It’s very simple. Andrews Avenue in Delray Beach is (together with its side streets) no longer a safe thoroughfare for anyone, due to overcrowded beach access and insufficient recreational parking zones.
Safety is a No. 1 priority regarding traffic mobility — from simple pedestrian passersby to extenuating circumstances that emergency vehicles must contend with to perform their services. The public welfare is at stake here and municipal taxes are paid by everyone to ensure it.
The lack of distinct signage along Andrews Avenue and where needed along the side streets illustrates this inevitable problem.
The south end of Delray Beach has three public parking lots assigned to it; the north end is at a loss for one. Perhaps the lot occupied by the Florida Inland Navigational District could be modified to accommodate both the beachgoer and the environment, similar to the parking facilities at MacArthur Park on Singer Island and Spanish River Park in Boca Raton.
Meanwhile, the pressure continues to build on Andrews Avenue and adjacent streets. It is a problem that all of Delray Beach, sooner or later, must solve.

— James Stonehouse
Delray Beach

In March, the Florida Coalition for Preservation will celebrate its 15th year of community service.
We began in response to a neighborhood crisis. In 2007, a Canadian firm had made a “too good to be true” offer to acquire the tiny town of Briny Breezes, replacing the historic trailer park with a high-rise development serving up to 5,000 residents, guests and staff.
Barrier island citizens rapidly galvanized state and local government support to defeat the proposed plan.
But it was apparent at the time that the “sleepy” oceanfront area from Delray to Ocean Ridge was ripe for radical change. The FCFP board decided to stay in business as long as external pressures threatened the lifestyle of folks living near the ocean and Intracoastal Waterway.
Since its inception, well over a thousand households have donated funds to the coalition as it expanded its reach to address a host of environmental and growth issues affecting stakeholder communities.
For example, we helped to establish a Rising Waters Task Force to cope with potential impact of change in sea levels — literally on a block-by-block basis in our area of Palm Beach County. Select findings of the task force are now being implemented throughout the state.
On the mainland, the coalition has worked closely with builders and residents to assure that major development projects respect the proximity to oceanfront neighborhoods, and that bridges and roads have the capacity to handle increased traffic when construction is completed.
The good news is that most major projects near the bridges have been toned down from initial plans. The bad news is that traffic on the barrier island is already growing exponentially, even before completion of larger projects.
As we enter our 15th year of service, FCFP recognizes that it must redouble efforts on issues relating to growth management, and dealing with multi-jurisdictional decisions involving public health, safety and well-being.
Everyone knows that The Coastal Star barrier island readership prevails among the coalition audience. Our members live and recreate in two cities (Delray Beach and Boynton Beach), three towns (Gulf Stream, Briny Breezes and Ocean Ridge), and the county (Surf Pocket and beaches).
All of these entities are represented by members on the coalition board.
Together they will initiate longer term multi-jurisdictional projects to study such issues as: how best to deal with increased traffic; if and where to locate EMT capacity on the barrier island; how to manage impending state-mandated conversion from septic to sewer systems; when and how to manage height of sea walls; how best to deal with FEMA-required heightening of new-building elevations; and any other threats or opportunities that affect the value and enjoyment of living on or near our barrier island.
We have experience in dealing with complex issues. The community has people who can deal with challenge, and who are willing to fight for good solutions to tough problems. It is our shared obligation to look forward and get involved.
We look forward to many more years of productive service. Feel free to contact us at Community@PreservationFLA.org and take a minute to complete FCFP’s community service survey, so we know what is important to you.

— Bob Ganger, chairman,
Florida Coalition for Preservation

By Mary Thurwachter

The dune restoration project scheduled to begin on Feb. 28 has been delayed until later this year. Lantana Town Manager Brian Raducci said in a news release that “there is insufficient dry beach width at Lantana’s Municipal Beach” to proceed with the project.
Palm Beach town consultants will monitor the shoreline, anticipating a return in November 2022, after sea turtle nesting season, according to the release. “If at that time the proper conditions exist, dune sand will be placed in both the towns of Lantana and South Palm Beach, as planned.”
The undertaking is the result of an agreement among Lantana, South Palm Beach and Palm Beach. Sand will be transported by trucks to Lantana’s beach (and South Palm Beach) from an existing stockpile at Phipps Ocean Park.
The Lantana Town Council approved the agreement during a special meeting Feb. 9.
Mike Jenkins, engineering consultant for Palm Beach, told Lantana officials during a workshop last December that if dune projects are done in concert over a larger area, they tend to perform better.
He said Lantana’s presence in a program with repetitive dune projects means those projects would be eligible for FEMA funds if there’s a declared disaster after a hurricane.
South Palm Beach will pay for the sand in exchange for ocean access from Lantana.
The Barefoot Mailman Family Beach Day, scheduled for March 5, will be held as planned at the beach park.

By Joe Capozzi

A judge has rejected developer William Swaim’s request for an easement across land behind Ocean Ridge Town Hall so he can access two submerged lots his company owns in the Intracoastal Waterway. 
Swaim’s Waterfront ICW Properties Inc. has appealed the Jan. 3 ruling by Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Donald Hafele, who cited several reasons for dismissing with prejudice the company’s request to access land owned by the town and Spanish Creek LLC.
For one, Hafele wrote, the access route sought in Swaim’s lawsuit “is not the ‘nearest practical route’ to” State Road A1A. The nearest route, the judge wrote, traverses land owned by Wellington Arms, which ICW Properties sued in 2015 before reaching a settlement with the condominium in 2020. 
The judge also cited “concerns over the validity” of old deeds submitted by ICW Properties in the company’s claim that the land was part of a right of way dedicated to the public in 1955.
The state law cited by Swaim in his claim requires that the land seeking access to the nearest road be used for a specific purpose. The land is submerged and surrounded by water in an environmentally sensitive lagoon. 
Residents and environmentalists have been horrified at the thought of someone ripping out mangroves and trucking in fill to turn the wildlife-rich lagoon into a construction site and another Florida development.
From the outset, Swaim has asserted that the lagoon is not a pristine natural wetland but rather a construction project by the Army Corps of Engineers, which dredged out the area decades ago for mosquito control. 
That argument was bolstered by Hafele in 2019 in a separate case, against the state of Florida, when the judge ruled that the mangrove-rich lagoon was largely man-made and not navigable in its original state some 180 years ago. That decision recognized Swaim’s lots as buildable land that isn’t protected as sovereign by state statutes.
But in ICW’s two-day trial last summer against Ocean Ridge and Spanish Creek, “there was little to no evidence supporting a present and good faith intent” that the company intended to build anything on the submerged land, Hafele wrote Jan. 3.  
“Mr. Swaim testified that he intends to ‘wait and see’ before ICW decides what to do with the property. Swaim further testified that ICW may sell the property to a developer or other commercial enterprise so they can develop the property as they wish. … ICW’s plan to ‘wait and see’ is not grounds for relief under state law.’’
The property sought by Swaim was acquired by the town in 1999 from a private landowner for the construction of Town Hall in 2008. 
“In sum the evidence presented clearly reflected that this proposed route is not the nearest practical route nor is it even reasonably practical, given that it would traverse submerged property including well-established conservation areas,’’ wrote Hafele, who heard arguments in a nonjury trial in August.
Swaim’s request was just one of several legal maneuvers attempted over the years by companies he owns, including lawsuits and claims against other property owners and agencies. He is also involved in at least six similar lawsuits in Broward County.
In 2021 a federal lawsuit filed by ICW against the town alleging a claim for inverse condemnation and damages in the amount of $10 million was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice. That case is now closed.
In all cases, town officials have been careful to avoid making public comments, especially since Swaim on Jan. 28 filed an appeal to Hafele’s Jan. 3 ruling with the Fourth District Court of Appeal.
“A tremendous amount of work was put into this, and the judgment in our favor will help to protect the town’s investment in the Town Hall facility and drainage system, and help to maintain the environmentally sensitive lands located to the west of Town Hall, while also protecting the interests of our residents,’’ Town Manager Tracey Stevens told town commissioners Feb. 7 in rare public comments about Hafele’s most recent ruling, remarks that were part of her annual performance evaluation.
But an attorney for the law firm that successfully defended Ocean Ridge in the easement case held no punches in court papers requesting Swaim be ordered to pay the town’s legal fees. 
“Fatally flawed from the moment of its filing, this lawsuit was a brazen attempt to misuse section 704.04, Florida statutes for purposes outside its plain language and scope,’’ Lyman H. Reynolds of Roberts, Reynolds Bedard & Tuzzio wrote in a Jan. 31 filing.
“Worse than that, the plaintiff manufactured the ‘evidence’ supporting its claim, acquiring deeds from defunct corporations, baselessly fabricating property boundaries to suit its narrative and otherwise promoting imaginary property rights to drive its meritless legal theory for access rights through submerged environmentally protected property to the middle of a creek.’’

