What did the Las Olas Boulevard redesign decide about the blocks at the top of Colee Hammock? Most of the coverage this year doesn't say. The headlines were about the black-olive median in the shopping district, and that argument was real. The Sun Sentinel reported that residents objected to giving up the boulevard's distinctive canopy and its history, while supporters pointed to wider sidewalks, parking and new canopy trees.
That argument was about the four blocks of shops, though. The Colee Hammock segment, the eastern end of what the City calls the Western Corridor, got a different plan. On paper, it changes more than any other part of the boulevard.
Fifty-Four Palms and Thirteen Other Trees
On February 3, 2026, the City Commission approved conceptual designs for three segments of Las Olas between Andrews Avenue and SE 17th Avenue: Downtown, the Shops and Colee Hammock. It sent all three ahead to 60% design. The Colee Hammock summary exhibit attached to that meeting compares what is there today with what was approved.
| Colee Hammock segment | Existing | Approved concept |
|---|---|---|
| Metered on-street parking | 39 spaces | 36 spaces |
| Sidewalk | 5 ft | More than 10 ft shared-use path, average width |
| Large trees, 40-ft canopy | 1 | 24 |
| Medium trees, 25-ft canopy | 6 | 151 |
| Small trees, 18-ft canopy | 6 | 0 |
| Palms | 54 | 0 |
| Total trees | 67 | 175 |
| Tree canopy at maturity | Baseline | About 12 times larger |
The palm count matters more than the tree totals. Today 54 of the segment's 67 trees are palms, and only one tree on the whole stretch is large enough to qualify as large. The approved concept has no palms at all, and the City's exhibit calls every proposed tree a shade tree. On this stretch, a palm-lined edge becomes a shaded one.
The 12-times figure was also raised during the approval process. According to the February 3 commission memo, the Commission directed staff on January 20 to increase Colee Hammock's canopy target, and it went from the roughly nine times shown earlier to about twelve.
What Changes, Block by Block
The same memo lists the Colee Hammock features one at a time:
- A shared-use path more than ten feet wide between SE 11th Avenue and SE 16th Avenue, on the space that now holds a narrow sidewalk.
- Raised north-south crosswalks near Tarpon Drive.
- A raised intersection at SE 13th Avenue.
- Continuous on-street parking, with 36 spaces kept and an expected loss of three.
- A traffic median planted with trees at SE 16th Avenue and SE 17th Avenue.
The path takes the place of today's separate sidewalk and bike lane. At an October 22, 2025 meeting with the Colee Hammock association, recorded in the City's meeting summary, the project team described the combined space as more than ten feet for walking and biking. Association chair Jackie Scott said the change could make the street more comfortable and safer for both.
The meeting record also shows how the parking and canopy questions were settled for this segment. Scott pressed for mature shade trees on both sides of the street and said losing a few parking spaces was acceptable if it made room for larger-canopy trees. The approved concept ended up with three fewer spaces and 175 shade trees. The record shows the chair's view, not a formal association vote, but the final plan matches it closely.
Why the Shops Debate Looked So Different
Next to the other two segments, Colee Hammock's trade looks generous.
In the Shops segment, the approved layout removes the median entirely. It widens the sidewalk from about five feet to about ten, and metered parking drops from 86 spaces to 74. The segment goes from 90 existing trees to 111 proposed, for roughly four times the canopy at maturity. That design also drops the center turn lane at SE 9th Avenue and the right-turn lanes at SE 8th Avenue in both directions.
The Downtown segment keeps all 46 on-street spaces and goes from 115 trees to 180, also about four times the canopy.
The 15 black olives at the center of the controversy are in the Shops median, and they come out with it, as the Sun Sentinel reported after the vote. A consultant's risk review summarized in the commission memo rated two of those trees low risk, 12 moderate and one high. It also expected that root cuts from road and utility work would raise the risk for affected trees. Minutes from the November 13, 2025 town hall record that the olives weren't recommended for relocation, because their confined root systems wouldn't hold them steady at a new site. WLRN summed up the approved plan as removing median olives to widen sidewalks and improve pedestrian lighting while adding trees and keeping street parking.
The Commission approved the concept on a 3–2 vote, according to the Sun Sentinel.
The Shops gave up a median, its best-known trees and 12 parking spaces for about four times the canopy. Colee Hammock gives up three spaces for about twelve times. The heated debate happened a few blocks west of the segment that changes the most.
The Number That Will Move
The figures in the February memo are preliminary, and the memo says so. It puts construction at $5.0 million for Downtown, $7.5 million for the Shops and $6.8 million for Colee Hammock, $19.3 million in all. Those estimates came before the landscaping increases the Commission asked for. They also leave out landscaping, wayfinding, design-build contractor costs and construction engineering inspection, and the memo says the estimate will be revised.
That matters most for Colee Hammock. Its segment gained the largest canopy increase after the estimate was prepared, and planting 175 shade trees where 67 trees now stand is exactly the kind of cost the $6.8 million doesn't include.
Funding identified so far is a fraction of even the preliminary total. The memo lists $1 million in FY2027 City capital funding and $1 million from Florida appropriations. It also lists $1.2 million in federal earmark funding that was pending final approval at the time, and it describes efforts to find more, including a BUILD grant application. The City's plan is to buy construction as phased design-build, matched to whatever funding is available.
Where the Calendar Stands This Fall
The approved design is still a concept. The milestones so far:
- November 13, 2025: Public town hall on the western corridor.
- December 2025: Tree risk assessment along the western corridor.
- January 20, 2026: Design alternatives presented to the Commission.
- February 3, 2026: Conceptual designs approved.
- Early 2027: 60% design plans anticipated, according to the City's September 2026 project update.
The February memo had aimed for 60% plans by winter 2026. The City's project page now says early 2027, and it gives no construction start date. In February, the Sun Sentinel reported that construction would start in about two years. That's the paper's estimate, not a date the City has committed to.
Construction phasing is an open question with a paper trail. At the town hall, attendees asked about business access, block-by-block versus continuous construction, traffic flow and how long the disruption would last. In a separate meeting with downtown property owners, the project team committed to phased construction that keeps business access and ADA routes open, with a phasing plan built on stakeholder input.
East of SE 17th Avenue, the City held a stakeholder meeting for the separate Eastern Corridor on September 3, 2026, and ran an online survey that closed September 17. On the Colee Hammock blocks, the next public milestone is the 60% plan set. That's when the tree species, spacing and the exact line of the shared-use path stop being concept drawings. Questions and comments go to the City's Transportation and Mobility Department at [email protected].
A shaded, wider edge along Las Olas changes how the front of a Colee Hammock home reads from the street, and how its entry, landscaping and outdoor rooms relate to the boulevard. If you're weighing a renovation, a new landscape plan or a future sale around this timeline, Laurie's Lauderdale Group can walk the block with you and look at how the planned streetscape fits your property. Request a Design + Market Consultation.
