New mayor, manager see a way forward after voters’ veto
Voters wait in line at Grace Community Church in Boca Raton. Citywide, more than 19,000 people cast ballots, while a typical election draws about 12,000. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Related: Save Boca ushers in a new era in city government
Related: New Boca, South Palm council majorities face challenges
By Mary Hladky
The voters could not have been clearer.
Almost 75% casting ballots in the March 10 Boca Raton election rejected the city’s plan to redevelop the downtown campus in partnership with developers Terra and Frisbie Group.
But left unresolved is what to do with the 31.7-acre campus, a contentious subject that gave rise to the Save Boca grassroots movement and ushered in a new City Council dominated by the group’s members.
That’s the main issue now before new City Manager Mark Sohaney, hired in August, and new Mayor Andy Thomson, a veteran council member who won election by the narrowest of margins.
The two are generally aligned on how to move forward.
There will be no public-private partnership with a developer. The city will take over the task of replacing the old and crumbling City Hall and Community Center while also developing a plan to improve the campus’ recreation facilities.
Residents will have far more say on how that is accomplished now that the city is picking up the reins.
“We will do it,” Sohaney said. “We will not let an outside firm drive it for us. We can do this.”
“The biggest priority we have is dealing with the aftermath of the vote,” Thomson said of the election. “The good news is there is a path forward. We can undertake and accomplish the improvements we want by doing it ourselves, and not partnering with a developer.”
That’s what Save Boca members have wanted since the group formed early last summer.
They didn’t oppose improved buildings and recreation facilities, although they differed on details.
But they didn’t want a public-private partnership with developers who would lease city land for 99 years to build residential, office and hotel buildings on the campus. They also scorned the financial terms of that deal.
Creating a new plan
While the City Council will provide direction and guidance, the nuts-and-bolts will be done by Sohaney and city staff. Sohaney has been planning for the possibility that voters could reject the campus redevelopment plan for several months.
A key component, he said, will be creating a parks and recreation master plan for the city, something city officials past and present have said is needed.
Comprehensive outreach to all residents will be critical “to make sure all residents are aware of [the city’s plans] and understand how they can provide input,” Sohaney said.
“This is an opportunity for that reset,” he said. “Let’s really get the community involved.”
What he envisions is a “Memorial Park that is similar to what it is now, just upgraded and enhanced” with a new City Hall, Community Center and recreation facilities and an architectural style “that looks like Boca Raton.”
Sohaney estimates the cost at $250 million, which would include expensive but needed electrical undergrounding and new underground pipes.
The city can probably pay for about half that cost, but no decision has been made on financing the rest. The possibilities are a bond issue or “other financial solutions.”
The city does not have enough cash on hand to pay the full cost of new buildings and other upgrades.
A new police headquarters remains in the mix to be located on city-owned land near the Spanish River Library, financed with a bond issue. Voters on March 10 did not approve that financing, but there was far less opposition to it than to the campus redevelopment, with only 55% opposed.
If the City Council agrees with his final plan on the downtown campus, Sohaney said construction could begin in about one year.
Thomson also sees the support of residents as critical to moving ahead with revamped plans. “We need plans that are the product of community outreach and have the buy-in of the community,” he said. “We won’t make that same mistake again” of not doing enough to involve residents.
Future costs
Thomson was more specific than Sohaney on project financing. The city can use reserve funds for some of the cost and can finance the rest, but not with a general obligation bond that would require a tax increase, he said.
He wants to reduce the projected cost of a new City Hall and Community Center to “make them more suitable and a little less extravagant,” he said.
He agrees that recreation facilities should be improved but remain on site. Moving some or all of them to city parks would be far more expensive, he said.
Building a new police headquarters is necessary, he said, because the existing one is old, in poor condition and no longer meets the department’s needs.
But he wants to see the cost reduced from the previously projected $190 million. While a majority of voters did not support financing a police campus, Thomson noted that the measure did not fail by a large margin. If it had not been on the same ballot as the government campus, voters might have approved it, he said.
“We will study what it was about that request people didn’t like,” he said. Reducing the cost might be enough to change the outcome if the matter is placed on a future ballot, he said.
“I think in another opportunity the residents of this community will recognize public safety needs to be a top priority and this is something that should be approved.”
How opposition grew
Although voter rejection of the downtown campus project may seem a stunning denouement, the end was probably obvious the moment Save Boca stormed onto the scene in June, distributing T-shirts and yard signs and petitions.
