ABOVE: Deborah Dowd reads ‘With Lots of Love,’ written by Jenny Torres Sanchez, to teacher Jill Quiggin’s fourth- grade class at Plumosa School of the Arts on Oct. 26 as part of Delray Reads Day and the Read for the Record campaign by the nonprofit Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County.
RIGHT: Melissa Bauerlein and her children, Donovan, 1, and twins Parker and Cameron, 3½, listen to the same book at Boca Raton’s Downtown Library.

BELOW: Boca Raton City Council member Yvette Drucker and Mayor Scott Singer read ‘With Lots of Love,’ by Jenny Torres Sanchez, to children at Boca Raton’s Downtown Library on Oct. 26 as part of the Read for the Record campaign by the nonprofit Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Thankful. That’s the word for November. In today’s world, I think we can all be thankful for health, home and safety.

In this edition, readers will find our annual Philanthropy Season Preview. This special section provides information and contacts for organizations in our area dedicated to assisting our community.

Locally, there are staggering unmet needs for children and families, seniors and animals. Art and science, historic preservation, and our endangered environment are also in need of financial assistance. Organizations that promote health and wellness are critical and worthy of your support.

Many of the groups you’ll read about inside this paper will be familiar since they’ve been supporting our community for years. A few are new. With your financial help, all are well-positioned to reach the members of our community most in need in the coming year.

As I consider my own end-of-year giving, I’m drawn to situations outside of my daily scope of knowledge: children who need comfort at a crime scene, seniors without means to buy groceries, families living in cars because they can no longer afford rent. And to the groups that simply provide joy to people with little, through literacy, music, clean laundry or visits with furry friends.

Helping just one person improves our entire community.

At The Coastal Star, our hope is you will also consider this newspaper an essential member of the community. We, too, could use your financial support.

Although the paper provides more than municipal reporting, what sets us apart from other publications in our coastal area is a steadfast focus on spotlighting the decisions made by our local officials: good, bad and messy. Professional reporting doesn’t come cheap.

All donations will help pay for stories we’re working on right now and hoping to pursue in the coming year.

As part of your year-end giving, we hope you will consider a donation to The Coastal Star. Like a donation to the other local organizations featured in this month’s Philanthropy Season Preview, your support helps to make our community healthier, safer and more secure.

Please give.

Mail your contribution to The Coastal Star, 5114 N. Ocean Blvd., Ocean Ridge, FL 33435.

Or donate online at https://supportfloridajournalism.com/newspaper/the-coastal-star/

Donations made online to The Florida Press Foundation benefit The Coastal Star Community News Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit fund. They are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law and are subject to a 5.5% administration and processing fee.

Contributions made directly to The Coastal Star have no processing fee and are not tax deductible.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Jeff and Aggie Stoops, shown at home in coastal Delray Beach, donated $5 million that helped HomeSafe renovate in Boca Raton and Lake Worth Beach. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

Earning her undergraduate and master’s degrees in social work proved to be excellent preparation for Aggie Stoops’ current role as a member of the board of directors and one of the key benefactors of HomeSafe of Palm Beach County.

Established in 1979 before evolving into its current mission in the 1990s, HomeSafe offers four group homes around the county for children ages 7-17, as well as an apartment complex for ages 18-23, serving about 80 at-risk youth and young adults a year.

“HomeSafe deals with difficult cases,” said Jeff Stoops, Aggie’s husband. 

“We’re pretty much one step away from lockdown,” Aggie added. “There are only five agencies working in therapeutic home care in the state of Florida and HomeSafe is one of them.”

Aggie worked at Florida Baptist Children’s Home and did placement for the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch while a student at Florida State University. She left the health care industry to raise her own four children, but with them out on their own she sought out an opportunity to return to the field and has found it.

Jeff, 65, and Aggie, 64, who live in coastal Delray Beach, began their involvement with HomeSafe in 2014, and Aggie was named to the board two years later. In 2021, the couple made a $5 million contribution to the organization.

Marketing and Events Director Chere Camus Brodi said those funds have been instrumental in recent renovations of HomeSafe campuses in both Boca Raton and Lake Worth Beach.

Other campuses are in West Palm Beach and Royal Palm Beach, and HomeSafe’s 13-unit Palm Place apartment complex in Palm Springs is for aged-out participants.

Most of the children, all of whom are referred to HomeSafe from other agencies, have spent much of their lives in substandard family environments or foster homes and are down to their last chance. For that reason, the campuses house only 12 residents, with each getting a room to themselves, as well as a dedicated therapist 24 hours a day.

“We’ve gone from shared rooms to independent rooms, because the current science says giving them control and independence is the best thing,” Aggie said.

Residents typically attend local schools and are otherwise not restricted to campus. “We have outdoor facilities and a basketball court, acres of space at most of our campuses.

They can run away, but most don’t have a place to run to,” she said.

The program has produced many success stories, with students moving on to higher education at schools such as the University of Florida and Palm Beach State College.

While the residences are very different from sober homes, Jeff Stoops said some municipalities have pushed back rather than welcome them.

