‘The current climate is fantastic for sellers,’ says Dave Petruzzelli, owner and partner of Petruzzelli Real Estate in Boca Raton. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Charles Elmore

A surge in home sales few could have imagined in the early stages of the pandemic one year ago is sending a relentless stream of prospective buyers from across the country at virtually every listing they can find in Highland Beach and Boca Raton.
“This is once in a lifetime,” said Carmen D’Angelo, broker and owner of Premier Estate Properties in Boca Raton. “We’ve never had this where there’s been such a demand for high-priced homes.”
A sale this year for $21.8 million in Highland Beach marked the highest D’Angelo knows about in the town, he said.
In southern Palm Beach County, the median sales price jumped 25% for single-family homes in 12 months, with buyers snapping up so many homes the inventory available for purchase plunged 63% in February compared with a year before, according to the Broward, Palm Beaches and St. Lucie Realtors organization.
Fresh inventory tends not to last long. A newly constructed home in Boca Raton’s Sanctuary community, for instance, sold within 30 days of completion for $12.2 million, D’Angelo said.
Properties in Highland Beach’s Ocean Cove neighborhood under contract for $4 million and $3.2 million represent prices 20% higher or more compared to a year earlier, said Brittany Belcher, agent for Lang Realty in Boca Raton.
“The market is going nuts right now,” she said.
Many properties are moving off the market in one to five days after listing, she said.
Homes are frequently selling for about 30% more in Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club in eastern Boca Raton compared to a year before, said Belcher’s mother and partner agent, Olive Belcher.
Most buyers are coming from other states, from New York to California to Georgia, but as pandemic restrictions begin to ease somewhat, more international buyers are showing interest as well, Olive Belcher said.
Shrinking inventories of homes for sale represent one of the few brakes on the frenzy.
But it already has been an indelible 12 months and a head-spinning start to 2021.
“Last year companywide we did $1.5 billion in sales,” D’Angelo said. With only a third of 2021 completed, he said, “we’ve already reached $1 billion.”
Since the pandemic started, buyers have often made decisions without seeing properties in person, relying on online videos, photos and Zoom calls, he said.
“Prices are up, all across the board,” D’Angelo said. “Inventory’s low.”
Nationally, March proved to be the hottest month in housing since at least 2012, according to real estate brokerage Redfin Corp. 
U.S. home prices rose 17% compared to the same month a year earlier.
And the median price climbed higher still in one of the nation’s most incandescent markets, Palm Beach County, rising nearly 18%.
In March, the number of homes sold across Palm Beach County increased 35% to 4,213 compared to a year earlier, Redfin said.
In part, that reflects a bounce from the early effects of the pandemic in March 2020. The first restrictions, closures and lockdowns initially depressed sales and stoked uncertainty and fear about how bad the economic damage might be.
But as working from home became the norm, people from all over the country who had the means to move decided Palm Beach County might not be a bad place to call home. As months passed, a steady increase in interest turned into a tidal wave.
By the fourth quarter of 2020, Palm Beach County led all major U.S. markets tracked by Redfin with a 115% increase in luxury home sales compared to the last three months of 2019. Luxury in this instance means the top 5% of costliest homes in the market, with a median sales price of $1.8 million, though sales of homes across the middle to upper price ranges in the county also registered significant increases.
“The current climate is fantastic for sellers,” said Dave Petruzzelli, owner and partner of Petruzzelli Real Estate in Boca Raton. “On the other hand, it’s frustrating for buyers, since many sellers are receiving multiple cash offers close to, or above, asking price.”
If the buyer is financing, that can be another potential obstacle when trying to compete with cash buyers, he said.
“Between extraordinarily low inventories, low rates, and a greater-than-normal influx of out-of-state buyers, there will continue to be upward pressure on pricing,” Petruzzelli said.
His firm’s last condominium listing on Boca Raton’s barrier island was on the market for only nine days, he said.
Townhouse, villa and condominium sales increased to 63 on Boca Raton’s barrier island in March, compared to 26 in the same month a year earlier, according to data from BeachesMLS that Petruzzelli cited. Single-family home sales increased to six from five.
The average sales price has not necessarily increased in every neighborhood in such a limited snapshot, where an expensive deal or two can skew the average. Still, in Highland Beach, single-family home sales increased to five from one the previous March, and the average sales price increased to $8.4 million from $4 million.
Townhouse, villa and condo sales in Highland Beach grew to 40 from 19 the previous March, with the average price slightly lower at $964,000 compared to $972,000.
Though inventory is getting tighter, pandemic restrictions and rising taxes in other states have pushed many more buyers this way, Petruzzelli said.
“The typical customer we have walk into our office is from the New York/Northeast area with an eye on now making Florida their permanent home,” he said.
Petruzzelli’s own family moved to Boca Raton in 1946, he said. His grandfather opened a real estate office at the firm’s current location on North Ocean Boulevard. He grew up on Boca Raton’s barrier island and has been licensed since 1979.
And this has been a year like no other, he said.
“We have received offers from purchasers without seeing the property via Facetime, some because of COVID concerns, others because they did not want to lose out on the deal,” Petruzzelli said. “It has been an unprecedented year in sales, and until supplies increase or some other cataclysmic event occurs, prices shall remain strong.”

Mike Landis rides his bike east along Palmetto Park Road. The presence of bikes, cars and pedestrians in tight proximity poses safety concerns. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Call for upgrade gets council’s ear

By Mary Hladky

City Council members are being pressed to improve the safety and appearance of Palmetto Park Road, one of the city’s major streets and a gateway to the downtown from the beach.
Beachside residents who live near the intersection of Palmetto Park Road and State Road A1A, and members of the Planning and Zoning Board have advanced ideas for changes that council members will discuss at their May 12-14 goal-setting sessions.
The focus of beachside residents is the section of the road from the Intracoastal Waterway to A1A. The planning board is looking at the span from A1A through downtown to Fourth Avenue two blocks west of City Hall.
Both agree on the need for traffic-calming devices, bicycle lanes, more trees, better walkability and safety improvements.
“It is the grand gateway to our beaches, but not welcoming,” Katie Barr MacDougall, president of the Riviera Civic Association, told the council on Feb. 22 about the eastern section of the road.
In her presentation, MacDougall cited safety problems caused by the absence of crosswalks. She proposed installing them at Olive Way and Wavecrest Way. The city recently added four crosswalks between Federal Highway and the Intracoastal Waterway.
The lack of bicycle lanes creates a big safety issue involving cyclists who use the sidewalks instead of competing with cars on the road.
The narrow sidewalks are another issue, a problem worsened by the recent installation of FPL poles on the south side of the road that eat into sidewalk space. “Walkability is a huge issue,” MacDougall said.
Beachside residents also want to reduce parking on both sides of the road, but MacDougall recognized that would be difficult because there is too little parking to meet demand.

Eastbound traffic backs up on Palmetto Park Road at Ocean Boulevard in Boca Raton. Palmetto Park Road has no lanes for bicyclists, who frequently use sidewalks, and the area has too little parking to meet demand.

