The homeowners gathered 1,355 signatures from residents who agreed with a slate of $20.8 million in proposed improvements for the area east of Florida's Turnpike and bounded by Sunrise Boulevard, Peters Road and U.S. 441.
``We are presenting this petition with the hope you will help our area,'' George Lord, one of the homeowners who presented the petition, told City Council members.
The grass-roots capital improvement plan calls for everything from acquiring 30 acres of vacant land for public parks and a gymnasium to adding anti-speeding traffic devices, walkways, street lights, sidewalks and decorative gateways at community entrances to making sewer improvements.
Council members did not take any action on the ideas, which had not been placed on the agenda.
City officials have developed several plans for long-term improvements over the past decade - but so far haven't doled out any funds to spruce up distressed properties or add amenities in the older neighborhoods east of the turnpike.
The homeowners called their plan ``Flex Zone 73'' - the technical name for the area in the city's comprehensive plan.
``Whether it's Plantation Acres or Flex Zone 73, the wish list has to correspond with appropriate expenditures you can make,'' Council President Bruce Edwards said after the meeting. ``This raises the issue as to whether the city should have a strategic plan in place.''
Edwards said the city couldn't possibly afford all the improvements, and some were redundant or unnecessary. The city has an $80 million budget.
The community includes mostly modest single-family homes in the Park East, Country Club Estates and Plantation Point neighborhoods, and large developments such as the Lake Park Gardens Condominiums and the Hamlet Apartments.
The homeowners have long charged that the city has failed to initiate improvements in the area to the extent that it has done elsewhere.
``They didn't want to lift a finger,'' said Conklin, who has owned his home for 16 years. ``They didn't want to be troubled when the decline started.''
Councilman Lee Hillier, who spent the past three months helping the homeowners come up with the plan, agreed.
``The city has made improvements in other areas, but areas east of the turnpike have been miserably neglected,'' Hillier said. ``We don't have a neighborhood plan.''
``They've got 1,355 signatures,'' Hillier added. ``That's a mandate more
than anything.''