Boca Raton, FL Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Encroachment Permits (2026)

Section 19-77, titled "Public right-of-way," sits in Chapter 19's building regulations and operates as a gatekeeping rule on the building official's authority to issue permits. It bars the building official from issuing a permit for construction of a new building or alteration of an existing one where the proposal has exterior walls, bays, balconies, or other appendages or projections that would encroach onto a right-of-way. It applies the same bar to placing a building or structure moved from another lot or premises onto a new site, if that relocation requires use of the right-of-way.

In either case, the building permit cannot be issued unless the applicant has first received a right-of-way permit from whatever authority has jurisdiction over that right-of-way, which in most cases within the city is Boca Raton's own Public Works and Engineering Department acting under the city's separate right-of-way permitting process for work in or over public streets, sidewalks, and easements. The section functions as a coordination requirement between the two permitting tracks: the city will not let a projecting balcony, bay window, or relocated structure move forward on the building-permit side until the applicant has cleared the right-of-way authority on the encroachment itself, preventing a builder from creating a fait accompli that a right-of-way permit reviewer would then have to accommodate after the fact.