LAZY LAKE

A short history of Lazy Lake

In 1946, real estate developer and contractor Hal Ratliff began the process of building the community around an old rock quarry (which later was filled with water and became the village's artificial lake.) He had the help of architect Clinton Gamble, who designed the original homes, and financier and accountant Charles H. Lindfors, who initially bought the land. Ratliff's goal was to build a community that was low-key, with heavy forestry infrastructure, allowing neighbors to keep to themselves and have some anonymity. Lazy Lake received its name when a friend of Hal Ratliff remarked that the lake looked "so lazy and peaceful."

When nearby Wilton Manors decided to incorporate as a city, it asked Lazy Lake's residents whether they wanted to be annexed to Wilton Manors. Lazy Lake's residents decided to incorporate themselves on June 3, 1953, as the Village of Lazy Lake instead.

It is the smallest incorporated municipality in Broward County by area. This low population was because the town originally had been composed of single family homes in a small housing development, with a lake named Lazy Lake (its namesake) in the middle of the houses surrounding it. The village started with 13 homes on 13 acres (the maximum allowed by the charter.) The three homes of the three main founders of the village were the first to be built on the property, which was originally platted for a subdivision.

In 1995, residents agreed to place the entire village up for sale at $15 million, but nobody purchased it. It was on the market for two years, and Sue Carolyn Wise, their broker, went on television news stations and shows like CNN and A Current Affair to help promote the sale. People such as O. J. Simpson and a Kuwaiti prince were interested, but ultimately did not buy the village. After the two years of trying to be sold, Lazy Lake came off the market, and the village decided not to have the broker's contract renewed.

During 2008, a few residents on the village's north side wanted to disincorporate, secede and get annexed and incorporated into the city of Wilton Manors. The reason this small movement failed was because most residents on the south part of the village wanted to remain a village, which was due largely in part because the mayor and most council members at that time lived on the south side.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Lazy Lake, Florida, revision 1373303820 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.