Here’s my annual list of the year’s top stories in Boca Raton and Delray and what to look for in 2024.
Who’s Head Owl?
Florida Atlantic University expected to have a new president by the start of fall semester. Instead, FAU enters the new year with the top job unfilled and little certainty about when there might be a successor to John Kelly.
Last week, after a five-month investigation into the search, the Board of Governors ordered FAU to start over. According to the inspector general’s report, Brad Levine—who chairs the board of trustees and named himself to chair the search committee— violated several policies.
Notably, though, the committee refused to make Gov. DeSantis’ preferred candidate a finalist. There was much resistance within FAU to the prospect of State Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Beach, leading the university. After a falling-out with the governor, Fine is no longer a candidate.
The choice of a president doesn’t affect just the FAU community. It affects Boca Raton, where the university is a major part of the economy. The city does better when FAU does better. City officials have said little about the controversy, but they want FAU to hire someone as credible and successful as Kelly was for nearly a decade.
The Owls Soar
FAU’s men’s basketball team reached the Final Four, coming one buzzer-beater from advancing to the national championship game. Home games that once went begging for fans are sold out for this season. Head Coach Dusty May intends to make the Owls annual tournament contenders.
Build, Baby, Build
Over the past year, Boca Raton approved changes to encourage more development, especially in the northwest part of the city.
Despite past opposition to individual projects, these changes drew comparatively little controversy. But they could be significant—transforming the former IBM campus on Yamato Road and drawing more corporate offices to the nearby Park at Broken Sound, formerly the Arvida Park of Commerce.
Mayor Scott Singer made clear the council’s collective position when he said that Boca Raton needed to treat businesses as partners in the city’s future. When council members approved the Aletto project downtown, they said that the need for new office space outweighed fears of traffic congestion. This is the most business-friendly council in some time.
Turning Over a New Leif
After nearly a quarter-century, Boca Raton will have a new city manager.
Leif Ahnell retires on Dec. 31, to be succeeded by his longtime deputy, George Brown. In most ways, the transition will be seamless. Ahnell had assembled a management team that will sort out new roles under Brown and continue with the same department heads.
In one way, though, the change could be more pronounced. Ahnell’s focus was finance. Brown has overseen the Development Services Department. That experience will be important.
Elections Matter
In March, voters reshaped the Delray Beach City Commission and city politics.
Candidates backed by Mayor Shelly Petrolia lost, leaving her with no allies on the commission. I’m told that, had her two-candidate slate won, Petrolia immediately would have tried to fire City Manager Terrence Moore. Petrolia led the effort to fire Moore’s two immediate predecessors, in both cases with little or no public notice.
Instead, City Hall has become a place of relative stability. Commission members generally are happy with the management team. Work is progressing on a water plant and public safety and park bonds that voters approved in that March election. Moore got good evaluations from every commissioner except Petrolia.
Moore now has served longer than any manager since David Harden, who retired in 2012 after holding the job almost as long as Ahnell has. For the moment, those who have wanted calm in Delray Beach over factional fighting are happy.
A New Old School Square?
Another consequence of that election was the commission’s decision to bring back the group that founded Delray Beach’s cultural complex.
In August 2021, Petrolia and two other commissioners evicted Old School Square Center for the Arts. Old School Square has yet to reopen fully. The public cost for that eviction could be as high as $5 million.
The Downtown Development Authority has a contract to operate Old School Square through September. But the DDA’s expertise is marketing. Commissioners want Old Square Center for the Arts to help with fundraising and recruiting volunteers. An agreement to formalize that relationship supposedly will go before the city commission soon.
An Unexpected Win for the Public
In October, the Palm Beach County Commission rejected a plan that likely would have doomed the Agricultural Reserve Area—the farm belt west of Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.
Based on a vote last spring, commissioners seemed ready to bless the deal that would have allowed GL Homes to build 1,000 luxury houses north of Stonebridge Country Club in West Boca. But two commissioners switched. Marci Woodward, who represents Boca Raton and Delray Beach, was part of the 4-3 majority that rejected the deal.
Since that vote, other developers have pulled or revised projects envisioned for the reserve. If the commission remains resolved, this unique area won’t become just another part of South Florida suburbia.
Where Are the Turtles?
In March, all sea turtles were removed from Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. It was part of the transition in which the Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards will take over care of the two turtles that live at the facility and those that are being rehabilitated for eventual release.
The move generated controversy, with some residents wrongly accusing the city of mistreating the turtles. In fact, the city coordinated the transfers with state conservation officials.
The resident turtles will come back when the city obtains the necessary permit. The others will return when the Stewards obtain a separate rehabilitation permits. Applications for both have gone to the state.
Lawsuits, Lawsuits, Lawsuits
A federal judge ordered Boca Raton to process the application for an oceanfront home after city council members denied a variance for the project. The city has appealed the ruling.
The developer who sued Boca Raton over a proposed adult living facility withdrew the lawsuit while he discusses a possible land swap. Neighbors of the property had opposed the ALF. No swap is scheduled to come before the council.
In Delray Beach, the year ended with hope for resolving a lawsuit by an American Legion post that Black veterans founded. The city wants to lease the property to a nonprofit group that would renovate the building and use it for youth programs, then allow the Post to hold meetings.
Game, Set, Major
Coco Gauff, who grew up in Delray Beach and whose grandmother is a city pioneer, won her first major championship—the U.S. Open. This month, the city honored Gauff at its holiday parade.
That grandmother, Yvonne Odom, integrated Seacrest High School in 1961. Watch parties across the city are common when Gauff plays big matches. Heading into next month’s Australian Open, the 19-year-old Gauff is ranked third in the world.
Delray Daydreaming
Jimmy Buffett’s death in September from skin cancer hit especially hard in South Florida, the singer-songwriter’s adopted home.
In May 2021, as the region came out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Buffett performed four shows at Old School Square. The concerts gave the city worldwide publicity. Buffett told the crowd that it was time to get back to having fun. Couldn’t everyone use a dose of Jimmy every day?
Looking Ahead to 2024
Elections still will matter. Delray Beach chooses a new mayor and fills two commission seats in March. Boca Raton voters will decide two council seats … Boca Raton will brace for the effects of the state’s Live Local Act designed to encourage the building of affordable housing. The city has crafted ordinances for those projects, since the council will not be able to reject them. Delray Beach is just starting to consider what its response will be … Boca Raton has big plans for the downtown government area. They could include not just a new City Hall but also a new police station. City officials also want to promote residential development around the Brightline station … Delray Beach will anticipate the scheduled completion of Sundy Village, the mixed-use project along Swinton Avenue.
And who knows what else?
Happy Holidays
Best of the holidays, and Happy New Year. My next post will be on Jan. 4.
