Delray Beach has made a major change to the city’s development review and approval process.

In April, city commissioners asked staff to draft an ordinance designed to streamline what everyone agreed was a cumbersome, duplicative and often confusing system. Development Services Director Anthea Gianniotes told me that staff would get bogged down in details. Having to write the same report for the planning and zoning board and the site plan review and appearance board wasted staff time.

Seeking what Commissioner Ryan Boylston called “more efficiency,” the ordinance specifies which matters the staff can handle on its own, which ones require review only before an advisory board, and which ones must go to an advisory board and then to the commission for final approval.

Not surprisingly, the details get technical. Basically, however, the planning and zoning board will grow in importance and handle more complex site plans and projects. Five of the seven members now must have professional qualifications related to development. The site plan review and advisory board, which also has seven members, will review simpler plans and focus more on appearance.

Appointments to these boards are some of the most coveted, sometimes by people planning to later run for the commission. Though the boards’ recommendations are not binding, they can carry weight. The recommendations often carry helpful changes to which the commission agrees.

Under the ordinance, the commission now must fill all 14 board positions. Commissioners temporarily extended the terms of all incumbents until making the new appointments.

That was supposed to happen during Tuesday night’s meeting. City Attorney Lynn Gelin, however, asked that the commission wait until its Nov. 7 meeting. All incumbent board members can reapply, and Gelin said some weren’t aware of that in time to make the application deadline. Eleven of the 14 incumbents have asked to stay on.

Reimbursement for Long from Davey’s ethics complaint

One of those incumbents is Chris Davey, who chairs the planning and zoning board. Though the commission delayed its choices, Davey came up, even if no one spoke his name.

The issue was reimbursement of expenses Commissioner Rob Long incurred responding to an ethics complaint that Davey filed against Long and the Florida Commission on Ethics dismissed. Reimbursement—roughly $11,000 in this case—is standard when complaints aren’t upheld. It’s in state law.

During discussion, however, Gelin noted that state law also allows local governments to seek their own reimbursement from people who file complaints with “malicious intent” or with “reckless disregard” for the facts.

Davey is an ally of Mayor Shelly Petrolia. Long was challenging incumbent Juli Casale, for whom Petrolia was campaigning. Davey filed the complaint as the campaign was heating up.

Long then filed a defamation suit against Davey. Though a judge dismissed the case, Davey acknowledged during a deposition that he asked former County Commissioner Mary McCarty to issue an indirect threat to Long that information about his “unethical” behavior would come out if Long stayed in the race.

At Gelin’s suggestion, Boylston—who supported Long—made a motion to seek reimbursement from Davey. He got support from Angela Burns—whom Petrolia campaigned against this year—and Adam Frankel—whom Petrolia campaigned against in 2021. Long abstained. Petrolia voted no.

The matter will go to the Commission on Ethics. It now will be interesting to see if Petrolia nominates Davey to serve on the planning and zoning board. If she does, it will be interesting to see if her colleagues go along.

Normally, such appointments draw no objection. That might not be the case with Davey.

County planners recommend denial of GL Homes land swap

If the Palm Beach County Commission on Tuesday approves a land swap that would threaten the existence of the Agricultural Reserve Area, it will do against the wishes of the people paid to protect that coastal farm belt.

In their memo to commissioners, county planners recommend denial of what GL Homes proposes. The company wants to trade as many as 1,600 acres outside the reserve near West Palm Beach for permission to build 1,000 luxury homes and 277 workforce housing units within the reserve. They would be just northwest of Boca Raton.

The staff is correct that approval would open up the reserve, which voters spent $100 billion in bonds to protect, to unlimited suburban-type development. That development eventually would drive out farming. But the commission voted 5-2 last May to send the deal to the state for review. The final vote comes at Tuesday’s 9:30 a.m. meeting.

In a post last week, I expressed doubt that opponents could reverse that sentiment. Critics, though, plan to show up in numbers. They will tell the commission that for all the supposed benefits—fewer homes in the county’s north end, a water project, land for a synagogue—nothing in this deal helps the Agricultural Reserve Area.

