Jon Pearlman (center,front) and other Save Boca supporters bring petitions to Boca Raton City Hall on Sept. 23 to give to the city clerk. The petitions seek a vote on a city charter change regarding the sale or lease of city property. Photo provided by Save Boca
Ideas to downsize don’t sway critics
Related: Voters to be asked to OK financing of new police headquarters
By Mary Hladky
Despite Terra and Frisbie Group’s substantial revisions to its plans for redeveloping Boca Raton’s downtown campus, resident opposition has reached fever pitch.
United under the banner of Save Boca, opponents have brushed aside Terra/Frisbie’s downsizing of the project — designed to overcome their objections — and insist that it should be scrapped entirely.
The city, they say, should assume control and finance limited changes itself.
They want no part of residential and office buildings on the city-owned 30 acres where City Hall and the Community Center now sit.
Instead, they say the city should simply rebuild both old, crumbling buildings and keep the existing recreational facilities on the site.
The sustained pressure, with overflow crowds of residents speaking up at every council meeting, has yielded wins for Save Boca.
The City Council fast-tracked the project earlier this year after deeming it the top city priority, and set Oct. 28 as the date to approve a master agreement with Terra/Frisbie.
The council on Sept. 8 postponed that vote indefinitely.
“I think it is clear we will not have an Oct. 28 vote on this matter,” Mayor Scott Singer said.
What will voters decide?
Council members also acceded to Save Boca’s demand that voters should decide the fate of the project.
They directed City Attorney Joshua Koehler to draft a referendum question that will appear on the March 10 city election ballot.
“The council has already said there will be a vote,” Singer reiterated at the Sept. 22 meeting. “We will have a vote.”
Terra/Frisbie has voiced no objection. “We welcome that process,” Frisbie Group principal Rob Frisbie said on Sept. 8.
“We are not trying to force this on anyone. We are trying to collaboratively design something that is truly in the best interest of the community.”
The council acted after it became obvious that Save Boca would be able to gather enough resident signatures on petitions to force the city to allow a vote.
Save Boca wants ballot questions on a city ordinance change and a city charter change. Both would not allow the council to lease or sell any city-owned land greater than one-half acre without a vote. The city wants to lease its land for 99 years to Terra/Frisbie.
Residents have their say
The council made the tactical retreat after hearing withering criticism from residents who have packed city meetings.
“Get these people out of here,” Save Boca organizer Jon Pearlman said of Terra/Frisbie officials on Sept. 8. “We don’t want to see them anymore.”
Council members weren’t spared in the scorching.
“Three minutes is hardly enough to express my disgust,” said Richard Warner about the time allotted to speakers. “For you, the council, to be this tone deaf? I don’t get it. Nobody wants this.”
“The fundamental problem here is we don’t trust you,” Becky Tucker told the council.
If the project has any significant support, it is not readily apparent. Only a handful have spoken in favor at council meetings or on social media.
A majority of council members still favor redevelopment through a public-private partnership, although they say they are open to additional changes to respond to residents’ concerns.
Singer described the plan as “evolving” in a Sept. 29 email to residents.
Only Council member Andy Thomson is opposed, and has repeatedly voiced that for months. He wants to terminate negotiations with Terra/Frisbie for a master agreement and says the project is too dense and has been pushed forward too rapidly.
He also has insisted that residents should have the final say at the ballot box, and that the council suspend any action to move ahead with the partnership unless a majority of voters endorse the project.
Lots of revisions
Terra/Frisbie’s revamped redevelopment plan, presented on Sept. 8, reduces the project’s density and preserves more green and recreation space.
The changes would come at substantial cost to the city.
Under the original plan, the project would have generated $3.1 billion for the city over the span of the 99-year land lease. That now would drop to $2.1 billion, according to Terra/Frisbie calculations.
Now eliminated are a hotel and one office building and one residential building.
The number of residential units, which Terra/Frisbie had decreased earlier, are downsized again from 912 to 740.
Retail square footage has dropped from about 140,000 square feet to 80,000.
Eight clay tennis courts will remain on site and the number could increase to 10. Other recreation facilities have been incorporated into the plan.
Terra/Frisbie no longer will move two of the site’s large banyan trees, a process the trees might not have survived. All six of the existing banyans will be preserved, and a children’s playground will be located near five of the trees.
To counter criticism that Terra/Frisbie’s plan would dishonor fallen World War II veterans, the 17 acres within the site known as Memorial Park would include a monument to them.
Veterans groups would help design it.
Terra/Frisbie has proposed that the former Children’s Museum, which was housed in a historic building, remain on site. The city had planned to move it to Meadows Park.
A 200-by-300-foot multi-purpose field would now be included on the site, which could accommodate a host of activities.
Another feature would be a mobility hub that would include electric vehicle chargers, bicycle racks and a ride share location.
Flexing their muscles
Save Boca has not credited Terra/Frisbie for any of the changes and has continued to find fault.
For example, some of its supporters complained that while the six banyans will be saved, other less significant trees will be cut down.
All the while, their efforts are infused with high drama.
They cheered wildly when Pearlman dramatically strode to the podium on Aug. 26 to hand over to the city clerk a tall stack of signed petitions for the ordinance change.
A similar scene unfolded on Sept. 23 when Pearlman and a group of supporters marched into City Hall to drop off two banker’s boxes full of signed petitions for the charter change.
As Pearlman called city clerk office employees to tell them that he was delivering more petitions, supporters cheered in triumph.
Save Boca now has met the requirements for a ballot question on the city ordinance change.
Save Boca collected 5,200 signed petitions and needed 3,676 valid signatures to qualify for inclusion on the ballot. On Sept. 22, Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link certified 3,689, or just barely enough.
The next day, Save Boca members submitted to the clerk about 7,700 signed petitions for the charter change. They need 6,112 valid signatures.
Link’s office is now reviewing them to determine how many are valid.
Save Boca prefers the charter change because the City Council could repeal its ordinance. Only another vote could reverse a charter change.
Pearlman has wanted both the ordinance and charter change considered in a special election to be held as soon as possible after all the ballots are certified.
But Link’s office said that the supervisor is not able to schedule a special election before March 10, the long-standing date for the city’s election when residents will vote for a new mayor and on two City Council races.
So, barring some other development, that is when voters will get their say.
Terra/Frisbie is gathering additional feedback from residents. It held a public meeting at the the Studio atg Mizner Park on Sept. 29 and will hold another one at the Spanish River Library from 4 to 7 p.m. Oct. 6.
Frisbie said the developers plan a “reset” and will revise their plans by taking into account what residents want to see.
“The goal is to bring everyone together,” he said at the Sept. 29 session.
Residents had the chance to speak directly with the Terra/Frisbie team. They were engaged and cordial and their comments ran the gamut.
Many want recreational space preserved on site. Others feared the project would increase traffic, asked that the area become more walkable, or said they opposed adding tall buildings.
Frisbie estimated that the plans could be revamped yet again by mid-October.
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