“We were in protracted negotiations in Wellington,” he said, referring to the Royal Palm campus. “A lot of people were like, ‘We’re very sympathetic to your cause but we don’t want you in our backyard.’ It was pretty intense.”

Nonetheless, Aggie said, the authorities relented and there have been no complaints since.

The Stoopses’ philanthropic endeavors stretch far beyond HomeSafe. Jeff, who will retire in December after serving as CEO and president of SBA Communications for the past 22 years, is also chairman of the board of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. SBA Communications is a worldwide owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure based in Boca Raton.

The couple supports numerous other organizations through their Stoops Family Foundation. Jeff earned his law degree from Florida State and is a board member of Seminole Boosters. The couple makes a point of attending every home FSU football game.

As for HomeSafe, its initiatives include Healthy Beginnings, which attempts to assess the status of every child born in Palm Beach County before the mother even leaves the hospital.

“We come in with our information and brochures, letting them know we’re there,” Aggie said. “Most parents are fine, but there are those who need assistance.”

For more information on HomeSafe, visit www.helphomesafe.org.

NOMINATE SOMEONE TO BE A COASTAL STAR
Send a note to news@thecoastalstar.com or call 561-337-1553.

During a Sept. 6 unveiling event for the Center for Arts and Innovation, CEO Andrea Virgin stands with board member Matt Cimaglia (left) and Antoine Chaaya, the partner in charge of the project for the architect Renzo Piano Building Workshop. No renderings of the latest plans have been released yet. Photo provided

By Mary Hladky

The Center for Arts and Innovation has raised enough money to meet initial requirements set by Boca Raton during negotiations to complete a deal that allows a performing arts complex to be built on city-owned land in Mizner Park.

If center officials had failed to meet the requirements, the city could have halted the project by terminating a development agreement and the lease of 1.8 acres of city land on which the complex will be built.

The fundraising deadline was Oct. 21, one year after the City Council approved the deal. Center officials needed to raise $25.4 million, which is 25% of the hard construction costs for the project. They also had to show that they had a minimum of $12.7 million in cash.

Center officials surpassed those requirements, raising $26.4 million for hard construction costs that includes $12.8 million in cash, according to a report sent to the city.

“On behalf of all the tremendous supporters who made this threshold moment possible, we thank you and look forward to continuing our partnership with the City of Boca Raton,” center chair and CEO Andrea Virgin wrote.

“Based upon the information provided, the center is currently in compliance with the requirements” of the development agreement, Deputy City Manager George Brown wrote in an Oct. 25 email to the City Council.

Virgin will report on the project’s status at the Nov. 27 Community Redevelopment Agency meeting. Council members also sit as CRA commissioners.

The city has set additional fundraising deadlines in 2024 and 2025, as well as deadlines for matters such as submitting detailed plans for the project, obtaining building permits and raising money for reserves and endowments.

The project will transform the north section of Mizner Park. Plans call for completely renovating the run-down city amphitheater and building a performing arts center, jewel box theater, rooftop terrace, outdoor performing arts spaces and a garage. The complex would accommodate 6,000 people in all its venues.

Under the deal, the project must be completed by 2033. But Virgin wants to start construction in 2025, the year that marks the city’s 100th birthday, and complete it in 2028.

An architectural firm, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, whose partners include Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner Renzo Piano, has started work designing the complex. The firm’s worldwide projects include the Shard in London and the new Whitney Museum in New York.

A Boca Raton elevated flight observation area with seating for 12 should be completed by spring. Rendering provided

By Rich Pollack

It’s been almost 120 years since the Wright brothers’ historic flight at Kitty Hawk, yet there’s still something special about watching an airplane take off.

“People have just always been fascinated with flight,” says Scott Kohut, deputy director of the Boca Raton Airport Authority, which oversees the airport and its average 200 flights a day.

If all goes well, residents of south Palm Beach County will soon have a comfortable spot where they can take in the sights and sounds of everything from larger charter jets to two-seat propeller planes rolling down the runway.

Plans for a covered observation area on the west side of the airport are taking flight with construction to begin soon and completion planned for early spring.

The 4-foot-high elevated observation area, on public property separated from the actual airport by a chain-link fence, will have three benches and seating for about 12 people, with public parking spaces just a few feet away.

Visitors will also be able to eavesdrop on conversations between pilots and the control tower, which will be broadcast to the area.

Located in an area next to the Airport Authority’s offices just north of Florida Atlantic University’s main campus, the observation deck will include educational signage about the airport’s history as well as about the native species visitors might see while watching aircraft take off and land.

The airport and the surrounding area are home to a variety of plants and animals including gopher tortoises, burrowing owls and other birds, according to Kohut.

Without an observation deck, people wishing to see the aircraft come and go can only peer though the fence on both sides of the airport, something Kohut says is not uncommon.

“We have a large variety of aircraft here,” he said, adding that over the years Marine One with then-President Barack Obama onboard landed at the airport, as did former President Donald Trump’s helicopter.

The observation deck project, Kohut said, is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $900,000, with the Florida Department of Transportation covering the majority of the expense.

Kohut said that both he and Clara Bennett, the Airport Authority’s executive director, came from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport — which has a popular observation area — and wanted to bring the concept to Boca Raton.

