erosion - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T01:28:53Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/erosionEnvironment: Residents begin to tackle invasive plants overwhelming the beacheshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-residents-begin-to-tackle-invasive-plants-overwhe2015-12-02T15:30:00.000Z2015-12-02T15:30:00.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960607267,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960607267,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960607267?profile=original" /></a><em>Nate Kinbacher, manager of The Bridgehampton, hacks away at invasive Brazilian pepper plants</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>along the dunes in Delray Beach. His friend Jason Davis assists.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960606881,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960606881,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960606881?profile=original" /></a></em><em>The berries of a Brazilian pepper plant.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
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<p><strong>By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley<br /> <br /></strong> Nonie Wyckoff of Delray Beach has taken it upon herself to help educate Floridians living along the dunes about how to eliminate the invasive plants that are destroying native vegetation and opening the sand to dangerous erosion.<br /> “The invasives need to be removed to make the beach look better and to protect it as well as our homes,” says Wyckoff, who has owned her Bridgehampton condo for more than 20 years. <br /> Her involvement started about a month ago when, by chance, she ran into dune biologist Rob Barron. A consultant for the city, he was walking the almost two miles of sand behind the town’s beachfront homes. He’d been hired to map the invasive plants in order to rewrite the city’s Comprehensive Dune Management Plan. <br /> In talking to him, Wyckoff learned that the natural dune vegetation is under assault from invasive species. <br /> And, of course, this is not only a problem in Delray Beach but all along Florida’s coast. In fact, about 387 of the state’s 825 miles of sandy beaches have experienced “critical erosion.” That’s enough to threaten development and recreation as well as cultural and environmental interests, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.<br /> And much of the problem can be linked to invasives replacing natives on the beaches because the natural greenery protects the beaches, dunes and homes behind them from storm damage and erosion. Those natives also provide habitat for coastal animals and can even help nesting sea turtles by shielding them from artificial light from the land. <br /> “I couldn’t believe what he was telling me about the problems with invasives,” Wyckoff says.<br /> So she not only talked to her fellow condo dwellers about undertaking an eradication program but she also contacted the neighbors. <br /> “We feel the beach is something we should all look after,” says Debby MacInnis at The Southampton, next door. She admits to having noticed in the last two years that invasives are taking over the dunes behind her home. <br /> So, after hearing from Wyckoff, she and her fellow condo dwellers met to discuss the problem and the possibilities. And now they are looking into turning their eradication project over to their landscape contractor.<br /> But others are doing it themselves.<br /> On Wednesday afternoons, you’ll find Nate Kinbacher, who manages and maintains The Bridgehampton, out on the beach swinging a machete and using a saw to whack and hack his way through the invasive plants. Once they are cut back, he drags them to where they’ll be picked up by bulk garbage collection.<br /> “It’s hot sweaty work. But I’ve always had a green thumb and like being outdoors working with my hands,” says Kinbacher, who says it takes about three hours to clear 100 square feet of dune.<br /> He goes after the non-natives Barron has pointed out as the four biggest culprits in this area. <br /> Of course there are many more, but looking out over the dunes, one sees the shiny bright green leaves of the Hawaiian sea grape and the prickly nicker bean that can quickly grow 18 to 20 feet in length. There’s the Brazilian pepper, which has red berries that birds eat and then spread their seeds. And the prolific coin vine is aptly named for its seeds that look like, well, coins.<br /> Soon the dunes here will be like those behind Delray Beach’s Fountain House where the owners have already cleared the exotics and are getting ready to plant sea oats, saw palmettos and other rare but native coastal shrubs. <br /> With the invasives removed, some of the more than 170 native species you find on wild, natural dunes will have room and sunlight to thrive. <br /> “There’s no obligation to homeowners to do anything about the problem of invasives. It’s just smart,” Barron says.<strong><br /></strong></p>
<p><strong><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">GET INVOLVED</span><br /> For more information about fighting invasives on Florida dunes, visit <a href="http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs141p2_014913.pdf">www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs141p2_014913.pdf</a>. <br /> For more information about removing invasives from your beachfront property, contact Robert H. Barron Coastal Management Consulting, 441-1446 or beachmaker@aol.com.<br /> <br /></strong></p></div>Along the Coast: New group lobbies for Palm Beach County beacheshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-new-group-lobbies-for-palm-beach-county-beaches2013-07-03T18:34:42.000Z2013-07-03T18:34:42.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><b>By Cheryl Blackerby </b></p>
<p> More than 100 people looking for long-term solutions for Palm Beach County’s storm-battered beaches crowded into the Boca Raton Resort and Club’s Valencia ballroom June 15 for the second meeting of Protect Our Beaches. </p>
<p> Established in August last year, the group says it has 20,000 members already, both individuals and condo associations, from Jupiter to Boca Raton, who live on or near 45 miles of beaches. </p>
<p> Singer Island residents Sonny Nardulli and Bob Gonstead, who grew frustrated trying to get help to fix their island’s eroding and surge-damaged beaches, founded the group. </p>
