A boat speeds along the Intracoastal Waterway north of Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack and Jane Smith

It was a perfect Florida June day when Harold “JR” Ewing, his wife and daughter boarded their 16-foot boat and headed north on the Intracoastal Waterway from Boca Raton to Delray Beach for lunch with friends.
Ewing’s boat slowed in the water off Highland Beach as a larger southbound boat created a sizable wake. Not all the boats in the area cut their speeds, however. Instead, the operator of a 29-foot Century apparently didn’t see Ewing’s boat in front of him and plowed into it, crushing the smaller vessel.
Ewing, who was behind the console, was struck by the Century’s bow and suffered numerous serious injuries, including the loss of sight in his left eye, paralysis on his right side, more than 28 skull fractures, spine fractures, a broken shoulder and three broken ribs.
“What upsets me is that I was blindsided,” he said. “He went up and over us. There was nothing I could do.”
Ewing, 48, and his wife, MaryJane, hope that renewed efforts by elected officials in Delray Beach and Highland Beach will persuade state lawmakers to implement regulations — including enforcing speed limits on the Intracoastal Waterway — to enhance safety.
“It’s sad what happened to me, but it shouldn’t happen to anyone else,” Ewing said.
Less than three months after Ewing’s June 6 accident, police, fire rescue personnel and officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were back near the water off of Highland Beach, this time responding to a crash in which seven people were thrown from a boat after it crashed into a sea wall. A 37-year-old woman died from her injuries.
While that accident is still under investigation, a citation was filed in the crash involving Ewing. The operator of the Century was cited for violation of navigational rules that results in an accident causing serious bodily injury, according to an FWC report. The violation is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by 60 days in jail or a $500 fine.
With both those accidents in mind, Highland Beach commissioners last month considered a resolution asking the FWC to “actively enforce existing designated boating speeds and all boating safety measures along that part of the Intracoastal Waterway that abuts the town of Highland Beach.”
Highland Beach’s proposed resolution, currently being revised, comes after Delray Beach commissioners twice passed a similar resolution. Delray Beach approved a resolution in February 2020 and a similar one in June, both asking the FWC to lower the boat speeds to a slow-speed/no-wake zone in a section of the Intracoastal.
Highland Beach’s proposal, however, is focused on increasing enforcement rather than on reducing speed.
Both communities, however, are focused on making the Intracoastal safer.
In Delray Beach, commissioners in September agreed to spend $65,000 on a 23-foot boat, with the money coming from the city garage fund that police and fire departments pay into annually. The boat will be purchased in October, then four officers will be trained to operate it before it is deployed.
Highland Beach commissioners also agreed to investigate the possibility of purchasing a boat, something residents say is much needed.
The boat in Delray Beach will allow marine patrol officers to enforce the laws, respond to emergencies and patrol the 3-plus miles of the Intracoastal, the beachfront, Lake Ida and 15-plus miles of canals, according to the supporting material.
Delray Beach Police Chief Javaro Sims plans to strike deals with nearby police departments in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach with their own marine units. The agreements would allow the marine units to pursue speeding boats into neighboring cities.
Delray Beach barrier island resident Pam Daley said the police boat was “a marvelous step forward to having a no-wake zone in the section of the Intracoastal. ... We will welcome it whenever it comes.”
The police boat also will help residents who live on the other side of the Intracoastal and are affected by wakes from speeding boaters on the waterway.
Patrick Potak, who has owned Marina Delray Inc., at the western base of the George Bush Boulevard bridge for 26 years, said wakes at times have damaged his docks and boats tied up there. He called the city’s plan to have its own marine patrol boat “good news for the residents and my marina.”
All along the waterway, wakes continue to be a concern for residents and are an issue for Ewing and his wife as they try to deal with challenges that come from the June accident.
“During the weekends it should all be no-wake zones from the Hillsboro Inlet to Boynton Beach,” Ewing said.
After undergoing his sixth surgery in September, Ewing said he is fortunate that the incident happened behind the town’s fire station where he could get a quick response. He’s grateful that his family members were not injured.
His wife and 14-year-old daughter were in the bow of the boat. The girl’s twin brother, who probably would have been at the console, decided at the last minute not to make the trip.
“For all the things that went wrong, there were a few things that went right,” said Ewing, who lives in Boca Raton and owns a construction services business. He can operate his business from the office but is no longer able to work in the field. “I’m in a bad way but I’m alive and here.”
The Ewings also are grateful for the support they have received from the community, including the more than 200 people who have contributed to a GoFundMe account that has raised more than $50,000.
That can be found at www.gofundme.com/f/harolds-adventure-partner.

Sean Kopins, who works at Marina Delray, encourages boaters to take it slow. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach kept its tax rate the same, but increased property values will give the city slightly more cash in the budget year that began Oct. 1.
The city’s tax rate — $6.66 per $1,000 of taxable value — is the same as last year’s when the pandemic shut down cities nationwide. The rate for debt service is down slightly to 17.9 cents per $1,000.
The city is using about $4.6 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to help balance the $152.3 million budget, leaving $873,660. That use is allowed by the U.S. Treasury, John Lege, finance director, told city commissioners at the Aug. 24 budget workshop.
Sixteen vacant positions, totaling $1.2 million, will be filled in January, saving 25% of their salaries or an estimated $291,635 in the budget year. The positions include five firefighters, three police officers and a lifeguard.
City Manager Terrence Moore did his part by eliminating the position of legislative affairs manager held by Jason King, whom previous manager George Gretsas hired. King was notified in August that his job would not be funded.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia suggested at the August workshop that it might be a future savings measure for the city to no longer handle building permits for Gulf Stream. Because of the contentious nature of some of the town’s residents, the city’s building clerks must spend time pulling records for the town when there is a public records request. Petrolia asked Moore to look into the Gulf Stream permit situation.
The current tax rate for Delray Beach will bring in about $80.5 million in property tax income. The city’s contribution to its Community Redevelopment Agency is $16.1 million, leaving about $64.4 million in the city’s general fund.
At the first budget public hearing on Sept. 13, Petrolia pointed out an item to remember when discussing next year’s budget. “We are always told that the tax rate set in July can be lowered. But think about all the work that the staff did and how difficult it would be to change in September,” she said.
To plan for future shortfalls, such as if the investment rates fall for the three pension funds the city must pay, new revenue sources must be found.
To that end, the police department received permission to buy a patrol boat for $65,000. Chief Javaro Sims told commissioners that with the boat purchase, his officers will generate income by ticketing boat operators for speeding and other violations.
At the second budget hearing on Sept. 23, Commissioner Juli Casale said, “I’m excited because this is my first year with actual items in budget.”
She pushed for the Coastal Habitat Conservation Plan, which will inventory all the plants on the municipal beach.
The Beach Bucket brigade is a more modest project that she suggested. She envisions canvas bags hanging on a vertical pole. Beachgoers could take a bag and use it to help clean up the beach.
Both projects are in the city’s beach management fund of $510,050.

By Rich Pollack

Residents planning to run for elected office in most March 2022 municipal elections will discover that paperwork is required to be filed earlier than in years past — thanks in part to a request from the county’s supervisor of elections.
In a letter to clerks and elected leaders in most municipalities, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link asked that each entity that hasn’t already done so adjust its qualifying period so it ends prior to the 95th day before the March 8 election in order for her office to get ballots out in time.
As a result, cities and towns holding elections will close the qualifying period before the last week in November.
Sartory Link said that her office needs time to create and print ballots as well as code the election in order to meet statutory requirements, such as ensuring that military and overseas ballots are mailed 45 days before the election.
It’s important, she said, for all municipalities to meet the qualifying period deadline.
“Our system does not allow us to ‘close’ or move forward one city at a time, so any delay by one municipality results in our inability to move forward with others,” she said. “I can’t do it for anybody until I do it for everybody.”
To meet the Friday, Dec. 3, deadline, most municipalities in coastal South Palm Beach County have already moved up their qualifying periods.
In Highland Beach, for example, the qualifying period will begin on the second Tuesday in November, Nov. 9, and end on the fourth Tuesday, Nov. 23. That is two weeks earlier than last year. Qualifying periods in Briny Breezes and South Palm Beach are also Nov. 9-23.
In Ocean Ridge, qualifying this year will begin on Nov. 1 and end on Nov. 12. In Manalapan qualifying is Nov. 2-16, and in Lantana it’s Nov. 8-19.
There are no scheduled March elections in Gulf Stream, Boca Raton and Delray Beach.