“We saw this as a great opportunity to continue bringing members of the community to the airport,” he said.

By Brian Biggane

After years of discussions and delays, the South Palm Beach Town Council at its October meeting unanimously authorized Town Manager Jamie Titcomb to send out requests for bids for the construction of the new Town Hall.

The current Town Hall was built in 1976 as a public safety building and has evolved as a hodgepodge of additions, renovations and repairs that no longer satisfies the town’s needs. Council members decided early on that renovations to the existing building wouldn’t be cost effective and that new construction was the better way to go.

At one point, an architect’s proposal to erect a five-story structure was dismissed as too extravagant and too costly.

At last month’s meeting, Town Attorney Glen Torcivia made a lengthy presentation laying out options and the council agreed to solicit two bids, one for designing and building the project and the other for hiring a representative to oversee the construction from start to finish.

“Let’s get going,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said. “It’s going to be an exciting project, and now I feel confident there’s impetus going forward.”

Titcomb said he anticipated sending out the request by mid-October and giving applicants for both 30 days to respond, meaning the council will not be taking any action at the November meeting.

He said a special meeting could be called to give the interested parties — state statutes require at least three bids to go forward — an opportunity to make presentations.

The town had determined it would prefer the builder use structural insulated panels (SIPs), but a previous solicitation resulted in only one bid. Titcomb said this solicitation will be broadcast nationally, including through SIPA, the national organization for SIPs construction.

Fischer said she hoped the new building would also be a community center with a coffee shop that would attract people who walk every day along the walkway.

Torcivia’s presentation offered two options going forward: design bid build or design build. The council opted for the latter, along with an owner’s rep, and Titcomb explained the difference.

“In design build you’re going after companies that are all under one umbrella, the whole thing from design to construction,” Titcomb said. “Usually, the concern there is what happens if there’s a conflict between something that goes wrong.

“That’s where the idea of having an owner’s rep comes into play, where you need someone with credentials to anticipate and troubleshoot, but in the capacity of the town itself.

So, you’re hiring somebody to look out for the owner’s best interest.”

He said the owner’s rep will typically be “architects or engineers who have experience in the field. It’s good to have a dedicated representative because this is going to be a full-time project.”

PBSO honor — The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office honored resident Ellen Barnes as its Star of the Month for her “selfless commitment to improve the community” by consistently picking up trash along the beach. Sept. 1 marked four years that PBSO has served the town.

Manager seeking grant — Town Manager Jamie Titcomb was authorized by unanimous vote to prepare, execute and submit a Florida Grant Program application to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for $75,000 for a flood vulnerability assessment as it relates to sea level rise, ocean incursion and related water and coastal issues. The town would have until 2026 to execute the studies involved.

Dune restoration — Mayor Bonnie Fischer said she learned from Palm Beach officials that the dune restoration project that has been planned will not occur until 2025. She said she found out while attending a conference of the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association in Fort Lauderdale.

— Brian Biggane

By Mary Thurwachter

Lantana welcomed its first assistant police chief — Thomas Mitchell — in October. But Mitchell is no stranger to the seaside town of 12,000 residents. He has been the Police Department’s commander for four years.

Chief Sean Scheller introduced his second-in-command during the Oct. 9 Town Council meeting.

“This is long overdue,” Scheller said, acknowledging the community’s and the department’s growth.

Mitchell, 59, said Lantana “is a fabulous town to work for” and one he has felt a bond with ever since 2004, when Hurricane Charley destroyed his parents’ home in Port Charlotte on the Gulf Coast.

“The Lantana Police Department was deployed over to assist with policing services in Charlotte County,” Mitchell recalled. “At that time, Sgt. Jeff Tyson” — later Lantana’s police chief — “knew my parents lived over there and every morning he would go by and check on them.”

When Mitchell finally convinced his parents “to come back to my house for a little while,” Tyson “would go and make sure the house wasn’t being pillaged. Everybody there who worked for Lantana would go by and my mother would make them coffee in the morning when we were able to get a generator there. I never forgot that.”

Besides that connection, Mitchell said he and Scheller knew each other as detectives. Scheller worked for Lantana and Mitchell was with Delray Beach, where he worked for 27 years, including during Hurricane Charley.

“We’d come across each other and formed a fantastic professional relationship,” Mitchell said. “When this opportunity came about when Commander [Robert] Hagerty retired, there was no way I could say no.

“Lantana’s got a lot of talent,” he said of the department. “There’s so much growth opportunity in the town, and with that said there’s going to be so much growth opportunity for the Police Department. I’m looking forward to helping.”

The new position was needed for several reasons, Scheller said. Among them are: increased staffing over the years requiring additional supervision and mentorship; extensive projects and technological advances requiring oversight and policy development; succession planning within the Police Department; and providing opportunity for middle management advancement for current staff within the department.

Mitchell will oversee the department’s day-to-day activities, allowing Scheller more time to spend in the community.

Mitchell recently handled the new radio implementation program.

