Multifamily zoning approvals in Fort Lauderdale

Florida's Live Local Act preempts local zoning for a qualifying affordable project; Fort Lauderdale routes that preemption through its own administrative review tier. Every other multifamily project follows the Unified Land Development Regulations' tiered site plan levels, with downtown parcels also subject to the Regional Activity Center's own review.

Live Local as the city applies it

Florida Statutes Section 166.04151(7) requires administrative approval of a qualifying residential or mixed-use multifamily project with at least 40 percent of units affordable for at least 30 years, on land zoned commercial, industrial or mixed use. Fort Lauderdale reviews a Live Local application under its Site Plan Level I, Administrative Review process. The applicant submits a development application, the required plans, and a point-by-point narrative of compliance with Section 166.04151(7), through the city's Lauderbuild portal; the application is fee-assessed as a Site Plan Level II, and a 30-year affordable housing deed restriction is recorded before a building permit issues.

The ULDR's development permit levels

Development applications proceed under Section 47-24, Development Permits and Procedures, of the Unified Land Development Regulations (ULDR). Review spans four levels, from a staff-level Site Plan Level I up to City Commission review, with Levels III and IV typically going first to the Development Review Committee, a standing staff committee that draws members from Building, Engineering, Landscape, Police, Sanitation, Transportation and Mobility, and Urban Design and Planning. A separate submittal and fee apply where a request also needs the Planning and Zoning Board, for example a plat that Section 47-24 routes to a Planning and Zoning Board recommendation and then to City Commission approval. Applicants are responsible for the public notice that a Planning and Zoning Board or City Commission hearing requires.

The Downtown Regional Activity Center

Parcels in downtown Fort Lauderdale's Regional Activity Center are zoned to one of several RAC districts, among them RAC-CC, City Center, RAC-UV, Urban Village, and RAC-SMU, Southwest Mixed Use, recorded on recent Development Review Committee cases for mixed-use and multifamily projects in the district. The RAC districts concentrate density in the downtown core, and the ULDR's Downtown RAC Review Process, Section 47-13.20, adds its own dimensional and design regulation on top of the base site plan levels, so a downtown multifamily project clears both the citywide standard and this downtown-specific one before it reaches final approval.

Questions

Does a Live Local project in Fort Lauderdale go to a public hearing?

No. It is reviewed administratively under Site Plan Level I, though the application is fee-assessed at the Site Plan Level II rate.

What must be recorded before a Live Local building permit issues in Fort Lauderdale?

A 30-year affordable housing deed restriction, recorded before the City issues the building permit.

Sources