Plans for Magnuson House dropped — Boynton Beach city commissioners terminated the Community Redevelopment Agency’s contract to turn the historic Magnuson House into a restaurant.
Commissioners, acting in their role of CRA board members, decided in January to end the contract with restaurateur Anthony Barber. Officials said he had not been in touch since indicating in November he was having difficulty finding lenders, in part because of the restrictions in place due to the building’s historic designation.
They gave Barber until the CRA’s February meeting to find the needed financing, but heard nothing back from him.
After ending the contract in February, commissioners voted to give Barber back his $10,000 deposit.
“Mr. Barber spent well over that” trying to make the project work, said Vice Mayor Thomas Turkin. “It’s not the individual’s fault.”
Hunt for CRA director continues — The CRA board narrowed down the candidates for the vacant CRA director’s job to four, who will be interviewed in the coming weeks.
Interim CRA Director Timothy Tack has said some 64 candidates applied to replace Thuy Shutt. She was fired from her post by the commission, for largely unspecified reasons, at a tumultuous CRA meeting in October.
Monitoring well approved — The CRA board approved the placement of a monitoring well at 401 E. Boynton Beach Blvd. to assess whether an auto repair operation at 319 E. Boynton Beach Blvd. has caused petroleum contamination in the area.
Interim CRA Director Timothy Tack said there has been concern that any finding of contamination could affect the proposed construction of a new United States Post Office building on the site by Maple Tree Construction.
Tack added, however, that if contamination is discovered, the state Department of Environmental Protection offers a Petroleum Restoration Program for cleanup at no cost to the property owner, which is the CRA.
The Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management requested the board’s approval to place the monitoring well, Tack said.
— Tao Woolfe
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