By Sallie James

    It’s “game on” once more in the on-again, off-again legal wrangling surrounding a proposal to build an Orthodox synagogue and Israel museum east of the Intracoastal Waterway.
    Local activists Gerald Gagliardi and Kathleen MacDougall filed an amended complaint in federal court in August in their effort to prove that Boca Raton created unconstitutional legal classifications through “corrupt dealings,” and then wrongly approved a zoning classification specifically tailored to allow construction of Chabad of East Boca on 0.81 acres at 770 E. Palmetto Park Road.
    The lawsuit seeks costs, attorney fees and compensatory and punitive damages.
City officials typically do not comment on pending litigation.
    Gagliardi and MacDougall live within walking distance of the proposed synagogue and claim the project will snarl traffic in an already congested area and create parking issues. The lawsuit also claims the project’s height of 40 feet, 8 inches — the area limit is 30 feet — will mar the ambiance of a neighborhood characterized by low-rise development.
    The Boca Raton City Council approved plans for the 18,000-square-foot Chabad of East Boca synagogue and Israel museum in May 2015 and controversy has swirled since.
    Plans for the project are on hold due to pending lawsuits. The synagogue’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Ruvi New, continues to keep the faith despite repeated setbacks.
    “We look forward to moving beyond the litigation and on to construction, God willing,” New said.
    Gagliardi and MacDougall filed an initial complaint against the Chabad project in February.
However, a federal judge dismissed that complaint in late July, claiming the duo failed to prove they had suffered injury as a result of the city action.
    Chabad has been trying to find a location to build for years.
In 2008, the congregation wanted to move into a 23,000-square-foot building near Mizner Park, but was not able to meet parking requirements.
    “The amended complaint shines the spotlight on a shell game of city corruption …,” MacDougall wrote in an email. “Thousands of residents, of every race, creed and color depend on a mere 1,393 feet of road to gain access to the Palmetto Park Bridge and the mainland. A ‘make it so’ managerial style of city governance is not acceptable when it comes to public safety.”
    The new four-count complaint, filed on Aug. 12, accuses the city of initiating a change in city code to “unconstitutionally advance and create special privilege” for Chabad.
The complaint alleges the city approved “an increased height of the building” as well as “deviations, variances and knowingly erroneous interpretations of city rules, regulations, laws and ordinances, all conducted to advance the religious purposes of the Chabad.”
    The plaintiffs claim they will be harmed by the influx of additional traffic that will be funneled into their neighborhood as a result of the proposed synagogue, and that emergency services will be adversely affected.
    “Completion of the Chabad further will alter the beach-oriented, relaxed and low-intensity character of [their neighborhood],” the lawsuit states.
    Supporters of the project say the Chabad is perfect for the area and will increase property values. They disagree the project will snarl traffic even more because Chabad members walk to services per their religion.

By Steve Plunkett
    
The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District will continue to let its annual contribution to the downtown Community Redevelopment Agency grow, but wants to discuss stopping the payments in the future.
    Arthur Koski, the district’s interim executive director, told commissioners Aug. 15 that the contributions were evidence of a historical “spirit of cooperation” between the district and the CRA. He advised them to cancel an Aug. 22 special hearing called to consider freezing the annual check at $894,000 each year.
    That would have left the CRA with a $132,000 shortfall for fiscal 2017 and more in subsequent years.
    Koski said the CRA and the district agreed in 1986 that the district would pay into the CRA’s redevelopment trust fund to provide for park and recreational facilities and public art downtown.
    Three years later the city asked the district to allow its money to be used to pay off debt for building Mizner Park.
    “Again, in the spirit of cooperation, this board agreed,” Koski said.
    Without the money from the parks district, the CRA may have had to take money from another account or ultimately get bailed out by the city.
    Koski said the original agreement was due to sunset this year and the 1989 agreement would end when the Mizner Park bond is paid off in December 2018.
    “There may be some dispute from the city as to whether we have the right to walk away after completion of the debt,” he said.
    The CRA, he said, will continue to exist until 2025, longer if the City Council extends it.
    But Koski, who is also the district’s attorney, advised against “getting into a contest of lawyers trying to determine who is right or wrong” and recommended that commissioners add the issue to the agenda of an as-yet unscheduled joint meeting with the council.
    Commissioners seemed ready in July to freeze the CRA payment after Koski told them a state statute would allow them to do so. But City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser, who is also the CRA’s attorney, said the statute does not apply.
    Part of the city taxes that downtown property owners pay fund the CRA’s operations. The district does not own any land within the agency’s boundaries and, without the agreements, would not owe the CRA any money.

By Steve Plunkett

    Not even a smartphone app could help the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District and the City Council choose a date for a joint meeting.
    “It was certainly worth having as a shot, because it shortened up the amount of time to realize that we’re still not going to be able to get a meeting scheduled that way,” Beach and Park Commissioner Earl Starkoff said.
    District Commissioner Dennis Frisch went to the council’s July 26 meeting to invite Mayor Susan Haynie and the four council members to use an app called Meeting Wizard instead of sending a letter from the district’s headquarters to the city manager’s office “that takes three weeks to get back. It’s gone on too long.”
    “I’m with you,” said Haynie, who separately last month became president of the Florida League of Cities. “Let’s just get this moving forward.”
    But by Aug. 15 only two council members had responded, said Briann Harms, the Beach and Park District’s assistant director. Meeting Wizard, which allowed people to issue invitations and respond online, shut down its operations Aug. 12, its website said.
    Starkoff said they should pick dates far in the future to avoid conflicts and proposed Jan. 30, May 15 and Oct. 2, 2017.
“We could actually continue [that pattern] in years ahead,” he said.
    But other commissioners held out hope for a joint meeting this year.
    “I sure would like to have something in 2016 to further the discussion on some of the projects,” District Chairman Robert Rollins said.
    Commissioner Steve Engel said the groups need to meet this year “to kind of clear the air so we can start 2017 with clean slates.”
    The officials decided to ask the council to commit to Starkoff’s three dates and to suggest a possible date in 2016. They also will ask the council to tell City Manager Leif Ahnell to meet every other week with Arthur Koski, the district’s executive director.
    The two panels have tried repeatedly since August 2015 to schedule a joint meeting.

