Palm Beach officials were caught off-guard last week by news that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection had approved permits for Riviera Beach to build three mooring fields in the Intracoastal Waterway — one of which would sit just 500 feet west of the backyards of some North End homes.
Now the town must step up its efforts to oppose the project pitched for an area south of the Lake Worth Inlet while also pushing state officials to protect local interests, should the proposal win all of the necessary approvals.
Riviera Beach plans to build two additional mooring fields — an area in a body of water where boats can be fixed to moorings instead of a dock — north of the inlet and Peanut Island. The town has no issues with those fields…