By Jane Smith
Boynton Beach real estate broker James Arena wants to preserve the funky Florida lifestyle where beach access is everything.
In mid-August, he starred in a 3-minute video to make surfers and other beachgoers aware of how a nearby proposed development might lower their quality of life.
“I wanted to raise awareness, because a lot of people are not aware of what is happening,” said Arena who lives in Briny Breezes. “I haven’t seen anything done since the late May meeting, so I put the video together.”
That meeting brought together Briny Breezes residents with residents of the “surf pocket” over development of the former “dog beach parcel” that lies between them.
Developer Joseph Basil Sr. met with Villas of Malibu property owners in April to discuss his plans to have a stretch of Old Ocean Boulevard and Seaview Avenue abandoned. Old Ocean sits between his property and the beach. In exchange, he would provide an access road through his property to the Villas of Malibu.
If the roads were abandoned, Basil’s group could build as many as 36 townhomes. He could not be reached.
Kristine de Haseth, executive director of the Florida Coalition for Preservation, ran the May meeting and encouraged property owners to check their deeds for easements to the beach. She is monitoring the proposed development. So far, she said in late August, no new plans have been submitted.
That’s why Arena made his YouTube video.
“I just feel that if the property goes that way, the area will be changed forever,” he said. “Financially it would be good, property values would rise. But the quality of life would go down.”
The video begins with Arena driving a golf cart down Old Ocean Boulevard while music with a pulsing beat plays in the background. He points out where the gates would go in, restricting access.
The video has a few errors. He calls the road Old A1A, instead of Old Ocean Boulevard. And says the developer owns the road when the county actually still owns it.
Even so, his production has an emotional appeal. On the video, Arena says he grew up in Boynton Beach and has been coming to this patch and the Nomad Surf shop since he was born.
He asks viewers: “If you want to stop it, I want to know. Or if you want to let it go so that you can increase the value of this land, I want to know.”
See the video, at www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-BYldmGo0E or visit www.thecoastalstar.ning.com.
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