Zoning explained · Palm Beach County

PL Public Land District Boca Raton, Florida

PL has a real use provision: Sec. 28-1238 permits any use or facility owned, leased, operated, utilized or conducted by the city, and allows other government agencies' uses by conditional use approval. It is listed among the 'Miscellaneous districts' in Sec. 28-301.

19 buildings zoned PL2 permitted business types

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Insights › Zoning & land use › Boca Raton — PL

Permitted uses

What you can operate in PL, Boca Raton

The businesses the PL district in Boca Raton allows. The ones on the left are permitted by right; the ones on the right need a special approval first. (Zoning codes are set by each municipality, so PL here means specifically Boca Raton's PL district.)

Allowed by right

Any uses or facilities owned, leased, operated, utilized or conducted by the city, including parks and recreational facilities, police and fire stations (and related facilities), and water, sewer, reclaimed water and stormwater facilities and appurtenances

With special approval

Any use and development of land owned, leased, operated, utilized or conducted by any federal, state or local government agency other than the city, including the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Parks District (conditional use approval, Art. II Div. 4)

Build envelope

Development standards

Headline dimensional limits for this district. Confirm exact figures against the current code for your specific parcel.

StandardMax height 50 ft (antennas, light standards and water tanks exempt); council may grant special exceptions above 50 ft, never for an office building (Sec. 28-1238(c))

StandardSetbacks and landscape buffers set through site plan review (Sec. 28-1238(d))

Purposeapplies to land owned or leased by a governmental agency (Sec. 28-1237)

StandardRead from Sec. 28-1236 to 28-1238 (permitted Sec. 28-1238(a), conditional Sec. 28-1238(b)); permitted = by right, conditional = needs conditional-use / special-exception approval

The fine print

In plain English

BY RIGHT No hearing needed

If your business is on the by-right list, you can occupy a space in this district and open — no zoning hearing. Building permits and licensing still apply, but the use itself is already allowed.

SPECIAL Approval first

Special-approval uses can work here too, but they go through a public review before opening. Plan for extra time and possible conditions — we'll tell you which path a space needs.

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