Wheels up soon on airport terminal upgrades
The planned multimillion-dollar upgrade of the passenger terminal at Vero Beach Regional Airport is expected to get under way next month. City Airport Director Todd Scher said he is hoping to issue a “Notice to Proceed” to Vero Beach-based Proctor Construction “in the next couple of weeks.” An expansion of the baggage-claim area is one element of a terminal renovation project that includes the construction of permanent, covered, open-air walkways connecting the terminal to the fence line for boarding and deboarding passengers. The plans also include construction of a permanent covered open-air waiting area for people meeting incoming flights. In addition, the project will provide a similarly covered outdoor “sterile area” for outgoing passengers who’ve been through their security checks and are waiting to board their flights. “People will have the option of staying inside, which can get a little crowded, or they can spill over to the outside area,” Scher said. “That area will be expanded, and we’ll install benches and chairs.” READ FULL STORY
Bureaucracy on full display with VA clinic delay
After breaking the news on September 13th that the U.S. Veterans’ Administration would open a $17 million multi-specialty clinic in Vero in vacant medical office space at 777 37th St., Vero Beach 32963 launched an effort to find out more details. What we have gotten for the past few months has been one more exasperating adventure in federal government bureaucratic inertia. From the first telephone message we left for VA officials on December 6th to February 13th, when a 145-word statement was finally provided, eleven (yes eleven) full weeks elapsed. It took four phone calls and the exchange of 21 emails over this period to eventually get a single VA “approved statement” which contained exactly 14 words that had not already been reported in our original September story. And the new information won’t come as much of a shock: The clinic will NOT open on schedule in March. “Activation of the full site is anticipated to occur prior to September 30, 2025,” Public Affairs Officer Andrea Madrazo said. In fact, construction has not even begun, something we discovered two weeks ago by poking around the building, which showed zero outward signs of active renovation. READ FULL STORY
‘Whistleblower’ claims ex-management of two assisted living communities padded numbers
A former accountant for the company which managed the Regency Park and Harbor Chase communities until last May has sued as a ‘whistleblower,’ claiming she was fired for questioning the allegedly shady financial practices of her superiors at the firm, including padding occupancy rates to boost sales bonuses. Alicia Combs worked as a staff accountant for Vero-based Harbor Retirement Associates (HRA) from November 2022 until she was fired last March 6, allegedly “in retaliation for objecting to conduct attributable to HRA … that violates … one or more laws, rules, or regulations,” according to the complaint filed in the 19th Judicial Circuit Court for Indian River County. Vero-based HRA develops and manages high-end assisted-living communities in Florida, Texas, Alabama, South Carolina, Delaware and Connecticut. Sagora Senior Living took over management of the two Vero Beach communities from HRA last May. Combs said she became aware of the allegedly illegal conduct in 2023 and early 2024 when she began to notice that the occupancy rates at various communities were inflated. The padded numbers were presented to the company’s investors, whose contracts are based on occupancy, the suit says. READ FULL STORY
Longtime island builder bets on appeal of high-end condos
Despite the problems and uncertainty caused by Florida’s new post-Surfside condominium requirements, many buyers still crave the condo lifestyle. Longtime island builder Bob McNally plans to tap the top end of that market. His company, Palm Coast Development, will begin taking reservations this weekend for luxurious new riverfront condos in Somerset Bay. The condos will debut with renderings and details on Saturday and Sunday at the grand opening for Azalea Lane, another Palm Coast project featuring three new single-family homes in Central Beach. Developed and built by McNally, the Signature Series at Somerset Bay condos will be huge, with 3,300 square feet under air and two terraces, including one with long, postcard views of the Indian River Lagoon. “They are like houses in the sky,” said Douglas Elliman broker associate and listing agent Sally Daley. “We believe as many as half of our buyers will be people who start out looking for a single-family home on the river, pause at the cost, and decide on one of Bob’s condos, which live like houses.” The three-bedroom, three-and-half-bath units with private elevators and vast kitchen/great room/terrace configurations will be priced from $2.7 million to $3.4 million. READ FULL STORY
Propelled by robust international sales, sky’s the limit for Piper entering 2025
Vero Beach-based Piper Aircraft entered 2025 on a roll, having delivered nearly 300 aircraft last year – more than one-quarter of them to international buyers. The 291 airplanes manufactured here and shipped in 2024 were 46 more than Piper delivered in 2023, representing a year-over-year increase of almost 20 percent. Of Piper’s total deliveries in 2024, 217 were shipped to customers in the U.S., marking a 7-percent increase in domestic sales. It was in the global market, however, that the company enjoyed its most notable success. The 74 aircraft delivered to international buyers marked a whopping 76-percent increase over 2023’s numbers. A key factor in that growth was the immediate popularity of the M700 Fury, Piper’s new flagship aircraft that was introduced in March to replace the M600/SLS in its business-class lineup. Deliveries of the M700 Fury soared by 30 percent in the second quarter of 2024, as Piper’s revenues rose by nearly 9 percent. The company shipped 46 of them last year. “Our continued growth, both domestically and internationally, is a testament to the strength of our product lineup and the trust our customers place in Piper,” company president and CEO John Calcagno said last week. READ FULL STORY
Family sues Indian River Estates claiming failure of alert system led to father’s death
The family of a former resident of Indian River Estates is suing the retirement community for wrongful death, claiming a failure of their emergency alert system led to their father’s death. According to the complaint, filed in Indian River County Circuit Court, Neil I. Van Vliet fell to the floor of his independent living apartment at Indian River Estates on Sept. 3, 2022. After the fall, Van Vliet tried several times to activate a Red Alert signal to report a medical emergency using the alert system installed in his apartment, but no one responded. Van Vliet’s daughter, Lisa Chatterjie, went to the apartment the next day to find her father still on the floor where he fell the day before, the complaint says. Chatterjie immediately called 911. When paramedics arrived, they noted that Van Vliet had blood in the whites of his eyes, a 1-inch skin tear on his left elbow, and bruises on his lower ribs, the suit says. Van Vliet also had “abnormalities concerning his blood pressure, pulse, oxygen saturation and blood glucose level,” the complaint says. He was admitted to Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, but his condition declined overnight and he died on Sept. 5. READ FULL STORY
Auto repairman, collector’s kin in classic-car dispute
A Vero Beach auto repairman is refusing to hand over a classic car that a deceased collector bequeathed to his children, claiming one of the new owners was “spoiled” and “not worthy of the automobile,” according to a complaint filed in Circuit Court. The car, a 1968 Plymouth GTX muscle car estimated to be worth more than $30,000, belonged to Terry Swezey, M.D., who until his death last July practiced family medicine at 1800 43rd Ave. in Vero Beach. In his will, Swezey left the car to his children, Tiffeny and Timothy Swezey. According to the complaint, the elder Swezey had entered into an oral contract in 2014 with Joseph Krauss, III, owner of J&J Auto Works, Inc. at 1816 44th Ave. SW. In that agreement, Krauss allegedly agreed to provide labor to restore the GTX in exchange for medical services for Krauss and his family. The Swezey siblings say in the complaint that both parties lived up to their obligations in the contract. Tiffeny and Timothy transferred the vehicle’s title into their names on Aug. 13, after which Tiffeny went to J&J Auto Works to pick up the GTX. READ FULL STORY
A remarkable piece of civil engineering now nearing completion will solve a problem that has plagued John’s Island for more than a decade – while saving the City of Vero Beach and its taxpayers more than $30 million. It will also provide an amazing array of ecological benefits for the Indian River lagoon and estuary. In a nutshell, the project will pull mildly polluted water from Vero’s main relief canal, pipe it a short distance to a redundant water plant built in the 1950s, purify the water, and then pump it via a new pipeline under the lagoon to John’s Island, where the sparkling commodity will keep golf courses and lawns lush and green. Vero Beach is one of dozens of cities, counties and agencies required by the state’s Indian River Lagoon Basin Management Action Plan, or BMAP, to reduce the flow of nitrogen and phosphorous into the lagoon, where the chemicals feed harmful algae blooms. “Building stormwater projects that would remove the 17,000 pounds of nitrogen per year this project removes would cost an estimated $34.2 million,” said Vero water and sewer department director Rob Bolton, who conceived of and mostly designed the new irrigation water project. READ FULL STORY
Orlando Health busy renovating its hospital here
Since taking over Sebastian River Medical Center from bankrupt Steward Health Care on Oct. 24, Orlando Health has begun rebuilding our county’s northern hospital, and has already hired 43 new staff members with 10 more starting work this month. New signage and parking lot lighting, as well as all new landscaping replanted following a complete overhaul of the long-broken irrigation system, are just two of the most visible enhancements of a hospital campus that had languished during the hospital’s final years under its old ownership. The entire hospital will also be getting a fresh paint job over the next two months. “From the moment you turn onto the grounds of the hospital, you can see the difference and the improvements since the transition to Orlando Health,” said Tony Adams, president, Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital. “We continue to work to make additional improvements, and you will see even more changes throughout the coming months that will set us apart as a world class health care institution.” READ FULL STORY
Island dune restoration project more than half completed
A $6.7 million project to restore almost 3 miles of island sand dunes destroyed by hurricanes Ian and Nicole is now more than halfway completed, according to county officials. Crews staged on Sea Court in John’s Island are working around the Beachcomber Lane area, including Sea Forest and Village Shores neighborhoods. So far the project is running as expected and scheduled to conclude in March. The “halfway” mark by volume was passed a couple of weeks ago. “Following the permitted design, the volume of sand placed along the 2.9-mile stretch is not evenly distributed. For example, one part might be designed to receive 10 feet of dune and another 15 feet of dune, based on environmental conditions,” said County Coastal Resource Manager Quintin Bergman. “Additionally, the contractor decided to build the center of the project first, the southern portion second and finish the northern section last. Therefore, we are using sand volume (cubic yards) as the metric to estimate that the project is roughly halfway completed.” READ FULL STORY
Nighttime closures next week on 17th Street Bridge
Island residents returning home from the mainland after dinner next week should be aware that the 17th Street Bridge will be the subject of eastbound nighttime closure starting at 9 p.m. all week, while traffic turning onto the Barber Bridge – also under construction – is limited to just one lane. Temporary signs have been put up at approaches to the 17th Street Bridge warning motorists Vero’s southern bridge would be closed to all eastbound traffic from Feb. 16 to Feb. 21 between the hours of 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. At the same time, the western edge of the Merrill P. Barber Bridge at the intersection with Indian River Boulevard is still undergoing an improvement project which allows only one lane of traffic to turn onto the eastbound lanes of the bridge from either direction. The 17th Street Bridge is in the middle of a four-year construction project which involves completely replacing a 400-foot section of the bridge at the eastern edge of the lagoon which had been deemed unsafe because of crumbling concrete and rusted metal connections. READ FULL STORY
Longtime County Commissioner O’Bryan leaving Florida to be nearer to grandkids
After more than 40 years in Vero Beach, retired four-term County Commissioner Peter O’Bryan is moving to the mountains of northeastern Tennessee. The reason? O’Bryan said last week he and his wife, Susan, want to be within closer driving distance of their grandchildren – in Albany, New York, and Columbia, Missouri – and get away from Florida’s summer heat and Vero’s busy-season traffic. The sale of the O’Bryans’ house here is scheduled to close on Feb. 25, and they’ve got a contract to buy a home in Mountain City next month. “We’ll stay in our camper until we close on the house up there,” O’Bryan said of the move to Mountain City, a small Tennessee town located 40 minutes north of Boone, North Carolina. READ FULL STORY
Shaw retiring as Shores’ all-purpose deputy chief of public safety
Mark Shaw, deputy chief of public safety for Indian River Shores, has decided it’s time to slow down a bit. A Vero Beach High School graduate with 21 years of service to Shores residents and nearly 35 years in public safety, Shaw had been working full time as the second in command of the town’s triple-trained police, fire and paramedic force, making progress on a doctorate degree, and teaching night classes at the Treasure Coast Public Safety Training Complex at Indian River State College. As of Feb. 6, he’s officially “retired” from the Town of Indian River Shores, ending a commendation-filled career in which he earned the respect of his colleagues, town residents and elected officials who run the town. READ FULL STORY
Vero marina dock expansion finally nearing completion
The first part of the initial phase of the oft-delayed expansion of Vero’s municipal marina – building a new South dock – was finally expected to be completed this week. Except for one key component: Electricity. City Marina Director Sean Collins told City Council members last week he’s still waiting for Florida Power & Light to connect the dock to power lines on the adjacent street, calling the issue the “biggest hold-up, by far.” Collins said the new dock is already at 80-percent occupancy with vessels that were relocated when the old dock was taken out of service. He said the marina has commitments from “everybody else,” ensuringg that the dock will be filled to capacity when the city receives a Certificate of Occupancy from the county. Collins is hoping to have the dock fully operational by March 1, which would be roughly the same time as the city begins tearing down the marina’s existing-but-dilapidated 7,850-square-foot boat-storage facility. READ FULL STORY
Vero sewer plant relocation price soars to $178M
The latest cost projection for Vero’s relocation of its wastewater-treatment plant from the lagoon-front Three Corners property to the airport has now jumped to $178 million, according to City Water and Sewer Director Rob Bolton. The project’s cost, which includes site work at the airport, has more than doubled over the past two years. Bolton informed City Council members last week that the project will now require a $150 million bond issue – not the $130 million projected when the new facility’s price tag was only $158 million, just six months ago. The bond issue, along with $26 million in grants the city has received, will cover the costs of design, construction and inspections. City officials, who also considered partnering with the county and investing in major renovations to the existing facility, still say building a new plant at the airport provides the best service and the best price. “There was no do-nothing option,” City Manager Monte Falls said. “We had three options. We evaluated them. We chose one that actually gives us the best water treatment and turned out to be the most economical to do.” READ FULL STORY
Car nuts revved up as 78 more super-luxury garages in pipeline
Joe Schulke and Vic Lombardi are at it again. The partners, an engineer and a builder, just announced their fourth luxury garage project, which will bring to market 78 more concrete and steel units priced from $249,900 to $389,900. The stylish, hurricane-rated garages, which can be made into luxe man caves or she sheds, with mezzanine levels, hardwood floors, bars and big screen TVs, range in size from 920 square feet to 1,530 square feet for standard units, with even larger sizes available if a buyer needs more space. “We have done a lot of preliminary engineering for a 60-foot by 72-foot unit that will be over 4,000 square feet,” says Lombardi, owner of Waters Edge Estates construction company, who has built many of the most impressive oceanfront homes on the island. “We are also looking at making an entire 60-foot by 144-foot building a single unit, all clear span, with no columns, if the right buyer comes along.” Located on an 8-acre lot behind Chill & Grill at 7420 U.S. 1, the new project, called Motorhaus 3.0, will include nine architect-designed, Bauhaus-style buildings on a secure, gated campus. READ FULL STORY
Freshman Congressman Haridopolos vows to pay more attention to this area
For decades, Vero Beach has been the neglected stepchild of a Congressional District dominated by Brevard County, and Indian River County residents have seldom seen their elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives except when he was looking for campaign contributions. But freshman Congressman Mike Haridopolos, like his predecessors a Brevard County resident, told Vero Beach 32963 in an interview last week that he wants to be more attentive to his Indian River County constituents, in person or using technology to stay connected. He won’t be physically home in his Florida district as much as retired Congressman Bill Posey was, he said, as the Congressional calendar has been changed to meet the ambitious schedule Republicans and President Donald Trump plan while the GOP enjoys a majority in both the House and the Senate. But to help make it around to as many local meetings and events as possible, he said he has set up a feature on his website called “Request an Appearance” and wants to encourage Vero residents to use it. READ FULL STORY
As another ‘open’ bridge club folds, private games now rule
When the North Vero Beach/Sebastian Bridge Club ended its duplicate game last Friday and closed its doors for good, it was the second time in about six months that a local so-called “open” bridge club ceased operations. The closure leaves the Vero Beach Bridge Center on 14th Avenue on the edge of downtown, across the street from the Crestlawn Cemetery, as the only place remaining in the county where anyone can drop in and play competitive bridge. Bridge, however, is still far from dead in Vero Beach, which for years has been known as an avid bridge-playing community where many people chose to retire specifically for the quality of competitive bridge offered in multiple locations. But the game is now mostly played behind the barriers of country clubs and gated communities. Invitational games are offered – usually once a week, sometimes more often – at Riomar, The Moorings, Quail Valley, Sea Oaks, Windsor, Orchid, the Vero Beach Country Club, John’s Island, The Vero Beach Yacht Club, Bent Pine, Grand Harbor, Oak Harbor and the Indian River Estates retirement community out west along State Route 60. READ FULL STORY
County OK’s $400K contribution to Humiston boardwalk rebuild
The County Commission last week voted 4-1 to contribute $400,000 to Vero’s plan to rebuild the Humiston Park boardwalk, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Nicole in 2022 and later demolished for public-safety reasons. Susan Adams voiced the lone opposition, standing by her earlier position that $400,000 was too much – even though the commission’s offer comes with the condition that any federal or state funds the city receives for the boardwalk project will be deducted from the county’s contribution. The Vero Beach City Council, citing budget limitations, had voted in June to replace the boardwalk with a less-costly sidewalk to be built on a berm along the western edge of the dunes. In December, however, council members expressed a willingness to reconsider their decision, after witnessing a sudden surge in community sentiment and financial support for a boardwalk. Vero Beach 32963 launched the fund-raising effort with a $5,000 contribution after council members John Carroll and Aaron Vos each offered to write checks for $3,500. READ FULL STORY
Cleveland Clinic leader: We’ll cure financial woes
The head of Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, undaunted by nearly $200 million in operating losses since Cleveland took over the facility in 2019, said he expects the Vero Beach hospital to break even financially by the end of 2025. “We have a tremendous plan on the operations side that looks at how we create a sustainable delivery system for the future, said Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Richard Rothman. “We don’t have the final numbers (for 2024) yet. But year-over-year (losses in 2023) have been cut in half. And we’re expecting by the end of 2025 to be month-over-month back to break even.” READ FULL STORY
Board embraces moving forward with K-8 schools
As Superintendent David Moore continues his efforts to implement innovative ways to improve public education, the School Board has embraced his proposal to provide parents with another intriguing option: K-8 schools. Earlier this month, Moore presented the board with a proposal to begin the transition to a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade concept at four of the district’s elementary-level schools as early as the 2025-26 academic year. Board members initially approved adding sixth-grade classes next year – with seventh- and eighth-grade classes to follow in a year-by-year progression – at Pelican Island Elementary, which is slated to become not only a K-8 school, but the first in the district to offer a non-religious, classical-education curriculum. Then at Monday night’s board meeting, they unanimously approved the addition of sixth-grade classes at Fellsmere Elementary and both the Rosewood and Osceola magnet schools, also starting in August. The district’s other nine elementary schools will continue their existing K-5 formats, giving parents a choice between sending their children to traditional middle schools or to K-8 schools. READ FULL STORY
90-year-old booked for driving into cop several times with his car, then fleeing
A 90-year-old Central Beach resident is out on bond awaiting a court date after police say he struck an officer with his car several times while half-marathon runners competed nearby on Ocean Drive, then drove away. The police officer was conducting traffic patrol at Ocean Drive and Beachland Boulevard for the Vero Beach Half Marathon and Sea Turtle 2-Miler Race events, which had drawn hundreds of participants, when Bernard Thomas Chauss of Flamevine Lane drove up to the intersection shortly after 8 a.m. in his Blue Toyota. “While (the officer) was attempting to stop the driver, the driver hit him with the vehicle multiple times,” an incident report said. As amazed spectators watched, police said Chauss made a U-turn in the intersection and left the scene, heading south on Ocean Drive. Another Vero Beach officer stopped his car a few blocks away. When the officer ordered Chauss to step out of the vehicle, Chauss threatened to spit on and hit the policeman, reports show. Officers ordered Chauss to get out of the car several more times. When he continued to refuse, they pulled Chauss from the car, placed him in handcuffs, and booked him into the county jail. READ FULL STORY
Who exactly is supposed to clear this A1A tornado debris?
