Boca Raton council approves ballot question on downtown P3 after hours‑long debate, 4‑1

The Boca Raton City Council voted 4‑1 late Wednesday to send a referendum to the March 10, 2026 municipal ballot asking residents whether to approve agreements leasing 7.8 acres of downtown city land for up to 99 years as part of a proposed government campus public‑private partnership.

Mayor Scott Singer said the ballot question is intended to allow voters to ratify the master partnership and the ground lease rather than to decide specific building details. "Shall the city approve agreements with Boca Raton City Center LLC leasing 7.8 acres of city property east of Northwest 2nd Avenue near Brightline Station for 99 years, creating a walkable neighborhood with residential, retail, office and hotel uses, generating rent and revenues to the city for general uses and funding associated costs for enhancements, including preserving Memorial Park, honoring veterans, expanding public recreational and green spaces, a new community center, city hall and police substation?" Singer read the final summary during the meeting.

Council Member Andy Thompson, the lone dissenting vote, said he supported letting residents decide but objected to the wording, calling it “slanted and promotional.” "A ballot question should be neutral," Thompson said, urging removal of favorable framing and specific financial claims from the summary.

Deputy Mayor Naomi Nacklis defended the council’s compromise, saying the adopted language attempts to balance specificity with the legal word‑count limits the supervisor of elections imposes. Council Member Mary Drucker, who seconded the final motion, said she supports sending the question to voters and trusts the campaign period will allow proponents and opponents to make their cases.

Council and staff stressed the adoption is a procedural step to meet election deadlines; the agreements and supporting documents remain draft and subject to ongoing negotiation and regulatory review. City staff and outside advisers have told the council that site plans, traffic studies and environmental analyses would still be required before permits are issued for any private construction.

The vote followed more than three hours of public comment and a multi‑hour presentation by the city’s independent fiscal reviewer. Councilors debated competing 75‑word summaries proposed from the dais, negotiated substitutions and traded clauses line‑by‑line before settling on language the majority said provided material facts for voters within the legal word limit.

The council directed staff to transmit the adopted summary to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections. If the referendum appears on the March ballot, a yes vote would ratify the city’s agreements with the development entity; a no vote would prevent transmittal of those agreements in their then‑form.