The side of the project at 6273 N. Ocean Blvd. that faces A1A appears to some as a parking garage, not a single-family residence. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi

To the relief of dozens of residents, Ocean Ridge commissioners have issued a stop-work order on the so-called parking garage house, a property that has been under construction and a source of complaints for nearly seven years. 
Delays, noise, design changes and code violations at the property at 6273 N. Ocean Blvd. have made the project “the poster child” for several updates to the town’s buildings codes aimed at preventing similar situations, Mayor Kristine de Haseth said.
Residents living near the property have gotten the worst of it since the first building permit was issued in May 2015 — from changes allowing a roof deck and fronting with no windows or doors to noise from generators and trucks to a sluggish pace of construction. 
Changes to the building’s appearance from State Road A1A prompted frustrated residents over the years to coin nicknames such as “the parking garage house” and “the fort.’’
“The original plans were beautiful plans, in compliance with town rules. Then, it was not built accordingly,’’ town building official Durrani Guy told the commission on Feb. 7. 
“In 2019, it was halted. For some reason they were allowed to revise their plans and move forward,’’ he said. “The hope was they would be finished quickly, but it has not happened. … At the pace they are moving, we’re probably looking at another 24 months.’’
A construction manager for the property, speaking at the Feb. 7 meeting, blamed the slow progress on supply chain issues, labor problems and unspecified COVID-19 deaths. He said the work could be done in three more months, but residents and commissioners didn’t buy that.
“This is a site that has skipped (under) the radar too long and it’s time for the commission to act. The community is paying the price,’’ John Shibles, who lives directly south of it, told commissioners. 
When town commissioners voted 4-0 to issue a stop-work order and reject what would have been a sixth building-permit extension, concerned residents at the meeting erupted in applause. Commissioner Steve Coz was absent. 
The property is owned by Oceandell Holdings LLC, whose manager is listed in state records as Andrew Abony of Toronto. The project has been accruing daily fines of $250 since last summer. 
“Money is not a motivator here. If it was a motivator it would have been built and occupied a long time ago,’’ de Haseth said Feb. 7.
As a result of their action, town officials were able to get what they said was the first direct response from the owner in three years. On Feb. 16, town staff met with the owner and discussed the town’s concerns.
He plans to submit a request to renew the building permit at the March 7 commission meeting, Town Manager Tracey Stevens said. 

Chief reports on Old Ocean
Police Chief Richard Jones said he was preparing to issue citations to pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists who disobey traffic rules while using Old Ocean Boulevard. 
Although commissioners plan to hold a workshop soon to address safety on the oceanfront road, Jones said something needs to be done now. 
“It is completely out of control,’’ he told commissioners Feb. 7, saying his initial plan is to educate the public first. 
If that doesn’t work, citations will have to be issued at some point, he said. 
“We will give it some time before we truly begin the enforcement process. The educational campaign has to start somewhere. We can’t wait for a solution that takes a year down the road for a problem that’s become a public safety issue,’’ the chief said. 
“I know it’s not going to be popular because people use that more as an exercise path than they do a roadway, but unfortunately it is a roadway. We need to address it before someone gets hurt or injured.’’
Commissioner Geoff Pugh, concerned about the reaction from residents, asked the chief to hold off on issuing citations and focus on education.
“If you start issuing warnings, this place at the next town meeting will be standing-room-only screaming at us,’’ he said, adding that the problem subsides in the off-season. 
Jones said he was worried about liability issues. 
“We continue to talk about the fact that we know it’s an issue, but nobody wants to address the issue including the Police Department because we didn’t want to create a negative situation with residents,’’ he said. “That’s not the intention. That’s why we want to start an educational campaign that leads to that, but we have to do something.’’ 
More than a dozen residents have volunteered to serve on a task force to come up with safety measures for Old Ocean Boulevard. But before going ahead with that, commissioners will host a workshop.

In other business:
• Repairs on three bridges, at Sabal Island, Inlet Cay and Island drives, are expected to start in March, town officials said. 
The repairs, recommended during routine inspections by the Florida Department of Transportation, include addressing cracks in the asphalt, chipped-away concrete and exposed steel under the bridges, cleaning and painting corrosion stains, and restriping. 
While the state says the repairs are minor and the bridges don’t pose any danger, the fixes are required to prevent further damage. The repairs will cost about $87,500, which is in the town budget. 
Residents will be notified about ingress and egress plans. The town wants to complete the work by September. 
• Stevens received a positive evaluation from commissioners, who voted to raise her salary to $132,500, from $125,000, retroactive to Jan. 4. “We’ve never had such a strong town manager at least in the 20 years I’ve been involved with this town,’’ de Haseth said.  
• Commissioners voted 3-1 to endorse an ordinance change that would raise to 8 feet the height on walls surrounding sewage treatment facilities in town. The current limit is 6 feet but town officials discovered several condominiums have 8-foot walls. Because of “what can emanate from these plants,’’ town officials agreed the easiest solution was to raise the limit to 8 feet. Pugh voted no because he wanted the Planning and Zoning Commission to review the issue. 
• The observation tower at Ocean Ridge Natural Area is closed to the public as it undergoes repairs by Palm Beach County, which is also repairing some of the area’s sidewalks. The work is expected to be done by early March.

