Stet NewsHaul out the holly! For you today: 10 ideas to improve West Palm Beach’s waterfront, Palm Beach Gardens contested, lawsuit threatens Riviera Beach election and a Spanish painter’s work warms the Norton Museum.
🌴 Exclusive: Long-awaited waterfront study
West Palm Beach should put someone in charge of its downtown waterfront, redesign Flagler Drive and help people feel safer there, consultants say in a draft report to the city.
Why it matters: After the collapse of an effort in July 2023 to allow a marina on the waterfront, Mayor Keith James commissioned a community study to set a direction for the city’s signature feature.
- Thousands of residents and visitors participated in the study, which included three public workshops.
- It followed intense blowback from residents after city commissioners aborted the marina plan championed by James and it does not make a recommendation concerning a marina.
- SunFest’s surprise announcement last week leaves it unclear if the weekend-long festival will return to the Flagler Drive waterfront. Much of the waterfront’s design has been driven by the need to accommodate SunFest and the Palm Beach International Boat Show.
Stet News obtained the preliminary report through a public records request.
Yes, but: Jennifer Ferriol, director of Housing and Community Development, told commissioners last month the report is still under staff review.
The 77-page draft, led by Street Plans’ Miami-based consultants, recommends 10 ideas to improve the resiliency of the waterfront and enhance the experience for visitors. Some of them overlap. Here they are:
1. Adopt a stewardship model.
What the report found: No single organization is responsible for the waterfront, and the public is tired of a series of studies about its future.
Key recommendation: Identify a department to manage the waterfront. It could also hand off the responsibility to an entity or nonprofit “friends of” management model.
- The department or organization would direct planning, fundraising, stewardship and programming.
- In the short term, consultants recommend the city hire a dedicated staff member in the department of Housing and Community Development to drive the report’s nine remaining recommendations.
2. Redesign the waterfront as a unified public space.
What the report found: The public spaces are beloved, and they would benefit from a master plan that unites the district from the Royal Park Bridge north to the Flagler Bridge.
Key recommendation: Create an updated plan that includes a full redesign of all public space including shade, tree canopy, native landscaping, coordinated seating, amenities, structures, play and art.
3. Rethink the edge of the waterfront and access to water.
What the report found: The waterfront offers access to nature in an urban setting, but little direct interaction with the water.
Key recommendation: Replace the seawall and waterfront edge with a combination of natural and built edges that offer access and enhance the beauty of the space. No costs were projected.
4. Activate the waterfront promenade.
What the report found: Residents and visitors expressed a love for walking on the waterfront.
Key recommendation: Improve the experience with short-term additions of shade, things to do and upgraded seating while the longer-range plans come together.
5. Complete the Lake Trail loop.
What the report found: The waterfront bike and walking paths are cut off from Palm Beach’s venerable Lake Trail. Crossing Flagler Drive to get to the waterfront can be a challenge.
Key recommendation: Work with Palm Beach to create a Lake Trail loop and address the missing access to the Flagler Bridge on the north side of the promenade.
What’s next: The city’s Ferriol told commissioners she expects to present the final recommendations around the end of the year.
City commissioners will decide whether to adopt the recommendations.
Keep reading to find out the other five recommendations.
Read the complete draft report here.
– Carolyn DiPaolo
🇺🇸 Gardens breaks streak: Election contested
For the first time in four years, Palm Beach Gardens will have a contest for City Council.
Challenger Scott Gilow filed Monday on the last day of qualifying to run against incumbent Marcie Tinsley for the Group 2 seat.
Catch up quick: Tinsley, who is running for her final three-year term, is the last council member to face voters. She defeated Rob Nanfro in March 2021 to fill the final year of Maria Marino’s term.
- Since then, Tinsley has been reelected once without opposition, as have all four of her colleagues. She has raised $15,570 for the March 11 election.
Land planner Chuck Millar qualified to run for the seat of term-limited Carl Woods. He opened a campaign account earlier this year and has raised $9,250.
Challenging Millar is Palm Beach County Fire Rescue firefighter John Kemp, the city clerk confirmed on Tuesday. Qualifying closed at 4:30 pm Monday.
Gilow has been a critic of the city’s decision to lease a park for an ice-hockey complex. He is a Palm Beach County employee and owner of Draco Bikes in Abacoa.
Tinsley is a land planner with Karl Corp., a land management company. She previously served on the council from 2010 to 2017. She and Gilow both live in the Evergrene community.
Millar is chairperson of the city’s Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board making his first run for elected office. He’s a planner with Atwell, an engineering and construction management company.
Elsewhere: The town of Palm Beach’s election caucus is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. Candidates who don’t get a nomination can still qualify to run by 5 pm Wednesday.
- Mayor Danielle Moore and Council Members Julie Araskog in Group 1 and Ted Cooney in Group 2 have announced campaigns. David Brooker filed to run for the Group 1 seat but has withdrawn, the Palm Beach Civic Association reported in its newsletter.
Early winners: At least eight Palm Beach County cities have anointed council members without voters casting a ballot in the election planned for March 11. The winners are:
- West Palm Beach: Shalonda Warren and Joe Peduzzi.
- Juno Beach: Diana Davis.
- Tequesta: Molly Young and Patrick Painter.
- Palm Beach Shores: Roby DeReuil and Tracy Larcher.
- Jupiter Inlet Colony: David Shula, Mark Ciarfella and Bill Muir.
