Serving Hypoluxo Island, South Palm Beach, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge, Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream and Coastal Delray Beach Volume 2 . Issue 12
December 2009
Holiday cheer, of books and of wine, with gifts both humorous and divine. Pages 18-21
Tales and memories of a tall tree in Lantana. Page 24
South Palm Beach
Delray Beach
Big crowd brainstorms ideas for beach area By Kelly Wolfe
ABOVE: Workers position boulders at the base of the Imperial House in an effort to slow erosion. BELOW: Bonnie Fischer watches the waves pound on the seawall just outside her condominium. Photos by Jerry Lower
Imperial House’s beach work runs into brick wall with neighbors By Tim O’Meilia
Thirty-three years ago Bonnie Fischer found the dream retirement home — an affordable first-floor oceanfront condominium apartment at Imperial House with a view of a beach several hundred feet wide. In mid-November, an angry north wind sent churning waves one after another onto that shrinking beach, clawing through a temporary wall of three-ton blocks and undermining a walkway that ran along the seaside building. “I had ocean spray hitting my sliding glass doors and my bedroom windows,” Fischer said. “It’s way too close.” The Atlantic Ocean is taking back the beach. Fearing the waves might undermine the building, Police Chief Roger Crane ordered the residents
of the 18 east-wing apartments to evacuate. Fischer spent two nights away from home. Engineers later found that the 50-year-old building was erected on pilings, rather than a less-ocean-proof concrete foundation more susceptible to surf damage. The winds decreased, the occupants returned and huge
boulders were deposited over the following three days to reinforce the temporary wall. “The walkway started pulling away from the building but the building was never compromised,” said Fischer, a member of the Imperial House board of directors.
See IMPERIAL on page 16
They’d streamed in throughout the morning: deeply tan folks with knitted brows sporting flip flops, shorts, Hawaiian-print shirts and dozens of palm tree insignias — serious beach denizens. The sign on the door said the room accommodated no more than 70, but that number had been exceeded long ago. They stood shoulder to shoulder in the pastel room, poised to make a point. “We’re hoping to get input from citizens,” said Mary Renaud, president of the Beach Property Owners Association. “This is about having a plan in place so that everyone knows what we want.” The charette, held Nov. 7 at the Delray Beach Marriott, was a massive brainstorming session where residents could get together to daydream about what they want for the beach. There aren’t immediate plans to change anything on the beach. But people were obviously interested in putting forth their ideas, since 30 minutes into the meeting organizers were turning people away. Perry King Neubauer, an architect from Cambridge, Mass., listed suggestions on a big, white pad in the front of the room. “I’m leading this mother,” Neubauer said, by way of introducing himself. “It’s important to have a master plan.” Concerns varied, from smoking on the beach, to parking, to lighting, to vegetation, to showers. One man said he didn’t like that joggers plowed passed him on the sidewalk during his morning walk. “There’s this woman who runs right up behind me and yells ‘Move!’ ” he said. A woman said she was concerned See DELRAY on page 3
Inside:
Obituary
In life and death, beach and friendships defined Bill Dunn By Ron Hayes
Bill Dunn must have had six or seven different addresses during his 25 years in the County Pocket. But mostly he lived on the beach. He slept at home, but he lived on the beach. And when he died, family and friends brought him back to the beach, to say goodbye the way people in this tiny, unincorporated, unpretentious patch of old
South Florida do. More laughter than tears. More stories than sobs. “Please, don’t wear black,” his Bill Dunn brother, Greg, said. “Wear shorts, wear flipflops. Be casual, because that’s the way he was.”
At 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14, they gathered at Don Brown’s house on Streamaire Lane — in shorts and flip-flops, Hawaiian shirts and tie-dyed tees — and ambled down toward the ocean. Some carried beers, some skateboards, some babies. A bagpiper’s mournful rendition of Going Home ushered them down the dunes See BILL DUNN on page 30
House of the Month
Intracoastal townhomes with Mediterranean style. Page 34
Christmas comes early in Lantana. Page 15
Church marks pastor’s quarter century Page 13