Stet NewsHappy election day! Voters in Jupiter, Boynton Beach and Royal Palm Beach will elect a mayor. Commission and council seats are up for grabs in Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Riviera Beach, Lake Park, Lake Worth Beach, Lantana, Loxahatchee Groves and Pahokee. There are ballot questions in the Village of Golf and Highland Beach.
And now, this news: exclusive reporting about a multimillion-dollar judgment against the county, Palm Beach Gardens says “no, thank you” to a new road, the latest from CityPlace, recognition for some of our brightest young musicians and an opportunity to see local news leaders at the Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce.
💰 Ruling could cost county $43 million
A developer has won what could amount to a $43 million judgment from Palm Beach County.
Why it matters: The ruling by Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Bradley Harper clarifies how far counties can go to make developers cover the cost of growth.
Catch up quick: When Avenir moved forward in 2016 to build what amounts to a small city on the former Vavrus Ranch northwest of Beeline Highway and Northlake Boulevard, the county said the Coral Gables-based developer had to pay $105 million to cover the cost of road improvements.
- Avenir sued in 2021, saying the county went too far by making the developer pay to meet congestion caused by other growth. A state law in 2011 said developers don’t have to pay to correct “background deficiencies” in the road network.
- The developer calculated those excessive costs at $42.9 million.
Harper agreed. On Feb. 28, the judge granted partial summary judgment in Avenir’s favor, ruling that the county’s demand that Avenir pay for those roads “amounted to an unlawful monetary exaction.”
What he wrote: “This court finds that county’s policy … was illegal and in contravention of Florida law.”
Zoom in: The county had argued that Avenir negotiated to pay the $105 million as a “business decision.”
Avenir countered that it told the county that the charges were unlawful but the county still withheld approval unless the developer agreed to pay them. Continuing to argue would have resulted in severe and costly delays, Avenir said.
- They were racing to get approvals before another large development, by GL Homes. Whichever developer got approval first would not have to account for the traffic created by the other.
More reading: See the rest of the story by Joel here.
— Joel Engelhardt
🚫 Gardens rejects new Avenir road proposal
A city known to champion roadway connections found one it could not support last week.
The Palm Beach Gardens City Council voted unanimously Thursday to object to a county proposal to connect the as-yet unbuilt extension of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road into the newly rising Avenir community on Northlake Boulevard.
Why it matters: The county argued the connection could relieve traffic congestion along Northlake, particularly if a shutdown forces drivers to find another way out of the traffic-choked Acreage community nearby.
Zoom in: Gardens officials counter that Avenir Drive, which would accept the new traffic, was built as a two-lane neighborhood road, not meant to handle the heavy traffic from Seminole.
What they’re saying: “We know what kind of traffic is on Seminole Pratt. And it’s not golf carts. It’s not smaller vehicles. It’s not children on bicycles,” Council Member Carl Woods said. “So to blend diesel trucks, dump trucks, cement trucks, work vehicles, dualies (1-ton pickups), into a community that is going to have children and that kind of stuff, it just doesn’t sit right.”
The city wants the county to proceed with extending Seminole from Northlake Boulevard to the Beeline Highway, just without the connection to Avenir, a community of nearly 4,000 homes, with most selling for more than $1 million.
Of note: The fracas drew attention to how long it is taking the county to widen Northlake. A six-lane section, built by Avenir, is done but the next segment, from Coconut to Hall Boulevard, remains at two lanes, with work to widen it to four lanes expected to be completed in 2029.
Joel broke the story on Friday. Click here to read it.
— Joel Engelhardt
🍕 Update on CityPlace stairs
They’re gone.
With the city’s acquiescence, workers converting the 100-year-old Harriet Himmel Theater into an Eataly food hall have replaced the five columns of stairs that marked the historical entry of the onetime First United Methodist Church. Instead, two columns lead to a dead-end landing. Eataly’s main entry will be on the ground level, between the two rebuilt columns of stairs.
Click here to see what the stairs used to look like.
— Joel Engelhardt
🐥 Early birds get the local news
Thank you to the Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce for inviting Joel to participate in a presentation next week about the critical role of local news in a healthy community.
