traffic - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T13:55:45Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/trafficHighland Beach: Work on new fire station reroutes Town Hall traffichttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/highland-beach-work-on-new-fire-station-reroutes-town-hall-traffi2023-05-03T16:04:17.000Z2023-05-03T16:04:17.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}11063040667,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11063040667,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="11063040667?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>A privacy fence was installed around the site of the new fire station as construction began last month. The project means a temporary loss of about 25 parking spaces at Town Hall, and the town is working on solutions for that issue. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>By Rich Pollack</strong></p>
<p>Highland Beach is 12 months away from starting Palm Beach County’s first new fire department in 30 years and now the first visible signs of the town’s break with Delray Beach Fire Rescue are starting to show.</p>
<p>Last month crews began construction on a more than $8 million fire station on what was the parking lot in front of Town Hall. </p>
<p>The new station, which will be home to 24 firefighter paramedics and two chiefs, is targeted to be completed by the time Highland Beach begins providing fire service next May. </p>
<p>The start of construction means a rerouting of vehicles entering Town Hall and the disappearance of about 25 parking spaces.</p>
<p>Until last month, cars entered the Town Hall complex from the north and exited at the south end. With construction taking up the parking area in front of the police station, vehicles are now entering and exiting the town property at the south end. </p>
<p>The town is working to develop possible flex work schedules for some employees to offset challenges that come with the loss of parking spaces, Town Manager Marshall Labadie said.</p>
<p>In addition, events at the library will be moved to evenings when most employees are no longer at the town complex and more spaces are available. </p>
<p>Labadie said the town is also looking at other parking options including nearby private lots. </p>
<p>Once completed, the new station at the south end of the town’s municipal complex will include two stories of living space and a two-bay garage housing a ladder truck and a rescue vehicle. A backup rescue vehicle and a backup fire truck will be housed on town property nearby.</p>
<p>Additional parking spaces will be added back onto town property once partial demolition of the existing fire station is completed. That station, Labadie said, was too small and too old to continue using once the town takes over fire service.</p>
<p>One challenge the town faced in building the new station was increased costs due to inflation and supply chain issues. </p>
<p>Under a contract with Kaufman Lynn Construction, the price tag for the station is not to exceed $8.6 million, which is in excess of $1 million more than the town first anticipated. </p>
<p>Labadie said that the town will be using a portion of about $2 million in federal money to help keep total start-up costs under $10 million, the amount voters approved for the project. </p>
<p>While the fire station is just beginning to come out of the ground, much preparation for this milestone in the town’s public safety evolution has been going strong behind the scenes.</p>
<p>“I think we’re right on track,” said Fire Chief Glenn Joseph. “The next major milestone is recruiting firefighter/paramedics.” </p>
<p>Joseph expects to start that process this month and said several firefighter/paramedics have expressed interest. </p>
<p>“The response has been positive,” he said.</p>
<p>Joseph is also finalizing the hiring of an assistant chief for community risk reduction, who will assess risks and hazards, such as obstacles in a home that could lead to falls, and find solutions. An administrative coordinator is also being hired. </p>
<p>Another focus, Joseph said, is on developing policies and procedures and record-keeping software. </p>
<p>Highland Beach commissioners voted in April 2021 to sever the contract with Delray Beach, believing they could provide improved service at less than the estimated $5 million a year Highland Beach pays to the city. </p></div>Delray Beach: Concurrent art show, tennis tournament may bring downtown to standstillhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-concurrent-art-show-tennis-tournament-may-bring-down2023-03-29T15:25:28.000Z2023-03-29T15:25:28.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Larry Barszewski</strong></p>
<p>Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and more than 500 art and craft exhibitors will combine for a traffic-stopping April weekend in downtown Delray Beach.<br /> Gauff and Pegula, professional tennis players from Delray Beach and Boca Raton, respectively, will play in a major tournament at the Delray Beach Tennis Center at the same time that artists and craftspeople will fill Atlantic Avenue from in front of the tennis center through to Federal Highway as part of this year’s Delray Affair.<br /> If you’re not planning to attend the 61st annual art festival, which will shut down eight blocks of Atlantic Avenue, or the Billie Jean King Cup qualifier tournament that will pack thousands into the tennis center, then it might be best to just avoid the area.<br /> The tournament is Friday and Saturday, April 14-15, and the Delray Affair will be up-and-running April 14 to 16. Affair officials anticipate about 110,000 people coming out during the three-day festival, while the tennis center has a capacity exceeding 8,000 available for the tournament.<br /> If you do plan to attend either event, organizers suggest you save yourself a headache and park at the Tri-Rail station and Palm Beach County Administrative Complex at 345 S. Congress Ave., then take a free shuttle bus into downtown. The shuttles will run regularly throughout the weekend, dropping people off at the police station just west of the events or at the tennis center.<br /> The tennis tournament is tentatively scheduled to start at noon on Friday and Saturday. The Delray Affair is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on those days and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.<br /> The shuttles run from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, accommodating people who might want to spend more time at downtown restaurants and enjoy the nightlife, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.<br /> There’s no similar shuttle service on the east side of the festival, officials said. <br /> Despite the added crowds coming for the tennis tournament, the Delray Affair isn’t flustered.<br /> “We aren’t concerned about the tournament impacting the Delray Affair. I think both events will benefit from potential additional attendees,” said Nancy Stewart-Franczak of Festival Management Group, which is handling publicity for the Delray Affair.<br /> The good news for barrier island residents is that the Atlantic Avenue bridge will be operating under normal conditions throughout the weekend, even though most of Atlantic Avenue will be closed in the downtown area from 2 a.m. Friday to 8 p.m. Sunday. Still, if you’re not going to one of the events, organizers suggest people coming from the barrier island use either the George Bush Boulevard bridge or Linton Boulevard bridge instead.<br /> Parking garages at the South County Courthouse and next to Old School Square will be open, with Boy Scouts on hand to collect a $5 parking fee that will go to support their activities. <br />A valet parking service will be available at Delray Beach City Hall on a first-come first-served basis.<br /> Some potential parking places on the Delray Affair’s east side are at the Village Lot at 50 SE Sixth Ave., the Gladiola Lot at 51 SE Sixth Ave., and the 4th & 5th Delray Garage at 25 SE Fourth Ave.<br /> The Delray Affair will fill up Atlantic Avenue from Southwest Second Avenue, in front of the tennis center, to Northeast Sixth Avenue. <br />Although you won’t be able to drive across Atlantic Avenue at Swinton, Northeast Second Avenue or Northeast Fourth Avenue, traffic will be flowing over it on northbound and southbound Federal Highway. </p></div>Letter to the Editor: Walkers, be safe: Face oncoming traffichttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/letter-to-the-editor-walkers-be-safe-face-oncoming-traffic2019-12-31T23:12:19.000Z2019-12-31T23:12:19.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p>Welcome back to all snowbirds. Greetings to all permanent parties, too. I’m a very frequent walker and driver on Old Ocean Boulevard in Ocean Ridge. My request to everyone is not difficult: Please, when walking, walk facing oncoming traffic. <br /> My mother many years ago taught me that was proper. Of course I always followed her advice.<br /> But seriously, it is so much more comfortable when walking or driving to be facing whatever is approaching. Safer, too. Say hello: I’ll be the one with trekking sticks and the Tilley hat.<br /><em>Joe Kirk,</em><br /><em>Ocean Ridge</em></p></div>Briny Breezes/County Pocket: Townhome developer tries to ease worries about drainage, construction damagehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/briny-breezes-county-pocket-townhome-developer-tries-to-ease-worr2018-11-28T17:30:00.000Z2018-11-28T17:30:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960833464,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960833464,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960833464?profile=original" /></a>Michael LaCoursiere, civil engineer for the Gulf Stream Views development, answers questions from residents of the County Pocket and Briny Breezes. Pocket residents say the townhomes will be on land that historically takes runoff from their neighborhood. <b>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</b></em></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>Representatives of the Gulf Stream Views townhouse project say they are committed to being good neighbors to Briny Breezes and County Pocket residents as construction at the site is about to begin in earnest.</p>
<p>“If we damage anything, we will fix it,” Glenn La Mattina, senior vice president of developer NR Living, said during a question-and-answer session with some 100 residents in Briny’s ocean clubhouse on Nov. 13. “We’re willing to work with you.”</p>
<p>Questions from the County Pocket side of the room focused mostly on potential drainage issues. From the Briny side, the questions were mostly about traffic and possible road damage issues.</p>
<p>Michael LaCoursiere, the project’s civil engineer from West Palm Beach, said the plans passed “rigorous review” by Palm Beach County, particularly concerning stormwater drainage.</p>
<p>“We’ve done everything they’ve asked us to do,” LaCoursiere said. “The site is going to hold its water. Less water is going to run off the site after construction than before it.”</p>
<p>He said developers are installing an underground system of storage chambers to catch water, and the site will be bowl-shaped to prevent runoff from moving to the north or south.</p>
<p>Pocket residents Liz Loper and Susan Knowles told LaCoursiere that although the site may hold its own water, it could cause flooding to the neighborhood on the south side. For decades the vacant lot has functioned as a drain field for the pocket’s runoff, they said.</p>
<p>Loper worries that after the development is built, the water will have nowhere to go, especially during storm surges and king tides. Historically, she said, runoff flows north from the pocket to the development site.</p>
<p>“I’ve been here for 18 years and it’s not perception, it’s reality,” Loper said. “It flows down the street into that field, and now with the walls going up, that’s not going to happen. And that’s what our concern is.”</p>
<p><strong>No parking on road</strong></p>
<p>Briny Mayor Roger Bennett said the town recently received word from Palm Beach County officials that it is the sole owner of Briny Breezes Boulevard, a public thoroughfare that will be an important access road to the development.</p>
<p>“The nice thing about having ownership of Briny Breezes Boulevard is that we can put up ‘no parking’ signs on the south side,” Bennett said. “And that’s one of the first things we’ll do.”</p>
