deadline. Crews have been separating seashells during sand screening and dropping them off at Anchor Park — across State Road A1A from the beach and to the north of Casuarina Road — for people to collect. 

“This is really cool that they’re letting us do this,” DeSilva said.

DeSilva, who’s been shelling since she was a little girl, said she’s been visiting the park every other day to find shells and meet “like-minded people.”

“I’ve met a lot of cool people, and I’m happy that I can call them my friends now,” she said. 

Tiffany DeSilva of Lake Worth Beach found a junonia, considered to be a holy grail for shell collectors because of its deep-water habitat.

For similar reasons, Linda Horst, a Maryland resident who spends winters in Florida, said she is drawn to the park’s dredge pile. 

“You get to meet so many different people and have a good time,” Horst said. “The majority of people are so nice, and they’re so willing to share. It’s really a great community of people.”

She describes herself as a “shell addict” who has been collecting for more than 30 years, finding joy in discovering her “dream shell” or “a really good shell.” 

After collecting shells, Horst typically makes crafts for loved ones or displays them for sale while educating people about them. 

Her passion for shelling correlates with her love for beaches. An item on her bucket list is to walk on every beach in the United States, she said. She’s yet to walk on the beaches in Mississippi and Alabama. 

Being near the beach to pick shells has a calming aura and brings Horst relaxation, she said. “I definitely feel a lot closer to God here.”

While some shell collectors have decades of dredge pile experience, others arrived as curious newcomers after hearing about it through word of mouth.

Kaitlyn McLoughlin, a Colorado native, experienced pile dredge shelling for the first time at Anchor Park. Despite recovering from a snowboarding accident while visiting home, McLoughlin made efforts to participate in the fresh pile drop-off. With a seat cushion and a hand rake, she collected a bucket full of shells. 

“Not being from here, it’s like a whole different type of appreciation for shells and the ocean. I never wanna leave now,” she said.

Max Chiorean, 20, from Boynton Beach was introduced to the Anchor Park pile by his friends. Chiorean arrived at the park around 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 23, hoping for a fresh shell drop for his first visit. Crews with a big truck came shortly after, dumped their load, and the community digging began. 

Surrounded by people with years of experience, Chiorean said he felt comfortable asking others for their shelling knowledge and sharing with those who didn’t find shells. “There’s no real greed in this,” he said.

Above all, Chiorean said he finds joy in using his hobby, which makes him “feel like a little kid again,” to give back to those younger than him. He takes buckets of shells to the beach and gives them to children.

“It’s all about making memories and making people happy. I think the smile is worth it more than anything,” Chiorean said. 

If You Go   

What: Dredged shells from a beach renourishment project are being trucked to a park across the street from the Delray Beach municipal beach for the public to pick over.

Where: Anchor Park, 340 S. Ocean Blvd.

When: Through April 30, or until otherwise advised. The delivery of new shells to the park is sporadic and is not announced ahead of time. The park is open daily, sunrise to sunset.

Suggested equipment: Gloves, sand scoop or sifter, small rake or hand shovel, water shoes or sturdy shoes, mesh bags or small protective containers.

Info: Contact Delray Beach Parks and Recreation at 561-243-7250 ext. 7277.

Manalapan residents and visitors can buy alcohol at Publix in town on Sunday mornings after the Town Commission voted to roll back a decades-old restriction that barred sales during early Sunday hours.

The amendment aligns Manalapan more closely with many South Florida communities that have relaxed blue-law-style limits on Sunday alcohol sales in recent years.

Town Manager Eric Marmer said the change came after complaints from residents, such as those who go grocery shopping on Sunday morning. 

— John Pacenti

Advisory board’s input to weigh on final design

By John Pacenti

Call it the Taj Mahal of guardhouses. Architects presented to the Manalapan Town Commission a new glass-enclosed design — to replace the town’s aging guardhouse — that could run as much as $340,000.

However, Town Manager Eric Marmer says the final say will come after residents’ input at the town’s Architectural Commission meeting on March 5. 