But even if the city wants to act on these matters, the county would have to agree to any changes because that section of the road is under county jurisdiction.
Council member Andy Thomson said he would talk with the county’s Transportation Planning Agency about possible joint funding of a planning study for the road and to figure out a way to pay for improvements.
The city planning board first broached road problems on Dec. 3 and followed up with a Jan. 7 memo to City Council members suggesting updating the road design to include bicycle lanes, enhanced landscaping, more shade for pedestrians, and possible elimination of some on-street parking spaces and reduction of travel lanes from four to two.
“The whole street needs a makeover … to bring it into current times,” said board member Larry Cellon.
Speaking of the need for bicycle lanes, he said, “This is horrible. Boca Raton has higher standards than that. It is dangerous.”
In response, the City Council asked board members for more details on what changes they proposed.
Brandon Schaad, the city’s development services director, suggested that board members take a crack at redesigning the road themselves, using a software tool.
“You caught me by surprise,” Chair Arnold Sevell replied at the board’s March 18 meeting.
“I question the capabilities of this board to lay out streets and redesign Palmetto Park Road.”
The actual redesign would be done by an urban planning consultant, Schaad said. But the board’s conceptual design would help the City Council better understand what the board had in mind.
After mulling this for a bit, the board agreed to give it a go. “Can we see your design first?” Cellon quipped to Schaad.
Cellon jumped into the task with alacrity, presenting his concepts at the board’s April 15 meeting.
His plan’s emphasis was on slowing traffic, adding bike lanes, improving walkability and adding shade trees.
He proposed two westbound lanes and eliminating one eastbound lane. The lanes would be narrowed slightly to slow traffic. The other eastbound lane would be replaced by a center lane reserved for emergency vehicles that could double as an evacuation lane in the event of hurricanes.
One unanswered question was whether fire-rescue personnel would think the emergency lane actually is a good idea.
Four-foot-wide raised bike lanes would flank both sides of the street, and sidewalks would be 10 feet wide. Shade trees would be planted on both sides of the emergency lane, and would be incorporated into the sidewalks.
“It’s a great concept,” said board member Joe Panella. “The emergency lane is cool.”
But he cautioned that Palmetto Park Road should be considered as three sections, divided by Federal Highway and the Intracoastal. One conceptual drawing will not solve the different issues along the three sections of roadway, he said.
Panella also proposed recommending that the council hire an urban planning consultant soon so that planning moves quickly and avoids a “12-year design project.”

By Steve Plunkett

Downtown’s planned Wildflower/Silver Palm Park will have cheaper pavers and fewer trash bins, but City Council members looking to cut costs said they would find money to keep a $395,000 interactive water feature and a $556,000 restroom relocation on the blueprint.
A possible source of cash: the city’s imminent $65.75 million sale of its municipal golf course, Mayor Scott Singer said at the council’s April 26 workshop.
Jennifer Bistyga, the city’s coastal program manager, alerted council members two weeks earlier that construction estimates for the park, on the Intracoastal Waterway just west of the Palmetto Park Road bridge, had jumped to $10.3 million, or $2.5 million higher than the budgeted $8.8 million.
Negotiations with contractor Burkhardt to set up a “field office” at the city’s Municipal Services Complex instead of on-site, plus reductions in scope and profit trimmed $565,000, Bistyga reported.
Council members easily approved saving $433,000 through “value engineering changes” that Bistyga promised would not alter the look and feel of the project. Those revisions included the less expensive pavers, installing 10 garbage cans instead of 13 and seven recycling bins instead of 10, and keeping an existing entrance sign rather than ordering one engraved in stone.
At the April 26 meeting they also agreed to spend only $330,000 on landscaping, saving $203,700, and to install less expensive light poles and pocket $69,800, making the total cost roughly $9 million.
But they balked at city staff’s other cost-saving suggestions. And still to be decided is how much to spend on public art.
Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke called the Wildflower project “an opportunity to provide an amenity of excellence” to residents.
“The city can handle the cost of creating a phenomenal destination,” she said.
Council member Andy Thomson was the only person on the virtual dais to favor leaving the park’s restroom where it is, squarely in the way of the planned connecting walkway, and other reductions.
“Two million dollars right now to add to our budget is a bridge too far,” he said.
But O’Rourke said the council had told constituents they would get certain park features via statements and a sign posted prominently at the site two years ago.
“Let’s move forward, let’s get our promise done,” she said.
The council will vote on the cost reductions May 11. Bistyga said the council’s decisions would also reduce the contingency fund needed for the project, but could not say immediately by how much. Construction work should take about a year, she said.
In other park business, the council authorized Bistyga to apply for a second grant from the Florida Inland Navigation District for the planned renovation of Lake Wyman and Rutherford parks. FIND typically awards grants in the fall.

Boaters of all shapes and ages wade through the shallow waters of Lake Boca Raton,
surrounded by thousands of boats, personal watercraft and paddleboards. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

 Boca Raton: Boca Bash: Thousands of boats, plenty of alcohol and skimpy suits | Boca Bash 2021 Photos | More Photos

Evan Golden sports gold lamé shorts, gold- framed sunglasses and a bathrobe as he dances with other partiers.

Joey Alexander and Madison Arnold do back flips from the roof of a friend’s boat.

Plenty of beer, a lack of fabric and a sunny day brought out a variety of reactions. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

 Boca Raton: Boca Bash: Thousands of boats, plenty of alcohol and skimpy suits | Boca Bash 2021 Photos | More Photos

