By Steve Plunkett

Residents now have the blessing of the Town Council to raise their homes on stilts, but whether the corporation will permit it remains the big question.

The council approved the creation of an “elevated single-family home overlay district” on a second reading of an ordinance on May 25 by the same 3-2 vote it gave the first reading. Council President Christina Adams and members Liz Loper and Bill Birch voted yes.

Members also approved on first reading an ordinance to amend the town’s zoning map to show the new overlay on a 4-1 vote with Sue Thaler joining the majority and Kathy Gross dissenting.

The ayes came after Birch read text messages he had received from Michael Gallacher, general manager of Briny Breezes Inc., who encouraged the council to OK the zoning.

“A lot of work has already gone into this so do not let it die, in my personal opinion. And it doesn’t force or bind anything at this point, so I don’t fear it,” Gallacher messaged.

The new zoning will allow the owner of a mobile home to raise it on stilts or pilings to a roof peak maximum 25 feet above the crown of the road. The area underneath the mobile home, which the ordinance calls the “lowest floor,” could be an unfinished or flood-resistant enclosure with “breakaway” walls or screening and would be used only for parking, building access and storage.

The new district anticipates that streets in Districts 3 and 4, between State Road A1A and the Intracoastal Waterway, will be raised at least 2.5 feet to combat perennial flooding and predicted sea level rise. A Flooding Adaptation Plan paid for by the corporation shows low-lying areas on the west side of town permanently under water in as soon as 13 years.

Before the votes, Town Attorney Keith Davis offered in-depth answers to questions that were raised at the council’s April 27 meeting.

“As you may recall, during the first reading there was robust public comment and there were numerous questions that were posed,” Davis said.

The most exasperating question, one “that has come up multiple times since we started this exercise,” Davis said, was whether the corporation has final say on whether to allow implementation of the ordinance.

Answer: “The corporation, as the landowner, is not obligated to allow it to be put into effect on the land it owns,” he said. “I’m not sure how I could be any more clear.”

Other answers focused on the amount of fill allowed under a two-story home (roughly equal to the street level); whether such a home would have to be ADA-compliant (no); whether the town’s building official has reviewed the concept (he has seen the ordinance but Davis was unaware of any comments made, if any); has the fire marshal reviewed it (the ordinance requires compliance with all fire and life safety codes), and have home manufacturers said whether such structures can be built (yes).

Another question was whether the council should wait to vote on the ordinance until after Briny’s sea wall has been raised. Town Manager William Thrasher is seeking grants and loans to pay for that. Davis said it was up to the council to decide whether to vote now but pointed out that without the ordinance, if a major storm hit the town, residents could not replace their units without conforming to the Florida Building Code and Federal Emergency Management Agency elevation requirements.

Also answered was whether architects renderings could be prepared to show what the overlay might look like in Briny Breezes. Davis said they could be if the council requested them.

That was still Thaler’s concern, one she had expressed at the April meeting as well.

“If you have two-story structures facing each other over a 9-foot-wide road, I really think that we need to look at what that’s going to look like,” she said.

But no one made a motion to request renderings.

During public comments seven residents spoke against the overlay ordinance, one emailed her objection, and two spoke in favor, including Jerry Lower, chairman of the town’s Planning and Zoning Board (and co-owner and publisher of The Coastal Star).

Davis’ full, written answers were made public record and are available from the town clerk.

LEFT: The 1979 Coastal Construction Control Line, shown in yellow, is farther east than the 1997 line, shown in purple. Both are east of State Road A1A. Map provided by Engenuity Group Inc. and Town of Ocean Ridge

By Larry Barszewski

A 2020 Ocean Ridge ordinance that got little notice at the time it was approved has become a major controversy for oceanfront property owners, who say they were given no warning about the changes in regulations it enacted, which they say have infringed on their property rights.

Town commissioners passed the ordinance giving the town some say on property construction east of the 1997 Coastal Construction Control Line. The state requires property owners to get a permit from its Department of Environmental Protection for any construction projects seaward of that line, but the ordinance required that any such work would also have to receive a permit from the town.

The ordinance also said no construction would be allowed east of an earlier, 1979 Coastal Construction Control Line, which is closer to the water than the 1997 line. On properties such as those between Anna and Corrine streets, where existing houses extend east of the 1979 control line, construction is only permitted within the structure’s existing footprint or with a variance from the town.

Other oceanfront homeowners have buildings sitting between the 1997 line and the 1979 line. Besides stating the requirement of a town permit for any construction, the ordinance also affected how big a rebuilt home or a home with an addition could be.

Previously, the amount of square footage was determined by the size of the property going out to the mean high-water line, which is to the east of the 1979 control line. The 2020 ordinance allows property owners to go only as far as the 1979 line when calculating allowable square footage.

Critics say they wouldn’t even be able to rebuild to the same size under the ordinance, let alone add space.

“Beach owners have been targeted,” said Merrilee Lundquist, whose home lies between the two control lines. “I think this ordinance has done more to destroy our net worth than the stock market ever had.”

Lundquist and other property owners requested the commission repeal the ordinance at its May 1 meeting, but commissioners decided more study was needed about the ramifications of any change. In addition, any change to a town ordinance would require two officially noticed readings before the commission.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Commissioner Ken Kaleel said of the request. “You just can’t repeal something that you don’t know what the effect of that repeal is going to be.”

Town Attorney Christy Goddeau was instructed to report at the commission’s June meeting about the potential consequences of a repeal or smaller changes to the ordinance, as well as other factors the commission might need to consider.

Brett Berish told commissioners the ordinance is affecting his plans to add space to better accommodate his family of six children.

“All of us on the water, our property size and value have been affected,” said his wife, Alana Berish. The couple bought their home at 6275 N. Ocean Blvd. in 2021 after the ordinance was passed, but said no one told them about the implications of the changes.

“No one knew. Even now, no one truly understands,” Alana Berish said.

By Larry Barszewski

An advisory committee of local police officials will interview six finalists for Ocean Ridge’s police chief position June 7 and then give its feedback to Town Manager Lynne Ladner.

The Police Chief Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Town Hall to interview the finalists and then reconvene at 6:30 p.m. for members to present their thoughts and recommendations to Ladner. The public will not be allowed to comment during the interviews, but will be given a chance to speak at the start of the evening session.

The interviews are expected to last about an hour each. The committee is scheduled to take a lunch break and resume the interviews at 1:30 p.m.

The night session is scheduled to last until 9 p.m.

Ladner created the advisory committee to assist her in the search. The members are Tequesta Police Chief Gus Medina, Highland Beach Police Lt. Michael Oh, Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office Lt. Ryan Mugridge, and former Ocean Ridge Town Manager Tracey Stevens, who is now Haverhill’s town administrator.

Twelve people applied for the police chief position, which opened in February when Chief Richard Jones announced he was leaving to head the Police Department in Gulf Stream.

The finalists to be interviewed are: Ja’vion Brown Sr., deputy sheriff with the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office; John Donadio, former police chief of Sewall’s Point; Eric Herold, a supervisory federal air marshal; Albert Iovino, a captain with the Indian River Shores Department of Public Safety; Tom Levins, interim commander with the Clewiston Police Department, and Scott McClure, Ocean Ridge’s acting police chief.

Ladner plans to announce her selection following — but not before 10:30 a.m. — the town’s 9 a.m. Planning and Zoning Board meeting on June 20.

By Larry Barszewski

With the exception of Delray Beach Mayor Shelly Petrolia, a May 9 meeting between city commissioners and Old School Square’s former operators featured everyone singing from the same page.

“Excuse me if I don’t feel warm and fuzzy,” said Petrolia, the only remaining member of the commission majority that in 2021 kicked out the nonprofit Old School Square Center for the Arts from its decades-long role of running the city’s downtown cultural centerpiece.

But even Petrolia supported the recommendation of Vice Mayor Ryan Boylston that the city investigate creating a city cultural council that was referenced in a 2006 report but never materialized. The council, which the Coletta & Company report called the Delray Beach Creative City Collaborative, was to be an umbrella organization for arts and culture in the city.

“We have so many plans, so many things that we didn’t do. We really need to go back to them as a city,” Boylston said.

Boylston quoted from the 2006 report, saying the primary function of the Delray Beach Cultural Council would be “to strategically target culture as a competitive advantage and increase funding to enlarge the cultural scene, trigger innovation and creativity strategies, fund existing cultural groups and champion new initiatives to claim Delray Beach’s unique niche.”

Commissioners agreed to hold a future workshop meeting on the proposal.

Overall, there didn’t appear to be any clear objective to the meeting, other than to begin a healing process between the two sides. Commissioners expressed a desire to see the nonprofit group continue to be a force in the community, though it wasn’t clear what that role would be.

“I did not agree with the way the whole incident with Old School Square was handled,” said Angela Burns, who was one of two new commissioners elected in March who switched the commission’s leanings on the issue. “But I look forward tonight to mending fences and some open dialogue so that we can move forward in our city. We have a great cultural center and I would like to see it continue so that it is serving everyone in our community to the best of its abilities.”

