master plan update - City of Boca Raton

SECTION EINITIATIVESINITIATIVE 4: EASTPALMETTO PARK ROADEast Palmetto Park Road is currentlyplanned to be developed with Downtown-scalebuildings. The goal is tocreate a lively mixed-use street leadingto the Intracoastal Waterway and thebeach. The properties are constrainedby the depth of the blocks and are notconnected to the streets to the north.Although this limits the capacity of thearea to become a ‘Main Street,’ it is stillpossible to develop a combination ofhotel, office, and residential buildingswith some ground-floor retail, especiallyrestaurant, café, and destination uses.The design of the pedestrian experienceshould include wide planting beds witha meandering sidewalk suggesting agrand approach to the waterfront.The public realm can be developed inone of two ways: The preferred solutionis to reconfigure Palmetto Park Road asa three-lane road with parking on bothsides. The other is to keep a four-lanesection but eliminate the parking. Ineither case, a much wider sidewalk areais created. We further recommend thatdevelopment on each side include frontyard space to provide additional landscapematerial.This street leads to Silver Palm Park,which is also in need of improvement.The plan indicates a more compactparking area to provide space for activeuses including a café or pavilion on thewater. The Wildflower property shouldbe included in this program, either as apublic park or as a development site withpublic access to the waterfront. In eithercase, it is important to provide pedestrianaccess along the water between thesetwo park areas.East Palmetto Park RoadIllustrative master plan of East Palmetto Park RoadExisting conditionsOption showing parks on both parcelsThree- and four-lane options on an improved East Palmetto Park Road62