A controversial new annexation policy adopted by state legislators on Feb. 1 is kindling fears that those neighborhoods would be cut off and attached to unincorporated pockets of Broward County east of State Road 7.
That's why the two homeowners associations asked to meet with state Rep. Josephus Eggelletion, D-Lauderdale Lakes, on Tuesday. He asked about 40 east Plantation homeowners if they thought Plantation would allow their neighborhoods to be de-annexed
The response: "We're not sure."
In a special meeting with Eggelletion, members of the Plantation Country Club Estates and Park East homeowners associations made clear their fears that Plantation officials might allow them to be placed in a new or existing city.
"We wouldn't be here if we weren't concerned," said Linda Hill, a member of the Country Club Estates Homeowners Association, composed of residents south of Broward Boulevard and east of Florida's Turnpike.
"We want to hear them say they want us," said Delsie Thomas-Levy, secretary of the Park East group. "They have shown no respect for us ... We have the same fears as Country Club Circle. They feel as neglected as we do."
The meeting, on Tuesday at Deicke Auditorium, was spurred by a new county policy that would eliminate Broward's 56 unincorporated areas through annexation by the year 2010. The east Plantation homeowner groups are east of the Florida Turnpike, near two large unincorporated areas sandwiched between Plantation and Fort Lauderdale.
The east Plantation residents want assurances that they couldn't be de-annexed without the issue being put to a vote.
Plantation officials have said they want to leave the city's boundaries intact, and the City Council has passed two resolutions opposing any forced annexations or de-annexations. But residents are wary.
Thomas-Levy said her neighborhood's repeated efforts to get more recreation facilities in the city's northeast area have largely been ignored. Thomas-Levy noted that Plantation's failure to build a rec area east of the turnpike while expanding Central Park is an indication that the city doesn't want to invest in an area it feels it could lose eventually.
Park East homeowners also told Eggelletion that the city didn't place Christmas decorations on Broward Boulevard, east of the turnpike, until this past year.
"If I understand your sentiments correctly, you seem to have some sense of mistrust of the city of Plantation," Eggelletion said to the homeowners.
That remark drew applause as did Eggelletion's statement that he would "... fight any attempt to de-annex you from Plantation. I think you should be able to stay where you are if you are happy there."
East Plantation residents are mainly concerned that if Fort Lauderdale and Plantation reject annexing the nearby unincorporated areas of Melrose Park and Broward Estates, they would become vulnerable to being matched with those neighborhoods to form a new city.
Eggelletion said although the Legislature has the authority to de-annex areas, it is not something done without homeowners' consent. The former Lauderdale Lakes City Council member said the idea of de-annexing east Plantation was presented by a member of the county's Legislative Delegation as a political ploy.
"I don't think you have to worry about de-annexation, personally," Eggelletion said.
He said he would meet with Plantation Mayor Frank Veltri to ease homeowners' fears