Hamid Hashemi called delays in Delray Beach an important factor in iPic’s financial trouble. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Related Information: Delray Beach iPic incentives

By Jane Smith and Mary Hladky

One week after iPic Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, company founder and chief executive Hamid Hashemi stood before the Downtown Development Authority attempting to conduct business as usual.
Hashemi wanted the board to approve a restaurant on the third-floor terrace of his newest theater, which opened in downtown Delray Beach in March.
Board members peppered him with questions: Would the restaurant solve iPic’s financial problems? Why was Hashemi backtracking on previous assurances that the theater would not have a restaurant? When would iPic move its headquarters from Boca Raton to Delray Beach as promised?
As he responded, Hashemi lamented the six years it had taken to complete negotiations with the city and build the theater, causing cost increases that contributed to iPic’s financial woes.
“In 2013, when we signed up to do this project, it was a $30 million project,” he said. “Now it’s a $60 million project with 40 additional public parking spaces. We gave 8 feet of alley away.
“We gave and gave and gave. … This has been the most disappointing experience of my life.”
The DDA board approved iPic’s restaurant by a 4-3 vote on Aug. 12 on the condition that iPic appear before another city advisory board to make sure its complex has adequate parking.
But even if other city boards and the City Commission approve, that restaurant’s opening and iPic’s corporate office relocation are in doubt.
Seeking bankruptcy protection allows iPic to restructure its debt or find a buyer. If it’s unsuccessful, the company could liquidate.
While iPic is searching for investors and buyers, it will ask a bankruptcy court judge at a Sept. 11 hearing to approve an auction of its assets.
It’s not known if iPic will emerge from the process in a position to continue its expansion plans, refurbish existing theaters or absorb the cost of a corporate move.
But for now, iPic says its 16 theaters in nine states will continue operating and vendors will be paid.
In South Florida, other iPics are in Boca Raton and North Miami Beach. The company has planned to open iPics in Fort Lauderdale and Sunrise next year.
The Boca Raton theater and adjacent Tanzy Restaurant in Mizner Park opened in 2012. Unlike in Delray Beach, which gave incentives to build the theater, Boca Raton offered no incentives and the project was not controversial.
When iPic launched in 2010, it offered a new concept: luxury theaters with reclining seats, quality food and drinks brought to patrons, and pillows and blankets.

Troubled waters
But in the years since, theater patronage has decreased nationwide as people opt to stream movies in the comfort of their family rooms. At the same time, larger theater chains copied iPic’s dine-in option and reclining seats.
Trouble has been brewing at iPic for some time.
The company completed an initial public offering on Feb. 1, 2018, that raised $15.1 million from shares priced at $18.50, far less than the $30 million to $50 million Hashemi hoped for.
In a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing earlier this year, iPic reported operating losses in 2017 and 2018 and said it expected losses to continue for the next several years as it continued building up to 25 theaters in the U.S.
Yet its officials were optimistic, with plans to build theaters in Saudi Arabia, which in 2018 announced it would allow commercial movie theaters to open for the first time in more than 35 years.
But iPic’s financial problems worsened during the first quarter of this year, when revenues dropped to $30.2 million compared to $38.7 million for the first three months of 2018.
In a May 20 conference call with investors, Hashemi said company officials were “surprised” by the decrease. He attributed it to the lack of a blockbuster movie in the first quarter, the government shutdown in January that affected iPic theaters near Washington, D.C., and in the Northeast, and a brutal winter that kept audiences at home.
Warning signs flashed red when iPic missed a $10.1 million interest payment due July 1 to the Teachers’ Retirement System of Alabama and the Employees’ Retirement System of Alabama, which had lent iPic $205 million.
In a July 26 SEC filing, iPic warned it might have to seek bankruptcy protection, triggering a stock price plunge to just over $1.
On Aug. 5, iPic did just that. The company’s filing in Delaware bankruptcy court lists $290.9 million in debt, mostly owed to the Alabama retirement systems, and $157 million in assets.
A spokeswoman for the retirement systems declined to comment.

Delisted and up for sale
IPic’s stock was delisted on Nasdaq on Aug. 14, and it traded on the over-the-counter market at 45 cents per share as of Aug. 30.
IPic can keep going for now because the pension funds lent it an additional $16 million to cover operating expenses and costs associated with its bankruptcy case.
The bankruptcy court proceedings are moving rapidly. A slew of motions filed by iPic will be heard Sept. 11. The company, which is seeking to sell to the highest bidder, has asked the court to approve an Oct. 17 asset auction and an Oct. 25 sale hearing to authorize the sale of assets.
IPic’s hunt for investors and buyers is on. Its investment banker, PJ Solomon, has contacted 64 potential investors and buyers, of which 31 had signed nondisclosure agreements and six were negotiating agreements to see confidential company information, according to an Aug. 15 iPic filing in the bankruptcy case.
IPic has cited several reasons for its financial problems, including delays in building out its theater chain, the high cost of capital, and depletion of funds “before the company was able to reach critical mass.”
But Hashemi pointed to the difficulties in building the eight-screen Delray Beach theater as a major issue for his company.
“Importantly, delays related to the Delray Beach location resulted in unforeseen costs and a significant slowdown in circuit-wide development and new grand openings,” he said in announcing the bankruptcy filing.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia pushed back against ideas that the city bears the blame for iPic’s woes, and that iPic did all the giving in its dealings with the city.
“We gave as much as we could,” said Petrolia, who has consistently voted against iPic’s requests. In May, “my colleagues allowed (Hashemi) to regain the public terrace space to open a restaurant … without giving back something to the public in return.”
Former Mayor Cary Glickstein, who voted for iPic’s waiver requests, believes the city is not responsible for the project delays.
“I think Hamid is cherry-picking his facts when blaming the city for the delays,” he wrote in an email.
Glickstein did fault the way the land sale to iPic was handled. The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency wrote the sale contract.
“The CRA — its board, executive leadership and attorney, as well-intentioned as they were — was not equipped to underwrite a project of this magnitude and complexity,” he wrote. “Incomplete documents create ambiguity. … A far more comprehensive contract could have reduced much of that.”
The CRA approved the sale of prime downtown public land to iPic, the winning bidder, in 2013, but the City Commission didn’t approve the project until 2016. Disagreements over building height, setbacks and parking contributed to the time lapse.
Even then, not all issues were resolved. Most recently, iPic asked to add the restaurant even though it had agreed earlier to use the space as a terrace open to the public.
IPic attorney Bonnie Miskel told the Sun-Sentinel in June that iPic was responding to public demand for a restaurant. The restaurant, she said, also would bring in revenue to help defray the cost of complying with city demands that have led to a doubling of the initial cost of the project.
The project, now known as 4th & 5th Delray, was controversial. Some residents thought the project — which includes office space, retail and a parking garage just south of Atlantic Avenue between Southeast Fourth and Fifth avenues — was too big and would generate too much traffic.
But many city leaders liked the idea of a movie theater as a way to diversify an area dominated by restaurants and bars.
After lengthy delays, iPic closed on the sale of 1.6 acres, paying $3.6 million in late April 2017. A few weeks earlier, a new entity called Delray Beach 4th & 5th Avenue paid $2.3 million for .14 of an acre to provide a loading zone at the city’s insistence.
The same day the 1.6-acre sale closed, Hashemi’s Delray Beach Holdings sold the land to Delray Beach 4th & 5th Avenue. That entity’s joint venture partner is Samuels & Associates of Boston and its investor partner is American Realty Advisors, based in Los Angeles. Hashemi retains a small stake.
Incentives given by the CRA to get the iPic deal done included paying iPic $400,000 of taxpayer dollars to offset iPic’s cost of providing 40 additional parking spaces in the garage. This ignored the CRA’s rule that it not provide incentives to businesses east of Swinton Avenue.
The CRA also agreed to pay iPic $75,000 annually for maintaining 90 public parking spaces in the garage.
In contrast to the drawn-out wrangling in Delray Beach, two Boca Raton City Council members recall no issues before iPic in 2012 to opened its ninth theater, in Mizner Park, where Hashemi already had an office. IPic replaced another theater that had closed.
“I think people were very happy to have a theater there, to have it revived,” said council member Andrea O’Rourke, then president of the Golden Triangle Neighborhood Association, who won election in 2017. “At the time, it was very exciting. It was the first theater like it.”
“IPic wasn’t just the cool new thing when they opened,” said Mayor Scott Singer, first elected to the council in 2014. “They continue to be the cool new thing. I don’t think anyone is doing it better than they are.”
In 2000 Hashemi, then a Muvico executive, built the Palace 20 theater by the Boca Raton Airport.
IPic’s landlord in Boca Raton is Brookfield Property Partners, the owner of Mizner Park. A Brookfield official did not return calls requesting comment.
A March loan modification agreement between iPic and the Alabama pension funds shows that the company was saving money by halting a planned $4.1 million renovation of the Boca Raton theater. The money was to be used for operating expenses instead.