By Joe Capozzi

Manalapan officials are vowing to continue fighting a possible plan by a powerful union to create a new taxing district for Palm Beach County Fire Rescue service.
The county’s firefighters and paramedics union this summer considered a plan to initiate legislation next year that would allow the creation of the taxing district and have it up and running by October 2023.
But concerns from some municipalities led the union in September to postpone the proposal indefinitely, Scott Bielecky, president of the Professional Firefighters/Paramedics of Palm Beach County, Local 2928, told The Coastal Star on Sept. 20. 
“I’m not going to say it’s completely gone, but I don’t believe it’ll come back any time soon,’’ he said.  
“There are a lot of questions. The intent was not to have people so opposed to it without understanding it. We just ran into confusion over it.’’
Bielecky said he was reluctant to get into specifics of the original proposal. But a document circulated to municipalities offered a general outline of a taxing district aimed at offering the most efficient use of tax dollars while ensuring “fair and equitable costs” to residents and visitors.
It would not be fair and equitable for homeowners in Manalapan, town officials said.
The small but wealthy town of 419 residents will pay about $1.58 million under a contract with the county’s Fire Rescue for service in the year that started Oct. 1.
The proposed new district would have scrapped Fire Rescue’s system of offering service to the county’s unincorporated areas and 19 municipalities through two municipal service taxing units or service contracts.
If the proposal had gone through, Manalapan homeowners would have paid a tax rate levied against the assessed value of their properties. Under the current contract, Manalapan’s costs are based on either South Palm Beach’s assessed property values or the actual cost to run the station next to Town Hall, Manalapan Town Manager Linda Stumpf said.
Property values in Manalapan are just under $1.5 billion while values in neighboring South Palm Beach, which also has a contract with county Fire Rescue, are roughly $457 million. 
“It’s not good for Manalapan if this goes forward, and the union is pushing for it,’’ Stumpf told the Town Commission on Sept. 17.
“When I heard about it I was horrified, because it affects us substantially. It will affect the rest of the people in the county, because the millage rate will be a little bit higher than that MSTU.’’
Stumpf said her understanding is that Manalapan and Jupiter would take the biggest hits of all the county’s municipalities. 
“It will cost you substantially more than you pay now,’’ she told the commissioners, urging them to voice their opposition to local legislators. 
The proposed new district would have offered relief to Manalapan’s general fund budget, by removing the $1.5 million cost for the fire rescue contract, but town taxpayers would have ended up with a higher annual tax bill, she said. 
Mayor Keith Waters noted that Manalapan would have paid three times more than South Palm Beach for fire rescue under the proposed district.
“That’s not fair,’’ he said in an interview after the meeting. “Just because we have nicer homes doesn’t mean we have more people.’’ 
Bielecky said town officials needn’t worry.
“I don’t see it coming back any time in the near future and I’m sure if it were to, there’d be a lot more discussion,’’ he said. “If we bring it back, we will reach out ... and answer any questions.’’
In other business, Stumpf said the town remained at an impasse on a new police contract because the police union is objecting to her coronavirus policy at a time when the pandemic is affecting the town’s police force. 
The policy ranges from wearing protective masks to testing protocols for vaccinated and unvaccinated people, but the union felt it was too restrictive, she said. 
“We have one more meeting with them to see if we can come up with something that is agreeable,’’ she said Sept. 10.  “I just think we need to protect the residents and employees here with a policy that gives us some restrictions.’’ 
Meanwhile, the police chief’s September report mentioned at least one officer hospitalized with COVID-19 and plans to hire a part-time officer.
“Unscheduled absences continue to occur due to COVID-19,’’ Chief Carmen Mattox wrote Sept. 10. “Personnel have tested positive and require time to recover. Others have been exposed and are required to quarantine. At this time no vacations are being approved until staffing levels increase.’’

• The commission approved a $12.48 million budget and 3.1695 tax rate for the year that started Oct. 1. The tax rate is the same as the previous year.

By Steve Plunkett

Roads in the town’s core district won’t be torn up in 2022 or 2024, but get ready for detours in most of 2023.
Gulf Stream commissioners decided on Aug. 13 to make improvements to streets, drainage and water mains on both the west and east sides of the core area of town instead of spreading the work out over three years. Construction will begin in January 2023 and end 11 months later.
Commissioners were pleased to be told that they might save 5% on the roadwork construction costs by combining the core-area projects and that the town has enough money to pay for the work without borrowing.
“We’ve got a very healthy fund balance in the general fund. We have the money,” said Rebecca Tew, the town’s chief financial officer.
At their Sept. 10 meeting commissioners learned that motorcycle companies are seeking a zoning change in Delray Beach to allow dealerships east of Federal Highway and north of George Bush Boulevard, where automakers already have showrooms backing up to Place au Soleil.
Assistant Town Attorney Trey Nazzaro said the chosen area, if approved, would have minimal effect on Delray Beach residents.
“Therefore it’s going to impact us the most,” he said, promising a vigorous lobbying effort against the change.
In other business in August and September, commissioners:
• Adopted the rollback rate, $3.67 per $1,000 of taxable value, for fiscal 2022, which began Oct. 1, meaning the town will take in the same amount of property taxes as it did the previous year. Gulf Stream has adopted the rollback rate or below for the past six years.
• Rejected an appeal from 3247 Polo Drive to not have to replace a 25-foot gumbo limbo tree. New owner Graham Conklin said the tree was cut down before he bought the property in January. Town staff said it was removed Jan. 14. The Architectural Review and Planning Board had ruled he must remove a stump and plant a suitable replacement.
• Approved a request by The Little Club to build two pickleball courts 600 feet from the nearest neighbors. An earlier application for courts only 50 feet from residences had been denied.

By Joel Engelhardt

The population of the six barrier island towns of South County grew at an 11.7% pace over the past 10 years, a slightly lower rate than the county as a whole, census 2020 figures show.
The four larger municipalities with barrier island residents — Lantana, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Boca Raton — grew at a 14.6% rate, matching Florida’s overall growth rate.
Florida, the nation’s third-largest state, grew to 21.5 million residents, figures from the decennial nationwide count show. 
The state’s third-largest county, Palm Beach, rose by 13% to 1.49 million residents, while the nation as a whole grew by 7.3% to 331 million residents.
The figures, released Aug. 12 and updated Sept. 16, will be used for redistricting seats in Congress and the Florida Legislature, as well as the Palm Beach County Commission. The census also is used to determine how much cities and towns get in federal and state revenues. 
Here’s a breakdown of the count for the 10 South County barrier island municipalities.

South Palm Beach
After the confusion of the 2000 census, which initially put the South Palm Beach population at 699 but later updated the count to 1,531, the town’s count is beginning to achieve equilibrium.
This year, the census is “spot-on,” Town Manager Robert Kellogg said, with 1,471 residents, an 8.3% increase over 2010’s adjusted count.
The rise is due to the inclusion of two condo buildings on the southern edge of town at the Lantana border, 4500 and 4501 S. Ocean Blvd., Kellogg said. Both buildings, totaling 114 units, were counted in Lantana in 2010, he said. 
The head count also coincides with the estimate of 1,460 residents in 2020 made by the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
That’s a big change from the past two Census Bureau efforts. 
The updated 2000 count, which came about when the Census Bureau realized it had put many town residents in Palm Beach or Lantana, held until 2010, when the bureau again had to reassess its South Palm count. 
In 2010, the bureau first put the population at 1,171, a 30% decline over the amended 2000 number, but later changed it to 1,358 — a mere 12.7% drop.
The 2020 count gave South Palm Beach a 24% rise in housing units, the second-highest in the county, behind only Gulf Stream.
South Palm Beach had the county’s highest housing vacancy rate at 49%, down from 50% 10 years ago. Aside from capturing empty homes, the vacancy rate takes into account seasonal homes where the owner lists another home as primary. 
South Palm Beach also saw an increase in residents who considered themselves white and not Hispanic, rising 15.5% since 2010. 
At the same time, the town’s Hispanic population grew to 8% from 4% 10 years ago.
The Census Bureau considers Hispanic origin to be an ethnicity, not counted in its racial numbers. The numbers of white, Black and Asian people cited in this story are those who did not claim Hispanic origin or more than one race. The bureau allows residents to claim up to six races.

Briny Breezes
The population of Briny Breezes dropped 16.5% to 502, the Census Bureau said, the largest percentage decline of any municipality in Palm Beach County. The number is 75 fewer people than the bureau’s April 2020 estimate for the town. 
The only other Palm Beach County municipalities to lose population over 10 years were Belle Glade, Pahokee and South Bay in the Glades and the two tiniest towns in the county, Glen Ridge and Cloud Lake.
“It’s a disappointment to me to hear that our population has dropped,” Town Council President Sue Thaler said. “We were afraid of that with the COVID shutdown, especially as it affected our Canadian residents. Many had to drop everything and return immediately to Canada in March 2020.”
Residents, including those from other countries, who departed before April 1, the official head count day, would not have been counted. Town volunteers took to the phones to call residents and urge them to complete a census form. 
“If there is something we can do about it I hope we do, because the undercount, I’ve been saying since COVID hit, is going to affect us for the next 10 years,” Thaler said. Census data is used to determine how federal and state revenues are shared among towns and counties. 
The 2020 drop comes 10 years after Briny recorded a 46% population increase. 
The Census Bureau appears to have rectified an error in its 2010 census, which counted 800 housing units in Briny Breezes, an impossible number in a town with just 488 lots. The 2020 census puts the number of housing units at 523. 
With the drop in housing units came a drop in the percentage considered vacant, from a countywide high of 53.5% in 2010 to 41.1% in 2020.
The town remained mostly white, at 95%, but registered 16 Hispanic residents, an increase over five Hispanic residents recorded in 2010.

Gulf Stream
Gulf Stream remained mostly white and growing in 2020, with the census showing a 21% population increase to 954. The rate of increase is the fourth-highest among the county’s municipalities and well beyond the countywide growth rate of 13%. 
It keeps Gulf Stream’s population ahead of the same six towns as 10 years ago — Briny Breezes, Manalapan, Jupiter Inlet Colony, the Village of Golf, Glen Ridge and Cloud Lake — plus the county’s newest city, Westlake, which has 906 residents.
The population rose from 786, buoyed by the 2011 annexation of 16.6 acres north of town, which was expected to add about 150 new residents, as well as the conversion of single-home estates into multiple lots. 
The bureau counted 662 homes in Gulf Stream, with 457 occupied, producing a 31% vacancy rate. That’s 137 housing units more than in 2010. The 26% rise in housing units was the highest rate in the county.
The town’s population registered 93% non-Hispanic white and 5% Hispanic, a rise from 4% 10 years ago.

Manalapan
Manalapan registered a 3.2% population increase, the 10th-smallest rise among municipalities in Palm Beach County, to 419 residents. The climb is 30% since 2000, when the Census Bureau counted 321 residents. The population remains overwhelmingly non-Hispanic white, at 92%, up from 90% 10 years ago. The census counted 306 housing units, down from 339 in 2010. The vacancy rate stood at 33.6%.

Ocean Ridge
Ocean Ridge’s population rose 2.8%, the ninth-smallest increase in the county, to 1,830 residents. Its population is 9% higher than it was 20 years ago, and remains more than 90% white.
The Hispanic share of its population rose to 4.3%, up from 2.9% in 2010, and the number of Asians in Ocean Ridge doubled to 30 from 15.
The town’s housing vacancy rate dipped slightly to 37.5% and the number of housing units dropped by just four, to 1,557.

