Sea Ranch Lakes, Florida

Sea Ranch Lakes, Florida
Village
Village of Sea Ranch Lakes
Location of Sea Ranch Lakes in Broward County, Florida
Coordinates:
Country	United States of America
State	Florida
County	24px Broward
Incorporated	October 06, 1959
Government
• Type	Mayor-Council
• Mayor	Alexander Soto
• Councilmembers	Royce Bellini, Denise Bryan, Meredith DiCarolis, Caroline Evans Guida, Greg Sollitto, Ann Spalding, and John L. Tomlinson
• Village Manager	Mayor Alexander Soto
• Village Clerk	Starr Paton
• Village Attorney	Donald J. Doody
Area
• Total	0.2 sq mi (0.6 km2)
• Land	0.2 sq mi (0.5 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.1 km2)
Elevation	10 ft (3 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	670
• Density	3,400/sq mi (1,100/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	33308
Area code(s)	954, 754
FIPS code	12-64725
GNIS feature ID	0290781

Sea Ranch Lakes is a village in Broward County, Florida. The population was 670 at the 2010 census. It is located on North Ocean Drive (Highway A1A) and is surrounded by Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. The majority of the village is a gated community, with the remainder being a public shopping plaza and a private beach club for village residents, with a pool and access to Sea Ranch Lakes Beach.

History

It was named after the Sea Ranch Hotel, a landmark hotel across from the gated community's main, public road, North Ocean Drive. The "Lakes" part was added because of the residential village's two artificial lakes. The private road leading into the village's entrance is Gatehouse Drive.

Geography

Sea Ranch Lakes is located at (26.200711, -80.096839). According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.2 square miles (0.52 km²), of which 0.04 square miles (0.10 km²), or 18.18%, is water.

To its north:

• Lauderdale-by-the-Sea

To its south:

• Lauderdale-by-the-Sea

To its east:

• Atlantic Ocean

To its west:

• Intracoastal Waterway
• Fort Lauderdale

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1960	170		—
1970	660		288.2%
1980	584		−11.5%
1990	619		6.0%
2000	1,392		124.9%
2010	670		−51.9%
Est. 2014	712		6.3%
U.S. Decennial Census

Sea Ranch Lakes Demographics
2010 Census	Sea Ranch Lakes	Broward County	Florida
Total population	670	1,748,066	18,801,310
Population, percent change, 2000 to 2010	-51.9%	+7.7%	+17.6%
Population density	3,786.2/sq mi	1,444.9/sq mi	350.6/sq mi
White or Caucasian (including White Hispanic)	97.3%	63.1%	75.0%
(Non-Hispanic White or Caucasian)	88.4%	43.5%	57.9%
Black or African-American	0.6%	26.7%	16.0%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)	9.7%	25.1%	22.5%
Asian	0.6%	3.2%	2.4%
Native American or Native Alaskan	0.1%	0.3%	0.4%
Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races (Multiracial)	0.6%	2.9%	2.5%
Some Other Race	0.8%	3.7%	3.6%

As of 2010, there were 351 households, out of which 18.5% were vacant. In 2000, 14.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.3% were married couples living together, 3.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.5% were non-families. 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.00 and the average family size was 2.56.

In 2000, the village population was spread out with 14.5% under the age of 18, 2.1% from 18 to 24, 14.7% from 25 to 44, 32.5% from 45 to 64, and 36.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 57 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.8 males.

In 2000, the median income for a household in the village was $62,813, and the median income for a family was $85,729. Males had a median income of $62,765 versus $42,500 for females. The per capita income for the village was $60,088. About 6.7% of families and 7.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.8% of those under age 18 and 3.2% of those age 65 or over.

As of 2000, speakers of English as a first language were at 85.50%, with Spanish at 6.02%, French at 3.58%, Portuguese at 2.85%, and Italian at 2.03%.

As of 2000, the village had the 19th highest percentage of Brazilians in the U.S. (tied with Revere, Massachusetts and Malden, Massachusetts) at 1.7% of the population, while it was the 60th most Peruvian-populated area at 1.01% of all residents (tied with Brentwood, New York).

Government

Sea Ranch Lakes has seven village council members and one mayor. All elected officials serve two-year terms. The village was incorporated on October 6, 1959, because residents in the original gated community feared that they would be forcibly annexed by Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, or Pompano Beach. By incorporating themselves as a municipality within Broward County, they would be able to remain indefinitely autonomous. The village is unique in that it owns no property within its municipal borders. All roads, streets, parks, and lakes are private property owned by the Sea Ranch Beach Club. Because all property in the village is private land, the Sea Ranch Lakes Police Department is legally allowed to deny access to residential areas of the village to non-residents through the use of the village's main gate.

