Locations
Lynne Legal’s own office is in Boca Raton. Counsel for property owners, businesses, developers and regulated operators, in the city the firm works from every day.
Updated: September 2026
Boca Raton asks two separate questions about a project, and an applicant can satisfy one while failing the other. Zoning asks whether the use and the intensity are permitted. Community appearance review asks whether the building, the site and the landscaping meet the city’s aesthetic standards. They are heard by different bodies, on different nights, in different buildings.
Lynne Legal advises Boca Raton property owners, businesses, developers, and regulated operators on zoning, land use, real estate, licensing, and code enforcement matters. Led by Jeffrey Lynne, the firm works from its office at 301 Yamato Road, Suite 4120, Boca Raton, Florida 33431 — the same city, the same boards, the same calendars.
Planning a Boca Raton project, evaluating a site, or facing a code hearing? Call Lynne Legal at (561) 791-4368 or schedule a consultation.
The Planning and Zoning Board is the body most applicants expect. Seven members, appointed to three-year terms, meeting at 6:00 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month at the 6500 Building on North Congress Avenue. It holds public hearings on development matters and makes recommendations to City Council, and it also monitors the Comprehensive Plan, which means consistency with that plan is a live question rather than a formality.
The Community Appearance Board is the one that catches people out. It reviews the aesthetic standards for all site development, building structures and alterations, exterior spaces and landscaping anywhere inside the city limits, and it meets on Tuesday evenings at 6:00 p.m., twice a month, at the Community Center Annex on Crawford Boulevard. A building permit subject to its review does not move without it.
A project can be entirely permissible under the zoning code and still stall at appearance review over massing, materials, or landscaping. Treating the two as one approval is how schedules slip.
| Body | What it decides | When and where | Members |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planning and Zoning Board | Public hearings on development matters; recommendations to City Council; oversight of the Comprehensive Plan | First and third Thursday, 6:00 p.m., 6500 Building, 6500 N. Congress Avenue | Seven, three-year terms |
| Community Appearance Board | Aesthetic standards for site development, building structures and alterations, exterior spaces, and landscaping citywide | Tuesday evenings, 6:00 p.m., twice monthly, Community Center Annex, 260 Crawford Boulevard | — |
| City Council | Final action on matters the Planning and Zoning Board recommends | City Hall, 201 W. Palmetto Park Road | — |
| Special Magistrate | Enforcement of fire, building, zoning, sign and other codes | Code hearings, second Wednesday, 1:30 p.m., Council Chamber, City Hall | Four magistrates, two-year terms |
Boca Raton’s Special Magistrate has unusually broad subject matter. The city describes the role as conducting hearings on enforcement of fire, building, zoning, sign and other codes — four regulatory regimes that in many cities would be heard in three different places. Four magistrates serve two-year terms, and code hearings are held at 1:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month in the Council Chamber at City Hall, 201 W. Palmetto Park Road.
Parking enforcement runs on its own docket, at 9:00 a.m. on the fourth Wednesday. A business that receives two notices in the same month may be looking at two hearings, two weeks apart, in front of the same forum but on different records.
The procedure is set by Chapter 162, Florida Statutes, sections 162.01 through 162.13. A case starts with an inspection and a notice giving a date by which the condition must be corrected. If it is not corrected, the matter is scheduled before the magistrate, who may order compliance, impose fines that accrue daily, and authorize a lien against the property.
The ceiling depends on which schedule the city has adopted. Section 162.09 sets a statewide default of $250 per day for a first violation, $500 per day for a repeat violation, and up to $5,000 for a violation that is irreparable or irreversible. A county or municipality with more than 50,000 residents may adopt an ordinance raising those ceilings to $1,000, $5,000 and $15,000, but the higher numbers apply only where such an ordinance has actually been passed. The difference is fourfold, which makes it worth confirming against Boca Raton’s own code rather than assuming.