The settlement to the lawsuit filed by the nonprofit in November 2021 — and the city’s countersuit — was approved in April. The only issue the settlement did not cover was the nonprofit’s efforts to acquire a trademark for the Old School Square name, which the city is challenging. That decision is before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Patty Jones, chair of the nonprofit, told commissioners, “We look forward to being a resource for the city of Delray Beach and the community to make Old School Square the best it can be.”

Jeff Perlman, a former mayor and a member of the nonprofit’s board of directors, said the group had no demands. Both sides acknowledged that the Old School Square campus is now being run by the Downtown Development Authority — which was not invited to be part of the workshop — and expressed no desire to see that change.

“We are not here with an ask other than we would respectfully request a seat at the table,” Perlman said.

The tensions in the room were highlighted by testy exchanges between Petrolia and Perlman and between Petrolia and Frances Bourque, the nonprofit’s founder and the original driving force behind the transformation of the city’s Old School Square campus.

Petrolia, who said the campus was in the good hands of the DDA, questioned why the city would move forward reestablishing a relationship with the group given the city’s past concerns over its finances and a continuing federal investigation into the group.

After the meeting, Petrolia said she was referring to investigators looking into the possible misuse of Paycheck Protection Program funds by the nonprofit to cover salaries that were already included in grants to the nonprofit. Petrolia said she has not been interviewed in the matter, but she knows of others who have regarding the pandemic-related funding.

While Petrolia did not approve of the settlement, Bourque said Petrolia needed to live by the will of the majority on the commission and stop disparaging her organization.

“You as the leader of this group agreed to settle, as did we. It’s over. It’s over, and it’s not fair for you to continue to espouse one side, while our agreement is firmly implanted in accepting the fate of a dual agreement by which neither party is supposed to malign the other,” Bourque said. “And there is no way we can be invited to a table in which that climate continues to exist.”

But Petrolia said she would not be silenced, especially since she was limited in what she could say while the litigation was pending.

“I will continue to express my opinions as I feel fit, moving forward. I’m not bound by anything,” Petrolia said. “I didn’t make any agreement. I will continue to do that because I think it’s just as important for those that basically are going to be holding the ball here, to understand how we got to this point. We have not had that opportunity until today. So, it’s very important that the public understands what happened.”

By Rich Pollack

Elaine Prentice knew she had to do something.

A condo manager with a green thumb and an eye for natural esthetics, Prentice had seen pictures and heard how Hurricane Nicole battered the beaches near Vero Beach in November, gobbling the sand under sea walls and causing them to crumble into the ocean.

To ensure that didn’t happen to her Penthouse Towers oceanfront building in Highland Beach, Prentice took aim at strengthening all beachfront property owners’ first line of defense against powerful seas that can crumble concrete in minutes — the natural sand dune.

“After seeing the storms, we needed to make sure the dune would work for us,” she said. “We need everything we can get to protect the property.”

With work nearly complete, the dune behind Penthouse Towers has become a model that others along the town’s three miles of oceanfront are starting to notice.

And in other coastal municipalities, word is continuing to spread about the benefits of restoring dunes and their natural ability to protect property and stave off beach erosion during storms and other high-water events.

“Mother Nature has the ability to heal herself,” says Lee Gottlieb, the founder of Adopt a Dune and the consultant who worked with Penthouse Towers to design a sustainable dune and find plants that can help build sand as a barrier against storm surge.

With climate change and the inevitability of continued sea level rise, Gottlieb sees a renewed sense of urgency in restoring dunes and is working to create a sustainable dune along the entire coastlines of Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

“We need to adapt to the inevitable,” he said. “How do we live in this environment that’s about to come?”

Dune restoration, he says, is a cost-effective and efficient answer.

“The dune system gives you the best and strongest defense against storm surge and hurricanes,” he said.

A strong dune, he pointed out, can protect sea walls, in many cases, by absorbing some of the wave action that comes with storm surge’s powerful energy before it hits the reinforced concrete. A revitalized dune also offers natural habitat for birds and other wildlife including sea turtles.

In Highland Beach, concerns about beach erosion and the condition of the dunes behind private homes and condos encouraged town commissioners in May to authorize a $30,000 beach feasibility study update of a 2013 review.

As part of the study, the consultant will look at the dunes in front of oceanfront properties and make recommendations on what can be done to strengthen them if necessary.

“It’s critically important for us to look at beach erosion but also at the health of the dune structures, because there is an intrinsic link to the overall health of the beach,” Highland Beach Town Manager Marshall Labadie said.

Commissioners agree dune restoration is critical to ensure beach properties are secure.

“All these properties on the beach will have a problem if the dunes are not maintained,” Commissioner Evalyn David said.

Faced with having only private beaches and few options for any sort of federal- or state-funded renourishment project, commissioners two years ago had enlisted the help of the town’s Natural Resources Preservation Board to begin an education campaign focused on dune restoration.

“It’s our main priority,” says Barbara Nestle, co-chair of the board, which has been promoting dune restoration through material online and held a public forum in March with dune restoration as the topic. “It’s important to educate the public so people understand the impact of a major storm if they don’t restore their dunes.”

During the forum, residents listened to longtime South Florida dune restoration guru Rob Barron of Coastal Management and Consulting, who encouraged installing the right plants, especially sea oats and other native species that form deep root systems and can collect sand and build up dunes.

“You’re better off if you do something than if you do nothing,” Barron said. “If you do nothing the forces of nature will work against you.”

Barron, whose work with Delray Beach resulted in a dune success story, explained that in 1984 the city planted a 10-foot-wide strip of sea oats which today is about 160 feet wide and has captured about 12 vertical feet of sand.

At Penthouse Towers, board members had taken steps a decade ago to restore the dune but some plants died and others got forced out by exotics — mainly scaevola, a ground cover with shallow roots that grows quickly and crowds out more beneficial native plants.

With the help of its beach raking contractor, Penthouse Towers cleared out much of the exotics earlier in the year and with Gottlieb’s guidance enlisted the help of residents to begin planting sea oats.

Last month, Gottlieb brought in a wide variety of native plants to add to the dune, including beach sunflower, beach creeper and sea purslane, as well as two threatened and endangered species — bay cedar and sea lavender.

In all, Barron says about 200 native plants can be used to help restore dunes.

“The dune has to be functional but it also has to be attractive,” Prentice said, adding that residents of the 136-unit building are now taking pride in the dune. “Our owners love looking at the dune and appreciate that it will help protect us from storm surge.”

Prentice points out that her building like others on the beach has to carry extraordinarily high property insurance deductibles. She sees the dune restoration project with a price tag of under $15,000 as a very cost-effective way to protect the property.

Soon after the exotics were cleared, she and the residents of the building discovered a surprise.

Burrowing four o’clocks, an endangered species also known as beach peanut, appeared from out of nowhere and began spreading quickly throughout the dune. Found only in South Florida, the beach peanut will disappear almost as quickly as it came, leaving behind a seed bank that will explode again with a good rain next spring.

Though its impact on restoring the dune is minimal, the four o’clock return each year is a welcome sign of a dune’s return to its natural state.

As word has begun spreading throughout Highland Beach through the efforts of the natural resources board and through town communication efforts, several other buildings, individuals and communities are either restoring their dunes or looking into making the effort.

“We are now seeing activity,” says resources board member Nestle, who is coordinating a planned dune restoration project behind her own small condo community.

“Dune restoration is not only good for private property owners but it’s also good for the town as a whole because it protects the town from large storm events,” Labadie says.

Deputy Donna Korb (with life ring) assists Irina Bereslavska from the surf after rescuing her in South Palm Beach. BELOW: Korb and Bereslavska meet again a couple of days after the rescue. Photos provided

By Faran Fagen

South Palm Beach, which has no public beach, doesn’t have lifeguards. But it does have Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Deputy Donna Korb, and residents feel grateful — and safer — with her on patrol.

Especially thankful is Irina Bereslavska, who was visiting the area from New York. Korb saved Bereslavska’s life on May 8 when, during a normal day on her shift near 3520 S. Ocean Blvd., the deputy shed her uniform and dove into the ocean to rescue the struggling 68-year-old.

Just after 5:30 p.m., Korb witnessed Bereslavska enter the water. Her police training teaches her to look for anything out of place, and she grew concerned due to the current and the swimmer’s age.

Once Korb saw that Bereslavska was struggling to make it back to shore, she notified dispatch, shed her gear, and entered the water to rescue the swimmer.

“It was like any other day on shift until I saw Irina in need of help,” Korb said. “That’s when years of dive experience seemed to kick in, knowing the danger she was in if not reached quickly.”

Korb worked with residents to obtain a pool rescue ring float, swam out and handed the float to the distressed swimmer, then guided her back to shore.

Once out of the water, Bereslavska was assessed by Palm Beach County Fire Rescue. Because she had low oxygen levels, it was determined that she needed to be transported to JFK Hospital.

Without the intervention of Korb, who sustained no injuries, the likelihood Bereslavska would have drowned was high, authorities said.

“When I reached Irina, I felt the immediate need to calm her and get her to focus on my instruction,” said Korb, who had never attempted a beach rescue like this before — although she was a certified scuba instructor and rescue diver before she began working for the Sheriff’s Office in 2000.
In high school and college, she encountered some swimmers in distress while working on dive boats.

