Boca Raton adopts downtown renewal plans based on the ideas of famous Boca architect Addison Mizner
Published November, 17th 2008.
By Dale M. King
CITY EDITOR
Somewhere in the great beyond, eccentric, offbeat Boca Raton architect Addison Mizner is smiling.
Nearly two years after Boca Raton launched a major initiative to find a way of bringing new life to its downtown, the City Council has adopted a set of building, road, sidewalk, landscaping and open space designs specific to the center city.
Those regulations, crafted by city officials and residents working with Ray Gindroz and Urban Design Associates of Pittsburgh, Pa., are based solidly in what Mizner did for Boca some nine decades ago.
The new rules emphasize pedestrian comfort and ease of getting to destinations while slowing down traffic that currently flies by any retail or dining venues along thoroughfares like Palmetto Park Road. It also emphasizes wide spaces “open to the sky,” Gindroz said, along with thick landscaping.
Interim Guidelines
City Manager Leif Ahnell said these are “interim guidelines.” The final, permanent regulations will be drafted in “six to eight months,” he said.
The word “articulate” came up time and again at a public hearing on the new design criteria Wednesday night. During several meetings and workshops, Gindroz has explained that Boca must toss out the idea of boxy buildings in favor of “articulated” structures.
In a nutshell, to “articulate” a building involves starting with the box, then taking a chunk from one side and moving it to another area – possibly putting it on top. But don’t fill the spot where that chunk came from. To “articulate” buildings, Gindroz said, must not add volume to the basic structure.
One new rule replaces the former 100-foot maximum height for downtown buildings. It means developers can add 140-foot tall towers and even 160-foot elements for mechanical devices like clocks or bells.
At the same time, builders are encouraged to add what Gindroz called “architectural elements” like canopies, balconies, decorative windows and arches.
The end product is a building like Mizner would have made.
But it doesn’t stop there. Boca’s rules now encourage wider sidewalks – 26 feet wide, in some cases – to encourage pedestrians back to a city that has architecturally turned its back on them for years.
Gone, city officials also hope, will be the straight streets, medians and barriers that encouraged drivers not to stop at nearby stores and restaurants. Hence, a lack of stores and restaurants downtown.
Add Flexibility
Senior City Planner Jennifer Hofmeister explained the new downtown rules give “flexibility to building height and structural articulation.” She said they also bring “quality regulations” to the center city.
The new building codes got strong endorsements from leaders of the development community – development attorney Charlie Siemon and architect Derek Van Der Ploeg, among others.
Kate Volman from the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce read a letter from President and CEO Troy McLellan, expressing the group’s support of this. The letter said the Boca redesign “could be a model for the future.”
Peter Brockway, managing partner of Brockway Moran & Partners, sent a letter to the mayor and council, encouraging them to adopt the guidelines.
“While there has been significant downtown redevelopment over the years since Mizner Park, the quality and character of many of the new buildings do not do justice to our community and limit the downtown’s competitiveness and impact its appearance,” he said.
Mayor Susan Whelchel noted that, “Finally, after many years, we have an opportunity to have quality over quantity.”
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