By Steve Plunkett

St. Joseph’s Episcopal School, locked in litigation with St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church — its neighbor and landlord — will shutter its campus at the end of the school year.

The school’s board of trustees announced March 31 that it made the “agonizing decision to close” in a meeting the day before, Board Chairman Bill Swaney and Vice Chairman Peter Philip said in a letter to the school community.

St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church, which owns the property on which the school has sat for 60 years, told the school in April 2022 that it would not renew its lease. The school sought accommodations with the church and looked for a new location, “only to learn that extensive permitting and remodeling would prohibit the completion of any move for at least two years,” the trustees’ letter said.

“Despite all these good efforts, it is clear now that the church has forced the school to close,” the trustees said. “We’re devastated for our students, parents and teachers.”

In a Facebook post, parent Kayla Chomko of Boynton Beach shared her sadness: “We can’t even believe this news. Our children spent their most precious years being loved on, supported, educated and cared for by the amazing faculty and staff. Our hearts are in a million pieces.”

The school on Feb. 20 lost its bid for an injunction to let it continue operating on the church’s grounds until a lawsuit between them was resolved. Circuit Judge Bradley Harper ruled the school did not have “a substantial likelihood of success … given the absence of any writing which establishes the existence of a 99-year lease agreement.”

The school claims it has an oral, 99-year lease to stay where it is, at 3300B S. Seacrest Blvd., until the year 2093.

The church said the school signed a five-year written lease in 2012 and was given a five-year extension that expired in November. Both sides last year agreed to extend the lease until June 30 while the dispute headed to court.

The church has not given its reasons for not wanting to renew the $5-a-year lease.

“We remain perplexed about why the church chose to ignore the interests of our constituents,” the trustees said in their letter. “We are extremely disappointed and angry that the church has behaved so callously.

“Perhaps above all, we are crushed that the school will no longer exist in service to the community of which it has been so integral a part.”

The school urged people who paid for inscribed bricks in its Swaney Courtyard to retrieve them. “We feel it is important for us to hold onto these memories as we embark on a new chapter. If you would like to have your brick, we invite you to email communications@sjsonline.org to schedule a time to pick up yours,” it said.

Tami Pleasanton, who retired as head of school in 2016, said the school employees represented the best of what it meant to be educators and mentors.

“While the future of St. Joe’s is no more, the legacy and memories will live on — there are so many good, kind, and wonderful things to recall and to feel good about,” she wrote on the school’s Facebook page. “We did a good job ... and then some.”

The school had 175 students enrolled in pre-K through eighth grade. While the two entities share the St. Joseph’s name and the same location on Seacrest Boulevard, the school split off from the church in 1995.

That was a year after Swaney gave the church approximately $2.5 million worth of stock in his company, Perrigo, “for the express purpose of the church constructing buildings and facilities for use by the school,” said the school’s lawsuit, which has not officially been withdrawn.

Swaney, the suit claimed, made it clear to the church’s vestry that he was making the gift in exchange for a promise, made orally several times, that the school would never be displaced from the property. The church sold the stock and built a gymnasium, library, classrooms and administrative offices.

The trustees' letter said the school’s Early Childhood Academy, at 2515 N. Swinton Ave. in Delray Beach, will remain open next school year.

Once it is built, Ocean One will dominate a long-empty corner of Ocean Avenue and Federal Highway where a Bank of America once stood. Rendering provided

By Tao Woolfe

After listening to numerous residents’ fears that the Ocean One mixed-use complex would further snarl downtown traffic, the City Commission voted 4-1 to grant site plan modifications — and an extension — to the project’s new developer.

But on April 11, during the first of two meetings on the topic, the commissioners, acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency board, warned Hyperion Development Group that the company must perform as promised or face legal consequences.

Hyperion is proposing a 371-unit apartment complex with 25,600 feet of commercial space. There would be 238 one-bedroom apartments; 91 two-bedroom apartments; and 42 studio apartments.

The original proposal, approved in 2017, called for 358 apartments, 12,075 square feet of retail and a 120-room hotel.

Amenities would include a pickleball court, a swimming pool and “beautiful, well-programmed public plazas and open spaces on Ocean Avenue and Federal Highway and resort-style private recreational amenities for the future residents,” according to Bonnie Miskel, attorney for Hyperion.

The previous owner, Davis Camalier, asked for several extensions and failed to start construction. As a result, the 3.7-acre site — bounded on the north by Boynton Beach Boulevard, on the south by Ocean Avenue, and east and west by Northeast Sixth Court and Federal Highway, respectively — has been vacant for years.
Miami-based Hyperion Group purchased the property in December 2021 for $12 million, but the Boynton Beach commissioners and residents said they are still nursing hard feelings about the project.

Miskel repeatedly asked the commissioners at the April meeting not to hold Hyperion responsible for the previous owner’s failures.

Miskel assured the commissioners that the only reason her client was seeking an extension was to secure the necessary permits to begin construction.

During almost three hours of public comment, residents expressed wariness of the new development as well as concerns about the density and traffic it would cause.

“We keep extending and extending, and should ask for penalties,” said Boynton Beach resident Yvonne Skovron, summing up the prevailing sentiment. “The property keeps getting transferred from developer to developer. Do they have financing in place?”

Many people in the audience mentioned that the city had “given away” a piece of property to facilitate the original Ocean One project.

They were referring to the fact that in 2016, the CRA sold a half-acre parcel of adjacent land to the previous developer for $10. That land, valued now at more than $500,000, allowed the project to extend north to Boynton Beach Boulevard.

The city had hoped the developer would, in turn, build a small park on the site, but neither it, nor the apartment complex, ever materialized.

Several residents of the nearby Marina Village complex said parking in the area is already in short supply.

“Parking is a huge issue,” said Linda Cross, a Marina Village resident. “When the bridge goes up, there’s a tremendous parking jam. We’re lucky nobody’s been hit in the marina parking garage.”

Her neighbor Terrence Cahill asked the commissioners to be sensitive to the community’s concerns about downtown crowding and traffic. “We need you to protect us, not the developers,” Cahill said.

Commissioners said they, too, are concerned about parking and density, and asked Miskel whether the developer could provide more parking.

The attorney replied that her client did not cause the problem, but that they will see what remedies are possible.

Hyperion is proposing to provide 652 parking spaces, with 532 of those spaces in the parking garage and the rest on the street level.

Mayor Ty Penserga said the city has already lost money on the project but wants to see something built on the site.

“I don’t want that land vacant,” Penserga said. “If this makes it to the City Commission meeting we can ask more questions.”

The project was brought up again at the April 18 City Commission meeting, and so many more residents talked about the downtown parking problems that the mayor suggested the commission discuss the possibility of building a big, downtown parking garage.

“You have all brought to the forefront that in order for us to grow this city we need more parking in the area,” Penserga said. “The city should start thinking about a public parking garage.”

Thomas Turkin, the sole dissenting vote, said he wanted to table the matter until parking and other issues had been worked out.

“I’m not trying to kill the project, but I want to mitigate a problem we’ve been hearing about for years and years and years,” Turkin said.

Ultimately, the commission agreed to allow Hyperion to add 13 more apartments to the complex and granted an extension. The commercial space has also been increased.

The commissioners, after conferring with city staff, imposed several conditions, including:

• That the extension be for only six months, rather than the requested year, to obtain permits.

• That another six to seven months would be granted to begin construction.

• That the developer meet with the city and CRA staff to discuss parking solutions.

• And that the developer hold two public workshops within 30 days of April 18 to discuss parking.

The Lady Delray (left) and the Lady Atlantic were moored about like this when the Lady Delray fire occurred April 12, owner Joseph Reardon said. A strong easterly wind helped keep the fire from spreading to the Lady Atlantic, which is still in operation, he said. Photo provided by Trip Advisor

By Larry Barszewski

The ability to keep her beer kegs cool may have doomed the Lady Delray, which its owner said won’t be restored following an early morning fire April 12.

Joseph Reardon, who owns Delray Yacht Cruises with his wife, Kerry, said the fire was started by the tour boat’s beer cooler motor while the Lady Delray sat docked in the Intracoastal Waterway at Delray Beach’s Veterans Park on the north side of Atlantic Avenue. He put the loss value at more than $1 million and said it occurred “over a $3,000 beer cooler that never ever should have caught fire like that.”

There wasn’t even any beer in it at the time, just a case of water, and the motor was only 4 years old, he said.
Delray Beach Fire Rescue responded to the fire shortly after midnight, and the State Fire Marshal is handling the investigation. The fire marshal has ruled the fire accidental.

“When the windows were broken out, we noted significant fire to the front/mid area of the main passenger area of the vessel,” the Delray Beach incident report said. “We quickly knocked the fire down and contained it to that area.”

The fire that damaged the Lady Delray started in a beer cooler. Photo provided by Delray Beach Fire Rescue

The Delray Beach report says the fire started in the “dining room, cafeteria, bar area, beverage service.” It estimated the property and contents value at $1.1 million and the property and contents loss at $300,000. The fire marshal’s office said a very early rough estimate was $100,000.

Reardon said his company has operated the 90-foot Lady Delray out of Veterans Park since 2003 and added the 105-foot Lady Atlantic in 2008 because of a pent-up demand for tours and charters on the Intracoastal Waterway.

The fire spared the larger Lady Atlantic, which was also at dock, tied up to the east side of the Lady Delray. The Lady Atlantic received some minor cosmetic damage, Reardon said, but was protected from any smoke or fire damage by a strong easterly wind blowing that night.

