Katelyn Cucinotta joins an Earth Day beach cleanup at Ocean Inlet Park.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

    Katelyn Cucinotta was walking on the beach after surfing not far from her Briny Breezes home a few years ago when she came across several pieces of trash that appeared to have floated ashore.
    What Cucinotta found — a burlap sack, a clothes hanger and some clothing — led her to become a fierce and tireless advocate of preventing debris from making it into the oceans and being washed ashore.  
    “There’s not a single day I’ve spent in the ocean when I haven’t found debris,” Cucinotta says. “There’s always trash in the water.”
    Cucinotta, 23, is leading the charge to get the word out about the negative impact debris can have on marine ecosystems — including marine life ingestion of plastics and reef damage. It’s all part of her work on behalf of the Sea to Shore Alliance, a Florida-based, international nonprofit research and conservation organization that hired her about a year ago to create and manage its Healthy Habitats and Oceans — or H2O — program.  
    Finding time to share her experiences and advocate for cleaner oceans isn’t easy for Cucinotta, since she is in school to earn a master’s degree in marine and coastal studies while working a few days a week as a student technician for Palm Beach County’s Environmental Resources Management department.    
    But helping others understand the damage caused by marine debris is not just a priority for Cucinotta, it’s a passion.
    “I’m a scientist but I enjoy bridging the conversation between scientists and the community,” she said.
    Since joining the Sea to Shore Alliance, Cucinotta has developed plans for a mobile classroom for students and adults that will highlight the impact sea trash has on marine life and coastal environments.
    The group already has a 27-foot-long bus, but finding money to outfit it is proving to be a challenge for Cucinotta — who aside from everything else she’s doing, has taken the lead in fundraising.
    In all, she says, the Sea to Shore Alliance needs about $20,000 to outfit the bus with exhibits that will explain how sea turtles can get entangled in debris, the impact of ingestion of trash has on marine life and an explanation of gyres, five areas in the ocean where swirling current come together to create giant floating trash piles.  
    Plans are already in the works to bring the bus to schools in Broward County and to local festivals, once it is outfitted.
    Cucinotta says that through education, she is helping to raise awareness and at the same time being an advocate for the ocean and the creatures who inhabit it.
    “Sea turtles can’t speak up for themselves,” she said. “It’s up to us to provide a voice for all the seas.”
    Speaking on behalf of the environment is nothing new for Cucinotta, who grew up on the beaches of South Florida diving, snorkeling and surfing.
    While a student at Park Vista High School, she led an effort by the ecology club to bring recycling to the Boynton Inlet and led a couple of student cleanups.
    She even remembers being flabbergasted seeing a large television set floating in the Intracoastal Waterway when she was just 8 or 9.
    “There was no excuse for it being there,” she said.
    It was that walk along the beach three years ago, however, when she found the sack and clothing that got her really fired up about removing marine trash. She started an Instagram campaign using #Take4Florida that encourages others to remove four pieces of litter and send photos.
    The response was unexpected and broader than anything she had anticipated.  
    “I was inspired to continue this fight when I saw that the hashtag was being used around the world,” she said.

    To learn more or to contribute to the fundraising campaign, visit www.sea2shore.org/h2o

U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel addresses the media, flanked by HUD’s Gustavo Velasquez and Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Related story: Delray Commission alarmed at drug-related public safety figures

By Jane Smith

    A black van carrying 14 people toured Delray Beach about 1 p.m. May 2. Police in marked vehicles escorted the van through the city’s neighborhoods.
    They were not transporting people from sober homes to treatment centers. Instead, they had a bigger mission: to show high-ranking federal officials the negative impact that unkempt recovery residences are having on city neighborhoods.
    The 90-minute tour — combined with a mid-afternoon sober homes forum — likely worked. Sixteen cities in Palm Beach and Broward counties sent elected officials and community leaders to the forum.
    “We then listened to the concerns of the elected leaders throughout the region,” said Gustavo Velasquez, an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “We have a lot of ideas. I will go back to Washington and work on it.”
    He plans to work with HUD and Department of Justice lawyers to craft a joint statement, a guideline, which cities can use to balance the needs of recovering individuals with a city’s ability to maintain quality neighborhoods and a keep a lid on public safety costs. His goal is to have the statement in August.
    At the forum, one elected leader said a sober home in his city called the fire department 115 times in one year, according to U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, whose staff organized the forum and helped stage the tour with Delray Beach staff.
    She was able to persuade HUD officials to attend.
    “I had a bill prepared and asked HUD to review. They were concerned with the right wing tea party trying to gut the fair housing law if we brought the proposal to the floor,” Frankel said the day after the forum. “So they agreed to this meeting instead and revising the joint opinion.”
    The news media were not permitted in the forum to allow the elected leaders to speak freely, she said. Frankel, a federal official, does not have to follow the state’s Sunshine Law regarding open meetings.
    Velasquez left immediately after making a statement in the news conference held in Old School Square’s Crest Theatre building.
    HUD officials were visibly shocked by what they saw on the tour, Frankel said. “We saw furniture on the sidewalks,” she said, indicating that a sober home had just tossed a client on the street. “We are not bashing the industry, just the bad operators.”
    Frankel said she was optimistic about the outcome.
    Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein said he was feeling the most encouraged in his four years as mayor. He hears daily complaints about sober homes from residents.
    The city police and fire chiefs recently showed how the increase in emergency calls from sober homes is plaguing their departments. The more than 200 recovery residences account for 6 percent of the 20,000-plus incident reports police officers make annually, Police Chief Jeff Goldman said in mid-April.
    Delray Beach has hundreds of sober homes. The exact number is not known because counting them would lead to federal lawsuits under fair housing and disability laws, Glickstein said.
    “It’s not the amount of homes, it’s the number of beds,” he said. “If you have 1,000 sober homes with 10 beds … that’s like adding 10,000 people to your city every three months. … Traditional metrics for measuring public services doesn’t work.”
    Delray Beach will use the federal statement to craft city laws that distinguish between the recovering individuals and the sober home operators that often are corporations or limited liability companies.
    “City managers may get together and contribute to a legal defense fund for the new ordinance,” Glickstein said. He thinks the ordinance will be tested in court.
    Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie said she too was feeling optimistic.
    “The HUD officials were truly shocked by what they saw on the tour,” she said. “Hopefully it’s a light-bulb moment for them.”
She liked that the Justice Department would be involved because then the joint statement would have more meaning in the courts. In addition, she was thrilled that the statement could be ready in 90 days.
    New Boynton Beach Mayor Steven Grant said his city will not wait until August. He plans to ask his city attorney to look at Boynton Beach’s ordinances regulating group homes and see what can be done there.