Highland Beach
The town dominated by waterfront condos saw a 21.3% population increase to 4,295 in 2020 and a correspondingly sharp 21.7% rise in housing units. 
The population number is nearly 10% more than the April 2020 Census Bureau estimate and 17.5% greater than the University of Florida’s 2020 estimate for the town.
Highland Beach retained its position as the 21st-largest town in the county but the town grew at the fifth-highest rate among municipalities countywide.
The Census Bureau counted 774 more housing units in Highland Beach in 2020, but a corresponding rise in vacancies left the vacancy rate nearly unchanged at 43%.
The town added one large condo building since 2010, the eight-story Seagate condo at 3200 S. Ocean Blvd., though it added just 19 housing units. 
Still, residents volunteered to go door-to-door during the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 to urge people to fill out their census forms, more families moved in and many residents switched their primary homes to Highland Beach, said town Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman. 
“I’m pleasantly surprised people answered,” Gossett-Seidman said.
The town remained more than 90% white, with a rise in its Asian population to nearly 2% and a Black population of about a half percent. Hispanics represent 5.4% of the town’s population, up from 3.6% in 2010.

Lantana
Lantana retained its place as the 15th-largest municipality in Palm Beach County, with a 10.3% population gain to 11,504. Its white population dipped nearly 3% to just below half, at 49.6%. Its Black population rose nearly 24% and now represents nearly one-quarter of the town’s population. One-fifth of the town’s residents consider themselves Hispanic.
The census showed a 9% rise in housing units in Lantana, to 5,659.

Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Delray Beach
Among the three large cities with coastal populations, Delray Beach grew the slowest, at a 10.4% clip, while Boca Raton gained 15.4% and Boynton Beach gained 17.8%. Over the past 20 years, Boca Raton and Boynton Beach grew by nearly a third while Delray grew by just 11%.
Boca Raton, with 97,422 people, retained its position as the second-largest city in the county, behind West Palm Beach.
Boynton Beach’s population reached 80,380, third-highest in the county, with Delray Beach next at 66,846.
All three cities saw a decline in white non-Hispanic populations, with whites in Boynton Beach dipping below half to 47.3%. Boynton Beach’s Black population rose to one-third.
Boca Raton, which was 84% white in 2000, stood at 70.8% white and 7% Black, while Delray went from 61.8% white 20 years ago to 57.4% white and 27% Black.
The Hispanic population of the three cities rose from less than 10% 20 years ago to 15% in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach and 11.6% in Delray Beach.
All three cities added housing at a rapid clip, with Delray Beach’s housing stock rising by 11.3%. Boca Raton’s and Boynton Beach’s housing stocks both went up by 9.4%.

A volunteer monitor from Sea Turtle Adventures checks a nest on the beach in Ocean Ridge on Aug. 13. The nonprofit found 75 green turtle nests this year in Gulf Stream, Briny Breezes and part of Ocean Ridge. Mary Kate Leming/The Coastal Star

By Larry Keller

Looking for a trend in this year’s South County sea turtle nesting? There isn’t one. The ancient critters were as capricious as a tropical storm when it came to what beaches they chose for laying eggs.
“It’s a little bit of a mixed bag this year,” said Joanne Ryan, who holds the permit to tabulate sea turtle nests in Highland Beach.
Nesting season runs from March 1 to Oct. 31, although a few turtles may lay eggs before and after those dates. Females lumber ashore after dark, dig nests and deposit 100 or so eggs each. Ideally, after a couple of months, hatchlings will emerge en masse like a tiny armored battalion charging undaunted into the sea.
Although there were no disruptions from major storms or beach renourishment projects this year, the number of green sea turtle nests decreased. The numbers are unlikely to change much, if at all, this late in the season.
There were 190 nests spotted by the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center team that surveys nests on 5 miles of Boca Raton shoreline, said David Anderson, sea turtle conservation coordinator.
In 2019, however, a record-high 393 green turtle nests were counted on Boca Raton beaches — more than double this year’s total. That’s an apt year for comparison, since greens normally nest in much greater numbers in odd-numbered years.
“We were thinking we might get 300” this year, Anderson said.
Like Boca Raton, Delray Beach had an all-time high in green sea turtle nests in 2019, with 52.
This year: only 28, said Joe Scarola, senior scientist at Ecological Associates Inc., which monitors 3 miles of shoreline there. Delray Beach’s nesting data goes back to 1984.
Despite the declines, one year does not make a trend with a species that lives and nests for decades, Anderson and Scarola said.
“It’s nothing to be concerned about,” Anderson said.
“I don’t see anything to worry about,” Scarola added. Sea turtles sometimes seem to develop nesting patterns, only to abruptly surprise researchers by doing something different, he said.
The nonprofit Sea Turtle Adventures monitors nests on 3 miles of beaches in Gulf Stream, Briny Breezes and part of Ocean Ridge. Its team found 75 green turtle nests this year versus 121 in 2019, said Jackie Kingston, president and founder of the organization.
At tranquil Highland Beach, however, which has no public access and therefore fewer human distractions, there were 285 nests, Ryan said.
Of the three species of sea turtles that nest locally, loggerheads are the most prolific. In Boca Raton, it was a below average season for them as well.
Gumbo Limbo tallied 647 loggerhead nests as of Sept. 21. That’s down from 756 last year and 913 the year before, and the fewest since 2010. Loggerheads typically finish nesting in Boca Raton by mid-August, Anderson said. “We thought we might get 800 or so.”
Maybe they liked the sand in Delray Beach better. Some 353 loggerhead nests were spotted there, easily topping the prior record of 290 in 2019 and last year’s total of 285, Scarola said.
At Highland Beach, there were 815 loggerhead nests, down from 978 last year, Ryan said.
On Kingston’s stretch of shoreline, there were 665 nests this year, almost the same as the 645 last year, she said.
Enormous leatherbacks are the first to arrive and to leave local beaches. Kingston’s team counted a record number 24 nests this year, up from 19 last year, which was the previous high.
On Boca beaches, a healthy 21 leatherback nests were counted by Gumbo Limbo, compared to 13 last year. That was the most tallied since 2015 when it found 25. Its nesting numbers date back to 1988.
In Delray Beach, 15 leatherback nests were found. That’s fewer than last year’s record of 21, but the same number as in 2019, Scarola said.
Six nests were found on Highland Beach, compared to 11 last year, Ryan said.
Leatherback nest counts are comparatively meager, because these turtles go ashore in far greater numbers to the north on Florida’s east coast. Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, for example, counted 235 leatherback nests this year on the 9.5 miles of North County beaches it monitors.
Gumbo Limbo staffers counted more false crawls this season than normal, Anderson said. This occurs when a turtle comes ashore after dark, then heads back to the ocean without laying her eggs.
Movement and lights on the beach from cellphones and flashlights, beach furniture and the presence of predators such as raccoons are among the reasons this happens. “They’re very skittish and finicky” as to where they nest, Anderson said.
This year, 60% of sea turtles’ drop-ins at Boca beaches resulted in false crawls, compared to 55% to 58% normally, Anderson said.
It was the same in Delray Beach, Scarola said.
There was about a 50% false crawl observed on beaches patrolled by Ryan in Highland Beach, and by Sea Turtle Adventures, farther north. Ryan and Kingston said that’s typical on their beaches.
Other than the leatherback record-high nest total, Kingston said, “It’s been a pretty uneventful season.”

Three of the dozen or so migrants who came ashore in Ocean Ridge are escorted by police across Old Ocean Boulevard. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Multiple law enforcement agencies responded around 9:15 p.m. Aug. 26 after a fishing boat with at least a dozen migrants came ashore in Ocean Ridge. Because of the number of people on the boat, the Department of Homeland Security requested assistance from local law enforcement. Personnel from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Boynton Beach police, Ocean Ridge police and other agencies responded and took part in the apprehension of at least a dozen men, women and children. Aviation, ground, canine, ATV, beach patrol and marine units were all part of the response. The U.S. Border Patrol was investigating the incident.

The boat provided a point of interest for curious neighbors the next morning.

By Joe Capozzi

Some unanticipated late-year windfalls for the town’s coffers will soften the blow on higher tax bills Ocean Ridge property owners can expect for 2021-22. 
Commissioners voted 4-1 on Sept. 21 to raise the tax rate for the first time in 10 years to $5.50 per $1,000 of taxable value from $5.35. Commissioner Geoff Pugh voted no.
In July, the commission set a tentative rate of $5.65 to balance an $8.8 million budget. But over the next two months, a financial analysis showed the town probably wouldn’t need to tap into the nearly $800,000 from reserves that had been earmarked for the budget year that ended Sept. 30. 
“The good news for us is we’ve had some windfalls,” Mayor Kristine de Haseth said. 
The biggest coup came from the building department, which will have brought in more than $1.1 million in revenue for the budget year that ended Sept. 30, Town Manager Tracey Stevens said. 
“We’ve never received a million dollars in revenue in the building department. That goes to show you how busy the building department is right now. We projected we’d only take in $350,000,” Stevens said Sept. 7.
Also, the town took in $116,000 from a lien related to code violations on an oceanfront property and will get small reductions in insurance costs next year. 
For the owner of a home valued at $1 million, the rate of $5.50 per $1,000 will add $387 to the tax bill for town services — $156 less than the increase would have been with a $5.65 rate.
If the commission had kept the rate at $5.35 per $1,000, taxes would still have gone up because property values increased 4.3% over last year to $1.15 billion. The town also would have needed to tap nearly $500,000 from reserves to balance the budget, a strategy that didn’t sit well with a majority of commissioners.  
The proposed budget calls for potentially tapping $331,000 from reserves. Whether that money will be needed won’t be known until next summer. 
Stevens said $650,171 was projected to go back into reserves by Sept. 30.
The tax rate has been $5.35 per $1,000 for the past nine years except for 2018, when it dropped to $5.25 per $1,000.
 Pugh said he didn’t think a tax rate increase was needed.
“I understand saving for a rainy day, but I also understand when you don’t need to do something. It’s not imperative,” he said.
The need to use reserve money in the new budget is based on increases in payroll and benefits outlined in the town’s union contract along with drainage and infrastructure maintenance, Stevens said.

