It’s official.
Miami Lakes residents living in the county’s special taxing districts for security guard gates and lakes maintenance overwhelmingly approved a mail-in ballot election to transfer responsibility for the various districts to the town to maintain them under the town’s standards.
The January 24 special election reported that an estimated 82 percent of the residents living in six special taxing district neighborhoods voted for the take over while an estimated nine percent voted no.
In Loch Lomond, 89 percent (156 votes) of the residents agreed with Miami Lakes gaining control over their guard gate district while 8 percent (18 votes) voted no.
In Lake Patricia, 88 percent (45 votes) of the residents voted yes for the town to maintain their lake, while nearly 12 percent (6 votes) wanted the county to resume control over the large body of water in the center of their neighborhood.
Residents in Lake Hilda had similar results with 87 percent (64 votes) approving turning over their lake to Miami Lakes, while 12 percent (9 votes) voted no.
In the Miami Lakes Section One neighborhood, 80 percent (241 votes) of the residents approved the mail-in ballot, while 19 percent (57 votes) indicated they wanted to maintain the status quo.
For the security guard gate districts, residents living in the Royal Oaks East neighborhood overwhelmingly said yes with 92 percent (205 votes), while 7 percent (17 votes) said no; and the Royal Oaks Section One neighborhood reported that 86 percent (209 votes) voted yes while 13 percent (33 votes) said no.
Since Miami Lakes incorporated in 2000, one of the town’s goals was to gain control over the special taxing districts and maintain them under its standards.
The county first handed over the special taxing districts for the pocket parks, beach parks and picnic parks. Later, Miami Lakes took over the street lighting districts.