But in the days following Hurricane Irene, which backed up sewers and septic tanks, the city's elected officials expressed a renewed interest in finding solutions to Plantation's drainage problems.
City Council members recently indicated they wanted to take another look at what the city's role is in mitigating high waters in Plantation Acres compared with the duties of the water district that manages flood controls in the area.
Some city officials, like Councilman Lee Hillier, thought the city should support water storage to prevent the high waters that occurred recently during Hurricane Irene.
He predicted environmental restrictions and other regulations would limit where west Broward County cities could divert water, which in turn would force Plantation and other municipalities to build their own reservoirs.
"As Plantation Acres has become more developed over the last decade, we've fallen behind," Hillier said. "We need to come up with long-term solution."
Mayor Rae Carole Armstrong, however, said she thought water storage in the Acres was the responsibility of the Plantation Acres Improvement District, which manages drainage in the community.
Armstrong also questioned how much of an impact water storage would have in preventing flooding. City Utilities Director Mel Entus told the elected officials that storage would almost certainly not prevent septic tanks from backing up, one of most persistent aftereffects of flooding in the Acres.
Residents in the Acres pay an annual fee to the improvement district for water management.
Recent estimates have put that cost at around $400 a year.
"I pay more taxes to them [the district] than I do to the city of Plantation," said Armstrong, who lives in the area.
Other council members said it was time for the city to at least research the possibility of putting sewers through the Acres, an idea that has proven unpopular among some residents because of the potentially high cost.
The city is already planning a study of adding sewers to two communities now served by septic tanks, Country Club Estates and Westgate, and information on the Acres could be added.