Board backs staff plan to relax medical‑office parking minimums, retain stricter rule for outpatient surgery centers

The Boca Raton Planning and Zoning Board voted 4–0 on July 18 to support a staff‑proposed amendment to Chapter 28 of the zoning code that would lower minimum off‑street parking requirements for most medical and dental offices to match the city’s general office rate, while retaining a distinct, higher parking minimum for outpatient surgery centers.

Zoning Manager Tori Boone told the board the change follows direction from the City Council to review medical parking rates after ordinance 56‑60 allowed medical and general office uses in the LERP district. Staff conducted an observation study of several medical facilities in January 2024 and found occupancy rates ranging from 32% to 84% (the highest occupancy was an outpatient surgery center). Boone said that, except for outpatient surgery centers, the observed medical uses would have sufficient parking if developed using the lower general office rate (1 space per 200 sq ft for the first 4,000 sq ft, then 1 per 300 sq ft).

Staff also benchmarked local peer cities and found Boca Raton’s medical‑office minimum more restrictive than most. The proposed text amendment removes medical and dental clinics from the current medical rate and reallocates them to the general office rate; it also creates a definition for “outpatient surgery center” and retains a higher requirement for those operations because ITE parking generation and the study showed higher peak demand for surgical clinics.

Board members asked about related rates for hospitals and the amendment’s origin; staff said hospital parking is calculated separately based on bed counts and that the change stems from the LERP zoning update. With no public comment, the board voted to recommend the ordinance change and to codify the definition of outpatient surgery center.