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Southwest Ranches
One of the few towns in the Broward County to retain the semi-rural look is Southwest Ranches. This place is famous for its equestrian ranches and hence it got this name. There is a deep history behind the formation of this small town. Originally, Pembroke Pines had plans to incorporate this city under their wings in 1996. Fearing that this would change the rural feel of this place, the residents of this town protested against the move. The Broward County Legislative Delegation allows this plea and asked the residents to draw up a charter if they wanted to form a new city of their own. The residents agreed to this prospect leading to the formation of Southwest Ranches.
This is a purely residential area spread over an area of 13.15 square miles. The town maintains a unique regulation not to allow homes to be built on lots less than 1 acre. This is to maintain the rural look. The town residents also decided against installing street lamps and sidewalks as they felt this would defeat the purpose of maintaining a rural appearance.
You can see people either riding horse or cycling their way through the trails spread all over the town. There are seven open-space parks in the city out of which they have developed one park to include a schooling and show ring along with an Equestrian Oasis. This is to provide drinking water to the horses. With an estimated population of around 7,898 in 2016, 78.5% of the people have English as their mother tongue with the rest comprising of Spanish speaking citizens.
A majority of the people are of White Caucasian or Hispanic ethnicity with around 5% of people making up the Black Community. One of the most famous residents of this place is Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, professional wrestler and actor.