Good afternoon and welcome welcome to the town of Highland Beach Town Commission meeting. I've got an echo. >> Oh, >> Miss Allen. It is now 1:30 and we'd like to call the
meeting to order. If we could have a roll call, please. >> Commissioner Chanobski, >> present. >> Commissioner Goldberg, >> present. >> Commissioner Peters, >> present. >> Vice Mayor Stern, >> present. >> Mayor Moore, >> present. >> Town Manager Laby, >> present. >> And Town attorney Rubin, >> present. >> Thank you.
>> We could all rise for the pledge. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> Are there any changes to the agenda? If none, could we have a motion to approve? >> Yes. Motion to approve the agenda. >> I'll second that. >> All in favor say I. I >> moving on to presentations. Resolution number 20266-00001,
a resolution of the town commission of the town of Highland Beach, Florida, ratifying the selection, appointments, and term of office of members of the natural resources preservation advisory board and providing for an effective date. And we have Mr. Joseph uh Lefner.
uh if you could please come to the podium, introduce yourself, and um a couple words as to why you're >> Thank you. Uh my name is Joseph Laughler. I live at 4318 South Ocean Boulevard with my wife. Uh we've owned a home in Highland Beach for the last 25
years. 22 of those years here in Belo. Um have two dogs and everybody sees me walking my dogs, but um and I come from uh New York, a small seaside community called Ocean Beach, which is on Fire Island. And for eight years I was in uh that government. Uh four years as a
trustee and four years as the mayor. Very similar to Highland Beach. We had our own police department, our own fire department, surge treatment plant, water plant, and our own environmental issues. Uh and many of those issues were dune preservation and the preservation of the
beach which are difficult situations because you're dealing with or we were dealing with the village owned half of the property on the ocean front and the rest of the property was in private hands and it's very difficult to spend public funds on private property and
qualifying for federal money is another issue that came comes about. Uh we did participate in a uh fire island to from Ma Point to Rockaway uh preservation project was a billion dollars and it's ongoing as we speak and that was some of
it was installing groins, some of it was just beach nourishment and and a lot of it was culturing and doing things. We found some ways to get around some of the issues with with the uh spending the money on private property such as we got
environmental uh easements from some people. Um we had we used all volunteer help to plant the dune grass which eliminated that cost. So I mean there are things that that are available and I speaking with the environmental committee I think that um their function
is to maybe make you aware of some of the things that are available to to the town and the board and also to gather participation from the people that live in Highland Beach. It's a beautiful community. We're nestled between two areas. they get beach nourishment all of the time and uh now we have to deal also
with a new county park which is going to create another issue that we deal with with the beach and its nourishment and everything else. So I thought that maybe my input into the uh board might be of help and that's why I volunteered.
>> Excellent. Thank you very much. And each of the commissioners are going to say something. >> Joseph, we welcome you. Your credentials are outstanding. I think you're going to be a wonderful added addition to the group and we're looking forward to hearing more from you. >> Thank you.
>> Well, I was so impressed and um uh I I thank you. I'm familiar with New I'm a New Yorker and uh with the area and we would often uh uh uh boat out there and we enjoyed it so very much. And so your
your knowledge, your experience, your background is such a wonderful fit for us here at Highland Beach. So, I'm so glad that you're a resident and that you've come forward to serve. Thank you. >> Yes. Another New Yorker. I w I welcome you, Joseph. And I I like Barbara
Nestle. She's a great enthusiasm, which I never hear say that. So, uh it that's remarkable. And I and you're involved with erosion control, beach nourishment, and you can jump right in now. And they're there the sea oats and everything. They're doing that. So, I welcome you. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Thank you very much for applying. Very very wellqualified. We appreciate you volunteering and thank you very much. >> Well, not a New Yorker, by the way. >> I'm not a New Yorker, but I am a Belo person and I see you all the time and I
had no idea you had this type of experience. It's >> it's really couldn't be more perfect. Um, and it's uh al also just the practical aspects of it like you know what it took to get some of these things done because sometimes people have ideas
but they don't really know all the um obstacles that you can come ac and you've already done that. So um >> there are a tremendous amount of obstacles too. >> So your experience is >> legal end of it is just sometimes insurmountable but >> I bet and you've gone through it
already. I think having people realize that the beach is not just for the people on the ocean, >> right? >> The beach protects the entire town of Highland Beach, right? >> It's a flood erosion control. The dunes control flooding. >> We have to realize that. I think everybody has to understand goes on up
there and how it affects the whole town. >> And how important it is. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Thank you very much for volunteering. I'm so glad Karen uh recruited you for the position. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Um so I think we are all in favor. So, if we could have a motion.
>> Yes. Uh, I move to approve resolution number 2026-001. >> I second it. >> All in favor say I. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Okay. >> Nice to meet you. >> Moving on to public comments. Are there
any public comments? >> Um, okay. Go ahead. Well, I'm glad to have another member of the board and uh I feel like we've been doing our job. >> State your name and where you live.
>> Sorry, David Newman and I live in Highland Beach. The town houses of Highland Beach. >> Okay. Um I think it's on there. >> It was on. Okay. Uh I brought up this issue before and I'd like to reiterate.
I'm not speaking on behalf of the uh environmental committee, but I'm speaking on my own behalf, which is the beach raers. And um it's really uh the name is really a misnomer because much much of the time the uh the tractors
that go on the beach to clean the beach are not raking. They I rarely see a rake down. So, they are misleading uh the town and their clients by using that name. Uh what they're doing is they're putting the tracks on the beach. I
brought this up many times. Um I did some research and apparently a way this that this could be approached if they don't want to do it voluntarily. That is to leave the beach in the same condition they found it in when they when they
came to the beach without the tracks. um is I mean hopefully they'll do it voluntarily but there have been lawsuits in other parts of the country on the theory of uh visual nuisance and uh basically the beach raers I'm not
saying there's two companies but one in particular u is leaving these unsightly tracks on the beach and if you're a resident or even if you're a visitor or whatever and you're at the beach you pull up your beach chair there and you're looking like it looks like a
construction zone. There's no reason why we have this beautiful beach and this condition should continue. Now, the u the law that I mentioned or the cases that I mentioned involved a New York developer or a property I guess it was
more the property owners than the developer. The property owners were looking down on an empty lot that was full of trash. Now, they they brought a lawsuit on the basis of a visual nuisance. Now, if your if your next door neighbor is playing their uh saxophone at 3:00 in the
morning, that's a visual nuisance. Uh or if there's something really unsightly on that property. Well, apparently there was. They brought a lawsuit and they were successful just from looking down at all the trash and all the debris and everything else that was sitting on the on the property in New York. Well, I
think the theory holds true as well. in uh in Highland Beach that these beach raikers cannot leave a visual nuisance, a visual uh impairment uh when it's really very easy to u to remediate. They
can just use a rake when they leave the beach. At least somebody should. And uh I think some people are considering obviously some people I'm I've discussed this with people are bringing a class action lawsuit against the beach breakers for this visual nuisance. I see
it from my condominium. People that are going to the beach see it when they're walking on the beach or and their beach tears on the beach. And I think this has gone on for too long. We've talked to them about it and they they say you can't do anything about it. It's the uh federal land so too bad. we do whatever
we wanted to. Some of them are very rude about it as well. So, that's just my um my desire and my um encouragement to the board to consider I
think I've I've spoken to one of the board members about this of a statute, a local ordinance that would require them to leave the beach without tracks on the beach. I don't think it's impossible for them to do and I think with the encouragement from the city and if they
don't do it voluntarily then then an ordinance in fact I'm a I'm a retired attorney I could draft the ordinance and I'm happy to cooperate. So thank you for your interest. >> Thank you for your comment.
