PPG, First Eagle's Emerald Hills Rezoning Reaches Hollywood Commission

Hollywood’s City Commission takes up the Club at Emerald Hills rezoning ordinance September 2, the first reading of the measure that would formally convert 166.134 acres at 4100 N. Hills Drive from Country Club to Planned Development zoning. The item, Ordinance PO-2026-022, is calendared as a 2:15 p.m. quasi-judicial time-certain hearing, meaning it gets a dedicated slot rather than sitting in the general agenda queue.

Why it matters

This is the next procedural step after Hollywood’s Planning and Development Board voted August 4 to recommend the rezoning for PPG Developments and First Eagle Management’s 284-unit redevelopment of the aging golf course property. As we reported at the time, that board vote was a recommendation, not an adopted zoning change. The Commission hearing is where the zoning conversion actually happens, or does not. For anyone tracking how South Florida cities process the wave of privately owned, financially strained golf courses moving toward redevelopment, a first reading following a favorable staff-backed board vote is the template for how far this process typically gets before it becomes final.

The numbers

The ordinance covers 166.134 acres, along with approval of “The Club at Emerald Hills Planned Development Master Plan” and its master development plan guidelines, plus variances from the peripheral setback requirements in the city’s zoning code. The paired site plan the board also acted on August 4 lays out 284 units, 76 below the 360-unit cap the Commission itself set in March 2024. The agenda packet includes conditions of approval and an applicant response to those conditions, indicating staff and the applicant negotiated terms ahead of the hearing.

What’s next

A first reading is not adoption. Hollywood’s ordinance process still requires the vote to advance, and typically a second reading and public hearing before the zoning change and master plan take effect. The Commission could also add conditions, continue the item, or reject it outright at a quasi-judicial hearing where residents get to testify. South Florida developers holding aging club or course assets should watch whether this first reading passes cleanly or draws the same flooding and traffic objections that surfaced at the board level.