City Approves >1.3 million sq.ft. Adjacent to Residental Area at Spanish River Blvd.

On Oct. 26th the city approved a land use change on 79 acres of land adjacent to homes along NW 5th Ave. and North of Spanish River Blvd. This land is currently designated for Low Density Residential (RL) land use that would allow approx. 240 homes, but as a result of the city's action this land has been approved for over 1.3 million sq.ft. of development. This approval is the equivalent of approx. 7 Super Wal-Marts and would allow approx. 1,600 new housing units.



Does Boca Raton need another 1,600 housing units?

Does Boca Raton need the development of the equivalent of 7 Super Wal-Marts?



The property owner (Boca Raton Regional Hospital) has indicated that they have no specific plans for development, but their representative indicated at a public meeting that this land was for sale. They purchased this land in 2005 for $25 million and the value has declined to $5-6 million according to the PBC property appraisers office. It appears that this approval will significantly devalue the adjacent residential property and result in a significant increase in the value of the 79 acres. You do not need to be a real estate expert to understand that this land use change is very detrimental to the residential property values in the area.



This 79 acres is also designated as Environmentally sensitive and the FL Dept. of Community Affairs had objected to the land use change in their earlier review of this proposal and recommended the city retain the RL designation for this land unless they could provide the "data & analysis" to justify the change on this specific location. At the Oct. 26th meeting of the city council there was discussion on the amount of development that should be allowed and an elected official suggested caution in approving a reduction from over 2 million sq.ft. originally proposed since the city council DID NOT HAVE THE DATA TO SUPPORT A CHANGE. This statement is clearly shown on the video of this meeting on Oct. 26th and this data & analysis is what the State oversight dept. requested in their prior objection. According to this statement by an elected official it appears that at the time of the approval this recommendation by the FL DCA was not met by the city.



Is the development of approx. 1,600 residential units or a combination of over 1.3 million sq.ft. of commercial/retail buildings consistent with the environmentally sensitive nature of this property? Where is the responsible "green stewardship" that the city leaders are always talking about? These actions speak louder than words as this is very poor environmental leadership by the city and it is very detrimental to the residents in the Spanish River residential area.



Take action today to support your residential community - Email the FL Dept. of Community Affairs and request this Land Use change not be approved due to the inconsistency with the Environmentally Sensitive Land Use designation and the data and analysis has not been provided to support this land use change on the 79 acres (in DCA ORC Objection #3).



Email to: Bob Dennis - bob.dennis@dca.state.fl.us



Send your emails ASAP since the FL DCA will be issuing their final review of this proposal by Dec. 21st.