Compiled by Jane Smith

The iPic movie theater sits just south of Atlantic Avenue, between Southeast Fourth and Fifth avenues. The downtown Delray Beach movie theater has received incentives from the city and its Community Redevelopment Agency.

December 2013
IPic Entertainment wins the bid for 1.6 acres of public land for $3.6 million. The property is part of the city’s Community Redevelopment Area. The vacant land housed the city’s library and Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce. The property held nearly 100 free public parking spaces.

August 2015
After a city advisory board turned down iPic’s waiver requests, the City Commission approves them for a building height above 48 feet tall and allowing a movie theater. The commission also ignored its own rule and gave away a north-south alley to the project.
Other waivers were given to allow the project to follow its own setback needs and to have darkened windows along Southeast Fifth Avenue, also known as Federal Highway.
In addition, city staff allowed iPic to use a shared parking plan for the garage, instead of following the rules that would require more parking spaces for the theater. iPic added only 211 spaces for its theater, instead of the 880 spaces required by the city’s rules.

March 2017
The city’s CRA agrees to give iPic $400,000 of taxpayer funds, ignoring its own rules of not providing incentives to businesses east of Swinton Avenue. The money was requested by iPic to offset the cost of providing 40 extra public parking spaces in the garage.
The CRA also agrees to pay $75,000 annually for maintaining 90 public parking spaces in the garage. The amount will increase annually and be payable by the city after the CRA sunsets in 2040.

April 2017
IPic needed eight deadline extensions to close the CRA deal on April 25.
The same day iPic purchased the land from the CRA, the property was flipped to a new entity, Delray Beach 4th & 5th Avenue LLC. Samuels & Associates of Boston is the managing partner and American Realty Advisors, based in Los Angeles, is the investor. IPic retains a small share through Delray Beach Holdings LLC.
The nearby Martini land — $2.3 million for .14 of an acre for a loading zone — was included in the sale to Delray Beach 4th & 5th, making the total sale price $5.9 million.
The parking and taxpayer incentive agreements are now held by the new entity.

SOURCES: Delray Beach City Commission and Community Redevelopment Agency meetings

By Rich Pollack

Along the barrier island, leaders in Ocean Ridge are trying to determine if it’s time to seriously consider hooking up to the regional wastewater treatment facility, through neighboring Boynton Beach.
Most of the homes in town are either on septic systems or are served by package plants, which are small facilities that treat sewage from multifamily communities.
To figure out if it makes sense to connect to a regional system, Ocean Ridge has created a Septic to Sewer Citizens Advisory Committee. It is researching what exists in town and the experiences of other municipalities that have replaced septic systems with connections to regional facilities.
So far, 14 package plants have been identified in town.
The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County is unable to provide an estimate of how many individual septic systems exist in Ocean Ridge and surrounding communities because some of those systems were installed more than half a century ago.
Department records, however, show that from September of last year until late last month, seven new septic systems were installed in Ocean Ridge. Four of those are advanced or aerobic treatment systems.
Although it is very early in the process, it is likely that converting from septic to sewer in Ocean Ridge will be disruptive and costly — if it ever does happen.
During the committee’s first meeting, in July, representatives from the city of Boynton Beach presented preliminary plans for what the conversion could look like.
To get sewage from the barrier island, Boynton Beach would install two large pipes under the Intracoastal Waterway.
In Ocean Ridge there would be either a traditional gravity and force main system or a vacuum collection system. The latter would require vacuum pits possibly shared by homes and then several central vacuum tanks throughout the town.
With a traditional gravity and force main system, pipes would be run under the roadways and lift stations would be installed.
Boynton Beach in its preliminary proposal said the gravity and force main system seemed to be the most cost effective for five condominiums south of Woolbright Road, while the vacuum collection system seemed the most cost effective for the remainder of Ocean Ridge.
For the five condominiums at the south end, based on conceptual plans, the cost is estimated at $2 million with the gravity and force main system; and for the rest of the town, the cost is estimated to be a little over $20 million.
There would also likely be additional costs to homeowners, including connection fees and the expense of decommissioning existing septic systems.
To help with costs, the advisory committee is exploring what government or private grants might be available.
The advisory committee is scheduled to meet again at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 18 at Ocean Ridge Town Hall.

Tana Callahan, who works with Howe Inc., the property manager at the Crown Colony Club in Ocean Ridge, checks on the package plant on the west side of the community. The treatment plant also serves Colonial Ridge and Ocean Manor. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

There was an audible gasp in the room when residents attending a meeting of Ocean Ridge’s Septic to Sewer Citizens Advisory Committee last month heard that sewage effluent from one of the more than 14 “package plants” in town was going directly into the Intracoastal Waterway.
What most of those in the room probably didn’t know is that the effluent meets very high state standards and the plant, like all other package plants in town, is closely monitored with testing and reporting required on a regular basis.
Package plants are similar to larger municipal facilities — but on much smaller scale. They are highly regulated, mostly onsite facilities that treat sewage coming from a condominium or multi-unit community.
While there is rarely testing of effluent coming from septic systems in single-family homes, package plants are continuously monitored.
At most plants, systems are checked for nutrient levels — such as nitrogen — and fecal coliform bacteria at least once a month, says Gary Cook, owner of Aqua Data Inc., which services many of the small sewage treatment plants in Ocean Ridge.
Contractors like Aqua Data have certified operators visit the plants either five or six days a week — depending on the requirements from the Florida Department of Health or Florida Department of Environment Protection.
The operators take readings and fill out reports on a regular basis during a visit of 30 minutes or longer.
In the case of the effluent pumped into the Intracoastal, the sewage goes through the standard treatment process and is chlorinated to state standards. It is then treated again with another chemical to remove the chlorine before it is released.
Two of the plants that Cook’s company services put treated water into the Intracoastal, but the majority put the treated effluent into drain fields where it percolates into the ground. One client used deep-well injection.
Deep-well injection of the treated effluent also occurs at the Colonial Crown Manor Disposal Systems Inc. plant, the largest of the package plants in town.
Serving 290 units, the plant treats sewage from three communities — Crown Colony, Colonial Ridge and Ocean Manor. The plant, built in 1969, has a capacity of pumping 100,000 gallons a day and is operated and maintained by U.S. Water Inc.
In peak season it will treat about 65,000 gallons of sewage a day.
The expenses that come with maintaining older plants are passed along to residents as part of monthly fees.
Users of the Colonial Crown Manor package plant pay $45 a month, but Ron Kirn, president of the association that oversees the plant, sees that dropping soon to as low as $30 a month, thanks to changes in key vendors, tighter cost controls and a focus on keeping the plant running smoothly.
“We instituted preventative maintenance on key operational components, which reduces failures,” he said.

Debra Boyle, Ocean Ridge’s first dedicated community policing officer, talks with Susan Ezekiel while on patrol. Ezekiel’s dogs are Cody and Jessie. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Margie Plunkett

The Ocean Ridge Police Department sent an SUV full of school supplies to children in the care of Palm Beach County in August, a delivery that included 150 book bags, binders, paper folders, glue sticks and composition books.
“We want to make sure children going back to school are successful,” said Officer Debra Boyle, the department’s community policing officer. “Every child needs to have a smile on their face regardless of their circumstances.”
Boyle was the officer behind the department’s successful community school supply drive that ended in early August. As community policing officer, she helps look out for Ocean Ridge residents. She’s been with the department for 21/2 years, but nobody knows her as Officer Boyle. “Everybody knows Debra,” she says.
The 46-year-old Boynton Beach resident helps the community in many ways — checking on elderly people, setting up a CPR class. She might be out informing residents on how to stay safe entering their cars, or teaching them how to protect themselves against scams.
“I enjoy working with the residents and doing for the community,” Boyle said. “I have a passion when it comes to children. I definitely love helping out — with the elderly, too. If they need something from across the bridge, I’ll pick it up for them, or I’ll transport them there.”
Boyle was chosen as Ocean Ridge’s first dedicated community policing officer, a position created last year with the goal of having “a true community partnership that makes folks not only feel safe and secure, but makes a difference in the lives of those we serve every day,” explained Police Chief Hal Hutchins.
While police work keeps her busy, Boyle does have a life outside the job. She and her husband, Doug, have four children and two grandchildren. In her spare time, Boyle enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.
Hutchins called Boyle a “passionate professional in her work and caring person who uses her passions to be a great police officer.”
She is able “to bring people together and develop relationships, fixing little issues before they become larger. She is a true community ambassador.”
Boyle was drawn to law enforcement by her desire to “give back to the community in a positive way,” she said. She went to a law enforcement program in Athens, Georgia, and Florida’s St. Petersburg College Law Enforcement Academy, where she was certified.
While in Georgia, she worked in the juvenile court system. It influenced her decision to conduct both the most recent school supply drive and last year’s Christmas toy drive on behalf of the children under county care.
“I felt this was the way to go because these kids are away from their families” or they’re with their families but working through a plan with county supervision, she said. There are 1,600 to 1,700 children under Palm Beach County care, from birth through age 18, in situations including foster homes and group homes, according to Boyle.
“The donations were delightful” for the school supply drive, Boyle said. Those still wishing to give can look for the start of this year’s toy drive in October.
Hutchins said the school supply and toy drives were Boyle’s idea, along with coordinating beach cleanups conducted with Florida Atlantic University and the town’s Garden Club. “I think her efforts were a huge success on many fronts,” he said.
“She has helped raise awareness of the needs of some of our less fortunate community members. She has brought the community together for a common cause,” Hutchins said. “Most importantly, she has built a network that opened a candid dialogue with a lot of residents, not just from Ocean Ridge, but from Briny Breezes, the County Pocket and other surrounding communities.”
What’s most significant to Boyle so far in her experience working in Ocean Ridge? “Just the love and support from the community,” she says. “How everybody pulls together.”

