Keep land for boat ramp

Palm Beach County commissioners have taken the wind out of Riviera Beach yacht builder John Staluppi's sails. He wants to complete a deal to buy waterfront land from the county. After years of ineptitude -- or political manipulation -- the county is pursuing the better option of keeping the land for a public boat ramp.

That's been the county's goal since it bought the property in 1996. But in 1999, Mr. Staluppi hired former County Administrator John Sansbury to help buy the site. Due to county bumbling -- or egregious wrongdoing -- the county's appraisal valued the land as if it could not accommodate ramps or docks. In 2002, Mr. Staluppi paid $1.45 million for 3 acres with the right to buy the remaining 3.7 acres. He was the only bidder. Another prospective buyer didn't get paperwork in time to bid. Riviera Beach still expected a public boat ramp.

Mr. Staluppi has amassed land around his business in the Riviera Beach redevelopment area. He has been a contributor to commission campaigns dating to 1988, when he spent more than $25,000 in a failed effort to oust Commissioner Karen Marcus. Late last year, Commissioner Mary McCarty, at Mr. Staluppi's request, suggested that the time to sell the rest of the land for $3 million had arrived. In 2003, Mr. Staluppi donated $2,500 to Commissioner McCarty to help her with legal bills. (Investigators somehow determined that the contribution didn't violate any ethics rules.) After the land deal received coverage in The Palm Beach Post, however, commissioners balked. They couldn't be viewed as unloading prime waterfront land -- offering the fastest, closest path to the Atlantic -- less than a year after voters approved a $50 million bond issue to help preserve more public waterfront access. So today, commissioners will consider leasing the property to Mr. Staluppi for $9,000 a month, a temporary step to make money off his use of the land for boat storage.

While the county seeks a boat-ramp permit, commissioners need to set a deadline. Over nearly 10 years, the county has done more to ensure that Mr. Staluppi controls this land than the public. If the public truly comes first, the county will make the boat ramp, not John Staluppi, the priority.