The Coastal Star April 2022

Page 1

April 2022

Serving Hypoluxo Island, South Palm Beach, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge, Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream and Coastal Delray Beach

Volume 15 Issue 4

Along the Coast

Delray Beach

State fails to require inspections of condos

STUCK AGAIN Residents say bridge closure on Bush Boulevard feels worse than past shutdowns

More local rules likely after bill dies in Legislature By Joel Engelhardt Legislators stood on the precipice of requiring condos statewide to conduct structural engineering inspections. But they couldn’t bring themselves to require that condos keep millions in reserve to pay for repairs. The result Sea wall is that nine repairs at months after Dune Deck Champlain condo in South Palm Towers South Beach may collapsed have to wait. in Surfside, killing 98 Page 25 people, only two municipalities in Palm Beach County have added an inspection requirement: Boca Raton and Highland Beach. “I’m glad we acted last year,” Boca Mayor Scott Singer said. “It means Boca Raton continues to lead when others didn’t.” The county, which put off rules of its own to see what the Legislature would do, will reconsider standards suggested by a task force of local building officials last fall, County Mayor Robert Weinroth said. See CONDOS on page 12

By Rich Pollack

With the broken bridge to the east, Albert Chung, a surveyor with Ranger Construction, uses GPS tools to determine the new road edge and drainage slope as part of the reconstruction of George Bush Boulevard. It’s scheduled to finish in summer 2023. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Betsy Cooke remembers when the George Bush Boulevard bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway closed for five months in 2010. An eight-minute walk from her Delray Beach home on the east side of the bridge to her office on the west side became an eightblock drive Infrastructure south on bill will fix, State Road replace A1A to cross structures like the Atlantic bridge, Pelosi Avenue says during bridge before visit to Delray. she then Page 10 headed back north on Federal Highway. While she and others took the work on the bridge in stride back then, the unexpected breakdown that closed it last month is different, she says. “It was still an inconvenience back then, but it wasn’t as bad as it is now because of the amount of traffic and congestion,” Cooke says. “I go over that bridge sometimes five See BRIDGE on page 10

Ocean Ridge

Ocean Ridge community policing officer Debra Boyle holds Remy, the 9-yearold German shepherd she rescued from the Intracoastal Waterway. Rachel S. O’Hara/The Coastal Star

‘I am going to save this dog’

Ocean Ridge officer honored for rescuing German shepherd that fell into waterway By Joe Capozzi Not long after the rains stopped, another intruder dropped in from the sky. A pesky pelican, as other pelicans had been doing about

every other day for the past several years, settled onto the top of a wooden post on the dock behind Bill Wright’s home on the Intracoastal Waterway in Ocean Ridge. And once again, “the boys,’’ PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID WEST PALM BCH FL PERMIT NO 4595

as Wright refers to his two adult German shepherds, weren’t pleased. The big dogs, who take pride in patrolling the backyard, responded the same way they had to previous pelican intrusions: Gunner, 10, hanging See DOG on page 8

SunFest is back! The popular celebration of music and art runs April 28 to May 1. Page AT11

Flood watch Lantana council seeks solutions for problems on Hypoluxo Island. Page 24

Turtle time Nesting season begins. Page 21


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