“It’s hard to say what the final design will be,” Marmer said. “We will have a clearer picture of the final design once the Architectural Committee meets and weighs in with their recommendation to the Town Commission.”

The guardhouse — built in 1968 — is located on Lands End Road and serves as the entrance to Point Manalapan, but it’s not easy for nonresidents to find. Motorists have to follow a circuitous route through Hypoloxo Island. 

The J. Turner Moore Memorial Library is located in the neighborhood on the Intracoastal Waterway, and the guardhouse is adjacent to some stylish homes — right next door is a good two-story example of coastal colonial design, nicknamed “Southern Exposure.”

Options presented at the commission’s Feb. 10 meeting are eye-catching, to say the least. 

Jess Sowards of Currie Sowards Aguila Architects presented commissioners with two main schemes: a full steel trellis that covers both ingress and egress lanes, and an asymmetric option that covers only the incoming lane while leaving the outbound lane open to the sky. 

Both concepts center on a largely glass guardhouse clad with smooth-face coquina stone and dark bronze metal accents, designed to maximize visibility into the facility for security monitoring. 

A covered carport for golf carts and integrated TV monitors above the guards, intended to reinforce the perception that drivers are being observed, are included in the proposal — though the public road is open to anyone.

Commissioners praised the design as modern and contemporary, but also questioned how the design strikes a balance between security and privacy for nearby homeowners. 

The new design includes golf cart storage to allow guards — community service officers — to respond to medical emergencies quickly.

Commissioner David Knobel urged inclusion of vine-covered green walls or trellises along one or both sides of the structure to screen spillover light from the 24-hour facility. “With a glass guardhouse that might put light over to the houses on either side of it. So I was looking to kind of screen it a little bit,” he said.

Marmer added, “Obviously, the full trellis looks nice, but can we live with the half, asymmetrical trellis?”

The design drawings show a 15-foot clearance that Sowers said provides extra margin over the standard height requirements. Mayor John Deese and other commissioners expressed concern that oversized loads — an example was given of a truck full of grown palm trees — would not be able to get through.

“I don’t think that accommodating pretty much a one-off situation should be a big concern,” Knobel said.

Resident Niki Peterson, who sits on the Architectural Commission, attended the meeting and said she would like the full trellis: “I think it’s beautiful, that’s for sure.”

Marmer said the building alone, as now designed, would cost between $150,000 and $170,000. However, that does not include the trellis feature, which would double the cost of the project. “So, we didn’t budget for that,” he said. The commission earmarked $100,000 for the project, but Marmer said it’s not accurate to say the town has run over budget.

“When we originally budgeted for this project, it was to remodel what currently exists there,” he told The Coastal Star. “But after having people check it out, it’s in such poor condition that that doesn’t really make sense. So, it became a tear-down and rebuild.”

The new design expands the guardhouse from 200 to 260 square feet, growing it longer as opposed to wider. 

A two-phase approach was discussed at the commission meeting: build the guardhouse, foundations and piling first, then add the trellis and site finishes in a later phase. Architects emphasized that piling and permitting work could proceed while the trellis is being fabricated.

Installing the pavers might present a conundrum, Marmer said, if the town moves forward with a septic-to-sewer project.

In the end, Deese said the town’s Architectural Commission should weigh in and allow residents to comment on the design at its meeting. The final say-so rests with the Town Commission.

Another major change for the guardhouse already occurred.

At January’s commission meeting, Police Chief Jeff Rasor said the town in December moved away from the private security company and created community service officer positions. They are employees of the Police Department and will staff the guardhouse. 

Rasor noted the Police Department had already hired three CSOs and was working toward full 24/7 coverage, with regular police officers filling any gaps.

Target construction start for the guardhouse was discussed for the off-season in May, subject to permitting and bidding schedules. 

By John Pacenti

Ocean Ridge’s town manager has proposed a modest but potentially crucial new revenue stream as Tallahassee debates sweeping changes that could strip local governments of hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next decade.

