Related: Briny Breezes: Board rejects developer’s $502.5 million offer as ‘unattractive'

By Joe Capozzi

A divided Briny Breezes Town Council has endorsed a new ordinance that would protect homes from flooding and projected sea-level rise by raising them on pilings or stilts.

But the new ordinance, part of an ambitious resiliency strategy that includes enhanced sea walls and a new stormwater system for Briny, is far from a done deal.

While the creation of the new “elevated single-family overlay district” might seem like a no-brainer for a waterfront mobile home community with a history of flooding during storms and high tides, some council members and residents have concerns. 

“This will change the character of Briny. The Briny that I see today will not be the Briny that this ordinance will create,’’ said David White, one of several residents who spoke during a two-hour public hearing April 27 before council members voted 3-2 on first reading to create the district.

If sea-level rise projections are accurate, Briny Breezes will eventually change without the ordinance.

A 144-page Flooding Adaptation Plan, drafted by the Fort Lauderdale-based coastal engineering firm Brizaga Inc. in 2021 and commissioned for about $30,000 by the Briny Breezes Corp., included National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration models that showed low-lying areas on the west side of town permanently under water in 2040.

Another model, for a Category 3 hurricane in 2070, shows the entire west side of town under up to 5 feet of water and sections on the east under more than 3 feet of water.

The proposed Elevated Homes Overlay District would offer a potential solution because it would allow homes to be converted into two-story structures to be raised no more than 25 feet including mechanical and structural elements. 

Briny’s current building codes only allow for single-story structures in town, which is sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway. The proposed Elevated Homes Overlay District would allow two-story homes, with the first floor restricted to parking. (Early versions of the plan, debated for more than a year, called for three stories.)

In other words, the living spaces that Briny residents are used to would still be confined to one story, but with a key change: Their single-story primary living space would be elevated on pilings to a second floor; the new open-air first floor would be set aside for parking only and without walls. 

Under the proposed ordinance, the elevated homes are an option for homeowners, not a requirement. And the changes would be restricted to the lot’s existing footprint, meaning construction can go only up and not out.  

The proposal calls for additional changes on the west side of Briny, which is on the Intracoastal Waterway and has the town’s lowest elevations. Those properties would need up to 5 feet of fill added to the land base, including 3.5 feet for driveway pads. That way, properties would be at an elevation consistent with potential sea wall improvements and road elevations, thereby eliminating risks of more flooding.

“When the sea wall is improved, if you don’t raise up the dirt and land behind the sea wall, you create flooding,’’ attorney Erin Deady, a resiliency land-use consultant, told the council.

“The whole point of this is to get ready for future tidal risks that we know are going to occur,’’ she said. 

A packet summarizing the ordinance, passed out to residents before the meeting, included photographs of houses on pilings in a community in Islamorada in the Florida Keys, images meant to show what the new Briny Breezes might look like.

But council member Sue Thaler said the photographs show roads much wider than Briny’s narrow streets and do not clearly show how parking would look beneath the raised homes.

“I still don’t think we have a good image of what it’s going to look like on our interior roads to have two 25-foot structures across from one another. What I visualize I don’t want to see in Briny Breezes. That makes me hesitate to move forward with something like this,’’ she said. 

“I don’t like what I think it’s going to look like. I really would like to see what it looks like with the parking availability underneath.’’

Giving residents options

In March, some Briny planning and zoning board members suggested the council take a field trip to a waterfront mobile home community in Martin County that has homes on stilts.

That idea was shot down by town officials who feared it would create confusion. 

Council President Christina Adams reminded her colleagues that the ordinance would only be a voluntary tool that would give residents options for dealing with sea-level rise — options that don’t currently exist in the town codes. 

“For us to continue to not look after the public health and safety, the welfare for proper living spaces, I think would be in gross error for us to do that,’’ Adams said. 

Deady, responding to a concern from Thaler, acknowledged that elevating homes would be costly. But she added, “The intention of the ordinance was to provide options and a mechanism for people who want to make that substantial investment, or God forbid there is a substantial event where people are significantly damaged, your code will not allow them to redevelop to a safer unit.’’ 

The ordinance will require the new houses to conform to new FEMA flood elevation requirements “which are anticipated to become final in the near future,’’ according to the ordinance. 

Council member Bill Birch said he thought it might make sense for the council to wait until the new FEMA requirements are established before creating the district. 

“Nobody knows what the final FEMA elevation requirements will be,’’ he said after the meeting. “I just don’t want these (new elevated homes) to go sky high. I don’t ever want to see the actual look of Briny change.’’

Birch wound up casting the swing vote to approve the ordinance on first reading, voting with Adams and council member Liz Loper. Thaler and council member Kathy Gross voted no. 

Birch said he wanted to give Deady and town officials “a chance to make revisions and come back for a final vote.’’

The second vote is scheduled for May 25.  

In a related matter, the council gave Town Manager William Thrasher permission to seek financing options for a $2.5 million loan. Combined with $1 million in reserves, the loan would be used to leverage much larger grants that would cover the bulk of $22.5 million in projects to restore the town’s sea walls and install an advanced drainage system.

As a daily walker on Old Ocean Boulevard, I am glad to see that some of the initiatives suggested by the ad hoc safety council last year have been implemented. 

One suggestion was to cut back shrubbery along the road so pedestrians have a place to step off when needed. Check. Another suggestion was to replace speed limit signs with an unusual number that would garner attention from drivers. Check.

But a third area involving educating pedestrians about the rule of walking on the left — facing traffic — seems to have stalled. The chief of police told me personally that no signs would be installed instructing pedestrians but that police would stop individuals and, one-by-one, ask them to walk on the left. 

Even this inefficient method seems to have been discarded, as in my daily walks since December I have yet to see this in practice.  

Safety on the old road has come a long way but still has room for improvement. I think many pedestrians are unfamiliar with the walk-on-the-left rule. An effort to address this would be a welcome step in making this popular walking area safer and more enjoyable.

— Martha Lowther
Ocean Ridge

On April 25, the Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards and the city of Boca Raton entered into an agreement affirming that our nonprofit would have complete financial and operational responsibilities of the sea turtle rehab at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.

This is an exciting time for our organization, as we move forward with an official agreement with the city for the first time in our 43-year history. As a result, the GLCS is now responsible for all sea turtle research, rescue, rehab and release programs and related educational activities at the nature center.

We are also responsible for all expenses related to the operation and management of the STR and the gift store, including the professional team, and will pay a portion of the sea water pump maintenance costs.

This transition was first considered at the request of the city because the STR program had grown beyond the scope of typical government services. With the agreement in effect, the GLCS can now apply for an organizational Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission marine turtle permit. Once the FWC permit is in hand, sea turtles that were temporarily moved to area marine centers will return to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.

We know our members and guests are eagerly awaiting their return, as is the GLCS team, which now includes a sea turtle program manager, sea turtle biologist, sea turtle volunteer specialist and sea turtle veterinarian. We are launching a new volunteer program under the umbrella of GLCS for those interested in becoming educators with us. Our ongoing advocacy for sea turtles and the rehabilitation program has been made possible by GLCS members, corporate partners, community partners and donors. Their generosity has enabled us to fund veterinary services and equipment, provide the nutritional needs of the turtles, and dispense the medications required for our ailing turtles.

The GLCS has also funded valuable sea turtle research, in addition to undergraduate scholarship and research grants, and partnerships with research institutions — all essential elements of our mission.

To meet our new obligations and continue to support a wide range of educational programs and activities, the GLCS will be launching a robust fundraising effort focused on memberships, corporate sponsorships, donations and profits from our sustainable gift store.

My colleagues and I on the GLCS board are excited for our future and are proud of our organization and the leadership of President and CEO John Holloway. We are focused on the GLCS mission to fund and support the rehabilitation of injured sea turtles, and to create greater awareness and understanding of the environmental issues faced in our coastal and marine environment. 

We are well positioned to build a world-class organization and we welcome you to join us.

Learn more about the organization at www.gumbolimbo.org.

— Manjunath Pendakur
chairman of board
Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards

The events happening at Gumbo Limbo are disturbing for true conservationists. As the longtime marine conservationist for the city of Boca Raton and co-founder of the sea turtle rehabilitation facility at Gumbo Limbo, I am very distressed at the lackadaisical behavior of the new incarnation of the Friends of Gumbo Limbo called the Coastal Stewards.

Because of the nonprofit’s lack of attention to detail, Gumbo Limbo has zero sea turtles on site for the first time in over 30 years!