“We outfitted all the new patrol cars with new recording cameras as well as license plate cameras,” he said. “Obviously, Sean oversees everything. And we have an outstanding relationship. We keep in touch with each other continuously. I will not make a decision that’s going to make him look bad. He knows exactly what I’m up to every day. And he has input on everything. The five sergeants answer directly to me until we’re able to bring in another commander.”

Mitchell’s annual salary is $140,000 and benefit costs are approximately $61,700 (e.g., FICA, pension, health insurance), according to Finance Director Stephen Kaplan.

“However, we anticipate saving $40,000 as we promote other officers up through the ranks as we fill the vacancies,” Kaplan said.

Prior to his promotion, Mitchell made $131,019 with approximately $62,460 in benefit costs.

It’s likely that his replacement as commander will be someone who already works in the department, Mitchell said.

Vice Mayor Lynn “Doc” Moorhouse, attending the meeting via phone, praised Scheller for his choice in assistant chief.

“I know he’s bringing people through the ranks, as he should,” Moorhouse said. “We have the best Police Department.”

By Mary Thurwachter

A year ago, Hurricane Nicole damaged the south sea wall at Lantana’s beach. This year, if all goes as planned, the breached barrier will be repaired.

To that end, the Lantana Town Council at its Oct. 23 meeting awarded an $83,663 contract to BDI Marine Contractors for the repairs.

BDI Marine was the lowest of three bidders — with the highest at $202,572 — on the project.

Funding for the work will come from available reserves and will be included in the mid-year budget amendment in March.

Public Services Director Eddie Crockett told the council he anticipates work to begin early in November and said the contractor would have 90 days to complete the work.

“When the current damage was being evaluated, we noticed the sea wall had been repaired years ago,” Crockett said. “But the time frame and cost are unknown.”

Crockett said if the sea wall is not repaired, the breach would only get worse.

Sales tax extension — Town Council members expressed their support for a resolution asking Palm Beach County voters to extend the one-cent sales tax for infrastructure projects through Dec. 31, 2036. The current sales surtax sunsets by Dec. 31, 2026, at the latest. Tequesta, Atlantis and Loxahatchee Groves have approved similar resolutions.

Planning board service honored — The Town Council recognized Hypoluxo Island resident Erica Wald with a proclamation for her service on the town’s Planning Commission from June 11, 2012, to Sept. 11. Ward’s latest term ended and she did not file paperwork in time to seek reappointment.

Police employee recognition — The Town Council presented an award to Detective Tom Dipolito as the Police Department’s Employee of the Second Quarter. Dipolito, Chief Sean Scheller said, was recognized for the research and implementation of several large technological projects, including license plate recognition cameras and security measures at the Police Department.

Public services getting new car — The Town Council authorized spending $33,309 for a new 2024 Toyota RAV4 hybrid for the Public Services Department. The new vehicle will be assigned to the grants and contract administrator. This individual’s current vehicle, a 2019 Ford F-150, will be reallocated to the Parks and Recreation division. The Ford will replace the division’s inoperable 2004 Ford Ranger that was previously approved for surplus.

Municipal election date change — The Town Council voted to amend its charter to change the date of municipal elections from the second Tuesday in March to the third Tuesday, March 19, when there is a presidential primary election.

Veterans Day celebration — The town will have a Veterans Day celebration at 10 a.m. Nov. 11 at Bicentennial Park, Mayor Karen Lythgoe announced. Public Services Director Eddie Crockett, a veteran, will be the guest speaker. In the event of rain, the program will be moved to the council chambers.

— Mary Thurwachter

Witches head south on State Road A1A during the annual charity ride. A stiff breeze kept the more than 350 participants pedalling hard as they shouted greetings to fellow witches along a course that looped between Anchor Park and George Bush Boulevard. The ride, a fundraiser for Achievement Centers for Children and Families, raised a record $33,000. A week of witchy events led up to the signature bike ride. Mary Kate Leming/The Coastal Star

The arrows on this sign imply that the private beach extends to the ocean. It does not. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Larry Barszewski

A new Ocean Ridge ordinance regulating beach signs has been in effect for two months, but don’t be surprised if you visit the beach and don’t notice much of a difference with the “Private Property” and “No Trespassing” signs there.

Several of the controversial signs are still just as they were before, though time is about to run out for those not in line with the new rules.

Ocean Ridge police officers enforcing the new ordinance found only four properties with signs not in compliance in September. Certified letters giving the property owners 30 days to make the needed fixes didn’t go out until the first week of October, so Police Chief Scott McClure said officers will be back out the first week of November to see if any signs still fail to meet the new rules.

The new ordinance doesn’t regulate what the signs can say, only where they are placed, how they are positioned and how big they are.

Violation notices were sent to the Turtle Beach of Ocean Ridge Condo Association, 5101 N. Ocean Blvd.; McCormick Mile Beach Club, 6897 N. Ocean Blvd.; and to two Old Ocean Boulevard property owners — at 6000 N. Old Ocean Blvd. and at a beach parcel immediately south of Tropical Drive.

The new rules, adopted in September, say any beach sign has to be situated at the dune toe line, be at least 200 feet away from any other signs, face east-west, and be 18-by-18-inches or smaller.