By Joe Capozzi

After a one-year, pandemic-imposed hiatus, the massive wet and wild party flotilla known as Boca Bash hit the water again on April 25, leaving a wake of controversy and concerns.
Thousands of vessels of all sizes — from yachts, cigarette boats and skiffs to pontoons, paddleboards and inflatable flamingos — crammed into Lake Boca Raton for the traditional daylong alcohol-fueled scrum.
“After dealing with COVID for a year, everybody wants to go crazy,’’ Racquel Scott of Boca Raton said as she waded in waist-deep water through a gauntlet of anchored vessels. 
Though the pandemic is far from over, no one wore a protective mask. And social distancing was practiced in reverse, with revelers crammed together in the shallows and along bows and sterns of boats, many of which were tied up side-by-side at anchor. 
Some revelers said they’d been vaccinated. Others said they weren’t worried, an attitude that sparked concerns among city officials of a Boca Bash superspreader event.
City Council member Monica Mayotte lamented that the city has no control over the event on state waters and that taxpayers foot the bill for the large law enforcement and fire-rescue presence at the event.
“I feel the partygoers have no accountability or responsibility,” she said at the April 27 council meeting. “They are partying and doing dumb things and the first responders are there to make sure they don’t harm themselves. ...
“I just need to get out there I wish we had some control.”
Lake Boca, which connects the Boca Raton Inlet with the Intracoastal Waterway, is under state jurisdiction. On the Sunday of Boca Bash, it was patrolled by city police boats as well as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Coast Guard.
At least 12 people were arrested. The FWC made 10 arrests for boating under the influence and one for disorderly intoxication. Boca Raton police arrested one person for resisting arrest without violence. 
Controversy has followed Boca Bash since its modest inception as a birthday party in 2007. Every year it has grown organically, attracting more overzealous merrymakers.
In 2018, a 32-year-old man drowned while trying to swim out to dozens of boats tied together in the middle of the lake. That prompted authorities to crack down the following year, when the FWC made 14 arrests — more than double the previous year’s total — including 12 for boating under the influence. 
Lake Boca is ringed by homes, condos and hotels, including the Boca Raton Resort and Club. And it’s impossible not to hear the collective Boca Bash roar, especially music blaring from multiple boat speakers.
“I wouldn’t say people who live by it are a fan of it, but I don’t get major complaints to stop it,’’ Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke said. “I live in that location myself and there’s an aspect of fascination, I think.’’ 
Some regulars said they’re not trying to make waves with anyone. The arrests and incidents are not representative of the many people who party responsibly, they said.
Nick Probo of Lighthouse Point rented a pleasure boat with more than a dozen friends, whom he pointed out. 
“A lot of these guys work at Pratt Whitney. My brother is a cop in Charleston. There are doctors here. It’s not all irresponsible kids,’’ he said. 
Parents could be seen towing their children on floaties. Twentysomethings tossed footballs. One woman did yoga on a paddleboard. Another blew soap bubbles not far from a group playing beer pong on red Solo cups arranged on rafts.
“It’s a well-organized mess,’’ Rich Rose said as he waded in the water. “It’s not a bunch of drunks. I mean, look at some of these boats. You’ve got to have money to come out here.’’
But the scenery at times was too saucy for a PG rating. 
Many bikinis were teeny-weeny and a few female partiers were seen topless. In some parts of the lake, the odor of marijuana intermingled with boat exhaust. 
A blow-up doll and an inflatable shaped like a part of the male anatomy were attached to the flagpole of one boat. Some boats flew “Trump” flags. Other flags had a four-letter word in front of “Biden.” 
A posse of water scooter riders wore creepy clown masks. Some revelers did back flips off the upper levels of vessels and others leaped from one bow to another. 
Jay Sanders offered a more conventional recreation activity: His double-deck Premier Pontoon, which he piloted from Miami, came with a water slide. 
“I was invited to a party on a double-deck pontoon boat with a water slide. Why say no?’’ said Dan Carey. 
The common complaint from revelers: stubbed toes from tripping over anchors wedged in sand. 
“It’s a fun group of people,’’ said Joey Alexander, 21, of west Boca. “We are just living the South Florida dream.’’
Mary Hladky contributed to this story.

By Mary Hladky

Erik Silver, the Boca Raton Resort and Club’s director of tennis, and a business partner are proposing a 10-acre recreation center on the former Ocean Breeze golf course property.
The privately funded plan calls for 10 indoor clay tennis courts and four pickleball courts. Outdoor facilities would include 20 pickleball and six tennis courts. Other facilities would be two basketball courts, a paddle tennis court and two hitting walls.
Shaded rest areas and a walking path with exercise stations would surround these facilities.
Silver’s partner is Robbie Wagner of Robbie Wagner Tournament Training Inc., which builds and operates indoor tennis facilities in the Northeast.
Silver did not respond to phone messages and an email seeking additional information on the plans.
The proposal is among more than 230 responses the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District received to its call for ideas on what to do with Ocean Breeze now that the 212-acre property is no longer slated to become the Boca National golf course.
Most of the recommend-ations came from residents advocating for a golf course, pickleball courts, disc golf, walking and biking trails and green space, and even a botanical garden.
In addition to the Silver/Wagner plan, three other larger-scale proposals came from Eric Ah-Yuen, president of Elite Sports and Recreational Management and director of the Pickleball Athletics Club; Jiri Jasko, owner of Brno Investment; and Lynn Peterson Glover.
Ah-Yuen suggests a privately funded pickleball complex on 5 to 7 acres with 36 lighted courts, including as many as 24 covered courts, a multipurpose building for activities such as ballroom dancing and yoga, an indoor teaching academy, and a walking and jogging trail around the complex.
Jasko proposes eight tennis padel courts, clubhouse, and outdoor refreshment seating.
Glover calls for a Rhino Golf Center, a golf learning and practice facility with a lighted driving range, 18 putting greens that could also be used for miniature golf, and a two-story clubhouse.
The proposals are bare bones, offering few specifics.
Golf was the top amenity suggested by respondents, followed closely by walking, running and cycling trails. Those were followed by disc golf, pickleball courts and tennis courts.
Of golf options, a 9-hole executive course appeared to be the most popular, with 234 people saying they wanted one with a driving range, 18-hole putting green, golf learning facility and practice area.
A number of residents said a shorter course is needed because the 18-hole course at the Boca Golf and Tennis Country Club, donated to the city last year by the Boca Resort, is too difficult for many golfers.
A sizable number of people insisted the district should resurrect plans for the Boca National course at Ocean Breeze.
District commissioners discussed the responses only briefly at their April 19 meeting.
“I think these are all great ideas,” said Commissioner Steven Engel. “We need to figure out a way to mold them together.”

By Steve Plunkett

The city will hire a consultant to determine whether a pickleball center similar to Delray Beach’s Tennis Center should go on the recently donated Boca Golf and Tennis Country Club or the former Ocean Breeze golf course.
City Manager Leif Ahnell guessed the country club could accommodate 16 to 20 pickleball courts. But City Council member Andy Thomson liked the “clean slate” offered by Ocean Breeze.
The decision to explore pickleball opportunities came April 26 after an assessment of recreation needs presented to council members and Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District commissioners by PROS Consulting.
Neelay Bhatt of PROS said Boca Raton and the district had an older population, with an average age of 48.6 years compared to the national average of 38.5 years.
And it will get older in coming years, he said, with people 55 years old and up growing from 45% of the population to 52% while those ages 18-54 decline from 41% to 36%.
The seniors 75 and up are more passive and self-directed when they recreate, he said. But the 55-74 age group does not fit the senior citizen stereotype.
“This is a very active adult population,” Bhatt said.
The community’s most pressing needs are for 12 more pickleball courts, 3.5 miles of multi-use trails, about 59,000 square feet of indoor recreation space and 66,000 square feet of indoor aquatic space, he said.
Bhatt also encouraged park officials to spend more on marketing the facilities and services they already offer. His pre-COVID survey of 432 city and district residents showed a high lack of awareness of programs, he said.
Sugar Sand Park is the No. 1 destination for park-goers, Bhatt said. “But for many of the smaller sites people don’t even know what they don’t know.”

In other business, city officials said they would ask the Friends of Gumbo Limbo to sign an agreement promising to give part of its donations to offset the nature center’s expenses. The not-for-profit group, which does not pay rent for its gift shop there, currently contributes about $300,000 a year but is not required to do so. 