At the Feb. 2 Ocean Ridge Town Commission meeting, Manager Michelle Heiser proposed the town raise its communication services tax as a way to diversify revenue should state legislation to cut property taxes for homestead properties end up on November’s ballot. 

Like all Florida initiatives, such a proposal would need 60% of the vote to be approved.

The CST is levied on the sale of communication services — think smart phones, landlines, cable, and internet. If you’ve ever looked at your monthly cell phone or internet bill and noticed a list of fees that make the total significantly higher than the advertised price, the CST is usually one of the biggest culprits.

Ocean Ridge currently levies the CST at 2%, generating roughly $41,800 in the current budget year, Heiser told elected leaders. If the commission were to adopt a commonly used rate of 5.22% — the maximum  allowed for many municipalities — the town could see CST receipts rise to about $109,300, an increase of roughly $67,500 annually.

“(It) doesn’t seem like a lot, but it does make a difference. Every little bit is making a difference,” Heiser said. Gulf Stream to the south has its CST rate at 5.22%, but Manalapan to the north uses a rate of 1.6%.

The CST discussion came after the town’s elected leaders last November directed staff to explore other sources that could mitigate potential reductions to property tax revenues resulting from state-level initiatives.

Commissioner Ainar Aijala Jr. described proposed state legislation that could drastically reduce local property tax revenues over time. The version discussed at the meeting would create a new homestead exemption that phases in by $100,000 per year until it reaches $1 million. It then eliminates the town’s ability to levy certain non-public-safety property taxes on those homes.

Using conservative local assumptions, Aijala’s preliminary “back-of-the-envelope” projections show the town would lose roughly $61,000 in the first year under the draft state plan, $122,000 the next year and about $180,000 the third year.

If the exemption reaches its full phase-in, the town could see cumulative annual losses on the order of several hundred thousand dollars — and potentially more than $1 million once the cap phase ends and limitations take full effect, he said. “So we either have to find some things to do, like communication services or fee-based, or we’re going to start reducing the services that we provide to our residents,” he said. “Why should our people pay less for a cell phone than somebody in Gulf Stream does?”

Mayor Geoff Pugh said he wants to take a wait-and-see approach with what comes out of Tallahassee. “I’m not raising the tax just because somebody else is 5.2%, unless we need to,” he said.

Heiser recommended that commissioners consider the CST as a budget season option and, if they want to proceed, direct drafting of an ordinance and public hearings. Legally, the town must adopt an ordinance and notify the Florida Department of Revenue by Oct. 1 to have any rate change take effect Jan. 1 of the following year. “We’re in pretty good shape today, but these proposals in Tallahassee change the context,” Heiser said. “The CST could help us remain net neutral in year one if the law passes, but we need a clearer picture before making a decision.”

If a CST of 5.22% is adopted, the average impact would likely be roughly $100 per household annually, Aijala said, but the exact increase depends on families’ communication usage and bills. 

The CST is collected from service providers and remitted to municipalities by the state.

Public hearings and ordinance drafting will provide residents a chance to ask questions and weigh in before any change is enacted. 

By John Pacenti

Town Manager Michelle Heiser asked the Ocean Ridge Commission at its Feb. 2 meeting to consider revising the town charter’s term-limit provisions, arguing that limits enacted in 2019 may hinder the town’s ability to carry long-term projects across election cycles.

Heiser told commissioners she was raising the issue as a policy question for their consideration, not at the request of any commissioner. Her memo and on-dais remarks framed term limits as a potential liability for a small municipality facing complex, multiyear initiatives and shifting state rules that could affect local revenue and regulation.

“Term limits, while a very good talking point politically, can work against us in a small town,” Heiser said. She noted that the 2019 charter change now creates the possibility that multiple seats could turn over at once, leaving the commission with a large share of new members at critical moments for projects requiring institutional memory and continuity.