“I still haven’t wrapped my brain around it. I just can’t believe this happened,” Reardon said. “If this fire happened six hours later, it would have been put out in 30 seconds. It happened in the middle of the night, with no one on the boat.”

Delray Yacht Cruises is continuing to operate with just the Lady Atlantic, working to reschedule as many of the Lady Delray’s private charters as possible onto the Lady Atlantic. The Lady Atlantic also continues to provide regular cruises open to the public.

Reardon said he may have to shut down for a couple of weeks in September — the slowest time of year for the tour company — to have regular maintenance work completed on the Lady Atlantic.

The Lady Delray had just come back from a six-month marina stay, where it had over $500,000 in work completed, Reardon said.

“We were ready to get it back in service, probably a week away from using it,” he said. “The boat was probably in the best shape it’s been in since I’ve owned it.”

Manalapan commissioners have approved a new exterior color scheme (above) at the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa (below, right). The resort’s general manager says the fresh paint job will give the hotel a ‘more modern look.’ Photo and rendering provided by the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa

By Christine Davis

The Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, a Manalapan landmark, is getting a facial of its own.
Call it a paint job, if you must. For the resort, the colorful new look is a statement about its future.
After completing a $25 million interior renovation last year and with additional renovations planned for 2025, the Eau will spend the summer addressing the first impressions visitors get of the resort.
“In keeping with the new renovations, we’d like to modernize the exterior of the building, get away from the 1980s look of the two-tone orange that was typically a Ritz-Carlton color,” Tim Nardi, the Eau’s general manager, told Manalapan commissioners at their April 11 meeting.
He said the change in color from the hotel’s Ritz-Carlton past will give the building “some new life with that more modern look that we do believe is in keeping with the character of the neighborhood.”
The new colors, made by Sherwin-Williams, bear the names “lantern light,” “repose gray” and “swimming.” Those translate into a pale shade of yellow, a gray/beige trim with violet undertones, and a tealish cornice trim of saturated blue with green undertones.
Nardi said the painting is part of needed exterior work at the hotel, 100 S. Ocean Blvd.
“We are requesting the site plan review so that we can fix the façade,” Nardi said. “The building hasn’t been painted since 2007, and being directly on the ocean, we need to fix the cracks and repaint the building.”
Commissioners approved the site plan changes and spoke approvingly of the color scheme.
The work is expected to begin in July and take about three months to complete, Nardi said. The work will start on the ocean-facing east side, including the hotel room balconies, so that the painting of all guest areas will be completed before the season starts. The project will finish with painting the exterior along State Road A1A.
“Painting in the front in October won’t harm business, won’t be an eyesore,” Nardi said. “Once the guests get in, all the painting they will see will be done.”

***

The Seagate Hotel & Spa in Delray Beach is offering its Golden Getaway/Stay Golden perks and discounts through Nov. 20. The offerings include up to a 30% discount on the nightly room rate plus two poolside cocktails, and a 20% discount on dinner at the resort’s restaurants. The resort is at 1000 E. Atlantic Ave. For more information, call 561-665-4800 or visit seagatedelray.com.  

***

Bridge Senior Living has added the Carlisle Palm Beach, 450 E. Ocean Ave., Lantana, to its portfolio. An affiliate of Bridge Senior Living has owned the Carlisle Palm Beach since 2017, and this change transitions the residences to Bridge Senior Living’s owner/operator management model.
The facility will continue to provide senior living and care options. Its independent living section, consisting of 144 apartments, will be rebranded as the Residences at the Carlisle Palm Beach, and the assisted living and memory care section, with 135 apartments, will be rebranded the Carlisle Assisted Living and Memory Care.
New enhancements include a reimagined wellness hub offering residents private fitness instruction and group classes.

***

This estate at 2499 E. Maya Palm Drive along the Intracoastal Waterway is on the market for $52 million, which would set a record price for a Boca Raton home sale. Photo provided

The family of Constant Contact founder Randy Parker has listed a compound at 2499 E. Maya Palm Drive, Boca Raton, for $52 million with Jill Hertzberg and Jon Mann, agents with Coldwell Banker Realty’s Jills Zeder Group.
The now-deceased Glen K. Parker, formerly chairman of the Institute for Econometric Research, purchased the property with his wife, Sandy, in the mid-1990s. On 1.7 acres with 437 feet on the Intracoastal, it features a 10,000-square-foot curvilinear main house and guest house, two swimming pools, and a covered patio inspired by the dining pavilion at Little Dix Bay Resort in the British Virgin Islands.
The architecture was by Mitch Kunik, with interiors by Alene Workman and landscaping by horticulturalist Craig Morell. The estate was featured in Florida Architecture magazine in 1998. 
“If this waterfront compound sells for $52 million, it will break the record for the most expensive home ever sold in Boca Raton,” Mann said. “According to public records, the current Boca Raton record is held by a $29.79 million land sale at 372 NE Fifth Ave. in April 2022.”

***

The ocean-to-Intracoastal, 7,540-square-foot estate on 1.62 acres at 860 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan, sold for $37.05 million in March. The seller was 860 S. Ocean LLC, managed by West Palm Beach-based attorney Maura Ziska. The buyer was 860 South Ocean Manalapan LLC, managed by Clearwater-based attorney Alan S. Gassman. Douglas Elliman agent Gary Pohrer represented both sides in the deal.
In December 2021, the estate sold for $32.25 million and three months later, it was listed for $45 million. It was listed for $39.5 million at the time of its sale in March.

***

The 7,076-square-foot waterfront spec home at 5053 Blue Heron Way, Boca Raton, sold in March for $11,165,275. Stanley and Lisa Moss were the buyers, with the seller listed as Sanctuary 5053 LLC, a Delaware entity with Group P6’s co-owner, Ignacio Diaz, as signatory. At the time of its sale, it was listed for $12.95 million, down from its $14.75 million listing price in March 2022. Carmen D’Angelo, Gerard Liguori and Joseph Liguori, brokers/owners of Premier Estate Properties, held the listing, with Jennifer Kilpatrick of the Corcoran Group representing the buyers.

***

Bill and Cindy Self purchased a 5,480-square-foot townhouse at Ocean Place Villas, 4215 S. Ocean Blvd., Highland Beach, for $7.55 million in February. The sellers, Anthony and Cathleen DiGioia, were represented by Douglas Elliman agent Emily Roberts. Anna Kuzminova, an agent with Coldwell Banker Realty, represented the Selfs.
Bill Self, coach of the Kansas Jayhawks, led the team to NCAA basketball championships in 2008 and 2022. He was named Associated Press coach of the year in 2009 and 2016.

***

Lang Realty agents washed windows, refreshed the playground and cleaned community buildings at Place of Hope’s Leighan and David Rinker Campus in March in Boca Raton for the firm’s first Lang Cares Community Outreach Day.
“Lang Cares and this first annual initiative reflect the commitment and compassion Lang Realty and its team has for our communities,” said Amy Snook, chair of Lang Cares. 

***

A new shop in Lantana is attracting quite a following. The Cheese Shoppe & Artisan Market at 204 E. Ocean Ave. sells a variety of artisan sheep, cow, goat and mixed milk cheeses brought in as whole wheels and hand cut and wrapped. Besides cheese, the store sells wine, charcuterie and chocolates from all over the world, as well as local honey, jams and spices.
“I enjoy the world of artisan cheeses and chocolates as well as pairing them with fine wines and other foods,” says owner Frank Verner, also known as the Cheese Guy. “I hope to share my knowledge with as many of you as I can.”
Verner may be familiar to cheese aficionados. Previously, he had a 22-year career with Whole Foods and other markets, where he developed their cheese and wine departments.
He opened five Cheese Shoppes in green markets across Palm Beach and Martin counties. Post-pandemic, he has been able to reopen shops at three green markets, along with opening the brick-and-mortar store in Lantana.
Verner was born in Pittsburgh but lived mostly in the Philadelphia suburbs. His career in the produce business goes back to when he was 14 and sold from a small truck on the side of the road. Later, he ran a small retail produce and fish store outside Philadelphia.
He spent three months after high school backpacking across Europe, where he discovered that people in different countries shared a healthy appetite for the quality and freshness of artisan foods, especially small craft cheese makers.
That inspired him to share his passion for cheese with others.
At the Lantana store, he has a quaint bar in his courtyard where he hosts twilight wine tastings on Thursdays.
For more information, visit www.the-cheese-shoppe.com/locations.

***

TV host, celebrity chef and Florida resident Robert Irvine is partnering with Grubbrr, which was acquired by Boca Raton-based tech company TouchSuite in 2018. The new partnership, which combines Grubbrr’s self-ordering solutions with Irvine’s expertise in restaurant operations, aims to help restaurants tackle labor shortages and rising food costs.
“Robert’s expertise and his commitment to the industry and innovation makes him the perfect partner for Grubbrr as we continue to raise awareness of the benefits of self-ordering technology for restaurant owners and customers,” said Grubbrr CEO Sam Zietz.

***

Pur-Form, led by orthopedic surgeon Joseph Purita, opened a 12,289-square-foot office at Florida Atlantic University’s Research Park, 3600 FAU Blvd., Suite 101, in December. Affiliated with the FAU Health Network, Pur-Form offers services in the areas of regenerative orthopedics, functional medicine, medical aesthetics, wellness and performance. 

***

Lilly Davenport was appointed chief financial officer of the Hanley Foundation, which works to prevent and treat addictions. She had served as chief financial officer of MAP Health Management in Austin, Texas. Prior to that, she was finance director for Hanley Center and Hanley Center Foundation.

