By Dan Moffett

    Concerns about cost have stopped six coastal communities from moving forward with a plan to create a barrier island fire district.
    Robert Finn of Texas-based Matrix Consulting Group, which completed a feasibility study on the idea last spring, said he has no meetings planned with representatives of Gulf Stream, Highland Beach, Briny Breezes, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge and South Palm Beach.
    Gulf Stream Town Manager William Thrasher, who organized the group, said the plan stalled over the higher costs the towns would have to pay to provide their own fire-rescue services. Several town managers who participated in the study initiative said they could not support anything with a higher price tag.
    “It seems like it’s dead to me,” Thrasher said. “Every formula that we came up with causes a situation where some would have to pay more money. That immediately eliminated the probability of this thing.”
    It came down to taxable values, several group members said. Towns with high valuations were capable of moving forward with the plan but those on the other end of the spectrum couldn’t afford it. Consider that Highland Beach’s tax base is roughly 50 times that of Briny Breezes and seven times that of South Palm Beach. Gulf Stream and Manalapan have valuations that are about three times that of South Palm and 25 times Briny’s.
    Thrasher said all six communities would have to participate for the plan to succeed. But the numbers wouldn’t allow it. South Palm Beach and Briny would be dealing with an “almost impossible rate increase,” he said, no matter what formula for participation was used.
    “I think the district is a great concept that serves a great purpose,” he said. “But it deals with entities that have different parities of taxable values. Your hands are tied as to what you can do when your revenues are so restricted.”
    Besides cost, there were worries from public safety officials about the difficulties of having first responders in position to efficiently cover a district that would be about 20 miles long.
    “There were a lot of things that are potential problems besides financial problems,” Thrasher said. “There are a lot of moving parts.”
    Finn said he expects the six town managers to discuss individually his 130-page report with elected officials. The study cost the group $39,000.

By Rich Pollack

    After months of back-and-forth — and sometimes contentious — discussions, Highland Beach and Delray Beach have finally reached agreement on a nearly $3.8 million annual contract that will allow the larger community to continue providing fire protection to its smaller neighboring town.
    “I think this agreement is definitely good for Highland Beach residents and it’s even better for Delray residents,” Highland Beach Commissioner Carl Feldman said.
    Under the 10-year agreement, Delray Beach Fire Rescue will continue to provide staffing for the town-owned fire station on State Road A1A.
    In addition, Delray Beach will buy a new ladder truck and a new rescue wagon to lease to Highland Beach as part of the contract. After 10 years, Highland Beach would purchase the two vehicles from Delray Beach for $1 each.  
    “We now have a very advantageous agreement while maintaining a healthy relationship with a neighboring community,” Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein said. “I am convinced categorically that this is a great opportunity.”
    The relationship between the two communities was strained earlier this year when Delray Beach city commissioners rejected a proposed contract, previously approved by Highland Beach, with some commissioners claiming Highland Beach was benefiting more from the agreement than Delray Beach.
    Delray Beach commissioners then sent a counterproposal that included a 20 percent administrative fee. Highland Beach responded by pointing out that a large percentage of the calls handled by the crew and apparatus for which Highland Beach was paying were actually in Delray Beach.
    During a City Commission meeting in early July, Delray Beach’s new fire chief, Neal de Jesus, said that without the Highland Beach station, the city would have to purchase additional land in Delray Beach — if it could find it — and build and staff a new station to adequately protect residents in the southeast section of the city.
    “This relationship makes sense,” he said.
    Glickstein, who supported the proposal, agrees.
    He pointed out that about 75 percent of the 911 rescue calls handled by the Highland Beach station are in Delray Beach.
    “Delray Beach taxpayers will save millions over the life of the contract while enjoying the same level of service they would have with a far more expensive stand-alone station in that part of the city, assuming we could even find another suitable location,” he said. “Highland Beach benefits by having the full complement of our entire fire-rescue personnel and apparatus resources available to their residents.”
    As part of the contract, Delray Beach will charge Highland Beach a 5 percent administrative fee. That may be offset in part, however, by an arrangement in which Highland Beach will receive all transport fee revenues for patients from Highland Beach who are taken to the hospital by the rescue unit stationed in Highland Beach.
    Under the current $3.3 million contract that would have expired in September 2017, Delray Beach receives payment from patients in Highland Beach or their insurance companies whenever patients are transported to the hospital by the rescue truck.
    Another key element of the agreement is a “true-up” clause that allows both Delray Beach and Highland Beach to examine the actual cost of services provided and then adjust them accordingly.
    “We make up the accounting differences at the end of the year,” said Highland Beach’s Feldman, whom the Town Commission appointed to be part of the negotiating team.
    Prior to reaching the agreement with Delray Beach, Highland Beach also met with fire-rescue representatives from Boynton Beach, Palm Beach County and proponents of a possible coastal fire district, but found all three alternatives too expensive, impractical or both.
    “Having this agreement benefits residents of both Highland Beach and Delray Beach,” Feldman said.

Peter Gary hopes that he and his dance partner, Pam Casanave, will be able to raise

more than $200,000 for the George Snow Scholarship Fund.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Amy Woods
    
    He served in the Marine Corps for eight years and has several belts in the martial arts — dual disciplines that have given him a proverbial leg up in this month’s feisty and fun charity dance-off, Boca’s Ballroom Battle.
    Peter Gary, a 52-year-old Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club resident, has a hankering to hoof.
    “I think Pam and I are going to rock it,” Gary said of dance partner Pam Casanave, owner of Fred Astaire studios in Boca Raton, which has sponsored the fundraiser for nine years.
    Proceeds from the event benefit the George Snow Scholarship Fund, an organization that helps students in financial need attend college.
    A total of eight dancers, backed by devoted donors, will break out their best moves in a quest for the coveted Mirror Ball trophy.
    “I think the fact that I was in the Marine Corps definitely helped with understanding the cadence — left, right, left, right — and what you’re doing with your feet,” Gary said. “If you’re off a quarter of a step, it throws off the rest of what’s going to happen.”
    He and the other community volunteers began training in April. The competition will take place Aug. 20.
    “It’s a huge time commitment, but Pam does such a great job that they’re fun,” Gary said of his dance lessons. “You get to learn new things as you progress through the choreographed routine.”
    Last year, $324,000 was raised for South Florida students wanting to further their educations.
    “I was touched by how many lives it actually impacts,” Gary said. “None of these kids have defeatist attitudes. They aren’t looking for a handout. They are looking for help.”
    Gary, the founder and CEO of Pinnacle Advertising and Marketing Group, was approached by 2015 contestant Donna Parlapiano for a donation. He made one and was so impressed with the Dancing with the Stars-style extravaganza that he asked to participate.
    “Here is a man without ego, from my perspective, who just puts himself out there,” said Debi Feiler, the fund’s vice president of program services. “He wants to raise money for our kids.”
    Gary’s goal is $200,000 — a lofty one. He will rock a pinstripe suit during the evening, whose musical theme is “Gals vs. Guys!”
    “Let’s not mince words: You could make a fool of yourself out there,” Feiler said. “We all think we know how to dance. But to have the nerve — my hat is off to him.”