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Part Three: Rising seas threaten wastewater systems | Gulf Stream: Town wants to know price of putting in sewers

Part One: Cities rush to fix aging sewer systems | How sewage flows | Boca Raton's multi-year project targets older underground pipes | Editor's Note: Sewage disposal issues leave no time to waste

By Rich Pollack

When it comes to sewage treatment in Florida, septic systems get no respect.
One of the most basic forms of treating sewage, septic systems have long been used in Florida, with estimates of close to 2.8 million systems statewide and more than 50,000 in Palm Beach County alone.
In the coastal areas of South Palm Beach County, septic systems are common and used by the majority of single-family homes in Ocean Ridge, Manalapan and Gulf Stream.
As populations, especially in urban areas, continue to grow, conventional septic systems are coming under fire from environmental advocates and others who say that nutrients found in water coming from septic tanks and going into the ground are creating ecological issues at an increasing rate.
“Septic systems leach into the ground water and surface water,” says state Rep. Mike Caruso of Delray Beach, whose district includes much of the barrier island in South Palm Beach County. “We’re creating the perfect environment for blue green algae growth.”
Caruso, a Republican, is so concerned that he teamed with Rep. Will Robinson, R-Bradenton, to introduce legislation last session that would have required routine inspections of septic tanks. The legislation died in committee.
“We can’t continue the way we are,” Caruso said.
In fact, science and technology have helped make septic systems more environmentally friendly for decades.
“Septic systems get a bad rap because what we think about are conventional systems,” said Roxanne Groover, executive director of the Florida Onsite Wastewater Association. “We have gotten a lot better because people are working together to reach higher standards.”
Advanced systems have been developed to help reduce nutrients — including nitrogen and phosphorus — in the effluent coming out of septic systems. “We’re smarter now,” Groover said. “As we get smarter, we get more responsible.”

Impact on coastal waters
Still, older conventional systems are likely to be the most common in South Florida, and the often nutrient-rich effluent coming from those systems is having an impact on the marine environment, said Dr. Brian Lapointe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.
“We’re increasingly seeing problems in coastal waters that are the result of nutrient enrichment from human activity,” he said. “Sewage can be a major contributor to nutrient pollution.”
Both leaky municipal sewage systems and septic systems contribute to algae growth.
In the case of septic systems, effluent percolates through the soil and makes its way into groundwater, which then goes into canals. Water that is rich in nutrients, especially nitrogen, can feed the growth of blue green algae in waterways. It can also reach the ocean and feed the growth of red tides and brown seaweed, Lapointe said.
There was a small blue green algae bloom in the Lake Worth Lagoon in 2016, and a brief flare-up of red tide occurred along much of the South Florida coast in 2018.
In a 2008 study reported in a paper produced by University of Florida IFAS Extension, researchers found that almost 40 percent of the state’s septic systems were located in coastal areas. Sandy soil in those areas allows for “rapid transport of contaminants into the groundwater,” especially during the rainy season when the water table is high.
“Everybody has been led to believe that all the nutrients are coming from farms,” Lapointe said. “There is more than 21/2 times more nitrogen from sewage than from fertilizer going in the groundwater and feeding algae blooms.”
Although the scientific community agrees that nitrogen feeds algae blooms, skeptics question whether sewage is the primary source.
In addition to nutrients, conventional septic systems could be a source of fecal coliform bacteria getting into groundwater and estuaries, said Lapointe, who was the lead scientist on a fecal bacteria study in the mid-1990s at Jupiter Creek. The study, funded by the Loxahatchee River District, led to the conversion from septic to sewer in that area.
Another study in an area near Florida’s Suwannee River, conducted for the Florida Department of Health and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration several years ago, found a significant reduction in fecal coliform bacteria in canals leading to the river once a regional treatment plant, which replaced onsite treatment systems, was built and operated. In the river, however, no significant reduction of fecal coliform was found.
Lapointe said there is evidence that fecal coliform bacteria is reaching coastal waters and the ocean, especially during periods of heavy rain when salinity — which the bacteria don’t like — is reduced.
Still, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County said there is no link between beach closings and bacteria from septic systems that the department is aware of.
One of the challenges for people hoping to gauge the impact of nutrients and fecal bacteria from septic systems is that there is really no routine testing of effluent coming from conventional systems. Advanced systems, however, do often require additional oversight, including annual inspections.
“Testing for nitrogen, fecal coliform and other components is only done during special research projects, such as research projects performed by department staff, contractors for the department, or other researchers,” a spokesman from the Florida Department of Health wrote in an email.
There are special circumstances where water samples are required by the department of health and there are annual inspections required for commercial uses and in special cases. Routinely, however, the department inspects only the construction of new systems, existing system modifications and repairs and tank abandonment.

Two types of systems
While septic systems are often painted with the same broad brush, the Florida Onsite Wastewater Association’s Groover says that not all systems are the same and that many variables can determine the quality of effluent from those systems.
Essentially there are two types of septic systems, the conventional anaerobic system and the more advanced aerobic treatment system.
In the conventional system, wastewater from a home flows into a buried septic tank. In the tank, solids settle to the bottom. Bacteria that thrive without oxygen — anaerobic bacteria — inside the tank get to work on organic material in the liquid, breaking it down and producing the effluent.
The effluent then leaves the tank and is dispersed through pipes into a drain field. It then continues to percolate through a thin layer of bacteria that digest some of the excess nutrients as well as fecal coliform bacteria and viruses.
More advanced septic systems use oxygen to break down the organic matter in the tank. In these aerobic treatment units, wastewater from the home enters a tank where solids fall to the bottom. The remaining wastewater flows into a separate treatment unit where oxygen is added through an aerator. Strengthened by the oxygen, the aerobic bacteria break down the organic material faster and more effectively than in a conventional tank.
These systems are also more effective in removing nutrients, such as nitrogen, than are traditional systems because the effluent has less organic material. Different types of aerobic treatment systems are designed to meet even higher standards, with some using additional processes.
A homeowner who has an aerobic treatment system must get an operating permit from the state and have a maintenance contract with an approved company. In some cases, homeowners can be trained to do their own maintenance.
Aerobic treatment units are usually required of new-home builders who want to reduce the footprint of the system drain field, need a reduced setback, or want to build a larger home than the lot size would otherwise be allowed to support. Lab samples are required in these instances.
Aerobic treatment systems are more expensive than traditional systems. People in the business estimate the cost to be twice as much, somewhere around $10,000 for products and installation. Costs vary depending on the system.
How well a conventional septic system works depends on variables ranging from the size of the property to the size of the home and the number of people living in it. Rural areas, where homes are spread far apart, may be better-suited for traditional septic systems than urban areas, especially those near water, where it’s important to make sure that the system is working properly.
Age is also a factor, with older systems more likely to fail because of leaks in the septic tank or an aging drain field no longer allowing effluent to percolate through the soil.
“Just because you can flush, doesn’t mean your system is working and just because it’s working, doesn’t mean it’s treating properly,” Groover said.

Mandate from the state
There are no state mandates for communities in Palm Beach County to use advanced aerobic systems with every new septic installation or to convert to centralized sewage treatment systems.
The state Legislature did, however, impose a mandate on the Florida Keys in 1999 — when every part of the Keys was required to have advanced wastewater treatment or the best available technology installed within 11 years. Septic tanks and cesspits were no longer acceptable.
The result was a series of regional plants as well as some municipal plants at a cost of about $1 billion.
For the Keys, the mandate was as much about economics as the environment. With a tourist-based economy, improving near-shore water quality was essential.
To fund the project, the Keys looked to the federal government and the state, which both helped — though not as much as had been promised. Monroe County also used an infrastructure sales tax, in addition to assessments, to help cover the costs.
“It was absolutely the right thing to do,” said Kevin Wilson, an assistant Monroe County administrator. “It’s hard and expensive but it can be done. It just takes commitment and persistence.”
In a few other scattered areas of the state, homeowners are required to use advanced systems when replacing or installing new septic systems.
Groover says that she and her association are not averse to reasonable mandates, but says they need to be tailored to individual situations.
“One size doesn’t fit all,” she said. “You have to assess the needs of each community.”
Caruso, the state representative, says he believes there could be a statewide mandate within 10 years that could affect South Florida coastal communities. If so, he says, it would most likely have to be phased in over several years.
Standing in the way, however, could be a lack of political will, with legislators reluctant to pass bills that will financially burden their constituents and communities.
That reluctance, Caruso says, is why the septic tank inspection bill went nowhere. Still, he says, he plans to introduce the legislation again next session.
“We should no longer sit back and ignore science,” he said. “We as individuals can’t fix the sugar industry, we can’t fix the dairy industry and we can’t fix Lake Okeechobee. What we can fix is what’s in our own backyards.”