***

The Executive Women of the Palm Beaches Foundation recently launched the 40th Society in celebration of its 40th anniversary.
“Our 40th Society members will be the sounding board that helps move our organization’s strategic planning for the next 40 years,” said the foundation’s immediate past president, Amy Brand, who spearheaded the creation of the new initiative. 
Since its inception, the foundation has raised more than $900,000 in scholarships and community grant dollars. The new initiative aims to raise $100,000 from the foundation’s 150 members and 2,000-plus supporters, with the goal of exceeding the $1 million mark for its 40th anniversary. 

The Florida Prepaid College Foundation and Florida Power & Light Co. have formed a partnership to award $4.2 million in two-year college scholarships to 1,000 students living in underserved Florida ZIP codes over the next four years. 
“Through this partnership, we are proud to open doors to a more hopeful future for students who have so much promise and potential — and perhaps welcome them one day to the FPL team. I encourage other Florida corporations and organizations to join us in this effort to nurture talent and skill among our future workforce,” said Pam Rauch, FPL vice president of external affairs and economic development.

***

The Delray Beach police volunteer patrol includes (l-r) Sgt. George Jonson, Major Barry Tantleff, Don Livsky and Daniela Mouta and is looking for more candidates. Photo provided

The Delray Beach Police Department is seeking candidates for its volunteer patrol. Members serve as the eyes and ears of the department as they interact with residents and tourists in a friendly, non-confrontational manner.
Taking three-hour shifts twice a week, they patrol the beach and areas north and south of Atlantic Avenue in golf carts with police radios.
If they encounter any problems, they call in to report them.
Barry Tantleff, who has volunteered for the patrol for 11 years and serves as its major, explained that the Police Department had halted the volunteer program because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We had over 300 volunteers in police cars patrolling seven Delray gated communities. That was put on hiatus. As of last October, we instituted this new East Sector Patrol,” he said, adding that when the Police Department gets new car leases, it plans to bring back the neighborhood community patrols. There are currently 15 volunteers on this new patrol.
To participate, come into the Police Department, 300 W. Atlantic Ave., and fill out an application.

***

In an event spearheaded by the Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority and local merchants in honor of Mother’s Day on May 14, shoppers have an opportunity to obtain free gifts for their moms — one Phalaenopsis orchid for every $200 they spend at downtown stores.
To participate, shop from May 8 to 13, then turn in your receipts from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 11-13 to receive your orchids at the Cornell Museum of Art, 51 N. Swinton Ave., and the Seagate Hotel & Spa terrace, 1000 E. Atlantic Ave.
 For more information, call the DDA office at 561-243-1077 or visit www.downtowndelraybeach.com/mothersday or facebook.com/downtowndelray. 

Larry Barszewski and Mary Thurwachter contributed to this column.

Send business news to Christine Davis, cdavis9797@gmail.com.

Cindy and Jeremy Bearman serve up fresh and local American food at Oceano Kitchen. Photo provided

By Jan Norris

The James Beard Awards are to the culinary industry what the Oscars are to film folks.
Palm Beach County had four restaurants on the list of chef semifinalists this year — a record number for the county. Oceano Kitchen, owned by Jeremy and Cindy Bearman in Lantana, was one of them.
Jeremy told of finding out about the nomination for Best Chef South regional award through a text.
“I was on the phone with someone, and got a text from Rick Mace of Tropical Smokehouse. He wrote ‘Congratulations!’” Bearman said. Mace, who runs the West Palm Beach barbecue eatery, is a friend who also was nominated. “I sent him a text back that said ‘On?’ He said, ‘Your James Beard nomination.’
“It’s super nice to be recognized from an organization like that which is at the top of our industry,” Bearman said. “Especially for doing what we do every day.”
None of the Palm Beach County restaurants nominated won the awards, which will be presented June 5 in Chicago.
But prestige aside, Bearman said the Oceano staff strives to give diners the best experience possible. “We do what we do for many other reasons. We’ve been doing this for more than 20 years,” he said.
“If you’d asked me 10 or 15 years ago, I’d have a different perspective. When I ran my restaurant in New York, we got a Michelin star the first year. We pushed super hard, to keep it and to try and get a second one. If I lost it, it would be detrimental to the restaurant.”
With decades of success under their belt, the Ocean Ridge residents see awards now as something to acknowledge if they happen, but they’re not a focus, and the couple is no longer chasing them. “That takes a different personality,” Jeremy said.
“I won’t take away from the fact that it’s nice to be recognized and we would have loved to make it further and join everybody in Chicago. I’d like to have gone, but it doesn’t change what we do every day. It’s not something on our minds all the time.”
The publicity from the nomination did help the restaurant, he said. “We already had an established group of locals, but the news brought in some people who say they’ve lived here six or more years who never heard of us before. They love us.”
Bearman also talked about his venture in West Palm Beach, High Dive, that opened to great success briefly before the coronavirus shutdown. It failed soon after reopening.
“It makes it a little bit easier to endure knowing it wasn’t because we didn’t do things right,” he said. “Emotionally it makes it easier.”
Financially was another story, he said. “It’s tough to put so much time and effort into something and not have it come to fruition.”
But he looks on the positive side, he said. “It brought us back to sort of concentrate on Oceano, and it was like the tale of two restaurants during COVID, at least.”
High Dive was languishing without customers, but Oceano was “beyond” busy, selling pizzas and filling orders from its curated fresh menu that features specials daily. When they’re sold out, they’re out.
“We were doing almost as much as we had done previously, before COVID, with takeout,” Bearman said. “We were done with service by 8:30 and going home. It was really challenging to do it because our kitchen wasn’t set up for all this business as takeout.
“But we were a small restaurant and because of that, could pivot. We can be nimble.”
Success has continued at Oceano, located at 201 E. Ocean Ave.
“This past year has been the busiest year ever,” Bearman said. “We are at capacity — we keep saying that. But we’re on a two-hour wait at 5:30. It’s a tough spot to be in. It’s not optimal for a lot of our guests. It’s a double-edged sword. Great for us, but not our guests.”
There’s no chance to expand, at least not on Ocean Avenue, he said. For now, the couple will keep the same formula.
Bearman acknowledged all the other chefs and restaurateurs nominated.
“It just goes to show that there are a lot of dedicated chefs doing great things. Recognition can only make things better.”

Harvest Seasonal Grill closes, looks to west
Harvest Seasonal Grill and Wine Bar, a popular restaurant in a plaza off U.S. 1 in Delray Beach, has closed rather than try to extend its lease, but diners likely will not see the end of it in the county, owner Dave Magrogan said.
“We feel it would perform very well out west,” he said. “We’re looking at several locations — Wellington, west Boca, west Boynton. We feel it’s better as a community restaurant rather than a restaurant that competes with Atlantic Avenue, Mizner Park and things like that.”
Magrogan has no time frame for a move, but said, “There are some developments that are happening in Wellington and some other locations that we’re talking to the landlords on, right now. We enjoyed our time there in Delray, and we have some other businesses in South Florida. We’re looking forward to moving west.”
The restaurant was an upscale American grill that featured a seasonal menu.
“We were coming to the end of our lease and our landlord had a few other interested parties,” Magrogan said. “And rather than go through another slow season, the off-season, it was best just to shut the doors now while our landlord had a few other tenants that wanted the space.
“It was a good location, but the shopping center had gotten a little empty over the years so that made it slow. The empty stores didn’t help.”
The coronavirus played a role as well. Magrogan said that although Harvest did well recently, it never achieved pre-pandemic numbers.

In brief
Lake Worth Beach’s famed Benny’s on the Beach was at the center of a lease dispute, with the city asking for more rent money for the restaurant from owner Lee Lipton. Lipton said in April that he had negotiated four times with the city manager and attorney for the equivalent of $1.2 million in rent, but the city rejected the contracts. …
Lantern Local Tavern is the newcomer to the old Pearl’s Diner spot at 618 W. Lantana Road. Billing itself as an all-day diner (6 a.m. to midnight), it features “local value” and “elevated” tavern favorites. …
This fall, Boca Raton is set to get Michelin-starred chef and Beard Award winner Fabio Trabocchi, who will open Fiolina Pasta House Boca Raton. The restaurant, going into Town Center, will focus on handmade pasta as crafted by the female pasta makers of Italy.

Jan Norris is a food writer who can be reached at nativefla@gmail.com.

By Tao Woolfe

Spring is a subtle season in South Florida with scant explosions of flowers and green shoots, but in Boynton Beach this month, pops of color and movement are in bloom everywhere.
The 2023 Kinetic Art Biennial is in full swing, with movable sculptures that dance in the wind along Ocean Avenue, inside and around City Hall, and in parks and galleries.
To celebrate Boynton Beach’s ties to fishing and the sea, six brilliantly colored spinning sailfish will be placed this month on 12-foot poles along Ocean Avenue from City Hall to the marina.
Until then, these fiberglass sculptures — done by local artists — grace the lobby of City Hall.
“This is my first time creating art for Boynton Beach and the first time I’ve done work for an external public art space,” said Michelle Drummond, a Delray Beach resident who describes herself as a mixed-media fiber artist.
“I’m very excited to be part of the initiative,” she added. “I think Boynton Beach’s emphasis on art is amazing.”
Drummond’s sailfish sports a bright yellow dorsal fin and tail, an orange bill, and spots of orange made of polyester fabric run along its body.
“I’m from the Caribbean and I wanted my sailfish to be happy and sunny,” Drummond said. “I think the kinetic art exhibit is a perfect tool to bring more foot traffic to the arts district and the businesses along the way.”
Joseph Velasquez of Lantana created a bright blue sailfish with a bright red crest and a pattern of waves along its body.
“I went down to Boynton’s beach a few times to sketch the waves so the fish would look like it’s emerging from the sea,” Velasquez said. “Seeing one of these fish in the water is an amazing experience. They look almost prehistoric.”
Velasquez, who besides being an artist is an art professor at Florida Atlantic University, said this is the first piece of art he has made for Boynton Beach.
“I was very happy for the opportunity to be included,” he said. “It was also a great opportunity for my students to learn about civic involvement.”
Boynton’s commitment to art in public places goes beyond the current exhibit.

