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Palm Beach County judge blocks Boca Raton ballot questions on public land sales from January election

'The City of Boca threw the citizens under the bus by not defending the 12,900 on the petition,' Jon Pearlman, founder of Save Boca, says

WPTV

By: Ange Toussaint

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BOCA RATON, Fla. — A Palm Beach County judge has blocked two ballot questions from appearing in Boca Raton's January special election that would have required voter approval for the city to sell or lease public land over half an acre.

The ruling represents a setback for the "Save Boca" group, which gathered thousands of signatures to force the ballot questions aimed at stopping the controversial Boca Raton Government Campus redevelopment plan.

Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Curley granted an injunction in favor of Boca Raton attorney Ned Kimmelman, stating the ballot language is unconstitutional. The judge also ruled the city's special election set for Jan. 13 falls outside the required 90-day period after certifying petition signatures.

Boca Raton said Jan. 13 was the earliest election date it could schedule.

"The City of Boca threw the citizens under the bus by not defending the 12,900 on the petition," said Jon Pearlman, founder of Save Boca.

The two ballot measures would have limited the city's ability to sell or lease city-owned land greater than half an acre. Supporters petitioned for this measure, hoping to stop the proposed mixed-use government campus redevelopment project.

Pearlman said his group plans to continue pushing for future ballot measures to prohibit the sale and lease of public land.

"We're waiting to get the written judgement from the judge, and we're gonna review it and go from there, but we're confident that this is a temporary setback," Pearlman said. "While this is a temporary setback and maybe it's not gonna be a Jan. 13th vote based on this ruling, we're confident that the citizens will be able to vote on these ordinances and pass them into law."

Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer sided with the court's ruling in a statement, saying the ballot language "drafted by Save Boca raised a number of issues as to interpretation, implementation, and costs."

The city said adding the two ballot measures would have cost nearly $500,000. Singer said the city is waiting on the court's written decision on what additional legal issues it identified.

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