Jeff Speck joins downtown mobility study; city and community plan short-term demo projects for Palmetto Park Road

Jeff Speck, a national urban planner and author, was introduced at the Boca Raton Community Redevelopment Agency meeting on April 7 as a consultant on a downtown mobility and Palmetto Park Road walkability study. City staff said the Alta Planning and Design contract (work order No. 3) and a recently expanded consultant team will move the project from analysis toward design and short-term demonstration projects.

The addition of Speck and an Alta–Spect (Speck's firm) collaboration follows more than a year of data collection, community outreach and concept development, city staff said. Zach Beer, the city’s Public Works and Engineering Director, told the CRA that the consultant team has compiled “thousands of comments” from online tools and in-person meetings and is preparing alternative designs that respond to safety, traffic, livability and the downtown campus master plan.

Why it matters: Palmetto Park Road runs through the CRA district and ties into the planned government center campus, the Brightline station area and other downtown projects. City staff and the…