Boca Raton leaders, developer outline scaled-back downtown master plan as residents press for financial transparency

City staff and consultants presented a condensed, public-facing version of the downtown government campus master plan at the Boca Raton City Council workshop on June 9, asking the council to approve an interim master plan tomorrow that would establish the project’s general uses, development intensities and densities.

The presentation from the consultant team, led by Rob Frisbie of the Frisbie Group, said the most recent iteration removes three residential buildings and ‘‘lowered the residential density by over 200 units’’ while increasing public and recreational open space by just over 20 percent. Frisbie said the plan also adds street‑level safety measures—buffered bike lanes, narrowed street widths and widened crosswalks—to slow traffic and improve pedestrian connections. ‘‘We’ve removed three residential buildings and lowered the residential density by over 200 units,’’ Frisbie said.

Deputy City Manager Ms. Lukasik told the council the vote the body will consider tomorrow is limited in scope. ‘‘All you’re going to be considering is the general framework of the plan, so what is the organization of the plan, as well as the uses, the development intensities, and densities,’’ she said, urging the council to treat the interim approval as a directional, not a final, endorsement.

The updated plan keeps options for a world‑class tennis facility either on‑site or relocated nearby, proposes a reprogrammed southwest park now called Centennial Park with added retail and active uses, and proposes a new green spine linking city hall and a community center. Frisbie said the team is ‘‘actively working on’’ neighborhood connectivity—including pedestrian bridges into Meissner Park—and that the developer has committed $10,000,000 toward those efforts.

Public commenters at the workshop repeatedly pressed for more financial transparency. John Perlman asked the city to publish the working financial negotiation document and an appraisal of the land if condominiums or sale of public land is under consideration. ‘‘This is potentially the biggest sale of public land in the history of Boca Raton,’’ Perlman said, adding that the city could be required to front hundreds of millions of dollars in costs for new public facilities unless the private partner’s obligations are clear.

Another commenter, Jonathan Unge, criticized part of the consultant list and questioned possible conflicts of interest involving commercial brokerage representation. City staff responding to those comments said the base financial terms submitted with the Terra Frisbie proposal were posted on the city website on Oct. 24, 2024, and that documents still under negotiation have not changed the posted terms; staff offered to provide current draft documents on request.

Council discussion reiterated that any approval of the interim master plan would be followed by detailed regulatory review—traffic studies, impact fees, design guidelines and site plans for individual buildings—before final approvals. Council members emphasized the interim plan sets broad programmatic direction and that later phases would require the usual project‑level studies and public hearings.

The city’s timeline calls for council consideration of an interim master plan at the next regular meeting; staff said a final master plan and a master partnership agreement are anticipated by October. If the council approves the interim plan tomorrow, staff and the developer will proceed with more detailed design and with negotiating economic terms for a long‑term partnership.