This is my last post of the year. As usual, it will look back at the big stories of the year in Boca Raton and Delray Beach and ahead to next year. The expected COVID-19 surge from the Omicron variant makes forecasting even more difficult, but here goes.
2021 round-up
Out with the pandemic? Nope.
Six months ago, when COVID-19 cases had dropped and vaccinations became widely available, Delray Beach City Commissioner Adam Frankel said during a meeting, “We’re mostly over COVID now, right?”
If only.
For five straight weeks in the fall, as the Delta variant took hold, Florida set records for COVID-19 deaths. Omicron brings new uncertainty, especially after Gov. DeSantis and Republicans in the Legislature prohibited school boards from imposing mask mandates and gutted the ability of businesses to require vaccinations or testing. Delray Beach had to abandon its successful program.
As in 2020, however, some people are benefiting, especially Realtors. Though things have cooled after people began fleeing the Northeast and Midwest, the November average home price in Palm Beach County was six percent higher than in 2020—a record level. Those numbers are higher in South County.
Despite worries last year that the pandemic would cripple the housing market, the opposite happened. Property values increased for this year almost three percent in Boca Raton and five percent in Delray Beach. Locals seeking their first home, however, can’t compete with outsiders offering cash.
Despite that boost to the tax rolls, Boca Raton and Delray Beach needed money from the American Rescue Plan, which Democrats in Congress approved and President Biden signed in March, to balance their budgets. Delray Beach already plans to use another tranche of that money for next year’s budget. Though local unemployment rates remain low, the pandemic continues to affect the economy.
On to other topics.
Old School Square
No story in decades has rocked Delray Beach like the decision in August to terminate the city’s lease with Old School Square for the Arts. The group—starting 32 years ago and using mostly private money and countless volunteers—turned a group of rundown buildings into the arts center, cultural hub and gathering place that is Old School Square.
But Mayor Shelly Petrolia and city commissioners Juli Casale and Shirley Johnson ended the lease without cause, though they cited the group’s failure to provide financial documents and to get permission for a renovation project inside the Crest Theater.
Old School Square for the Arts denied those accusations and responded with a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination. According to the lawsuit, Petrolia, Casale and Johnson conspired with a former board chairwoman and a former executive director to run off Old School Square.
Currently, the eviction is set to take effect Feb. 9. As of now, the city plans to hire a new group to run Old School Square. The bidders aren’t impressive. So maybe the city will take over operations. Petrolia, Casale and Johnson had no backup plan when they acted without public notice and without public comment.
The “Request For Proposal” (RFP) the city created with the intent to replace the existing organization “Old School Square Center For The Arts Inc.” received no respondents.The deadline for application submissions was Friday, December 17, and no entity/organization either non-profit or for-profit responded to the city’s RFP.
Elections matter
Petrolia won a second term in March against the well-financed wife of State Rep. Mike Caruso. Tracey Caruso likely would not have voted to end the lease.
Though Petrolia got fewer votes than Ryan Boylston and Adam Frankel, who won second terms for their commission seats, she survived by three percentage points.
Big ideas in Boca
Two transformative projects entered different phases of city review this year.
One is for a performing arts center on vacant land in Mizner Park next to the amphitheater. The Boca Raton Arts District Exploratory Commission would lease that land and build a complex that includes an upgraded amphitheater.
In May, the city council officially chose the group as a potential lessee. Still to come is approval of the lease. BRADEC also must raise $130 million for construction and an endowment to subsidize operations.
The other project would be an expansion of the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRIC), IBM’s former home. CP Group, the operating partner of the joint venture that owns the 123-acres, and city planners are working on new zoning that would allow housing and other investments, to create a sort of mini-city for technology companies.
During each of the council’s recent goal-setting meetings, economic development has been a priority. Six years ago, CP Group pitched an ambitious plan to create a new neighborhood in the Midtown neighborhood east of Town Center Mall. Two members of the current council, Scott Singer and Andrea O’Rourke, voted to kill that idea, missing an economic opportunity. It will take several months to craft any proposed rules for BRIC.
Moore hopes to be more
On Aug. 2, Terrence Moore became Delray Beach’s ninth city manager in nine years. Unlike his two immediate predecessors, Moore got a unanimous vote from the commission.
Those predecessors lasted a combined 20 months. The earlier one, Mark Lauzier, challenged his firing in a lawsuit. Last week, the city prevailed after a jury trial.