    I’m a walker. Most mornings I see some of you as I head to the Ocean Ridge Natural Area or to the beach. Often you wave — which is lovely. Often you slow down or stop at the A1A crosswalks and let me cross. That’s what you are supposed to do, and I appreciate it.
    The relatively recent installation of in-the-crosswalk signs has greatly improved the frequency at which motorists slow to let pedestrians cross.
    But since these signs are in the middle of the roadway, they often fall victim to tight passage around bicycles or to general careless and distracted driving. Hundreds of them have been damaged and replaced.
    Although the signage is created by Florida’s Department of Transportation (A1A is a state road), the state supplies only a limited number each year.
    As a result, our coastal towns absorb the cost of replacement signs.
    As a coastal resident, this seems like a good use of my taxpayer dollars. Not only does it make my morning walks safer and more enjoyable, but it does the same for many, many others.
    And it’s not just the local residents who benefit. The entire A1A experience is improved when drivers slow down and take notice of their environment.
    There is a certain mindfulness about watching a wagon filled with toddlers and their beach toys cross the highway, or teenagers with their surfboards or seniors out walking their dogs.
    Slowing down allows us to think about where we are. And when we take the time to look around, it’s hard not to see that we are in a very special place.
    Safety, however, is the highest priority, and no matter how well-installed these signs are and how alert the drivers of automobiles and bicyclists are, it’s up to pedestrians to make sure they are in a safe environment. Police advise that you make eye contact with the driver of an approaching vehicle before stepping into a crosswalk. And if you are out at night, remember that you simply may not be visible in the dark.
    If John Boden, an activist in Highland Beach, is successful in his campaign to have flashing LED lights installed around pedestrian crosswalk signs [story: click here], it may improve night safety. The idea has merit and should be explored.
    Still, pedestrians are responsible for their own safety and should not take chances. At the same time, drivers of automobiles and bicyclists should always be prepared to stop at marked crosswalks. Slow down, enjoy the moment and let’s all be safe out there.



Mary Kate Leming,
Editor

By Jane Smith
    
    Heroin overdoses and use of other illegal drugs have prompted Delray Beach fire-rescue and police leaders to ask for more officers and firefighter/paramedics.
    The city’s more than 200 rehabilitation facilities account for 6 percent of the 20,000-plus incident reports police officers make annually, Police Chief Jeff Goldman told city commissioners on April 12. “This does not take into account the several hundred calls for service we receive from the recovery industry” where officers respond but no report is made, he said.
    The fire chief painted an equally grim picture. The department is responding to 10 to 12 overdose calls each day, said Fire Chief Danielle Connor.
    “Sometimes three days in one week, the calls will be for the same person,” she said. “We had a death this morning from an overdose.”
    Calls to Station 2 on Andrews Avenue more than doubled from 624 in 2004 to about 1,300 calls last year. She attributed the increase mainly to illegal drug use. “That used to be our sleeper station,” she said.
    Rescue personnel, lifeguards and police officers have been trained to use Narcan, a nasal spray antidote to heroin and other opioid overdoses.
    “This is pandemic to the community,” Connor said. When fire-rescue personnel administer Narcan, they have to transport the person to the hospital, which means that unit is out of commission for nearly an hour.
    Plus, it takes an emotional toll on responding staff to see so many young people wasting their lives, especially when they arrive and the drug-user is conscious enough to say, “Don’t give me Narcan,” Connor said.
    The scale of the impact from the recovery industry on the city’s public safety department stunned commissioners.
    “Tectonic changes are happening before our eyes,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said. “We didn’t talk about heroin overdoses last year, but in the past few months they became an issue.” He zeroed in on the police chief’s comment about the large number of incident reports for the recovery industry.
    “This is sobering for us,” said Commissioner Jordana Jarjura. “Ten to 12 overdoses a day in a city of our geographic size is troubling.”
    Goldman listed the illegal-drug-related challenges to his department: unregulated rehabilitation facilities, resurgence of heroin and the spread of communicable diseases through needle sharing, and the proliferation of designer drugs and experimentation by the mainstream and casual drug users. His investigative division spends 1,200 hours annually on narcotics complaints.
    To combat the increase in heroin overdoses — 177 as of April 28 compared with 195 for all of 2015 — Goldman started Operation Street Sweeper on Feb. 29. Undercover officers repeatedly bought narcotics from known drug dealers. From April 15 to April 28, 30 people were arrested, with more to come.
    Goldman wants to increase the number of sworn officers to 170, from its current 156 level. He also wants to hire employees to oversee police body camera videos, to help the front desk with Creole translations, to supervise equipment and to coordinate special events.
    He also wants to hire a social worker to help people who are homeless, mentally ill and or get kicked out of sober homes because of relapse. In doing so, he hopes to compile information on sober home operators who are in the business solely for the money.
    Fire Chief Connor said her department responds to more emergency medical calls than fire calls. Last year, it responded to 10,074 emergency medical calls, while fire calls amounted to 186.
    She also told commissioners that her staff participated at 55 special events last year with 1,270 man hours, with overtime cost in excess of $83,000.
    She would like her department to have three paramedics on its rescue units — as nearby departments do. This would help to reduce response times, she said. She gave commissioners financial options for hiring extra personnel for the rescue trucks, ranging from $173,000 to $832,000.

By Jane Smith

    All Aboard Florida is continuing to add double tracks and quiet zone devices to South County coastal cities for its Brightline express rail that will link Miami to Orlando along the Florida East Coast tracks.
    While the double tracks are installed, the following roads will be closed 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Lantana Road, May 10-13, and Northeast 15th Avenue, Boynton Beach, May 1-5.
    Closings for Delray Beach:
    Southeast 10th Street, May 2-6; Northeast First Street, May 4-7; Southeast First Street, May 5-7; Southeast Fourth Street, June 10-13; Linton Boulevard, June 14-18, and Lindell Boulevard, June 25-27.
    The following roads had upgraded crossings installed in April: West Ocean Avenue and Pine Street in Lantana; Northeast Sixth Avenue, Gateway Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Boynton Beach; and George Bush Boulevard and Northeast Fourth Street in Delray Beach.
    For dates of other road closings, travelers are advised to check All Aboard’s website: www.allaboardflorida.com. The road closings are subject to change.
    No work was scheduled for Boca Raton crossings this spring, according to Ali Soule, All Aboard Florida spokeswoman. Boca Raton spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson said the city has 10 crossings that need to be upgraded. She said All Aboard Florida will set the schedule sometime in the fall.
    Between Miami and West Palm Beach, crossings will be improved with new steel rail, concrete ties, signals and crossing gates. Through a partnership with the county’s Metropolitan Planning Organization, quiet zones safety features will be paid for and will be installed at the same time that crossing upgrades are made. In quiet zones, neither freight nor passenger trains will blow their horns as they approach each crossing.
    Crossing upgrades are not affected by rain, Soule said. But because hurricane season begins June 1, All Aboard will monitor approaching storms and reschedule work if needed.
    Road closings last typically for 55 continuous hours to allow a second railroad track to be installed in the crossing next to the existing track, according to Soule. Short stubs of rail are left beyond the edge of each track panel to allow the second tracks to be laid between the crossings. That work will be done at a later date.
    More than 55 crossings have been upgraded — about 30 percent of the crossings between Miami and West Palm Beach, according to Soule.
    Brightline is expected to begin service between Miami and West Palm Beach in mid-2017.

