August 1997 LICIA Newsletter
=========================

"RIVERLAND WOODS" GETS SUPPORT FROM CITY AND COUNTY
By Gary Starkweather & Joan Sheridan

Since June 1994, the Riverland area residents including Lauderdale Isles, have tried to gain support from the City of Ft. Lauderdale and Broward County to create a community park located at the corner of US441 and Riverland Road, south to the New River. On July 1, 1997, the City and County both made important decisions that will allow the Riverland area communities to start making real plans towards making this dream become a reality.

The project, which has overwhelming support from several area communities, will create a Greenway type park where there is now only abandoned ugly property. The park proposal, a "Greenway" link to the New River, includes a large pond, walking trails, picnic areas, a boat ramp for small boats, a fishing dock, and parking areas.

The development of this Greenway will greatly enhance our community as well as provide a buffer from US 441. The Riverland area residents have worked hard to gain the support of the County and City. The next step in the process will be to acquire funding for the project.

The "Riverland Woods" Greenway plan includes about 19 acres and is comprised mostly of five major parcels of land. Four of the five larger parcels are privately owned. Civic activists hope gain access to these parcels through "land swaps" and grants instead of purchasing. The State and County have surplus land available for such "swaps" but it will require a lot of local effort to make them happen.

Parcel E, owned by the City of Fort Lauderdale, was classified "surplus property." Upon request by the neighborhood communities, the City of Fort Lauderdale transferred the property to the Parks and Recreation Department. Parcel D, the Bennett David property, is currently under valuation studies with another County parcel to determine if they are near enough in value to be swapped.

The owners of parcels A, B, & C may be interested in trades for other county or state properties, but this has not yet been determined. Land trades are considered a favorable option because they simply redistribute public property from a surplus  inventory to a needed area. In theory, we the tax payers already own these "other" properties so it makes sense to "move" them to where we want instead of spending cash dollars to purchase new areas.

After the properties are acquired, money is still needed to develop the Greenway. Development dollars are available through various grants, but applications must be completed by the city or the county or both. The funding sources we have reviewed to date could fill a desk drawer, but it takes considerable effort to evaluate a grant's suitability to our project.

When the "Riverland Woods" project meets the grant criteria, it goes on "the list" of applications to complete. Grant applications are a lot like writing long, complicated books that nobody wants to read. So far we have identified several grant sources where our Greenway fits the criteria, and these are already on our work list. If you can help with grant applications and other similar mountains of paperwork, your assistance is needed.

Please attend the general meeting August 21, 1997 and sign up as a volunteer helper. Without help, this won't happen.

HACIENDA AREA LAND OWNER LOOKS FOR BUYER
By Gary Starkweather

Mr. Peter Jensen, the owner of about 20 acres of land located just south of Lauderdale Isles, formerly Hacienda Village, is looking for a buyer for his property.

Last year the property attracted the interest of prospective buyers who wanted to use the land for marine fabrication and related industrial operations. That land use designation requires an industrial or commercial classification, and this property is zoned mostly residential. Mr. Jensen needed a Land Use change.

Seeking to gain financial advantage from an enhanced tax base, the City of Davie sponsored a new Land Use proposal last year. A large percentage of Davie is tax exempt or residential, so their City Council is working overtime to generate new tax revenues. Unfortunately, their plans for generating tax monies was not very compatible with the residential development of Lauderdale Isles.

This civic association and many committee members spent tremendous numbers of hours and civic funds in an attempt to require adequate restrictions for the use of the property so that a reasonable compatibility could be established. Before a settlement could be reached concerning the usage restrictions, the Broward County Commission rejected Davie's Land Use Proposal and Mr. Jensen decided to not pursue the matter. During the negotiations on land use Mr. Jensen stated that "If I cannot get this commercial land use, I'll just go ahead with residential use and I can put in 200 rental units the way it's zoned right now."

Lauderdale Isles residents need to be aware that this could happen. Mr. Jensen is entitled to sell his property for the best price he can get and right now he is looking for a developer who is interested in building high density rentals or townhouses. If Mr. Jensen finds such a developer, there would be little this civic association could do to influence what is built.

