Boca Raton, FL Building Setbacks & Zoning: Lot Coverage Limits (2026)

Sec. 28-1130, titled simply 'Maximum lot coverage,' sits within the M-3 industrial district regulations of Chapter 28, alongside the district's other baseline dimensional standards: Sec. 28-1128 requires every M-3 plot to be at least 150 feet wide and a full gross acre (43,560 square feet) in area, and Sec. 28-1129 requires any building or structure in the district to contain not less than 10,000 square feet. Sec. 28-1130 itself limits the combined gross floor area of the principal building and any accessory structures on an M-3 plot to 60 percent of the plot's area, meaning at least 40 percent of every M-3 lot must remain unbuilt.

The coverage limit has stood unchanged since it was adopted by Ordinance No. 2941 in 1981 and carried forward through subsequent amendments to the M-3 district (Ordinance Nos. 3377, 3593, 3705 and 3717 through 1988), which otherwise addressed landscaping, exterior maintenance and related M-3 standards in the surrounding sections. Because the limit is tied specifically to the M-3 district, it does not apply to other industrial, commercial or residential zoning classifications in the city, each of which carries its own coverage, plot area and building size standards elsewhere in Chapter 28's district-by-district regulations.