weston vs cooper city. which would you rather? (Pembroke Pines, Sunrise: HOA, crime)

[lookingfordreamhome]

it seems we are narrowing our search for our dream home to weston or cooper city. which would you rather live in and why?

for background we are a couple in our mid 30's with a baby. i work in sunny isles beach (but not sure if i'll work there forever) and my husband works mostly in doral area.

[angelo7221]

Weston is a master-planned community consisting of gated developments endless bike and jogging trails and the world famous bonaventure and weston hills country club. It is geared toward luxury though a good portion of the "gated communities" have smaller starter-homes. The pros are that it is clean, quiet, has a true suburban feel, has a good police presence and the guards do their job...in addition to which they have a "main street" type shopping village with The Cheese Course, boutiques, a wine place to hang out on weekends and anchored by a Publix and a funky looking hotel with multi-colored facade. To those that live there, that makes it chic and worth passing up the eastern beach towns for. The cons are it tends to be snooty, the town tends to be a speedtrap, outside of "the main street village" there is a bore/isolation factor the further "west" you live, the city has a water contamination issue (which means you're served can beverages at fast food places), and it's not the most "cultural" spot in the universe.

Cooper City, on the other hand, is a bedroom-type community wedged between davie (at times overlapping it) and the northern reaches of Pembroke Pines (which has become very congested). Though it is minutes away from the Pines, you can drive down 90 ave and think you were in a bit of a time warp insomuch as South Fla suburbs used to be (it reminds me very much of a West Kendall from the 80's) Many of the homes were built in the 70's, it is a smaller town within a city and its high school is only minutes away from most spots. They have a nice Wal-Mart which is almost minutes away and though it's in the suburbs is not as isolated as Weston. Many of the homes are your typical 3 bedroom 2 bath ranchers though there are duplexes if you make the first turn off 90 ave. Its pros revolve around the down-home traditionality factor. There seems to be a feeling of a neighborhood presence/ crime watch factor there and the police make it safe; though I have heard some stories about the old city cops that used to make it a nightmare to live there..it is now patrolled by Broward County Sheriff's Office deputies. The cons are it's ugly-assed concrete-barrier wall on Griffin Rd that makes it look like Attica but Griffin Rd has become more congested after the lane-widening project that just got finished so at least you don't have any noise. Also Griffin Rd has lost a lot of it's country feel and that can bear down on many long-time resident's experiences with growing up or living there but I doubt the area is going to go downhill anytime soon...the only thing I hear is the cops are (a little bit) nicer now! Bear in mind there is a crime factor all throughout the South Broward area....it has gotten a lot of new residents over the past 10 years and Cooper City's shopping mall, Pembroke Lakes Mall, is not as safe as other malls...but you can never think you are too safe. I recommend driving in and around Pembroke Pines off Pines Blvd, checking out Davie and its downtown maybe, and bearing in mind that Cooper City is very small so shopping is a toss-up between the Pines shopping plazas, maybe the Wal Mart, and the Griffin Rd corridor. Also you have the Pembroke Gardens outdoor mall which is off of Pines and I-75 which is a good way to kill an afternoon or enjoy a Friday evening..similar to the Weston "main street village" but with noticeable differences. You are kind of right smack dab against all of these areas which make it nice.
Hope that helps...

[allenk893]

Well I just moved to Cooper City but I've been coming to the area for years. It's okay but Weston definitely kicks it out of the water. Weston is a planned community. It's block after block of landscaped trees and grass. It's extremely beautiful and safe all around. Much beautiful scenery than Cooper City. I think the schools are better. I don't know. But from what I've seen of Weston, it's really a nice area that one cannot pass up if given the opportunity to move there.

[Momma_bear]

Originally Posted by angelo7221

The cons are it tends to be snooty, the town tends to be a speedtrap, outside of "the main street village" there is a bore/isolation factor the further "west" you live, the city has a water contamination issue (which means you're served can beverages at fast food places), and it's not the most "cultural" spot in the universe.

I agree with most of your analysis however the bolded comment above confuses me. I lived in Weston from 2000-2010 and my kids still play sports there.

The entire city of Weston gets its water from the city of Sunrise. The water source does not vary from east to west. What fast food places serve canned beverages? The McDonalds on Indian Trace serves regular fountain drinks and there are no other fast food places in the western part of the city. The other fast food places are all on Weston Road which I would not consider the western part of the city.

As far as Weston vs. Cooper City I would choose Weston hands down. Cooper City is just not as nice.

[migx27]

Weston. Is not even a competition!!

[JimboUSMC17]

Well since you are against P. Pines, I'd suggest Weston if I had to pick. As someone above said. No competition!

[ruski]

I have never heard of any water contamination in Weston.

[sware2cod]

Weston.

[ruhighlander]

I guess it's personal preference. I do love the look of Weston but felt Cooper City met our housing needs better (more for the money) looking at what was on the market at the time. We were in a time crunch since we had sold our house and were moving 1100 miles to FL. I was eager to get my kids in a school that they would be able to stay. Cooper City's schools were much smaller and my kids were coming from an extremely small school in MD. I think Cooper City has more of a small town feel. Yes most shopping besides groceries are done in Pembroke Pines or Plantation. I don't see a lot of shopping in Weston. There are however more restaurants. There is no mall in either place. For us it came down to the house we found and we were open to either place. If you have time I'm sure you could find something in Weston to meet your needs especially since the housing market remains slow. We love our neighborhood here so we have no regrets.

[rkumar3]

I personally would prefer Cooper City, since I don't like the cookie cutter homes that Weston offers. Not to mention, just about everything in Weston is part of HOA and we have decided to not deal with HOA anymore.