Heiser pointed to examples of lengthy public works projects elsewhere — including a decades-long county bridge project from her prior experience in Port St. Lucie — to illustrate efforts that benefit from elected officials with longer tenures and deeper familiarity with local priorities. “We’re going to move forward with a lot of projects, and this town would benefit from having a lot of institutional knowledge on this board and understanding exactly what the constituents want,” she said. “In the next couple of years, we’ll have an election where people are not gonna be able to run again, and that’s going to be a loss.”

Vice Mayor Steve Coz currently holds the most consecutive years serving on the commission and will be ineligible to run once his current term ends in 2028. The Town Charter limits commissioners to three consecutive three-year terms, after which they must sit out a year before running again.

Mayor Geoff Pugh, the next longest-serving in terms of consecutive years, could run for office again in 2027 before he is term-limited. 

Heiser also noted that Ocean Ridge does not have a residency requirement for candidates like other municipalities. Such rules ensure that newcomers have time to learn the town’s culture before seeking office.

The manager said the idea is intended to be a conversation starter, not an immediate action item. Any charter change, she reminded the board, would require voter approval. She also noted that the earliest practical timeline to place such a measure before voters would likely be March of next year.

Commissioners already experienced what could happen if an exodus of elected leaders takes place.

In 2023, four commissioners resigned: Martin Wiescholek, in protest over the hiring of then Town Manager Lynne Ladner; and Kristine de Haseth, citing family obligations; then their two replacements, with Philip Besler citing personal reasons and Ken Kaleel citing opposition to new financial disclosure requirements.

At the March 2 commission meeting, several residents offered public comments on the issue. Pugh asked that the item be on April’s agenda, where the commission can decide how to move forward — or to keep term limits as they are written in the charter. 

By John Pacenti

How many coconuts must fly before they hurt a passerby? How big can a tree be before it needs a permit to be planted? How many times must the police knock on a door and say, “Trim or else”?

For the Ocean Ridge Town Commission, the answer at its Feb. 2 meeting was — as the great Bob Dylan sang — “blowin’ in the wind,” delivered in a freewheelin’ discussion where commissioners went a little nuts — coconuts, that is. 

What started as a narrowly focused tweak to town regulations requiring coconut trimming turned into an all-hands-on-deck conversation about whether the town should be policing aesthetics or genuine safety hazards.

Town Attorney Christy Goddeau said the current code is that every coconut tree has to be trimmed by July 1 each year in preparation for potential hurricanes.

Commissioners wanted a simpler, less punitive approach — trim trees that are a public safety risk or interfere with power lines; otherwise, hands off. The planning and zoning board wanted something a little more encompassing.

A draft ordinance would also clarify when a permit is needed for planting or removing sizable trees — and delete the trim-your-coconuts-or-else mandate that has become an enforcement headache.

The existing language created a rule that had to be enforced repeatedly and, according to multiple commissioners, put the town in the awkward position of knocking on neighbors’ doors about their landscaping choices.

The proposed change refocuses enforcement on clear public safety concerns: trees overhanging public rights-of-way, obstructing sidewalks, or hanging into power lines. 

The draft also would clarify the permit process when residents plant new trees. The current code already exempts small trees measured by trunk circumference from permitting, but the language is fuzzy. 

The revised version will explicitly require permits for larger plantings. Essentially, the town wants to know when someone puts in a substantial tree that could affect easements, septic fields or rights-of-way.

Invasive trees, such as Australian pines, are prohibited.

Always the libertarian, Mayor Geoff Pugh said, “Personally, if I want to plant a tree in my property, as long as it’s not some mega-tree or something — a tree I’m gonna plant for my kids or my grandkids — I should be able to plant a tree on my property,” he said.

The mayor suggested keeping a 20-inch diameter threshold when requiring which trees need a permit. Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy asked, “How did this come about? Are we trying to solve the problem that we’re not aware of?”

Pugh explained, “It comes down to coconut trees. … Cut your coconuts, because the coconut is going to be some missile flying through the air.”

Vice Mayor Steve Coz added, “Which is not true.”

“We didn’t want the Police Department to have every year knocking on somebody’s door and say, ‘Hey, cut your coconuts,’” said Pugh, returning to the subject.