The Sea Ranch Beach Club owns all property within the village, including the oceanfront property on which the actual beach clubhouse and pool are built. The Beach Club has members who are elected to serve on its board of directors; they are responsible for maintaining all of the Beach Club's property, such as roads, street lights, and street signs. All major issues that affect the Beach Club must be voted upon by its members, and all residents of Sea Ranch Lakes are allotted one vote for each parcel of property he or she owns. There are annual membership dues to the Sea Ranch Lakes Beach Club that all residents must pay, in addition to their annual property taxes. These membership dues to the Beach Club are used for capital improvements such as street repaving, painting of the Beach Club, and salaries of the Beach Club employees that manage the Beach Club and maintain its property.

Public services

Police

Law enforcement services to the village are provided by the Sea Ranch Lakes Police Department, who patrol the walled-in residential section of the village, the oceanfront beach club, and the shopping plaza within the village's municipal boundaries. The department has approximately 30 certified police officers and was led by former Chief Peter Gregory, who joined the department after retiring from the New York Police Department. In 2010, then-Sergeant James Obrien was promoted to the rank of Chief of Police. Obrien retired from the Rochester Police Department and has over 40 years of law enforcement experience. Many of the police officers are retired employees of the NYPD, and several are former employees of local and state law enforcement agencies. The department is dispatched by Broward County Sheriff's Office communications and responds as District 26. The department has three patrol vehicles and a minimum of two sworn officers on duty at all times, with a normal weekday staffing of two officers, one police service aide, and the police chief.

The department prides itself on its low crime rate, with fewer than 15 Uniform Crime Report Type I crimes per year, with the majority being burglaries and robberies to businesses and vehicles inside the business plaza. In addition, the department was one of the first in Broward County to have developed a formal hurricane emergency policy in the early 1980s. The department employs detectives within its ranks, who are responsible for conducting most criminal investigations; however, whenever a major felony occurs in the village, such as a homicide or other criminal case that may involve other jurisdictions, the Broward Sheriff's Office is called in for assistance to pursue a joint investigation with a team approach.

The department provides keyholder services for residents and will assist with matters that are normally classified as non-law enforcement, such as escaped animals and resident check-ups. In addition, Patrolman Gene McCoy was credited with rescuing a resident during a fire in the village in the 1980s. McCoy was the first emergency services worker at the scene of the fire, and pulled an elderly resident from the building before the fire department arrived. The department was also the first to arrive and provide assistance to a helicopter which crashed on the property of the Beach Club, and also has assisted the United States Border Patrol and the Broward County Sheriff's Office with detaining and pursuing illegal immigrants that have come ashore into the village, and also provide emergency police back-up to neighboring Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

Fire and medical services

Fire and emergency medical services to Sea Ranch Lakes are provided by the Pompano Beach Fire Department. The village averages fewer than 100 calls for fire or medical services each year, with many being for services to the shopping plaza or residential fire alarms in the village. The village also averages less than one working structure fire per year. Throughout the history of the village, fire services have consistently varied with each contract. Broward County Fire Rescue, the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Volunteer Fire Department, and Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue have all provided fire suppression services to the village at some point.

The lowest bidder for fire services is usually awarded the four year contract for services to the village. Prior to 1996, the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Volunteer Fire Department served the town, with Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue serving until 2001. The Broward County Sheriff's Office Department of Fire Rescue & Emergency Services provided fire suppression services to the town from 2001 until 2008. As of October 2008, the Pompano Beach Fire Department provides services after Broward County Sheriff's Office closed their station in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

Utilities

Water services are provided to the town by the Fort Lauderdale Water Department. The residential section of the village has no sewer system, with each resident having an individual septic system. However, the shopping plaza is connected to the sewer system used by Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. Power services are provided to the town by Florida Power & Light, with all residential power lines being buried underground. By having no utility poles inside the village, it is relatively easy to return power to the entire village following a storm, and is also aesthetically pleasing.

Public works

The employees of the Sea Ranch Lakes Beach Club are responsible for maintaining all of the villages lakes, parks, streets, and other property.

External links

• Sea Ranch Lakes Municipal Information from Broward County, Florida