By Mary Hladky

Susan Haynie easily won her second term as mayor in 2017. She then set her sights on a bigger political prize: running for a seat on the Palm Beach County Commission.
But her successful political career spanning nearly 20 years imploded on April 24, 2018, when she was arrested on public corruption charges, a development that shocked other City Council members and threw the city into turmoil.
Haynie’s attorney proclaimed her innocence and said she would never accept a plea deal.
Until she did.
On April 1, Haynie pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts, of misuse of public office and failure to disclose voting conflicts.
The plea deal allowed her to avoid four felony counts that, had she been convicted, could have landed her in prison for more than 20 years. The State Attorney’s Office also dropped a third misdemeanor.
“I want to convey my sincere apology to all the citizens of Boca Raton for my actions and any negative light that my case cast upon our city,” Haynie said in a statement to residents.
“Throughout my personal and professional career, I have prided myself on taking responsibility for my conduct and performance,” she said.
“The citizens of Boca Raton should accept nothing less than the highest level of ethics from their elected officials. I failed to live up to that standard and today, accepted responsibility by entering my guilty plea.”
Haynie, 66, will be on probation for 12 months but will serve no jail time.
She cannot seek public office during probation. But even after that, Haynie said, her political career is at an end.
Bruce Zimet, Haynie’s criminal defense attorney, said the decision to accept a plea deal “was made because there was a reasonable offer from the State Attorney’s Office.”
That offer, he said, eliminated counts that alleged corruption.
“She never would plead to a felony or misdemeanor involving any allegation of corruption,” Zimet said. “This was framed as a quid pro quo case, and that never happened. Any plea deal that involved that would be a total nonstarter.
“There was no corruption from her,” he said. “Her vote was never sold.”
Chief Assistant State Attorney Alan Johnson said Haynie “could have been convicted on each and every one of these charges.”
Yet he did not dispute Zimet’s assertion that Haynie never sold her vote. “There was no indication there was any kind of bribe or quid pro quo for her votes,” Johnson said.
A number of factors prompted him to reach out to Zimet to see if a plea deal could be worked out, Johnson said.
The coronavirus pandemic has slowed the court system to a crawl, serious felony cases are backlogged and Haynie’s case likely would not have gone to trial for many more months.
Haynie has been out of office for nearly three years, and was willing to forgo future political roles. And while Haynie failed to report significant amounts of income on financial disclosure forms, it was not clear that corrupt intent was the reason, he said.
“To put some closure on a case that is old and getting older, to a person who was no longer in office, I thought this was an appropriate and just resolution,” Johnson said. “She will always have this on her record.”
It was also important, he said, that Haynie “accepted responsibility. That was a major factor in resolving the case.”
Al Zucaro, a Haynie adversary who lost to her in the 2017 mayoral race, filed complaints about her to both the Palm Beach County and state ethics commissions that led to investigations by those bodies and then by the State Attorney’s Office. He also provided information to prosecutors.
Yet he had no objection to the plea deal.
“I have no problem with how this resolved itself,” he said. “Susan Haynie paid dearly for what was a self-induced error. Her political career ended because of it. I don’t see any utility to require her to suffer any more.”
Zucaro said his opposition research during the 2017 campaign uncovered Haynie’s failure to report income. When her campaign team sent out mailers about him that he termed “character assassination,” he shared what he knew with ethics officials and prosecutors. But they were the ones who found solid evidence of criminal behavior, he said.
Shortly after the election, Zucaro dropped out of politics and ended his BocaWatch blog.
In charging documents, prosecutors contended that Haynie used her position on the City Council to vote on four matters that financially benefited James Batmasian, the city’s largest downtown commercial landowner, and concealed income she received from him.
The investigation found that Haynie failed to report $335,000 in income on financial disclosure forms, including $84,000 from Batmasian or his company Investments Limited, from 2014 through 2017.
The payments went to a property management company formed by Haynie and her husband, Neil, that managed a large apartment complex where a majority of units were owned by Batmasian and his wife, Marta. Marta Batmasian signed the checks that went to the management company.
The property management company also was paid at least $64,000 by Investments Limited in 2016 and 2017 for installing security cameras at several properties owned by the Batmasians.
Haynie did not divulge that income when she voted on matters benefiting the Batmasians, investigators said.
Three of the now-dismissed official misconduct felony counts alleged Haynie falsified financial disclosure forms and did not disclose her compensation by the Batmasians and their businesses.
The fourth dismissed felony charge, for perjury, accused her of lying in testimony to county and state ethics investigators.
The dismissed misdemeanor, corrupt misuse of official position, was for four votes on matters that benefited the Batmasians while she was being paid by them.
Haynie pleaded guilty to misuse of public office and failure to disclose voting conflicts for those same votes.
Before her arrest, the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics reached a settlement with her in which she was reprimanded and fined for failing to disclose a conflict of interest. A second allegation that Haynie misused her public office was dismissed.
The Florida Commission on Ethics found probable cause that Haynie violated state ethics laws in eight instances, but that case has been on hold while the criminal case proceeded.
The state commission said that Haynie failed to disclose income, acted to financially benefit herself and her husband, and improperly voted on matters that benefited the Batmasians without disclosing a conflict of interest.
Commission advocate Elizabeth A. Miller minced no words in a stinging 2018 report to the commission.
Haynie “consistently voted on measures benefiting the Batmasians and/or their affiliates between 2012 and 2016 while surreptitiously reaping the financial rewards of their business association,” she wrote. “When confronted with the possibility of impropriety (Haynie) consistently denied any association, involvement or knowledge. The bank account records revealed her deception. These acts and omissions indicate a corrupt intent.”
Kerrie Stillman, a spokeswoman for the state ethics commission, said the criminal case outcome has no bearing on the ethics case.
In instances where probable cause has been found, the commission must either hold a full evidentiary hearing, or the commission advocate and Haynie’s ethics attorney could reach a settlement agreement, Stillman said.
But the commission’s role is now limited. Its power to seek her removal from office is moot. It also can impose fines up to a maximum of $10,000 per violation.
While much investigatory effort has been directed at Haynie’s votes on matters involving Batmasian, Johnson acknowledges that Haynie was not paid for them.
The investigation found at least two additional votes beyond the four outlined in the charging documents.
But prosecutors did not pursue those because the statute of limitations had expired, Johnson said.
The six votes were uncontroversial at the time, and the City Council approved all but one of the matters unanimously or near-unanimously.
Haynie’s vote made a difference in only one minor instance. In an appeal to the City Council of a Community Appearance Board denial of the approval of two signs, the council reversed the CAB’s decision by a 3-2 vote on Jan. 10, 2017, with Haynie in the majority.
But her effort to get the blessing of the county ethics commission to vote on matters involving Batmasian have raised eyebrows.
City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser obtained an informal opinion from the commission in 2011 that Haynie had no conflict of interest in voting on Batmasian matters. In 2013, Haynie asked her to seek a formal written opinion.
A draft opinion found Haynie could vote but included a recommendation that she abstain based on an “appearance of impropriety.”
Frieser told the commission that recommendation was not warranted. More back-and-forth followed over five months until the final opinion determined Haynie could vote.
But the opinion was narrowly written and was based on a specific instance in which Batmasian was neither the applicant nor the developer of a project coming to the council for approval.
Mark Bannon, the ethics commission’s executive director, has said Haynie should have understood the opinion to mean she should not vote when Batmasian was the applicant or developer.
Two City Council members at the time, including now-County Commissioner Robert Weinroth, were critical of how Frieser handled on Haynie’s behalf the request for an ethics opinion. Weinroth said Frieser was “aggressive” in pressing for an opinion that allowed Haynie to vote.
Frieser denied that she sought an outcome that favored Haynie, and said she had done nothing that altered the conclusion in the draft and final opinions that Haynie could vote.
Haynie has maintained a low profile since her arrest, and her only public comment was the statement of contrition after the plea deal.
“She plans to move forward and put all this behind her,” Zimet said when asked about Haynie’s plans. “She is a vibrant person who has a lot to offer her community. She plans to enjoy her life in the years to come.”