If You Go
What: Boca’s Ballroom Battle
When: 6 to 10 p.m. Aug. 20
Where: Boca Raton Resort & Club, 501 E. Camino Real
Cost: $185 to $250
Information: Call 347-6799 or visit scholarship.org

Owners Timothy and Adriana McLarney (center) stand with their staff in front of Granger’s Grille

in Delray Beach. They hope to remain month-to-month after their lease ends Oct. 31.

 Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

    Granger’s Grille has been priced out of its 21-year spot on the corner of Northeast Second Street and Federal Highway in Delray Beach following a March sale.
    “We would not have considered relocating if our rent was not tripled,” said owner Timothy McLarney.
    McLarney has found a temporary place in Atlantic Plaza, whose owners are locked in a lawsuit with the city.
    “It’s a stopgap measure,” he said. His current lease ends Oct. 31, but he is trying to remain on a month-to-month basis until a new tenant is found. Then he will reopen in the former Free House American Eatery & Pub location in Atlantic Plaza.
    McLarney had tried to buy his present site. He had both the longtime restaurant and nearby single-family house appraised, with a value of $705,000. But the then-owner wanted $300,000 more and found a buyer willing to pay slightly more than $1 million.
    The new owner wants McLarney to pay $12,000 monthly to rent both buildings — $4,000 for the 1,500-square-foot single-family home and $8,000 for the 960-square-foot restaurant.
    Granger’s serves lunch and dinner daily and has nightly specials Tuesdays through Saturdays. The barbecue ribs often sell out, McLarney said.

    Granger’s has 38 seats. The most expensive item is $22 for fried lobster on Fridays.
    The grill serves food that diners can recognize and is comforting, said real estate broker Cecelia Boone.

    “Something that does not have a quail egg on it,” she said.
    McLarney started looking for a new space in May 2015. At one location, the restaurant owner was asking $600,000 plus extra for the liquor license. A place that once held a coffee shop on North Federal Highway didn’t have enough parking, and he would have needed to buy four in lieu spaces from the city, costing $100,000.
    McLarney finds the rents on Atlantic Avenue prohibitive. Parking also is a problem for Granger’s. The salon owner in an adjacent strip shopping center often posts a sign, “No Granger’s parking.”
    And yet another Delray Beach landmark, Doc’s All American at the corner of North Swinton and Atlantic Avenues, faces an uncertain future. The owner of Doc’s  and the neighboring Dunkin’ Donuts parcel has the 0.77-acre property back on the market. The listing on Loopnet, a real estate website, does not have an asking price. A recent multimillion- dollar deal fell through.
    Doc’s, which dates to 1951 when a Pennsylvania dentist opened the soft-serve ice cream spot, may be offered a smaller space in any new development that happens at that location, according to Boone, who has the listing. “It will be at least two years down the road,” she said.
    Generations of Delray Beach residents stopped for a cone after school or a root beer float after a day at the beach at the walk-up ice cream and burger place, which takes cash only.

Officer Gerry Ricco demonstrates

the body cameras that Delray Beach Police will be using.

Photo provided

By Rich Pollack

    When Capt. Tom Mitchell started in law enforcement close to three decades ago, the only cameras available to help police do their jobs were regular film cameras and Polaroids, which could instantly develop a crime scene photo or a suspect’s mug shot.
    Fast forward to today and you’ll find cameras have become an integral part of law enforcement’s effort to prevent crime and apprehend lawbreakers.
    “Look at what cameras have done in assisting in security,” says Mitchell, who is leading the Delray Beach Police Department’s efforts to use cameras to do everything from streaming live images from a crime scene to capturing license plate numbers. “Cameras hold people accountable. They’re making us more responsible for our actions, and they’re making citizens more responsible for their actions.”
    They’re also helping police better prove their cases in court.
    “Today, you’d better be able to show the picture, not just paint it,” Mitchell says.
    While other police departments in the area are using cameras, few can match the effort Delray Beach is putting into using the latest video technology.
    Last month the department became the most recent law enforcement agency in Palm Beach County to use body cameras. It assigned the cameras to 20 officers, mostly sergeants, lieutenants and canine officers. However, it could be outfitting all of its more than 150 officers with cameras within three to five years.
    In August, Mitchell and others are expected to go before the City Commission to request the go-ahead to install license plate recognition cameras in five locations, all east of the Intracoastal Waterway.
    Not long after that, Mitchell and others in the department hope to have its new video intelligence center up and running. The center will make it possible to monitor cameras on public buildings in real time. It will also enable the department to monitor cameras installed by private businesses that give the city permission. “We’re hoping to form partnerships to allow us to stream their video,” Mitchell says.
    To illustrate the value, he paints a hypothetical example in which a suspect, aware of cameras, wears dark glasses and a baseball cap to hide his face during a bank robbery.
    As the crook heads out the door, police are alerted and tap into live feeds from cameras monitoring a parking lot next door, after gaining permission from the business owner. There they can see the suspect get into a small blue car and head south. Information is immediately relayed to responding officers, who now have a better chance of intercepting the vehicle and making an arrest.
    At some point, Mitchell says, responding officers may even receive the streaming video on the computers in their vehicles.
    While cameras will focus on the suspect, they’ll also monitor the actions of the officers, leading to accountability for the steps they take.
    Body cameras also will be used for accountability, not just when it comes to the actions of the officers but when it comes to the actions of individuals.
    “This organization will always be accountable,” Chief Jeff Goldman said in unveiling the body cameras.
    He was quick to point out that the body cameras are not perfect because they offer only a limited view. Still he believes they can provide valuable information.
    Police are also being proactive when it comes to the use of cameras by businesses and residential communities.
    A department team works closely with the city’s planning and zoning department to recommend locations where businesses could benefit from having closed-circuit monitoring systems.
    “We’ve been recommending CCTV at strategic locations,” Mitchell said.
    While there may be privacy concerns, Mitchell says the evolution of technology has taken away the expectation of privacy on public streets, especially since anyone with a cellphone can instantly record anything he or she sees.
    In fact, Mitchell says, he will be putting up signs to ensure everyone knows video surveillance is in use.
    “We want people to know this isn’t Big Brother,” he said. “This is for people’s protection. Cameras are making residents and visitors safer, and that’s the ultimate goal.”