By Joe Capozzi

Anyone, including the public, must now wear a protective mask when entering Ocean Ridge Town Hall. 
The Town Commission agreed to the policy Sept. 7 at the request of Vice Mayor Susan Hurlburt.
An earlier effort to approve the same mask mandate failed Aug. 2 because Hurlburt was absent. The commission voted 2-2 on the policy, but a majority vote was required to pass it.
Instead, the commission that day agreed to require only municipal staff to wear masks at Town Hall and in police headquarters, with the public being excluded from the mandate. 
On Sept. 7, Hurlburt said the pandemic is too deadly and unpredictable for the town to take any chances. 
Boca Raton’s mask mandate excludes the public. But Hurlburt noted that just about all other neighboring municipalities have required the public to wear masks in government buildings, in accordance with CDC guidelines to help contain the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus. 
“Any and every extra level of protection needs to be utilized until it’s under control,’’ Hurlburt said. “For one more layer of protection, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for people who come into Town Hall.’’
Commissioner Geoff Pugh reluctantly agreed with the change, saying he’d go along with whatever was needed to make town staff comfortable. 
“I am vaccinated. I cannot wear a mask. It just drives me crazy,’’ he said. “If staff voted as a whole to say yes, we want (the public to wear) masks and at a certain time, I have no problem with it. I just think some of it is a little over the top. I’m sitting 3 feet away from each one of you. So what does this do?’’
“We know we are vaccinated,’’ Hurlburt replied. “We don’t know whoever comes into Town Hall isn’t.’’
Mayor Kristine de Haseth said the town staff is vulnerable because it is small. 
“If we lose one or two members and the rest have to go into quarantine, our Town Hall could be shut down. It’s not even worth, in my opinion, to be even having this discussion,’’ she said. 
“If there is one small thing we can do that would save somebody, none of us are experts, and it changes so quickly, but I would think that we could make a decision on something that is very, very easy and very, very simple than make the wrong decision and have that on our backs.’’
About 70% of the Police Department employees are vaccinated, Chief Richard Jones said.
He also said that more police employees have tested positive in the past four months than during the first phase of the pandemic.
“If we lose staff, especially in dispatch where they are sharing the same equipment over and over from one shift to the next, if I lose two people in dispatch, I’m going to be critically unable to answer 911s without having to man those stations by (paying) overtime to police officers,’’ the chief said.
“It doesn’t hurt us to wear masks. Our employees are mostly doing it anyways. There is no opposition from us.’’

A heavy rain and high tides on Sept. 21 challenged all of the swales on Hypoluxo Island, including the rocky one that Patrick McGeehin created in his yard. Water was much deeper on some parts of the island’s drive. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter

Patrick McGeehin, who lives on North Atlantic Drive — a street prone to flooding after heavy rains and king tides — came up with a swale idea.
Working with his landscaper, McGeehin put rocks in his swale and, sure enough, when the next heavy downpour hit the island, McGeehin’s swale drained the water and kept the street outside his property flood-free.
His plan worked, he said, but the rocks violated the Lantana town code and he was cited. Rocks, no matter how attractive he made them, were not among the town-approved materials to be used in a swale.
Then McGeehin had another idea. He would petition the town to amend its maintenance and appearance standards for swales to allow for the rocks. His appeal came before the Town Council on Aug. 23 and, as it turned out, council members thought his swale idea was a swell idea.
They gave McGeehin the ordinance change he sought, although for now at least, the change applies only to Hypoluxo Island. If it works for residents there, the change in standards could be extended townwide.
Mayor Robert Hagerty also said the changes to the code could be zone specific.
McGeehin said the change he asked for would give homeowners some flexibility to use rocks in their swale.
“My house was finished in 2008 or 2009, so it’s up higher,” he explained. “Where my driveway comes down it’s very steep as it comes down to the road and at the bottom. There’s a big swale area that captures the water to not allow it to go into the street and flood.
“With the king tides and with what’s going on with climate change we’re getting a lot of water on North Atlantic Drive. The problem was, with all the water that’s laying there, it turned out I was having a big mudhole there. You could not maintain grass, which was the required material that was in the swale area. Not knowing there was even an ordinance, I put some rocks in there.”
McGeehin showed photos of his swale and the road after a heavy rain, where the water in front of his home did not go into the street while the water in the neighbors’ swales, without rocks, flooded the street.
“The objective I think should be that you keep your water on your land, if you can,” he said. “In my view, this holds water better. Even if you had sod there, it doesn’t drain as well and the water goes out into the street. It would still require a swale permit.”
His swale solution wouldn’t work everywhere, he said. “A property that runs flat might not be a candidate for stone, because stone might get into the street and become a nuisance over time. I’ve had this up for several months now and have had no problem because it’s a ditch. It’s not going anywhere. Aesthetically it looks better, too.”
Council member Lynn Moorhouse said he liked McGeehin’s idea for the island.
“As you know, the properties over there are raised and people are wanting to have the streets repaved every year and griping when there’s no place for the water to run and they’re not willing to put a swale in.
“I do think we need to tweak the ordinance like with approved decorative stone maybe of a certain size because when you get into pea rock and small stones it’s going to be all over the place,” Moorhouse said. “What he has done, I’m all for and we’re getting the water off the road.”
Council member Karen Lythgoe agreed. “I like what he’s done. I’d like to see a way to let him keep it. … You can never keep grass in a swale. It’s under water all the time.”
Although the council agreed to authorize the text change McGeehin requested, it made a few changes of its own, including that the minimum depth of the stones would be 6 inches.
That means McGeehin would still be in violation since the stones in his swale were only 3 inches deep. He would need to add another 3 inches to comply with the town’s revised code. Then, his rocky swale can stay.
In other action, the council granted a special exception request from Jeremy Bearman to allow for a restaurant over 2,500 square feet at 225 E. Ocean Ave. Bearman and his wife, Cindy, operate Oceano Kitchen at 201 E. Ocean Ave. and would like to open a restaurant in the new location, formerly home to Mario’s Italian restaurant.
Bearman’s request was met with enthusiasm from the town, including Moorhouse and Lythgoe, both regular customers of Oceano Kitchen.
“I’m spending my daughter’s inheritance at your restaurant,” Lythgoe gushed.
“I’m thrilled to death about his plans,” added Moorhouse.
Mayor Hagerty added his support.
“We look forward to having you at that place,” Hagerty said.
Bearman plans to keep his current restaurant running as well, and said he hopes to open the new larger restaurant in four or five months after tackling renovations and permitting issues.
At the Sept. 13 meeting, the town gave Bearman some relief on parking requirements. Current code calls for 49 parking spaces on site. The variance approved reduces that number to 18.
In 2019, Lantana revised its parking requirements for restaurants, reducing the number of spots by slightly more than half in an effort to attract more businesses to the downtown.
“There’s plenty of parking,” said Chamber of Commerce President Dave Arm. “The current code is still too restrictive.”
Additional spaces are available at Lyman Kayak Park, less than a block away from the restaurant.
Moorhouse agreed. “I’ve never had a problem parking. You can always park at the tennis courts.”
• The council authorized Shoreline Green Market to expand to twice weekly shows at the Recreation Center, 418 S. Dixie Highway.
Hours on Fridays will be from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday hours will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

By Mary Thurwachter

After narrowing its search to four candidates, the Lantana Town Council chose Brian Raducci, assistant city manager of Aventura, to become the next town manager.
He will fill the position vacated by Deborah Manzo, who left in June to become the administrator of Okeechobee County.
Raducci, 51, is a CPA with 25 years of local government managerial experience in Broward and Miami-Dade municipalities.
He resides in Coral Springs and his first day on the job will be Oct. 11.
During a question-and-answer session before the Town Council on Aug. 19, Raducci described the manager’s job as a “people person-orientated position.”
“I think it’s instrumental that you get a person who you believe is the best fit, not necessarily the person who has the most experience,” he said. “I bring forth a sense of calmness. People feel it’s easy to approach me, to talk to me and discuss their issues and I’m very much about collaboration.”
He says Lantana is a unique community.
“I find it to be a very charming community and it’s got a sense of small-town-ness to it that I really find endearing. … I think you want to move the town forward without jeopardizing that small-town charm or that small-town feel.”
Mayor Robert Hagerty said he had received a bunch of compliments about Raducci. “And more importantly, I got word that you were contacting people prior to your meeting with us,” Hagerty said.
Among those people was Dave Arm, president of the local Chamber of Commerce.
“Only one candidate contacted me: Raducci,” Arm said. “And he called me back again because he had done his research. I was very impressed he did his homework.”
Raducci served as Aventura assistant city manager in charge of finance and administration for 13 years. He said he wanted to advance his career and had applied to become the manager at a few other Florida municipalities in recent years.
Lantana’s second choice for the position was John Lege III, Delray Beach’s finance director. Lege’s background includes a 21-year Navy career, working as an independent auditor specializing in audits of local governments, chief financial officer for Ocala and both finance director and assistant city manager in Sarasota.
Like Raducci, Lege said that in preparation for his interview, he reviewed minutes and listened to audio of the town meetings for the past six months.
“But more importantly, I’ve spent some time in the community,” he said. “I started this before I even knew there was a position available. We’ve come downtown to the breakfast place and the Key Lime place.”
In a drive around town he came across a police officer who shared her thoughts on the town as well. “She represented the Police Department in a wonderful way,” Lege said.
He said he also stopped by the Chamber of Commerce office to talk with Executive Director Hector Herrera.
“One of the things he talked about is communication,” Lege said. “I think transparency and communication are paramount.”
Council member Lynn Moorhouse said he was impressed with Lege’s viewing Lantana as a destination. “He already goes to the Dune Deck. He has great ideas about what we can do to develop downtown.”
Rounding out the field of finalists were Larry Collins, manager of Louisville, Ohio; and Lawrence McNaul, county manager for the Hardee Board of County Commissioners.
“I think we’ve done our due diligence, for sure,” Hagerty said. “I talked to many of our employees and most everybody I talked to was in favor of Mr. Raducci. So, I’m very confident in our selection.”
Terms of Raducci’s contract were negotiated during a meeting among the mayor, Town Attorney Max Lohman, Raducci and hiring consultant Colin Baenziger.
At a special meeting Sept. 9, the council approved a 5-year contract for Raducci that includes an annual salary of $175,000, 1,040 vacation hours, 400 hours of sick time, $12,000 a year to lease a car, health and dental insurance, cell phone, laptop and scanner. The town will contribute 15% of his salary to a retirement account.
During public comments, former Mayor Dave Stewart said that previous town managers came in at the same salary as the person they replaced.
Manzo worked for the town for nine years and made a starting salary of $97,476 a year (what the previous manager was making) and earned $159,000 at the time she left.
Stewart said the contract was excessive and sent the wrong message to other town employees.
“Look at the long-term effects and make sure this isn’t something you’ll be sorry for in the future,” he said.
Moorhouse defended the contract.
“I feel strongly we are getting what we are paying for,” he said. “We have the right to fire him if he goes to hell.”