By Dan Moffett

    Ocean Ridge commissioners are preparing to take a close look at the town’s storm-water drainage issues, but there are two schools of thought about how extensive that examination should be.
    Commissioner James Bonfiglio wants a deep dive, believing it’s time for the commission to review the comprehensive drainage study that was done in 2000 and see if it still holds water. Bonfiglio thinks the commission should consider bringing in outside engineering consultants for an independent assessment of the town’s systems.
    “I think we’re going to need to update the engineering study,” he said. “It’s 16 years old and I think it’s something we will have to look at.”
    Mayor Geoff Pugh doesn’t think Ocean Ridge needs a costly new study. He says the town has several isolated drainage problems, and the commission should target those and fix them.
    “I can count them on my hand — that’s how many problems we have,” Pugh said. “Major issues? I don’t see them.”
    Pugh said, during the commission’s May 2 meeting, that even after a heavy downpour, water dissipates quickly and “no street is flooded more than an hour.”
    The mayor and the commissioner found common ground, however, when it comes to the Woolbright Detention Pond: Something needs to be done about it.
    The retention area between Ridge Boulevard and Woolbright Road was carved out a decade ago to collect water during heavy storms and then gradually funnel it into the Intracoastal Waterway. But residents complain that water now sits in what has become a standing pond that is a breeding ground for algae and mosquitoes — a problem of particular concern, given the growing public health worries about the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus.
    Don Magruder, who lives on Ridge Boulevard, said he believes the water moves up and down with the tides. In February 2015, the commission approved spending $15,000 to regrade the berm around the pond and remove vegetation that was blocking discharge pipes. But complaints from neighboring residents have continued, and Pugh said he agrees something is wrong because he has seen small fish swimming in the water.
    The mayor told Town Manager Jamie Titcomb to meet with Town Engineer Lisa Tropepe and develop a list of all drainage issues in Ocean Ridge, including the pond problem, for the commission to consider at its June 6 meeting.
    In other business:
    • Pugh was the commission’s unanimous choice for another year as mayor at the April 4 meeting. Commissioner Richard Lucibella, who nominated Pugh, said he’s doing “an exemplary job” for the town.
    “Thank you for the vote of confidence,” Pugh said. “You know I’ll do the best job I can for this town.” Pugh, 53, who has been on the commission since 2003, was first named mayor in 2012, succeeding Ken Kaleel.
    The commission also unanimously chose Lucibella as vice mayor. Steve Coz was sworn in to his first three-year term on the commission after ousting Lynn Allison in the March election.

    As an architect and urban planner, I would like to amplify my comments on Mizner 200, published in The Coastal Star last June. This is the proposed replacement for Mizner on the Green in Boca Raton.
    To its credit, the developer/owner, ELAD National Properties LLC, has changed architects and modified earlier proposals that were at variance with Boca Raton zoning requirements. Height, density, and design were modified to now substantially comply with current zoning and ordinances pertaining to the 8.75-acre site.
    While not all might be happy with the approximately 1,000-foot-long structure proposed, or with the chosen design idiom, the owner does have a right to develop this site to its potential. Their architects have addressed the setting with professionalism.
    Boca Raton is now at an important crossroads. Within a few blocks of Mizner 200 there exist 1,200 residential units in just six buildings. Near these, seven new residential projects are now under construction or in final planning stages, providing an additional 1,450 units. Add to this 358 luxury rooms at the first two hotels in this area, Hyatt Place and the Mandarin Oriental.
    A fresh look is also being taken at the center of all this activity, the 14-acre Royal Palm Plaza, where a multistory parking garage and yet another 300 residential units are in the planning stage.
    These new projects will account for an increased local tax assessment of over $1 billion, generating new annual tax revenue of over $20 million.  
    Shockingly, there is little apparent effort by our city to address the traffic impacts. A comprehensive transportation master plan is desperately needed to address parking traffic and pedestrian impacts, and keep area residents, developers, architects, land planners and public officials on the same page. That tax windfall, along with the opportunity to employ eminent domain and negotiate easements and rights of way, can precipitate the planning and implementation of effective solutions.
    Getting specific, any urban planner looking at this area would identify one important node on Southeast Mizner Boulevard near the proposed primary access to Mizner 200. This lies approximately opposite the current east entrance to Royal Palm Plaza, where a fountain exists. Southwest of this point I am advised that a multistory parking structure is planned and, northwest, a new 220-unit, 12-story residential tower. These disparate functions demand a holistic approach.
    I have personally advocated either a four-way controlled intersection or a roundabout. South of such a feature, two existing median breaks in Southeast Mizner Boulevard could be eliminated and replaced by a single new one, at the gated entry to the 195-unit Townsend Place buildings.
    These modifications would eliminate a circuitous, dangerous access to Townsend Place and reduce turning movements along the east boundary of Royal Palm Plaza. This would also create a safe pedestrian access to Royal Palm Plaza from the nearly 1,000 residential units across the street.
    There would still remain a challenging situation along the west boundary of Royal Palm Plaza, fronting on Federal Highway. I would further propose joining the new intersection described above with the existing intersection of Federal Highway and South Third Street, providing a central access to Royal Palm Plaza and creating an east-west pedestrian and vehicular thoroughfare.

