Jupiter board blocks condos at inlet
🌞 Well, hello, Stetters. For you today, sins of the past disrupt a signature development, a reborn mental health resource, a bit of a break for Ocwen, an oceanfront quiz and bar-hopping on Brightline.
Today’s newsletter is a 5-minute read.
First up: High-profile plans thrown into chaos
Should a developer in 2023 be penalized for decisions deemed acceptable when they were made generations ago?
The Jupiter Historical Resources Board has blocked a condo and hotel development at the waterfront site of the former Suni Sands mobile home park, writer Joe Capozzi reports.
Archeological digs uncovered seven human teeth and a kneecap, evidence that Suni Sands may have been a burial ground.
Archaeologists have established that indigenous people occupied the land from 500 BC to 1200 AD. But pottery shards found there could be 5,000 years old.
Love Street developer Charles Modica made concessions to protect the site on the Jupiter Inlet, including moving buildings to preserve a mound where human remains were found.
But his proposal to put tennis and pickleball courts on the mound angered Native Americans.
“Would the same proposal even be entertained if the description was a potential African American, caucasian or Jewish burial site instead? Why then is it acceptable to build on top of such a potentially significant Native American site?” asked Christian Davenport, Palm Beach County’s historic preservation officer/archeologist.
The board voted Feb. 16 for Jupiter to buy and preserve the land. Modica bought it in 2013 for about $16 million, years before property prices skyrocketed.
“I am in a position where I gave as much as I could in good conscience, and they have taken a stance that eliminates any reasonable approach to this,” Modica said.
“The only solution is a lawsuit. Or if the town wants to pay fair value for it, they can.’’
Read Joe Capozzi’s detailed report about “a rare and uncomfortable public reckoning” at ByJoeCapozzi.com.
Bad news to good news for local mental health
At the height of Palm Beach County’s reign as the substance abuse treatment capital of the world, the 6-acre Watershed Treatment Center in Boynton Beach was a jewel in the crown.
With more than 100 beds, it was the largest treatment center in the county.
Four years after it abruptly shuttered, Watershed has opened its doors again, as the county’s second-largest mental health hospital. Nashville-based Wellpath renovated the four-story main building and reopened Watershed as NeuroBehavioral Hospitals in January.
It’s an unexpectedly bright turn. Watershed and its operators were never charged with wrongdoing, but Watershed’s closure came as the county was overrun with shady operators defrauding insurers — and patients — with unnecessary but costly screening tests.
A single urine drug test could generate $5,000 a week in insurance billings. Fraudsters made millions as drug users hoping for treatment died.
When federal and state authorities finally started cracking down in 2017, insurers slow paid or stopped paying for legitimate treatment, too. And glitzier, luxury facilities were luring people seeking treatment.
Citing “addiction care industry trends,” Watershed closed in September 2019. The campus sold for $9.5 million in April 2021.
What people are saying about the facility’s new mission: “I think it’s a good thing,” said Maureen Kielian, executive director of Southeast Florida Recovery Advocates. “It’s how we can turn bad into good.”
And the help is needed: More than 13,000 people were treated for mental health emergencies in Palm Beach County in 2019. In 2020, 171 people committed suicide, including seven teenagers.
Stet’s Joel Engelhardt, a board member of the Palm Beach County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, dives into the details on what will — and will not — be offered at the former Watershed site in the NAMI PBC blog.
🏠 In the line of legal fire, Ocwen gets half a break.
How many ways can mortgage tech go wrong? In a pending case filed in West Palm Beach federal court, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says West Palm-based mortgage company Ocwen Financial didn’t always record mortgage payments.
Or calculate escrow. Or make sure homeowners’ insurance was in place, or that taxes had been paid, or any of the myriad items needed to protect homeowners — and keep them out of foreclosure.
It wasn’t all about the tech. On the other hand ...
“An absolute trainwreck,” one frustrated employee wrote of the company’s glitchy system.
The good legal news for Ocwen is an appeals court decision that the feds can only sue for alleged wrongdoing occurring between January 2014 and February 2017.
The bad news is that the agency can sue at all. Ocwen and the bureau already went one legal round in 2013, when the federal agency and 49 states settled misconduct allegations for $2.1 billion.
But in 2017, the bureau sued Ocwen again, citing breaches of consumer law. That’s the case in U.S. District Court in West Palm.
Ocwen essentially argues the 2013 settlement resolved all charges against it, including the new allegations.
With both sides handed a split victory, the company and the agency are back in court, waiting for a ruling.
Here’s where you can read the 2017 suit, and the appeals court ruling weighing both sides’ arguments.
Shares of Ocwen (NYSE: OCN) closed at 31.58, up 0.10, Monday.
‘Waterworld,’ the non-Kevin Costner edition
The Urban Land Institute’s 2020 study, “The Business Case for Resilience in Southeast Florida,” concludes that spending $4.4 billion adapting buildings now for anticipated sea level rise in Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties would net billions in avoided damages through 2070.
Come back for the answer next week.
🥃 561 insider: Brightline trains are cocktail lounges on wheels
The bars in Brightline train stations are named Mary Mary for two of Henry Flagler’s three wives. “Why not order a double?” a sign suggests.
Many free-spending passengers do just that, toasting the evening ahead and proceeding to the rails with drink in hand.
On the best nights, anyone who pulls up a chair at the bar can savor a convivial moment with the barkeep and fellow patrons before they catch the next train, which also deposits a new cast of characters.
West Palm Beach
The vibe: Cordial but businesslike with big-city prices to match. After-5 pm commuters and revelers who are mentally already somewhere else.
The drink: Spritz: St-Germain, Gambino Cuvee, club soda, fresh rosemary. $14. Palm Beach effervescence in a glass.
On the train
The vibe: Similar to in-flight service with refreshments from a cart. Your enjoyment will have more to do with your traveling companion than your brief interaction with the friendly train attendant.
The drink: Tres Generaciones jalapeño margarita. $12. Potent, but too sweet. Save four bucks, and buy a beer or get a drink at the station.
Fort Lauderdale
The vibe: Best chance for a meaningful conversation thanks to bartenders who know how to engage without being intrusive. You might hear someone’s life story.
The drink: Barrel of Monks on tap. $9. A straightforward beer, just like Fort Lauderdale.
Miami
The vibe: Lots of phones come out as fun-seekers document and share their Miami moments at the largest Brightline bar. Conscious of train departures, staffers offer to close the tab just before it’s time to go.
The drink: Old-Fashioned: Jim Beam, bitter, orange slice, maraschino cherry. $12. Imbibe like a 19th-century financier planning a railroad to the Keys.
Next stop: Orlando, by the end of June.
Controversy in Boca Raton: Passengers want more trains.
🖼 Artfest by the Sea in Juno Beach is this weekend. Stroll State Road A1A and take in the work of 250 artists at this free festival. Catch the event shuttle at the FPL lot, 700 Universe Blvd., Juno Beach (just off of U.S. 1).
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