Lauderdale Isles property owners between Marathon and Whale Harbor Lane facing the river would be most directly impacted by whatever happens. The most effective way to shape the future development of your community is to be active in the planning stages. Isles residents may be well advised to seek interested developers to draft "community friendly proposals" that have higher compatibility than 200 rental boxes.

If you are interested in protecting your community and are willing to commit to a Hacienda Development Committee, be at the August 21, general meeting and sign up. See ya there!

PUBLIC NOTICE
This civic association is a membership of the community, for the community, and by the community. Emphasis on BY the community. Now is the time to respond. If nobody shows up, then there shouldn't be ANY COMPLAINTS later about that ugly "whatever" on the other side of the river. The issue will be considered closed.

RIVERLAND ROAD LANDSCAPING GRANT UPDATE
by Joan Sheridan

On April 10, 1997 the state, county and city reviewed the ISETEA GRANT specifications for the Riverland Road Landscaping Project. Proposed plans have been prepared by Dames & Moore with the FDOT guidelines being strictly adhered to and now require all the above agencies to approve them before the project starts. A copy of the plans will be available for the community to see at the General meeting on August 21, 1997. The new landscaping will be incorporated with the existing trees already planted along Riverland Road. The county and the city of Ft. Lauderdale will be maintaining this project when it is completed. The design, which includes Live Oaks, Royal Palms, Mahoganys, Pink Tabebiuas, Royal Poincianas and ground cover will certainly beautify our community and compliment our new entrance way signs. This project became a reality through the continued efforts and perseverance of your civic association representatives. That's just one more reason for you to help and support Lauderdale Isles Civic Improvement Association. TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

LICIA SIGN DONATIONS
By Gary Starkweather

Yep, the signs are in! Since we were so close to our total budget for this project the directors decided to place the remaining orders with the sign company. There are six lanes that have exceeded the collection goal and seven lanes that are still short on donations. The total sign budget is short by only $225.40. If you have not yet sent in your $20.00 donation please do so today.

Now that all the signs are installed we are going to proceed with ordering our "freebie" plants from Broward County to dress up the signs. The county has a very nice selection of shrubs and ground cover plants to choose from. We plan to plant a few ground cover plants and two or three shrubs around each sign to enhance its appearance.

There are some setup and maintenance expenses yet to be funded like gardening labor (to plant the plants), fertilizer, and touch up paint, etc. These extras should not exceed $400.00 and can be reduced considerably if we have some volunteers do some of the planting and fertilizing. If you can help, please attend the general meeting August 21st and sign up.

We also need to see that the new plants get enough water. If you are a homeowner on the corners with a sign, the community needs your help to water the area around the sign. Some lawns may already have sprinklers in place and others may need just a minor modification to cover the new plants.

The old signs were removed by neighborhood volunteers before the new signs could be installed. The old concrete posts were very heavy and difficult to move. To our Broward County neighborhood planner, Ted Vitale, Civic Association helpers Dick Foley, Audrey Edwards, Tom Edwards, Chris Starkweather, Randy Cordrey, BettyAnn Campbell, Pete and Joan Sheridan, Terry Simonds, and Ray Figueroa, (hope we didn't miss anyone), THANK YOU for all your hard work. The new lane markers look GREAT!

ZONING REGULATIONS, CONSTRUCTION CODES AND OTHER SUCH MATTERS
By Gary Starkweather

All too often the Civic Association is consulted to do something about a problem neighbor or problem situation. Your Civic Association is able to help in many situations but we are not a police department. We try to stay out of property use issues as much as possible. Our primary role in this type of situation is to keep homeowners as well informed as possible, using governmental assistance and or intervention as needed.

Lauderdale Isles home owners, residents renting or leasing homes, and real estate agents representing properties in Lauderdale Isles should be reasonably informed about the rules of the community and the basic support services available. If you're not sure about a zoning regulation, call Code and Zoning at 468-3434.

