Scott Simmons's Blog (79)

By Mary Thurwachter



    Lantana officials revealed a conceptual plan to turn a one-acre site on the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway into a passive waterfront park with 31 parking spaces.

    The site, at 106-120 N. Lake Drive, just north of Ocean Avenue, was purchased early…

The new pavilion will replace the existing pavilion at Atlantic Avenue and A1A.

Rendering courtesy Bob Currie

By Tim Pallesen

    

    A new…

By Cheryl Blackerby



    Delray Beach and Boca Raton are likely to receive long-awaited money for damage to beaches by Hurricane Sandy, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The two cities’ beach projects were among 16 projects around the state that the Corps considered for emergency assistance in response to Hurricane Sandy and Tropical Storm Debby.

    After the Corps’ damage reports were completed, 12 projects were approved to receive the emergency…

Above: Photo of the Delray Ledge taken before the renourishment project.

Below: Photo taken after the project shows the water at the Delray Ledges obscured by silt.…

    The Briny Breezes Town Council will seek bids this month to provide police protection for the 488-mobile home town for the next three years or beyond.

    For the past three years, the town has paid neighboring Ocean Ridge $185,000 annually for police service, including nightly patrols and prompt response to calls.

    The town will send specifications to Ocean Ridge, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Gulf Stream and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, but any agency may submit…

By Betty Wells



    State auditors were scheduled to arrive in the offices of the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency on April 30 to begin an audit for the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee.

    The audit was requested by State Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, in late March. Joint Legislative Auditing Committee Chairman Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington, then ordered the review into how the CRA is spending its funds — specifically, whether it’s legal for…

By Tim O’Meilia

    

    Manalapan town commissioners voted, by a 4-2 count, to apologize to Town Manager Linda Stumpf for one commissioner’s allegations of misuse of her car allowance.

    An examination of town payroll records by the town’s outside auditors cleared Stumpf…

The ‘Commissioner Thug’ artwork was replaced in late April with a painting of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (below) at Martin O’Boyle’s home in Gulf Stream’s Hidden Harbour neighborhood.…

By Mary Thurwachter



    Property owners turned out en masse at the April 8 Town Council meeting to oppose a proposed sober house at 118 N. Oak Ave., around the corner from the Ocean Avenue shopping district.

    Phyllis Small, who owns property on the avenue, brought a petition with 300 names on it. They objected to using the multi-residence gated building for a sober house for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.

    Permitting a sober house so close to…

Abandoned triplex offered to the Lantana Historical Society.

Mary Thurwachter/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter

    

    A town-owned…

By Tim O’Meilia

    

    The fate of Ocean Ridge’s five-store business district is back in the hands of town commissioners with the town’s planning and zoning board’s advice to hire a firm to recommend a plan for the next few decades.

    The board urged that the planning firm interview residents and hold workshops to determine the feelings of townspeople and the business community, including real estate professionals.

    The tiny blip of a commercial…

By Tim O’Meilia

    

    Check your calendar, Gulf Stream residents, and move the start of that long-promised utilities project  back another three or four months.

    How about Labor Day?

    The town will begin seeking bids on the $5.4 million project until mid-May and contracts will not be awarded until two months later, pushing the start of construction to August or September, said the town’s engineering consultant, Danny Brannon.

    The town has…

By Tim O’Meilia

    

    Crosswalks planned for State Road A1A and Woolbright Road in Ocean Ridge are being challenged by nearby residents.

    The town commission scheduled a special meeting May 2 to discuss the complaints so the state Department of Transportation could be notified immediately of the commission’s wishes, Town Manager Ken Schenck said.

    The town had asked for the crosswalk installation at the request of Ocean Walk residents north of the…

By Ron Hayes



    MANALAPAN — To the fellow Hoosiers who knew his auto dealership, he was “Big Dan Young, Chevy dealin’ man.”

To the local institutions that benefitted from his generosity, Dan Young was known for his big heart.

    Mr. Young was killed March 29 in an automobile accident at the corner of Dixie Highway and Ocean Avenue in Lantana.

He was 83.…

By Ron Hayes



    GULF STREAM — Robert L. Becker Jr., a winter resident of The St. Andrew’s Club for several years, died peacefully on April 15. He was 87.

    A lawyer who specialized in securities and transactional law, Mr. Becker joined the Pittsburgh, Pa., firm of Kirkpatrick, Pomeroy, Lockhart & Johnson in 1949 and remained its longest-serving partner at the time of his death. …

    Dressed un-legislatively in a T-shirt, shorts and boat shoes, Lantana Mayor David Stewart made an impromptu visit to the April 23 meeting of the South Palm Beach Town Council.

    “I just wanted to thank your city,” Stewart told council members. “With the bridge situation, both cities have had to work together.”

    Specifically, he was pleased that South Palm Beach police responded to a call in his Hypoluxo Island neighborhood to check on an elderly resident who didn’t answer…

Built in 1924 and remodeled in 1988 and 2001, this Mizner-style beach house was one of the first homes built in Ocean Ridge.…

Judy Dempsey, owner of Art Explosion of South Florida, decorated her Boynton Beach home with underwater scenes, such as this one on a living room wall.…

By Betty Wells



    The Arts Garage, Delray’s Beach’s small, popular music and theater venue, needs to raise $2.5 million in 30 months to pay the city for its home — 10,000 square feet of retail space at the Old School Square parking garage. The executive director believes it can happen.

    Dozens of residents praised the nonprofit during an April 16 public hearing packed with more than 200 people at City Hall. The City Commission then voted to let the Arts…

Christina Benisch uses elements found in her Ocean Ridge garden for her award-winning flower arrangements.

This year she represented the Grass River Garden Club at the Society of the Four Arts, and in 2010,…