Code enforcement at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Who hears it | Special Magistrate — four magistrates serving two-year terms, hearing fire, building, zoning, sign and other code matters |
| Code hearings | Second Wednesday of each month, 1:30 p.m., Council Chamber, City Hall, 201 W. Palmetto Park Road |
| Parking hearings | Fourth Wednesday of each month, 9:00 a.m. — a separate docket |
| Division contact | Code Enforcement, 200 NW 2nd Avenue — 561-393-7934; after-hours officer 561-213-4271 |
| Fine ceilings | Section 162.09 sets the statewide default at $250 per day for a first violation, $500 per day for a repeat violation, and up to $5,000 where the violation is irreparable or irreversible. A local government of more than 50,000 residents may adopt an ordinance raising those ceilings to $1,000, $5,000 and $15,000. Confirm which schedule the city has adopted before relying on a figure. |
| Lien | A recorded order becomes a lien against the property; fines continue to accrue until the violation is corrected |
| Appeal | 30 days to the circuit court, limited to the record made at the hearing (F.S. s. 162.11) |
Under section 162.11 an appeal runs to the circuit court within 30 days, and it is not a new hearing — review is limited to the record made before the magistrate. Evidence left out at the hearing cannot be added later, which is why the first appearance matters more than the appeal.
Holding a Boca Raton code notice or hearing date? Talk with Lynne Legal before the hearing, not after the order. Call (561) 791-4368 or request a consultation.
Every other page on this site describes a firm serving a city from elsewhere in the county. This one does not. Lynne Legal’s office is at 301 Yamato Road, Suite 4120, Boca Raton, Florida 33431, which means hearings at City Hall, the 6500 Building, and the Community Center Annex are a short drive rather than a day’s commitment — and that the firm deals with these particular boards, and their particular expectations, more often than with any others.
For a client, the practical benefit is not geography for its own sake. It is that the person preparing the application has stood in front of the body that will decide it. Lynne Legal brings the connected work into one strategy:
Behavioral health operators, recovery residences, and other regulated businesses face a second layer of law on top of zoning. Under section 397.487, Florida Statutes, every Florida county and municipality was required to adopt an approval process for certified recovery residences by January 1, 2026, with 30 days’ notice of any additional information required, a final decision within 60 days of a complete application, deemed approval if the local government fails to decide in time, and public hearings limited to the legal minimum. Those protections only help an operator who invokes them on the record while the clock is running.
Lynne Legal is a boutique practice led by Jeffrey Lynne. Clients work directly with counsel on zoning, property, approval, licensing, and regulatory decisions. In the firm’s own city, that also means the working knowledge of how a particular board runs a hearing is first-hand rather than researched.
Talk with Lynne Legal about a Boca Raton zoning, land use, code enforcement, or real estate matter. Call (561) 791-4368 or schedule a consultation.
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FAQs
Yes. Lynne Legal’s office is at 301 Yamato Road, Suite 4120, Boca Raton, Florida 33431. Boca Raton is the firm’s home city, and its boards and hearing calendars are the ones the practice works with most often.
It reviews the aesthetic standards for all site development, building structures and alterations, exterior spaces, and landscaping within the city limits. A building permit subject to its review cannot proceed without it, which makes appearance review a scheduling issue as much as a design one.
At 6:00 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month, at the 6500 Building, 6500 N. Congress Avenue. It has seven members serving three-year terms and makes recommendations to City Council.
A Special Magistrate. The city has four, serving two-year terms, and they hear enforcement of fire, building, zoning, sign and other codes. Code hearings are at 1:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month in the Council Chamber at City Hall.
No. Parking hearings are a separate docket, held at 9:00 a.m. on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Two notices in the same month can mean two hearings on different dates.
Section 162.09 sets a statewide default of $250 per day for a first violation and $500 per day for a repeat violation, with up to $5,000 for an irreparable or irreversible violation. A larger local government may adopt an ordinance raising those ceilings to $1,000, $5,000 and $15,000, so the applicable figure should be confirmed against the city code.
Not as a matter of law. But the hearing is where the evidentiary record is made, and section 162.11 limits any appeal to that record. Owners facing daily fines and a lien on the property generally benefit from preparing the case before the hearing rather than after an adverse order.
The information on this page is general and is not legal advice. Contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship. Ordinances, fee schedules, and hearing calendars change; confirm current requirements with the City of Boca Raton.