Most questions asked are about simple stuff like garbage collection and building setbacks. To help inform new residents of details about our community, the trustees voted to set up a "welcome wagon" where we plan to visit new folks, introduce the Civic Association and provide new residents with many details about our community. The welcome wagon literature package will be filled with lots of information reprinted from earlier issues of this newsletter.

Weekly Garbage Pickup - Our community has a recycling program. Recycled items are picked up every Monday. Information about collection bins, what can be recycled, etc. is available from the Broward County Office of Integrated Waste Management and the Recycling Newsletter. Please read it or call the Hot Line at 765-4999 for recycling information. Our regular pickup days are Monday and Thursday.

Bulk Garbage Pickup - Some items are not appropriate for regular garbage service pickup. Our community has bulk pickup the second Friday of each month for such items. Bulk pickup dates are also published in the "Trash Times", and on the last page of this newsletter. Please DO NOT put bulk trash items out on the curb more than 24 hours prior to each scheduled pickup date.

Construction Setbacks - Setbacks for structures are 25 ft. in the front of the property, 15 ft. in the back of  the property, and 7.5 ft. on eachside of the property. If you're on the water, the docks also have setbacks of 10 ft. to the property line, and the typical distance out from the sea wall is 5 ft. Dolphin poles are also subject to the setback rules. The best advice is to call Code and Zoning and discuss your plans before you begin.

REPORT TO THE RESIDENTS OF LAUDERDALE ISLES AND NEW RIVER GROVES

To : The Residents of Lauderdale Isles and New River Groves (Duck Key Lane)
From: The Lauderdale Isles Civic Improvement Association, Inc., Annexation Committee

At the LICIA General Meeting on May 22, 1997 at the Lauderdale Isles Yacht And Tennis Club, the residents who attended, approved the list of annexation concerns that was compiled by your LICIA Annexation Committee. A couple of verbiage changes were voted on and passed after which a vote for approval was taken. The vote was almost unanimous.

The document was then certified by the LICIA Board of Trustees and published and delivered to the Honorable Jim Naugle, Mayor of the City of Fort Lauderdale.

At our meeting with Mayor Naugle, we asserted our position as an unincorporated sub-division that is seriously considering "voluntary" annexation into his city. We stated that we need to meet with the city and discuss the concerns we have and then take the city's answers and concessions back to our residents so that they can make an educated decision on the annexation question.

Mayor Naugle stated that he understood our concerns and feelings and would pass our document on to the city manager's office. He also stated that although he would like to annex our area immediately, he had to work within the guidelines published by the Broward Legislative Delegation (in other words, no "cherry picking").

The fact is that in order for the city to annex our area, they would have to annex other areas that that are not as well situated from an infrastructure point of view. Because of this concern, and the drain that some areas will pose on the city's budget, the city commission (in 1995) set up a team of city employees who are studying the annexation issue and formulating a plan of action. One of the published remarks that comes from the preliminary report to the Broward Legislative Delegation states, "The City of Fort Lauderdale is intent on developing and carrying out a strategy that is fully consistent with Broward's annexation policy, state statutes and our own Commission's commitment to effect only "voluntary" annexations. It is essential that implementation of all annexation efforts be acceptable to our residents and any new citizens becoming part of our expanded community".

As I write this article, I am anticipating the next phase of the annexation process to start: The meetings with the city to discuss the concerns and issues that we have presented to them.

Other annexation issues:

1. The county commission has adopted a policy stating that all unincorporated residential areas should be annexed into an incorporated area by the year 2010.

2. The anticipated increase of the Broward County unincorporated area municipal services tax will not reach the 28%-33% level that was first proposed: instead it will only rise 24%.

Again, as I have stated many times in the past, we on the annexation committee feel that a "good deal" can be worked out between our community and the city of Fort Lauderdale. Once an agreement is reached, it is still up to you, the voters, to determine whether or not you want to pursue annexation into the City of Fort Lauderdale. The decision is yours, all we will do is offer to you the best deal we can get.

Please come to the meeting on August 21, 1997, to protect your interests and help us with the decision process.

Respectfully,
Peter J. Sheridan, Jr., Chairman, Lauderdale Isles
Civic Improvement Association, Annexation Committee.

