Residents urge moving Hollywood Beach exclusion buoys farther offshore to protect snorkelers and novice divers

At the Hollywood City Commission meeting on Sept. 3, 2025, three residents and a local dive-shop owner asked the commission to move proposed vessel-exclusion buoys farther offshore, arguing the planned placement at about 218 yards would leave swimmers and snorkelers exposed near the natural "First Reef."

The request came during citizen comments, when Rick Goldman, a Southlake resident and recreational diver, said the markers as proposed would protect only the artificial reef but not the natural First Reef, which he and other residents said lies farther out. "By stopping the marker short of the First Reef, we'd be encouraging boaters to be directly in the path of people heading to that reef," Goldman said. He added that he snorkels there regularly with his 6-year-old granddaughter and that boats have come "speeding right up to me."

Todd Graham, owner of a local dive shop, told commissioners that boats will congregate where buoys mark exclusion lines. "The boats are gonna park right on wherever you kinda put those lines because they're gonna wanna see this new ... statues," Graham said, urging the commission to position buoys farther offshore so boats will not anchor in the same areas used by swimmers and beginner snorkelers.

Julie Greenfield, a Hollywood Beach resident, said many older neighbors and noncertified swimmers routinely travel to the natural reef using water scooters, kayaks and by swimming. "When you put those buoys out there at 218 yards ... you are legally giving them a lane at 218 yards," Greenfield said. She warned that placing buoys at that distance would effectively create a legal lane for boats closer to swimmers who go to the natural reef at roughly 300–400 yards from shore.

Speakers cited several practical concerns: visibility of dive flags (required size noted during the meeting as 12 inches by 12 inches), the frequency of boaters approaching swimmers, and limited law-enforcement presence offshore. Goldman said lifeguards blew whistles 900 times last year to warn boaters, and that he sees a police boat offshore "maybe once a year." Greenfield and others noted that many visitors and renters operating boats may not know local rules; one speaker observed that Florida law allows on-board alcohol in many cases and that not all operators are required to have taken a safety course unless born after Jan. 1, 1988.

City staff previously described the city's artificial reefs as being placed about 150–180 yards offshore and said the exclusion buoys under consideration are approximately 218 yards from shore, about 120 feet seaward of the artificial reef. Speakers asked the commission to consider moving buoys to 300 yards or more to separate anchored and transiting boats from swimmers traveling to the natural reef.

No formal action on buoy placement was recorded during the meeting; the remarks took place during the citizens' comments portion of the Sept. 3 agenda.