By Rich Pollack

Saying they want to send a message that what they do is a job and not a hobby, Highland Beach town commissioners are moving ahead with plans to increase their salaries by 20% and add an annual cost-of-living increase.
In approving a recommendation from the town’s Financial Advisory Board, which noted that the commission salaries had not been raised since 2004, commissioners instructed staff to move forward with an ordinance that would increase commissioner salaries by $2,400 and the mayor’s salary by $3,000.
Highland Beach commissioners are currently paid $12,000 and the mayor, who is a voting member of the commission, is paid $15,000. Those are the highest salaries for commissioners and a mayor of coastal towns from Palm Beach south, with several of the small towns offering no financial incentive to elected officials.
While agreeing that the increase is necessary, commissioners say the move isn’t about the money but instead is about recognition for the work and responsibility that come with the job.
“If there was no compensation all five of us would still be here,” Mayor Doug Hillman said. “Still, 17 years is too far for a commission to go without a raise.”
In discussing the issue during a meeting last month, commissioners said that the increases will help ensure that people who might consider running for a town office know that a lot of work comes with the position.
“We have to look down the road and make sure people in the future understand that this is a job and it’s generally more work than you think it’s going to be,” Commissioner Evalyn David said. “The salary and the increase send a message that this is a job, it’s not just sitting here. This is work and if it wasn’t work, we wouldn’t be paid for it.”
In supporting the change, Vice Mayor Natasha Moore said that the increase will help attract qualified candidates for the job in the future and could affect how current elected officials see their roles.
“I think by paying a little more we might continue to attract expertise,” she said. “I think that is really important.”
The increase, she said, can also send a message to the incumbents.
“It elevates the expectation of ourselves,” she said. “The town has increased our salaries so we better continue to take this seriously, do our homework and come prepared.”
Acknowledging the awkwardness of commissioners giving themselves a raise, Moore voiced support for the annual cost-of-living increase, based on the Consumer Price Index, which she believes will eliminate the need for future commissions to go through a similar process.
While the commission appears unanimous in its support for an increase, the recommendation from the Financial Advisory Board came on a 4-1 vote with Dr. Richard Greenwald dissenting.
“Philosophically, my feeling is to keep it the way it is,” he said. “The salaries they currently have are commensurate with the size of both the town’s population and its budget.”
Others on the board, however, advocated increasing the salaries even more than the 20% recommended by the panel’s chairman, David Stern.
The advisory board’s vote in support of the increase, Hillman said, is recognition that can have a positive impact on people receiving the increase.
“Being recognized for what you do is motivational,” the mayor said.

By Steve Plunkett

Replacement of Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s seawater pumps and piping should begin soon following green lights in April from the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District and the Friends of Gumbo Limbo.
But funding the long-awaited $3.4 million project was not without drama. First, city officials trimmed one of three pumps, the emergency generator and 300 feet of underwater pipe from the plans to get the cost down $500,000.
Then John Holloway, executive director of the Friends, urged the group’s supporters to “help Gumbo Limbo’s endangered sea turtles and fish” by signaling concern to district commissioners. Forty-seven people emailed the district, including Friends who don’t pay district taxes from Delray Beach, Ocean Ridge, Broward County, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Minnesota.
But commissioners, who budgeted $2 million in 2015 for the project’s then-estimated cost, stuck to their currently budgeted $3.2 million at their April 5 meeting.
“I regret the way this Gumbo Limbo project is turning out, but I think we’re doing the right thing for our constituents,” Commissioner Robert Rollins said.
Commissioner Craig Ehrnst said the Friends, the city and Florida Atlantic University, which has a lab at Gumbo Limbo and uses 20% of the pumped seawater, should chip in.
The Friends, he said, have over $3 million in their budget.
“I think they should contribute to this project and I think it’s kind of wrong for them not to contribute,” Ehrnst said.
The Friends and district officials huddled over the next two weeks to reach an agreement for the not-for-profit organization to provide $144,246 — enough to get construction started. Holloway said the amount was in addition to the $300,000 his group gives Gumbo Limbo every year and came “despite the center being closed for over a year now and our access to donations from visitors and retail-store commerce being eliminated.”
Still unresolved is the source of a 10% contingency fund for the pumps and piping, about $300,000.
The project’s projected cost swelled from $1.3 million in 2013 to $1.5 million two years later, to $2.5 million in 2018 and $3.2 million the next year.
The new pumps will go in Red Reef Park east of A1A and “push” seawater to Gumbo Limbo’s aquariums instead of “pull” it under A1A like the outdated current pumps do, said Jennifer Bistyga, the city’s coastal programs manager.
In other business, Florida Power & Light offered to install charging stations for four electric vehicles at the district’s Sugar Sand Park, Patch Reef Park and the Swim and Racquet Center in exchange for the district’s paying about $3,600 a year more on its electric bill.
FPL already has put EV chargers at City Hall, the Downtown Library and Spanish River Library, and the city’s Spanish River, Red Reef and South Beach parks, a company representative said.

U.S. District Court Judge Sandra Feuerstein, 75, was struck and killed April 9 by a car while walking on the sidewalk along State Road A1A near Spanish River Boulevard in Boca Raton. Photo provided by Cordozo School of Law