Eric Brief, a financial adviser from Ocean Ridge, will be a player coach for a U.S. masters soccer team in the Maccabiah Games in Israel, scheduled for July 2022. Brief, 59, expects to do more coaching than goalkeeping. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Eric Brief is going for the gold.
A soccer player since he was a third-grader in Maplewood, New Jersey, the 59-year-old Ocean Ridge resident has been a steady competitor in the Maccabiah Games — often called the Jewish Olympics — and has been adorned with medals twice.
At the ripe age of 43, he was a member of the U.S. masters team that went to Israel thinking it would get crushed and instead came home with silver.
Then, just two years ago at age 57, Brief served as player coach for a 55-and-over team that played five games in nine days at an 8,000-foot altitude in Mexico in the Maccabiah-sponsored Pan Am Games, bringing back a bronze medal.
His medal collection, however, is still missing one and he’s hoping to fill that void when he leads 22 aging soccer players on to the field in Israel for the 21st Maccabiah Games, scheduled for July 2022.
“I have a silver and a bronze and I really want that gold,” he says.
A financial adviser who has lived in Ocean Ridge for 30 years, Brief will once again be player coach of a masters 55-and-older team. But he likely will spend more time on the sideline than playing goalkeeper, his traditional spot.
Given his experience — this will be his fifth Maccabiah Games competition — Brief knows the gold medal will be hard to capture. The competition is tough, with teams from around the world — including soccer powerhouses such as Brazil and Great Britain — also setting their sights on winning.
Still, the team he is pulling together from throughout the U.S. is gearing up for the challenge.
“Winning is everything,” he says.
If the American team will have an advantage, it is likely to be that many members have played together for decades. In fact, five of the players expected to go with Brief to games in Israel played with him on a high school team that some considered the best in the country at the time.
That team had one loss in 50 games and was New Jersey state champion two years in a row.
“Four or five of the players on that team are college coaches,” Brief said. “We’re all still pretty close.”
Although some hoping to make the team have been working for months to get back into competitive form, most are just looking forward to being a part of the competition.
Considered the third-largest sporting event in the world, the Maccabiah Games in Israel draw 10,000 athletes competing in a multitude of sports, and a crowd of 45,000 packs into a stadium for opening ceremonies.
“This is fantasy camp and World Cup combined,” Brief says.
Competing is not just about the sports, he says. It’s also about a shared culture and experiences that see no international boundaries.
“Growing up, you don’t have a lot of Jewish athletes to look up to,” Brief says. “To see a group of guys who share your culture and seeing how good these guys are, it’s inspiring. When we all meet, it’s instant family and friendship.”
Brief said the games also provide his players with an opportunity to watch athletes compete in other sports and give them a chance to stay longer and take tours of Israel. During the 2022 games, Brief’s wife, Jane, plans to join him to take in the sights.
The father of two adult sons, Spencer, 25, and Davis, 23, Brief says he and his teammates often feel their age during practice and in competition, but are able to forget how old they really are — at least for a moment — when the games begin.
“Walking into the opening ceremonies with 45,000 screaming people you feel 19 again,” he said. “It’s unbelievable.”

— Rich Pollack

Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A. Maplewood, New Jersey. The town was one big ballfield for me and my friends. The only rule was, be home for dinner before dark. 

Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A. I have been a financial adviser for 30 years and helped open an office in West Palm Beach for a major New York firm and was named one of the youngest partners at the time. I am now proud to say I am a managing director of investments and a private wealth financial adviser for Wells Fargo Advisors in Boca.
 
Q. What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A. Show up. Drop your résumé off in person to the person that will do the hiring. Be persistent and hand write a thank-you note. 

Q. How did you choose to make your home in Ocean Ridge?
A. My wife, Jane, found Ocean Ridge and we instantly felt at home. It felt a bit like Long Beach Island on the Jersey shore. 

Q. What is your favorite part about living in Ocean Ridge?
A. There are so many great things about this town. Being able to walk to the beach, walking the dog on old A1A and seeing so many friends and neighbors. The location is amazing, being so close to Delray Beach and I-95 and halfway between Boca and Palm Beach and two airports. 

Q. What book are you reading now?
A. I am a news junkie and spend a lot of time reading many different publications on business. 

Q. What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A. I like classic rock, ranging from Crosby, Stills & Nash to The Who. 

Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A. I am extremely fortunate to have a terrific father who has been a mentor and a friend. He is the most honest and honorable man I know. He served in Vietnam and spent his life as a doctor saving lives. I was also lucky to have a terrific business mentor in fellow Ocean Ridge resident Ralph Heckert. Ralph was my boss when we opened our Florida office and he moved to Florida after me. I encouraged him to move to Ocean Ridge and he moved in next door. It was a terrific decision for both of us and he still lives in Ocean Ridge as well.
 
Q. If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?
A. My wife’s favorite movie is Sweet Home Alabama, so I would have to say Josh Lucas. 

Q. Who/what makes you laugh?
A. I have a great group of friends going back over 45 years. Ten of us are going to Moab biking. We will have a lot of laughs, sitting around a campfire telling stories about the old days as well as recent events. 

2021: In the past 35 years, dune vegetation accumulated enough sand to bury the sea wall separating the Ocean Club of Florida from the beach, leading to this unfinished Ocean Club pool replacement project. The town approved the permit for a redesigned plan that avoids the wall. Photo provided by the Town of Ocean Ridge

By Larry Barszewski

You might say the Ocean Club of Florida ran into a “brick wall” when it began replacing its swimming pool and deck in April.
Except it wasn’t a brick wall, but a concrete and steel one — a massive, nearly century-old sea wall that had been buried for years under the dune sands accumulating on the Ocean Ridge beachfront property.
The find came after construction crews had already ripped out the Ocean Club’s existing pool and deck, providing no option to leave things the way they were. Instead, the club submitted a redesigned pool and deck plan with the town, one that avoids the sea wall. The town approved the permit for the new pool and wading pool Sept. 13.
The new plan doesn’t change the rectangular configuration of the pool from its previous north-south alignment to an east-west one, as was originally planned. It keeps the same north-south configuration as the old pool, according to documents on file with the town.
It took some digging to reveal the history of the buried sea wall, which goes back 90-plus years to before the time of Ocean Ridge’s incorporation. Back then, the McCormick Mile south of the Boynton Inlet was known as Mizner Mile, after famed architect Addison Mizner, a Palm Beach socialite whose Mizner Land Co. had title to the property.

1935: Severe erosion along the beach just south of the Boynton Inlet led to the use of concrete groins and construction of the sea wall. Riddle Engineering photo provided by Boynton Beach City Library

Historian Janet DeVries Naughton said Mizner ended up taking his development ventures south to Boca Raton after being run out of Ocean Ridge — then part of the town of Boynton — by residents who took umbrage at Mizner’s plans for building a grand hotel and relocating Ocean Boulevard farther west to give his property more oceanfront lots.
Col. Robert R. McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, purchased the property in 1930 and immediately set to work extending a sea wall needed to keep the land from being swallowed by the ocean. Victor Searles, a partner in the Mizner company, began constructing the sea wall in 1929 because of sand erosion problems caused by the Boynton Inlet, said Naughton, of the Boynton Beach Historical Society, who has researched newspaper stories from that time.
The inlet, also known as the South Lake Worth Inlet, had recently opened and was starving the property of sand, with its jetties blocking the natural flow of sand from north to south. It wasn’t until a decade later that a sand transfer station was built to bring migrating sand south of the inlet.
The sea wall extended for more than 2,000 feet, including a second McCormick phase that began construction in 1935. Naughton said McCormick had plans to turn his property into a large seaport, but eventually sold the site.

1960s: Before sea oats and other dune vegetation grew in, the wall was all that divided the pool from the sandy beach. Photo provided

Over the decades, the beach and dunes gradually built up to the south of the inlet. The sea wall was still visible when the Ocean Club was constructed and opened in 1962, with the top of the sea wall within feet of the pool’s diving boards. Town officials said the Ocean Club’s original 1962 plot plan for the club’s construction showed the sea wall, and Naughton found an undated, mid-20th century map at the Palm Beach County Courthouse that included the sea wall as well.

1986: In a view looking to the north, dune vegetation is beginning to fill in and the wall is still visible between the club and Ocean House North condo. Photo provided

But the sea wall became a faded memory, completely buried except for the portion uncovered during the Ocean Club pool excavation.
“The initial survey and application documents that were submitted as a part of the permit application package did not identify this sea wall,” town building official Durrani Guy said in an email response to questions from The Coastal Star.
Jeffrey Wagner, a senior vice president with Caulfield & Wheeler, the Boca Raton firm that did the survey for the Ocean Club, said his company has no way of locating underground foundations that are completely buried, and usually states that on its surveys.
John Mouw, vice president of Mouw Associates, which was hired by the club for the pool excavation work, referred all questions about uncovering the sea wall to the club. Ocean Club General Manager Joe Pavone declined to comment and directed any questions to the town.
“This is a private club,” Pavone said.
The town is taking steps to ensure the sea wall isn’t forgotten again.
“Town staff is currently doing research and compiling data about this sea wall,” Guy wrote. “Once this has been completed, the information will be archived and the structure added to our town maps and GIS system.”
The Ocean Club would not have been able just to bulldoze the wall to make room for a bigger pool.
“The town would require a United States Army Corps of Engineers permit to modify this structure in any manner,” Guy wrote.

