Hollywood seawall requirements and local evidence

Hollywood adopted its own seawall ordinance rather than relying on the county standard alone.

• The City updated its seawall ordinance (O-2022-01) on February 2, 2022, establishing tidal flood protection regulations and creating section 150.30 covering construction and infrastructure standards for seawalls and tidal flooding barriers that account for projected sea level rise.
• Hollywood is one of 17 Broward municipalities with tidally influenced waterways addressed by the county policy and companion model ordinance.

Hollywood runs seawall permitting through its own Building Division intake.

• The City publishes a dedicated Seawall Submittal Checklist through its Building Division ePermits intake.

Broward County sets a countywide minimum tidal flood barrier elevation of 5.0 feet NAVD88, with a transition provision that runs to 2050.

• Tidal flood barriers shall have a minimum elevation of five (5) feet NAVD88.
• Applications for new or substantially repaired or substantially rehabilitated tidal flood barriers submitted prior to January 1, 2035 may be permitted a minimum elevation of four (4) feet NAVD88, if designed and constructed to accommodate a minimum elevation of five (5) feet NAVD88 by January 1, 2050.
• Adopted by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners on March 31, 2020, as Article XXV of Chapter 39 of the Broward County Code of Ordinances.
• The standard is written to address flood patterns and sea level rise projections through 2070.
• The standard does not apply to oceanfront beaches or shorelines seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line.

Read carefully: The 4-foot figure is a conditional transition allowance, not an alternative standard. It is only available where the barrier is designed and built to be raised to 5 feet by 2050.

In Broward County, letting tidal water cross onto a neighbouring property or the public right of way is a citable offence, not merely a maintenance problem.

• Causing, suffering, or allowing the trespass of tidal waters onto adjacent property or public right-of-way is declared a public nuisance and a citable offence requiring abatement.
• Barriers below the 5 feet NAVD88 minimum are still required to be improved, designed and constructed so as to prevent tidal waters from impacting adjacent property or public right of way.