It is hard to believe that I am completing my fourth (4^th) year as Mayor of our little Town. That is almost the same length of time that I lived in Turkey, which seemed like a lifetime back then. But I was 30 years old then, and I guess my perspective changed with time.

It has been fun following in the footsteps of my grandfather, who was Mayor of Lake Park (1945 to 1948), and my uncle, who, back in the 30s and 40s, was then the longest service County Commissioner. (His name was A. A. (Buck) Poston.

I have also enjoyed being back to work and having to think my way through the various issues and projects. I think we have accomplished a lot. The Town's infrastructure is in very good shape. The Town is in a solid financial position. And, looking to the future, the financial position will only improve as the Icon buildings, the new houses, and the newly branded Cannonsport units all enter the tax rolls. Finally, a few years down the road, we should have a new condo building on the old Seaspray lot. So, the future is bright, and we should maintain our current density policies and maintain the town profile as one of, if not the last, coastal Town where one can experience the old Florida lifestyle.

Thank you all for the opportunity to serve as Mayor, and I promise I will work hard to keep up the momentum.

At the February Commission meeting, we addressed three new Ordinances, a resolution, a proclamation and the usual reports and a discussion item.

• Ordinance No.0-6-23-second reading: This Ordinance establishes a specific time period for completion of building projects. The time for completion varies according to the zoning district. One six-month extension can be authorized.

• Ordinance No. 0-8-23-first reading: This Ordinance establishes requirements for disturbing, cutting into, drilling, boring under, or excavating any public street, and it prohibits cutting into newly paved roads for a period of three years. It requires Commission approval for any such cutting. It also establishes specific requirements for patching roads. (This will prevent the dips in our roads when they are patched.)

• Ordinance No. 0-1-24 first reading: This Ordinance establishes a new mechanism for permitting and controlling vacation rentals in Town. It requires registering such rentals with the Town, setting requirements for the rental building, setting requirements for inspections, and setting up a mechanism to deal with issues such as loud noise, parking, and garbage placement. You will be hearing more about this Ordinance as we move toward passage. If you have questions concerning this new process for controlling vacation rentals in Town, contact Vice Mayor Larcher. He has taken the lead in this initiative.

All the above ordinances passed by a 4-0 vote.



Resolution R-5-24, supporting the extension and continuation of the Palm Beach County 1% sales surtax tax to fund local infrastructure, was passed on a 4-0 vote. The funds generated by this tax helped pay for our newly paved roads. While I generally don't favor increased taxes, this is a user tax, which, to my mind, is the fairest form of taxation, and it has helped a growing and aging County maintain its infrastructure.

Sewer Militances Fee: Every year, we all pay a small sewer assessment. This money is restricted to being used only to maintain our sanitary sewer system, both the pipes and the lift stations. Obviously, this is critical infrastructure. The assessment has not been changed for as long as most of us can remember. To keep up with increasing costs, it was agreed to raise the sewer fee by a flat 10%.  For most of us, this will translate to around $3.20.

A Proclamation declaring March 23 as Arbor was approved. This declaration helps the Town preserve its status as a Tree City.

Projects;

• The Roads and Community Center Kitchen are completed.

• AT&T has removed all the overhead wires from all roads north of Edwards Lane. We are now focusing on removal of the line in the south half of Town. The issue we are confronting is that a number of AT&T customers have not yet converted to fiber service. This complicates the line removal as AT&T is required to maintain its copper "legacy" service by law. This translated into running more conduits to place obsolete copper lines underground. To reduce the cost of completion, we are urging begging all AT&T customers to convert to the new Fiber service.

• Seaspray: The building is now gone. We are working to complete the site restoration. This should happen in the next several weeks.  Beyond that, we are waiting for the developer to submit building plans for permitting. Most probably, these will need to go through the approval process again, given the amount of time that has lapsed since the original approvals. 

And that is a wrap for February. 

OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT:

Community Risk Reduction:

Beach Hazards – Many have read or heard the recent news of the tragic death of a seven-year-old girl and the critical injury of her younger brother when a deep sand hole they were digging on the beach in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea collapsed. These incidents occur every year in beach communities throughout the U.S. They occur quietly, without warning, and within a fraction of a second. Our PBS Ocean Rescue Lifeguards do an outstanding job of education and prevention, including deterrence of these types of sand hazards. Many of these sand collapse incidents in the U.S. occur outside of guarded beach hours or on unguarded beaches, where prevention and education efforts are left to warning signage at best. The PBSFD has trained annually on responding to and mitigating sand collapse incidents since 2016. Our spring training cycle focuses on water/beach rescue incidents, including sand collapses. As always, prevention and education are the key. So, please keep a watchful eye on the kids and grandkids and the kids-at-heart so that they may enjoy the beach and the water safely.       



Emergency Alerts: If you haven’t already done so, sign up for alerts - Palm Beach County has an alerting system that is compatible with your mobile devices. PBC DART (Disaster Awareness & Recovery Tool) is a mobile application available for both Apple and Android platforms, used by the public to check for:

• Evacuation orders and zones
• Check shelter locations and status.
• Locate nearby stores on generators.

And provides the users with:

• Platform to report damage to homes or businesses.
• Ability to upload pictures of the affected areas.

Alert PBC is Palm Beach County’s Emergency Notification System, which allows you to opt in to receive notifications via phone calls, text messaging, email, and more based on locations you care about. You can choose to receive notifications about events that may affect your home, workplace, family, schools, and more.