<p>He said the town has received assurances from the developers that they will repair any construction damage to the road. “They gave a guarantee to the Town Council,” Bennett said.</p>
<p>Bradley Miller, the project’s land planner, said the impact on traffic flow will be negligible. He said the development should add about 98 vehicle trips per day to the neighboring streets, well within statutory limits. The gated entrance will be on Old Ocean Boulevard. Each unit will have a two-car garage and the site will have 10 spaces for guest parking.</p>
<p>Miller said pedestrian access to the beach will continue to be open north and south of the complex, though Gulf Stream Views residents will have private access through a gated entrance on Old Ocean.</p>
<p>The six-building, 14-unit project is scheduled for completion in December 2019 and will deliver a community of “high-end, luxury” two-story homes, La Mattina said. Pre-construction prices range from $1.8 million to $2.7 million. The 3,400-square foot units will have three bedrooms and 41/2 baths.</p>
<p>NR Living, based in Secaucus, N.J., paid $5.4 million for the site in June and took out a $17 million construction loan shortly after.<br /> Briny’s corporate board and the Florida Coalition for Preservation organized the question-and-answer session.</p></div>Boca Raton: Major project OK’d despite Camino Real traffic woeshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-major-project-ok-d-despite-camino-real-traffic-woes2018-11-28T17:00:00.000Z2018-11-28T17:00:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Mary Hladky</strong></p>
<p>A major residential and retail project that would rise in a blighted area on the southwest edge of downtown has Planning and Zoning Board support despite opposition from nearby residents who argue the development is too big and will worsen already clogged traffic on Camino Real. <br /> The planning board voted 4-1 on Nov. 8 to recommend that the Boca Raton City Council approve Camino Square on a 9-acre shopping center site at 171 W. Camino Real, where a Winn-Dixie operated for years before closing in 2010. The Community Appearance Board earlier recommended approval 6-0.<br /> <strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960818891,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960818891,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" alt="7960818891?profile=original" /></a></strong>The first phase of the project would include two, eight-story luxury apartment buildings with a total of 350 units and two parking garages on the eastern portion of the site, just west of the Florida East Coast Railway tracks. The second phase on the western portion would have two retail buildings that would be visible from Camino Real and surface parking.<br /> The developer is FCI Residential Corp., a real estate subsidiary of sugar producer Florida Crystals Corp.<br /> After the planning board unanimously rejected the project in January, FCI made numerous changes to its plans.<br /> City staffers acknowledged that the project is much improved, but even so recommended against approval. They want the apartment buildings constructed on the northern portion of the property near existing residential and improvements to internal driveways to make them more pedestrian-friendly.<br /> But the staff’s biggest concern was that the development will worsen already bad traffic congestion on Camino Real.<br /> FCI attorney Ele Zachariades said Camino Square would enhance the city.<br /> “There is one parcel in the downtown that is still blighted,” she said. “We would like to be good neighbors and clean up this area.”<br /> FCI has addressed many of the previous objections and now the project is in full compliance with city rules, she said.<br /> The developer does not want to move the apartments to the northern portion of the site because it makes more sense to build the parking garages along the FEC tracks to act as a sound buffer and the residential buildings west of them. The developer’s traffic consultant said the project would add 565 net daily trips to streets, but would not worsen congestion.<br /> Many residents at the meeting said they welcomed redevelopment of the blighted area. Even so, only two, including a representative of major downtown landowner Investments Limited, spoke in favor of Camino Square.<br /> J. Albert Johnson, president of the 2,400-member Camino Gardens Association, said the city has not kept its promise to upgrade traffic infrastructure.<br /> As a result, the project “will create a nightmare,” he said. “It will create absolute chaos.”<br /> Many other speakers agreed, and a number said the city needs to improve traffic infrastructure before allowing new development in the area.<br /> “We are being overwhelmed by traffic,” said Camino Gardens resident Gertrude Lewis.<br /> When board member Larry Snowden asked whether the city is working to resolve existing traffic problems on Camino Real, city traffic engineer Maria Tejera said there are no plans to do so. He also asked if the developer was willing to decrease the number of rental units to lessen the project’s impact on traffic.<br /> Zachariades said FCI would not. Downtown development ordinances allow FCI to build taller buildings with more units than those proposed, but the developer chose not to do so to avoid creating too much density, she said.<br /> Board member Rick Coffin said Camino Square is a good project, but the developer is at a disadvantage because the city has not addressed traffic issues.<br /> “I am voting in favor of [Camino Square] to put more pressure on the city to live up to their obligations,” he said.<br /> The planning board imposed one condition in granting approval: FCI will have to add a southbound left-turn lane at the intersection of Southwest Third Avenue and West Camino Real to improve road safety and traffic flow.</p></div>Boca Raton: Trump flight restrictions are a boon to Boca airporthttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-trump-flight-restrictions-are-a-boon-to-boca-airport2018-01-31T18:00:00.000Z2018-01-31T18:00:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960774282,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960774282,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="600" alt="7960774282?profile=original" /></a><em>A Trump organization helicopter is part of the increased airport traffic. <b>File photo/The Coastal Star</b></em></p>
<p><span><b>By Rich Pollack</b></span></p>
<p>President Donald Trump’s repeated visits to South Florida have been characterized as disruptive to many local travelers and as detrimental to a few local businesses. </p>
<p>For the Boca Raton Airport and some surrounding restaurants and hotels, however, the frequent flights to Palm Beach by Air Force One have a silver lining. </p>
<p>Revenues at Boca Raton Airport, based in part on the amount of fuel sold by two aviation companies, skyrocketed in 2017 as business jets that usually would land at Palm Beach International Airport went south while the president visited Mar-a-Lago rather than go through additional security screenings. </p>
<p>“Our fuel-flow revenues last year were $130,000 over budget,” said Airport Authority Executive Director Clara Bennett. Helping to drive up that number was a weeklong presidential visit between Christmas and New Year’s Day that pushed fuel sales at the airport to record levels. </p>
<p>Jet fuel delivered in December, according to airport statistics, climbed more than 57 percent, rising to about 886,000 gallons, compared with 562,156 gallons in December 2016. </p>
<p>At the same time, airport fuel revenue jumped from about $49,000 in December 2016 to about $93,300 during the same time last year. </p>
<p>The airport receives 5 percent of the cost of fuel delivered to the two contracted fixed-base operators — or FBOs — that lease space on the airport grounds and provide aviation services, including fueling. </p>
<p>Bennett said the combination of planes coming to Boca Raton during the presidential visit and regular heavy traffic during the holiday week resulted in an usually high number of air-traffic operations. </p>
<p>“It was like a perfect storm,” she said. “It was high season and there were temporary flight restrictions for an extended time.”</p>
<p>However, a few challenges arose with so many jets visiting the small general aviation airport. </p>
<p>“There were a couple of times when the [operators] were running out of space for overnight parking,” Bennett said.</p>
<p>The airport has enough parking for about 100 planes.</p>
<p>In some cases flight crews dropped off passengers and flew to the state’s west coast, where they found parking and waited until they were called back, according to Bennett. </p>
<p>Because of temporary flight restrictions within a 10-mile radius of Mar-a-Lago, general aviation aircraft are unable to land at the Palm Beach County Park Airport in Lantana, the county airport in Palm Beach Gardens or at Palm Beach International Airport without additional security screenings in either Orlando or Hollywood. </p>
<p>Scott Kohut, Boca Raton Airport’s deputy director, said that while many passengers left to go to Palm Beach or other nearby locations, some flight crews — sometimes two or three people — stayed locally. That, he said, was good for area businesses. </p>
<p>“There were a lot of people flying in and parking for an extended time,” he said. </p>
<p>Kohut said that at least one local restaurant owner has told him of an increase in business when flight restrictions are in place. </p>
<p>In addition to heavy traffic during the holiday week, the airport saw increases in flight operations year-over-year during the Thanksgiving weekend and last month’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day extended holiday weekend.</p>
<p>Bennett said in addition to the direct benefits to local businesses, there is an indirect benefit of people who may not have been to the area getting to know a little bit about it. </p>
<p>“It’s certainly a way to promote Boca Raton,” she said. </p></div>Gulf Stream: Place Au Soleil gears up for next battle with Gunther Volvo over parking garagehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/gulf-stream-place-au-soleil-gears-up-for-next-battle-with-gunther2017-05-03T15:30:00.000Z2017-05-03T15:30:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960716295,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960716295,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960716295?profile=original" /></a><em>Gunther Volvo plans to build a 31,050-square-foot showroom-service area and three-level parking garage</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>on Federal Highway. Place Au Soleil homeowners fear the project will fill their neighborhood with noise and light.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Rendering courtesy City of Delray Beach</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Steve Plunkett<br /> <br /></strong> Decision day is May 10 in Place Au Soleil’s fight to shield the neighborhood from a three-story garage Gunther Volvo wants to build right behind their single-family homes.<br /> Delray Beach’s Site Plan Review and Appearance Board postponed considering Gunther’s proposal at its April 26 meeting because it lacked a quorum. The car dealership backs up to Gulf Stream but sits inside Delray Beach.<br /> Earlier in the month, the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency praised Gunther’s proposal, but encouraged its lawyer to work more to address Place Au Soleil’s concerns about noise and light.<br /> At the April 17 meeting of the Gulf Stream Town Commission, the president of the neighborhood’s homeowner association, Chet Snavely, said he and Mayor Scott Morgan met with Gunther representatives and Delray Beach officials to craft a solution, but without success.<br /> “The noise situation and the light situation were pretty much dismissed in Volvo’s response letter to our meeting,” Snavely said. “Volvo was not interested in spending any money for any redesign.”<br /> Morgan recruited the rest of the Town Commission to join the battle by having commissioners sign a letter opposing the plan that they had previously authorized Morgan to sign by himself. The letter was to go to Delray Beach planning officials and Mayor Cary Glickstein.<br /> “I just feel it should be signed by everyone,” Morgan said.