By Mary Hladky

A 23-year-old North Lauderdale woman has been charged in a fatal hit-and-run crash along North Ocean Boulevard in Boca Raton that claimed the life of a New York federal judge.
Nastasia Snape was driving northbound in a red Honda when she crossed the southbound lanes and continued onto the sidewalk near the Spanish River Boulevard intersection, striking Sandra Feuerstein at 10:09 a.m. April 9, according to the arrest report and a release by the Boca Raton Police Department.
Feuerstein, 75, who was nominated to the federal bench in 2003 by President George W. Bush, later died at Delray Medical Center.
Snape drove off at a high speed, striking a 5-year-old boy as he was crossing Ocean Boulevard in the crosswalk at Spanish River Boulevard, the release said. The boy suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was released from Delray Medical Center, according to Boca Raton police.
Snape’s vehicle crashed at the intersection of Southeast 10th Street and Southeast Sixth Avenue in Delray Beach.
A Delray Beach police officer on the scene said Snape at first appeared to be unconscious, but then began to convulse and have seizure-like movements.
She later got out of the car and told the officer she was OK. Once inside an ambulance, she screamed and fought with medics, stating she was “Harry Potter.” Medics administered the anesthetic Ketamine to calm her, the arrest report states.
Among her possessions were containers labeled “THC Cannabis” and a synthetic drug called “T salts,” which the arrest report states is known to cause excited delirium.
Snape, whose last name is the same as Severus Snape, a prominent character in the Harry Potter books, was charged with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a crash involving death and leaving the scene of a crash involving injury. She has pleaded not guilty.
As of April 27, Snape remained in the Palm Beach County jail. Bond was set at $20,000 for each of the three counts.
Her case was reassigned to mental health court on April 13 after Snape’s attorney informed the court that her family had disclosed her behavior before her arrest was “consistent with some form of mental illness.”
Snape was to undergo a mental health evaluation to determine if she is competent to proceed with the legal case.
Efforts to reached Feuerstein’s two sons, Adam and Seth, and a lawyer described in her obituary as a longtime companion were unsuccessful.
But in an email to Newsday, Adam Feuerstein said his mother was in Florida visiting friends and he and his brother believed she was on a morning walk when she was struck. She had no connection to the 5-year-old boy, he said.
She was “everything a child could want from a mother,” Adam Feuerstein wrote.
Judge Feuerstein served on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. She assumed senior status in 2015.
News of her death deeply saddened members of New York’s legal community.
“Judge Feuerstein was a treasured member of our Eastern District bench,” District Court Executive Eugene Corcoran said in a statement. “Her eccentric style and warm personality lit up the courtroom. She will be missed by her colleagues and litigants alike.”
“She was a steadfast supporter of the (Suffolk County) Women’s Bar Association as well as dedicating her life to public service,” attorney Shari Sugarman, of Deer Park on Long Island, told The Coastal Star.
“She was just a wonderful woman,” Sugarman said. “She is very well respected and very well known in the community.”
With her death, “we lost a voice for women and children.”
Feuerstein was a New York public school teacher before attending Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law.
Prior to her appointment to the federal bench, Feuerstein served as a Nassau County District Court Judge and as a justice on the New York Supreme Court.
She oversaw many high-profile criminal cases and lawsuits, including those of people convicted of joining al-Qaida and of sex trafficking ring leaders, according to the Cardozo School of Law.
Her mother, Annette Elstein, was an immigration judge. They are believed to be the first mother-daughter judges in the country, the law school said.

The pavilion at South Beach Park is being refurbished partly as a result of a minor accident there more than a year ago. Michael Lesser, then 77, of New Jersey, was pulling into a parking space on Feb. 12, 2020, when his foot ‘got caught between the brake and the accelerator,’ he told police. His Cadillac SUV hopped the curb and hit a street sign and the pavilion’s wooden railing, causing an estimated $1,750 in damage. But when engineers inspected the aftermath, they decided the whole pavilion needed renovation, including its railing, boardwalk, staircase and under the overhang, city spokeswoman Anne Marie Connolly said. The $163,788 project, just east of where Palmetto Park Road intersects with State Road A1A, is supposed to be done by late spring. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

CAR DAMAGES SPANISH RIVER WALKWAY: A Honda Accord driven by a Miami man plowed into the pavilion at the corner of A1A and Spanish River Boulevard late in the evening on St. Patrick’s Day, causing about $10,000 damage to the boardwalk walkway, according to Boca Raton police. Investigators believe the driver was traveling eastbound on Spanish River Boulevard and was attempting to turn north on A1A but failed to navigate the turn. The vehicle was damaged but the driver was uninjured.

Jeremy Rogers thanked city residents in a video from Qatar. Photo provided

By Mary Hladky

Former Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers, who was unable to complete his second term in office after his August deployment to Qatar in support of NATO operations in Afghanistan, bid farewell to city residents on the day his term would have ended.
In a video filmed in Qatar, the Navy Reservist thanked city residents and his fellow City Council members on March 31.
“I’ll never stop fighting for you guys who put me here,” he said to residents. “I have done everything I can to serve you guys, to fight for you, to do what is right. What a wonderful city we have. It is an amazing place. It has truly been an honor to serve.”
He promised to continue serving the city “one way or another.”
Mayor Scott Singer presented Rodgers with a plaque in his honor, and all five council members thanked him for his service to his country.
“He served our community with honor, as one would hope with any elected official,” Singer said. “He brought unique insight to our discussions on the dais and made them better.”
On April 22, Rodgers posted a brief update on Facebook: “Heading home,” he wrote from Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, followed by emojis of the U.S. flag and an anchor.
Council members appointed Yvette Drucker on Oct. 27 to replace Rodgers until his term ended. Drucker already had started campaigning for term-limited Rodgers’ seat and won election to a three-year term on March 9.
After honoring Rodgers, council members unanimously agreed to make no changes to their positions. Andrea O’Rourke will continue as deputy mayor, Monica Mayotte as Community Redevelopment Agency chairperson and Andy Thomson as CRA vice chairperson.

By Amy Woods

Florence Fuller Child Development Centers had to cancel its Men with Caring Hearts Awards Celebration last year because of the pandemic.

This year, the event returns for its 19th installment — although to an outdoor venue and with a new format.

“This year, we’re in a holding pattern so we created an in-between model,” CEO Ellyn Okrent said, noting that in previous years more than 300 guests would gather for a nice luncheon at a beautiful ballroom. “What we’re trying to do is have a socially distanced event where we could be together still.”

The festivities, with a theme of “Drive-In Tailgate,” will take place May 15 at Boca West Country Club and feature a food truck, live entertainment and the awards presentation.
Guests can eat, drink and be merry in and around their vehicles while watching the ceremony on a large screen set up outside.

“We think it’s going to be really fun,” Okrent said. “Even though it is different, we feel that this is going to be exciting.”

The Men with Caring Hearts Awards Celebration shines a spotlight on male philanthropists in Palm Beach County — each nominated by the nonprofit with which he is affiliated.
The 16 on the list this year are Aitor de Achurra, Bob Buruchian, Phillip DiPonio, Thomas Groendyke, Dr. Donald Janower, Alan Kaye, retired Army Maj. Gen. Bernard “Burn” Loeffke, Harry Meran, Doug Mosley, Mark Moza, Dan Paulus, Robert Robes, Ramon Robinson, Marty Rosenzweig, Dr. David Snyder, Thomas Tift and Eddie Ventrice.

Additionally, two Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy will be lauded: Ethan Foreman and Alexander Kaye.

“We sometimes forget the men,” Okrent said. “We just don’t tend to acknowledge them. They are usually behind the scenes more often, but they’re doing big things in the community, and they’re making a difference.”

Cliff Viner, who started the Eda & Cliff Viner Community Scholars Foundation in 2015, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.

“Cliff is one of those outstanding supporters of so many things in the community,” Okrent said. “There are probably a million things he’s done that I’m not aware of.”

