By Dan Moffett

    The 4th District Court of Appeal has ruled that Palm Beach County cities and towns don’t have to pay the county’s bill for running an inspector general’s office — even though their voters approved it.
    The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel in December overturns a lower court decision and is a victory for home rule and municipal autonomy, say attorneys for a coalition of 14 municipalities that sued the county.
    “This case has always been about the legal method for funding a countywide program, not the virtue of, or the need for the program itself,” said Manalapan Town Attorney Keith Davis, who hailed the ruling as “great news” for the towns. “This is not, and never has been, about the OIG (Office of Inspector General) itself. My clients are not foes of the OIG.”
    Davis said the essence of the issue is whether the county has the right to bill municipal governments directly without negotiating a contract with the municipalities.
    In 2015, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Catherine Brunson ruled that the county did have that power and got it when voters went to the polls in 2010 and approved a referendum establishing the OIG. The appeals court disagreed, however.
    “The court held that the voters’ original approval of the referendum did not rise to the level of creating a contract between the county and the municipalities that would allow for the billing scheme,” Davis said. “The court held that there was no waiver of sovereign immunity based on the referendum that created the OIG in the first place.”
    Inspector General John Carey said he was “deeply disappointed” by the court’s reversal, which raises questions about how his office, which has a $3 million annual budget, will find the money to keep doing work as the county’s government watchdog. Had the lower court decision been upheld, Palm Beach County’s 39 cities and towns would have had to come up with roughly $6 million by the end of 2016 to cover their share of the past and current OIG bills.
    Davis said he expects the case ultimately to wind up in the Florida Supreme Court. Besides Manalapan, the other plaintiffs in the suit are West Palm Beach, which has played the lead role in the legal fight, Gulf Stream, Boca Raton, Highland Beach, Ocean Ridge, Riviera Beach, Lake Park, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Tequesta, Palm Beach Shores and Mangonia Park.
    Briny Breezes Town Attorney John Skrandel applauded the appellate ruling and told his Town Council he intends to add Briny’s name to the coalition of municipalities.
    “This is a distinctly big win for the towns,” Skrandel said. “Basically 99 percent of the things the county wanted got shot down.”
    Skrandel said the referendum was overly vague about how to pay for the OIG, and county officials went too far in trying to define it.
    “They got creative here, and that’s something you never want to do,” he said. “It was a very dangerous thing the way they did it. … If a county can tax a city, that’s huge. It was a dangerous precedent to set.”
    Judge Carole Taylor, in writing for the appellate panel, said that — contrary to the lower court’s view that the voters’ will trumped the need for a contract — municipalities have the distinct power to control their budgets and decide what costs to pass on to their residents.
    “Voters may not waive a municipality’s sovereign immunity through a local referendum,” the ruling said. “In sum, we hold that the municipalities’ decision whether to budget funds for the OIG program is a discretionary decision protected by sovereign immunity.”

By Jane Smith
    
    The proposed Riverwalk project is sailing through the approval process in Boynton Beach, despite residents’ objections to its height and traffic.
    The 10-story, U-shaped apartment complex will replace the vacant Winn-Dixie shopping center at the southeast corner of Federal Highway and Woolbright Road.
    Residents on its upper floors will have views of the Atlantic Ocean along with the adjacent Intracoastal Waterway. That will allow the project to charge as much as $2,200 in monthly rent for some of its 326 units.
    The project’s land-use and zoning changes were tentatively approved at the Jan. 3 meeting by a 3-2 vote. Mayor Steven Grant and Commissioner Christina Romelus voted no.
    The second reading with  public input will be Jan. 17.
    It also will return for votes on its height exception and setback exception requests, along with its site plan approval on Jan. 17.
    Riverwalk’s owner is seeking an extra 5 feet above the 10-story limit to allow stair towers and design elements and a setback of 139 feet from Woolbright Road because a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant sits at the center’s north side.
    Attorney Michael Weiner gave the Riverwalk presentation at the Jan. 3 meeting.
    “The greater good of the city will be served to have the increased height at nodes, or activity centers,” he said.

    In late 2014, the parent company of Winn-Dixie announced plans to close some stores, including this location, which shut down in January 2015. Several months passed before the shopping center’s owner, Isram Realty of Hallandale Beach, gained control of the store space.
    At the Dec. 27 city Planning and Development board meeting, Isram’s attorney, Steven Wherry, said the Community Redevelopment Agency “approached my client about doing a mixed-use project there; my client was interested.”
    But Harry Woodworth, president of the Inlet Communities Association, said at that meeting, “The building is massive. The density can be achieved at seven stories.”
    INCA represents 10 waterfront communities in Boynton Beach.
    In July, Isram President Shaul Rikman told the CRA board members, who also sit as the City Commission, “We submitted a seven-story project and came back to the city and CRA and said we can’t make it at seven stories. … We need 10 stories to break even. They said, ‘You know what, we’re working on creating nodes (to allow taller buildings) and hold off on it until such thing passes or not.’ ”
    Isram waited, and the CRA and city came through.
    Just before the Riverwalk project was approved by the city’s Planning and Development board in December, the CRA updated the plans for its entire 1,650-acre district, which covers most of the land east of Interstate 95. Most of the updates were agreeable to the residents, such as turning Boynton Beach Boulevard into a complete street with wider sidewalks, shade trees, better lighting and benches.
    But residents opposed the height increases at several intersections and along Ocean Avenue.
    The updated plans call for a mixed-use zoning district at the Woolbright and Federal intersection, even though the three other corners were redeveloped recently. The old plan allowed up to 75 feet, or seven stories, while the new plan gives up to 100 feet, or 10 stories.
    Woodworth called the Woolbright and Federal intersection “the worst intersection in the CRA district” and urged the Planning and Development board members in December to use common sense and not just rely on traffic studies. The intersection sits just west of the Woolbright bridge that connects Boynton Beach with Ocean Ridge.
    But Wherry had already played the money card. At another advisory board meeting in July, he said the redeveloped Riverwalk would increase the city’s tax base by nearly $1.1 million annually.
    At the December meeting, Wherry was asked how parking would be monitored in front of the building. He said all residents would have stickers for their cars. “If it becomes a problem, the city will invoke a contingency that is a two-step process,” he said.
    Isram is working out the terms of how that process would work with the city attorney, Wherry said.
    “The city could survey the area and provide the developer with a 30-day notice,” he said. Then the developer could hire a valet parking company and eliminate self-parking. If it’s still a problem, the developer would have to construct rooftop parking on the building that houses a Walgreen’s and a Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft store.
    He said Isram could do that without the tenants’ permission because their leases covered only the interior space, but the potential plan was discussed with both tenants.
    The city’s planning director, Mike Rumpf, said the parking question was asked of all developers.
    “The applicant must provide a plan or strategy in the event the parking projections were wrong or for some reason demand increased resulting in a shortage,” he wrote in an email.
    As to the restaurants in the center, Prime Catch owns its property and will stay.
    Wherry gave these updates for the other restaurants: Rice Fine Thai will move to the 500 Ocean project, under construction at Ocean Avenue and Federal Highway; Josie’s is deciding whether to take space in the building with Walgreen’s and Jo-Ann Fabrics or move off-site; Sushi Simon is moving out of Riverwalk; and Primo Hoagies and Bond and Smolders will be given an option to move within the redeveloped project.