McClure said Turtle Beach and McCormick Mile had signs too close together. A couple of the other signs were too large and several were facing north-south.

Beach visitors using the Tropical Drive access path are greeted street-side by a “Private Beach No Trespassing Please” sign, which doesn’t come under the new regulations because it isn’t on the beach itself. But once you cross over the dunes, many signs are visible along Turtle Beach to the north and along the parcel to the south.

As of Oct. 30, many of the signs were still facing north-south and at least one appeared to be seaward of the toe line.

“Never have I witnessed anything so ridiculous,” said one Tropical Drive resident spending an afternoon at the beach, who asked that her name not be used. “They’re an eyesore.”

Amanda Rider, who also lives on Tropical Drive, said it’s only the locals using the beach, because there’s no parking for out-of-towners.

“It’s pretty absurd that we the people that live here can’t use the beach,” Rider said.

A Turtle Beach resident out on the sand said the signs aren’t designed to scare away people relaxing on the beach, but to discourage rowdy parties that could disturb the condominium’s residents.

If a noticed sign still doesn’t meet the new regulations when police do their November checks, the property owner may have to appear before the town’s special magistrate in December.

Beach signs have been a controversial issue in town for years. Those concerns surfaced anew in February, when residents complained at a Town Commission meeting about signs at Turtle Beach, placed in the middle of the beach, that warned beachgoers away. The residents said the signs were intimidating and were discouraging people from using portions of the beach that were open to the public.

Related: Boca Raton: Former Gumbo Limbo employees start new sea turtle care nonprofit

By Steve Plunkett

The city of Boca Raton has a new strategy to regain permission to house sea turtles at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, but there still is no firm date for the return of the cherished reptiles, which were ordered out of the center in March.

David Anderson, Boca Raton’s sea turtle conservation coordinator, applied to the state on Oct. 4 to hold “non-releasable turtles in captivity for educational purposes.” Almost simultaneously the nonprofit Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards withdrew its application for the same activity.

Morgan and Cane, the nature center’s two longtime resident sea turtles, were transferred to other facilities on March 14, the day after Boca Raton fired its turtle rehabilitation coordinator, Whitney Crowder, and the assistant coordinator, Emily Mirowski. Crowder held the permit to care for the reptiles.

The terminations were part of an evolving city plan to move responsibility and costs for treating sick and injured turtles to the Coastal Stewards, which already was paying for a veterinarian and medical equipment at Gumbo Limbo.

The Coastal Stewards’ application to resume veterinary care was filed on Oct. 2 and is also pending with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Meanwhile, Crowder and Mirowski have started a new nonprofit, Sea Turtle Care and Conservation Specialists LLC.

“I’m working away right now,” Crowder said. “We’re trying to get a big grant.”

Anderson, who holds the FWC permit for beach-side turtle activities such as monitoring nests and staging hatchling releases for the public, said agency officials have asked him already for more information on amending his permit. He has up to 60 days to respond to their questions, and then they will have 90 days to respond to his answers.

That means no known timeline for the turtles’ return exists as of now. “It depends on how quickly FWC and I go back and forth with questions and answers,” Anderson said.

He said his long association with Gumbo Limbo — he started working part-time there in 2007 — would not speed up the process.

“FWC treats each applicant and application as if they do not know you or the facility/location in which the activity will take place,” Anderson said.

That means it is too early to plan any celebration for Morgan and Cane’s return.

“We are looking forward to once again having sea turtles in our aquariums, but will not be planning anything until after they are back,” Anderson said.

Meanwhile, he reunited with former colleagues Crowder and Mirowski on Oct. 16 when a beachgoer in Delray Beach called the FWC hotline to report a turtle floating just offshore, in apparent distress and drifting south.

Anderson’s team made several attempts to wade into the ocean and net the turtle but it remained just out of reach. Figuring it might be a long wait to see if it would get closer to shore, he called nearby sea turtle stranding permit holders for assistance, including Crowder, who has kept her permit active from her time at Gumbo Limbo.

He also called Boca Raton’s police marine unit, which has helped his team many times with water rescues.

“After an hour or so of trying to get the turtle ourselves, the marine unit showed up and I climbed aboard, easily netting the turtle thanks to the boat’s ability to get near it,” Anderson said.

The FWC told them to take the turtle to Zoo Miami’s sea turtle hospital. Crowder and her former assistant, who has married and now goes by Emily Mirowski Mercier, made the trip.

The path to getting the FWC’s blessing to restore turtle operations at Gumbo Limbo has stretched on now for more than six months. Boca Raton and the Coastal Stewards agreed on April 25 to let the nonprofit take over all responsibility, operation and financing of sea turtle rescue, rehabilitation and release efforts.

The city started to apply for the permit to hold the non-releasable turtles in June out of concern that it would take a while for the Coastal Stewards to make two key hires, a veterinarian and rehabilitation coordinator. It dropped that effort in early July.

After making the new hires, the Coastal Stewards applied for the non-releasable permit on Aug. 18, but the FWC threw up a huge roadblock on Sept. 11 with a demand that the city give the nonprofit group “ownership or control” of the nature center’s multimillion-dollar aquariums.

