News

By Dan Moffett
    
    Rob Sivitilli’s crusade to rescue the family’s imperiled 5011 building is looking for help from an unlikely white knight.
    It’s Briny Breezes.
    After failing to win approval for an ordinance that would grandfather the building into code compliance, Sivitilli is proposing a de-annexation plan to Ocean Ridge.
    “You don’t want us,” he’s telling the town, “so let us go.”
    Sivitilli wants his building to go to Briny Breezes.
    Here’s what his plan would entail:
    Ocean Ridge agrees to de-annex the 5011 N. Ocean Blvd. property. Briny Breezes agrees to annex the property. The Sivitilli family agrees to sell the land to the Briny Breezes corporation for $10. In return, Briny agrees to lease the building to the Sivitillis for 99 years at no charge.
    Somewhere along the line, Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes officials meet and agree on how the building will be used, and they resolve any differences between the towns’ codes, working out as many details as need working out.
    The Sivitillis promise to go forward with a $250,000 project to overhaul the 50-year-old building (they’ve already paid $30,000 to the architects for the redesign plans). Then the district’s two state legislators — Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, and Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton — sponsor a bill in the Legislature presenting the de-annexation for a formal vote. The Legislature passes it early 2016.
    So then, the 5011 building becomes part of Briny Breezes, which, in theory, benefits from an increase in its tax base and the availability of a mixed-use strip that provides valuable commercial services, such as a barber shop. Ocean Ridge, in theory, benefits by ridding itself of a nonconforming property without having to bend town rules and also gets a renovated corridor welcoming people at the town’s southern entrance.
    Admittedly, the strategy is pretty complex, so much so that Sivitilli couldn’t find a place to start. When he pitched the idea to Ocean Ridge town commissioners in January, they told him to go get Briny on board first. When he went to Briny, council members told him to go get approval from Ocean Ridge — and also to sell the idea to Briny’s corporate board first.
    “In the grand scheme of things, the order I would see something like this happening has to start with Ocean Ridge,” said John Skrandel, Briny’s town attorney. “Without their full consent, it doesn’t go any further.”
    Ocean Ridge Commissioner Richard Lucibella disagreed: “Briny’s the suitor. We’re not.”
    Ocean Ridge Town Attorney Ken Spillias called it “pingpong.” Michael Weiner, lawyer for the Sivitilli family, calls it a “chicken-egg, egg-chicken” problem.
    Ocean Ridge Mayor Geoff Pugh is more concerned about the precedent de-annexation would set than who starts it.
    “It is unprecedented because the town of Ocean Ridge has never de-annexed a property before,” Pugh said.
    Commissioner James Bonfiglio said it makes no sense for the town to give away control and still have the 5011 problems: inadequate parking, inadequate setbacks and commercial enterprise in a town that is supposed to be residential only.
    “We get the same building we had and thought we got rid of three months ago,” Bonfiglio said.
    Ocean Ridge commissioners told Sivitilli and Weiner to bring more information to the commission’s March 2 meeting. They said they were willing to listen some more.
    In other business: Pugh and Commissioner Gail Adams Aaskov are up for re-election March 10.
    Aaskov has taken out election paperwork and indicated she intends to run again.
    As of Feb. 3, Pugh had not committed. “I don’t know,” he said when asked whether he’ll seek another three-year term.
Qualifying ends on Feb. 10.