Title
A Resolution Of The City Commission Of The City Of Hollywood, Florida, Approving The Adoption Of The Waterworks 2050 - 25-Year, 5-Phase Septic-To-Sewer Expansion Program Per The Sewer Expansion Workshop Held On February 18, 2026.
Strategic Plan Focus
Infrastructure & Facilities
Body
Staff Recommends: Approval of the attached Resolution.
Explanation:
The City of Hollywood continues to face long-standing challenges with septic systems in many neighborhoods, where nearly half of all properties remain unconnected to the central sewer system. Aging septic tanks, high groundwater levels, and evolving environmental regulations raise growing concerns about water quality, public health, and infrastructure reliability. At the same time, the Department of Public Utilities (“Department”) is managing multiple major needs across the water, wastewater, and stormwater systems. These overlapping demands require coordinated, long-range, predictable improvements.
Waterworks 2050 is the Department’s proposed 25-year plan to guide the transition from septic to sewer. The program divides the work into five phases to allow construction, staffing, budgeting, and community outreach to be planned well in advance. The sequence of neighborhoods-referred to as sewer basins-comes directly from the engineering and master planning analysis previously presented to the Commission. By adopting an official timeline, the Department can align sewer expansion with upgrades already needed for treatment plants, pipelines, and pump stations and help residents understand when service will reach their area.
The first fifteen years of the program follow the detailed basin-by-basin schedule developed in earlier workshops. The final ten years allow flexibility as conditions change, enabling staff to place remaining neighborhoods in later phases once updated engineering and regulatory information is available. This structure ensures the Department can remain responsive to future needs without disrupting the overall plan.
Approving Waterworks 2050 will help the Department coordinate funding strategies, plan for long-term staffing and equipment needs, and provide clearer communication to residents well before construction begins in their neighborhoods. This long-view approach also ensures that the City’s investment in sewer expansion works hand in hand with projects that strengthen the overall water and wastewater system.
Staff recommend approval so the City can move forward with an organized, transparent, and financially sustainable path toward full sewer conversion.
Fiscal Impact:
Approval of this resolution will not fiscally impact the City as this adopts the projects identified for the Stormwater Capital Master Plan. However, implementation of the various aspects of the plan will require future capital appropriations.
No new staff will be required as a result of this resolution.
Recommended for inclusion on the agenda by:
Vincent Morello, Director, Public Utilities
Chris O’Brien, Director, Public Safety