Coz tagged back in, giving context from a previous commission directive. “We sat here and decided not to enforce the coconut ordinance,” he said. “So we just stopped enforcing it, except when there was a public safety concern. For instance, if the public were walking through a back alley and coconuts hanging could drop.”

Former Commissioner Kristine de Haseth had a different recollection, saying the coconut ordinance came about because of two rental properties on Tropical Drive that did not maintain their huge palms and the coconuts — during a tropical storm — dropped and damaged cars. 

“So it wasn’t about, you know, us being crazy about coconuts or anything else like that. It was trying to help some of the residents down on Tropical who had no recourse with their landlord because of what happened,” she said.

Pugh suggested taking the name coconuts off the ordinance.

“Should we just make it a tree ordinance?” he asked. “Because, let’s face it, I mean, a Norfolk pine during high winds will knock off way more limbs than a coconut palm.”

Coz said he didn’t understand how the draft ordinance had mushroomed once in the hands of planning and zoning. “We’re intruding on people’s private property rights. I just don’t understand how we’ve got from our coconut problem to P&Z coming back with all this.”

Goddeau finally got her guidance from the commissioners. She will redraft the ordinance to replace the annual coconut deadline with a general tree-maintenance requirement focused on public safety and utility clearance and clarify when planting and removal permits are required.

The revised ordinance will come back to the commission for more review. 

Public works projects move ahead — A 2,100-foot replacement of an aging water main with a 12-inch pipe to improve water quality and system reliability along State Road A1A from Ocean Avenue south to Thompson Street in Ocean Ridge should break ground in mid-March. 

The Phase 4 water main project will replace all customer service lines and install new hydrants to meet current standards.

In regards to repairing the Hudson Avenue sea wall, Ocean Ridge received notice of a recommended federal funding share of $400,235 contingent on final FEMA approval. Town staff anticipated having a contract by April. 

Sea grapes removed — The Police Department is investigating the recent removal/trimming of sea grape and other vegetation at the Porter Street beach crossover. Police Chief Scott McClure said a contractor may have performed work without permits over a weekend at the Portofino condominiums. 

“That’s a sore subject,” Mayor Geoff Pugh said when a resident mentioned the trimming. “It took us almost 15 years to get them that tall.”

The matter is under further review to determine if the trees were maintained on the town right-of-way or on private property, and is now scheduled for a special magistrate hearing on April 7. Town Manager Michelle Heiser says the state Department of Environmental Protection is also investigating.

Honor your elders — Ocean Ridge commissioners honored two senior citizens at their March 2 meeting.  They approved a measure dedicating Ocean Ridge Linear Park to former Commissioner Betty Bingham, who is 96 years old.

They also read a proclamation for Thomas Ambrose, who turned 100 on Feb. 14 and was present at the meeting. 

— John Pacenti

By John Pacenti

Seeking to trade shouting matches for center-court composure, Delray Beach Mayor Tom Carney opened the Feb. 24 City Commission meeting with a plea for decorum, urging his colleagues to swap months of bickering — even screaming at each other — for the professional sportsmanship he witnessed at the Delray Beach Open tennis tournament.

Carney told the commission he was struck by the way tennis players handled tense moments — disagreeing quietly without bickering, and shaking hands at the end — and said that same etiquette should apply to local government meetings. “I thought to myself, that’s what I would like to have here,” he told Commissioners Juli Casale, Angela Burns and Tom Markert. “I’m hearing it from a lot of people that there’s a lack of decorum, a lack of etiquette. I am guilty of this as well.”

The tennis tournament ran from Feb. 13 to Feb. 22.

The mayor proposed getting back to Robert’s Rules of Order in running the meetings, designed to move the agenda along by eliminating crosstalk, bantering and arguing.

Commissioners must raise their hands and be formally recognized by the mayor before speaking; interruptions will be discouraged; and officials should address one another by formal titles if possible while on the dais. He framed the effort as respect not only among elected officials but toward the public, noting many residents leave meetings dissatisfied with the tone of debate.