Officials hope to raze this Place Au Soleil house and sell the land. Photo by Town of Gulf Stream

By Steve Plunkett

A Place Au Soleil house that rang up $1.89 million in code enforcement violations over the past 10 years is now the target of a foreclosure action by the town.
Gulf Stream officials hope to demolish the house, put in sod and a sprinkler system, and sell the parcel to someone who will turn it into a neighborhood asset.
“What we want there is to ensure that a home is built that is very attractive to Place Au Soleil,” Mayor Scott Morgan said as the Town Commission approved taking legal action Aug. 9.
Real estate broker Zac Mazur, epresenting the estate of deceased homeowner Richard Lavoie, said he had a contract to sell the property at 2775 Avenue Au Soleil for $420,000 if commissioners would agree to reduce the lien. Potential purchaser Oceana Properties planned to renovate the house and offered to pay Gulf Stream $20,000.
Lavoie’s 10 heirs, mostly cousins, apologize on his behalf, Mazur said. “There isn’t much they could do to fix what’s been done in the past, and they’re just asking for, you know, as much leniency as possible,” he said.
Trey Nazzaro, the town’s staff attorney, said an outside appraiser valued the property at $610,000 in its current “very poor” condition and at $760,000 if it had been kept in average shape.
Commissioner Donna White, who lives in Place Au Soleil, said the property had too many problems to repair.
“From what I’ve heard, the ceiling is broken — you know, down,” White said. “From my understanding of the condition of the house, I can’t see any renovation. I think that they’re going to have to take it down.”
Mazur said the planned renovations would substantially improve the property, which began receiving notices from the homeowner association in 2002 for having a dead lawn.
“There would be a new roof going on, there would be new windows. I mean, it would be renovated to, comparable to the rest of the community. I would say perhaps that would probably be better than some of the homes that could use some updating over there,” he said.
But Morgan said Oceana’s offer was far too little.
“Frankly I don’t know that you could come up with a proposal that would be acceptable,” he said. “The offer of $20,000 shows a lack of seriousness and encourages further delay in this process.”
Commissioner Joan Orthwein “wholeheartedly” supported Morgan’s position. “It’s been such a drag on this town for so long,” she said.
Lavoie died on March 4, lifting the homestead exemption on the property that had prevented Gulf Stream from foreclosing sooner. The home is the first thing people see after they pass the gatehouse to the community.
Nazzaro reviewed the history of the town’s troubles with Lavoie for commissioners, noting that the file contained 150 pages of records. The Place Au Soleil Association complained in two 2002 letters to Lavoie about his lawn and landscaping not being maintained. Lavoie testified at a special magistrate hearing in April 2005 that he had installed new sod and an irrigation system the week before, after receiving two letters from the town.
Gulf Stream sent a repeat notice of violation that August after the grass died again, and a month later a special magistrate fined Lavoie $4,000.
A December 2005 letter noted code violations including “tall grass, dead trees, a pool that was completely black and a collapsed pool screen,” Nazzaro said. After two more letters and another special magistrate hearing, Lavoie cleared the debris and erected a temporary fence around the pool in April 2006.
In July 2006 he was fined $200 for again neglecting his lawn. And in April 2009 Lavoie was fined $500 a day, again over the status of the lawn and because the temporary pool fence had collapsed. His heirs notified the town the week before the Aug. 9 commission meeting that they had erected another temporary fence, Nazzaro said.
Lavoie also owned property in Massachusetts that commissioners said they will seek to foreclose on.
“I think this is one of the most egregious examples of a resident totally ignoring code requirements not just to the detriment of the town but more importantly to the quiet enjoyment of the residents of Place Au Soleil,” the mayor said. “And not doing this for just a period of months or a year but well over a decade and a half.”

By Steve Plunkett

The water main along State Road A1A north of Golfview Drive can be replaced close to its current route without endangering Gulf Stream’s signature Australian pines, engineers have decided.
Sira Prinyavivatkul, the project manager at Baxter and Woodman Consulting Engineers, told town commissioners Aug. 9 that the new pipe would not have to detour west to Gulfstream Road or Polo Drive to protect the tree canopy. “We understand that that’s a significant feature to this town, and it’s a historic, scenic highway,” he said.
The engineers coordinated with Gulf Stream’s contract arborist, Jonathan Frank of the F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Co., and determined the water main should be kept at least three times the tree diameter away from the Australian pines horizontally and 2 to 3 feet below grade.
The estimated $2.5 million project will replace 3,100 feet of old 8-inch pipe with modern 12-inch pipe on A1A to improve water flow and avoid future expensive repairs. About 2,080 feet will be buried directly; the rest will go in by directional drilling. The existing pipe, made of brittle transite, or asbestos cement, is more than 50 years old and will be abandoned and filled with grout.
Gulf Stream replaced the A1A water main south of Golfview, which also serves Place Au Soleil, in 2006.
Baxter and Woodman expects to finish final construction drawings in December and have a contractor starting the job in April.
“It should be in the off-season and hopefully minimal disturbance to residents,” Prinyavivatkul said.
Along with the A1A portion, the firm proposes 8-inch mains instead of 6-inch pipe on 375 feet of Sea Road, 1,300 feet of County Road, 250 feet back on A1A north of County Road, and 2,000 feet on Little Club Road. Prinyavivatkul said workers should finish 200 feet per day.
The town also hired Frank to trim some of the Australian pines, their first arborist care in three years. The maintenance will cost $20,000. “These are the ones that we consider need the trimming, really, now. We’ve noticed some of the limbs falling, really around the area of the golf course where there’s no homes that block the wind from the ocean,” Town Manager Greg Dunham said.
Meanwhile, Dunham reported, AT&T plans to finish its underground connections in the north end of town by December and to remove its overhead wires by the end of the year. Starting in October, Comcast customers will have to schedule an appointment to have their service transferred underground.
After both utilities have finished, Florida Power & Light will begin removing power poles. Mayor Scott Morgan predicted the last pole would be taken down in March.