<br /> Snavely said a barrier of aluminum louvers behind the 519-car garage would block the light and muffle the sound. So far, Gunther has agreed only to raise the concrete wall at the back of the parcel from 6 feet high to 8 feet.<br /> Fort Lauderdale-based Gunther bought the Volvo and neighboring Volkswagen dealerships in 2012 for $13.5 million from AutoNation. The land, which lies on a plat named Borton Motors after an earlier dealership, is designated for “auto sales” in Delray Beach’s land-use plan and zoned “automotive commercial.”<br /> <strong>In other business</strong>, commissioners met in closed sessions with their attorneys to decide what to do with one public records lawsuit brought by resident Martin O’Boyle and seven cases brought by resident Chris O’Hare. Outside counsel Robert Sweetapple said at the end of the month there had been no movement in any of the suits.<br /> O’Boyle urged the commissioners before the closed sessions to accept what he called his “sacrificial lamb” to end the litigation, without providing many details. “If you want to resolve all [the cases] as I do, we together have an opportunity to be fair with one another and accomplish just that goal,” O’Boyle said.</p></div>Manalapan: Town OKs plan for Publix at Plaza del Marhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-town-oks-plan-for-publix-at-plaza-del-mar2016-08-03T20:43:56.000Z2016-08-03T20:43:56.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><span class="font-size-6" style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Grocer to create ‘unique to market’</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong><span class="font-size-6" style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">store in Manalapan</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960668888,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960668888,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960668888?profile=original" /></a><em>The new Publix will anchor a major renovation of Plaza del Mar.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Rendering provided by Cuhaci & Peterson</strong><br /><br /></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /><br /> After a year of impassioned negotiation and ample planning, the arranged marriage between Publix and Manalapan appears headed for the altar.<br /> A short list of design changes from representatives for the supermarket giant persuaded town commissioners to unanimously approve plans for a 26,000-square-foot store in the middle of the Plaza del Mar shopping center.<br /> Publix and Manalapan. Manalapan and Publix. Together at last.<br /> Matt Buehler, retail vice president with Kitson & Partners, the plaza’s landlords, told commissioners the company was building its store specifically with Manalapan in mind. He said extensive renovation of the site would revive a shopping plaza that has languished for years.<br /> And the centerpiece would be the stylish new Publix.<br /> “The grocer is creating a unique store to this market that does not exist in its portfolio today,” Buehler said. “It’s not a stock set of plans that came off the shelf. This is a uniquely designed store that will not exist anywhere else in the country.”<br /> Kitson’s proposed overhaul includes planting 37 royal palm trees, adding two pocket parks and a drip irrigation system, installing LED parking lights, and repaving the entire plaza. Kitson had offered to create an outdoor seating area for roughly 100 people, but dropped the idea when several commissioners objected, fearing a potential nuisance.<br /> The plans go to the town’s architectural committee next. Demolition could begin in October, with construction underway by the first of the year. The Publix is expected to open for business in 2018.<br /> Two skeptics on the commission, Basil Diamond and Simone Bonutti, voted to support Kitson after coaxing concessions from the landlord during three hours of debate at the July 19 town meeting.<br /> Diamond and Bonutti had worried that the store would create traffic bottlenecks on the corner of Ocean Avenue and A1A, disturb neighbors with noise and pollution, and pose safety problems with large delivery trucks driving through the parking lot.<br /> “My concern is the site plan itself,” Diamond said. “Does it make a negative impact on the plaza and the community?”<br /> Buehler said Kitson was willing to build a continuous 8-foot concrete wall along the western and southern boundaries of the property to screen neighbors from delivery vehicles.<br /> Engineers for the developers told the commission that the renovation actually will decrease the total amount of retail space at the plaza by about 20,000 square feet. The plan would also increase the setback area on the south side by about 35 feet, adding to the buffer zone with homeowners. Engineers said the project complies with all town codes and building rules.<br /> Kitson withdrew plans to add a separate liquor package store near the Publix after complaints from several commissioners at the June meeting. Buehler said the two-story tower in the heart of the plaza will be removed, opening the skyline view for neighboring residents.<br /> Robert Rennebaum, a traffic engineer with the West Palm Beach firm of Simmons & White, told commissioners the completed project would “meet all applicable standards.” <br /> Rennebaum said the new Publix figures to generate 615 fewer trips per day — about a 15 percent reduction — than the current limits on the property. “It’s not even close to capacity,” he said.<br /> Mayor David Cheifetz and Diamond pointed out, however, that current traffic to the plaza falls well below the limits because of underperforming businesses. So, while adding a Publix may not exceed theoretical traffic standards, in the real world, it is virtually certain to draw more cars to the site than go there today.<br /> Buehler assured commissioners that Kitson has the expertise to manage vehicle and foot traffic to the new store: “We do have shopping centers throughout the state of Florida. We’re shopping center experts.”<br /> He said typically, no more than two or three large delivery trucks would be going to the supermarket each day. “There’s not going to be a superhighway going through the center of that shopping center,” he said. “They’ll go to the back of the store, be hidden, then get the heck out of Dodge and nobody will be the wiser.”<br /> The path of the expanded north-south delivery access road will force out a half-dozen businesses, among them Jewelry Artisans, Manalapan Italian Cuisine and Jeannie’s Ocean Boutique. Kitson has given the merchants until Sept. 30 to relocate.<br /> Cheifetz, who as mayor has no vote, said he would have voted to approve the project if allowed. He commended commissioners for “a job well done” in protecting the interests of the town and working to improve plans for Manalapan’s largest commercial project in decades.</p></div>Boca Raton: Left-turn lanes returning to Palmetto Park Road downtownhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-left-turn-lanes-returning-to-palmetto-park-road-downto2016-06-29T13:55:38.000Z2016-06-29T13:55:38.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /><br /> Boca Raton will add left-turn lanes on eastbound Palmetto Park Road at Mizner Boulevard and Northeast/Southeast Fifth Avenue and buy a train detection system so it can better time traffic signals at the Palmetto Park crossing.<br /> The turn lanes, which were taken out six years ago, should be operational by November, City Manager Leif Ahnell said.<br /> “Something we talked about back in 2010 when we put the islands in to slow down traffic, we’re here now to tell you that that was effective,” consultant Jim Sumislaski of Kimley, Horn and Associates told the City Council at its June 13 workshop. Indeed, the islands were too effective, he said, and contribute to current traffic congestion.<br /> The relatively quick improvements were among a slew of recommendations from Sumislaski and a second consultant, Diana Rivas of Calvin, Giordano and Associates, to reduce traffic congestion.<br /> Mayor Susan Haynie said the discussion on longer-term projects was just a jumping-off point. <br /> “We’ll have lots of conversations about these improvements,” she said.<br /> Sumislaski, who lives in Boca Raton, said the bridge on Palmetto Park Road opens on the half-hour and causes an eight-minute delay each time. It takes two cycles at the Fifth Avenue signal to clear traffic, he said.<br /> It should take 6.5 minutes to drive the 3.1 miles from Interstate 95 to A1A for a vehicle going 30 mph and encountering no red lights, no train holdups and no bridge opening, Sumislaski said.<br /> He theorized that with seven traffic signals on the route, 11 minutes would be a good time, and then had his staff test his theory.<br /> In 20 trips from noon to 5 p.m. May 25, the average time was 13.2 minutes, he said. Only one trip was held up by a train and only one by the bridge, he said. He recommended earlier detection of trains and changing signals to clear east-west traffic. <br /> Council member Scott Singer was enthusiastic when he heard such a system has a minimal cost. <br /> “I’m ready to make a motion now to amend our budget to approve $100,000. I mean that,” Singer said.<br />But Ahnell said he could order the equipment without changing the budget or having an official motion.<br /> Sumislaski also recommended changing the signal’s cycle at Palmetto Park Road and A1A.<br /> “I’ve been stopped waiting to make a left-hand turn to go northbound on A1A waiting for the cars to come around that circle [in South Beach Park]. Sometimes I get stymied and there’s a long line of cars,” he said.<br /> He also said Boca Raton should hire a full-time traffic monitoring operator, study making Federal Highway and Dixie Highway a pair of one-way roads and look at widening Palmetto Park Road to six lanes from I-95 to Dixie.<br /> “We’ve looked at that over the years. The time might be right for that,” Haynie said.<br /> Longer term, Sumislaski said the city could make a traffic bypass route on Second Street through the City Hall campus.<br /> Rivas was following up from a Calvin, Giordano presentation in March that offered four options for the intersection at Palmetto Park Road and Fifth Avenue. <br /> “From that meeting, we came [up] with a combination of [two] alternatives turned into one hybrid [alternative],” she said.<br /> The solution calls for left-turn lanes on Palmetto Park east- and westbound, the addition of buffered bike lanes on Fifth Avenue, and right-of-way acquisition and sidewalk connectivity on the northeast corner. Adding the turn lanes might cost $200,000, Rivas said. Buying the land on the corner might be $1 million to $2 million, she said.<br /> Rivas also recommended the city extend the bike lanes along Northeast Fifth Avenue all the way to U.S. 1 and enforce the existing valet agreement at the Trattoria Romano restaurant.</p></div>Along the Coast: Work on Spanish River interchange to slow I-95https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-work-on-spanish-river-interchange-to-slow-i-952016-06-01T14:19:05.000Z2016-06-01T14:19:05.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong> <br /><br /> Night owls behind the wheel can expect to encounter up to 30-minute delays on Interstate 95 on select Tuesdays and Thursdays.<br />Work on the Spanish River Boulevard interchange this month will include erecting bridge beams across the highway from 11 p.m. June 7 and June 9 until 5 a.m. the next day. <br /> The Florida Highway Patrol will restrict northbound I-95 traffic beginning at Southwest 10th Street; motorists can expect a half-hour delay. The I-95 northbound entrance ramps from westbound and eastbound Glades Road will be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. those days in conjunction with the pacing operation. Traffic will be detoured via Federal Highway.<br /> I-95 southbound bridge beam work is scheduled for 11 p.m. June 14 and June 16 until 5 a.m. the next day. The FHP will restrict southbound I-95 traffic at Atlantic Avenue; motorists can also expect a half-hour delay there. As part of this operation, the I-95 southbound entrance ramps from westbound and eastbound Yamato Road will be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. both days; traffic will be detoured via Congress Avenue.<br /> Continuing work on the $69 million project means I-95 northbound and southbound between Glades Road and Congress Avenue may have up to three lanes closed, with the first lane closing at 9 p.m. and the second lane and third lanes, if needed, closing from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday through Friday. The new interchange is expected to be completed in summer 2017.