This is a marathon, let's cheer each other to finish in first place
Dear neighbors, volunteers, supporters, all members of our interlinked communities that share the sky, the air, the natural environment and that can feel the loss of quality of life from these spatial and ecological conversions being approved all around us.
Yesterday we invested three hours working in person with our attorney to prepare for the Broward Planning Council Meeting of Thursday January 23rd. He will work some more hours this weekend writing a letter to the chair of the Broward Planning Council about our organization, concerns and actions up to date. He will also request extra time, in addition to the individual three minutes allowed during the public hearing, to address our most critical issues.
We will address the increased risk of property damage from floods because the greens that are adjacent to our residences are designated flood zones. We more frequently observe the golf courses flood to heights that inundate partially the structure of our backyards and driveways, theoretically this should happen with storm events that reoccur after much longer intervals. We discharge to drainage systems that were designed based on the events, assumptions and urban density of the sixties and seventies. The rapid rate of urbanization in the Broward County and the effects of climate change are causes of this problem, therefore our representatives should seriously consider the current conditions in their decisions about zoning and long-term flood mitigation.
The City of Lauderhill commissioned their own traffic study and they will be there contrasting their findings to the applicant’s theoretical assertion about minimizing the impact of their proposed new 398 homes by creating some unfeasible right turns. They can stand there with numbers and say that the traffic congestion won’t surpass the county’s allowed threshold, but we suffer the traffic congestion every single day and we can see the easements that exist in the places where they propose those right turns.
We need a planner in our team, so we are striving to have one for next week’s Planning Council Meeting. In any case, we are confident that we will be able to have one for the County Commission Meeting that will be scheduled sometime in the short future.
Despite all the above, we need hundreds there discouraging the members of the Planning Council from recommending the redevelopment of this half-century-old ecosystem. We must stop the loss of open green space, of natural resources to counter the effects of overurbanization, of long-lived botanical species, of wildlife habitats, of the integrity and the character of a historical community and of two public golf courses taken away from all of us that have no disposable income to pay for a private club membership.
Send your opposition letters to the Broward County Commission and the Planning Council Members. You will find them in this article: https://www.woodlandsdefensefund.com/post/no-bagels-for-me-i-live-in-a-garden
Join us this coming Tuesday for a Woodlands Defense Fund community meeting: TUESDAY January21st 2020 @ 7:00 PM at Section 2 Club House; 6101 White Oak Lane.
Attend the meeting on Thursday January 23rd and signup to speak your three minutes: Broward County Planning Council Public Hearing January23rd 2020 @ 10:00 AM at room 422 Governmental Center.
Help us fund the legal case to preserve The Woodlands as the jewel it was built to be. Everything we do is cumulative and it’s about creating a record for a subsequent action. This is a marathon and we need lots of supporters along the long way handing a glass of water. We also welcome you to run with us, especially during critical intervals, so we can cheer each other to finish in first place. Donate today: https://www.woodlandsdefensefund.com/call-to-action