That led to the Stewards withdrawing its application for holding the non-releasables and applying for the veterinary permit on Oct. 2. Anderson applied to hold Morgan and Cane two days later.

On Oct. 30, FWC officials asked the Stewards for more details on how much experience veterinarian Shelby Loos and rehab coordinator Kara Portocarrero have specifically with sea turtles.

Related: Boca Raton: City changes tack on who should hold permit to house turtles

By Steve Plunkett

People who want to help endangered and threatened sea turtles survive have a new nonprofit they can support.

Two former Gumbo Limbo Nature Center employees, Whitney Crowder and Emily Mirowski Mercier, have started Sea Turtle Care and Conservation Specialists LLC, with a goal to “provide specialized care for sick and injured sea turtles, while promoting conservation awareness and action.”

Joining them is fellow Boca Raton resident Samantha Clark, who spent eight years at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach caring for turtle patients. And on the nonprofit’s board are Dr. Maria Chadam, Gumbo Limbo’s former veterinarian, and Dr. Charles Manire, Loggerhead Marinelife’s former vet.

“Within our core group we have over 100 years of sea turtle experience,” Crowder said.

Crowder said she and Mercier have been “working tirelessly” getting the nonprofit up and running and have helped other turtle groups “behind the scenes” to release hatchlings offshore since they lost their city jobs in March.

Their group has a website, seaturtlecareandconservationspecialists.org, and a page on Facebook at “CareandConservation” where supporters can make donations.

“It’s a huge labor of love,” Crowder said.

She said her new group does not directly compete with the nonprofit Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards, which is in the process of getting state permission to treat turtles at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.

“The entire sea turtle community is a family,” Crowder said. “The sea turtles need us, and that’s what we’re here to do.”

Emily Gentile, president of the Beach Condo Association of Boca Raton, Highland Beach and Delray Beach. She lives at the Yacht & Racquet Club of Boca Raton and previously lived in Highland Beach. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Emily Gentile gets things done.

The president of the Beach Condo Association of Boca Raton, Highland Beach and Delray Beach for the last 51/2 years, Gentile has continued to strengthen the organization as it sets it sights on ensuring the safety and preservation of the coastal communities.

“I’m very concerned about the barrier island and the problems we could have in the future,” says Gentile, a resident of the Yacht & Racquet Club of Boca Raton. “We need to pay attention to what can be done.”

As president of the organization — which brings together condo presidents and managers to discuss key issues and identify areas that need to be addressed — Gentile is working with representatives of the Florida Department of Transportation and with FPL to ensure improvements and address concerns of residents.

She also reaches out to her strong links to decision makers to ensure they, too, hear the voices of up to 15,000 residents in close to 70 condominiums the organization represents.

Active in Boca Raton governmental affairs, Gentile is a former City Council candidate and has served on several boards, including the Art in Public Places board.

It was Gentile’s ability to follow through on projects that first caught the eye of the condo organization’s former president, Jack Fox, who asked her to join the board. From there, it was an easy transition to the leadership role when Fox retired as president.

Gentile, who became the beach condo association’s first woman president, was quick to step in.

“I knew we had the right people and would get things done,” says Gentile, 72, the mother of a son and a daughter and the grandmother of two.

Having lived in Highland Beach before moving to Boca Raton, Gentile was an ideal choice to lead the organization.

A New York transplant, Gentile arrived in South Florida in the early 1990s and settled in the Miami area, using her technology skills while working in the financial services industry.

She arrived in Highland Beach in 2004 and quickly got involved, helping to create the town’s culture board after noticing there were few social activities for residents. That board, with Gentile at the helm, helped produce concerts and other events and was the driving force behind “Light Up the Holidays,” an annual holiday celebration.

She moved to Boca Raton in 2007 and developed contacts within the city that have proved invaluable in her beach condo association role. The panel is helping members navigate challenges including high insurance rates and legislation requiring condo recertifications following the collapse of Champlain Towers South in 2021.

She has served on the city’s Historic Preservation Board, Business Improvement District Steering Committee and the Downtown Boca Raton Advisory Committee.

Gentile plans to continue working through the beach condo association to drive needed improvements along the barrier island.

— Rich Pollack

Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A. I was born in Brooklyn and raised in Stony Brook, New York, on the north shore of Long Island. I was very influenced by my upbringing in Stony Brook. The area was the site of George Washington’s Revolutionary War spy ring and the streets were named after the heroes of the Revolution. We were very proud of our history and the heroes that helped make America during the Revolution. I became extremely patriotic.

Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A. I had an education in computer science in the 1980s and was hired by the head of systems at Chemical Bank in New York. Our objective was eliminating brick and mortar bank buildings and building giant call centers. After I made a name for myself, I was recruited to an officer’s position where I was responsible for writing programs for private banking customers.

Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today? 
A. Anyone starting out today should focus on what makes them happy. Large salaries are great but not if you dread the work. Find your passion, work on it, watch it grow and put your energies into what makes you happy and successful.

Q. How did you choose to make your home in Boca Raton?
A. I spent several years in Highland Beach. I moved to Boca soon after because of a relationship. I love it here.