<br /> Drivers can visit <a href="http://www.d4fdot.com">www.d4fdot.com</a> or call the Florida Department of Transportation at 954-777-4090 or 561-214-3358 for more information.</p></div>Boca Raton: Consultant identifies possible fixes for Wildflower cornerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-consultant-identifies-possible-fixes-for-wildflower-co2016-03-30T17:03:30.000Z2016-03-30T17:03:30.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /> <br />The intersection of East Palmetto Park Road and Fifth Avenue may get one, two or three changes to improve traffic flow.<br /> Eric Czerniejewski, a project manager for consultant Calvin, Giordano and Associates, suggests restoring a left-turn lane for eastbound vehicles on Palmetto Park, taking property on the northeast corner through eminent domain, and adding a left-turn lane for northbound Fifth Avenue drivers who want to go west.<br /> If the city were to choose all three possibilities, Czerniejewski said at a public hearing March 23, average wait times at the sometimes-clogged intersection would drop by a cumulative 37.5 seconds. <br /> The consultant based his analysis on traffic figures the city collected in September and also got peak-season numbers through observations on March 11.<br /> “We also had aerial drones flown,” he said.<br /> Czerniejewski analyzed the traffic flow based on current demands as well as anticipated demands from projects that have been approved but not built, including Palmetto Promenade (Archstone), Boca Lofts, Chabad of East Boca, Hyatt Place Hotel, Tower One Fifty Five and a restaurant at the Wildflower site. He also added projections for 1.2 million square feet of space remaining in the downtown Development of Regional Impact area.<br /> By 2040, he said, drivers at the Palmetto Park/Fifth Avenue intersection will wait an average of 57.7 seconds. Not building a restaurant at the Wildflower site would cut the wait only one-tenth of a second, he said. <br /> By comparison, the current average wait at Palmetto Park Road and A1A is 19.4 seconds; at Palmetto Park Road and Federal Highway it’s 131.2 seconds.<br /> Residents at a hearing in November gave their highest priorities to having wider sidewalks and more, safer bicycle lanes at Palmetto Park and Fifth, examining the valet operation at the Trattoria Romano restaurant on the northwest corner, and taking some land on the northeast corner by eminent domain to make right turns from westbound Palmetto easier.<br /> Czerniejewski recommended that Boca Raton enforce the valet parking agreement it has with Trattoria Romano. He said he observed the valet parkers putting cones on the public sidewalk on the west side of Northeast Fifth and also saw “conflicts” at its southernmost driveway.<br /> Restoring the left-turn lane from eastbound Palmetto to northbound Fifth Avenue saved the most money — $3.8 million a year — as calculated by drivers’ time spent waiting, Czerniejewski said. The option would also cut the queue of vehicles at the intersection from almost 21 to nine for through traffic and 11 for those turning left.<br /> An option many neighborhood residents favored, adding a right-turn lane from southbound Fifth Avenue onto westbound Palmetto Park, would save only $89,435 in drivers’ time spent waiting, he said. <br /> Czerniejewski plans to bring a final report to the City Council sometime in May.</p></div>Delray Beach: iPic passes site review board, moves on to Planning and Zoninghttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-ipic-passes-site-review-board-moves-on-to-planning-a2016-02-04T16:25:26.000Z2016-02-04T16:25:26.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><strong>By Jane Smith</strong><br /><br /> The iPic movie theater moved closer to becoming a reality after a Delray Beach review board approved site plans in mid-January. Next stop for the mixed-use project will be the Feb. 22 meeting of the Planning & Zoning Board.<br /> In contrast with the luxury theater’s December appearance before the Site Plan Review and Appearance Board, where the project was tabled for various issues, the January meeting went smoothly. Only two residents spoke against the project’s impact on traffic in the downtown; at the December meeting eight residents pointed out traffic problems. <br /> The project sits on 1.6 acres, just south of Atlantic Avenue and between Southeast Fourth and Fifth avenues. The land is owned by the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.<br /> During that four-week break, the iPic owners turned the nearby Martini property into a loading zone for deliveries and a staging area for emergency vehicles. At the request of the city’s Fire Department, iPic will restrict parking there to emergency vehicles. Four public spaces will be eliminated.<br /> The owners also addressed objections to the limited turning room in the garage by revising the layout to show enough maneuvering room for a vehicle that is 11.3 feet long. Board member Jim Knight pointed out that a Volkswagen Beetle is 13 feet long and an SUV averages about 16 feet. Even so, he ultimately voted for the project’s site plans because two board members who are architects said the revised garage was adequate. <br /> Architect Roger Cope said, “I’m not going to pick apart their garage, I think they’ve done the best possible job.” He called the design “iconic.” <br /> Board member Andrew Youngross voted against approvals for the site plans, saying, “The size of the project just doesn’t fit here and it’s not harmonious with the neighborhood.”<br /> Jose Aguilar, the board chairman and an architect, agreed: “I personally feel it’s too large.” He voted against the site plan for iPic but for the site plan for the Martini property.<br /> Nearby resident Sandy Zeller, who is the president of the Marina Historic District Homeowners Association, said iPic’s November traffic analysis showed 15 percent of its 1,770 new trips would come from the ocean side of Delray Beach. When traffic backs up along Atlantic Avenue, he said, many would cut through the Marina District. Because it’s a historic district with few sidewalks, curbs or street lights, he wanted the developer to pay to install street lights. <br /> “We can’t control how people get to our project,” said Bonnie Miskel, an attorney for iPic.<br /> But Cope sided with Zeller and proposed a solution that would require the developer to monitor the traffic in the Marina Historic District 12 months after receiving 90 percent of its permits. <br /> But that wasn’t concrete enough for Zeller. He wanted the developer to install the lighting as soon as iPic opens, not wait until a traffic study is completed and decisions made on what traffic threshold would trigger action and who would pay for it.</p>
<p> He said he talked with Miskel after the meeting and pointed out two streets that would be the travel path to iPic. He didn’t get a firm commitment but said she promised to look into it.</p></div>Delray Beach: Site plan board rejects latest Atlantic Crossing modificationhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-site-plan-board-rejects-latest-atlantic-crossing-mod2016-02-04T16:02:34.000Z2016-02-04T16:02:34.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><strong>By Jane Smith</strong></p>
<p> The modified site plan for the Atlantic Crossing mixed-use development downtown was turned down in late January by a Delray Beach board. <br /> Senior city planner Scott Pape told the Site Plan Review and Appearance Board that his department had hired yet another traffic consultant from outside the county to review the site plan modification. The modified plan called for either a one-way road into the garage or a two-way surface road for internal traffic.<br /> “They concluded that the Jan. 21, 2014, approved plan was the optimal design,” he said. The one-way and two-way drives into the garage created too much internal conflict along NE Seventh Avenue without benefiting the traffic flow inside the project, Pape told board members. The alternate routes were designed last summer at the behest of the City Commission.<br /> The city’s planning department had recommended denial. The board went along with that recommendation by a 5-1 vote. Board member Jim Chard, who voted no, proposed a complicated motion that would have allowed the project to move forward.<br /> The development already had its site plan approved in 2014. That plan shows a two-way road into the garage. <br /> The developers’ attorney, Brian Seymour of the Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart law firm, agreed that the two-way access road proposed last summer was dangerous. “We are not going to create anything dangerous,” he told the board members.<br /> Bruce Leiner, president of the nearby Harbour House Homeowners Association, questioned whether the Atlantic Crossing developers have title to all the land they need to build their project. At issue, he said, is the ownership of two alleys. <br /> “No title certificate was filed as of today,” he said on Jan. 27.<br /> Most of the residents who spoke at the meeting were concerned about traffic. Retailer Bruce Gimmy, who owns the Trouser Shop on East Atlantic, called the area where Atlantic Crossing sits “a dead zone to the bridge.” He hoped it could move forward.<br /> Karen Granger, of the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce, said she was “looking for a way to move this project forward because of the jobs and tax dollars it would bring.”<br /> Board member Jim Knight said at the end of the meeting, “We spent all this time when the best solution was already out there.”<br /> The proposed $200 million Atlantic Crossing sits stalled on 9.2 acres at the northeast corner of Federal Highway and East Atlantic Avenue in the city’s downtown. The project, developed by a partnership between Ohio-based Edwards Companies and Ocean Ridge resident Carl DeSantis, will contain 343 luxury condos and apartments plus 39,394 square feet of restaurants, 37,642 square feet of shops and 83,462 square feet of office space.<br /> The developers sued the city in June, claiming the city has not issued a site-plan certification that was approved in November 2013 and affirmed by a previous City Commission in January 2014.<br /> In the fall, the lawsuit was moved to federal court. The developers recently filed their third amended complaint and the judge put the case on hold until March 1 to allow the project time to go through the city’s approval process.<br /> “We understand SPRAB’s action, which is consistent with the opinion of every traffic engineer who has reviewed access to and from the site, and we look forward to the City Commission review of this decision,” said Don DeVere, vice president of Edwards Companies.<br /> As to the lawsuit, he said: “We hope the City Commission will work with us to reach an amicable settlement so we can finally get underway.”</p></div>Boca Raton: Negotiations are back on for restaurant at Wildflower sitehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-negotiations-are-back-on-for-restaurant-at-wildflower-2015-12-30T17:48:58.000Z2015-12-30T17:48:58.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /> <br />Boca Raton City Council members are shrewd negotiators, it turns out.<br /> Barely a month after the Hillstone Restaurant Group withdrew its proposal to build an eatery on the city-owned Wildflower site, it’s back at the negotiating table.<br /> “Hillstone continues to believe the property is ideally suited for one of its signature restaurants,” Glenn Viers, the group’s vice president, said in a Nov. 24 email to the city. “We also feel one of our Hillstone Restaurants would be economically advantageous to the city while achieving the broadest enjoyment for the public.”<br /> Council members immediately adopted a wait-and-see attitude when Viers wrote Oct. 22 that Hillstone was no longer interested in making a deal. <br /> “I’ve been in business,” Councilman Scott Singer said at the time. “Sometimes when you get a letter saying we’re no longer negotiating, the next thing that happens is negotiations continue.”<br /> Boca Raton bought the 2.3-acre parcel on Palmetto Park Road in 2009 for $7.5 million so residents could have access to the Intracoastal waterfront. It then decided to lease the land, the former site of the Wildflower nightclub, to a restaurateur.