Commission likely  to vote this month on city

review team’s recommendations for downtown

By Jane Smith

    The four candidates Boynton Beach is considering to work on redeveloping Town Square read like a “who’s who” of development teams in South Florida and beyond.
    Boynton Beach is seeking a developer partner to help jump-start the 16.5-acre site downtown that is home to its City Hall, police headquarters, fire station No. 1, Civic Center, Madsen Center and Arts Center. According to the city, the mixed-use development can accommodate residential, office and retail space.
    Among the notable names in the proposals are:  
    Historic preservation architect Rick Gonzalez, currently working on the Swinton Commons project in Delray Beach, is part of the Boynton Beach Town Square LLC bid. He also worked on the restoration of the Mar-a-Lago estate for President-elect Donald J. Trump.
    Another participant in this proposal is John Markey, whose firm developed two multifamily projects in the western part of Boynton Beach. The team includes Kimley-Horn, a North Carolina-based engineering design firm that does consulting work for cities throughout South Florida.
    Bill Branning, former Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency board member and board chairman of the Old School Square in Delray Beach, and his BSA Construction firm teamed with Atlantic Realty Partners and Kaplan Residential as part of the Boynton Vision LLC bid.
    Local attorney Michael Weiner, who owns the Post Office building at Seacrest Avenue and Boynton Beach Boulvard, is also a participant along with Kimley-Horn.
    The third bidder, Town Square Partners, includes Davis Camalier and William Morris, who are developing the Ocean One project in Boynton Beach. They are joined by Kaufman Lynn, the Boca Raton-based construction company that is moving its headquarters to Delray Beach; along with historic preservation planner Wes Blackman, whose firm has done work for Trump; and Chris Brown, former Delray Beach CRA director, and his Redevelopment Management Associates, which provides contract services to cities to run their CRA districts.
    The fourth team, Municipal Consolidation and Construction, is based in Washington, D.C. Its president, Frank Haney, has committed to hiring local firms to do design, engineering, surveying and legal work.
    The first round of selecting a developer partner ended Nov. 22, with four candidates made public Dec. 22. A six-member city review team will select one to four of them to move to the next round of review by Jan. 6, according to Tim Howard, assistant city manager.
    The development teams will be ranked based on a set of criteria that include: the team’s development experience with projects over 350,000 square feet, partnership experience with a government agency, the makeup and experience of the design team and experience of its architects and contractors, the team’s financing capacity, and experience with at least one public-private partnership.
    Then the full City Commission will have to approve the selections, likely at its Jan. 17 meeting, Howard said.
    The Public Library, Schoolhouse Children’s Museum and historic high school must remain at their current locations in Town Square, according to the city proposal document. Boynton Beach is open to demolishing the Civic, Madsen and Arts centers and having their uses become part of the high school building.
    A potential stumbling block to reusing the high school building was removed in early December when a judge dismissed the third-amended lawsuit against the city. The judge did not allow the Boynton Old School Partnership LLC an opportunity to amend the complaint for its plans to create an event center at the high school. The only recourse for architect Juan Contin’s firm was an appeal, but nothing was filed as of Dec. 30.
    Also in the mix is a city-owned 5.5-acre site along High Ridge Road. Boynton Beach had acquired the site for a new police headquarters building in 2004, but it is open to selling or trading the land at the intersection of Gateway Boulevard and Interstate 95.
    For the next round, the teams will have six weeks to submit renderings of the Town Square buildings and a financing plan of how the deal will be structured. The deal’s terms include amount of taxpayer dollars requested and plans for acquiring the city-owned buildings, demolishing them and replacing them with new ones that would be leased back to the city. The rental rate should account for the value of the city-owned land given to the developers, according to the city proposal document.
    The review team will spend another six weeks ranking the second-phase proposals after they are submitted. Then, the city commission will select a Town Square partner in late April or early May.
    The winning team will have 20 days to pay $100,000 to the city to set up the contracts. If no deal is reached, the money will be returned within 30 days.

Delray Beach plans to trim its sea grape trees down to 2 feet and then maintain them at 4 feet high,

except for three canopies within a 1,385-foot stretch of public beach.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith
    
    The topic of sea grape trimming turned into a debate of aesthetics vs. science at two City Commission meetings in December.
    “I worry about what we are doing to our sea grapes and canopies,” Commissioner Shelly Petrolia said at the first meeting.
    Commissioner Mitch Katz, who was not a member of the commission when the sea grape trimming first came up a few years ago, asked to see the year-old permits on Dec. 6. He also wanted to have the science explained about why sea grape trimming is beneficial to the Delray Beach dune system. Some Delray Beach residents like the canopies created by the sea grapes that lead to the municipal beach.
    At each meeting, the tree-trimming contract was on the consent agenda. Petrolia pulled it off for discussion at the first December meeting; the city manager pulled it off at the Dec. 13 meeting.
    At the Dec. 6 meeting, Donald Robinson, Manor House Condo Association president, spoke in support of trimming the sea grapes. The condo building sits on western side of A1A, opposite of where the sea grapes would be trimmed.
    “In the past six months, people are sleeping in there on mattresses,” he said. He also talked about finding condoms and stolen chairs from the beach concession inside the sea grapes.
    “The sea grapes are so thick and tall, that if a big storm came through, they could blow across the street and damage the Manor House,” he said. If that happens, the condo association would sue the city because it had been warned, Robinson said.
    Dune consultant Rob Barron, hired by Delray Beach to manage its coastal system, agreed. The former Delray Beach chief lifeguard said sea grapes are worse than Australian pines during a storm. Sea grapes are fast-growing and have brittle wood and shallow roots.
    The city planted 50 yards of sea grapes in the 1980s and they have expanded 330 percent, Barron said.
    “Nothing grows under them,” he said.
    The sea grapes don’t hold the sand, said Environmental Services Director John Morgan. “We need to bring in low-growing plants to keep the dune healthy.”  
    In other areas of the city’s coastline where the sea grapes were trimmed, the dune plants have thrived, making Delray Beach a model of coastal management and biodiversity.
    At the Dec. 13 commission meeting, Morgan presented a compromise. Most of the sea grapes would be trimmed to 2 feet and maintained at 4 feet, except for three canopies along a 1,385-foot stretch of the public beach. Two would be at the opposite ends and one would be in the middle near the Atlantic Avenue pavilion.
    The citywide contract with Zimmerman Tree Services costs a total of $75,000, about $35,000 of which would be for sea grape trimming, Morgan said.
    The compromise secured votes by Commissioners Petrolia and Katz.
    But Mayor Cary Glickstein worried that they were voting for how the sea grapes look and not the science behind why they should be trimmed.
    “The commission hired this expert, paid him for his opinion. … He has implemented the plan approved,” Glickstein said.
    “Then people in the community are saying this is not what we like. If we wanted that kind of opinion, we should have done a survey.”
    He didn’t like the compromise, which he called a “complete cop-out” to the science. But he voted to approve the contract to ensure the sea grape trimming would occur.
    In other business at the December meetings, the commission unanimously:
    • Agreed to pay up to $200,000 to design and rebuild the Atlantic Dunes Park pavilion that was destroyed in a suspicious fire in June.
    • Agreed to five-year deals with its service providers, formerly called nonprofits, to give them taxpayer dollars in exchange for reporting requirements of annual budgets, business plans, audits, outreach and diversity plans and the number of people served or participated in the activities. The service providers are: Delray Beach Historical Society, Sandoway Discovery Center, the Spady Museum, Achievement Centers for Children and Families, and the Boys & Girls Club of Palm Beach County.
    • Agreed to a 10-year lease with the Old School Square board at a nominal rent of $1 annually for the Cornell Museum, the Crest Theatre, the Field House, the pavilion and grounds. The lease requires the following reports: annual budget, annual audits, number of adults and children served in the programs, a three-year strategic plan, efforts and results of increasing diversity on its board and cooperative program efforts with other city arts organizations.
    The lease details the type of activities the city would like to see on the grounds and in the buildings. In addition, it lists who is responsible for damages. The lease can be renewed twice for 10 years each time.

