By Steve Plunkett
Ground hasn’t been broken yet, but the long-awaited Interstate 95 interchange on Spanish River Boulevard already has attracted development that someday will generate 13,300 trips per day.
Boca Raton City Council members approved a new “planned mobility” zoning category Aug. 27 for nearly 78 undeveloped acres next to the planned interchange. The parcel had been zoned for 239 single-family homes; the mixed-use rezoning dubbed University Village will allow 420 apartments, each about 1,000 square feet; 252,000 square feet of retail; 126,000 square feet of office space; and 42,000 square feet of civic uses.
The retail can include three businesses between 15,000 and 25,000 square feet and one business between 25,000 and 45,000 square feet.
Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie asked to double a 50-foot landscape buffer between any development and neighbors along Northwest Fifth Avenue and other streets whose property backed up to the acreage. She also proposed “decisional criteria” to enable the City Council to direct where any tall buildings might go.
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