John G. Colby, AIAE
Boca Raton

    Congratulations to Jane Smith on her comprehensive reporting on the plans for redevelopment of Boynton Beach’s Riverwalk Plaza.
    As an original owner for 10 years at Marina Village, I found it wonderful when the new Publix opened at Sunshine Square. Unfortunately, in the last two years, shopping there has become a nightmare. The poorly designed parking lot cannot handle the traffic.
    It is terrifying to see what will happen after 500 Ocean is completed, plus what if Isram Realty succeeds in building a 10-story living space?
    We are all hoping that a grocery store (like a Whole Foods) goes into Riverwalk.
Mary Pat Ryan
Boynton Beach

    I have been a resident of Palm Beach County since 1973, from West Palm Beach to Boca Raton, and in that time I have seen dozens of smaller newspapers come and go.
    I would like to give you a compliment: You and your team are doing a great job with the layout, content and distribution of The Coastal Star. Your passion shows in the quality of your newspaper, and we, the readers, really appreciate it.
    The icing on the cake is, I was at The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach for brunch on Sunday, where for generations the Palm Beach “Shiny Sheet” was an institution. However this time I saw The Coastal Star there instead.
    Congratulations.
Giovanni Marquez
Boynton Beach

By Jane Smith
    
    Twenty city police officers will soon sport body cameras in a pilot program.
    The Delray Beach City Commission approved spending $34,260 for 20 Tasers, 20 body cameras and cloud storage of the cameras’ audio/video.
    The Tasers will be upgraded every five years and the cameras will be upgraded every 30 months, Andrew Mellen, the company rep, told commissioners on April 19. He called it a “worry-free contract.”
    The goal is to have 20 officers wearing the body cameras by June, Police Chief Jeff Goldman said. “Training is done in one to three days,” he said. “The officers are trained on care for the equipment, use, and use of the evidence.com cloud server that stores the audio/video.”
    At the commission meeting, Goldman said the officers will have to document why they shut off the cameras. He gave these examples: hospitals, juvenile halls and other areas where they have privacy concerns.
    “When the officer pulls out the Taser, the camera will go on,” Goldman said. The Police Department is testing where to mount the cameras on the body.
     “We realize this is coming,” said Gary Ferreri, the lead police union rep. “The chief allowed us to be part of the process in writing the regulations.” The regulations were still with the union’s legal team at press time.
    Vice Mayor Al Jacquet, who recommended the body cameras months ago, said, “Today is a great day for our city. It’s better to be ahead of it. … I also applaud the union.”
    For the next budget year that begins in October, Goldman told commissioners he will request 75 more body cameras, Tasers and cloud storage space for the videos.
    The pilot program will run through the summer, Goldman said. He also said each officer wearing a body camera will rate it on factors including ease of use, battery time and effectiveness.

By Dan Moffett

    Dozens of residents packed Town Hall for an April 19 workshop on Manalapan’s proposed water utility deal with Boynton Beach, and now town commissioners say they’re working to answer questions and allay concerns raised in the meeting.
    “This is a work in progress and nothing has been decided,” said Mayor David Cheifetz. “We continue to process information.”
    By the end of May, commissioners expect to receive a report from a consultant hired to take another look at the numbers — in particular, the valuation of Manalapan’s system and the impact on residents’ water rates if Boynton takes over.
    Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the town has yet to receive a draft with the proposed terms of the sale from Boynton and also a draft of the interlocal agreement needed to close the deal.
    “One of the things we’re trying to avoid is the perfect storm of rate problems,” Cheifetz said during the April 26 town meeting.
    That exploding rate storm could strike if several hundred Manalapan utilities customers in Hypoluxo decide to get their water from somebody else and if the town has to go forward with roughly $5 million in repairs to its aging delivery pipes.
    A deal with Boynton, a growing system with more than 110,000 customers, has the potential to prevent all that, but not everyone on the commission is convinced.
    “If we sell it, we’re bound forever to somebody else’s wishes and their pricing structure,” said Commissioner Ronald Barsanti.
    Commissioner Simone Bonutti agreed, saying if Manalapan gives up being “the master of our own water,” the town will have less flexibility to adjust to droughts and use restrictions. “It will have a long-term effect on all of us,” she said.
    A preliminary analysis by Commissioner Clark Appleby found that about 85 percent of the town’s customers would pay lower bills if Boynton Beach buys the system. Should both the town and the city approve a deal, the takeover could happen before the end of the year.
    In other business:
    • Vice Mayor Peter Isaac reported that he expects construction on the south side of the Audubon Causeway bridge to be completed by the end of May and the weight restrictions on traffic lifted. Isaac said he remains hopeful the new bridge can be “substantially complete” by the end of July, with a couple months of “tidy-up” landscaping and cosmetic work to follow.
    • Commissioners decided to restore a $2,000 limit for landscaping renovation on town-owned property as the threshold for requiring approval from the Architectural Commission. In March 2015, commissioners reduced the limit to $300, a level they now believe is too low and an unnecessary hardship on staff.

By Dan Moffett

    Gulf Stream commissioners are scrambling to squeeze costs out of their troubled underground utilities project and accelerate a construction schedule that threatens to drag on for at least another two years.
    Mayor Scott Morgan said the town should consider taking drastic action to expedite the project’s completion — including perhaps hiring independent contractors to replace AT&T and Comcast crews.
    “They cannot hold a town hostage,” Morgan said. “We can take matters into our own hands. At some point, there’s municipal rights.”
    Morgan said he would personally talk with supervisors at Florida Power & Light, AT&T and Comcast to make the town’s case for an accelerated pace.
    “I intend to contact absolutely everybody who’s involved in this project from the installer who’s climbing up the pole to the chairman of the board,” he said. “That’s the approach I’m going to take.”
    Gulf Stream residents approved the plan to bury utility lines in 2011, but it took two years to start work on phase one because of delays getting design plans from FPL. In 2013, the town filed a complaint with the Florida Public Service Commission about FPL’s slow response. The complaint did little to prevent delays in phase two, with FPL again falling behind in producing plans.
    While the project stalled, construction costs rose throughout South Florida and contractors who were once willing to bid on Gulf Stream’s work found other jobs. One potential bidder got involved with All Aboard Florida instead. Material costs rose, too.
    What was conceived as a $5.5 million project six years ago now will cost significantly more to complete. But perhaps not as much more as commissioners once feared.
    Danny Brannon, the town’s engineering consultant, brought some good news to an April 13 special meeting on the project. Brannon said he was able to find about $444,000 in cuts for the second phase, meaning that the original $2.8 million price tag for the work is likely to come in around $3.3 million — about $510,000 more than the town expected but not the nearly $1 million overrun that seemed likely weeks ago.
    “We found considerable overestimating on the part of the contractor,” Brannon said, “and that brought some of the numbers down.”
    Much of the potential savings comes from changing the conduit and connections for Comcast and AT&T. But commissioners said it was impossible for them to approve a bid for the power work that was submitted by Wilco Electric, until Comcast and AT&T confirm the estimates they gave years ago.
    Vice Mayor Robert Ganger said he was “nervous going forward without those numbers,” and Commissioner Thomas Stanley said the commission was stuck until “we have baseline numbers from both parties.”
Commissioners hope to have those figures in their hands before the end of May and with them some clarity.
    “The five of us feel like we’re flying in a fog and don’t even know where the ground is,” Ganger said. “It’s getting more and more frustrating for us, and it’s got to be getting more frustrating for the residents.”
    Town Manager William Thrasher said the town has hired Gary Resnick, a lawyer and mayor of Wilton Manors in Broward County, to assist Brannon in negotiating deadlines and costs with the utility companies.
    • For the second year in a row, the Chicago-based Government Finance Officers Association honored the town with its Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, giving officials high marks for the budget as “a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide (and) a communications device.” It is the only national awards program in government budgeting. The GFOA also again recognized Rebecca Tew, the town’s accountant, for her work on the budget.