Hi, Tim Routollo formerly from Highland Beach now over the border in in Bokeh and haven't been here for a while. So, happy new year and um wanted to especially get back to thank the vice mayor for his
proposal on the shared path and what have you from last year. I'm not sure where that stands. It seems like it might be hung up in the ordinances um however you're structuring the
proposal of ordinances, but the uh some of you have received an email or what have you from me about somehow piggybacking maybe a I've heard people maybe it was the gentleman or somebody in the room who had proposed a community center for Highland Beach.
And I talked about possibly piggybacking onto the docks for cops thing and putting a community center on the back side of the library there as a part of that where you could come and play games
and maybe have a waterway walk. Uh, I think some police have seen me maybe playing tennis against the walls you have and been throwing street kitty balls down the driveway. Uh, street kitty games is is a lot of
fun. And um, I was playing tennis on a Saturday morning on the wall during the current events program and lady walked up by. She was just doing her walk and I told her about the waterway walk concept and she said, "I'm all for
it. I'm going to spread the word." And and she thought the community center was a a good idea. I mean, the wall back there on the library is high enough for a highly game. And I mean, if you just use your creativity, a lot of this stuff doesn't
cost any money. Like, we've got community cats over at at Bokeh. I don't think I've ever seen one in Highland Beach. Maybe someday they um there's just all kinds of thing that you can do if you use your imagination. Just
walk around. I mean, you can walk around the back side of the the library right now and it would be so easy to do to accomplish those things for a very little amount of money. Thanks so much. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments?
Moving on to ordinances. Ordinance number 2026-00001. Uh, second reading. public hearing of an ordinance of the town commission of the town of Highland Beach, Florida, amending article 7, administration and enforcement of chapter 30 zoning code of
the town code of ordinances by adopting a new section 30-124 reasonable accommodation procedure for certified recovery residences providing for codification providing for severability and providing for an effective date. And the first reading of
this was January 6th, 2026. >> Thank you, mayor. I feel like we've talked about this so many times already. Um, so very brief recap. This is a statutory mandate that we're required, all municipalities in the state are required to um enact a procedure for the
approval of certified recovery residences, which are the residential component for people undergoing substance abuse treatment. So without going into all the details because I feel like we've discussed them but if you have any questions um of course I'd be happy to answer them but when we adopted on first reading I believe it
was Commissioner Goldberg wanted some assurance that this was just for resident residential the residential component and not would not there would be actually no treatment occurring in these uh residences. So I did add the language it's highlighted on the version
of the ordinance in your packet. Um added language to say that certified recovery residences as defined below shall be utilized solely for housing, peer support, and life skills training and shall not under any circumstances be utilized for clinical substance abuse treatment of any type or level of care,
including but not limited to detoxification, inpatient residential treatment, partial hospitalization, or outpatient treatment. So I believe that should address the count the commission's concerns. But if you have any questions or additional comments or
be happy to answer them or address them. >> No, that's fine. Um the verbies you have is excellent and um my my concern as I expressed before was having this traffic. >> Understood.
>> And not being able to control it if it was so so it um it hits the mark. Thank you. >> All right. You're welcome. Thank you. Any other discussion? Seeing none, if we could have a motion. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Let me open it up for public hearing.
I'm sorry. Um, any uh comments for the public hearing? >> Okay, seeing none, I am closing the public hearing. So, if we could have a motion. Yes. >> I make uh I move to approve uh ordinance number 2026-001.
That's to adopt. Motion to adopt. >> Second it. Commissioner Goldberg, >> yes. >> Commissioner Peters, >> yes. >> Commissioner Chinatski, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Stern, yes. >> And Mayor Moore, >> yes. >> Motion carries. Moving on to the consent
agenda. Do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Yes. I move to uh approve the agenda. >> Second that. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Motion carries. Moving on to unfinished business. the Florida Department of Transportation tripleR project update.
>> So, for most for most purposes, the project is complete. They're working through punch list items. Uh Pat and Sergio uh walked began the punch list walk with the contractor, the Stout
Group um along with FDOT uh consultants and engineering team. They got about 3 hours in, called it a day. there were so many items on the punch list, relatively small stuff, but there's so many of those small items. Uh, basically FDOT
said, "Call us when you're ready for it." So, they're just doing a lot of touch-up work and you're going to see that I'm guessing the route pace we're going, you know, maybe in a month, over the next month, all the little stuff should be uh tied down. I know there were some comments or concerns about the steel plates uh you see on the south end
of town. That is not a town project, nor is it an F DOT project. That is the property owner uh on the west side making a sewer and water connector for a future development. Um that's that Milani uh apartment development, not the
park uh but the condo development and their contractor just ran into some problems. Once they are done, which they are, and compaction is achieved, they've contracted through the F. Contractor to repave that section. So, that section will be repaved. Uh, but
again, that's not part of the F. Project. That was a water sewer connection project. >> That's it. We're almost done. Almost almost maybe one more of these and we should be good. >> Question. Is there a followup when we get into a real rainy season? some areas
that they've done that they haven't done them quite well that they'll come back and correct it. >> Yep. Uhhuh. Um, no, I just uh I I I tease I I don't know that they're going to come back. They continue to tell us that it wasn't a drainage project. We
will continue to call them and try to hold their feet to the fire in the future to make uh those corrections. Again, some of those really hot areas for flooding, I mean hot as more frequent areas for flooding. Seagate, uh, ambassadors, you're still going to see it there and it's probably going to
be a little bit more pronounced. Um, and at times the pathways will stay underwater longer. The road will be clear and free. The rightway is where our flood problems are going to be in the future and we'll have to continue to work with FDOT to see if we can't get them to eventually have a secondary
project or a solution uh to that. Uh and like I said, we're we've made a appropriation request collectively to the state to give us some dollars for the embedded crosswalk lighting and to repave the uh pathway. Some of those areas that need to be repaved need to be
slightly elevated. So for those smaller rain events, the pathways will still be traversible and keep people from walking back into A1A. And that's my biggest concern, especially, you know, in season sometimes we'll get a, you know, a big heavy rain event and then the rightway
floods the pathways and everybody when we're busy, everybody will be out in the street. That's just not a good spot to place that pedestrian traffic. So, uh, we're still working with them, but FDOT's really not picking up on our push at the moment. Uh so we'll just you know as we have over these years just keep on
uh going back to them saying they have to correct it or there has to be a solution. Um it's all we can do at this point. I fear you know. >> Yeah. >> Marshall will when they put Milani Park in the spring there they'll be digging up the road the same way.