Dozens of residents wore yellow in support of Yvonne Odom’s selection for interim commissioner

at the contentious Dec. 13 Delray Beach commission meeting.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

    The Delray Beach City Commission remains deadlocked over filling a seat left vacant when Vice Mayor Al Jacquet resigned Nov. 8 to take a state House seat won in the November election. It’s a temporary vacancy, however, because that commission seat will be up for grabs on the March 14 ballot.
    The commission’s disagreement has created a rift in Delray Beach. It’s led to emotionally charged City Commission meetings, a nasty mailer that criticized the mayor, an automated phone call that rebuked two city commissioners, and two court papers filed to force the city to follow its charter and hold a special election within 60 days.
    The first legal action, filed Dec. 7 by resident Kenneth MacNamee, who applied to fill Jacquet’s seat, was set aside after resident J. Reeve Bright filed a similar action on Dec. 15.  
    Bright had secured a hearing on Dec. 30. The former lawyer personally served legal documents to the city manager and city commissioners. But because of this, the judge ruled that the action could not be heard Dec. 30, saying that Bright must use a process server to hand out legal documents.
    After the documents are properly served, a new hearing will be scheduled within two days. As of press time, the hearing date hadn’t been set.
    Meanwhile, the deadlock is building walls in Delray Beach.
    “I used to think all of the negativity was just on Facebook,” resident and business owner Ryan Boylston said at the Dec. 13 commission meeting. “But in the last week, I’ve seen a mailer, I’ve heard about a robo call and I’ve seen people wearing T-shirts on a Delray Beach float (in the holiday parade) that I didn’t think were prideful of our city.”
    The people on the Garlic Fest float included former Mayor Jeff Perlman. He wrote a blog post about the Dec. 10 parade, saying he wore the T-shirt with its “Lake Worth Making Delray Nervous” wording in jest.
    “If a Garlic Fest float can anger you, I suppose you are blessed,” he wrote on the YourDelrayBoca.com website under a blog post called Teachable Moments.
    Twice the Delray Beach commissioners have voted on filling the vacant seat. They agreed the commission needed a minority representative to replace Jacquet, who is Haitian-American, but they were split on whether Josh Smith or Yvonne Odom, both African-Americans, should fill the seat temporarily.
    Odom is a retired educator. She remains active in the city’s youth athletic leagues and promised not to run in March.
    “We, the citizens of Delray, have always been able to talk it out,” she said at the Dec. 13 commission meeting.
    Most of the speakers on Dec. 6 and 13 supported her.
    Smith also attended the meetings, but he did not speak publicly. A retired school administrator, he ran unsuccessfully for the commission seat now held by Mitch Katz. He also served on the city’s code enforcement board and has filed paperwork to run for Vice Mayor Jordana Jarjura’s seat in March.
    Jarjura and Mayor Cary Glickstein supported Odom, while Commissioners Katz and Shelly Petrolia backed Smith.
    The nasty mailer was sent in early December to a select group of city voters, usually directed to the man of the house. The anonymous mailer blamed the mayor for all of the city’s problems.
    But Boylston, who is also chairman of the taxpayer-supported Downtown Development Authority, told the commissioners they all shared the blame. “The mailer had facts on it,” he said Dec. 13. “It’s all of your fault.”
    The day before that meeting, an automated call was made to some residents. The caller said she was Melanie with an important Delray Beach update. She went on to chide Katz and Petrolia “for putting politics ahead of what’s best for our community.”
    At the Dec. 13 meeting, resident Nancy MacManus said the call offended her because she believes all commissioners are working hard.
    That meeting imploded when Glickstein criticized Katz and Petrolia for not allowing another vote that would select their top three choices, suggested by Jarjura as a way to find commonality among them.
    But the extra vote could be in violation of the city’s charter, which was why Petrolia said she did not want to do it.
    “I’m ashamed to sit up here with the two of you with this community sitting out there,” Glickstein said Dec. 13, referring to black residents.
    Petrolia countered, “Likewise, mayor.”
    But Glickstein was not finished. “To Ryan Boylston, who said it’s our fault, you’re right,” the mayor said. “I own the piece that I haven’t been able to create a collegiate atmosphere this town deserves.
    “I’m trying to get you to see how people who have been stepped on for years and all they want is to have someone sit up here for three months, even if nothing happens.”
    Katz took offense to what he called “a lecture,” saying he didn’t need another dad.
    Glickstein and City Attorney Max Lohman said the county supervisor of elections was not able to hold an election within 60 days. The supervisor offered to host one in February at the same time as elections in Palm Beach and Hypoluxo, which would be a few days beyond the 60-day limit outlined in Delray’s charter.
    They also pointed out that a special election would cost the city at least $75,000 and the election could be confusing to city voters when there is a municipal election in March.
    But Bright and MacNamee disagreed.
    “We have a charter that runs our city; it’s not up to the mayor, and he needs to understand that,” Bright said Dec. 30.

Chief Edward Allen at the Gulf Stream police station, where he has been an officer for more than 28 years.

Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Dressed as Santa Claus, Chief Edward Allen talks with Katniss, Kiran and Kaia Koedel

at Ocean Ridge’s holiday party on Dec. 2.

By Steve Plunkett

    The town’s new police chief hasn’t strayed far from his roots.
    Born and raised in Boynton Beach, Lt. and acting Chief Edward Allen was promoted to Gulf Stream’s chief of police at the Town Commission’s Dec. 9 meeting.
    “I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel particularly safe this morning,” Town Manager William Thrasher said as he formally introduced the new chief to commissioners.
    Mayor Scott Morgan called it a time “of conflicting emotions” with former Chief Garrett Ward missing from duty since June because of health problems. Ward submitted his resignation effective Dec. 1.
    Morgan said he “wholeheartedly” supported Allen’s appointment. “He is a man with excellent managerial skills. He oversees things very well. He communicates very well. He’s loyal to his staff, to the men who serve under him, and he is decidedly loyal to the residents of Gulf Stream.”
    Public service runs in Allen’s family. His father, Ed Sr., was chief of the Boynton Beach Fire Department. Allen started out in Boynton’s Police Department in 1981, moved to the Ocean Ridge force in 1986 and to Gulf Stream on June 10, 1988.
    “I’m actually the longest-tenured employee in the town,” he said.
    He feels fortunate to inherit a 12-person force that has kept the number of crime reports low, but said the figures are deceiving. “You can’t put numbers on what you prevent,” Allen said.
    He also said “things are running very smoothly” in Gulf Stream. “I don’t see [making] any major changes at all.”
    People in Ocean Ridge know Allen as the Santa Claus at their annual holiday party for the past five or six years. He got the gig through his friendship with then-Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi, who knew that Allen also mounted a Christmas display at his home in Boynton Beach that drew 250-300 viewers. “I’ve only lived in four homes,” said Allen, who now resides west of Lantana.
    Watching Allen, 57, take the oath of office from Town Clerk Rita Taylor were his wife, Karen; his parents; his daughter and two stepdaughters; friends; almost all of the Gulf Stream police force; and Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins, who like Allen was a lieutenant before being promoted.
    Hutchins called Allen “a great guy” who fits his community. “He’s probably one of the most patient people I’ve ever met,” Hutchins said.
    In other business at the December commission meeting:
    • Thrasher told commis-sioners he expects Gulf Stream will receive “as much as $250,000” from the recently approved extra penny sales tax in Palm Beach County. The money will be used for road improvements, he said.
    • Morgan said the town will advertise in January for someone to replace Thrasher, who is retiring in April. “We anticipate a fair number of résumés,” Morgan said.
    The mayor will screen the applications with Thrasher and Taylor, then call a special commission meeting to select the new town manager.