Carney stressed the pledge was personal as well as procedural. “We have a tendency to talk over each other, and I’m just as guilty as everybody else here,” he acknowledged, adding that a more orderly process would benefit both the commission and constituents who attend meetings.

Commissioners have yelled at each other over the Downtown Development Authority, proposed budget cuts and perceived insults in the bevy of newsletters that float around Delray Beach’s email inboxes.

After his speech, the mayor’s argumentative and defensive tenor of the last month returned to his more measured approach. It certainly lowered the temperature.

Carney described the change as a “pivot” toward better governance: “Follow the rules, no interruptions, no bickering,” he said. 

After the meeting, Casale — who has chastised Carney during meetings on several issues — said when asked about the mayor’s olive leaf: “The tenor of the meeting rests squarely on the person with the gavel in his hand. I look forward to respectful and civil discussions on the dais.” 

By Mary Thurwachter

After discussing the matter at three workshops, the Lantana Town Council on Feb. 23 revised its ordinance regulating food trucks on public and private property.

“The old ordinance was made before the proliferation of food trucks,” Mayor Karen Lythgoe said, adding it was time for an update.

The council said it doesn’t want food trucks to take business away from brick-and-mortar restaurants, but it wants to be able to have them at popular community events.

Food trucks have been only allowed on public property during town-sponsored events. Food trucks on private property have been limited to three hours of operation at any given time and must have the written consent of the property owner.

Other venues where food trucks are stationary in one location and operate like a standard restaurant must follow normal restaurant regulations.

Going forward, food trucks will be prohibited at commercial, industrial and mixed-use properties. Block parties will require Town Council approval due to their high impact.

Those living in residential districts are limited to one food truck party per quarter.

“We don’t want residents having a party every weekend using a food truck,” Vice Mayor Kem Mason said. “That’s why we are going to limit them to once a quarter. We want to be fair to everybody.”

“This is not to prevent people from making a buck,” Lythgoe said of the ordinance. “But if they’re not regulated, it could be causing hazards. And we can also tweak it if need be."

What this means, she said, is “the guy with a food truck can’t just pull over to the boat docks on Saturday and start selling stuff and then dump the leftovers into the bin. And then, of course, garbage doesn’t get picked up for two or three days and then you’ve got rats.” 

Local municipal elections at a glance

March 10 elections, with polls open 7 a.m.-7 p.m., are:

Boca Raton: Mayor, three City Council seats and referendums on downtown campus and police headquarters

Delray Beach: One City Commission seat

Gulf Stream: Five Town Commission seats

South Palm Beach: Mayor and three Town Council seats

Voters with unmailed vote-by-mail ballots can bring them to polling places on Election Day and exchange them for regular ballots. They also can hand deliver unmailed ballots to the Supervisor of Elections main office by 7 p.m. — or its South County branch office by 5 p.m. ­— March 10.

Information: Contact your town clerk or city clerk, or the Supervisor of Elections office.

South Palm Beach Mayor Bonnie Fischer (center) chats with residents who attended a Feb. 10 candidate forum. She joined Vice Mayor Monte Berendes and Council members Sandra Beckett and Elvadianne Culbertson in meeting prospective voters. Brian Biggane/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

What was initially billed as a “Meet the Candidates” night instead turned into a “Meet the Incumbents” event as the mayor and three South Palm Beach council members up for election met with their constituents on Feb. 10 at the Barclay condominium.

The program, hosted by moderator and Barclay resident John Stillpass, lasted just under 90 minutes. It allowed the incumbents — Mayor Bonnie Fischer, Vice Mayor Monte Berendes and Council members Sandra Beckett and Elvadianne Culbertson — to show their support for the Town Hall project, while correcting what they said were misconceptions about financial issues and responsibility for badly needed repairs to the sidewalk along the west side of State Road A1A.

The four are running in the March 10 municipal election, being challenged by mayoral candidate Rafael Pineiro and council candidates Francesca Attardi and Adrian Burcet, all of whom declined to attend. Pineiro has said the three spread their message by meeting residents at several of the town’s condos. The League of Women Voters dropped its sponsorship when advised both sides would not be represented.

