Serving Highland Beach and Coastal Boca Raton
May 2021
Volume 14 Issue 5
Highland Beach
Town to start own fire department, end contract with Delray By Rich Pollack
After almost 30 years of paying Delray Beach millions of dollars for fire and medical rescue services, Highland Beach is calling it quits and moving forward with plans to
start its own fire department. At a meeting last month, town commissioners voted unanimously to notify Delray Beach of plans to terminate the contractual agreement — with a price tag of about $5 million a year — with a required 36-
month notice effective May 1. “We know we can deliver better service to our residents and we know we can do it at a lower cost,” Mayor Doug Hillman said. “There is no reason in my opinion to stay with Delray fire.”
During the next three years Highland Beach will work out the details of starting a fire department almost from scratch, something that apparently hasn’t been done in Palm Beach County for at least three decades.
The move bucks a local trend in which smaller communities such as Ocean Ridge, South Palm Beach and Manalapan have been paying for services from larger departments, including Boynton Beach See FIRE on page 3
Boca Raton
Palmetto Park Road: Big gateway to beach, ‘but not welcoming’ Call for upgrade gets council’s ear By Mary Hladky
Mike Landis rides his bike east along Palmetto Park Road. The presence of bikes, cars and pedestrians in tight proximity poses safety concerns. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
City Council members are being pressed to improve the safety and appearance of Palmetto Park Road, one of the city’s major streets and a gateway to the downtown from the beach. Beachside residents who live near the intersection of Palmetto Park Road and State Road A1A, and members of the Planning and Zoning Board have advanced ideas for changes that council members will discuss at their May 12-14 goalsetting sessions. The focus of beachside residents is the section of the road from the Intracoastal Waterway to A1A. The planning
board is looking at the span from A1A through downtown to Fourth Avenue two blocks west of City Hall. Both agree on the need for traffic-calming devices, bicycle lanes, more trees, better walkability and safety improvements. “It is the grand gateway to our beaches, but not welcoming,” Katie Barr MacDougall, president of the Riviera Civic Association, told the council on Feb. 22 about the eastern section of the road. In her presentation, MacDougall cited safety problems caused by the absence of crosswalks. She proposed installing them at Olive Way and Wavecrest Way. The city recently added four crosswalks See PALMETTO on page 11
Along the Coast
‘An unprecedented year’ for home sales By Charles Elmore
A surge in home sales few could have imagined in the early stages of the pandemic one year ago is sending a relentless stream of prospective buyers from across the country at virtually every listing they can find in Highland Beach and Boca Raton. “This is once in a lifetime,” said Carmen D’Angelo, broker and owner of Premier Estate Properties in Boca Raton. “We’ve never had this where there’s been such a demand for highpriced homes.” A sale this year for $21.8 million in Highland
Beach marked the highest D’Angelo knows about in the town, he said. In southern Palm Beach County, the median sales price jumped 25% for single-family homes in 12 months, with buyers snapping up so many homes the inventory available for purchase plunged 63% in February compared with a year before, according to the Broward, Palm Beaches and St. Lucie Realtors organization. Fresh inventory tends not to last long. A newly constructed home in Boca Raton’s Sanctuary community, for instance, sold within 30 days of See REAL ESTATE on page 6 PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID WEST PALM BCH FL PERMIT NO 4595
‘The current climate is fantastic for sellers,’ says Dave Petruzzelli, owner and partner of Petruzzelli Real Estate in Boca Raton. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Delivery of this month’s edition is sponsored by our friends at
Happy Mother’s Day Celebrate Mom in the great outdoors. Page AT1
I-95 logjam Ramp projects north of city stuck in slow lane. Page 20 Outsider art at Boca Museum Page AT9