The city’s sixth Kinetic Art Biennial displays also include Dr. Alex Rodriguez’s Twirling Blooms, which features bicycle wheels that catch the wind and light. Tao Woolfe/The Coastal Star

Murals have begun appearing on the sides of older buildings, thanks to a grant program begun last year to encourage creative works in the downtown area and in micro-districts such as Brewery, MLK Boulevard and Industrial Way.
A mural by Jacksonville artist Cody Edwards — just down the street from City Hall — looks like a black and white postcard and it, too, brings an ocean theme into play. A sea turtle and a sailfish swim among giant, puffy letters that spell out Boynton Beach.
“Murals enhance the visual appearance of buildings and sites,” says a brochure explaining the purpose and requirements of the mural program. “They reinforce the identity and pride of the whole city; its many micro-districts and neighborhoods; and its many diverse communities. The stories told through murals present the city’s history and contemporary goals and ideas.”
If you’d rather enjoy indoor art, the Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center has constantly changing exhibits. A Haitian art exhibit is coming this month.
The city also has older pieces of art on display at unexpected places — at bus stops or in the parking lot of a city building. A 2018 sculpture of carved metal, created by artists David Dahlquist and Matt Niebuhr, houses a water fountain on the lawn of the Utilities Department on Woolbright Road.
“Are you thirsty yet?” The question is inscribed on the roof of the sculpture, titled Water, You and I.
Wave pergolas — blue stained glass and metal shelters — stand along Federal Highway and add whimsy to the Avion Riverwalk development near the intersection with Woolbright Road.
These 2020 sculptures were created by West Palm Beach artist Mark Fuller.
The driving forces behind Boynton’s art-centricity are Glenn Weiss, the city’s public art manager, and the members of the art advisory board.
Weiss, however, declines to take credit for the emphasis on art.
“We have city commissioners and executive staff that are very supportive, and a city manager whose wife is an artist,” Weiss said.
In addition, Boynton’s neighboring cities — such as Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and West Palm Beach — have flourishing public art programs, Weiss said.
Like those cities, Weiss said, Boynton has established a program whereby developers seeking to build in the city must donate 1% of their construction budgets to public art projects. The artwork can be located on their sites, or a developer can set aside money for a project in another part of the city.
“Only Florida, Arizona and California allow art to be a design criterion for development,” Weiss said. “It’s pretty unusual.”

Sinisa Kukec’s Move Fast and Break Things, currently in the lobby of City Hall, was created by having passersby throw rocks at a shiny piece of metal. Tao Woolfe/The Coastal Star

Weiss said he is excited about sculptures, murals and other work that will be included in the campuses of two big development projects coming to downtown Boynton Beach over the next few years.
The Pierce apartment, retail and office complex at Boynton Beach Boulevard and Federal Highway, for example, will sponsor murals, and a huge, perforated metal corner treatment on its south parking garage will be emblazoned with retro images and lettering that says, “Welcome to Boynton Beach.”
But you don’t have to wait to see art in action. Take a walk around City Hall and Town Square to see the moving sculptures that make up the kinetic art exhibit.
One of the crowd favorites is Twirling Blooms, a multicolored sculpture of bicycle wheels turning atop two-story-tall metal stems. It is located on the lawn of the Schoolhouse Children’s Museum and was created by Dr. Alex Rodriguez, an Atlanta dentist, Weiss said.
“You have to be half artist and half engineer to design kinetic art,” Weiss said. “There are a lot of moving pieces, and I should know — many of these works arrived in pieces and I had to put them together.”
Many of the works will be on permanent display in Town Square. Others, like the sailfish, will be on display along Ocean Avenue for the next two years.

Pastor David Schmidt leads the congregation as members of the youth choir, below, join in song during Cason United Methodist Church’s anniversary celebration. Photos provided

By Janis Fontaine

Twelve decades ago, five Delray Beach men founded the Methodist Episcopal Church South, now Cason United Methodist Church of Delray Beach. The congregation celebrated its 120th anniversary during a March 19 party with food and drink on the shady church grounds. Dozens of people came after the 11 a.m. service to celebrate the church with live music, fellowship and thanks.
Imagine what that first service 120 years ago was like, Pastor David Schmidt said to his congregation. Twelve people came. The church had no doors or windows and a sailcloth roof. Yet its vision hasn’t changed, Schmidt said. The church was and is a place where “all will find the love of God.”
For some people, Cason will always be the “pumpkin church.” Each year thousands of orange orbs, big and small, cover the ground at the busy corner of North Swinton Avenue and Lake Ida Road. Hundreds of visitors return every year, and the tradition continues.
But others have been lost. Like all churches, Cason has faced challenges over the years.
In the mid-2000s, falling membership numbers and cash flow problems plagued the church. In 2008, the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, the governing body, planned to close the doors.
But church members stepped up and showed financial support to prove the community wanted and needed Cason. Then Candy Evans and Lori Robbins started the community garden on the wide swath of land beside the church.
For 14 years, the garden helped the church, giving it a new identity. It brought in growers (the recession had made the idea of growing your own vegetables very, ahem, palatable). It spread goodwill by donating 25,000 pounds of fresh produce to the Caring Kitchen food bank. And between 2008 and 2012, church attendance doubled.
Thankfully, church leaders had recognized Cason was worth saving and they brought in the Rev. Linda Mobley, a church health specialist from Lakeland, to take over as pastor and lead the church into better times.
Schmidt says that part of the reason the church had been in free-fall was it had been too “inward-focused.” When there were issues, “we circled the wagons,” Schmidt said. Even when the church continued to struggle, Schmidt and others brought a new energy and optimism to the mix.
Schmidt had been a member of Cason for about five years before he joined officially as its youth minister in December 2012. He rose through the ranks from associate pastor to interim pastor and to senior pastor in May 2022. He will be officially ordained after he earns his master of divinity degree from Southern Methodist University in May.
But Schmidt says his work in the youth ministry forced him to focus outward.
“I had to find ways to bring young people to Christ,” he said. He recognized that some young people came to church to do service and found worship, which was opposite of the “old way,” where kids were brought to Sunday services and found a calling to serve.
Schmidt surmised, correctly, that young people could be attracted to the work the church was doing — feeding the hungry, helping the homeless, enriching the lives of kids — but not necessarily to Sunday services. He thought the group, and the church, needed to be “mission-focused, because that’s what God wants us to do.”
By serving the community, the church has seen an increase in attendance at Sunday worship, in new mission projects and with 26 new members in the past year.
The members embraced the new core message: “inSPIRE,” which zeros in on five tenants of Christianity called the Five Pillars: service, worship, discipleship, hospitality and generosity.
Then the congregation and church leadership began “the hard work of transforming,” Schmidt said, which meant striking down change’s toughest foe: the adage that “this is the way we’ve always done it.”
Progress has been slow but steady and Schmidt’s congregation is grateful for his enthusiasm and hard work. Nancy Reames commented on his blog in October: “Your leadership is gutsy and inspiring, and we are blessed to have you.”
But Schmidt says it isn’t about him.
“The church isn’t the building. The true church is the believers. When we celebrated our anniversary, I wasn’t looking back,” he said. “I was looking forward to what the church can do in the next 120 years. We were celebrating what’s to come.”

Cason United Methodist Church is at 342 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. Services are at 9:15 a.m. (casual, contemporary) and 11 a.m. (traditional). 561-276-5302 or www.casonumc.org.

Janis Fontaine writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events. Contact her at fontaine423@outlook.com.

The stained glass windows and sweeping roof line help to define the interior of the Church of the Palms. Photo provided

Church of the Palms is repairing the stunning stained-glass art in its sanctuary and narthex that has decorated the church since the mid-1960s. This is mouth-blown sheet glass manufactured by Lamberts Glass in Germany, the most expensive stained glass produced in the world. The glass is known for its transparency and colors and its special texture.
Because the windows were custom-designed for the Delray Beach church some 60 years ago, there’s little value to a buyer, so church leaders decided to preserve and restore the originals installed by Nobis Studios from Canton, Ohio.
They were not hurricane protected. Over time, the panels have weakened. In April 2022, a plan — and an agreement by the congregation to borrow $300,000 to be repaid from a capital campaign — led to the hiring of McMow Art Glass and DeMattia & Son Construction to do the work.
In January, church leaders reported the campaign raised more than enough money to restore the windows, and work began late that month.

Safely reinstalled behind impact glass, the panels in the narthex should be safe from hurricane damage.

In late March, the restored stained-glass panels in the narthex were reinstalled, safe behind hurricane-resistant glass. Impressive craftsmanship makes the windows look new.
The windows depict the hand as a symbol for God; the fish as a symbol for Jesus, the Christ; and the descending dove as a symbol for the descent of the Holy Spirit.
The Rev. Todd Petty, with the help of vice moderator Bud Scott, is overseeing the project. It’s detailed and difficult work and the church is grateful to have McMow’s gifted artists doing the job.
The next windows to be restored are the second-story windows behind the altar, which are already challenging workers who have to climb the bulky scaffolding to reach the highest pieces of fragile glass. The windows need to be hurricane protected before they can be reinstalled. 
Still, the project is fascinating to anyone interested in the art of stained glass.
Church services are held at 10 a.m. Sundays at 1960 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. 561-276-6347 or www.churchofthepalms.net.

