Five months after voters resoundingly rejected the city’s plan to redevelop its downtown campus in partnership with developers, officials are starting over to determine how the property should be re-envisioned.
Boca Raton City Council members on July 28 unanimously ranked Chen Moore and Associates, an engineering, planning and design firm headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, as their top choice to lead that effort. As soon as contract terms are finalized, Chen Moore will follow the city’s timeline to complete project planning in six months.
To avoid issues that led voters on March 10 to shoot down the plans put together by developers Terra and Frisbie Group, developers who stand to profit will not be part of the project.
In addition, city leaders and Chen Moore officials promise that residents will have multiple opportunities to give their input and that Chen Moore will revise its design plans based on resident feedback. City Council members will make the final decisions.
The firm will concentrate on the 17 acres west of Northwest Second Avenue where the City Hall, Community Center and Memorial Park, which commemorates World War II veterans, now are located.
Chen Moore has committed to preserving the banyan trees on site and is amenable to using Addison Mizner-style architecture on any newly constructed building. Veterans will be consulted on plans for Memorial Park.
— Mary Hladky
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