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Boca Raton planning board postpones Rogers East generator, hedge and parking requests to July 18
Summary
The Planning & Zoning Board postponed consideration of Rogers East Condominium’s request to relocate a generator, allow a 14-foot screening hedge and reduce required parking after the applicant acknowledged a parking-count discrepancy; the board asked the petitioner to return with corrected documentation.
The City of Boca Raton Planning & Zoning Board voted unanimously to postpone consideration of a Rogers East Condominium application that would relocate a building generator to an exterior parking-space location, require a taller screening hedge and reduce required parking. Chair Seville moved to postpone the matter to the board’s July 18 meeting; the motion was seconded and passed 6-0.
Zoning Manager Tori Boone told the board the property at 900 Northeast Spanish River Boulevard is a waterfront multifamily condominium developed in 1975 and that the applicant needs to relocate an obsolete, noncompliant generator from inside the building to an exterior parking space to meet Florida Building Code and FEMA base flood elevation requirements. Staff said the proposed generator would sit on a raised pad and be roughly 14 feet tall as measured from the existing grade, and recommended approval of a variance to permit a hedge up to 14 feet to screen the equipment, with a condition that plantings be at least 7 feet at installation and cultivated to reach 14 feet within 24 months.
During staff Q&A board members raised sight-line and spacing concerns, asking whether the hedges would obstruct vehicle maneuvers or pedestrian routes and whether mirrors or alternate placement might be needed. Boone said the unit would occupy a recessed parking space and should not obstruct travel paths; dimensional details were deferred to the petitioner.
Kristen Hutton, representing the applicant, told the board the petition and site plans submitted during review contained inconsistent parking counts. The historic site plans showed 32 spaces, an earlier petition cited a requirement consistent with 32, and more recent observations and a parking survey indicated the on-site count was lower; Hutton said the petition filed requested relief for what listed as a reduction to 31 spaces but their updated survey showed 30 spaces. Given the discrepancy, Hutton asked the board to postpone while staff and the applicant correct the application and related documents.
Tom Hurley, a Rogers East condominium board member and resident at 900 Northeast Spanish River Boulevard, urged the board not to delay, saying the old generator had failed and the building’s recent work (including a new elevator) made the replacement urgent. “We started this process in September 2021,” Hurley said, and asked the board to move the matter forward rather than “kick it down the road another month.”
Assistant City Attorney Christopher Fernandez and staff advised that if an application contains materially incorrect information it may require re-advertisement; the board concluded modest corrections could likely be handled for the July meeting but directed the petitioner to return with the generator’s dimensions and an updated parking analysis. The board’s postponement leaves staff’s recommended conditions intact pending the revised submission.