<p> “From 2008 to 2012, we waged a fight to come up with a permanent solution to save our beaches,” Gonstead told the group, adding that their members wanted “to get our elected officials on the state and federal level to help us with our problems.” </p>
<p> Other objectives of the group, Gonstead said, were “to get permits done in an expedited way; and to protect our homes, protect our ecosystems and protect tourism.” </p>
<p> After the meeting, he spoke of his frustration dealing with myriad federal, state and local agencies, including the Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Palm Beach County Commission. Plans for breakwaters and groins broke down time and again from 2005 to 2012, he said. </p>
<p> “There was disagreement between the DEP and the Corps of Engineers, and we went back to renourishment of the beaches. It’s better than nothing, but it’s the same old thing. We spend $2 million a year and then watch it wash away,” Gonstead said. </p>
<p> He and Nardulli decided they needed a bigger, regional voice to get anything done. “It was too easy for the county to marginalize a small part of the beach,” said Gonstead. “We knew we had to get professional help and hired a lobbyist and a public relations firm.” </p>
<p> They raised money by calling condo associations and asking for membership fees ($80 for individuals). “They have helped us create this one large voice to help create solutions to our problems,” Gonstead said. </p>
<p> The advisory board includes Highland Beach Mayor Bernard Featherman, Boca Raton Councilman Anthony Majhess; Republican state Sen. Joe Negron; Ocean Ridge Mayor Geoffrey Pugh; Highland Beach Commissioner Louis Stern and other community officials in Palm Beach County. </p>
<p> The meeting, hosted by Boca Raton Resort and Club and the Beach Condominium Association, featured speakers Mike Mullins, who has worked for solutions for storm-damaged beaches in Captiva, and John Englander, Boca Raton marine scientist and author of <i>High Tide on Main Street: Rising Sea Level and the Coming Coastal Crisis</i>.</p></div>South Palm Beach: Modeling shows most effective beach erosion planhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-modeling-shows-most-effective-beach-erosion-plan2013-05-29T16:08:28.000Z2013-05-29T16:08:28.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Tim O’Meilia</strong><br /><br />The newest plan for saving South Palm Beach’s fast-eroding shoreline is a series of seven buried groins dotting the beach from the Tuscany condominium to the Ritz-Carlton resort. <br />At least, that’s what the computers say. <br />“There’s enough sand down drift from Palm Beach to feed the beaches north of the Tuscany,” Leanne Welch, Palm Beach County’s environmental program supervisor, told the town council May 28.<br />The groins would be coupled with 75,000 cubic yards of sand to fill in hot spots along the shore. Welch said computer modeling shows that plan is the most effective of the remaining choices and the one most likely to gain the approval of state and federal regulators.<br />With the modeling completed, an environmental impact study by the Army Corps of Engineers has been restarted. It had been stalled until the modeling was completed and until the town of Palm Beach chose its own plan for its southerly beaches, said Daniel Bates, deputy director of the county’s Department of Environmental Resource Management.<br />The project would cost an estimated $5 million and last three to five years, Welch said. More sand, at $1 million a year would have to be added every three years. South Palm Beach would pay 20 percent of the cost, the county 30 percent and the state 50 percent, if the state legislature appropriated the funds. <br />Bates estimated that the corps could begin taking public comment on the plan in the next six months after a series of public meetings. The final draft of the study is two years off.<br />Early last year, county commissioners dropped plans for a 1.3-mile project from southern Palm Beach to Manalapan that included a series of off-shore concrete breakwaters and several groins after a similar project for Singer Island was killed. Commissioners were concerned about the effects on sea turtle nesting and sea grasses.<br />“I’m not happy with groins,” said Mayor Donald Clayman. “I prefer breakwaters. They last much longer and are less expensive over time.”<br />Last June, commissioners indicated they would consider a project that did not include hard structures. The difficulty is that extensive hardbottom off the South Palm Beach shoreline makes a simple sand restoration project nearly impossible to be permitted. <br />Scientists concluded that sand renourishment would result in the hardbottom being covered, destroying the habitat of near-shore marine life.<br />The current environmental study is being combined with a similar study of Reach 8 in Palm Beach, from the Lake Worth beach to the northern boundary of South Palm Beach. A restoration project there had been previously denied because of similar environmental concerns.</p>
<p><br /><strong>In other business</strong>, the council:<br />• Approved a $24,500 contract with the town of Palm Beach to install a sewer interconnection between the town and Palm Beach which could be used in case of emergency. Manalapan is also part of the emergency interconnection.<br />• Agreed to buy 120 new cerulean-colored chairs for $29,000 as part of the refurbishing of the council chambers. </p></div>Editor's Note: Forge strong bonds to withstand nature’s furyhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/editor-s-note-forge-strong-bonds-to-withstand-nature-s-fury2013-01-02T19:14:11.000Z2013-01-02T19:14:11.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p> A walk along Manalapan’s beachfront is a dramatic illustration of the adage, “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.”<br /> Towering steel seawalls riddled with huge, rusted, Swiss cheese-like holes lay bowed seaward before eroded pits where lawns, patios and pools once stood. Where one of these failed seawalls connects with another of newer construction, the strain of the connection is obvious: In some cases it forced the collapse of the neighboring wall.