By Steve Plunkett

    South Florida boaters have lost a restaurant destination on the Intracoastal Waterway.
    Houston’s in Pompano Beach no longer allows patrons to tie up their vessels at the restaurant’s 300-foot dock just north of the Atlantic Boulevard bridge.
    “While we recognize boating is part of the culture and appeal of the Intracoastal Waterway, we do not feel dockage is an amenity that contributes to our goal of providing a first-rate dining experience for our guests,” the restaurant announced Aug. 15 on Facebook.
    “I guess I won’t be going there for lunch anymore,” said Gene Folden, chairman of Boca Raton’s Marine Advisory Board.
    Houston’s is part of the Hillstone Restaurant Group, which has been negotiating with Boca Raton since 2011 to build a waterfront restaurant on the city-owned Wildflower site just north of the Palmetto Park Road bridge.
    Peter Ricci, director of the hospitality management program at Florida Atlantic University, was as surprised as Folden was by the policy change.
    “That’s not any kind of trend I’ve heard of,” Ricci said. “That’s really sad.”
    W. Glenn Viers, Hillstone’s vice president, said a number of factors contributed to the ban on boats.
    “Regrettably, while the overwhelming majority of boaters are polite and respectful of others, a handful felt entitled to ignore our Pompano restaurant’s dress code by wearing wet bathing suits, no shoes, and other items into the building that are not in keeping with the premium dining experience Hillstone guests have come to expect,” he said in an email.
    “At other times, some boaters arrived intoxicated, were abusive to staff, deposited trash and garbage, blasted music and allowed boats to idle creating fumes, and attempted to dock overnight, among other things,” Viers continued. “At times, the number of boats ‘rafting’ and/or the large size of some craft magnified these problems and, importantly, obscured the water views from the dining room.”
    Adding to Houston’s woes: liability claims, rising insurance costs and dock maintenance expenses that “burdened the restaurant’s performance and distracted our managers,” Viers said.
    Folden, who had gone to the Pompano Beach restaurant by boat just the Sunday before the announcement, said the ban is at odds with Houston’s appeal.
    “People go there because they want to see the Intracoastal, they want to see the boat traffic,” said Folden, who early on was a supporter of having a restaurant with docks on the Wildflower site.
    Ricci, the hospitality management professor, said the Boatyard in Fort Lauderdale took the opposite tack from Houston’s last summer, when the waterfront restaurant closed for a three-month expansion project.
    “One other thing they did was make sure they were extra-friendly to their boaters,” Ricci said.
    Viers said the change in Pompano Beach does not alter the company’s position on the Wildflower site. In November, he told Boca Raton officials that Hillstone would not build a dock, but would let the city do so at the southern end of the parcel as long as it did “not affect the views of the Intracoastal.”
    “Hillstone would hope to avoid a situation in which restaurant guests’ water views are negatively affected — which is something that happened at Pompano Beach,” he said.
    Houston’s Facebook announcement generated more than 1,100 comments. Facebook users choosing emojis were split among “like” (240), “angry” (147) and “wow” (93).
    “We are sorry this decision in Pompano Beach has angered so many, but hope people will at least understand and appreciate, if not agree, with the business and operational reasons which prompted this,” Viers said.
    Boca Raton voters will decide in November whether the Wildflower site should be preserved for public uses rather than commercial, the result of a citizen petition drive that gathered more than 1,700 verified signatures.

Boca Raton resident Tim Willis and his two children Maya, 3, and Logan, 1, dig for treasures Aug. 26 at the sixth annual Pirates & Princesses Party at Patch Reef Park. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

    A change in health insurance plans may have been the driving force behind Highland Beach civilian employees’ move to form a union, but some say it is the continuing overall chipping away of benefits that has them most concerned about their future.
    Last month, Highland Beach officials received a notice from the Fraternal Order of Police informing them that eligible town employees not covered by the town’s police union have expressed interest in forming a new collective bargaining unit.
    That action came after the town earlier this summer changed its health insurance benefits to a three-tiered system in which employees would see significant premium increases in order to receive coverage similar to what they previously had received. For some employees with family coverage, that change could be more than $225 a month in additional costs.
    The insurance offered by the town also includes an HMO that would actually reduce the cost to employees, but that requires employees to use only doctors within a limited network. A third plan being offered, similar to the previous plan, includes higher out-of-pocket costs to employees.
    The change in health benefits was challenged by the town’s police officers union — the Fraternal Order of Police — which led to the town’s agreeing to cover the difference between previous premiums and new ones for union members until a new contract is negotiated next year.
    Civilian employees took notice of the union’s success and began taking steps toward organizing.
    “That’s what got the ball rolling,” said one employee, who asked not to be identified.
    Still, the employee said, there are several other benefit reductions that occurred in the past — as well as some that are under discussion — that are hurting not just town staff members but their families.
    “They’re trying to fix things that aren’t broken,” the employee said. “What they’re doing is affecting families.”
    Until this current fiscal year, nonunion employees received a 5 percent annual merit raise, but that was cut to a 3 percent, across-the-board increase beginning Oct. 1. The 3 percent increase is likely to be approved for this coming fiscal year.
    In addition, commissioners had previously agreed to eliminate an education bonus employees received for having college degrees.
    At a meeting last month, commissioners also agreed to eliminate deferred compensation ranging from $250 to $500 that was given to employees who do not have family members enrolled in the town health insurance plan. That change goes into effect Oct. 1.
    Commissioners also adopted a new personal time-off policy that would combine sick days, vacation days and non-federal paid holidays into a fixed number of annual days off calculated for each employee based on longevity. That change goes into effect Jan. 1.  
    There have also been discussions about revisiting the cap on the number of of vacation and sick days employees can bank each year.
    While employees say much has been taken away, members of the town commission point out that there have also been some additional benefits, including longevity pay bonuses when employees   reach milestones, such as 10-, 15-, 20- and 25-year anniversaries. In addition, the town now offers $1,000 per year for medical gap insurance. The commission is also considering an incentive program that would reward employees for ideas that increase effectiveness or efficiency.
Some members of the town staff, according to the employee, are also bothered by Vice Mayor Bill Weitz’s continued use of the phrase “waste, fraud and abuse,” when discussing the need for benefit reductions. They think those claims are unfounded and are unfair to both employees and previous commissions.
    Weitz has repeatedly said that changes he has advocated are designed to correct oversights from the past and are in the overall best interest of the town and its residents.
    Following receipt of a letter from the Fraternal Order of Police last month, town officials added $25,000 to the proposed budget to pay for anticipated legal fees. Those fees could increase, according to Town Attorney Glen Torcivia, should the town and the police union be unable to reach an agreement, which could lead to administrative hearings.
    The employee thinks he and the others would be willing to drop plans to form a union if current employees were exempted from many of the current changes.
    “All of this is fine and dandy if you do it with new employees,” the employee said.

