The new Boca Raton ordinance is a sham. It adds no real protection from the land giveaways it is claimed to prevent. In fact it makes it worse. In this article, I present an analysis of Boca Raton Ordinance 5766 that was adopted by the city council on January 6, 2026. However, Ordinance 5766 was motivated by another, more effective, ordinance proposed by SaveBoca. The SaveBoca ordinance was signed by 6,201 residents in response to the initial government campus project that redeveloped the entire 31 acres of public land.
The irony of this situation is that the city council continues to move forward with the government campus project. And this is even after adopting Ordinance 5766 which is touted as preventing such actions without resident approval.
Background
Based on lessons learned during the government campus redevelopment project, SaveBoca created proposed ordinance language that requires a charter change. Once adopted a charter change requires a vote of residents to modify it.
SaveBoca Ordinance
“The city council shall not in any manner alienate from the public, lease, or sell any land that is owned by the City of Boca Raton greater than one-half (0.5) acre, or any part thereof, except upon approval of the proposed action at a referendum election.”
The language in this proposed ordinance requires residents’ vote on selling or leasing city-owned land greater than .5 acres. See Memorial Park section of this article: Park Wars Episode 3: The P3 Menace – BocaFirst.
The SaveBoca proposal shifts decision-making authority from the city council to the residents for city-owned land sales or long-term leases. Attempting to retain their authority while appeasing the residents, the city council passed Ordinance 5766.
Ordinance 5766
“For proposed city-owned land sales or leases greater than (0.5) acre required are two (2) public hearings and written findings that the action serves a public purpose and benefits city residents are required.”
This has been done by the city/developer many times for the government campus project. The residents have consistently pointed out many pro forma financial problems as well as conceptual design problems, but they have not been fixed and the project continues.
Approved by the city council with a 3-1 vote.
Summary and Conclusion
This article provides information on an adopted ordinance and one proposed ordinance that was not adopted. The ordinance proposed by SaveBoca was ignored by the city council even though 6,201 resident petition signatures were certified as valid by the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Election.
Although Ordinance 5766 is touted to prevent another government campus situation from happening in the future, it will not. The proof is that the city council has recently adopted Ordinance 5766 while also continuing to ignore the will of the residents and pushing through the government campus project.