By Joe Capozzi

South Palm Beach is basking in South Florida’s “extremely hot” real estate market, with robust condominium sales last year promising a significant boost in tax revenue in the coming budget year, Town Manager Robert Kellogg said.
A “whopping” 309 units, about one-sixth of the town’s condo inventory, were sold in 2021, with a combined sale value of $124 million, or more than $400,000 per unit, he told the Town Council on Feb. 8.
Kellogg’s figures were based on all sales in town, not just “qualified sales.” The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office uses qualified sales, which are sales between willing buyers and sellers, in its mass appraisals that determine market value.
In 2020, 194 condo units in town were sold for a combined sales total of about $43.3 million. Sales that contributed to a $78 million jump in the town’s taxable value that year included the just-completed $70 million luxury condo, 3550 South Ocean.
“As you know the real estate market in South Florida has been extremely hot for the past 12 months,’’ Kellogg said. “It’s going to continue to stay hot.’’ 
Early this year, one condo sold for more than $1 million, he said.
“The real question is what is this going to equate to in additional revenue when we get our new valuation in taxable value in June? I’m pretty optimistic you’re going to be happy with what you see,’’ he said. 
Last year, property values in South Palm Beach jumped 4.4% to $458.5 million from $439 million in 2020. That allowed the Town Council to lower the tax rate to $3.50 per $1,000 of assessed value from the previous year’s rate of $3.54.
Preparations for the 2022-23 budget are expected to begin in May.
In other business:
• The town attorney plans to meet with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to review options for protecting pedestrians on sidewalks along State Road A1A. 
Councilman Bill LeRoy broached the issue because of concerns about pedestrians wandering onto the shoulder of the road when sidewalks are crowded with pedestrians and bicyclists or blocked by commercial vehicles.  
Among options mentioned at the Feb. 8 meeting were requiring commercial vehicle owners to provide flagmen and cones or to hire off-duty law enforcement to direct pedestrians, and posting signage in condo buildings reminding people to stay off the road.
At the suggestion of Councilman Mark Weissman, town attorney Aleksandr Boksner (who works with longtime town attorney Glen Torcivia) will discuss options with PBSO’s legal counsel.
In January 2019, a 75-year-old man was killed when he was struck by a car while walking north on the shoulder of State Road A1A between the Lantana Municipal Beach parking lot and the Imperial House condominium.
“We’ve got to do everything we can to protect everybody. We’ve got to get them off the road,’’ LeRoy said Feb. 8. “I don’t want anybody to get hurt or killed out there.’’
• Architects designing options for a new or renovated Town Hall are expected to present their renderings to the Town Council in March. Kellogg said the presentation will probably be given at a workshop a week or two after the March 8 election.
• At a special meeting Feb. 17, the Town Council directed the town manager to apply for a Florida Department of Transportation permit for the installation of up to 45 solar light posts along A1A and around Town Hall. The posts, technically called bollards, will cost the town $67,000 and complement existing street lights, Kellogg said. 
• An ice cream party celebrating the life of the late Lenny Cohen will be held at 2 p.m. March 20 outside Town Hall, 3577 S. Ocean Blvd. Treats for “Lenny Cohen’s A Life Well-Lived Ice Cream Social” will be supplied by the Ice Cream Club. Cohen died Dec. 7. A tribute scheduled for Jan. 2 was postponed because of the pandemic.

(l-r) Chamber president and moderator Dave Arm at the Feb. 24 forum with candidates John Raymer, Lynn Moorhouse, Joe Farrell, Media Beverly, Ed Schropshire and Kem Mason. Mary Thurwachter/The Coastal Star

Related stories: Six candidates square off in two races | Town bids farewell to Malcolm Balfour after nine years on council

By Mary Thurwachter

Six candidates for two seats on Lantana’s Town Council discussed several topics — agreeing on many of them — during a forum hosted by the Lantana Chamber of Commerce at the Palm Beach Maritime Academy on Feb. 24. They showed enthusiasm for the master plan, want beach restoration, and are interested in attracting good, taxpaying businesses.
But when moderator and Chamber President Dave Arm asked if any of them would be open to a public/private partnership for adding restaurants and a hotel at the public beach, the majority answered with a resounding “no.” Such a proposal has not been formally made, but rumors have swirled about it since early last year.
“I don’t want a hotel at the beach,” said Lynn Moorhouse, the only incumbent running. Moorhouse, a retired dentist, said that traffic flow is already bad over the bridge and if a hotel were built at the beach, traffic “would be nuts.”
Traffic was also a concern for Media Beverly, a longtime council watcher who successfully advocated to keep medical marijuana dispensaries out of town.
“Hotel? No,” she said. “I’ve talked to a lot of people during this campaign in all of Lantana and I’ve asked them and it’s a resounding ‘no.’ Our beach is only 750 feet; that’s all we have. For a lot of people in this town, that’s the only recreational source they have. To put a hotel up there, even with incorporated parking, you’re still talking about traffic. To add any traffic in that corridor would not be sustainable.”
Former council member Ed Shropshire, a retiree who lost his bid for reelection two years ago, said the beach is a treasure and should be treated as such. While not in favor of a hotel, he said the beach “could be utilized a little bit better, without crowding out the people.”
Kem Mason, a retired firefighter and former lifeguard and surfer, was also against the idea.
“No hotel, that’s one of our jewels,” he said of the beach. “I can speak for all the surf rats, and, no, no hotel.”
Newcomer John Raymer, an Army veteran who manages Ace Rental Place, and Joe Farrell, a flooring distributor who has run for office before, said they would be open to looking at it. Raymer said it would be “up to the residents to decide,” and Farrell said adding a hotel could be a way to bring in new revenue.
When candidates were asked about how they would bring more revenue to the town, Farrell said the town needs to “make things happen that we didn’t think about before.” He said that 10 years ago one of his neighbors suggested selling Bicentennial Park for condo development and having the town buy the Cenacle property for a waterside park.
“The Cenacle property’s gone so we don’t have to worry about it,” he said. “But we have to look at ideas like that.”
Beverly said the town needs to rein in some of its expenses and add businesses, “but we have to be careful, very prudent and we have to be strategical about it. There’s very limited commercial space here in Lantana.”
She said code revision and zoning need to be tackled to attract business and there is grant money the town hasn’t tapped into that could help with many projects.
Shropshire said he thinks the town needs to do a better job of vetting contractors.
“For example, the major contractor for the library bailed because he didn’t have the correct certification.” The library will “sit there another two months before they even start again. We’re losing money like that,” Shropshire said.
Mason said as someone who worked for the government as a lifeguard and firefighter for more than three decades, he has seen a lot of waste.
“We need to instill in our employees not to waste. And we need to work with businesses to come to town, we cannot discourage businesses from coming to the town — they pay taxes and help support us.”
Moorhouse said a lot of money would be coming in from Water Tower Commons, a retail and residential project on the site of the former A.G. Holley hospital, and from Aura Seaside, an apartment complex on the former Cenacle site.
Moorhouse and Raymer said they would look to the new master plan for guidance in bringing in revenue.
In a related matter, candidates learned that all campaign signs on Lantana Road had been removed in the middle of the night on Feb. 23. Police Chief Sean Scheller reported that a video captured by a camera outside of Arm’s gym showed a nondescript man putting signs in a pickup truck.
Scheller said the rightful owners of the signs, the candidates, had not filed any police reports yet, but several said they planned to do so.
The election is March 8.