By Jane Smith
    
    The fate of the stalled Atlantic Crossing project is back in federal court.
    In early April, the Delray Beach City Commission rejected the project’s modified site plan that added a driveway and redesigned the valet area into a circular path from a horseshoe-shaped version. The plan also called for improved contrast for the two loading docks and a pedestrian crosswalk moved north in the project to increase its safety.
    The changes, though, were not enough to satisfy commissioners Shelly Petrolia, Mitch Katz and Mayor Cary Glickstein. The federal lawsuit, filed by the developers against the city, was on hold while the modified site plan was reviewed. The stay was lifted and motions soon were entered.
    The day after the city commission requested two alleys be returned to the city from Atlantic Crossing, the city filed a motion April 20 to dismiss the developers’ third amended complaint. Many counts, the motion said, failed to state a cause of action or were not ready to be heard. The developers have until May 9 to file a response. The case has an October jury trial date.
    “The re-introduction of a connecting road has been nothing short of tortuous,” Glickstein said when explaining his vote on April 5. “To the developer, you missed the opportunity. You strayed from an atmosphere of cooperation when you said you can’t and two years later you said you could. In the interim you only crystallized the palpable mistrust the community felt towards you and the project that led to this drama tonight and all the avoidable time, money and now a federal lawsuit.”
    The proposed Atlantic Crossing sits at a major intersection — the northeast corner of Federal Highway and Atlantic Avenue — in the city’s downtown. It lies just west of the Intracoastal Waterway with Veterans Park in between.
    Instead of becoming a jewel, it’s turned into a dead zone with dark green construction screening around the west half of the project.
    Sitting on 9.2 acres, the complex, developed by a partnership between Ohio-based Edwards Companies and Ocean Ridge resident Carl DeSantis, will contain 343 luxury condos and apartments plus 39,394 square feet of restaurants, 37,642 square feet of shops and 83,462 square feet of office space.
    Before explaining his reasoning, the mayor lauded DeSantis, saying he “has always been a gentleman to me and has contributed significantly to the betterment of this community and many others, something he’s not received credit for or sought.”
    Atlantic Crossing plans also call for an underground garage.

Traffic issues remain at center of dispute
    The modified site plan contained a connecting road that would lead into the garage from Federal Highway and provide a westbound exit to Federal. City planners called the road a driveway because it is only 12 feet wide and doesn’t have setbacks, limiting pedestrian and bicyclist access.
    The driveway also has a problematic turning radius for vehicles exiting the garage. The turning radius was deemed barely acceptable by city-hired engineering consultants, another reason cited by the mayor for his decision.
    The driveway looks like an alley when it needs “equal dignity to a real street,” said Derek Vander Ploeg, the Boca Raton architect who drew the plan for the project when it was called Atlantic Plaza II before the real estate recession.
    Back in 2008, the project was slated to include 202 residential units and 110,000 square feet of retail space with 1,160 underground parking spaces on 8.9 acres.
    Architects loathe shaving space off their buildings, but they can do it to create a real street, Vander Ploeg said. Regular people care more about streetscapes than the actual buildings, he said.
    When he designed Atlantic Plaza II, he included a deceleration lane on Federal Highway, an item that the current mayor would like to see to mitigate traffic around Atlantic Crossing.
    “I hope for the city of Delray that something can be done,” Vander Ploeg said.
    Don DeVere, vice president of development for Edwards Companies, said, “Once again, the commission majority decided that they would rather litigate than work together and follow their own rules. They missed this opportunity to resolve the issues and allow this important project to move forward.”
    He went on to say that approving the modified site plan would “have continued settlement discussions to provide additional benefits to the neighborhood and to eliminate the city’s risk of damages, estimated at up to $40 million. Mayor Glickstein and Commissioners Petrolia and Katz decided they didn’t want to take that path, but chose to litigate instead.”
    The development team sued the city in June claiming the city has not issued a site-plan certification that was approved in November 2013 and affirmed by a previous City Commission in January 2014. In the fall, that lawsuit was moved to federal court.
    At the April 5 City Commission meeting, Vice Mayor Al Jacquet, who voted for the modified site plan, said, “It’s time for us to move forward. … This is an amicable solution.”
    He did not say that he opened a campaign account in January for a proposed state House run for District 88. In January, people and companies connected to the Atlantic Crossing development team contributed $6,500 to his campaign. State laws and ethic rules say he does not have to reveal the campaign contributions unless there is some quid pro quo involved. Jacquet voiced his support for the project prior to the contributions.
    The other yes vote was made by Commissioner Jordana Jarjura. A lawyer, she said the project has 78 conditions “to clean up what previous commissions did. … We must make decisions that can be supported in court.”
    
Also at the April 5 meeting
    • City Attorney Noel Pfeffer said he plans to resign in 60 days. He will become a partner in Conrad & Scherer, a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm. The S. Renee Narloch and Associates search firm was selected at the April 19 meeting for $24,500 because the firm agreed to a mid-May deadline for recruiting city attorney candidates.
    • The City Commission agreed to hire CB&I Environmental & Infrastructure Inc. of Boca Raton for $78,483 to produce a physical monitoring survey three years after the beach renourishment project was done. The survey will be finished this summer, with results delivered in November.
    • The City Commission agreed to enter into two contracts with Matthews Consulting Inc. of West Palm Beach. The first one, for $199,972, covers engineering design services for the next phase of the city’s reclaimed water expansion system on the barrier island between just north of Lewis Cove south to Linton Boulevard. The second one, for $5,380, will cover a grant application for the next budget year from the South Florida Water Management District to expand the city’s reclaimed water system.