For 25 years, I was proud to work in an environmental education center of world renown. With Florida Atlantic University’s marine laboratory on the Gumbo Limbo campus, sea turtles with a strange disease called fibropapillomatosis could be studied by FAU scientists while at the same time be treated at the sea turtle hospital. When we opened the rehabilitation facility in 2009, we were only the fourth facility in Florida to deal with FP. Days after we opened, a serious cold-stun event flooded all the East Coast turtle hospitals with more than 5,000 patients. We treated 177 of them, second only to the Marathon facility. I encouraged the hiring of Whitney Crowder, a former member of Marathon’s staff, who proved to be an outstanding rehabilitation coordinator.

It’s troubling that the city no longer believes sea turtle rehab fits in with its mission given the program’s outsized role at Gumbo Limbo. Boca Raton has a long history of environmental firsts in Florida: a city-run sea turtle monitoring program in 1976, a beachfront lighting ordinance in 1986, not to mention more than half of Boca Raton’s 5 miles of beaches are parks rather than condos. The city I love has given itself a black eye by allowing removal of the sea turtles.

Supposedly, the city and the Coastal Stewards had been negotiating a transfer of responsibility for sea turtle rehab, including staff, for two years. However, the Coastal Stewards has lost institutional knowledge and expertise. Since the current CEO John Holloway arrived, five good board trustees, many with extensive sea turtle conservation experience, and three members of the nonprofit’s Science Advisory Board have resigned.

Further, Mr. Holloway has no experience with sea turtles. This could have been mitigated with good staffing. But he never made job offers to Ms. Crowder or other rehab staff.

Instead, he allowed the rehabilitation facility to dissolve, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission permit to be withdrawn, staff laid off by the city, and all the sea turtles removed. There are claims of new hires being made, but they apparently are not fully experienced.

While the Friends of Gumbo Limbo operated with volunteer leadership, Coastal Stewards pays Mr. Holloway a salary in the $120,000 range, well exceeding that of any city employee at Gumbo Limbo.

I will no longer donate any money to the Coastal Stewards until Mr. Holloway and his overpaid staff are gone and the nonprofit returns to volunteer leadership. I encourage all donors to stop funding Coastal Stewards until they can show responsible stewardship of Gumbo Limbo’s mission, and especially the sea turtles!

— Kirt W. Rusenko,
Marine conservationist, retired
Hampstead, North Carolina

With a heavy heart I read your front-page article on the turmoil at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Memories of such happy times there flashed through my mind. 

My granddaughters racing around the shipwreck tank looking for all their favorite inhabitants moving around, including Butter, the spiny lobster. Watching them nimbly stand on risers to watch surgery on the ever-so-calm turtles who reflected a confidence in the care they were being given. Seeing busloads of other awestruck children who were experiencing their first close-up encounter with live turtles and other creatures at Gumbo Limbo. Some of my favorite family photos were taken in the front sculpture garden atop the leatherback turtle.  

I also was a Highland Beach sea turtle rescue volunteer for many years and the support given to all of us in this program by Gumbo Limbo staff was invaluable. Someone would always be there to take care of an injured hatchling or give advice about nests, injured turtles and other questions only a veterinarian could answer.

In addition, my Gumbo Limbo experience included working for a year in their gift shop, where the public’s overwhelming enthusiasm for the nature center and star attraction — the recovering and resident turtles — was very evident.

To say that all the above has ended, or even halted temporarily, is just devastating. Having been in leadership positions in higher education, I know there are challenging moments where you must be a guide and negotiator to attain the most beneficial results with the least amount of harm or loss. 

Right now, there seems to be only losses at Gumbo Limbo for everyone, including injured turtles who now may have to wait overnight to be transported 40 miles for medical aid.

Hiring a public relations firm to gloss over this terrible situation is not the answer. Nor is monumental organizational change without rationale and research. Both have failed miserably for the Coastal Stewards, the nonprofit management team.

Insightful and benevolent leadership is critical if Gumbo Limbo is to continue to welcome and educate so many to the wonders of nature in southern Florida — and the sooner the better because nesting season 2023 has just started.

— Sandy Trento
Delray Beach

Former commissioners Philip Besler and Kenneth Kaleel are sworn in May 1 after their appoint-ments to fill the vacancies. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Two leave positions; in yet another reversal, manager hired full time

By Joe Capozzi and Larry Barszewski

In less than 30 days, a stunning upheaval of town leadership in Ocean Ridge has brought in a new manager, three new commissioners and a power shift on the Town Commission.

The first changes came April 3 when, in a span of less than two hours, the commission voted 3-2 to hire Lynne Ladner as the full-time town manager and Commissioners Martin Wiescholek and Kristine de Haseth resigned.

Wiescholek, who minutes earlier had been sworn in to a second three-year term, resigned in the middle of the meeting to protest the hiring of Ladner. De Haseth resigned at the end of the meeting, citing a need to spend more time with her family. After the meeting, she told The Coastal Star her resignation had been planned since December and had nothing to do with Ladner’s hiring.

At its May 1 meeting, the three-person commission of Mayor Geoff Pugh, Steve Coz and recently elected Carolyn Cassidy voted to appoint two former commissioners — Kenneth Kaleel and Philip Besler — to replace Wiescholek and de Haseth. They were chosen from nine applicants and will serve until the March 2024 election.

The three commissioners also decided to replace three members of the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission who were seeking reappointment and one of two incumbents who had applied for a new term on the Board of Adjustment.

What a difference a month — and an election — made in town politics.

Wiescholek and de Haseth were on the losing end of the 3-2 vote to hire Ladner, a move that reversed the commission’s 3-2 vote Feb. 27 to not give her a contract for the full-time job.

Ladner’s hire is a direct result of a change in Town Hall power dynamics that arose from the March 14 municipal election when newcomer Cassidy and Wiescholek won a three-way race for two commission seats. Incumbent Mayor Susan Hurlburt finished third, losing her commission seat and breaking up the commission’s previous power bloc.

Hurlburt, Wiescholek and de Haseth often voted in concert, as they did Feb. 27 when they voted against Ladner’s hiring because of concerns that she’d aligned herself with Pugh and Coz and their community supporters.

Cassidy was endorsed during her campaign by Pugh and Coz, and on her first night as a commissioner she voted with them to hire Ladner full-time.

“I think Lynne has been doing an outstanding job in reaching out to the community,’’ Cassidy said April 3. “We’ve had a very unstable work environment that has suffered a bit from a lack of leadership. I think the time for healing has to start now.’’

Wiescholek reminded the commission why it voted in February not to hire Ladner, who he said had been influenced by two commissioners to fire Police Chief Richard Jones (who has since left to take the police chief job in Gulf Stream).

At a commission meeting Feb. 27, Jones corroborated Wiescholek’s concerns when he described how Ladner came into his office two days after he’d announced his resignation and told him “that the commission wished for me to leave early. At this point I go, ‘The commission?’ It was clarified, ‘at least two commissioners,’’’ Jones said Feb. 27.

Pugh and Coz denied pressuring Ladner to fire Jones.

On April 3, Wiescholek said: “There’s this whole thing about who-said, what-said, but somebody walked into Chief Jones’ office and said the commission wants you fired. Either Lynne did that on her own and lied about it or she was instructed by two commissioners to walk into Chief Jones’ office and say the words ‘the commission wants you fired’ without talking to the other three commissioners. It’s inappropriate or it’s a flat-out lie. That in itself disqualifies anybody from holding a position in this town.’’

The commission had been scheduled to select town manager finalists on May 1 and interview them May 9. Colin Baenziger and Associates, the firm the town hired for $29,500 to find candidates, considered the latest pool of 18 applicants “superior” to the previous candidates, said de Haseth, who said she’d been in contact with Baenziger.

“We started the (search) process. We have a procedure to follow and we need to continue the procedure and move forward from there,’’ de Haseth said. “You can’t do an about-face in the middle of the stream.’’

“That’s exactly what the commission did” Feb. 27, Coz retorted, pointing out how the commission in January had selected Ladner on a 5-0 vote while officials drafted a contract that was supposed to be approved Feb. 27.

“I think the town is in a period of healthy rebirth. I think Lynne is part of that,’’ Coz said before the commission voted to hire Ladner, who will make $142,500 a year. (Her predecessor, Tracey Stevens, was making $132,500 when she left Sept. 11 to become town manager in Haverhill.)

A few minutes later, as the commission was considering a new agenda item, Wiescholek interrupted and said, “Based on the decision that was just handed down, with the renewal of the contract for Lynne Ladner, I feel that the town is doing itself a grave disservice. I feel that the town is putting itself at great risk. The implications that pass off that are staggering at best. I will not have my name associated to that. Hereby, I resign.’’

Many of the 50 or so people in the audience — mostly supporters of Coz, Pugh and Cassidy — cheered as Wiescholek stood up and walked off the dais, happy to see him go.

In an interview outside Town Hall a few minutes later, Wiescholek said he had no plans to change his mind.

“What they have there right now is a town manager that they can tell what to do. ‘You need to hire this person and that person.’ They can manage and massage anything into their own world. I am not going to be a part of it,’’ he told The Coastal Star.