“After grasping the rescue ring and calming down, Irina seemed almost frozen as we worked our way into shore,” the deputy said. “She was extremely tired and exhausted once we finally set foot on the sand.”

Deputies assigned to PBSO District 19 South Palm Beach have a presence on or about the beach as much as possible when not patrolling the roadways, Sgt. Mark Garrison said.

He wasn’t surprised when he heard of Korb’s heroics.

“I’m extremely proud of her and the great work she does in the community,” he said. “Her efforts every day are a true representative of what we do and why we do it.”

Korb was not specifically monitoring the beach surf like a lifeguard that day. She was patrolling throughout town on an ATV and stopped to chat with a resident while overlooking the beach.

A deputy on an ATV serves and protects the public however needed, just as deputies do on the roadways, Garrison said.

As for Korb, she was greeted with a pleasant surprise on her patrol not long after the rescue.

“The satisfaction for me was running into Irina two days later, at the same location, with a big smile,” Korb said. “I’m just glad she is in good health and back out enjoying the water.”

By Steve Plunkett

Richard Jones, the town’s new police chief, kept busy in his first 30 days on the job: alerting residents to a purse-snatching and stolen vehicle, setting guidelines for investigations of officer-involved shootings, and being feted in a meet-and-greet session at Town Hall.

“It should be noted that every stolen vehicle reported to Gulf Stream Police Department since 2019 involved an unlocked vehicle that contained keys,” Jones wrote in an April 28 letter that he labeled “Release to Residents Only.”

The car was reported stolen around 11:30 a.m. April 15, a Saturday, from an open garage on Banyan Road. The victim had been getting ready to leave but reentered her house with a package that was just delivered. When she returned to the garage her vehicle was gone, Jones wrote.

That night at 9:27 p.m. a woman’s purse was snatched from her shoulder after she pulled into her garage on Old School Road and got out of her vehicle. She was not harmed or threatened, the chief said.

“I am actively and directly working with staff to generate leads and/or suspects in these cases as your safety is our primary concern,” Jones wrote.

As for officer-involved shootings, Jones told town commissioners on May 12 that such incidents “aren’t common and they’re not prevalent in our community.”

Nevertheless, he asked them to approve signing a “memorandum of understanding” with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that he called “a best-practice MOU related to any type of in-custody death that could potentially take place.”

“That could be an in-custody death relating to someone who’s potentially suffering from a drug overdose situation but happens to be in our custody, which could be as simple as a traffic stop, or it could be more elaborate to an officer-involved shooting incident that takes place,” Jones said.

The chief made the request after realizing his new department did not have an agreement in place. It “definitively defines” what agency has what responsibility, he said.

“And it also sets out a specific guideline that allows for transparency so there’s no question about us typically investigating ourselves in an incident like this and then covering up or hiding something,” Jones said.

After the commission meeting the town held its meet-and-greet, with residents having been invited via postcards in the mail. About a dozen people showed up to nosh on the array of pastries, coffee and juices in Town Hall’s lobby, meaning plenty of leftovers for town staff.

“We’ve been eating well this week,” Town Clerk Renee Basel said later.

In other business May 12, commissioners:

• Approved on first reading an ordinance that requires that all property owners within 600 feet be notified of any construction project that needs Level II approval by the Architectural Review and Planning Board or Level III approval or a special exception or a variance to the building code from the Town Commission. The current code requires notification to neighbors 25 feet away for Level II and 300 feet for Level III and variances.

• Tabled the idea of allowing the property owners on private Little Club Road to deed the street and its maintenance to the town. Town Manager Greg Dunham said Gulf Stream will be busy enough with 18 to 20 months of construction starting in August or September in the core area.

He also said a grant writer thinks the town might qualify for a Resilient Florida grant for the roadwork and drainage portion of the work, part of Gulf Stream’s capital improvement plan that will also replace water mains in the core.

Bee specialists Iam Hedendal and Mark Snellman use a lift to reach a 50-pound hive that had established itself in a black olive tree in Ocean Ridge. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Tao Woolfe

Imagine that you are the queen of a large, peaceful, productive colony and one day, two men in white mesh hats show up wielding sticks and cans of smoke.

These giant, two-legged invaders are obviously hell-bent on destroying your village. You have to think fast. Do you fly away or stay and fight?

On this Monday afternoon in an Ocean Ridge backyard, the queen bee, and all her guards and handmaidens, choose to fight. The insects, as many as 40,000 of them, swarm the men and the cherry-picker crane carrying them 30 feet up to a black olive tree.

The buzzing is intense, like a million tiny kazoos. The air is thick with the defenders’ gold and black bodies.

Hedendal prepares the smoke used to calm the bees during the relocation process.

The panicked bees have no way of knowing that the men — Iam Hedendal and Mark Snellman, of the Florida Honey Bees company — are actually here to save the colony.

“When the bees smell the smoke, they think their home is on fire,” Hedendal says. “In the beginning I felt really bad about destroying the hive. I still do, actually, but I’m taking them to a better, safer place.”

Once aloft in the cherry picker, Hedendal removes the 50-pound hive from the tree by cutting the supporting branches. Back on the ground the two men carry the hive across the yard to a shady spot and then lay it gently on the ground.

The bees, which followed the hive into the shade, quickly discover wooden boxes Hedendal created earlier as temporary quarters. Inside are irresistible commodities: the queen and big honey-covered chunks of hive.

The Florida Honey Bees company was called in after landscapers told the homeowners association that they would not prune trees near such a big, active beehive.

The association, and the homeowner whose yard was home to the hive, split the removal costs. Hedendal declined to say how much he was making on this job, but said the range for such services is $400 to $2,000.

“Once you understand the bees, it’s amazing what you can get them to do,” Hedendal says. “It’s a Zen experience. Very much in the moment.”

As if on cue, the swarming bees turn docile, taking turns flying into the boxes, single file, to eat honey and serve the queen.

Queen and her subjects

As the chaos turns orderly, Hedendal, 42, takes the opportunity to educate about his favorite creatures.

“Most of these worker bees only live three to five weeks,” he says. “The queen can live three to five years.”

The queen is amazing, Hedendal says, and as he talks he is looking for her amid the hundreds of bees now crawling across pieces of comb dripping with honey, and strapped by rubber bands onto small wooden partitions.

On her maiden voyage from the hive, she flies a half mile to a mile up into the sky where she mates — while in flight — with 10 to 15 drones from neighboring colonies. Most queens make this flight only once, Hedendal says, but sometimes, if the hive is threatened, a queen will fly off with her colony in search of a new home.

Before the mating flight, her highness has the nasty job of killing all the potential rival queens before they hatch. It is the only time the queen uses her stinger.

A slice of honeycomb.

Most of the time, though, the queen lives a quiet, peaceful, highly organized life at home, munching royal jelly (specialized food for the queen) and laying eggs.

The queen fertilizes eggs using sperm from her many suitors. That sperm is stored in her spermatheca, a special abdominal cavity organ only she possesses. This store of fertilized sperm, which lasts throughout her lifetime, can be used to fertilize millions of eggs.

By contrast, the other bees have short and sometimes brutal lives.

The male drone bees die after mating and the female worker bees die after stinging an attacker, Hedendal says. The males that survive the mating flight, but do not connect with the queen, are forced out of the hive by the females in the fall. They have, after all, served their purpose.

Hedendal, who is a chef by trade and owns a trade show sales business, took up honeybee removal services in 2020 when COVID closed the convention centers. He says he saved one hive and found the experience fascinating and deeply addictive.

“One hive was not enough,” he says. “It went from hobby to passion to obsession.”

He has since removed more than 400 hives, found new homes for the rescued bees with other beekeepers, and kept about 100 hives himself, which he keeps at his property and on neighboring properties in Delray Beach’s Lake Ida neighborhood.

By cutting branches, Hedendal and Snellman remove the entire hive without killing the bees.

Thrills outweigh the stings

In Florida, commodity crops like blueberries, watermelons, cucumbers and onions would produce little to no fruit if it were not for the honeybee (Apis mellifera), according to the Florida Department of Agriculture’s website.

Honeybee populations have dwindled as civilization has encroached and pesticide use has increased.

Hedendal says homeowners who discover a hive on their property are not always aware they have a choice between saving the bees or killing them.

“A large percentage of pest control companies go right to the killing,” Hedendal says. “Professional hive removal experts, however, will remove the hive and allow the bees to live out their lives in a sanctuary yard.”

Snellman, Hedendal’s friend and colleague, is a landscaper by trade. He says he, too, has been drawn inexorably into the world of bees.

“The thrill of having to get that hive down is what keeps me coming back,” says Snellman, 29, who moved to Boynton Beach from Connecticut during the COVID pandemic.

Hedendal sells honey and honeycomb products at local green markets while he waits for more assignments to save honeybees. He’s building a website for his business, but now relies on referrals.

Many times, Hedendal can remove hives without getting stung, but other days he’s not so lucky.

“I’ve gotten stung, but I’ve gotten used to it,” Hedendal says. “If you’re patient and calm, the bees will teach you everything.”

Florida Honey Bees can be reached at 561-572-6202.

