Residents wary of project in Lauderdale’s Riverland

Residents of the semi-rural Riverland Road area of Fort Lauderdale are resisting plans to develop 14 single-family homes there.

Thirteen years ago, the city annexed the area, an Old Florida neighborhood with replete with big lots, venerable trees and native wildlife. It is located near downtown Fort Lauderdale along the south fork of the New River.

A developer is seeking permission to build as many as 14 two-story houses on 5.2 wooded acres along Riverland Road. The lots for the houses would be about half the size of nearby residential lots. The owner of the 5.2-acre site, Robert Black, didn’t respond to calls for comment.

“We can’t develop it the same way we develop Parkland or Coral Springs or Plantation,” said Jeremy Chancey, a resident of the Riverland Road neighborhood. “This is a sensitive area.”

Bruce Shaffner is a 36-year resident of the neighborhood who designed his home to preserve most of the trees on his property, including one he built around and allowed to extend through a hole in the roof.

“The neighborhood has always been a hammock area,” he said. “I’m not saying don’t do anything. Do it within the uniqueness of the area.” [Sun-Sentinel] — Mike Seemuth