More information about PBC DART and Alert PBC is available at

https://discover.pbcgov.org/publicsafety/dem/pages/dart.aspx

A helpful disaster and emergency preparation guide can be viewed at https://discover.pbcgov.org/publicsafety/PDF/Hurricane-Guide.pdf

Beach Wheelchair:

The Beach Wheelchair is a wonderful mobility asset that helps more people enjoy our beautiful beach. Please see the Lifeguard to sign out the beach wheelchair during guarded beach hours (10 am – 5 pm.)

As always, please reach out with questions or if we can be of any assistance. tsteedman@pbsfire.org or (561) 296-3380  

 You can tell the seasons ending when our parties start winding down. On Saturday, March 16th, we will close Ocean Avenue at 10:45 AM to allow the St. Patrick's parade to begin. As usual, we will be going down Ocean Avenue to Inlet Way, north on Atlantic Avenue to Bamboo, south on Ocean Avenue, ending back at the Community Center

There will be two (2) high school bands, and many other participants led off by PBSO Honor Guard, motorcycles, and four (4) horses from our mounted unit. It will be followed by the St. Pats parade after party! Food donated by the Sailfish Marina.

Easter is early this year, so our annual Mayors Youth Council Easter Egg hunt will be on March 30th at 11 AM sharp. Four thousand eggs donated by Sheriff Bradshaw will be hidden at 8:30 AM, so we can use your help to hide them if you have the time from Edwards Lane to Linda Lane on the Parkway. The Easter Egg bunny will be on hand, and Burgers and Hot Dogs will be provided by the Sailfish Marina and cooked by our Rotary Club.

Since some of our Deputies have changed over the last 4-1/2 years, I thought having a "meet and greet" with a BBQ at the Community Centers' first floor on April 5th at noon might be a good idea. The Sailfish Marina provides Hamburgers and hot dogs cooked up by the deputies.

And now for some cop stuff: Last year, we lost five (5) bicycles to thieves and two (2) this year. With the proliferation of E-Bikes, which cost upwards of One Thousand dollars, they have become easy pickings for thieves. Please lock them up and put them away. Thieves are just nonchalantly picking them up from the front yards. We are working on our plans to curb this, but we can use your help.

For those caught up in the Blue Heron Boulevard closures for a 5K run, I arrived at Blue Heron and Lake Drive and got them to allow traffic in and out of town when the runners were not entering the area. 

 The Mayor called the Riviera Beach City Manager for assistance. I spoke with the Florida Department of Transportation, which controls the permitting process for closing down a State road, Blue Heron. From now on, they know we are here and how closures affect us; we will have some say in any permits being issued.

On the parkway, please ask any of your visiting folks to yield to pedestrians and tell them that the parkway is closed to bicycle traffic by town ordinance at night. 

Speaking of pedestrians, especially on Ocean Avenue, those bowlers out there know a 7-10 split, and that's what it looks like on Ocean Avenue in the early morning hours, so please try to use the sidewalk where available.

Regarding arrests, we had to make one for retail theft in town and another in Phil Foster Park. We were called there to assist and found a naked man running about who did not like clothes or cops. We got his shorts on, along with a pair of handcuffs, and brought him to county jail for a nice jumpsuit.

Here when you need us.

Sgt. Steve Langevin

 PBSO/Town of Palm Beach Shores.

langevins@pbso.org 

TOWN HALL MEETINGS - 2024

These meetings are held in-person in Town Hall

247 Edwards Lane

Visit our Town of Palm Beach Shores Website and connect to our virtual meetings

DEVELOPMENT REVIEW COMMITTEE MEETING

March 6, 2024 @ 2:00 P.M.



COMMISSION WORKSHOP

March 11, 2024 @ 7:00 P.M.

COMMISSION BOARD MEETING

March 25, 2024 @ 7:00 P.M.

PLANNING AND ZONING MEETING

March 27, 2024 @ 6:30 P.M.

Environmental Committee Update

The new Orange Geiger tree on the parkway is starting to blossom already!

Across from there, on the East side of the parkway, we cleared out a new area for our big February garden party.

The committee placed a variety of 12 different types of wildlife-friendly plants there. Most of them will have small yellow, orange, or white flowers.

Special “Kaladiums” were added to 3 town hall flower boxes. Their colorful, frilly leaves won a “Best in Show “ award last year.

2 major EC March events:



• Friday, 3/15, 9:00-10:00 EC Meeting at town hall, 10:00-11:00 Garden Party to fill in additional butterfly plants at Bravado Ln

• Thursday, 3/28, 10:00 Arbor Day Ceremony at the town beach.

Donna Ward, EC Chairwoman

Meet Your Mayor, and Your Commissioners UNPLUGGED

             Monday, March 4, 2024, Open House, 4:30 PM – 6 PM at the Community Center

The term "unplugged" has come to refer to music that is played on instruments without electricity. For example, acoustic guitar or traditional piano that provides a calm, soothing sound. No noise.

Well, the Palm Beach Shores Property Owners Association is inviting you to meet and greet the town's elected leaders UNPLUGGED. No Robert's Rules of Order. No Legal Briefings. No Motions to Be Passed or Moved. No Formal Agenda. No speeches. Well, we will have a microphone for a few brief comments.

The Mayor and each Commissioner/Commissioner Elect will each have their own table. At each table you have an opportunity to thank them for volunteering to serve you and the town and also have a one-on-one conversation.

Light Hors D'ourves provided. Adult beverages are available for a donation.

The 4:30 PM – 6 PM time allows you to stop in before an evening appointment or dinner or on your way home from an afternoon appointment or work. Drop in anytime between 4:30 PM and 6 PM.

Paid POA members, as of January 23, may pick up your 2024 directory at this event.

2023-2024

Beach Parking Passes are available for purchase in Town Hall.

Read more

The Bookmobile is Available!

Obtain a Library Card with proof of local address and check out library materials

Click Here To Read The Schedule