Resident and retired property manager Richard Haggerty voiced an opinion heard throughout the event regarding the Town Hall situation, saying, “It’s a pretty simple thing: The cost to renovate is too expensive and doesn’t do anything for the long term. They expect (the cost) to be $1.8 million to do the renovation, and that was in 2018. It would be $2 million or $3 million by now.”

“I put my full faith in their decision,” Kim Redmond added. “They’ve done a lot of research on it and have made some very judicious choices.”

The fact that only a handful of residents typically attend the monthly Town Council meetings brought some in search of more information about the project, which has been in the works for nearly 10 years and is expected to break ground in a matter of months. One of those was relatively new resident Kim Rayner.

Before the meeting, Rayner had doubts, saying, “I’m against it until I learn more. I’d love to hear other ways to resolve the issues other than building a new facility.”

Afterward she said, “If they have the funding that’s fine. I have to go to the Town Council meetings to learn more.”

Lantana Mayor Karen Lythgoe and County Commissioner Marci Woodward, whose district includes South Palm Beach, were on hand to support the incumbents.

“We already work together,” Lythgoe said. “It’s important neighbors get along, so there are no adversarial relationships.”

Stillpass solicited questions from the audience, about half of which involved the deteriorated condition of the sidewalk. Berendes explained that the council has been working with the Florida Department of Transportation, while Beckett said a plan toward repairs is in the works with the help of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council.

That wasn’t enough for resident Georgette Betts, who said, “They need to use their influence to push harder. That needs to be a priority.”

When it was over the incumbents professed confidence the meeting had served its purpose and the election would go their way.

“I’m not cocky, but I’m confident,” Culbertson said. “I don’t think our competition is strong at all.” 

Manager gives Town Hall update — Although the future of a new Town Hall may be affected by South Palm Beach’s March 10 election, Town Manager Jamie Titcomb delivered an update on the latest news about the project and a new timeline at the Town Council’s February meeting.

Titcomb said solicitations for bids for the project had been sent out on Feb. 3 and replies were already coming in, resulting in several copies of CPZ Architects’ 150-page plans being sent to contractors. Proposals are due on March 10 and the firms selected to make bids will do so at the next Town Council meeting on March 17. The winning bid will be selected on March 26 and notice to proceed with Phase 1 issued on March 27.

If all that remains on schedule, the price would be determined by June 27 and construction would begin in early August, lasting until February 2028.

Of course, the timeline could change if the three challengers in the election are victorious. That would likely result in the council’s undertaking an engineering study to determine if the current building can be retrofitted or if a new Town Hall is necessary.

County library chief makes presentation — Douglas Crane, director of the Palm Beach County Library System, made a 20-minute presentation updating the council on its recent additions, including a planned Hypoluxo branch coming in 2028.

Crane said the system is the sixth-largest in the state, offers 18 locations and has an $18 million annual budget. He said South Palm Beach is “one of our busiest locations” for the Bookmobile, which visits every Monday. 

— Brian Biggane

By John Pacenti

Maybe the most telling moments at the Beach Property Owners Association forum for two Delray Beach City Commission candidates happened before it even started. That was when Mayor Tom Carney met with the camps for Realtor Judy Mollica and land use attorney Andrea Keiser at the Feb. 11 event.

The fact that Carney is looking for a possible ally could switch the dynamic on the dais. Fellow Commissioners Tom Markert and Juli Casale have not supported his positions on the budget, the Downtown Development Authority, and — most recently — suing the Lake Worth Drainage District over a banyan tree on the municipal golf course.

The March 10 vote is to fill the commission seat vacated by Rob Long, who is now a state representative for District 90.

At the Opal Grand Resort & Spa, Mollica and Keiser answered questions on growth, budget, traffic, parking and noise. Both demonstrated their ability to do the job. A third candidate, Delores Rangel, was sidelined by the flu.