Why it matters: As technology, disinformation and changing habits cut revenue for mainstream media, news coverage is declining across Palm Beach County.
- Journalists are seeking new ways to serve readers with trusted reporting.
On the panel with Joel:
- Chamber Chair Tim Burke will moderate the discussion. Tim was the publisher of The Palm Beach Post and Palm Beach Daily News until 2019.
- Lindsey Linzer, vice president of community investments at The Miami Foundation. Lindsey helped launch Press Forward, a $500 million national initiative to reinvigorate and invest in local news.
- Samantha Ragland, vice president of journalism programs at the American Press Institute and a former colleague of Tim and Joel’s at The Palm Beach Post.
- Chadi Irani, general manager of The Palm Beach Post, Palm Beach Daily News and TC Palm.
If you go: The chamber starts early! Check-in and breakfast begin at 7:15 am March 19 at the Palm Beach Gardens Marriott. Chamber members get a discount and general admission starts at $75 for early birds. Register here.
— Carolyn DiPaolo
🍊 The Juice
📝 The first step in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ drive to end property taxes in Florida, Senate Bill 852, calls for a study of the issue by Oct. 1. Voters could decide in 2026 whether to change the state’s constitution to stop collecting about $55 billion a year from property owners. One thing DeSantis has not explained is how local governments and schools would function. Options include doubling the sales tax or deeply cutting services, including fire-rescue, police and garbage pickup. (Boca Magazine and Sun Sentinel$$$)
🧑🏼🏭Florida National Guard troops continue to patrol Florida prisons two years after Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered them there in September 2022 on a “temporary short-term basis.” (WLRN)
🌎 The federal AUTEC building on Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach could be on the chopping block. It’s the only federal property in Palm Beach County on a list of expendable buildings put out and then pulled by the Trump administration. The Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center is a Navy project offering underwater testing, in-air test facilities and support to U.S., Canadian, British, NATO and other military and civilian organizations. (Axios Miami)
🏘️ Palm Beach County commissioners will consider three proposals seeking $12 million for affordable housing projects at today’s meeting. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
⚓️ Riviera Beach is close to state approval to establish three mooring fields in Lake Worth Lagoon, including one about 500 feet from Palm Beach’s north end. Palm Beach officials worry that boat moorings in the intracoastal would create a nuisance and invasion of privacy. (Palm Beach Civic Association)
🎧 Fired Palm Beach Post Editorial Page Editor Tony Doris, the subject of a Stet exclusive last week, discusses the editorial cartoon that led to his ouster. (WLRN, 18-minute mark)
⛱️ Palm Beach County is in the midst of a 20-year tourism master plan, and it is asking residents and visitors to take this survey.
🇺🇸 Last chance to read about the candidates in today’s election for these cities:
🎻 561NSIDER: The symphony’s gifts to young musicians
Three Palm Beach County high school seniors have won musical instruments through a Palm Beach Symphony program.
Why it’s important: The new professional-level instruments are meant to ignite a lifelong journey in music.
The winners of the 2025 Lisa Bruna B-Major Award are:
Thomas “Aidan” Gardner, first place, a student at the Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach. He was given a sterling silver handmade flute and custom Lumina cut headjoint with a 14k rose gold crown.
Malorie Bliss, second place, also a student at Dreyfoos. She received a handmade cello by Stefan Petrov, a Herman Luger bow and a polycarbonate flight case.
Alexander Rodriguez, third-place, a student at Palm Beach Central Community High school in Wellington. He received a custom-built Willson euphonium, a brass wind instrument in the tuba family. Rodriguez was born without the lower portion of his left arm. The instrument was made with all four valves in a right-hand configuration to be played with one hand since traditional euphoniums require two hands.
Noteworthy: Finalists for the award attend an in-person audition and interview with the Palm Beach Symphony as part of the selection.
- The gifts of the instruments are made possible through the symphony’s Todd Barron Instrument Donation Fund. The fund has presented more than 800 instruments to aspiring young musicians since 2016.
- The symphony happily accepts donations of professional or amateur quality band and orchestra instruments. The gifts are rehabbed and given to schools and student musicians in need.
Go deeper: View a video about the symphony’s community outreach here.
