I recently called an old college friend, fraternity brother, and Ohio State to check in on his well-being as he recently has had some significant health problems: a brain tumor that required brain surgery and an amputated leg, which resulted from the brain surgery. His wife, the sister of another fraternity brother and teammate who played ten years for the Houston Oilers, is a very good athlete. She was a national shot put and discus champion for her age group. 

Jim has had to learn to talk again. He is trying to learn to walk on a prosthetic leg and mostly uses a wheelchair or walker for mobility. His wife Rita has had to give up her athletic pursuits and mostly takes care of Jim.

After giving me the health update, their comments also left me speechless. Jim said: "You know Alan, I am really blessed. I have had a great life: Playing football at Ohio State, getting an engineering degree, and having a successful career at General Motors. I have the best wife possible and two great kids". Rita joined in, saying, "God has really blessed us in so many ways. We are just grateful to be together with each other and our Family." I didn't know how to respond other than saying, "Yeah, you guys have had a great life." But, I thought to myself, Rita could be angry at having to give up the sport she loves. Jim could be depressed and or angry because of his health issues. I probably would be. Then I found a few words and said, "Take care of yourselves and stay in touch." 

After I hung up the phone, I sat and reflected: So many of us (me included) dwell on our problems and pains rather than count our blessings. So, as we begin a New Year, all of us living on the Palm Beach Shore, regardless of our problems and concerns, should stop and consider our blessing and good fortune.

Town Business

At my recent State of the Town Address at the January POA meeting, I forgot to include the value increase of properties by type. At the end of my talk, when I recalled that I had passed over this part of the report, it was too late to shuffle through my notes and find the data. So, I decided to include the information in this Newsletter. 

Vacant Commercial was the Seapray. It is now being taxed as vacant residential.

The overall increase in property value for our Town was 10.80%. This equated to an increase in tax revenue of $375,400. This increase was used to cover increased costs due to the two ongoing lawsuits, the cost of a Town Administrator, and increased EMS costs.

January Commission meeting:

The following business items were Included in the January Commission meeting:

• Approval of A Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement for a State Emergency Response Plan.
•  A new Ordinance setting specific completion times for building projects. Although the Commission agreed with the objective of this Ordinance, the consensus was that the specific timelines were too short. The timelines will be adjusted, and the Ordinance will be reconsidered.
•  A new Ordinance dealing with retaining walls and fences between properties with elevations that are significantly different.  This occurs when a new house if built using the new FEMA, requires higher elevations, and the adjacent yard remains at the older elevations. It was the Commission's consensus that this Ordinance required more thought and needed to be adjusted. It will be discussed at the February workshop.  
•  A new ordinance regulated cutting into newly paved roads in Town. Any cutting into the new road would require a Town permit and specifications for filling and repaving roads that have been disturbed.  The Commission's consensus was that this requirement should apply to all roads, not just the newly paved roads. The Ordinance will be adjusted accordingly and then will be reconsidered.
• A resolution expressing opposition of the Town to the Recently adopted State law requiring all elected officials to "Fully Disclosure all Financial Interests: to include all income, value of any property owned, any outstanding loans and all items owned with a value exceeding $1,000. Objections to this requirement have caused the resignation of elected officials all over the State. In our Town, two Commissioners resigned because of the requirement: Commissioner Mark Ward and Commissioner Brian Tyler. We will miss them both.
• The second resolution was appointing an alternate member of the Planning and Zoning Board (P&Z, Weston Gracida) to serve as a regular board member. Also, Janet Kortenhaus and Anastasia Karloutsos were appointed to the Board as alternates. These new board members were then given the oath of office.

Public Works Projects:

• We are pleased to report that the new Community Center Kitchen project is now completed and open for use. This said, there are several items that need some "adjusting," but these do not hinder the kitchen's use.
• The women's beach bathroom is completed and open for public use. For security reasons, the beach bathrooms are locked when the lifeguard goes off duty.
• The Road paving project is largely completed. All roads that were scheduled for repaving have been paved. Stripping is being finished up as I write. The emergency repair cut on the corner of Lake and Inlet has been repaired. The project ended with a positive variance, meaning we spent slightly less than was planned. Some remaining funds will be used to put concrete swales on each intersection of Lake Drive. These will significantly improve the road drainage and eliminate the maintenance associated with our installed road swales.

And that is a wrap for the first month of the New Year.

OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT:

Community Risk Reduction:

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 allowing 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’s 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

YES

NO

Annual Firefighter’s Barbecue: The Palm Beach Shores Volunteer Firefighter’s Association is holding their annual fundraising barbecue on February 28, 2024. Keep an eye out on the Town bulletin board and website for additional details.