Q. What is your favorite part about living in Boca Raton? 
A. My favorite part of Boca is my relationship with the City Council, cultural events, restaurants and the ocean.

Q. What are you reading now? A. I’ve been reading many historical articles of famous women. They sure didn’t have it easy.

Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax? 
A. I relax with light environmental music. It helps me to meditate. Most of my inspirations come from meditation.

Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions? 
A. “Treat everyone with respect and dignity.” It helps to keep everything in check and makes us all human.

Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A. My parents were very inspirational and taught me about a lot of things including running a business, how to grow tomatoes. My mother taught me to have insight into why people do what they do. Another inspiration was my godfather, who was a doctor and a child of immigrants. He was afflicted with polio at very young age and was in an iron lung but went on to graduate from Georgetown as a physician.

Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
A. I asked family members, they all said Meryl Streep. In The Devil Wears Prada she was a very hard businesswoman, but had to keep the momentum of her fashion dynasty. At times I, too, have had to make tough decisions.

Little League teams, parents, merchants and spectators from Broward and Palm Beach counties arrive at the East Boynton Little League Park on Woolbright Road for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and Stand Up to Cancer event. BELOW: Members of the Panthers, a West Boca travel team, talk to students and media members while their parents watch and beam with pride. The day served as a soft opening for the soon-to-be-renovated park. It will also be home to an indoor training facility where athletes — kids and adults — can hone the skills for their specific sports. Photos by Tao Woolfe/The Coastal Star

The new dog park will have a grand opening from 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 4. The area at Jaycee Park on South Federal Highway will be divided for dogs of different sizes. Photo provided

A new dog park at Jaycee Park, 2600 S. Federal Highway, officially opens Nov. 4, with hours from sunrise to sunset.

Leashed dogs are welcome at the 5.5-acre park that runs along the Intracoastal Waterway in Boynton Beach. The dog park has two runs — one for big dogs and one for smaller breeds. The park also offers water and washing stations.

People interested in exploring other parts of Jaycee Park will find bocce courts, children’s play areas, pavilions, picnic tables, restrooms and a fitness trail.

A grand opening celebration for the dog park will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 4. Food trucks will be on hand, so bring your appetite as well as your pooch.

— Tao Woolfe

Temporary window coverings are just one of numerous problems for the house at 2900 Avenue Au Soleil, which the town hopes will be demolished. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett

A daily fine of $200 will kick in on Dec. 8 unless the dilapidated Intracoastal home between Bluewater Cove and the rest of Place Au Soleil is demolished by then.

In addition, the owner of 2900 Avenue Au Soleil must get a building permit by Dec. 1 to rehabilitate or replace the property’s sea wall, Special Magistrate Kevin M. Wagner ordered on Oct. 20. The sea wall must be rehabilitated by March 1 or rebuilt by Aug. 1 to avoid another $200 daily fine, he said.

The actions came after Gulf Stream cited Bhavin Shah for not keeping the principal building or the sea wall in acceptable condition. A third code violation, for having “makeshift” hurricane protection devices on the windows, would be corrected by the razing of the building.

A $200-a-day fine is already accruing on the main building and its multi-vehicle garage for having leaky roofs. The anticipated demolition would also fix that problem.

Shah, with 2900 AAC LLC, which bought the property in October 2021 and is in the midst of selling it, told Wagner at an Oct. 4 hearing that the tiles on the roofs are no longer made in the same size.

“After the roof contractor got up there, cleaned everything and saw the damage, they essentially suggested that we need to replace the whole roof … which would be almost a $250,000, $300,000 expense,” Shah said.

Shah also hopes to have the town vacate a utility easement that runs the length of his property. Its driveway opens up just behind Place Au Soleil’s guardhouse and weaves behind seven homesites on Bluewater Cove and nine on Orchid Lane.

The pipe that sends drinking water under the Intracoastal to the rest of the town is in the easement on the property. Another line along 2900’s northern edge carries irrigation water to the Gulf Stream Golf Club.

In a complex plan, the developer of Bluewater Cove has already installed an alternate main under the street it built to accommodate the drinking water line. But that would need a new easement to connect to the underwater pipe, which is behind 2900 Avenue Au Soleil.

And the prospective buyers of 2900 are reluctant either to allow the water connection or to demolish the house until Gulf Stream assures them that it will vacate the current easement.

“This is something that we all want to work together to get done,” Vice Mayor Tom Stanley said.

Wagner scheduled a fine assessment hearing for Dec. 15 in case the three recent code violations are not remedied. The home’s previous owners racked up $200,000 in code enforcement fines that the Town Commission reduced in 2019 to $20,000 in an effort to get new owners for the property.

Bluewater Cove originally wanted to buy 2900 Avenue Au Soleil and incorporate the parcel into its new subdivision. But Cary Glickstein, president of Ironstone Development Inc., told town officials in early 2021 that he had abandoned that plan partly because of the property’s “tortured” legal past.

Three of Bluewater Cove’s planned 14 homes are under construction. The next four in the plans are all along the south side of the street, and as they are built will partially obscure visitors’ views of 2900 if demolition does not take place.