By Rich Pollack

    HIGHLAND BEACH — Doris Trinley always took a moment to make someone else feel special.
    “She had a habit of saying something nice to someone older than she was every single day to make them feel better,” said Beverly Brown, Highland Beach’s town manager and a close friend. Mrs. Trinley, a former Highland Beach town clerk who was later elected to serve on the Town Commission, died at Boca Raton Regional Hospital on Aug. 7, following a short illness. She was 79.
    “Doris was one of the nicest and fairest commissioners we’ve ever had,” said current Commissioner Lou Stern. “She was my mentor on the commission.”
    Born and raised in South Amboy, N.J., she was hired by the town of Highland Beach as a secretary in 1988 and she quickly moved up through the ranks. Within a year of joining the staff, she was appointed deputy town clerk, and in 1995 was named town clerk, a job she held for 12 years.
    “For me, the best part of being town clerk was the chance to be an integral link to the commission, the staff and, most importantly, the Highland Beach residents,” Mrs. Trinley said in a 2013 Coastal Star story. Two months after retiring in 2007, she was elected without opposition to her first term as a town commissioner and was re-elected three years later, also without opposition.
    As a town commissioner “she had a total grasp of each and every situation,” said Stern, who served on the commission with Mrs. Trinley and who credits her for getting him involved in town government. “When she spoke, her words were right on.”
    A resident of Highland Beach since 1983, Mrs. Trinley became close to Brown, who succeeded her as town clerk.
    “We became friends immediately,” Brown said. “We were both Irish and with a good sense of humor.”
    Though her eyesight was failing, Mrs. Trinley managed to have dinner with Brown twice a month.
    “Doris really enjoyed life,” Brown said. “She always had a smile on her face.”
    Mrs. Trinley is survived by two sons, Michael and Paul, and their families; and by her brother, Thomas Ryan, and his family.  A Mass was said on Aug. 20 at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Boca Raton.

By Steve Plunkett

    The City Council pushed a citizen initiative on the Wildflower site on to the Nov. 8 ballot despite impassioned pleas from the petition’s organizers to keep the property green space without waiting to hear from the voters.
    “You have an opportunity tonight … to address the public and say, ‘We’re in favor of the ordinance for this reason: It will allow us to create something really wonderful, something more than just a place of a particular restaurant,’ ” petition leader James Hendrey said.
    The council faced a choice Aug. 9 to either approve an ordinance to keep city-owned land on the Intracoastal only for “public recreation, public boating access, public streets and city stormwater uses” or pass a resolution putting the question on the ballot.
    Former council member Anthony Majhess said he clearly remembered the 2009 goal-setting session where he and his colleagues decided to buy the Wildflower property. “Never once did it come up that we were buying the property with the intention of putting a restaurant there,” he recalled.
    After a little more than an hour of public comments, council members weighed in.
    “I think the people of this community, all the people of this community, have a right to vote on this very important item,” Mayor Susan Haynie said.
    Council member Scott Singer disagreed. “I think we can do better than just a restaurant,” said Singer, who nevertheless joined a 5-0 majority to put the question on the ballot.

Beach and Park lawyer outearns city manager

By Steve Plunkett
    
The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District’s longtime attorney has almost tripled his district pay by taking on additional jobs there, earning a cumulative $1.5 million in five years.
    In all, Arthur Koski wears three part-time hats: lawyer, the district’s contract administrator and its executive director.
 “It’s very difficult because I do have other clients,” he said. “It’s a seven-day job now.”
Koski is paid $11,000 a month for his legal advice, or $132,000 a year — more when he is involved in litigation. He also maintains a private law practice downtown specializing in municipal litigation.
    In mid-2010 he recommended that district commissioners hire him as the contract administrator to build four sports fields at the city’s DeHoernle Park after the original project engineer relocated to Jacksonville. Commissioners hired him on the spot. He’s paid $9,000 a month, or $108,000 a year, for those duties.
    The DeHoernle project, originally estimated to cost $23 million, was completed on time for $15 million. Koski, who has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering as well as a law degree, now oversees a $2.7 million project at the district’s Swim and Racquet Center on St. Andrews Boulevard.
    In July 2012 district commissioners tapped Koski as their interim executive director when Robert Langford retired. He started out at $5,000 a month and was given a raise in 2013 to $7,500 a month. As executive director he manages a budget that will top $50 million in the coming year.
    Langford was paid $160,000 annually plus benefits. But Koski is considered an independent contractor, so none of his three jobs at the district comes with benefits.
    Commissioners say Koski earns every penny.
    “I think everyone is pleased with Art’s service,” District Chairman Robert Rollins said. “He knows the history of what we have done. He’s very helpful.”
    Koski began giving the district legal advice in 1978, four years after the district was created. Commissioners value his institutional knowledge as much as his legal expertise.
    “He’s got almost 40 years’ experience with the district in one capacity or another,” said Commissioner Steve Engel. “I think Art has been an asset.”
    Commissioners say they compared salaries of comparable positions when deciding what to pay Koski.
    “If you break that [total compensation] down into its component parts, he’s actually at or below scale for each of the duties that he performs,” Commissioner Earl Starkoff said.
    In the Aug. 30 district election, candidate Craig Ehrnst complained that an auditor’s report showed Koski earned $432,000 in fiscal 2014 alone.
    “There’s no interviewing for anyone. There should be a process to interview people,” Ehrnst, a corporate treasurer, said at a candidate debate Aug. 11.
    But Koski said later the auditor mistakenly added contract administration fees from the previous year to the total and quickly asked for a clarification.
    “Based on our audit, the total paid to the Interim Executive Director for services rendered during the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2014, was $330,000,” auditor Racquel McIntosh, of Grau and Associates, wrote in an Aug. 18 letter to commissioners. “Reference to total compensation of $432,000 … was for services rendered … over a period of time and not one fiscal year.”
    By way of comparison, Boca Raton City Manager Leif Ahnell’s salary is $240,418 plus pension contributions and other benefits. City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser gets $235,383 plus.
Not all the Beach and Park District candidates were concerned about Koski’s paychecks.
    Starkoff said Koski is paid “a lot less than what he’s worth.”
    Political newcomer John Costello, a CPA, said, “Just because someone makes a lot of money  doesn’t mean they didn’t earn it.”
    Koski has been a lightning rod for complaints from city officials, culminating in City Council member Robert Weinroth’s demand in March that he be replaced with a full-time executive director.  
    In May, Koski said he would step aside as interim director on Oct. 1, the start of the new budget year, but was persuaded to stay until January, when commissioners choose their chairman for the calendar year.
Though Koski’s earnings will drop $90,000 a year when he quits the interim job, he said he will be “very happy” when Briann Harms, his assistant director, takes over those duties. He hopes commissioners keep him as contract administrator.
    “It’s something that I enjoy very much,” Koski said.

Three jobs, three paychecks
Arthur Koski receives different amounts for being the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District’s attorney, executive director and contract administrator.