At the end of the meeting, de Haseth broke into tears as she announced her resignation in a prepared statement:

“I’d like to thank Ocean Ridge residents and staff. Being elected and appointed as your commissioner, your mayor and your vice mayor has been a multiyear vote of confidence. I appreciate your support and I have worked hard over the past five years for the residents in our town.

“Unfortunately, family obligations now need more of my time and energy. So effective tonight I am resigning my seat on the commission. I have been proud to serve this town and represent this town. I wish nothing but the best to our staff and to all of those at the dais. Ocean Ridge truly is a wonderful, wonderful town and it’s worth fighting for. I wish everybody the best of luck.”

The audience responded with polite applause. After the meeting, de Haseth said she had been considering stepping down since December, but decided to wait until after the election.

“I was sorry to see her go,’’ Coz, who was selected as vice mayor, said after the meeting. “She was a great asset to the commission.’’

Changes to advisory boards

Pugh, whom the commission selected as mayor on April 3, said at a special meeting April 18 that he thought the commission might need a month to find new commissioners to replace Wiescholek and de Haseth.

But Coz persuaded him and Cassidy to immediately advertise the openings and try to fill the two commission vacancies on May 1.

“The town has been in — what do we want to call it? — a quagmire for a bit here. It’s time to move forward,’’ Coz said.

“I don’t know about a quagmire,’’ Pugh said. “Today is like a bright new day.’’

At the May 1 meeting, Pugh, Coz and Cassidy voted by paper ballot without any debate to fill the two commission vacancies (from nine applicants) and make four Planning and Zoning Commission appointments (from 15 applicants) and three Board of Adjustment appointments (from eight applicants). All three picked the same people in each round of balloting.

Pugh praised the high level of interest in the open positions.

“In all the years I’ve been on this commission, I’ve never seen an outpouring of people (like this) coming up to put their names in, and their basic lives to be interrupted by these meetings and being involved in the town,” the mayor said. “This is a sea change for the town and it’s really impressive.”

Returning to the Town Commission are Kaleel, who previously served 16 years on the commission from 1996 to 2012, including as mayor in 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2004-12, and Besler, who was elected to a three-year term on the commission in 2018, but did not seek reelection.

The other Town Commission applicants were Arthur Ziev, Mike Drifmeyer, Victor Martel, Craig Herkert, Robert Sloat, Nicholas Arsali and David Hutchins.

For the P&Z Commission, the three town commissioners went with P. Shields Ferber, Ferenc Stephen Varga and Sydney Ray for the open three-year terms and Marc de Baptiste for a two-year alternate’s position. At the meeting, a couple of P&Z members had encouraged the commission to reappoint incumbents Mark Marsh, Neil Hennigan and Penny Kosinski.

“I hope you’ll be thoughtful,” P&Z Commissioner Hutchins said. “There’s plenty of people that want in and they could be very well-qualified, but, like I said, you’ll be losing some real talent if there’s a wholesale turnover.”

On the Board of Adjustment, the three commissioners reappointed Betty Bingham to a three-year term, but replaced Mary Ann Cody with Martel. Ziev was appointed to an open one-year term.

In other business:

• The commission approved Ladner’s contract April 18. Aside from her base salary of $142,500, she will receive 60 hours of vacation leave and a fuel and vehicle allowance of $300 per month. The town also paid for her relocation expenses of $5,977.

• The commission May 1 supported moving forward with a proposed ordinance regulating beach signs, including “No Trespassing” signs. It plans to hold a first reading on the sign regulation revisions at its June 5 meeting.

• Commissioners directed Ladner to look into the possibility that the town take seaweed piling up on shore and have it pushed into the dunes to help build up the dunes. Coz suggested the action, but concerns were raised about needing consent from private property owners.

• Residents put off by the bulletproof glass that’s between them and staff when they’re at Town Hall will get some relief. Although Coz wanted the glass completely removed, staff will take the step of opening window portions of the security glass when talking to residents, but the glass can be kept closed when staff doesn’t know the visitor.

A family with strong ties to Gulf Stream has purchased the Lemon Hill estate and plans to revive elements of the original 1939 design by Marion Sims Wyeth. Photo provided

By Steve Plunkett

The new owners of Lemon Hill plan to restore the 2.6-acre estate to its late 1930s grandeur.

Austin and Janie Musselman of Louisville, Kentucky, paid $16.5 million for the property at 1200 N. Ocean Blvd. in August, setting a town sales record for non-oceanfront property.

The previous owner, Stephen Benjamin, bought the mansion for $7.1 million in 2018 and started construction of a yacht basin on the west edge of the parcel by enlarging a canal leading to the Intracoastal Waterway.

“My family has been coming here since the ’30s. My grandparents came down a long time ago and we still have a lot of cousins and families in the area. Many of you know them,” Austin Musselman told Gulf Stream town commissioners at their April 14 meeting.

Society architect Marion Sims Wyeth designed the Florida Georgian-style home in 1939. His other projects included the Norton Museum of Art, Mar-a-Lago and other mansions in Palm Beach.

“The owners are very passionate about preservation and are excited to revive the architecture and design elements originally imagined by Marion Sims Wyeth,” said Boynton Beach-based contractor Jacob Lepera.

The Musselmans will expand the existing two-story east wing north by 10 feet. An existing single-story wing will expand east by 10 feet. Additional improvements include a larger sun porch and a reconfigured and expanded addition containing a family room, kitchen space and outdoor covered terrace space.

“Those areas are primarily 1950s additions that were added to the home that were not quite up to the character of the original Wyeth design. And we’re proposing to remove those,” said architect Domenick Treschitta of the Atlanta firm Historical Concepts.

The project team, Lepera said, met “solely” with Lisa Morgan, Mayor Scott Morgan’s wife, “and have made a commitment to jointly design and execute a supplemental plan for the property line buffering.”

The Morgans live immediately to the east.

Plans for a pickleball court were shelved after neighbors at an earlier meeting of the Architectural Review and Planning Board voiced concerns about noise.

The proposal, which needed a site plan review by the commission, was approved 3-0, with Vice Mayor Tom Stanley and Commissioner Thom Smith recusing themselves.

Smith lives immediately to the south of Lemon Hill and his landlocked property gained access to the canal when the yacht basin was dug. Stanley’s law firm represented the applicant during and after the sale.

Commissioner Joan Orthwein called the Lemon Hill proposal “an incredible project” and Commissioner Paul Lyons was equally enthusiastic.

“It’s a lovely house; it’s an iconic building. It’s one of the most unique locations, the way it sits up,” Lyons said. “So, I think it’s wonderful you’re restoring and retaining this iconic building and not tearing it down, because we have a lot of teardowns and rebuilds, so thank you.”

Austin Musselman is a family member of the Brown-Forman distillery empire and is the managing member of White Oak Investments LLC, a private holding company and a family office that manages its business and investment interests in Kentucky, Indiana, Florida and Wyoming.

He and his wife also own and manage Ashbourne Farms, a 2,250-acre third-generation working farm in La Grange, Kentucky, that has been completely restored as a luxury event and outdoor sporting destination.

In addition, he has been an active volunteer of several nonprofit organizations, including chair of the Kentucky chapter of the Nature Conservancy, vice chair of the Bluegrass Land Conservancy and on the President’s Council of American Farmland Trust.

In other business, town commissioners reelected Morgan as mayor and Stanley as vice mayor.

Former Ocean Ridge Police Chief Richard Jones was sworn in as chief of the Gulf Stream police force.

“Welcome to the town of Gulf Stream, chief, and let it be noted that transitions were very smooth,” Morgan said of the retirement of Ed Allen, Jones’ predecessor, on Jan. 31, and the service as interim chief provided by Capt. John Haseley.

By John Pacenti

A newly transformed Delray Beach City Commission decided March 31 to settle litigation with the ousted nonprofit that previously ran Old School Square, ending a contentious 18 months that split the city’s power structure.

The decision came just weeks after the city, in an email obtained by The Coastal Star, added to the controversy by alleging that the nonprofit — “with felonious intent” — took three glass sculptures by famed artist Dale Chihuly worth about $18,000 belonging to the cultural arts center, a claim the nonprofit disputed. The email demanded the artwork be returned or the city be compensated triple its value, or $54,000.

Attorney Marko Cerenko, the attorney for the nonprofit Old School Square Center for the Arts, Inc., said that under the proposed settlement, both sides will surrender their legal claims.

“My client felt that with the breath of fresh air with the new commission, that their resources were far better served in serving the community,” Cerenko said.

The old commission, in one of its final acts in power March 28, tried to insulate the Downtown Development Authority, which was just given control in February over managing the downtown cultural center. The commission removed from the DDA contract a 180-day “without cause” cancellation clause that the new commission could have used to change the management back to the nonprofit.