<br /> In the aftermath of local wave damage and flooding generated by Hurricane Sandy, discussions of coastal armoring and beach renourishment have become topics for heated discussion among individual homeowners and community leaders.<br /> These discussions are essential. When it comes to beaches, seawalls and bulkheads, we all have a lot to learn. There’s private vs. public, seawalls vs. dunes and the impact of rising sea levels on the beachfront and along the Intracoastal Waterway. <br /> Why do we need to spend our sunny days in paradise studying these issues? Because they affect our safety, our property values and any hope we might have of passing along our barrier-island home to future generations.<br /> Whatever is done in one town will impact the others. Until we all get together and find common ground with a barrier-island master plan for coastal preservation, we will be subject to the whims of nature.<br /> The time is now, and we can’t afford to be cheap. Unless we are prepared to let our beaches, dunes and bulkheads go au naturel, it’s going to take money. We need to educate ourselves to make smart decisions, devise plans and guidelines and then intelligently execute on those plans.<br /> Anyone who believes that you can live in paradise without paying for it is the weak link in our chain. <br /><br /><em> Mary Kate Leming, Editor</em><br /><br /></p></div>Shifting Sands: Delray Beach property owners want renourishment plan expandedhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/shifting-sands-delray-beach-property-owners-want-renourishment-pl2013-01-02T18:00:00.000Z2013-01-02T18:00:00.000ZDeborah Hartz-Seeleyhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/DeborahHartzSeeley<div><p></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960418858,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960418858,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="538" alt="7960418858?profile=original" /></a></em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Days of pounding waves during Hurricane Sandy left much of Delray Beach eroded. <strong>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong><br /></em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em> </em></p>
<p><span><b>By Cheryl Blackerby</b></span></p>
<p></p>
<p>Delray Beach’s beach restoration, part of a routine, 10-year renourishment plan, will start in February, but beach property owners say the present plan doesn’t go far enough to repair damage from Hurricane Sandy.</p>
<p>Owners want the city to ask for an emergency state permit to put additional sand north and south of the planned project because of sand loss in those areas and damage to the dunes, said Andy Katz, vice president of the Beach Property Owners Association in Delray Beach.</p>
<p>The current renourishment project will include the beaches that run from just north of Atlantic Avenue south to 700 feet south of Linton Boulevard.</p>
<p>“We would like the city to add sand on beaches north of Atlantic at the end of the public beach, and on the south end from 700 feet south of Linton to the city line at the south,” he said. “We’re at the point where there is no sand beach at high tide in the area north of Atlantic. And water is very close to the condos in the south end.”</p>
<p>“We had an excellent dune system that did its job protecting the road and houses, but that dune system did take a hit, and that makes us more vulnerable to future storms until the dunes are restored,” said Katz.</p>
<p>Sand permits can take two to three years to process, he said, but an emergency permit could be done in a matter of days or weeks.</p>
<p>The deadline for emergency permits was late December, but that deadline has been extended, according to Dan Bates, Deputy Director of Palm Beach County Environmental Resource Management. </p>
<p>“As of now the deadline has been extended to late January, but that deadline may be extended until late February. The city of Delray Beach has to declare an emergency, and they need to move on it right away,” he said.</p>
<p>“Property owners are very much in support of asking the city to treat this as an emergency. And adding sand to those sections at the top and south ends at the same time as the rest of the beach restoration would save a lot of money,” Katz said. </p>
<p> Delray officials heard a report on the association’s concerns at a recent meeting, said Rich Reed, the city’s public information officer. “The city staff has been looking into various options with this issue and are investigating those options we have. At the next commission meeting or workshop we will bring a consultant in to talk about it.” The date for discussing emergency permits has not been set. The money for the present project has been approved. The city has received reimbursement authorization of more than $4.02 million from Palm Beach County and the state Department of Environmental Protection to complete this project. </p>
<p>The city of Delray Beach will pay the remaining $5.2 million. FEMA will not be giving money for Florida beach restoration.</p>
<p>Many residents didn’t know that there was no dune in Delray Beach until the 1970s when the city started the dune system and planted native vegetation including sea oats, Katz said. The water came almost to the sidewalk on A1A. </p>
<p>“The city was very forward-thinking when they started the dune program in the early ’70s. Over the years, the beaches have gotten wider so we have more protection. Citizens want to continue that successful program,” he said.</p>
<p>At the association’s December meeting, residents discussed how lucky they were to have had those dunes to protect them against Sandy and other storms.</p>
<p>Other problems in the areas north and south of the planned project include loss of beach that is forcing beachgoers to walk on fragile dunes and trample sea oats and other native plants. Sunbathers are putting blankets on sea oats, severely damaging vegetation. Those dunes should be roped off, Katz said. In addition to asking for more sand in those areas, homeowners want the city to plant sea oats and other native plants on new dunes. </p>
<p>Katz stresses that healthy dunes benefit everyone, including homeowners to the west of A1A. </p>
<p>“If the dunes fail, and water breaches A1A, which is on a ridge 15 feet above sea level, streets on the west side of A1A including Gleason, Venetian and Andrews as well as the Seagate neighborhood, which are in a basin 4 to 7 feet above sea level, will flood,” said Katz, whose house is on the west side of A1A.</p>
