January 2024

City breaks ground on new water plant

The city recently broke ground on one of the most significant components of our ongoing effort to upgrade our utility infrastructure and ensure its resiliency for the next century. 

We officially began construction of the Prospect Lake Clean Water Center near the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. This state-of-the-art facility will provide clean, high-quality drinking water to our community for decades to come. It is also designed to withstand the winds of a Category 5 hurricane. 

We expect construction to be completed within 42 months. 

The new plant is part of more than $1.5 billion that the city will spend in the coming years to improve critical infrastructure. We’ve been constructing new seawalls, replacing aging water and sewer pipes and improving our stormwater management system. We also are in the process of building a new police headquarters and two new fire stations. 

The water plant represents another use of an innovative public-private partnership by the city to expedite needed work. We are teaming up with companies that have international expertise in the field of water plant construction and management. In addition to building the plant, they will operate it under city supervision for the next 30 years. 

The plant will replace the aging Fiveash Regional Water Treatment Plant to service most of the city’s water needs. 

The Fiveash plant was at the end of its lifespan and was not designed to withstand a major hurricane. The technology in use at the old plant also could not guarantee the high standards for water that residents expect. Water often had a yellow tinge, and we are not able to remove several emerging contaminants. 

We chose the new location so Fiveash could continue to meet our water needs during construction. After Prospect Lake opens, Fiveash will transition into a distribution center for the water processed at the new plant. 

This project was years in the making and is the result of detailed input from neighbors and experts to ensure the best possible design and construction. Through the public-private partnership, the plant will be built significantly faster than if we had pursued traditional construction and financing methods. 

It’s great that this major project is underway and that we continue to make such rapid progress on addressing all our infrastructure needs. 

Toward the end of 2023, we welcomed aboard a new police chief following the retirement of Patrick Lynn. The new chief is a familiar face – William Schultz. Over the past 20 years, he has worked his way up the ranks. He comes to the job with ideas of how to improve law enforcement and better engage with the community. 

One initiative that the City Commission placed on the top of his agenda is to address some of the law enforcement issues that surround homelessness. 

Fort Lauderdale, like most American cities, is facing a problem of increased homelessness. Homelessness is not a crime, and federal courts have consistently said that individuals who live on the streets do not have to accept help if they do not want help. Yet, at the same time, the city must respond to issues such as aggressive panhandling and the maintenance of safe public spaces. 

The best approaches to homelessness and the problems associated with it confound every metro area. There are no easy solutions.

Fort Lauderdale has long taken a lead in the region on response. 

Each day, the city’s dedicated Homeless Outreach Team make it their mission to engage with the homeless population and encourage them to accept help. This help can include directing them to needed social services and finding them housing opportunities.

We have stepped up our efforts. 

We have increased funding for our housing navigation program. We have dedicated more police officers to enhance services at nights and on weekends. We have added the Fire Department to the homeless initiative through its mobile healthcare initiative.

After a long court delay, we have begun enforcement of our new ordinance that prohibits individuals from standing in the streets and obstructing traffic, a move that should respond to public concerns about unsafe and aggressive panhandling. The court system declared our old ordinance unconstitutional, bringing enforcement to a lengthy but albeit temporary halt.  

We also are asking the state for $100,000 to continue our community court program. This highly regarded program diverts homeless individuals charged with minor offenses into temporary housing and services. 

There are two other funding requests pending. We’ve asked the Legislature for $500,000 for a mental health housing program and the federal government for $2 million for a program to increase our deployment of personnel to hotspot areas where we witness high levels of homelessness. 

In addition, we are trying to engage other levels of government to help with several critical issues that impact homelessness in Fort Lauderdale.

We are in discussions with the Sheriff’s Office and other cities about jail discharge procedures. That’s important because currently when a homeless person is arrested on a charge anywhere in the county, they are most likely released in Fort Lauderdale from the main jail downtown. 

We also are talking to the state attorney and the judiciary about the handling of repeat offenders. We are hopeful that we will soon see results from these discussions. 

We will keep the community posted. 

Yours, 

Dean