                                   2012            2013           2014           2015           2016
Legal services       $93,000     $144,750    $132,000    $132,000    $132,000
Exec director         $15,000      $71,250      $90,000      $90,000      $90,000
Contract admin    $108,000    $108,000    $108,000    $108,000   $108,000
Totals                   $216,000    $324,000    $330,000    $330,000   $330,000

A boater makes a hard turn after leaving Boca Raton Inlet to avoid the sand shoal on Aug. 22. Willie Howard/The Coastal Star

By Willie Howard

    A recurring sand shoal off Boca Raton Inlet has gotten shallower and more dangerous over the past six months, causing some boats to bump bottom as they come and go and others to run aground.
    Boaters familiar with the inlet have taken note and are doing what it takes to come and go without problems. Most turn south after clearing the south jetty and run south along the beach before heading east into the ocean.
    But some boats are going high and dry on the shoal.
    The Fort Lauderdale office of TowBoatU.S. has freed four boats in the past few months that were stuck on the shoal outside Boca inlet.
The towing franchise office knows of five others that have run aground there.
    Some freed their boats without assistance by waiting for the tide to rise.
    Barney Hauf, of TowBoatU.S., said some boaters stop outside the inlet after seeing the shoal and call his office on their VHF radios to ask for advice before attempting to enter.
    Hauf said the TowBoatU.S. staff usually advises boaters to enter the inlet from the south. But even that route can be tricky at low tide. A boat that draws 5.5 feet of water bumped bottom using the south passage at low tide recently, he said.
    The shoal is most noticeable at low tide, when the white foam of breaking waves seems to barricade the inlet’s entrance like a fence.
    Capt. Paul Varian, who operates a 32-foot inboard dive charter boat, said the shoal became shallower after sand was pumped on the beach north of the inlet last winter. He still uses the inlet, but like many other boaters, he runs south after clearing the jetty.
    “You can’t go straight out on any boat at any time,” Varian said. “I see people hit [the shoal] all the time.”
    Running south from the inlet requires boaters to watch carefully for swimmers at South Inlet Park, immediately south of the inlet.
    Swimmers are supposed to stay in the designated area within 150 feet of the beach, and boaters are supposed to steer clear, said Steve Kaes, south district training officer for Palm Beach County Ocean Rescue.
    The park’s swimming area is supposed to be marked by a line of buoys, but the marker buoys were missing in August.
    Boaters also must watch for snorkelers who frequent rocks in 12 feet of water off South Inlet Park. Palm Beach County placed the 17,000-ton rock pile there in 2003 to create a shallow artificial reef.  
    Not all snorkelers visiting the shallow reef display red-and-white dive flags on floats as required by law, said Gene Folden, chairman of Boca Raton’s Marine Advisory Board.
    A boat hit a snorkeler at the shallow reef off South Inlet Park about four years ago, Kaes said. Lifeguards rescued the badly injured young man. The boat operator never stopped.

An incoming boater swerves around the sand shoal that has accumulated just outside the mouth of the Boca Raton Inlet. A rock pile sits just north of the inlet. Photo by Terra Server

Shoals come and go at inlets
    Shoaling off the mouth of Boca inlet is nothing new. The city hired a contractor to dredge the shoal at a cost of just under $2 million in 2013.
    Folden said the central beach restoration project, which placed sand on the beach north of the inlet, could be adding sand to the shoal, making it shallower for boaters.
    Sand from beaches north of the inlet is supposed to move through a hole in the north jetty (called the weir) so it can be collected by the city’s dredge inside the inlet, Folden said.
    After hearing complaints from recreational boaters and charter captains, the city is considering options for dredging the shoal, but not until after the sea turtle nesting season ends Oct. 31.
    “We are well aware of it,” city spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson said. “We are really in the process of exploring our options.”
    A dredging contractor is scheduled to return to the waters north of Boca inlet in December to complete about 1.2 miles of the central beach restoration project left unfinished because of stormy weather in January. Dredging the inlet shoal could be added to the central beach project, Gibson said, but that’s only an option at this point.
    “There are many factors, including scheduling, availability and procurement that have not been addressed,” she said.
    Shoals come and go at ocean inlets, and most inlet managers in Palm Beach County deal with the shallows outside inlets by warning boaters that they must have “local knowledge” to use the inlets and letting nature handle the sand.
    Shoals also exist at Boynton and Jupiter inlets. They tend to be shallowest during the winter months, when waves driven by strong northeast winds push sand across the face of inlets.
    The larger Lake Worth Inlet, leading to the Port of Palm Beach, is maintained for ship traffic and is less prone to seasonal shoaling.
    Even this summer, the shoal off the mouth of Jupiter Inlet “is as large as I’ve ever seen it,” said Mike Grella, longtime executive director of the Jupiter Inlet District.
    But Grella said the district has no plans to dredge the Jupiter Inlet shoal — partly for budget reasons and partly because the shoal is a natural breakwater during hurricanes.
    Similarly, Palm Beach County has no plans to dredge the shoal off Boynton Inlet, said Tracy Logue, a coastal geologist with the county.

Boaters must be vigilant
    For now, boaters seem to be coping with the Boca inlet shoal.
    Alex Warner, owner of the Gulfstream Boat Club, tells customers who rent his boats to steer clear of the shoal, but he was allowing them to use Boca inlet in August.
    Some boaters have become accustomed to the shoal. Even when waves were breaking on the shoal around low tide on Aug. 15, one boater tilted up his outboard engine and ran across the waves and into the inlet without incident.
    But hazards created by the shallow water remain, especially when boats are forced into a narrow channel of water on busy weekends at low tide.
    Sean Meadows, manager of the World of Scuba dive shop in Boca Raton, stands on the seat of his 23-foot Mako when heading out Boca inlet. Meadows said he needs the additional height to see over the south jetty to determine whether any other boats are running into the inlet at the same time he’s headed out.
    Capt. Nick Cardella, of Nick C Fishing Charters in Boca Raton, said large charter boats are using Boca inlet only at high tide. Cardella said he has bumped a few times on the shoal this summer on smaller center-console fishing boats.
    “I genuinely think someone’s going to get hurt,” said Sean Flynn of Boca Raton, who has been running boats through the inlet for 17 years.
    “This wasn’t this bad six months ago,” Flynn said. “At low tide, if you’re paying attention, you can see the bottom.”