After the March 14 elections, only Mayor Shelly Petrolia remains on the dais from the 3-2 majority that removed the nonprofit in August 2021, saying it failed to disclose its financial records and mishandled renovation of the Crest Theatre.

Discussions about the settlement were not public because of attorney-client confidentiality, but when commissioners emerged from their special, closed-door session March 31, they opened the door to reestablishing a relationship with the nonprofit. All of this was done without Petrolia, who had a prior commitment.

The nonprofit sent the proposed settlement to the city the day before, after the prior commission’s final meeting, leaving the city’s decision on the proposal to the new board.

The commission voted 4-0 to have the city attorney negotiate a final agreement and execute a settlement. Then Commissioner Adam Frankel — long an ally of the nonprofit — said commissioners should meet in a workshop with Old School Square Center for the Arts representatives to make amends and find ways to work together.

When City Attorney Lynn Gelin suggested that the DDA be present at a workshop, Vice Mayor Ryan Boylston shot that idea down and it was agreed that the commission would meet only with the nonprofit.

“I clearly recognize that Old School Square did make some mistakes here but I don’t think they were fatal mistakes,” Frankel said.

He said that he wanted to sit down with the nonprofit to “try to reestablish some kind of partnership, not only with the DDA, who we asked to do things at the campus, but also with the city.”

The workshop with the commission and the former operators will be held at 6 p.m. May 9 at the Arts Warehouse, 313 NE Third St.

Boylston said the DDA would be brought in after that meeting takes place.

“We’ll bring in our established partner that we’ve already made a decision on, which is the DDA, and they are out there and doing their thing and we have a partnership with that,” he said.

“But I think first we’ve got to mend fences more than we did today and have a conversation about what does the future of our relationship look like between these two entities.”

When contacted following the meeting, DDA Executive Director Laura Simon said that she had not heard about the commission bringing the former managers back into the fold.

How it got to this point

The turnaround was remarkable but not surprising.

Petrolia and Commissioners Juli Casale and Shirley Johnson voted to throw out the nonprofit. But in the city’s March elections, Casale lost to Rob Long, and Angela Burns won the seat that Johnson had to vacate because of term limits.

Both won their seats by fewer than 400 votes and both campaigned on wanting to return the management of Old School Square to the nonprofit.

Five former mayors backed Long’s candidacy, as did board members of the nonprofit.

In the wake of the settlement, Casale said that “handing the keys back over to a group that mismanaged Old School Square to fulfill campaign promises seems like collusive government at its worst.”

An internal auditor found that the nonprofit had missing records, including an annual budget report, an annual audit report and two IRS forms that pertain to nonprofits.

The Coastal Star discovered the nonprofit reported more than $746,000 in net income for the fiscal year 2018-2019.

The auditor also found the nonprofit might have inadvertently “double-dipped” by using a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan to pay for the same payroll expenses already covered by Community Redevelopment Agency money.

The CRA demanded a return of $187,500 and stopped the flow of taxpayer money to the nonprofit.

The decision to oust the nonprofit enraged not only the entity but its well-monied supporters. The nonprofit filed suit in November 2021 against the city, Petrolia and others for allegedly breaching the lease, violating the state’s Government in the Sunshine open meetings law and civil conspiracy.

The city countersued, claiming breach of contract for, among other things, leaving the interior of the Crest Theatre in a demolished state.

Where it goes from here

Regarding the missing Chihuly artwork, Cerenko said the art always belonged to the nonprofit, not the city, and the letter was just attempted leverage by “certain commissioners” in the litigation.

He said the nonprofit is “hoping that the new commission is going to be significantly more supportive of what they have done and what they continue to do, as opposed to the old commission.”

Boylston, in a text message to The Coastal Star following the meeting, said it was time to mend fences.

“Ending these lawsuits is the right thing to do for the taxpayers and for our community; paying endless lawyer bills to prove a point is just wrong,” Boylston wrote. “It’s time for a long overdue public workshop with the board of Old School Square Inc. to address whatever issues are outstanding, because only then can we move forward with any decisions on the future management model of the Old School Square campus.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect location of the commission's May 9 workshop with Old School Square's former operators. The workshop is being held at the Arts Warehouse, 313 NE Third St.

By Larry Barszewski

On-street parking rates are about to double along the beach and on Atlantic Avenue in downtown Delray Beach, and almost triple on Atlantic Avenue east of the Intracoastal Waterway.

The good news for beachgoers is that the City Commission backed off charging an even higher rate for the beach parking spots on State Road A1A.

Beginning May 15, Delray Beach is increasing parking charges to $4 an hour on Atlantic Avenue from Swinton Avenue to the ocean, and to $3 an hour on State Road A1A. The rates have been $1.50 an hour on A1A and on Atlantic east of the Intracoastal Waterway, and $2 an hour on Atlantic from Swinton to the Intracoastal.

City-owned beach parking lots will see their rates increase from $1.50 an hour to $2 an hour, a 33% jump, as will parking off Atlantic on Gleason and Venetian drives. The $2 an hour rate will not change for street parking a block north and south of Atlantic Avenue on streets between Swinton and southbound Federal Highway.

The city’s decision to increase the rates came at the commission’s April 18 meeting, at Deputy Vice Mayor Rob Long’s request, an action he said had previously been recommended by a city advisory board.

“It could yield up to $2 million in revenue for the city,” Long said. “A great portion of that would come from nonresidents.”

The estimated parking revenues would actually increase $3.2 million with the higher rates, City Manager Terrence Moore told commissioners at their May 2 meeting, before commissioners decided to scale back the increase on A1A.

The A1A rate authorized April 18 was $4 an hour, but commissioners on May 2 decided that might be too much of a shock for beach-goers, including residents. Vice Mayor Ryan

Boylston said he couldn’t support that higher rate if there wasn’t some discount for residents. Moore said the city’s current parking app doesn’t provide for residential discounts.

“For $4 to park on Atlantic, I can be comfortable with, it’s Atlantic Avenue and it’s only so many spots, but I think the beach should be $3,” Boylston said of the hourly rates. “If I can’t make it $3 just for residents, then I think it should be $3 across the board.”

Boylston said the goal of the increased rates isn’t for the city to make more money, but to better manage parking downtown and on the beach.

“I know that’s going to negatively affect revenue, but that’s not the main reason we’re doing this,” he said. “We’re doing it to manage parking, to move people to the other lots, to move people to the garages.”

That was Long’s original point. He said the city’s Parking Management Advisory Board previously determined that “public parking downtown is underpriced and fine-tuning turnover and improving circulation were identified as overall strategies to optimize existing parking.”

But Mavis Benson, a member of the Downtown Development Authority’s governing board, said her board met with the parking management board in January 2022 and the two groups jointly supported an increase to $2.50 an hour along Atlantic Avenue and A1A because of the potential harm higher rates might cause to businesses.

“Difficult decisions don’t happen overnight and three years of research should not be dismissed in just one night,” Benson said. “If we could push it off to the fall; let the merchants get through season and then look at doing whatever we need to do.”

The parking rates apply from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week on the barrier island. On Atlantic Avenue between Swinton and the Intracoastal, motorists have to pay to park from noon to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from noon to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Mayor Shelly Petrolia said she was concerned the new rates may still be too high and will negatively affect businesses. She said she preferred to charge $3 an hour on Atlantic and $2 an hour on the beach.

Commissioners also directed Moore to remove the parking time limits on residential parking permits, available for $12 a year. The permits can be used at a number of downtown garages and city parking lots, but aren’t valid on Atlantic Avenue or the beach.

Moore plans to have the city’s parking policies scheduled for a June 6 commission workshop so they can be discussed in more detail.

CRA board to change

The City Commission is also looking to change the makeup of the Community Redevelopment Agency’s governing board, but not in the way two newly elected commissioners had been proposing. Long and Commissioner Angela Burns campaigned on making the board an independent board again made up of seven commission appointees.

That’s what existed prior to April 2018, when the five-member City Commission voted to put itself in place of the independent board, then decided to add two appointed positions to the governing board a week later.

City Attorney Lynn Gelin told current commissioners that there’s no going back now to a completely independent board. The city would risk losing its CRA if it did such a change because of rules in place for redevelopment agencies, she said.

Instead, commissioners plan to create a separate citizens advisory board that would make recommendations to the commission acting as the CRA governing board. The commission would also eliminate the two appointed positions on the current governing board — positions that Gelin said may be legally questionable.

Long and Burns said given Gelin’s comments, they support the proposals so that the city conforms to state statutes.

“I think the next-best thing would be this structure,” Long said.

The commission would then make up the entire CRA governing board. A similar two-board system is in place in Boynton Beach.

City resident Joy Howell wasn’t convinced.