The Cornell Art Museum has been the centerpiece of Old School Square for decades. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

RELATED STORY: Delray Beach: Nonprofit’s pattern of accounting flaws at heart of city’s decision

By Jane Smith

The decision to terminate the long-standing city lease with the Old School Square Center for the Arts board came swiftly, but the seeds of discontent were sown years ago.
Tired of excuses and missed deadlines for submitting fiscal audits — to show how the $1.7 million given Old School Square over the past three years had been spent — three city commissioners on Aug. 10 gave the center’s managers six months to vacate the historic premises. 
“If not today, when,” Vice Mayor Shirley Johnson said after making a motion to end the 32-year-old lease, which was supported by Mayor Shelly Petrolia and Commissioner Juli Casale.
Deputy Vice Mayor Adam Frankel and Commissioner Ryan Boylston disagreed.
“To cut off a multiyear relationship over personality conflicts,” Frankel said, “that’s what I see is on the table.”
The city and the Old School Square board have been at odds for years, according to Petrolia. Her predecessor, Cary Glickstein, tried to rein in the Old School Square managers in 2016 with a tighter lease. Glickstein declined to comment.
The sour feelings came to a head when city commissioners learned that a $1.6 million renovation to the interior of the Crest Theatre, mostly underwritten by a private donor and undertaken by a board member, was underway without their knowledge.
Old School Square managers countered that they had gone to City Hall to secure the necessary permits, which should have served notice that the work was underway.
And they pointed to the lease, which specifies Old School Square managers’ financial reporting obligations, but does not specify how the city is informed about renovations. Frankel argued that the building permits approved by city staff would hold up in court as notice given to the city.
The tipping point for Petrolia was when she learned in early August the construction bond for the renovation protected Old School Square managers, not the city, which owns the building. When they refused to change it, “that’s what threw me over to the other side.”
She said Old School Square managers acted as if they —not Delray Beach taxpayers — owned the buildings. As examples, twice their executives signed the renovation permits as the owner of the Cornell Art Museum and more recently the Crest Theatre.

Outpouring of protest
After the 3-2 vote, Old School Square dug in its heels. Board members, staffers and volunteers mounted a strident social media campaign to force the commission to reconsider. Staff sent supporters commissioners’ email addresses and cellphone numbers, which generated a flood of emails and phone calls.
They took to Facebook, telling friends that three commissioners were trying to destroy the “heart and soul” of the city.
A Change.org petition, citing the city’s “unethical voting process, lack of due diligence and reliance on inaccurate information,” secured more than 10,000 signatures, although not all the signers were city residents.
In late September, managers canceled the popular series of fall art classes, saying they were forced to, in part, because of fallout from bad publicity from termination of the lease.
Tom Rutherfoord signed up for a four- week photography class in October. The instructor called him in late September and told him all classes were canceled.
“I paid about $200 for the class,” he said. “I’m sure they will return the money.”
Yet Old School Square’s website says it is not offering refunds.
“Why are you stopping a money generator?” asked Petrolia.
And when the city attorney tried to amend the lease in late June by adding a clause that any renovations over $65,000 would have to be approved by the City Commission, Brian Lipshy, the Old School Square managers’ attorney, balked. He said that kind of oversight was not required by the current lease. 
Five days before the commission’s Aug. 17 meeting, Old School Square managers sent a six-page letter notifying the city of its intent to sue over the lease termination.
Just before the meeting, supporters held a rally outside City Hall. They wore black T-shirts with Old School Square logos and spoke passionately about their love of the arts center.
Scott Porten, a former Old School Square board chairman, said during the meeting, “You decided without notice and took the nuclear option.”
Equally passionate was Elise Johnson Nail, another former Old School Square board chair. She chided the commission for its decision, made without talking to the Old School Square board. “Why would anyone donate their hard-earned money to any nonprofit in this city, subject to the whims of the commission?” Nail asked.
None of the protests persuaded the three commissioners to revisit their votes. They said they were waiting for the full report from internal auditor Julia Davidyan.

Contractor’s dual role questioned
The decision to end the lease, seen as hasty to some, was a long time coming, others say.
Johnson, elected in 2017, said she wanted “to wean the nonprofits off the city dole.”
Johnson was invited to tour the Crest Theatre after she found out in late June that the theater renovation, which included a commercial kitchen, was underway.
She said she had no idea of the extent of the work.
Old School Square board member and project contractor Bill Branning nudged her and said, “Well, you do now,” Johnson recalled.
Philanthropist Margaret Blume, who underwrote $1.4 million of the renovation, said that because Branning is “a board member and a general contractor, I trusted him to represent my interests better than another general contractor. You go with people you have confidence in their work.”
Blume also scoffed at the contention that the City Commission was in the dark about the restoration. “For them to claim that they didn’t know about it is really ludicrous. In order to do any kind of improvement of property in the city of Delray Beach, or any city, you have to pull a permit” describing the nature of the work. “The city has to approve. The commissioners weren’t watching their own chickadees.”
Branning was part of the Old School Square team that came to the July 13 City Commission meeting to ask for retroactive approval for the Crest Theatre renovation.
Casale asked why the Crest renovation project wasn’t put out to bid.
“The renovation was brought to the Old School Square board” in February, Branning said. To avoid a conflict of interest, “I left the meeting while it was discussed. The board approved the contract unanimously.”
City Attorney Lynn Gelin questioned Branning’s dual role as an Old School Square board member and contractor.
“Because of our ethics rules and the reason the commission is struggling to understand how this can happen … it doesn’t pass the smell test,” she said to Branning. “It’s not enough just to step out of the room while the vote is taken.”
Still, commissioners unanimously agreed to let the renovation proceed.
They asked Davidyan to review the financial documents received and report back in 60 days.
The work was stopped on Aug. 5 by city inspectors.
“The representatives for Old School Square did not provide a performance bond that would properly protect the city’s interests regarding the completion and quality of the work,” Gina Carter, the city spokeswoman, wrote in a Sept. 14 email.
Although rumors abounded that the buildings would be torn down if the city severed the lease, the nearly five-acre campus — listed on the National Register of Historic Places — is deed restricted. It must remain an arts and cultural center. If it doesn’t, the property reverts to the Palm Beach County School District.
The campus consists of three historic buildings: the Crest Theatre (the restored 1925 Delray High School); the Cornell Art Museum (the restored 1913 Delray Elementary School); and the Fieldhouse (formerly the 1925 Vintage Gymnasium). An outdoor pavilion was added in 2002.

What’s next for campus?
The commission asked City Manager Terrence Moore to find a nonprofit to run the Old School Square campus.
He published his plan Aug. 27 on the city website and estimated it would take about five months to find a new operator. Old School Square Center for the Arts will be allowed to compete for a new lease if managers can fix discrepancies in their financial records and finish the renovation, Petrolia said.
Old School Square board Chairwoman Emelie Konopka said the board has not decided whether to apply for a new lease.
“We were planning for a workshop (with the city) to address the city’s concerns, but we were not afforded the opportunity,” she wrote in a Sept. 26 email to The Coastal Star.
The city funds nonprofits through its Community Redevelopment Agency. Johnson is the chairwoman of the CRA board, made up of the five city commissioners and two appointed board members.
The Old School Square managers received only the first-quarter payment of their annual request of $750,000 for the 2020-21 budget year.
The CRA requires an annual audit of any nonprofit before it can apply to receive tax dollars for the next fiscal year. Even with the ongoing pandemic, six other Delray Beach nonprofits supplied the necessary audits to the CRA in May with their money requests.
The CRA held back the other payments because the Old School Square managers have not supplied audits for the past two budget years and used the pandemic as an excuse.
The Old School Square managers should not receive the rest of their $582,500 from the CRA, even after the two audits are complete, Johnson told The Coastal Star on Aug. 25.
The first auditing firm, Holyfield & Thomas, dropped Old School Square as a client after Robert Steele resigned in May 2018 as the nonprofit’s chief executive and chief financial officer. The firm’s auditor left as well. Holyfield & Thomas then determined there was no one “with enough experience to work with Old School Square given their needs,” Renee Jadusingh, CRA executive director, wrote to CRA board members in mid-August.
The second auditing firm, Daszkal Bolton LLP, could not meet the Old School Square deadlines, Latoya Lawrence, the center’s CFO, said at the July 15 CRA board meeting. She promised the board that the 2018-2019 audit would be done by July 31.
But when Jadusingh called Daszkal Bolton after the deadline to find out why that firm no longer had Old School Square as a client, Michael Daszkal indicated that OSS was not in a position to complete audits for fiscal years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, Jadusingh wrote.
“After months of not receiving adequate information, Daszkal Bolton LLP withdrew from the engagement.” 

City auditor cites lack of info
On Sept. 10, two of Old School Square’s attorneys met with the city attorney and the city manager.
After some back and forth, Moore finally told them that they can apply to remain operators of Old School Square.
At the Sept. 13 commission meeting, Davidyan said the Old School Square managers were not in compliance with the city lease. She cited the lack of a strategic plan, no recent annual budgets, no recent outside auditing reports and no recent forms filed with the IRS.
The CRA budgets do not give the complete picture of what is happening at Old School Square, Davidyan said. “None of the items related to the capital improvements at the Crest Theatre building or by the donor were listed,” she said. “I’m told OSS has a separate construction budget.”
Discussions between Davidyan and the Old School Square staff ceased after the city received the notice of intent to sue.

Larry Keller contributed to this story.

