An ordinance that banned the feeding of certain nuisance wildlife animals that the Boca Raton City Council approved in August was repealed Tuesday night.
The ordinance and an accompanying resolution that imposed a $100 fine per offense were approved by a 3-2 vote. Councilmember Stacy Sipple, who voted in favor of the ordinance, requested the matter come back before the council because “based on information learned after its adoption, she would vote differently if the matter were presented again,” per a memo from the City Manager’s office.
So, what new information was presented?
In changing her vote, Sipple said, “An ordinance should protect the public, not provide another weapon for harassment, retaliation, intimidation, or invasion of privacy.”
If Sipple was referring to the fact that the ordinance first came before the council due to a dispute between neighbors, this isn’t new information. It was clear when the ordinance was voted on in August that the inciting incident was one neighbor’s feeding of pigeons became a nuisance to another.
At any rate, the ordinance to repeal the ordinance and resolution was approved 4-1, with Councilmember Jonathan Pearlman also changing his vote and Mayor Andy Thomson voting against.
Boca Raton approves Broken Sound development
The Boca Raton City Council on Tuesday approved the development of an eight-story apartment complex on Northwest Broken Sound Parkway. The development will have 97 units, 10 of which will be designated affordable housing. In addition to the housing component, the development will include a 2,100 square-foot retail or restaurant building, as well as a nearly 90,000 square-foot parking structure.
The development was approved by a 3-1 vote. Thomson recused himself as his law firm leases office space in the current building which will be demolished for the new development. Pearlman was the lone no vote but gave no reason. He offered no information during discussion and asked the applicant no questions.
This isn’t the first time Pearlman has been alone in voting “no” on an innocuous project. During the first meeting of the city council that was sworn in after the March elections, Pearlman was the lone “no” vote against converting an existing structure at the Boca Raton Innovation Campus into a private school for grades 6 to 12. Then, like now, he asked no questions and gave no comments. Odd move for someone who ran for city council on a platform of accountability and transparency.
Boca Raton prepares ballot language for police bond
During its workshop meeting this week, the Boca Raton City Council offered guidance to city staff on the language that will be used for a bond item that residents will vote on in March that will finance the city’s new police headquarters. The options, which differed based on the location of the new station, are below:
Non-specific location: If approved, the new station would not be tied to either downtown or the other proposed location near I-95 on Spanish River Boulevard.
Both locations: This proposal includes the construction of a new headquarters on Spanish River Boulevard and a new downtown police station downtown.
Downtown specific: This language would tie the new headquarters to downtown
Alternative non-specific location: This language differs from option one in that it provides for a dedicated downtown police facility. What this looks like in practice is, if it’s decided by the council to move forward with the Spanish River Boulevard location, a satellite station will remain downtown.
City staff recommended option four. Councilmember Yvette Drucker and Deputy Mayor Michelle Grau, along with Mayor Thomson, concurred. Councilmembers Sipple and Pearlman disagreed. Pearlman has been vocal about his desire for the headquarters to remain downtown. The Boca Raton Police Department has supported relocating the headquarters, making it more central.
Staff will move forward with the language in option four.
Boca Raton City Council declines to fill upcoming vacant seat
When Councilmember Drucker resigns from the city council on Nov. 9 to run for Palm Beach County clerk and comptroller, no one will fill her vacant seat until the March election.
In declining to move forward with finding a replacement, Deputy Mayor Grau said that she believed the council could reach consensus—a 3-1 vote—on matters before the council. Sipple said that trying to get consensus on the replacement to fill the seat would be “like herding cats.”
If the council does deadlock—a 2-2 vote—then whatever they are voting on will automatically be denied. We saw this in April, when Drucker was absent for a vote to remove the Boca Raton Innovation Campus from its development plan, allowing for future redevelopment. At the time, City Attorney Josh Koehler said that in his 15 years with the city, he had never seen a deadlock vote.
