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The City of Plantation recently became aware of a discussion that the City of Fort Lauderdale had on Sept. 17 about the establishment of a pallet home project for the homeless at a parcel they own in unincorporated Broward County. The property is located at 4590 Peters Road, just south of the City of Plantation and nestled between two single-family neighborhoods in the municipal services district.
At no point was the City of Plantation engaged in any conversation regarding this matter prior to the issue being raised at Fort Lauderdale’s Conference Meeting on Sept. 17. While Mayor Dean Trantalis indicated that this concept was communicated to the County, it is important to note that when I reached out to County Commissioner Steve Geller, he emailed the following response while out of the country:
“I’ve heard nothing about a proposal from the City of Fort Lauderdale to place Homeless Palette Shelters in Broadview Park. Broadview Park is entirely in my district. I do not support placing palette shelters in Broadview Park. I am out of town. When I get back into town, I’ll discuss this further. For now, I do not support placing the homeless palette shelters in Broadview Park and my office has not received any communications about this from the City of Fort Lauderdale or any Broward County Agency.”
Subsequent phone calls to other leaders indicated that there may be similar plans in their infancy throughout the county. While the City of Plantation is sensitive to the plight of the homeless individuals in Broward County and willing to work collaboratively on effective strategies to deal with the issue, the Broadview Park effort discussed by the City of Fort Lauderdale is unacceptable. We find the concept to be in violation of the relevant state statutes and I have directed the City Attorney and our planning staff to monitor this issue moving forward. The City of Fort Lauderdale’s attempt to mitigate this issue outside of its boundaries in the middle of a single-family community will be vigorously opposed.
Mayor Nick Sortal writes a regular newsletter to keep Plantation residents informed.
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