From the local resident with a 16-foot center console to the movers and shakers riding 100-plus-foot fiberglass, Hollywood wants to accommodate them all.

That’s the message behind the city’s newly proposed marine waterway master plan, which seeks to tap into a resurging marine industry and pleasure boating at all levels. One of the main bullet points is to “increase the city tax base.”

Most of the potential projects involve enhancing the waterways for both transient and residential use, such as expanding the city’s marina, adding a mooring field in South Lake, increasing tourism with new destination points, building a new pier on the ocean side and linking

to emerging commercial interests such as the luxurious, 349-room Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort, which is planned for a 5-acre site between Johnson and Michigan streets.

“We’re not trying to be Fort Lauderdale,” said Renee Richards-Lukehart, project manager for the city’s depart- ment of parks, recreation and cultural arts. “We always want to be more resident-oriented. And we are very much concerned with conservation and the responsibility for protecting our environmental resources.”

In 2012, the city received a 50 percent funding grant from the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND) to put together the plan, which was drafted by consulting firm EDSA, Inc., at a total cost of $150,000. Hollywood’s Community Redevelopment Agency kicked in the other half of the money. “The primary purpose of this study is to perform a detailed analysis of the waterways system within the City of Hollywood, identifying opportunities to optimize the utilization of the waterways within Hollywood through a mixture of compatible uses that both activates and celebrates the waterfront,” Richards-Lukehart said.

The plan proposes projects encompassing all of those waters, including also more than 7 miles of the Atlantic, the Intracoastal, North Lake, South Lake, West Lake and many of the local canals, ponds and mangroves.

So far the plan is getting positive reviews from some residents, while others are a bit more guarded about getting behind it.

“I think it’s a good plan,” said Jack Scheiler, 71, of Dania Beach. “I went to both of the public meetings, and they’ve got some good ideas. Obviously, you can’t please everybody on every little issue, but I think they’re receptive to that, and I think they’ve got the best interests of the city in mind.”

But Hollywood Lakes resident Michael Remaly, an emergency room physician who recently did a large renovation on his waterfront home , isn’t so sure he likes the plan.

“There are things I agree with, and there are things I strongly don’t agree with,” Remaly said. “The first pro- posed project which leaped out at me was the dredging of North Lake to allow bigger yachts to get into Hollywood Marina. I don’t like the idea of bringing that kind of im- pact to this lake.”

Even worse, he said, is an idea to take the dredged material and create a “fill island” in the center of the lake. “They were talking about creating an island in there that’s as large or larger than the block I live on,” Remaly said. “That would kill the lake, in my opinion, and I imag- ine that island as a sort of Beer Can Island full of drunks and bringing in jet skis, fast boats, the whole thing. You’d have drug deals going on out there at night. That’s not what this community needs.”

Remaly said he’s also irked that the plan has been funded and created without much advance notice to Hollywood residents.

“Very few people knew about the public meetings, and even fewer knew about the plan at all,” he said. “It seems to me that they should have done more due diligence in notifying the community.”

He said Richards-Lukehart has been very receptive, however.

“She took the time to hear my concerns and to be re- ceptive to them,” he said. “I appreciate that.”

Remaly, who enjoys watching sea life — including dolphins and manatees — from his dock with his wife, said Richards-Lukehart told him recently that the idea for the fill island has been scrapped.

“That’s a relief, certainly,” he said. “But there are still other parts of it that concern me. Mainly, I’m nervous about the whole idea of commercializing the waterway too much. Early on, they were throwing around the phrase ‘Water makes money,’ which I found not too good for getting the community behind this thing. They’ve since dropped that. I think there's a point where there’s money not worth making. There needs to be a balance between generating revenue and preserving the commu- nity.”

Remaly, an avid kayaker, said he was happy with certain components of the plan, such as an proposal to en- hance connectivity and recreational aspects for non-motorized watercraft.

Richards-Lukehart, who wrote the grant, said community input is of “vital importance.”

“We want to hear from residents, and we want to focus on conservation of our beautiful resources here,” she said. “We are open to ideas, which is why we’ve held these two public meetings and why I’m encouraging peo- ple to email me with their thoughts on this.”

Once the public input is put together and reviewed, some of the ideas will be built into the master plan, she said, with 5 and 10-year goals.

Tyler Chappell, FIND vice chairman for Broward County, said he was “very pleased” with the proposal. “As far as I’ve seen, it’s been very well received,” Chappell said. “I think they’ve done an excellent job in putting this thing together, and I’m glad they’re looking for additional public outreach.”

Chappell said he had hoped that Broward County would have been more involved, but that he was impressed with what the city has done.

“This is quite a project for a municipality, especially a smaller city like Hollywood, to undertake,” he said.

EDSA Inc. will continue working on the master plan in April, which goes before the Hollywood City Commission for final approval in June.

Chappell said the next step would be to pinpoint the

projects that need to be done and prioritize them. “Obviously, the most needed projects should be done first,” he said. “Then, they can come back to FIND on each one to seek additional funding.”
Remaly said he’d like to see more people from the community educating themselves on the proposals. “Honestly, I’m not even sure what the plan entails, fully,” he said. “But for me, it’s all about our quality of life and being ecologically responsible. I don’t want to see them overly commercialize our waterways. But we’re happy to be here, and we want to work with the city.”

Anyone interested in providing feedback is urged to do it by Thursday, April 10, Richards-Lukehart said. The best way to do that is to email her at rrichards@hollywoodfl.org. To view the plan as it exists currently, go to www.hollywoodfl.org/DocumentCenter/View/3519.