By Jane Smith
    
    He started as a valet attendant decades ago when he was in college. He liked meeting people and especially driving their cars. Soon he was “hooked” on the industry.
    “Everybody needs parking,” said Jorge Alarcon, the new parking facilities manager for Delray Beach.
    Formerly regional sales director for Eagle Parking, he saw the Delray Beach opening on the International Parking Institute’s website for parking professionals.
    Alarcon, who started in June with an annual salary of $75,608, likes the challenge of implementing a master parking plan for the entire city — with commission approval. The plan covers meters on the barrier island, two city-owned parking garages and 14 city-owned parking lots.
    Atlantic Avenue meters west of the Intracoastal Waterway are part of the plan, Alarcon said. Business owners, residents and others will want to have input. Then, the City Commission will have the final say — likely next spring.

    The master plan includes bicycle parking, valet parking and pedestrian paths, as well as shuttle services, Alarcon said.  
    The plan was finished in 2010. “Technology in the parking industry has advanced tremendously in the past six years,” he said.
    Here’s what Alarcon sees for the parking future in Delray Beach:
    How many parking spaces does Delray Beach have?
    The central core (Swinton Avenue east to the Intracoastal) has about 1,830 spaces, including about 700 in the two city-owned garages. The barrier island has around 683 spaces. We also have four golf-cart parking spaces and two areas designed for motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles.
    The last study is now 6 years old. Do you think it’s time for a new study?
    I am recommending the city explore available technology to provide a better parking experience for anyone visiting Delray Beach.
    What plans do you have to make visitors, shoppers and diners aware of empty parking spaces?
    Technology will play an important role in providing awareness of available parking. “Smart parking” is how the industry refers to it. By placing sensors in the parking spaces, the sensors will communicate through a smartphone application about the availability of parking spaces, which ones are empty or filled.
    People visiting a restaurant or shop in Delray will be able to locate the closest available parking space and not spend time searching. They also will be able to pay for the parking using the smartphone application.
    In addition, they have the option of receiving updates of when the parking time will expire and to purchase more time — all through their smartphones.
    We are working on making the parking experience in Delray Beach as seamless as possible.
    The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency recently updated its study of downtown parking needs. One update was done during mid-January, then the other update in late April. What did the results tell you?
    The CRA’s recent 2016 report on the use of parking spaces in the downtown core reflects few changes between the months in the use of the parking for both on-street and off-street. In Delray Beach, we really do not have seasons when it comes to parking.

By Dan Moffett

    Saying it’s time to step aside, Manalapan’s David Cheifetz has decided not to run for mayor again when his term expires in March.
    “I’ve been a resident of Manalapan for 12 years now,” Cheifetz said during the Dec. 13 town meeting, “and during that 12 years I’ve served on ArCom, was chairman of ArCom, served on zoning, and ran in the last contested election for commissioner and defeated the incumbent. I’ve been mayor for two terms now, and I think it’s time for someone else.”
    Cheifetz’s surprising announcement opens the door to a potential overhaul of the Town Commission next spring. The seats of three other commission members — Vice Mayor Peter Isaac, Mayor Pro Tem Chauncey Johnstone and Commissioner Basil Diamond, who preceded Cheifetz as mayor — also are up for reelection.
    None of them has declared candidacy yet, but they have until Feb. 14 to file.
    Unlike many coastal communities, Manalapan’s mayor is elected directly by voters, and sitting commissioners would have to resign their seats to run for the at-large position.
    Cheifetz, 75, helped guide the town through some important capital improvements and some contentious legal disputes during his four years as mayor.
    The town replaced the Audubon Causeway bridge, at a cost of just under $1 million, and renovated Town Hall and the library to comply with federal disability requirements.
    Manalapan also resolved a decade-long legal fight with residents Louis and Wendy Navellier over building code violations, collecting $232,000 in fines. Complaints about civil rights violations by the Police Department ended when resident Kersen De Jong, a frequent critic of town officials, died at the age of 65. Cheifetz also pushed through new rules on decorum to keep order during meetings that were often long and heated.
    The most significant accomplishment during Cheifetz’s tenure likely will be the town’s approval last summer of a deal to bring a Publix supermarket to Plaza del Mar, something many residents had wanted for years.
    “It’s been a good run,” Cheifetz said. “Now it’s time for someone else to become mayor.”
    In other business:
    • The commission told Town Manager Linda Stumpf to investigate the possibility of hiring an engineering company to replace Mock Roos & Associates, the town’s longtime consultant, for work that is about to begin on the town’s water delivery infrastructure.
    Several commissioners have complained about the West Palm Beach firm’s performance in recent years. Cheifetz said he was unhappy with the company’s work on a street paving project and the Audubon Causeway bridge replacement.  “It seems we are being obligated to deal with a firm who has let us down in the past,” the mayor said.
    Stumpf said that since Mock Roos designed the infrastructure project, other engineers may be reluctant to take over without designing it themselves. That could cost the town an additional $40,000 or so. “Mock Roos’ expertise is with water utilities,” Stumpf said. “They’ve done an excellent job with that.”
    Commissioners were not persuaded and told her to explore other options.
    • Stumpf said town officials hope to present Hypoluxo with a new contract proposal for water services sometime in January. Plans to make the presentation in December were derailed by the death of Hypoluxo Mayor Ken Schultz.

By Jane Smith

    Faced with a list of more than 150 applicants for acting city manager, Delray Beach City Commissioner Mitch Katz reviewed their occupations.
    He saw a sous chef, a store manager, a teacher, a personal trainer, a mechanic and a caregiver from those who applied using a job search website, along with applicants with government experience provided by the Colin Baenziger search firm.
    Then, he thought of Delray Beach department heads whose leadership skills he admired. Katz called the city’s relatively new fire chief, Neal de Jesus, and persuaded him to become acting city manager.
    “I believe I possess the skills needed to lead,” de Jesus said. “The city has subject matter experts. I am comfortable leading other people and relying on their advice.”
    He wants to return to his position as the fire chief when the commission finds a permanent city manager. With two commission seats in the March election, that might not happen until April or May. The city will start advertising for a city manager in January.
    De Jesus replaced Don Cooper at 5:01 p.m. Dec. 30. Cooper, who was city manager for two years, announced his resignation in October, saying family medical problems would not allow him to fully concentrate on the job.