By Mary Hladky

City officials need more detailed information from Virgin Trains USA before negotiations can begin on building a new station in Boca Raton.
City staff and Virgin Trains officials have held two meetings since the company notified the city in July that it wants a station in the city.
But while Virgin Trains has released a broad framework of what it will do and what it expects of the city, Boca Raton officials say they need more specifics.
Mayor Scott Singer said he expects Virgin Trains, formerly known as Brightline, to provide that information soon, and City Manager Leif Ahnell told City Council members at an Aug. 26 meeting that he anticipates Virgin Trains will make another presentation to them on Sept. 9.
“Brightline is still fleshing out their proposals,” Singer said after that meeting.
Once it does that, “we will have another discussion at the City Council on their framework to figure out how we go forward and what direction we give, if any, to staff to keep the conversation moving.”
Council members, who authorized the negotiations on July 22, and many residents are enthusiastic about a new Virgin Trains station in Boca Raton.
They say it would lure more corporations to set up headquarters in the city, raise property values, provide an alternative to clogged Interstate 95 and bring visitors to the city’s cultural venues, restaurants and attractions.
But the devil is in the details, and seemingly straightforward matters are proving complicated.
For example, Virgin Trains wants to build its station on city-owned land along the Florida East Coast Railway tracks just east of the Downtown Library at 400 NW Second Ave. That location would cost the library most of its parking lot.
Virgin Trains has said it would also build a parking garage on the land, and library patrons would be able to park on the first floor of the garage free-of-charge. The library would lose no parking spaces.
Friends of the Boca Raton Library does not oppose a train station, but does object to losing the parking lot.
In an Aug. 16 letter to City Council members, the organization’s board listed many concerns. It asked how the garage will be policed for safety, what will prevent train riders from using the parking spaces reserved for the library, whether the library would be easily accessible from the garage, and where library patrons will park during construction of the station and garage.
“We ask as you negotiate that we get to keep our parking lot,” Friends of the Boca Raton Library board president Cyndi Bloom told council members on Aug. 27.
“Some of our demographic are afraid of going into a parking garage at night,” she said of library users. “We are concerned about losing people not wanting to go there.”
Board members also don’t like the commercial and residential development Virgin Trains plans on some of the 4 acres of city-owned land that the rail service wants the city to donate.
“What would really rub salt into the wound is if any of that property would be used as residential,” Bloom said. Giving up the parking lot for residential development “would really hurt.”
Council members tried to assure Bloom that solutions can be found, and stressed that negotiations haven’t begun yet.
“We will encourage them to talk to you,” said Andrea O’Rourke. “We hear you loud and clear.”
Then there’s the matter of the Junior League of Boca Raton’s Community Garden, located east of the parking lot adjacent to the train tracks.
Virgin Trains has pledged to help it find a new home, and Singer has suggested several city-owned sites. Problem solved?
“I wish it was as simple as land,” said Junior League president Cristy Stewart-Harfmann. “We have extremely passionate gardeners. They are really, really upset about this.”
While it is possible to find a new location, it will take three to five years for the garden to grow back to what it is now, she said.
“We are going to be reaching out to the city and Brightline for funding,” Stewart-Harfmann said. “We do not have the funding necessary to move it.”
There are many more unresolved matters.
Deputy City Manager George Brown has said the project will require amendments to the city’s comprehensive plan, creation of new zoning regulations, a development agreement and the conveyance of city land to Virgin Trains.
Asked what more information he needed from Virgin Trains, Brown indicated on Aug. 26 that the list is long. Two matters he cited were the nature and extent of its development plans on the city land and whether the company wants the city to close any roads.
Virgin Trains is proposing to build and pay for the station while the city would pay for the parking garage. The city would also donate the 4 acres, build an elevated pedestrian bridge over Dixie Highway and provide shuttle service from the station to various locations in Boca Raton.
The company wants to place retail, apartments and possible co-working offices on part of the city land, development similar to what it has done near the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach stations.
It would like to conclude negotiations with the city by year’s end, with the station opening in late 2020.
“This Boca Raton station is a great opportunity for us,” Ben Porritt, Virgin Trains senior vice president for corporate affairs, told The Coastal Star on Aug. 5. “It is an exciting market.”
His company selected the city for a station because it is home to universities, about half of Palm Beach County’s corporate headquarters and has a large number of downtown residents who would find the train a great amenity.
Virgin Trains, he said, is meeting a need for South Florida residents who commute to other cities to work or want to get to sports and cultural venues. “There is a tremendous demand for more transportation options in south Florida,” he said.
By adding more stations, “we are trying to increase mobility. With that comes ridership,” he said.
Virgin Trains’ business model is to provide rail service between cities that are too far apart to make driving convenient but too near each other to fly to.
Virgin Trains’ primary passengers now are business people (including lawyers who need to get to meetings or courthouses in West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami), tourists, and people “who are interested in unique experiences” that include special events it hosts on the trains.
The Virgin Group, headed by British billionaire Richard Branson, announced in November a partnership with Brightline that included placing the Virgin name on the trains.
The partnership offers the company a cross-marketing opportunity with the Virgin Voyages cruise line that it is launching out of PortMiami and a Miami Virgin Hotel that is in the works.
The company is collaborating with tourism offices, convention and visitors bureaus and cultural institutions, including Discover the Palm Beaches, the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale and the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. At the Broward Center, for example, riders have received reduced ticket prices to performances and concerts.
It also is teaming up with companies such as FPL and Apollo Bank.
Riders also can experience diversions not typical of a train trip, such as when Spider-Man and Captain America entertained passengers through a partnership with the Museum of Science and Discovery.
“There is a tremendous interest in what we are doing,” Porritt said. “There is a steady ramp up in ridership.”

By Dan Moffett

With the help of next-door neighbor Palm Beach, the town of South Palm Beach has a chance to begin a beach renourishment project by early next year.
“I would imagine we’d probably plan on the month of April,” Robert Weber, Palm Beach’s coastal protection coordinator, told the South Palm Town Council on Aug. 13. “That’s the furthest we could work before the beginning of the turtle season.”
Palm Beach is scheduled to begin dredging sand in November to replenish the beaches in the southern end of the town. Weber said the plan is to bring the dredging off the coast of Phipps Ocean Park by March. From the park, sand could be trucked the short distance into South Palm Beach to feed its eroding beachfront.
“I think that the project will take around three weeks to complete,” Weber said, and he estimated that it might take as many as 1,000 truckloads to build up the South Palm shoreline.
Along with the new sand, the plan calls for restoring the town’s dune line where possible by planting sea oats and other erosion-resistant species.
South Palm Beach Mayor Bonnie Fischer and Weber expect the cost of the project to run about $700,000. The town already has the money set aside. It was to have been used for a beach stabilization project that would have installed concrete groins along the shoreline. But Palm Beach County officials abruptly ended their support for the project earlier this year, saying it had become too costly and faced the threats of lawsuits from disgruntled neighbors to the south.
Because Palm Beach has been working with county, state and federal officials on renourishment efforts for the last two decades, no extensive permitting is required. The partnership benefits both towns: Palm Beach can reduce its costs by selling sand; South Palm can repair its beachfront by buying it.
The project still needs a number of important issues resolved in order to move forward:
• The Army Corps of Engineers must give its final blessing and then the go-ahead to get dredging started.
• Palm Beach must get satisfactory bids from two contractors, one for dredging and another for trucking.
• South Palm must negotiate easements from several condo associations to get access to the beaches for trucks and workers.
• Both towns must negotiate the details of an interlocal agreement to clarify the ground rules for the project.
• The storm season has to remain quiet so the dredging season isn’t delayed and doesn’t run into the turtle nesting season in May.
“I hope that everyone understands how lucky we are that Palm Beach is going to include us in this project,” Fischer said.
In other business, the Town Council unanimously approved setting the tentative millage at the full rollback rate of $3.59 per $1,000 of taxable property value.
The rollback rate is the millage level at which tax revenues remain flat compared with the last fiscal year. Property values in South Palm are up a healthy 5.57 percent over 2018. Even with the rollback, the town can expect to generate about a $90,000 budget surplus because of spending cuts, most notably the upcoming switch to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for police services.
“We’ve been able to give taxpayers a break on their taxes for four years in a row now,” Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb said.

By Dan Moffett

Ocean Ridge officially doesn’t take over policing in Briny Breezes until Oct. 1, but already there are signs of change.
Chief Hal Hutchins told the Briny Breezes Town Council on Aug. 22 that residents would see his officers and Ocean Ridge patrol cars on their streets well before the takeover date.
Hutchins said the early presence isn’t about trying to push out the Boynton Beach Police Department, which has served the town for the last three years. He said he wants to ensure that all his officers — some of whom are new to South Palm Beach County — are familiar with Briny’s layout and understand what the town expects from them.
“Ocean Ridge began orientation of officers because we want to have a smooth transition,” Hutchins told the council. “When you see them, stop and say hello.”
Hutchins also introduced the officer assigned to lead the community policing efforts in Briny. She is Debra Boyle, who came to Ocean Ridge in 2017.
The council unanimously approved the police contract with Ocean Ridge. The agreement includes stipulations that the department will try to improve communications with Briny’s corporate board.
Alderman Bill Birch told Hutchins it’s important that he attends board meetings as well as council meetings. The chief said he intends to provide daily activity reports to the corporate office as well as to town officials.
In other business:
• The council has scheduled a special meeting for Sept. 12. Beginning at 3 p.m., council members hope to hear from representatives of C.A.P. Government of Coral Gables, the company that handles the town’s permitting and code inspection work.
Town Manager Dale Sugerman and Deputy Clerk Maya Coffield have told the council of recurring errors and omissions in the paperwork C.A.P. submits, causing frustration and delays for contractors and homeowners trying to get projects done.
“They don’t seem to have improved,” Sugerman said of the problems, “and they have not gotten worse. They’ve stayed as bad as they were all along.”
Briny’s contract with C.A.P. expires Sept. 30, and the council must decide whether to renew it.
• Immediately after discussing C.A.P., council members plan to look at ways to streamline the permitting process. Alderwoman Kathy Gross has proposed changing procedures to involve the corporate office earlier.
• At 5:01 p.m. on Sept. 12, the council is expected to give preliminary approval to the 2019-2020 budget. Final approval would come at the regular meeting on Sept. 26.