That alone is reason to oppose it. Another is that approval would mean wasting $100 million voters approved in 1999 for land preservation to protect the reserve. Why would the public trust any future promise by the commission?

I’ll update after the meeting.

Funding soars for Boylston, stalls for Johnson

For one Delray Beach mayoral candidate, fundraising is soaring. For the other, it’s stalling.

As I reported earlier, Boylston raised $87,000 between July and September, giving him a total of $111,000. Boylston also has most of that money on hand.

Meanwhile, Boylston’s opponent, former Commissioner Shirley Johnson, raised $1,690 during those same three months. Johnson does have almost $24,000 in contributions, but $20,000 of that was a personal loan. Johnson has repaid herself $2,000.

All five candidates for the two open commission seats on March 19 raised more than Johnson. Tennille DeCoste, a former human relations director for the city, is running to succeed term-limited Adam Frankel in Seat 1. Her opponent is former Commissioner Jim Chard.

Decoste raised nearly $27,000. Two notable contributors are Michael Coleman and Jamael Stewart. They held the top two positions in Delray Beach’s Neighborhood and Community Services Department before they resigned in 2019. They sued, claiming that they had been forced out and seeking whistleblower status. Both settled with the city. Decoste also received $1,000 from two political action committees and another $1,000 from Ron Book, one of Tallahassee’s most influential lobbyists.

Chard received $18,200 during the third quarter. His notable contributors include Elisa Nail and her husband, Charles Nail. Elise Nail serves with Chard on the board of Old School Square Center for the Arts. Chard got $250 from former Mayor Jeff Perlman, another board member, and the same amount from Janet Meeks, the city’s former education coordinator.

Three candidates are running for Boylston’s seat. Anneze Barthelemy runs a non-profit aimed at helping families. Nicholas Coppola chairs the code enforcement board. Realtor Christina Morrison serves on the planning and zoning board.

Barthelemy raised nearly $9,000 between July and September, which is roughly her overall total. Most of her donations are for $100 or less, and many come from members of the considerable Haitian-American population in the city and county. She got $300 from former Mayor David Randolph.

Coppola raised $19,000 to go with the $20,000 loan he previously had made to his campaign. Elise Nail also donated $1,000 to Coppola. Perlman gave $250. Another $250 came from Bill Branning, who also is a board member of Old School Square Center for the Arts.

Morrison raised $3,500, bringing her total to almost $30,000. Most of that is a $25,000 loan. She received $1,000 from Dunay, Miskel and Backman, a law firm that often represents developers before the city, and $2,000 from the Grieco car dealerships.

Brightline-related deaths make national ranking

As U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg rode on Brightline this week, a new report confirmed that the service has the highest rate of fatalities in the country.

TCPalm, a Treasure Coast-based website, calculated that in 2022 one person was killed for every 25,000 miles Brightline trains covered. The nationwide average for passenger trains was one fatality for every 600,000 miles.

Investigators have not linked any Brightline death to faulty train operation or malfunctioning gates. The Federal Railway Agency uses the term “trespassing.” People go on the tracks illegally, sometimes to commit suicide.

The federal government awarded a $25 million grant to Florida to improve rail safety. The rate of non-Brightline deaths on the Florida East Coast Railway corridor, which Brightline uses, ranks second. Tri-Rail, which uses the western CSX corridor, ranked third. Brightline and the state each is contributing $10 million toward that safety campaign.

Boca council shows its sense of humor

Humor doesn’t usually arise during Boca Raton City Council meetings, but it did last week.

Over the last three years, Jonathan Ounjian has become a regular speaker before the council. He owns a commercial building on Congress Avenue, and his gripe is what Ounjian believes are unfair restrictions on uses for his property.

Ounjian has spoken so often, linking his complaint to matters way beyond his own gripe, that council members clearly stopped listening several dozen meetings ago. Last week, after the council approved changes to rules for the Park at Broken Sound—where his building is located—Ounjian sounded halfway satisfied and hoped that it would be the last time he had to appear before the council.

“You may not be alone in that,” responded Mayor Scott Singer, as the audience chuckled. “Couldn’t resist the joke.