Southwest Broward cities consider lending money to the drainage district to help repair lake shorelines damaged last year by Hurricane Wilma

Miramar, Pines loans target shore rebuilding.
Southwest Broward cities consider lending money to the drainage district to help repair lake shorelines damaged last year by Hurricane Wilma.
With hurricane season days away and government leaders no closer to finding a solution for lake erosion in Southwest Broward, officials from Pembroke Pines and Miramar have offered up to $3 million in loans to help restore shorelines temporarily.
Pending approval from the city commissions, Miramar, which suffered most of the damage, has offered to lend the South Broward Drainage District up to $1.7 million. Pembroke Pines may offer $1.3 million to the agency.
The drainage district owns most of the waterways in Pembroke Pines and Miramar and is a taxing agency. It is unclear how the drainage district would repay the cities.
Last October, Hurricane Wilma washed away up to 20 feet of some yards, much to the ire of homeowners living on lakes.
Since then, homeowners and the district have been grappling over the $30 million needed to permanently repair the shore damage in five subdivisions: Riviera Isles, Sunset Lakes, Harbour Lake, SilverLakes and Keystone Lake.
The loan from the cities would pay for fill to be added to the backyards that were eroded by the storms.
Homeowners, anxious about this year's hurricane season, said they would be happy with that plan, even though it's not a permanent solution. It would likely wash away again in a big storm.
''This was a wonderful surprise,'' said Raymond PiLara, who lost 12 feet of his Miramar backyard. ``With hurricane season upon us, we had nothing to protect us.''
More expensive, permanent solutions to the problem include lining the edges of the lakes with a fabric designed like a quilt, then pumping the fabric with concrete so it contours to the ground. Grass would be planted on top. Or the shoreline in the lakes could be supplemented with tubing filled with sand.
Leaders from both cities said they are still solidifying the details about how the loans would work.
Miramar City Manager Bob Payton said the city's money would come from the general fund and utility funds. The city would have to amend its annual budget.
''We will do everything necessary to expedite it,'' Payton said.
Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank Ortis said he hopes to discuss the potential loan at a City Commission meeting in June.
''It's a suggestion I have to help out the homeowners,'' Ortis said. 'It isn't the homeowners' fault that this happened.''
But the debate continues over how many of the 9,600 homeowners in the five subdivisions may have to pitch in to pay for the restoration.
Some residents say only lakefront homeowners, who benefit from the serene waters, should bear the brunt of the repair costs.
Others say the entire subdivisions should pay for repairs because the homeowner association benefits from having a large lake as a selling point. And some say that because the lakes are part of the waterway system, the entire drainage district should pitch in.