By Rich Pollack

For the second time in two years, Highland Beach is looking for a new town manager.
At the Aug. 30 meeting, Town Manager Beverly Brown, who had been under fire for what some commissioners viewed as a lack of timely and accurate communication, submitted a letter announcing her intention to retire as of Dec. 2.
In the letter, Brown, 70, said the advanced notice will give the opportunity to find a replacement and also time for her to help bring the new manager up to speed on key issues.
    “This also provides time for me to share a guideline of approved projects on the books and communicate the history of the policies and procedures now in place with the new manager,” Brown wrote. “If additional time is required, I would be willing to provide whatever services are needed on a consultant basis.”
    Brown, who has a current salary of $130,400, asked that commissioners allow her to be compensated for all accumulated leave time to date — about 10 weeks — and also requested that she be given the opportunity to purchase her iPad.
At least one commissioner, however, asked Brown to reconsider, and encouraged other members of the commission to join him.
“I don’t think she really wants to leave,” said Commissioner Lou Stern, adding that he thinks Brown felt pressured to leave following comments from other commissioners who expressed a lack of confidence in her ability.  
In an earlier August meeting, Brown took heat from commissioners for not communicating better after she received a letter from a Fraternal Order of Police representative explaining that civilian town employees were in the planning stages of forming a union.
Brown received the letter on a Monday, but did not tell commissioners about it until the following day, when the commission held its monthly meeting. Both Brown and Town Attorney Glen Torcivia said they thought a copy of the letter had been sent directly to the commissioners.
“We need more transparency between the town manager and the town clerk and the commission,” Commissioner Carl Feldman said during that earlier meeting. “I don’t want to have a vote of no confidence, but I will acknowledge [a vote] if the aforementioned issues are not corrected. I’ve worked with three town managers in the past 15 years and I don’t want to hire a fourth one. But I will have to vote yes if that’s what’s required.”
Brown, who started with the city in 2007, later defended herself.
“I think I’ve done a good job,” Brown said several days after the earlier meeting. “We have a staff that works well together, we’ve cut the budget and we have department heads who have stepped up to be sure residents never felt the reduction in staff.”
Town Commissioner Rhoda Zelniker said she was “shocked” by the actions of both Brown and Torcivia.
“I supported you and trusted you,” she told Brown during the earlier meeting. “At this point, I have to tell you I’ve lost my confidence and trust in the town manager.”
During discussions of the union letter, Zelniker asked Brown why commissioners weren’t notified that employees were ready to organize prior to their meeting with union representatives.
“If staff members are unhappy, have you ever brought that up to the commission?” Zelniker asked.
Brown told Zelniker she had no idea that employees were planning to form a union.
“We need you to communicate with us,” Zelniker said.
    Vice Mayor Bill Weitz, later in that meeting, also expressed concerns.
“I really have lost confidence in our senior staff to allow our commission to do its job,” he said.
Brown was serving as town clerk in January 2015 when she was named interim town manager following the mutually agreed-upon departure of former Town Manager Kathleen Weiser. Brown was promoted to the position permanently in April of that year.
Brown said she was under the impression that commissioners knew employees were unhappy prior to the letter being sent out by the union representative.
“It’s been brought up before,” she said. “Employees have said they don’t know where they stand and what will happen to the benefits they’ve been receiving for years.”

By Steve Plunkett
    
The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District and the city have hammered out an agreement that will have the district paying 50 percent of all beach renourishment projects and Intracoastal dredging in Boca Raton.
    District Chairman Robert Rollins happily announced the meeting of minds Aug. 26. The pact will officially be signed at the district’s Sept. 6 meeting.
    “I feel pretty good that we were able to get that done,” Rollins said. “The city’s happy with it and we’re happy with it.”
    The agreement will also enable the district to send the city a $1.5 million check for last spring’s partial renourishment of what the city calls its central beach, between Red Reef Park and the Boca inlet.
    Arthur Koski, the district’s lawyer and interim executive director, told commissioners in July that city officials had requested the money. But his advice was not to pay without an agreement in place.
Members of the City Council and the district commissioners informally agreed at a June 9, 2015, joint meeting that the district would pay half of beach renourishment costs, up from its customary one-third share. Three weeks later, commissioners approved a document saying just that, and another concerning a second phase of building sports fields at DeHoernle Park.
    But the city said both needed revisions. In November, it returned a new proposal that combined the two documents and six other contracts between Boca Raton and the city into one “master” agreement.
Among other things, the district objected to the proposed life of the agreement —30 years — and said one year was more palatable.
    The new beach agreement, which will stand alone from the proposed master pact, compromises at 10 years.
    “That’s a time frame we can live with,” Rollins said.
    The city’s dredge contractor left Boca Raton April 25 after completing about 20 percent of the central beach renourishment. Weeks Marine Inc. will return in December to finish. Ú

Delray brewers rush to meet demand

for ocean-friendly packaging

Tyler Immell, brewer at Saltwater Brewery in Delray Beach, removes the leftover grain barley

after mashing it. The waste material will be used to make edible six-pack rings (top).

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Hladky

    The Delray Beach friends who launched Saltwater Brewery have two passions: beer and the ocean.
    That sparked an idea to marry their priorities by creating six-pack rings out of byproducts of the beer-making process that are biodegradable and edible. If the rings ended up in the ocean, they would not harm it or marine animals.
    When the craft brewery’s founders unveiled their concept this spring, they thought it would draw interest. But the staggering response stunned them.
    A video about the rings went viral, drawing international attention. The Huffington Post, Time, CNN, NBC, BBC, ABC, Fox, National Geographic, The Verge, Yahoo, People and other media outlets ran with the story. In the first 50 days, the video got 105 million Facebook views and 1.8 million shares.
    Breweries — lots of them, big and small — called wanting in.
    “It was what we always wanted to believe would happen but did not have full faith that everyone would get on board,” said Chris Gove, Saltwater Brewery’s president and cofounder. “It was overwhelming and still is overwhelming and surreal.”
    Working with creative agency We Believers, they developed a prototype that proved their concept would work and now are improving it. Final patents are in the works.
    They hope to launch their rings into the market this fall, producing 50,000 units a month with the intention of growing that number significantly.

Chris Gove, president and cofounder of Saltwater Brewery, hopes the new edible six-pack rings

will reduce the amount of plastics in the ocean.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    “The idea is to get it into as many companies as possible,” Gove said. “Every large player we know has contacted us to help out to get this to a larger scale. They want to partner with it.”
    If everything falls into place as hoped, he said the rings could become the new industry standard.
    “What we have done is spark the fire for resurgence of a new packaging world where ease and durability and inexpensive cost do not outweigh environmental benefits,” Gove said. “The world has finally seen the detrimental effect plastic has had and now they are waking up and wanting to support the companies that want to reduce waste.”
    The rings are made from the spent wheat and barley from beer-making. The challenge has been transforming this waste product into a substance durable enough to hold six-packs together.
    The Saltwater Brewery team donates the beer byproduct to cattle ranchers to use as animal feed or fertilizer, but that has proved to be time-consuming and not the best ecological solution.
    “Instead of getting rid of the byproduct, it becomes an asset,” Gove said.
    He has tasted a prototype ring, and pronounces it as “very plain, with a bit of a grainy finish.” Hot sauce works wonders, he said.