Keiser and Mollica are establishment candidates in different ways. Mollica has endorsements from the police and fire unions. Keiser has put in $102,000 of her own money into the campaign and for two political action committees — but when pressed on them wouldn’t give details.

Although the race is non-partisan, the issue was a topic of discussion among some BPOA forum attendees. Keiser and her family contributed $3,000 each to the campaigns of U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds for governor and Attorney General James Uthmeier, both Republicans.  

Mollica and Rangel are former Republicans, defecting to the Democrats because of the policies of President Donald Trump. Keiser said her donations are a non-issue in a non-partisan race.

A number of coastal residents said they were still undecided as they left the forum.

Keiser — a mother of three young children — came across as polished but modest, while Mollica used humor to ease the tension. 

Mollica framed her candidacy around longtime community service and preservation, emphasizing local roots, volunteer leadership and a desire to “preserve the character, charm and livability” of Delray Beach. She highlighted her service on the Planning & Zoning Board and civic organizations, and stressed making the city easier to live in for residents, including seniors.

“Leadership isn’t about being the newest voice. It’s about being the right voice. I believe in using common sense,” Mollica said. “Common sense tells me that if the city raises our parking rates for minimal revenues, our visitors will go somewhere else to dine and shop and get out of the habit of coming to Delray Beach, and that’s not going to be very good for our businesses.”

Keiser cast herself as a policy-and process-oriented candidate with legal and public-service experience. The daughter of an immigrant, Keiser emphasized technical expertise in land use, budgeting and government operations.

On development, Keiser urged strict adherence to existing height and zoning limits, as well as the protection of beaches and dunes. “Any future development in Delray Beach has to respect the neighborhoods,” she said. 

The absent Rangel, who spoke to The Coastal Star previously, has not come across as a polished public speaker but knows the issues probably better than any other candidate, having spent 27 years as an administrative assistant in the city manager’s office. 

When asked about barrier island issues, Rangel said, “Our beach is our jewel — maintaining it will always be a top priority, but we must continue to explore methods other than renourishment to preserve it. … There are street flooding issues and residents want better enforcement of the No Wake zone on the Intracoastal. I will work with the Beach Property Owners Association and coastal residents to address these issues.”

If barrier island residents at the candidate forum were concerned about development, Mollica most likely didn’t put their minds at ease. “I think that our city needs to have a mix of residential and business, and we need more businesses to sort of help pick up the tax base that’s going to even that out,” she said. “Our city should make it easy to do business.”

The forum occurred before the commission was about to tackle a new noise ordinance. Mollica emphasized vehicle noise as a major problem on the barrier island. Keiser also mentioned the growing issue of regulating gas-powered leaf blowers — another issue championed by Carney.

Mollica mentioned the DDA helps businesses thrive. The mayor has cast the DDA at times as committing fraud for failure to obtain receipts for some purchases and has instigated two audits — one city and now one state — of the organization.

When it came to budget and spending, Mollica criticized a tax rollback in 2024 spearheaded by Carney, saying it “didn’t quite work out.” Keiser talked about efficiency and an “opportunity to cut down on waste” — another refrain from Carney.

Keiser also called out Carney’s nemesis on the dais, Commissioner Juli Casale, on a vote that denied a request from the Old Palm Grove neighborhood to block access from the public. Carney lives in the neighborhood and recused himself on the issue along with Long.

Keiser, as an attorney who used to live in Old Palm Grove, represented the neighborhood residents. Interestingly, Mollica was present at the October meeting, sitting right behind the podium for public speakers on the issue.

Yet, Keiser dropped Casale’s name so demurely and sweetly that it showed she could be a tonic to the bickering — and shouting — that now infects the current commission.  “I hope we can agree to disagree respectfully,” she said.

Casale was one of three yes votes on Oct. 21 to deny the request to block access to the road. She asked at the candidate forum to interject to give her side, but the crowd shouted her down.

A contentious yes/no question from an audience member about whether the city police should cooperate with federal immigration authorities was also shouted down.