<br /> Hillstone originally proposed paying $500,000 a year in base rent with a 5 percent increase every five years and 5 percent of any profits over $10 million going to offset property taxes. The city countered with Hillstone paying the same base rent but with a 2 percent increase every year.<br /> Hillstone then suggested it pay $600,000 in annual rent but be given a $250,000 offset for property taxes. The city proposed a face-to-face meeting, and the restaurant group announced its withdrawal.<br /> In the latest letter, Viers said Hillstone would pay at least $600,000 in base rent or 5 percent of gross profits, whichever is greater, but the city would be responsible for property taxes. The company’s plans do not include a dock, he said.<br /> “Hillstone would not, however, object if the city desired to install and maintain one … along the southern portion of the shoreline which will not affect the (diners’) views of the Intracoastal,” Viers wrote.<br /> The letter does not specify which brand of restaurant Hillstone would build. The group already operates a Houston’s Restaurant west of Interstate 95 in the city. Its other brands include the Palm Beach Grill and a Hillstone in Coral Gables.</p></div>Boca Raton: Residents want traffic fixes for East Palmetto Park intersectionhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-residents-want-traffic-fixes-for-east-palmetto-park-in2015-12-02T17:42:38.000Z2015-12-02T17:42:38.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960612882,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960612882,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="480" alt="7960612882?profile=original" /></a><em>Two Boca residents examine aerial photos of the troubled intersection of East Palmetto Park Road and Fifth Avenue.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Sallie James/The Coastal Star</strong><br /><br /></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Sallie James</strong><br /><br /> Lower the speed limit. Seize property for turning lanes through eminent domain. Eliminate U-turns. Restore bicycle lanes.<br /> Those were just a few suggestions Boca Raton residents had for traffic consultants during a standing-room-only workshop last month to discuss the congested intersection of East Palmetto Park Road and Northeast/Southeast Fifth Avenue.<br /> Nearly 100 concerned residents flocked to the community room of the downtown library to offer suggestions and meet with traffic consultants. And those in attendance had a lot to say.<br /> “The corner of Fifth Avenue and Palmetto Park Road is dangerous,” said resident Kevin Meaney. “I’ve almost been killed on my bike, on foot and in my car.”<br /> Meaney wants the turning lanes at the heavily trafficked intersection restored and Fifth Avenue widened by adding extra space on the southeast corner through eminent domain.<br /> Those in attendance divided into small groups and marked their concerns on huge aerial photos showing the intersection and nearby neighborhoods. Residents also itemized their ideas on poster-sized lists that were turned over to the traffic consultants for consideration.<br /> Both sides left the nearly three-hour-long meeting hopeful that progress had been made.<br /> “This is great input. This is what we are looking for,” said Rasem Awwad, city traffic operations engineer. “It was certainly a big turnout. There was a lot of interesting input.”<br /> The intersection is already too narrow and congested to adequately accommodate existing traffic. North/south bicycle lanes on Northeast Fifth Avenue taper into non-existence on the intersection’s north side at Palmetto Park Road, forcing cyclists into the traffic lanes because the roadway is too narrow.<br /> The Trattoria Romano restaurant on the northwest corner of the intersection also creates traffic tie-ups when valets and restaurant patrons block traffic as they attempt to turn in and pull out of the restaurant parking lot on Northeast Fifth Avenue. <br />Adding to the problem are intermittent backups created when the Palmetto bridge to the east goes up to allow the passage of boat traffic.<br /> Meaney and other residents wondered if the traffic consultants realized that a nearby Publix grocery store at Federal Highway at Northeast Fifth Avenue was currently closed for remodeling and that shoppers were going elsewhere right now.<br /> Residents from 427 homes in the Riviera Homeowners Association and thousands of others who live in beachside condos are not shopping there right now, residents said.<br /> “Their experts missed that,” said Por La Mar resident Keith Nelson. “Everyone is going to Camino and Federal to the other Publix to shop.”<br /> Resident Tony Puerta, who lives in the Golden Triangle, said the northeast corner turning radius needs to be improved to make the intersection safer.<br /> “Westbound cars on Palmetto block the road and cause traffic to back up, so if there was a right-turn lane it would ease the problem,” Puerta predicted. Like Meaney, he wants the city to acquire additional property on the southeast corner of the intersection through eminent domain.<br /> Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie, who attended the workshop, said eminent domain is one possible way to fix the intersection gridlock.<br /> “It is a potential process for adding new lanes,” Haynie conceded. That land is owned by Cal Haddad, who also owns Fifth Avenue Place on the intersection’s northwest corner.<br /> Resident Les Wilson, who lives on the western edge of downtown, expressed concern that new development might impede beach access.<br /> Wilson wants the city to eliminate the traffic light at Fifth Avenue and East Palmetto Park Road and route traffic under the bridge or up a few blocks to the west.<br /> Resident Mike DeLuca, who lives walking distance from the intersection, said the crosswalks in the area are dangerous and need to be marked better.<br /> “I want to know if there is any way to make them safer,” DeLuca said. He was pleased the city reached out to residents.<br /> “I got to communicate my concerns. We’ll see if anything happens but at least I got someone to listen,” DeLuca said.<br /> Consultant Richard Cannone of Calvin, Giordano & Associates Inc. pronounced the workshop a success.<br /> “It went extremely well. We encouraged the residents to look at the aerials and find out where they live, and talk about some of the problems they encounter and some possible solutions,” Cannone said. <br /> Eric Czerniejewski, director of traffic engineering for the same consulting firm, said the consultants will review the suggestions and concerns, analyze the data they collected and present their findings to City Council members at a future workshop.<br /> “I think we got a lot of good ideas,” Czerniejewski said.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><strong>Ideas submitted at workshop</strong></span><br /> • Consider lowering speed limit on Fifth Avenue<br /> • No four lanes on Fifth Avenue<br /> • Put medians on Fifth Avenue<br /> • No more valet parking on sidewalk at northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Palmetto Park Road<br /> • Use eminent domain for more lanes on the southwest corner<br /> • Put three lanes heading north on the south side of Palmetto Park Road<br /> • Shorten median on west side of intersection<br /> • Explore pedestrian/car conflict (left- and right-turn lanes through crosswalk)<br /> • Retake traffic counts in January<br /> • Create deterrent for cut-through traffic to US 1<br /><br /></p></div>Boca Raton: Workshop set to evaluate Palmetto Park, Northeast Fifth intersectionhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-workshop-set-to-evaluate-palmetto-park-northeast-fifth2015-11-04T18:26:30.000Z2015-11-04T18:26:30.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /> <br />Boca Raton will have a “public outreach” workshop to evaluate and analyze the intersection of Palmetto Park Road and Northeast Fifth Avenue, long a sore spot in discussions on what to do with the city-owned Wildflower site.<br /> People who attend will have the opportunity to offer input on the needs and wants of adjacent residents and property owners, city consultant Calvin, Giordano & Associates said. <br /> Although it is not a City Council meeting, the consultant anticipates several council members may be present. The meeting will be 5 to 8 p.m. Nov. 16 at the Downtown Library’s community room, at 400 NW Second Ave.<br /> “This is a good opportunity for everyone to come in, listen to the facts and weigh in on the intersection and its improvements,” Mayor Susan Haynie said.</p></div>Boca Raton: Hillstone withdraws proposal for Wildflower sitehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-hillstone-withraws-proposal-for-wildflower-site2015-10-23T17:00:00.000Z2015-10-23T17:00:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_88979" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;"><strong><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_88978" face="Calibri" color="#000000" size="3">By Steve Plunkett</font></strong></p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_88985" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;"><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_88984" face="Calibri" color="#000000" size="3">The developer of a planned restaurant at the city-owned Wildflower site on the Intracoastal has withdrawn its proposal, complaining about a demand from Boca Raton for “several millions more” in rent.</font></p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_88988" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;"><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_88987" face="Calibri" color="#000000" size="3">“The restaurant business is one of very narrow margins,” Glenn Viers, vice president of the Hillstone Restaurant Group, said in a letter to the city Oct. 22 announcing the withdrawal.</font></p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_88991" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;"><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_88990" face="Calibri" color="#000000" size="3">The higher rent, combined with escalating property taxes, “would stretch Hillstone beyond reasonably acceptable financial limits,” Viers wrote.</font></p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_88994" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;"><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_88993" face="Calibri" color="#000000" size="3">The restaurant group had proposed building a $10 million Houston’s restaurant at the northwest base of the Palmetto Park Road bridge. It already operates a Houston’s off Glades Road just west of Interstate 95.</font></p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_88997" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;"><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_88996" face="Calibri" color="#000000" size="3">Boca Raton held a workshop in October 2011 to gauge interest in developing the site, which the city bought in 2009 for $7.5 million. After an initial flurry of excitement, only the Hillstone group submitted a formal bid to lease the land.</font></p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_89001" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;"><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_89000" face="Calibri" color="#000000" size="3">The 2.3-acre now-vacant parcel once was home of the raucous Wildflower bar and restaurant. Neighbors of the site fear a restaurant there will overload Northeast Fifth Avenue with traffic and illegally parked cars.</font></p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_89007" style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;"><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1445612141857_89012" face="Calibri" color="#000000" size="3">As recently as Sept. 1, Viers showed the Boca Raton Federation of Homeowners Associations the latest renderings of the project and said he thought it would be finished in 2017.</font></p></div>Boca Raton: City seeks solutions for ‘challenging intersection’https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-city-seeks-solutions-for-challenging-intersection2014-10-01T17:22:19.000Z2014-10-01T17:22:19.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960531289,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960531289,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="480" alt="7960531289?profile=original" /></a></strong><em>Steve Alley stands on the northeast corner of Palmetto Park Road and Northeast Fifth Avenue across from the busy Trattoria Romana restaurant pointing out traffic issues.</em> <br /><strong><em>Sallie James/The Coastal Star</em></strong></p>