Delray Beach remains the graveyard of managers compared to its neighbors. Leif Ahnell has held Boca Raton’s top job since 1999. Lori LaVerriere has run Boynton Beach for almost nine years. Moore faced enough challenges before the commission gave him Old School Square. He remains optimistic.
Menin goes big in Delray
In 2021, the company opened the popular Delray Beach Market and The Ray Hotel in Pineapple Grove. City commissioners also approved Menin’s plan to add housing in part of a shopping center on Linton Boulevard, and the group also bought the popular Crane’s Beach House.
Former City Commissioner Jordana Jarjura is Menin’s president. In discussing the company’s many new commercial tenants, Jarjura said Menin intends to stay aggressive, particularly in commercial real estate.
Boca goes clubbing
In November, the city opened the Boca Raton Golf & Racquet Club. The golf portion of what had been Boca Country Club replaces Boca Municipal. The sale of the latter closed on schedule on Nov. 1. Officials estimate that the city will spend about $8 million upgrading the course and the club’s other facilities, which will include tennis and pickleball courts and a restaurant/lounge. The property was a donation from The Boca Raton, formerly the Boca Raton Resort and Club, which underwent a sweeping phase one of its $150 million transformation and reopened the newly redone Cloister and waterfront Dec. 17. Pre-Omicron, the resort was hiring hundreds of local employees.
Boca Gets a new museum
This year saw the expansion and complete renovation of the Boca Raton Historical Society at Old Town Hall.
Delray settles water violations
In January, the Palm Beach County Health Department issued a draft order fining the city $3 million for numerous water quality violations over more than a decade. The city had failed to correct problems with the reclaimed water system.
After negotiations between the department and lawyers for the city, the fine came down to roughly $1 million. The city still had to acknowledges its failures. City administrators want to open a new water plant in five years.
Brightline in Boca
The company announced that it has begun construction on the Boca Raton station and parking garage that will be part of the Miami-to-Orlando system. According to a news release, Brightline expects that construction will be complete by the end of next year.
And looking ahead
As for 2022, things could start quickly.
• On Jan. 18, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes holds a hearing on Old School Square for the Arts’ motion for early mediation. In an open letter, eight former mayors called on the commission to meet with Old School Square and resolve the differences.
• On Feb. 11, a status conference is scheduled in the case of Alexander Jerich. He is accused of defacing Delray Beach’s LGBTQ Pride streetscape last June, by leaving tire marks while participating in a demonstration for Donald Trump. Jerich refused a plea deal. He faces one felony charge and one misdemeanor count.
• Speaking of late summer, Palm Beach County will get a second area code about that time next year. The Florida Public Service Commission approved the addition in November.
• Anyone with a 561 area code will keep it. Since October, local callers have had to include the current area code. That will continue with the new one. The 561 code will hit its roughly eight million limit in 2023.
• Atlantic Crossing, the large, mixed-use project in downtown Delray Beach, begins opening next year. According to a representative for the developer, apartment pre-leasing begins in February. The office space, shops and restaurant are scheduled to open by March, but that depends on construction.
• Two properties in Boca Raton will get lots of attention in 2022:
One is Dixie Manor, the public housing complex in Pearl City. The housing authority that supervises Dixie Manor likely will approve plans to renovate the apartments or demolish the complex and build something new.
The other is near Addison Mizner School. A developer wants to build an assisted living facility. Neighbors in Boca Square have organized in opposition. The project could get its first city review this year.
• As for Boca Raton City Manager Leif Ahnell, in April he becomes eligible to retire under the state program. A recent change, though, gives Ahnell two more years, if he chooses.
Successive city councils have discussed succession planning. Boca Raton’s two deputy city manager are nearing retirement. This year, Ahnell made Chrissy Gibson, the former communications director, the only assistant city manager. The promotion seemed to designate her for a future leadership role. Ultimately, however, the council will pick Ahnell’s successor.
And a final note of caution
A year ago, I hoped that the pandemic would be “more in the rear view mirror a year from now.” Sadly, we learned again that vaccinations matter more than vaccines.
Health care workers surely hope that people will get all their shots, so that the in cases doesn’t mean a similar rise in hospitalizations and deaths. The message this holiday is to stay safe and protect your neighbors.
I’ll be back on Jan. 4 with my first post of 2022.