By Jane Smith

    Boynton Beach will dip into its reserves to bring Fire Station No. 1 up to staffing level standards set by South Florida fire-rescue agencies.
    For the past two years, Boynton Beach has had enough money to post only four workers at the station with a fire truck and a rescue vehicle. Standards call for six employees per shift. To meet the requirement of dispatching three-person teams on medical calls, the station has been deploying two, two-person teams to each call.
    Since 2012, Fire Station No. 1 — located on Boynton Beach Boulevard near City Hall — has responded to the lowest number of calls among the five stations in Boynton Beach, according to the city’s Fire Rescue 2015 report.
    Station No. 1 also serves the island communities of Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes.
    City Manager Lori LaVerriere advised against dipping into the reserves to pay for operating expenses. “It’s not an unsafe situation,” she told city staff and elected officials on the second day of budget hearings in mid-July.
    City commissioners decided to keep the city’s $7.90 per $1,000 of assessed property value tax rate and its $100 fire assessment the same for the next budget year and dip into reserves to cover the estimated $420,000 needed to staff six workers at Fire Station No. 1, $300,000 to redo the greens at the city golf course and $425,000 needed to balance its budget.
    Ocean Ridge Town Manager Jamie Titcomb says his town has not noticed an increase in response times or logistical problems. Fire Station No. 4 on South Federal Highway, the city’s third busiest, also responds to calls on the barrier island. “They just deploy from other stations if the vehicles are all out,” he said. “We have no complaints.”
    His town will renew its fire-rescue contract, which expires at the end of September. Ocean Ridge police officers are certified first responders and carry portable defibrillators in their cruisers to assist those with heart problems until rescue personnel arrive. Two police officers also are certified emergency medical technicians, Titcomb said.
    Briny Breezes officials could not be reached for comment.
    Boynton Beach Commissioner Joe Casello, a retired firefighter from Massachusetts, brought up the staffing situation as inefficient use of city equipment by sending out two vehicles. “We are putting wear and tear on the apparatus,” he said.
    The city rescue personnel also have more exposure to accidents with the second vehicle on the road. “The Fire Department is understaffed,” he said. “We need to do what’s important for safety.”
    He suggested raising the fire assessment by $5 to pay for the extra staff need at Fire Station No. 1.
    That would be cheaper than paying $712,926 in overtime costs to staff the station fully, according to Fire Chief Glenn Joseph.
    Mayor Steven Grant suggested raising the tax rate slightly to 8.0, and then lowering it if warranted during the September budget hearings. The other commissioners wanted to keep the tax rate the same, although most property owners will pay more in taxes because of increased taxable property values. That motion passed 4-1, the mayor voting no.
    Commissioner Justin Katz, who also was against raising the fire assessment, said he wants residents to vote yes in November for the sales tax increase, which would give Boynton Beach enough money for the next 10 years to tackle some of its deferred maintenance. He also was concerned about the effect on the proposed Town Square, should the city seek voter approval in March for a bond referendum to build a police headquarters and new Fire Station No. 1.
    “We should tighten our belt now,” Katz said. “We’re in a good position to wait.” He suggested dipping into the reserves this year. Then if the sales tax doesn’t pass, raise tax rates for the next budget year.
    The city Fire Rescue Department’s budget runs about $22.5 million, or nearly 29 percent, ranking it second in the general fund. The Police Department, with a budget of $30 million, comes in first.

By Dan Moffett

    Briny Breezes moved closer in July to locking in long-term contracts for police and fire-rescue services.
    Briny and Boynton Beach have agreed to a 12-year fire-rescue pact that will cost the town $356,725 for the first year and includes an adjustment formula for annual cost increases of at least 4 percent.
    Boynton Beach city commissioners unanimously approved the terms in July after Briny Town Council members signed off in June.
    Ocean Ridge town commissioners also gave their blessing to a new deal with Briny — a three-year contract to provide police service that will cost $221,167 annually beginning in October. The contract includes a yearly 4 percent cost-of-living increase, a new provision in the long-standing agreement between the municipalities.
    “We had heard that Ocean Ridge was going to increase the cost,” said Briny Town Council President Sue Thaler, “so we were pleased to see that it was less than what it might have been.”
    Thaler said the agreement will go to the Town Council for final approval on Aug. 25. The Briny corporation typically pays about 40 percent of the cost of the police and fire contracts.
    Ocean Ridge Mayor Geoff Pugh said the working relationship between his town and Briny has been good for both communities.  “I appreciate the Town of Briny Breezes entrusting Ocean Ridge with this contract,” Pugh said. “Thanks for your business.”

By Mary Hladky

    The taxable values of Palm Beach County properties have jumped higher than Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits forecast in late May.
     Countywide, the amount grew by about 8.4 percent from 2015 to 2016, above the earlier estimate of 7.8 percent, according to the updated tax roll numbers Nikolits released in late June and sent to the state Department of Revenue.
     The county’s total taxable value is now $165.1 billion, very close to the record high of $169.5 billion set in 2007 before the real estate market collapse.
     In south county, Delray Beach outpaced other cities and towns, with taxable values increasing by about 10.4 percent.
Boynton Beach showed an 8.3 percent gain and Boca Raton was up about 7.5 percent.
     Taxable values increased by 8.1 percent in Briny Breezes, 5.9 percent in Gulf Stream, 6.7 percent in Highland Beach, 11.7 percent in Lantana, about 10.1 percent in Manalapan, 8.2 percent in Ocean Ridge, and 9.7 percent in South Palm Beach.
     All the South County cities and towns showed greater increases than had been estimated in May.
     Elsewhere in the county, Loxahatchee Groves posted the biggest increase — 16.8 percent. Tiny Cloud Lake showed the least improvement, with a gain of only 3.2 percent.
     Nikolits has predicted the county and its 38 cities and towns will wipe out the losses of the 2007-2009 recession within about two years.
     While taxable values continue to move up, the growth has slowed in recent years to what Nikolits considers a more normal market.
Local governments use his estimates to calculate how much property tax money they can expect and to set their annual budgets and 2016-2017 tax rates.
     An increase in taxable values means the county, cities and towns will collect more property taxes if they keep tax rates the same as last year.

