No Re-Zone - Winners!

Congratulations to all who stood up and fought. Solidarity wins again. A special thanks goes out from everone to those who championed the cause.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Plantation rejects 230 condos at Jacaranda Country Club golf course

BY ROBIN BENEDICK
Sun-Sentinel.com
1:51 PM EDT, March 12, 2008

PLANTATION
The city's planning and zoning board unanimously rejected a request to put about 230 condos at the Jacaranda Country Club golf course on Tuesday night but neighbors said Wednesday their battle may not be over.

The board voted 7-0 to reject a land-use amendment that would have allowed multifamily units to be built in the heart of the 36-hole, semi-private golf course that surrounds an upscale neighborhood of single-family homes. The vote is a recommendation to the city council, which will consider the amendment at a future meeting.

About 300 people, many wearing red shirts to show their opposition to the development proposal, attended the meeting.

Some said the project would overwhelm the neighborhood, create traffic problems, lower property values and reduce open space. They fear Scratch Golf Co., the course's owner and applicant for the amendment change, will be back with a scaled-down proposal. They vowed to fight any new plan.

"We're extremely satisfied with the board's vote, but we're expecting something else to come forward,'' said Elisabeth Small, an 11-year Jacaranda resident and representative of a nonprofit coalition of more than 2,000 homeowners formed to fight the development. "We don't think this belongs there. It's too intense for the character of our neighborhood.

''Bill Laystrom, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer representing Scratch, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Small said Laystrom showed plans at a meeting last Thursday for 229 units to be built in 20 buildings, half of them six stories tall and half four stories tall.

Plantation City Councilman Rico Petrocelli complimented homeowners on presenting a unified case to the board. "It's really about what the people in Jacaranda wanted for their whole community and that's what their wishes were,'' he said.

Mike Gimbel, who has lived in Jacaranda since 1989, said the prospect of development and the sea of red "no rezone'' signs dotting the neighborhood has prevented owners from being able to sell. He also said the development is planned in the wrong place. It should be at the edge of the property near Broward Boulevard and not in the heart of it, he said.

"They're basically telling us we've got to do away with our green space and once it's gone, it's gone,'' Gimbel said. "We all bought into a country club community. We didn't buy into a blue collar golf course.

''Robin Benedick can be reached at rbenedick@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7914. Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel <http://www.sun-sentinel.com/>

Robin Benedick
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Staff Writer
Phone: 954-385-7914
Fax: 954-385-7979
E-mail: rbenedick@sun-sentinel.com