“You’re discussing taking away two seats at the table with full voting rights held by Black representatives,” Howell said. “Will this not be a step backward for the Black community, to lose two minority seats with full voting rights in exchange for perhaps non-voting advisory board positions? I just don’t understand it.”

But Chuck Ridley, who lives in the CRA district and served on the previous independent CRA board — and did not support the switch to the commission in 2018 — said he understood the city’s predicament.

“I would like to suggest that this commission moves from a five-member board with two alternates to a five-member board, and that you set up an advisory committee,” Ridley said.

“My rationale is that, by doing it that way, you allow yourself to have more voices that can talk about a variety of different and important issues in our community.”
Boylston said he doesn’t want the advisory board to just comment on agenda items that will be coming before the governing board, but “for them to be tasked with the big picture” and “really empowering them.”

Petrolia was the lone dissenter, not persuaded by Gelin’s contention that the city might be on shaky legal ground having the two alternates on the governing board.

In other news:

• Commissioners approved moving their 4 p.m. twice-a-month meetings to 5 p.m. beginning in October.

• Internal Auditor Julia Davidyan submitted a 30-day notice of her intent to resign on April 4, saying she was leaving for personal reasons. Her work was in a consultant role through her firm, JMD Premier Group Inc.

• The commission will hold its annual goal-setting workshop at 8 a.m. May 12 at the Delray Beach Golf Club, 2200 Highland Ave.

• Commissioners requested the city manager develop suggestions on how to handle all the extra seaweed, called sargassum, expected to wash ashore this summer. Scientists are anticipating a record year based on the amount of sargassum now floating in the Atlantic Ocean. Moore said he will present some recommendations at the commission’s May 16 meeting.

• Petrolia announced the city’s public beach has officially received the Blue Flag designation, an international honor that officials hope will attract more eco-tourism from Europe, where the designation is well known. Delray Beach is one of the first two beaches to receive the Blue Flag in the continental United States.

By Mary Thurwachter

Lantana officials got a slap on the wrist from the Palm Beach County inspector general for violating its own and state laws and procurement policies by hiring an unlicensed contractor to renovate the town library.

In a review released March 30, Inspector General John Carey wrote that his staff also found the town did not promptly notify his office when it learned of possible mismanagement of the contract.

“We identified $411,731 in questioned costs and made three recommendations to enhance internal controls,” Carey wrote. The costs were payments made by the town to the uninsured contractor for work the company completed on the library.

Town Manager Brian Raducci said the recommendations — which have to do with staff training, updating procurement and contract policies and having a checklist to ensure bidders have proper licensing and are insured — have been implemented.

The town signed a contract with Sierra Construction, the lowest responsive bidder, to renovate the library on July 26, 2021. The following December, council member Mark Zeitler, an air-conditioning contractor, suspected Sierra did not have a license. He notified Raducci, who confirmed Zeitler’s suspicion and terminated Sierra’s contract.

Zeitler discovered the problem when he questioned a change order for additional air-conditioning work at the library. He noticed the absence of a license number for Sierra on the company’s sign in front of the construction site. 

The town paid Sierra $411,731 for services rendered through Nov. 5, 2021, and assigned the contract to one of Sierra’s subcontractors, Multitech Corp., but terminated that contract when the company failed to provide required documents. The town then hired West Construction on May 9, 2022, to complete the work.

Ruben Sierra, president of Sierra Construction, was charged in April 2022 with uttering a forgery regarding the insurance information he provided Lantana and with filing a fraudulent workers compensation statement. The forgery charge was dropped and Sierra pleaded guilty in Palm Beach County Circuit Court to the second. Adjudication was withheld and he was sentenced on Dec. 6 to 18 months’ probation and ordered to pay $618 in court fees.

Sierra Construction’s difficulties weren’t limited to Lantana. Sierra, whose first name is sometimes spelled Reuben, was also arrested in April 2022 regarding a Fort Lauderdale construction job incident, later pleading no contest in a Broward County courtroom to a third-degree felony, presenting a false statement of insurance coverage. Adjudication was withheld in this case, too, and Sierra was sentenced on Dec. 15 to 18 months’ probation, to be served concurrently with his Palm Beach County sentence, and fined $517.

As to the inspector general’s findings, Mayor Karen Lythgoe, in an email to The Coastal Star, wrote: “They were no surprise, as once it was realized that Sierra Construction did not have the proper licenses and insurance we expected this result. The process obviously had some holes in it, but that was corrected.”

Lythgoe wrote that “while audits are important as flaws can be identified and addressed, improvement is the reason for audits, not ‘gotcha.’ The $400,000 was spent on work delivered so it was not wasted as some are saying on social media.”

Lythgoe doesn’t blame staff for missteps.

“I have faith in our town staff to always try to do the right thing,” she wrote.  “They are constantly working to improve existing processes.”

Resident Cathy Burns wasn’t so forgiving in her remarks to the Town Council at its April 10 meeting. She chastised officials for paying Sierra over $400,000.

“It’s a gut punch how they were paid and were an unlicensed contractor,” Burns said. “That’s pretty disturbing. I’m glad the town was able to catch it, but it really leaves me not feeling like I can trust you guys with money.”

After delays and cost overruns, the library opened on Feb. 22 with a final price tag of $1,505,000, more than twice the budgeted amount of $748,636.

Zeitler, reached by phone, said the IG report was “a wake-up call and will have people on their toes in the future. It’s definitely improved the vetting process. They really didn’t have checks and balances in place, and now they’re looking at it more carefully, making sure everybody has what they are supposed to have so it doesn’t happen again.

“In the end,” Zeitler said, “the library turned out really nice and they did a really nice job with it.”

Pedro Luna leads a recent sunrise yoga class near Atlantic Avenue. He said city code enforcers sent him a notice April 10 ordering him to stop holding the sessions. Photo provided by Kelly Rodriguez

By Larry Barszewski

Groups doing yoga on the beach may find serenity and a sense of community in the surroundings and a relief of stress from the exercise, but Delray Beach officials say the sessions aren’t allowed on the city’s public beaches.

Yoga instructor Pedro Luna, contacted by The Coastal Star, said he received a letter April 10 from city code enforcers ordering him to cease the meet-up classes — both full moon and weekend sunrise sessions — he has held on the beach near Atlantic Avenue since June 2019.

“We’re just here to try to help bring people together,” he said. “Community is everything.”

City officials are concerned about the size of such gatherings, instructors collecting donations similar to what buskers do, the use of amplifiers for some classes, the safety of sea turtles and other issues.

At an April 18 City Commission workshop about special events, Assistant City Manager Jeffrey Oris said city staff plans to address beach event issues, but it first wants to finish updating event policies for other areas, especially the downtown, which were last revised in 2018.

“We started to go there and then we realized, there’s people doing yoga on the beach after hours. How do we police that? How do we make sure that they’re not disturbing turtles?” Oris said. “How do we make sure that anybody that’s on the beach isn’t doing an event that they go into the water when we don’t have lifeguards on duty?”

Oris said staff needs more time to consider what to propose.

“We want to make sure this is thoughtful considering the things we’re now finding out are happening on the beach,” Oris said. “There are some things that we didn’t know were happening out there that we’re finding out about now.”
Vice Mayor Ryan Boylston suggested that smaller groups, say fewer than 15 people and operating at off-hours for the beach, be given some leeway.

“I mean, if we could put some guidelines together like that, that says, ‘Hey, you know, we do want organizations to come out and enjoy our beach in group sessions, but we don’t want it to turn into mini-events and we obviously don’t want businesses running on our very small, limited footprint.’ I would be open to something like that,” Boylston said.

Mayor Shelly Petrolia expressed caution about how active the beach should be.

“One of the most important parts of our city is our beach. And one of the reasons it’s so loved is because it isn’t active,” Petrolia said.

“When my colleague was talking about yoga, I get it, if it’s smaller groups and before hours, I tend to agree with you. I’m open to that as long as it doesn’t open the door to everything else that could possibly come in. And if it does, I say we do nothing. It’s better I think to err on the side of caution.”

Beach yoga class participants complained at the regular commission meeting immediately following the workshop that they’ve been stopped from having their gatherings while the beach policy is in limbo.

“There’s no permit that they can apply for, because it doesn’t fit any of the criteria,” said Heidi Dietrich, who had been a regular at Luna’s classes. “If there’s any way you could allow our classes to continue until you work out these issues, it would be greatly appreciated.”

Brittany Lynch said there’s a reason the city may not have been aware of the yoga programs earlier: “because we haven’t harmed anyone.”

Cindy Smernoff Voloshin told commissioners she moved to Florida from Connecticut, where she was also able to do yoga on the beach. She sees the classes as good publicity for the city.

“When I moved to Delray Beach and found it, I was so excited, because that was something that helped my wellness,” Voloshin said. “I would just hope you would make sure the policies work for us to continue to have yoga on the beach.”