>> Yeah. Yep. Uh so when they go in they the the county still has to make its connection as well. Uh so they will be cutting across the road. Both parties. Our public works department has informed them they should have done it before the road project or to think ahead. Uh our
invitation or encouragements were declined and now we're going to be having multiple cuts. Uh and uh potent potentially, you know, more construction in that area with the turn lane. So uh Bokeh Highlands, you'll probably um for
those from Boca Highlands, I see one in here. So, uh, traffic and construction, I think, is going to carry on a little bit longer into the summer, but there'll be secondary projects, um, coming through. Uh, also on the roadway, it's
kind of slightly off from F DOT. We've gotten some permission. We've engaged our engineer um, to look at finding a crosswalk for Belo, Russell, and Bell Air drives to get to the beach. Um, we there's not no
one's getting a jaywalking ticket, but I see a lot of folks crossing at random spots, especially during seasons. Very uncomfortable. And I know we have a uh one of our residents out there uh that really keeps uh my feet to the ground to make sure we explore this. We've gotten some positive response from FDOT if
there's anything good that's coming out of it. And hopefully we can get another crosswalk for the Belo area to get over to their uh beach. Thank you. >> Thank you. Moving on to the building department
reertification program update. >> Hello. Good afternoon. >> Okay. >> I'm here to present the building reertification update as of today, February 3rd, 2026. So, Monterey House since the last
meeting has been reertified. So that brings our total number of reertified buildings to 31 out of 54. We have two buildings under phase one review. They both submitted structural and electrical review
and 18 buildings remain under permit for restoration. Overall, we're in good shape. Every month there's a positive note to present and it's gonna it continues to stay on track. Great. >> Great. >> Okay. Excellent.
>> Okay. >> Good news. >> Kudos. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Thank you very much. >> Moving on to continued discussion of fiscal year 2025 2026 strategic priorities plan.
>> Thank you, mayor. So, from our uh January 6th meeting, I took your comments and directions on um reorganizing or re ranking uh strategic priorities, adding the four new ones and actually the fifth new one uh based on
Commissioner Goldberg's comments um into our list. Vice Mayor, thank you. I have a duplication on 13 and 17 are the same. I'm going to cut 17 out and bring the bottom side up uh on those uh rankings. So you do see some new the the latest one that was
added based on your meeting is um strategic priorities 10 which is kind uh crime prevention and community policing technology initiative. So uh that was based on the drones and the acts on cameras and stuff to kind of uh
memorialize those activities and future activities under a strategic initiative and and added that in there. It did carry somewhat of a high priority, so I put it in there at number 10. And as you see, there's a series of my re-ranks.
Um, I cut out some projects that basically were done. Um, I believe I took out the A1A project because we're for all intents and purposes doesn't need to carry into our new plan. That will go as a completed project into the full plan. Also adding into here is our
capital improvements list. that is uh an addendum to the strategic priority plan that kind of shows some of the projects ones that we've completed in 25 to 26 projects to the best of our ability and then uh projecting out 27 28 and 29
keeping our 5-year program uh rolling and up to date. So with that I could take any comments. Again though after we finish if we do conclude today and we accept the general rankings I will bring back to you at our next meeting the approval of the full plan and then again
the CIP component along with the initiatives begin to build the five-year forecast into our budget. So it's the the building blocks that we have for our annual budget process. Zerobased budgeting in case somebody from the state's watching.
Any comments about the plan? I thought the priorities looked good. I I liked I liked how everything >> once it got cleaned up um and how all the priorities came out. I I agreed with
um the order that you had. Um I don't have much to say about the capital projects. I'm trusting that they're all things that need to be done and um >> and as we recall uh similar to what we did in December with the Belo Bridge
project now for our Balo Bridge resident users uh the project starts okay uh next week Monday. So that you'll have a little bit of congestion around the bridge area as our contractor goes and does all the structural work and then fixes the railings and the paving and
things of that nature. That's going but similar to that project we'll bring it back to you with the contract. So we did our best to estimate the cost. These costs seem to con fluctuate. So in this year's current active budget we really don't have all of the capital projects accounted for. I said we would bring
those larger scale the fire annex the police reconstruction the marine dock. >> You will authorize those final amounts with the contracts and if we need to move reserves over to cover in the current fiscal year. Some of them we may not get to all of them and then it would carry over to the next. Um but in that
similar process, you see what we're aiming for. Once we get actual numbers, we'll bring it back for authorization for the budget amendment uh to move those dollars. >> And then just a question about the bridge project. Is there going to be traffic? Are there going to be traffic people there? Is there you know?
>> Nope. You have to use a little thing. No kidding. No, there'll be uh we'll have uh we have anote. somebody will be out there flagging, directing traffic. At times, >> uh you might, you know, uh we'll try to keep it out of the rush hour, morning, evening, school time stuff, but in the middle of the day, there may be moments
where you have to wait. We can't have flag, we may have to shut the whole bridge for a moment >> or two. >> Uh we've invited FOT to see how traffic control works. So hopefully they'll get an idea how the best way to do that. Um but there'll be a little bit of interruption, but it shouldn't be too
bad. Most of the work's underneath, but sometimes we have to access it. And then we do the take the railings off at times. So, uh, because you get new railings on the side instead of the styrofoam that goes away. >> Uh, so we get some real landscape pillars in there and stuff. >> It' be nice. >> Yeah.
>> So, I had a question with regard to five, uh, the marine docking. >> Um, in the progress report, you indicated there was a one a one-year delay in the project to allow for securing the annual find grant. Yes. So,
uh when we got into this project, uh our engineers ran into some delays. They had indicated that this would be an individual permit process. They we've then found ourselves in the general category of permitting process, which is a lengthier public notice. And then as
we move through it, what we find to be a dimminimous impact to non uh endangered seaggrass, we we didn't know that they were going to slow and restart the whole process as we had to do a secondary seaggrass survey. Um
we've looked at redoing that. So we met on Monday. I don't have an update yet from Scander. I don't see Major O to give an update on uh how that went. But the delay was we had to have things in for the fine grant. We got the appropriation. Uh Representative Gossit
Simon out there. Thank you. Um the fine grants for like a million bucks. So we didn't want to lose that. But in order to do that, we had to have permits in hand and we couldn't do it. So we had to delay for a whole year in that fine process, which we're finding we actually
need because of the seaggrass impacts and the South Florida Water Management District delays on that. We believe and we've gotten some indication uh working uh through Washington that the Army Corps of Engineers will will follow the lead. Uh but we're really pushing that
we've made shifts and changes. So now we're talking a couple hundred square feet of shadowing impact to seaggrass that it's dimminimous. The use is for public safety greater purpose. This isn't for my yacht or my fishing. This is for public
safety. We're hoping that has leverage and we we move through it here in the next two months to get that the final touches. So the delay really was a permitting delay. Our engineers said they understood but obviously didn't and cause that delay. >> So during this calendar year, the
upcoming calendar year um do we generally uh just a performer put one or more of the priorities on the agenda so that uh we can keep track of it? the commission >> as far as like on the agenda
>> just ju just regularly like like we do with um EFA like we do with reertification >> you should and I apologize that we haven't and we will moving forward >> great >> y >> other than that I think that it's um it
looks great the order I think it's fine >> yeah that's an important project and u I agree I I definitely agree that's a good idea Any other comments? >> No, we're good. >> Good. >> Yeah, looks good. Marshall, thank you. >> So, I will bring one for your final
approval. We'll add a monthly update on more of the hot topics that are up front, especially the ones that are tied to a capital project and we'll uh keep moving. >> Sounds good. Great. Thank you very much. Thank you. >> Moving on to new business. Oh, sorry. Go