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  

Happy New Year!

Darn, that went quickly.

I hope you and yours had a great year and an even better one this year.

We were able to come up with a few suspects in the bicycle theft and Rod and reel thefts from area boats.

We were lucky enough to be given serial numbers and/or identifying information for the fishing poles. By using this process and other means, a suspect was determined, and a warrant was requested for the subject's arrest.

In the thefts from a carport and another homeowner's shed, we were able to locate and arrest the subject, who is no stranger to the criminal justice system. He arrived in court and was offered a plea deal of 5 years in state prison. Due to his lengthy history, he accepted the plea and is serving his time.

In another case, we made one arrest, but we believe he and his partner committed other open-car door burglaries. The on-duty deputy patrolling the streets in the early morning hours noticed the interior lights on a vehicle on Atlantic near Blossom Lane. When confronted by the deputy, both fled the driveway. The deputy was joined by another and stopped the individual at gunpoint near Sandal Lane. The second subject continued to run. 

In an effort to locate him, Twelve (12) deputies arrived in town, aided by two K-9 deputies and the helicopter. Unfortunately, we could not locate him, and after an hour and a half, the search was stopped. The guy hid very well. I hide from the wife, and she finds me quickly; I'll ask him about his expertise when caught.

The Marriott's Reindeer Run went very well and collected money for the Children's Miracle Network. Thanks for putting up with the runners for the 45 minutes it took to complete.

 Another thank you for the many toys you brought to our office for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program. Two (2) very large boxes and a few extra boxes were filled to the brim!

After some tries, I connected with the right person at the County Road and Bridges Department, who turned the Lake Drive and Blue Heron traffic lights back to the normal setting.

In December, we conducted traffic speed surveillance with a device (Staler Roadside). It's a small radar device strapped to a light pole that tracked vehicle speeds on Bamboo Road east to Ocean Avenue and west to Lake Drive.

The report showed there were 12,957 trips taken in the 7-day/24-hour period into and out of town.

The average speed in this time period was 20.5 MPH for 90.74% of vehicles in compliance. The speed limit on Bamboo Lane is 25 MPH. 

The average speed in this period over 25 MPH was 9.26% at an average speed of 27.23 MPH. An anomaly was reported by the software of a vehicle traveling at 75MPH apparently trying to get to the Bahamas. I am told lawnmowers can play havoc with the machine if the mower is too close to the radar.

Some stats for last year in our town reported by PBSO analysts:

·       34 arrests were made

·       3,759 calls for service

·       324 case numbers pulled

·       38,856 property security checks were made

·       1,107 traffic stops were conducted.

Hope to see you at the many upcoming events our town is known for.



Here for you if 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

February 7, 2024 @ 2:00 P.M.



COMMISSION WORKSHOP

February 12, 2024 @ 7:00 P.M.

COMMISSION BOARD MEETING

February 26, 2024 @ 7:00 P.M.

PLANNING AND ZONING MEETING

February 28, 2024 @ 6:30 P.M.

Environmental Committee Update

Make sure you go by to see the new beach picnic area landscape. 

It was a great joint venture- the EC submitted the design, the town purchased the plants, and both EC volunteers and Department of Public Works staff installed them.

Dune restoration plans are underway to improve the dune ecosystem.  

The project scope includes: 1. Survey  2. Remove  3. Replace

We are surveying the existing native and non-native plants. Then, sections of the invasives will be removed or trimmed and replaced with native coastal vegetation.

In addition, a few select trees will be added to provide shade along the boardwalk.

Also, you will notice that the town hall flower boxes were refreshed with new flowers for spring.

Join us at the next EC meeting on Feb. 16 at 9:00 at Town Hall. Garden party afterward at 10:00.

Display-Dune Restoration Project Picture

Picnic Area Landscape 

Picnic Area Landscape 

Palm Beach Shores will be sponsoring its annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 16, 2024. Kick-off at 11a from the Community Center.

Fire Chief Trevor Steedman will again chair the parade.

Sgt. Steven Langevin has confirmed The Palm Beach Sheriff’s Department Honor Guard will lead the parade. 

Grand Marshals - Each year, Palm Beach Shores honors Grand Marshals, residents who have made a significant contribution to the “Best Little Town in Florida.”

Please contact Town Hall if you would like to nominate an individual or individuals for 2024 Grand Marshal.

Cool Convertibles - Our Grand Marshals, past Grand Marshals and local

dignitaries, ride in convertibles. We need 6 cool convertibles for the parade.



Contact Parade Coordinator Elizabeth Kuechenmeister (keykenmystirPBS@gmail.com) if you have a convertible that you can loan to the parade, if your organization would like to march in the parade, or you would like to volunteer.

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