ABOVE: Heather Bolint of Lake Worth and Bryan Galvin of Delray Beach stand on the steps of the state Capitol in Tallahassee, where they obtained a permit to display the burlap bags holding some of the trash they found. The placard reads: This is Ocean Plastic. BELOW: The two friends walked 1,200 miles around Florida’s perimeter to raise awareness of plastic waste on the state’s beaches. Photos provided

By Ron Hayes

In the end they piled their trash on the steps of the state Capitol in Tallahassee.
Last February, Bryan Galvin quit his job as a lifeguard at the St. Andrew’s Club in Gulf Stream, and on March 1, he and a friend, Heather Bolint, left Amelia Island, near the Georgia line, on a mission they called “PlasTrek 2019.”
Armed with 300 burlap bags, a blue Dodge Dakota pickup, a canoe and a smartphone, Galvin, 28, of Delray Beach, and Bolint, 32, of Lake Worth, would trek the 1,200 miles of Florida’s coast, picking up plastic litter along the sand. Bottles and bottle caps, straws, bags — whatever they found soiling our beaches.
They would photograph it, save it, store it, sort it, count it and, in the end, display it on the Capitol steps in a plea for the end of unsustainable plastics.
The plan was to reach Pensacola by mid-June.
But plans change. Plastic happens.
They started out averaging 15-20 miles a day, but once past Sebastian Inlet, nearing South Florida, the plastic waste increased and their progress slowed.
“This isn’t a beach cleanup,” Galvin proclaimed when the pair reached Gulf Stream on April 3, 34 days into the quest. “It’s an awareness trek.”
Their schedule had them at Spanish River Park in Boca Raton that evening. They made it as far as Atlantic Dunes Park in Delray Beach.
A week later, they were five miles from the south end of Miami Beach and April 29 found them resting in Everglades City after an eight-day, 100-mile paddle through the Everglades.
By May 24, they’d reached Manasota Key, about 35 miles south of Sarasota, and on June 27 they were enjoying Santa Rosa Beach, 80 miles east of Pensacola.
They didn’t make Pensacola by mid-June, but they made it.
“We finished on July 1,” Bolint reports, “four months to the day after we started,” and one day after she turned 33. “We drove to the very end of Fort Pickens and watched the sunset on the beach. It was one of the most beautiful we’ve seen in the entire four months.”
Now they needed a break. Galvin came home to Delray Beach, while Bolint visited her father on St. Simons Island in Georgia.
Of the 300 burlap bags, they’d filled about 250, which were stored at the homes of friends and family in Melbourne, Jupiter, Delray Beach and Panama City.
Galvin guesstimated they had about 3,000 pounds of plastic trash.
They also had nearly 10,000 photos capturing each piece of trash they found, sometimes group photos.
“When we upload them, we’ll get a final count,” he promised.
They wanted to display what they’d found on the Capitol steps in an unapologetic publicity stunt for the cause of clean beaches. Maybe the governor could drop by, along with some news media. For that, they’d need a permit.
“The lady was concerned that 3,000 pounds might damage the historic steps,” Bolint says, “but I assured her it would be all right, they were just plastic bottles.”
The permit was issued for Monday morning, July 29.
Let the sorting begin.
“We ran out of time to count it all,” Galvin concedes. Based on what they had counted, they’d found 55 categories of plastic waste, the top six being bottle caps and lids, bags, bottles, food wrappers and containers, beach toys and straws.
“I went the entire trek trying to keep plastic-free,” he says, “but it was impossible. Even the Whole Foods bags had little plastic windows in them.”
On Sunday, July 28, Galvin and his brother Sean left Delray Beach in Sean’s truck and trailer and retrieved the bags they’d left in Jupiter and Melbourne.
Bolint left St. Simons Island and headed for Panama City to collect another load stored there.
She reached Tallahassee at midnight, the Galvin brothers arrived at 5:30 a.m., and at 9:30 they met at the Capitol.
“It took us about two hours to set it up on the steps, and I still had a pallet and a half we left behind in the truck,” Galvin says.
“We didn’t even get through half of it before reporters were showing up and people were taking pictures.”
The governor didn’t drop by, but the local NBC and ABC affiliates put them on local TV news, and The Tallahassee Democrat and Capitol News Service did stories.
In the end, their four-month, 1,200-mile, 3,000-pound PlasTrek collection sat on the Capitol steps just about two hours. Then they gathered up all those bags and stored them in a friend’s barn stall in Tampa.
“It’s not going to the landfill yet,” Galvin says. “We hope to set it up in other places or maybe a little in each place, or several at a time.”
Bolint is back in Lake Worth, still scoping out a new adventure.
“I’ve applied to work at a sustainability school in the Bahamas,” she says.
Galvin is working at The Surf District, a surf shop in Delray.
And would they do it all again?
“No, I don’t think so,” Bolint says. “It was just getting really hot, and we were trekking in the middle of the day with the sun beating down on us, blistering.”
She pauses. “Well, maybe if it was a different time of year.”
Galvin is more amenable.
“It was hard,” he concedes, “but I don’t feel anywhere near done yet. Maybe the hiking part would have to be done differently, maybe with a team.
“But why would we stop? We need to solve a problem.”

By Dan Moffett

Despite budget constraints because of long overdue infrastructure repairs, Ocean Ridge commissioners have decided to go forward with a plan to equip the town’s police officers with body cameras at a cost of at least $20,000.
“I think it’s kind of like an insurance policy,” said Commissioner Phil Besler. “In the long run, we’re going to save it all on one case. Because if you’ve got the proof, then that person can’t sue you.”
The vote was 4-1 during an Aug. 5 commission workshop to put the cameras in the 2019-2020 budget, with Mayor Steve Coz voting no. He argued that the cameras would have “unintended consequences” and interfere with community policing, straining relations between residents and officers.
Vice Mayor Don MaGruder gave his support with the stipulation that Police Chief Hal Hutchins educate the public on how the department would use the cameras, in particular when officers would activate them.
“The money was allocated for the body cameras but it’s got an asterisk on it,” Coz said. “We have to know how they turn on and off, and different parameters that the chief is going to present.”
The cameras got a lot easier for commissioners to afford when Briny Breezes rehired Ocean Ridge to do its policing, ending a three-year relationship with Boynton Beach. The contract, effective Oct. 1, will generate $180,000 in revenue annually for Ocean Ridge.
In April, Hutchins told the commission he believed cameras were necessary to help clear “an air of distrust of the police” in the town. Hutchins said his officers “are not feeling well and safe in their job” and that all of them supported using the cameras.
Commissioners Kristine de Haseth and Susan Hurlburt also sided with the chief. Hurlburt said she believed the cameras would be “a positive for the town,” and de Haseth said they would give police “a vote of confidence.”
Even with the Briny contract, the town faces a budget deficit of about $264,000 because of repairs and replacements needed to the stormwater drainage system.
The town’s overall financial health is robust, however, with about $4.8 million available in unassigned reserves, or about 63 percent of the annual operating budget needed to run the town.
After a recent survey of salaries in local municipalities found Ocean Ridge dispatchers were underpaid, commissioners voted to raise the position’s pay level by $5,400.
The commission gave unanimous approval to a tentative tax rate of $5.35 per $1,000 of taxable value, the same as 2018. Because the town’s property values rose about 6 percent over the last year, the same rate represents a higher bill for taxpayers.
The commission could still choose to increase the millage to as high as $5.55 during a Sept. 9 budget hearing.

Prime Catch plans to close and renovate for all of September as the ground level of the parking lot at River Walk is brought up by 18 to 24 inches to meet current code. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

The Prime Catch restaurant in Boynton Beach will close in September while Riverwalk Plaza’s owner rips apart the parking lot to install underground utilities and trenches.
Flooding from heavy rains has exacerbated driving woes in the plaza during construction on ditches where stormwater and sewer lines will be placed.
“When it rains really hard, it affects us more,” said Luke Therien, whose family owns Prime Catch. “The parking lot floods easily.”
During September, the restaurant will do interior renovations. It will reopen in October “with our own beautiful new upgrades for the season,” Therien said.
Drivers entering the plaza’s parking lot from East Woolbright Road can’t reach South Federal Highway restaurants and retailers. They are stopped by barriers placed by construction workers who are installing underground systems for water, sewer, stormwater, wastewater, electric and gas lines for the new apartment complex.
In addition, parts of the parking lot along South Federal and East Woolbright are being raised 18 to 24 inches to accommodate exfiltration trenches to store runoff, said Gary Dunmyer, city engineer.
The South Florida Water Management District requires the trenches to sit above the water table, Dunmyer said. The trenches allow the runoff to ooze through a filter of rocks and enter the groundwater system. Excess water will flow out to the Intracoastal Waterway.
Stephanie Setticasi, who owns Josie’s Ristorante with her husband, said traversing the parking lot is challenging during and after heavy downpours. “Customers are complaining about the difficulty in reaching our restaurant,” she said.
Josie’s plans to stay in its location, Setticasi said, after it could not reach an agreement with the plaza owner to buy out the remaining 10 years on its lease.
Isram Realty of Hallandale paid $9.5 million for the aging center in March 2011 and paid $500,000 extra for a vacant 3.2-acre parcel behind the center. In March 2017, Isram purchased 5.76 acres of mangroves directly south of Riverwalk, adjacent to the vacant parcel and sitting on the Intracoastal Waterway, along with a .13-acre strip of land that connects the vacant parcel to South Federal Highway.
The nearly 10-acre plaza sits at the southwestern base of the Woolbright Road Bridge across the Intracoastal Waterway. The plaza contained a Winn-Dixie grocery store that closed in January 2015.
That closing allowed Isram to redevelop the shopping center to include a 10-story apartment complex. In January 2017, a previous Boynton Beach City Commission approved the 326-unit project despite residents’ objections to the height and mass at the base of the bridge.
Wells Fargo bank and Wendy’s fast-food restaurant own their parcels in the plaza, along with Prime Catch.
Other tenants are Walgreens drugstore, Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft store, Sushi Simon restaurant and Bond Street Ale and Coffee. The two restaurants had been in the Winn-Dixie building. They negotiated new leases with Isram and were moved into the renovated Walgreens building.
A new building on South Federal Highway, just north of Walgreens, will house two tenants.
One is Chipotle Mexican Grill, a fast-casual restaurant chain based in California. It will rent 2,326 square feet this fall, according to the Isram Realty website.
Isram is seeking a tenant for the remaining space. 
For Bond Street, customers have complained about not finding a place to park, said owner Phil Van Egmond. “The owner took away about two-thirds of the parking spaces,” Van Egmond said. “We have a very loyal base of customers who always find us.”
The plaza owners are apologetic, Van Egmond said. “But what can they do?” he said. “It’s a necessary evil for the new development.”
The heavy rains have delayed the parking lot work, said Baruch Cohen, chief operating officer for Isram. He visits the project daily.
“We have to stop, cover up everything and then begin again,” he said.
Most of the parking lot work will be finished by December, Cohen said.
In April, workers will start on the apartment building, which will be finished in two years, Cohen said.