ahead. Public comments. Thanks, Miss Mayor. I neglected to thank all of you in my last public comment earlier, Tim Routollo, uh, Highland Beach, formerly, currently Bokeh. Thank all of you for
moving past all the legal garbage regarding Milani Park. Hopefully, that's a done deal. like it sounds like it is. And uh going back to what I was talking about as far as going back there behind
the uh library, I was saying in our neighborhood in Bokeh, we have some banyan tree islands that I spend a lot of time on. Now I call it the banyan tree island club. But if you
actually go out there, you can really envision some things happening with like the street kitty ball and street kitty games and having a parade. I mean, you guys could have a parade here in Highland Beach and honor all the
veterans like you do. You know, a lot of people come out for the the Fourth of July and line the line the waterway. I mean, there's just so many things that you can do with these uh facilities that you have at at real
limited cost. And we're going to do them in Bokeh. I I had some commission candidates out over there. They've got an election coming up and come to find
out you can actually have political signs in the in the Banyan Tree Island Club over there. I took your shirt out a few times there, sir, and uh hung it up on a on a branch
from the last election. There was no objection. And uh so I mean you can climb those trees in Bokeh and there's just a lot of trees here in in Island Beach you can climb. It's a part of the street kitty games. Thanks a lot.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Moving on. Oh, another comment. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um still David Newman. Um the one thing that one issue that's come up for us and I don't know
if it's affected the people here but uh the intersection of of Lenton and A1A uh has been on and off especially in the late in the afternoons but sometimes in the mornings has been a traffic jam and I've spoken with u I called the the
Delray Beach police because I know it's on the Del Great Beach side of A1A and they referred me to u another entity and I spoke with people I think it was
the the road departments um and I spoke with someone and my suggestion at least for the temporary suggestion a very simple suggestion is to make the right turn there's two lanes going we're talking about the intersection of Linton
and A1A and as I don't know if any of you have been stuck at that intersection before we've been stuck at it sometimes 15, 20 minutes. Uh, and if you have to be somewhere, it's very frustrating and it's not necessary because you have two lanes. One lane goes straight, the the
left lane turns left. But they stopped the traffic from the on A1A going going south. So, in that right hand lane could be turning that right hand lane that stopped uh or going straight could also be turning left
because there's three lanes on the bridge. And so you'd have twice as been almost twice as much traffic going through at the same time. Um, and I made the suggestion to the uh to the uh highway department. They thought it was a good idea. They were going to take it
up. All it takes is a left turn arrow, left turn with caution or something from the right lane and the traffic will cut that that weight in half or eliminate it alto together. I don't know what influence you have with this. Is there
And I and I and I talked to someone in Highland Beach. Um and they said, "That's not our problem. It's in that's in Delray Beach." I said, "Well, it is a it is our your problem because you're you're a official of the city of Highland Beach and it's
affecting the people of Highland Beach primarily. So, it's an issue for us. And so, can you address that issue? Is that was that out of your out of your uh range of concern? look into it. I'm I'm not sure. We look into it.
>> Thank you for the comment. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other comments? Rick Greenwald, Belo. Uh positive suggestion to build on uh Commissioner Goldberg's comments. I think it would be a good idea for all of
our projects that are on the uh strategic list u to have a publishable or at least a findable timeline and dashboard to assess how these things are going so that the
commission and any interested people. But certainly the commission has a pretty good idea is about what's going on with any of the uh projects that are on the uh strategic plan uh for that particular year. So that instead of at the end of the year
we're going oh yeah what happened to that we're supposed to have a dock. The police were supposed to get a dock. What happened to the dock? We know at 3 months in, you know, there was a hold up and here's what's happening and the engineers are going back to the, you know, it was hard to get print, whatever it was. It can be
that a grant didn't come through. It can be a million reasons why things happen. Um, most significant size businesses have that in one form or another. I mean, they call it different things and there different models with, you know, red, yellow, green, and all this kind of
stuff. But I think we should have something like that and it should be available to the commissioners so that they can uh follow the projects on a more uh active and continuous basis. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Any other comments? >> Seeing none, moving on to new business. Um, introduction to a proposed amendment to the town code of ordinances regarding hard surfaces for walking, gathering or sitting as they pertain pertain to seaw walls.
Okay. Good afternoon, uh, Ingred Allen, town planner. Uh, so on page 47 of your packets, um, I provided you a summary as to how this item came before you today. Um, and I'm going to go over that, uh, briefly. Um, on August 14th of 2025, the
planning board uh made a motion to propose to the town commission an amendment to section 30-66 C1A of the town code. Um, that section is actually provided at the bottom of page 47 in your packets uh to allow hard services
past the property line to a dock and to put forth Greg Bobby as a sponsor of the amendment. Now what brought on this motion was there was a special exception that was approved by the planning board at this August 14th meeting. Uh that special exception included the
installation of a 105 foot or linear foot seaw wall and seaw wall cap. It also included the approval of a boat lift um as well as a dock for the property located at 2564 South Ocean Boulevard. Um let me go ahead and uh
share my screen. I provided you some illustrations on page 66 and on page 57 of your packets. Let me just pull this up. >> Just going to go over those a much
easier way to understand all this. There we go. Okay. Um so um here you have the property at 2564 South Ocean Boulevard. As I mentioned, this is what was approved by the planning board. Um when you look at this
detail, you'll see that the property line is right here and this new seaw wall is located right here. So it's about 3 ft 5 in from the property line. When you read section 30-66 C1A, and I'll go ahead and read it into the
record. It says, "When a hard surface hard surfaces above a waterway, canal or lake, such hard surfaces may encroach up to the property line or the seaw wall abing the water, whichever is further landward." And it says uh you have to have adequate drainage. So for this
particular property, it's the property line that's further landward. This is by the way the inter coastal waterway, right? So what does that mean? That means you can't have a hard surface past the property line. >> So, as you can see, um there is a a seaw wall cap here that was approved. This
edge of the seaw wall cap is 2 ft from the property line. Now, when the planning board approved this special exception, they also approved a condition which I note in the staff report or in the memorandum and that condition was that sod or artificial turf shall be placed again from the
property line here to the seaw wall cap. Now that recommendation or I should say that condition was recommended recommended by staff really as a proactive step again given the way section 30-66 C1A is written uh we don't
have anything in our code that says you can put artificial turf there or sod which is why staff recommended the commission uh the condition um so um uh I also provide here the an existing conditions this was part of the plans
set that was approved by the planning board. Just to give you a little bit of perspective, um the existing condition is that there's this rip wrap. So rip wrap is basically big rocks, right? And on the plants, the applicant put that they're going to remove the existing rip wrap and there's no existing seaw wall
there. So I had asked the applicant during the development review process. So the applicant, the property owner submits an application, it goes through development review. We want to make sure that application is complete and suitable for the planning board to take a look at it. So I had asked them why don't you put your why aren't you
putting your seaw wall right along the property line which is right here and I put in your uh memorandum that the applicant indicated uh that the proposed seaw wall location is and I quote consistent with pre-existing hurricane damage rock wall. Now um that said our
code does not regulate the location of a seaw wall or seaw wall cap as it reta as it relates to the property line. We don't have a regulation that says the seaw wall must be uh along the property line or let's say within five feet of the property line. We don't have any type of regulation um like that.