- North Palm Beach: Kristin Garrison and Susan Bickel.
- Palm Springs: Bev Smith, Gary Ready and Kimberly Schmitz.
- Lake Clarke Shores: Gregory Freebold, Jon Maples, Taylor Materio and Christy Maasbach.
Of note: All but one, David Shula, are incumbents.
Some cities with contested races: Lake Worth Beach, Royal Palm Beach, Lantana, Jupiter, Lake Park, Riviera Beach and Boynton Beach.
No seats open: Greenacres, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Wellington and Belle Glade have no terms expiring in 2025.
To see who’s running in other cities, click here.
Editor’s note: This story was updated Tuesday to reflect the names of Palm Beach Gardens candidates confirmed by the city clerk.
— Joel Engelhardt
🏛 Ballot standoff in Riviera Beach
Riviera Beach wrongly certified five candidates as qualified to run for City Council, potentially handing two candidates victory without an election, a lawsuit filed Nov. 21 says.
An unusual twist: One of the three candidates who filed the legal challenge, Mayor Ronnie Felder, used the same method to qualify for the March 11 race and also could be kicked off the ballot.
Catch up quick: The allegation is that City Clerk Deborah Hall accepted filing fees by debit card rather than printed check, as required by state statute.
Why it matters: At stake is a city council immersed in personal squabbles while juggling construction projects worth hundreds of millions, proposals for massive new developments to reshape the skyline and a water system rife with failures.
The legal challenge came from Felder, Council Member Tradrick McCoy and District 5 challenger Fercella Davis-Panier.
Disqualified would be:
- Davis-Panier’s two opponents in District 5, incumbent Douglas Lawson and Madelene Irving-Mills.
- McCoy opponent Joseph Bedford Sr. but not Bruce Guyton in District 1.
- Kendrick Wyly, Kendra Wester and possibly Felder in the mayor’s race.
All three mayoral candidates paid their $1,212 filing fee by debit card. Felder returned on Nov. 19, the last day to file his qualifying papers, with a $1,212 check written from his campaign account.
However, the check did not clear. On Nov. 25, he attempted to pay the fee by cashier’s check, but the clerk rejected the payment.
The five challenged candidates have retained Tallahassee elections lawyer Mark Herron, who has asked to intervene on their behalf. Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Reid Scott has scheduled a preliminary hearing at 8:45 am Dec. 5.
Of note: Only the District 3 race pitting incumbent Shirley Lanier against former council member Cedrick Thomas would be unaffected.
Stet News posted a fuller story Wednesday on the dispute here.
– Joel Engelhardt
🍊 The Juice
Construction of a 25-story, 193-unit condo building on Clear Lake in downtown West Palm Beach will break ground this month. Al Adelson, who built the Bristol on the city’s Flagler Drive waterfront, controls the site previously occupied by the American Cancer Society and Ion Media Networks. It’s on the 600 block of Clearwater Park Road near the downtown Marriott. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
An affiliate of luxury condo builder Fort Partners paid $20 million for the site of two aging apartment buildings on Washington Road in West Palm Beach, across the waterway from Mar-a-Lago. Occupying the properties at 3906 Washington Road and 907 S. Flagler Drive is a 17-unit apartment building from 1972 and an eight-unit apartment complex from 1955. Fort has built Four Seasons condo projects in South Florida. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
A detailed catch up on the Palm Beach Zoo, its history, its philosophy and its future. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
☀️ 561NSIDER: New light at the Norton
“Sorolla and the Sea,” the newest exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art, will warm you like the sun.
Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, 1863-1923, was one of Spain’s most celebrated artists. He is known for his large-scale works often portraying an idyllic Valencia seaside and often painted outdoors.
- Impressionist Claude Monet called Sorolla, “the painter of light above all other.”
The Norton exhibition features about 40 works on loan from the Hispanic Society Museum & Library. It is the first time the collection has left New York in more than 100 years.
Show stopper: Norton visitors may already know Sorolla’s giant “Beaching the Boat (Afternoon Light),” depicting fishermen guiding teams of oxen to bring in boats at the end of the day. The work has been on display there since 2021.
- What was a snapshot of the painter’s work is now a centerpiece of a show that traces Sorolla’s artistic journey.
What they’re saying: “It is an incredible opportunity to debut these paintings in Florida, let alone in a coastal location that so closely aligns with Sorolla’s own surroundings when he created these works,” said Rachel Gustafson, the Norton’s chief curatorial operations and research officer. “We hope our visitors walk away with a deeper understanding of this important Spanish painter.”
If you go: “Sorolla and the Sea” is on view through April 13. Admission is $18; seniors (60+), $15; students with valid school ID, $5; children 12 and under, free. Art After Dark on Fridays: adults and seniors, $10.
- While you are there, check out the Norton’s other new exhibition: “Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing.”
– Carolyn DiPaolo
The friends, colleagues and family of three fallen Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies will honor them in a procession at 9:30 am and a funeral at 11 am today at iThink Amphitheater at the South Florida Fairgrounds.
Corp. Luis Paez and deputies Ralph “Butch” Waller and Ignacio “Dan” Diaz were killed when a driver ran into them on Southern Boulevard near Lion Country Safari.
The Palm Beach County Commission canceled its regularly scheduled meeting to attend. Traffic will be closed to accommodate motorcades.
