Pickleballers may be more passionate than Taylor Swift fans. The Boca Raton Beach and Parks District wants to meet that demand with 18 new courts at Patch Reef Park.
At tonight’s meeting, the city’s planning and zoning board will review the district’s plan. It would put those courts on the south side of Patch Reef, west of the tennis courts. It would add 36 parking spaces. In addition, the district would reconvert existing pickleball courts back to tennis courts.
One potential problem is that the courts would disturb three acres of environmentally sensitive land. City staff identified the property as home to the gopher tortoise and Eastern indigo snake as well as several birds.
The district has agreed to set aside 0.84 acres for preservation under city rules for such land. The city asked whether the district would set aside more land to ensure that invasive species don’t spoil that preserve. According to the staff memo, the district rejected that condition.
Though staff recommends approval, last week the city’s environmental advisory board recommended denial by a vote of 2-1, with two members absent. Critics asked why the district wants to build the courts at Patch Reef.
Melissa Dawson, the agency’s facilities manager, said it’s the only place that has enough “infrastructure,” such as bathrooms and check-in desks that are part of the tennis center. She added that the project, estimated to cost $8.5 million, would be more expensive at another location.
Dawson said the district is responding to “high demand” not just for pickleball courts but courts that can have longer hours in all weather conditions. These courts would be covered and lighted, with the cover focusing the light down, not up.
Briann Harms, the district’s executive director, said she was “disappointed” with the board’s vote. Chairman Rick Newman suggested that the district should buy more “green space,” not build on it. Harms said the discussion “digressed.” Newman at one point wondered why pickleball seemed to be more important than turtle research at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.
Another issue with the pickleball courts could be noise. To the south would be St. John Paul II Academy. To the west would be Patch Reef Estates, a single-family neighborhood.
Across the country, neighbors of pickleball complexes have complained about noise. Harms said enough trees would remain to provide a “vegetation buffer.”
The president of the Boca Raton Pickleball Club said he hears regularly from people who say that the game has “changed my life.” Board members, he said, “should recognize that.” Newman responded that the board needs to “evaluate the relative value” of pickleball vs. the environment.
The proposal likely will go to the city council this month or in September. I’ll have more after the meeting.
A slow return of turtles to Gumbo Limbo
Getting those sea turtles back to Gumbo Limbo Nature Center will take longer than expected.
To recap: In April, Boca Raton transferred all operation of the turtle rehabilitation program to the non-profit Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards. Previously, three city employees had worked on the program. City officials determined that the program had become too expensive and was outside the city’s basic functions.
During that handover, the veterinarian who held the state permit for the program left. With her went the permit, which required the city to transfer the nine turtles—Gumbo Limbo’s most popular attraction—to other facilities.
On Wednesday, a representative for Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards told me that the hiring of new staff is almost complete. Rather than apply immediately for a rehabilitation permit, which can take much longer, the Coastal Stewards first will seek an education permit. Once the state issues it, the two turtles that are at Gumbo Limbo permanently can return.
The other seven can’t come back until the Coastal Stewards get the rehab permit. Another issue, the representative said, is the tanks. The city owns them. Boca Raton, the beach and park district, the Coastal Stewards and Florida Atlantic University all have a role at Gumbo Limbo.
There is no estimate for when the Coastal Stewards might get the permits. “There have been more hoops,” the representative said, “than we imagined.”
Delray fire station plans move forward
Delray Beach’s plan for a new fire station on Linton Boulevard is moving through city review.
The current, one-story facility dates to 1971. The two-story replacement will be almost twice the space, with room to hold more firefighters on shifts with more people. According to the staff memo, it will be capable of withstanding Category 5 hurricane winds.
Last week, the project passed the Site Plan Review and Appearance Board. It now will go to the city commission.
Plea conference for Boca Bash assault
A plea conference is set for today in the case of Cole Preston Goldberg. He faces two counts related to the alleged choking of his then-girlfriend during Boca Bash last year.
The alleged victim, Caroline Elizabeth Schwitzky, also filed a civil suit against Goldberg last October. According to the filing, Goldberg attacked Schwitzky by “grabbing her neck, pushing her under water (sic), and holding her under water (sic) against her will, in what one of many eyewitnesses called ‘a complete rage.’ “ Schwitzky is an actress who appeared on the TLC show “90-Day Fiance: Happily Ever After?”
Last week, prosecutors said they are seeking to admit 22 pages of records from Schwitzky’s visit to JFK Hospital after the incident. The filing claims that the records are an exception to the hearsay rule governing evidence.
Though this is a plea conference, the state attorney’s office also is asking the judge to “instruct” Goldberg and his attorney not to discuss a wide range of certain issues at trial without getting permission from the judge. Prosecutors want to block any remarks about possible penalties for Goldberg if convicted, remarks about “any witnesses not called by either side when both parties had an opportunity to call the witness” and any criticism of the “validity of the arrest.”
The motion also applies to, among other things, comments that Goldberg never has been convicted of a crime, to references during closing arguments about evidence that neither side offered during testimony, use of hypothetical questions during jury selection and any mention of Goldberg’s “prior bad acts.” The filing includes 27 topics, including the idea that “intoxication” could be a defense.
I’ll have more after the hearing.
Record numbers of nesting turtles
Speaking of sea turtles, amid the climate change-driven heat wave and dangerously high ocean temperatures, Boca Raton has some good news on the environment.
Sea turtle nests on city beaches set a record last month. A city news release breaks down the total by species: 1,020 for loggerheads, 293 for greens and 28 for leatherbacks. Two months remain in nesting season. Beaches in northern Palm Beach County also have reported record numbers.
