Development · Broward County
Hollywood wants new zoning rules and design standards for the entire beach
The City of Hollywood is proposing an ordinance that would amend Article 4 of its Zoning and Land Development Regulations to revise definitions and create a new "Hollywood Beach Overlay District" with its own "Hollywood Beach Design Guidelines." The area covered is the city’s entire beach barrier island: east of the Intracoastal Waterway, south of East Dania Beach Blvd, west of the ocean, and north of East Hallandale Beach Blvd. The Planning and Development Board holds a public hearing on August 11, 2026 and makes a recommendation; the City Commission decides later. (Source: Hollywood agenda item 26-Z-18, applicant: City of Hollywood.)
Step 1
What's happening?
What is happening
Hollywood city staff — not a private developer — are asking to change the zoning code for the entire beach barrier island. The proposal (file 26-Z-18) would revise definitions in Article 4 of the Zoning and Land Development Regulations and establish a new overlay district called the Hollywood Beach Overlay District, together with a set of Hollywood Beach Design Guidelines. An overlay district is an extra layer of rules on top of the zoning that already exists: whatever it says applies to every property inside its boundary. The exact text of the new rules and guidelines is in the agenda packet for the August 11 Planning and Development Board hearing — read it there before assuming what it does or doesn’t change.
Step 2
What does it mean for you?
Why it matters
If this passes, what can be built, renovated, or redesigned on Hollywood beach — and what it has to look like — changes for every property between the Intracoastal and the ocean. Design guidelines typically govern building appearance, materials, signage, and streetscape; definition changes can quietly alter what counts as a hotel, a vacation rental, or a permitted use. This is the kind of item that decides the beach’s look and economics for decades, and it is easiest to influence right now, before the text is settled.
Who is affected
Property owners, condo associations, hotel and restaurant operators, and renters on the beach barrier island; architects and contractors working there; and anyone whose permit application would be judged against the new guidelines. Residents of the rest of Hollywood are affected indirectly — the beach is the city’s main economic engine.
Who has the authority
The Planning and Development Board hears it first, on August 11 — but only to make a recommendation. The final decision belongs to the Hollywood City Commission, which will take the ordinance through its own public readings afterward.
What that body can do
The board can recommend approval, recommend denial, or recommend changes. The City Commission can then adopt the ordinance, reject it, amend it, or defer it. Because this is city-initiated, the commission has wide latitude to rewrite any part of it before adoption.
Why the current stage matters
This is the advisory-recommendation stage — the last point where the text is genuinely open. Comments made at the August 11 hearing go into the record the City Commission reads before its vote. Waiting for the commission votes usually means arguing yes-or-no on finished text instead of shaping it.
What may happen if residents do nothing
If residents do nothing, the board hears staff’s presentation, makes its recommendation, and the ordinance moves to the City Commission on staff’s terms. City-initiated zoning items with no public opposition typically pass in the form staff wrote.
What resident contact can realistically influence
The realistic target is the text: what the design guidelines require, which definitions change, and where the overlay’s boundary sits. Individual comments genuinely move items at the advisory stage, because the board’s job is to surface exactly these concerns before the commission votes. What is not realistic is stopping the city from regulating its own beach at all.
The easiest useful action
Read agenda item 26-Z-18 in the August 11 Planning and Development Board packet on Hollywood's meeting calendar (linked below). If it touches your property or business, the way to get your input into the hearing record is to SPEAK — in person at the meeting, or virtually by pre-registering with the city's form by 6:00 PM on August 10. For this quasi-judicial item, written comments cannot be read into the record, so an email to the clerk can inform staff but does not reach the hearing itself. Can't make it? Follow this issue and we'll alert you when it reaches the City Commission.
If you plan to speak — the rules, and a script
This hearing is quasi-judicial: the board sits more like judges than legislators. They are supposed to base their recommendation on evidence in the hearing record — which is why the city's rules say written comments CANNOT be read into the record for this item, and why specific facts count more than general sentiment. Saying "I object" is heard; saying "the guideline on page __ would require __ for my building, which means __" is evidence. The city's rules for this item: • In person: come to the meeting and register there. • Virtually: allowed as a courtesy, but you MUST pre-register using the city's Public Comment Registration form by 6:00 PM the day before the meeting (for August 11, that means by 6:00 PM Monday, August 10). One form per agenda item; if an item goes before multiple boards, one form per board. • Speaking time is limited to 3 minutes. • Comments left by voicemail, email, or social media — or virtual registrations after the 6:00 PM deadline — are not accepted into the hearing. Three-minute scripts (fill in your own specifics): • Support: "My name is ___ and I live/own property at ___ on the beach. I support 26-Z-18 because [the specific thing the overlay or guidelines would improve where you are]. I ask the board to recommend approval — and to keep [the provision you care about] in the final text." • Oppose or change: "My name is ___ at ___. I ask the board to recommend changes to 26-Z-18 before it advances. My concern is [the specific provision — a definition change, a design requirement, where the boundary runs] because [its concrete effect on you]. Please get an answer on the record about [your question] before making a recommendation." • Undecided: "My name is ___ at ___. I'm not asking for approval or denial — I'm asking the board to state on the record, before it recommends: which definitions change and what they newly allow or prohibit; how the guidelines apply when an existing building renovates; and exactly where the overlay boundary runs." Remember the stage: this board only recommends. The City Commission takes the final vote later — but this is where the text gets shaped, and the record you create here follows the item there.