Tons of trash reach ocean
    Six-pack rings for beer and sodas have been made with plastic for years. But plastics are a huge problem. They end up in landfills, where it will take them at least 450 years to biodegrade. Some types don’t biodegrade at all.
    Vast amounts make their way into the oceans.
    A study published last year in Science reported that in 2010, 8 million tons of plastic trash ended up in the oceans from coastal countries, with that tonnage expected to increase tenfold in the next decade unless a way is found to improve how garbage is collected and managed.
    That 8 million tons alone is more than the amount of plastics already measured in gigantic “garbage patches” floating in the oceans.

Fish eat one of the biodegradable six-pack rings in an illustration provided by Saltwater Brewery.

    A report from the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation earlier this year estimated 165 million tons of plastics are in the oceans. By 2050, the oceans will contain more plastics than fish by weight if nothing changes.
    Seabirds, fish, turtles and other marine life ingest it and die. Or they get tangled up in the plastics, leaving them unable to eat or swim.
    Biodegradable, compostable six-pack rings that are safe for marine life won’t solve that problem by themselves, of course, but it is a start.
    “We think this is part of a bigger movement,” Gove said.
    In June, the edible six-pack ring got a big boost when it was named one of four international winners of the Cannes Lions 2016 prize in the category of creative innovation. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on June 1 announced that Saltwater Brewery’s rings had won its Compassionate Business Award.
    “Saltwater Brewery has set an example for other beverage companies with its edible six-pack rings that feed marine animals instead of choking or poisoning them,” said PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman.

Brewery already expanding
    Even before its six-pack ring idea took off, Saltwater Brewery was in expansion mode.
    The brewery opened in December 2013, after the four friends decided to pool their talents. Gove, Bo Eaton and Peter Agardy attended Gulf Stream School, and now Eaton is head of sales and Agardy is creative director. Dustin Jeffers, who moved to  South Florida about five years ago, is director of operations. Their original brewmaster, Bill Taylor, has since left and Justin Rick moved into that position one month ago from Brooklyn Brewery.
    Gove’s parents, who invested in the idea and owned an old barn, Delray Feed Store, that could be converted into a brewery, actively helped out.
    In short order, the co-founders moved beyond brewing beer that could be consumed in the bar that fronts the barn, at 1701 W. Atlantic Ave., just west of Interstate 95, or taken home in growlers.
    Their first move was to get their beer on tap at South Florida bars and restaurants. They then began canning two of their core brews, Screamin’ Reels IPA and Sea Cow Milk Stout, which are now available at several liquor stores, Whole Foods and The Fresh Market.
    Next up was getting their beer in more markets. They now have five distributors that have made their beer available everywhere in Florida except the Panhandle.
    Production has skyrocketed. Gove said they will produce 5,500 barrels this year, and plan to increase that to about 12,000 barrels next year.
    They have outgrown their brewing space and plan to contract with a brewer to increase output. At some point, Gove expects to build a new brewing facility. International sales are also in his sights.
    And they are not done with sustainable and environmentally friendly projects. Gove said they have begun considering making biodegradable straws, since straws also often end up in the ocean.
    The pressures of rapid growth have ended many a friendship in the business world, but Gove said he and his cofounders are as tight as ever.
    “It is a family here,” he said. “Anytime anyone has a problem, we are all here. We drop everything. It has actually gotten us closer.”

Grocer to create ‘unique to market’

store in Manalapan

The new Publix will anchor a major renovation of Plaza del Mar.

Rendering provided by Cuhaci & Peterson

By Dan Moffett

    After a year of impassioned negotiation and ample planning, the arranged marriage between Publix and Manalapan appears headed for the altar.
    A short list of design changes from representatives for the supermarket giant persuaded town commissioners to unanimously approve plans for a 26,000-square-foot store in the middle of the Plaza del Mar shopping center.
    Publix and Manalapan. Manalapan and Publix. Together at last.
    Matt Buehler, retail vice president with Kitson & Partners, the plaza’s landlords, told commissioners the company was building its store specifically with Manalapan in mind. He said extensive renovation of the site would revive a shopping plaza that has languished for years.
    And the centerpiece would be the stylish new Publix.
    “The grocer is creating a unique store to this market that does not exist in its portfolio today,” Buehler said. “It’s not a stock set of plans that came off the shelf. This is a uniquely designed store that will not exist anywhere else in the country.”
    Kitson’s proposed overhaul includes planting 37 royal palm trees, adding two pocket parks and a drip irrigation system, installing LED parking lights, and repaving the entire plaza. Kitson had offered to create an outdoor seating area for roughly 100 people, but dropped the idea when several commissioners objected, fearing a potential nuisance.
    The plans go to the town’s architectural committee next. Demolition could begin in October, with construction underway by the first of the year. The Publix is expected to open for business in 2018.
    Two skeptics on the commission, Basil Diamond and Simone Bonutti, voted to support Kitson after coaxing concessions from the landlord during three hours of debate at the July 19 town meeting.
    Diamond and Bonutti had worried that the store would create traffic bottlenecks on the corner of Ocean Avenue and A1A, disturb neighbors with noise and pollution, and pose safety problems with large delivery trucks driving through the parking lot.
    “My concern is the site plan itself,” Diamond said. “Does it make a negative impact on the plaza and the community?”
    Buehler said Kitson was willing to build a continuous 8-foot concrete wall along the western and southern boundaries of the property to screen neighbors from delivery vehicles.
    Engineers for the developers told the commission that the renovation actually will decrease the total amount of retail space at the plaza by about 20,000 square feet. The plan would also increase the setback area on the south side by about 35 feet, adding to the buffer zone with homeowners. Engineers said the project complies with all town codes and building rules.
    Kitson withdrew plans to add a separate liquor package store near the Publix after complaints from several commissioners at the June meeting. Buehler said the two-story tower in the heart of the plaza will be removed, opening the skyline view for neighboring residents.
    Robert Rennebaum, a traffic engineer with the West Palm Beach firm of Simmons & White, told commissioners the completed project would “meet all applicable standards.”
    Rennebaum said the new Publix figures to generate 615 fewer trips per day — about a 15 percent reduction — than the current limits on the property. “It’s not even close to capacity,” he said.
    Mayor David Cheifetz and Diamond pointed out, however, that current traffic to the plaza falls well below the limits because of underperforming businesses. So, while adding a Publix may not exceed theoretical traffic standards, in the real world, it is virtually certain to draw more cars to the site than go there today.
    Buehler assured commissioners that Kitson has the expertise to manage vehicle and foot traffic to the new store: “We do have shopping centers throughout the state of Florida. We’re shopping center experts.”
    He said typically, no more than two or three large delivery trucks would be going to the supermarket each day. “There’s not going to be a superhighway going through the center of that shopping center,” he said. “They’ll go to the back of the store, be hidden, then get the heck out of Dodge and nobody will be the wiser.”
    The path of the expanded north-south delivery access road will force out a half-dozen businesses, among them Jewelry Artisans, Manalapan Italian Cuisine and Jeannie’s Ocean Boutique. Kitson has given the merchants until Sept. 30 to relocate.
    Cheifetz, who as mayor has no vote, said he would have voted to approve the project if allowed. He commended commissioners for “a job well done” in protecting the interests of the town and working to improve plans for Manalapan’s largest commercial project in decades.