Boca Helping Hands
needs donors, volunteers
Everyone is feeling the bite of inflation but local food banks are in dire need of help. The demand for a pantry bag from Boca Helping Hands skyrocketed by 37% over last year, with almost 10,000 people lining up to take advantage of the nonprofit’s services. Even at the height of the pandemic, the demand was lower: BHH gave out about 6,100 bags per month.
Cereal4All, the nonprofit started by twins Jett and Luke Justin of Boca Raton in 2016, stepped up its collections and delivered nearly 2,500 boxes of cereal to BHH, and the Junior League of Boca Raton fills weekend bags to feed students when they’re not in school.
So how can you help any food bank?
• Clean out your pantry and donate whatever you can.
• Hold a canned food drive. Or a “donation party,” which sounds like a lot more fun. The cost of admission to your next pool party or barbecue could be some non-perishables.
• Volunteer your time.
• Make a cash donation so the food bank you support can buy what it doesn’t get. Some of them are Boca Helping Hands, Caring Kitchen, the Palm Beach County Food Bank and Feeding South Florida’s branch in Boynton Beach.
• Encourage your kids to get involved with Cereal4All or another group fighting hunger.
• Think outside the kitchen: Some food banks also accept hygiene products.
• Don’t forget the condiments! Mustard, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, catsup and hot sauce are staples to some people.
• Write your legislators to express your concerns.

Nuremberg jurist
Ferencz dies at 103
Benjamin Berell Ferencz, the last living Nuremberg trials prosecutor and a resident of Delray Beach, died April 7 at the age of 103.
Known for investigating Nazi war crimes after World War II, Ferencz was born in Hungary (now Romania) to illiterate parents. But his intellect was recognized and his grades at City College of New York earned him a scholarship to Harvard Law School. After law school, he enlisted in the Army and he landed at Normandy and fought across France and Germany.
After his discharge, he volunteered to serve as chief prosecutor for the U.S. Army in the war crime trials against the Nazis. He indicted 24 men and convicted all of them.
Ferencz remained in Europe after the trials, until 1956 when he returned to New York to practice law. But the Vietnam War drove him underground to write books promoting peace. Ferencz was the author of nine books, hundreds of articles, and he spoke half a dozen languages.
A family man, Ferencz married his teenage girlfriend, Gertrude Fried, in New York in 1946. They remained married — “without a quarrel,” he claimed — until she died in 2019.
They had four children: a son, Donald Ferencz, and three daughters, Nina Dale, Robin Ferencz-Kotfica and Keri Ferencz. They had three grandchildren.
Ferencz lived with his son in Delray Beach for the last few years. He died at an assisted living facility in Boynton Beach.

Cason UMC will let you
shred papers for a fee
Thank goodness that online access to information has decreased the amount of waste paper the average person produces, but as we purge old records, it’s paramount that we dispose of sensitive material safely.
Cason United Methodist Church will hold a shredding event from 9 a.m.-noon June 24 at the church at 342 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach.
Accepted items: paper, checkbooks, statements, tax returns, bills, receipts, manila folders. Paper clips and staples are OK.
Excluded items: boxes, cardboard, X-rays, food, newspaper, glass, magazines, plastic, dark colored folders, metal objects or equipment.
This is a church fundraiser so the cost is $5 per banker’s box, $10 per bag. Cash is preferred. Credit cards will be accepted with $25 minimum. Call 561-788-2822 with questions.

— Janis Fontaine

Doing their part on Earth Day, Turtle Beach condo residents (l-r)
Elizabeth Hilpman, Gina Benedict, Susan Hurlburt, Geraldine Plaia, Jane Waldman, Steve Waldman, Debbie Schecter and Jackie Schwerling spent part of the morning picking up plastic and other trash along the beach in Ocean Ridge. RIGHT: A small sampling of the plastic and trash. Photos provided

Patrick J. McNamara, CEO of Palm Health Foundation. Photo provided

By Jan Engoren

Patrick J. McNamara, CEO of Palm Health Foundation, is leading the charge for better mental health.
The Boynton Beach resident reminds us that May is Mental Health Awareness Month and says Palm Health Foundation, a nonprofit that is taking the initiative to advocate for better mental health care in Palm Beach County, partnered with bewellpbc.org to raise awareness of brain and mental health issues.
Green is the color of Mental Health Awareness Month and McNamara, 52, encourages people to “get your green on.”
“We have shifted from thinking about mental health primarily in terms of psychiatric disorders to thinking about brain health, a broader category that considers health as well as disease,” he says.
Originally from New Orleans, McNamara came to this field while studying political science at Georgetown University on an Army ROTC scholarship when his older brother Michael McNamara took his own life in 1989.
Through the Palm Health Foundation, he created the Mike McNamara Scholarship Fund in his brother’s memory.
“Our untreated mental illness, addiction and suicide are in direct proportion to our tendency to take one another for granted,” he wrote in a 2016 tribute to his brother.
Five of his seven siblings suffered from mental health issues, including anxiety, depression and eating and bipolar disorders.
He switched his major to psychology, became a licensed clinical social worker, earning his MSW from Tulane University, and now heads a $100 million foundation with a vision for all Palm Beach County residents to thrive and reach their full health potential.
The National Institute of Mental Health reports that nearly one in five adults and nearly one in two adolescents live with a mental illness such as anxiety or depression.
And, a study conducted this year by Dana Foundation and Research America found that about 8 in 10 Americans are affected by brain health issues.
Three of the U.S. Surgeon General’s priorities include a focus on brain health, health worker burnout and youth mental health.
“Mental health exists on a continuum from illness to wellness,” McNamara says. “Currently, we are ill-equipped to meet our mental health needs.”
Improving access to care and reducing long waiting lists for services, especially for kids and for those without mental health insurance, will help. So will having more mental health service providers, including psychiatrists, nurses, licensed mental health counselors and clinical social workers.
“It’s not an us vs. them issue,” says McNamara. “The reality is we all have mental health and lie somewhere along the continuum. We’re making progress on the stigma but need to do better, especially in Florida.
“Everybody has a role to play,” he says. “We’re asking for a change in mind-set and understanding.”
McNamara leads the Palm Health Foundation NeuroArts Collaborative, which focuses on the convergence among science, the arts and technology and the effects of these experiences on brain, body and overall health.
“Besides biochemical interventions, expressive therapies such as talk and art therapies have been shown to change your brain,” McNamara says.
The collaborative includes the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute, the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, and The Palm Beaches.
The collaborative also has aligned with the NeuroArts Blueprint, a joint venture with Johns Hopkins International Arts + Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics and the Aspen Institute. 
“Healthy social relationships, good nutrition and exercise can all support positive brain health,” McNamara says.
To keep his brain healthy, McNamara, a married father of three, exercises daily, reads voraciously and practices Catholic-centered mindful meditation. He is part of a men’s book club — on its 78th book by a recent count.
One he recommends is Thomas Insel’s Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health.
“We should not accept our status quo,” McNamara says. “We need to do better for our loved ones who are suffering, while supporting and championing those on the front lines.”
At the Community Foundation’s annual Founders Luncheon in February, he quoted President John F. Kennedy, whose family also struggled with mental health.
“The mentally ill need no longer be alien to our affections or beyond the help of our communities,” he said.
Visit palmhealthfoundation.org.

Jan Engoren writes about health and healthy living. Send column ideas to jengoren@hotmail.com.

Students from Crosspointe Elementary School in Boynton Beach visited the Marine Education Initiative in Delray Beach on their first post-pandemic field trip. They learned about growing plants in water, without soil. Photo provided