Step 3
Who decides — and when?
Deciding body
Hollywood City Commission, after a Planning and Development Board recommendation
Next up
Planning and Development Board public hearing on 2026-08-11 — advisory recommendation to the City Commission
ProposedThese are elected officials — they answer to residents, and they hear from very few of them.
Key dates
Virtual-comment registration closes (one form per item, by 6:00 PM) — August 10, 2026 at 6:00 PM ET
Deadline last verified August 2, 2026 at 10:02 AM ET. Confirm current instructions with the deciding body before relying on this date. Check the official page
Planning and Development Board public hearing (26-Z-18) — August 11, 2026 at 5:00 PM ET
Deadline last verified August 2, 2026 at 10:07 AM ET. Confirm current instructions with the deciding body before relying on this date. Check the official page
Where this decision stands
Hollywood Beach Overlay District (26-Z-18)
Hollywood City Commission, after a Planning and Development Board recommendationZoning decision
Latest verified statusLast checked Aug 2, 2026
Last verified Aug 2, 2026Strongest influence window: NOW — Planning and Development Board hearing (Aug 11, 2026 · 5:00 PM). Acting before this stage ends matters most, whether you want this stopped or supported.
We publish the latest verified status — not second-by-second updates. Every stage is re-checked against the original source.
Planning and Development Board hearing
Happening nowAug 11, 2026 · 5:00 PM- What happened
- Scheduled: the board hears item 26-Z-18 and takes public comment. The hearing is quasi-judicial — input must be spoken, in person or pre-registered virtual.
- Why this stage mattered
- This board only recommends — but its job is to surface concerns before the commission votes, which makes it the stage where individual comments genuinely move the text.
- Vote result
- No vote at this stage.
- Officials involved
- See the deciding body above.
- Amendments
- No changes to the text at this stage.
- Official records
- Meeting detail and agenda packet· hollywoodfl.legistar.com (Aug 11, 2026)
- What residents could do then
- This stage offered no direct input channel.
- What residents can still do now
- Speak — in person at the meeting, or pre-register for virtual comment by 6:00 PM Aug 10. The rules and three-minute scripts are in “If you plan to speak” above.
- Influence at this stage
- This is the window where resident input — for OR against — is most likely to shape the outcome.
Plain-text version of this tracker
- Stage 1 of 4 — City staff draft the overlay: Completed. City staff wrote the proposed overlay district, the definition changes, and the design guidelines. The full text is in the August 11 board packet.
- Stage 2 of 4 — Planning and Development Board hearing: Happening now, Aug 11, 2026 · 5:00 PM. Scheduled: the board hears item 26-Z-18 and takes public comment. The hearing is quasi-judicial — input must be spoken, in person or pre-registered virtual.
- Stage 3 of 4 — City Commission consideration: Still ahead.
- Stage 4 of 4 — If adopted: overlay takes effect: Still ahead.
Step 4
What happens when nobody's watching?
At its last meeting alone, the Broward County Commission passed 101 items — 78 of them in bulk votes with no individual discussion. Over the last 12 months: 1,087 decisions, 71% never discussed one by one. Most items pass with zero public speakers.
This one is still open. That is the difference between this page and a news story — there is still time.
Step 5
What can you do about it?
Can’t make the meeting? Emailing your commissioner counts — it becomes part of the public record too. And the free newsletter tells you before the next vote, not after.
Official public records
What happened after the decision
Not decided yet. When the vote happens, we update this section with the outcome — and keep tracking implementation, so the story doesn’t end at the headline.
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Decision record
- Location
- Hollywood Beach — east of the Intracoastal, between Dania Beach Blvd and Hallandale Beach Blvd
- Deciding body
- Hollywood City Commission, after a Planning and Development Board recommendation
- Next up
- Planning and Development Board public hearing on 2026-08-11 — advisory recommendation to the City Commission
- Level
- Local