Malcolm Balfour gets a smooch from Karen Lythgoe at Balfour’s last meeting. Mary Thurwachter/The Coastal Star

Related stories: Six candidates square off in two races | Candidates weigh in on possible hotel at beach

By Mary Thurwachter

There was no celebratory cake in sight, but fellow council members and residents gave Lantana Vice Mayor Malcolm Balfour a standing ovation after the town meeting he presided over on Feb. 28. Balfour, 83, has served on the council since 2013 and is not seeking reelection.
“We want to thank you for your years of service,” said Police Chief Sean Scheller. “You’ve always been there for us.”
Town Clerk Kathleen Dominguez said how much staff enjoyed working with him and that he would “always have a friend in the clerk’s office.”
Although the current mayor, Robert Hagerty, wasn’t present that evening, which is why Balfour presided over the meeting, former Mayor Dave Stewart — who like Balfour lives on Hypoluxo Island — said, “Mr. Balfour has served his community well for nine years. Before voting, he always looked at all aspects of an issue and was a very responsible councilman.”
Chamber of Commerce President Dave Arm said Balfour has “served the town wonderfully” and thanked him for all his support.
Born in South Africa, Balfour and his wife, Ilona, have lived in Lantana since 1972, when he was hired as a journalist for the National Enquirer.
Three people are seeking Balfour’s spot: Media O. Beverly, Kem Mason and Edward P. Shropshire.

In other action, the town:
• Approved a special exception request to allow a tattoo shop at 508 W. Lantana Road.
• Approved a request from First Baptist Church of Lantana to hold Easter sunrise service at the Dune Deck Café at the beach from 5:30 to 7 a.m. on April 17.
• Waived rental fees to allow for tent installation at the Recreation Center for the Lantana Chamber of Commerce’s 27th annual Fishing Derby, May 12-15. For more details, visit www.lantanafishingderby.com/retreats.

Related stories: Candidates weigh in on possible hotel at beach | Town bids farewell to Malcolm Balfour after nine years on council

Lantana will hold a general election March 8 for Town Council members in Group 1 and Group 2. Both are for three-year terms. Council members get paid $600 per month, plus a $200 expense allowance. There are no term limits. To win, a candidate needs to get 50% of the vote plus one. If necessary, a run-off election will be March 22, using the same times and precincts as the general election. Town Clerk Kathleen Dominguez confirmed that this election will have no ballot questions or amendments for voters.

— Steven J. Smith

Related Story: Four candidates compete for two seats |Video

Incumbent helps himself to opponent’s stash of chocolates

By Joe Capozzi

The pile of free chocolate bars would have been an enticing sight for most anyone passing through the lobby of the Dune Deck condominium in South Palm Beach that afternoon.
For one resident, Town Councilman Mark Weissman, the candy was particularly irresistible — and not because of a sweet tooth for Hershey’s, Krackel and Mr. Goodbar.
Each bite-size bar came with a custom-made red, white and blue wrapper with the words “Vote Cindy Furino” on one side and “A Vote For Me Is A Vote For Loyalty, Honesty and Integrity” on the other. 
Furino, who also lives at the Dune Deck, is Weissman’s opponent in the March 8 election, which begins to explain the sequence of events that sent Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies to the Dune Deck lobby on the afternoon of Feb. 4 to investigate, of all things, the alleged theft of a bowl of candy.
Some residents said it was just the latest example of problems under Weissman’s watch that prompted condo residents to vote on Feb. 25 to remove him from the board.
“This is petty behavior for someone who has fiduciary responsibility for the town’s budget,” said Jane Ruby, one of 65 condo owners. “It is grossly unbecoming to someone who wants to maintain his position as an elected official.”
The recall vote was to be reviewed by the board on March 3, but it might not be necessary because Weissman, at a special meeting on March 1, resigned as condo board president.
Weissman told The Coastal Star he stepped down because of “constant harassment” from Furino and about five other residents who have objected to condo repairs that he says are necessary for the structural integrity of the building.
Weissman said his opponents have also accused him of financial mismanagement, which he dismissed by saying he and board members “don’t touch money” because the condo’s management company handles the finances.
Ruby, Furino and others also accused Weissman of harassing residents and questioned his temperament. At the March 1 meeting, a deputy intervened when a shouting match ensued between Weissman and a board member seated next to him who claimed Weissman called him a curse word.
The candy caper was the last straw.
At 12:15 p.m. Feb. 4, not long after Furino set the candy in a bowl by the security guard’s desk on her way to lunch, Weissman entered the lobby and helped himself to not just one or two pieces but all of it. 
With both hands, Weissman emptied the bowl, deposited its contents into his pockets and walked toward the elevator. He paused, turned around and returned to fetch the clear plastic bowl, according to video of the incident reviewed by two deputies.
When Furino returned from lunch two hours later, she asked the doorman why the candy bowl was missing. The doorman said Weissman took it, according to the PBSO report. 
Furino called the cops. 
Reports of theft or vandalism of campaign signs are not uncommon before elections. But stolen campaign candy?  
Deputies showed up at the Dune Deck and, before reviewing security video, asked Weissman what happened. 
Weissman told them “he was aware of the bowl’s removal but would not state if he was involved in it,’’ a report said. 
But in an interview, he admitted he took the bowl of chocolate. He said he did so because the lobby is supposed to be a political-free zone where campaign literature, whether on a pamphlet, a mailer or candy wrapper, is prohibited. 
“We don’t allow politicking in the building. I’m the president. I removed them from the front desk,’’ said Weissman, who said he’d even removed his own campaign mailers from the lobby bulletin board, presumably posted by residents checking their mail. 
If that’s the case, Furino said, he should have removed the candy-filled bowl and taken it to her condo. “But he stole it. He put it in his pockets, and he has a big sweet tooth so we know he ate it,’’ she said.
Although Weissman confessed to having an occasional sweet tooth, he denied stealing or eating Furino’s candy. He said he put the campaign chocolates and bowl in the lobby’s kitchen where Furino kept a backup supply of her campaign candy.
“She had the whole kitchen tied up with bowls full of candy that she wanted the doorman, at the condominium owners’ expense, to continue replenishing for her,’’ he said. 
After a brief investigation, Sgt. Mark Garrison and Deputy David Hul declined to press charges. The incident was classified “a civil issue since the candy and bowl had been left in a common area with no instruction,’’ a PBSO report said. 
“Even though social convention would normally limit a person to one or a few pieces,’’ Hul wrote in his report, “we made it clear there was nothing to stop one person from taking the whole bowl.’’
Furino said she spent $600 on the candy, which she placed in plastic bowls in at least three other condo lobbies in South Palm Beach without incident.
While she was shocked to learn from the Dune Deck’s doorman that Weissman took the candy, more upsetting, she said, was PBSO’s decision not to charge Weissman with a crime. 
“They basically just blew me off, like I was being ridiculous because he took my candy,’’ she said. “It’s not petty. It just shows his character.’’
Weissman, a former state representative and former Parkland city commissioner, laughed when told about Furino’s response. 
“I’ve served in public office for 20 years,’’ he said. “I’ll survive with my character.’’