    Officials are still hoping to confirm that the body of a man pulled from the ocean last month in Gulf Stream was one of several Cuban refugees.
    Two men were reported missing by a group of six Cuban refugees who were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard ship Gannett off Boca Raton. The two were last seen at sunset on July 19.  
    The Coast Guard began a search for the missing men using crews from stations in Lake Worth and Fort Lauderdale but suspended the search the next day after scouring more than 1,500 square miles of ocean.
    The search resumed the following day, however, after a body believed to be that of one of the missing men washed ashore in Gulf Stream. The search has since been discontinued.
    The six surviving refugees were found in good condition, with some treated for signs of dehydration.
— Rich Pollack

Riverwalk developers say they need 10 stories for the project to “break even.”

Rendering provided

By Jane Smith

    Boynton Beach’s Community Redevelopment Agency advisory board squeezed in an interim meeting in late July and reviewed two-thirds of the changes proposed by the city-CRA’s consolidated plans.
    The most controversial — the height change from 75 to 100 feet at Woolbright Road and South Federal Highway — was approved after passionate pleas by residents and community leaders against it. Advisory board members approved six changes, five unanimously. They will review the remaining three changes in August.

    The new consolidated plans cover the entire 1,650-acre CRA district and will determine the look of the city’s eastern half for the next 20 years. The plans feature complete streets with bike lanes, shade trees, enhanced lighting and widened sidewalks; clustering of taller buildings on Federal Highway; and would turn Ocean Avenue into a designated festival street.
    The CRA advisory board had met previously in early July and adjourned after 11 p.m. without reviewing the entire set of plans. The board then held an interim meeting on July 21 when members reviewed six of the nine proposed changes in the consolidated plans.
    Residents expressed concern about proposed planning nodes that allow extra height and density at key intersections along Federal Highway. The intersection of Woolbright and Federal was the first change discussed by the board.
    At the southeast corner of that intersection, the owner of Riverwalk Plaza wants to raze the shopping center and build a 10-story apartment project. The maximum height allowed there at present is 45 feet, although the current guidelines would allow for seven stories based on the height of surrounding properties. Developers need only to propose a project in that location to get the seven-story height limit. The new consolidated plan would allow up to 100 feet in height.
    CRA Executive Director Vivian Brooks referred to the plan’s height increase as a “little uptick to what was there.” The CRA wants the Woolbright and Federal Highway node to be considered a secondary development area, connecting to the downtown and with access to the interstate and the beach, she told the advisory board.
    Fifteen people spoke at the advisory board meeting on that item, 10 were against the change. Five, including four associated with Riverwalk’s owner Isram Realty, were for it.
    Isram attorney Michael Weiner read a section of state law governing CRAs, and repeated the word “redevelopment” in explaining the advisory board’s role.
    Steven Wherry, Isram’s land-use attorney, pointed out that the compact living arrangement in apartments reduces costs of city services. The plaza now contributes $330,000 in taxes and the new project will contribute $1.4 million, he said. He did not explain how he arrived at the value of the apartment project.
    Advisory board member Dr. James DeVoursney talked about the pairing of the district-wide plans and the Isram redevelopment project.

    “That’s unfortunate. Citizens would look at this as spot zoning,” he said. “For the sake of transparency,” he prefers the 75-foot height limit and allowing the Riverwalk project to continue with its review through the city approval process.
    He was the only advisory board member who felt that way. His six colleagues voted for the change in height.

Riverwalk owner insists
project cannot wait
    Earlier in July, at a CRA board meeting, the Riverwalk property owner insisted board members decide soon.
    “However, if this will be dragging on, I will withdraw my application. … We’ll keep it as a retail center,” said Shaul Rikman. His company owns the plaza where a Winn-Dixie grocery store left its space in January 2015. “We, I, will not wait any longer. You’re going to have to be big boys and make a decision.”
    Rikman explained to the CRA board members why his company needs the extra height. “Financially we can’t make it at seven stories, we need 10 stories to break even,” he said. “They (city and CRA staff) said, ‘You know what, we’re working on creating nodes and hold off on it until such thing passes or not.’ ”
    At that meeting, the city’s development director, Andrew Mack, said, “One of the reasons this is being expedited is because we are in a development cycle and there are projects before us. It’s not just for Riverwalk.”
    The CRA advisory board was scheduled to discuss the remaining three changes on Aug. 4, when board members were expected to make recommendations about the entire plan.
    The CRA board members will then meet Aug. 9 to review the advisory board recommendations and make their own to the City Commission, which meets Aug. 16. It’s an intertwined relationship with the CRA board members also sitting as city commissioners.
    Although Riverwalk appears headed for the Aug. 23 Planning and Development Board agenda, Boynton Beach spokeswoman Eleanor Krusell said  there is no timeline for city approval.  “It’s on hold,” she said.

By Jane Smith

    Boynton Beach’s Community Redevelopment Agency picked the highest bidder, The Collage Cos. of Lake Mary, to do the third phase at the city marina.
    CRA Assistant Director Michael Simon explained that the three companies were ranked on their qualifications and responses to the request for proposals. “Rankings were based on the RFP,” he said. “It was not a low-bid situation.”
    The lowest bidder was Lunacon Construction Group of Miami, at $545,795. The second lowest bidder was West Construction Inc. of Lake Worth, at $650,991.80. Collage Cos. came in at $785,612.
    Collage also built the harbor master building and fuel docks at the marina, completed in February 2015 at a cost of $974,545.
    “A few years ago for the harbor master building, we were the low bidder. The same firm that’s ranked No. 1 now got the bid,” said Matthew West, vice president of West Construction. “For us, due to what appears to be something very clear going on, we are no longer going to participate in procurement opportunities for the Boynton Beach CRA — should the board decide to move forward with this and take staff’s recommendation.”
    CRA board member Mack McCray asked Simon whether there was anything going on.
Simon said, “No, nothing.”
    The project includes a new marina boardwalk entrance with a seat wall, lighting, landscaping, existing roadway realignment and improvement. The total project cost will be $943,704, which covers Collage’s bid of $785,612, $35,000 for new hardwood to match the wood used in the project’s finished phases and a 15 percent contingency fee.
    The CRA board, composed of five city commissioners, voted 3-2 in favor of the staff’s proposal.
    Board member Justin Katz voted no. “I’m not in favor of green space just for the sake of having green space,” he said. He wanted to see more active uses to draw people to the marina.
    “We need something more attention-grabbing to put the marina on the map, even more so than it is already,” he said.
    He admitted that he did not have a business idea in mind.
    Board member Joe Casello also voted no. He was against demolishing the old dive shop, which needed county approval. The county gave a $2 million grant in 2006 to preserve the marina and keep it open to the public.
    “We didn’t explore enough what could be done with that building,” Casello said. “I’m not in favor of a plain vanilla plan that doesn’t show any imagination.”

