This petition is signed by the people that oppose the amendment to the Broward County Land Use Plan that is aimed to change to residential the use of the land occupied by the two golf courses of The Woodlands Country Club located in Tamarac, Florida.

Our goal is to stop the forceful conversion of about 214 acres of a marvelous ecosystem that has been thriving for half a century, offering refuge to mature trees, a prospering wildlife and empowering a numerous community to adopt healthy lifestyles through access to sport, meditation, fitness and socialization.

The approval process has moved forward by running over the clamor of the people that want to preserve this environmental and historical jewel, with all its irreplaceable natural resources and unique architectural character. The meetings with the authorities portrayed passion while canvassing for multiple hours against the project and frustration after being contested with condescending and outpowering, in favor of a project that has to consume about 84% of the open green space to meet the level of service required by a development of this magnitude.

The recommendation of the Broward County Planning Council to approve the land use amendment was based on the applicant’s commitment to preserve 110 acres of the golf courses for community recreation and open space, but since then, most of those acres have been projected to be new lakes. The plat and site plan that have been consulted and formally presented to the city of Tamarac, ahead of the Broward County land use amendment, propose to dig six new lakes within the golf course's acreage that must have been preserved and six more in the areas to be built. With this new design, 84% of the open and dry green lands, together with the ecosystem they host, will be devastated by the construction activities. Hundreds of millions of gallons of dirt will be excavated from an area twice as big as the Disney’s Magic Kingdom theme park in Orlando. Only 41 acres of open and dry golf course's areas will survive.

The land use amendment application will be presented on October 20, 2020 to the consideration of the Broward County Commission, in a quasi-judicial evidentiary hearing to which many affected residents with legal standing cannot attend in person to exercise their right to a due process. If the Broward County Commission approves the amendment, they will permit the evanescence of 169 acres of irreplaceable recreational open green space and the drenching of additional 45 acres to create water retention ponds. Lakes and waterways do not qualify as usable, recreational and open green space. Nor do the areas around the new dwelling units.

We aspire to liaise with our elected officials to contain the consumption of the remaining open green spaces. The land development code should not be amended with easy, or it will be nothing more than optional ideals. Particularly those ideals that recognize the open green spaces as critical assets worth of being protected and preserved for the wellbeing of the people.

The Broward County branded its commitment to meet the contemporaneous challenges with climate resilience, environmental conservation and protection of open space areas of recreation as BrowardNext. This commitment has been documented in the updated Land Use Plan together with other priorities like transit, affordable housing and endogenous economic opportunities. The replacement of a humongous extension of open green space designated for recreation by single family dwelling units with average sales price in the lower four hundred thousand dollars is not a BrowardNext priority.

The County officials should instead prioritize the protection of these golf courses as per BrowardNext Strategy EP-4 (page 19): “Broward County should protect and enhance its remaining recreation, open space and conservation areas to promote healthy residents, a robust economy and a sustainable environment”. The Parks/Conservation Policies 2.5.4 and 2.5.5 specifically discourage the amendments that result in loss of open space including golf courses (Section 2 page 7 of the Broward County Land Use Plan).

By signing this petition you will contribute to the strength of the message for our elected officials about our commitment to make them accountable for decisions that further deteriorate our quality of life and compound additional risks to the health, the housing, the finances, the safety and the security of our families, in order to fabricate wealth for the usual suspects by using the power that we entrusted to them.

We only ask that you sign this petition, this site will request donations to support our cause, but they really go to support their platform and the service they provide. You can just leave the site after you sign the petition or share it. If you want more information about our cause, or to donate to it, you can visit our web site:

www.defendthewoodlands.org