<p>Katz said the association will ask the city for the additional sand and emergency permit. “We need to make this a high priority item,” he said. “We hope to get on the agenda at the next commission meeting. It’s a time-sensitive issue.” </p>
<p>Asking for sand after Sandy has turned into a family matter for Katz. “Oddly enough, my brother lives in Fort Lauderdale and they were able to get emergency permits for sand when the barge is there in February.” </p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960419274,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960419274,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="7960419274?profile=original" /></a><em>A satelite image taken in 2011 shows a wide beach at Atlantic Dunes park. </em> </p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960418886,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960418886,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="480" alt="7960418886?profile=original" /></a> <em>An image a few days after Hurricane Sandy unleashed days of pounding surf, eroding much of the beach. <strong>Photos by Google Earth and Andy Katz </strong></em></p></div>Along the Coast: See seaside plants as habitat, not landscapinghttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-see-seaside-plants-as-habitat-not-landscaping2012-11-29T15:39:35.000Z2012-11-29T15:39:35.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960417662,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960417662,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="538" alt="7960417662?profile=original" /></a></strong><em>Robb Barron in a healthy dune, standing in the midst of cocoplum, sea oats and sea lavender. <strong>Photos by Cheryl Blackerby/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>By Cheryl Blackerby</strong><br /> <br />Robb Barron carefully tucked a sea oat seedling into a small hole in the sand, one of hundreds he planted last week on a dune washed bare by Sandy’s surge behind an oceanside Delray Beach estate.<br /> But between the sweep of sand next to the beach and the house was a hardy thicket of sea oats and palmetto that Barron had planted years ago. It not only had withstood Sandy, plus the three hurricanes of 2004 and 2005, but also had trapped more sand to build a wider and healthier dune.<br /> Nearby sea oats, flattened by the sand, are expected to stand up again. Barron also left the seaweed in the sand to add crucial nutrients for plant growth. <br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960417679,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960417679,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="180" alt="7960417679?profile=original" /></a>Barron, owner of Robert Barron Coastal Management, replants damaged dunes and advises beach residents about building a healthy habitat that will stabilize the sand. He warned residents not to rake up seaweed and downed sea oats in the days after Sandy. It makes the beach look better immediately, but it is harmful for long-term preservation.<br /> Healthy native vegetation is crucial to protect coastal homes, says Leanne Welch, a shoreline program supervisor with the Department of Environmental Resources Management.<br /> “Well-maintained dunes are our first line of defense. Those native, salt-tolerant plants have evolved to hold that sand on the beach. Healthy dunes protect the beach and actually help grow it.”<br /> First and foremost, coastal residents should remember this: Respect the sea oat.<br /> This slender, dainty-looking grass is a powerhouse when it comes to beach preservation. It grows up to 3 feet, with the seed heads up 5 or 6 feet, and looks like it could blow away in a breeze. But the root system for young plants radiates outward more than 5 feet, down more than 5 feet and also hundreds of feet across when the roots’ network grows and intertwines. <br /> “I planted a 12-foot-wide strip of sea oats in 1984, and today it is 100 to 150 feet wide, and it has done it on its own,” Barron said. To restore a dune washed bare of plants, Barron first plants sea oats and other grasses and railroad vine, which has pretty purple flowers. After those plants are established, he adds plants such as palmettos and Spanish bayonet.<br /> Homeowners should be patient after a storm, he says, and let nature take its course.<br /><br /><strong>Do’s and don’ts of beach maintenance after a storm</strong><br /> * Do clean up trash such as plastic, bottles and storm debris that damages sea oats.<br /> * Don’t remove seaweed, although you can relocate it to other areas of a dune. “The ‘wrack line,’ basically the seaweed and marine plants that wash up, can help trap sand, and as it decays it provides nutrients for plants,” Welch said. “Migratory birds, too, actually depend on it as a vital source of food from creatures that wash up with it.” <br /> * Don’t remove sea oats if they’re flattened or covered by only a few inches of sand; they usually will grow back. “A sea oat is one of the hardiest plants out there,” said Welch. “I’ve seen them grow back after being buried by six to 18 inches of sand.”<br /> * Do replant sea oats, other grasses, railroad vine, then palmettos and other native beach vegetation, and be patient. “The sea oat won’t do much for a month after planting, then it will take off like a rocket, and in about three months will be as big as a bushel basket,” Barron said. <br /> * Think of replanting as habitat management, not landscaping, although the results are beautiful.<br /> * Never harm threatened and endangered species such as beach clustervine, bay cedar, sea lavender, thatch palm and silver palm. </p></div>South Palm Beach: Mayfair helps Imperial to get seawall donehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-mayfair-helps2010-04-29T17:10:12.000Z2010-04-29T17:10:12.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">By Tim O’Meilia</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">The Imperial House might not wash into the sea this hurricane season after all.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Construction of most of a new $500,000 seawall to protect the 58-unit cooperative from
unrelenting erosion was completed just as turtle-nesting season began March 1.
