Florida’s Live Local turns tables in Hollywood’s 30-story tower fight

The city of Hollywood, Florida, effectively told its home county of Broward to get lost, using newly acquired powers to approve a 30-story beach tower with workforce housing. The county’s next move depends on a judge. City commissioners voted 6-1 in the wee hours last Thursday, after 12 hours of public input, to approve agreements letting Related Group build Portofino Hollywood. The developer has a 99-year lease on city-owned land at 1301 S. Ocean Dr. Commissioner Caryl Shuham cast the lone no vote. She has opposed the project throughout, including its use of the community center site, and objected to plans that could give workforce tenants separate entrances and amenities from condo owners. The vote capped a six-year siege in which environmentalists and owners in a neighboring 1970s condo tower battled to scuttle the plan. The county rejected the project in February, ruling the site was designated only for community use. Florida’s freshly minted Live Local 4.0 legislation introduced an ironic situation for cities. The law pre-empts local authority over zoning, density and height on private development and creates incentives for workforce housing. But this year, lawmakers gave citi...