There surely are other painful visual reminders of the killer tornado spawned by Hurricane Milton that tore through Vero Beach last November, but one of the worst remaining eyesores is there for passing motorists to see on the ocean side of highway A1A just south of the 7-Eleven. The vacant 8-acre wooded parcel that runs between the road and the beach has nothing but vegetation on it – or what’s left of it after the tornado made its last touch-down there on its way out to sea. The tract of land is now nothing but a tangled mess of snapped-off or uprooted tree stumps, broken-off branches and general vegetative debris. In the pre-tornado days, there used to be an improvised pathway to the beach through the brush, and on warm, sunny days, several cars of beachgoers could always be seen parked along the road at the entrance. No more – that pathway to the beach is gone now. The problem is that no one seems to know for now how to get the unsightly mess cleaned up or cleared. READ FULL STORY
Two nabbed in gold bar scam allegedly targeting Shores senior
Investigators have captured two men whom they say stole $156,256 from an elderly Indian River Shores resident last February in a sophisticated international ransomware and gold bar scheme that is sweeping the country. A second elderly Shores victim was swindled out of $1.7 million in bitcoin, cash and gold bullion, but that case is still actively being investigated, and thus far detectives have not identified any suspects or released details. “These are far-reaching scams and it’s amazing how well orchestrated they are,” said Indian River Shores Detective Sergeant Rodney Grass. “We know that people have been hit in Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas … it goes on and on. In Wisconsin alone, there are 49 victims who reported losing more than $38 million.”It took more than a year and the cooperation of multiple agencies in multiple states to capture the two suspects in the first case, Grass said. Rakeshbhai Harshadbhai Patel, 35, is being held in the Indian River County Jail on a $1 million bond, charged with grand theft of more than $50,000 from a person age 65 years or older, a first-degree felony. His arraignment is scheduled for March 20. READ FULL STORY
Questions abound on $4M decision to buy sober home
Shelling out $4 million of taxpayers money to buy an abandoned property and turn it into a women’s sober home – with no business plan for the program, zero expertise in the industry, and no clue how much it would cost to repair, insure, maintain and operate the facility on an annual basis – might sound like another insane local government decision. Well, that’s exactly where the Indian River Hospital District trustees now find themselves. The week before Christmas, the Hospital District purchased the buildings at 620 10th Street and 650 10th Street that at one time had been used by the Children’s Home Society as group housing for foster children. The building, owned by Centennial Holdings of Orlando, had been carried on the tax rolls for the past decade as worth between $1.1 million and $1.2 million. While the “just” value placed on properties for tax purposes is generally quite a bit less than the real market value, 620 and 650 10th Street were put on the market for an extremely aggressive $4.1 million by the Fitzgerald Group, a Fort Lauderdale brokerage. READ FULL STORY
Condo inventory rising here amid new regulations
The number of condominium units for sale on the barrier island is rising faster than single-family home inventory as state condo regulations passed in 2022 and 2023 take effect. “The supply is growing for two reasons,” said Douglas Elliman broker associate Sally Daley. “On the one hand, more condo owners are deciding they can’t afford the higher costs caused by the new laws and are putting their units on the market. At the same time, those same new costs and fear about future costs have diminished buyer demand. A lot of buyers are fearful of the word condo.” “Countywide, there’s roughly a five- or six-month supply of houses and a nine- or 10-month supply of condos,” said AMAC Alex MacWilliam broker Buzz MacWilliam. “The condo market is softer, and we are watching it.” “A year or two ago, I’d get 20 showings for one transaction, people browsing,” said ONE Sotheby’s International Realty broker associate Hank Wolff. “Now there are good listings that go weeks without a showing.” Between Jan. 1, 2024, and Jan. 1, 2025, single-family home inventory in 32963 increased by 70 percent, from 107 to 179, looking at a 90-day average. During the same two-year period, the number of island condos for sale increased 140 percent, from 74 to 178, double the increase in single-family homes. READ FULL STORY
Safety improvements under way at Barber bridge entrance
Five years on from a deadly crash which claimed the life of a College of the Holy Cross women’s rowing team star, state road crews have finally begun constructing improvements to increase safety and ease traffic congestion at the western foot of the Merrill Barber Bridge. Though the construction will add to the already-frustrating traffic issues for drivers trying to get back and forth to the barrier island, more robust signaling and turn-lane enhancements, will hopefully prevent crashes similar to the one that injured 11 in January 2020. The $3.7 million project will continue until next fall with Florida Department of Transportation predicting moderate impact to traffic during the day. There will be single-lane closures during Phase 1 of the project, through Jan. 30, but only from 8:30 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. Sunday through Thursday. During Phase 2 in February, the right-turn lane from Indian River Drive onto the bridge will be closed around-the-clock, to allow for installation of a barrier wall between the turn lane and the thru-lane. Motorists will be able to make a right turn onto the bridge from the thru-lane. READ FULL STORY
Public’s push sways council on boardwalk. City now explores adding a lifeguard station
The Vero Beach City Council has officially embraced a local grassroots campaign to rebuild the storm-damaged Humiston Park boardwalk, voting unanimously last week to change course after approving a less-costly plan last summer to replace the historic structure with a sidewalk. Not only will the 427-foot-long boardwalk be made of concrete, but council members asked city staffers and under-contract consultants who will design the new structure to provide an option to include an enclosed lifeguard station. It was council newcomer Aaron Vos who suggested the city explore the possibility of integrating a lifeguard tower into the design of one of the boardwalk’s two planned pavilions. “Something more permanent than something that sits on the beach,” he said. In a phone interview Sunday, Vos said he envisions a station that would occupy one-third of the pavilion and have a front balcony from which lifeguards could observe the beach. The station, he added, should provide an air-conditioned room in which medical care could be provided to beachgoers. City Manager Monte Falls said he didn’t know how much a lifeguard station – even one incorporated into the design of a shade pavilion – would add to the cost of the boardwalk project. READ FULL STORY
Spruced-up island parks and beaches await snowbirds and tourists
Snowbirds and returning winter tourists visiting the island’s public beaches and parks should notice some improvements since last season. While most of the $13.4 million being spent sprucing up county facilities is being spent on the mainland, on projects ranging from signage and landscaping to ballfields and bathrooms, a variety of spots on the island are getting an upgrade as well. For starters, invasive plants, such as Brazilian pepper and Scaevola taccada, have been removed from every county beach access site, replaced with native species, including seagrape, palmetto and wild coffee, said Wendy Swindell, Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation for Indian River County. Species that do well will be augmented over the years to create a thick buffer for neighboring properties, Swindell said. This $68,551 project was completed last September with money from the Tree Ordinance and Natural Lands funds – money paid by developers to mitigate removing trees from their development sites. By the end of 2025, every county park also will have new and improved signage, making it easier for visitors to park and to enjoy the amenities available at each location. READ FULL STORY
Hospital District makes $4M buy; where’s the plan?
A few days before Christmas, the Hospital District did some last-minute shopping, laying out almost $4 million of taxpayer money for an abandoned building on 10th Street, behind Dyer Chevrolet, that was once used as group housing for foster children aging out of the system. District officials say they intend to find an operator who can turn the buildings into a 30-bed women’s sober living home similar to one of the men’s sober living halfway house currently operating in Vero. They say the need is great for such a facility. But beyond the fact that the purchase exhausted the entire $3.8 million the Hospital District realized from selling the taxpayer-owned Hospice House property to the Visiting Nurse Association in 2023, there also is the matter of how much setting up and subsidizing operation of a women’s sober home might cost taxpayers. If there is a business plan for this initiative, the Hospital District hasn’t produced it. Is owning a women’s sober home a wise investment of taxpayer dollars? What risks are involved in this type of property ownership? How much will the building cost to insure and maintain? Would such a facility break even, or would it require continual financial support from the Hospital District? READ FULL STORY
DiVosta Homes plans 4th major local project
After a year of robust sales in its three Indian River County subdivisions – including numerous sales to seniors downsizing from larger houses on the island – DiVosta Homes has unveiled plans for a fourth local project. Emerson Oaks on 43rd Avenue a few blocks south of Oslo Road is timed to capitalize on the new Oslo Road/I-95 interchange, which is slated to be complete about the same time as the subdivision. After several years of planning, DiVosta closed on 83 acres of land on the west side of 43rd, a short walk from the Publix plaza on Oslo, purchasing the property from members of the Sexton family in mid-December for $7 million. Brent Baker, Southeast Florida Division president of PulteGroup, told Vero Beach 32963 that there will be 171 single-family homes in the development, ranging in size from 1,880 to 2,628 square feet. “Base prices will start in the high $400s and go up to $800,000,” Baker said. READ FULL STORY
‘Moore’ good news: School graduation rates now 4th in state
Six months after receiving its second consecutive “A” grade from the Florida Department of Education, the county School District learned last week that its 96.2-percent high school graduation rate ranked No. 4 in the state. The district’s graduation rate for the Class of 2024 not only increased from 95.6 percent, but it also was the highest on the Treasure Coast and well above the state’s 89.7-percent rate. When School Superintendent David Moore was hired in late 2019, the school district’s rate was 88.5 percent, which ranked 20th in the state. Notably, the district has made significant progress in closing the achievement gaps among minority students. The graduation rate for Black students has risen by 11 percentage points since the 2018-19 school year to 92 percent, while the rate for Hispanic students saw a 14-percent increase to 97 percent. “Graduating from high school is a key milestone in every student’s educational journey, representing not only academic success but also preparation for meaningful contributions to their future communities,” Moore said. “We are immensely grateful to our teacher, staff, students and families for their contributions to this achievement,” he added. “As a district, we are committed to continuing this upward trajectory and ensuring our students are equipped to lead and thrive in the communities of tomorrow.” READ FULL STORY
Numerous airport tenants in violation of lease agreements
At least 11 of the nearly 50 businesses operating at the Vero Beach Regional Airport were in violation of the terms of their lease agreements last week – because they did not have the required windstorm insurance coverage. But city officials, who say they understand the harsh financial realities and growing angst amid the worsening statewide insurance crisis, don’t want to simply kick them off airport property. Will they need to? Or can the city and its airport tenants come up with a way to keep these businesses on site and paying rent without putting Vero Beach taxpayers at risk? The City Council hopes to get answers to those questions at a specia l-call meeting at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall. “In an attempt to be business-friendly, which is part of our mission, we’re trying to find an agreement that works for all parties,” Vero Beach Airport Director Todd Scher said last week. “I don’t think the city’s response is going to be: Revoke the leases.” According to Scher, most of the tenants who are not in compliance with the insurance clauses in their leases no longer can afford the skyrocketing costs of windstorm coverage. READ FULL STORY
Wave of public support builds for boardwalk
We wanted the historic boardwalk to rise once again atop the dune at Humiston Beach – and it appears that this time, the nostalgic dreams of many Vero residents are going to be fulfilled. “You can’t deny what’s happening,” Vero Beach Mayor John Cotugno said of the momentum that has been building since Vero Beach 32963 publicly championed the boardwalk cause last month. “There seems to be a real push from the community to do this, and I think the council is excited about everything that has happened since our last meeting,” Vero Beach City Manager Monte Falls added. “With the way the public has responded, I’d say there’s a real chance we can rebuild a boardwalk at Humiston Beach.” Cotugno said last week he expected the City Council – in response to a rapidly spreading grassroots campaign that already has generated more than$170,000 in promised contributions from the private sector – to adopt a resolution establishing the highly regarded Indian River Community Foundation as the fund’s administrator. READ FULL STORY
Island real estate values seen staying at present levels
The astonishing price increases seen in the island real estate market during the heart of the pandemic boom excited homeowners, and brought joy to sellers. But the broad-based, often dramatic run-up in prices, with some properties doubling in value in a year or two, also made many nervous. Those who remembered the property boom in the early part of this century – and subsequent collapse in 2007-2009 – couldn’t help but wonder if another crash might be coming. But the prices have held. They are real. And Zillow, a massive online source of real estate information, is expecting 32963 island home prices to rise 1.5 percent in 2025, which may be a lowball number. “I think prices will continue stable and rising,” says John’s Island Real Estate broker Bob Gibb. “People are more optimistic going into 2025 than they have been going into most other years we have seen.” READ FULL STORY
After Windsor founder Galen Weston passed away in 2021, his daughter Alannah Weston turned her attention to her father’s legacy. A longtime advocate of environmental sustainability, she took a fresh look at the plans for North Village, the New Urbanist community’s final phase of development. Since the 47-acre parcel borders the Pelican Island Wildlife Refuge, “Alannah and the rest of the family looked at the plans and decided to literally go back to the drawing board,” said Jane Smalley, Windsor’s director of marketing. Working for over a year with architect and urban planner Andrés Duany, the original designer of Windsor, and John Fitzpatrick, a world-renowned ornithologist, the Westons have come up with a plan to make North Village a haven for both local and migrating birds. “Windsor is launching a visionary far-sighted project with significant alterations to the landscape,” said Fitzpatrick, director emeritus of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “The goal is to make it ecologically attractive and effective as a natural habitat. This follows a trend that is growing around the country but is especially important and super exciting to see in Florida.” READ FULL STORY
Vero police lieutenant’s ‘whistleblower’ suit alleges retaliation by chief
A high-ranking Vero Beach police officer has filed a “whistleblower” lawsuit against the city, claiming he was targeted for retaliation after he accused the department’s chief earlier this year of creating a hostile work environment. Lieutenant Daniel Cook filed the suit in Circuit Court in November, alleging Police Chief David Currey gave him the first “substandard” annual job-performance review in his 35 years with the department and later suspended him because of the allegations. The 24-page filing – which contains eight exhibits, including text messages, memos, administrative action forms and an email – states that Currey’s “antagonism” toward Cook stemmed from an “unfounded belief” that the lieutenant was “revealing internal information” about adverse working conditions to people outside the department. READ FULL STORY
First element of future Three Corners to set sail soon
While selection of an overall developer for Vero’s planned Three Corners riverfront complex is still months away, the first element of the grand masterplan – the Youth Sailing Foundation’s new community sailing center at the western base of the Alma Lee Loy Bridge – is getting close to groundbreaking. The Foundation submitted its site plan to the City of Vero Beach in early December and expects to get a response from city planners any day now. In mid-December, the group signed a $4.5-million contract with Proctor Construction to build the Pat Harris Community Sailing Center, with groundbreaking scheduled for May. “Proctor did a great deal of pro bono preconstruction work for us, and they are ready to go for the county permit,” said Stu Keiller, who served from 2016 until 2023 as executive director of the Foundation and now is project manager for the new building. The two-story, 10,000-square-foot tropical colonial structure will be built on a forest of pilings that go down 20 or 25 feet to hard substrate, supporting a heavy concrete slab foundation. READ FULL STORY
Hospital District hit with blowback over bailout plan
A proposal to give Cleveland Clinic $13.6 million in taxpayer funds to cover losses at Indian River Hospital seems all but dead – an 11th hour hitch which followed stories in this newspaper that triggered an overwhelmingly negative public response to the Hospital District’s mishandling of the matter. Hospital District staff went on vacation for Christmas week before fulfilling Vero Beach 32963’s Dec. 18 public records request for the email public correspondence, but Trustee Paul Westcott forwarded records to this newspaper last week. Of the first 34 emails received, only one voiced support for funding Cleveland Clinic’s proposed $13.6 million “bridge plan.” Some of the emails reported receiving great care at the hospital and expressed appreciation for care by the hospital staff, but pointedly added that since Cleveland Clinic had agreed to cover indigent care here in exchange for 10 years of free rent, they expected it to honor that deal. What exactly did Cleveland Clinic agree to in exchange for the free rent when it took over operation of Vero’s hospital six years ago? Cleveland Clinic’s own news release archive provides the precise language the Ohio-based corporation used in describing the terms back on Oct. 3, 2018. READ FULL STORY
Price right? Accurate valuations key as more homes come on the island market
It has become a buyers market for single-family homes in 32963. Data provided by broker associate Sally Daley at Douglas Elliman shows a rapid increase in inventory over the past two months. The result: An increasingly value-conscious mindset among buyers. Top real estate brokers up and down the island say it is more important than ever to price homes correctly, or even a little aggressively, as we head into the busy winter selling season. “I have never met a seller who didn’t want to get the most money possible for their home, which is totally understandable,” says Richard Boga at ONE Sotheby’s International Realty. “But now is not the time to be greedy.” At the beginning of November, there were about 150 single-family homes for sale on the island, half of pre-COVID norm. Today there are nearly 200 homes for sale in 32963, approximately two-thirds as many as were typically available in 2018 and 2019. “We are moving slowly back in the direction of our pre-covid market, when we usually had more active inventory than the typical market,” says Boga. When there are more choices in their price range, buyers gain leverage and bargain harder. READ FULL STORY
Developer may have to shell out $2M to relocate gopher tortoises
A developer hopes to begin construction soon on an 811-unit residential development just east of Sandridge Golf Club, but first it has to gently evict an estimated 283 gopher tortoises and relocate them to a quieter, safer neighborhood. The moving cost for the tortoises: It could exceed $2 million! County staff are poring over initial plans submitted by Pennsylvania developer Toll Brothers for Ridge Top Planned Development on approximately 160 acres at the southwest corner of 77th Street and Old Dixie Highway. Ridge Top is slated for 277 single-family homes, 194 multi-family villas, and 340 multi-family two- and three-story rental apartments, along with a clubhouse, recreation areas and a dog park, according to county documents. The county’s Sandridge Golf Club is adjacent to the site on the west. The site is within the county’s designated Urban Services Boundary, with county water and sewer available. Since 2008, Florida has listed the gopher tortoise as threatened and both the tortoise and its burrows are protected by law. Before developers can begin clearing land, they must obtain permits from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to survey, capture and relocate the tortoises. While this sounds fair enough, doing so is a lengthy and expensive process that can cost up to $8,000 or more per animal. READ FULL STORY
Grumbling over noisy flight school traffic likely to fall on deaf ears
