The Hidden Valley golf course in Boca Raton Florida has been abandoned for around 16 years now, which means that Floridas natural wildlife has been allowed to flourish and find a home on this 55 acre land. Animals such as otters, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, fish, birds, turtles, iguanas, lizards, snakes and many native plants can be found there. There’s a new proposed redevelopment hoping to put 64 ‘luxury’ houses on the land. This redevelopment would mean cutting and killing a majority of these plants and trees, draining the lakes/waterways, and killing these animals or pushing them into our neighborhoods. For the animals that might survive the construction, they’ll likely  wander into our streets and backyards which not only poses a clear danger to them, but to us as well, especially to parents and pet owners. I know no parent wants to worry about their child being attacked at the playground by a starving animal, or pet owners feeling unsafe to walk their dogs. This land also serves as a natural drainage area, something that is very vital to our rainy Floridian neighborhood, and protects us from flash floods. The construction of 64 houses so close to our homes would also come with many inconveniences to residents including long hours of construction noise for an unprecedented amount of time and more traffic once the houses are sold (if every house has 3 cars each that means an extra 192 cars in our neighborhood slowing down your daily route). I’m sure everyone can agree that no one in our neighborhood would like to hear construction noise coming from our backyards, have our already traffic-jammed streets have an added estimated 192 cars coming in and out of our neighborhood, be put at a much higher risk for flooding/ flash floods and have wild lost animals roaming in our streets. With so many of Floridas natural areas being lost to companies simply looking to make a profit, it’s so important to take a stand when we can, especially in our own communities. This land is zoned as recreational and should stay that way. This place would make a beautiful nature reserve/trail and easily so with many of the original paths from the golf course still intact. We, the people of Boca Raton, do not need more houses, we need to protect our wildlife! Once it is gone, we cannot go back.  There’s a community meeting welcome to anyone interested in speaking their mind this Thursday, May 29 at The Loft at Congress starting at 6 pm.