By Jane Smith

    The city will soon ask private firms to submit development plans for its four-block Town Square, the Boynton Beach City Commission decided in July.
     Commissioners want the proposals to include the 1927 historic high school, the library, the Schoolhouse Children’s Museum and the amphitheater. The proposals also should contain a new City Hall and green space with entrance features at Ocean Avenue. City Hall would be moved off Boynton Beach Boulevard, considered premium development space.
     The commission will entertain offers of moving the police headquarters and Fire Station No. 1 out of Town Square. Some possibilities discussed include: a combination building in the Heart of Boynton to help jump-start that area; a police headquarters built on city property on High Ridge Road adjacent to the Fire Rescue Emergency Operations Center; or a new Fire Station No. 1 built on AmeriGas property on Federal Highway, recently purchased by the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.
     The most important thing, said Assistant City Manager Colin Groff, is for the commissioners to remain flexible in their request and “allow the market to drive the private uses.”
     That’s why he suggested an option for the high school that would allow development teams to keep the façade and footprint or re-create the historical portions of the school.
     That option did not sit well with the Save Boynton High group, which staged a rally last August when the then-mayor had called for the building’s demolition.
     Group member, Susan Oyer, said she wants to see the high school contain civic uses from three other nearby city buildings — Civic Center, Madsen Center and the Art Center — that will be demolished. She also wants to allow commercial space for restaurants, art galleries, gift shops and event space for weddings, reunions and other receptions to take place there.
     The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency recently received a $100,000 federal grant that it can use to help stabilize the high school. The grant has to be matched, which the CRA can do easily. Last fall then-Mayor Jerry Taylor directed the CRA to set aside $200,000 for demolishing the nearly 90-year-old building. He later changed his mind.
     A snag could come from the outcome of a lawsuit filed by architect Juan Contin. In 2013, he sued the city after his plan to turn the high school into an event center was approved by the City Commission then denied by a zoning vote.
     In arguing recently against the city’s motion to dismiss, his attorney David Sales called the Boynton Beach commission decision “goofy.” The case remains open in Circuit Court.
     The City Commission will review the Town Square proposal in September before it is sent out to the development community. Then the commission will wait about six months for the teams to send in their proposals. It will be at least a year until shovels go in the ground, said City Manager Lori LaVerriere.
     When the proposals return, then the city will know better what its costs will be for the new police headquarters and Fire Station No. 1, Groff said.
     A combined headquarters and fire station would cost an estimated $30 million, a separate police headquarters building on High Ridge Road would cost about $28 million and a new fire station would cost about $5 million, according to city documents.
     But costs could be lower depending on how the design teams propose developing Town Square, Groff said.
     The commission would then decide how to pay for the public safety buildings, possibly through a general obligation bond or a revenue bond.

By Dan Moffett

    Already lagging months behind schedule, Gulf Stream’s project to move its utilities underground faces a new obstacle in a lawsuit filed by the town’s litigious resident Chris O’Hare.
    In a complaint to Palm Beach County Circuit Court, O’Hare argues the town should not use money from its general fund to pay for the project because that unfairly burdens residents in the Place au Soleil subdivision, which is west of the Intracoastal Waterway and already has its utilities underground.
    O’Hare says the town was supposed to pay for the underground project through a special assessment on homeowners who would benefit from it. Place au Soleil residents were exempted from the assessment, O’Hare says, and their tax dollars in the general fund shouldn’t be used to pay for work in other neighborhoods.
    “When the cost of the project exceeded the revenue raised by the special assessments on the specifically benefited property in the limited portion of the town,” O’Hare says in the suit, “… the town ignored its earlier legislative findings and chose to use general funds to make up the deficit. This imposes an ad valorem tax burden on properties in the un-benefitted area.”
    In May, the Town Commission unanimously approved taking roughly $570,000 out of the general fund to cover the estimated cost overruns in the project’s second phase. Town Manager William Thrasher said the town had to use the general revenues because it stipulated six years ago when the project began that there would be no additional assessments.
    Thrasher told commissioners that Place au Soleil accounts for about 8.5 percent of the town’s total taxable value, so the subdivision would account for about $45,500 of the project’s additional cost.
    “We were moving ahead quite well on phase two,” said Mayor Scott Morgan. “I thought we had the wind behind the sails. However I was served with a lawsuit at my home by Mr. O’Hare seeking an injunction to stop the underground project with a declaration from the courts that it should be paid by the phase two residents, not out of the town’s general fund.
    “And of course with Mr. O’Hare, always a claim for monetary damages. I don’t know what effect this will have on the undergrounding that we have struggled to put in place and advance.”
    Morgan said the town intends to contest O’Hare’s suit and keep the project moving.
     In recent weeks, attorneys for the town have won decisions in other suits filed by O’Hare and Martin O’Boyle, who have dozens of cases pending against Gulf Stream:
     • A three-judge panel at the Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld a 2-year-old lower court ruling that rejected O’Boyle’s claim that the town overcharged him for copying 4,573 pages of public records. “The Town was authorized to charge up to 15 cents for page,” the court said in ruling against O’Boyle. “It charged only 11 cents per page.”
     • Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Meenu Sasser dismissed with prejudice a  3-year-old suit O’Hare filed over the town’s rejection of permits for renovation of his home. Sasser said O’Hare had failed to “exhaust his administrative remedies” with the town before coming to court.
    • U.S. Magistrate Judge William Matthewman issued a blistering rebuke of O’Boyle over a subpoena for a deposition in a federal case. In ruling against O’Boyle, Matthewman charged that he had “made false statements and wasted the time of this Court” and “blatantly failed to comply” with federal rules. The judge called O’Boyle’s claims “frivolous” and said his behavior constituted “misconduct.”
    In other business: Commissioners have approved a tax rate for the 2016-17 budget of 4.59, or $4.59 per $1,000 of assessed taxable value — 4.1 percent below the rollback rate of 4.79. Included in the new budget is $650,000 to cover legal expenses, down from $1 million last year. Property values in Gulf Stream have risen 5.5 percent to $1.02 billion over the last year.
    • On July 11, Vice Mayor Robert Ganger resigned the seat on the Town Commission he has held since 2012.
    “My physicians have advised me that I need to concentrate on recovery of mental processes that were lost when I had a stroke in April 2016,” Ganger wrote in a letter to Morgan. “I began a long therapy program today and am optimistic of that outcome.
    “Needless to say, my support of the town and its commission is enduring, and I hope to find ways to support your efforts as my recovery progresses.”