By Faran Fagen

During their field trip to the Marine Education Initiative, the students in Donna Leech’s class at Grandview Preparatory School learned how much water could be saved by aquaponic farming. They learned that only 3% of the water on Earth is freshwater, and only 1.7% of it is drinkable.
“On the bus ride back to school, my students talked about how much water we could save, and how we could lower our carbon footprint by growing our own vegetables at school and not buying them and having them delivered,” Leech said. “They said that this is what we can do to help save the water in the Everglades. This way, there will be more water for the wildlife and animals that live there.”
The Marine Education Initiative aquaponics program is focused on providing Palm Beach County students with access to immersive STEM education focused on sustainable agriculture. As a result of its efforts, MEI has provided science, technology, engineering and math education to more than 400 students and distributed more than 50,000 meals to underprivileged communities.
“Seeing the excitement on the faces of the students we work with as they discover the wonders of aquaponics and sustainable agriculture has been an indescribable experience,” said Nicholas Metropulos, MEI executive director. “Knowing that we are helping to cultivate a deep love and appreciation for the natural world in these young minds fills us with hope for the future.”
MEI recently landed a big catch because of its hard work and impact on the community.
Thanks to a $300,000 contribution from the Hamilton Family Charitable Trust, the organization is expanding its efforts to empower students to grow their own fresh, healthy food some day and prepare them for careers in STEM.
MEI has been helping the community since 2012 by providing education opportunities for students and giving fresh fish and produce to soup kitchens.
Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture (the growing of fish and other aquatic animals) and hydroponics (the growing of plants without soil) in one recirculating environment.
In aquaponics, the fish produce waste that the nitrifying bacteria convert into nutrients for the plants. Plant roots absorb these nutrients to thrive. In return, the plant roots clean and filter the water for the fish to live.
The donation from the Hamilton Family Charitable Trust went in part toward MEI’s recent expansion to a larger facility to fight food insecurity and to educate more students. The grant enabled MEI to hire additional staff and will assist in covering operational costs as well as investing in new technology.
The organization strives to make its outreach program as inclusive as possible. Title I schools are able to participate at no cost, while other schools are charged a fee of $10 per student.
For Leech, who lives in Delray Beach but has taught at the Boca Raton-based Grandview Prep for 23 years, MEI has cultivated an abundant interest in agriculture in her students.
Leech said her students’ favorite thing was to tell classmates how a cow uses 1,860 gallons of water to make four hamburgers, and that it takes 40 gallons of water to grow one pound of vegetables in soil and only 1.9 gallons of water using aquaponics.
“They were really amazed at how much water could be saved just by farming in water,” she said.
Her students started a project to bring aquaculture and hydroponics to Grandview. They created a PowerPoint presentation and presented it to all the administration families and student body at the Lower School convocation.
They were given permission to put an aquaponics fish tank and grow light in each Lower School classroom and to construct a hydroponics shelf growing system in the Great Room. They applied for, and received, a $500 grant from Earth Force to help get the project off the ground.
In 2021, MEI initiated its operations at a modest 1,000-square-foot facility in eastern Boca Raton in response to the produce supply-chain issues experienced during the pandemic. To accommodate growth, they’ve expanded and moved their operations to a 7,500-square-foot facility on Northwest 17th Avenue in Delray Beach.
“Looking ahead, we plan to educate more than 1,000 students and distribute over 100,000 meals to those facing food insecurity in Palm Beach County within the next year,” Metropulos said.
Once MEI is fully expanded, Metropulos intends to broaden its impact in neighboring areas such as Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
To participate in the program, contact Director of Education Alyssa Dorfman (alyssa@marineinitiative.org). For more information on Marine Education Initiative, visit www.marineinitiative.org.
The organization hosted the grand opening of its new facility on April 22. To make a donation to its programs, visit https://marineinitiative.networkforgood.com

More than 100 Briny Breezes shareholders attended in person – and another 75 joined via zoom – as the Briny Breezes corporate board on April 19 discussed and later rejected an unsolicited offer to purchase the entire community. Staff photo

Staff report

The town of Briny Breezes’ corporate board today unanimously rejected a South Florida developer’s $502.4 million offer to purchase the tiny seaside town. 

The developer was not identified during the emotional 75-minute morning board meeting April 19, attended by more than 100 residents at the Briny Breezes Community Center and another 75 people on Zoom, but sources told The Coastal Star the offer came from The Kolter Group.  

Board members said the offer was “unattractive” because it was too low and had too many unfavorable tax consequences, but perhaps most important, a majority of shareholders are not interested in selling their patch of paradise. 

“I think the public needs to realize that this offer is ridiculous and the more that gets out into the public, maybe we'll get a billion-dollar offer,’’ said Board member Cindy Holbrook. 

Many of the 30 or so shareholders who spoke at the meeting expressed disappointment that the board was even considering the offer, pointing out that a majority of shareholders in February said they had no interest in selling the town. 

Board members acknowledged that point, but said the board nonetheless had an obligation to bring it to the shareholders at the meeting.

“I don't believe any of us thinks this deal is a good deal for any of us,’’ Board member Holly Reitnauer said. “But we are just telling you guys to let you know that we got this offer, and that's all there is to it. Period. Case closed. It does not mean we are selling Briny.’’

Briny Breezes, one of the last seaside mobile home communities in Florida, has courted offers from developers since at least 2006. 

The town faces many climate-change challenges because it’s located between the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway. 

The town, which already experiences chronic flooding on the Intracoastal side during storms, is planning for millions of dollars in resiliency improvements to protect it from future sea level rise. 

But some residents, who worry if those improvements will be enough, wonder if the town’s days are numbered regardless of whether its sea walls, roads and homes are raised. 

A letter from corporate officials to shareholders on April 11 said an Ocean Ridge man representing a large developer recently expressed interest in buying the town’s marina. 

While some shareholders said it may make sense to put Briny Breezes on the market to see what kind of offers might come in, many others said there is no pricetag for their special town.

“The big question of the day really is, what is your cost for paradise?’’ asked resident Chuck Swift. “Without question Briny Breezes is unduplicable. There is only one on the entire planet that has everything: the beach, a clubhouse, a marina, a lifestyle that millionaires – our neighbors – are paying multi-, multi-, multi-millions for their residences. We've got it right here in Briny.’’

By Jane Musgrave

Delray Beach on Wednesday agreed to pay $818,500 to settle a lawsuit filed by a former utilities worker, who claimed she was fired for reporting that water from the city’s reclaimed water system was making people and pets sick.

The settlement, announced April 5  in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach, came a day after attorneys for former city worker Christine Ferrigan and the city spent a day on a Zoom call, remotely hashing out their differences under the guidance of U.S. Magistrate Judge William Matthewman.

Had the warring parties failed to reach an accord, a federal jury next week would have decided whether the 65-year-old Ferrigan deserved what could have been millions in damages for being fired in January 2022 after reporting her concerns to state health officials.

The settlement, which splits the money between the worker-turned-whistleblower and her lawyers, is expected to be approved by the City Commission on April 18. City Manager Terrence Moore and Utilities Director Hassan Hadjimiry, also named in the suit, signed off on the agreement. Neither they nor the city admitted any wrongdoing.

In a statement, Ferrigan said she hoped her lawsuit and the agreement she reached with the city will empower others.

“Today’s settlement is about more than me — it’s about whistleblowers everywhere who are standing up for community safety,” she said. “The people of Delray Beach, and people everywhere, deserve clean water and to know when their health is at risk. I hope today’s settlement will encourage potential whistleblowers everywhere to speak up and know their legal protections.”

Her attorneys, from the Washington, D.C.  law firm Mehri & Skalet, and the Palm Beach Gardens office of Cohen Milstein, echoed Ferrigan’s sentiments. They lauded her for fighting to make sure city residents have safe water to drink. 

“Christine Ferrigan took courageous action by blowing the whistle on dangerous water contamination in Delray Beach,” they said in a joint statement. “Today’s settlement is a step towards justice for Ms. Ferrigan, for the citizens of Delray Beach, and for whistleblowers and public health advocates everywhere.”

In a separate statement, city officials also praised Ferrigan.

“The parties have reached a mutually acceptable resolution of the dispute regarding Ms. Ferrigan’s respective separation from the city,” said Moore. “The city thanks Ms. Ferrigan and recognizes her contributions to the City’s Utilities Department.” 

The settlement ends a disturbing – and expensive – chapter in the city’s history. 

The city paid a $1 million fine to the state in December 2021 after a lengthy investigation by Palm Beach County health officials confirmed that partially treated reclaimed water had been allowed to mix with drinking water supplies.

Ten years after the reclaimed water program was instituted, residents in 2018 began complaining that their drinking water was smelly, yellow with algae, and sandy, and that some residents and their pets were getting sick, according to Ferrigan’s lawsuit. 

The Health Department got involved in January 2020 after a South Ocean Boulevard resident called to say she was not properly informed of a cross connection found on her street in December 2018. A cross connection occurs when reclaimed water pipes used for lawn irrigation are wrongly connected to the drinking water lines.

Health officials found that the city failed to implement its Cross Connection Control Program when the reclaimed water system was launched in 2008. It also found the city violated at least nine regulatory standards. 

Ferrigan, hired in 2017 as an industrial pre-treatment inspector, reported water quality problems to her supervisors, she said in her lawsuit. When they failed to act, she reported her concerns to both the Palm Beach County Inspector General’s Office and health officials.

In response, she was fired, she claimed. City officials insisted she was dismissed as part of a reorganization designed to promote “efficiency and austerity.” 

In addition to paying the fine and $21,000 for the state agency’s investigation, the city spent more than $1 million on inspections and adding missing backflow preventers to stop the reclaimed water from mixing with drinking water. It remains under a five-year consent order, requiring it to properly monitor the system.

This is the second time Ferrigan has received a settlement from a Palm Beach County city after filing a whistleblower complaint. She received $322,500 and her attorneys were paid $215,000 to settle a lawsuit she filed against Boca Raton after she claimed she was improperly fired from its utility department in 2008. The money was paid by the city’s insurer and Boca Raton officials did not admit any wrongdoing.

It also marks the second time in a week that Delray officials agreed to settle a high-profile lawsuit. On March 31, city commissioners asked their legal team to negotiate a settlement with the nonprofit that sued the city after it was ousted from its longtime control of Old School Square. 

The nonprofit, Old School Square Center for the Arts, lost its contract to run the city’s signature arts center in August 2021. City managers said it failed to turn over financial records and mishandled the renovation of Crest Theatre. The removal inflamed the center’s monied patrons.

After the nonprofit sued the city in November 2021 for violating the lease and state open meeting laws, the city counter-sued for breach of contract. 

While details of the proposed settlement haven’t been made public, an attorney for the nonprofit said both sides will drop their legal claims.

Jane Smith contributed to this story.

This story was updated to include additional comments.

Ocean Ridge Commissioner Martin Wiescholek stands and gathers his belongings as he prepares to leave after resigning in the middle of the Town Commission's April 3 meeting. Wiescholek announced his resignation after a split commission voted 3-2 to hire interim Town Manager Lynne Ladner to the full-time position. Joe Capozzi/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi

In a span of less than two hours Monday night, Ocean Ridge gained a full-time town manager and lost two town commissioners. 