Complaints from local residents about the repetitive and often-annoying noise that accompanies student pilots practicing takeoffs and landings at Vero Beach Regional Airport are nothing new. “We’ve been getting those kinds of complaints since I joined the staff here in 1996,” Vero Beach Airport Director Todd Scher said last week, responding to questions about the most recent grumbling from affected homeowners in neighborhoods near the airport. “I do get a lot of calls these days, but over the years, the number seems to ebb and flow,” he added. “Sometimes, people contact us. Other times, they call City Hall. There has been a flight school here since 1966, so we also get repeated complaints from the same citizens. “They all want the airport, or the city, to do something – change the flight patterns, redirect aircraft traffic away from residential areas, anything to stop the noise – but we can’t.” That’s because the Federal Aviation Administration has sole authority over the city-owned airport’s aircraft operations. The agency, in fact, owns and staffs air traffic control towers at airports across America, including here. Federal regulations prohibit local officials from directing air traffic or restricting access to the airfield. READ FULL STORY
The Indian River County Hospital District has been on a quest to “tell its story” about what it does in the community, punctuated by a re-branding, a new logo and an upcoming community satisfaction survey. But all the good intentions, good works and image spiffing can be wiped out in an instant if the tax-paying public doesn’t trust the people who run it. Transparency builds trust. Back-room deals and treating taxpayer money like a personal checkbook or a private foundation do not build trust. Chairwoman Marybeth Cunningham now claims that Cleveland Clinic never asked the Hospital District for a $13.6 million bailout. Cunningham asserts that she and Executive Director Frank Isele “offered” the taxpayer money in a private meeting with Cleveland Clinic officials. READ FULL STORY
Here’s what the Hospital District needs to do right now
The Indian River County Hospital District has the chance to make a fresh start in January, to earn back some of the trust and goodwill it’s lost over the past month or so. But that’s not guaranteed. It needs to start acting like a government body with a $22 million annual budget which assesses, invests and spends ad valorem property taxes paid by local taxpayers. It needs to start acting like a government body that is deeply cognizant of the fact that it hiked its property tax rate by 61 percent in 2024. While the taxpayers have largely given it a free pass in the past, people are now paying attention. Some very basic things need to happen immediately: READ FULL STORY
As condo reserves law deadline nears, HOAs here comply but worry
Virtually all of the local multi-story buildings that have already filed their newly required inspection reports have proven to be safe, but some homeowners associations (HOAs) say the process mandated by the law unfairly penalizes condo and co-op owners and may even threaten some with loss of their homes because of crushing added costs. In the wake of the 2021 collapse of the Surfside condominium in South Florida that killed 98 people, the Florida Legislature passed a law requiring all multi-story buildings 30 years or older – and all buildings 25 years or older within 3 miles of a saltwater shoreline – to complete milestone inspections by professional engineers or architects, the so-called Structural Integrity Reserve Studies (SIRS), by Dec. 31 of this year. In Indian River Shores, 29 buildings that are condominiums or co-ops fall under the new law, and its Building Division is in the process of receiving the milestone inspection reports. Of those 29 buildings, 19 of them had submitted their milestone inspection reports the week before Christmas, according to Fred Held of the town’s building department. READ FULL STORY
For game-changing Three Corners project, bidders down to two
As Clearpath Services makes a second run at being chosen to develop Vero’s planned Three Corners riverfront complex after a first-try debacle, founder and front man Randy Lloyd has seen the City Council’s embarrassing antics, and he’s ready for them this time. The council’s inexplicable fumbling of what appeared to be an obvious decision – along with its shocking vote to abandon the process in June and call for a do-over, after its hand-picked Selection Committee overwhelmingly had endorsed Clearpath’s eye-popping vision for the waterfront property – left Lloyd with a “bad taste” about doing business with the city. So what prompted Lloyd and his Indiana-based partnership to become one of only two development groups to submit a Three Corners proposal last week, as the Vero council tries to redeem itself? They still believe in their plan. READ FULL STORY
SAVE OUR BOARDWALK: 32963 pledges $5,000 to community fund drive
You want to rebuild the historic Humiston Beach boardwalk, rather than replace the storm-damaged and later-demolished structure with a sidewalk? We do, too. We believe, as former mayor Tony Young so eloquently stated last summer, that the boardwalk is “part of the fabric of Vero Beach.” That’s why Vero Beach 32963 has enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to back this cause and rally around City Councilman John Carroll’s suggestion last week that a fund be established to allow the community to help cover the costs of the project. This newspaper, in fact, has committed to joining Carroll and council newcomer Aaron Vos in launching a rebuild-the-boardwalk campaign. “John and Aaron have each generously offered to donate $3,500 to such a fund,” said Vero Beach 32963 publisher Milton R. Benjamin. “We’ll join them and add $5,000.” That’s $12,000, and we’re just getting started. We haven’t yet heard from other potential donors who council members say have expressed interest in joining this grassroots movement. Surely, many of our neighbors in this community agree: The planned sidewalk may be functional, but it won’t offer the same Old Florida presence and seaside feel that attracts tourists and reminds us of the simpler, slower-paced, small-town Vero Beach of yesteryear. READ FULL STORY
Cleveland Clinic not forthcoming on promised data
A month after Cleveland Clinic took issue with a comparison of their Florida hospitals to Orlando Health’s hospitals based on the latest Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, they still have not provided data from the Vizient company that the Cleveland’s chief safety officer told the Indian River County Hospital District would provide a more accurate picture. The scores are of importance to Vero Beach 32963 readers facing decisions as to where to seek care because Cleveland Clinic operates the Vero Beach hospital and Orlando Health has just taken over the county’s other hospital, the former Sebastian River Medical Center. The hospital data Cleveland Clinic directed the Hospital District to look at instead of Leapfrog data is not available to the media, so we requested the 2023 and 2024 Vizient data from Cleveland Clinic on Nov. 22. As of press time, after multiple follow-up requests to Vero Beach and Weston personnel, we have not received the asked-for Vizient data. In the meantime, members of the local medical community continue to point us to other sources of hospital data which might help inform readers about the parent companies now operating Indian River County’s two major adult hospitals. READ FULL STORY
Sebastian Inlet will see $100-plus million splash of refurbishments in coming years
The Sebastian Inlet will be bustling over the next several years, and not just with surfers crowding famous surf breaks north and south of inlet and competitive fishermen on shore and in boats. There also will be cranes, barges and pumps and pile drivers as the approach to popular north jetty gets a major repair, the inlet sand trap is dredged, the beach to the south renourished, and the bridge over the inlet replaced. The $2.5-million jetty repair started in mid-November and is slated for completion in July 2025. The big sand dredging project will get underway in January, according to the Sebastian Inlet District, which raised its tax rate and doubled its budget this year, from $10.8 million to nearly $22 million, to pay for the two projects and other expenses. Six months or so after the jetty repair wraps up, just as the pelicans and ospreys have gotten comfortable again, the Florida Department of Transportation will roll heavy equipment and dispatch hard-hatted engineers and contractors to replace the 1548-foot-long bridge that connects Indian River and Brevard counties. The rebuilding work now underway will replace 190 feet of revetment, or shoreline armoring, and the concrete walkway above it that leads to the fishing grounds people come from all over the state to visit. READ FULL STORY
Orlando Health issuing bonds to refinance hospital buy
Orlando Health has announced it intends to issue up to $200 million in bonds to refinance its purchase of Sebastian River Medical Center and to make improvements to the hospital, as part of a larger $1.5 billion investment in its hospital network. The plan was set to be discussed this past Tuesday at the Indian River County Commission meeting as a legal formality since the hospital is located within the commission’s jurisdiction. Indian River County Attorney Jennifer Shuler, in a memo to the Board, wrote, “Orlando Health proposes to issue the Hospital Revenue Bonds, in an amount not to exceed $200,000,000, to refinance the purchase of acquiring Sebastian River Hospital and to pay for improvements and equipment for its hospital facilites.” Shuler explained that the bonds in no way obligate the taxpayers, but the revenue code requires a public hearing about the bonds in each county where the hospitals are located. READ FULL STORY
Thornton accepts sheriff’s deputy chief post in St. Lucie County
Former Sheriff’s Captain Milo Thornton, who resigned last summer to challenge his boss in the Aug. 20 Republican primary election, is returning to law enforcement – in a neighboring county. St. Lucie County Sheriff-Elect Richard Del Toro announced Sunday that he had hired Thornton to fill one of his deputy chief’s positions, assigning him to the agency’s Corrections and Judicial Services Bureau. In addition to managing the jail’s administration and operations, Thornton will oversee court security and the serving of civil documents and warrants. He is expected to begin his duties on Jan. 7, when Del Toro is scheduled to be sworn in. “I’m excited about the opportunity to get back into law enforcement,” Thornton said Sunday afternoon. “I’m not ready for retirement. I know I have a lot more to offer. I’m looking forward to coaching and counseling young deputies, and helping the agency any way I can.” Thornton, 46, said he and Del Toro, a former Port St. Lucie police chief, began discussions shortly after the Aug. 20 sheriffs’ primaries in Indian River and St. Lucie counties. READ FULL STORY
Vero Beach cops near-unanimously accept city’s upgraded pay package
Vero Beach police officers have overwhelmingly approved a new contract that includes 5-percent annual pay increases over the next three years, plus additional financial enhancements ranging from $1,000 to $2,250 annually. Sgt. Brad Kmetz, president of the Vero Beach Police Officers Association Local 6019, said more than 95 percent of the union’s members – 54 rank-and-file officers up to and including sergeants – voted on Dec. 6 to accept an upgraded offer from the city. The City Council ratified the new contract, which takes effect at the start of the first full pay period after New Year’s Day, at its regular meeting last week. “I’m very happy with the contract we negotiated and, ultimately, approved,” Kmetz said in a phone interview. “I want to thank the City Council members. Without them, we might still be at the bargaining table. They helped push us across the finish line.” READ FULL STORY
Hospital District wants finance info, plan before bailout
With the public eye now trained on the Indian River County Hospital District, several district trustees want Cleveland Clinic officials to tell them in detail why the Vero hospital is faltering financially and how they intend to right the ship before they pull out a checkbook to fund a $13.6-million bailout. Trustees want to see detailed local financials for Cleveland’s Vero hospital – not just consolidated for all of Cleveland’s hospitals, or even the five Florida hospitals. They want a copy of Cleveland Clinic’s strategic sustainability plan – a document that’s been referred to, but not yet produced. They also want to know how much the Vero hospital sends upstream to the Florida mothership in Weston, and corporate headquarters in Ohio, to see if those charges are fair, or if they’re setting Vero’s hospital up to fail. Trustee Kerry Bartlett wants to know how any potential multi-year grant to Cleveland Clinic will impact county hospital district finances as a whole. Bartlett also wants a deep dive into the numbers Cleveland Clinic put forward on indigent care and uncompensated care – since nothing was put on paper last month. And finally she wants to know what accountability and reporting the district would require in exchange for the funds. READ FULL STORY
Young Vero equestrians riding high in jump events
Undaunted by three bad falls, in which she broke two different bones and once had a 1,000-pound horse almost land on top of her, 14-year-old Freddie Alcalay is still passionately pursuing her dream of becoming a champion equestrian rider – and enjoying quite a bit of initial success. Freddie is one of three local girls, along with Liza Guettler, 12, and Morgan Thompson, also 12, who are spearheading a very active local equestrian scene in Vero Beach. Freddie and Liza attend St. Ed’s school while Morgan is a student at St. Helen’s school on the mainland. Freddie had been riding horses for as long as she can remember, first riding ponies at fairs when she was a baby and then switching to real horses when she was just 2 or 3 years old. Despite once breaking her wrist and another time fracturing a bone in her shoulder, she has stuck with the equestrian sport until she became the grand champion in her class in October at the Equestrian Sport Production (ESP) Fall Finale III at the Wellington International Equestrian Center. READ FULL STORY
Trials in wrongful death case postponed until at least April
The trials of Orchid residents Elizabeth Jewkes-Danielsen and Paul Danielsen for their part in a deadly May 2022 crash involving an elderly John’s Island couple has been postponed four months by Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Cox. The soonest the trial date for the civil negligence and wrongful death cases against the two will now take place is April. Christopher Ingraham, 89, died from his crash injuries and Frances Ingraham was hospitalized for serious injuries after their vehicle was struck on A1A in Indian River Shores just outside the entrance to Bermuda Bay. “After reviewing the Court file, the parties have not attended mediation as required by the rules and procedures of this court as well as the Circuit Civil Jury-Non-Jury Division Agreed Case Management Plan,” Cox wrote. “The parties are required to attend mediation before proceeding to trial and it is hereby ordered and adjudged that the parties shall immediately coordinate and attend mediation on or before Dec. 2, 2024.” Cox later extended the mediation deadline to mid-February as she updated the case management plan. READ FULL STORY
New U.S. Customs facility will soon enable Vero airport to accept international flights
International flights will begin landing in Vero Beach daily late in the coming season, when a U.S. Customs facility opens at the airport. “We are on track for April 1,” said Rodger Pridgeon, president of Corporate Air, the man behind the project. The shell of the building is complete with interior work underway near the western edge of the airport, visible from 43rd Avenue. When it is finished, the high-tech, 4,000-square foot compound will have regular operating hours Wednesday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m., but it will be available any hour of the day or night with advance notice. “We can operate anytime, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, but pilots will have to call ahead if they are landing outside normal hours,” Pridgeon said. While most of the people flying in on private jets from the Bahamas and other foreign lands will be residents of John’s Island, Windsor and other upscale communities on Vero’s barrier island, the Customs house will be equipped to deal with Jason Bourne types, too, with armed customs agents, bulletproof walls, heavy concrete bollards to prevent ramming and two jail cells. READ FULL STORY
Moore earns Florida superintendent of year plaudits
When four of the five members of the county’s School Board voted in October to give Superintendent David Moore a 22-percent pay raise, they did so because they believed he did the job better than anyone else in the state. Turns out, they weren’t the only ones that held him in such high esteem. Moore, who was hired five years ago, was named the 2025 Florida Superintendent of the Year at a joint meeting of the Florida Association of District Schools Superintendents and Florida School Board Association last week in Tampa. He became the first superintendent from this county to receive the award. “While this is an individual award, it also reflects a shared vision and unrelenting commitment to our students embraced by the entire community, and it recognizes the hard work and dedication of our support staff, principals and teachers,” Moore said in a telephone interview after receiving the honor during a ceremony last Wednesday. “People here were willing to say, ‘Let’s look at how we teach kids and see if we can find ways to do it better,’ and that’s what we did,” he added. “Together, we have transformed our schools into some of the best in the state. This wouldn’t have been possible without the community’s support. READ FULL STORY
Cleveland Clinic fumbles initial response to grades
Cleveland Clinic’s recent defense of its “journey” through mediocre hospital safety grades to local Hospital District trustees must have struck some as painfully reminiscent of the explanation a parent might get from a teenager at a sit-down about lackluster school marks. The meeting – at which Cleveland Clinic officials offered a variety of excuses while at the same time arguing the highly respected Leapfrog grades did not fairly reflect its performance and that another grading process was better – seemed to satisfy some trustees, but left others unsettled. The discussion of the safety grades followed publication of the Nov. 21 issue of Vero Beach 32963, which presented a head-to-head comparison of the performance of Cleveland Clinic Florida’s five hospitals – which include Indian River – against Orlando Health’s seven adult general hospitals in Florida. The comparison was relevant because Orlando Health has just purchased our county’s other hospital, Sebastian River Medical Center, from bankrupt Steward Health. READ FULL STORY
Massive estate will dwarf other Reef Road homes
In the latest indicator of the changes taking place on our island, the billionaire founder of a global clinical research organization is building a custom home on South Beach that is so large real estate agents say they have been asked if it is perhaps a hotel. At 28,946 square feet under roof, the home at 930 Reef Road is bigger than the “Wackenhut house,” the “Barcode lady’s house,” and the famous modernist home in Central Beach that sparked a local oceanfront property boom when it was built a decade ago. The 200-foot-long oceanfront home across A1A from The Moorings will be the fourth largest house on the barrier island when completed next year. County property records and building permits show the owner, August J. Troendle, has more than $22 million committed to the project. The house will be surpassed in size only by two world-class houses in Vero’s Estate Section, and one near the north end of the island built by a lottery winner and currently on the market for $33 million. READ FULL STORY
No immediate plans here to stop adding fluoride to city or county drinking water
Neither Vero Beach nor Indian River County has plans right now to stop adding fluoride to the local drinking water, but the topic is likely to be up for discussion soon following new guidance from Florida’s Surgeon General and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vow to ban fluoride. Kennedy, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, wants to ban fluoride from drinking water, and Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who heads up the Florida Department of Health, recommended two weeks ago that communities stop adding fluoride to their water supply. “Due to the neuropsychiatric risk associated with fluoride exposure, particularly in pregnant women and children, and the wide availability of alternative sources of fluoride for dental health, the State Surgeon General recommends against community water fluoridation,” Ladapo said in an analysis of the pros and cons of municipal water fluoridation. Following Lapado’s guidance, the city of Stuart decided to stop adding fluoride to its drinking water at least temporarily. But neither the Vero Beach City Council nor the Indian River County Commission has thus far taken any action. READ FULL STORY
Show-stopper: Longtime Riverside Theatre CEO Cornell stepping down
Allen Cornell, who has been at the helm of Riverside Theatre for more than 40 years, will step down as CEO and producing artistic director after the 52nd season concludes, and become Artistic Director Emeritus, as Jon Moses, the theatre’s managing director since 2009, will step into the role of CEO and executive producer. Cornell was hired as artistic director in 1983 when the theatre’s board decided it should become a professional producing theatre and signed contracts with Actors’ Equity, the professional performers’ union. Cornell was held his present titles since 2008. “It has been one of the greatest pleasures to transform Riverside Theatre from a small local theatre into the nationally recognized organization where top performers, designers and directors wish to work,” Cornell said. “I look forward to Riverside’s continuing success in the years ahead and look forward to my participation on the artistic side.” Moses began as production manager in 1999 and increased his responsibilities with overall operations as managing director beginning in 2009. He will continue the duties of a managing director in his new position, said Riverside Theatre Marketing Director Oscar Sales Jr. READ FULL STORY
Vero’s goals, priorities on agenda in special council workshop
With the latest version of the Vero Beach City Council sworn in and poised to move forward with an already-ambitious to-do list, Mayor John Cotugno wants to make sure the panel has its priorities in order. To that end, he requested – and received with a unanimous vote last week – a special-call workshop at which the council will discuss the city’s goals, objectives and priorities for the coming year. The workshop, which will be the first of several planned to address different topics, is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall and is open to the public. “The council needs to decide its goals and objectives, and where they slot in terms of our priorities,” Cotugno said from the dais at last Tuesday’s meeting. “Then you’ll have a better understanding of where we’re going to be able to divvy up staff time to address the issues we want to address. They’re all important in their context,” the mayor added, referring to projects and issues the council needs to discuss at length, “but where we direct our limited staff and resources is one of the key duties we have as a city council.” READ FULL STORY