Actually, the building needed a five-day extension to get the work done.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">“We got it in by the skin of our teeth,” said Bonnie Fischer, the new president of
the Imperial House. “We accomplished a lot in a very short time.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">The new seawall won’t be tied in to the neighboring town of Lantana seawall until
November, South Palm Beach Town Manager Rex Taylor said.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">The six-story Imperial House wasn’t bailed out by the government but by the Mayfair
House, its neighbor five buildings to the north.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">The Mayfair House, which just completed its own $1.6 million seawall, allowed
Imperial House access to the beach for heavy equipment and materials through
the Mayfair parking lot for $35,000.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">The town of Lantana wanted to charge more than $200,000 for beach access, mostly to
make up for the cost of redesigning its own seawall when Imperial House did not
install one in 2008.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Fischer erected a yellow-and-green thank-you sign in front of Imperial House. “Thank
you, Mayfair House, for being such good neighbors. Now we are safe because you
cared,” the sign reads.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">The Imperial House was evacuated briefly in November when waves lapped against a
sidewalk surrounding the building. Emergency boulders and rubble was carted in
to prevent any collapse.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">“We’re very grateful to Mayfair that they allowed us to use their property,” Fischer
said. “I know it was disruptive to them.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">The construction slightly delayed work at the Mayfair House. Painting, landscaping and
the pouring of concrete steps has yet to be completed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">“They were very gracious about it,” Mike Nevard, chairman of the Mayfair’s seawall
committee, said of the Imperial House. “We were glad to help.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">A 33-foot section on the south side of the Imperial House is not finished,
although wood forms, rebar and Fiberglas are in place. Taylor said permitting
issues remain to be resolved with that section. The Lantana seawall will tie in
along the area.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">“I have a level of comfort on the east side,” Fischer said, “but not along the
south. The dune is still eroding.”</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"></p></div>LANTANA: More beach access points put forthhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/lantana-more-beach-access2010-02-04T20:15:02.000Z2010-02-04T20:15:02.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div>By Margie Plunkett
Lantana isn’t obligated to provide beach access to its neighbors, as far as the county’s concerned, and an increasingly obstinate Mayor David Stewart said he told the county that Lantana won’t allow it for anything less than a six-digit fee. Mayor and council also planned to send a letter to South Palm Beach to set it straight on the facts in that town’s correspondence with the county.
The saga of beach access started late last year as the ocean rolled up to Imperial House’s door and threatened to topple the co-op, undaunted by the failed seawall, which needed repairs from earlier storm damage. When Imperial House of South Palm Beach sought beach access to stage equipment and materials to repair the wall, Lantana put up a $250,000 fee to cover beachgoers’ inconvenience as well as costs the town said it incurred because of the unrepaired wall. Lantana also said it didn’t want its taxpayers paying for South Palm Beach’s responsibilities.
The latest correspondence included a Jan. 7 letter from County Attorney Howard Falcon, responding to South Palm Beach’s inquiry to County Commissioner Steve Abrams about use restrictions on Dorothy Rissler Drive that would allow beach access. The attorney said he didn’t believe Lantana had violated use restrictions set by the county, and therefore the property would not revert to Palm Beach County.
Falcon also wrote he didn’t believe the use restrictions gave South Palm Beach or Palm Beach County any rights to access the beach. And the county itself had to enter an interlocal agreement with Lantana giving it access for beach management. The county has no legal reason to require Lantana to allow South Palm Beach access, the attorney wrote.
Mayor Stewart and council agreed to send South Palm Beach a letter setting straight facts in that town’s inquiry to the county. In December, Town Manager Michael Bornstein wrote similarly to Imperial House’s attorney to address earlier contentions he had made.
Meanwhile, during the early January council meeting Lantana Mayor Stewart got counsel consensus to investigate whether an area of South Palm Beach docks that is actually in Lantana waters is being properly assessed in Lantana’s tax rolls. The mayor says if Lantana isn't getting money from them, it should be. Bornstein requests — and gets — a pay cut
The Lantana council approved Town Manager Mike Bornstein’s annual evaluation and accepted Bornstein’s proposal to reduce his salary of $102,000 to $97,000 and to extend his contract through 2012. Council approved it despite sentiment voiced by several members that Bornstein was worth his salary — and that they would only support the proposal because he asked them to. Bornstein, who also drew praise from residents attending the meeting, said later that over the last couple of years he has often read about bankrupt companies laying off the rank-and-file, but he never reads about leadership making sacrifices themselves. The town manager said he believed it was the right thing to do.</div>Mayfair House board offers beach access to Imperial Househttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/mayfair-house-board-offers2010-02-04T19:25:23.000Z2010-02-04T19:25:23.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div>By Tim O’ Meilia
The Mayfair House has come to the rescue of the Imperial House, a nearby six-story co-operative in South Palm Beach in danger of collapsing into the Atlantic Ocean during another angry nor’easter.
The Mayfair House, five buildings north, has offered to allow its neighbors access to the beach through its parking lot for the equipment and materials necessary to build a seawall to protect the Imperial House against the encroaching ocean.
“It’s humanitarian,” said Mayfair resident Joan McManus, who urged her board of directors to allow the access. “If another nor’easter or a hurricane comes, they’re finished. I couldn’t let that happen.”
Imperial House had tried unsuccessfully to persuade the town of Lantana to allow access through the town’s beach. Lantana wanted more than $200,000 to make up for redesigning its own seawall when the Imperial House didn’t erect one in 2008.
South Palm Beach appealed last month to Palm Beach County for help, but the county attorney’s office said that Lantana was not overstepping its rights.
“We’re going to take it and run,” Imperial House board member Bonnie Fischer said of the agreement. Not all of the details have been worked out. Imperial House likely will pay a fee but tens of thousands of dollars less than Lantana’s demand.
Mayfair House is in the midst of erecting its own $1.6 million seawall. In November, waves lapped against a sidewalk surrounding the Imperial House and emergency concrete and boulders were trucked in to halt further erosion. “Before, there was no hope,” Fischer said. “Now, it’s like a miracle.”</div>South Palm Beach: Imperial House looks ahead to shaky futurehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-imperial2010-01-01T17:02:42.000Z2010-01-01T17:02:42.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:left;"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960289890,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" /></p>
By Tim O’Meilia
Just over the dune at the Imperial House is a bungalow where industrialist, movie maker and aviator Howard Hughes once lived, or so the story goes.