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<p><strong>By Sallie James</strong><br /><br /> Boca Raton will spend $50,000 on a traffic study to determine how an already congested downtown intersection could be modified to accommodate the crush of traffic from a proposed waterfront restaurant.<br /> The Hillstone Restaurant Group Inc. wants to build a Houston’s Restaurant on the Wildflower property at the northeast corner of the intersection of Palmetto Park Road and Northeast Fifth Avenue. It would lease the land from the city. <br /> Officials questioned how the intersection could handle hundreds of additional daily car trips if the restaurant is built.<br /> “It’s a challenging intersection,” conceded Deputy Mayor Constance Scott. “But there are solutions.” <br /> At a Sept. 9. meeting, City Council members voted to proceed with lease negotiations and a development proposal for a site plan.<br /> Now city officials are trying to determine what “solutions” could mitigate additional traffic on Northeast Fifth Avenue. Among the options are the acquisition of extra land through eminent domain so more turning lanes could be added on Northeast Fifth Avenue to relieve gridlock, Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie said.<br /> Vacant property on the northeast corner of the intersection might offer the relief that is needed, she said. That land is owned by Cal Haddad, who also owns Fifth Avenue Place on the intersection’s northwest corner. Haddad could not be reached for comment.<br /> During the meeting, some residents decried the restaurant plan, saying the intersection is already too narrow and congested to adequately accommodate existing traffic. <br /> North/south bicycle lanes on Northeast Fifth Avenue taper into nonexistence on the intersection’s north side at Palmetto Park Road, forcing cyclists into the traffic lanes because the roadway is too narrow.<br /> The Trattoria Romana restaurant on northwest corner of the intersection already creates traffic tie-ups when valets and restaurant patrons block traffic as they attempt to turn into and pull out of the restaurant parking lot on Northeast Fifth Avenue. Adding to the problem are intermittent backups created when the Palmetto bridge to the east goes up to allow the passage of boat traffic on the Intracoastal Waterway.<br /> Longtime resident Steve Alley, whose sister was struck by a car there years ago as she bicycled, proposed building a roadway under the bridge that would link the Wildflower property on the north to Silver Palm Park on the south. Restaurant patrons could then be funneled under the bridge, through Silver Palm Park and onto Northeast Fifth Avenue on the intersection’s south side, Alley said.<br /> With hundreds of apartments proposed but not yet built for an area just west of the intersection, the area will be horrendous to navigate if changes aren’t made, he said.<br /> “There’s another piece of property there waiting to get developed. There are six random points of egress on a busy road that is already too narrow,” Alley said. <br /> Alley and other residents worry that overflow restaurant patrons may park at Silver Palm Park, taking up parking spaces allocated for boaters and park goers. The passive park is equipped with a boat ramp and caters largely to boaters, anglers and pedestrians.<br /> “All of a sudden, the people who want to use the park can’t use the park,” Alley said. <br /> Several residents also voiced concern that the restaurant proposal did not include plans for dockage, fueling fears that restaurant patrons would take up dockage at Silver Palm Park.<br /> Resident Yvonne Boice said the overall proposal is ridiculous because the intersection is already plagued by severe traffic problems.<br /> “It’s like putting the cart before the horse,” she said. “How many hundreds of cars are going to go there and how are they going to get there when the bridge goes up? It’s certainly not advantageous to the residents and the community that lives here.”<br /> Hillstone wants to build a $5 million, 7,000-square-foot restaurant on the Wildflower property, with 3,500 square feet earmarked for indoor customer service and 800 square feet of outdoor seating. The eatery would have 128 parking spaces.<br /> Under the proposal, Hillstone would lease the property from the city for approximately $500,000 a year for 20 years with five, five-year optional extensions. The restaurant would be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. <br /><br /></p></div>Delray Beach: East Atlantic traffic hazard cited as stoplights temporarily removedhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-east-atlantic-traffic-hazard-cited-as-stoplights-tem2014-05-29T19:14:47.000Z2014-05-29T19:14:47.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960507657,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960507657,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960507657?profile=original" /></a><em>Motorists maneuver through a new four-way stop at Gleason Street on East Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. The overhead traffic lights have been covered in preparation for temporary removal due to structural concerns. <strong>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>By Tim Pallesen</strong></p>
<p> Motorists are urged to use caution after stoplights on East Atlantic Avenue near the ocean were turned off on May 29.</p>
<p> Only stop signs will guide traffic at the Gleason Street and Venetian Drive intersections for three months after it was discovered that the support arms for the stoplights were about to collapse.</p>
<p> Residents and business owners objected to the traffic danger for motorists and pedestrians during a May 6 City Commission meeting.</p>
<p> “Safety is obviously the big issue here. This could be catastrophic,” Beach Property Owners vice president Andy Katz told commissioners after state officials originally said the intersections would be without stoplights until late 2015.</p>
<p> “This will be a major traffic and safety nightmare,” Delray Beach Marriott general manager Rick Konsavage agreed at the meeting attended by other oceanfront business owners.</p>
<p> “Our business relies on guests walking and driving the avenue,” Konsavage said. “Removing the stoplights would be unsafe and an unfair burden on residents and tourists.”</p>
<p> The Florida Department of Transportation responded the next morning by saying temporary stoplights on wires will go up in mid-August. FDOT now predicts that replacement support arms will be installed by June 2015.</p>
<p> State inspectors first discovered that the old support arms were rusting from the inside out in May 2013, but didn’t sound an alarm until more inspections this year.</p>
<p> “The state is trying to get them down as soon as possible because they fear they will fall down,” city environmental services director Randal Krejcarek told commissioners.</p>
<p> Mayor Cary Glickstein criticized FDOT for not seeking money for the replacement arms in this year’s operating budget, which begins in July.</p>
<p> “Why didn’t we know about this until the last minute?” Commissioner Shelly Petrolia asked.</p>
<p> With only stop signs for the next three months, Katz said, left turns from Gleason and Venetian onto westbound Atlantic will be the most dangerous for coastal residents. He urged flashing lights and an electronic billboard to alert motorists to the hazardous intersections.</p>
<p> FDOT district traffic operations engineer Mark Plass promised to work with city officials this week to improve the safety at the two intersections.</p></div>Delray Beach: Accidents, traffic already concern neighbors of East Atlantic projecthttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-accidents-traffic-already-concern-neighbors-of-east-2014-05-01T14:34:57.000Z2014-05-01T14:34:57.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><span><b><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960512459,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960512459,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960512459?profile=original" /></a></b></span></p>
<p><span><b>SOURCE:</b> <em>Delray Beach Police</em><b><em>.</em></b></span></p>
<p><span><b>Map by Bonnie Lallky-Seibert/The Coastal Star</b></span></p>
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<p><span><b>By Jane Smith</b></span></p>
<p> During the past three years, traffic accidents along a stretch of East Atlantic Avenue have increased, according to a <i>Coastal Star</i> analysis of city and county traffic records. </p>
<p> Along the road between Federal Highway and A1A, accidents bottomed out at 29 in 2011, during the economic downturn, and rose to 49 in 2013, when tourism rebounded. </p>
<p> Most of the wrecks were rear-end collisions resulting in minor damage, but a few of the 2013 East Atlantic Avenue accidents resulted in injuries. </p>
<p> One hit-run crash in early October at Gleason Street sent two tourists who were crossing the avenue with their children in a stroller to the hospital. The husband’s leg was broken, the wife received cuts and bruises, but the toddlers escaped injury. </p>
<p> The 24-year-old driver was traveling 50 mph in a 35 mph zone, and allegedly ran a red light, hitting the tourists, according to the crash report. </p>
<p> The driver was found about a mile from the scene, where she blew .263 percent and .265 percent on breath tests, more than three times the limit at which a Florida driver is considered too impaired to drive. </p>
<p> At press time, no trial date was set for her felony DUI case, according to the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office.</p>
<p> In another wreck last September, a speeding Toyota Tacoma pickup spun out after leaving the wet drawbridge.</p>
<p> The pickup jumped the curb and struck a 37-year-old male, who was taken to the hospital with injuries. The pedestrian survived, and the 26-year-old driver was cited for careless driving. </p>
<p> Another October wreck was caused by an 88-year-old woman who was cited for careless driving after a four-car pileup waiting for the drawbridge over the Intracoastal Waterway to lower. She was stopped behind three cars in her new Mercedes SL550 when she mistakenly put her foot on the gas instead of the brake, causing the chain reaction. </p>
<p> That wreck occurred near the site of the recently approved $200 million Atlantic Crossing complex, a mixed-use development of 82 luxury condos and 262 apartments, 83,000-square-feet of Class A office space and 76,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.</p>
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<p><span><b>Study anticipates increased traffic</b></span></p>
<p> While the intersection of West Atlantic Avenue and Military Trail and West Atlantic and Congress avenues record the city’s top accident numbers, East Atlantic Avenue will see considerably more traffic when Atlantic Crossing comes on line, a study shows. </p>
<p> By 2017, when the nine-acre, mixed-use project opens at Federal Highway and East Atlantic Avenue, rush hour traffic will slow to a crawl, according to a study commissioned by the Florida Coalition for Preservation. </p>
<p> The coalition sought the study because Atlantic Crossing’s developer was required only to study traffic patterns within the project, not surrounding neighborhoods. That was because the city had designated the project site exempt from surrounding traffic studies many years ago in an effort to encourage redevelopment in rundown parts of the downtown. </p>
<p> “That project sits at Main and Main in Delray Beach,” said Robert Ganger, president of the coalition. And if the traffic congestion becomes too severe, he said, it could make Atlantic Crossing an undesirable destination, “which would hurt Delray Beach’s image.”</p>
<p> Andrew Katz, vice president of the Beach Property Owners’ Association and who lives on South Ocean Boulevard, was more measured in his response. </p>
<p> But during the season, he avoids East Atlantic Avenue by driving south to Linton Boulevard to reach other parts of the city. </p>
<p> “It already has significant issues in the season, with the bridge openings twice an hour for seven, eight minutes each time. That means there are significant parts of each hour that traffic is not moving on Atlantic Avenue,” said Katz. </p>