Cleveland Clinic seeks taxpayer bailout; transparency needed
Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital has asked county taxpayers for a $13.6 million bailout over the next four years. But unlike more than two dozen local agencies which must submit lengthy applications, project budgets, strategic plans, and audited financial statements to the Hospital District for grants of even a few hundred thousand dollars, Cleveland Clinic officials made the big ask without filing one sheet of paper. Following a discussion with the Hospital District about a proposed four-year bridge plan or “glide path” to help Cleveland Clinic pay for tens of millions annually in hospital care that is not covered by Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance, Vero Beach 32963 requested all backup documents for the meeting agenda item. There were none. There were also no documents available in response to a request for email correspondence between the Hospital District and Cleveland Clinic about the bailout money, which would come from a combination of property tax receipts currently in reserves, and taxes currently assessed or to be assessed in 2025, 2026, 2027 and possibly beyond. Not one email. Not one spreadsheet. Not one memo. READ FULL STORY
Windsor’s unique North Village on horizon
After at least eight years of planning, Windsor will break ground next month on North Village, a 40-home, ecologically sensitive subdivision that will be the New Urbanist community’s final phase. Focused on “sustainable living and forward-thinking solutions to the challenges presented by climate change and biodiversity loss,” in the words of Betsy Hanley, president of Windsor Real Estate, North Village qualifies as a major real estate milestone on the barrier island. The North Village site is a natural for ecologically inclined development. Its northern border adjoins Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, the first federal wildlife refuge, while its western border is defined by the Historic Jungle Trail, which continues to evoke Florida’s bucolic, pre-condo-tower past. North Village was designed by architect and urban planner Andres Duany, who designed the main Windsor community in the early 1990s and is known to island residents as the visionary behind Vero Beach’s big Three Corners riverfront redevelopment project. More than half of the North Village will be devoted to parks, greenspaces and islands, with a freshwater lake and a saltwater estuary with a tidal connection to the Indian River Lagoon. READ FULL STORY
Thanksgiving weekend activity augurs well for another stellar tourist season
Though snowbirds trickle down to Vero’s barrier island throughout October and November as temperatures fall up north, Thanksgiving week marks the unofficial start of high tourism season and all signs point toward another banner year. Thanksgiving weekend was sold out in mid-November at Kimpton’s Vero Beach Hotel and Spa. The dog-friendly, kid-friendly resort has seen a year full of national and international hospitality accolades, so it’s not surprising. Occupancy for the rest of the week is pacing strong at 70 percent to 80 percent, General Manager Awet Sium said. Sium said the fact that he’ll have a full house this week “speaks to the growing popularity of Vero Beach as a holiday destination,” he said. “We’re seeing strong interest and advanced bookings for the rest of the season, as well. It’s an exciting time for our town and our hotel.” Occupancy at Costa d’ Este Beach Resort and Spa has also been strong, though a little slower than last year, according to general manager Rob Burnetti. He has taken around 300 reservations for Thanksgiving brunch and dinner, which costs $99 for adults and $32 for children ages 4-12. READ FULL STORY
City has cleared vast majority of storm-related debris
It has taken the better part of six weeks, but as of Sunday, crews have cleared at least 90 percent of the tree limbs and other yard waste from Hurricane Helene in late September the multiple tornadoes that Hurricane Milton spawned on Oct. 9. Tetra Tech, the contracted yard waste hauler for the City of Vero Beach, has collected and mulched more than 70,000 cubic yards of vegetation, said Joe Berenato, the city’s assistant director of solid waste. Tetra Tech will continue to collect yard waste for several more weeks, but homeowners need to think about gathering the last of their waste to the edge of their properties soon, Berenato said. “The snowbirds come down a little bit later in November, so people are still getting their waste together for pick-up,” he said. If residents still have large limbs, they should call the city’s Solid Waste Department at 772-978-3500 to arrange pick-up. Regular yard waste pickup will continue as usual after all the large limbs are retrieved, Berenato said. Though yard waste pickup day is on Wednesdays in the City of Vero Beach, homeowners within the city limits who pay Vero Beach for their solid waste service (not county or Indian River Shores residents who have their own collection systems) may put out up to four standard-size cans and/or bundled piles up to 40 pounds each. READ FULL STORY
Grades suggest Cleveland Clinic faces real competition from Orlando Health
Cleveland Clinic was selected to take over operation of Indian River County’s largest hospital five years ago in large part because local leaders bought into its world-renowned brand – the stellar reputation and the wealth of resources the number two hospital on the planet would bring to Vero Beach. The Cleveland Clinic system’s name was seen as a status symbol, a feather in Vero’s cap. Having a Cleveland Clinic hospital in Vero would not only attract top-notch physicians, but also future local residents who would only consider living in a city with access to excellent healthcare. When decision-makers were dreaming of groundbreaking cardiac care and state-of-the-art cancer treatments being available 10 minutes or so from Vero’s barrier island, it’s doubtful they wasted a minute worrying about Cleveland’s Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades that are published every spring and fall. But since the Indian River Medical Center became the Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital in 2019, those reports have proved somewhat embarrassing. READ FULL STORY
Future temporary home of The Tides rises on South Beach
As The Tides prepares to spend one final year in the Cardinal Drive space where Chef Leanne Kelleher has fed island fans for nearly a quarter century, a temporary new home – where the wildly popular restaurant will spend the 2026 season – is taking shape. A substantial, three-build-ing mixed-use project – which will include restaurant, retail and office space – is rising in concrete and steel at 1410 Highway A1A, across from Johnny D’s Market & Bistro, five blocks south of the 17th Street causeway. Kelleher will be the prime tenant, occupying the entire first floor of the project. The Tides will be housed in the building at the back of the project, furthest from A1A, and Kelleher will also operate a full-service gourmet market in the building across the courtyard. “We poured the second-floor last week and the concrete block walls are going up,” developer Anthony DeChellis told Vero Beach 32963. “We are ahead of schedule on the construction and will be open for business in early 2026.” READ FULL STORY
Surge in ultra-luxury homes on the island
At the peak of the pandemic real estate boom, there were at times only two or three ultra-luxury listings on the island, not enough to lure elite out-of-town buyers to fly into Vero Beach and go house hunting. But today, even though they are selling faster than ever, with time on market cut in half compared to five years ago, there are many more ultra-luxury choices, with 17 houses priced at $10 million or more on the market. “I think that is a pretty good selection for a small town like Vero Beach,” says Matilde Sorensen, co-owner of Dale Sorensen Real Estate, who has a beautiful 9,702-square-foot oceanfront house at 600 Ocean Road listed for $16 million. The 17 properties are spread out along the length of the island from south of The Moorings to 32963’s northmost ultraluxe listing on Ambersand Beach, an eight-bedroom, 10.5-bath, 14,190-square foot palace of a house built by a lottery winner. That house, which sits on a 4-acre, ocean-to-river lot two miles south of the Sebastian Inlet and has two docks and an eight-car garage, is listed for $33 million by Dave Settgast of ONE Sotheby’s International Realty. READ FULL STORY
Drivers, beware: 17th St. Bridge closing Dec. 2-6 for repairs
All lanes of the 17th Street Bridge will close from midnight on Dec. 2 through 5 a.m. Dec. 6 as workers continue extensive repairs to the east end of the bridge in a $22.3 million rehabilitation project coordinated by the Florida Department of Transportation. While the closure is not coming at the peak of Vero’s winter season, it is expected to affect more than 22,000 cars and trucks each day, according to FDOT. “Without question, people will have to be patient and maybe allow a few extra minutes to get where they need to go,” said Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey. Traffic will be rerouted up A1A to exit the island via the Merrill P. Barber Bridge to the north. Traffic on the mainland headed for the island will be rerouted to the Barber bridge via Indian River Boulevard READ FULL STORY
A New Scarcity: Slips for Sale
If you are looking for a spot to park your 100-foot boat, Erika Ross at The Moorings Realty Sales Co. has a deal for you. Ross, who mostly sells high-end condos and houses, just listed a slip in Spyglass Harbor in The Moorings Yacht & Country Club that can accommodate your prize possession and has the added advantage of being in a famous “hurricane hole,” where boats have stayed safe through all the big storms this century. “We call those our million-dollar docks because of the expensive boats that came into Spyglass to moor ahead of the storms in 2004 and 2005,” says Moorings Realty Sales Co. broker Marsha Sherry. “None of them were damaged.” Listed for $650,000, the slip is a rare find, one of only two for sale in Florida that can handle a 100-foot vessel with a 25-foot beam – which technically is classified as a ship. “The other is down in the Keys, listed for $995,000 – which makes ours seem like a bargain,” says Ross. The Moorings slip, which is actually two adjoining 50-foot slips being sold together, has other virtues besides its size and picturesque, sheltered location. READ FULL STORY
New-look Hospital District will have plenty on its plate
Two incumbents, one newcomer and one returning former trustee will begin new terms on the Indian River County Hospital District board in January and a new chair will take the helm for the first time in eight years as Chairwoman Marybeth Cunningham steps down after five terms. The independent taxing district owns the land and buildings underlying Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital and collects property taxes to support various medical, preventative health, mental health and human service programs for indigent adults and children, the under-served, the uninsured and those with barriers to accessing care. Cunningham, who retired from General Motors Corporation at 55 years old, has led the district through its most tumultuous days including the transformation of Vero’s only hospital from a community-based facility to a branch of the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic in 2019 – just in time for a global pandemic. The handover has been less than perfect, and Cunningham has heard the complaints and concerns, but she can leave office after the district’s December meeting knowing she did the right thing for Vero Beach. “If we had not done that, gone with Cleveland Clinic, we would not have a hospital now, after COVID,” Cunningham said. READ FULL STORY
Vero collector, partner sue antiques firm over $1M artworks deal that went sour
A Vero Beach art collector and his business partner are suing after an art investment deal went sour, leaving them $1 million shy of what they’re owed. They also want their artwork back. Court documents say Robert Sager and his business partner, Charles Fern of Palm Beach County, entered into an art investment scheme with Othmar Castillo, an owner of Grant Antique Mall, located at 5900 S. U.S. 1 just north of the Indian River County line. The contract called for Castillo to sell seven paintings valued at $1,098,000 for Sager and Fern, with Castillo and the two men to split the profits. According to court documents, Castillo took possession of the paintings from Sager and Fern between May 2019 and December 2020 and then placed them in escrow with Northern Trust Bank in Vero Beach. The artwork includes three landscape paintings by American artist William Lester Stevens (1888-1969), two landscape paintings by American artist John Berninger (1897-1981), a portrait of a wife and two daughters by American painter Rae Sloan Bredin (1880-1933), and a small oil street scene by Pennsylvania artist Martha Walter (1884-1956). READ FULL STORY
Vos, elected to Vero Council, vows to do ‘what’s best for our city’
In the weeks leading to Election Day, Aaron Vos’ friends and Castaway Cove neighbors kept telling him he was a shoo-in to win one of three seats up for grabs on the Vero Beach City Council. “Everyone kept saying I was fine, but I didn’t really believe it,” Vos said last week, after city voters proved his supporters’ right, naming him on 23 percent of the ballots cast. “Honestly, I ran like I was in last place – knocking on doors, sending out mailers, being out there for early voting. “I took nothing for granted.” On Monday, Vos will take his seat on the council’s dais, where he’ll join Linda Moore and John Carroll, both of whom were elected to second terms, along with Mayor John Cotugno and Taylor Dingle. He said he’s eager to get started, replacing one-term council member Tracey Zudans, who unsuccessfully challenged County Commissioner Laura Moss in August rather than seek re-election. “I’m excited to get this opportunity,” said Vos, a 63-year-old retired-but-still working management and technical consultant for the RTX Corporation, formerly Raytheon, a major defense contractor. READ FULL STORY
Despite disruption, John’s Islanders ‘just happy to see the sand’
John’s Island property owners are grateful to be getting badly needed sand on their beaches this fall, even though dump trucks will be a constant sight in their club community through the season. General Manager Michael Korpar said the county’s contractor, Dickerson Infrastructure, has laid out a plan to minimize disruption and maximize shoreline protection, and that John’s Island residents are aware the dune replenishment project is expected to run through the Christmas and New Year’s holidays all the way to March. “The homeowners here at John’s Island, as I think all of the homeowners are, they’re just happy to see the sand,” Korpar said. “They all understand and just want to see the beach renourished.” As the replenishment project wound its way through the planning and permitting process over multiple hurricane seasons, John’s Island and numerous private property owners spent their own money bringing in private contractors to do emergency repairs on storm-ravaged beaches. The dune replenishment will be completed in three phases, with a vacant lot at 1 Sea Court at the south end of John’s Island generously volunteered by owner John Tully to host the assortment of heavy equipment necessary to place 135,000 cubic yards of processed mined sand on the beaches. READ FULL STORY
John’s Island beaches get much-needed sand infusion
The long-awaited Indian River Shores dune replenishment project has finally begun, with county crews dumping the first truckloads of sand onto storm-battered John’s Island beaches Monday. Contractors started staging earth-moving equipment and preparing the site – a vacant oceanfront parcel at 1 Sea Court – last week, with the stream of dozens of dump trucks through the gated community set to begin on Tuesday. Bergman said the contractor will use 25 dump trucks in rotation, making several trips to the sand mine each day. The work could wrap up as early as Valentine’s Day, or run as late as St. Patrick’s Day, with nearly three miles of dune to build and weather being unpredictable. “If the environmental conditions are perfect they can move along quickly, but if mother nature throws a few nor’eastern swells at us then it will take the contractor longer,” Bergman said. The owner of 1 Sea Court, John Tully, volunteered his property as a makeshift beach access for the crews so his neighbors and the John’s Island Club could receive an influx of sand before this upcoming season’s Nor’easters begin, or worst case, the tropics kick up and Florida gets a late November storm. READ FULL STORY
Hospital District healthcare survey seeks broad input
The Hospital District in January will be polling a wide swath of local residents seeking their opinions on all things healthcare as part of a data collection effort to assess the overall health and needs of the county taxpayers who fund its programs. After a two-month break from political survey calls and robo-calls, Hospital District officials hope locals will answer their phones to participate, viewing it as important to include people of various ages and income groups from all over the county in the survey. The calls will likely show up as a local, unknown number on residents’ caller ID, and could be received on both land line and mobile phones. The call center, based in Gainesville, employs a great number of University of Florida students who will manually dial people, so the survey will not be robo-called. The Hospital District chose Tallahassee-based Clearview Research out of three bids, and awarded them a $30,000 contract for 600 completed surveys, which will require thousands of phone calls to accomplish. “They have experience in healthcare, they have worked with United Way in the past and they really knew their stuff,” said District Executive Director Frank Isele about the Clearview Research group. READ FULL STORY
Island home buyers face dearth of choices as season nears
With the busy winter selling season approaching, finding a house or condo to buy on the island is proving a challenge – again. Most island real estate brokers believe more inventory will go on the market in the final two months of the year, but in the meantime, listings are scarce by historical standards. “Before covid, we typically had about 300 houses for sale on the island,” said Douglas Elliman broker associate Sally Daley, who follows the island market as closely as anyone. “We have 140 today.” Condo inventory is similar with about 150 units for sale in 32963, compared to an average of more than 300 before COVID-19 turned the world upside down and transformed the island real estate market. The number of houses for sale on the island rose during the first few scary months of the pandemic, peaking around 380 in May 2020, before sledding steeply downhill to a low of about 50 homes in April 2022 as the pandemic real estate boom peaked. Over the next year and half, inventory inched up to about 125 homes. Then, a year ago, the increase accelerated and by May, the average number of houses listed for sale in 32963 was above 200, back to about two-thirds of the historic norm. READ FULL STORY
Storm-related emergency pay costs Vero $400K
The Vero Beach city government paid its employees more than $400,000 in overtime and emergency wages for their work responding to the damage done by the tornadoes and torrential rains spawned by Hurricane Milton last month. Records provided last week by City Manager Monte Falls showed that 247 municipal employees worked nearly 8,500 hours of overtime between 6 a.m. Oct. 9 and 6 p.m. Oct. 16. Falls said the city will apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to cover the additional expenditures resulting from the storm. “This was a declared emergency,” Falls said, “and the city responded immediately with all the resources we had available to us.” Among the city employees summoned to work overtime were eight department heads, including Public Works Director Matt Mitts, Water & Sewer Director Rob Bolton and Police Chief David Currey. The department heads, despite being salaried employees, were paid nearly $10,000 combined for the additional hours they worked. They were eligible for overtime under the city’s “Emergency Personnel and Pay Policy,” which became effective in June 2018. The policy was created to address future conflicts with union contracts after Hurricane Matthew – a Category 4 storm – took aim at Vero Beach before veering east and only brushing our community in early October 2016. READ FULL STORY
Dane taking Shores town council seat vacated by Smith
The Town of Indian River Shores will see just one change on the town council next week as Councilwoman Mary Alice Smith returns to life as a private citizen and Judge William Dane takes the council seat he won unopposed. As Dane is sworn in at the Nov. 14 organizational meeting, council members James Altieri and Bob Auwaerter will be sworn-in again for another four-year term. Shores council members are limited to two full four-year terms, so Altieri and Auwaerter will both be term-limited in 2028. Dane, a workers compensation attorney and retired judge, said no one thing drew him to the barrier island town, but a variety of factors contributed his settling in Indian River Shores. “I have, in retirement, come to appreciate the less hectic and collegial smaller town setting it provides,” Dane said. “By serving on the Town Council, I hope to contribute to the ongoing success and preservation of this unique township.” With the addition of Dane, the council will consist of three attorneys and two executives with deep credentials in finance. Since the town council helps negotiate issues with public safety officers, and collective bargaining agreements, Dane’s experience in the labor law arena may come in handy. READ FULL STORY
Orlando Health, taking charge in Sebastian, cites reputation for excellent care
A sea of safety-orange shirts and smiling faces met employees of the newly minted Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital at an early morning “Go Live” event last week which seemed more like a first date with the new hospital owners than an orchestrated takeover. The message from Orlando Health to the local press and dignitaries present was clear: We are here to move forward. We will not talk about Steward. We bank on the good reputation of Orlando Health to earn the community’s trust in the short term. But we do not have anything close to a detailed strategy for your hospital yet. Now that the signage has been changed and the rebranding of the North County hospital is in progress, the “listening phase” is next, according to Orlando Health East Region Vice President Ohme Entin, who was appointed to head up the three acquisitions that they refer to collectively as Steward’s Space Coast hospitals. Since they had only closed on the nearly half-billion-dollar purchase of Steward Sebastian River Medical Center and two Brevard hospitals hours before, the Orlando Health executives had not enjoyed unfettered access to the Sebastian hospital during the months-long sale process. READ FULL STORY