Now I also have here um some other seaw wall scenarios that we have in the town. This is just to give the commission a little bit of perspective of what kind of seaw wall layouts we have. Uh this one on the top here is 4203 tranquility. Um, and this type of seaw wall layout is
what we see quite often. So, you have here an existing seaw wall. This is really low, maybe at three feet, and the existing cap. And then the applicant got approved this new seaw wall right here. And this is a new cap. Um, now this existing seaw wall is going to stay.
This is very common. They're not pulled out. They stay. And then the new seaw wall is placed or installed within 18 in of the existing. Now that 18inch threshold um is authorized by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as well as the Army Corps of
Engineers. When you put in a seaw wall, you have to get approvals uh from those agencies. Okay. Um so we typically see a small gap, right? Because you have an existing seaw wall that's there. So there's typically a gap at grade. So we have
allowed property owners to put a hard surface there. It's a small area, minimal area. Um and it's reasonable to have a hard surface there. Again, you have an existing seaw wall. Um another example right here is 4320 Inter Coastal Drive. Here's the inter coastal waterway
here. This is an interesting um example. You have an existing seaw wall here. Um and this existing seaw wall is actually on the property. It's inside the property line um on the property itself. And then here the applicant uh got approved a new seaw wall which is right
here. This vertical pile. And this is a new seaw wall cap. Here's the property line. You can see that a portion of that cap is on the property and then the remaining part of the cap is outside the property. So again, this is just some examples of uh again what we typically
see. Um now, so if we go back to the first slide here, which is again what brought up this whole um discussion or item, I should say. Um the proposed amendment based on the motion that was
provided by the board. Um a new seaw wall can commence beyond the property line where there is no existing seaw wall. And you could have a hard surface again from here from the property line to where the seaw wall cap is. And um
you know in this case you also have you you would have a hard surface here not only to access the seaw wall but to access in this case a dock. And there's also a boat lift. So, if you have, let's say, this area is filled, the the fill permit was approved by the commission.
If this area fill is going to be a paved area with pavers, you can possibly have a continuation of that rear paved surface again beyond the property line. So, I just want to be sure um that's clear to the commission. Um, now on page
47 of your packets, I did put a little note uh that board member Bobby suggests in his narrative. The narrative is on page 49 and on page 69 that he wanted to widen the scope of the board motion. Uh basically for properties located on the inter coastal waterway. He was
suggesting that if a property has like a beach area, he would like to see uh the ability for the property owner to install uh hard surface to that beach area even though the hard surface is outside the property line. So I'll let Mr. Bobby um address that directly with
the commission. Um, I'll go ahead and give him the floor and if uh the commission has any questions afterwards, I'll be glad to address any questions. >> Thanks, Ingred. Uh, Greg Bobby 1092 Belo Drive and on the planning board. This topic wins the award for the most amount
of paper and words versus the amount of complexity in the topic. This is kind of silliness. Uh, but the the point we're trying to address here, whether it's a beach or a seaw wall or whatever, is pretty simple. If a property line goes here and a seaw wall is here, why would
we want to allow a resident to have a walking path to the edge of the property line and then we have a gap of grass and then we have their dock? It seems a little bit nonsensical. Uh, and the issue is this whichever is for their
land wording in our regulations. So, the proposal is simply to let the planning board look at this a little closer and see if we can just clean up this language to make it so if someone does have a seaw wall that goes a little bit beyond their property line, they actually can have a walking path that
goes all the way to their dock. Um, it's not just for aesthetics, it's a little bit for safety as well. If you're uh using a cart or anything to bring something heavy to your boat, it's hard to do it on a hard surface and then go onto a soft surface and then go back onto a hard surface again. So, uh there
is a safety issue to it as well. Um yes, if someone is on the inter coastal and they have sort of a beach entry, it'd be nice if they could have a walkway path at least to get to the point where there are some stairs or something. I just gave that tang as an example of there could be other things besides seaw walls
but uh we don't need to make this more complex than it is. >> Yeah, Greg, now when you say you're just talking about the pathway being hard surface, you're not talking about the whole area being hard surface, >> correct? >> Just to have some sort of at the very minimum, we talked about having some sort of walking path so you could
actually transition from the end of your property to wherever the dock and seaw wall is safely. >> Certainly makes sense. Yeah. You know, certainly. And um in looking at this, preparing for today, um I was really very perplexed by this uh you know the
uh technicality of all this until I read your memo which very clearly sets it out. >> Uh thank you for that. Uh but yes, it seems that for an everyday use being able to remove uh whatever you need to do, get on and off a boat, you really need that.
>> Makes sense. And just for my own clarification, when your seaw wall is within your property line, there's no issue, right? No issue at all. So, it's it's really almost I read it as it was like almost an oversight because now I don't know that it was as um a common
practice to put seaw walls on top of seaw walls, right? Like that's kind of new of a newer thing. >> So maybe that's why it was overlooked um because um we didn't have this extension. So yeah, to me it seems like it's it was an oversight and let's just fix it.
>> Yeah, I think we're just getting all caught up in the words and see if we can clean up the word and make it so people can have a >> and I think it's appropriate to have the planning board uh take a shot at it. I think that makes a lot of sense and yeah, I'm in favor. >> Is is the is the material of this hard surface is is there anything about
erosion or environmental that we need to be concerned with? I mean again, it's not your private property. This is extending out to the seaw wall. >> Ah, >> I guess it still would technically it would be property. I guess that's a a
question for Len. Who technically owns the property? If you have a property line and then you have a seaw wall and a dock that the Army Corps of Engineers gave you approval to do in the inter coastal and there's this little piece of property in between. Is that technically extend your property line or is that
just property owned by the county? What is it? What would it be? >> It's a good question. Um, I don't think it automatically extends your property. I think your property line is your property line, but they do authorize construction within the the right of way, the canal right ofway or the inter
coastal, I think it would still be part of the waterway itself. But since they're authorizing the construction of the seaw walls seawword of the existing seaw walls I mean I don't I don't believe it'll be any issue but I don't I don't think it automatically extends the
property. Now from a practical standpoint it does because you get more property useful but >> there's a situation like this in Boca Raton on the inter coastal uh as you get down towards Fifth Avenue. There's actually a property there that has what's called an easement from where the
property line ends and it's about 20 ft until where their seaw wall begins and uh they're allowed to do whatever they want in that easement but technically the uh state could take it away from them at any point if they wanted. >> Well, what about the oversight? You said they they can do whatever they want. Is
there who would have oversight over that what you're doing? the municipality bokeh or in our situation beach we'd still have the purview to review it the planning board would look at it and say does it meet the ordinance is >> Ingred would be very detailed call it out we'd have the ability to authorize
it and then to get a building permit building code applies >> does the is the the private owner is the private owner uh responsible for that uh going forward I mean it's not uh deed that way >> you know that and that's what I was
thinking in my mind it's a very interesting question and it's almost like there maybe there should be an easement to allow the property owner to use it and then if the from a liability and I always appreciate your perspective on this. So from a liability perspective if
somebody gets injured then it it should be the responsibility of the property owner not you know the state or whomever owns that. >> All right so if we are approving it if the oversight is municipality then um are we opening ourselves to any liability? No,
>> it's a permitting function. Generally, we're immune from permitting functions. It's not really, it wouldn't necessarily be a liability for us, for the town, but I mean, it could be a liability issue with the property owner in the state, you know, because you're talking about property that's beyond the property line.