    Cooper recommended a 10 percent pay increase for de Jesus while he is acting city manager. “The job is 24/7,” Cooper told commissioners Dec. 13, and they agreed.
    The Daytona Beach Shores search firm will be paid the agreed-upon $9,000 for providing a list of applicants for the acting city manager, Cooper said. For the search to fill the permanent city manager position, the firm will give the city a discount. The contract should come before the commission in January, he said.
    De Jesus hired Keith Tomey, who recently retired as fire chief for Miramar, to be assistant fire chief/administration. Tomey started Dec. 27. Three days later, he was promoted to acting fire chief while de Jesus serves as the interim city manager.
    Mayor Cary Glickstein liked the idea. He said, “De Jesus is revered as the chief of chiefs.”
    Katz said he was hesitant to bring up de Jesus’ name as a possible acting city manager.
“I didn’t know how the other commissioners would react,” Katz said. “But it saved us time and money on the search.”
    The commissioner said he had been watching de Jesus since he arrived in April. “Morale is really up in his department,” Katz said. De Jesus “really stepped up to help the city.”
    The fire chief wowed the city commissioners at their goal-setting session in October when he talked about his ideas of saving the city thousands by bulk ordering items. He saved the city $460,000 by ordering medical gloves for the full year, and not on an as-needed basis.
Vice Mayor Jordana Jarjura called it going after low-hanging fruit.
    De Jesus said it costs the city hundreds of dollars in staff time to get the price quotes, but it can save the city tens of thousands. “I’d like to see that made a routine practice by department heads,” he said.
    As to the ever-increasing overdose calls that fire-rescue responds to, he said, “We need a holistic approach to the recovery industry. These people are not animals, they are human beings who happen to be addicted. They are our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. But we can’t just keep reacting to it.”
    He is hopeful that the city can craft an ordinance to control sober homes so that addicts can get the help needed to recover.
    “We have to control the size of the target. We can’t keep hiring people to respond to overdose calls,” he said.
    Then he added, “As long as it’s a priority of the commission.”

Briny Breezes resident Ira Friedman hosted the first Briny Boat Parade in the mobile home park’s

central fountain. Roger Bennett and visiting children join Friedman (blue jacket) to watch the parade.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Friedman constructed several small, lighted boats over a two-month period

and scheduled the parade to correspond with the Boynton Beach & Delray Beach Holiday Boat Parade.

Keith Lee of Delray Beach pulls his kayak up the launching pad

at Lyman Kayak Park after an afternoon of fishing.

Willie Howard/The Coastal Star

By Willie Howard

    Those who enjoy the quiet relaxation of paddling a canoe, kayak or paddleboard on the Lake Worth Lagoon have a special place to launch in Lantana now.
    The town opened Lyman Kayak Park in September, creating a place for paddlers to slip their human-powered vessels into the water away from the bustle of Sportsman’s Park, where the launch ramps are used mostly for powerboats.
    The park’s 30 parking spaces also serve the patrons of shops and restaurants along Ocean Avenue. The park is at 106 N. Lake Drive, about a block north of Ocean Avenue. Parking is free but limited to three hours.
    In addition to a kayak launching area and parking lot, the park features a 180-foot pier overlooking the Lake Worth Lagoon, open space covered with grass, bicycle racks and benches.
    No dogs are allowed in the kayak park because of an ordinance that prohibits pets at all town facilities (except the dog park at Maddock Park on West Drew Street).
    Even though it’s close to the traffic of Ocean Avenue and is flanked by waterfront condos, Lyman Kayak Park offers visitors a taste of nature. On a calm December afternoon, mullet flipped on the water’s surface near the pier and ospreys whistled overhead.
    “It’s just a lovely little spot and something I hope the residents will use,” Vice Mayor Phil Aridas said.
    Aridas said the location is good for launching canoes, kayaks, paddleboards and other non-motorized vessels because it’s away from the powerboat traffic of Sportsman’s Park yet close to the small artificial reefs designed to attract fish to the waters around Bicentennial Park.
    The kayak park also is within reasonable paddling distance of the Snook Islands Natural Area, a group of man-made mangrove islands near the Lake Worth golf course that has become a haven for fish and birds and a destination for paddlers.
    Aridas said the kayak park is one of the town’s hidden natural gems, similar to the Lantana Nature Preserve at 440 E. Ocean Ave.
    The town tapped money from reserves to buy two waterfront lots for the park, spending $1.2 million in 2011. Financial help from the Florida Inland Navigation District helped the town develop the land into a park.
    The town is working with Palm Beach County to plant mangroves on the north and south sides of the park’s sandy beach. The mangrove planting, expected later this year, should help separate the park from neighboring condos.

By Willie Howard

    The Lantana Town Council will listen to residents Jan. 9 on the long-standing problem of service trucks parking on Hypoluxo Island, in some cases narrowing roads to one lane.
    The council discussed the island’s traffic woes at its Dec. 12 meeting following several emails to Town Manager Deborah Manzo about vehicles blocking travel lanes.
    Construction and landscaping trucks often park on both sides of Atlantic Drive, creating bottlenecks for island drivers.
    In some places, trees planted in the public swale area along the sides of island roads force service vehicles to park in the travel lanes instead of pulling off to the side.
    Hypoluxo Island resident Sueann Nichols said in a Nov. 17 email to Manzo that parked vehicles have turned island roads into “dangerous one-lane streets” that force cars to meet head-on.
    The Town Council in February considered an ordinance that would have required service vehicles to park on odd-numbered sides of roads on odd-numbered days and even-numbered sides on even-numbered days, but the proposal failed.
    At the Dec. 12 meeting, the council agreed with Police Chief Sean Scheller’s suggestion that island road blockage problems should be handled on a case-by-case basis. Scheller noted that roads must remain open for emergency vehicles.
    Because the parking discussion was added to the agenda Dec. 12, Mayor Dave Stewart said he wanted the issue to come up again for discussion Jan. 9 so residents could comment.

By Rich Pollack

    Thinking of crossing Atlantic Avenue or State Road A1A in the middle of the block or of riding your bicycle in traffic with earphones on?
    If so, you may want to think again, because police officers in Delray Beach will be out in force hoping to educate pedestrians and bicyclists on the importance of following laws and staying safe.
    Funded by a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation, the pedestrian- and bicycle-safety awareness effort will include an informational campaign with verbal warnings, followed a few weeks later by written warnings, and finally $64.50 citations.  
    The campaign, which began this month and ends in May, comes on the heels of a year that saw a dramatic rise of traffic fatalities in the city.
    Delray Beach recorded 11 traffic fatalities in 2016, more than double the five that were recorded in 2015. Last year marked a dramatic reversal of a trend that had seen fewer and fewer fatalities, with seven fatalities recorded in 2013 and six in 2014.
    Of the 11 fatalities last year, four involved pedestrians. There were many close calls, according to Delray Beach Police Officer Hannes Schoeferle of the department’s traffic unit.
    “We had countless crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians,” he said.
    According to statistics compiled by the state, Delray Beach ranks seventh in the number of bicycle- or pedestrian-related crashes among the 96 similar-sized Florida cities.
    Thanks to the $30,000 grant, the Police Department will be able to assign officers strictly to address pedestrian and bicycle safety for several hours each week, with the officers working overtime.
    Because they won’t be distracted with other calls, the officers on the special detail will be able to concentrate on explaining the program and the need for better awareness.
    “We have a chance to focus on spending time with the violators and explain why we’re doing this,” Schoeferle said.
    Schoeferle, who worked a similar special enforcement early last year, said the reactions he received from pedestrians or bicyclists he spoke with was mixed, with some recognizing the value of the effort and others wondering why the Police Department was focusing on minor infractions.
    Unlike typical traffic infractions like speeding or running a red light, violators of pedestrian- or bicycle-safety laws aren’t always aware they’re breaking the law.
    “It’s a different kind of enforcement,” Schoeferle said. “There’s a lot more talking involved.”
    In addition to offering explanations, officers will be handing out pamphlets outlining related laws.
    Among common violations officers see are:
    • Pedestrians crossing in the middle of a block, rather than at a crosswalk, often expecting that vehicles will stop.
    • Pedestrians walking on the side of the road or in a bicycle lane, rather than on the sidewalk.
    • Bicyclists wearing earphones covering both ears.
    • Pedestrians crossing an intersection against the pedestrian red light (the red hand on a crossing signal).
    • Bicyclists riding on the sidewalk and not stopping for the pedestrian red light.
    • Bicyclists not stopping for red lights, especially when riding in packs on A1A.