Paul Katcher and Tom Roma have a last breakfast at the Green Owl.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Related story: Granger’s looks to relocate; Doc’s parcel on the market

By Jane Smith

    Dave Gensman gave up his 33-year-old spot on Atlantic Avenue the same July weekend that Garrison Keillor retired from his 42-year radio career.
    Keillor relied on his Minnesota, no-emotion style when starring in the radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion.
    But in Delray Beach, Gensman said he felt nauseated all week just thinking about the last day of the Green Owl on Atlantic Avenue.
    “Thirty-three years,” Gensman said as he looked around the paneled restaurant, adorned with hundreds of owl images.

Various owl art decorates the Green Owl’s paneled walls.

    The Green Owl, which accepts cash only, was among the last places downtown where diners could be served by a waitress and spend less than $10 for breakfast or lunch.
    A firm affiliated with the Delray Beach-based Menin Co. bought two Atlantic Avenue buildings in April 2015 for $19 million. Menin wants to raise the rent for the Green Owl space, expand it and rent it to a Capital One Café. The Green Owl will reopen in the fall in a smaller spot on Southeast Fourth Avenue, also owned by Menin.
    The Green Owl is just one example of a small business finding it difficult to stay afloat amid escalating real estate prices in Delray Beach’s increasingly trendy downtown.

Comfort food,
comfortable folks
    At the Green Owl, Gensman created a comfortable spot where people could gather and catch up on the news.
    “We always sit at the counter,” said frequent Sunday diner Julie Greene. Originally from the Pittsburgh area, she feels at home amid Gensman’s Steelers memorabilia and has for more than 16 years. “It’s like a Friday night at the Cheers bar on Sunday mornings,” she said.
    Paul Katcher and Tom Roma of Boca Raton have eaten at the Green Owl for about 10 years. The boyfriend of Roma’s daughter discovered it. Katcher likes having a hamburger for breakfast, which the restaurant makes for him.
    They also have a favorite waitress, 11-year server Traci Padalino. She spells her last name, and then asks, “Why do you want to know?” That makes Katcher and Roma chuckle. They appreciate her snappy comebacks.
    Mike Luther, an eight-year customer from Delray Beach, picks up that line of humor. He responds, “It’s about time,” when asked how he feels about the Green Owl’s last day.
    Chris Cooper, who has eaten at the restaurant since the late ’80s, laments the lack of small-business owners on Atlantic Avenue. “It’s becoming just like South Beach,” he said.
    Cooper usually orders the Green Owl’s grilled cheese on rye. “It’s to die for,” he said. He enjoys the nostalgic, 1950s feel of the family restaurant.

David Gensman (left), owner of the Green Owl diner in Delray Beach, speaks with Julie and John Greene,

customers for some 16 years. The diner is leaving its location on Atlantic Avenue for a spot across the street

at 11 SE Fourth Ave. Gensman’s mother, Carol Savage, bought the restaurant in 1983. He expects to reopen in November.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Keeping the ‘family’ feel
    Throughout the Green Owl’s last morning on Atlantic Avenue, Gensman’s eyes would tear up from time to time.
    Breakfast was free that day. Customers were asked to make a donation to the breast cancer fund for the relative of a Green Owl waitress. “I want to give back to the community,” Gensman said.
    Later, he would open the restaurant for a last bash on Atlantic Avenue — for his regular customers.
    When asked which owl is his favorite, Gensman went into the kitchen, rooted around and returned with an owl head that once held plants. He beamed as he showed off the planter. He values the piece not for its looks but because of the person who gave it to him.
    The Green Owl’s new space will seat 65 diners, 20 fewer than on Atlantic Avenue. Menin is building out the space, and it should be ready by November. Gensman is in charge of the décor — paneling and most of the owls.
    Greene and her husband, John, say they relish the camaraderie of sitting at the counter. They’ve been invited to weddings and baby showers, held by people they’ve met at the Green Owl.
    Gensman will try to keep that family feeling and hopes to fit a counter in the new place.

    The Coastal Star has been honored by the Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists with three awards for feature and editorial writing.
    The Coastal Star competed against daily newspapers.
    Executive Editor Mary Kate Leming won second place in editorial writing for her columns advocating open government and easier access to public records.
    Randy Schultz and Leming won a third-place award in feature writing for a look at the 1984 Delray Beach murder of a 14-year-old babysitter. Three decades later, her killer remains on Florida’s death row.
    Writer Ron Hayes received a second-place honor in profile reporting for introducing readers to karaoke entertainer Jacqie Jackson; veterinarian Harold “Doc” Burton, who ferried horses to Europe after World War II; and the late book collector and philanthropist Dr. Arthur Jaffe.
    The awards were presented July 9 at the chapter’s annual Sunshine State Awards.

    We are a local newspaper. Our focus is on a 20-mile stretch of coastal southern Palm Beach County. Our mission is local. We don’t write about presidential elections, state or county elections.
    Outside of the office you might hear us voice opinions on broader topics, but you won’t see us write about issues that don’t directly impact our geographic area.
    Plastics in the ocean may seem like a global issue, but if you walk the beach like I do, you have seen the local effect of a growing global problem.
    On a recent family trip to Bolivia and Peru, I was hit hard by the scope of this issue. I had visited these countries when I was teenager (long, long ago) and although many of the socioeconomic changes I observed this summer were positive, the plastic pollution had grown to an alarming level.
    It was heartbreaking to watch glossy ibis wade through plastic refuse in open sewers in the rapidly expanding suburbs of La Paz, Bolivia. Even the flamingos along the rail line in Peru were often seen feeding with plastic bottles floating nearby.
    If attention isn’t paid to this global environmental crisis, it will soon become a human health crisis.
    And yes, I know these are developing countries in the mountains of South America. What does trash in the mountains have to do with plastic in the ocean? Plenty. When plastic is left unmanaged, gravity ultimately sends all non-biodegradable waste into the world’s vast oceans.

