Urban Land Institute panel urges mixed‑use zoning, public placemaking for 31st‑Ave/Broward Blvd. corridor

Urban Land Institute (ULI) panelists presented findings and recommendations to the Lauderhill Commission on a study of the Northwest 31st Avenue‑Broward Boulevard corridor, urging design, zoning and activation strategies to attract investment and community activity.

Mallory Barker, manager at ULI Southeast Florida, introduced the volunteer panel and process. Ken Krasnow and Rafael Romero (ULI panelists) reviewed the panel’s public outreach, staff interviews and corridor tour and said the dominant public priorities were safety, cleanliness and places to gather. "We heard very clear and foremost, safety, cleanliness," one panelist said.

Panelist Melissa Heggie of MHCP CoLab described the corridor as three distinct districts with different needs and recommended a mix of tools: consolidate inconsistent future‑land‑use and zoning rules, create a mixed‑use overlay permitting temporary uses and flex space, and design transitional building types to buffer single‑family areas. Heggie said an overlay district could include temporary‑use permits and language to allow containerized or prefabricated building forms as permitted options to foster experimentation.

Rafael Romero and other panelists presented a market snapshot showing uneven retail and industrial rent dynamics and recommended using CRA‑owned parcels as catalyst sites. They suggested incremental placemaking ideas — food‑truck pods, kiosks and a small‑scale market concept the panel called the "Shops at Sunnydale Village" — as low‑cost pilots to increase activity near existing parking and the nearby park. The panel flagged the Wingate site across from a new film‑industry project as an opportunity to upgrade tenancy and avoid “noxious” uses such as vape shops and certain uses that may repel desired tenants.

City staff said the study complements ongoing zoning work and that next steps include sharing the presentation with absent commissioners, convening visioning sessions and working with planning staff to align zoning and future‑land‑use categories. ULI recommended the city pursue public charrettes and CRA tools — incentives, tax abatement and targeted investments — to encourage private‑sector follow‑through.

Commissioners praised the work, asked about adjacent development timelines and requested more detail on how to carry recommendations into zoning and project decisions. City staff said they would continue to work with ULI, planning staff and property owners to shape implementation steps and return with zoning recommendations.