Related story: Council race turns bittersweet with charge of stolen campaign candy|Video

Four candidates are vying for two at-large seats on the Town Council, each with a four-year term. There are no term limits. The top two vote getters will each win a seat. Council members make $3,000 a year. Town Clerk Yude Davenport said the election will have no ballot questions or amendments for voters.

— Steven J. Smith

U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel listens to Water Treatment Plant Manager James T. Lee at the Delray Beach plant. Photo provided

By Rich Pollack

When U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel and Delray Beach Mayor Shelly Petrolia toured the city’s water treatment plant Feb. 8, they took a stroll through a facility that was built before Petrolia was born and when Frankel was just 4 years old.
“It was like you’re walking back to the 1950s,” Petrolia said. “The interesting thing is that it still works.”
That said, both Petrolia and Frankel know that an upgrade is desperately needed and are looking forward to a new water treatment plant, currently in the planning process.
“It’s long overdue,” Petrolia said.
While the city has yet to identify funding sources for the new plant — which is estimated to cost between $60 million and $80 million — Frankel said that federal dollars could be available.
“In the bipartisan infrastructure bill there are two very-low-interest loan programs that the city may be able to take advantage of,” Frankel said.
The law, she said, allocated a total of $35 billion for infrastructure improvements nationwide, with $1.6 billion of that coming to Florida.
Delray Beach is in the process of receiving close to $11 million from the federal government thanks to the earlier-passed American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
About $4.6 million of that is being used as revenue replacement in the city’s 2021-2022 budget. How the city will use the rest will be discussed as the city begins its 2022-2023 budget.
Whether any of that money will be earmarked for a new water treatment plan is still undecided. City leaders are expected to discuss funding for the plant in the next few months.
In the interim, Petrolia said, federal dollars will be helping the city as it takes on as many as 75 capital improvement projects on the horizon. Those projects range from building a new fire station on Linton Boulevard to increasing the reliability of the water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure.
While residents may see some of the projects become reality in the not-too-distant future, it will be several years before a new water treatment plant is working.
Construction isn’t expected to begin until the 2024-2025 fiscal year and the plant isn’t expected to be ready for use until 2026. Although the design phase of the project has not begun, a preliminary feasibility study calls for a nanofiltration and membrane softening plant.
That type of system is similar to reverse osmosis and filters out many types of pathogens but does not require healthy minerals — such as calcium and magnesium — to be added back into the water.
“We’re looking at making higher quality water all around,” Petrolia said, adding that improving the color of the water is also a priority.
She said enhancing Delray Beach’s drinking water has become a priority for the commission for several years and the new plant will make that happen.
“It will ensure a state-of-the-art water treatment process, advance the city’s monitoring and control systems and improve water pressure and serve the needs of the city for many years to come.”

Nongae Johnson, co-founder of the HERD Foundation, is surrounded by some of the horses used for equine-assisted healing at her ranch in Delray Beach. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Nongae Johnson of Hypoluxo Island has taken a love of horses to a place where few have before. She uses them in recuperative healing while working with veterans, at-risk juveniles, people battling drug addiction, and others.
Johnson, 56, and co-founder Rhonda Fritzshall started the nonprofit HERD Foundation — for Horses Energy Reflection Direction — in 2018 as a follow-up to Fritzshall’s work in equine-assisted healing on Johnson’s suburban Delray Beach farm.
“The more we worked together, the more we realized we could develop a program that helps certain populations,” Johnson said. “Right now, we’re working with veterans groups and the Legal Aid Society. They bring out groups such as disabled adults who have aged out of the foster system, as well as kids who have difficulty getting adopted.
“It’s all kind of heartbreaking.”
Six horses are used in the program, four full-sized and two miniature. Sessions begin with observing how horses work in a herd and communicate, followed by interaction between the visitors and the horses.
Much of the work takes place inside a large, covered area at the center of the 8-acre property.
“We start talking about the language horses use,” Johnson said. “It’s a lot like our language, but they use body language rather than speech. Pressure and release is how they talk to each other.”
Horses tend to create and respect boundaries. They “move their feet around — they figure out where they fit in the hierarchy very fast.”
The horses have taught Johnson and her visitors “the importance of being in that herd, in that family, and more and more as we move forward and the program expands, the more we see how important that herd system is and how much we can learn from the horses to use in our relationships.”
One of the newest initiatives involves parents and couples seeking to strengthen their own relationships.
Some veterans have worked since day one in a 90-minute program on Fridays to establish relationships with the horses.
“You can just see their relationships growing,” Johnson said. “We have one veteran in particular who would come every session and cry and be isolated, and now you never see her not smiling.”
Another program, sponsored by GL Homes, brought out youngsters who had aged out of the foster care program and, in some cases, had disabilities.
“It was such a surprise. I mean, they made us laugh and cry,” Johnson said
She said one doctor working with the veterans saw improvements in them because of the HERD program and decided to visit the horses.
“We were showing him how to have a conversation with the horse, pressure and release, and Miss America came over and put her head over the stall and he jumped. He said, ‘I don’t know what I was expecting,’ so you have to be careful of what you ask for.”
Johnson and her husband, Michael Caruso, who works at the Delray Shooting Center, have four grown children. When she is not at the farm she enjoys “dinner with friends and a cocktail.”
The HERD program is funded by grants, private donors and fundraising and, like most nonprofits, has struggled in that regard during the pandemic.
For more information call 561-665-0083 or email info@herdfoundation.com.

— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: We moved around a lot. We lived in Florida, Albuquerque and New York. My dad had a difficult time making his mind up what he wanted. I spent my sophomore year at Twin Lakes High School in West Palm Beach, but then we moved back to New York and I graduated from Flushing High School. I always made friends, but once I moved it was always more difficult. I became more guarded as far as making close friends.
After that I went to horsemanship school in West Virginia and the school went bankrupt in the first few months. From there I went into the workforce. But I left there with a horse, and that changed everything for me. When they closed down, people were scrambling on what to do with their horses; a girl asked an instructor if somebody would take her horse and I took it. I had to put it to sleep eventually with a leg injury, but then went to school to learn how to manage a horse facility.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I’ve driven carriages in Manhattan, hot-walked thoroughbreds, tended bar and waited on tables, and of course mucked horse stalls. I’m most proud of forming our not-for-profit with Rhonda. I wanted to grow the horse farm business to cover more of what horses have to offer.
It’s not just riding, it’s something deeper. And this part of the work is more fulfilling. Where we are has been around for 31 years. It was originally Johnson’s Folly but that was more about jumping and riding. I didn’t want to confuse that with what we’re doing so we started Tara Farms. I started working with drug rehab centers and went from there.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: Keep moving forward, don’t get stagnant. Don’t overthink things. It’s a cliche but it’s true for me: Follow your dream.