    That’s why the efforts by the young men at Saltwater Brewery are so important.
    A biodegradable six-pack holder seems like such a simple idea it’s no wonder manufacturers all over the world are clamoring to incorporate it into their packaging.
    I wish these entrepreneurs all the luck in the world as they get this exciting new product through the patent process and into the global market. I believe they will succeed.
    It took sharp minds to be aware of the frightening amount of plastic in the oceans and to not simply turn away, but instead to stop and think, “What can I do about it?”
    Finding a way to reduce the amount of discarded plastics in our environment is an immense, global issue. But sometimes it just takes one small, local idea to make a difference.


— Mary Kate Leming,
Editor

Lantana’s public beach is a popular destination for families.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Cheryl Blackerby

    Lantana Municipal Beach came uncomfortably close to having a no-swimming advisory on July Fourth weekend.
    Bacteria levels were in the “poor” range June 28 in tests conducted by the Palm Beach County Health Department. The advisory was lifted June 30, the day before the holiday weekend, when bacteria counts dropped to the “good” range.
    Lantana Beach has had four no-swimming advisories because of high bacteria levels since the first of the year.
The beach is the worst offender of the 13 county beaches tested every two weeks by the health department.
    To make matters worse, the June 14 test showed alarmingly high bacterial levels — 1,900 enterococcus CFU (colony-forming units) per 100 milliliters. The “poor” range is 71 or greater enterococcus CFU. (The June 28 count was 260 colonies.)
    “We don’t ever see numbers that high,” said Tim O’Connor, county health department public information officer. Causes could be a leaking sewage pipe or a large ship dumping sewage.
    The health department was working with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to identify the cause, he said.
    “We usually test within 24 hours to see if Mother Nature will take care of it,” he said. “We can’t always find the source. The bottom line is we will continue to look at it.”
    Subsequent tests of Lantana Beach have been in the “good” range, but the beach is still on the health department’s radar. If bacteria counts rise to the June 14 level again the department will investigate.
    “We’re testing for sewage, so we would check lift stations for leaks, septic tanks, sewage pipes to see if any are broken, and make sure sewage facilities are working,” O’Connor said. “We would look at boats going by, and would check with the Coast Guard for boat schedules.”
    The only precautions beach-goers can take are immediately showering after swimming and staying out of the water when no-swimming advisories are posted.
    Enterococci are enteric bacteria that normally inhabit the intestinal tract of humans and animals.
    The presence of enteric bacteria can be an indication of fecal pollution, which may come from storm-water runoff, pets and wildlife, and human sewage.
    Some beaches are not flushed out by ocean tides as much as others.
    “At Gulf Stream beach, for example, water gets trapped there,” O’Connor said. Gulf Stream is not one of the 13 beaches routinely tested by the county.
    High levels of enterococci can cause gastrointestinal illness, as well as infections in open wounds, and ear and eye infections, said O’Connor.
    Meanwhile, South Palm Beach and other coastal towns are considering building    groins to help hold sand on beaches and guard against erosion, which may worsen the bacteria problem.
    “Groins interrupt the natural flow of sand and water and trap bacteria close to shore,” O’Connor said.
    Standards for bacteria testing were raised Jan. 1 this year. The new criteria for enterococci bacteria were recommended by the U.S.  Environmental Protection Agency after epidemiological studies showed disease risks from water with high bacteria levels are greater than previously thought.
    Swimmers can check beach water quality at palmbeach.floridahealth.gov and click on Beach Water Sampling.

Palm Beach County beaches tested by the health department:
• Lantana Municipal Beach
• Lake Worth Beach
• Boynton Beach
• Spanish River
• South Inlet Park
• Sandoway Park
• Carlin Park
• Dubois Park
• Jupiter Beach Park
• Ocean Inlet Park
• Palm Beach
• Phil Foster Park
• Riviera Municipal Beach

By Dan Moffett

    Ocean Ridge commissioners are exploring ways to use traffic calming devices to promote safety and help provide the town with its own identity.
    Newly elected Commissioner Steve Coz said he heard a lot from residents about the need for traffic calming while campaigning for his seat in March.
    “There were three issues that continually came up,” Coz said. “People were complaining about speeding. They were complaining that the town needed an identity — that the town be identified as a community separate from Boynton. And they were worried about safety.”
    During the July 11 Town Commission meeting, Coz showed commissioners some possibilities that he and town engineer Lisa Tropepe had developed. The idea is to use calming devices on Ocean Avenue, Midlane Road and Beachway Drive, not only to slow down motorists but to send them visceral signals that Ocean Ridge is its own place — with its own character and its own rules.
    “When you go into the town, Ocean Ridge is defined as a safe community, with low speeding,” Coz said of the proposal. “It makes a statement.”
    Tropepe suggested that commissioners consider installing raised speed tables at intersections on Ocean Avenue.
    Constructed of bricks or pavers, the devices would help slow traffic entering the crossroads from four directions and add an aesthetically pleasing detail to the neighborhood, she said. A center median device could help define the town’s Beachway entrance.
    Tropepe said costs for the devices range somewhere between $30,000 and $50,000 each, depending on size and design choices. Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella said he believes that those numbers are high and the town could get the work done for less.
    Coz cited Olive Avenue in downtown West Palm Beach as a good example of how the raised intersection devices might work.
    “Great ideas and very nice changes,” Mayor Geoff Pugh said, “but we haven’t paved the roads in Ocean Ridge in over three years.”
    Pugh said that if commissioners decide to go forward with traffic calming, they should “dovetail it with paving and repairs” throughout the town. He said the commission needs to look at traffic calming within the context of paying for the town’s overdue road work.
 
    In other business:
    • At a July 13 special meeting on the budget, commissioners unanimously approved a preliminary tax rate maximum of $5.35 per $1,000 of assessed property value — the same rate Ocean Ridge has had for the last two years.
    The town’s property values rose about 7.5 percent since 2015, from roughly $825 million to $887 million, in line with the increase throughout Palm Beach County. Ocean Ridge’s rollback rate — the rate at which tax revenue would remain the same as last year — is $4.99 per $1,000 of assessed value.
    Commissioners set a budget workshop meeting for Tuesday, Aug. 23 at 10 a.m. to work out the details for fiscal 2016-2017.
    Immediately preceding the workshop, beginning at 9 a.m., commissioners will meet to consider changes to health insurance plans for the town’s employees.
    Several employees have complained about coverage problems with the town’s current carrier.

    Manalapan issued a boil-water notice to customers along State Road A1A and the south end of Hypoluxo Island after a drop in water pressure in late July.
    Plant operator Valerie May said a pump malfunction on the morning of July 24 caused water pressure to drop, prompting the town to issue a boil-water notice to about 300 customers, including businesses in Plaza del Mar and the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa.
    The drop in pressure did not affect water users in the town of Hypoluxo who receive water from the Manalapan plant.
    The boil water notice was in effect from 6:30 a.m. July 24 until 1 p.m. July 26.

--Willie Howard