UPDATE: Boca Raton Council Tie Vote Blocks BRIC Push to Remove Legacy Development Oversight
BOCA RATON, FL (Boca Post) (Copyright © 2026) — The City of Boca Raton’s Planning & Zoning Board is scheduled to take up a significant procedural change to the Boca Technology Center Development of Regional Impact — not a new project, but a redraw of what’s still inside the DRI and what isn’t.
On Jan. 8, the board is set to consider a recommendation to the City Council on an amendment that would reduce the total acreage of the Boca Technology Center DRI from about 217.5 acres to about 87.9 acres. The change would remove roughly 129.6 acres from the DRI by taking out the Boca Raton Innovation Campus property — commonly referred to as BRIC — and a smaller additional site.
The BRIC property involved in the amendment is described in the city packet as approximately 124.2 acres generally located at 5000 T-Rex Avenue. Also proposed to be removed: an approximately 5.4-acre property generally located at 950 NW Spanish River Boulevard.
In plain terms, the proposal would shrink the boundaries of the DRI to what the packet calls the “Remaining DRI,” leaving the rest to be handled under standard city and county development rules rather than the older DRI framework.
City staff is recommending approval.
The staff memo frames the Boca Technology Center DRI as a long-running legacy approval that’s largely built out, with the current amendment designed to simplify the regulatory structure for the parcels being removed and to align future development activity with current traffic concurrency rules. The packet also notes the applicant provided a biennial status report dated Feb. 14, 2025, stating DRI mitigation requirements have been completed and that no further mitigation is required based on the existing development.
The city’s summary says the proposed amendment is not expected to affect the properties that remain inside the DRI. The Remaining DRI is described as including built development such as retail, office, and residential units that have already been constructed. The packet lists 198 dwelling units as built, along with 129,900 square feet of retail and 340,154 square feet of office. It also identifies a small amount of remaining, unbuilt entitlement — 100 square feet of retail and 49,416 square feet of office — associated with the Remaining DRI.
Staff also points out that, because Palm Beach County and the City of Boca Raton are identified as “Dense Urban Land Areas,” the DRI is exempt from certain state and regional review requirements. The packet states the proposed amendment only requires review by the City.
From the city’s perspective, this is also about where the Boca Technology Center DRI is in its life cycle. Staff describes it as nearing buildout and notes a broader goal to abandon the remaining DRI — language that reads less like expansion and more like an attempt to close out an old planning structure cleanly.
The packet includes a brief history of the DRI’s evolution. The original “Blue Lake DRI” was approved in 1999, with the city later purchasing a large portion of land within it in 2000, removing that acreage from the DRI and renaming the remaining project the Boca Technology Center DRI. Since then, the master plan has been implemented through approvals and amendments tied to specific projects, including Boca Village, The Shoppes at Blue Lake, Centra Townhomes, a Silver Management Company building, and the Boca Raton Tri-Rail Station. The packet notes that in 2025, the DRI acreage was reduced again by removing the Tri-Rail station parking lot from the DRI.
For the Jan. 8 hearing, the board is not being asked to approve new square footage or add intensity. The agenda language describes the item as a recommendation to City Council on findings of fact and conclusions of law tied to the amendment and a modification to the DRI master plan map.
The city packet also states the amendment does not create additional regional impact, does not increase external peak hour trips, and does not reduce open space or conservation area within the revised DRI property. The city’s traffic review, as summarized in the staff analysis, found no changes in traffic intensity or circulation patterns tied to the request.
The Planning & Zoning Board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Jan. 8 at the Police Administration and Training / Fire Rescue Administration building, 6500 Congress Avenue.