<p> The BPOA helped pay for the traffic study along with private donations and money from a local garden club. </p>
<p> Delray Beach is in the process of hiring a traffic engineering consultant to study traffic on East Atlantic Avenue, said Randal Krejcarek, city environmental services director. The last study was done in 2009, he said. </p>
<p> When the project received approval in January, it did not include two access roads promised in exchange for the city abandoning a section of Northeast Seventh Avenue, charges a lawsuit filed in late February by the neighboring Harbour House homeowners association. It wants the court to force the city to require the developer to build the access roads to handle the 11,000 cars expected daily and not let the project’s traffic clog neighborhood streets. At press time, a hearing date was not set.</p>
<p> Atlantic Crossing’s development team sees the issue differently. </p>
<p> “As far as the claim that we have reneged on an agreement to provide an internal east-west street, this is patently false,” said Don DeVere, vice president of the Edwards Companies, a partner in the project. </p>
<p> “This street was part of a prior plan approved by the city in 2009. In 2011, we put forward a new plan with many improvements, which never included this street. This new plan has gone through all appropriate review and approval processes, and has been approved by the city as the new site plan for Atlantic Crossing. We feel fully confident that the city will prevail on the merits of this case.”</p>
<p> Ganger said the Coalition will continue to monitor the situation. </p>
<p> “As a barrier island public service entity, we are still involved because it is a quality of life issue,” Ganger said.</p>
<p><span><b> </b></span></p></div>Delray Beach: Townhouse residents sue to stop Atlantic Crossinghttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-townhouse-residents-sue-to-stop-atlantic-crossing2014-02-26T19:30:55.000Z2014-02-26T19:30:55.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p> Residents who live in waterfront townhomes are asking a Circuit Court judge to block the city approval of Atlantic Crossing. </p>
<p> The homeowners association for Harbour House, where townhomes sell for $2.85 million, say they will be trapped by Atlantic Crossing’s traffic pattern approved by city commissioners in a 3-2 vote on Jan. 21.</p>
<p> Several neighbors want an access road off Federal Highway into the mixed-use project to relieve traffic into residential neighborhoods. Commissioners didn’t require the road.</p>
<p> Harbour House residents, who overlook the Intracoastal Waterway at the eastern end of Northeast First Street, also object to the commission’s decision to temporarily close Northeast Seventh Avenue north of First Street.</p>
<p> “If an accident occurs at that corner, we can’t get out,” Harbour House homeowners president Bruce Leiner said. </p>
<p> A hearing date has not been set.</p>
<p><i>— Tim Pallesen</i></p></div>Delray Beach: Atlantic Crossing approved; traffic potential remains an issuehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-atlantic-crossing-approved-traffic-potential-remains2014-01-29T20:43:06.000Z2014-01-29T20:43:06.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960491461,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960491461,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960491461?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Residents watch testimony presented by project appellants at the Jan. 21 Delray Beach City Commission meeting. </em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span><b>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</b></span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960491264,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960491264,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960491264?profile=original" /></a><b>SOURCE: </b> <em>The developer and DOT</em></p>
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<p><span><b>By Tim Pallesen</b></span></p>
<p> Atlantic Crossing has its final city approval — but with a warning by the mayor that its traffic might degrade the surrounding residential neighborhoods.</p>
<p> City commissioners gave final approval for the project’s site plan by a 3-2 vote on Jan. 21 in packed chambers. Construction may be underway this summer.</p>
<p> Coastal residents who joined in opposition with residents living north and south of the Atlantic Crossing site failed to get a street entrance off Federal Highway to relieve traffic on East Atlantic Avenue and into their neighborhoods.</p>
<p> Mayor Cary Glickstein cautioned commissioners that affected neighborhoods represent 30 percent of city taxable property values.</p>
<p> “I see the site plan as deeply flawed,” Glickstein said. “It’s almost inconceivable to me how the traffic flow could ever work.”</p>
<p> Commissioners Al Jacquet, Angeleta Gray and Adam Frankel voted to approve the final site plan stressing the economic stimulus the project will bring to the city. Glickstein and Commissioner Shelly Petrolia opposed.</p>
<p> “This is an opportunity to bring something that we’re proud of onto that site,” Jacquet said. “It needs to go forward.”</p>
<p> The site plan shows two entrances to Atlantic Crossing on north-south Northeast Seventh Avenue: at Atlantic Avenue and Northeast First Street. </p>
<p> The developer also agreed to build a ramp from Federal Highway into an underground garage. But opponents want an actual east-west street at ground level for traffic from Federal Highway to reach Northeast Seventh Avenue, the project’s only internal road.</p>
<p> “We don’t want people driving through neighborhoods to get to Northeast Seventh Avenue,” said Susan O’Rourke, a traffic expert hired by the opponents.</p>
<p> Coastal residents also fear that the $200 million mix of restaurants, shops, apartments and offices will cause a traffic backup on Atlantic Avenue.</p>
<p> “This is a massive project so close to the Atlantic Avenue drawbridge that it will cause gridlock,” resident Jack Barrette said.</p>
<p> “This is the city’s biggest project. Don’t let your citizens down,” Barrette pleaded to commissioners. “To approve it without a traffic solution would be the city’s biggest mistake.”</p>
<p> The city’s land development regulations require city commissioners to consider traffic volumes and circulation patterns to protect neighborhoods near new developments from being degraded. </p>
<p> “This is an actual law that three commissioners voted not to enforce,” Carolyn Patton, a property owner in the Marina Historic District, said after the 3-2 vote.</p>
<p> Neighbors who failed to get the east-west street say they will continue to address Atlantic Crossing traffic.</p>
<p> “I believe residents will be working with the city and developer to try to get the traffic situation as good as it can get,” said Florida Coalition for Preservation President Robert Ganger, who acted as a facilitator for the neighbors.</p>
<p> Glickstein predicted nearby neighborhoods also will be burdened by overflow parking when the Atlantic Crossing underground parking garage floods. </p>
<p> “We have 1,000 parking spaces essentially being built in a bathtub,” the mayor said. “What happens if that parking lot is shut down?”</p>
<p><i>Editor’s note: Carolyn Patton is a founding partner of</i> The Coastal Star<i>.</i></p></div>Boca Raton: Traffic dominates discussion of project-approval extensionhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-traffic-dominates-discussion-of-project-approval-exten2014-01-02T17:54:28.000Z2014-01-02T17:54:28.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><span><b>By Steve Plunkett</b></span></p>
<p> A routine extension of the controversial Archstone project’s development approval gave the Boca Raton City Council an opportunity to vent about traffic tie-ups on East Palmetto Park Road. Council member Anthony Majhess, sitting as vice chairman of the Community Redevelopment Agency, asked whether his colleagues could add a demand to include a left-turn lane into the planned nine-story structure.</p>
<p> “It’s obvious that with 378 new apartments, people traveling down Palmetto that want to turn into the building are going to completely congest that left lane and basically turn that eastbound into a one-lane road when people are coming home,” Majhess said.</p>
<p> But Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie said left-turn lanes are needed more at Fifth Avenue and at Mizner Boulevard. </p>
<p> “That’s where all the congestion is,” Haynie said, noting she has spoken with residents of the barrier island who drive through there all the time. “We as a council beautified the roadway, took those turn lanes out and put those signals on split phasing, and that’s what causing the backup.”</p>
<p> Haynie said she would support a traffic study of the roadway, but would not vote to link it to the Archstone extension.</p>
<p> Council member Constance Scott, who chairs the CRA, said she walks along the thoroughfare several times a day with a stroller for her dog.</p>
<p> “If we end up putting back the turn lanes I think we’re going to have problems with what we were trying to achieve, which is a pedestrian-friendly Palmetto Park Road and people being able to cross the street within the indicated time of the light change,” Scott said.</p>
<p> City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser said the agency could not add a new condition to the Archstone approval without new evidence, but could ask for a separate traffic study. Majhess withdrew his motion to link the two issues Dec. 9 after no one indicated support. </p>
<p> “I’m not going to deny an extension,” Mayor Susan Whelchel said. “We’ve never denied an extension to anyone who wanted an extension.”</p>
<p> Charles Siemon, a lawyer for developer Archstone Palmetto Park LLC, said the turn-lane issue was discussed during the approval process as well as when the beautification of the road was approved. </p>
<p> “I happened to not support the four-laning and that would have left plenty of room, but with the four lanes there is no space,” Siemon said.</p>
<p> The extended approval will expire Feb. 27, 2015. The CRA did not vote on whether to conduct a traffic study.</p>
<p> Archstone has not started construction or even completed its construction drawings because of the uncertainty of pending lawsuits over the project, which lies east of Northeast Third Avenue between Palmetto Park and Boca Raton roads.</p>
<p> The project has been tied up in court for most of the past year. A circuit judge ruled that citizens could have a referendum on the Archstone approval. The city appealed his decision and is waiting for the 4th District Court of Appeal to issue its opinion.</p>
<p> A second lawsuit by three residents was withdrawn after the city pointed out they would be liable for Boca Raton’s attorney fees if they lost the case.</p>
