Planning board backs 99‑year lease for downtown Boca Raton campus, 7‑0

The Boca Raton Planning & Zoning Board voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend that the City Council find it advisable from a planning and land‑use standpoint to convey a 99‑year leasehold interest in roughly 7.8 acres of city‑owned land east of Northwest 2nd Avenue, adjacent to the Brightline station.

Deputy City Manager Andy Lukasick told the board the lease is one of the legal instruments tied to a proposed public‑private partnership and master partnership agreement that would guide a mixed‑use, transit‑oriented government campus and neighborhood. "The request is regarding the conveyance of a leasehold interest in 7.8 acres of city owned property," Lukasick said, describing the parcels and the role of the MPA in controlling planning, entitlements and financing.

Brandon Chad, the city’s development services director, summarized the regulatory steps staff expects: small‑scale comprehensive‑plan amendments to bring the site into the Central Business District, amendments to the Downtown Development of Regional Impact ordinance (listed in the packet as ordinance number 40 35), creation of a new downtown zoning…