Cleveland Clinic vows big investments in capital projects here
With the bad news of his hospital’s operating losses of more than $60 million last year in the rearview mirror, Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital’s vice president and chief medical officer, Dr. Richard Rothman, in his annual report to the Hospital District focused on three major capital projects that underscore Cleveland’s commitment to Vero Beach. Each October, the start of the district’s fiscal year, the hospital’s leader advises its landlord on how Cleveland Clinic is investing in the local community by upgrading facilities, diagnostic equipment and services available to Vero patients. “I think it’s important to call out that special partnership between Indian River County Hospital District and Cleveland Clinic In dian River Hospital, and it’s allowed us to continue to expand services while the majority of hospitals across the United States are shuttering them,” Rothman said. But he took the opportunity to point out that taxpayer support through the Hospital District of behavioral health and prenatal health and obstetrics care are critical, as those two areas of hospital operations are not profitable. READ FULL STORY
Even big expensive generators not always a storm panacea
When the tornadoes spawned by last month’s Hurricane Milton hit Vero Beach and knocked out power to thousands of residents and businesses for several days, many people rushed out to buy portable generators from the big home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s. “We had a real run on them a couple of weeks ago right after the tornado,” said a Home Depot employee. “We sold a lot – basically everything we had in stock. We’ve been able to restock since then.” But, as those who already owned even the biggest, costliest generators could tell those shoppers, just having a generator is no guarantee they will have power if the electricity goes out – or that it will stay on without incident for the entire time that it will take all those Florida Power & Light crews to restore normal service. The most notable generator problems in Indian River County in the wake of the storm may have been those of the Cleveland Clinic Indian River Medical Center. READ FULL STORY
Beaches survived hurricane season largely unscathed
As cleanup from tornadoes continues, more is now known about this hurricane season’s erosion damage to our beaches and, overall, the news is good. Much of the existing dunes are intact and performed as expected, said Eric Charest, Indian River County’s assistant natural resources director. “Though some coastal erosion has occurred, no structures like homes or businesses were damaged as a result of the erosion,” Charest said. “At this time there are no plans for smaller emergency dune replacement at the county beaches, and the large-scale projects are moving forward.” Indian River County was already in the process of replenishing beaches that had eroded during hurricanes Matthew (2016), Irma (2017) and Dorion (2019). Replenishment in Sector 3 was completed prior to March. Additional replenishment projects were paused earlier this summer to allow sea turtles to nest, said county Coastal Resource Manager Quintin Bergman. The Indian River Shores dune restoration project dubbed Sector 4 will begin in the coming days and continue through April 2025, Bergman said. Beach Management Sector 4 in the county’s plan is a 2.9-mile section of shoreline that extends from approximately a half-mile south of the Turtle Trail Beach Access in Johns Island to approximately a half-mile north of the Tracking Station Beach Park near Mariner Village. READ FULL STORY
Tornadoes may upend insurance market, too
The tornadoes spawned two weeks ago by Hurricane Milton wreaked historic destruction in the Central Beach area of Vero – and they also once again upset the applecart in Florida’s volatile insurance market just when it seemed on its way to finding a delicate balance. The new X-factor in the what-kind-of-and-how-much-insurance-do-I-need equation for homeowners here is the all-too-frightening evidence in Bethel Creek and other island neighborhoods that winds from medium-strength tornadoes pose a far more powerful threat than winds from a typical hurricane. So the new question facing homeowners who had decided to eliminate the most expensive part of their insurance policies – meaning coverage for wind damage (or go “ex-wind” in insurance parlance) – is whether they might want to reconsider that decision. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all if people, after seeing the destruction from the tornado, would get back into wind policies for their homes,” says Julie Hauf, a local attorney with 20 years’ experience in the Florida insurance field. Hauf says she knows of one homeowner in the hard-hit Bethel Creek area on the barrier island who had decided to “go ex-wind” in the latest renewal of his insurance policy to save costs. His home suffered some damage, but Hauf said she believes it wasn’t catastrophic. READ FULL STORY
Destructive tornadoes not seen affecting Vero projects’ timeline
Timetables for Vero’s major projects – including the planned Three Corners development and relocation of the municipal wastewater-treatment plant – will not be affected by the tornadoes that wreaked havoc on the community earlier this month, according to city officials. “Obviously, there’s an additional workload for the staff, particularly for the departments involved in different aspects of the cleanup,” Mayor John Cotugno said. “But I don’t see anything that creates an unmanageable burden for the city. “And as far as the timetables for these projects are concerned,” he added, “there really shouldn’t be any meaningful impact, because the City Council has already established the processes.” In addition to developing the Three Corners site on the west end of the 17th Street bridge and moving the sewage plant from the shores of the Indian River Lagoon to the Vero Beach Regional Airport, the city already is engaged in expanding its municipal marina facilities and has approved a master plan to revitalize the downtown area. None of the projects – just one has entered the actual construction phase, and only partially – was directly impacted by the two tornadoes that damaged parts of downtown and the monstrous twister that devastated a section of Central Beach. READ FULL STORY
New Sebastian hospital owner taking the reins
Orlando Health was set to become the new owner this week of Sebastian River Medical Center and some local medical practices owned by Steward Health Care, and Steward’s financial shenanigans should soon be just a bad memory for local patients, doctors and hospital employees. The transfer of ownership took take place today, Thursday, October 24th. Hopefully the vast majority of the local vendors who supply Sebastian River with every-thing from food to utilities to lawn care now will get from the bankruptcy court some or all of the money Steward owed them. Presumably bills will get paid promptly going forward under nonprofit Orlando Health’s management. North County residents who rely on SRMC, and island residents who like the convenience of the Sebastian hospital’s outpatient surgery facilities, could sure use some stability after nearly six months of the hospital being in Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy proceedings. Today’s events at the newly branded Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital were to begin at 6:30 a.m. with the night-shift staff meeting their new leadership team, and then with a press event at 7:30 a.m. READ FULL STORY
Suspect in Mulligan’s armed robbery has skirted serious time despite long rap sheet
A midnight armed robbery of the Mulligan’s Beach House in Sexton Plaza – which police at the scene originally described as “sketchy” – was elevated to an “inside job” last week when a 42-year-old Gifford man was arrested and cellphone records showed him in contact, both before and after the crime, with a restaurant employee who had worked that night. It’s a miracle no one was hurt, but it’s even more of a miracle that Sederick Maurice Upton was out on the streets to commit the robbery in the first place. Indian River County Sheriff’s Office booking records show Upton – who is being held on $400,000 bond – had visited our county jail 13 times prior to his Oct. 16 arrest. A peek into neighboring St. Lucie County’s court records shows 11 felony criminal cases from 2004 to 2020, plus two criminal traffic cases, 11 misdemeanor cases and a string of child support enforcement efforts, including a current case re-opened since he’s been incarcerated for the Mulligan’s robbery. Upton has also served stints in state prison. READ FULL STORY
‘Divine intervention?’ Hero saves woman stuck on Brightline tracks
A series of unlikely delays put Vero Beach resident Eileen Wetzel in the right place at the right time to save an elderly woman stuck on the railroad tracks with a Brightline train barreling toward her. A woman pushing a shopping cart full of her belongings was in the process of crossing the railroad tracks at 21st Street and U.S. 1 when both her crutch and one wheel of the cart got wedged in the tracks, so she couldn’t move. Wetzel noticed the woman in peril as she was crossing the tracks in her car, just as the bells and warning lights started flashing. She quickly wheeled into the Chamber of Commerce parking lot, jumped out of the car and ran straight into the path of the oncoming train to help. “I have been taking care of my 16-year-old granddaughter, Emily, while my daughter is in South Carolina doing utility restoration work,” said Wetzel. “We had dinner at her house in Vero Lake Estates, went to the dollar store to get materials to make sunflowers for her homecoming, and then headed to my house in Vero to use my color printer. READ FULL STORY
Vero police officers roundly reject city’s contract offer
Vero Beach police officers overwhelmingly rejected a new contract in which the city offered a 15-percent pay raise – 5 percent annually over the next three years. According to sources familiar with the labor negotiations, 84 percent of the Vero Beach Police Officers Association Local 6019’s membership, which includes rank-and-file officers up to and including sergeants, voted last week to turn down the city’s offer. The starting salary for a Vero Beach police officer currently is just over $50,500 per year. The police officers received 5-percent pay raises each of the last two years, City Manager Monte Falls said, adding, “If they had taken this deal, they would’ve received 5-percent raises five years in a row.” Falls said Sunday he didn’t know how far apart the two sides were, but the negotiations would resume the second week of November. “All I know is that they turned down our offer,” Falls said. “I don’t have any specifics as to why. They asked for 16 percent over three years. We offered 15 percent plus some concessions. READ FULL STORY
Deadly Tornadoes! One more thing to worry about
The questions kept coming in the aftermath of the barrage of Hurricane Milton-spawned tornadoes, including the one monstrous twister that wreaked havoc in Vero’s picturesque Central Beach community. As homeowners, clean-up crews and teams of volunteers sifted though the devastating trail of destruction from Riomar to Bethel Creek, people wanted to know: What caused this unprecedented outbreak? How did a rain-filled feeder band that arrived here while Hurricane Milton was still out at sea, more than 100 miles away – more than three hours before it made landfall on the far side of the state – bring this horror to Vero? Was it the result of some rare confluence of marine, weather and atmospheric conditions? Or is this the beginning of some new normal? “I would consider this to be an extraordinary event,” said Jared Heil, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Melbourne office, in a phone interview late Sunday afternoon. “The set of circumstances was incredibly uncommon.” For Florida’s East Coast, the flurry of twisters that prompted the Weather Service to deliver to cellphones 126 tornado warnings – the most ever in this state and the second-highest number issued in a single day anywhere in the U.S. – was totally without precedent. READ FULL STORY
Sale represents yet another new era for Sebastian hospital
As Orlando Health was preparing its facilities to keep patients safe and maintain operations ahead of Hurricane Milton, spokesperson Kena Lewis took the time to send Vero Beach 32963 a ‘save the date’ note for next week’s big celebration of the takeover of the Sebastian River Medical Center. “Our ‘Go Live’ date is Thursday, Oct. 24. We will have celebratory events simultaneously at all hospitals. We are still finalizing the details,” said Lewis, who serves as assistant vice president for Public Affairs and Media Relations. Orlando Health is finally set to close on its $460 million deal to purchase Sebastian River Medical Center plus two Brevard County hospitals from bankrupt Steward Health Care. Ahead of the expansion, Orlando Health appointed former Orlando Regional Medical Center CEO Ohme Entin as senior vice president of its East Region spanning the Treasure and Space coasts. READ FULL STORY
Vero Beach market awaits sales impact of lower mortgage rates
Mortgage interest rates have been on a sled over the past year, scooting down nearly 2 points since last October. Rates have dropped more than a point just since May. A buyer putting down 20 percent and getting a 30-year, $800,000 mortgage to purchase a $1 million island home in October 2023 would have been saddled with a $5,759 monthly payment. The same buyer making the same deal this week would owe the bank just $4,900 a month. But despite the dramatic decline in rates, and big potential savings, Vero Beach real estate agents and homebuilders haven’t seen an equally dramatic uptick in sales – at least not yet. “It is too soon to judge the impact of these lower rates,” says broker associate Kyle Von Kohorn, sales manager at AMAC Alex MacWilliam, the island’s oldest brokerage. “Rates only hit their low a month or so ago and have ping-ponged a little bit since then, and there are a lot of other factors in play. Sixty or 90 days from now, we’ll have the data to see for sure how lower rates are affecting sales. READ FULL STORY
School Board set to boost superintendent’s pay to $239K
Barring an unlikely change of heart, the School Board will vote Monday to give Superintendent David Moore an annual pay raise of more than $43,000, plus an increase in his deferred retirement compensation. Board members discussed the raise, which would boost Moore’s base salary from $195,699 to $239,000, during last week’s workshop session. Both the pay hike and 2.8 percent increase in deferred compensation, would be retroactive to July 1, the start of the district’s fiscal year. “I think this is a very reasonable and appropriate right-sizing of his salary,” said Gene Posca, the board member who last month proposed giving Moore a significant raise. Part of my argument for such an increase, which I stated last time, is that if we were to lose him, it would probably cost us a lot more to find an adequate replacement,” he added. “To me, this is a no-brainer.” Board members Peggy Jones and Kevin McDonald voiced their support for the raise, both agreeing that Moore deserves to be paid more, given the district’s success with him at the helm. READ FULL STORY
Meals on Wheels team goes into overdrive for storm
Meals on Wheels volunteers may have been the last visitors to see hundreds of local senior citizens before last week’s tornadoes hit Vero Beach – and then the first to show up after the Hurricane Milton ‘all-clear’ sounded. Before the winds and rain started, they dropped off extra meals and information about shelters and other resources. Afterward, they checked on homebound clients, walked around back yards to see damage, and sometimes just listened – or dispensed hugs. Randy Miller operated a gas station before he retired, and he used to call Bingo and volunteer. Now he’s visually impaired and can’t drive, but he and his dog Dottie still look forward to visits from his Meals on Wheels delivery volunteers. “I heard a big roaring noise, I said what is that?” Miller said, describing the tornado that hit his Vero Beach neighborhood. “This yard (had) 30-foot trees down. I spent four days clearing this yard.” Miller needed help on Monday starting his washing machine to catch up on laundry after the power came back on. His volunteer driver gladly obliged. READ FULL STORY
It was a harrowing week for 32963 island residents as we awaited my Hurricane Milton. Watching the explosive growth of Hurricane Milton on Monday into a Category 5 storm – a frighteningly rapid intensification only eclipsed by Wilma in 2005, said the National Hurricane Center – inevitably filled all of us with a sense of dread. Like Milton, Wilma came up through the Gulf of Mexico to slam into Florida’s Gulf Coast, and cut a swath of damage and destruction west to east across the state before exiting into the Atlantic. While it did not score a direct hit on Vero, the miss came close enough to revive memories of Frances and Jeanne, the two hurricanes that pounded our barrier island the previous year. This is the 20th anniversary of Frances and Jeanne, and those of us here 20 years ago still remember the hot, humid weeks after those storms: no lights or air conditioning for days for the many without electricity; the daily hunt for bottles of water, and bags of ice; the piles of debris everywhere along the roadsides; the “temporary” blue tarps that covered thousands of damaged roofs for months. READ FULL STORY
Sebastian hospital sale on track; future leader named
Over the past three weeks, Steward Healthcare’s restructuring team has successfully sold hospitals across the country with very little drama after settling its major beefs with mega-landlord Medical Properties Trust, a sign the sale of Sebastian River Medical Center to Orlando Health might well be headed for a smooth closing later this month. Upon the sale of three Arizona hospitals last week to Honor Health, federal bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez praised Steward‘s attorneys for the peace of mind they’ve given to communities of patients, doctors and Steward employees who have lived with uncertainty for more than six months since the operator of 31 hospitals in nine states filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 6. “I want to thank all the parties for working really hard on this. I know this is going to keep hospitals open and continue care for very needy folks and important people in the community,” Lopez said. Without the sales and the MPT settlement which brought an infusion of working capital, Steward had run out of cash to operate the remaining hospitals, including Sebastian River. READ FULL STORY
And slow it goes: A1A speed limit lowered in Shores
Motorists beware! Without much notice or fanfare, the speed limit on the island’s main thoroughfare, State Road A1A, has been lowered from 45 to 35 miles per hour through the southern part of Indian River Shores. The new speed limit went into effect at the beginning of the month for the stretch of the road from the 7-Eleven convenience store at the southern limit of town north to the traffic light at Fred Tuerk Drive, where the Shores town hall is located. The change may catch many island residents, especially the snowbirds who will soon start to return to their homes, unaware. A warning sign about the lower speed limit has been posted at the southern entrance to the town for northbound traffic, but no such warnings have been posted southbound apart from a new 35 mph speed limit sign. Mark Shaw, the deputy chief of the Indian River Shores Public Safety Department, told 32963 that, to get used to the new speed limit, the members of his police force will offer motorists a grace period of at least 30 days, “maybe even 60 days,” during which only warnings will be issued. READ FULL STORY
Developer eyes new project here in wake of Surfsedge success
The Lutgert Companies, which came to the island from Naples, Florida, before the pandemic to build the 24-home luxury Surfsedge community, is wrapping up that project now – but they like it here too much to leave. Lutgert senior vice president Mike Hoyt said the company is looking hard for another development site, working with Dale Sorensen agent Megan Raasveldt, but hasn’t found one yet. To “keep a toe in the market” while they continue to scour the island from inlet to inlet for land that fits their criteria, Lutgert execs have decided to branch out into custom homebuilding and high-end remodeling. “We have put together a local team that we want to keep active,” Hoyt told Vero Beach 32963 last week. “It takes time to find good tradesmen and vendors and we have done that. Since we don’t have another subdivision project lined up, we are looking at other opportunities on the island. We’ve done one residential project outside of Surfsedge that turned out really well, and we own a property on Iris in Central Beach that we plan to redevelop.” READ FULL STORY
County mulls Parks, Rec and Conservation Master Plan
Local taxpayers and users of recreational facilities spend nearly $20 million per year and employ 71 full-time people in support of county parks, recreation, beaches, pools and golf courses, and as Indian River County grows, so does the need for indoor and outdoor places to play. A recent study found local residents think recreation is a good use of public dollars, and they support investing more in green space for parks – especially if it will save land from development. The county’s Parks and Recreation Department on Oct. 3 hosted the final of three public meetings that will help officials put together a long-term plan to maximize natural resources while developing recreation infrastructure. The inaugural 10-year Indian River County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Master Plan has taken most of one year to complete. READ FULL STORY
Orchid couple face wrongful death civil trial
As the vehicular homicide case against Elizabeth Jewkes-Danielsen for the death of John’s Island resident Christopher Ingraham in a 2022 crash on U.S. Highway A1A winds along in felony criminal court, the 62-year-old Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club resident and her lawyer husband are set to face a jury trial in early December in civil court for negligence and wrongful death. Numerous John’s Island residents and friends of the victims are expected to testify, as well as experts in field traffic reconstruction, 28 medical doctors who treated the late Christopher Ingraham, hospice personnel, two doctors who treated Jewkes-Danielsen, plus an expert trained in “human factors.” More than two dozen law enforcement officers from local Indian River Shores Public Safety officers and Indian River County Sheriff’s Office deputies to the Florida Highway Patrol officers who conducted the vehicular homicide investigation may also be called to testify. Also on the list is the local medical examiner, a forensic toxicology expert and paramedics who transported the injured from the scene. Jewkes-Danielsen was arrested in January 2023 while lounging by the pool at her Orchid condominium, but after spending less than two days in jail has been out on $150,000 bond on pre-trial community control supervision ever since. READ FULL STORY