Paul Resnick, 83, of Highland Beach, says he is at least 15 years older than anyone else in the group he joins for 30-mile bike rides at 6:30 a.m. several days a week. ‘If I don’t exercise, I feel sluggish,’ says Resnick, a retired Coast Guard captain. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Three to five days a week, Paul Resnick leaves his sixth-floor condo in Highland Beach at about 6:30 a.m., grabs his bike and goes for a 30-mile ride with a small group of other bicyclists.
On the road Resnick fits right in, staying close with the group as it proceeds north to Lake Worth Beach before turning around and heading to a restaurant in Delray Beach for coffee.
It’s when he takes off his helmet, however, that it’s evident there’s something different about Resnick — something that separates him from the rest of the riders.
“I’m the oldest in the group — by far,” he says.
At 83, Resnick is at least 15 years older than any other of the riders, yet he has no trouble keeping pace.
That’s not surprising considering that Resnick, a retired military man who spent four years in the Marines as a fighter jet pilot and another 29 in the Coast Guard, primarily as pilot, has always been devoted to exercising.
“It keeps me alive,” said the father of two boys and a grandfather of four. “If I don’t exercise, I feel sluggish.”
A wrestler in high school, Resnick stayed in shape throughout his military career, running with others during his lunch break and finding time to play racquetball with his boss in the Coast Guard, an admiral who enjoyed the game.
In 1987, at 51, Resnick completed the New York Marathon, which he ran with his son Jeff, and qualified for the Boston Marathon. He never got to run in Boston, however.
A short time after the New York Marathon, Resnick went to a doctor for a knee injury and was advised to stop running.
That’s when he started bicycle riding seriously.
A captain in the Coast Guard, who was the commanding officer of two air stations and the chief of search and rescue for the branch’s Pacific area, Resnick retired in 1990. But he continued to ride even after he and his wife, Myrna, the love of his life who died two years ago, moved to Florida to be with aging parents.
A highlight of his bicycling came in 2010 when he joined an active duty Navy SEAL and two retired SEALs on a 3,300-mile ride across country over six weeks. He was 74.
The group, which raised money for the Navy SEAL Foundation, rode 90 miles a day five days straight before resting. They started out in California and ended their trek at the Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce.
Last year, Resnick rode 192 miles in two days during the Pan-Mass Challenge, a bike hike through Massachusetts to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Foundation.
Not bad for a guy in his 80s, who seems to be always on the move.
For Resnick, riding not only provides physical exercise, it also keeps his mind sharp and offers a chance to be with friends.
“Most importantly,” he says, “I can eat whatever I want without gaining weight.”
Making time for exercise is something he’s done for most of his life and has become part of his routine.
“It’s what I do,” he says.

Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you? 
A. I grew up in Brooklyn, attended New Utrecht High School and City College of New York. I graduated in 1956 with a BBA and majored in public accounting. It gave me a good background in business and a good sense for it.

Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A. I worked as a public accountant for a small firm for about one year before entering the military. I was four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, followed by 29 years in the Coast Guard with primary duties as an aircraft pilot. I retired as a USCG captain. I’m most proud that there are at least a few people in this world that would not be here if it were not for me or my fellow Coast Guard people.

Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?  
A. Look around, try things. Find what you are really interested in and what makes you happy. Money is not the most important thing in the world, just so long as you can live reasonably comfortably.

Q. How did you choose to make your home in Highland Beach?
A. My wife, who died two years ago, and I moved from the San Francisco Bay area in 2003 to assist elderly parents and in-laws who were living in Century Village West Palm Beach. We found a condo in Boca Highlands that had everything we needed and wanted, especially the beach and beach club. As a former Coast Guardsman, we always lived near the water.

Q. What is your favorite part about living in Highland Beach?  
A. The small-town environment on the beach.

Q. What book are you reading now?
A. I’m reading a James Patterson novel, The First Lady. I just finished a Jack Ryan novel. I like the series by Tom Clancy and his successor ghostwriters. 

Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?  
A. I’m not much of a music listener but prefer vocals by old-timers like Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole and such.

Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?  
A. Do the right thing — or at least try to.

Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions? 
A. My first real mentor was an accounting professor in college whose firm I took a part- time job with and then worked for full time until resigning to enter the military. There were two others in the military.

Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
A. Kevin Costner — and only because of his role in the movie with Ashton Kutcher about the Coast Guard rescue swimmers. 

By Jane Smith

When Delray Beach residents saw royal palms lying on the side of East Atlantic Avenue, they took to social media to bemoan the loss of the majestic palms.
“Just terrible,” said a Facebook poster on Aug. 22. Several others thought the palms died from lethal bronzing. Others said the removal was “horrible.”
But most of the palms still had their root balls.
Turns out the royal palms were moved to new locations in the city. Ten were replanted in Veterans Park and two on the grounds of the Old School Square campus.
The moving and replanting was done by Bermuda Landscaping, paid for by the developer of Atlantic Crossing, a 9.2-acre project at the northeast corner of North Federal Highway and East Atlantic Avenue. The palms were moved to make way for new underground wastewater lines, wrote Don DeVere, vice president of Edwards Cos., the Atlantic Crossing developer. His comments came via email from the project’s publicist, Andrea Knibbs.
“The lines are being relocated from the interior of the eastern block to run parallel along Atlantic Avenue, then north along the boundary with Veterans Park,” DeVere wrote.
Palm Trail resident Gayle Clark, who is also a residential Realtor, said the noise is just “horrible. It goes 24/7 from the pump, the cutting of trees and paving over everything.”
A nature lover, she was sad to see two, 40-foot-tall palms lying on their side without their root balls. “They were the most majestic,” she said.

Pumping will be ongoing

Another nearby resident, George Walden, said, “Here’s what I don’t understand: If you want to maintain the beauty and integrity of Delray Beach, who would build an underground garage at the water table and so close to the Intracoastal and think it’s going to work?”
DeVere has said that after the garage is finished it will still need pumps and backup generators to use when the power goes out.
Atlantic Crossing has dewatering permits from the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The Water District permit allows the contractor to dewater 12 feet below grade at the rate of 1.5 million gallons a day, or more than two Olympic-size swimming pools a day. That permit expires March 31, 2021. The project had not exceeded its sediment limits, called nephelometric turbidity units, in the past six weeks through mid-August. Its dewatering permit allows a maximum reading of 29 NTUs above the turbidity level of the Intracoastal.
Turbidity measures how clear the water is.
John Miller, a former chair of the city’s Historic Preservation Board and a secretary of the Delray Beach Historical Society, said the filtered water flowing into the Intracoastal at the eastern end of Northeast First Street looks dirty.
As a boater, he’s concerned that the sediment will build up on the western side of the Intracoastal and have to be dredged.
DeVere wrote, “We’ve worked through the site preparation and excavation for the first section of the western garage and will begin the concrete form work and underground utility work within the first couple of weeks of September.”
He projected that the groundbreaking for the first retail/office building at the northeast corner of Federal and Atlantic will take place by the end of 2019. The midblock of Federal will see the start of the luxury apartments by mid-2020.
“The western block is fully financed with a $110 million construction loan and a $45 million preferred equity investment,” DeVere wrote. In January, Fifth Third Bank of Columbus, Ohio, lent the construction money. Pearlmark Real Estate Partners of Chicago made the recent investment.
The massive, mixed-use project will have 261 apartment, 91,000 square feet of office and retail space, 444 parking spaces and 82 condos.

