The Downtown Master Plan serves as a guide for development projects and sets forth the City’s vision for the future of Downtown Fort Lauderdale. It details the Downtown’s potential and provides a blueprint for creating an active urban center with a variety of public spaces and transportation options, as well as a mix of uses, including housing, shopping, office space, and entertainment opportunities.

The Downtown Master Plan includes design guidelines that are both qualitative, promoting creative design solutions based on the context of each development site and quantitative, which includes more definitive, codified dimensional standards.

• Complete Downtown Master Plan Document
• Chapter 4 Design Guidelines Only
• Character Area Map
• Transition Area Map

History/Background

The Fort Lauderdale City Commission adopted the Downtown Master Plan on November 18, 2003 after broad input from various stakeholders, including residents, business leaders, and property owners.

In 2007, updates and refinements to the Chapter 4 Design Guidelines were incorporated into the Plan, with additional input from these same stakeholders. The refinements addressed an emphasis on high- quality architecture, improvements to streetscape design, and building relationships to each other and the public.

At a special City Commission workshop on December 18, 2018, the commissioners requested staff address the codification of the Downtown Master Plan. Staff members prepared an ordinance amending the City’s Unified Land Development Regulations (ULDR) to address key design standards to incorporate into the City’s code. The goal was to promote consistency and positive redevelopment throughout Downtown.

The focus of the effort included codifying quantitative elements to guide building form and street design, as well as changes to Downtown Character Areas, Transition Zones, open space provisions, and application of the standards to residential and nonresidential development.

On June 5, 2019, city staff members held an initial open house to present the proposed codifications and received feedback from the public. In total, there were approximately 25 public outreach meetings with various stakeholders, including: 

• The Council of Fort Lauderdale Civic Associations
• The Downtown Development Authority
• The Downtown Civic Association
• Rio Vista Civic Association Board
• Victoria Park Civic Association Board
• Tarpon River Civic Association Board
• Sailboat Bend Civic Association Board
• Flagler Village Civic Association
• Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce Committees
• The Downtown Council
• The Broward Workshop Urban Core Committee

The proposed amendments with revisions were presented to the Planning and Zoning Board on September 16, 2020 with the Board recommending approval by a vote of 8-0, with conditions. The City Commission adopted the proposed amendments on November 5, 2020.

The Downtown Master Plan’s successful implementation is a result of the cooperation between public and private sectors to help carry out the vision for Downtown Fort Lauderdale.

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