I am very concerned about the proposed Highland Dunes project that will build 2,000 homes directly west of Foxtrail on Southern Blvd. During and after Tropical Storm Isaac, Foxtrail was flooded for weeks. Deer Run, the community to our north, was even more flooded. We begged the South Florida Water Management District to allow us to remove boards from our outflow culvert and get rid of water before the storm came to increase our capacity to handle the water. They turned us down. They said that we can’t dump our water into the C-51 Canal because they could not handle the extra water from Foxtrail. We only asked to lower our canals by 12 inches, and they said no. Now we have learned that the commissioners are going to approve the construction of 2,000 more homes next door to us. Clearly this new community will have to dump water into the C-51 Canal. How can they be allowed to do this if the C-51 Canal can’t even handle the water from Foxtrail?
Furthermore, if 2,000 more homes are going to be built, then there are going to be at least 4,000 more cars making at least 8,000 more trips per day. Southern Blvd. is not big enough to handle that much traffic. These homes will likely have children. Where are we going to send them to school? Our class sizes are too big as it is. Are we going to have to bus these kids to other schools that are not nearby? This new community needs to be able to get its children in and out without turning Southern Blvd. into a long, skinny parking lot. Shouldn’t the developers be asked to address the traffic and school concerns before this construction is started? It seems ridiculous that these developers should be allowed to build 2,000 more homes without mitigating the damage they will cause to the current residents of the western communities.
Mike Sinclair, Loxahatchee
Editor’s note: Dr. Sinclair is president of the Foxtrail Property Owners’ Association.