Delray Beach code enforcement officers Joe Lucarelli (left) and Robenson Dejardian (blue shirt in rear)

walk with beach visitors accompanied by their service dog. The visitors — who declined to be identified —

are permitted to bring their service dog to the beach. Lucarelli monitors the beach shortly after sunrise

several days a week as part of a stepped-up effort to reduce the number of animals on the city beach.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

    The honeymoon is over for people who violate Delray Beach’s ordinance prohibiting dogs or any other animals on the city’s public beach.
    Beginning this month, police and code enforcement officers will be writing citations to violators, with those citations carrying a $50 fine for uncontested citations or a $125 fine if the citation is disputed.
    As part of a stepped-up effort to reduce the number of animals on the beach — mainly dogs — code enforcement officers and police officers issued 11 written warnings to violators through the first 29 days of last month, according to city records.
    Several of those citations have been written by Joe Lucarelli, a Delray Beach code enforcement officer who is on the beach shortly after sunrise several days a week in an effort to ensure dogs don’t get to the public beach where kids could be playing or others could be sunbathing.
    “This phase is an educational phase,” Lucarelli said late last month.
    While there have been one or two dog owners who were unhappy with increased efforts to enforce the local ordinance, Lucarelli said the majority of violators have been cooperative.
    “Most of the people take the warning without attitude,” he said.
    Some beach visitors are accompanied by service dogs, which are permitted.
    During the current enforcement effort, Lucarelli has heard a variety of excuses, with some residents telling him they were unaware of the pet ban.
    To ensure awareness, the city has placed signs along State Road A1A at most of the walkways leading to the beach. Some residents, however, still say they didn’t know about the rules.
    One of those residents is Laura Santos, who brought her 7½-year-old miniature pinscher, Isabella, to the beach shortly after Lucarelli and another code enforcement officer, Robenson Dejardian, had left.
    Santos said she was aware of efforts to step up enforcement of the ban, but had been told by other residents that it was OK to bring her pet to the ocean. When she learned that the ordinance was indeed in effect and that citations will be issued, Santos decided to leave.
    “I want to be able to bring my dog to the beach but if I can’t, I won’t,” she said. “I’m not going to come here and get a ticket.”
    Santos said she can understand the concerns of residents worried about the possible health hazard that could result from dogs on the beach.
    While she is conscientious about picking up after Isabella, she said she has seen some dog owners who are not as responsible.
    Concerns about noncompliance with the city’s ordinance surfaced during a May City Commission workshop meeting in which a proposed pilot program for a designated dog beach was shot down.
    While there were many proponents of the pilot program, an equal number of residents told commissioners they worried that dogs on the beach posed a health and safety issue and complained that the city ordinance wasn’t being followed.
    Prior to the stepped-up enforcement that began in June with awareness and educational outreach campaigns, no citations for violations of the ordinance had been written by police officers this year, according to city records. Only nine citations had been written in 2015.
    Delray Beach police officers are part of the stepped up enforcement effort and have been issuing written warnings. The Police Department also enlisted volunteers and community service aides to increase awareness, but they are no longer active in the effort because they don’t have ticket-writing authority.

By Jane Smith

    Special events will be reviewed — again — this month.
    This time, Delray Beach city commissioners will approve a policy that follows directives given last year, while providing flexibility for city staff and promoters. The policy will go into effect Oct. 1, the start of the city’s budget year.
    Commissioners want to limit the number of events that would close major streets to just one a month and seek full cost recovery for city staff, property, equipment and other items needed for the festivals. Some also want to ban festivals from the Old School Square grounds, owned by the city.
    “There was a time when we wanted anything and everything and we got it, and then some,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said. “We are not that town today.”  
    At the July 5 commission meeting, he said, “Despite the popular myth out there on social media, the commission is not looking to get rid of events.”
    Since late spring, city staff has been using a guideline created by the special events task force. Delray Beach city staff, event promoters and representatives of the Downtown Development Authority, Old School Square, the Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative and the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce provided input.
    A smaller group meets monthly to review the festivals.
    The city commissioners listed six major events they want to host or see happen in the downtown: Veterans Day Parade in November, holiday parade and events in December, tennis tournament in February, St. Patrick’s Day Parade in March, Delray Affair in April and July Fourth events. No other major events are allowed in those months in the downtown core.
    The Howard Fine Arts Festival already secured the 2017 dates of Jan. 21 and 22 when it will close a section of East Atlantic Avenue, east of the Intracoastal Waterway. The main road closing and multiple days held classify the festival as a major event.
    Nearly every event saw its costs double after the city’s finance department figured out a way to bill organizers for city salaries, benefits and pension expenses.

Garlic Fest finds new venue
    The Delray Beach Garlic Fest was the first event to test the process. Festival organizer Nancy Stewart-Franczak selected February dates, the same month as the Delray Beach Open, considered a major event.
    The commission, without the mayor, was deadlocked in June about whether she could hold the 18-year-old festival in February because the Tennis Center has booked the Delray Beach Open for that month. Dates for the two events don’t overlap, but city staff starts working on the tennis 10 days before it starts. That work conflicts with the Garlic Fest proposed dates of Feb. 10 to 12.
    The multiple days and the city’s estimated cost of $61,000 put the Garlic Fest into a major event category.
    But Stewart-Franczak pulled her appeal at the July 5 commission meeting.
    She will move the fest to John Prince Park, a county property that sits west of Lake Worth.
    “We will have more of everything — bigger bands, more vendors,” she said. The Garlic Fest will be able to offer amusement rides because it received special approval, she said. It will be held Feb. 10-12.
    “It was a blessing that we were not approved,” she said. “We were trying to follow the rules, but it never felt right to reduce the size of the festival.”
    The event will still be fenced, but it will now be called the South Florida Garlic Fest.
    In late July, Stewart-Franczak also pulled the application for the 5th Annual Wine & Seafood Festival, slated for Nov. 12 and 13 on the Old School Square grounds. Her letter said there wasn’t enough time to plan the festival. She thanked the city team for working with her on the event, which was estimated to cost $44,204 in city services. The festival raises money for the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce and provides rental income for Old School Square.
    The mayor, though, would like to ban events from the Old School Square grounds. “At the end of the season, it looks more like the South Florida Fairgrounds than the historic park and public gathering place it was intended to be,” he said.
    Glickstein objects to the chain-link fencing the festivals use to close off the event to nonpaying customers. The fencing, he said, “sends the wrong message for how a city should maintain a public, historic property.”  Old School Square is on the National Register of Historic Places.
    The city and its Community Redevelopment Agency are spending more than $1 million this budget year and next to repair and replace roofs on the Old School Square complex, paint the buildings and fix underlying problems with the grounds. The City Commission and the CRA board will have a joint meeting Aug. 23 to discuss progress at the Old School Square.
    Once that work is finished by December, “it should be beautifully maintained as an historic park,” Glickstein said, “rarely closed to the public, and with ample walkways, shade trees and places for people to sit and gather without competing with special event schedules.”
    Although the Old School Square organization will see a loss of income by not renting to the festival promoters, Glickstein predicts it will see an increase in its endowment.
    “People want to know their donations are investments in truly public assets, not assistance to private promoters,” he said.  Overall, he wants to see more of a team approach to vetting special events, to include city staff and public safety employees, residents and business owners, along with the event promoters.
    “In August, we’ll decide all of this,” Commissioner Jordana Jarjura said.