Bids produce sticker shock — The lowest bid for road and drainage work in the Core District came in at $13 million, or $2 million more than expected. Jockey Prinyavivatkul of Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers said he would talk to the two bidders to see why the prices were high. Town commissioners said they may rebid the work. Construction has been planned to start in January or February.

Crew damages Australian pines — More than a dozen of the town’s prized Australian pines along State Road A1A were damaged by a construction crew. An arborist was called in, and the owner of 2817 N. Ocean Blvd. will pay $5,250 to save the trees, Assistant Town Manager Trey Nazzaro said.

Another camera to keep eye on cars — The town is installing a license-plate recognition camera at Pelican Lane and State Road A1A to monitor vehicles entering Gulf Stream from the south. It joins six LPRs that were put in earlier this year.

— Steve Plunkett

By Larry Barszewski

Moving the headquarters of Delray Beach’s police and fire departments could create new possibilities for redeveloping West Atlantic Avenue between Interstate 95 and Swinton Avenue, officials say, the latest idea in a difficult, decades-long effort to transform the stagnant downtown gateway.

Not only is the stretch of West Atlantic east of I-95 the most significant corridor into the city’s bustling downtown, it is also the major route to and from the city’s beaches and oceanfront communities.

A conglomeration of major governmental and public structures — a mix that includes the Delray Beach Public Library and the city’s tennis complex, the South County Courthouse and the police and fire buildings — has created a dead-zone barrier for pedestrians and visitors, dividing the downtown to the east from the neighborhoods to the west.

But a recently approved $100 million public safety bond referendum could change that. City commissioners at an Oct. 17 workshop said using the money to build a new police station farther west on Atlantic could open the Police Department’s current location to a residential or commercial development that would bring more life to a West Atlantic Avenue better connected to the downtown. And the same idea goes for the fire headquarters, they said.

“This is the perfect opportunity for us to really kind of re-envision what’s happening on West Atlantic,” Mayor Shelly Petrolia said. “I would love to see, personally, West Atlantic be almost like the destination people turn off to before they even get to East Atlantic,” that it become a stretch “so unique and so interesting” with lots of places for people to go and have things to do.

Anything that would be done, however, would be in the context of plans, developed with community input, that are in place and being updated. One of those is The Set Transformation Plan, so named because the West Atlantic area is collectively known as The Set, encompassing neighborhoods between I-95 and Swinton Avenue from Lake Ida Road south to Southwest 10th Street.

“I just want to make sure that we are paying attention to what the residents wanted, the residents that live in that area,” Commissioner Angela Burns said. “And that whatever we do will engage the people that live in that area: Housing that matches the income, not necessarily looking exactly like downtown, but bringing those kinds of businesses to this area as well — family restaurants, coffee shops, nice green space. The people in this area deserve that.”

The moves would also allow for development connected to Northwest and Southwest Fifth avenues, the historic business district for the city’s Black community, a business corridor that Petrolia said had the potential of becoming a Pineapple Grove-type offshoot to West Atlantic.

Vice Mayor Ryan Boylston said moving the police and fire stations could make a dramatic positive difference in developing the corridor.

“If we’re able to do that, that’s five uninterrupted blocks without any city facilities. It’s two blocks with the courthouse and library, and then it’s five — on both sides of the street — it would be five uninterrupted blocks with Fifth right in the middle. I think that could be transformational,” Boylston said.

It has been 35 years since the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency first put forth a plan — widely panned by nearby residents who weren’t consulted about what they would like to see happen on West Atlantic — that would have dislocated hundreds of families living within a block of the avenue to make way for commercial developments.

Over the ensuing years, progress has been made, with residents playing an active role. Vacant lots along the avenue were spruced up, and gateway art installations near I-95 welcome visitors. Likely the most significant redevelopment change to West Atlantic has been the construction of the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott, in the 900 block of West Atlantic Avenue.

More needs to be done. Petrolia said she sees people bicycling on West Atlantic, but lamented, “They’re not bicycling to something. They’re bicycling through it.”

Most recently, the city has been discussing what to do with land its Community Redevelopment Agency has acquired in the 600, 700 and 800 blocks of West Atlantic Avenue. Instead of using the land for one big project, commissioners are discussing making it available for smaller projects.

“We’re saying, we’re open to whatever’s best. We’ll move our things around accordingly,” Boylston said.

Commissioners said they still wanted the police and fire departments to remain in the corridor, with Boylston suggesting they might make more sense next to and across from the Fairfield. “I think it’s absolutely worth a conversation that there would be a better location for those two stations,” Boylston said.

The library and courthouse weren’t part of the discussion because they are not city-owned.

“The ones [with] the potential for land swapping or relocating would just be the police I think first, because of the bond funds, and then the fire. I don’t think there’s funds for that at this point, but that may be a future idea,” CRA Executive Director Renee Jadusingh said.

Deputy Vice Mayor Rob Long said if the two headquarters were moved farther west on the corridor, they could be designed so that they had passive parks or light commercial use directly on the avenue that would improve the pedestrian experience.