News

By Tim O’Meilia

    While the Ocean Avenue Bridge is rebuilt beginning in mid-March, Lantana’s Hypoluxo Island residents may see the strobing blue lights of a Manalapan or South Palm Beach police cruiser first when they call for law enforcement help.
Officials in the three waterfront towns that use the bridge most often are crafting a formal agreement to ensure that Lantana’s island residents get a quick police response even if the closest Lantana patrol car is on the west side of the bridge.
    “If for any reason we’re not present to get there immediately, (South Palm Beach and Manalapan) have agreed to be first on the scene and secure the site,” said Lantana Town Manager Michael Bornstein.
    The “memorandum of understanding” will refer to alarms and other serious calls rather than routine requests for assistance, said South Palm Beach Police Chief Roger Crane.
    Manalapan would answer calls south of Ocean Avenue, since it would have to travel through that section to reach Point Manalapan. South Palm Beach would handle calls north of Ocean.
    The agreement will have to be ratified by the councils of all three towns. The coastal towns and other police agencies are already parties to mutual aid pacts that ensure backup from nearby agencies.
    Although there had been discussion among Manalapan commissioners of Lantana paying for the first response, officials have decided the agreement is virtually a tradeoff.
    Manalapan police officers often make use of Lantana’s marine patrol boat. Lantana also dispatches police calls for South Palm Beach.
    “We’ve always worked well together,” Bornstein said of the three municipalities. “Our residents share many of the same businesses, services and roads. It behooves us to work together.”
    Bornstein said the town doesn’t have the financial ability to station a car on the east side of the bridge permanently. The Hypoluxo Island neighborhood will remain part of the Police Department’s routine patrol.
    The closing of the bridge may even be good for crime stats on the island, since it will be more isolated. “We don’t anticipate it to be a problem. We anticipate that crime will be even less,” Bornstein said.
    Crane said island residents should see no disruption in fire-rescue service either. Whenever the Palm Beach County Fire Rescue vehicle at Station 38 at the Manalapan Town Hall is called out, another will be dispatched immediately to fill in from Station 91 at the Lantana Town Hall or Station 35 on Lake Worth Road.
    Currently, the backup vehicle is not sent to fill in until 20 minutes after the first call, Crane said. The closed bridge makes the more immediate dispatch necessary because the trucks must use the Lake Worth Bridge or the Ocean Avenue bridge in Boynton Beach.

Town aims to mitigate effects
    The $33.2 million project officially began Dec. 20. The Miami-based contractor, GLF, has placed a pair of trailers in Sportsman’s Park and fenced off sections of that park and Bicentennial Park that will be used to store equipment and material for the work. The boat ramp will remain open, but some parking will be lost.
    “The contractor is allowed to move equipment in so long as the bridge stays open,” said Luis Costa, engineer for EC Driver, the consulting firm overseeing the construction. “You might see more activity in the coming weeks.”
    When the bridge reopens in October 2013 — barring storms, delays and other problems — it will be 11 feet higher in the center, have both shoulders and pedestrian lanes on both sides and a fishing pier beneath the west end.
    The 1950 bridge was a dozen years past its design life and more and more expensive to repair. Demolition is scheduled to begin March 19, the day after Lantana holds an “End of the Bridge” party.
    Planned by the town and the Chamber of Commerce, the party will feature a “parade of sorts,” Bornstein said, featuring “the last … [something] to cross the bridge. Maybe the last guy pushing someone in a wheelbarrow. We’re asking people to come up with ideas,” he said.
    “We want people to know the downtown will still be open even after the bridge is closed,” he said.
    Although Palm Beach County will erect signs directing traffic north to the Lake Worth bridge, Bornstein also has asked for signs saying that individual businesses on East Ocean Avenue remain open. “We’re still exploring our options,” he said.