News

By Jane Smith

A cut-through from the Trader Joe’s plaza to the Delray Place South retail center on Federal Highway in Delray Beach was approved in early September with one condition.
Under a “look-back” condition, the developer must re-evaluate the traffic exit pattern on Tropic Boulevard one year after the project is finished.
If the exiting traffic falls into the “failing” category when connecting with Federal Highway, “the property owner would pay at his cost for the improvements to make it work,” City Attorney Lynn Gelin said at the Sept. 5 commission meeting.
The proposal with more details about the look-back provision has to return to the commission for approval.
The traffic provision is a final step in what’s been a complicated approval process.
In 2016, developer Joe Carosella had proposed renovating the Delray Place South. That plan was rejected by the Site Plan Review and Appearance Board and never brought to the commission.
Carosella now plans to revitalize a 22,045-square-foot retail center on 1.78 acres between Eve Street and Tropic Boulevard. The cut-through across Eve Street would connect Delray Place North, with its popular Trader Joe’s grocery store, and his new center, Delray Place South. Trader Joe’s traffic theoretically could travel through the southern plaza and exit on Tropic Boulevard with a traffic light at Federal Highway.
This plan was approved 4-2 by the site plan review board on Aug. 14 after it heard comments from more than 40 people during a nearly four-hour hearing.
Carosella hired attorney Bonnie Miskel to represent the project. Miskel is a name partner in the Dunay, Miskel and Backman law firm in Boca Raton. To promote the project’s chances for approval, he also hired Mary McCarty to lobby for it. McCarty is registered with the county to lobby in Boca Raton and Delray Beach. She’s a former Delray Beach and county commissioner, who served prison time for honest services fraud related to her county role.
Miskel came up with the look-back provision.
At the next commission meeting on Sept. 5, Mayor Shelly Petrolia had wanted to appeal the Aug. 14 approval to review the proposed cut-through across Eve Street, but she lost by a 3-2 vote. Commissioner Ryan Boylston voted with her to appeal the decision.
The others agreed to allow developer Carosella to proceed and do a look-back in one year.
Then, one day before the next commission meeting on Sept. 17, Moskowitz, Mandell, Salim & Simowitz, a Fort Lauderdale law firm representing Carosella, sent an eight-page letter to the city detailing the reason the Sept. 5 commission vote was final and stating that a revote should not be allowed at another meeting.
At the Sept. 17 commission meeting, Gellin advised commissioners that a revote on Delray Place South would not be allowed. Because it was an appealable item, the vote and revotes needed to have happened on Sept. 5, she said.
The lack of an appeal opportunity stunned Petrolia and commission watchers. “I’ve never seen the commissioners not agree to appeal an item when one of them wants to discuss it,” said Mitch Katz, a former city commissioner.
“It’s a deal with the devil when you let a developer run your city,” Kelli Freeman, a board member of the Tropic Isle Civic Association, told The Coastal Star after the meeting. She had hoped to have a chance to sway the commission, but now feels the residents were outgunned by Miskel and McCarty.
Nancy Harris, who has lived in the Tropic Isle neighborhood for more than 30 years, said, “Residents have no voice in this project.”
Petrolia agreed that the residents were not heard when the commission appeal was denied. She also said that Miskel and McCarty had pressed the developer’s case to the commission. Both sent emails, called and met with city commissioners and Site plan review board members.
Tropic Isle residents also are concerned about traffic jams on Linton Boulevard and South Federal Highway.
“During rush hour, northbound Federal Highway from Linton Boulevard backs up to the Boca line,” said Mike Hanuschak, president of the Tropic Isle Civic Association.
At the Sept. 17 commission meeting, Hanuschak talked about proposed changes being discussed for the Plaza at Delray at the northwest corner of Federal and Linton. A Publix grocery store and a Duffy’s fast casual eatery are in the center.
The changes call for retail and restaurant buildings to line Federal and Linton and then condos or apartments would be built behind them, Hanuschak said. He predicted that would bring even more traffic to the congested area.
Officials at Heitman, a Chicago-based real estate investment group that owns the 45-year-old plaza, could not be reached.
Former Tropic Isle resident Valarie Loomer said her family moved away earlier this year because of traffic congestion.
“We didn’t like the overdevelopment,” said Loomer, who has a 12-year-old son. “We liked living there for 10 years and even considered adding a second story to our home.”
They now live in Texas and are considering buying a second home in Hillsboro Beach.
“Delray Beach needs to consider whether it wants to have families or be a vacation destination for second-home buyers,” Loomer said.