Oceanfront property owners who for years have been eager to get a much-needed infusion of sand in Indian River Shores should only have a few more weeks to wait as the county has approved a $6.6 million contract for beach replenishment from the Turtle Trail beach access south to the Tracking Station behind the 7-Eleven gas station and CVS. Construction can begin as soon as Sea Turtle Nesting Season comes to a close at three staging areas, including some vacant land offered up by a John’s Island property owner to provide access for vehicles and equipment. “We’re waiting for the clock to tick, so to speak, on Nov. 1,” Shores Town Manager Jim Harpring said. Both the contractor and the sand source are located in Fort Pierce, with Dickerson Infrastructure winning the project bid, and Stewart Materials providing the mined sand that has been screened and treated to meet state environmental specifications for beach placement. Both vendors were also used for the replenishment project on the northern island beaches, with county Natural Resources Director Kylie Yanchula praising that effort for “coming in under budget and on time.” READ FULL STORY
Spate of new island rental listings gives hope to shivering snowbirds
As the island’s busy winter season comes into sight, most seasonal rental properties have already been snapped up at prices as high as $45,000 a month. But there are still some good rentals available, and there’s been a burst of new listings in the past two weeks that open the door a little wider for shivering northern visitors. “Phone calls and inquiries [from people wanting to list their homes] have more than doubled since August,” said broker associate Carol Makolin, who manages rentals for ONE Sotheby’s International Realty. “That is a lot more activity this late in the year than in years past.” “Availability is always a moving target,” said The Moorings Realty Sales Company broker Marsha Sherry, whose office oversees a seasonal rental portfolio of 70-plus houses and condos. “Right now, we are about 90 percent rented, and much of the availability we have left is not in the prime months of February and March. But we do have a couple of great riverfront houses still available for the whole season and we are getting new rental listings all the time. READ FULL STORY
Newcomer gives Vero voters a palatable choice for City Council
NEWS ANALYSIS | Political newcomer Aaron Vos would appear to be the only hope that today’s Vero Beach electorate – with many new voters – will not accidentally return to office a failed City Council member that voters booted from office over a decade ago. Assuming that voters re-elect Council Members John Carroll and Linda Moore, as seems likely, to two of the three spots that are up in this November’s election, that leaves three candidates running for the remaining seat being vacated by Tracey Zudans. The two oft-rejected candidates from the past seeking to replace her are former council members Ken Daige and Brian Heady. Daige, 70, was elected to the City Council in 2006, but his term was dogged by controversy. When he sought re-election, he finished last in 2008, then lost again in 2009. And after a bizarre interim appointment to the Council in 2010, voters ousted him once more that November – and he has been out of office since. Ironically, Daige was even topped in the 2009 election by Heady, a perennial candidate and long a disruptive figure, who rode a wave of voter discontent over sky-high Vero Beach Electric bills to victory in the only one of many tries for office where he was ever elected. READ FULL STORY
Baytree at 40: ‘There is nothing else like it’
Forty-five years after Vero Beach architect and community planner Clem Schaub first put pencil to drawing paper, the small island enclave of Baytree stands out as an example of how superior design and sensitivity to nature can empower human happiness. “There is nothing else like it,” says Douglas Elliman broker associate Sally Daley. “Not just in Vero, but anywhere on the Florida coast. It has real panache.” “Baytree is a joyful place,” says HOA board vice president Katharine Papadopoulos. She and other residents express their love for the community in almost mystical terms and are full of stories about the instant attraction they felt for it. Papadopoulos and her husband went to an open house in Baytree in 2009, and somehow ended up buying the house next door as a vacation home the same day – even though it wasn’t listed for sale – because it called to her so strongly. Board president Joann Goldstein and her husband went house hunting with Vero Beach friends they were visiting, and put in an offer on a Baytree home the first time they saw the community. READ FULL STORY
Cleveland Clinic facing big losses at hospital here
Citing a perfect storm of runaway inflation, inadequate government reimbursements and soaring labor costs, Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Richard Rothman last week asked the Hospital District to help stanch the hemorrhaging of cash at Vero’s only hospital. Rothman told the Hospital District, which funds vital programs in the county through more than two dozen nonprofit human service agencies and clinics, that Cleveland Clinic Indian River had an operating loss of $69.2 million in 2023. “Suffice it to say that operating losses in excess of $60 million are not sustainable,” he said. How the Hospital District, with an annual budget of less than $22 million per year, could possibly make a significant dent in annual losses of this magnitude is yet to be seen, but the trustees engaged in a robust discussion with Rothman and his top staffers present at the district’s monthly chairman’s meeting. According to Rothman, charity care at the hospital has increased by 25 percent since Cleveland Clinic took over Indian River Medical Center in 2019, and the total “uncompensated care” in 2023 was nearly $21 million – a figure which he expected to be even higher by the time 2024 comes to a close. READ FULL STORY
Height-limit issue gives rise to fears of ‘slippery slope’
The height of a building at the Indian River Mall shouldn’t have any bearing on the number of apartments in downtown Vero Beach. But it might. Earlier this month, a County Commission majority expressed a willingness to consider a request from the mall’s new owner – who wants to build a 45-foot-high hotel on one parcel of a long-neglected property desperately in need of redevelopment – for a variance to the current ordinance limiting building heights to 35 feet. The timing of the request, however, couldn’t have been worse for the Vero Beach City Council, which is trying to convince already-skittish voters to approve a November referendum to increase residential density in the downtown area. “Is 10 feet a big deal out at the mall? Probably not,” Councilwoman Tracey Zudans said last week. “But could that request, coming at this time, affect what happens in the city? Yeah, it could. All you need is one example where someone was given a variance for people to begin wondering.” Some Vero Beach residents have been wondering and worrying for months, sharing at council meetings their concerns about the possibility of a “slippery slope” they believe could connect the desire for a more populated downtown to the construction of apartment buildings that exceed the city’s height restrictions. READ FULL STORY
Presumptive Sebastian hospital buyer doesn’t even know what it’s purchasing
A settlement between Steward Healthcare and its landlord moved forward last week despite the concerns of Orlando Health, the presumptive buyer of Sebastian River Medical Center and two Brevard Hospitals, with the Orlando nonprofit saying it lacks vital details about the sale, including exactly which properties it is purchasing. Just in Indian River County, Steward’s landlord, Medical Properties Trust, owns 61 different properties including and surrounding the Sebastian hospital, including some vacant land, plus a separate office building in Vero Beach. Erin Brady of the Hogan Lovells law firm in New York, Orlando Health’s attorney in the bankruptcy court negotiations, pointed out to Judge Christopher Lopez that the settlement agreement now allows landlord MPT to transfer the real property to Steward. Then Steward would sell the properties, free and clear of liens and liabilities, to Orlando Health. But since the real estate negotiations have yet to begin, and Orlando Health is not even sure which properties it is supposed to be purchasing, Brady wanted clarification that, no matter who the seller is, any agreement must be consensual. “We don’t have a purchase and sale agreement with any party at this point, that’s a condition of closing, so whoever is going to deal with Orlando Health needs to do that and we all need to come to an agreement. READ FULL STORY
New beachside flotation stations ring true with swimmers
Beachgoers are starting to see a new addition as they walk onto their favorite island beach – a Drown Zero post holding a bright-orange flotation ring to toss to a swimmer in distress. The Board of County Commissioners recently approved an agreement with the Rotary Club of Vero Beach Sunrise Foundation to place Drown Zero posts on beaches and waterways throughout the county. The flotation rings can be used if the beach or waterway is unguarded or the lifeguard is off duty. Retired lifeguard and Cocoa Beach resident Wyatt Werneth started Drown Zero. “Flotation saves lives and that’s what we’re providing here,” said Werneth. Brevard County is on track to have all 210 beaches covered this year. “We want to take it all over the world,” he said. Beaches currently slated for the initial 11 Indian River stations include Ambersand, Treasure Shores, Golden Sands, Wabasso Beach Park, Seagrape Trail, Turtle Trail, Tracking Station Beach, and Round Island Park and Riverside Park. Stations have also been placed at several Vero Beach parks. READ FULL STORY
Flights to D.C. on horizon as Breeze expands Vero route map yet again
For the third consecutive month, Breeze Airways has announced plans to expand its Vero Beach route map. This time, however, one of two new destinations is outside the Northeast. Starting on Nov. 21, the Utah-based airline will connect Vero Beach to Washington, D.C., with twice weekly service to and from Washington Dulles International Airport, 25 miles west of the nation’s capital. The flight will also connect Vero Beach to Ogdensburg, N.Y., which is located on the U.S. side of the St. Lawrence River, 60 miles south of Ottawa, Canada’s capital city. Ogdensburg is a 2 ½-hour drive to Montreal, and a two-hour drive from Syracuse, N.Y. According to airline officials, the service between Vero Beach and Ogdensburg is a “BreezeThru route,” which means passengers don’t change airplanes, but will stop in Washington for a brief layover – usually 40 to 50 minutes – before the flight continues on to Florida or to northern New York state. The addition of the Thursday and Sunday service to and from Washington and Ogdensburg will increase the number of destinations offered from Vero Beach to eight by mid-December, when Breeze will begin flying between here and New Haven, Connecticut. READ FULL STORY
Hospital sale to Orlando Health near a done deal
Federal bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez has ordered the sale of Sebastian River Medical Center and two Brevard County hospitals to Orlando Health for $439.4 million, but the deal could still fall through if the Orlando nonprofit fails to close on its purchase of the hospital land and buildings. Steward Health Care’s legal team announced an Oct. 23 expected closing date for the three local hospital operations, based on terms laid out in a 350-plus page Asset Purchase Agreement filed with the court, but Orlando Health must first negotiate a separate contract to acquire the real property owned by Steward’s mega-landlord Medical Properties Trust. Steward said it will “net” $395 million from the Orlando Health payment of $439.4 million, and the agreement apparently envisages MPT getting whatever is left of the remaining $44.4 million after closing costs. “The closing of the sale transaction is contingent upon the consummation of the real property transaction and the (lease) severance,” the purchase agreement states. “The severance and the real property transaction are an integral part of and are inextricably intertwined with the sale transaction.” READ FULL STORY
Condos join alliance to fight state rules on reserves
Several 32963 condo Home Owner Associations (HOAs) have joined a new a regional alliance to continue the fight to ease the crushing costs imposed on them by a state law passed in wake of the 2021 high-rise building collapse in Surfside that left 98 people dead. The newly minted Treasure Coast Condominium Alliance (TCCA) already includes 14 HOAs from all along the Treasure Coast, starting with Robles del Mar in Indian River Shores, including the Racquet Club and The Gables in Vero Beach, as well as other buildings on Hutchinson Island and down to Stuart. The alliance is trying to mitigate the financial impact of new Florida laws that mandate a Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS) for all buildings three stories or higher within three miles of a shoreline, to be completed by the end of this year, and force HOAs to fully fund reserve funds for all substantial repair and maintenance projects that those studies find necessary. The new requirements are expected to necessitate special assessments as high as $50,000 per condo unit in some buildings. The president of the Harborage Condo Association in Stuart, Darlene Vanripper, since April has taken the lead in contacting other HOAs through the property management company, Elliott Merrill, and has formally incorporated the alliance as an LLC. READ FULL STORY
Scant details on what becomes of those arrested in school incidents
Violent or troubling incidents involving our public schools – like this past week’s social media threat toward Vero Beach High, or last month’s disruption at Sebastian River High – attract short-lived attention, but in most cases, it’s nearly impossible to find out what ultimately becomes of the arrested offender. Locally, there is no transparency in terms of the follow-up that occurs after the initial headlines. Most offenders are minors, meaning their records are sealed unless prosecuted as adults. School disciplinary records are confidential, so the public has no way of knowing if students who made a threat or got violent were suspended, expelled, referred to on-line programs, or if they’re back on campus attending classes. Vero Beach 32963 earlier this year set out to follow up on cases that made headlines over the past two years, and in the meantime, two new incidents occurred. On Sept.12, the Indian River Sheriff’s Office investigated a social media post and arrested an unnamed 16-year-old who admitted to making the written threat to “kill or cause great bodily harm” at Vero high. READ FULL STORY
32963 island on track to set new one-year record for home sales topping $10-million
With three-and-a-half months to go, the 32963 barrier island appears on track to set a new all-time record for the number of $10-million-plus home sales in a single year. “The existing record was set in 2021, with four sales at or over $10 million,” says ONE Sotheby’s International Realty agent Richard Boga. “There have been three of those sales so far this year and we aren’t even in the fourth quarter.” “We think we know what numbers four and five will be,” added his partner, broker associate Cindy O’Dare. The surge at the top end of the island market mirrors a wider trend of increasing ultra-luxury sales in Florida and across the country that has proceeded despite challenges in the overall real estate market, which has been hampered by high interest rates and low inventory. O’Dare and Boga, who sold two of the three $10-million-plus homes closed so far this year in Vero – one for $15 million and one for $11.5 – say their ultra-luxury buyers have a new intensity, and that the island’s most expensive homes are selling more quickly than they used to. READ FULL STORY
No plans for Vero airport expansion despite Breeze’s continued expansion
Vero Beach officials have no plans – in the foreseeable future, anyway – to expand the city airport’s terminal building to accommodate the surging popularity and better-than-anyone-imagined success of Breeze Airways in this market. In fact, Vero Beach Airport Director Todd Scher said neither the City Council nor City Manager Monte Falls had discussed with him such a possibility. “No one has mentioned it,” Scher said. “There’s something in our Airport Master Plan that would allow us to extend the terminal building into the parking lot to the west, but there’s nothing planned. “There’s not even a design,” he continued. “At this point, it’s just a space we’re reserving in the master plan for possible future expansion, so that if there’s a desire, there’s a place for it.” Scher paused, then quickly added: “And even then, the reason for the expansion would not be to attract more airlines. It would be to better handle the passengers we have now and provide a more comfortable environment.” READ FULL STORY
Suit by former server at Mulligan’s over wages may have wider implications
A former Mulligan’s Beach House Bar and Grill server is suing the restaurant over wages in a case that could have widespread implications for other restaurants and restaurant workers throughout Florida. Nando Cuccurese, 36, waited tables at the popular beachfront restaurant from 2018 to January 2024. He has since moved to Fort Myers. According to the suit, Cuccurese was paid the state minimum wage, minus a “tip credit” of $3.02 per hour. However, state law only allows employers to deduct the tip credit from the employee’s paycheck if no more than 20 percent of the worker’s time includes performing tasks for which they are not tipped. Cuccurese is claiming his side work consumed much more than 20 percent of his time on the job, and that withholding the tip credit was a violation of the Florida Minimum Wage Act (FMWA) and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). He is seeking between $50,000 and $75,000 in damages. The suit also claims that Mulligan’s compelled Cuccurese to contribute portions of his tips to a “tip pool” that was “redistributed to restaurant management and/or employees not engaged in tipped occupations” in violation of the law. Cuccurese also was required to work “while clocked out,” for which he wasn’t compensated at all, the suit says. READ FULL STORY
Sale of Sebastian hospital still on track
NEWS ANALYSIS | On the eve of the final court hearing that had been scheduled for this past Tuesday to confirm the bankruptcy sale of Sebastian River Medical Center to nonprofit Orlando Health, the owner of the hospital’s land and buildings threatened to block the nearly half-billion-dollar transaction. Still in dispute at press time were the terms by which Steward Health Care, the bankrupt owner of Sebastian River, can revoke two master leases which have burdened 30 of its 31 hospitals nationwide with what it contends were “unsustainable rents.” Mega-landlord Medical Properties Trust has been demanding that its company and its shareholders be made whole, yet that had not happened so far. UPDATE: At the last minute, a solution was found and the judge approved the sale. See details in the September 19th issue. READ FULL STORY
Is Azalea Commons, an enclave of three new West Indies-inspired homes clustered under an old oak canopy three blocks from the ocean, the future of Central Beach? Vero Beach developer Bob McNally and his Douglas Elliman broker Sally Daley think so. “We feel this is the future because it is reflective of the architecture and lifestyle the consumer now wants,” says Daley, of the new Central Beach residences that will go on the market this week for $4,875,000. “We hear two things over and over from buyers,” says Daley: “‘I love Vero, but everything is so old. What do you have that is new?’ And, ‘I really want to be close to town,’ which is why you see a disparity of values east and west of A1A.” In Azalea Commons, you have brand new homes a block or two from The Tides, Chelsea’s and Casey’s, and within easy walking or golf cart distance of all the other restaurants, shops, resorts and cultural amenities in Central Beach. The ocean is a mere 600 feet to the east. READ FULL STORY
Reckless drivers prompt push for school bus cameras
School Superintendent David Moore and Sheriff Eric Flowers were scheduled to meet this week to discuss a crackdown on local motorists who illegally pass school buses that have stopped to pick up or unload students. The main topic of conversation, Moore said, will be the proposed installation of surveillance cameras on the sides of the district’s school buses to identify and penalize violators. “We’re not using them yet, but we’re definitely going to take a hard look at it,” Moore said last week. “We’re continuing to get bus drivers reporting to us that they’re seeing cars passing by, ignoring the ‘STOP’ arms and flashing lights. “In fact, we’ve asked our drivers to keep track of it, and they reported a total of 70 cars in one day,” he added. “So, it’s something we need to address, and recent legislative changes allow us to use cameras to enforce the law.” In July 2023, the Florida Legislature authorized the use of cameras to increase the safety of schoolchildren by catching motorists who illegally pass stopped school buses and, in a separate-but-related measure, drive beyond the speed limit in school zones. READ FULL STORY
Vero welcomes Ukrainian student with open arms
One of the island’s newest residents, teenager Sophia Hlushchenko, escaped her Russian-occupied homeland in Ukraine and arrived in Vero just in time to attend orientation at Indian River Charter High School and start fall classes with her new classmates. The affinity Sophia and her friend Alexandra “Sasha” Anikina, the most enthusiastic supporter of Hlushchenko’s American dream, developed half a world apart via Zoom made her arrival here even more exciting. “The first time we met,” Hlushchenko recalls, “we hugged and were extremely happy!” “Meeting Sophia was easily the most exciting, heartwarming experience I have ever had in my life,” Anikina said. “Seeing her here, safe and smiling, made me feel that all the work done by the school, teachers, and kids was worth it.” Over the past nine months, Charter students and teachers raised funds to cover travel expenses. A 32963 family is graciously hosting the long-awaited 16-year-old since she landed from her nerve-racking journey – Hlushchenko’s arrival a testament to the whole Vero Beach community coming together to help. READ FULL STORY
New VA specialty clinic opening here in March