South Palm Beach Town Manager Robert Kellogg says his goodbyes to (l-r) Maj. Christopher Keane, Lt. Christopher Caris, Sgt. Mark Garrison and Deputy Donna Korb of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. In 2019, Kellogg and attorney Glen Torcivia negotiated a 10-year merger agreement for the sheriff to police the town. Mary Thurwachter/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter

Robert Kellogg hadn’t prepared a farewell speech for his last meeting as town manager of South Palm Beach. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, he rose to his feet and made his way to the podium.

“As you know it’s my last meeting,” he said near the end of the May 9 gathering. “My shelf life expired. And those of you who know me, know the most important thing in my life is my family. I got an email from my wife Saturday at 6 o’clock in the evening. The message said that Jeremy, my son-in-law, called.

“He and Kelly were in an active shooting at Allen, Texas,” Kellogg said, referring to his daughter. His grandson Britton was also present during the May 6 mass shooting at a Dallas area mall.

“Fortunately, my son-in-law, daughter and my grandchild were not injured,” Kellogg continued. “My daughter and grandson were in the bathroom when the shots were fired. My son-in-law was in a store nearby. A short time later, I got a picture of what my daughter saw when she came out of the bathroom.”

Kellogg showed the photograph on his phone that his son-in-law sent of Mauricio Garcia — the suspect in the shooting — dead on the floor after he was shot by police.

“After all of this, I think I’m out of gas,” Kellogg said, his hands shaking. “It’s time for me to leave. I wish you well.”

Town Council members were moved by his words.

“It’s a crazy world we’re in,” said Vice Mayor Bill LeRoy. “I wish you all to be careful. Avoid crowds. Take care of yourself.”

LeRoy had kind things to say about the retiring manager.

“I want to thank Mr. Kellogg for his 41/2 years with us,” LeRoy said. “You might recall, he was our manager through the pandemic. We all remember what that was like — big, scary and unknown. I was getting a giant Q-tip shoved up my nose here in the parking lot. He’s done a very fine job and I thank you for what you’ve done for us, Bob.”

Kellogg has been the full-time town manager since 2019. His successor is former Loxahatchee Groves and Ocean Ridge manager Jamie Titcomb, who will begin June 5.

In a discussion with The Coastal Star after the meeting, Kellogg said he wants to spend as much time as he can with family in Dallas.

“My wife and I will be doing a lot of traveling and spending time in Europe,” he said. “We will become snowbirds living in Cleveland in the summer and here in the winter.

“We have season tickets to see my beloved Ohio State Buckeyes and can’t wait for football season to start. It will surely beat flying to Ohio every weekend.”

He will miss staff members in South Palm Beach: “They are amazing,” he said.

As a final note, Kellogg said that one of the most frustrating things he has experienced in his 45-year career has been the lack of appreciation people have for those who work for the public.

“On balance, I have had the privilege of working with some of the most talented and dedicated people around, and they all have made me a better manager and person,” he said.  

In other news, Maj. Christopher Keane informed the council of a 3% increase in the cost of the town contract with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for the next fiscal year.

An additional increase may be necessary if Gov. Ron DeSantis signs into law a bill regarding employers’ contributions to the Florida Retirement System that would require PBSO to increase its contribution.

After more than 60 years with its own police department, the town, in a cost-cutting move, merged with PBSO in 2019.

By Mary Thurwachter

Manalapan doesn’t have pickleball courts — although some tennis courts at the five-star Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa have occasionally been transformed for special events. But that could change if the resort decides to permanently turn one of its three tennis courts into two pickleball courts.

And neighbors at La Coquille community adjacent to the resort have concerns about that.

Noise is a key worry, because anyone who knows anything about the nation’s fastest-growing sport knows pickleball is a boisterous affair.

A hybrid of Ping-Pong, tennis and racquetball, pickleball looks different from tennis, and some claim the continuous pop-pop-pop of the hard-surfaced paddle hitting the plastic ball is disruptive.

One of those people is Beverley Murphy, who lives in La Coquille and had a ringside seat to the pop-pop-popping in February when the Eau hosted a four-day pickleball event.

She counted 30-plus pickleball players on all three tennis courts from 3 to 5:30 p.m. and said that when used for tennis, those courts would have had a maximum of 12 players.

The noise far exceeded what would normally happen on a tennis court, Murphy said. “And there was the customary shouting after every point.”

She used a sound meter app on her phone, and it often registered more than 65 decibels. Police came, after she called them, but by that time there were only eight players and the town’s sound meter registered 57 decibels.

Manalapan’s noise ordinance says you can’t exceed 65 decibels at 50 feet.

Experts say the noise made by hitting a tennis ball is in the low frequencies, below the zone to which humans are most sensitive. A pickleball strike, however, has a higher pitch, meaning our ears catch more of the noise it makes. That higher frequency makes the clamor of pickleball clearer from farther away compared with tennis.

Murphy and many of her neighbors at La Coquille say Manalapan needs to address the issue and put an ordinance in place to mitigate the sound and limit the number of players and people gathering on public or commercial courts.

At their May 23 meeting, town commissioners heard from hotel representatives, including Tim Nardi, the Eau’s general manager, who said the resort had a group of guests this year who wanted pickleball to be part of their experience.

Nardi said that after last year’s flooding, the tennis courts at the Eau were destroyed and have been restored for between $55,000 and $60,000.

“As part of that process, we also had group business that was in the hotel, and one group in February did ask for a temporary pickleball court. We also had another group that took nearly every hotel room and they asked that their executives be allowed a temporary pickleball court. We allowed that.”

The resort, he said, recognizes that pickleball is an up-and-coming sport and wants to be considerate to its tennis players and others as to the noise and what could be done for noise abatement. He brought along Jeff McClure from Fast-Dry Courts, a Pompano Beach firm that builds courts for both tennis and pickleball.

Nardi said he didn’t have a plan or cost estimates on building pickleball courts. “This would be something in the future that we might want to talk about,” he said.

“If we did anything,” Nardi said of the resort’s three tennis courts, “we’d probably take one tennis court, keep it a tennis court, but convert it so it could also be used as two pickleball courts.”

McClure said pickleball bridges the gap of many demographics and ages because it’s so easy to pick up. With pickleball comes more conversation, thus more noise, he said.

“The wear and tear of tennis on the body as you get older can become more harsh, and pickleball will minimize the running and still keep you active,” McClure said.

The noise, which he said is primarily the plastic ball hitting the paddle, from 100 feet away registers at about 70 decibels, the equivalent to traffic on nearby State Road A1A.

“When you add in the mitigation of a soundproof barrier,” McClure said, “it takes it down to 60 decibels, the same decibel level of a common conversation.”

If you add landscaping buffers, that can reduce the level to 50 decibels, the equivalent of white noise, he said.

The mitigation system, McClure said, is a soundproofing screen that affixes to the fence. He suggests that a screen be on the south side to send noise away from the homes and back toward the players and resort. He also recommends a partial wraparound screening which would bounce the sound back toward traffic. Another recommendation is a quilted mat that absorbs noise.

USA Pickleball, the game’s governing association, is working on developing balls and paddles that reduce the noise, McClure said — although changing those things could affect the play.

Town Manager Linda Stumpf said staff had reached out to six municipalities to see what implications pickleball has had and what sound-mitigating strategies are available. Of the six municipalities that responded, only one, Gulf Stream, had sound measures in place. Another three commented on how popular the courts were.

The discussion at the May 23 commission meeting, Stumpf advised, “was just informational.”

Mayor Stewart Satter said the Eau had always been a good neighbor and he thought the town would be able to work out a plan that would be amenable to all parties involved.

Related: When 'The Monster' came over the bridge

By Rich Pollack

Word spread quickly through south Palm Beach County after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for Duane Owen last month.

Owen, who was convicted in the gruesome 1984 murders of 14-year-old Karen Slattery — who was babysitting at a Delray Beach home east of the Intracoastal Waterway — and of Boca Raton mother Georgiana Worden, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on June 15.

DeSantis had issued a pause on the execution in late May, pending a mental health examination of Owen, but revoked the stay after the investigation showed Owen “has the mental capacity to understand the death penalty and the reasons why it is to be imposed on him.” Though Owen has been on death row for 37 years, the news reopened a wound for some whose lives were touched by his crimes.

“It was a horrible time in our lives,” said former Delray Beach detective Marc Woods, who, at Owen’s request, took the killer’s confession, along with other investigators. “We suffered trauma from all of this and you defer that for a later time.”

Woods said he first heard from a former colleague that DeSantis had signed a death warrant. “It took time to process,” he said.

Woods says he takes no joy in hearing that someone will be put to death, but accepts the way the judicial system operates.

“If he had been executed in 1986, it would be different,” he said. “Now, after all this time, it’s just more numbness.”

Woods says that while Owen’s death will provide some closure, it will never heal the scars many still carry.

“This is a book entitled Pain and this is just another chapter,” he said. “The execution won’t close the book because of the pain that everyone carries today. The book never closes, only the chapter does.”

The violence of Owen’s crimes shook Delray Beach and surrounding areas for weeks.

Karen Slattery was stabbed 18 times after Owen broke in through a window of the home where she was babysitting.

Georgiana Worden was beaten to death with a hammer, while her two children slept in another room at their Boca Raton Hills home south of Spanish River Boulevard. Both victims were raped.