By Mary Thurwachter

    Thanks to a $500,000 state grant, approved by the Florida Legislature earlier this year, plans to renovate the old Juvenile Justice building at 901 N. Eighth St. off Lantana Road are rolling along. The building, on the northeast corner of the former A.G. Holley property, will become the new digs for the Police Department.
    The Town Council formally approved the grant agreement with the state Department of Economic Opportunity at its July 25 meeting.
    The building, currently uninhabitable, had sustained extensive water damage from a leaky roof.
    The grant will be used for improvements, including mold mitigation, air conditioning replacement, plumbing, electrical work, and outdoor improvements such as fencing, paving and landscaping.
    Mayor Dave Stewart said the grant is significant. “The town takes in just under $3 million in property taxes, so when you talk about getting a $500,000 grant it’s like 20 percent residents won’t have to pay,” he said.
    “The process will begin by awarding a contract to an architect, who will revise and prepare architectural drawings for this project,” said Lantana Police Cmdr. Robert Hagerty. “Once we have these, we will be advertising a request for proposals from local contractors to complete the scope of work determined for this building. We anticipate being able to move in by July 1 of 2017, or sooner.”
    For the past several years, the state-owned building has been used for training police officers and sheriff’s deputies.
    Lantana has a lease on the building through 2048.
    Stewart wanted the building, next to Lantana’s new Sports Complex, to be used as a recreational facility, but other council members preferred the plan to turn the 10,000-square-foot building into a police department. Currently, the department is housed in two smaller buildings next to Town Hall at 500 Greynolds Circle.
    The new location will put police in close proximity of Water Tower Commons, a retail and residential complex being developed on Lantana Road east of I-95.
    The present police buildings will be used to house other town departments.

By Mary Thurwachter
 
    The economy has had its ups and downs during the past eight years, but one thing hasn’t changed: Lantana’s tax rate. It’s been $3.24 and is projected to stay the same for the ninth consecutive year, 2016-2017.
    On July 11, the Town Council set the proposed rate at $3.24 per $1,000 of taxable value. Two budget workshops have been held already and public hearings are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Sept. 12 and Sept. 26 in council chambers.
    Anticipated property tax revenues for 2017 are $2,753,485, up $282,048 from 2016’s revenues.
    “Property taxes are projected to account for 21.5 percent of the anticipated revenues in the current fiscal year and are expected to increase to 27.8 percent for the new fiscal year,” said Town Manager Deborah Manzo.
    Lantana received notification from the Palm Beach County property appraiser of an 11.7 percent increase in the value of taxable property within the town, from $800.1 million to $894.7 million.
    Capital purchases range from $5,625 to replace a postage machine in the finance department and $50,000 for manhole repairs.
    The town anticipates an increase in insurance costs, both for employees’ medical and dental insurance and for general liability, property, casualty and workers’ compensation.
    Town employees can expect a cost of living raise, calculated at 0.9 percent based on March’s consumer price index. Merit raises, tied to evaluations, could be as much as 5 percent.

By Willie Howard

    Manalapan needs water customers in Hypoluxo if the town wants to stay in the water business.
    Hypoluxo officials understand that, so they’re looking for rate cuts as they consider where to get water after the town’s water contract with Manalapan expires in September 2020.
    During their July 20 meeting, Hypoluxo council members said they are in a good position to negotiate lower water rates — rates that could take effect well before the town’s contract with Manalapan ends.
    “Manalapan needs to show us some good faith now, not in 2018 and not in 2020,” Hypoluxo Vice Mayor Michael Brown said.
    “If they don’t show us good faith now,” Brown said, “we should tell them that in 2020 there’s a very, very good chance we’re going to go with Boynton Beach.”
    Manalapan officials have been discussing whether to sell the town’s water system to Boynton Beach. If they plan to keep the system, they need a long-term water supply agreement with Hypoluxo, a consultant told them in June.  About 600 water customers in Hypoluxo use about a third of the water produced by Manalapan’s plant and provide about half of the system’s revenue, according to consultant Kevin O’Donnell of Nova Energy Consultants in Cary, N.C.
    Brown said Manalapan should at least eliminate the 20 percent nonresident surcharge that Hypoluxo water customers pay.
    Brown also suggested that Hypoluxo approach Manalapan about becoming part owners of the Manalapan water plant so that Hypoluxo would have some control over the town’s water supply in the years ahead.
    O’Donnell told Manalapan officials in June that the town’s water system is profitable and worth keeping — but only if they keep Hypoluxo customers connected.
    He recommended offering Hypoluxo customers a 20 percent rate reduction if Hypoluxo officials agree to use Manalapan water for 30 years after the current contract expires.
    Town Manager Linda Stumpf said Manalapan commissioners have taken the consultant’s rate-cut recommendation “under advisement” but have not discussed lowering rates for Hypoluxo customers beyond that.
    Brown said he liked the quality of Manalapan’s water. But he said Manalapan’s rates should be based more on water consumption and less on base rates tied to meter sizes.
    Hypoluxo Councilman William Smith said water suppliers should compete for the town’s customers just as providers of garbage collection and other services do.
    “Let them come in, make presentations, and we’ll choose,” Smith said.
    Hypoluxo Mayor Ken Schultz said officials from Boynton Beach and Manalapan would make separate water-supply presentations to the town council at the August and September council meetings.
    Stumpf said Manalapan will make a water presentation to the Hypoluxo council at some point,  but she said it would not be in August.

