3 min read August 2023 — Invest: spoke with Nick Sortal, mayor of the city of Plantation, about mixed-use projects in its mall, making sure Plantation is a walkable and cyclable city and why it is important for Plantation to remain a “single family” community.
What is your vision for the city of Plantation?
Our vision is to create the best possible service for the people who live here and to show them that they made a good decision to live here. We want to be transparent, so everyone knows what we are doing. We want to be very welcoming to businesses and we want to help them, instead of making it difficult for them to come here. We have to address things like housing, just like every city. It is important to be prepared for the future, while recognizing that people like their traditions.
How are you getting people in Plantation out of their cars?
We make sure our neighborhoods have a walkable and cyclable component. Many people bike to work and need new roads. I have to take what they need into account. We have looked at three places for the “lane diet,” which would cut traffic down from four to two lanes. We are looking at leveraging electric vehicle services, such as Circuit, to get people around. They are more effective than shuttles because people want more immediacy than that.
What role does Plantation play in terms of the overall county?
We have been very lucky. The work-from-home phenomenon has been great. The companies Chewy and Jazwares are here. This invites more investment in the area. A portion of our mall in Broward County is shut down, so that is like an albatross for us right now. Eventually, the mall will be a goldmine. Many people estimate it to be valued at $5 million an acre with 70 acres. Some elements of the mall will remain but most of it will be mixed-use. Also, our Plantation Walk has six or seven restaurants, so we hope those areas get connected. Plantation Inn has been knocked down and we will throw a party. The Inn had 154 arrests last year. Across the street is a grocer trying to come in and it is a good area to build affordable housing. We are very excited about what could happen there.
Why is the city of Plantation a great place to live and work?
People want to be here because geographically we are at the center of the county. Many people who pass through here are not residents. We did a study where we found that 65% of traffic were people from outside the city. The goal would be for people to stop here and use the retail businesses here but that is a challenge. We work hard to build class-A office buildings but it is hard.
What challenges is Plantation experiencing and how are you mitigating them moving forward?
A big challenge is that Plantation grew up as a single-family home community and we have heard loud and clear that our residents want it to stay that way. We can’t ignore that. We created an area in 1999 called Midtown with a little Downtown, so the challenge is letting people know that we are not encroaching on their lifestyle. People have a distrust of government, so we need to respect and navigate that.
What are the priorities reflected in your most recent budget?
We did a study that led to raising salaries so we can be competitive with other cities. We also wanted to harden our fire stations in case of hurricanes because our fire stations have so many functions here and they need to be ready for an emergency. We also want to continue to invest in transportation. We have neglected certain city assets but we want to make sure the roof and walls are working the way they should. We also have a master plan for a new park with new baseball diamonds, pickleball and a dog park. We are exploring that and we hope the council has the appetite for it.
What would you like to see going forward for Plantation?
People love live music and the concerts we have keep growing. This is important for building community. The basic functions of the city are in place. We pick up the trash, the fire and police are there, and we are trying to elevate that service and bring in new things.
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