A fingerprint that was extracted from a book Worden was reading — Mistral’s Daughter — led to Owen’s arrest for carrying a false military ID, a long two months after Karen Slattery’s death put many in Delray Beach on edge.

It would be a couple of weeks before Woods and detectives from Boca Raton were able to extract a confession from Owen and file murder charges as he sat in the Palm Beach County jail.

Attorneys for Owen have appealed his death sentences several times, bringing him back to Palm Beach County more than once.

In the latest court action, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Gillen in mid-May denied a stay of execution sought by Owen’s attorneys.

Several former Delray Beach police officers are planning to stand outside Florida State Prison in Raiford if and when Owen is executed.

“We’re going to show our support for the Delray Beach Police Department and in support of the law of Florida and in support of the Slattery family,” said retired officer Jeff Messer, who grew up in Delray and joined the department after the murders. “It’s not a celebration, it’s just finally putting this thing to bed.”

By Mary Thurwachter

Residents who have expressed much interest in Lantana’s master plan will be able to get a detailed update during a Town Council workshop set for 5:30 p.m. June 14.

Town Manager Brian Raducci, during the May 22 council meeting, said that Dana Little, urban design director for the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, will present a final draft during the workshop. The planning council is a public agency the town is paying $169,800 to assemble the master plan.

Little and his team have been working for the past year with experts on marketing, real estate, and architectural design, as well as with town staff and about 60 residents who took part in a charrette last July.

Although the Town Council is not obligated to do anything with the proposal, Little says that by adopting it the town would send a message to the development community, investors and residents that it has a game plan to move forward.

The workshop will take place in council chambers.

In other news, the Town Council:

• Authorized paying $53,000 to Zambelli Fireworks Manufacturing Co. for a July Fourth fireworks display on a tugboat in the Intracoastal Waterway beside Bicentennial Park. As it has done in the past, the town of South Palm Beach is contributing $1,500 to the cost of the celebration. South Palm Beach doesn’t have its own display and officials there say residents enjoy watching Lantana’s fireworks from their balconies.

• Set its first budget workshop for 5:30 p.m. June 12 in the council chambers.

GULF STREAM — Dr. John Roland Westine died May 13 while swimming in the warm Gulf Stream waters in front of his home of 50 years. He was 91.

Although Dr. Westine was born into humble circumstances to two Swedish immigrants on Chicago’s South Side, he quickly proved to be extraordinary. While growing up, his motivation, talents and work ethic secured him a variety of jobs from playing jazz piano in Windy City nightclubs, to serving as captain of the lifeguards on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Despite never reading a book until his college years, Dr. Westine was academically gifted and graduated as salutatorian of his high school. That, along with his swimming talents, earned him a scholarship to North Central College. His motivation to learn expedited his graduation from North Central and subsequently Dental School at the University of Chicago.

He became a commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force and was one of the first oral surgeons to be trained by the USAF.

Tiring of the cold Chicago winters, Dr. Westine moved to Delray Beach in 1962 and established one of the first oral maxillofacial surgery practices in Palm Beach County.

His meticulous and compassionate work over more than 60 years, covering Bethesda Hospital, Delray Medical Center and JFK Medical Center, earned him admiration and respect from colleagues and patients. His leadership was evident in many ways, such as his writing and advocating for the passage of state laws to protect patients, and in the creation of the American College of Oral Maxillofacial Surgeons, where he served as president during its early years and continued as editor of its newsletter.

Through writing and innovative ideas, Dr. Westine influenced and helped develop the future of the surgical subspecialty. His impact reached internationally as a founding member and past president of the International College for Maxillofacial Surgery. Two days before his death, Dr. Westine had returned from the Maldives, where he chaired a panel during the organization’s 50th-anniversary activities.

A kind and giving spirit pervaded all of Dr. Westine’s endeavors, including his philanthropic efforts like the creation of the International Foundation for Children with Cranial-facial Disorders, a 501(c)(3) organization.

Dr. Westine traveled to Asia, Africa and Latin America, collaborating with colleagues to help children in need and providing badly needed supplies and equipment. Last fall, he returned from Nigeria, where IFCCD donated a blood bank and a generator for a hospital and an operating room where electricity was not reliable. Dr. Westine also procured anesthesia equipment, donated last year by Delray Medical Center, for use by the WE CARE organization in Cameroon.

IFCCD also supports CLAYPA, a Mexican not-for-profit organization that performs surgical repairs on children with cleft lip and palate deformities.

After returning from each of his mission trips and adventures to his home on the beach in Gulf Stream, he frequently reaffirmed that he lived in paradise. Nowhere in the world could compare to his backyard, where he enjoyed almost daily swims in the Atlantic Ocean.

Dr. Westine continued to be a voracious reader and lifelong learner and to run his practice and take trauma calls at two hospitals until his death.

Dr. Westine — fondly known as Big Bad Dad, or BBD — boldly lived his life on his own terms with no regrets, and appreciated and loved his family, friends, colleagues and co-workers. 

Dr. Westine was predeceased by his parents, John Emanuel Westine and Greta Margret Westine (Larsson), and his sisters, Lorraine Westine and Mary Jane Westine.

He is survived by his four children, Lynn Valerie Westine (George Fleeson), Lezlee Jean Westine, Lauralee Ganson Westine (Robert Gualtieri), and John Ganson Westine (Tina).

In addition he leaves nine grandchildren, Nicole Leyton Rosser (Jay), Jennifer Leyton Armakan (Eric), Taylor Lynn Cramer (Ben), John Ganson Westine II, Grayson Kim Westine, Marin Elise Westine, Lauren Ganson Westine Gualtieri, Jordanna Linne Gualtieri, and Christina Leigh Gualtieri; and six great-grandchildren, Noelle Rosser, Sam Rosser, Beau Rosser, Eliana Armakan, Valentina Armakan and Camila Armakan. 

He will also be dearly missed by his loyal friends and office staff, Kelley and Lisa; his Tuesday doctors’ lunch group; and Marley, his grand-dog. 

Please join us at a celebration of his life, 4-8 p.m. June 17 at the Seagate Beach Club, 400 S. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach.

In lieu of flowers, Dr. Westine’s family is requesting consideration of a contribution to IFCCD, 250 Dixie Blvd., Suite 100, Delray Beach, FL 33444, www.ifccd.org, where his family will continue his passion for providing care for children with cranial facial disorders.

— Obituary submitted by the family

By Rich Pollack

DELRAY BEACH — For 32 years, until he retired in 2017, Bruce Gimmy’s name was synonymous with the Trouser Shop, a unique business he ran on Atlantic Avenue that evolved with the times, yet never quite changed enough to lose its “old Delray” charm.

Mr. Gimmy, whose personality was at times as colorful as the slacks and sports jackets he showcased in the Trouser Shop, died May 1. He was 80 years old.

“He was a true downtown force,” said Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Laura Simon. “Although he was the owner of a teeny space, his impact on the community was huge. He was larger than life.”

Even as trends moved away from the flashy to the practical, Mr. Gimmy never surrendered the past and continued to offer slacks and shorts with bright prints, patches and plaids.

In a bit of a contrast, for many years the Trouser Shop was one of the few places in the area customers could find tailored tuxedos, with Mr. Gimmy often working the sewing machine.

A fixture in downtown fashion shows during Delray Fashion Week and during January Art and Jazz Fashion Nights before that, Mr. Gimmy was one of the most impressive models on the stage and one of the few men on the runway.

“He wore the craziest things he could find in the shop,” Simon said. “He loved it and he got the biggest applause.”

Often Mr. Gimmy would be accompanied at the fashion shows by his longtime customer and friend, Steve Miskew.

“I have such fond memories of our walking the runways of Delray Fashion Week — intercepting odd gazes in the wings from the ‘other models’ — and Bruce hamming it up at every turn,” Miskew said.

A character who never missed the chance to find the spotlight if it could benefit the Trouser Shop, Mr. Gimmy was also a serious business owner who was an early champion of Delray Beach’s small downtown businesses.

“He was there from the very beginning of the transformation of downtown Delray Beach in the early ’90s,” said Marjorie Ferrer, who held several downtown marketing leadership roles and was a driving force for its revitalization. “He was part of the dream team, dreaming about what downtown could be and did become.”

A member of the Downtown Development Authority board of directors and the city’s parking board for 25 years, Mr. Gimmy was a fierce advocate for local merchants and for making sure that congestion and parking problems didn’t hamper the downtown’s success.

“He was very passionate about the revitalization of downtown,” Simon said.

A champion for his 400 block of East Atlantic Avenue, Mr. Gimmy was a good neighbor to businesses nearby, welcoming them and offering support.

He was also a good neighbor in Ocean Ridge, where he and his wife, Joanne, had found a home in the 1980s that they lived in — while helping to raise two grandsons — until they sold and moved to Boynton Beach in 2021. “He was a nice person and an excellent neighbor,” said former neighbor Betty Bingham. “He was a character, but he was a good man.”

Bingham said that Mr. Gimmy wore many of his collection of slacks at home, not just in the store.

“I always enjoyed the different pants he wore,” she said. “I guess it was quasi-advertising for his store.”

