Serving Highland Beach and Coastal Boca Raton
January 2015
Along the Coast
JUST ONE
WORD: Florida’s environmental disaster hits the beaches
PLASTICS
Volunteers filled a plastic hardhat they found with drinking straws, fishing line and rope they had picked up along the shore.
By Cheryl Blackerby Early on a beautiful Saturday morning, 59 people hit the beach at Ocean Inlet Park in Ocean Ridge, but this event, sponsored by the Sea Angels, was all business and not at all pleasurable. With buckets and hand-held grabbers, they picked up debris. The vast majority, it turned out, was plastic. After 2½ hours, they had collected a mound of plastic fishing line, nets, lures and bobbers. They’d filled a fivegallon container with plastic bottle caps, a bucket with Mylar balloons and another five-gallon jug with plastic straws. Yet another five-gallon container overflowed with cigarette butts, made of a plastic called cellulose acetate. The trash also included 12- and 20-gauge shotgun shells, plastic containers from the Bahamas and, on prior cleanups, a complete IV kit with syringe, that was traced back to New Jersey, and plastic medical waste from Haiti. It was the tip of the iceberg of the ocean’s plastic garbage, and it washes onto South Florida beaches with every wave. A week later, the plastic trash was back. Even Sea Angels organizers Robin and Mike Halasz agree trying to stay ahead is futile. “The primary purpose of the See TRASH on page 9
Volume 8 Issue 1
ABOVE: Sea Angels created a sculpture from garbage found along the shore. Photos provided LEFT: Volunteers scout Ocean Inlet Park for trash to clear. Jerry Lower/ The Coastal Star
COMING NEXT MONTH Plastics: The effect on Florida wildlife and what to do about it.
Boca Raton
City hears ideas for Red Reef renovations Gumbo Limbo revamp, restaurant could be among changes By Cheryl Blackerby
A new Gumbo Limbo Nature Center building, a restaurant on Red Reef Executive Golf Course and development of the 15-acre Ocean Strand, which has been closed to the public for 20 years, were just a few of the possibilities for what could be a massive renovation of Red Reef Park. Boca Raton Beach and Park District commissioners heard the priorities for the renovation, the first step in developing a master plan for the park, at a meeting Dec. 8. Michael Kroll, vice president of Miller Legg, an environmental engineering consulting firm hired by the district for the renovations, gave the presentation, which included the wish lists of the park’s key stakeholders — the district, the city of Boca Raton, Red Reef Executive Golf Course management, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center staff and Friends of Gumbo Limbo. He also told commissioners the results of a survey of park users, which Kroll admitted was a sampling of only 51 people. The top concerns of the city were the need for storage for equipment and park vehicles in all parts See RED REEF on page 21
Boca Raton
Opinion divided about proposed 30-story condo By Mary Hladky
Four months after Elad National Properties announced plans to build 500 “ultra- luxury” condos in downtown Boca Raton, passionate debate still runs strong.
While some residents herald it as a stunning addition that will boost the tax base and meet a demand for high-end residential, opponents contend the proposed four towers rising as high as 30 stories will transform Boca Raton into
another West Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale and ruin the character of their city. While these competing views ring out at city meetings and See CONDO on page 13
This rendering of ‘New Mizner on the Green’ was part of a mailer sent out by the developer to 12,000 Boca Raton residents. Rendering provided
Inside Dog beach Music
The Tedeschi Trucks Band plays the Sunshine Music & Blues Festival. Page AT11
Open one year, Boca’s dog beach is popular with two- and fourlegged visitors. Page 20
Hotel updates
Area hotels are sporting swank renovations. Here’s a peek inside. Page AT1