Proposed Tax/Tag Office, Serving Thousands Daily, Set For Lyons Road Near Residential Communities. Bridges, Boca Bridges, Seven Bridges, Mizner Country Club, Stone Creek All Set To Fight…
BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher
DELRAY BEACH, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2025 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Communities up and down Lyons Road in West Boca Raton and West Delray Beach are preparing to fight Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon. Gannon wants to move the Tax Collector’s Regional Service Center to the residential area of Lyons Road just north of Mizner Country Club and south of Atlantic Avenue. The move is feared to cause massive traffic problems, infrastructure issues, and potentially increased crime in an area of multi-million dollar homes. The service center services people who can’t process transactions online — including motor vehicle transactions for DUI license reinstatements, suspended license reinstatements, lien removals, driver license tests, and more.
BocaNewsNow.com has learned that communities in the area — including Mizner Country Club, Boca Bridges, Seven Bridges, The Bridges, Lotus, Stone Creek Ranch, and others are all encouraging homeowners to fight Gannon. Sources say lawyers are on standby to initiate litigation against the tax collector, and Palm Beach County, if the move goes forward. The first zoning hearing is set for early April. We first reported on the proposed service center in October.
The Tax Collector’s office in South Palm Beach County is currently located in a business district away from residential communities. The address, 501 North Congress in Delray Beach, is just north of the Boca Raton Costco. Placing the service center in a residential area, residents fear, will attract vagrants, criminals, and dramatically increase traffic on Lyons Road. Lyons just underwent a multi-year expansion project due to the number of homes built in the area. Adding thousands of additional vehicle trips a day could render the narrow road virtually impassable. Non-residents continue to use Lyons as way to circumvent Florida Turnpike issues between Glades and Atlantic.
Gannon was unavailable for comment Wednesday afternoon. Her spokesperson told BocaNewsNow.com that she would respond on Friday. Gannon, 82, was just re-elected to a four year term. Here’s what she wrote several months ago when the project was first announced:
>>“Our current South County Service Center in Delray Beach has served generations of South County residents, but we have simply outgrown the space,” said Gannon. “South Palm Beach County is experiencing unprecedented growth and to meet the demands of the growing population, we too must grow. This new location in west Delray Beach is best suited to meet the needs of our clients.”
Located at 15560 Lyons Road, the new site is situated just south of Atlantic Avenue with easy access from both the Turnpike and 441. With a planned opening in 2027, the new state-of-the-art service center will be a welcome change from the current outdated, small office, currently located at 501 South Congress Avenue. The newest service center will share a design and footprint like the other tax collector proprietary locations, with 23,735 square feet with a bright and spacious interior to enhance the client experience. Other client focused features will include additional client service windows, ample parking, and a self-contained road test area.
“For every new home built, an additional 2.3 people will need the services of our office twice a year,” said Gannon. She went on to say, “with this new, larger service center, we will be able to meet these needs and serve clients more efficiently now and in the future.”<<
Homeowners are being told to blast Palm Beach County Commissioners with letters of opposition. Among those targeted: Commissioners Maria Sachs and Marci Woodward. Both Sachs and Woodward represent portions of Boca Raton and Delray Beach. Neither responded to requests from BocaNewsNow.com asking for their position on the potential move. The service center, if the project moves forward, is projected to open in 2027.
Has Gannon checked out these spaces? There’s the former Hobby Lobby in the Target Plaza on 441/7 in Boca Raton; the former Winn-Dixie in Delray Beach if it hasn’t become an Aldi yet; the old Sears in the Boca Town Center Mall. All these locations will direct traffic away from Lyons Road.
Except all those areas also have horrendous traffic, and government offices as well as houses of worship and charter schools moving into vacant retail harbors blight and lower property values, rather than being demolished and redeveloped properly. Here’s a novel idea… remain on county-owned land. If the South County Government Center on Congress Avenue proposed for redevelopment is no longer “central” to south county and too east, redevelop the property appraiser and sheriff’s office building on Atlantic Avenue and Cumberland Drive to include space for the tax collector. Who thought it was a good idea for the county to purchase this land, let alone relocate the tax collector’s office for all of south county so west, and right across the street from farms?
We suffered for 4 years with the debacle widening of lyons road , so now we have another source of traffic as well as another traffic signal to deal with on a daily basis.
Development projects like these are never planned in the administrators neighborhood. They find other locations they feel are best suited to meet the needs of their clients. Hobby Lobby location is perfect because they already have open access and parking to utilize.
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