Mr. Gimmy grew up in suburban Reading, Pennsylvania, and Stone Harbor, New Jersey, attended Michigan State University and held several jobs in the hospitality industry before coming to Florida and taking over the Trouser Shop from then-owner Nick Vitale.

Even though he had retired, Mr. Gimmy continued to own the property where the store sat and continued to support the community.

In a 2010 interview with The Coastal Star, Mr. Gimmy — who loved wordplay — said that one of his favorite phases was “press on.”

“He was a kind, colorful — pun intended — character,” Miskew said.

Private services were held last month.

BOYNTON BEACH — Vicki Cody Mack, gardener, avid Dolphins fan and stranger to no one she met, died May 5. She was 67.  

Born Sept. 24, 1955, to Rayden and Ann Cody in Burlington, Vermont, Vicki Cody attended St. Michael’s College in Essex, Vermont, before relocating to Florida, where she graduated from Barry University with a master’s degree in English. 

On June 21, 1980, Vicki married her great love and best friend, Warren Mack. Over the next 42 years, they enjoyed life and family, raising three children, Colleen, Andrea and Cody.

Vicki was an avid reader, active gardener and enthusiastic Miami Dolphins season-ticket holder, but above all, she was a loving mother, wife, grandmother and sister.

For her children, she was Girl Scout troop leader, room mom, pep-talk giver and confidante. With her husband, she turned their house into a home, a joyous space to raise their children, to celebrate successes, and to mourn losses together.

Mrs. Mack lit up every room she walked into and could make you laugh within seconds. Her warmth and welcoming personality left no one a stranger to her.

Mrs. Mack is survived by her husband; children Colleen Mack Rynne (Josh), Andrea Mack Drawas (Jesse) and Cody Mack; grandchildren Madeline, James, Ruby and Hazel; her loving sister, Mary Ann Cody; her beloved aunt and godmother, Mary (Frederick) Bashara; her aunt Janet Dutil; and her 33 first cousins.  

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital or the Ann Cody Wekiva Youth Camp Scholarship through the Ocean Ridge Garden Club.

— Obituary submitted by the family

Cat Kelly of Ocean Ridge plans to make the 83-mile crossing from Bimini to Lake Worth Beach on her paddleboard this month as part of an annual event. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

For paddleboard enthusiasts along the coastal towns of southern Palm Beach County who consider their sport more than recreation, “The Crossing” is the Holy Grail: an epic 83-mile marathon from Bimini to Lake Worth Beach that demands physical, mental and emotional fortitude.

As the calendar turns over to June 25, roughly 200 such enthusiasts will enter the Atlantic Ocean from the beach in Bimini and head west across what they hope will be relatively calm Gulf Stream waters. They will fight fatigue, dehydration and exposure to the sun in hopes of arriving late that afternoon at the Lake Worth Beach pier.

Among them in this 10th annual event will be Ocean Ridge resident Cat Kelly, who just 15 months ago underwent surgery on a torn labrum and biceps in her right arm.

Kelly is hoping to complete the solo crossing for the first time.

“She’s always been very adventurous, and loves the ocean,” her mother, Elizabeth Kelley-Grace, said of Cat, who spells her last name differently. “I’m very proud of her.”

Kelly, 28, hopes to raise $5,000 toward a nationwide effort aimed at a $1 million goal to fight cystic fibrosis. The organizer of this year’s event, Travis Suit of Palm Beach Gardens, whose daughter Piper was diagnosed with CF at age 4, organized Piper’s Angels in 2017 to raise money for the cause.

“The proceeds go not only to finding a cure but for medications, expenses … one of the medications costs $30,000, so these families need help,” Kelly said.

More than 120 support boats, including 20 to 30 medical boats, will provide food and water, and first aid if necessary. Participants will be leashed to their boards, must remain within 30 feet of their boats at all times and are not allowed to draft off the wake of any boat.

“You have 16-18 hours to complete it, and you burn 400-600 calories every hour, so you have to be replacing those calories,” Kelly said. “You can get dehydrated and not realize it, so the crew will say, ‘You have to drink more water,’ or ‘You have to eat this food.’”

The crew’s basic task is “pretty much making sure they keep the paddler alive,” Kelly said. “During the day you’re in the salt water, in the sun, and at night you’re paddling in pitch blackness.”

Kelly has been training for six months on an almost daily basis, with an extended paddle of 20 to 30 miles once or twice a month. She has participated in the past on relays and finishing what others started, but this will be her first time doing the whole paddle solo.

“If it’s a scary, windy day, and you’re saying, ‘There’s no way I’m putting my board in the water,’ then go for it. Go against the wind, get as many miles as you can,” she said.

As difficult as the crossing is physically, it can be even harder emotionally, Kelly said.

“One year a guy had just broken up with his girlfriend and he cried the whole way,” she said. “But some of the toughest is near the end. You can see the shore about 5 miles out, but by late afternoon the wind can be coming offshore and it seems to take forever to get to the beach.
“It’s not like I go out every day and paddle 83 miles, but I have been paddleboarding my entire life. I have been on the water my entire life. I’m a very athletic person, so I feel

I’m ahead of the curve.”

When Kelly is not on the water she is an entrepreneur in the health care business as founder and owner of CKG Management.

Anyone interested in donating to Kelly’s cause can do so at www.classy.org/fundraiser/4241329.

— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I was born and raised in Boca Raton, but spent almost all of my time in Delray Beach and Dog Beach, surfing and enjoying the ocean. I related to the Delray Beach culture, the surfing community, the arts and the people. The slow, peaceful, local supportive community of Delray set my ideals and morals for life moving forward.
I used to get to class late every morning and quickly change out of my bathing suit in the school bathrooms after I spent my mornings in the ocean. From diving, surfing and fishing, I fell in love with the ocean and the community here. I attended Spanish River High School and Space of Mind in Delray Beach.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I have spent my career working in the mental health and addiction field and am passionate about my work. I work with clients and their families both locally and in other parts of the country.  I am proud to have advanced in this field at a young age and am especially proud to help people who are suffering from mental health issues and addiction. 
Most recently I have been able to venture out on my own and become a fully independent worker. Being able to make my own schedule and have the freedom to work at my own pace with each client has been a big step for me. It was absolutely terrifying making the jump, but I am so grateful that I did.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: There is so much pressure and emphasis placed on kids today to know what they want to do when they grow up. My advice would be to let your life experiences guide you in your career and in your life. If you follow your heart and listen to your intuition, you’ll be guided into a career that matches your personal characteristics and gifts.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Ocean Ridge?
A: It is an unspoiled oasis that has not yet been overdeveloped. I am passionate about the environment, our beaches and ocean and love the footprint of original houses populated by multigenerational Floridians who care about the coastline and the habitat.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in Ocean Ridge?
A: The people! There is so much camaraderie of like-minded people who love the ocean, love dogs, and legitimately care about their neighbors. Each individual in this community brings something wonderful to it.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: My latest read is: The Everglades: River of Grass, by Marjory Stoneman Douglas. I also reread The Five People You Meet in Heaven, which restored my excitement for reading.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: I like traditional country, folk and bluegrass, as well as roots reggae. 

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: I’ve had many people who have inspired and guided me along the way. My parents are both entrepreneurs and I saw firsthand their hard work yet joy in building a business. 
Another mentor is Ali Kaufman of Space of Mind in Delray. I went there after feeling like I was not succeeding in public school. She recognized me as a unique individual and allowed me to learn in a way that best suited me. 
Lastly, Patrick Heaney, the first person who taught me how to surf, dive and guided me in the ocean. He taught me about the importance and impact we as individuals have on this ecosystem. He taught me to face my fears of sharks and certain marine life that naturally people should be afraid of.

Q: If your life story were made into a movie, who would play you?
A: My whole life I’ve been told that I look like a young Katie Holmes. I’ve never seen it, but everyone is always very adamant that I remind them of her.

Q: Is there something people don’t know about you but should?
A: At age 10 I was the captain of an all-boys hockey team. It’s a good metaphor for me making my own path.
For the most part I’m an open book. If I am being honest, though, everyone always thinks I’m tough and can handle anything and everything. I take on a lot and can handle a lot of different personalities.
Deep down though, I am a highly sensitive and empathetic person, which is why I probably put such a strong wall up.

By Steve Plunkett

Six weeks after taking over responsibility for the city’s sea turtle rehabilitation efforts, the nonprofit group formerly known as the Friends of Gumbo Limbo has not applied for a permit to run the program.

“No, Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards has not submitted an FWC Marine Turtle Permit application” as of May 30, Carli Segelson of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said when asked about the progress in reopening Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s popular rehab unit.

Neither John Holloway, president and chief executive of the Stewards, nor his public relations spokeswoman, Melissa Perlman, could be reached immediately for comment.

Segelson said once the state agency receives the application, it will review the document for completeness and satisfaction of all applicable eligibility criteria.

“Additional information may be requested to complete the application package and/or better understand the information submitted,” she said.

Meanwhile, things were looking up for the sea turtles with a Gumbo Limbo Nature Center connection that were taken to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center after Boca Raton’s facility lost its rehabilitation permit in mid-March.

“Everyone’s doing well,” said Dr. Heather Barron, the chief science officer at the turtle hospital in Juno Beach. “We’ve had lots and lots of turtles coming and going.”