If You Go
What: Men with Caring Hearts Awards Celebration
When: 6:30 p.m. May 15
Where: Boca West Country Club, Boca Raton
Cost: $125
Information: 561-391-7274, Ext. 134, or www.ffcdc.org/special-events/men-with-caring-hearts

By Amy Woods

A Boca Raton resident has made her second seven-figure gift to “Keeping the Promise …The Campaign for Boca Raton Regional Hospital.”
Eleanor Baldwin’s pledges now total $7.5 million and join a list of other philanthropic donations that have helped raise more than $193 million and counting.
“There is no way to characterize the level of gratitude we feel for Eleanor,” hospital CEO Lincoln Mendez said. “This campus-wide initiative and capital campaign will have a significant impact by her participation, by her investment in our future and mission and by her love of the hospital.”
The $250 million undertaking is the largest campaign in the hospital’s history.
Redevelopment plans include the new Gloria Drummond Patient Tower and the new Louis B. and Anne W. Green Lobby, in addition to the comprehensive renovation of all existing patient units.
For more information, call 561-955-4142 or visit https://donate.brrh.com.

Grant to put computers in hands of students
Thanks to a generous matching gift from Harvey and Virginia Kimmel, students at SouthTech Schools in Boynton Beach will receive the technology they need to succeed during the pandemic and beyond.
A total of 995 Chromebook computers are needed at $290 apiece, equaling $288,550, to achieve a one-to-one student-to-device ratio. The Kimmels will pay up to $100,000 toward them in $25,000 increments.
Ultimately, SouthTech — a nonprofit charter school —will have to raise $188,550 in outside funding in addition to the Kimmel commitment. As of mid-April, the Kimmels allocated the first $25,000 in advance and the school raised $22,119 toward that match.
“The majority of middle school and high school students have been attending class virtually — and many of them are doing it with only a smartphone or an outdated tablet,” Principal Eileen Turenne said.
“We have students who are blank spaces on a screen right now because they don’t have the technology that they need.”
For more information, call 561-364-7902 or visit www.southtechschools.org.

Subaru fundraiser aids Boys & Girls Clubs

Schumacher Subaru of West Palm Beach and Schumacher Subaru of Delray Beach raised a combined $55,396 through the Subaru Share the Love Event.
The funds — raised by the lease or purchase of new vehicles — will help the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County to continue to support hunger-relief programs and fight the growing achievement gap caused by distance learning amid the pandemic.
“This is always one of our favorite events because of the impact on the community,” said Charles Schumacher, president of the Schumacher Auto Group. “We are happy to help the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County continue their efforts to help with the recovery from the pandemic.”
For more information, call 561-683-3287 or visit www.subaru.com/share.

Impact 100 names 10 grant finalists
Leaders from Impact 100 Palm Beach County made two long-awaited announcements in April. The first was to name the 10 nonprofit finalists that are a step closer to receiving one of the organization’s $100,000 grants. The second was that the organization plans to award six grants for the first time in its history.
The winners will be revealed May 19.
“We are so thankful to the 640 women who joined us to award six $100,000 grants that will help improve and strengthen our community for our 10th-anniversary year,” Impact 100 Palm Beach County President Kathy Adkins said. “Each of the finalist programs have the potential to positively change different aspects of our community in an impactful way, and it’s gratifying to award as many transformative grants as we can.”
The finalists are: Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County, Coastal Conservation Association Florida, Florence Fuller Child Development Centers, Help Our Wounded Foundation, Milagro Center, Pathways to Prosperity, PROPEL (People Reaching Out to Provide Education & Leadership), Tri-County Animal Rescue, Schoolhouse Children’s Museum & Learning Center, and Spady Cultural Heritage Museum.
For more information, call 561-336-4623 or visit www.impact100pbc.org.

Hanley Foundation launches parenting series
The Hanley Foundation, a nonprofit that combats substance-abuse disorders by raising awareness and preaching prevention, has started a free virtual parenting series titled “Some Days We Thrive; Others We Survive.”
The series offers lectures from authors and experts in the field in an interactive format. Topics include confronting anxiety, dealing with alcohol abuse and more. The dates are May 19 and June 24. The presentations kick off at 7:30 p.m.
“Hanley Foundation is all about family,” CEO Jan Cairnes said. “We know that family time, education and connection are keys to preventing substance misuse. We are offering this parenting series to increase awareness and hopefully change minds around the stigma of addiction.”
For more information, call 561-268-2351 or visit https://hanleyfoundation.org.

Scholarship helps women return to workforce
The Boynton Woman’s Club has expanded its scholarship program to include an annual $1,000 grant for a woman who is returning to school to continue her education.
The candidate can either be advancing herself in a previous field or retraining in a new career to improve her marketable skills. The deadline to apply is Nov. 1.
The scholarship has been made possible by a legacy left by Marie Shepard, a former club member who served as president from 1986 to 1988. Shepard died in 2018.
For more information, call 561-369-2300 or visit www.boyntonwomansclub.com.

Send news and notes to Amy Woods at flamywoods@bellsouth.net.

Stephen Jara and Steve Miskew. Photo provided

Achievement Centers for Children & Families raised more than $16,000 at its second golf tournament, which included a day on the course, contests, raffles and, of course, ocean views. Proceeds will support hundreds of children and their families in need. ‘It was a wonderful day spent with friends, enjoying a game of golf and raising money for an incredible agency,’ board member Walter Tomenson Jr. said. ‘We are continually impressed at how ACCF has been able to provide support to our community in the midst of hardships and are excited to be able to support more programs.’

John Fumero and Marti LaTour. Photo provided

The Food Bank, which believes every local resident should have access to healthy, nutritious food, celebrated the opening of its new facility with dozens of community leaders and VIPs at a socially distanced event. Located at 701 Boutwell Road, the building has doubled the nonprofit’s capacity. ‘It is hard to appreciate that one in six people living in the county do not know where they will get their next meal,’ Food Bank CEO Jamie Kendall said. ‘The pandemic has exposed just how easy it is for people to become food insecure.’

(l-r) Vice President Susan Hiles, Secretary Eleanor Hoffmann, Treasurer Pat Piller, and co-Presidents Mary Lou Goldberg and Anne Dunn. Photo provided

St. Lucy Catholic Church named new leaders to the Palm Beach Diocesan Council of Catholic Women. The CCW tends to needy and underserved populations throughout the region by delivering food, clothing and personal items to farm workers in the Glades as well as to local charities. The Woman of the Year Award was presented to Alice Marie Dill.

The Chinese Garden at the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach is a perfect place to spend time with Mom, and admission is free. The society says the garden celebrates beauty, harmony and tranquility. Mary Thurwachter/The Coastal Star

Celebrate this Mother's Day by taking her away from home

By Mary Thurwachter

Flowers are lovely, chocolates divine. But after we’ve all been cooped up much of the past year to avoid the virus, it’s likely that getting out and about with Mom will be an even more welcome Mother’s Day gift this month. Our moms are often like a breath of fresh air, after all. We offer some suggestions to replenish their fresh air supply.

