On Tuesday, the Broward County Commission discussed building permanent homeless encampments at two new locations near the City of Plantation. The Commission workshop considered plans to build “pallet homes” on six locations in Broward. The County believes pallet home encampments will help them comply with a new State law which prohibits homeless camping.
Of the six locations, three properties are owned by Broward County and three are owned by the City of Fort Lauderdale. Two of the County properties are located in far-southwestern Broward near Stirling Road and Sheridan Street. Mayor Nan Rich said both locations are too far away from homeless services.
The third County location is a group of parcels between Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades. The parcels are heavily wooded and prone to flooding. Mayor Rich said it would take to long to make the “Shaw parcels” viable for an encampment.
One property owned by the City of Fort Lauderdale would take even longer to make viable. A location near Cypress Creek Road and Prospect Road is currently a lake. County officials said the lake could be filled and then used for pallet homes.
The two other Fort Lauderdale properties are in the unincorporated Broadview Park neighborhood.
One property is a heavily wooded field behind the Pine Ridge School near State Road 7 and Peters Road.
The most shovel-ready property is a cleared field in Broadview Park across the street from Meadowbrook Elementary School.
On the other side of Meadowbrook is an overgrown property that Fort Lauderdale officials suggested as a location for a homeless encampment.
Last month, REDBROWARD broke the news about the City of Fort Lauderdale’s plan to build 100 pallet homes for the homeless on this Broadview Park site. This plan would place a homeless encampment across the street from Plantation.
Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller, who represents Broadview Park and parts of Plantation, voiced his disapproval of this plan. “Hell no,” Geller said.
On Tuesday, Geller objected to the two new locations in Broadview Park.
Even Plantation Mayor Nick Sortal spoke out last month about the plan. “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,” Sortal wrote. “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.”
Now, Broadview Park could be home to three pallet home encampments.
Will Plantation City officials allow hundreds of pallet home shelter to be build across the street from City neighborhoods?
H. Wayne Clark, a Republican running for Plantation City Council Group 5, made opposition to homeless encampments a key component of his campaign.
His opponent, Democrat Louis Reinstein did not respond to requests for comment on the Broadview Park plans.
Will Broward Mayor Nan Rich get her way on homeless encampments near Plantation?
Will Louis Reinstein tell Nan Rich “Hell no?”
Stay tuned.
