State of the city: Mayor talks guns, construction and pickleball

PALM BEACH GARDENS — Guns, Hurricane Irma, construction and pickleball were some of the topics thatPalm Beach Gardens Mayor Maria Marino discussed in her annual “State of the City” address on Wednesday at the Marriott on RCA Boulevard.

Marino said that if Dicks Sporting Goods store moves into the space previously held by Sears, the store would not have a gun shop, sell ammunition or repair fire arms.

“I know a lot of people out there are concerned about this,” Marino said as she addressed the 150 business leaders from the PGA Corridor Association.

After the Feb. 14 Parkland shooting that left 17 dead, Dick’s said it would stop selling assault rifles and high-capacity magazines at its 36 Field & Stream stores. The company already stopped selling military-style weapons at Dick’s after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.

In response to the mayor’s comments, representatives from Dick’s then went a step further and announced the company would no longer pursue a previous request to sell guns at its proposed Gardens Mall location.

On the topic of employment, however, Marino was beaming that 625 new businesses opened in Gar- dens, which is an 8.1 percent increase from the pre- vious year.

That has helped fuel construction and apartment complexes and houses are popping up all over while other projects, such as a new soccer complex and baseball field expansions, are being completed.

There are 57 capital improvement projects that are worth $52 million. Among them:

■ A new public service operations center, which can withstand a Category 5 hurricane. It will take 10 months to build starting this spring.

■ A $7 million renovation of City Hall and Fire Station 1. The project is 90 percent designed. Construction should start in the summer and take 10 months to complete.

■ A $3.5 million Palm Beach Gardens Tennis Center is 70 percent designed. It will feature a 10,000 squarefoot club house with pro shop, bar and restaurant. Construction is expected to begin in the fall.

Marino also touched on Hurricane Irma and praised the city for how successfully it handled the aftermath. More than 70,000 cubic yards of debris were collected in 26 days and the city spent $2 million on the cleanup efforts, which didn’t dip into the city’s reserve budget.

“It was quite amazing thing to see,” Marino boasted. “I heard that it took other cities a little longer than that (to clean up).”

The mayor is also excited about a new sport that has become popular in the city — pickleball. The ping pong, tennis and badminton hybrid sport is gaining 25-30 new players every week.

“You can be young or old and still play pickleball,” Marino said.