It rapidly became clear that the group had touched a chord among residents who have complained for years that the city is the victim of overdevelopment and clogged streets. Residents have pleaded with city officials for years not to let Boca Raton become another Fort Lauderdale.
Much of this angst is focused on the downtown, although the reality is that most of the city’s growth has taken place west of Interstate 95.
Widespread resident concerns weren’t immediately apparent when the city received proposals from developers to redevelop the downtown campus last year.
The first opposition came from avid users of the recreation facilities, who didn’t want them displaced by the project.
It seemed at the time that city officials could alleviate their concerns.
Some seemed to become resigned to the fact they would lose at least some facilities on the campus, but saw merit to the pitch that, in turn, they would get brand-new, up-to-date ones, albeit not on the campus.
But Save Boca was a different kind of opposition. Led by Jon Pearlman, it was visible, omnipresent and organized with a strong social media presence that kept residents engaged.
Pearlman — who in March capitalized on his Save Boca efforts by winning a seat on the City Council — was a natural showman. After Save Boca gathered more than 5,000 resident signatures for an ordinance change, his supporters cheered wildly in August when he dramatically handed the tall stack of papers to the city clerk.
Save Boca members volunteered their time. They formed friendships. They saw themselves as part of a cause worth fighting for. And they showed up at every City Council meeting to make full use of the three minutes each was allowed to speak.
Although a few prominent residents did speak in favor of the redevelopment, no residents ever formed a countervailing force to press for the project to be approved.
That job fell to then-Mayor Scott Singer and council members who supported the project.
But their pitch — that a new City Hall and Community Center were badly needed and that “One Boca,” the downtown campus name its developers used as a marketing tool, could deliver a quality project that would breathe new life into the stagnant downtown campus and become a destination akin to Mizner Park, with shops, restaurants and green space — never caught hold.
Broken trust
One reason was that, in the eyes of many residents, the city pulled a bait and switch.
Residents were led to believe that One Boca would pay for a new City Hall, Community Center and other civic improvements to the campus.
For example, a city presentation to residents last summer said, “Not a giveaway, but a return: The City gains billions in financial return, avoids raising taxes and secures modern civic infrastructure at no cost to residents.”
But shortly thereafter, residents learned that the improvements would cost the city $201 million for new city buildings, improved recreation facilities and infrastructure improvements.
Residents were told they would not bear any of those costs and the city was looking at financing options. Even so, they felt deceived.
Another reason was that many project opponents distrusted Singer, the redevelopment’s biggest booster.
Singer’s unrelenting push
He had successfully lobbied Brightline to build a station in Boca Raton adjacent to the campus, an achievement that many residents applauded.
Fresh off that win, he envisioned a transit-oriented development on the downtown campus and pressed for regulation changes that would allow that to happen.
Singer saw urgency to do so. He expected that the city would receive unsolicited proposals from developers and wanted its staff to be prepared.
Those proposals did come in October 2024 from One Boca and Related Ross, led by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.
Both well-established developers proposed public-private partnerships with the city under which they would lease city land for 99 years.
Singer then set an aggressive timetable to seek additional proposals, vet the plans and approve one.
He kept up that pressure, pushing tight deadlines to finalize a complex deal with One Boca, the council’s top choice.
Along the way, residents could speak out, but many felt they were never adequately consulted. It was left to One Boca to hold forums where residents could meet with company officials, ask questions and voice their opinions.
If it was abundantly clear to Singer that campus development would be a boon to the city, it wasn’t to many residents. Although broadly painted as anti-development, many who spoke at council meetings insisted that wasn’t the case.
It was this project, pushed forward too rapidly and without adequate resident input, that they did not like.
That’s when Save Boca was formed and stepped in, giving residents an opportunity to organize and seek a vote that would let them make the final decision.
And that’s just what happened on March 10.
Mayor
A. Thomson* 7,572
M. Liebelson 7,567
F. Nachlas 3,967
City Council Seat A
M. Grau* 12,387
C. Ritchey 4,612
B. Korn 1,594
City Council Seat B
J. Pearlman* 9,822
M. Wigder (I) 5,941
M. Madsen 2,818
City Council Seat D
S. Sipple*^ 10,332 R.
Weinroth 5,063
L. Cellon 3,120
$175 million Police HQ bond
Yes 8,067
No** 9,733
Downtown campus redevelopment
Yes 4,832
No** 14,122
(I) Incumbent
*Elected to three-year term
*^Elected to one-year unexpired term
**Ballot question defeated
Source: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections
Comments