Outdoor kitchens in Boca Raton

Boca Raton was incorporated as a town on May 26, 1925, at the height of the Florida land boom, and celebrated its centennial in 2025. Architect Addison Mizner planned the young town as a resort community in 1925, and his Cloister Inn opened in 1926. Most of his plans ended with the land boom that year, but Old Town Hall of 1927 keeps the footprint of his design, and the City says his Mediterranean style still shapes Boca Raton.

Boca Raton covers about 30 square miles in southern Palm Beach County, with the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Broward County to the south and the Intracoastal Waterway running through the city. The City maintains more than 4.75 miles of shoreline and has carried out eight beach renourishment projects and four emergency hurricane repair projects since the mid-1980s. In Boca Raton, any new or replaced seawall or dock must reach an elevation between 4.0 and 6.0 feet NAVD88 at its cap and must be designed so that 12 to 18 inches can be added later without altering the existing wall. The City says these standards reflect changing climate conditions.

A Boca Raton address does not necessarily mean a property lies within the city limits, as parts of Boca Raton are in unincorporated Palm Beach County and are served by the County. The City publishes a city limits map for checking an address. Within the city limits, the City of Boca Raton Development Services Department issues building permits under the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), and contractors must be registered with the City to pull permits. City code requires a permit for gas, electrical, plumbing and mechanical work and additionally for exterior lighting. Boca Raton's Community Appearance Board reviews the appearance of site development, buildings and landscaping in the city, but single-family and two-family properties are exempt from its review, and these homes need no permit for exterior paint colors. Changes inside gated residential communities that are not visible from a public right-of-way are reviewed by City staff instead of the board. In Boca Raton's designated historic districts of Old Floresta and Pearl City, and on individual historic sites, any exterior construction or alteration, including walls, light fixtures, steps, pavement and vegetation, needs a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Board. The certificate must be issued before the building permit, and applicants submit material samples and colors.

Boca Raton's zoning code lists barbecues among accessory structures in residential districts, which may never sit in the required front yard or between the house and the front lot line. Where such a structure stands in a required yard, it may be at most 15 feet high and must be at least 5 feet from any lot line. In Boca Raton, a roofed structure counts as a building, and any accessory building must stand at least 10 feet from the house. In the required rear yard of a waterfront lot, only gazebos, chickee or tiki huts and similar open-air accessory buildings are allowed. In Boca Raton, required yards must stay open from the ground to the sky except for listed encroachments; uncovered patios and pool decks may come no closer than 7 feet to an interior lot line, and on a lot with a seawall they may extend to the seawall. On single-family lots larger than 2 acres, accessory structures must be at least 35 feet from the side and rear lot lines. How your kitchen is classified, we clarify with the City during planning.

New FEMA flood maps took effect for Boca Raton on December 20, 2024, and the City says a large portion of the city lies in the special flood hazard area. There, improvements to a building whose combined cost within one year reaches 49 percent of its market value count as a substantial improvement, and the City's usual permit exemptions do not apply to homes in mapped flood zones. Boca Raton is outside Florida's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, but its Building Department notes that, bordering the ocean and Broward County, the city faces virtually the same wind pressures as that zone. It sets one design wind speed for the whole city, 170 mph for typical Risk Category II buildings, with Exposure Category C unless D applies. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. A FREILUFT kitchen is built to stay outside year-round and has storm hooks in the plinth that secure the doors; before a storm, secure everything loose.

Boca Raton has adopted the state coastal construction control line and prohibits building any structure whatsoever seaward of it, as well as excavating or altering ground elevations there; exceptions require a variance from the City Council after a public hearing. Landscaping on the barrier island dune seaward of the line must consist solely of native dune vegetation. Boca Raton's policy is that no artificial light should illuminate its beaches, so outdoor lighting visible from the beach must be shielded, floodlights and decorative or accent lights are banned, and new projects near the dune need a sea turtle lighting plan. Citywide, outdoor light sources must be shaded so they are not visible off the property, with no more than 1 footcandle at a neighboring residential lot line. In gardens near the beach, we plan the kitchen lighting with these rules in mind. Boca Raton's tree permit rules apply to vacant and redeveloped property and to the yards of developed property, but not to developed, owner-occupied single-family or two-family lots unless a designated specimen or historic tree stands there. Mangroves and natural beach dune vegetation are protected, and each mangrove removed under a permit must be replaced with a seedling on site.