>> I just don't think the state's going to do it in wholesale. I think it's you're going to see feet, a couple of feet. I don't think you're going to see the stake going on. You go 15 feet out and they're gonna if you went quas the property to the property owner or you could make that claim or an adverse possession claim over time
>> after 20 years. >> Should there be should there any any language inserted as to uh any obligation of the property owner to maintain it in any way or to the defects or what if it breaks apart? What? >> Right. It's good. I mean, look, I I I
think as part of the ordinance, I think that's an excellent point that if the onus for maintenance would be on the property owner, of course, because who else would maintain it? Nobody. >> Hey, Len. Yes. >> Um, for those of us that have been out in the waterway look over the last couple of years looking at the deterioration of the seaw walls, I think
the planning board did a fabulous job in this because this is one of the more creative situations they would they would run into. But as far as what they've done and how they've done it, I think they did a fabulous job in this. Greg >> um and he should be and they his kudos
to the planning board for doing this but I can't see any reason that we wouldn't >> move forward with it >> because this is as you look at the as you look at the deterioration taking place now in the inter coastal I mean this is really a super way to handle it
and I think you did a great job. >> I I have a great it makes a lot of sense. My question is is there a limitation on how wide the path can be in relation to or it >> that's certainly something we can explore and the other comment I was
going to say Len is we could always do an approve or approve with conditions right we can if we have these situations come up again we can have limitations around size of walking path we can have limitations on the owner then takes on liability >> right because >> the conditions >> you're absolutely right because the
special the uh the structures are special exceptions. So there you can always impose conditions. So right I I guess it could be on a case by case for the plane board how wide the walkway would be whether you know what would be appropriate for that particular property. >> The big word that I think he used was
safety. You know this was not a cosmetic change. This was definitely done because of safety. Uh and I think that that was to me that's the number one priority right now. >> Well it also seems to be really a convenience to me. convenience to the homeowner that they don't have to uh um
dig their cart out of the the grass to get it back up on the private property. >> Exactly. Right. >> And and I guess each side of the walkway would be porous, so you wouldn't have to worry about that situation. >> Yeah. No, no matter what, there would still be the same regulations regarding maintaining water on your property,
>> right? >> So, how would we edit this to uh accommodate what we're talking about here? Well, I I think, you know, this has all been helpful. I think in in drafting the ordinance, we're going to have to sort
of work through some of these concepts, concepts of, you know, the maintenance, concepts of the walkway, all that kind of stuff. >> But I think it's good to let the planning board um take a look at it. You're the appropriate group and um that'd be excellent. Thank you for doing that. >> Thank you.
>> Oh, go ahead, Marshall. >> Are we talking access or hard surface? We're talking about a hard surface path to get >> to provide access just access because I could just see >> are we okay with that? I'm not one way
or another. I just want to know that if we say access and then somebody says I'm just going to send the whole patio up to the seaw wall. >> That's right. >> Are we not saying >> Well, I think that's what you're going to look at, right? Like some sort of >> Yeah, that's an ambiguous term access. You know,
>> I just >> I mean, I would like access to be, you know, my entire >> Well, that's why Greg the exposure >> that's why Greg said to get the the pathway with down to a >> and we very much welcome commission input.
>> Yeah. >> I think the most important thing is, you know, it's there's always the two debates, right? Quality of life versus safety. >> Right. Right. >> The safety issue definitely needs to be addressed. Um, and if it's a quality of life thing and we want to say no, it's just going to be a walking path or some
sort of path where you can safely traverse to your dock, that's fine, too. But that at least has to get addressed. >> Right. >> If I can add, um, I suggested to Mr. Bobby that with regards to the the section 30-66 C1A, you might want to
call out that that path when it's specific to a a seaw wall or an accessory marine facility, just to call it out. Now I know you were talking about an additional pathway to like a beach edge and we could you know just the the planning board can discuss that
but I think it's important to call out hard services specific to a seaw wall and accessory marine facilities versus other types of hard surfaces. So >> yeah, >> if you didn't have hard, the axis would be what?
>> You would think you would cross over on grass, artificial, something soft. >> Something softer, which during rain, I mean, we know what happens with a soft surface. So it makes more sense from a safety point of view to have a hard surface. >> There was a question on erosion that I
don't think was answered. Um, do did you have that question? Were you asking about erosion? Someone someone had brought up erosion >> uh of that hard surface of that hard surface. >> I we've seen we've seen what erosion has taken place in the entire inter coastal.
So we know that's a problem. >> Yeah. As long as there's a seaw wall in place that should maintain >> the erosion anyway. >> Now I was referring to this platform. >> Oh okay. >> Not the seaw wall itself. >> Understood. >> Okay. >> Uh comment public comment. You want to
come on it? >> Rick Greenwald, no comments really, just a few questions. Uh, glad that the planning board is considering this, but first question is this only pertains to the intra coastal waterway and does not
apply to houses on canals. Is that correct? I would think it would apply to all water. It would apply to everybody looking at all water. Yeah. And Greg's shaking his head. We >> have the same situation in the canals. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Second question. Um
we're talking about as time goes on, people are going to be raising seaw walls and uh as such presumably extending further out into the water. Uh today we talked about 18 in.
Uh last time I was here at a preliminary uh meeting there was talk about 3 feet. And my question is how does this actually work? Because every time a house gets knocked down these days it's going to need a the replacement's going to need a new seaw wall. So, the thing
that comes to mind, and I'm not sure how it's addressed, is instead of the seaw walls now on a on a canal, they may be different heights, but by a little bit, but they're in line with each other, are we going to have things
where seaw walls are sticking out 3 ft further or 18 in further than their neighbors? Is that how that's going to work? I brought this up last time when we were approving heights, and I said, "Yeah, the height part's great. I'm a little bit concerned about the protrusion part. So, don't need answers today, but I
would like to know how these proposals are going to be affecting that because I can see how that could in a minimum create problematic appearances if nothing else. >> According to the Army Corps of Engineers, they would say, "How do you prepare for the rising tides over the next 10 years?"
>> Well, obviously, I mean, you can replace seaw walls. It's less expensive and easier to build over them and build a new one outside of them as opposed to digging it up. I mean, someone's digging up rip wrap, you can dig up seaw walls. It's more expensive. It's got other I'm not saying I'm not making judgments
about any of this. I'm just trying to clarify when we pass rules what they what they're going to mean for the for the future. Again, for me, it's it doesn't matter, but it will as as time goes on.