Q: How did you choose to make your home on Hypoluxo Island?
A: My husband, Michael, and I rode our motorcycles up and down A1A for five or six years until we found our home. We were that annoying couple disturbing the peace. My husband has a fishing boat, and that’s what he loves. Before that I never left here and work for 20 years. I sold horses to buy a motorcycle, and ultimately sold the motorcycle to buy more horses.

Q: What is your favorite part about living on Hypoluxo?
A: We love our neighbors and the water. The view is serene and peaceful. The horse farm is both, but when we lived there I would never leave work. I loved being close to the horses, but it became too much. We originally bought the house for the weekends, but it became too much work to go back and forth. While we were at the farm, somebody knocked on the door late at night and that was it. We needed to live elsewhere.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I’m actually planning to read Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift because I want to learn about the Houyhnhnms. It’s a land where the horses talk and rule the Yahoos, who are like humans but not intelligent.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: I enjoy listening to classics such as Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Dinah Washington. I also enjoy Rob Thomas.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: My father was my mentor, but his good friend Earl Hawkins would take me to Jamaica Bay and Brooklyn for horseback riding lessons, and that would take me to where I am today. The horses are my mentors now. They teach me patience, not to be judgmental, not to take things personally. Most of all, they teach good boundaries.

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie who would play you?
A: Halle Barry and Lesley-Ann Brandt from Lucifer. I’ve been told I look like both of them. I used to have my hair in a pixie, which Halle Barry has had also.

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: My husband keeps me laughing. That’s the glue in our marriage, that we’re always laughing, sometimes at each other’s expense. I wake up laughing.

By Ron Hayes

BRINY BREEZES — When the U.S. Army’s 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment dropped into Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, Ed Manley’s job was to help blow up four Nazi cannons overlooking Omaha Beach.
He was 22 and lived to tell about it.
On Sept. 17, 1944, he jumped into Holland on a mission to seize roads and bridges in the key city of Eindhoven. Again he lived.
On Dec. 17, 1944, Manley and the 502nd Regiment held positions in Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge.
Manley was wounded, but lived to be captured by the Nazis on Jan. 3, 1945.
Imprisoned at Stalag 12A in Limburg, Germany, he lived to escape from the camp 41/2 months later. Now he was 23.
At 1:15 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27, Ed Manley died in hospice care at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Palm Beach. He had lived to be 100 and a much loved resident of Briny Breezes since 1993.
Sharon Holden, the town’s administrative assistant, knew him well for many years.
“I thought he would live forever,” Holden says. “I loved that man. He was always in a good mood, joking around and doing his famous little dance.” “I will miss his stories, as everyone will. Not just about D-Day but about his wild and crazy life. He was one in a million. Now that Ed is in heaven, I hope he found all the men that were with him on D-Day. He always wondered what happened to them.”
In his life after the war, Mr. Manley was happy to talk about his experiences on D-Day and beyond, but quick to disavow any suggestion that he was a hero.
“A hero is a guy who does something intentionally to help out somebody else,” he would correct.
The U.S. Army disagreed, awarding him two Bronze Stars for his heroism in Normandy and Bastogne, a Purple Heart for wounds incurred while being taken prisoner, and two presidential citations.
On June 6, 1994, the 50th anniversary of D-Day, Manley returned to France and jumped into Normandy again. He was 72.
Edward Rodney Manley was born on Nov. 5, 1921, in New Jersey. His life before the war was nearly as colorful as his service.
“My dad died two months before I was born, and my mother was an orphan,” he once recalled. “She lived with showgirls and was the only one with a steady job. She got walk-ons on different Broadway shows and that would get her $5.”
When Ed was 3, his mother sent him to live with a babysitter, and at 5 he was moved to the Gould Foundation group home in Harlem.
“I had to learn to be streetwise when I was at the home in Harlem,” Manley said. “On Saturdays all the kids from the home had 15 cents for the movies. The street kids knew it. I wandered away from my group once and this 13-year-old boy cut me four or five times across the leg with a strap razor. I was carrying a broken Coke bottle and buried it in his solar plexus.
“They took me home, cleaned me up, and I went to the movies.”
Returning from the war, Manley passed the test to join the New York State Police. He supplemented his police salary as a flag man directing traffic and a runner for a concrete company dealing with their truckers. He also worked on a tanker on the Great Lakes, and as a lumber salesman and theater manager.
In 1951, he married Dorothy Ann Brower. She died in 1983 after 32 years of marriage. The couple had two sons, Scott and James, who survive him, and a daughter, Kimberly, who died in 2015.
Mr. Manley also loved Big Band music and dancing.
In 1991, he set out to sail his 28-foot boat from Ocean City, Maryland, to Fort Lauderdale.
He got as far as Briny Breezes.
When he stopped to fuel up in Georgia, the attendant asked where he was headed.
“Fort Lauderdale,” Manley said.
“Well, when you get to Boynton Beach, call this number.”
He called, and the same attendant met him by Two Georges. They had a beer and walked across the bridge.
“How do you get one of these?” Manley asked when he saw the trailers in Briny Breezes.
Ed Manley bought a lot for $15,000 and lived the rest of his life here, with his wife’s ashes on a shelf in the trailer.
“I was happiest when I was married,” he said. For his 100th birthday last Nov. 5, as friends and neighbors planned a party in the Briny clubhouse, Mr. Manley pondered his next 100 years.
“I don’t want to be around,” he decided. “We’ve got people going to the moon now, and we can’t handle Earth. But I hope you have half as much fun in your life as I’m having.”
Debra Boyle knew Ed Manley through her service as the Ocean Ridge Police Department’s community policing officer.
“He was an amazing man,” she said. “His eyes always lit up when he talked about being in the service, and why he went there.
“There was one time in late January, when he was getting ready to go to the hospital. He and I walked down the stairs and he did a little dance for the paramedics before he got on the gurney.”
Mr. Manley came home after that hospital visit, but returned to the VA Medical Center a final time Feb. 10.
Manley told The Coastal Star in 2009, when he was 87, that after his death, he wanted his ashes dropped in the Gulf Stream.
“I’m taking the cheap seats back to Ireland,” he said. “My family and friends can spend the money on a party.”