Mature canopy trees, like these live oaks at the Delray Beach Historical Society complex,

are being targeted for preservation with the legacy tree program.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

    They are trees that catch your eye.
    They are towering oaks, royal poincianas or banyans with large canopies that have provided shade and aesthetic beauty for decades.
    Yet as South Florida continues to grow and become more urbanized, these “legacy” or “specimen” trees that have been standing for decades are more likely to be in the path of development.
    Now Delray Beach is taking steps to help ensure those trees, as well as smaller ones in good condition, are preserved whenever possible.
    A draft of a proposed tougher tree ordinance, with more teeth and significantly heftier fees than the current ordinance for destruction of trees, was recently presented to the city’s Planning and Zoning board for review. If approved by the board it could be winding its way to the City Commission within a few months.
    “Our goal is to keep as much tree canopy around as possible,” says Bill Wilsher, the city’s senior landscape planner. “We want to preserve what we have and enhance it.”
    In addition to providing improved aesthetics throughout the city, Wilsher said the larger trees and their canopy provide much needed shade and can enhance the city’s sustainability by cooling the air, filtering pollutants, reducing storm water runoff and cutting back carbon emissions.  
    “We’re trying to create an improved environment, and certainly trees play a factor in keeping down the heat,” he said, adding that trees can have a positive impact on property values.
    Wilsher said the new ordinance is designed to encourage developers and owners of multiuse or commercial property to keep the trees they have, move viable trees to other locations within the same property, or move those trees off-site to a location agreed upon by the city.
    City planners are hoping to encourage developers and property owners to work around existing viable trees when designing new projects.
    “To the fullest extent possible, trees are to be preserved on-site and be protected from damage during the construction process,” according to the proposed ordinance.
    If the trees cannot be moved, property owners will be charged an “in lieu of” fee — based on the size of the tree — which is placed in the city’s tree trust fund and used for the purchase and planting of trees elsewhere in the city.
    Under the proposed ordinance, which is a comprehensive revamping of the existing one, the in-lieu fee for removing a tree — other than a palm tree —  that is between 4 and 8 inches in diameter at breast height (DBH) would increase from $350 per diameter inch to $450 per inch.
    While the current ordinance calls for an in-lieu fee of $450 per inch for any tree over 8 inches in diameter, the proposed ordinance has a graduated scale based on tree size, with higher fees for larger trees. Under the proposal, the in-lieu fee for trees 8 to 12 inches in diameter would be $650 per inch, $850 per inch for trees between 12 and 18 inches in diameter and $1,000 per inch for trees 18 inches in diameter or larger.
    Because the fees are calculated on an escalating scale, the in-lieu fee for a tree with a 21-inch diameter, for example, could reach close to $13,000. That’s because,  according to the proposed ordinance, there would be a charge of $450 an inch for the 5 inches of diameter above the first 3 inches, plus $650 an inch for the next 4 inches, plus $850 an inch for the next 6 inches, plus $1,000 an inch for the last 3 inches.
    “One of our goals is to keep bigger trees,” Wilsher said.
    The in-lieu fee for a palm tree is $500. All trees that are considered to be in poor condition are exempt from the fee but must be replaced on a tree-for-tree basis.
    The proposed ordinance is expected to be back before the Planning and Zoning board next month, with the city staff returning with further explanation and justification for the increased fees.

Related Story: Task Force offers recommendations

By Jane Smith
    
    The three largest cities in southern Palm Beach County are taking different paths to regulate sober homes, following the November release of a revised statement by two federal departments offering legal guidance for cities to use to draft regulations covering group homes.
    Boca Raton is mulling what to do. Delray Beach is trying to create a path that will allow for some regulation without violating the rights of people in recovery.
    Boynton Beach is taking a more aggressive approach.
    The city is placing a six-month moratorium on all group home applications, which includes sober homes. The recovery residences cater to people who want to live together in sobriety. Treatment does not occur inside the houses.
    Sober home operators apply for a “reasonable accommodation” from local regulations on the number of unrelated people who can live together for medical reasons. Most South County cities cap the number at three.
    Planning Director Mike Rumpf said Boynton Beach is on solid legal ground with the staff-initiated moratorium to study the issue and determine how the city’s regulations will be changed.
    The hold will last until June 4 for processing, approving or issuing of “any new certificates of use, business tax receipts, development orders or permits for group homes.”
    The revised joint statement was created by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development, at the request of U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel. People living in recovery residences are protected by federal privacy and anti-discrimination laws.
    Rumpf points to Page 15 of the statement, which allows local governments to deny a group home’s application if it violates a city’s “zoning scheme” or puts an undue burden on its finances and administration. How the city will interpret the statement’s sections on that page remains to be seen.
    He also said the city might require a group home to have an administrator who is certified, similar to the one needed for the voluntary certification program run by the Florida Association of Recovery Residences. That person helps the home’s residents to be good neighbors in the community, according to FARR standards.
    The city’s Planning and Development board unanimously passed the moratorium on Dec. 27. Board member Stephen Palermo asked if six months was enough time to study the issue. City Attorney James Cherof said yes.
    The Boynton Beach City Commission voted 5-0 in support of the moratorium on Jan. 3.
    Only Nancy Hogan, of Ocean Ridge, spoke. She owns property in the Snug Harbor condo development in Boynton Beach. She said she supported the moratorium to give the city time to review its ordinances.
The moratorium will return for another public hearing at the Jan. 17 commission meeting.

Moratorium option criticized
One constitutional law expert, James K. Green of West Palm Beach, criticized the moratorium.
    “The most cost-effective way to provide services in the community to avoid the horrors of mass institutionalization is through a group home,” he said.
    Moratoriums are allowed under state law as long as they don’t conflict with federal laws, he said.
    Boynton Beach is trying to stop all group homes for disabled individuals — regardless of the type of disability — from applying to open for six months.
    Green has experience litigating this issue. He was among the group of attorneys who successfully sued the cities of Boca Raton and Delray Beach in federal court from stopping individuals in recovery and treatment providers from moving into their cities.
    Another disability advocate, Matthew Dietz, also agrees that Boynton Beach is on a slippery legal slope. Dietz is the founder and chief litigator at the Disability Independence Group in Miami.
    “The moratorium is entirely unlawful because it targets a protected class — group homes for people with medical disabilities. We have children with developmental disabilities, not just homes for people in recovery,” Dietz said. “It would be like banning Muslims from moving into Boynton Beach.”
Boynton’s Mayor, Steven Grant, said the city is on solid legal ground because it is targeting all group homes, not just those for medical reasons.
“There is no Constitutional right for unrelated people to live together,” he said. “These businesses are affecting the quality of the single-family neighborhoods we are trying to create in Boynton Beach.”
Constitutional lawyer Green disagrees. He said, “Group homes by definition are for people who need accommodations for medical reasons.”

