Smart Growth: How South Florida cities are building without sprawling

Key points:

• • Broward County municipalities are deploying free electric bus networks, bus rapid transit expansions, and commuter rail designations to align residential growth with existing transportation capacity.
• • Cities including Miramar and Hollywood are using density bonuses and P3 structures to negotiate affordable and workforce housing units inside market-rate developments — without waiting for federal dollars.
• • Mayors across the region frame smart growth as a coordination strategy: stack transportation investment, reduce parking mandates, and concentrate density along corridors that can already carry the load.

May 2026 — Broward County has reached a turning point that no additional lane-widening will solve. Its municipalities have hit roadway buildout, housing costs have outpaced middle-income earners, and federal subsidies are shrinking. Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, Miramar, and Sunrise are each responding by stacking transit investment, housing partnerships, and streamlined development policy in the same corridors. Their approaches are locally tailored, and the underlying logic driving each one points in the same direction is smart growth, which in Broward is now a regional operating strategy.

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Broward County is one of the most densely developed counties in the United States, with little vacant land remaining for conventional suburban expansion. The Broward MPO has long identified transportation demand as the county’s primary infrastructure constraint. Its long-range plans prioritize transit investment, signal coordination, and multimodal connectivity over roadway expansion, a framework that municipal governments are now translating into local land-use and housing policy centered on smart growth principles.

Funding pressure

The affordability pressure compounds the mobility challenge. The Miami Association of Realtors tracks median single-family home prices across South Florida, and in several Broward municipalities those figures now exceed $500,000. Federal housing assistance programs remain income-restricted and are under significant funding pressure. The Trump administration’s FY26 budget proposed a 44% cut to HUD affordable housing and community development programs, a proposal that has left municipalities with fewer resources to deploy. Cities cannot subsidize their way out of the gap. They are negotiating it instead, using density bonuses, zoning concessions, and public-private partnership structures to pull affordable and workforce units into market-rate developments.
Municipal leaders across Broward shared their perspectives on how their cities are building the infrastructure, partnerships, and policy frameworks to make smart growth a practical reality across the region. In interviews with Invest: Greater Fort Lauderdale, Joy Cooper, mayor of Hallandale Beach; Carolyn Francis-Royer, chief housing administrator for the City of Miramar; Josh Levy, mayor of Hollywood; and Michael Ryan, mayor of Sunrise each outlined the strategies shaping their communities.

Joy Cooper, Mayor, City of Hallandale Beach

Transportation is one of our key issues. As vice chair of the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization, I have been keenly focused on solutions that move people efficiently in the place where we have reached roadway buildout. We have partnered with Broward County Transit and invested in a free, fully electric bus system that connects within the city and helps residents to reach regional destinations.
We have worked to reduce headways and improve reliability. We also partner in signalization so traffic can move better through key intersections. In parallel, we reduced parking requirements because parking is expensive, and we need development patterns that support fewer cars and more interconnection.
Our goal is to connect to nearby employment and healthcare hubs, including Aventura and regional hospital systems, and to align local transit with the broader network, including rail. If you plan it out, people can live, work, and visit without defaulting to a car for every trip.

Carolyn Francis-Royer, Chief Housing Administrator, City of Miramar

Expanding access in a market like Miramar is a significant challenge because the average price of a single-family home here is over $500,000. Most of the federal and state funding we use to assist residents is income-restricted and targeted to the very needy, so our resources are limited and our grants are shrinking. That’s why partnerships are essential. We work to bring nonprofit and private-sector partners to the table in true public-private partnerships, or P3s.
The city may offer density bonuses or other concessions, and in return we negotiate for affordable units within new developments. A developer might be building luxury apartments, for example, but if the city is contributing something of value, we can ask that a percentage of those units be set aside as affordable or workforce housing. The goal is always to make these projects attractive and profitable for the private sector while still meeting our responsibility as local government to provide housing options that serve our residents.

Josh Levy, Mayor, City of Hollywood

We have focused on two primary growth areas: the Regional Activity Center (RAC), which surrounds and includes downtown Hollywood, and the transit-oriented corridor along State Road 7.
Over the past year, we have seen a number of market rate and affordable housing mixed-use developments completed along our commercial corridors in both areas, bringing new residents to our beautiful city. These projects reflect a long-standing vision for what residents want for our city, and demonstrates the high quality of life and opportunity available here.
Downtown Hollywood continues to attract residents seeking a walkable, urban environment. State Road 7, or as we call it “The 7,” is an emerging destination primed for redevelopment. For the first time, we are seeing successful residential growth along what was traditionally a commercial-only corridor.
Both areas align with the county’s transportation plans. In the downtown RAC, Hollywood has been designated as the first station for the future Broward Commuter Rail South, and we have already begun investing to support that. On The 7, some of the county’s busiest bus lines are being expanded through the PREMO plan, including bus rapid transit and other options.
We are encouraging residential growth in coordination with these investments. The goal is to support smart growth by placing development in areas with existing and planned transportation capacity while creating connected, walkable districts.

Michael Ryan, Mayor, City of Sunrise

Redevelopment, especially infill redevelopment, is far more complex than building on vacant land. It requires a committed city commission and staff who are focused on facilitating projects, streamlining processes, and updating development codes when they no longer serve a real purpose.
We’ve made changes that allow small businesses to upgrade facilities more efficiently and, in many cases, receive administrative approvals rather than lengthy commission processes. That saves time and money, and it reflects a mindset that government should enable smart growth rather than slow it down.
We also pay close attention to what neighboring cities are doing. Regional success benefits everyone. When a major employer chooses Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, Tamarac, or any nearby city, that success strengthens the entire region. 

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