Commissioner Martin Wiescholek announced his resignation an hour after being sworn in to his second three-year term April 3, then stood up and walked out of Town Hall with the commission’s April meeting still in progress. 

Commissioner Kristine de Haseth announced her resignation nearly two hours later, at the very end of the meeting, citing a need to spend more time on family obligations.  

Wiescholek resigned just minutes after the commission voted 3-2 to hire interim Town Manager Lynne Ladner as the full-time town manager, 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 Monday night is a direct result of a change in Town Hall power dynamics that arose from the March 14 municipal election when newcomer Carolyn Cassidy and Wiescholek won a three-way race for two commission seats. Incumbent Mayor Susan Hurlburt finished third, losing her commission seat.

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 had aligned herself with a faction of two other commissioners and their community supporters. 

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

“I think Lynne has been doing an outstanding job in reaching out to the community,” Cassidy said. “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 to not 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 the Feb. 27 commission meeting, 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.

Pugh and Coz denied pressuring Ladner to fire Jones. 

On Monday, 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. The firm the town hired for $29,500 to find candidates, Colin Baenziger and Associates, considers 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 process 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 $142,000 a year. Her predecessor, Tracey Stevens, was making $132,500 when she left Sept. 11 to become town manager in Haverhill.

A few minutes after Ladner’s hiring Monday, 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 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 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.

After the meeting, de Haseth said she had been considering since December to step down because of family obligations, 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 commisison." 

Pugh, who was selected Monday as mayor, said after the meeting that he expected the town to put out a notice for candidates to apply to fill the remaining terms of Wiescholek and de Haseth. The final selection for each vacant commission seat will be voted on by the Town Commission, possibly at a special meeting, he said.

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 comes just weeks after the city, in an email obtained Friday 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 is left on the dais from the 3-2 majority that removed the nonprofit in August 2021 for its failure to disclose its financials and for a 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 held Friday morning, 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 on Tuesday, leaving the city’s decision on the proposal to the new board.

The commission voted 4-0 Friday to have the city attorney go ahead and 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 will 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.”

Boylston said the DDA will be brought in after the workshop with the nonprofit.

“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.”

Frankel could not be reached for comment after the meeting.

Laura Simon, the executive director of the DDA, said she had not heard about the commission bringing the former managers back into the fold.

The turnaround by the commission was remarkable but not surprising.

The commission voted 3-2 in August 2021 to oust the former operators for failing to turn over its financial records and for mishandling the renovation of Crest Theatre.

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

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

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

Casale said on Friday 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 may 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.

Long and Burns said during the campaign they want to reorganize the CRA, taking it away from the commission, which comprises five of the CRA governing board’s seven seats.

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 Crest Theatre in a demolished state.

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 on Saturday following the meeting, said it was time to mend fences.

"Ending these lawsuits is the right thing to do for the taxpayers and four 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."

Note: This story has been updated to include additional comments.

By Steve Plunkett

St. Joseph’s Episcopal School will shutter its campus at the end of the school year, its board of trustees announced March 31. 

The trustees madethe "agonizing decision to close" in a meeting the day before, Board Chairman Bill Swaney and Vice Chairman Peter Philip said in a letter to the school community.

St. Joseph's Episcopal Church, which owns the property on which the school has sat for 60 years, told the school in April 2022 that it would not renew its lease. The school sought accommodations with the church and also looked for a new location  "only to learn that extensive permitting and remodeling would prohibit the completion of any move for at least two years," the trustees’ letter said.

"Despite all these good efforts, it is clear now that the church has forced the school to close," the trustees said. "We’re devastated for our students, parents and teachers."

The church’s spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a phone call or email seeking comment.

The school on Feb. 20 lost its bid for an injunction to let it continue operating on the church’s grounds until a lawsuit between them was resolved. Circuit Judge Bradley Harper ruled the school did not have "a substantial likelihood of success … given the absence of any writing which establishes the existence of a 99-year lease agreement.”

The school claimed it had an oral, 99-year lease to stay where it is, at 3300B S. Seacrest Blvd., until the year 2093.

The church said the school signed a five-year written lease in 2012 and was given a five-year extension that expired last November. Both sides last year agreed to extend the lease until June 30 while the dispute headed to court.

The church has not given its reasons for not wanting to renew the $5-a-year lease.

"We remain perplexed about why the church chose to ignore the interests of our constituents,” the trustees said in their letter. “We are extremely disappointed and angry that the church has behaved so callously.

“Perhaps above all, we are crushed that the school will no longer exist in service to the community of which it has been so integral a part.”

The letter also said the school’s Early Childhood Academy, at 2515 N. Swinton Ave. in Delray Beach, will remain open next school year.

The school had 175 students enrolled in pre-K through eighth grade. While the two entities share the St. Joseph’s name and the same location on Seacrest Boulevard, the school split off from the church in 1995.

That was a year after Swaney gave the church approximately $2.5 million worth of stock in his company, Perrigo, “for the express purpose of the church constructing buildings and facilities for use by the school,” the school’s lawsuit said.

Swaney, the suit claimed, made it clear to the church’s vestry that he was making the gift in exchange for a promise, made orally several times, that the school would never be displaced from the property. The church sold the stock and built a gymnasium, library, classrooms and administrative offices.

By Rich Pollack

Just six days before he was set to begin his second term in office, Highland Beach Mayor Doug Hillman died March 15 following a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 77.

Mr. Hillman’s death, which came less than two months after his wife of 54 years died, was a shock to town leaders and residents, with some just learning about his illness less than a month ago.

Elected mayor three years ago after serving on the town’s Financial Advisory Board and having run unopposed this election cycle, Mr. Hillman was well respected for his leadership style and his ability to use a touch of levity to lighten serious discussions while working to build consensus.

Town Manager Marshall Labadie, who has worked with many elected officials over the course of his career, praised the late mayor as “one of the best.”

“It really doesn’t get much better than Doug,” he said. “His leadership style and his concern for the community set him apart from most local leaders I have worked with. He became a mentor and a friend.”

Vice Mayor Natasha Moore said one of Mr. Hillman’s strengths was his willingness to listen to others.

“All of his decisions centered around what he thought would be best for the town,” she said.

In addition to his leadership in Highland Beach, Mr. Hillman also served as president of his condo association at Dalton Place, as well as president of the umbrella organization at Boca Highland Beach Club and Marina. 

“As president of Dalton Place and Boca Highlands, Doug was considered a visionary and smart and business-savvy,” said friend and neighbor Ron Reame, who is vice president of Dalton Place and on the board of governors of Boca Highland. “He was the voice of reason.”

Reame said that it was Mr. Hillman who led efforts to revitalize their building, bringing it up to “five-star resort” quality.

“Doug was a man of integrity, was kind, helpful, patient, fair and complimentary to all who worked with him,” Reame said. “He was influential and inspiring to our community.”

With Mr. Hillman’s death, Moore will automatically fill in as mayor for no more than 30 days. Within that time, the Town Commission will have an opportunity to appoint a mayor who will serve until March 2024, when an election will be held to fill the remaining two years of Mr. Hillman’s term.

Moore, who has served as vice mayor for two years, said that Mr. Hillman was instrumental in helping her grow in the position.

“Not only was he a colleague, he was also a mentor,” she said. “He put all of us in the right position to make good decisions.”

Prior to coming to Highland Beach, Mr. Hillman served as an executive for some of the best-known men's, women's and children's apparel, accessory and footwear brands, including Levi's, Dockers, Burlington Hosiery, Keds, Pro-Keds and Sperry Topsiders, as well as London Fog, where he became president.

Mr. Hillman also served as a business adviser to the governor of Maryland and as a consultant to the Baltimore Police Department. In addition, he was a professor at both Johns Hopkins University and American University, where he taught advanced marketing courses at the graduate level.

Mayor Hillman is survived by son Michael, daughter-in-law Michelle, granddaughter Molli and grandson Miles.

A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. March 19 at Dalton Place in Boca Highland Beach Club and Marina.

By Steve Plunkett

The ailing sea turtles at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center have been temporarily moved to other facilities, its veterinarian has quit, and the coordinator of its turtle rehabilitation program and her assistant are no longer there.

“The rehabilitation facility is CLOSED until further notice,” the city-operated nature center says on its website.

The unexpected turmoil comes as Boca Raton prepares to hand off operation of the rehab program to the nonprofit Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards, formerly known as the Friends of Gumbo Limbo.

“Obviously some people aren’t happy about certain things,” city spokeswoman Anne Marie Connolly said.

The Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach took six of the program’s turtles; Zoo Miami is caring for two and the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart has one. Seven of the turtles are patients; two, named Morgan and Cane, are Gumbo Limbo “residents.”

The turtles were moved March 14, she said, following the resignation of veterinarian Dr. Maria Chadam.

Chadam, who cared for Gumbo Limbo’s turtles for more than a decade, said the time was overdue for her to focus on other aspects of her life.

“A culmination of events has quelled my optimism to a point where I cannot continue as a key member of this organization. This decision does not reflect a concern related to any one person or on any specific event,” she wrote in a Feb. 13 letter giving 30 days’ notice.

John Holloway, CEO and president of the Coastal Stewards, answered the next day: “Effective immediately, your services under the contract are no longer required,” he wrote.

“Once she resigned, that put our permit in temporary status,” Connolly said.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission issues permits for sea turtle research and rehabilitation, with one provision being that a rehab program must have a veterinarian on staff.

Also gone from the nature center are the rehab program’s coordinator, Whitney Crowder, who started working there in 2012 as the assistant coordinator, and Emily Mirowski, her assistant, who gained worldwide attention with a Facebook post about a baby turtle who died after eating 104 bits of plastic. Both were laid off after they decided they did not want to work for the Coastal Stewards.