Segelson agreed it was a busy month. At least 55 turtles were admitted to FWC-authorized facilities across the state during May, she said. 

Taylor, a juvenile green turtle that had been hit by a boat propeller, was rescued by Gumbo Limbo’s sea turtle conservation team in the Intracoastal Waterway and taken to the Marinelife Center on March 26. Barron performed a fracture repair with screws and wires and then a second surgery to remove necrotic bone and tissue.

Its prognosis wavered from “poor” to “still guarded,” but now the wound is healing.

“Taylor’s doing amazing,” Barron said. “It just takes time.”

Gumbo Limbo’s conservation team, which has a separate permit from the FWC, is busier than usual handling all turtle strandings now that the rehab unit is closed.

“Our 24-hour sea turtle Stranding Hotline is active and we go out on calls once or twice a week,” said David Anderson, Gumbo Limbo’s turtle conservation coordinator. “Our most recent rescue was a pier-hooked turtle in Pompano. It was also taken to LMC.”

Anderson’s team found another juvenile green in the Intracoastal behind Gumbo Limbo, named it Marcel and took it to Juno Beach on April 25. The 10-pound turtle, which had the tumor-producing disease fibropapillomatosis, had a half-pound tumor under its chin and smaller tumors on its body and right eye. Barron removed the tumors the next day and cleared Marcel for release on May 12.

The FWC approved its release soon after. Marcel had gained a pound after his surgery.

Gumbo Limbo’s conservation team also performs Boca Raton’s turtle nesting survey, turtle walks to see mother turtles lay their eggs, and hatchling releases.

The Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards signed an agreement with the city on April 25 letting the nonprofit assume all responsibility, operation and financing of the center’s sea turtle rescue, rehabilitation, research and release efforts. It has not announced any hires for a reconstituted rehab operation.

The city owns the nature center and the surrounding Red Reef Park; tax dollars from the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District cover all salaries, operations and improvements except for the turtle rehab costs that the Coastal Stewards will now pay.

The Homing Inn renovation is underway with ownership likely to make it a Marriott brand. Tao Woolfe/The Coastal Star

By Tao Woolfe

Almost every South Florida city has a hotel that has seen better days, but Boynton Beach’s no-tell-motel — the Homing Inn — was so notorious that the city passed a chronic-nuisance ordinance to stem its worst excesses.

“There were murders, suicides, overdoses and prostitution there,” said City Manager Daniel Dugger, who served on the city’s police force for many years and witnessed firsthand some of the hotel’s dark events.

City Commissioner Thomas Turkin agreed. “It was a terrible, terrible place,” he said.

City officials point to the former owner’s recent sale of the Homing Inn as proof that the ordinance’s fines and restrictions were effective.

The new owners — much to the delight of the City Commission and the Police Department — have already begun transforming the 2.89-acre property at 2821 S. Federal Highway into a boutique hotel.

“You’ll see a tremendous difference in about 30 days,” said new General Manager Dominic Monteleone. “We want everything to be clean, and nice, and new.”

Monteleone said he has already asked tenants who had no identification to move out. Others, especially those on welfare or Social Security, have been put on notice that they must find other accommodations once the renovations begin in earnest.

“Two of the four buildings have been closed and we are gutting the rooms and replacing all the furniture, doors and fixtures,” the general manager said.

“We kept two of the buildings open to allow the people still here to find a new place.”

The motel, which has 104 rooms, was built in 1990 and was sold to a Miami developer in 1998 for about $3 million. It went downhill from there.

“Fifteen to 20 years ago there was a lot of prostitution and drug sales along Federal Highway during the crack epidemic,” Dugger said. “And then came the heroin and fentanyl overdoses.”

The result, Dugger said, was that the Homing Inn was ground zero for blight and crime and unsavory tenants who were “using their hotel for other purposes.”
Monteleone agreed and said that at one point terrorists used the Homing Inn as a base of operations.

According to government records and published reports, 9/11 terrorist hijacker Wail al-Shehri rented a room at the hotel for $260 a week beginning in June before the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.

At least two of his associates also stayed at the hotel. Satam Al-Suqami — another of the American Flight 11 hijackers who crashed the plane into the North Tower — listed the hotel’s address on his Florida driver license.

City will try to help

The new owner, Rore Investing, is based in Jacksonville and has more than $300 million in assets, according to the company’s website. It owns and operates several La Quinta hotels in South Florida, including ones in Coral Springs, West Palm Beach, Miami and Plantation.

Rore bought the Homing Inn last August for $8.8 million.

Commissioner Turkin said the new owner seems amenable to working with the city, and the Community Redevelopment Agency is looking into ways it can help facilitate the renovation.

“The hotel has good bones, which is why they’re going to renovate the interior and exterior,” Turkin said. “I think they’re adding a new pool and the rooms will have a few different boutique-style designs. I’m excited to see changes in the perception of that site.”

Dugger said he thinks downtown property owners will be tempted to raze and replace their properties to take advantage of housing incentives included in recently enacted legislation.

The Live Local Act, passed by the Florida Legislature in March and signed by the governor, was designed to spur the creation of more affordable housing. The law, which takes effect July 1, allows developers to add more density and height to buildings than those allowed by local zoning code if at least 40% of the units are workforce housing. Some tax exemptions are also available.

Workforce housing allows working people, such as police officers and firefighters, to purchase homes below market prices. The added height and density allow developers to make more profit.

Dugger said he would not be surprised if Rore decides to build workforce housing as part of its future developments.

Meanwhile, the Homing Inn renovation plan continues apace.

In late May, big red containers behind the dingy, beige buildings were filled with new fixtures and furnishings. Refuse from the gutted rooms in Building A spilled over the top of a graffiti-covered green Dumpster.

The grass and hedges around the buildings were overgrown, and the parking lots were pocked with potholes. Lush greenery — designer palms and flowering trees — added an incongruous element of grace.

Yelp reviews revealed how decrepit the rooms had become.

“When we came in the room, it smelled weird, the restroom reeked so bad,” Issac F. wrote a couple of years ago. “The first few minutes I got super itchy and there were stains in the bedsheets like blood and black mold … the next morning there was a dead wolf spider.”

He gave the room one star.

Dugger said that there were a few hotels and motels along Federal Highway that catered to people’s vices, but the Homing Inn was the worst of them.

The language of the chronic-nuisance ordinance, passed by the city in 2017, does not single out a particular business, but the target, Dugger and Turkin said, was the sprawling campus of the Homing Inn.

“Chronic-nuisance properties require disproportionate police, fire rescue and community standards services,” the ordinance says. It requires the city to identify nuisance activities; hold the property owner or manager responsible; assist the victims of crimes and penalize those who permitted conditions that give rise to excessive police and fire department calls; establish rules, procedures and penalties; and impose penalties such as fines.

The ordinance outlines chronic criminal activities that paint a picture of what went on at the Homing Inn. They include: dealing in stolen property; cruelty to animals; disorderly intoxication; loitering or prowling in proximity to children; criminal gang activity; drug sales; domestic violence; and prostitution.

It’s not clear how far the city went to enforce the ordinance.

But Monteleone said of the previous owner: “You can get away with not putting any money into a property for a little while, but he put no money back into the property for 20 years.” The new hotel will charge $250 to $300 a night, Monteleone said, and will probably be under the Marriott umbrella.

“We are completely renovating the lobby and will offer free breakfast,” he said. “And we will be creating about 30 jobs, offering food services and a new pool.

“We’re here to do good.”

By Rich Pollack

For much of the Boca Raton Airport’s almost 75-year history, its 214 acres in the heart of the city have been owned by the state.

That will soon change if Gov. Ron DeSantis signs off on legislation that would transfer ownership of the property to the Boca Raton Airport Authority and put it on a par with just about every other airport in Florida.

Under legislation introduced by state Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman that passed both houses of the Legislature unanimously, the airport authority will no longer need to lease the property from the state.

That, say airport authority leaders, could remove a lot of red tape and make it easier for the board to clear administrative hurdles that would require a sign-off from the property owner.

“The state realized it didn’t need to be involved,” said Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland Beach. “It doesn’t want to interfere.”

Until the governor signs the legislation, the airport authority will be handcuffed by a lease with the state that doesn’t end for another 20 years. As it stands now, any action that requires the approval of the property owner must make its way through Tallahassee, which has the potential to gum up the process.

Under the passed legislation, paperwork can be signed off locally.

“With less involvement by the state, the airport authority can conduct business in a more efficient manner,” Gossett-Seidman said.

Only one other airport in Florida is tethered to the state by a lease.

“This legislation will put the airport on equal footing with every other airport in Florida,” said Clara Bennett, executive director of the Boca Raton Airport Authority.

In addition to transferring ownership, the legislation gives the airport authority the opportunity to operate outside of the boundaries of the airport property — but within limits.

The authority now has the green light to continue installing noise monitoring equipment outside of the actual airport boundaries and can continue using buildings it occupies adjacent to the airport.

With the new legislation, the authority can work more closely with neighboring Florida Atlantic University and with the FAU Research and Development Authority on innovative projects.

At the same time, the legislation prevents the airport authority from expanding aviation activity — essentially that involving planes — outside the airport boundaries.

