"We've had dozens of meetings about this. We have gone to the city again and again to ask them to listen to us and they refuse." That was Troy Liggett, president of the Middle River Terrace Association, speaking to NBC 6 South Florida after Fort Lauderdale's Planning and Zoning Board voted unanimously in November 2025 to advance the Central City rezoning. The station's headline said the plan would "bring high rises near homes," and its report described buildings of 10 to 15 stories coming to the 13th Street Corridor, an area it described as mostly single-family homes.
The city's own staff report tells a different story about height. The commercial land along NE 13th Street, Sunrise Boulevard, NE 4th Avenue and NE 6th and 7th Avenues already allows 150 feet. The proposal would lower that ceiling for most of the 130.6 acres it covers. What it changes is the type of building that can be approved without a special hearing. If you're weighing a house a block or two off the corridor, that's the change to understand.
The Ceiling Already on the Books
Today the parcels carry four commercial zoning categories: Community Business (CB), Boulevard Business (B-1), General Business (B-2) and Heavy Commercial/Light Industrial Business (B-3). The proposal would replace them with three new districts: Central City–Corridor Mixed-Use (CC-CMU), Central City–General Mixed-Use (CC-GMU) and Central City–Neighborhood Mixed-Use (CC-NMU).
Here is how height compares in the staff report's dimensional table:
| Standard | CB, B-1, B-2, B-3 today | CC-CMU proposed | CC-GMU and CC-NMU proposed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum height | 150 ft | 105 ft | 80 ft |
| Height with affordable housing | Not listed | Up to 125 ft | No bonus listed |
| Height by conditional use permit | Not listed | Up to 150 ft | No bonus listed |
| Podium | Not regulated | 2 to 5 stories, 25 to 55 ft | 2 to 5 stories, 25 to 55 ft |
On the 80-foot districts, the most a building could reach drops by 70 feet. In the corridor district, 150 feet is still possible, but only through a conditional use permit, which means a public approval process. Today that height needs no such permit.
What Becomes Easier to Build
Under the current commercial categories, housing is the harder path. In the staff report's comparison tables, "Mixed-Use Development" appears as a conditional use in CB, B-1, B-2 and B-3, and standalone residential isn't listed as a permitted use in any of them. In the proposed districts, "Residential Uses" and "Mixed-Use" both appear as permitted uses. Staff put it directly. The new districts expand opportunities "by permitting residential uses by right, rather than as a conditional use," which the report says provides "greater predictability."
That predictability benefits whoever files the application. The proposal also sets the size and shape of what gets filed:
- Density. The draft sets a base maximum of 50 dwelling units per acre. Density can go higher through bonuses in the Comprehensive Plan, the city's Flexibility Rules, its Affordable Housing Regulations or Florida law.
- Front setback. The minimum front yard on a primary street goes from 5 feet today to 0 feet. Secondary streets stay at 5 feet.
- Tower size. Tower floorplates are capped at 10,000 square feet for residential and 16,000 square feet for commercial. Towers must stand at least 30 feet from a neighboring tower on a lot under separate ownership.
Taken together, the code describes a building that meets the sidewalk with a two-to-five-story base, sets its upper floors back, and holds apartments that no longer need a conditional use hearing. The association told NBC 6 its concerns were traffic, noise and congestion, and a change in what can be built by right bears on all three.
Where the Corridor Meets the Back Fence
For a house whose rear lot line touches a commercial parcel, the edge rules matter more than the height cap. The proposal adds a 15-foot tower stepback wherever a building abuts residential use and zoning, along with 15-foot side and rear yards against residential property.
How that compares with today depends on the current category of the parcel behind you:
- CB parcels: the side yard against residential property goes from 10 feet to 15 feet. The rear yard stays at 15 feet.
- B-1 and B-2 parcels: side and rear yards against residential property stay at 15 feet. The tower stepback is new.
- B-3 parcels: side and rear yards against residential property shrink from 20 feet to 15 feet. The tower stepback is new.
Two houses on the same street can face different outcomes depending on which category sits behind them. A parcel zoned B-3 today, a category that also allows wholesale and light industrial uses, would lose 5 feet of buffer against residential property while gaining housing as a permitted use.
A Hearing Date Nobody Has Set
All of the figures above come from the 2025 proposal, not from code in effect. The City's own description of the process has Planning and Zoning Board review followed by City Commission public hearings, and a land use plan amendment, Phase 3, starting only after the rezoning phases are complete. In November 2025 the City told NBC 6 that the item would go to the Commission and residents would get "another opportunity to share their concerns prior to a final vote."
The latest public update on scheduling came three months later, in the Central City Redevelopment Advisory Board's approved minutes from February 4, 2026:
Rezoning Project – Mixed-Use Zoning Proposal. Staff is still awaiting the scheduled date(s) for the City Commission.
The rezoning was not on the City Commission's October 20, 2026 regular meeting agenda. As of this writing, the corridor still operates under CB, B-1, B-2 and B-3 rules, with a fully drafted replacement waiting for its first Commission hearing.
The City has kept spending on the corridor in the meantime. On September 15, 2026, the Commission approved a $140,000 service agreement with Brooks Scarpa Huber for a sculpture in the roundabout at 13th Street and NE 7th Avenue, plus $10,000 in project costs, for a total of $150,000. When the advisory board reviewed the finalists in February, its chair reminded members that they "needed to consider the rezoning, and long term vision for the area." The board unanimously named the Brooks Scarpa Huber design its preferred choice. Inside the neighborhood, the City reported on September 23 that restoration of the Historic Annie Beck House in Middle River Terrace Park was about 90% complete, with final landscaping and parking lot markings remaining.
The sculpture was chosen with the rezoning's long-term vision in mind. The zoning it was chosen for still has no Commission date.
What to Pull Before Writing an Offer Near the Corridor
For a single-family home on a block that touches NE 13th Street, Sunrise Boulevard or NE 4th Avenue, the useful due diligence is specific:
- The current category of every commercial parcel that abuts the lot. CB, B-1, B-2 and B-3 face different changes in yards and uses. The UDP-Z25002 staff report maps the affected acreage.
- Which proposed district that parcel would fall into. The difference between an 80-foot CC-NMU parcel and a CC-CMU parcel eligible for 150 feet by conditional use is the biggest variable in the proposal. The district rules are in the UDP-T25009 text amendment.
- Commission agendas on Legistar. A first reading would be the earliest sign of timing, and amendments made at the dais could change any number in the tables above.
- Whether the parcel next door is assembled or listed. Under the proposal, a site big enough for a 10,000-square-foot residential floorplate and a 30-foot tower separation is a different asset than a single storefront lot.
This is general information about a pending proposal, not legal advice. Confirm how any zoning rule applies to a specific property with a land use attorney or the City's planning staff.
Reading a pending rezoning parcel by parcel is the kind of land work our team handles every week, whether you're buying the house behind the corridor or the site on it. To walk through the commercial parcels next to a Middle River Terrace address before you make an offer, request a private consultation with Tyler Tuchow and the Fortune | Christie's Las Olas team.