By Larry Barszewski

Manalapan is giving its town employees unexpected 5% raises, hoping to keep them happy with their jobs and to reduce the chances they will start looking for more lucrative employment elsewhere.
When Town Manager Linda Stumpf broached the subject with commissioners in January, concerned that the town’s pay scale wasn’t keeping up with those in neighboring communities, she suggested a 2% increase, with possibly another significant pay boost when the next annual budget is approved later this year.
Commissioners instead voted unanimously at their Feb. 22 meeting for 5% raises for all full- and part-time workers and to lift the starting salary for police officers in town from $51,200 to $55,000.
Commissioner John Deese said the increases are warranted, given today’s job market.
“I’ve been dealing with this in my own office,” said Deese, who is CEO of Guardians Credit Union. “We literally went into crisis mode,” awarding raises of up to 15% and retention bonuses of 10% in an effort to stem the tide of employees leaving for other jobs.
“I just want to make sure we’re ahead of that so we don’t end up losing good people,” Deese said.
Stumpf said she hadn’t heard grumbling from town employees thinking about leaving, but didn’t want to wait for that to happen.
Police Chief Carmen Mattox, who has been having difficulty filling his department’s openings, recently hired a new officer who will receive the increased starting pay. He has two other officer positions to fill.
“I think it’s going to help retain officers and I think it’s going to help attract officers,” Mattox said.
Katie Mendoza, representing the Police Benevolent Association, said other communities are adjusting their pay scales and starting salaries, some as part of ongoing contract negotiations. She supported the 5% raise, but said the starting salary for police officers could be even higher than the approved bump if the commission wants to make it more competitive.
Mayor Keith Waters said the raises and new starting salary are a good place to start. The town will continue to monitor salaries in preparation for its next budget.
Police will receive at least a 3% raise in October, which will be the last year of their current contract. Stumpf previously said the town’s typical 3% employee raises awarded in October may need to be as high as 5% this year.
The town employs about 40 full- and part-time workers, Stumpf said. The approved raises will cost about $110,900 annually, she said, while the boost in starting salary for police officers will cost about $15,200 annually.

By Rich Pollack

Residents of a Gulf Stream condominium who have struggled with water pressure issues for more than three years met with Delray Beach officials last month hoping to learn why water mysteriously disappears from their faucets during early morning hours.
Instead, the meeting and a subsequent letter left them confused and with even more questions after Delray Beach’s utilities director suggested the four-story condominium’s own irrigation schedule was at least partially responsible.
“I was surprised,” said Harvey Baumgarten, a member of the Gulf Stream Shores board of directors. “At our meeting with them we were talking about irrigation throughout the whole town as a likely cause and this seemed to be pointing the finger at our own irrigation as a possible cause.”
Since about 2018, residents have tried to discover why water pressure in some of the complex’s 54 units is almost nonexistent early in the morning, especially during dry months of the year. The problem was so bad last winter that some residents had to collect buckets of water the night before to flush their toilets in the morning.
Baumgarten said problems this season were minimal as of late February, in part because a reasonable amount of rain had fallen.
Officials in Gulf Stream, which is responsible for getting water to the building on State Road A1A, did their best to determine what was creating the problem and couldn’t pinpoint a single cause.
Surmising that lawn watering at nearby properties might be a contributing factor, town leaders reminded residents of restrictions that limit watering to certain days of the week based on addresses.
Gulf Stream Shores residents also turned to Delray Beach hoping that the city, which provides water to its neighbor, could provide answers.
During the meeting with City Manager Terrence Moore, utilities director Hassan Hadjimiry and others, residents heard that Delray Beach’s water pressure is consistent all day and probably isn’t part of the problem.
Hadjimiry reiterated that message in his Feb. 23 letter to the Gulf Stream Shores board.
“It is imperative to note that the City of Delray Beach water treatment plant and remote storage tanks/repumps operate at 50 psi pressure range depending on the peak demand in the distribution system,” he wrote.
Instead, overwatering of lawns and landscaping was cited as one of the key culprits.
What surprised Baumgarten and others at Gulf Stream Shores was that Hadjimiry’s letter said part of the problem is caused by the condominium’s own irrigation schedule.
“The highest demand at Gulf Stream Shores is between midnight and 4 a.m.,” he wrote. “This high demand on potable water for irrigation is a direct contributor in experiencing lower water pressure to your residents.”
That confused board members because the low pressure happens later in the morning, between 5 and 7 a.m. They say they expressly moved the irrigation on their property to earlier in the morning to avoid any pressure issues.
Hadjimiry, like Gulf Stream officials, recommended the condominium purchase booster pumps and split irrigation zones to different days to minimize demand. He also suggested an irrigation audit to identify other ways to resolve issues.
Baumgarten said the board is looking into the possibility of booster pumps.
Board members are also looking forward to a meeting next month with Moore, Hadjimiry, Gulf Stream Town Manager Greg Dunham and other town leaders to try to figure what else can be done.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach won in appellate court the ability to keep its downtown height cap at three stories.
“It’s a big win for the city,” Mayor Shelly Petrolia said Feb. 16, the same day the ruling was announced. The appeals court ruled that the city could limit its height to three stories in part of its downtown.
Property owner Billy Himmelrich and his business partner had sued the city in May 2018, claiming they were not informed in writing about the zoning change, as the Bert Harris Act requires. The Harris Act protects individual property rights.
In February 2015, following 18 months of meetings, the City Commission placed a three-story height limit in its downtown.
Residents wanted to preserve the small-town look of East Atlantic Avenue, between Swinton Avenue and the Intracoastal Waterway.
Himmelrich, though, did speak at the zoning hearings before the cap was placed in early 2015.
He could not be reached for comment following the court ruling.
He and his partner own two parking lots and two buildings, just east of the Old School Square grounds.
They sought $6.9 million in damages.
They wanted to build a four-story hotel, but they did not submit formal plans.
They lost at the circuit court level because their plans were not formalized and then appealed that loss to the Fourth District Court of Appeal in May 2019.

By Jane Smith

A former city manager of Delray Beach had only one month to file his wrongful dismissal lawsuit, not 13 months as he claimed, the city said in its Feb. 14 response to the circuit court lawsuit filed Dec. 30 by George Gretsas.
In late October 2020, Gretsas had asked for a 30-day postponement of his city termination hearing until Nov. 20, 2020, to allow his attorneys to review the city’s public records. The city agreed, provided Gretsas would give up his salary and benefits that he was being paid while under suspension. He did.
Then, Gretsas filed for a court injunction based on irreparable harm on Nov. 10, 2020, to stop the city termination hearing from going forward in 10 days.
But Circuit Court Judge John Kastrenakes refused to get involved in the city’s business.
“Losing a job is not irreparable harm,” he ruled. If Gretsas was terminated in a quasi-judicial hearing, then he could petition the court to review the decision within 30 days, according to the judge’s ruling on Nov. 17, 2020.
Both Gretsas and his attorney for the wrongful dismissal lawsuit declined to comment. Gretsas is seeking about $145,000 for back pay and benefits.
The city initially suspended Gretsas in late June 2020, but not on the charges under which the City Commission eventually voted 3-2 to fire him. The commission first hired an outside firm to investigate Gretsas’ actions as a city manager, and the investigator reported a toxic work environment, especially for women.
One female employee, Assistant City Manager Suzanne Fisher, went on leave in May 2020, citing emotional duress from Gretsas’ behavior. She left the city in September 2020.
Later, commissioners asked their internal auditor, Julia Davidyan, in August 2020 to investigate Gretsas’ actions.
City Attorney Lynn Gelin, who was interviewed as part of the outside investigation, advised commissioners that if they pursued the bullying charges, the issue would continue to divide the city staff.
During the internal investigation, Davidyan found that Gretsas had installed a scheduling program on his computer without telling the city’s information technology staff, sent an email to Fisher about her shortcomings that he later distributed to city staff, and hired staffers for more than the city’s pay scale allowed.
The commission voted to fire Gretsas with cause on the issues found in the internal investigation, with Commissioners Adam Frankel and Ryan Boylston dissenting.
They opposed the firing because they did not think Gretsas’ actions reached the level of termination with cause.
As of late February, the court had not set a hearing date for the city’s motion to dismiss.