Related story: ArtsPaper Q&A with Alyona Ushe

By Jane Smith

    The popular Arts Garage will soon be able to book bands for the summer, after its chief public provider decided to step outside its guidelines and aid the struggling arts venue.
    Dan Schwartz, Arts Garage finance director who has taken on the duties of co-executive director with Keith Garsson, said the Arts Garage board has agreed to loan the performing arts venue money to cover bank overdrafts and salaries. But it needs a cash infusion to be able to book concerts for the summer months.
    The Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency board agreed, deciding unanimously April 28 to release the first-quarter allocation, $68,750, under certain conditions.
    “The CRA needs a return on its investment, which will happen if the Arts Garage books bands this summer,” CRA board member Daniel Rose said. People will come for a concert and then eat at a restaurant, he said. “They are trying to crawl out of the hole. We need to crawl with them.”  
    “We are in a tough spot,” said Reggie Cox, chairman of the CRA. “We are accountable for fairness in this process.”
In that vein, the Arts Garage must:
    • Close the bank accounts associated with its Pompano Beach locations.
    • Provide checks, invoices and other financial backup for the first-quarter expenses for the Delray Beach location that are acceptable by CRA staff as sufficient documentation.
    • Provide an explanation from the Arts Garage auditor about the overdraft of $10,628.
    The Arts Garage severed financial ties with the Pompano Beach locations in early April, according to Schwartz. As of April 4, the bank accounts were no longer linked electronically, he said.
    The Arts Garage also eliminated its former executive director, Alyona Ushe, as an authorized check signer. After helping to create and build the Arts Garage, she resigned on April 4.
    Mayor Cary Glickstein called Ushe “a force of nature who through sheer will … took an embryonic idea … and turned it into a performing arts venue.”
    Not uncommon in the arts world, he said, the person who got you there is not the one who can manage it when the organization becomes more of a business.
    On April 19, Schwartz wrote, “It is worth noting that all staff related to Pompano has moved out of AG’s facilities and are completely funded by Pompano.”
    The Arts Garage was supposed to buy its location from the city in March, but it didn’t have the money. Instead it is seeking a long-term lease.
    To get the second quarter amount, another $68,750, the Arts Garage must submit:
    • Bank accounts showing CRA money is used only for the Delray Beach location.
    • A strategic plan or a timeline for completing one.
    • A final audit for the financial year of 2014-2015.
    Schwartz and Garsson estimated it would take 30 hours to pull the canceled checks and invoices for the first quarter and said their time could be better spent booking bands and performing other duties.
    But CRA executive director Jeff Costello insisted the documents be compiled.
    “To ensure the CRA money is used properly, we have to ensure the guidelines are followed,” Costello said. “If someone has to work extra to produce it that should be done.”
    Evelyn Dobson, executive director of the Delray Beach Community Land Trust that receives CRA money from the same program as the Arts Garage, noted that a final audit of the previous year was necessary to receive money for the current year. “Would you make the same concession for any other organization?” she asked.

    More than 200 bicyclists are expected in Delray Beach’s Ride of Silence, part of an annual event to honor cyclists killed or injured while riding.
    The worldwide event will begin at 6 p.m. May 18. It will be a 10-mile ride starting and ending at Old School Square.
    “This is a slow, casual ride not to exceed 9 mph,” said Patrick Halliday, president of the Delray Beach Bicycle Club.
    There is no charge to participate, but riders must be at least 16 years old. Riders should  arrive prior to 5:45 and must wear a helmet.

By Rich Pollack

    A group of dog owners buoyed by a Delray Beach Parks and Recreation Department plan to create a dog beach during a six-month trial suffered a setback when the department’s director reversed course, saying dogs romping through the sand could pose a health risk to beachgoers.
    “Recent information regarding specific parasitic conditions which could be acerbated by the presence of dogs, has caused me to change my recommendation,” said Delray Beach Parks and Recreation Director Suzanne Fisher.
    Fisher, who according to the city manager’s office is now officially on leave, recommended in March that the city conduct a pilot program for a dog beach. The plan would have allowed for a small portion of the city’s public beach, at Atlantic Dunes Park, to be cordoned off during early morning and late afternoon hours three days a week and available to dogs and their owners.
    Under that proposal, the 30,000-square-foot dog beach would be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday for two hours in the morning — from 7 to 9 — and three hours in the afternoon ending at sunset. A park ranger would ensure that all dogs were licensed and had proper shots.
    Before going on leave, however, Fisher issued a memo saying her department concluded that some parasites in dogs could be transmitted to humans if larvae shed in feces were to contaminate sand and then penetrate unprotected skin. The larvae can persist for three or four weeks in favorable conditions, she said.
    “While staff’s initial recommendation was to support a pilot program, after additional research regarding Cutaneous larva migrans and Ancylostoma braziliense, due to sand/soil contaminated by intestinal parasites, staff recommends enforcing the current ordinance — do not allow dogs on the municipal beach,” Fisher wrote.
    Cutaneous larva migrans and Ancylostoma braziliense are parasites that belong to the hookworm family.
    The latest position from the Parks and Recreation Department follows City Manager Don Cooper’s recommendation to city commissioners to reject the proposed pilot project. The issue, however, is still scheduled for a discussion at the commission’s workshop meeting on May 10.  
    Fisher’s reversal came as a surprise to leaders of Friends of Delray Dog Beach, who are planning a rally at 9 a.m. May 7 on A1A and Atlantic Avenue.
    “It shocked all of us,” said Bob Brewer, who founded the 1,000-member group. “We thought we had the worst behind us, now we’re back to square one.”
    Brewer said his organization had been working with Fisher and her department for more than a year and would strongly be in favor of creating a dog beach as a pilot project.
    “All we wanted was a trial period,” he said.
    Brewer also said that he and others in the informal group disagree with Fisher’s conclusion that parasites could be a health hazard. He said a member of the organization who is a physician and whose wife is a dermatologist both say the conditions cited by Fisher are extremely rare.
    “Dog beaches are working all over the country,” he said.
    Brewer said his organization is developing a strategy as it continues to advocate for a dog beach and plans to become more visible at commission meetings.
    “We’re not giving up,” he said. “We have too much invested.”