Luna, who publicized his classes through social media as meet-up events, told The Coastal Star he had been holding sunrise classes on Saturdays and Sundays that attracted between 30 and 50 people, and a monthly full-moon class that had anywhere from 150 to 320 people participating.

He said he accepted donations from participants for the classes, but told city officials he would be willing to have the classes for free if that’s what it takes to continue.

“We’re willing to do it for no compensation. We just want to continue gathering,” Luna said. “It makes yoga accessible by making it donation-based or free.”

By Mary Thurwachter

The Lantana Town Council unanimously approved revisions April 10 to the town’s traffic calming policy.

Changes include one that allows residents who are renting their homes to participate in petitions for traffic calming, with the caveat that at least two-thirds of the signatures must be from property owners in order to allow the town to verify.

Another change allows a resident to request speed limit signs without requiring the resident to go through the official traffic calming process.

Separate processes have been added for neighborhoods desiring speed humps and other more permanent traffic calming measures.

“The policy’s purpose is to provide a methodology and a means to address concerns associated with speeding and cut-through traffic and safety concerns on residential streets,” said Nicole Dritz, development services director. “This is a resident-initiated program. Residents do come forward with concerns that they have on their local roads, and this provides a process for them to go through and work hand-in-hand with staff to make updates.”

Dritz provided some background for council members. She said the traffic calming policy and guidelines were adopted in 2019. Last June, the town hired engineering firm Kimley-Horn and Associates to review the policy against what other municipalities are doing and any national standards.

In August and September, two public meetings were held for feedback, which Kimley-Horn reviewed. The firm prepared a preliminary draft of the new traffic calming policy.

Between November and March, town staff and Kimley-Horn collaborated to further refine and revise the policy.

In another change, residents will be able to submit a digital petition, rather than collecting physical signatures. The need for this revision became evident during the pandemic, when securing physical signatures became problematic.

In other news, as part of the Lantana’s ongoing effort to address flooding on Hypoluxo Island, Town Council members on April 24 authorized spending $169,440 for engineering services to construct drainage improvements.

The island has long been plagued with swamping during intense rainfall and king tides. Last year, the town spent $33,314 for an engineering study to come up with possible solutions. This is the next step.

The work, which will be done by Baxter & Woodman, Inc., will cover design, permitting and bidding assistance, and will address flooding issues on North Atlantic Drive and Beach Curve Road.

After the work is complete, the construction will come next, Utilities Director Jerry Darr said.

Some of the money for the project may come from the American Rescue Plan Act.

By Mary Thurwachter

Lantana officials have been talking about possibly closing the Pine Street railroad crossing since November and hosted a standing-room-only workshop on the subject on April 6.

The closing would happen only if the town is successful in winning a Federal Railroad Administration grant, Town Manager Brian Raducci said. The grant would pay 80% of the costs for safety improvements and enhancements along the Florida East Coast Railway’s two-mile corridor in town that runs on the west side of Dixie Highway and now includes five railroad crossings.

“Our railway partners would help us secure a grant,” Raducci said. He invited representatives from the FRA, FEC, Brightline and Tri-Rail to discuss crossing safety improvements, the FRA grant opportunity and what he calls “a corridor approach” to mitigate accident risks at the crossing.

Grant money would enable the town to make infrastructure improvements along the entire railroad corridor that Raducci said might be “challenging without the level of financial support and cooperation from those partners.”

Possible upgrades could include premium fencing on the east and west sides of the railroad tracks, crossing safety upgrades, additional landscaping (including a Third Street streetscape), a pocket park at West Pine Street and reconfiguration of the Ocean Avenue crossing to better handle increased traffic.

The workshop was designed to help gauge community support for the Pine Street crossing proposal — and reaction was mixed.

Some said it was a good idea. Others said the closing would impact the town in a dramatic way that they don’t fully support.

Owners of some of the businesses on Third Street expressed concerns about losing accessibility and visibility from Dixie Highway.

Raducci said he and others from the town had made personal visits to business owners in that area to hear their concerns.

As they had done at a previous workshop on Feb. 27, the railroad spokesmen who are working with town staff outlined what was being considered.

Daniel Fetahovic, public project engineer with FEC, provided historical background on his previous discussions with town staff regarding safety issues at the town’s railroad crossings. He also presented initiatives and conceptual drawings for improvements.

Tom Roadcap, project engineer for Brightline, gave an overview of funding opportunities through the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program, which focuses on improving safety and mobility.

And Rory Newton, safety inspector with the FRA, discussed safety concerns.

“All of these discussions are in the very preliminary stages,” Raducci emphasized, and “no hard decisions or commitments have been made.”

He said the town would have to consider if it were getting enough money from grants to make up for the inconvenience of closing the Pine Street crossing. He also said a temporary closing would likely be planned to see how traffic flow in the area is affected.

Some residents warned that doing a temporary closure during the summer would not yield the same results as one done during the busier winter season.

Least-used crossing

According to a March 2023 traffic count, the Pine Street crossing is the least used in Lantana.

The crossing is adjacent to a curve in the tracks, Raducci says. “Due to the design of the track to accommodate the curvature, the crossing itself is not as flat as some of our other crossings.”

The town’s five railroad crossings are those on Lantana Road and on Hypoluxo Road, both maintained by Palm Beach County; and those on Ocean Avenue, Pine Street and Central Boulevard, all maintained by Lantana. The town signed an agreement with FEC on March 17, 1976, to assume the cost of the maintenance of the crossings.

Raducci said the maintenance cost for each crossing varies depending on FEC inspections and repair requirements. During the past 10 years, there has been approximately $99,000 worth of town-funded maintenance costs for the Ocean Avenue crossing. The town is planning to spend $214,000 on improvements for Central Boulevard’s crossing this year.

Raducci said it doesn’t appear that the Pine Street crossing has had any town-funded maintenance in the past decade. “The current condition appears to meet FEC’s standards, since they have not scheduled any work on the crossing that we are aware of at this time,” he said.

Linda Silpe’s home studio in Manalapan shows some of her artwork. But her primary passion is education. As a Norton Museum docent she helped start an education program for aspiring docents. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Education has always played a significant role in Linda Silpe’s life and she’s learned over time the importance of culture in society.

Silpe and her husband, Don, who live in Manalapan, have long been benefactors of local cultural institutions such as Dramaworks and the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach, and their philanthropy stretches back decades to the first days of the Wadsworth Atheneum in their native Hartford, Connecticut.

Armed with an undergraduate degree from Boston University and master’s degrees in both education and art education from the University of Hartford, Silpe got excited when a regional theater opened in a Hartford department store a year after she and Don married in the 1970s.

“It was a bit of a lark when it began, but Don and I were so hungry for theater we signed up immediately,” said Silpe, 82. “It started with local actors, and it grew and grew and now it is a major regional theater, which has produced original Tony Award-winning plays, attracted international directors, and is a major force in the theater world. And it started in the basement of the department store.”

She joined the board of directors 45 years ago and has become a lifetime member, even though she and Don left the frigid New England winters behind for the Palm Beaches long ago.

They wasted little time jumping into the local arts scene: Don became a board member at Dramaworks for nearly two decades, while Linda became a docent at the Norton Museum of Art, where she helped start an education program for aspiring docents.

“After we did that, I said to my husband, ‘They’re young, and after three or four years they get married and they leave.’ He said, ‘Where do they go?’ And I said, ‘They go to other museums. So? They then take that knowledge further, so that’s what we want.’”

Linda remains involved in the community as a member of the Armory Art Center executive committee, as a Norton docent and as a member of the Gallery Committee for the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, while Don is a member of the Dreyfoos School Board of Directors.

Linda Silpe said it’s important that the various cultural organizations across Palm Beach County work together.

“We enhance each other,” she said. “People who love ballet don’t necessarily care for opera, but you can cross-current a lot of the arts. That’s valuable; you learn much more that way. My serious cause is education. Whether it be art, music, physics, English, sex or history. I support education for all. Not the same education for all, but the availability of education for all, to build happier, healthier, safer individuals and communities.”

When the Silpes travel they often wind up in Manhattan, where they own a co-op and typically spend much of their time catching the latest shows in the theater district.

“We found that three in one day is too much, though we do occasionally do two,” she said. “My husband has been retired since 1989, when he was 49. We have spent our time going to theater, going to museums, having a good time. We fill it with the things we love.”

The Silpes have three children: a daughter Jennifer, who lives outside Burlington, Vermont, and is finance officer for the town of Underhill; son Greg, who is retired and lives in Palm Beach, and son Jay, an international trader who also lives in Palm Beach with the couple’s two grandchildren.

— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut, where family and community were the center of lives. I ended up going to three high schools. I was in the first graduating class from Conrad High School. I did my undergraduate work at Boston University School for the Arts, then got a BSA [bachelor of science and arts degree] and a master’s in education and a master’s in art education from the University of Hartford.
Being engaged, whether through the PTA, politics or community centers, was a way of life for my family. It created a sense of personal importance, a responsibility to our hometown community.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: My life-long profession has been education. As a public school art teacher for four years, I was paid to do what I loved, my only paying job. While raising my three children, I volunteered to teach art on a looser schedule in the town where I had been employed. And then I continued my devotion to education by volunteer teaching at a home for the aged, as well as teaching children with learning disabilities. I just loved the challenge of seeing eyes light up when students successfully met a challenge.
Later, I continued my educator role as vice chair of the Hartford Art School, as a regent at the University of Hartford, docent at the Norton Museum for more than 30 years, and board member and chair of the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach. 
I am most proud of working with three other Norton docents 30 years ago to develop a curriculum to train future docents. We had all been art majors in college and felt new docents needed an art education background. We designed the program and then taught what we had designed because there was no staff to do it.
That grassroots project has morphed into a world-class docent training program at the Norton with a talented staff as part of a strong education department. I am thrilled with the outcome.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: Starting a career is just the opening of a door. Start with something you love. Where that opening will lead as you experience new challenges and opportunities unfold is what makes life exciting. So, once you go through that opening, keep looking around for new ideas, new pathways, new adventures.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Manalapan?
A: We chose Manalapan because there was enough property for our teenagers to pursue all of the sports activities they loved without disturbing our neighbors. The ocean is at our back door for scuba diving, a tennis court, a dock for the boat and watercraft. Actually, the size of the property was the biggest draw.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in Manalapan?
A: The best part of living in Manalapan has been the small-town feel. We all know the town officials, and our Police Department know all of us, so when the town needs something residents always respond generously. Now we even have a supermarket. What could be better?

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I am rereading Camus’ The Plague. I was compelled to read it during the early part of the COVID shutdown, and the similarities (to then and now) were breathtaking. But in the end, it sort of faded away. I am rereading it to see if it is the same book I read, or if time has changed it. Absurdism, which I hadn’t thought about since college, had pushed its way into everyday life. So, does it still seem relevant? That’s why I’m rereading it.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: I listen to Elvis, whose talent I didn’t appreciate as a teen, and ’50s and ’60s rock ’n’ roll. Surrounded by so many serious world challenges I revert to my innocent teenage years — sh-boom, sh-boom! Nothing serious, nothing sad, just moving to the beat.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: When, as an elementary school student, I asked my mother about the Ten Commandments, she told me she only needed one: “Do unto others as you will have done unto you.” She explained that to her it covered all of them in one phrase. And I live by that as a goal, but of course sometimes fall short. 

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?
A: Well, since it’s hypothetical, how about Audrey Hepburn? Beautiful (why not?), a woman who cared about people of the world, whose image of grace matches her life’s work outside of Hollywood.

Q: Is there something people don’t know about you but should?
A: When I am driving alone, I sing to my ’50s and Elvis stations, as loud as I can in my terrible off-key voice and love every second! (Well, I think my husband suspects this quirk.)

Howard Parker owns two adjacent half-acre lots on Lands End Road. Manalapan commissioners rejected his request for a variance to resize them, to create a larger, .7-acre parcel for his home and a reduced, .33-acre parcel that would be developable. Rendering provided /Town of Manalapan

By Larry Barszewski

A Manalapan resident says property he owns next to his house on Lands End Road could fetch $10 million on the open market, but he couldn’t persuade town commissioners to approve the variance he needs to make the land developable.

Commissioners unanimously rejected Howard Parker’s request at their April 11 meeting, saying any hardship Parker is experiencing is of his own making and not eligible for any relief from the town.

Parker built his home on a half-acre lot at 1275 Lands End Road in 1992. He purchased another half-acre lot next door at 1285 Lands End Road in 1999 and used a portion of it for a house addition that he said he completed in 2004. His property is along the Intracoastal Waterway on the west side of Lands End Road, between Little Pond Road and Churchill Way.

Parker wanted to turn the undeveloped portion of the 1285 parcel into a one-third-acre lot, telling commissioners that similarly sized properties are nearby and the lot has enough land for a new home — a two-story with as much as 8,600 square feet — that still meets the town’s setback requirements.

“When I built the addition, I was very mindful that this day would come,” Parker said of his desire to either develop or sell the parcel. “The vacant lot would sell for $10 million today with 95 feet of frontage.”

But commissioners didn’t see it that way. Parker’s property is zoned for half-acre lots, not something smaller.

“I understand Mr. Parker’s ambitions and what he’d like to do,” Mayor Stewart Satter said. “But it certainly seems very unreasonable to me and I would hope to other commissioners up here. He’s in a half-acre zone and he doesn’t meet the half-acre and as such he can’t build another house on that lot.”

John Randolph, an attorney representing Parker, disagreed.

“We don’t feel he created his own hardship,” Randolph said. “We felt that when he went to the town and got a permit to build over the property line, that he thought he was given permission to do that and he did not know at the time that he was creating a nonconformity.”
Bradley Miller, a land planner at Urban Design Studio, also hired by Parker, told commissioners there are some properties in the same zoning district that are also smaller than a half-acre.

Parker said he thought the only reason for the half-acre zone went back decades to Palm Beach County lot size requirements for homes on septic systems. Parker said new septic systems no longer need drainage fields as large.

Commissioners couldn’t get past what they said was Parker’s own responsibility for his predicament.

“We have two half-acre lots. The owner did something to those lots that created this hardship,” Commissioner Richard Granara said. “To me, as a body, we can’t approve it. It’s black and white.”

In other news, commissioners were told construction of a new landscaped circle in the Lands End Road cul de sac will take longer than anticipated and the cost will be higher.

Town Manager Linda Stumpf reported that she had requested bids from three companies for the work, and received one response that was “absolutely unacceptable” and an “unbelievable bid.”

Stumpf said the bid was for $80,000 for the work and “it excluded more than it included.”

She said she would now put out a formal bid request, hoping to have a bid for the work on the agenda at the commission’s June meeting. Stumpf would like to see the work done in the summer when fewer residents are in town.

OCEAN RIDGE — Dorothy Jean (Copenhaver) Taylor of Ocean Ridge died at home Feb. 26, surrounded by family. She was 100.

Dorothy was born Dec. 6, 1922, to Mary Helen and Lloyd Copenhaver in Joliet, Illinois. She was an only child who loved sports and outdoor activities. After graduating high school,

Dorothy followed her dream to become a nurse at Copley Nursing School in Aurora, Illinois.

Soon after graduating as an RN, she married her high school sweetheart, William John Munch. They resided in Joliet and vacationed in Florida, eventually purchasing a mobile home in Briny Breezes for winter vacations.

Because they loved the area so much, they purchased land in neighboring Ocean Ridge.

In 1964, as a recently divorced single mother, Dorothy procured the first pre-construction loan obtained by a single female in Palm Beach County. Her last single-family home, once a duplex, was completed within 18 months of her endeavors.

Mrs. Taylor continued her nursing career and education throughout her life. Her last nursing position was with Hospice by the Sea in Boca Raton, where she worked until in her mid-70s.

Mrs. Taylor loved life. She enjoyed boating, motor home trips, golf, travel, but more than anything else, her love for her family was enduring.

Mrs. Taylor was predeceased by William Munch and Harold Taylor, along with grandson Jonathan Watson.

Among those surviving her, Mrs. Taylor leaves her daughter, Sarah Ann Steies (Roland), granddaughter Kourtney Watson (Ken Christian), grandsons Christopher Watson and Eric Steies, along with great-grandchildren Dominic Giangarra, Tristan Penaluna, Alexander Penaluna, Logan Christian, Lara Christian, Skyler Watson,
and Rowan Watson.

Memorial donations in her name can be made to Trustbridge.com Foundation.

Funeral arrangements are with Boynton Memorial Chapel of Boynton Beach and St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach.

 — Obituary submitted by the family

By Rich Pollack

Questions from Highland Beach residents about the traffic impacts of an impending State Road A1A resurfacing project — as well as the need for bike lanes and the effectiveness of simultaneous drainage work — were fielded by a state engineer who assured residents their concerns were being heard.

During a meeting May 2, about two dozen residents listened as Florida Department of Transportation project engineer Brad Salisbury offered details about the $8.8 million resurfacing, restoration and rehabilitation, or 3R, project along 3.3 miles of A1A that runs through Highland Beach and includes a small slice of Delray Beach.

The project, which is scheduled to begin a year from now, is expected to last 18 months and will include the resurfacing of the highway as well as installation of 5-foot bike lanes to replace a not-always well-kept shoulder on either side of the highway.

Another key part of the project is drainage, consisting largely of swale improvement on both sides of the major thoroughfare through town.