By Dan Moffett

    South Palm Beach struggled more than its coastal neighbors to recover from the damage of the real estate crash during the Great Recession. For five years after the 2008 downturn, the town showed virtually no recovery at all.
    But property values finally have started to show signs of life — with a 5.4 percent increase in 2015 and this year a 7.9 percent rise that matches the average improvement throughout Palm Beach County.
    Total property values in South Palm Beach have climbed to $301 million, up from $279 million last year. For the eighth year in a row, the Town Council has set the tax rate at $4.32 per $1,000 of assessed value.
    After nearly a decade of belt-tightening, the town has some budgetary breathing room, with $1.6 million in the reserve fund and another $1.5 million set aside for the long-awaited beach restoration project.
    “You almost have 11 months of operation in the reserves,” said Town Manager Bob Vitas. “Property value is slowly growing as it did before the insanity started.”
    “We’re in good shape,” said Councilman Robert Gottlieb.
    And the town figures to be in even better shape soon.
    Developer Gary Cohen has dropped his request for a referendum on height limits for his condominium project on the old Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn site. Cohen is moving forward with construction of a 30-unit building that will be marketed to high-end buyers.
    Town officials believe that, once completed, the project has the potential to add between $50 million and $100 million to the tax rolls. Depending on how sales go, the property could increase the town’s valuation by perhaps as much as 30 percent. In the interim, the town will collect a steady stream of building permit fees from the project, which is expected to pick up steam by year’s end.

Sand shifted north, for now
    Cohen raised some eyebrows among South Palm Beach residents in July with the disclosure he had donated to the town of Palm Beach 6,300 cubic yards of sand excavated from the site to help replenish a 1,300-foot strip of beach between Via Marina and Hammon Avenue.
    Some South Palm residents wondered why Cohen’s Paragon Acquisition Group couldn’t have given them the sand to help repair their beaches.
    “They wanted to give it to us,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said, “but they just couldn’t do it.”
    Fischer said that state environmental agencies restrict sand donations to shores that have dry beaches and gradual slopes that allow sea turtles to enter the water. South Palm Beach doesn’t have that, and the town also couldn’t provide access for delivery.
    “Eventually, we’ll be getting that sand anyway,” Fischer said with a smile, predicting that ocean currents gradually will move Cohen’s sand south from Palm Beach back near to where it was.

New manager praised
    Council members are giving Vitas high marks for working overtime to provide line-item detail in this year’s budget, a departure from previous practice. The new manager, who came to the town in November, said officials now can see exactly where each dollar of spending goes.
    “Breaking out the costs gives more transparency,” Vitas said. “When it comes to budgets, you have to do it right, or just don’t do it. It’s that simple. It takes away a lot of the debates and fuels happiness instead of fights.”
    Fischer called Vitas’ budget approach “phenomenal.”

The plan by EDSA Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, which includes new benches,

refillable water bottle stations and paddleboard racks, was praised for its simplicity.

Rendering provided

By Jane Smith

    Delray Beach will soon have upgrades to its best asset: the beachfront.
    The $3 million project will create a 12-foot-wide promenade on the west side of the dunes.
    Improvements will include new benches, waste/recycling containers, bike-sharing racks, water fountains combined with refillable water bottle stations and surfboard/paddleboard racks.
    The main pavilion at Atlantic Avenue and A1A will be opened on the north end to make it more usable.
    EDSA Inc., of Fort Lauderdale, received unanimous City Commission approval in July for its simple and natural design. (Vice Mayor Al Jacquet left the meeting early before the vote was taken.)
    The engineering firm took the conceptual drawings donated by architect Bob Currie to create its design scheme. Currie is vice president of the Beach Property Owners Association, which has been working on beachfront design plans for more than seven years.
    “I’m impressed with EDSA,” said Bob Victorin, the association’s president. “They captured what the residents wanted — a natural design.”
    The firm was open to taking suggestions from residents, commissioners and BPOA members, he said. He liked the 31 portals that EDSA wants to save to allow beach access between the dunes.
    Jim Smith, chairman of Safety as Floridians Expect, told the City Commission, “The update of the beach promenade will be but one of your many legacies. The EDSA design plan is brilliant in its simplicity.”
    Commissioners also gave the city manager and staff authority to move the project along. The final design will be reviewed by the commission before it will be sent out for bidding. The goal is to have the majority of the project done by January.
    The area from Casuarina Road north to the end of the public beach, about 1.3 miles, will be redone in this project. EDSA will be paid $429,350, plus $35,000 for expenses.
    In addition to the final design and construction oversight, the firm will secure state and local permits. “They will be with us until the ribbon cutting,” said John Morgan, director of the city’s Environmental Services Department.
    The commission liked the city standard benches and trash/recyclable containers in gray because green would stand out more at the beach initially and then fade and have to be repainted more frequently.
    The height of the sea grape canopy also was discussed, with Commissioner Shelly Petrolia calling it a distinguishing characteristic for the city’s beach.
    The sea grapes will be trimmed as part of the dune management project, separate from the beach promenade.
    Commissioners like the idea of walking under the sea grape canopy to get to the beach. But Morgan reminded them that the sea grapes were dominating the beach plantings, creating a “monoculture” and not allowing other lower plants to survive.
    The mayor said Morgan and the dune management consultant should determine areas where the trimming needs to be done and to consider the health of the dune first.
    “I’m excited about the project,” Petrolia said. “But we will get pushback (from residents) when the sea grapes are trimmed.”
    In other business on July 5, the commission approved:
    • Hiring the Wantman Group of West Palm Beach to do a structural engineering design, engineering and permitting needed to raise the seawall height by approximately 3 feet and replace the public docks on the east side of Veterans Park. Both have been damaged by many years of seasonal high tide events. The firm will be paid $57,830.84 for the work, which also will include overseeing the construction.
    • Creating a pilot employee parking program at the South County Courthouse Parking Garage.
    Business owners would pay $20 per employee monthly for their workers to park there, with the goal of getting their vehicles off Atlantic Avenue and side streets to allow customers or diners to use the parking spots.
    The program, which had a soft launch Aug. 1, will have a full launch in November and last for one year.
    Weekdays, 200 spaces will be available between 3 and 6 p.m. with an additional 150 spaces available from 6:01 p.m. to 3 a.m.  Weekends and holidays when the courthouse is closed, 350 spaces will be available between 11 a.m. and 3 a.m. the next day. All vehicles must be removed before the next court business day. The Delray Beach Police Department will enforce that rule.
    The Downtown Development Authority is working on finding a partner to provide transportation to  downtown for employees and back to the garage when their shifts end.
    The garage also will be open for special-events parking at a cost of $5 per vehicle.