Boca’s Ballot Question Part 1: Here is the Truth.

The WARNING FLAG on this project was raised a year ago when a memo and presentation was posted in a City Council meeting agenda and then oddly removed. Everyone agreed the city campus had been let go and it needed renovation. But the idea of giving away public land to a developer for 99 years as the way to do it is now Boca’s Ballot Question #2 in the March 10 2026 Municipal Election.

We’ve followed this topic from the outset, analyzed it as it evolved, and written about it. Now, after all the long meetings and going through the 400 page agreement behind Boca’s Ballot Question #2, this article attempts to boil it down in a fair and as accurate manner as possible. It’s been said this is a vote on what is arguably the most important change to the city of Boca Raton since the purchase of our ocean front beaches. The internet says this article is a 9 minute read. Hopefully the topic is worth 9 minutes to you. You can jump to the summary here if you’d rather skip how we got here. Let’s go.

After a 15 year concrete tsunami engulfed Boca’s downtown, the current city council is poised to make way its inland course across Dixie Hwy into Boca’s single family residential areas. The rubicon had been crossed and it set in motion the creation of the resident led Save Boca resistance movement all but shouting from the steps of city hall: “It Must Be Stopped HERE!”.

Loss of the Public Trust

Normally, financially strong cities such as Boca Raton redevelop their government campuses themselves. It seems the current city council, by all measures, did not consider this. No appraisals or studies were performed. They went headlong across the rubicon into a forced march (no public vote) to a Public Private Partnership (aka P3) as the means to do it.

In a NUTSHELL, the ORIGINAL P3 deal to redevelop Boca Raton’s entire 30 acre campus gave away the public land (via a 99-year lease) to a developer in exchange for new government buildings and shrunken Memorial Park for the residents (shown above). To get the teetering public private partnership to balance equally, the city had to turn over enough land for private stuff (Transit Community, Hotel, Condos, Apartments, Retail) so enough rent, taxes etc could be paid to cover the public stuff (City Hall, Community Center, Tennis Center, Public Park). The partnership required the city to:

1. Remove the police station
2. Build a new station at Spanish River Library for $192 million subject to bond approval in Ballot Question #1
3. Remove the skatepark public amenity and build a new one in North Boca
4. Remove two ballfields and build new ones 5 miles out of town in Sugar Sand Park
5. Consolidate City Hall, Code Enforcement and employee parking into a new building

While the cost of the police station is treated separately, the costs for building a new skatepark and ballfields outside the city are city expenses curiously not included in the costs cited by documents. Regardless, the plan was for east Boca residents to lose the ball field and skatepark amenities AND THEIR SPACE. The visualization of the ORIGINAL plan is above. All of the 30 acre site was to be razed and redeveloped. Half of the 30 acres was needed for private stuff to pay for public stuff.

In a MUST SEE THREE MINUTE SCOLDING, Vivian Lesher, expressed outrage at a City Council that lives west of Military Trail in gated communities robbing every Boca resident living east of Military (including downtown):

The Birth of Save Boca

What ensued was a MODERN DAY STORMING OF THE CASTLE by east Boca residents. The lordliness of the council’s forced march to a P3 and manner in which public concerns were handled, increased the temperature of the discourse. After a 15 year concrete tsunami engulfed Boca’s downtown, the current city council is poised to make way its inland course across Dixie Hwy into Boca’s single family residential areas. The rubicon had been crossed and it set in motion the creation of the resident led Save Boca resistance movement all but shouting from the steps of city hall: “It Must Be Stopped HERE!”. This two minute video explains:

“We trusted you to keep our buildings in good shape for our employees, our streets clear and citizens safe. But all on your own, you took our trust and proceeded to give away our land and our park. All we wanted you to do is mow the grass”

Boca Resident

Love them or hate them, Save Boca fought successfully to STOP THE PLUNDERING of the 17 acre Memorial Park portion of the 30 acre campus. Then, with the political reality of months of angry voters that put meetings into overtime and the ultimate slap in the face to the council of a petition with more than 7,000 signatures attempting to stop the ability of a city council to lease away public land without a vote, the city council relented. Council Member Thomson recounted the moment in a December 2nd 2025 meeting:

So, just as in 1989 when the city had a public vote on Mizner Park, the current council’s “Government Campus Redevelopment Project” will have its day at the ballot box.

