Hollywood Moves New Planning Applications to Accela Portal

Hollywood has moved new planning and related development applications into its expanded Accela online permitting platform, changing where residents, businesses and developers must file a range of city requests.

Phase II of the city’s Accela rollout went live for staff and the public on Aug. 4. From that date forward, new applications handled by the Division of Planning and Urban Design must be submitted through Accela.

The change applies to applications including rezonings, variances, certificates of appropriateness, design and site-plan applications, pre-application consultations, certificates of use, extended-hour licenses, paint permits, sign permits and public-art permits, according to the City of Hollywood.

New filings move; existing cases stay put

The new filing requirement does not mean active cases have been transferred from the city’s previous platform. Hollywood says permits already in the BCLA permitting system will remain there and will continue through the existing process until further notice.

That distinction is important for applicants with work already underway: new requests covered by the Phase II launch belong in Accela, while applicants with existing BCLA permits should continue to manage those permits in the older system.

The city’s Aug. 4 Planning and Urban Design notice specifically directs new planning applications to Accela. It does not say that existing BCLA cases have been migrated, set a date for their migration, or announce changes to fees or approval times.

Part of a broader Development Services expansion

Hollywood’s July city announcement described the August expansion as a broader Development Services rollout involving Building, Planning, Engineering, Transportation and Code Compliance functions. The city said the expansion is intended to improve customer service and streamline access to city services.

For planning applicants, the immediate practical change is the filing portal. People seeking a zoning change, variance, site-plan review, certificate of use or one of the other listed approvals now need to begin the application through Accela rather than BCLA.

The city scheduled a service interruption from July 24 through Aug. 4 as part of the transition. Phase II follows an earlier Phase I launch in 2024, according to Hollywood’s broader announcement.

What applicants should watch next

Hollywood has confirmed that Accela is now the required path for new planning filings, but the city’s notices do not provide early data on application volumes, system performance or whether processing times have changed. The notices also do not establish a deadline for moving existing BCLA permits to the newer platform.

Applicants should distinguish between a new request and an existing permit before starting work in either system. The city has said existing BCLA permits remain in their current process until further notice, while new Planning and Urban Design applications are to be submitted through Accela.

The wider rollout is intended to expand online access to Hollywood’s Development Services functions. For now, the clearest confirmed result is a split process: Accela for newly filed planning applications, and BCLA for permits already in the older system.