"RIVERLAND WOODS",  A LINK TO THE NEW RIVER
Behind The Scenes-The Inside Story)
By Gary Starkweather & Joan Sheridan

Although the neighborhood communities have been trying to get Municipal and County support for a park at the site of the old Pantry Pride shopping center since 1994 there has been little, if any, activity on this project. This is not because the community lacks support or enthusiasm, but mostly because getting the attention of governmental agencies (municipal, county, state, or federal) is typically a long term process and requires great persistence. Our civic leaders and volunteers were busy dealing with several other community issues like Davie's planned commercial zone at Hacienda. This article details some recent events, anticipated work, and some of our plans for the future.

The Ugly Sleeping Giant Awakes

The Pantry Pride site has been asleep since this civic association's efforts along with the city of Fort Lauderdale's code enforcement team kicked out the car storage company that illegally used the site last year. What stirred things up again was a developer named Barry Amsdell who decided that the Pantry Pride site would be a great place for a "U-Store It" warehouse facility. Needless to say, this would destroy our vision for a Greenway that would enhance our
neighborhood. Many civic associations intervened. Mrs. Joan Sheridan, Chairperson for the S.W. Coalition of Civic Associations for Lift Up Davie Boulevard held a meeting in February this year and explained to Mr. Cunningham, the representative for Amsdell Companies, that this community had worked since 1993 to put a park plan together for that property and that a storage warehouse facility was not part of these plans. The majority of the community supported a Greenway as an entrance to the neighborhood and did not feel a mini-storage facility was the highest and best use for this property. That information didn't sway Mr. Amsdell and he proceeded with development plans to submit to the City of Fort Lauderdale.

Since there were so many unpaid citations issued by the City over the past years, the property had accumulated a substantial lien of approximately $275,000.00, or nearly 25% of the property value, mostly for code violations and clean up expenses.

You have to be kidding

The developer requested the City to abate the liens, to "wash them away", and start anew as a "good neighbor." Lauderdale Isles, along with many other community residents, having put up with this nuisance property for years, asked the City not to reduce the liens. On April 15, 1997, the City Council voted to "wash away" all but $30,000.00 of the liens. Neighborhood leaders that represented their civic associations in the community, feeling "steamrolled" by the City and the developer were extremely disappointed with the city's decision.

Although the developer's proposal to the city was presented as "a very nice looking facility", concerned residents pictured a quick paint job over the existing drab building, big signs and bright lighting. Sure enough, we soon learned that the developer wanted to keep the old shabby Pantry Pride building structure, paint it, and call it storage.

It's not over yet

Soon we found out that the developer was seeking to purchase a small strip of access property from DOT, but current setback rules indicated that the building was too close to some of the property lines. This meant that Amsdell either needed to own the DOT parcel or remove part of the existing building to meet current setback standards. The developer didn't want to make any structural changes to the existing building (costly) and for many, this confirmed their concerns that the storage facility would be no more than a paint job over the existing ugly building.

Before surplus DOT land can be bought from the private sector, it must first be offered to any county or municipal governmental agency having jurisdiction to determine if the land has "a public purpose." When the developer requested to purchase the DOT land, the community asked for and was granted a 30 day delay from the Fort Lauderdale City Council as reasonable time to demonstrate the feasibility of creating a Greenway.

The Development Conference

With a 30 day clock ticking, civic leaders and residents drafted a report indicating support from State, County, City, and area civic associations, The conference, held on June 11, 1997, at the Lauderdale Isles Yacht and Tennis Club was a grand way to put all interested, influential, knowledgeable parties together in one room at the same time to consider the project.

Mission Impossible?

No park is a simple overnight project, but this park faces serious challenges. The properties are located within the boundaries of Broward County and the city of Fort Lauderdale so two separate governmental agencies must cooperate on the same project. Worse yet, there are areas of contamination and, oh yeah, nobody's got any money.