To better serve local veterans who now have to travel outside Indian River County to see a specialist, the Veterans Affairs Administration will open an Outpatient Multispecialty Clinic just east of Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital in Vero’s main medical corridor. The project, which the VA prioritized in its 2023-24 Long-range Capital Plan, will cost an estimated $17 million to build out and equip the leased space. The new facility is expected to open in March and will be located at 777 37th Street, now called the Riverside Medical Center but better known locally as the 777 building. Also in the VA capital plan is $1.3 million for renovations to the existing Community-Based Outpatient Clinic on 17th Street in Vero Beach, so that location is set to remain in place to continue to deliver primary care services to Vero’s veterans. Among the medical specialties that the VA expects to offer at the Outpatient Multispecialty Clinic are audiology, cardiology, dermatology, neurology, optometry, podiatry, pulmonology and urology. In addition to those much in-demand medical specialties, the new outpatient clinic will also offer chiropractic care, dental services, physical therapy, on-site laboratory services and specialists trained in fitting veterans with appropriate prosthetics to enhance their mobility, independence and quality of life. READ FULL STORY
Police probe ‘sketchy’ beachside armed robbery
NEWS ANALYSIS | It was just after midnight closing time, no patrons were left in Mulligan’s Beach House restaurant, but the main south door facing Sexton Plaza was still unlocked. That’s when the tall Black male clad in black, who minutes before had asked a nearby hotel security guard for directions to the eatery, entered. Inside, he walked straight to the kitchen, avoiding three workers that were cleaning up, maneuvered his way around a large cart full of trash bags, and made his way to the cash office hidden in the back, where the manager on duty was adding up the night’s receipts. The door to the cash office – normally closed during cash counting – was open. The man – wearing a mask and armed with a grayish gun – walked in, pointed the gun at the woman manager’s head, and said: “Give me all your money” as he closed the door with his other hand. None of the other employees still working that night had seen him. Not the bartender washing dishes behind the bar. Not the employee cleaning the kitchen with headphones on as he listened to music. Not the busboy finishing up his closing duties, preparing to clock out. READ FULL STORY
Orlando Health silent on future Sebastian plans
Orlando Health apparently will be the new parent company of Sebastian River Medical Center, perhaps by the end of the year. No qualified bidders bested the big Orlando non-profit’s $439.4 million offer to buy the Sebastian hospital from Steward Health Care by last week’s bankruptcy court-imposed deadline. But until a final hearing this coming Tuesday – and with a closing of the sale likely some months away – the future hospital operator remained tight-lipped last week about its plans for Indian River County. While Steward, its major lenders and mega-landlord Medical Properties Trust appear to suddenly be playing nice to expedite the sale of the Sebastian hospital, two Brevard hospitals and six Massachusetts hospitals, plus the Stewardship Health physicians’ group, the ground under some of these acquisitions could shift if the fragile bankruptcy truce falters. Still, eager to know more about what the future holds for our North County hospital under a new operator, Vero Beach 32963 asked Orlando Health’s corporate office about how the company might bolster the drastic need for primary care physicians here. READ FULL STORY
Hospital District finalizes lease for Vero medical education campus
After more than a year of negotiations, the Indian River Hospital District has executed a 20-year lease-to-own agreement with the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, known as VCOM, to develop a Vero Beach medical education campus and eventually a residency program on five acres adjacent to Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital. The parcel at 1110 35th Lane is best known as the former longtime offices of the Visiting Nurse Association. It includes a three-story building constructed in 1987, plus almost all the vacant land next to the building between 11th Drive and the curve of 35th Lane. A three-minute walk from the hospital, the 43,770-square-foot building, though old and in disrepair, is the ideal spot to educate medical students and residents who will train under Cleveland Clinic’s physicians. The lease, which begins on Oct. 1, includes a timeline for VCOM’s progress. To fulfill the district’s requirements, VCOM must establish a campus on the site for third- and fourth-year medical students by Oct. 1, 2026. Then VCOM must establish a fully accredited four-year medical school in Vero by Oct. 1, 2027. READ FULL STORY
Family of classic car collector says dealer owes them $240K
The widow and son of a deceased 32963 man who collected classic cars have accused a local dealer of selling four of the man’s vintage cars and keeping more than $240,000, according to court documents. A suit was filed in Indian River County Circuit Court by Robert Bruce Carnevale, the man’s son, against Jay Storch, owner of Delray Motorcars, located at 1143 18th Place in Vero Beach. On Aug. 29, Carnevale’s attorney contacted Vero Beach 32963 stating that Storch and Carnevale had reached an agreement in which Storch would pay what he owes for the vehicles. The settlement agreement will be finalized in three to six weeks, the attorney said. Carnevale confirmed that his family has reached a settlement with Storch but declined to provide any details. A. Robert Carnevale moved with his wife, Judy, to Indian River Shores in 2009 after retiring from the Bradford White water heater manufacturing company, where he had served for 50 years and was its president and CEO when he retired. His passion for classic cars continued in retirement – in fact, Carnevale’s extensive collection included the 1955 Ford Thunderbird that he drove when he courted Judy on their first date in 1961. READ FULL STORY
Area docs get little information about physician network sale
A number of local doctors – and the thousands of patients they serve – got few answers last week about how the announced sale of the bankrupt Stewardship Health physician network will affect them. At a meeting of local physicians associated with the bankrupt network, a Steward representative said that for the moment, there will no change in the chain of command, and Steward itself will continue to communicate with the physicians, according one doctor who attended the meeting but asked not to be named. The new buyers, the local doctors were told, would start communicating with individual physician practices one by one, starting in Massachusetts and working their way slowly down to Florida, maybe in a month or so. The physician practices that include 5,000 doctors across nine states, some of them along the Treasure and Space Coasts, have been termed “highly profitable” by the bankrupt parent company, Steward Health Systems. The bankruptcy court last week approved in principle the $245 million sale of the physician network to a new company that also operates the Rural Healthcare Group (RHG), a relatively small corporation headquartered in Nashville that has about 17 small rural health clinics in Tennessee and other nearby Southern States. READ FULL STORY
Indian River & Brevard: Leading the way in human exploration of the deep ocean
Vero’s most notable scientist, Edie Widder, was back in the national spotlight this month when “Giants of the Deep” premiered on Disney+ and Hulu. The spectacular deep-sea documentary filmed in waters around the Azores is one episode of a six-part National Geographic series called “OceanXplorers,” produced and narrated by James Cameron. Besides Widder, the episode features Triton submarines built in Sebastian and underwater cameras made by Artic Rays in Satellite Beach, highlighting the key role our lightly populated stretch of coastline plays in human exploration of the deep ocean worldwide. Widder, a marine biologist and oceanographer who has been visiting deep parts of the ocean for 40 years, gained fame in 2012 when she was the first to film the elusive giant squid, using technology she devised to lure in the mysterious and long-sought creature. She was chief scientist on a marine mission near Chile documented by the BBC as part of “Blue Planet II,” an influential 2017 series narrated by British naturalist Sir Richard Attenborough, which has been seen by hundreds of millions of people. Best known for her pioneering research on bioluminescence, Widder published a memoir, “Below the Edge of Darkness,” in 2021 that garnered glowing reviews and wide readership. READ FULL STORY
As infections rise here, new Covid vax set to arrive
The newly approved COVID-19 vaccine, formulated to beat back the latest virus variants, is due to arrive within days, and those one in four adults who still swear by the jab can’t roll up their sleeves soon enough as Covid infections soar locally to levels not seen since the Summer 2022 surge. In May, only 79 people, or an average of 2.5 people per day, reported testing positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Indian River County. In June that number increased to an average of 6.5 infections reported per day. Then in July, a whopping 23 people per day tested positive at a clinic or doctor’s office that reports positive tests. The July tally of 724 cases does not include people who showed a positive at-home COVID test but did not seek treatment. A total of 377 people countywide have reported testing positive this month through the 22nd – not as bad as July but still not great, considering that students and teachers are back in close quarters in school where respiratory infections can spread like wildfire. READ FULL STORY
Disillusioned Zudans abruptly ends his bid for Vero City Council
The sudden departure of former Vero Beach Mayor Val Zudans from the City Council race last week left five candidates, including incumbents Linda Moore and John Carroll, vying for three seats. Zudans, who was elected to the council in 2017 and served as mayor from March through November 2019, had filed to run in this year’s November election just ahead of the Aug. 16 qualifying deadline. Five days after filing, however, he withdrew from the race – not because he didn’t think he could win, but because he saw who else was running and realized there was little chance he would be part of a council majority. In a lengthy text message sent to Vero Beach 32963 on Friday, Zudans wrote he decided to run because he believes the city is “on the devastatingly wrong track under the current leadership.” “Looking at who was and wasn’t up for re-election – and their prior votes and public statements – I needed just one new person to work with in order to potentially have a three-vote majority to right the ship,” Zudans explained. “I was hoping someone capable would file before the deadline. READ FULL STORY
Orlando Health’s Sebastian hospital bid a ‘go’ for now
Steward Health Care and its mega-landlord Medical Properties Trust have brokered an uneasy truce to allow Orlando Health’s bid for Sebastian River Medical Center and two Brevard County hospitals to move forward, avoiding an all-out court battle, for now. But a leaked confidential document in the court record last week showed that one potential competitor for the Sebastian hospital – HCA Healthcare, the operator of Lawnwood Medical Center – backed out of the bidding after MPT demanded $500 million for the real property under the three Florida hospitals, quadruple what it paid Steward for them just seven years ago. Even though Orlando Health’s bid for the three hospitals of $439.4 million included up to $275 million for the land and buildings owned by MPT, Toby King, who heads up the effort to market the hospitals, said Orlando Health had “indicated it believed the real property underlying the (three) hospitals had a value of between $175 million to $200 million.” The public disclosure of HCA’s withdrawal from the bidding for Sebastian River came in a flurry of adversarial filings in Steward’s federal bankruptcy case, through which Steward is seeking to sell off its hospitals to raise cash as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding. READ FULL STORY
Laura Moss, all incumbents win commission races
Laura Moss Tuesday overcame a strong challenge from Vero Beach City Council member Tracey Zudans to win virtual re-election to the Indian River County Commission in the most contentious of the three races for Republican nominations up for grabs on the five-member body that runs the county. Moss represents District 5, which basically encompasses the barrier island and zip code 32962, on the commission. By winning the Republican nomination for the District 5 seat, Moss, herself a former Vero Beach City Council member and mayor, is assured of serving a second four-year term on the governing body. She has no Democratic challenger in the November general election and only has to face a write-in candidate who is not campaigning. Moss, 71, got 55 percent of the vote to 45 percent for the 52-year-old Zudans. In other County Commission election night results, Susan Adams, 46, whose family owns the Marsh Landing restaurant in Fellsmere, also won the GOP re-nomination that assures election in the heavily Republican county by beating back a spirited campaign by challenger Timonthy Borden. READ FULL STORY
Flowers polls less than a majority, but stays sheriff
Nearly two thirds of primary voters did not want to give Sheriff Eric Flowers a second term, but in a three-way race, he had enough support from the Republicans who voted to squeak through to a less than impressive re-election victory. Flowers watched returns come in at the Sheriff’s headquarters and then spoke to reporters after it was apparent that he won with a scant plurality of the vote. It marked the first time in at least two decades that an Indian River County sheriff was elected without the support of a solid majority of the electorate. When asked if he would do anything differently, or engage in more public outreach following a race where 63 percent of voters chose someone other than him, Flowers said, “We’ve done a fantastic job with public outreach, we’ve reached out to everyone. The majority of people made the decision that they want me as Sheriff, and I won the election tonight.” Actually, a majority of people – 63.6 percent, to be precise – did not want him to continue as sheriff. READ FULL STORY
County voters take back control of local School Board from Moms for Liberty
Nearly five months ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis handed the Moms for Liberty control of the county’s School Board. On Tuesday night, the community’s voters took the board majority back, soundly rejecting the hard-right fringe group and its culture-war agenda in an election that saw District 3 incumbent Peggy Jones win a second term and political newcomer David Dyer claim the District 5 seat the governor filled with an April appointment. Jones defeated challenger Rob MacCallum, while Dyer ended Kevin McDonald’s brief stint on the dais. The margin of victory in both races was 57 to 43 percent. MacCallum and McDonald lost despite getting endorsements from both DeSantis and the Moms. “You can’t imagine what this means to us and the community,” Jones said in the festive confines of a jointly held watch party at the Garden Club of Indian River County, where she and Dyer celebrated their triumph. “This election was not about us, it was about the kids,” she added. “These past few weeks were very difficult, but I believed the community would stand up to the negative campaigning and stand up for kids. We didn’t have the governor’s endorsement, but we still won.” READ FULL STORY
Potential buyer opens bidding for Sebastian Hospital
Orlando Health, operator of one of the two major Central Florida hospital systems, has become the first entity to officially emerge as a potential buyer of the bankrupt Sebastian River Medical Center, offering $439.4 million in cash to buy three hospitals along the Treasure and Space Coasts including Sebastian. But the selection of a new owner is far from over. A three-way battle appears to be shaping up between Orlando Health, AdventHealth – the largest Central Florida Hospital system – and HCA Healthcare for ownership of the Sebastian hospital, the only full-service alternative in Indian River County to Cleveland Clinic’s hospital in Vero Beach. The Orlando Health bid was designated as a “stalking horse bid” in the bankruptcy court proceedings of the Sebastian hospital’s parent company, Steward Health Systems, which filed for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy protection in May and put all its assets up for sale to try and pay off $9 billion in accumulated unpaid debts. As a “stalking horse bid,” the Orlando Health offer sets a floor price for further bidding in the bankruptcy court auction of the three hospitals. READ FULL STORY
County moving ahead on buying environmentally significant lands
The first $25 million from a 2022 county bond referendum to purchase environmentally significant lands has been released, with a nine-person panel ranking properties that should be saved from development. Voters approved borrowing a total of $50 million for Indian River County’s Environmental Lands Acquisition Program to protect, restore and sustain endangered ecosystems, flora and fauna. Instead of borrowing the whole $50 million at once, the county decided to divide the money into two $25 million tranches to make sure the properties can be chosen and purchased within the three-year time limit on municipal bonds, said Beth Powell, the county’s Director of Parks, Recreation and Conservation. The county must pay back this first $25 million by 2044. The cost to the owner of a home with a $1 million taxable value is roughly $175 per year. Approximately 40 parcels have been nominated by county staff, environmental groups and individual landowners for possible purchase through the program. Parcels will be ranked by the Environmental Land Acquisition Panel which includes professionals with backgrounds in natural resources, planning and engineering, real estate and finance, plus volunteers from all five county districts. READ FULL STORY
Steward accuses landlord of blocking hospital sales
Steward Health Care’s impasse with its mega-landlord Medical Properties Trust, which owns the Sebastian River Medical Center buildings and the ground under them, has sadly not been resolved in closed-door mediation, so Steward resorted to an open-warfare option late Monday. Steward asked federal bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez to determine the value of the real property versus the ongoing business concern of each of the 26 hospitals still on the auction block. In a 24-page, scathing Adversary Complaint, which amounts to a lawsuit within the larger bankruptcy case, Steward charged that MPT has blocked efforts to sell the hospitals, and was interfering directly in the process of bidding on Steward hospitals. MPT just hours later filed a response and counterclaim, accusing Steward of illegally trying to sell MPT owned real property, and of attempting to deprive MPT of the fair market value of the land and buildings that house Steward hospitals. Steward alleged that MPT had approached buyers “out of self-interest” outside of Steward’s marketing process, undermining the bidding. It accused MPT of pressuring prospective bidders with whom it had a business relationship “to allocate all of the value of their bids to MPT’s real estate.” READ FULL STORY
Breeze Airways expands Vero service to sixth destination
Vero Beach Airport Director Todd Scher was attending last week’s City Council meeting when he received an email informing him that Breeze Airways was about to announce plans to expand its service here to a sixth destination – New Haven, Connecticut. By the time he returned to his office, the twice weekly flights, scheduled to start Dec. 13, had already been loaded onto the Utah-based airline’s website. “There was almost no notice with this one,” Scher said of the new service, which will connect Vero Beach to New Haven with flights on Mondays and Friday. The Aug. 13 announcement was the second of the summer for Breeze, which last month unveiled its plan to add two New York destinations, Newburgh and Islip, to its Vero Beach route map. On Oct. 2, Breeze will not only resume its seasonal service between Vero Beach Regional Airport and Islip’s Long Island MacArthur Airport, but it will also double the number of flights to four per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The Vero-Islip service was introduced in October, but it was suspended in May for the summer months, despite Breeze officials saying the route was well-received. READ FULL STORY
Off-duty lifeguard rescues teen from rip current at Wabasso Beach
When Gifford Aquatic Center lifeguard Emily Locy decided to go surfing at Wabasso Beach last Friday before her shift at the pool, she didn’t anticipate taking her job with her. But Ernesto-fueled rip currents had other plans. Around 8:30 a.m. before the county lifeguard stations were staffed, Locy saw a teenage boy struggling in the current and tried to coach him out of the water. When he was nearly out of danger, the 15-year-old Maryland resident was hit with a wave that dragged him back in. Locy, 24, sprang into action, paddled toward the boy and helped him grab hold of her surfboard. She fought the rough currents and high surf and returned him to safety on shore. The boy’s mother, grandmother and brother were looking on from the beach during the 20-minute rescue. The brother had also been caught up in the rough surf but managed to get himself out. Once Locy was sure the boy was doing well, she talked to the family about the danger of the rip currents and how close he came to drowning. READ FULL STORY
Big community north of Grand Harbor approved
An innovative subdivision north of Grand Harbor that will have a population larger than most incorporated towns and cities in the U.S. just took a giant stride toward groundbreaking. On July 25, a slightly bemused but mostly enthusiastic Indian River County Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to approve the preliminary site plan for Spoonbill Preserve, which will include 460 single-family homes and 412 multifamily units, along with three clubhouses, a small neighborhood shopping center and extensive open space. “I have to say, Steve, this is beautiful. I love the idea,” commission member Robert Votaw told project engineer Stephen Moler shortly before the vote, after Moler successfully fielded dozens of questions about the project. The questions and bemusement were understandable. The board had never before approved a project like Spoonbill Preserve. Spread across nearly a square mile between U.S. 1 and the Indian River Lagoon, stretching from Antilles in the north to Grand Harbor in the south, the development will have lots of unique and interesting features, including a provision allowing residents of Antilles to pass through the gated community to get to 53rd Street and Indian River Boulevard without traversing the busy federal highway. READ FULL STORY
Sebastian River hospital sale now delayed to Sept.