Um, I think that's it. Basically, I was concerned about whether this was just the intra coastal where there's a lot of variability when you look at seaw walls versus uh canals or lakes or whatever you want to call them, but the the side canals where there's a lot of uniformity. Some
are higher than others now, but they don't stick out three feet from other ones at this point. Um, so that's something that I think needs to be addressed. Obviously, we want to have safe pathways. People can think more
about whether it should be a fixed 6ft path, an 8ft path, a whole backyard, whatever. >> I mean, that the planning board can come up with, but there are a few basic questions. I like to get a hold of ahead of it when possible
what some of the uh potential unintended consequences are kind of thing and just sort of give some of those a peak. That's it. Thanks. >> Thank you. Do we know >> just just on there there is a companion request collectively on that topic from
Greg as well. Uh but we've told him we can't be more restrictive until 2027. So >> uh Mr. Bobby had asked that same question. How do we begin to control that outward movement over time and we one in a sense collapse the size of the
canals or as you suggest it's kind of a a choppy haphazard and then you're going to have wave problems and all sorts of trash collection points. But we can't do anything at the moment under statute. So we'd have to wait till 27. But that is queued up. So >> is isn't that 18 in of a state and army
corps of engineer rules? So, >> but at what point in time does 18 in 18 foot three feet I got to catch up with my neighbors and then next thing you know you're you're pushing it out. So, >> but it's a longer term issue but something we should probably be
>> about. Do we take aerial shot shots? I know I have a lakehouse and if I build my seaw wall out further or change it, they come and they take pictures every year. >> The county does flyovers every couple of years. >> All right. You do have those aerials and you can kind of trace them back even on
the property appraiser or on Google on both actually. >> But Ingret, isn't it a one time you can do that 18 in in front of an existing seaw wall? I don't think you can then do it again. >> That's a good question. >> So we'll we'll have to get the answer to that as well. Okay.
>> Right. Right. Because we're now in the second gen, but there will be a time where there's a third generation. Hey, >> I mean, you know, I won't be here like >> Ingred, one of my concerns is the ammy corps is getting further and further
behind right now. It's taking longer and longer. From a timeline point of view, where does this fit from a timeline? When were they hoping to actually get an answer and to actually take action on something like this? Because the ambiore they say is behind like almost a year now.
>> Well, I I'll be glad to reach out to both agencies. I have contacts there. >> But um yeah, I I'll see what what their thoughts are if they're the visionaries there that are thinking about this topic. >> Yeah, thank you.
>> Back to the commission one. This item should come back. >> Mayor, may I type a few loose ends? >> Yes. >> Great. Uh yes, this applies to all canals, waterways, everything. Um the one restriction or the one set of rules that do apply to if you want to do your
wall out again again is it has to still make the canal navigable uh and that falls under the um the building department plus the u marine uh consultant but that's pretty nebulous and I believe Ingred you and Jeff and I
had a conversation about this exact topic maybe six months ago or something like that about what we can and what we can't do. So, uh, we did try to explore it, but hands are somewhat tied. >> Super. >> Yeah. So, I mean, I had one municipality actually because they didn't allow a
seaw walls past property line, but then amended the code and it's just a one time 18. So, if you get that one time 18 in extension, if it has to replace again, you're going to have to dig it up. >> And that is something that we could consider as part of the process. Yep.
Okay. Thank you very much and thank you for taking it on. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Yeah, I really appreciate it. >> Yeah. >> So, what do we do now? >> Do you need a motion >> to direct it to the planning board to evaluate draft uh potential ordinance uh modification language?
>> Well, motion to refer to uh the planning board uh to take up this issue >> study and review. That's a motion. >> That's good. We'll second it. That's fine. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> I.
>> Motion carries. >> Good. >> Uh, moving on to item B, introduction of a proposed ordinance revising town's platting procedures. >> So, this one's not nearly as exciting
as the last one. Okay. And I and I kind of told you all this was coming. Um, so this was another mandate from the last legislative session. It has to do with plats and the legislature in its divine wisdom decided that um plat should be administratively approved. They should
not go to a public hearing or to the planning board or to the town commission. They really should just because and it I don't really have that much of an issue with this one because plats are very they either meet the statutory requirements or they don't. So they're very cut and dry. There's not that much
discretion with them. So basically what the statute says is that you have to have designate an administrative authority to receive the applications which would be the building department and then you have to have an administrative official that has the final authority which I'm proposing to be the town manager. Um because the town
manager sort of oversees all the all the processes. Now our platting regulations are very old, not uncommon. I don't know when we'll actually get a new subdivision in the town of Highland Beach. So when I started to look at this, I'm like, well, it it just doesn't seem like an
effective use of resources to start reddrafting our planning regulations. So what I did is I took and you know this can change as we go through the process, but I just took you know the existing and then inserted the required language. The required language is to designate the department to designate the official
and then there are certain timelines you have to you know within 7 days you have to send a letter telling them if it's you know complete. So basically, it's just again um complying with what the Florida legislature says we must comply with. Um it's not our subdivision
regulations, and this is common to are usually in a separate chapter, but it's still a land development. So I still think this should go to the planning board um to review before it comes back to the town commission. Um but there's really not much to it. It's really taking the commission out of the
approval process and just really putting it back with staff. That's the gist of it. >> I agree to put it before the planning board. >> Is there any other discussion? >> Yeah. >> About it? >> Yep.
>> If so, do we need a motion to um >> Yeah. >> It didn't say motion. >> Move to refer this matter to the planning board. >> Second it. >> All in favor say I. I. >> I. Motion carries. Moving on to town commission comments. Oh, I'm sorry. Go
ahead. check from formerly 3400 uh South Ocean Boulevard, now Bokeh. I keep forgetting. I I wanted to thank Commissioner Chanoski. I'm not sure it's
attributable to him, but the outside of the 3,400 Before the A1A resurfacing project, there was a piece of ashalt and I think it was turned into grass.
I call it an island, another island. Anytime you can put a grass island in like they did there over concrete, anything that can hold a ball. I mean, you could This goes along the lines of kind of popup amenities.
Yeah. I don't know if it required a redrawing of the plat map or what have you, but if you can pop up amenities that for a fad, I mean, I think you guys put a pickle ball court in the fire station. That's a great idea for your employees.
Let's do the same kind of stuff for the for the public. Uh, and also congratulations to the two commissioners who are going to be unopposed in the upcoming election. That's >> thank you. >> Great for you guys. >> Thank you.