Long-time residents of the six-story co-operative have heard the tales and spin the yarns themselves. “We’d hear stories of how Howard Hughes would bring movie stars in here and sneak them out,” said Phyllis Williams, whose family has owned an apartment for more than 30 years.
“Probably the last one was Piper Laurie,” old-time resident Helen Decora said of the popular actress of the ’50s. “This was his getaway where no one could find him. There were no buildings here.”
She heard the stories at the bar at the old Hawaiian Inn, where townsfolk would gather and swap stories in the town’s early days.
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Whether Hughes actually lived there or not, the two-story beach house pre-dates the 58-unit Imperial House itself, back to a time when the beach was 100 feet wide and the bungalow, a few feet north of Lantana’s public beach, was the only building in sight.
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Now, residents of the building are scrambling for a way to save Imperial House from a slowly encroaching ocean. A planned $500,000 seawall is stalled because of a financial dispute with the town of Lantana over how to get construction equipment onto the beach.
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But in the 1950s, the ocean wasn’t the problem. The ocean was the answer for a pair of Finnish brothers who built the town’s first three multi-family buildings, all with ocean-to-Intracoastal Waterway views.
The Imperial House was the third built by Ames and Anton Aksila and designed by well-known local architect Frank Masiello. The H-shaped co-op (there were no condominiums then) opened in 1961, according to old documents and newspaper clippings gathered by 33-year resident Bonnie Fischer, including a town history written by the late town historian and Imperial House resident Marjorie Hamilton.
The apartments — ranging from $14,900 for a one-bedroom, one-bath to $34,480 for a top floor ocean view — sold quickly to retirees from the northeast and sun-seekers from Canada.
The co-op was built around the fabled Hughes bungalow and had a pool. A long deck that served as a gathering spot for apartment dwellers was washed away in the early 1990s. A rebuilt deck did not survive Hurricane Jeanne in 2004.
Phyllis Williams’ father, owner of a GM car dealership near Toronto, discovered the Imperial House in the mid-’60s. “He came for a holiday and traveled around. Someone told him of this little town and he fell in love with it, coming from Canada and all that snow,” said Williams, 73.
Bonnie Fischer’s family arrived from Connecticut in the late ’70s. Barbara DeLuca’s family came from New Jersey. She lives in the Howard Hughes guest house on the first floor, the one with the pecky cypress walls. “You ought to charge admission,” teased Helen Decora.
Through the decades, Imperial House residents nurtured its community feeling. Newcomers were greeted with chocolate-covered strawberries. People left notes on neighbors’ doors. Decora encouraged visiting children to add their own drawings to the nautical mural on the sixth-floor wall.
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“We knew everyone. Everyone knew us. It’s always had a quaint, country feeling,” Williams said.
Times have changed. Assessments for new windows, structural repairs, painting and the proposed seawall have made the aging building expensive for some owners. As a result, more units are rentals now. Far fewer than half of the apartments are occupied only a few days before Christmas. The seawall dispute has created an uncertain future.
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Still, the old-timers revel in their camaraderie. A poster near the mailboxes invited residents to a Dec. 22 sing-along. More than a dozen attended — age 10 to 80-plus — to sing Christmas carols along with a pair of guitarists.
Did Howard Hughes have a secret hideaway in South Palm Beach in the late ’40s? Whether he did or not, it’s a good story. One thing is true. In the ’50s, the bungalow was owned by the sister of Judge Charles E. Chillingworth.
The judge and his wife, you perhaps know, were kidnapped in 1955, weighted down and dropped overboard into the Atlantic Ocean not far from Imperial House.
But that’s a story for another day.</div>South Palm Beach seeks county intervention in beach disputehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-seeks-county2009-12-31T16:01:43.000Z2009-12-31T16:01:43.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div>By Tim O’Meilia
With the Imperial House facing another winter without a seawall, the South Palm Beach Town Council voted on Dec. 15 to ask Palm Beach County to intervene in a dispute between the condominium and the town of Lantana over beach access.
The 58-unit co-op adjoins the north end of Lantana’s oceanfront beach and needs the access to move construction equipment onto the beach to erect the seawall.
“We can’t support them financially but at least we can support them morally,” said Councilman Donald Clayman. South Palm Beach has no public beach of its own.
The council questioned whether Lantana could deny access to the beach under its agreement with the county when the town acquired Dorothy Rissler Road between the Ritz-Carlton and the south end of the Lantana beach.
Mayor Martin Millar opposed the letter. “It’s not our fight. We shouldn’t get into their fight,” he said.
On Dec. 14, the day before South Palm Beach met, the Imperial House offered to pay Lantana $5,000 for access, an offer Lantana Mayor David Steward called “insulting.”
Lantana wants a $213,500 payment from Imperial House which officials said is the cost of having to re-engineer its own seawall plans, change its permit and build an additional section to its seawall last year when the co-op delayed its plans to build a seawall. The co-op offered $35, 000 last month.
Imperial House directors say they can’t afford the fee on top of the $500,000 cost of building the seawall. Lantana granted emergency access in November so boulders could be moved in to shore up the condo’s temporary wall of blocks after a storm washed away a sidewalk near the six-story building.