St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic School in Delray Beach just finished a $6.5 million renovation and addition to accommodate its ever-growing 360-student body. ABOVE: On the first day of the 2019-2020 school year Principal Vikki Delgado talks to students in the new science classroom. BELOW: Sixth-graders play football during a PE class on the south side of the newly expanded campus.
Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

In mid-August, Delray Beach commissioners learned the city has a 19.8 percent shortfall in funding the city’s general employee pension fund.
Jim Smith, chairman of the General Employees Retirement Fund Committee, said the rate of return on investments will be reduced from 7.25 percent to 6.75 percent for the budget year that starts Oct. 1, and about $570,000 extra will be needed above the $2.3 million that was planned.
That’s because investment returns are declining while costs are rising. For example, in addition to the 20 employees hired in the current budget year, people are living longer, Smith said.
“The oldest retired Delray Beach employee receiving general fund benefits is 102,” he said. “She has received 479 payments over 40 years.”
There are two ways to close that gap, Smith told commissioners. The first is to reduce payouts and the second is to increase employee contributions.
The statewide average employee contribution is 5.9 percent, according to a Leroy Collins Institute report published in May. Delray Beach general employees now contribute 3.05 percent, the report indicated. The report gave an A rating to the city’s general employees fund.
The contract for the general employees is up in 2021. At that time, Neal de Jesus, interim city manager said, the commission could direct the city manager to negotiate for an increased retirement contribution from employees. But he suggested the City Commission should be prepared to give up something in exchange.
If the general employees choose to go with the Florida retirement system, they would pay 3 percent of their salaries but receive only half of the benefit amount that Delray Beach gives, Smith said.
In other budget news, de Jesus said the commission’s desire to cut the tax rate slightly will keep the city’s general fund reserves at 23 percent, down 2 points from the 25 percent goal. The proposed amount reserved is $31.9 million. The amount that cities hold in reserve varies statewide. No set amount is required.
Staff was asked to cut departmental budget requests by an average of 2 percent.
Several capital improvement projects will now be paid using the penny sales tax dollars, said Missie Barletto, assistant director of Public Works. They include the design of the Thomas Street Stormwater Pump Station and parts of other projects.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia asked the city clerk to reconsider purchasing a piece of equipment that would allow more meetings to be streamed live. The encoder was pulled from the next year’s budget because it cost $58,000, said Katerri Johnson, city clerk.
The city decided to use a service to provide captions of its City Commission and Community Redevelopment Agency meetings, instead of buying equipment that would have to be replaced in three to five years, Johnson said.
As long as the equipment doesn’t require additional software or other purchases, Petrolia wanted it for residents who can’t come to the various advisory board meetings, such as the Historic Preservation and Site Plan Review and Appearance boards. The city was set to have a tentative budget hearing on Sept. 5 and a final budget hearing at 4 p.m. Sept. 17.

By Jane Smith

The Delray Beach City Commission chose Michael Cernech on Aug. 20 as the next city manager.
Cernech, 51, is the city manager of Tamarac, whose population is similar to Delray Beach’s.
“I liked the steady demeanor of Cernech,” Bill Bathurst, deputy vice mayor, said a few days after the selection. “He’s the right pick for Delray Beach at this time.”
Commissioner Ryan Boylston agreed. “I picked him because I thought he was better for our staff and our residents,” Boylston said about a week after the choice. “The staff includes police officers and firefighters.”
In comments made after the public candidate interviews on Aug. 20, Boylston and Bathurst seemed to be leaning to another candidate, George Gretsas.
Bathurst pointed out the steadiness of Cernech compared with the high energy level of Gretsas, city manager in Homestead. “There’s a lot going on there,” Bathurst said about Gretsas.
Boylston described Cernech as a “prototypical city manager, but Delray Beach is not a prototypical city. It’s historic, but it has a cutting edge. It has a downtown and a beach. Gretsas can handle that.”
They also said they were not influenced by the heavy turnout of police the day before at the meet-and-greet event held at the Old School Square. Police also were present on Aug. 20 for the public candidate interviews, the one-hour break and the following meeting when the commission selected a city manager.
Police Chief Javaro Sims was at the Aug. 19 event along with a contingent that included Lt. Vinnie Gray. Gray said he attended as a member of the command staff. He is also a police union rep, who signed the three-year police union contract last year.
“We liked the gentleman from Tamarac,” Gray said in late August. “Let’s leave it at that.”
As to the interest in the city manager selection, he said, “We’re always there when a city manager is selected.”
Tamarac is a racially diverse city, but it does not have the wide income swings of Delray Beach.
Situated in western Broward County, Tamarac is a bedroom community without a downtown, coastline or historic district. It doesn’t have a commercial area or Community Redevelopment Agency district. The suburban community also lacks its own police department.
Bathurst is not worried. He believes Cernech will pick up the skills easily.
Commissioner Adam Frankel also voted for Cernech. Frankel, who sat on the city’s police pension advisory board from March, 2008 to June 2016, did not say which candidate he favored after the interviews.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia favored Gretsas, who has been Homestead city manager for nearly nine years.
Gretsas, 51, previously served as city manager of Fort Lauderdale for six years. While running Fort Lauderdale, he oversaw the largest capital improvement effort in the city’s history at $500 million, Petrolia said.
His contract was not renewed in July 2010 after he tried to make changes in the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.
In 2009, “I was asked to negotiate with the police union and reduce its pension costs,” Gretsas said during the candidate interviews.
After the contract was settled in May 2008, the police chief resigned. He was elected to the Fort Lauderdale City Commission in March 2009, creating a split commission with two who backed Gretsas, two who didn’t and the mayor in the middle, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
A few months later, Homestead hired Gretsas by a unanimous commission vote of 7-0.
During the Delray Beach candidate interviews, Gretsas said one reason he applied was to shorten his commute from Fort Lauderdale, giving him more time to spend with his young daughter. He also pointed out that the recruiter contacted him about the opening.
“As a city manager, I’m disciplined about staying in my lane,” Gretsas said. “You tell me what you want to do, and I will do it.”
Vice Mayor Shirley Johnson voted for Joseph Napoli, who has been deputy city manager of Miami for 18 months. Napoli, 60, has worked on issues concerning homeless people and sea level rise while in Miami.
“I don’t have an extensive background in city management, but I do have a broad background in leadership — clear, concise leadership,” Napoli said during the candidate interviews.
During the following meeting, commissioners voted three for Cernech, one for Gretsas and one for Napoli.
Then they voted to negotiate with Cernech by a 4-1 vote, with Johnson against.
Cernech makes $256,520 annually, plus benefits, in Tamarac.
Delray Beach advertised the city manager’s job with a salary range between $200,000 and $270,000.

By Mary Thurwachter

After a June 12 decision to use asphalt for the pathway at the Lantana Nature Preserve didn’t sit well with several residents who voiced their concerns at subsequent meetings, the Town Council agreed to revisit the issue. But the outcome of a second vote in August had the same conclusion — asphalt.
The discussion over what material to use for the pathway has stretched almost two years — after Hurricane Irma severely damaged the shell rock path.
In May 2018, the town considered replacing the path with a concrete trail, a $66,000 project that would be built over two years. But many residents said they weren’t thrilled with the idea of a concrete walkway in a nature preserve. Others said the cost was excessive.
Since then, various ideas on material have been proposed, including paver stones, treated wood, shell rock and gunite, which is a mixture of sand, water and cement.
Budgetary constraints — due to an agreement made when the Nature Preserve was built in the late 1990s — limit the town to spending no more than the $50,000 annual payment it receives from the Carlisle senior living facility next door. And that $50,000 includes maintenance.
Asphalt, with an estimated cost of $56,000, was the most affordable material considered. But some argued that asphalt, a petroleum product, would be environmentally harmful and not suitable for the 61/2-acre park.
Council members argued that asphalt has changed in consistency and contains much less oil than it did years ago. They also noted that asphalt was used for paths in county parks.
Vice Mayor Malcolm Balfour said he found that asphalt was the recommended choice for the pathway in the original plans.
But Balfour’s wife, Ilona Balfour, said there are other issues the town needs to be concerned about at the park.
“The Nature Preserve has been suffering from benign neglect for some time,” she said. “It’s overgrown with weeds and invasives. There should be someone checking in regularly.”
In other news, the council agreed to revisit its July vote to allow FPL to install 4,000-Kelvin streetlamps.
Council member Lynn Moorhouse said that since the vote was taken, he talked to residents and others who had done extensive research on the lights and they considered the 4,000Ks to be a poor choice.
“I met with a lot of people in town and I spent a good bit of time talking with Mike Bornstein, who went through this with Lake Worth,” Moorhouse said, referring to the city manager for Lake Worth Beach. “Studies had been done by environmental groups. The bottom line is a light of that intensity does a lot of harm to humans, animals, flowers, fauna, you name it. It’s not a good fit.
“I didn’t have that information when we brought it up and voted for it. I’d like to bring it up at a future council meeting.
“There are some people who have expertise,” Moorhouse said. “We got a one-sided story from FPL. We voted on it accordingly and it seemed good. There’s another side to the story and it should be presented.”
One resident who did extensive research on the subject is Media Beverly of Hypoluxo Island. She plans to share that information with the town when the matter comes up again on Sept. 9.
“I really do believe that had you been given all the information during the first meeting when FPL made its presentation that you really would have come to a different conclusion,” Beverly said. “My research shows that the 4,000K lighting is nothing but detrimental and that anything below 3,000 would be acceptable.”
Also coming up in September are public budget hearings at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 9 and Sept. 23 in council chambers. The town set its proposed tax rate at $3.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value for the next fiscal year.