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Code Enforcement Board Meeting Minutes 07/17/08

Mr. Maxey said an approximate 24 inch piece of aluminum is hanging from the light on Nightingale Trail and it seemed highly unusual that a shield of that nature would only be necessary on that light when the recommendations given by Fish & Wildlife are recommendations with broad reaching impact for the entire island. He noted that the street lights in Palm Beach do not go off during turtle nesting season. He said a field permit for trimming of the sea grapes at the Nightingale Beach Club Association was not recommended during the nesting season. He said the indifference to materials he had brought forth more than a year ago that had now been brought forth officially by the DEP were offensive to him and that is one of the reasons he had continued to “hammer” this. He said he believed the Board should recommend to the Town Council that they remove that section of the Code, given the current environmental regime, especially when one considers the public relations downside of fighting him on this issue and spending $2,000,000 to fight Lake Worth on the other side. Mr. Maxey said this was probably not a win-win situation and that NOAA had not even been brought into the fold yet.

Mr. Ochstein wanted to know if the Board was precluded from enforcing the ordinance now. Mr. Walton said it should not be enforced now, that in speaking with Mr. Wettstein from DEP and Ms. Higgins from FWC, an agreement had been reached to wait until the end of turtle season to require the trimming. The Town recommends granting the Nightingale Beach Club until November 7, 2008 to come into compliance. The permit is good until that date. In response to Mr. Hoffman’s question, Mr. Walton said the permit was issued on June 16, 2008. Mr. Maxey said he applied on March 19, 2008. Mr. Balletine inquired as to whether seven (7) days was sufficient for compliance after the end of turtle season and Mr. Walton said it was not a large area and he believed it was. Mr. Maxey said he did not believe it was sufficient, that it would be an economic hardship if he had to replace every tree that is over 3 inches in diameter in order to get it below 6 feet and he brought up other issues involved with the trimming. Mr. Balletine told Mr. Maxey he just wanted to know whether he could comply in a 7 day period without going into a lot of detail. Mr. Maxey said that before he could remove any native plant, he had to first remove every single non-native one from the property and he had some questions whether or not he could comply within the time period. He also said he had some real questions about whether the law, both at the State and the local level had been equally applied within the Town. Mr. Maxey said he is in consultation with an attorney to find out what measures he can take. The Town did not apply for a permit to cut its own sea grapes and judging from the guidelines he has in his permit, the Town would be in violation of almost everyone of those guidelines. The DEP counsel’s office asked him to provide photographs of the Town’s illegal cutting back in February.

Mr. Vanneck said there should be more research as to what should and should not be cut. He believes the Town code may have gone too far.

Mr. Hoffman said the Board did not have the authority to modify the Code and could only enforce the Codes as they had been written.

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