“It was important to modify the initial bill to meet current needs,” Bennett said.

First opened in 1936, the airport was transformed into the Boca Raton Army Airfield during World War II and was where flight crews learned to master a then-new technology, radar.

After the war, the property was transferred to the city of Boca Raton with a requirement that it be used as an airport. Control of the land was transferred to the state in the 1950s.

Over the years, five different government agencies had oversight, with the Boca Raton Airport Authority created by the state Legislature in 1982. The authority’s board of directors is made up of five members appointed by the city and two members appointed by the Palm Beach County Commission.

Ocean to Intracoastal properties like this one at 1020 S. Ocean Blvd. — which sold for $89.9 million in December 2021 — have boosted the average value of homes in Manalapan to almost $40 million, according to data from November 2022. Photo provided

By Christine Davis

Based on estimated home price averages, there’s no more expensive neighborhood in the United States than Manalapan, according to a CashNetUSA study. It used real estate data from Zillow to come up with averages for neighborhoods across the country.

In Manalapan, that average came out to $39.8 million, which was about $12.2 million higher than runner-up Palm Island, sitting next to the Port of Miami, with a $27.6 million average value.

In fact, four of the Top 10 priciest neighborhoods were in Florida, though none was named Palm Beach. Port Royal in Naples came in fifth at $22 million and Golden Beach in Miami-Dade County finished sixth, with an average home value of $18.7 million.

Manalapan Mayor Stewart Satter said he was “delighted but not surprised” by his town’s distinction.

“Manalapan is a very special and small inclusive community of magnificent properties, abundant natural beauty and an enviable location that attracts highly successful individuals, driving our real estate prices higher,” Satter said.

Toney neighborhoods in other states couldn’t come close to Manalapan. Beverly Hills Gateway, California’s priciest, averaged $22.8 million per house, while Southampton Village led New York with a $16.7 million average value. Old Greenwich was tops in Connecticut with only a $4.1 million average home value.

The results, announced in April, were from data collected in November. CashNetUSA is an online lender.

***

Actor and comedian Kevin Knipfing — better known as Kevin James — sold a Delray Beach oceanfront mansion at 344 N. Ocean Blvd. through his family trust for $12.675 million.

When he purchased the property in January 2021 for $14 million, it had been renovated and reimagined by Randall Stofft Architects with Stofft Ikasu interior design.

As of the May sale, the property was not listed in public records as homesteaded.

Amenities included a walk-in pool, a loggia with a summer kitchen and fireplace, entertainment lounge, wine cellar, covered terraces, a primary suite comprising the third floor and a five-car garage.

The new owner is 344 North Ocean LLC, managed by Kishore Mirchandani, a board member and CFO of Rainshine Global, a global entertainment company.

Premier Estate Properties’ Pascal Liguori Estate Group represented both buyer and seller.

***

The new 143-room Delray Beach Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton, at 200 NE Fifth Ave., opened with amenities that include a swimming pool, meeting rooms, breakfast hall and underground parking with 110 spaces. And, while it’s nice to have a development project completed, the Hampton’s April opening also reflected a bittersweet ending for developer Harold “Sonny” Van Arnem, of Van Arnem Properties. 

“This is a dream come true for my family and our Van Arnem Properties, Inc. team who worked on this with my boys, Adam and Max,” said Van Arnem, who lives in Ocean Ridge. 

“They grew up in Delray Beach and we worked hard to build out all our Delray design developments,” he said.

Sonny and his son Max collaborated with Delray Beach developer and family friend Steve Kornfeld to create the Adam Hotel, which was a memorial to Adam, who died in 2014 at the age of 26, predeceasing Max, who died in 2021 at the age of 30.

The Adam Hotel is now the newly completed Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton. 

Peachtree Hospitality Management and Peachtree Hotel Group, LLC were developers and investors in the new project.

Van Arnem Properties Inc. is a real estate group that specializes in the acquisition, sales and development of commercial and residential property. During the past two decades, Sonny Van Arnem first developed real estate projects in southwest Florida and then, in Boca Raton and Delray Beach.

Max, a real estate agent, began working in his father’s company in 2012. Max’s last project was Deco Delray Townhomes on Northeast Fifth Avenue. Max also planned and designed the Maxwell, at 306 NE Second St., diagonally across from the new Hampton Inn.

The Maxwell is a mixed-use condominium building with 23 residential apartments, a rooftop pool, fitness center, meeting rooms, and three retail suites.

Adam also worked with his father.

“I am so proud of my sons,” Van Arnem said. “Their creative force was undeniable and leaves a lasting impression on the city they grew up in and loved. Interestingly enough, a building we owned is where the new hotel’s pool and lobby are now, and all the boys lived there. It was like a clubhouse. Some people are big-time developers; here, we have roots in the ground.”

***

A Barnes & Noble bookstore will open this November at 1821 S. Federal Highway in Delray Beach in a 10,000-square-foot space at the Delray Place North strip mall, said Janine Flanigan, Barnes & Noble’s director of store planning and design.

“We signed the lease mid-May,” she said. “Business is very strong. We plan on opening 30 to 50 stores this year, so we have a robust opening schedule. We haven’t opened this many stores in a year’s time frame in over 10 years.”

That uptick reflects a number of factors, she said.

“During the pandemic, we saw a renewed interest in reading, and also, Barnes & Noble was bought by Elliott Advisors in 2019,” she said.

“Our CEO, James Daunt, has made significant changes in the way we do business that has really resonated.”

For example, the way book sellers used to display books was corporate driven. “Now the book sellers can put in front of their customers books that are important to their communities, so at different stores, you’ll see different displays. Last year, Barnes & Noble opened 16 stores,” she said. “So far this year, we’ve opened six new stores.”

Also at this mall, Nordstrom Rack opened mid-May in a 25,000-square-foot space at 1801 S. Federal Highway.

***

The Executive Women of the Palm Beaches Foundation, Inc. recently celebrated its 2023 Women in Leadership Award winners. Its Volunteer Awards went to Sophia Eccleston and Charlotte Pelton. Eccleston serves as director of origination with NextEra Energy and is board president of the Homeless Coalition of Palm Beach County. Pelton is president and CEO of Charlotte Pelton and Associates Inc., and is chair of Community Partners of South Florida.

The Private Award went to Barbara Cheives, president and CEO of Converge and Associates Consulting. The Non-Profit Award went to Roberta “Robi” Jurney, CEO of the Quantum House. The Public Sector Award winner was Barbara McQuinn, board member of the School District of Palm Beach County District 1. The Emerging Leader award went to Megan Richards Bob, education and family literacy director of the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County.

The Executive Women also spotlighted the 2023 Lois Kwasman Community Impact Grant recipient, Holy Ground, an organization that assists young single women facing homelessness. 

***

The Boca Chamber honored Paul Adkins, chairman & CEO of Florida Peninsula Insurance, as its business leader of the year during the annual Business Awards Luncheon in May at Boca West Country Club. The Business of the Year award recipient was Palm Beach State College. Small Business Leaders of the Year awards went to Bonnie Kaye and Jon Kaye of Kaye Communications PR & Marketing.

“Leaders in their industries, these recipients have created jobs, contributed to our overall economic growth, and have set the bar high for those to follow,” said Troy McLellan, the chamber’s president & CEO.

***

Florida Atlantic University’s public affairs graduate program, in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters School of Public Administration, ranked No. 72 in the U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools” for 2023-24. 

***

Delray Beach resident Ryan Wendler has joined Boca Raton-based Flagler Technologies as customer success manager. He will lead client relations for the company’s clients across the United States.

“I fell in love with the customer success element within the sales structure,” Wendler said. “From startups to corporations, my biggest challenge and point of pride has been successfully navigating a customer success team through the pandemic to enable our company and partners to thrive.

“I truly believe that communication and meaningful business relationships are tantamount to the success of any company, and I am very much looking forward to bringing this knowledge and team-based ethos to Flagler Technologies.”

***

Boca Raton-based Basis Industrial has appointed Max Ducharme as a managing partner of its new initiative, Basis Alternative Investments, which focuses on investment strategies.

These opportunities include car wash development, distressed and value-add retail, and multi-family development projects. Previously, Ducharme was senior vice president of Investment & Develop-ment for the Falcone Group. 

***

The city of Boynton Beach, Palm Beach State College, and CareerSource Palm Beach County created a partnership that aims to develop a pool of talent for local employers by providing college credit certificate programs for city of Boynton Beach residents.

Called the Workforce Readiness Initiative, it will help people who are unemployed, underemployed, or looking for a career change to gain skills that meet the city’s specific employment needs.  

“I have spoken to so many residents who want to get hired in the businesses that are here in the city, and the disconnect is that the companies — for example, Publix — are looking for certain expertise,” Boynton Beach Mayor Ty Penserga said. “It’s time for us to fill that education and skills gap and align what our employers need with the kind of educational opportunities we provide for our residents.”

Initially, Boynton Beach residents will be offered two Palm Beach State College credit certificate programs —  the 12-credit business specialist program and the 18-credit logistics and transportation specialist program, which will be available for enrollment this summer. CareerSource Palm Beach County will offer tuition support for eligible participants. 

Larry Barszewski contributed to this column.

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