Memorial Park was Saved

By October, the current city council yielded and THE BABY WAS CUT IN TWO. The private stuff would be constrained to 7.8 acres on the East side of Boca Raton Blvd (NW 2nd Ave) in seven potentially 8-story buildings while the public stuff would be on the west. The partnership was now financially unbalanced to the tune of $200 million plus the cost of building new ball fields in Sugar Sand Park and a new skatepark in north Boca. The value of redeveloping the campus as a P3 just plummeted.

This is the visualization of the FINAL public/private campus split:

According to the ballot agreement (p16), the 7.8 acres of public land leased for 99 years that is on the right side in the diagram above will be:

“A multifamily residential rental community with a workforce housing component, office space, a hotel, ground-floor and destination retail, activated pedestrian-oriented commercial frontage, and structured parking.” — P3 Master Partnership Agreement p16

According to the ballot agreement (p15-16), the acreage on the left will be:

“public infrastructure improvements, civic buildings such as a new City Hall facility, a new Community Center facility, public recreational facilities, enhancements to Memorial Park, public park and open space improvements, a police sub-station, a public parking garage, pedestrian connectivity improvements” — P3 Master Partnership Agreement p15

You are voting on a lease, not a plan.

The agreement does not specify a plan of how many square feet of this or that will be here or there. Estimates of income vary greatly. For sure they’ll cover the cost to move the skatepark and ball fields elsewhere, but they can never cover the loss in value of the recreational space to the current and future families and kids that live in east Boca.

Other than the east and west split, for private vs public, the agreement does not specify a plan of how many square feet of this or that will be here or there. Estimates of income vary greatly. For sure they’ll cover the cost to move the skatepark and ball fields elsewhere, but they can never cover the loss in value of the recreational space to the current and future families and kids that live in east Boca. I consider the finances a distraction. The vote is about leasing away 7.8 acres for 99 years. Period. Voters either want it or they don’t.

Voting YES:

• Boca Raton will lease 7.8 acres to developer Boca City Center LCC for 99 years
• City staff will move into the $17.4 million dollar building it recently purchased
• The developer will raze and redevelop the 7.8 acres with an unspecified mixture of Transit Community, office, residential, hotel and parking garage.
• Everything south of the library can be built using the city’s 130ft height guidelines.
• Traffic and intensity on Palmetto Park Rd, Dixie Hwy, 4th Ave, 4th Diagonal and Boca Raton Blvd will go from what it is with only the city government usage to that brought by the potentially seven 8-story buildings worth of transit community, condo, apartments, hotel and retail.

Voting NO:

• City services will move into the $17.4 million dollar building it recently purchased.
• With the police station relocated, and city services in temporary offices, a new city hall, police substation and community services can be designed and built anywhere on the 30 acres and/or renovated in-place.
• The ball fields and skate park can stay in Memorial Park and be renovated in-place.
• Current levels of traffic and intensity are maintained.
• Memorial Park is fully preserved and possibly enlarged.
• The City is on the hook to fund redevelopment of the whole 30 acres but with its enormous buying power and strong financial position/assets, it can arguably do so more economically than in a P3.
• The city keeps control over all 30 acres, its services and amenities so as to serve residents today and into the future as was done by city leaders who secured our ocean beaches.

Conclusion

If Central Park had a library, city hall and community center, that’s what the 30 acre area has the potential to become: The “Central Park of Boca Raton”. And, unlike financially strapped cities that are forced into public-private partnerships, Boca Raton is not financially strapped and can do the redevelopment of it’s own land as economically or extravagantly as it chooses. Candidate for City Council and CPA Michelle Grau explains why here: “10 Reasons Why Boca’s Government Campus Proposal Is A Bad Deal.“

In both cases, YES or NO, the properties (outlined in red below) around the city owned land that some consider blighted when they say “But that area needs to be redeveloped”, those properties, WILL NOT BE redeveloped. Only the nicely maintained city owned buildings and parcels will be redeveloped. Don’t be fooled.