At its February 10th 2026 meeting, Boca’s current City Council of Drucker, Wigder, Nachlas, Singer and Thomson introduced multiple ordinances that impact the Downtown Redevelopment District (DDRI) that will replace Ordinance 4035, the original ordinance for the downtown. ORD 4035 defined the building heights and appearance in the Mizner-esque style. Later amendments named the Interim Design Guidelines (IDG, ordinance 5052) came along to let developers build higher on smaller lots, with other changes. This mix has created the current downtown. See “Boca’s boxes with windows vs Mizner’s dream: The de-beautification of Boca Raton.” for more.
The ordinances were introduced in the February 10 City Council meeting with an expected adoption vote on February 24. There are multiple ordinances with hundreds of pages. As the expiration of 4035 is in March of 2028; there is an opportunity for the City Council and the public to review the positives and negatives of 4035 and the IDG.
Passing the proposed ordinances (mostly 5771) will seal everything as permanent in the downtown and the 30 acres of public land where the police station, City Hall, Tennis Center, Community Center, Memorial Park plus additional lots up to the library entrance.
Can this wait until after the election?
While it may be wanted for the City Council’s preferred 99 year lease of public land for its Transit District private development, these ordinances will ALSO set in stone the current guidelines with little public input. As an example 5771 hard codes a 100’ building height with possible exceptions depending on design . This is only one of the many changes in the ordinances. It will take weeks to read and comprehend the impacts. The public should have more input than two meetings at which an individual can speak for three minutes.
Consequently, I strongly urge the City Council to:
- Simplify the ordinance.
- Only address what may be needed for the Campus Project
- Have public input similar to what happened for 4035 for the framework.
Summary
Hands down, there should be public input on something that has such long ranging and life changing impacts to the residents that live in and close to the downtown. Boca should not become “just another high rise city on the coast”. In particular when it comes to building height, Boca should use as examples: Palm Beach Island, Naples and Delray rather than Fort Lauderdale.
Good governance begins with citizen involvement. Have your voice heard at City Hall by contacting your City Council/CRA Members at Citycouncil@ci.boca-raton.FL.us
Council Members (left to right): Council Member Marc Widger, Yvette Drucker, Mayor Scott Singer, Council Member Fran Nachlas and Andy Thomson