Mayor Thomson says that if deadlocks become an issue, they can restart the application process to fill the vacant seat.
Nick Coppola gets firefighter and police endorsement
Nick Coppola has received an endorsement from Delray Beach’s firefighter and police unions in his bid for Delray Beach city commission.
In an official press statement, Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association President John Kazanjian said, “We will ask our members, their friends and families, and all citizens of City of Delray Beach who respect the strong and efficient enforcement of our laws, to cast their ballots in support of Nicholas Coppola.”
Craig Mahoney, president of Delray Beach Firefighters IAFF Local 1842, said in a statement, “We believe Nick has the temperament, experience, and respect for others necessary to help bring civility back to the Commission dais.”
Coppola will be running for Commissioner Juli Casale’s seat as she runs for mayor against incumbent Tom Carney. Coppola’s opponent is Gregory Snyder, who filed to run on Oct. 13. Snyder has previously served on the city’s Planning and Zoning Board.
Ruminations over the proposed Islamic center in West Delray
The proposed Islamic center on the Palm Beach County Agricultural Reserve in Delray Beach that has become the subject of recent controversy was approved during a very different time than our own.
The project, consisting of a mosque, a daycare, and a school, was approved by the end of September 2023 (the mosque in 2022, the school and daycare in September 2023). At the time, the project was uncontroversial. The mosque portion of the project was approved via administrative review—a standard streamlining process by which no public notice or hearings are required. To be approved for administrative review, the project must meet certain thresholds (occupancy, size, etc.), which it did. The daycare and school were approved by a 4-3 vote by Palm Beach County commissioners.
Then came Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists attacked the Nova music festival in Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Like the early years of the post-9/11 era, we’re seeing a renewed wave of Islamophobia in the post-10/7 era. But it wasn’t just 10/7 that ushered us into this different world from the one in which the Islamic center was approved.
In the years since the attacks, Zohran Mamdani became the first Muslim and Democratic Socialist mayor of New York City; self-described “culturally Muslim” Socialist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker became the boogeyman of Fox News; and Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim endorsed by Democratic Socialist Rep. Bernie Sanders, became the frontrunner in a hotly contested Senate race in Michigan. In each case, personal and political attacks invoking 9/11 have been made by right-wing media against these left-wing Muslims.
Between 10/7 and the fact that three prominent Muslims in culture and politics also happen to be left-wing, there has been fertile ground from which conspiracy theories and bigotry could sprout. This hostile xenophobic brew has been stirred by far-right actors like Jake Lang, a Jan. 6 rioter who was outside a public community workshop meeting in Delray Beach on Oct. 2, stoking fears in the parking lot with a bullhorn about the White race being replaced by Muslims. Some residents echoed these fears during public comment, as well as concerns of Delray Beach “turning into” Michigan or the United Kingdom.
While some speakers at the Oct. 2 meeting raised issues with county zoning laws and the environmental impact of building in the reserve, it’s hard to imagine anyone taking issue with this project if it were a synagogue or a church. That’s because synagogues, like the Chabad Chai Center, and Christian churches have been approved in the agricultural reserve area by the same mechanism of administrative review as the Islamic center.
So, what happens now?
The project will move forward. The developers, having secured full approval, are legally entitled to commence work. As for the administrative review process that allowed the project to move forward, Palm Beach County Commissioner Maria Sachs has requested county staff to take a closer look at the rules so that commissioners can consider changing them. Opponents of the project took issue this process. Changing these rules will result in a tougher path to approval for other places of worship.
If there’s one nugget of optimism to be found in this whole saga, it’s a statement made by Boca Raton Interfaith Clergy Association (BRICA), a group comprised of leaders from several faiths.
“We stand together in defending every faith community’s right to gather and to build houses of worship and community centers,” said BRICA in a press statement. “This is a fundamental freedom of our American democracy, and it is essential to living out our commitments to our faiths.”