Steward Health Care has run up against more roadblocks than anticipated en route to selling or closing its hospitals, so Sebastian River Medical Center employees and patients eager to know who will operate the North County hospital now must wait nearly three weeks longer than expected. The Aug. 22 final hearing date on the sale of Steward’s Florida hospitals has been pushed to Sept. 10. Signed agreements to sell five Boston-area hospitals were supposed to be inked last Friday and finalized this Tuesday. The hearing on those deals, plus the complex sale of the Stewardship Health physicians’ group, is now postponed to Friday morning in a Texas federal bankruptcy court. The sale of Steward’s hospitals follows a May 6 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, in which the company declared more than $9 billion in debt. Marketing the 31 hospitals in seven states has proven more tricky than expected, thanks to Steward’s landlord, Medical Properties Trust, a publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust which purchases hospital land and buildings and then leases the facilities back to the hospital operators. READ FULL STORY
Public school students now required to wear IDs
Indian River County now requires public school students to wear school district-issued identification cards on campus and on buses as part of the official dress code, with punishments for non-compliance. According to school district spokesperson Cristen Maddux, enforcement will begin the second week of school. Students will only be permitted to remove their IDs during physical education classes and athletic activities. Based upon the district’s code of conduct, punishment will range from an initial verbal warning up to in-school suspension and ineligibility to articipate in extracurricular school activities. The scannable IDs, which provide GPS tracking, are particularly helpful in enabling school resource officers to identify the youngest pupils. During an emergency, students could be transported away from the school and IDs serve to get them to the proper place off-site. “It will help us identify where the students belong. We have designated locations in the county,” said Vero Beach Police Department Deputy Chief Matt Monaco whose department covers Rosewood Magnet and Beachland Elementary schools as well as St. Helen Catholic School. READ FULL STORY
Main Street Vero Beach’s executive director replaced
Nearly two months have passed since Matt Haynes resigned as Main Street Vero Beach’s executive director – a position he said he left because he became frustrated with a “complete misalignment of vision and goals” between him and the nonprofit’s board. It wasn’t until last weekend, however, that Main Street Vero President Joe Coakley publicly acknowledged that Haynes was asked to step down from his $45,000-per-year job amid damaged relationships with downtown business owners the organization needed as members. To replace Haynes, Coakley said Main Street Vero Beach had rehired Haynes’ predecessor, Susan Gromis, who served as the organization’s executive director from 2019 through 2022. She will share the position with her husband, Richard. Haynes, an island resident hired in January 2023, submitted his resignation in June, agreeing with Coakley that his differences with the board could not be resolved. READ FULL STORY
Musician sues Riverside Theatre after fall from elevated platform
A New York musician hired to perform in “Jersey Boys” last season at Riverside Theatre is suing for negligence and damages after falling eight feet from an elevated platform during a rehearsal, fracturing his jaw and injuring his head, neck and back, according to court documents. As reported in the May 23 issue of Vero Beach 32963, the accident earned the theatre a citation and $12,445 penalty from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). It was also one of several safety concerns that prompted six full-time stage technicians to unionize under the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 500. According to court records, multi-instrumentalist John Putnam was contracted in November 2023 to perform as “Guitar Player 2” in the band for the theatre’s production of “Jersey Boys,” set to run from Jan. 2-28 on the main Stark Stage. His duties included seven rehearsals and 25 performances. The band was positioned onstage on a raised platform about eight feet above the stage floor. OSHA requires railings or other safety equipment for platforms higher than four feet. READ FULL STORY
Cleveland Clinic patient sues over leaked HIV info
A Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital patient, “John Doe,” has sued the hospital for damages after his private medical records, including his name and positive HIV test results, were accessed and photographed by a hospital employee and then published on social media. Lawyers for the plaintiff, age 40, say the hospital acknowledged that an employee accessed the man’s records without authorization, but refused to reveal the employee’s identity, saying the employee no longer works at the hospital. “Cleveland Clinic’s failure to maintain confidentiality of Plaintiff’s HIV test results and their publication online has caused Plaintiff to suffer from anxiety, embarrassment, isolation, and emotional distress,” according to the suit seeking a jury trial. Unauthorized access to medical records violates the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a 1996 federal law that, among other things, protects the confidentiality of personal health information (PHI). The incident also violates Florida’s Omnibus AIDS Act, which makes HIV test results “super confidential,” the suit says. READ FULL STORY
‘Not sustainable’: Steward, landlord and creditors at impasse
NEWS ANALYSIS | If Sebastian River Medical Center and 28 remaining Steward Health Care hospitals are to be sold later this month, Steward must quickly broker a compromise with its mega-landlord Medical Properties Trust and its creditors, as there appear to be no bidders willing to take over any of Steward’s leases, and certain bidders may want to own the buildings and the land instead of leasing from MPT. Under two global leases covering all the hospitals, Steward has paid MPT what’s been characterized as unsustainably high rents, which contributed in part to Steward’s financial woes, leading to a May 6 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in a Texas federal court. “The current rents are not sustainable,” Steward’s lead restructuring counsel Ray Schrock said, explaining why those leases needed to be rejected in bankruptcy for the sale of the hospitals to move forward. READ FULL STORY
Grateful patient shows Sebastian ICU staff some (tasty) Southern hospitality
When Donald Strunk wanted to express his gratitude to the staff of the Sebastian River Medical Center for saving his life a year ago, it was only natural that his “thank-you” gesture would have something to do with food – after all, Strunk is the retired general manager of the famous Commander’s Palace restaurant in New Orleans. So, on the first anniversary of Strunk’s arrival by ambulance at the Sebastian hospital, last July 11, Strunk and his wife Cyndy, who still works remotely for Tulane University in New Orleans, brought lunch for about a dozen people from the Intensive Care Unit involved in the treatment that brought him back from the brink of death in a nasty bout with legionnaires disease. Strunk may not have had access anymore to the fine dining offered at his former New Orleans eatery, but the tray of deli sandwiches, fresh fruit and sweets was much appreciated by the medical staff. Strunk’s wife explained that they knew a lot of bad news had been swirling around the hospital recently because of the bankruptcy of its parent company, Steward Health Systems, which is trying to sell all of its 31 hospitals in bankruptcy court auctions, so they wanted to do something nice for the staff. READ FULL STORY
New racquet game complex proves big hit at Orchid Club
A key component of Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club’s ongoing $20-million upgrade came online this summer when a brand-new racquet and lawn game center opened for the use of members. “We opened in late May and even though it was already hot, the pickleball courts were immediately all taken in the mornings,” said Kainoa “Kai” Rosa, director of racquets at the club. That says something about the almost fanatical enthusiasm for pickleball that continues to increase on the barrier island, since more than 80 percent of club members typically leave town for the summer. “We have seen a huge surge in pickleball,” said Rosa. “More and more people are playing and there is a desire for more pro-run clinics and pickleball-themed social events.” Club general manager Rob Tench told Vero Beach 32963 the 2.2-acre complex took a year to plan and build and cost $2.5 million. The six new pickleball courts have high-tech cushioned surfaces that Rosa said are much easier on players’ knees and other joints stressed by the high-speed, highly social game. “I think these are the first padded courts on the island,” he added. “There is no noticeable difference in ball bounce but if you take a tumble you are going to be a little better off.” READ FULL STORY
New head of St. Edward’s Middle School feels ‘blessed’ and ‘excited’
The incoming head of St. Edward’s Middle School, Jason Dowdy, eagerly awaits the sight of a bustling campus when faculty meetings commence next week, and the 155 students in his care show up for fall classes on Aug. 21. After being chosen from a field of 25 candidates, Dowdy and his wife Sara transferred to Vero’s barrier island in June from their former posts at Trinity Preparatory School of Florida, Orlando’s top-ranked private school. He said they love the small-town atmosphere and being near the water. “We got up and saw the sunrise and the rocket launch at the same time. I’m very blessed,” he said. “This is a special opportunity. I’m excited to join the St. Ed’s community and the larger Vero Beach community.” Sara Dowdy joins St. Ed’s this fall as a sixth-grade science teacher and cross-country coach. St. Ed’s Head of School Stuart Hirstein is happy to have them both. “We’re excited. They’re all in on the community,” he said. READ FULL STORY
First 2 Steward hospitals fetch little at auction
The first two hospitals of the bankrupt Steward Health Systems chain have been sold at auction for a mere pittance, and Steward is closing two other hospitals it was trying to auction in Massachusetts for lack of any bidders. But those disappointing results don’t necessarily mean that Steward’s Sebastian River Medical Center, also up for sale later this month, won’t fetch a more reasonable price from a buyer seeking to keep it open as a prime healthcare facility. In the auction sale of Steward’s so-called “first round” of its 31 hospitals, excluding those in Florida and in northern Massachusetts, only Wadley Regional Medical Center in Hope, Arkansas (the hometown of former President Bill Clinton), and Glenwood Regional Medical Center in Monroe, Louisiana, found willing buyers. The Arkansas hospital was sold for a mere $200,000 to Pafford Health Systems, Inc., a local Arkansas company with other operations in Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Louisiana institution went for $500,000 to an affiliate of California-based American Healthcare Systems known as AHS South. READ FULL STORY
Sebastian facility seen safe but conditions deteriorating
The federal bankruptcy court-appointed Ombudsman assigned to make sure that Steward Healthcare’s hospitals are operating in a safe manner found some major issues on a visit to Sebastian River Medical Center. Six pages of Susan Goodman’s 29-page report filed last week provided a detailed assessment of operations, conditions and morale at the North County hospital. Goodman found that, in general, Sebastian River was still providing good care to patients, despite some staffing and supply challenges. In the Analysis and Next Steps portion of her report, Goodman noted that she did not observe unsafe patient care in terms of the one-on-one interactions of hospital staff with patients. But moving on to her inspection of the facilities, Goodman found four major issues – the HVAC system not maintaining even temperatures, causing lab technicians to use portable coolers to keep the lab and specimens cool; the backup generator not functioning; two of the three boilers not operational, causing a spotty supply of hot water to the hospital; and the hospital-wide fire detection system no longer communicating with county emergency services. READ FULL STORY
What campaign? No election needed for Shores council
As is often the case for the Town of Indian River Shores, the island municipality of 4,500 residents will not have a contested election to add to the already-packed Nov. 5 ballot. Incumbents Bob Auwaerter and James Altieri will serve another four-year term on the Indian River Shores Town Council joined in November by newcomer William Dane, a Bermuda Bay resident who rounded out the field last week as the third candidate qualifying for the three seats up for election. “Although I had other calls and inquiries, no one (else) actually filed the paperwork. All three candidates were elected unopposed. So, Mr. Dane will be the newest member of Council,” Town Clerk Janice Rutan confirmed shortly after the noon Friday deadline. Dane, a Wisconsin native who spent his teen years in Miami after his family moved to Florida in the 1950s, graduated from Florida State University School of Law and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1986. After being appointed to the bench by Gov. Jeb Bush, Dane served as an administrative law judge in Jacksonville from 2003 to 2009, specializing in worker’s compensation cases. READ FULL STORY
Quail Valley will add 4th club facility to meet demand for racquet sports and lawn games
Quail Valley is adding a fourth major facility to its roster of club locations to meet demand for racquet sports and lawn games among its members. It will build the impressive complex on approximately eight acres at 41st Street and 11th Drive, smack dab in the middle of the most active area of luxury development in Indian River County, where two large Class-A apartment complexes and two high-end subdivisions are planned or underway just north of Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital. The initial plan shows a recreational wonderland of racquet and lawn game courts, including eight pickleball courts, four padel courts, four bocce ball courts, and an expansive croquet section with full and half-court fields. There will also be an exhibition tennis court and lap pool. Besides sporting facilities, the sprawling new complex, which is called Quail Valley Rec Center in county documents, will include a fitness center, spa, market and dedicated Kids Zone building. There will be an administration center and residence along with several pavilions and other structures. READ FULL STORY
Referendums put breadth of downtown development in voters’ hands
Vero Beach Mayor John Cotugno believes the city has done its part to encourage the further development proponents say must occur to make the downtown more vibrant. “Now it’s up to the voters,” he said. The City Council last week approved placing on the Nov. 5 ballot two referendums that, if adopted, would allow the construction of the smaller apartments at the core of its master plan for the revitalization of the downtown area. One would increase the residential density in the 50-acre downtown core from 17 units per acre to 36 units per acre, with a maximum of 1,800 total units, but retain the district’s 50-foot height limit. The other would allow building owners to sell already-approved-but-unbuilt units to other property owners, enabling the new owners to build at a higher density, as long as the total number of units stays within the maximum permitted for that area. The second referendum applies in the sections of downtown zoned for mixed-use development, as well as in the adjacent commercial areas. READ FULL STORY
Shores weighs banking funds for future hurricane recovery
With real property values way up, the Indian River Shores Town Council has a choice to make – roll the tax rate back to keep tax bills flat for residents, or store up funds in case the barrier island gets hit with a major hurricane and the town needs ready cash for immediate storm recovery. Residents will have a chance to weigh in on this decision at two public hearings in September, but based upon the emerging consensus at last week’s town budget workshop, council members seem to be leaning toward beefing up the emergency reserves. Keeping the millage rate at $1.33 per $1,000 of taxable value will bring in 13 percent more tax revenue, or about $790,000. The town operating budget is set to increase by $450,000 to $10.5 million, most of which is going to road improvement projects, employee raises and a substantial hike in insurance premiums. Mayor Brian Foley said he understands that inflation has hit people very hard, coupled with added expenses for insurance premiums, and for condominium fee increases needed to comply with new state laws. READ FULL STORY
County home owners will see slight bump in property taxes
Homeowners can expect to pay slightly more in property taxes this fall to fund the proposed $524.7 million budget County Admin istrator John A. Titkanich presented to county commissioners at a recent budget workshop. The total proposed budget is a 3.5 percent increase from the current year’s beginning budget of $506.9 million. The countywide tax roll increased 10.3 percent, still growing from an overheated market and new construction, but cooling slightly from last year’s 13.8 percent increase in assessed property values. During the budget workshop presentation, Titkanich said the general fund millage rate has remained steady for the sixth year in a row and that Indian River County has the sixth lowest general fund millage of all 67 Florida counties. Proposed millage rates remain relatively unchanged from the current year, with the difference being a 6-cent per $1,000 in taxable value increase for a land acquisition bond. The proposed aggregate millage rate is $6.10 per $1,000 of taxable property value. READ FULL STORY
Steward owes a lot to many of its vendors
Steward Healthcare filed updated financial statements for its 31 hospitals as part of Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy proceedings, and while the documents show steadily increasing revenues at Sebastian River Medical Center, they also reveal a business dogged by more than $70 million in past-due patient accounts, plus more than $1 billion owed by Steward hospitals to hundreds of vendors for everything from blood and surgical equipment to elevator repair and food. Financial reports on file with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration show Sebastian River Medical Center took in $114.6 million for calendar year 2021. The more recent financials filed July 10 with the Texas bankruptcy court report total revenues of $117.3 million for 2022, and $126.7 million for 2023. Partial-year gross revenues for Jan. 1 through April 30 of 2024 were $35.3 million. On the receivables end, the hospital listed $10.9 million in accounts on the books as less than 90 days old, plus $70 million of receivables more than 90 days old – of which accountants determined $57.8 million was uncollectible. READ FULL STORY
Sale of Sebastian medical practices delayed a week
The various physician practices scattered around the Sebastian River Medical Center and owned by the same bankrupt parent company, Steward Health Care System, will have to wait at least another week until early August to learn who their new owner will be. Apart from owning and running the hospital itself, Steward, like many other health systems, has been buying up physician practices in the area served by their hospitals to ensure a steady supply of referrals of patients. In and around Sebastian, Steward runs medical practices in several specialties such as gastroenterology, cardiology, pulmonology, orthopedic and sports medicine, as well as an ear, nose and throat specialist practice and a family medicine primary care office. It also owns an internal medicine practice located in Barefoot Bay in Brevard County just across the Saint Sebastian River from the Sebastian hospital. READ FULL STORY
Amid uncertainty, island brokerage takes realtors suit settlement in stride
Ever since a Kansas City jury voted in October in favor of a group of Missouri homeowners in an antitrust lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors and seven large brokerages, there have been rumblings of real estate apocalypse. The somewhat gleeful media chatter increased in March, when the NAR settled the suit, with predictions of plummeting commissions and a mass exodus of agents from the real estate business. Buzz MacWilliam, owner/broker of AMAC Alex MacWilliam Inc., the oldest and one of the largest brokerages on the island, says, “not so much. “Progress is good. Being stagnant, doing the same old thing we have been doing for 20 years, is never in anybody’s best interest,” MacWilliam told Vero Beach 32963 last week, a month before lawsuit-related changes in the industry were set to go live. “We are figuring out what our company polices will be moving forward and educating our agents to make sure they comply with all the new rules and requirements that go into effect on Aug. 17,” MacWilliam continued. READ FULL STORY
Motel, apartments central to mall owner’s revitalization plans
Developer concept plans for revamping the Indian River Mall reveal the new owner’s apparent strategy of pumping shoppers and diners into the stores and eateries from 280 adjacent apartments with club amenities and a 120-room motel. DTS Properties II, LLC, which recently bought the mall and the adjacent former Macy’s building, submitted rough drawings of a three-phase plan to Indian River County last week. The Midwestern firm is hoping to breathe life back into a decaying mall that once was a jewel in the community’s State Road 60 commercial corridor by transforming it from a mid-20th Century era indoor suburban mall to a multi-use community hub. The concept of building a motel, apartments or condos next to or on top of a mall has been accomplished successfully before in Florida — the Florida Mall steps from the Florida Hotel in Orlando, Boca Raton’s ritzy Mizner Park apartments and nearby condos, and CityPlace apartment and condo towers in West Palm Beach to name a few. The motel and five buildings of multifamily residences – as well as a proposed school – would all be located on the 26th Street side of the existing mall, adding traffic to that already crowded road. READ FULL STORY
Renovated buildings downtown to house Childcare Resources
A couple of large, weathered structures in the heart of Vero that have been a drag for years on efforts to breathe life into the downtown area will soon be getting an exciting new use along with a total makeover. Childcare Resources will move into the buildings that previously housed a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office, and plans to use the space to accommodate around 200 children in its preschool program and expand its training sessions for early childhood educators. “The buildings will be completely renovated. It’s going to be a complete facelift of both buildings,” said Executive Director Shannon McGuire Bowman. “This campus is going to help us expand what we can offer. It’s truly exciting.” The oldest of the large beige structures dates to 1959. Vacant for several years, the buildings are dotted with touches of graffiti. Purchased by Childcare Resources for $6.25 million, the 2-acre property at 1339 20th Street spans a total of 32,000 square feet. Plans recently filed at City Hall show the single-story building will feature a state-of-the-art training facility and expand the Wellness and Early Intervention Program. The school will be housed in the two-story structure facing 20th Street. A playground will be added to the property between the two structures. READ FULL STORY
Excitement here for Ukrainian student’s arrival
Eight months after 16-year-old Ukrainian student Sophia Hlushchenko submitted a video application to Indian River Charter High School’s international program, teachers and students are eagerly preparing for her arrival in Vero. Among those spearheading the effort to raise the $20,000 to get Sophia out of Russian-occupied Ukraine and fund her travel and educational expenses is Alexsandra Anikina – Sasha to her friends – a 17-year-old junior in the international program. Anikina, a Russian native, was touched by Hlushchenko’s plight, living in hiding with her mother. She befriended Hlushchenko online through email and Zoom calls and shared her own life story. “I was 7 when my vocabulary was introduced to a new word – War,” Anikina said of her life in 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea, then part of Ukraine. “Something we learned about in history books or watched on movie screens had turned into a real, tangible thing. It was felt by everyone and yet they would pretend things are normal.” Anikina’s parents’ divergent political views ripped the family apart. Her father staunchly supported Vladimir Putin’s government, and the military action in Crimea, while her mother opposed it. READ FULL STORY
Commissioners hear concerns about Urban Service Boundary expansion
Impact on the natural environment was the No. 1 worry of 1,126 people responding to a county survey about expanding the Urban Service Boundary, with traffic congestion and stress on infrastructure rounding out the top three concerns as the county is slated to add more than 40,000 people by 2050. Representatives from the Clean Water Coalition of Indian River County, Pelican Island Audubon Society, Indian River Neighborhood Association, and Indian River Land Trust met with all five county commissioners, one at a time, in sequential 30-minute sessions on July 1 to discuss these issues directly with decision makers. “We’re going to grow regardless of how much anyone might want to stop it,” said Dan Lamson, executive director of Indian River Neighborhood Association (IRNA). “We definitely need to address water supply issues before we address a wide-scale move of the Urban Service Boundary.” The Urban Service Boundary establishes where facilities such as water and sewer lines are constructed and where development is encouraged. READ FULL STORY
City workers can thank Vero’s higher property values for 5% pay hike
Higher property values in Vero Beach will allow the City Council to give all municipal employees a 5-percent, cost-of-living-adjustment pay increase – without raising the millage rate for the 2024-25 fiscal year. “Technically, it’s a tax increase, because people will pay more in property taxes, but that’s because their property values went up,” City Manager Monte Falls said after the council’s two-day budget workshop last week. “The millage rate is staying the same.” With taxable real-property assessments in the city up more than 8 percent this year, retaining the current millage rate will bring in nearly $860,000 in additional revenue to fund a proposed $34 million budget, which has increased by about $1 million. That rate – property owners will continue to pay $2.77 for every $1,000 of taxable value – will generate about $12 million in ad valorem tax receipts, or about 35 percent of the total General Fund revenues, Falls said. The rest comes from other sources, including utility taxes (about $3 million), electric franchise fees from Florida Power & Light (nearly $2 million) and contributions from enterprise funds: Water & Sewer ($1.5 million), Solid Waste ($220,000) and the Municipal Marina ($150,000). There are nearly 30 other revenue sources, Falls said. READ FULL STORY