Explore a magic garden

Moms enjoy taking their toddlers to the Chinese Garden at the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. But grannies like it, too. It’s all about beauty, harmony and tranquility — things mothers crave.
When you wrap up your stroll through the Chinese Garden, be sure to survey the adjacent Philip Hulitar Sculpture Garden and Four Arts Botanical Gardens.
Not to be missed are the exquisite works of renowned sculpture artists, floral paths, ponds, fountains and unique gardens. Sit a bit on a bench in the shade and just say ahhhhh! www.fourarts.org/gardens

Palm Beach County has miles of nature trails and boardwalks ideal for hiking with Mom. Discover the Palm Beaches

Slip into sensible shoes and take a hike

Walking is always nice, but if you do it on a nature trail you probably want to call it a hike. There are many parks and nature preserves to choose from.
Make sure Mom’s wearing sensible shoes and maybe insect repellent — and a sun hat is always a good idea. Whether it’s dry soil, a boardwalk or marsh, hiking outside makes treadmills seem like a snooze. Plus, the scenery rocks.
Keep an eye out for birds.
https://discover.pbcgov.org/parks/pages/naturetrails.aspx

Shop till you drop!

OK, these options aren’t exclusively outside, but some moms enjoy retail therapy as much as anything. With them in mind, here are two Mother’s Day offerings to consider.
• The Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority presents the Downtown Delray Beach Orchid Giveaway May 1-8 in honor of Mother’s Day.
With every $200 spent shopping at downtown Delray Beach venues during that time, buyers can show their receipts to pick up a complimentary orchid from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 6-8 in front of these stores: Hands at 325 E. Atlantic Ave., Sara Campbell at 1051 E. Atlantic Ave., and Sunday State Style at 157 NE Second Ave. (May 8 only).  Shoppers also can enter to win a Mother’s Day prize package that comprises a collection of downtown merchants’ certificates worth more than $500. Enter May 1-17 online at www.downtowndelraybeach.com/mothersday
• Boca Raton’s Mizner Park welcomes everyone to treat Mom to a special meal, treat or surprise May 9.
Dining options with specials include Cielito Artisan Pops, which offers specialty pops with edible flowers; Kapow! with brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., offering complimentary bottomless mimosas and flowers for mothers; a Mother’s Day brunch at Max’s Grille; a prix fixe meal for dining in or takeout at Ruth’s Chris Steak House; and a Mother’s Day brunch menu at Tanzy.
Shops offering Mother’s Day discounts include Comfort Shoes, Gramercy Hair Salon, Hästens, Kendra Scott, and Sugarboo & Co. www.miznerpark.com

Café des Beaux-Arts, at the Flagler Museum, offers an a la carte dining option three days a week in which you can feast under the palm trees that surround the museum. The Flagler Museum

Picnic under the palms

You can, of course, pack a picnic basket and find a lovely spot in the shade to dine with Mom. But for a treat, plan a weekday outing (between 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays) under the palms at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach.

Don’t worry about bringing your own edibles (in fact, that’s not allowed). The museum's Café des Beaux-Arts offers a new a la carte option called Picnic. The Flagler's Gilded Age-inspired food and beverages — and the picturesque setting — are sure to make Mom feel like the special woman she is. www.flaglermuseum.us/visiting/cafe-des-beaux-arts

Experience waterways via kayak or paddleboard

Experience a more intimate connection with nature and, as a bonus, hone your upper body. Mom’s, too. The sightseeing is amazing. Check out the Snook Islands, part of the Lake Worth Lagoon that has been transformed from a dead zone to a harbor that attracts hundreds of species of birds and marine life. Paddlers can expect a relaxing experience, no matter their skill level, as well as a refreshing dose of nature, including jumping mullet and soaring osprey.
Paddleboards and kayaks can be launched from the Beach Club at the Lake Worth Golf Club. www.kayaklakeworth.com

Check out the FlowRider at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. Discover the Palm Beaches

Try the ultimate surfing machine

If you don’t own surfboards and are a tad intimidated by the Atlantic Ocean, the next-best thing for you and Mom is to check out the FlowRider at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. Show Mom just what a balanced child you are and then give her a chance to test the waters. It’s safe. It’s wet and wild and a lot of fun, too.
www.waldorfastoria3.hilton.com/en/hotels/florida/boca-raton-resort-and-club-a-waldorf-astoria-resort-BCTRCWA/local/boca-raton-flowrider.html

Changes at the Atlantic Grille come ahead of the planned renovation of the adjoining Seagate Hotel. The restaurant’s subdued lighting and massive aquariums are likely to stay. Photo provided

By Jan Norris

A new food and beverage director is on board at the Atlantic Grille, the restaurant on the street side of the Seagate Hotel.

Matthew Feliciano will oversee the new menus and beverage program at the grill. He comes from the Four Seasons Resort in Las Vegas, but has worked in South Florida at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

Executive chef Adam Gottlieb at the grill will be joined by a new pastry chef, Sireena Edwards.

The restaurant will remain seafood-inclined, according to a hotel spokesman. The atmosphere will stay upscale-casual, with Liz Lambert of Austin, Texas, hotel fame introducing a modern vibe to the decor. As of mid-April, however, plans called for the jellyfish aquarium behind the Jellies bar to remain.

The restaurant’s do-over is part of a total renovation of the hotel and its properties, which will begin this summer with the Beach Club, and next year for the main hotel.

Atlantic Grille, in the Seagate Hotel, 1000 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach. Phone 561-665-4900; www.theatlanticgrille.com. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily; weekends, brunch is 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Outdoor seating available.

Moms get special treatment at several restaurants in the area where brunch is traditional on Mother’s Day. Many dining venues are booked; you can call your favorite to see if it has a waiting list.

The big one in South County is at the Addison in Boca Raton, which is relaunching one of its signature events with Mother’s Day brunch May 9.

It’s a major feast with large appetizer station, unlimited bubbly, a seafood bar, breakfast station, salad and soup bar, carving stations with New York strip steaks, turkey, leg of lamb and crabcakes, a separate children’s station and a dessert bar.

Cost is $125 for adults (plus tax and tip), $75 kids 4-12, free for those 3 and under.

Brunch starts at 10:30 a.m.; make required reservations by calling 561-372-0568.

Benvenuto in Boynton Beach will offer a sit-down a la carte dinner for moms with a special menu.

It begins at 3 p.m. and reservations are required. Call 561-364-0600.

You’ll have two days to enjoy a brunch for mom at Elisabetta’s Ristorante in Delray Beach (and its sister restaurant in West Palm Beach). A special a la carte brunch menu is served all weekend from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and features dishes such as avocado toast stagione, burrata toast, Pandoro French toast, frittata di verdure, salmone affumicato, Italian shakshuka and more.

With the purchase of an entree, guests are offered bottomless drinks from a special list for $16.

To see the full menu, go to www.elisabettas.com.

Viva La Playa, the newish Mexican restaurant oceanfront on Lake Worth Beach, will throw its first Cinco de Mayo fiesta May 5. Food and drink specials, a DJ spinning tunes, and a tequila tasting are all part of the daylong event, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Reservations are recommended; call 561-247-7245 or book online at www.VivaLaPlaya.com.

The popular Luff’s Fish House in Boca Raton is expanding its brand into a fresh fish market nearby. Luff’s Fish Market will open a few doors away from the Rebel House on East Palmetto Park Road sometime in July, a spokeswoman from the restaurant said.

The exact storefront had not been decided by mid-April, but the shop will carry all the fresh versions of fish and seafood sold at the restaurant. Both local and other domestic fish will be in the cases.

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