The Florida Department of Transportation is finishing work at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Venetian Drive.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith
    
    Delray Beach will have thinner landscape islands at the east Atlantic Avenue intersections of Venetian Drive and Gleason Street.
    New mast-arm signal poles with 54-inch foundations have been installed in the middle of the sidewalk on the north side of Atlantic at Venetian, leaving just enough room for a wheelchair, stroller or beach wagon to pass through. “It meets the minimum” for federal regulations on handicapped access, said Andy Katz, vice president of the Beach Property Owners Association. But he thinks something should be done there to widen the passage.
    The mayor agrees.
    At the April 19 City Commission meeting, Mayor Cary Glickstein called those two intersections “dangerous pedestrian areas” where you have “to turn sideways to walk down the sidewalk.”
    Florida Department of Transportation contractors are doing the work for which the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency paid $547,865.40.
    The work, which started in mid-January, was marred by rain delays, unrelated problems at the concrete plant and Atlantic Avenue street closings for Delray Beach events. The contractors worked weekdays only, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. As a result, the estimated two-month project is stretching to nearly four months.
    The contractor also drilled into city utility lines that power the street lights and irrigation systems. They had to be fixed and the city had to wait its turn to get at them, Environmental Services Director John Morgan told the commission.
    “I’m concerned about how disruptive it’s been,” he said.
    At the mayor’s urging, Morgan requested using some of the landscape island space from FDOT because that property is owned by the state. The city would then widen the sidewalk in that area to make it compatible with other parts of East Atlantic Avenue that have wider paths.
    At Venetian and Atlantic on the north side, the narrowest passage is three feet, which meets federal guidelines. It can be reduced to 32 inches with certain constraints, said Meredith Cruz, project spokeswoman.  
    That was the only place where FDOT contractors could not install the foundation in the landscaped area because it contained too many utility lines, she said.
    The contractors were expected to restore the work areas, including replacing sidewalk pavers, by the end of the first week in May — weather permitting.

By Rich Pollack

    John Boden was driving south on State Road A1A after dark and approaching a pedestrian crosswalk a few months ago when he happened to see the silhouettes of two women and four children in the headlights of a northbound car.
    Dressed in dark clothing and carrying no lights, the pedestrians had remained invisible to Boden until he was very close to the crosswalk.
    The experience, he says, helped launch him on a one-man crusade to get state and local government leaders to add flashing LED lights along the edges of pedestrian crosswalk signs to alert motorists when there are people in the crosswalk.
    “Realizing that there was the potential for me to kill a family was shocking,” says Boden.
    So far, Boden’s efforts have been unsuccessful, met with feedback from state transportation officials who say there has to be a compelling reason — a pattern of problems at certain crosswalks — before additional lighting can be added.
    While there haven’t been any major accidents at crosswalks near his Highland Beach home in recent years, Boden suspects there have been many near misses. “Everyone I’ve told this story to says ‘It’s happened to me, too,’ ” he said.
    At the same time Boden is launching his campaign for more-visible signage, state officials say they are in the process of deciding whether to continue replacing in-street pedestrian warning signs — those in the middle of the crosswalks — at locations where they are continuously being knocked down.
    “Because they’re hit so often, it’s becoming expensive for the department to replace them,” says Jonathan Overton, the Florida Department of Transportation’s assistant district traffic engineer for the area that includes Palm Beach County.  He estimates that there are between 100 and 150 of the signs statewide, with the biggest concentration in Palm Beach and Broward counties.
    Should the state choose not to replace signs — sometimes referred to as paddle signs or rebounders — that are repeatedly knocked over, municipalities would still have the option to pay for the signs and have them installed by city or town staff.
    That’s already occurring in some coastal towns such as Ocean Ridge, where Police Chief Hal Hutchins says the town routinely replaces knocked-down crosswalk signs.
    In Highland Beach, however, paying to replace the signs —  available for between $65 and $70 —  could end up being costly. The town has eight crosswalks and at a recent commission meeting town officials said they estimate that more than 100 signs have been replaced during a three-year period.
    Both Overton of DOT and Highland Beach Town Manager Beverly Brown say signs near driveways tend to be knocked down the most.
    While signs — both the in-road signs and state-mandated yellow and black crosswalk signs on both sides of the road — do raise awareness, Overton, along with some Highland Beach town commissioners, say education of pedestrians may be the most effective tool in preventing near misses like the one Boden faced.
    “The burden for crossing the street still lies with the pedestrian,” said City Commissioner Carl Feldman, who suggested that perhaps the town’s Police Department could make presentations on crosswalk safety. “Education is important.”
    For his part, Boden is continuing his efforts to have pedestrian-activated flashing LED lights placed on the yellow and black diamond-shaped pedestrian crosswalk signs.
    Those lights, which he said he’s seen on State Road A1A in northern Florida, draw more attention than some of the more common blinking yellow crosswalk lights that can be activated by pedestrians.
    “Everyone wants to do this,” he said. “I’m going to find a way to climb over this wall.”

Mayor Steven Grant (left) works the crowd at the Boynton Beach Firefighters Fishing Tournament

& Chili Cook-Off at Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith
    
    Steven Grant just can’t stop smiling.
    “Mayor Taylor had raised more than $40,000 for his re-election campaign, had the backing of the police and fire unions, while I raised (less than $3,000) and had the backing of the people,” Grant said. He was able to force the mayor’s race into a runoff.
    At 33, Grant is probably the youngest mayor in the history of Boynton Beach. Harvey E. Oyer Jr. was turning 34 when he was elected in 1960, says his daughter Susan, who helped Grant in his runoff race against incumbent Jerry Taylor, 80.
    Since winning the March 29 runoff with 57 percent of the votes, Grant has embraced his mayoral role. He attends events, ceremonies, government meetings, residents forums and individual sessions with city staff and various developers. He has a city cellphone, business cards and even embroidered polo shirts with his full name: Steven B. Grant.
    Grant has come to symbolize the younger face of the Boynton Beach City Commission.
    Justin Katz, 32, joined him when he ran unopposed, taking 70-year-old David Merker’s seat when he ran unsuccessfully for mayor. Katz wants to see a vibrant downtown and to stop “the petty stuff” that often bogged down the previous commission. Katz teaches advanced placement U.S. government and microeconomics courses at Park Vista High School. He’s single and shares his Renaissance Commons townhouse with his Siberian husky/wolf breed dog, Ice. Originally from Cherry Hill, N.J., he moved to South Florida when he transferred to Florida Atlantic University and graduated with an education degree in high school social studies.
    Christina Romelus, 27, beat incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick, 62, and James Brake. Romelus, an adjunct professor at Palm Beach State College who also runs a marketing and consulting business called Sky Administrations, lives in the Seacrest Estates neighborhood, east of Bethesda Memorial Hospital. She is married with two sons: Christian, 2, and David Lee, 2 weeks. Born in Haiti, she grew up in Delray Beach and moved to Boynton Beach in 2010 after she was married. She wants to bring economic development to allow more businesses to open and provide jobs to residents. In addition, she wants to create a vibrant downtown that residents and visitors can enjoy.
    The three younger members serve along with Joe Casello, 62, and Vice Mayor Mack McCray, 66.

