Title
An Ordinance Of The City Of Hollywood, Florida, Amending Article 4 Of The Zoning And Land Development Regulations To Establish Section 4.26, The Hollywood Beach Overlay District, Including Part I - Overlay Zoning Regulations And Optional Bonus Programs And Part II - Hollywood Beach Overlay Urban Design Guidelines; Adopting The Official Hollywood Beach Overlay Regulating Plan Map; Establishing The Hollywood Beach Public Benefit And Resilience Trust Fund; Amending Sections 4.6.C, 4.6.D, And 4.22.E To Address Rooftop Amenities; And Amending The City’s Official Zoning Map To Reflect The Boundaries Of The Hollywood Beach Overlay District; And Providing For A Five-Year Sunset Of Section 4.26; And Providing For Findings Of Fact; Codification; Conflicts; Scrivener’s Errors, Severability, And An Effective Date. (26-TZ-18)
Strategic Plan Focus
Economic Vitality
Body
Staff Recommends: Approval of the attached Ordinance and City Commission direction on the modification recommended by the Planning and Development Board, as discussed below.
Explanation:
The 2007 Hollywood Beach CRA Master Plan established a vision for a walkable, architecturally distinctive Beach centered on the Broadwalk. While the CRA completed major public improvements, many recommended private-development, design, and sustainability standards were not incorporated into the Code. This amendment addresses that implementation gap.
At City Commission direction, the preliminary findings of the Hollywood Beach Economic Feasibility Study (Study) were presented on March 25, 2026. The Study found that Hollywood Beach consists of distinct areas with different physical conditions, development patterns, historic resources, and redevelopment opportunities. It evaluated multiple buildout scenarios and identified opportunities where increased height could generate sufficient economic value to support meaningful public benefit contributions and quantified the potential contributions under various development scenarios. Based on these findings, the Study recommended height ranges for the Beach's distinct character areas, which served as the foundation for staff's subsequent analysis and recommendations presented herein.
Public engagement included two design charrettes, 196 survey responses, and coordination with community, civic, and business organizations. The community engagement process identified the key challenges and public benefits most important to residents, including historic preservation, open space, resiliency, and mobility improvements. These priorities were cross-referenced with the feasibility study, which established the level of public benefit contributions that could reasonably be supported by additional development value. The proposed text amendment intends to link development bonuses to community-identified needs, refined through a practical, design-based incentive program.
The Overlay preserves all as-of-right entitlements and applies only when an applicant voluntarily seeks additional development opportunity. It approves no project by right, but establishes eligibility, standards, review procedures, public benefits, and enforcement requirements for future applications.
This item was heard by the Planning and Development Board, sitting as the Local Planning Agency, on September 8, 2026. Board discussion focused on adding greater limitations and safeguards to the bonus framework, including the concentration and stacking of bonuses, impacts to the beach and surrounding area, and the availability of variances within the framework. By a vote of 5-1, the Board recommended approval and further recommended the following modification for consideration by the City Commission:
• Reduce the maximum height permitted in Precinct 4 for the Unified Master Plan development pathway to a maximum of 30 stories, with no additional height bonuses permitted.
As drafted, the Overlay establishes a maximum height of 340 feet for the Hollywood Beach Resort Unified Master Plan pathway (Part I, subsection E.4.i.1), authorizes the City Commission to approve a greater maximum height through a Precinct 4 Maximum Height Determination (E.4.i.2), and authorizes up to 150 feet of additional height above that maximum through the Historic Rehabilitation Incentive (E.4.j.1). Because the Overlay regulates height in feet rather than stories, a height in feet would need to be established for the 30-story limitation.
Pursuant to Article 5.J.3 of the Zoning and Land Development Regulations, the City Commission may approve, deny, or modify a proposed text amendment following the Board’s recommendation. The Board’s recommended modification is presented for City Commission direction at first reading, and any revisions responsive to that direction will be incorporated prior to second reading.
The Board also recommended approval of the companion TIDE and Flexibility Unit allocation resolutions, without modification.
Following the September 8, 2026 hearing, staff has continued to refine the proposed Ordinance to complete technical and cross-reference corrections and to incorporate applicable feedback received through the public engagement process. A revised version of the Ordinance reflecting these refinements will be distributed at the September 16, 2026 City Commission meeting, formatted to identify changes from the version included in the printed agenda. The revisions are limited to clarifying and refining existing provisions and do not expand the entitlements, uses, or geographic area described in the advertised title of the Ordinance.
Request
The proposed amendment establishes Section 4.26, the Hollywood Beach Overlay District (HBOD), as a voluntary, incentive-based, and five-year interim framework for near-term reinvestment while the City advances a comprehensive Hollywood Beach Master Plan. Part I establishes the Overlay zoning regulations and optional bonus programs; Part II establishes the Hollywood Beach Overlay Urban Design Guidelines; and the Official Hollywood Beach Overlay Regulating Plan Map identifies six Beach Precincts, mapped Character Areas, a Special Policy Area, eligible sites and frontages, and other location-specific conditions. Participation is voluntary, and property not seeking an optional bonus entitlement remains governed by the underlying zoning district and otherwise applicable as-of-right development permissions.