Delray collecting data
    Delray Beach has just started the process of interpreting the joint statement.
    In December at its Planning and Zoning Board meeting, members reviewed changes to the city’s reasonable accommodation ordinance. They agreed to require all group home operators to certify annually that they need the accommodation to operate.
    They also voted to approve having the property owner’s name and consent for operating the group home. In the past, the Delray Beach property owner did not always know that the house was used as a sober home, said Tim Stillings, Delray Beach planning director. Having this information allows the city recourse if a sober home operator puts undue expense on the city.
    By federal law, the city cannot charge a fee for the reasonable accommodation, Stillings said.
    Resident Andy Katz asked whether the changes addressed the revised joint statement.
    “We are still evaluating the effects of the new joint statement,” said Terrill Pyburn, the city’s special counsel and former acting city attorney. Those changes will come back before the board in the next few months, she said.
    To answer resident Patsy Westphal’s question about a possible moratorium, Pyburn said, “Some cities are looking at that. I believe Boynton Beach did pass one.
    “However, we have some concerns that it’s not the best way to proceed,” she said. “It is difficult to sort of suspend the Constitution and say you cannot apply for accommodations during this time period. Therefore, I would advise against that for the city of Delray Beach.”
    The day after the meeting, Pyburn said the city is in the process of hiring an expert planner “with over 40 years in the business related to fair housing issues.” Then it will conduct a study to rewrite its regulations that take into account the revised joint statement, she said.
    “The city needs more time to amass the info to enact an ordinance covering group homes,” Pyburn said. “The changes won’t necessarily be made under reasonable accommodations.”
    The Delray Beach mayor wasn’t ready to reveal exactly what the city is doing. “We don’t want to provide others with a road map of what we’re doing until we have the data collection piece underway,” Cary Glickstein wrote in an email.
    The changes will be in place by April, he said, and “there will be several ordinance and LDR (land development regulation) changes making their way through our approval process between January and April.”

Boca still reviewing
    Boca Raton staff is still reviewing the joint statement and whether any revisions can be made to its regulations, said Chrissy Gibson, city spokeswoman.
City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser reviewed the statement and told City Council members in November that she did not see much difference from the old joint statement. “The first part reads that the locality can deny the waiver (for a sober home), but proving it would put an undue burden on the local government,” she said.  
    Frankel, a former West Palm Beach mayor, is concerned that the cities in her district have ample help to revise their group home regulations. She hosted a technical workshop in December for city attorneys and planners in her district on how to use the guidelines provided in the revised joint statement.
    Delray Beach and Boca Raton sent representatives, she said, along with seven other cities and Palm Beach County.
    “My staff attorney was there,” Frankel said. “The lawyers are optimistic they could write something that is usable and can stand up in court.” Ú

Related Story: New parking chief says technology will lead to improvements

By Jane Smith

    Smart parking meters that accept various forms of payment are coming to the barrier island and two city garages in the spring.
    The Delray Beach City Commission unanimously approved the purchase of 58 multispace meter kiosks that will cost the city $600,000 for two years, with communication fees included.
    “It’s the best value for the city,” Theresa Webb, the city’s procurement manager, said when presenting the T2 Systems contract on Dec. 6. The current meters also were made by T2, based in Canada with U.S. offices in Indiana.
    Jorge Alarcon, the city’s new parking facilities manager, told the commission the smart meters are exactly what the city needs to make it easy for residents and visitors to pay for parking.
    The city has about 1,250 paid parking spaces that translate into annual revenue of approximately $1.8 million, Alarcon said. “Industry standards predict an increase of revenue between 12 and 15 percent,” he said.
    To help pay for the meters, the city is considering dipping into its in-lieu parking fee accounts, which hold approximately $1.7 million. The city created the accounts decades ago for restaurant owners who wanted to open in the downtown but didn’t have enough parking for their diners. The restaurateurs could pay into the account instead of providing parking.
    Commissioner Shelly Petrolia questioned the cost of the new metering system and why the old meters were no longer usable.
    The existing meters are corroded by years of sitting near the ocean and parts are no longer available for them, according to John Morgan, environmental services director. The meters take quarters only.
    The smart meters will be installed on East Atlantic Avenue, on A1A and in the parking lots on the barrier island. They also will go into the two city-owned garages west of the Intracoastal Waterway to eliminate the need for humans selling tickets on evenings and weekends and during special events, Morgan told commissioners.
    “The beauty of the meters is they allow us to collect data,” he said. That information includes parking space turnover and locations and hours of high demand.
    The city will save money because it now hires Ameristar Parking Solutions to staff the garages, which take only cash. The city pays about $240,000 a year for this service, according to a recent contract extension that runs to the end of February.

Downtown meters
on agenda for spring
    In late spring, the commission will decide the controversial issue of downtown parking meters west of the waterway. Mayor Cary Glickstein called that parking meter income “low-hanging fruit” during last year’s city budget discussions.
    “There is a lot of opposition to paid parking. But when people see how the parking demand can be adjusted, they will be for it,” Vice Mayor Jordana Jarjura said at the Dec. 6 meeting.
    At that meeting, Lanier Parking Solutions of Atlanta was selected as the vendor to oversee the entire parking system in the city. Webb and others are negotiating with Lanier to get the best price for the city.
    Parking meter enforcement will be done by Lanier’s so-called ambassadors, instead of the volunteers who do it currently. The ambassadors will assist drivers in finding suitable parking spaces, and the company will be in charge of the garages.
    Petrolia wants to see a cost breakdown of the new meters and software, along with the parking management contract. She wants to see the amounts compared with “how things are today when the city has volunteers who enforce the meters and keep all the money and fines.”

Employee parking
slow to catch on
    The city’s Downtown Development Authority is working closely with city staff and its business partners to come up with an employee parking program that works for all. The first version was set up in the County Courthouse garage in the fall.
    The program relied on restaurant owners paying a monthly fee of $20 per employee. The restaurant operators have been hesitant to sign up because of the monthly cost, according to DDA Executive Director Laura Simon.
    When the iPic owners finally begin construction in the downtown for the luxury movie theater, the city will lose about 90 free parking spaces. The DDA is working with the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency staff to find suitable nearby parking for downtown customers and employees.

By Dan Moffett

    Briny Breezes residents will look back on 2016 as the year their town strengthened its ties with Boynton Beach.
     In June, the Briny Breezes Town Council approved a 12-year fire-rescue contract with Boynton Beach, extending a longstanding relationship. Then in September, Briny Breezes dropped the Ocean Ridge Police Department and signed on with Boynton Beach for police services.
     Now faced with the arduous task of navigating complicated state rules for putting a golf cart crossing at A1A and Cordova Avenue, Briny Breezes is turning to Boynton Beach building officials for help.
     Town Council President Sue Thaler said that Boynton Beach’s Public Works Administration and Engineering Department have volunteered to guide Briny Breezes through the permitting and engineering requirements that must be satisfied to get the crossing built.
     “We have to go through a series of permitting approvals and permits from the state, and the city of Boynton Beach has extended an offer to have their roads department help lead us through the process,” Thaler said. “So we’ll be contacting them the first of the year to get started with that.”
     Thaler said Boynton Beach will act only in an advisory capacity — at no charge to Briny Breezes, which has no building or engineering department of its own. She said the town hopes to begin work on the project in 2017.
     The town has been negotiating with Florida Department of Transportation officials for close to two years, trying to get approval for putting the cart path across the state’s thoroughfare. A recent concern from Tallahassee has been ensuring that cart traffic doesn’t end up traveling the wrong way on east Cordova Avenue, a one-way street.
     In other business, the Town Council gave unanimous approval to the second reading of an ordinance that requires candidates for the mayor’s and clerk’s positions to submit election petitions to qualify for candidacy. Council members said the new requirement was needed to deter frivolous runs for office by people seeking to embarrass the town.