The meeting, which came at the request of residents, marked the third time Salisbury had come to Highland Beach to offer a public presentation and field questions from residents worried about the unavoidable disruption that will come from the once-every-20-years project.

Salisbury explained that many of the concerns voiced by residents at previous meetings were addressed — including reducing the number of trees that need to be removed to just seven.

Town commissioners, who hosted the meeting, praised Salisbury and town staff for working together to address concerns.

“We’re never going to satisfy everyone’s issues and complaints, but I think you made a valiant effort to try and deal with everything,” Commissioner Evalyn David told Salisbury.

Throughout his presentation and discussion, the engineer assured residents that many of their concerns and suggestions would be investigated.

Once the project begins, people using A1A will encounter single-lane road closures, which will mean traffic delays. Salisbury said that the closures would be limited to 1,000 feet during the day and 2,500 feet at night.

One resident, who pointed out that traffic on A1A can be a nightmare during the season — even without construction — wondered if the road could be open to local traffic only.

Salisbury explained that closing the road to nonresidents wasn’t workable, largely because it is a state road and must be open to all. He did say that the state would put up signs on the west side of both the Linton Boulevard and Spanish River Boulevard bridges and at the town’s north and south ends, designed to shift traffic away from A1A by letting motorists know to expect construction-related delays.

He also said he would meet with FDOT construction managers to look at other ways to minimize traffic disruption. He pointed out that while frequent lane closures will occur, at other times work on the swales will not require stopping motorists.

“It won’t be all day, every day,” Salisbury said.

The addition of bike lanes was also a major topic of discussion, with some questioning why the project needed to include bike lanes and some wondering if they could be made safer by including a barrier between the lanes of traffic and bicyclists.

Salisbury said that bike lanes are required by state law on major road improvement projects except when they impede the flow of traffic. He said bike lanes will be included in upcoming 3R projects in Delray Beach and Boca Raton as well.

Because Highland Beach has a large number of driveways on A1A and because they could provide hazards for bicyclists, the idea of barriers including flexible poles was rejected.

Salisbury said, however, that he would bring up this issue for discussion with others from the FDOT to see whether acceptable alternatives exist.

The drainage portion of the project also drew a lot of questions, with Committee to Save Highland Beach leader Jack Halpern wondering if ponding issues on the road could be managed by requiring homeowners on the east side of the highway to control runoff from their properties.

Halpern, who writes a blog for the political action committee, has previously questioned whether the drainage portions of the project and the bike lanes were needed, saying that without them the timeline could be shortened and disruptions reduced.

Salisbury said that many of the suggestions he heard this month will be discussed and that FDOT officials will be back for another public meeting with contractors prior to the start of construction.

By Tao Woolfe

Two nonprofit organizations — one that builds athletes and one that saves sea turtles — announced in April that they were moving to Boynton Beach.

Athletic Angels Foundation, an organization run by professional sports trainer Mike Barwis, will be coming to Boynton Beach in the coming months to help build and operate a training facility at the East Boynton Little League Park on Woolbright Road.

Barwis, now located in Deerfield Beach, will be partnering with Phil Terrano to build the 28,000-square-foot training facility on the grounds of the park.

Although there will be a special emphasis on youth baseball, training at the facility will be for all major sports and could be a draw for professional athletes, Terrano has told the city.

Services offered by Barwis will include speed, agility, conditioning, weight training, nutrition programs, batting cages, pro clay bullpen mounds, data assessment, physical therapy, chiropractic services, youth camps and scholarship programs.

Terrano, a major league baseball player agent, has also said he and his investors envision adding turf fields, and making the park accessible for people with disabilities.

Although Terrano and Barwis will build the facility, the city will own the building and lease it to Barwis and Terrano.

The city, which will also be involved in the renovation and maintenance of the park, plans to spruce up the existing grass fields, add T-ball and artificial turf fields, and upgrade the bathrooms and concession stands, Recreation and Parks Director Kacy Young has said.

Terrano had hoped to have the work completed by summer, but Young said a year would be a more realistic timetable.

Barwis, at a special City Commission meeting on April 11, contracted with the city to renovate Field 1, which has fallen into disrepair. He plans to repair or replace all surface areas, replace all fencing and netting, add new lighting and a high fence to keep fly balls within the park.

“This will be a destination ballpark that everyone can come to,” Terrano has said. “I want Boynton Beach to have the best — a field of dreams.”

Turtles too
ICARE — Sea Turtle Adventures, which helps monitor and rescue sea turtles on Palm Beach County beaches, has moved its operation from West Palm Beach to Boynton’s First Presbyterian Church on Southwest Sixth Avenue.

The organization also operates an educational program for young adults,

“This organization creates wonderful programs that are vocational, educational and recreational,” Mayor Ty Penserga said in announcing the move of Sea Turtle Adventures. “This is a very unique and special opportunity.”

A crowd of more than 500 honored the Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball team after the best season in school history. It ended in a last-second loss to San Diego State in a semifinal of the NCAA tournament. The Owls finished 35-4, the most victories in the nation, and coach Dusty May told reporters that ‘these guys have created memories and a legacy that will last a lifetime.’ Eight of the top nine Owls are eligible to return next season.
ABOVE AND BELOW: Fans take photos of the team as May accepts the key to the city from Mayor Scott Singer. RIGHT: FAU alumnus Jorge Charbonier and his son Jorge Jr. pose with FAU mascot Owlsley. Photos by Tim Stepien/ The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi

Jamie Titcomb has been hired as South Palm Beach’s new town manager under an unusual arrangement that will make him a part-time town employee. 

Titcomb will start June 5, replacing retiring manager Robert Kellogg, who since 2019 has held the position as a full-time employee, as had previous town managers in recent memory. 

“This is new and different. We’ve never done this before,’’ Town Attorney Glen Torcivia said April 28 before the Town Council unanimously hired Titcomb.

Titcomb, who was town manager in Loxahatchee Groves until he retired last year, wanted to serve as South Palm Beach’s town manager as an independent contractor so he can spend more time with family. Torcivia said he should work as a town employee. 

As a compromise, Titcomb agreed to a two-year arrangement in which he will work as a town employee for at least 20 hours a week, but no more than 25 hours per week, at $82 per hour.

He will receive no health insurance or pension benefits and he will not receive any paid holidays. He can be terminated without cause and without severance pay. 

His weekly work hours are capped at 25 to avoid triggering the town’s health insurance plan, which is automatically given to employees who work at least 26 hours a week, Torcivia said. 

“I appreciate the attorney’s attempt to create a hybrid agreement that meets the needs of a fiduciary full-time town manager at the same time trying to constrain your total costs,’’ said Titcomb, who served as Ocean Ridge town manager from October 2015 to March 2019.

“Think of this as an a la carte menu rather than a full-course menu in order to get there.’’ 

If Titcomb works 20 hours a week, he’d get about $85,000 a year. If he works 25 hours a week, he’d get $106,000 a year. 

Kellogg gets about $170,000 a year in salary ($110,250) and benefits, a total that equates to $82 an hour over a 40-hour work week. 

Some Town Council members said they preferred to have the town manager at Town Hall five days a week, with Titcomb deciding how to divide his 25 hours over the full work week. 

“I don’t care if you have me here for four days or five days. Most of you who know me long enough know I will be available as needed,’’ said Titcomb, who lives in Atlantis. 

Torcivia said the arrangement “is a new concept. I’m hoping there won’t be bumps on the road. Don’t be surprised if there are a few little bumps, but I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of bumps.’’

Kellogg announced his retirement in November, a day after council member Ray McMillan made an unsuccessful motion to fire him. Kellogg wanted to retire at the end of March but has agreed to stay on until May 25.

“I want to thank Bob for all he has done. He will be missed,’’ Mayor Bonnie Fischer said. “Thank you, Jamie, for coming. We look forward to you being on board, a new chapter in government in South Palm Beach.’’  

Kellogg’s departure triggered the resignation of the town’s financial consultant, Beatrice Good. 

“I firmly believe that the foundation of every successful administration is based on the mutual respect and trust of its staff,’’ Good, who did not attend the April council meeting, wrote in a resignation letter to Kellogg in March after the council started negotiating with Titcomb.

“Unfortunately with your pending departure, it seems this will all be lost. Having previously experienced a long period of instability and chaos with the town, I choose not to do so again,’’ she wrote.

In other business, the Florida Department of Transportation has rejected a request by the Town Council to eliminate plans for a bicycle lane along a 1.7-mile stretch of South Ocean Boulevard north of South Palm Beach.

The council sent the letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis to support the town of Palm Beach, which thinks the bike lane would disrupt ingress and egress of condos along the road and would be counterproductive for bicyclists since there are no bike lanes at Sloan’s Curve just north of Ibis Way.

“The department is required to provide safe bicycle facilities where feasible when planning projects,’’ District Four DOT Secretary Gerry O’Reilly said in a letter to Fischer.