Our primary objectives for the conference were to determine reasonable feasibility, community support, and support for joint endorsement from both the city and the county. If these factors were found to be in our favor we had a chance to prepare a proposal and return to the Fort Lauderdale Council on July 1, 1997, with our plan. The Community Development Conference was a huge success and we went right to work on a proposal for the City.

I think I can I think I can

Telephones rang, fax machines buzzed, and e-mail zipped. We had just 21 days before we were scheduled to make our presentation to the City. This civic association met with several area civic associations and a plan was put in motion to call politicians, write letters, and sign petitions. The civic movers and shakers went into overdrive. The final product was a presentation binder containing 178 pages of public support from community civic association leaders, residents, schools, churches, businesses and funding sources identified.

The agenda for the Broward County Commission meeting scheduled for July 1, 1997 included an item for Broward County to apply for joint grant applications with the City of Fort Lauderdale. This critical step is necessary so the County and City can formally adopt a cooperative policy related to the development of the Greenway.

We distributed copies of the Greenway Support Presentation to all Broward County Commissioners, all City of Fort Lauderdale Commissioners, Broward County Administrator, Mr. Jack Osterholt; and Fort Lauderdale City Manager, Mr. George Hanbury.

At 8:00 A.M., July 1, 1997, we assembled at City Hall and LICIA Greenway Chairperson Mr. Mark Olsen, (Sugarloaf Lane) stated our case to the council. After a lengthy discussion, the vote was ours. The motion passed that there was reasonable evidence that there is a public purpose for the DOT land and that the City would not surrender it to the storage site developer.

Also on this date, at 4:00 p.m., the Broward County Commission unanimously agreed to be co-applicants with the City of Ft. Lauderdale in the filing of grants for the proposed "Greenway Link" at SR7/US441, Riverland Road and the New River.

The partnership begins!

Many people and civic leaders in our community have worked very hard to bring this "Greenway Vision" to its present state. Your civic association would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that helped. We offer a special thank you to Mark Olsen and Randy Dunlap for co-chairing the Community Development Conference that made a partnership effort possible.

Keep The Ball Rolling

The next step in this process is to strengthen our relationship with both City and County, and develop a team approach. Land owners need to be met with, plans drawn up, budgets estimated, grants applications filed, and much much more.

The mission is clearly defined at this stage and much of the work will have to be provided by civic volunteers. If you are interested in making this Greenway a reality, now is the time to sign up.

The work load is extensive and we need all the help this community can provide. We will be creating a list of volunteers for the Riverland Woods Committee at the general meeting August 21, 1997.

RIVERLAND ROAD
By George Counts--optically reproduced as submitted

On three occasions this year, Isles volunteers turned out to clean, fix up, plant grass seeds and fertilize trees along our stretch of Riverland Road. I have yet to see any groups on the' Adopt A Street' street signs out there. Let me know if you have.

Neal Spokas of Gulfstream Lane took two loads of discarded rugs, branches and trash to our nearby County trash transfer station with his truck. He also fertilized the palm trees at the dead end of Riverland Road and at its 441 entrance.

John Gazonas, an air conditioning contractor from Sugarloaf Lane, took time out of his busy schedule to try and right a downed 20 foot Tree of Gold near his lane. His truck wasn't strong enough, so County personnel righted it later with heavy equipment. For possibly the first time, an errant driver will have to pay to have a tree restored thanks to a quick thinking resident who got the license and traffic report numbers.

The owner of the truck business just NW of the Convenience store assisted Isles volunteers sprucing up Riverland Road's north swale from his business to the curve. After volunteers cleaned up papers and containers, he had his employee cut the foot and half weeds. Tom Edwards of Gulfstream Lane brought out his small mower and cut the hard to get areas. The convenience store manager served the volunteers free refreshments. Jack Greene of Riverland Road and Terry Simonds of Gulfstream Lane and others did their fair share earlier,

If you see someone crash into a tree or sign, take down their license plate and notify police. Get the number of the traffic report like your quick thinking neighbor and the offender will have to foot the bill instead of us. You may remain anonymous. Lane signs are not bulletin boards. Signs placed on them will be removed.