Voicing their opinions
    The new commissioners have all stated they are in favor of saving the old high school building.
    At the April 19 meeting, the commission reviewed an unsolicited proposal on the building. Commissioners voted 3-2 to table it until August. Katz and Romelus were on the losing side. “To table it is to kick the can down the road. We need to do something right now,” she said before the vote.
    But Casello and McCray agreed with Grant that the offer should be tabled until the city’s motion to dismiss is heard in July for a nearly 3-year-old court case concerning the high school. An architect had sued the city when his plan to rezone the property was not heard.
    At a strategic planning session May 3, commissioners reviewed the plans and directed staff to change them in time to be included in the next city budget.
    Grant, who moved to Boynton Beach five years ago to open his own law firm specializing in collections and estates, served for three years as chairman of the city’s Financial Advisory Committee.
    He wanted to make use of his undergraduate degree in finance from the University of Maryland while doing his civic duty. He earned his law degree from the Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville.
    Grant is single and lives in the Heart of Boynton, near the downtown, with his Australian shepherd, Daisy, and Maine coon cat, Milo.
    The city’s Financial Advisory Committee was disbanded early last year when then-Mayor Taylor said it was duplicating the work of staff.
    Grant said the committee had wanted to delve into properties owned by the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. “It made me think: What are they hiding?” he said recently.
    Merker told him to apply for the CRA board vacancy. Grant did, but he wasn’t selected.
    In the summer, he heard the old high school may be demolished and that two citizen members would be removed from the CRA board. That convinced him to run for mayor.
    “I like to take charge, be a leader,” Grant said. “I don’t like being told what to do.”
    Backers of the old high school, including Susan Oyer and Barbara Ready, had committed to helping Merker win the mayor’s race. They switched to Grant for the runoff because he promised to save the school. They also like his development stance.
    “He will help Boynton Beach get on the right track,” said Ready, chairwoman of the city’s Historic Resources Preservation Board. “The citizens are tired of being patronized.”
    Oyer said her role was painting signs, standing outside on a corner at Home Depot for three hours waving Grant-for-mayor signs and knocking on 200 doors in her neighborhood.
    “My dad would have been proud that I worked on his campaign,” Oyer said. She also donated $100 to Grant’s runoff campaign.

Development contributed to election
    Other developers with projects in the city donated to Taylor last year. Isram Realty, seeking a zoning change for its 10-story Riverwalk apartments, donated $2,000 to Taylor’s campaign in the fall.
    The Isram principals aren’t concerned. “Commissioners make the decision at a quasi-judicial hearing,” said Isram’s attorney, Steve Wherry. “Those efforts would be ongoing regardless of who was on the dais.”
    Companies for the Ocean One complex on Federal Highway donated at least $3,500 to Taylor’s re-election and runoff campaigns.
    At the April 19 City Commission meeting, the CRA said it had advertised the nearly half-acre parcel that Ocean One wants for its eight-story apartment project.
    Because no buyers came forward, the CRA will be able to sell it for $10. The CRA will review Ocean One plans May 10. Project spokesman Bill Morris likes the idea of an all-citizen CRA board, proposed by Grant. “It creates checks and balances by decreasing the concentration of power in one agency when the CRA board is composed of citizens,” Morris said.
    Other Boynton Beach activists have high hopes for the new commission.“Mayor Taylor’s view was pro-development and lacked transparency,” said Harry Woodworth, president of Inlet Communities Association.
    “We want kind and gentle development,” Woodworth said, “not the high rises they have in Pompano Beach and Singer Island.”
    Kristine de Haseth, the Florida Coalition for Preservation executive director who helped to form the Boynton Coalition for Responsible Development, also sees the change as a positive step for Boynton Beach.
    “Out with the old, in with the new,” she said. “We want to get beyond pushing the pause button, then hitting rewind and repeating.”

By Rich Pollack

    Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies and local law enforcement officers now have the ability to ban individuals who violate state laws or local ordinances in a county park from visiting that park again. And some repeat offenders could be banished for as long as 10 years.
    Under a new ordinance passed by the Palm Beach County Commission last month, sheriff’s deputies and local police officers can now issue trespass notices to anyone violating county ordinances, rules or regulations or state laws in a county park and prevent those individuals from returning to that county park or natural area.
    First-time offenders are banned from returning to a specified park or natural area for one year. Those receiving a second violation will be banned for five years, and those who receive a third violation will be banned for 10 years.
    The ordinance also specifies that anyone in a park or natural area after being banned from that specific facility can be arrested on trespassing charges.
    The ordinance covers such county facilities as South Inlet Park in Boca Raton; Gulfstream Park, near Gulf Stream; and Ocean Inlet Park and Ocean Ridge Hammock Park in Ocean Ridge.
    Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins sees the new ordinance as helping to ensure that those who come to a park and follow the rules are able to enjoy their visit.
    “People who can’t follow the rules probably shouldn’t be there,” he said.
    According to the ordinance, trespass notices can be issued for a wide range of activities that damage county property or wildlife, including harming or harassing animals in natural areas, and removing live plants or plant parts.  
    The ordinance also bans using or possessing fireworks and building a fire in an unauthorized area. Drunkenness, obscene behavior and loitering in a county park or natural area can also earn a visitor a trespass notice, as can any violation of state law, including lewdness and indecent exposure.   
    The new ordinance spells out the appeals process, which was made necessary by recent court cases and legal opinions.  
    Details of how the law is to be enforced by local law enforcement agencies and how deputies and officers will know who has been banned from a specific park are still being worked out, according to Hutchins.
    “We’re waiting for specific instructions about the mechanisms for enforcement,” Hutchins said.
    Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation Director Eric Call says the solution is in the works.  “A database is being developed listing all persons issued a trespass notice that law enforcement will have access to,” Call said.    
    The ordinance, passed on April 19, adds some teeth to the enforcement of county rules and regulations as well as minor criminal violations, Call said.
    In the past, civil citations were issued to individuals for ordinance violations, but the individuals were not usually stopped from returning to the park unless they were charged with a serious offense. In those cases, Call said, they were usually arrested.