With renovations halted at the Crest Theatre, a private donor asked to have her unused contributions returned. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

RELATED STORY: Delray Beach: End to Old School Square lease unveils history of controversy

By Larry Keller

Delray Beach has cited many examples in which it says Old School Square Center for the Arts has not complied with terms of its lease. Inadequate reporting of its efforts to diversify its board and its programs is one example. But at the crux of most issues: money.
The nonprofit is filing federal income tax documents late for the second year in a row. On its most recent tax form, for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2019, it reported net income of $746,283.
That’s in stark contrast, however, to its perennial money-losing past. Tax returns for the eight previous years show net losses every year, totaling nearly $3.3 million.
Meanwhile, 10 of 24 board members have resigned this year, with the group’s former chairwoman citing several financial problems.
The organization’s supporters concede there are problems, but argue that terminating the lease is overkill.
Among them is Frances Bourque, Old School Square’s founder and chairwoman emeritus.
“Mea culpa, mea culpa for anything we did,” she told city commissioners in July. “It wasn’t due to malice, but ignorance. We need to move on.”
The nonprofit hired a law firm that has threatened to sue. The city can terminate the lease without cause, as long as it gives 180 days’ notice.
In July, the City Commission instructed its internal auditor Julia Davidyan to conduct an audit of Old School Square. Among her findings:
• The nonprofit may have inadvertently “double dipped” by using a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan to pay for the same payroll expenses already covered by Community Redevelopment Agency money.
• A $900,000 donation from philanthropist Margaret Blume earmarked for renovation of the Crest Theatre was listed on some financial filings, but not others.
• Recent budget reports and files appear to present incomplete or inaccurate payroll data.
• Annual budget documents submitted do not comply with what is required by the lease. Budget and quarterly reports, for example, do not account for the renovation of the Crest Theatre.
“There are two things going on here. They’re either remarkably sloppy and have been for years and years, or there’s a [bigger] problem,” said Commissioner Juli Casale, one of three on the City Commission who voted to end the lease.
“No one’s explaining why they’ve made no effort to fix it. Instead of rectifying their issues, they’re attacking the commission.”
Old School Square’s supporters insist they did cooperate with the audit and weren’t given a chance to correct mistakes.
The nonprofit’s chief operating officer, Holland Ryan, and chief financial officer, Latoya Lawrence, did not respond to requests for comment.
Most Old School Square board members who have resigned this year declined to comment publicly, if at all. Former Chairwoman Joy Howell wrote a six-page letter to fellow board members in April when she resigned, listing what she saw as financial problems that needed fixing.
“Any attempts at oversight and my fiduciary duties have been met with continued resistance by the executive committee and sometimes by staff,” she said in the letter.
Howell went on to say that the full board needed more information about the organization’s financial problems and cash flow concerns.
She questioned, among other things, why the nonprofit was paying an outside accounting firm $20,000 to $25,000 to correct its books in recent years. And she recommended the hiring of a promoter to negotiate musician contracts more favorable to Old School Square.

Nonprofit gets city, CRA support
Old School Square can derive up to 25% of its budget from the Community Redevelopment Agency. It has received $9.5 million from the CRA over the past 18 years, records show.
The nonprofit pays $1 a year to rent the property, which consists of three historic buildings and a pavilion.
The lease stipulates that Old School Square is responsible for paying the costs of utilities, pest control, janitorial service, and expenses incurred making improvements to the interior of the buildings.
The city’s obligations include maintenance and repairs to roofs, foundations, walkways, elevators and landscaping.
The city’s “limited-scope audit” focused on whether Old School Square was in compliance with terms of its lease and doesn’t address other matters that could arise from a forensic audit of its finances. Commissioner Shirley Johnson has said she supports one.
For example, executive compensation of $339,036 paid in fiscal 2016 was nearly 41% higher than the $241,007 paid in the second-highest year, which was 2015.
Some of that increase may have been due to a severance payout to former CEO Joe Gillie. He retired in 2015 after 23 years at Old School Square — first as executive director, then as president and CEO.
He was provided no retirement plan during his tenure, Gillie said. Upon his leaving, the board opted to take two years of his annual salary and amortize it over four years. He received $219,267 in all, Gillie said. An outside auditor put the amount higher at $236,040.
“This was their way of giving me a retirement plan that was not overly taxing to the organization itself. They said that I deserved more,” Gillie said.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia, who voted to terminate the lease, said the payout was yet another example of the Old School Square board’s fiscal irregularities.
“Especially since that was around the time they were coming to the CRA and crying they were broke. That was contrary to what they should be doing. It validates the concerns on the commission.”
Since Gillie retired, Old School Square has seen two chief executives come and go. Robert Steele was hired to replace Gillie. He resigned in May 2018. In October 2019, the board hired Shannon Eadon. She resigned in December 2020 in the height of the pandemic.
Neither would comment on the record for this story.
The nonprofit’s tax returns also show substantial fluctuations in profits and losses from one year to another from alcoholic beverage sales — including combined losses exceeding $74,000 for the two most recent years reported.
Annual travel expenses in three recent years ranged from $63,127 to $83,360.
Gillie said those expenses were less when he was CEO, but suggested the cost of flying in entertainers and lecturers for appearances might account for much of that. Tax returns show hundreds of thousands of dollars paid annually for performer fees, but it’s not clear if they include travel.
Old School Square’s tax returns also show several dozen employees. Its website lists 15 staff members.
“They’re jobbers,” Gillie said of the high number. These are part-timers who are paid to work specific shows and do so at various venues in South Florida, he said.

Equipment, donations in jeopardy
The firm conducting the nonprofit’s most recent annual outside audit said in a Sept. 9 letter that it noticed a “significant deficiency” in investments, pledges and other financial categories that “were not reconciled or updated in the current year.”
“An inability to reconcile is code for these firms can’t stand behind the numbers. And that’s a problem,” Casale said.
The auditing firm’s letter said that Old School Square blamed “recent changes in senior management” for the problems, and management said it was able to address them.
If the nonprofit eventually leaves (it can reapply for a new lease if it meets certain conditions), it will take out its equipment. That’s “all the lighting, all the sound — everything that’s in those buildings,” Gillie said. “Somebody that comes in is going to have to raise a million or two just to get some equipment in there to make it run.”
Meanwhile, Blume wants the balance of her unused contributions totaling $1.4 million for renovating the Crest Theatre returned to her since that work has now stopped. She also gave $1 million earlier for work on the Cornell Museum, which was completed.
In a letter she wrote to the City Commission on Aug. 30, Blume said the decision to end the Old School Square lease was “rash and irresponsible. It will take a significant amount of time, effort and funds to get the property minimally operational.”
“I’d say we were about 80% complete” with the theater renovations, Blume said in an interview. She’s not sure yet how much of her $1.4 million gift she wants returned, but said it will be in six figures.
In her letter, Blume said she has given Old School Square so much money in part to help it become more financially solvent.
“They didn’t even have the courtesy to respond to my letter,” she said of the City Commission.
Gillie dismisses concerns about Old School Square’s inability to break even, despite the CRA’s annual infusions of money. “So what? Do you know what it costs to maintain those buildings on an annual basis? Look how much money we’ve raised over the years.
“There should be a return on their investment, and sometimes it’s in the negative, but name an arts organization that isn’t. It’s hard to get a museum to make money.”
Besides, Gillie added, Old School Square provides an economic benefit of millions of dollars annually by bringing people to the area.
“This is a 30-year relationship we had with the city,” Gillie said. “Where’s the love?”

Jane Smith contributed to this story.

Southeast corner view of proposed restaurant at the Magnuson House. Rendering provided

By Larry Barszewski

Two new food establishments and a major real estate transaction — all now in the works — could signal a new stage in the revitalization of Ocean Avenue in downtown Boynton Beach.
The city’s goal of turning the street into a South Florida destination spot could come closer to fruition because of changes planned or proposed at some of the oldest buildings on Ocean Avenue. The changes include:
• The $3.6 million sale of a trio of early city commercial buildings — including one housing the Hurricane Alley Restaurant and Raw Bar — to the Community Redevelopment Agency. The CRA would then make the properties available for a larger project on the west side of Federal Highway from Ocean Avenue to Boynton Beach Boulevard.
• The conversion of the historic Magnuson House into an indoor-outdoor restaurant. The century-old Ocean Avenue fixture has been vacant for at least 14 years. The owner of Troy’s Barbeque wants to create an “All-American dining restaurant” on the site, using 40-foot and 20-foot long corrugated shipping containers for the restaurant’s kitchen, bar and restrooms.
• The opening of a gourmet butcher, market, eatery and catering establishment in another pioneer-era building on the avenue. Nicholson Muir Meats is leasing the historic Ruth Jones Cottage and working toward a Nov. 1 opening.

Oyer buildings on the block
The CRA has until the end of the year to lock down the purchase of three buildings owned by the Oyer family that are critical to the agency’s redevelopment plans. The buildings are at 511, 515 and 529 E. Ocean Avenue.
If the CRA can’t close the deal by Dec. 31 with Harvey Oyer, who is representing his family’s properties, then Oyer will likely turn to private developers offering more money. Oyer said he’s willing to sell to the CRA for less than he might receive from a private developer because he needs a quick sale to avoid a capital gains tax hit he anticipates is coming from the federal government.
“It’s driven entirely by tax issues,” Oyer told city commissioners.
Commissioners, who also serve as the CRA board, negotiated details of the sale with Oyer at the CRA’s Sept. 14 meeting. The items include an up-to-$200,000 nonrefundable deposit if the deal falls apart, accepting the buildings “as is,” and allowing yearlong renewal leases with existing tenants that can be terminated upon 90 days’ notice.
Commissioners do not want any leases signed with new tenants, even though such leases would provide rental income to the CRA until a new project moves forward. Commissioners said they want to avoid any additional complications that might surface with new contracts that could interfere with a future redevelopment.
The commission’s position likely will prevent the Surfing Florida Museum from getting available storefront space it wanted to coincide with the Boynton Beach Haunted Pirate Fest and Mermaid Splash, which is set for Oct. 30-31 downtown. Museum officials had hoped to use the space for a pop-up exhibit depicting 100 years of surfing in Florida.
The Oyer properties are to be included in a larger development with CRA-owned properties to the north. The CRA is now accepting development proposals for the 115 N. Federal Highway project.
Oyer also requested that the Oyer Insurance sign painted on one of the buildings be salvaged for its historical value and be placed somewhere visible to the public, which the CRA agreed to do if the cost does not exceed $20,000.
“Over time, every original historic [commercial] building on your original business street has been torn down,” Oyer said. “I think it would be sad to do away with all three of those buildings and signage without the ability to save the signage.”