By Jane Smith

    The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Sober Homes Task Force has met its year-end deadline to make recommendations to the Florida Legislature about possible changes to counteract sober home fraud.
    The state attorney received a one-time $275,000 state grant to study the issue. Some changes the task force recommended to the legislature are:
    • Increase money given to the Florida Department of Children and Families by raising fees charged to treatment providers and recovery residence operators so that the department has adequate staff needed to grant and take away licenses.
    • Strengthen penalties and increase fines for multiple violations of the state’s patient-brokering statute, which prohibits paying for patient referrals.
    • Create requirements for drug treatment marketers and pass legislation to prohibit unethical marketing practices.
    • Allow law enforcement officers to obtain medical records without having to notify patients when a court gives approval.
    State Attorney Dave Aronberg and his chief assistant, Al Johnson, plan to lobby for the changes when the legislative session starts in March. They have lined up Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton, and Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, to sponsor the legislation.
    “There is absolutely bipartisan and statewide support for this issue,” Hager has said.

Maria Nhambu holds her book, 'Africa’s Child,' at her coastal Delray Beach condo.

The book is the first of a planned three-part memoir.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Her name is Maria Nhambu but she prefers to be called Nhambu.
    It is a name that tells you much about this woman, an orphan in Tanzania who escaped a life void of love and affection and later thrived as an educator in, of all places, Minnesota.
    The name also tells you about a role she played during the greatest part of her 73 years, that of informal ambassador helping people in the United States understand more about Africa and those in Africa learn more about America.
    Nhambu, in the language of the East African tribe the little girl known for many years only as Mary was born into, translates into one who gets people together.
    “My whole life, that’s what I’ve been doing,” she said. “Then many years later, I found out that was my name.”
    Nhambu’s extraordinary tale of being left at an orphanage for mixed-raced African children when she was just 3 days old, and of later using education to lead her to an accomplished life in the U.S., is chronicled in her book, Africa’s Child. It is the first and, so far only, published book of a three-part memoir that reads like a script for a Hollywood movie.
    Her earliest years were marked by bullying and physical abuse at the hands of older girls in the orphanage, which was in an isolated and desolate mountain region that Nhambu describes as at the end of the world.
    “It’s a miracle I’m still alive,” she says.
    Thoughtful and insightful even as a child, Nhambu realized that if she were ever going to leave the orphanage she would need an education.
    “I was alone in the world,” she says. “I made the decision that nobody wanted me, so I needed to want me.”
    As Nhambu got older, the nuns who ran the orphanage sent her to a boarding school 200 miles away, and eventually she was chosen to go to the first secondary school in the area which was run by nuns from the Maryknoll Sisters of New York.
    There she met a 23-year-old English teacher named Catherine, who took her under her wing. After her year volunteering in Africa, the teacher headed back to Minnesota — and brought Nhambu with her.
    “I was petrified, but I trusted her,” Nhambu says. “You realize you’re leaving the only place on Earth that you know.”
    For a few years Nhambu lived with Catherine’s family while going to college on a full scholarship and majoring in French.
    “It was the happiest time of my life,” Nhambu says.
    She landed a job teaching and made a career in education. Eventually, she put down roots in Minnesota, where she got married and started a family. She still has a home there, where she spends summers.
    While teaching, Nhambu also started a fitness program, Aerobics With Soul, which ties back to her African roots.
    “I used dances I knew as a child and modified them so I could teach Americans,” she said.
    Today, Nhambu lives near the ocean in Delray Beach surrounded by her 700-piece collection of African art.
    When she’s in the United States, Nhambu says she is an ambassador for Africa, helping Americans understand more about that continent and its culture.
    “I talk about what is good about Africa and what it has to offer,” she says.
    During trips to Africa, she says, she shares similar stories about America with Africans.
    “I stress the similarities,” she says.
— Rich Pollack
    
    Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
    A. I grew up in Tanzania, East Africa. It has influenced everything about me — how I think, how I see and interpret the world and life.

    Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
    A. I have been a French and Swahili teacher and created Aerobics With Soul, a fitness program using African dance and music.
    
    Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?
    A. Find your dream. When you find it, don’t follow it, chase it!
    
    Q. How did you choose to make your home in Delray Beach?
    A. My former husband moved his business here and I came with him.
    
    Q. What is your favorite part about living in Delray Beach?
    A. The beach, the weather, the community and friends I’ve made.
    
    Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
    A. African music, solo piano and New Age music.

    Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
    A. “It is what it is, but it will become what you make it.”
    
    Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
    A. Yes. Teachers in Tanzania and in America. Both my friends and enemies have taught me meaningful and helpful lessons about life.
    
    Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
    A. Halle Berry.
    
    Q. Who/what makes you laugh?
    A. Dancing makes me laugh. Children make me laugh and AFV (America’s Funniest Home Videos).

By Dan Moffett

     A divided South Palm Beach Town Council has given preliminary approval to an ordinance that will raise the pay of council members and the mayor, beginning after the March election.
    The measure increases the mayor’s monthly salary from $250 to $500 and council members’ pay from $250 to $300. The change does not apply to the current council, but would be phased in next year and after the 2018 election when new members are seated.
    The ordinance passed 3-2 on Dec. 21 with Mayor Bonnie Fischer and Councilwomen Stella Gaddy Jordan and Elvadianne Culbertson approving. Vice Mayor Joe Flagello and Councilman Robert Gottlieb voted against it.
    Flagello argued that the council should have discussed the pay raise during budget workshops last summer and made it part of the budget. He said the town would have to take money out of its contingency fund to cover the expense.
    “Contingency is for unplanned things — not planned things,” Flagello said. “We didn’t budget for this and we shouldn’t do it now.”
    Flagello, Fischer and Culbertson would be eligible to receive the raises if they win reelection in March. Gottlieb and Jordan would have to wait until 2018, when their seats come up.
    “I would love to get more money, don’t get me wrong,” Flagello said. “But I don’t think this is responsible.”
    Gottlieb agreed and said the council should “show goodwill” and wait to make the change. “We all know this won’t make the town go broke,” he said. “But let it come up at the next budget workshop.”
    Jordan led the support for the raises, saying council members hadn’t had an increase in eight years, the town could easily afford the cost, and Fischer had worked overtime to expand the role of the mayor by engaging with other communities and agencies to raise the town’s profile in the area.
    “You can’t imagine how many hours she puts in and how hard she works,” Jordan said.
    Fischer said the mayor’s job required more work than the other council positions.
    “I don’t want to sound self-serving,” she said, “but some of us put in more time and effort than other people because it’s the nature of the office.”
Council members had considered raising their salaries to $400 a month, but Culbertson, in her first meeting since her appointment to the seat opened by Woody Gorbach’s death in October, sided with Flagello and Gorbach to derail that idea. She proposed limiting the raise to $300, and her vote for it was the difference.
    The ordinance is scheduled to come up for final approval at the Jan. 24 town meeting.
    In other business, Town Manager Bob Vitas said an architect’s review of Town Hall “is moving right along” and a report on options for renovating or replacing the aging structure should be ready by the spring.
    Vitas said Steven Knight, of Alexis Knight Architects in West Palm Beach, has interviewed most of the town’s officials and completed a review of the building, which is a hodgepodge of several renovations and additions from decades past.
    “The building is structurally sound,” said Vitas, but he warned that finding a way to expand parking and comply with federal disability access standards will be difficult problems to solve.