The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 13

THE PALM BEACH POST FRIDAY, APRIL 1. 2005 3B Scripps extends deadline to deliver on Mecca By STACEY SINGER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH The Scripps Research Institute agreed Thursday to give Palm Beach County another two months to deliver 100 acres on Mecca Farms, extending the original deadline by five months. In a letter faxed to the county, Scripps' chief operating officer, Doug Bingham, said that in the "spirit of cooperation," the research institute would give the county until May 28 to deliver both its building pad and the bonds needed to finance Scripps $137 million headquarters and laboratories on the former orange grove. Bingham agreed to the county's suggestion that lawyers review the timetables spelled out in their year-old contract The letter eases concerns by some county officials that Scripps might try to declare Palm Beach County in default of its contract, then move some or all of its Florida operation elsewhere. On March 9, Scripps trustees voted to reject the county's chosen backup site, the Florida Research Park on Beeline Highway, saying they were committed to going forward on Mecca Farms.

The county purchased the former orange grove last year for $60 million. Since, five legal challenges have been filed to stop the project In another development, Scripps announced the addition of new members to its board of trustees: Louis Gonda of Beverly Hills, and Mark S. Skaggs of Boise, Idaho. Gonda was a founding partner of International Lease Finance which buys commercial aircraft and leases them to airlines. He served as its executive vice president until 1995.

Since retiring, Gonda has been ac tively involved in commercial real estate and venture capital investment Skaggs worked 25 years as an executive with American Stores. He owns a boutique real estate development company and manages family agricultural operations in Idaho. The two replace outgoing Scripps trustees Tom Cerruti and Herbert Boyer. Cerruti is president of The Skaggs Institute for Research, a chemistry and biology arm of The Scripps Research Institute. Boyer is co-founder and director of Genentech a biotechnology research company.

staceysingerpbpost.com Frankel attacks r-v v.v s- y-xm. i til OWf yvr -swat Tit" DAMON HIGGINSStaff Photographer Just getting his feet wet ROYAL PALM BEACH Connor Tierney of Loxahatchee Thursday. The 7-month-old visited the park with his feels the water from the fountains at Veterans Park mother, Kim, and brother, Patrick. city's downtown growth plan By PAT BEAU Palm Beach Post Staff Writer WEST PALM BEACH Mayor Lois Frankel has never shown much enthusiasm for the 9-year-old master plan guiding downtown development. Thursday afternoon, she showed no enthusiasm for it at all.

Following a three-hour forum featuring two architects, three nationally known urban planners, a developer and a land-use lawyer, Frankel called for funding revisions to the blueprint for growth. And she dismissed the notion forwarded by several members of the panel that the master plan has contributed to the city's current boom in growth. The city is hot not because of the master plan but because people want to build all over in South Florida," Frankel said. There was standing room only in the city commission chambers, where the forum was held. Sitting on the panel was Miami architect Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, who co-authored the plan with her husband, Andres Duany.

Responding to proposed changes to the plan once hailed by the state as a model for other cities Plater-Zyberk said simply, "It is a living document, and it is your document" As envisioned in 1995, the 71-page master plan capped building heights at 15 stories. High-rise buildings would be limited to main thoroughfares, with the rest of downtown limited to two to five stories. Three major amendments were added over the years, including incentives for building residential units and die option of taller buildings under certain circumstances. For instance, the 26-story Opera Place won extra height by agreeing to build a new venue for Florida Stage. In 1996, voters made an amendment of their own, passing a ballot measure capping building heights east of Olive Avenue.

Today, the downtown master plan area is flooded with 4,800 residential units. Another 1,300 are under construction and 2,800 are on the drawing board. Developers riding the crest of this construction wave are pressing for taller buildings, especially along Quadrille Boulevard and Okeechobee Boulevard. Frankel has questioned whether the master plan crafted almost a decade ago can still meet the needs of a fast-growing city. The Thursday afternoon panel discussion was designed to elicit other views.

In addition to Plater-Zyberk, panel members included Alexander Garvin, a professor of urban planning and management at Yale University; Jane Thompson, internationally famed head of the Thompson Design Group and knighted for her work on waterfront revitalization projects; real estate executive Andrew Adler of Southeast Advisors land-use attorney Lyn Harris; architect Young Song; and Paul Twitty, CEO of Schwab, Twitty Hanser Architects. All praised the master plan's initial impact on the city. Most said some tweaking was in order. One said it was time to start from scratch. This is no longer a small town," Garvin said.

Adler was almost as critical. Capping heights, he said, was forcing developers to build "edge to edge" creating squat box-like structures to maximize every inch of available space. The height limits create blandness," he said. Of course, the plan is about more than height, something Frankel hammered home. "We have allowed the media to dominate the discussion by talking about heights," she said.

Affordable housing needed to be reexamined as part of the plan, she said, as well as rules mandating retail space. But Plater-Zyberk pointed out that every panel member had discussed height as key in planning. "It's a political issue," she said. "You can't avoid it." Man charged in brother's death begins trial Troy Hardiman, of Pea-body, had been in Delray Beach to celebrate his older brother's birthday. A neighbor said at the time that she heard the brothers arguing over a bag of potato chips before Troy Hardiman stormed out of the apartment.

He T. Hardiman car in reverse and rolled over Derek. "I killed Derek," he said, according to the report. "I had an argument with my brother. I can't believe I ran him over." On Thursday, their mother, Joy Wilbar, of West Peabody, disputed the police report account.

The car did not hit her oldest son, Derek Hardiman, Wilbar said. Instead, she said, Derek tripped and hit his head, which he had injured previously when he was in the Army. The autopsy showed that Derek was unharmed by the car and only had a scratch on his leg, Wilbar said. This has been very difficult," Wilbar said. "My sons have always been close.

