Boca Raton Council to Vote on Placing Public Land Ordinance, Charter Amendment on Ballot

A sign from the ‘Save Boca’ campaign in opposition to a government campus redevelopment plan. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

The Boca Raton city council will vote next week to approve two referenda on the March 2026 election ballot that govern the sale or lease of public land in Boca Raton following a petition-driven effort on the part of the “Save Boca” organization.

An agenda for the council’s Oct. 28, 2025 meeting includes the two items under the Public Hearings category that would see the council approve the language for the separate measures, which consist of an ordinance adoption and the addition of an amendment to the city charter. While both questions are aimed at accomplishing the same goal – requiring a public vote before any city-owned property larger than a half-acre is sold, leased or conveyed to a private party – the ordinance could conceivably be modified in the future while the city charter amendment can only be modified by another referendum question.

The language for both the ordinance adoption and the charter amendment questions asks voters to approve the identical language: “The city council shall not in any manner alienate from the public, lease or sell any land that is owned b y the City of Boca Raton greater than one-half (0.5) acre, or any part thereof, except upon approval of the proposed action at a referendum election.”

Renderings of a proposal by Boca City Center, Terra-Frisbie Group, for the city’s new downtown campus. (Planning Document)

The questions are appearing on the ballot after Save Boca and its supporters led a campaign to attract enough signatures to put the measures up for a vote. The effort was driven primarily by opposition to a downtown redevelopment plan that would see a large swath of land, including Memorial Park, be leased for 99 years to developers Terra Group and Frisbie Group, which would be permitted to build residential, commercial and restaurant space on the property. In exchange, according to officials, revenue generated by the redevelopment effort would fund the construction of a new city government campus and a large amount of green space and recreational facilities. Residents, skeptical of the proposed terms of a potential agreement with private development firms, have packed city council meetings to voice their opposition and ultimately collected enough signatures to make the sweeping changes to how the city handles public land sales and leases.

Supporters have argued the measures would protect publicly-owned property from being conveyed to private developers, while Mayor Scott Singer has warned that they could preclude the city from conducting routine business that includes selling or leasing swaths of land for infrastructure improvements or partnerships that could benefit residents. As an example, Singer recently cited traffic improvements near The Fitzgerald apartment complex on W. Camino Real, east of SW 3rd Avenue, that included land being transferred to a private developer who funded them. Supporters, on the other hand, have argued that they are fed up with what they see as overdevelopment, especially in the downtown sector, and the growing influence of private developers in the city.

The two questions will appear on the March 10, 2026 ballot. The mayor’s seat and multiple city council seats are also up for grabs in the March election.