<p> As planned, Archstone will be one building that appears to be three towers, with 13,448 square feet of retail on the ground floor, mostly for restaurants. Amenities would include a pool, clubroom, fitness room and landscaped courtyard.</p></div>Delray Beach: Revised plan for Atlantic Crossing still raises concerns over traffic flowhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-revised-plan-for-atlantic-crossing-still-raises-conc2013-09-04T17:58:20.000Z2013-09-04T17:58:20.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960456482,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960456482,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960456482?profile=original" /></a></strong><strong>By Tim Pallesen</strong><br /><br /> East Atlantic Avenue traffic congestion remains a concern as the proposed Atlantic Crossing development goes before Delray Beach officials for site plan and design approval. <br />In response to residents’ concerns, the developer drew a site plan that shows delivery trucks unloading at the center of the mixed-use project.<br />“We moved all the loading internally into the site,” project manager Don DeVere said in announcing his revised 9-acre site plan to neighboring residents last month.<br />The project is under development by the Edwards Co. in a joint venture with Carl DeSantis.<br />But now city planners will oppose the central loading location, saying delivery truck drivers might reject it because it is too far from the project’s Atlantic Avenue shops and restaurants.<br />“My fear is that delivery trucks such as UPS are going to park in the traffic lanes of Atlantic Avenue, which would result in an unsafe situation at the foot of the Atlantic Avenue Bridge,” said senior city planner Scott Pape.<br />Coastal residents are still asking for an entrance from Federal Highway into the project as an alternative to entering from Atlantic Avenue.<br />“We feel an entrance from Federal Highway makes a lot of sense because it is a commercial road,” said Beach Property Owners Association President Andy Katz.<br />DeVere said the Florida Department of Transportation has approved an exit onto Federal Highway from the project’s 440-car underground parking garage.<br />But FDOT has refused to allow an entrance into Atlantic Crossing from northbound Federal Highway because of insufficient space for a right-turn lane, Pape said.<br />City planners also question street closings north and south of the project that residents are seeking to prevent traffic and parking problems in their neighborhoods.<br />Pape said the proposed closing of Northeast Seventh Avenue north of Northeast First Street would block access for city fire-rescue vehicles. “We have great concern,” he said.<br />The developer also promises to pay for the closing of Palm Square south of Atlantic Avenue, but that issue is unresolved with city officials.<br />Discussions between the developer and city planners continue this month before the proposal goes before the city’s Site Plan and Appearance Board for a recommendation to the City Commission.<br />The site plan shows Northeast Seventh Avenue as the main promenade for the mix of 264 apartments and 82 condos with 76,000 square feet of retail and 83,000 square feet of offices. The mix is similar to CityPlace in West Palm Beach and Mizner Park in Boca Raton.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960457070,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960457070,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960457070?profile=original" /></a><em>This view, heading west on Atlantic Avenue from the Intracoastal bridge, shows the varied design of buildings within the complex. <strong>Base map and rendering provided by Edwards Companies</strong></em></p>
<p><br />But unlike those two developments, the six buildings at Atlantic Crossing have been designed by different architects to appear as though they were built at different times.<br />“We rejected the monolithic look,” DeVere said of the eclectic design that has won support among some residents who took issue with the density of 40 units per acre that city commissioners approved for Atlantic Crossing last year.<br />“The developer has made an effort to listen to what the community would like to see,” Katz said. “Making the project look as though it was built over time by different people makes it look much more Delray-like.”<br />The proposed site plan shows four restaurants, retail shops and offices in two three-story buildings that front on Atlantic Avenue. More restaurants and shops are shown on the ground floors of a second set of taller buildings with residential units on the upper floors.<br />Cars carrying restaurant, retail and office patrons will be directed to valet parking, under a rooftop swimming pool for residents. Motorists will be alerted by electronic signs to avoid Atlantic Avenue if the bridge is up when they exit the project. <br /><br /></p></div>Gulf Stream: Stop signs and new school zone will slow motor traffichttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/gulf-stream-stop-signs-and-new-school-zone-will-slow-motor-traffi2012-07-04T19:14:26.000Z2012-07-04T19:14:26.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /><br />Town police, who monitor a 20 mph speed limit throughout Gulf Stream, will install six stop signs and establish a school zone on Gulfstream Road to slow motorists even more.<br />Delivery trucks and construction vehicles combine with the town’s lack of sidewalks to create a dangerous situation for pedestrians, Police Chief Garrett Ward said.<br />The stop signs, both northbound and southbound, will go up on Gulfstream Road and Polo Drive at Middle Road and also on Polo at Lakeview Drive.<br />“That will clearly slow traffic and it will also address some of the blank corners,” Ward said.<br />The speed limit would drop to 15 mph in the new school zone on Gulfstream Road between County Road and Lakeview. Non-flashing signs would warn drivers to go slower for three hour-long periods starting at 7:30 a.m. and 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.<br />“I think when people see a school zone sign they’re going to slow down immediately regardless of the time frame,” Ward said. “We have no sidewalks, so children walking to school are constantly in the street.”<br />Parents of students at the Gulf Stream School had sought the zone. Parent Scott Fogarty said 45 children from town now walk to school.<br />“It’s tripled in the last three years.” <br />“I think we can expect that demographic to continue to grow,” Ward said. </p></div>Boca Raton: Palmetto Park goes pedestrian Work is welcome, but some question timinghttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-palmetto-park-goes2010-11-03T21:00:00.000Z2010-11-03T21:00:00.000ZScott Simmonshttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ScottSimmons<div><p style="text-align:center;"><img style="width:452px;height:307px;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960308455,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" /></p>
<br /><br />By Angie Francalancia<br /><br />Barricades block off the two outside lanes of Palmetto Park Road. Confused drivers struggle to navigate through to parking lots. Merchants fear they’ll keep on driving.<br />It’s the price for progress, said Giuliano Lorenzani, owner of Boca Raton Travel & Cruises. But at what cost?<br />Construction on the three phases of Boca Raton’s Pedestrian Promenade began in September after years of planning and months of meetings to design it. <br />There will be wider sidewalks with pavers, improved lighting and landscaping and raised intersections. The project is the link, city officials say, between Mizner Park and Royal Palm Plaza and the path to making downtown more pedestrian friendly.<br />But why begin it just as merchants gear up for season, when many expect as much as a 40 percent increase in business, they ask.<br />“It’s going to look nice, but I think the timing is terrible,” said Del Valeriay, owner of Meating Place of Boca Raton. “This is very confusing the way you’re having to cross through the barriers.” <br />Valeriay has been serving clients for 40 years from his Palmetto Park Road location, and the gourmet meat market is a destination for people. <br />He said he’ll never benefit from making Palmetto Park Road browser-friendly — people typically dash into his shop to buy gourmet meats, then rush home to get them in the fridge. <br />But he might lose a few customers who don’t want to struggle with the barricades and backups that are happening on the street, he said.<br />“It wasn’t that we planned to do it right in October and November,” said Assistant City Manager Michael Woika. The construction came after about nine months of community discussions over the design, he said.<br />“We recognized that merchants were going to be affected,” he said, but added that many in the community would have been upset had the project been delayed. “We tried to address it as much as we can. I think the council heard people say, ‘We’ve been discussing this for two years now. When are you going to help us out?’ ”<br />The long-term goal is to make Palmetto Park Road just as pedestrian friendly as Mizner Park, with the hope of enticing restaurants, boutiques and other shops that invite browsing to open in Palmetto Park Road’s empty spaces, Woika said.<br />Burkhardt Construction Inc. won the bid for the $6.8 million job, and has been holding weekly meetings to help solve any problems resulting from the construction. <br />Although merchants hate the timing, they give the contractor high marks for the attentiveness. <br />Other parts of the project include renovating Southeast First Street to convert it to a “pedestrian spine” linking Mizner Park and Royal Palm Plaza, and improvements to Boca Raton Boulevard.<br />“I’d love to see more people on the street, and that might change if they put more restaurants in,” said Frank Cardinale, a partner-owner of Eye Catcher Optique. “This all should’ve been done 25 years ago, but what are you going to do?”<br />Lynn Chandler Novick, a member of the City Council’s Downtown Advisory Committee, might agree with Cardinale. The committee has been meeting twice a month on Wednesdays for the past three years to change the face of Boca Raton’s downtown.<br />“Mayor Steve Abrams and then (Susan) Whelchel realized that we finally needed to do something because West Palm Beach and Delray were ahead of us as far as making it a pedestrian friendly downtown,” Novick said. <br />“The sidewalks are going to be pavered, the medians are going to be full of beautiful trees. It’s for beautification and also to slow the traffic down. People are going to have a chance to drive slowly down Palmetto Park road and see the merchants,” Novick said. “It’s not going to be quite the crawl as on Atlantic in Delray, but I think in the end it will bring in those kinds of merchants — and developers, too, perhaps to build condos. There are all kinds of possibilities.”<br />The project is expected to continue through May 2011, but Palmetto Park Road is expected to be substantially complete by the end of the year, Woika said. Ú</div>Boca Raton: Red-light cameras coming to 5 intersectionshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-redlight-cameras2010-11-03T20:55:56.000Z2010-11-03T20:55:56.000ZScott Simmonshttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ScottSimmons<div>By Margie Plunkett<br /><br />Smile for the cameras when you drive through five busy intersections in Boca Raton that are targeted for installation of red light cameras. You might not be happy later: Get caught running a red light and you can count on getting a $158 ticket in the mail.<br />The cameras take multiple photos of vehicles going through the detection zone: as a vehicle approaches the red light, in the intersection and then of the license plate.<br />“There’s no confusion about who is running a red light,” said Assistant Chief of Police Edgar Morley.<br />The pictures of the violations are sent to the Police Department, where they’re reviewed and if confirmed, the vendor sends off a notice of violation.<br />The cumulative tickets could raise up to $800,000 in net revenue for the city, which won’t have any outlay for the equipment, Morley told commissioners at their Oct. 12 workshop. <br />The camera vendor does receive a fee for each “approach” where the cameras are mounted. There are typically four approaches at each intersection.<br />While the council members voted to install a system, a vendor must still be chosen. The system could go in as soon as 60 to 90 days after a vendor is selected. After the system is in place, drivers will have a 30-day warning period before the city starts issuing violations, Morley said.<br />The red light system is allowed by the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act, enacted last July 1.<br />You might want to get your excuses in order. There are a few ways to get off the hook after being caught on camera. One is to show the traffic ticket you were already issued at the time of the violation by the officer waiting on the other side of the intersection. Others include if you were in a funeral procession or if you were waved through the light by a traffic officer. <br /><br />Chosen Intersections<br />Boca Raton is proposing red light cameras at five notoriously busy intersections:<br />Eastbound/Westbound Glades Road and NW 15 Avenue<br />Northbound St. Andrews and Yamato Road<br />Southbound St. Andrews and Glades Road<br />Eastbound Clint Moore Road and Military Trail<br />Eastbound/Westbound Glades Road and St. Andrews Boulevard<br /><br />Who Shares the Fine?<br />How a $158 fine is distributed<br />Amount/Recipient<br />$70 Fla./General Fund<br />$10 Fla./Dept. of Health Administrative Trust Fund<br />$3 Fla./Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund<br />$75 Municipality <br />SOURCE: City of Boca Raton<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>