“I’m deeply disappointed in Lantana’s denying access,” said Councilman Brian Merbler, who made the motion to send the letter to county officials through County Commissioner Steven Abrams. “For all intents and purposes, it’s shakedown of a quarter of a million dollars.”
Imperial House must begin work in January to complete the project by April 1, when turtle-nesting season begins and construction is forbidden.
Although he agreed it was a private fight between the co-op and Lantana, Merbler said, a damaging northeaster “would be a catastrophic event for the Imperial House and for the town of Lantana.
The 223-unit Mayfair House, five buildings north of Imperial House, began work on its own seawall. Lantana wanted $75,000 for access, but Mayfair House will use its own property although the project will cost more than the original $1.6 million.</div>LANTANA: Town remains at odds with co-op over beach accesshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/lantana-town-remains-at-odds2009-12-31T15:59:41.000Z2009-12-31T15:59:41.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div>By Margie Plunkett
The Lantana Town Council dismissed as “insulting” a counterproposal from the Imperial House to pay $5,000 for beach access to fix its failing seawall, and said it would investigate if, under an agreement for emergency work, it could demand Imperial House put the beach back together and vacate within seven days. Mayor David Stewart and other council members balked at the counterproposal during a Dec. 14 meeting — a day before South Palm Beach voted to request assistance with beach access from the county. An earlier proposal by Imperial House had offered a $35,000 payment for access, which was still far lower than Lantana’s demand for $213,500 in total from Imperial House and the neighboring Mayfair House, which is also performing seawall work.
The Imperial House in South Palm Beach sought beach access after its failing seawall put the building in jeopardy of tumbling into the ocean. The co-op needed access to stage equipment and materials for construction of the seawall.
Lantana objected to free access for several reasons, including that the co-op’s failure to rebuild its seawall promptly after storm damage resulted in escalating costs for neighboring Lantana taxpayers when the town reconstructed its own seawall. Lantana also feared damage to its newly rebuilt seawall and said using the beach as a staging ground would deny residents enjoyment of the beach.
In its most recent proposal, Imperial House said that Lantana didn’t communicate the desire to coordinate seawall construction until three months after the town had completed its work and it was unreasonable to “punish” the Imperial House now. It took two years for the Imperial House to secure a Department of Environmental Protection permit for its construction, which DEP has never complained was an unacceptable time frame, the proposal said. And if Lantana has the right to charge for beach access, the fee should be based on “the value of access,” not current or projected costs to build Lantana’s seawall, it said.
While Imperial House’s proposals offered cash payments, they also listed other activities and services that the co-op assigned dollar value to and that it claims is a $214,500 value to Lantana. The latest includes that the co-op would build its seawall 15 feet farther west, which would save the town $90,000, but cost Imperial House nearly $40,000 more. It also offers that it could use a more northern access, rather than Dorothy Rissler Lane, and would extend that access to Lantana for the town to finish connecting its seawall to the co-op’s. It would also leave “rip rap” in place to protect the town’s dunes until the town has completed its seawall extension.
A second option in the same proposal would allow Imperial House to use Dorothy Rissler Lane for access and the co-op would obtain a security bond for any damages. The proposal would still extend the co-op’s seawall farther west and pay $5,000. Both Lantana officials and residents slammed Imperial House at the Dec. 14 meeting because it should be working with its own town, South Palm Beach, for access rather than expecting Lantana taxpayers to foot the bill.
When attorney James Charles of Lewis, Longman & Walker, P.A., representing Imperial House, spoke, Stewart jumped in to say, "There's no opportunity at $5,000. You might as well sit down."
The minutes from the Dec. 7 special meeting indicate that the council voted to not allow heavy equipment access through Dorothy Rissler Lane that would cross over the Lantana seawall, unless approved by the town manager; it allowed an exception for smaller all-terrain and rubber-tire vehicles. In the minutes,Stewart said after visiting the Imperial House he believed the Imperial House had opportunities it hasn’t pursued for beach access without having to come through Lantana's beach.</div>Imperial House’s beach work runs into brick wall with neighborshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/imperial-houses-beach-work2009-12-03T17:15:26.000Z2009-12-03T17:15:26.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:left;"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960283694,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" /></p>
By Tim O’Meilia
Thirty-three years ago Bonnie Fischer found the dream retirement home — an affordable first-floor oceanfront condominium apartment at Imperial House with a view of a beach several hundred feet wide.
In mid-November, an angry north wind sent churning waves one after another onto that shrinking beach, clawing through a temporary wall of three-ton blocks and undermining a walkway that ran along the seaside building.
“I had ocean spray hitting my sliding glass doors and my bedroom windows,” Fischer said. “It’s way too close.”
The Atlantic Ocean is taking back the beach.
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Fearing the waves might undermine the building, Police Chief Roger Crane ordered the residents of the 18 east-wing apartments to evacuate. Fischer spent two nights away from home. Engineers later found that the 50-year-old building was erected on pilings, rather than a less-ocean-proof concrete foundation more susceptible to surf damage.
The winds decreased, the occupants returned and huge boulders were deposited over the following three days to reinforce the temporary wall. “The walkway started pulling away from the building but the building was never compromised,” said Fischer, a member of the Imperial House board of directors.