New interest in old house
A few blocks west on Ocean Avenue, the CRA had been stymied in its attempts to use the Magnuson House in its redevelopment plans. The building has needed costly renovations to enable it to meet code requirements for a commercial enterprise.
Restaurateur Anthony Barber thinks he has a viable alternative: Place all the commercial uses in portable shipping containers, while using the house to seat dinner guests. The revamped storage containers would be behind the house and outdoor seating would be added on patios around the building.
An addition previously placed on the rear of the house would be demolished, said Barber, who also owns Troy’s Barbeque.
City commissioners agreed to work with Barber to see if a financial agreement can be reached on the lease or sale of the CRA-owned property.
However, after Barber notified the city of his interest in the building in July, others have come forward with their own proposals for using the building. Commissioners have given them until Oct. 29 to put together more complete proposals that could be compared with Barber’s.
Two of the plans come from businesses currently in the Oyer buildings that would be displaced by a redevelopment project.
The proposals include:
• Creating a new location for Hurricane Alley. Owner Kim Kelly’s proposal said Hurricane Alley would use the main house for seating guests and office space, with construction of another building behind the house for the kitchen and restrooms, and a tiki hut bar area. The plan also would include a two-year extension of her current lease to allow Hurricane Alley to stay open during the renovations.
• Turning the property into an office and training center for Florida Technical Consultants. The company, a civil engineering firm located in one of the Oyer buildings, wants to provide on-site classes for geographic information system mapping.
• Two separate requests from adjacent property owners. Brian Fitzpatrick wants to combine the site with his property to the north, while Sami and Salam Dagher requested combining it with their land to the west. Either proposal could allow for a larger mixed-use development and both requested the Magnuson House be moved. Commissioners suggested the two property owners should present a combined proposal.
Commissioners said most of the plans lacked sufficient information for them to decide, so they gave the proponents time to submit additional details while the CRA moves forward in its discussions with Barber.
While some commissioners said they eventually see the Magnuson property as part of a larger development, they also said it was possible the development could happen around the restaurant if Barber’s establishment succeeds.
The CRA must decide if it wants to lease or sell the property.
Commissioner Christina Romelus supports selling the property to Barber, which would provide an opportunity to have a local, minority-owned business in the heart of the downtown.
“We’ve seen what Hurricane Alley has been able to do over the last 25 years. What could be able to potentially happen with the Barber family here over the next 25 years if we permit this project to move forward?” Romelus said. “This is an opportunity to make something new, make something that’s different, bring a whole different vibe and essence to our downtown. And I want to see that. That’s a legacy that I’d like to leave behind.”
Commissioner Ty Penserga said a five-year lease with renewal options may be a better idea, to make sure the restaurant can succeed before the CRA gives up control of the property. “In five years, we’ll know where you’re going, if you’re here for the long run,” he said.

Gourmet butcher on way
The former Ruth Jones Cottage looked to be heading for success after being moved several blocks east on the avenue in 2011. It was first home to the Little House Restaurant and later Chez Andrea’s Gourmet Provence. But Chez Andrea’s, a French restaurant, opened just as the pandemic arrived and was not able to make a go of it. It closed in January.
Now James Muir has come to the city from New York and signed a lease for Nicholson Muir Meats, filing his incorporation papers in July. Interior renovations for the new establishment at the cottage were ongoing in September.
Muir owned a catering service and restaurant called Artaux in Sea Cliff, New York. The restaurant, now closed, received an “excellent” rating in a 2015 New York Times review for its “creative and delicious foods.” The catering company is still in business, Muir said.
Muir lives in Boynton Beach and picked the Ruth Jones Cottage because “it is very central to everything” and has “great access to the bridge” connecting to the barrier island communities. “I thought that the specific location was great. It has a lot of character, that cottage.”
The establishment will have a butcher counter featuring wagyu beef from Australia, Japan and the United States, prepared foods and a small restaurant with fewer than 20 seats, Muir said. He plans to offer off-site and on-site catering, Saturday evening tastings and memberships that provide special pricing, products and tastings.
“We’re going to focus more on super high-end products,” Muir said. “We’ll have some retail items … a lot of prepared foods, grab-and-go salads, things like that.”
The restaurant’s operating hours are still to be determined, he said.

By Jane Smith

The Boynton Beach lawsuit against its private developer in the Town Square project is headed to a nonjury trial in the second half of October.
Mediation talks reached an impasse, according to a Sept. 14 court filing.
Boynton Beach is asking a judge to decide whether it met obligations in a March 2018 agreement with JKM Developers of Boca Raton.
The city gave three parcels of Town Square land to JKM. The firm also received nearly $2 million in cash “for considerations,” according to the March 2018 agreement.
The city had an options clause in the agreement that allowed it to buy back the land for $100 a parcel. The options clause was removed in December 2018 after JKM received city approval for its site plans.
Boynton Beach, though, was promised two garages to provide parking for its staff, library workers and patrons, and visitors to its renovated historic high school and Schoolhouse Children’s Museum.
JKM has allowed Boynton Beach to park cars on the Town Square land the firm owns, according to a deal worked out by the assistant city manager at the time.
The city sued JKM in November 2020 asking a judge to decide whether it had met all terms of the deal.
By affirming the city has met its obligations, the suit claims JKM has not upheld its part of the contract and the relationship can be severed.
Even if the city wins, JKM will still own the land.

By Joe Capozzi

For the second time in less than five years, the South Palm Beach Town Council gave preliminary approval to an ordinance that will raise the salaries of the mayor and council members. 
If the measure is approved on second reading Oct. 12, the monthly salaries for mayor and four council members will double — to $1,000 for the mayor and $600 for the council — the next time they win election.
“I don’t think it’s an extreme amount of money,’’ Mayor Bonnie Fischer said at a workshop Sept. 10, three days before the council voted 4-1 to pass the ordinance on first reading. 
Councilman Mark Weissman voted against the measure, not because he opposes the raises but because he thinks the town charter should include language for determining pay increases for the mayor and council.
In 2017, the council voted to raise the mayor’s salary to $500 from $250 and the council members’ to $300 from $250. 
The council salaries had effectively been $250 since 1995; the salaries went up to $300 around 2006 before the council reduced its monthly pay by $50 in 2011 because of the economic effects of the mortgage crisis, Town Manager Robert Kellogg said. 
Before 1995, the council members had been receiving $150 a month since 1972, he said. 
“I certainly think it’s time for a raise,’’ Councilman Bill LeRoy said. “We are underpaid and we’re going to be underpaid again if we don’t change this.” 
Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb agreed. “It should have been done a long time ago,’’ he said.
If the raises are passed, they wouldn’t take effect until after the March elections and only for the three seats up for that election: the mayor’s post and the council seats held by Weissman and LeRoy. Those raises would cost the town about $6,600 in the budget year that starts Oct. 1.
The other council seats, held by Gottlieb and Ray McMillan, wouldn’t get the pay raises until after those spots come up for election in March 2024.
At LeRoy’s request, the council will discuss at its next meeting Oct. 12 whether council members should return some of their monthly salaries if they are out of town or away from meetings for an extended time. 
In other business, the town will negotiate a contract with the architectural firm Synalovski Romanik Saye to design options for a new Town Hall.
SRS, based in Fort Lauderdale, was ranked first by the Town Council among four firms that gave presentations at a special meeting Sept. 22. The other firms, in order of their rankings, were Song & Associates, CPZ Architects and Knight Architects.
The council could consider the contract as early as its October meeting. If the council votes to hire the firm, it will mark the fourth time in six years, and first since March 2020, the town will take a hard look at renovating the existing 45-year-old building or building a new one. Since 2016, the town has spent about $55,000 to study the idea.
• Council members asked the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to enforce an ordinance that bans dogs on public beaches. Deputies have been issuing warnings, but Fischer said she still sees too many people with dogs at the beach and in the water, which she fears will attract sharks and endanger swimmers.
“I say fine them now,’’ LeRoy said, referring to the $150 cost for each violation. “Give them a ticket. They’ll tell their friends. If they’re just being warned, they continue to do it.’’
• The council approved a sewer rate of $2.53 per fixture, the same rate as last year. The vote on Sept. 13 came after an August public hearing and proper notification to residents. Eighteen months ago, the Inspector General faulted the town for improperly billing residents for a sewer rate increase during a three-year period beginning in October 2016. The IG said the town failed to adequately notify water customers of rate increases, as required by state law. As a result the town agreed to refund $455,000 to customers through credits on their sewer bills this year.
• The council approved a $2.245 million budget with a tax rate of $3.50 per $1,000 of assessed value. Last year’s tax rate was 3.54, but town property values went up 4% this year.

By Steve Plunkett

The cost of rebuilding Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s observation tower has jumped $200,000, to $1.4 million, and there are signs that the long-awaited structure will be finished by next September.
But there are few details on the construction schedule.
“They’re continuing to work on the project behind the scenes. Not a lot publicly has been talked about it,” said Briann Harms, executive director of the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District.
The latest cost estimate puts work on the tower at roughly $194,000, with ADA parking and boardwalk access at $20,000 and the ADA ramp at $1.2 million.
Buoyed by a $250,000 pledge from the Kosowsky family, the Friends of Gumbo Limbo have committed $600,000. The Beach and Park District, which had also promised $600,000, boosted its contribution Aug. 30 to cover the $200,000 price jump.
Stephen Kosowsky, who is making the bequest with his wife, Sharilyn Jones, and daughter, Mia, posted the 60% design plan on the “Remembering Jacob Kosowsky” page on Facebook on Sept. 8, his son Jacob’s birthday. Jacob died in a traffic accident in 2018 at age 21; the viewing platform atop the tower will be named Jacob’s Outlook.
“The design for Jacob’s Outlook is almost complete,” he wrote. “Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, the City and Greater Boca Beach and Park District are pushing to complete by Jacob’s next Birthday.”
Boca Raton demolished the 40-foot-tall tower after engineers in 2015 declared it and the adjoining boardwalk were unsafe.