“Unfortunately, as far as the staff members … it didn’t work out the way we intended,” Connolly said, praising their contributions to the program. “We would have hoped they stayed onboard.”

Adding to the confusion at the nature center is the final stage of a $3.2 million project to connect pipes to a new pump on the east side of State Road A1A that will push seawater to Gumbo Limbo’s viewing tanks and aquariums. The new system should be complete by the end of the month.

Some of the relocated turtles might recover and be released back into the ocean before a new veterinarian and program staff are hired and the FWC permit is reauthorized.

“Of course, we will miss Morgan and Cane while they are away, but everyone is committed to welcoming them home as soon as possible,” Holloway wrote in an email to interested parties. “Please consider donating, shopping sustainably in the gift store, joining our membership, and check our website and social media often for exciting updates and ways you can be a part of our future.”

The city started negotiating last fall for the Coastal Stewards to assume responsibility for the rescue, rehabilitation and release program. As part of the new arrangement, donations collected at the door, which used to go to the Stewards, will now be used for ongoing maintenance and improvements.

The city owns Gumbo Limbo and the surrounding Red Reef Park; the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District pays for all operations and improvements.

The rehab program has grown tremendously over the years, Connolly said.

“While the city and the (Beach and Park District) want to support the success of the program, both organizations believe the animal rescue and veterinary component of this program can be better served by a nonprofit organization with fundraising capabilities, membership support, and the flexibility that local government agencies don’t have,” she wrote in an email. Years ago, she noted, Boca Raton transitioned all operations of the Tri-County Animal Rescue west of the city to a nonprofit.

Still open at Gumbo Limbo are its boardwalk, nature trails, gopher tortoises, aquariums, butterfly garden and exhibits. The Boca Raton City Council in late February approved spending $2.4 million from the Beach and Park District and the Stewards to rebuild Gumbo Limbo’s observation tower.

By John Pacenti

Delray Beach voters handed Mayor Shelly Petrolia a major defeat on Tuesday – and she wasn’t even on the ballot.

The electorate – roughly 6,900 out of more than 46,000 registered voters – rejected the candidates Petrolia supported in favor of two candidates who promised to return Delray Beach to an old way of doing business, eschewing controversial decisions and trumpeting civility. 

Those who showed up to vote also approved $120 million in two bond measures, which are slated to pay for a potential new police station, for renovations of existing fire stations and for park improvements.

Businessman Rob Long defeated one-term Commissioner Juli Casale for the District 2 seat – 53% to 47% -- with a margin of 377 votes.

Angela Burns, a former teacher and community organizer, defeated former Commissioner Angie Gray for the District 4 seat, 52% to 48% – or by 213 votes.

She takes the seat vacated by Commissioner Shirley Johnson, who could not run again because of term limits. Johnson often voted with Casale and Petrolia on key issues.

Results shift power on commission

The election very much leaves Petrolia playing Don Quixote against a stacked commission. 

Long said the election was a repudiation of Petrolia, who once called for his removal from the Planning & Zoning Board when he criticized the city’s water quality. “I think this election was a referendum on the mayor's leadership style and the decisions that have been made over the last couple of years,” he said.

 “That being said, I hope the mayor and I can find common ground and work together to serve our residents at the end of the day. That's all that matters.”

A 13-year resident of Delray Beach, Long serves as the chairman of the Palm Beach Soil & Water Conservation District.

Casale was a political neophyte in 2020 who came to office after fighting a development in her Sabal Lakes neighborhood.

"The residents are either far more pro-development than I thought or far more apathetic than I thought," Casale said in a text message on Wednesday. "Either way the result is the same."

Burns campaigned as the only non-politician running, saying that the people’s voices weren’t being heard at City Hall. “Our community has spoken loud and clear and it’s proof our message resonates,” Burns said.

Gray could be reached for comment on Tuesday. Neither could Mayor Petrolia. 

The Long and Burns connections

Burns and Long hired the same political consultant and at public forums agreed on nearly every issue.

Both talked about bringing civility back to the City Commission after recent years brought a water quality scandal, an ousted city manager and the removal of the longtime nonprofit that ran Old School Square – Old School Square Center for the Arts, Inc.

But their victories may bode something else as both have said they want to return the running of Old School Square to the ousted nonprofit and wrest control of the Community Redevelopment Agency from the commission – decisions that won’t come easy.

The commission voted just last month to hand over the reins of the city cultural center to the Downtown Development Authority.

The commission also took over an independent CRA in 2018 after it said the CRA repeatedly ignored the needs of businesses west of Swinton Avenue, instead supporting more affluent areas. Commissioners now hold five of the seven seats on the CRA’s governing board.

“My goal is to bring unity to the city to start more or less a healing process to bring civility and professionalism back to the dais,” Long told The Coastal Star.

He acknowledged, though, that the election was close and the city remains divided, adding, “I’m here to serve every resident, not just my supporters but my opponents’ supporters, too, because in an election this close I want to represent the entire community.”

The Long victory will be seen by his opponents as a win for developers as he sat on the Planning and Zoning Board that greenlighted many of the new high-end developments that are under construction or in the pipeline.

During the day on Tuesday, the Casale campaign team expressed worry that Long in an 11th-hour robocall portrayed himself as against overdevelopment, fearing that could turn the tide.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported in January that a lawyer representing developers funneled business to Long’s grassroots outreach business, Door 2 Door Strategies. Long voted on one project in question based on the advice of an assistant city attorney who said he didn’t have a conflict of interest.

The Long-Burns quinella was also a win for Commissioner Ryan Boylston who is said to be angling for Petrolia’s job. He threw his support over the weekend to Long and Burns, deriding the “toxicity” of the commission and said “I for one want the ‘Delray Way’ back.”

Certainly, Delray Beach’s old guard will be happy – five former mayors supported Long.

Police and fire unions will also be happy. Casale had pivoted recently to calling for an audit of the Fire Rescue Department and investigating overtime abuses in the Police Department. Both police and fire unions endorsed Long and Burns. Long said at public forums that it was critical to have good collaborative relationships with first responders.

State-ordered audit is city’s latest drama

On Monday, the state Legislature’s Joint Legislative Auditing Committee unanimously approved a request by State Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman (R-Highland Beach) for the auditor general to examine what Delray Beach has charged Highland Beach for fire service the last six years. 

The city and town are fighting over what is owed and the audit underlined what Long and Burns characterized as continued chaos. 

Team Petrolia upending the apple cart the last three years did produce drama. 

The firing of the nonprofit running Old School Square for lack of accountability and mismanagement occurred at a commission meeting where it wasn’t even on the agenda. 

The firing of former City Manager George Gretsas made sure the city ran through more city managers than Spinal Tap does drummers.

Both the nonprofit and Gretsas have sued the city.

The city also agreed in November 2021 to pay $1 million to the Florida Department of Health for water safety violations – the foremost being that reclaimed water was making its way into the drinking water system.

Two bond issues approved

In a vote that almost certainly has more long-lasting implications, voters overwhelmingly approved a $100 million public safety bond and a $20 million parks bond. Both bonds received support from more than 60% of voters.

City spokeswoman Gina Carter said the parks bond will bring much needed improvements. 

She said the public safety bond “will allow our police and fire departments to grow. It will enable state-of-the-art technology and hurricane hardening to be central to our public safety infrastructure.”

Carter added the bond will also add a dedicated Emergency Operation Centers, which will serve the city during storms and emergencies.

At a forum on the bonds in February, the city said $80 million would be allocated either for building a new police headquarters or a major renovation of the existing structure. The rest would go to help renovate its aging fire stations.

The $20 million for parks will include improvements to Catherine Strong Park, such as covered basketball courts, a covered practice field, walking trails and improvements to restrooms and lighting.

The general obligation bonds will be paid for by revenue from property taxes. The city is required to levy enough property tax to pay for the debt service on the bond.

The estimated cost over 30 years to a resident with a home having $1 million in taxable assessed value would be $428 for the first year of the public safety bond. That amount would decrease to $360 annually when the city retires two previous bonds next February.

The parks and recreation bond is a separate cost. The 30-year estimated cost will be an additional $88 annually for a home with a $1 million taxable assessed value.

Unofficial vote totals updated as of 10 a.m. March 15.

By Mary Hladky

Boca Raton voters soundly defeated a measure that would have increased City Council members’ terms of office from three years to four.

The proposed change to the city charter, the only matter on the March 14 ballot, was opposed by 59.4% of voters and favored by 40.6%.

It would not have changed the two-term limit for council members.

The outcome was a major defeat for Mayor Scott Singer, who proposed the change and actively urged residents to support it.

In pressing for the initiative, Singer said that of the state’s 25 largest cities, Boca Raton is the only one that does not have four-year terms.

Longer terms would give council members more time to bolster their expertise on city matters. And because they would stand election less frequently, they could focus on city issues rather than campaigning, he said.

But opponents, including unsuccessful 2021 City Council candidates Brian Stenberg and Josie Machovec, argued that residents have not called for such a change.

They also said it was a waste of city money to spend about $225,000 to hold an election that would draw little interest because no council candidates would be on the ballot. Singer, Fran Nachlas and Marc Wigder won election without opposition.

Singer countered that the change would save money over time, since it would result in fewer elections being held.

Council members voted 3-2 in December to place the charter change on the ballot. Voting against were Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke, whose final term ends on March 31, and Nachlas, who said she could not support a change that benefited her with a longer council term.