Now the six-story, 58-unit Imperial House faces a more imposing task: erecting a $500,000 permanent sea wall before the turtle-nesting season begins April 1 or before the next winter northeaster’ threatens the co-op. “The issue is we’re at the eleventh hour,” said resident Anthony Carella, former secretary of the co-op’s board of directors. “The erosion of the coastline is not slowing up.”
The Imperial House has assessed its shareholders for the cost and has state permits in hand to begin the work in mid-December, but needs a path to get construction equipment and materials on to the beach.
That is proving to be more difficult than erecting the sea wall. The closest and most logical access is through the town of Lantana’s beach, immediately south of the Imperial House.
But, Lantana wants the co-op to pay $213,500 for access, the extra cost the town incurred in 2008 when it erected a sea wall to protect its beach and then wasn’t able to connect to the co-op’s planned sea wall.
The town had to re-engineer the sea wall plans, change its permit and build an additional section to the wall and doesn’t want to stick its taxpayers with the extra cost.
The Mayfair House, a 223-unit condominium five buildings north of the Imperial House, also wants to use the Lantana access to move a construction crane off the beach when its $1.6 million sea wall is finished. Work has yet to begin.
Lantana town commissioners want a $75,000 fee for access over its dune. Lantana commissioners gave both condos until Dec. 14 to work out an arrangement.
Neither building says it can afford the cost.
“$75,000 for interrupting their beach?” said Mayfair House President John Vivenzio. “Clearly, we’re not going to do that.”
“We can’t afford to do that and we can’t afford not to,” said Imperial House’s Fischer. “They have us over a barrel.”
Vivenzio said the Mayfair may have to devise a method of building the sea wall from the western side. He was critical of the town of South Palm Beach for not offering support for the condos. No South Palm Beach town commissioner attended a Nov. 23 meeting with Lantana commissioners and condo representatives.
“Their attitude is ‘We have no dog in this fight,’” Vivenzio said. “We’re the lowest point on A1A. If the Mayfair House goes, A1A goes. It’s a beach town. Without a beach, you have no town.”
Imperial House has already assessed its residents to the max — for the sea wall, hurricane windows, new paint and other improvements.
“If we don’t do it, the building is going to be permanently damaged and we don’t have the money to do it,” Carella said.
The Imperial House applied for a state permit in 2008 but disagreements among its board and with its engineers delayed the project.
“We had no contract or handshake agreement with Lantana” to install its sea wall last year when Lantana did, he said.
Fischer and Carella said the building is investigating whether Lantana can legally prevent the Imperial House from using an old state right of way to reach the beach and move its equipment.
“All it takes is one northeastern storm to make its way down here and cause havoc,” Fischer said. “The sound of the ocean waves is not soothing to me anymore.”</div>Lantana stands firm on beach access costshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/lantana-stands-firm-on-beach2009-12-03T17:00:00.000Z2009-12-03T17:00:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div>By Margie Plunkett
Lantana council members took a hard stand against helping the neighboring Imperial House condominium building at taxpayers’ expense and said it would charge $213,500 to allow the co-op to stage equipment to fix its rapidly deteriorating temporary sea wall.
The figure equals the added expense Lantana has incurred to rebuild its weather-damaged sea wall because the Imperial House had not made repairs on its sea wall at the time of construction, according to Lantana officials. Lantana has completed the $1.6 million sea wall, but still must build a wall that will connect with the Imperial House’s.
“It would be a tragedy to lose their building, but I don’t want to do it at our taxpayers’ expense,” Mayor David Stewart said at the council meeting early in November. “I don’t want to see their building go into the water. But I don’t want to set a precedent.”
Imperial House residents made a plea to Lantana at the town’s Nov. 9 and Nov. 23 council meetings, asking for permission for beach access to stage the equipment at a less costly sum than the initial $253,500 price tag the town initially set. The building is in peril of falling into the sea: The ocean is lapping at the base of the building and the temporary sea wall has sunk four feet in the last two months, residents said Nov. 9. The east portion of the building was temporarily evacuated and boulders placed at its base to stabilize deterioration. Lantana council members reduced the price by $40,000 because the park facilities and parking lot wouldn’t be impacted as much as initially thought. But they stuck to their guns on the balance, even as Imperial House countered that it would be willing to pay $35,000 over the course of a year, and listing projected savings for Lantana in memos between Imperial House Board President Art Pile and Town Manager Mike Bornstein. Mayfair House, a neighbor to Imperial House, also attended the Nov. 23 meeting because it is preparing to start its own sea wall repairs Dec. 1. Lantana had estimated a $75,000 access fee for Mayfair, which will be able to get a crane onto the beach from its property, but not off. The Mayfair House suggested the crane could be used for all three sea wall projects — at Mayfair House, Imperial House and Lantana.
But Lantana council said it would accept a total $213,500 from Imperial House and Mayfair House, and instructed the two to get together to work it out.
Vice Mayor Cindy Austino pointed out that Lantana was actually granting access for free, but recouping the taxpayer money that had to be spent unnecessarily because of the condition of Imperial House’s sea wall. At its Nov. 9 meeting, council had mentioned additional reasons it was reluctant to grant access, including that it wanted to protect the beach for residents, who find solace there come season. But they also said they believed the Imperial House was a South Palm Beach problem that that municipality wasn’t addressing. “South Palm Beach is going to be facing this over and over again,” said council member Elizabeth Tennyson. “We want to be a good neighbor, but we can’t give our assets away because your town is not taking care of you.”</div>