>> But you still may see your shirt up in Bokeh. >> Moving on to town commission comments. Commissioner Shnoski. Any comments? >> Yeah, I do have a comment. Um residents um have approached me, Marshall, with the Mangrove removal next
to Tuscana. Um and um I'm not sure if there's been a statement made about it, but because of the mangroves being removed, we have property between ourselves, the Coronado and Casarina. So our loyal residents are
saying, "Gee, if they removed it down there, okay, then we have property that could possibly be sold to a developer, okay, and actually remove those mangroves." and I said, 'I don't think it's that easy, but I will bring it up uh to our town people and see what the
answer is. So, people are asking how come they were able to remove the mangroves. >> Okay. Yeah, Mark. So, uh Golden City, um all this information, their permits on the website, so it's all there. We put out notifications. So, we've been trying to do our best through the channels we have to communicate to the public. Uh
Mr. Swerllo that owns the property has owned it for some time. uh went through that process. It's a very arduous process I uh have to admit. And he got permission to clear smaller than what he wanted amount of mangroves. In exchange,
he has to mitigate that. So, he bought what they call mitigation credits from the FPL mitigation bank. Why would we let him do it? Because he's not authorized to do anything else. Under state law, we are preempted from stopping anyone once they've secured
their state and federal permits to clear mangroves, they can go ahead and do it. There's nothing we can do. We cannot stop them. It's all on the state. Now, what happens next? Those all require local approvals. Whatever type of development needs to go through the planning board. A seaw wall has to go
through the same process that anybody else's seaw wall. And all that fill is chapter 14 fill permit. none of which he's submitted for or expressed any interest to move forward in the near future. So my hunch, and this is just mine, not anybody else's, is that he probably
cleared it to sell it. Uh would be my guess and let somebody else go through the process. But he's already mitigated for those impacts. Now to Coronado, if it's truly your property, not a county, because some of the county owns pockets and the state owns pockets of these mangroves that kind of look like they're
your property. If you want to go through that process to procure a permit to remove a certain amount of mangroves, you do have to mitigate it somewhere else. Either buying somewhere else and put it into conservation easement or buying these
credits that some of these larger utility companies have created or they call mitigation banks. So you could go and buy acre for acre, square foot for square foot for your impacts. Um, if you're interested, I you know, >> we prefer to preserve some of the
mangroves. really good for the intra coastal, but if you so choose that right does exist for Coronado and or Casaria. >> Yeah, Commissioner Chenowski is not in favor, but we have >> But yeah, so uh folks, I I don't know
what the true intent is, but um they have a permit. We can't stop them. They cleared it. It's going to stay like that, I guess, until it all grows back or he goes through that process. There's a significant amount of fill as you can see. It's very tidal control. It's always wet. Um,
so >> and just out of curiosity, it looked like they put wood chips on. >> They had there they cut up and just kind of spread it over. >> Oh, it was everything. Oh, that was >> Yeah. So, I would say that's considered something pro. It's probably good for
the site to have some cover on it. Uh, so we don't get, you know, some other type splash, erosion, some other problems. It does create good habitat for a cleared site. for those wildlife folks. That's actually pretty good for the birds and the reptiles. But um I don't know what the intent the
the plans if you go to the website and you look at their website uh or his permit he proposed nine town homes on the8 acres of property. If you look at it you can see it's a real elementary plan in the sense that it doesn't
contemplate a lot of grading storm water doesn't offer pools adequate parking. So, I mean, like if it's an incomplete, but it's kind of a conceptual I'll build town homes. The state doesn't care what you do with it. They just care that you mitigate for those impacts. U but at
some point in time, we're going to either he's going to be maintaining fencing for a long time or he's going to have to take action. Uh but if he doesn't do anything, the mangroves will probably just grow back would be my guess. >> Because he just cut it. It's not like they >> he cuts he took some stuff out like the
root balls just were attached but a lot of it's >> it's Florida everything grows like crazy. Look at your backyards, right? So, >> uh it's just going to the mangroves will just >> come back in. It's moist, it's wet, it's organic, it's just going to come in >> uh right away if he doesn't do anything.
But I don't know if he's I guess he could keep on cutting it, but that's a messy job from moving forward. though. >> So stay tuned and hopefully we'll get some clarity from the owner as to what they want to do or potentially a new owner. >> Thank you for bringing that up. >> Thank you.
>> Well, we didn't think that there was room in town for a subdivision. So I don't think we have to worry about tax base. >> Yeah. not as >> for the mro, you know, now we're going to have everyone looking for these
little pockets of 10tory high condos. I mean, >> other than that, I wish everyone a wonderful week, a happy Valentine's Day coming up. No other comments. >> Yeah, I just want to say that uh the commission along with the uh Barbara
Nestle and her commission, we went to a turtle. you, Joseph, you just missed it if you were on a week week ago. Uh, but uh the turtle people, they do a great job. I mean, Joanne and uh and they got Briana there. They I mean, they're out there 5 in the morning every morning and
it's amazing with the job they do. Uh and uh we we get high regards to them. Also, I just want to tell everybody, stay warm. It's colder up north, so thank you. >> Yeah. Also at that meeting there were people from the dune restoration and the
preservation and they're moving forward uh with that which I think is terrific. >> Uh also we're constantly on this question of path safety. >> I've been talking to Marshall about there is some legislation uh in the state right now and we're watching to
see how that's going to happen and then we're going to try to draft some guidelines for our town. >> Great. >> No uh comments from me. Moving on to town attorney's report. >> Um, no comments, mayor. There's uh I was
just looking through some of the proposed legislation for this session and there's a lot more preeemptions coming down the road. I mean, we don't know at this point whether they'll pass or not, but a lot more land development restrictions, etc. But, you know, we'll see how it plays out during the session,
but that's it. Thank you. Mayor >> Town Manager report. >> I concur. It's pretty wild. like their whole job is to just preempt local governments, which is closest to the people to get the results. It's It's odd to me. Like, I get it. There's some bad municipalities out there, but
>> the volume on every possible topic is just breathtaking. It really never seen anything like it or read anything about it either. Um, uh, a quick thank you uh to one of our residents, Martin Burman, stopped by just to say how wonderful the town is
for our public safety. He made a donation to our police department. Uh a wonderful gentleman that lives in town, has lived here for like 20 years. He's so happy just to come by and say this place is awesome. I just thought I'd share with you for your leadership. Uh he was really excited that he's been here all this time.
>> Um of course he's a Detroititer, so that maybe draws a connection a little bit that he wanted to say hi. But um >> nice very complimentary to the town, the staff, the public safety, the beauty. So I just wanted to to thank him. Great. It's good to get a refreshing uh stop
visit like that. Um lastly, uh in your in front of you, Susie gave you the first quarter report that you put together. I thought you did a great job kind of giving you a snapshot. We're tracking well on everything. Um I also sent it to the two I got two FAB members. Check your email. I'll send it
to you as well so you can have a copy of everything. Uh just to kind of keep everybody up. First quarter, we're moving along. Accounting's on point. um getting into the audit. Susie's rolling all that stuff together for our audit again. So, uh we're moving
financially totally sound on on plan. So, everything's going great. >> Excellent. Excellent. Moving on to announcements. Board vacancies. We have one vacancy for a three-year term for the code enforcement board and we have
one vacancy for the natural resources preservation advisory board for an unexpired term ending April 2027. Upcoming meetings and events February 12th at 9:30 in the morning, we have a planning board regular meeting. Uh the town hall will be closed in observance
of President's Day on February 16th. On February 17th, we have the Wine and Light Bites Dune event hosted by the Natural Resources Preservation Advisory Board, and that's at the Highland Beach Library from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. And
the cost for that is $35 per person. On February 19th, um at noon, we have a lunchon for the um advisory boards. March 3rd is our next town commission meeting at 1:30 in the afternoon. There are no board action reports. And with
that, >> Mayor Moore, >> yeah, >> just for the record, the um February 12th planning board meeting was cancelled. >> Oh, okay. Sorry. >> That's right. And can we tell our residents how they might pay for uh where where would they make payment for
the February 17th event? So um you can uh make a reservation as the this is handled by the advisory board um while we are providing a backs stop and some resources to it. It's the natural resource advisory board um is putting
this event on continuing their uh quest for uh educating on dunes. So you can bring uh the payment with you to set event or Lois or any of the team members at the library are accepting uh those payments as well. And if I can last
and there's a link um >> there's a link to the invite on the town website so you can look at the invitation. >> Yes, if you go Yeah, there it is. Let's see. If you go to the website, um it's pretty easy to navigate to.
Um it's limited to Highland Beach residents only. Yes, RSVP by today and there's an email or text uh to Kiki Baxter. Um and payment is accepted via cash or check at the event or in advance
at the library is what the flyer says. So, okay. And with that, we can adjourn there. Thank you very much everyone.