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Southwest Ranches residents push to finish equestrian trails, fix roads and protect green space during strategic-planning workshop
Summary
At a Town of Southwest Ranches workshop, residents prioritized road resurfacing, preserving equestrian character and protecting green/open space; facilitators used a mock-budget exercise to capture resident tradeoffs ahead of final recommendations.
Russell opened a town strategic-planning workshop by saying, "This is a very important step in our strategic planning process," and invited residents to help set priorities for the next three to five years.
Facilitators Daniel Rosemond and Jim Lee of e2w consulting framed the meeting around three resource buckets'enhanced services, infrastructure and technology'and reviewed a 2025 community survey that found nearly 60% of respondents have lived in Southwest Ranches 20 years or more. Rosemond said the council had reaffirmed a vision to preserve a rural, equestrian and environmentally protected community.
Residents used the bulk of the public-comment time to press for infrastructure and conservation priorities. Eddie Makarovich described long-standing local frustration about paving, saying his neighborhood in Ivanhoe Estates "has yet to have our road repaved" and urged more visible use of tax dollars for roads. Several speakers, including Kathy Cox and Newell Hollingsworth, called for preserving the town's equestrian character: Cox urged the town to mark and codify existing horse trails to prevent erosion of the equestrian lifestyle; Hollingsworth pressed to finish equestrian trails and to "protect the volunteer fire department forever."
Environmental protection and green-space conservation were recurring themes. Yesenia Bolano told the meeting, "the town needs to be prioritizing the environment more than anything," and asked the town to consider conservation easements and protection of parcels such as Southwest Ranches Meadows and Rolling Oaks pasture. Residents and a volunteer suggested composting and zero-waste initiatives as both environmental measures and potential revenue sources; one resident warned that any composting facility should be technology-vetted because earlier regional plants created odor and operational problems.
Facilitators then ran a hands-on exercise: each participant received play "bills" to allocate by taping dollars next to priority items on easels. Rosemond summarized the allocations, saying the crowd in the room prioritized marking existing horse trails and finishing equestrian trails, preserving green/open space and road repair; technology received little or no allocation in the exercise.
Why it matters: the input will guide the administration as it develops year-by-year strategic goals and the council as it considers budget tradeoffs. Facilitators said they will present recommendations to the council on May 28 and administration will translate resident priorities into implementation plans and performance measures.
The meeting closed with recognition of town leaders and staff and a reminder to stay engaged in upcoming budget workshops and council meetings.