ANNEXATION ALERT
Article by George Counts-optically reproduced as submitted

Memos are flying between bureaucrats and unincorporated civic associations. An attempt to being made to strong arm or encourage these groups into jumping on the annexation bandwagon. All of a sudden it has become the panacea for all of the vagaries affecting large urban areas.

Some of these memos from overzealous bureaucrats art not unlike strong arm, tactics used by those trying to force cities to sign the incinerator interlocal agreement. Attempts were made to force cities to commit their garbage to the county trash burners for a long term at a specified amount--or suffer the consequences.

As usual, too rosy a picture was painted by the consultants and those likely to gain financially from the agreement about Its costs and benefits. Several cities thumbed their noses at the contract. They had good reason to be concerned about its overly optimistic cost benefit analysis and lack of business acumen displayed by some government officials. The result, a long term burdensome contractual obligation for unsuspecting taxpayers. Again we are at a similar crossroad.

Unincorporated areas must take a long hard look at any mad rush or alluring promises to be forced into a city. Tax valuations are up this year and some cities art actually keeping tax Increases reasonable. However new fees are often slipped In to take up the slack.

True, Weston and Bonaventure are no longer in the County and some sales tax will be lost. They haven't dropped key county services, because they realize they can't compete with the counties economies of scale or the experience and expertise of many of its departments.

Businesses in the County's position, faced with the loss of some revenue would not try to cover losses by price Increases alone. They would cut less needed services accordingly. Instead the County insists It has to raise Municipal Services District taxes dramatically to pay for its unique, proliferating programs. In addition, it is also hoping for another three cents a gallon gas tax.

Term limits and Single Member Districting for County Commissioners to give unincorporated residents accountability from Its politicians may soon be a reality and will go far toward cooling the annexation by 2010 fervor. Meanwhile, we need to got out and vote against those who would like to force us to go anywhere or threat to raise taxes etc. if we don't comply.

Be sure and sign those petitions for Single Member Districting for County Commissioners when they are passed around next time. Target state legislators either pushing annexation or doing nothing about others trying to foist It on us. Beware of loaded questionnaires from cities who could use the extra taxes we would generate with only promises to justify their expenditures.

AUGUST 97-AGENDA ITEM: THE CIVIC ASSOCIATION DUES

LICIA Dues have been $10.00 annually for at least 10 years. Since cost of living expenses have depreciated this dollar value there will be some discussion about increasing the dues. LICIA members in attendance will all have a chance to introduce their ideas, concerns, and related matters.

Notice is hereby given to the public that there may be a vote at the August 21, 1997 General Meeting to establish a new annual Lauderdale Isles Civic Improvement Association, Inc. dues rate, retain the old rate or defer the issue to a later date.

LICIA BBS IS GONE

At the June meeting of the LICIA Board of Trustees we voted to shut down the LICIA BBS. Our reasons were that it did not serve the public interest sufficient to justify the related expenses (low usage). Another key factor is that Internet technology is quickly replacing bulletin board systems (BBS's) even though BBS's are free to access.

No valuable information was lost due to the shut down and we will save about $45.00 per month because we don't need telephone service. A local company has offered to host a Web site for free if anyone is interested in putting our community information on the WEB. Although the WEB server host is free, a WEB Master must volunteer to develop the site. Volunteers Anyone??????

WHAT'S HAPPENING-- NOW!   EXPRESS NEWSLETTER--EXTRA EDITION!

Your Newsletter comes out four times a year, and as you can read in this issue, quite a lot is happening in our neighborhood. From time to time, however, issues arise that may be of interest to you and your neighbors, details of which you may want right away. For example, not too long ago, two persons were observed cruising the canals in a suspicious manner paying what appeared to be undue attention to various items on our docks and boats. BSO was called immediately and an alert was e-mailed to those few whose e-mail address I have.

Would you like to be added to an e-mail service that will be devoted to bringing you timely announcements concerning Lauderdale Isles? Please respond to me at fsimonds@icanect.net if you'd like to be added to the list. I will keep the list confidential (I'm the only one that gets into my computer) and won't abuse your e-mail service!!

Thanks--Terry Simonds, LICIA Secretary