By Steve Plunkett

The fifth time was the charm for James and Nadia Davis’ plan to build an 8,699-square-foot home on an oversized lot at the mouth of Polo Cove off the Intracoastal Waterway.
Their proposal was evaluated three times by the town’s Architectural Review and Planning Board and twice by the Town Commission, which bounced it back to the ARPB on Dec. 10 and gave it grudging approval on Feb. 11.
Mayor Scott Morgan, who originally complained about the massing of the structure and its need for a special exception, was the sole “no” in a pair of 4-1 votes for the exception and the overall site plan.
“It’s a beautiful home, should have been smaller,” Morgan said.
Architect Benjamin Schreier said he tweaked his plan for 588 Banyan Road by reducing the pitch of the roofs, lowering the height of the second story by 2 feet and the first story by 3 feet.
“What we’ve done is reduce the mass by 13% on this house,” Schreier said, adding that he also lowered the chimneys by 6 feet.
James Davis, who presented letters of support from 14 neighbors, called his land “a very large and unusual lot.”
“It’s a significant lot. It’s the largest core point lot in the neighborhood, and it’s worthy of a proportionate and significant home,” he said.
He also said the home conforms to Gulf Stream’s code, rules and regulations “by all objective measures” and meets the criteria for getting a special exception for a waterfront lot.
Even with the special exception, the home will be 30 feet from the water to its south, which is 5 feet farther than the existing home and twice the distance of the house on the other side of the cove’s entrance, Schreier said.
He said the Davises’ home was in the middle, size-wise, of eight point-lot homes in the town’s core district but that at 30,600 square feet its lot was the largest.
Two towering banyan trees at the entrance meant the home had to be pushed south toward the water, creating a need for the special exception, he said.
Commissioner Paul Lyons called the home an “outlier” unlike other core residences.
“I struggled with this particular application more so than any one I’ve ever looked at in 10 years,” he said.
Commissioner Donna White was pleased by the lowered roof lines, saying the original proposal made the house too lofty.
Morgan said the Davises should have removed the need for a special exception.
“You take a few square feet out of every room, you reduce one large room somewhat, you’d never notice the difference and you would have satisfied in my opinion the neighborhood district characterization that we are trying to achieve,” he said.
The plan received 5-0 approval from the ARPB on Nov. 18, was sent back by the commission on Dec. 10, was postponed by the review board on Jan. 27 to let the architect address the massing, was approved 4-0 by the board at a special meeting Feb. 3 and got its final 4-1 commission vote Feb. 11.
The commission also approved on first reading an ordinance saying that site plans for homes cannot be too dissimilar in architectural compatibility and height of building from homes within a 250-foot radius.
The ordinance was patterned after one in the town of Palm Beach. Gulf Stream already had a regulation prohibiting excessively similar structures.
“This is a way to sort of compare the streetscape as you’re driving by and ensure that we maintain the character on a sort of micro level as opposed to just from a districtwide standard,” Assistant Town Attorney Trey Nazzaro said.

Volunteers and staff remove records, furniture and personal items from Old School Square on Feb. 11. Many larger items were sold on site. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

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By Jane Smith

The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency has demanded that the former operators of the Old School Square campus produce financial records to prove they properly spent nearly $200,000 the CRA gave them or risk being forced to return the money.
If they fail to meet a March 10 deadline, the CRA will move to claw back the $187,500 it gave the Old School Square Center for the Arts Inc. The money represents the first-quarter payment of the 2020-2021 budget year.
“They keep saying ‘we gave you what you asked for, where is our money?’” Renee Jadusingh, CRA executive director, said at the Feb. 22 board meeting. The former operators were referring to the rest of the CRA money — $562,500 — that had been allocated the last budget year.
“If they didn’t spend it in Category A, they simply moved the money to Category B,” which violates the funding agreement, Jadusingh said. Changes of more than 10% to a budget line item must be approved by the CRA, she said.
She told the board members that the CRA staff has requested canceled checks to prove how its money was spent.
In an email response to questions from The Coastal Star, Carli Brinkman, the former operators’ spokeswoman, wrote that the CRA has “requested information that far exceeds the scope that is relevant to the City’s financial involvement, which accounted for only 20% to 25% of our operations.”
Still, she wrote, “We are working hard to provide the requested relevant information and feel confident we can respond in a timely fashion.
“We think it is important that Delray Beach residents are aware that the same CRA that is withholding these funds, making claims of non-compliance and making request after request for more information from us, is run primarily by the very City officials that just terminated our lease and are being sued by us. These individuals already have a vested interest in seeing us exhaust our funds and resources so that we are no longer able to operate in any capacity as an organization.”
Not the case, insisted CRA board member Juli Casale. Under her questioning, Jadusingh agreed it was the OSSCA leaders who were “not cooperative.”
Casale also requested the CRA staff contact the federal Small Business Administration to request the documents that OSSCA provided to secure two payouts under the Paycheck Protection Program.
The OSSCA received a PPP loan for $309,709 in April 2020 that was later forgiven and a $283,095 loan in March 2021 that was not forgiven.
Casale wanted the CRA staff to compare the documents to determine that the payroll expenses were not covered both by the CRA and the federal programs. That would be “double-dipping,” Casale said.
CRA board member Angie Gray said, “The CRA is getting blamed for what’s going on at OSS. ... Why are we giving them (more time) when the (mismanagement) has been going on for years?”
The CRA board voted 6-0 to approve sending the deadline notice. Board member Ryan Boylston was absent.
The OSS campus carries a deed restriction. It must remain an arts and cultural center. If it does not, the property reverts to the Palm Beach County School District. The campus has five entertainment venues: the Field House, the Crest Theatre, the Creative Arts School, the Cornell Art Museum and the Pavilion.
In August, frustrated that their repeated requests for financial records from OSS managers had gone unanswered, the City Commission voted 3-2 to terminate the OSS lease. Mayor Shelly Petrolia, Shirley Johnson and Casale voted to end the lease. The decision prompted an unsuccessful, but heated and sometimes mean-spirited, public relations and social media campaign to force them to reconsider.
The city lease with the OSSCA operators ended Feb. 9. The scene on the last day was chaotic as the former operators moved belongings and sold old wooden desks and display cases. Concerned residents called the city to complain.
Delray Beach police “performed a security detail during the transition,” Chief Javaro Sims wrote in an email sent Feb. 18 by Ted White, police spokesman.

The city's spokesperson said the city made a photographic inventory last fall of city-owned items in the OSS buildings, according to an email sent Feb. 24.