There's no way they would bring harm to each other." Staff writer Andrew Marra and staff researcher Angelica Cortez contributed to this story. stephanieslaterpbpost.com By STEPHANIE SLATER and SCOTT McCABE Palm Beach Post Staff Writers A man accused of running over his brother with a car in 2003 following a dispute over a bag of salt-and-vinegar potato chips made his first appearance in court Thursday on vehicular-homicide charges. Troy Hardiman, who was serving a year sentence in Massachusetts for burglary and dealing in stolen property, was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail early Wednesday. Bail was set at $50,000. A toxicology report determined that Hardiman, 29, had cocaine and methadone in his blood when he sped through the parking lot at the Summit Delray apartment complex around 7 a.m.

Sept. 15, 2003. The car hit his older brother, dragging him several yards. Derek Hardiman, 32, died of a brain injury at Delray Medical Center six days later. took off in his brother's fiancee's red Chrysler convertible, records show.

Derek Hardiman ran after him because the car wasn't insured or registered and his brother didn't have a valid driver license, the neighbor said. After the car hit Derek, Troy Hardiman tried to pull him from under the front passenger-side wheel. But he forgot to shift from drive to park and the car moved forward, according to a police report. When he got back in the driver's seat, he put the Post-Seripps, Gardens residents want city's ear the together starts tonight." Paul Auerbach, who represents the PGA Corridor Residents Coalition, said the city needs to do a better job getting information to residents. "Lately the approach to public participation has become less open," he said.

Russo said he wants the By JENNIFER S0RENTRUE Palm Beach Post Staff Writer PALM BEACH GARDENS For the first time in months, the underlying issue at Thursday's city meeting had nothing to do with The Scripps Research Institute. About 150 residents attended the meeting at the Burns Road Community Center to talk Russo has said the city has been "distracted" during the past 18 months by Scripps. He also has said city officials need to focus on residents, and vowed to respond to every concern or question asked at Thursday's meeting. This is your city," Russo told the crowd. "It's very important for us to be in this together.

We are going to grow. They called for more code enforcement officers, a lower speed limit on Northlake Boulevard west of Military Trail and better access to city officials and records. Newly appointed Mayor Joe Russo called the meeting after the Palm Beach' County Commission rejected the city's bid to move Scripps east to the Briger Tract inside the city's city to hold several more com munity meetings this year, about the city's future and the pbeallpbpost.com pbeailpbpost.com We need to do it together, and We need to do it together, and issues they want addressed. borders. jennitersorentruepbpost.com I Arts groups to split nearly $3 million in grants from bed taxes By CHARLES PASSY oversees the grant program.

Dt rfrmf Mm Head, iw Am writ really just 1,,,. t0 kecp pace rroposea aris grams A rorord Hum of nearlv $3 million Is slat SunFest of Palm Beach County Total $157,966 $2,990,000 Major cultural groups Armory Art Center $160,079 Ballet Florida $131,772 Boca Museum of Art $161,496 Boca Raton Historical Society $157,966 Caldwell Theatre Company $157,265 Flagler Museum $162,919 Florida Stage $157,966 Kravis Center for the Performing Arts $160,787 Maltt Jupiter Theater $148,971 Miami City Ballet $158,669 Morikami Museum $162,919 Norton Museum of Art $167,948 Old School Square $160,079 Palm Beach Opera $148,290 Palm Beach Photographic Center $165,065 Palm Beach Pops $154,475 Palm Beach Zoo at Oreher Park $164,348 South Florida Science Museum $151,023 said Nix, noting that, adjusted for inflation, the grant pool was about the same before the Sept 11 attacks. Still, arts groups expressed gratitude. Take the Miami City Ballet which was awarded $158,669, an Increase of $15,000 from the previous year. "It makes you feel like the company Is appreciated," marketing director Pete Uphatn said.

Also announced Thursday were $400,000 In proposed grants to 14 mid-size arts groups through a separate county program not financed with the bed tax. The grants for both programs await approval from the Palm Beach County Cultural Council and the county commission. The bed tax grants are also subject to the approval of the Tourist Development Council. ehariespsuyepbpoM.com 1 ed to be shared by 19 major arts groups in Palm Beach County, based on the recommendations of a cultural panel. The money is set to be split into grants, announced Thursday, that range from a low of $131,772 for Ballet Florida to a high of $167,948 for the Norton Museum.

Other top recipients include the Boca Museum of Art Flagler Museum Kra-vis Center Morikami Museum Old School Square Palm Beach iliotographic Center ($165,065) and Palm Beach Zoo The pool of grant money, drawn from a bed tax collected from local hotels, has risen in recent years as tourism has recovered. But while the $3 million figure may seemingly be cauw for celebration, the picture Is still not so rosy, said Bill Nix, vice president of the J'alm Beach County Cultural Council, which Mid size cultural group ArtiGras Festival $25,772 Boca Ballet Theater Company $32,150 Centre for the Arts at Mizner Park $47,607 Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Center (PBCC) $24,610 Duncan Theatre (PBCC) $33,730 Florida Sunshine Pops $15,340 Lake Worth Playhouse $2 1 ,844 Levis Cultural Arts Dept. (Levis JCC) $18,889 Lighthouse Center for the Arts $40,668 Loxahatchee River Historical Society $17,467 Marine Life Center at Juno Beach $13,687 Mounts Botanical Gardens $33,128 Palm Beach International Film Festival $33,928 Schmidt School of the Arts (FAU) $41,182 Total $400,000.