The pillars of the optional bonus program include:
• Height Bonus, calibrated by mapped location and applicable Precinct, Character Area, and Special Policy Area standards rather than applied uniformly Beach-wide tied to a dollar per square foot contribution to a newly established Hollywood Beach Public Benefit and Resilience Trust Fund;
• Tourism Incentive Density Entitlement (“TIDE”) hotel-room allocations for eligible property where transient lodging is otherwise permitted;
• Flexibility Unit allocations within eligible portions of the Overlay (Precinct 3) subject to applicable land-use, mixed-use, parking, and public-realm requirements;
• Transfer of unused residential density between mapped TDR sending and receiving sites; TDR authorizes residential density only and does not transfer height, hotel rooms, parking relief, use permissions, or other development standards.
The amendment also establishes Code Optimization and Adaptation Standards (“COASt”) for specified parking reductions or elimination, commercial-frontage reductions, and limited upper-level active-liner relief; the Hollywood Beach Public Benefit and Resilience Trust Fund (“Trust Fund”); Landmark Development standards for eligible full-block sites; and specialized Precinct 4 redevelopment pathways.
The Special Policy Area is located within Precinct 4, known as the Hollywood Beach Resort and surrounding lands, permits a limited Controlling Properties Redevelopment Plan and a comprehensive Unified Master Plan pathway that may request additional entitlements, including a Historic Rehabilitation Incentive.
The Resiliency Trust Fund is a public-benefit mechanism and does not independently grant development capacity. The Resiliency Trust Fund is funded through contributions associated with development that utilizes the height bonus. Contributions are calculated on a dollar-per-square-foot basis for bonus floor area and are to be purposed for resiliency and related public-benefit improvements.
TIDE inventory and Trust Fund contribution schedules may be established or modified through separate City Commission action.
Mapped eligibility allows an application to be considered but does not confer a right to the maximum mapped entitlement. Each optional entitlement must be independently requested, reviewed, and approved by the City Commission; approval of one entitlement does not authorize another, and a hotel-room or residential-density allocation does not independently authorize additional height, floor area, intensity, or a prohibited use.
Development seeking an optional entitlement must:
• satisfy the Regulating Plan Map and applicable Precinct, Character Area, Special Policy Area, site-assembly, block-structure, Tertiary Plan, frontage, public-realm, and pedestrian-connectivity standards;
• demonstrate substantial consistency with the applicable Urban Design Guidelines and comply with express architectural, building-form, massing, transition, stepback, shadow, tower, landscape, parking-integration, and view-corridor requirements;
• meet applicable sustainability and coastal-resilience standards, including LEED Silver for any optional bonus entitlement and LEED Gold, or a substantially equivalent certification, for Landmark Development seeking additional height; and
• demonstrate adequate infrastructure, utilities, stormwater, mobility, access, public safety, and evacuation capacity and provide the applicable public benefits, publicly accessible parking or open space, Trust Fund contributions, agreements, easements, recorded instruments, and continuing operation and maintenance commitments.
Applications are subject to the applicable Articles 5 and 6 development review process, including public participation, Development Review Committee review, Design and Site Plan review, recommendation by the Planning and Development Board or applicable joint board, and final City Commission action.
The HBOD is an (Section 4.26) is an interim strategy that sunsets five years after effective date unless extended, amended, or reenacted by the City Commission; previously approved development and continuing obligations remain governed by their approval terms. This allows the City to evaluate its performance in light of the forthcoming comprehensive Hollywood Beach Master Plan.
The request also amends Sections 4.6.C, 4.6.D, and 4.22.E to establish clearer and more predictable standards for rooftop amenities. The amendments generally allow enclosed or covered rooftop amenities to occupy up to 40 percent of the gross rooftop area and extend up to 15 feet above the permitted height, subject to applicable use limitations, architectural compatibility, mechanical screening, and restrictions on climate-controlled and supporting facilities. These changes respond to recurring variance requests and contemporary building-design practices.
Conclusion
Staff recommends approval of the proposed amendment establishing Section 4.26, the Hollywood Beach Overlay District, including the Overlay Urban Design Guidelines, Official Regulating Plan Map, optional bonus programs, COASt provisions, Public Benefit and Resilience Trust Fund, and related rooftop amenity amendments. The proposal creates a voluntary, accountable framework for reinvestment that preserves as-of-right entitlements while requiring coordinated design, resilience, infrastructure, mobility, public access, and enforceable public benefits. Staff further requests City Commission direction on the modification recommended by the Planning and Development Board regarding maximum height within Precinct 4, as described above.
Fiscal Impact:
No direct fiscal impact is anticipated. The amendment is anticipated to generate positive indirect fiscal impacts by improving development feasibility and encouraging new development and redevelopment through additional height, density, and flexible development standards. Qualifying development may increase the City’s taxable assessed value and generate additional ad valorem and other development-related revenues over time. The timing and extent of these fiscal benefits cannot be quantified until individual projects are approved and constructed.
The Public Benefit and Resilience Trust Fund contribution methodology, TIDE program capacity, and Beach Overly District Flex Unit Allocation will be established by separate companion resolutions at the time of second reading of this Ordinance.
Recommended for inclusion on the agenda by:
Cameron Palmer, Assistant Director, Development Services - Chief Planner
Andria Wingett, Director of Development Services
Jose Cortes, Assistant City Manager