Need help with specific areas (Coral Springs, Plantation: to rent, neighborhood, buying)

[austinfam]

Hi -
I have lurked these boards for awhile and have gained some great knowledge of SE Florida, but I need some help with some specific areas. Here is a brief overview of our situation: We are moving from New Orleans this spring. We need to be within 30-40 minutes of Pompano Beach for the first couple of years for my husband's job, but then need to be within the same distance to the greater Ft Lauderdale area after that (he is in construction).

Because he needs to be able to commute to points over a pretty large area, I have looked at towns with good highway access: Central/East Boca, Coral Springs/SE Parkland, and Weston/western Davie are the top contenders based on my knowledge so far. Also, we have 2 kids in elementary and middle school, so we need a solid, family-friendly neighborhood. We used to live in a neighborhood where kids could play with other kids, ride bikes, go out trick-or-treating with other families on Halloween, etc. Would love to find an area with that same sense of community in S Florida. The "town" means less to us than the neighborhood.
We plan to rent at first and would like to keep it at around $2500/month, but we have not necessarily ruled out buying. We were there in January to drive around and we did not connect with Cooper City (maybe we were missing something?). Since I am doing the bulk of the legwork remotely, I could use some help when looking at listings online.

So here's where I could use everyone's expertise:

What are some specific neighborhood names in zip codes 33433 and 33486 that are family oriented? It seems like some areas are more for older folks, and some not. It's hard to tell remotely. Gated, not gated, we don't really care. We are not into keeping up with the Joneses.

Also, does anyone have any insight to the Paradise Palms neighborhood between S Military Trail and I-95?

Coral Springs - which specific areas are better? North of the Sawgrass? Is there a "border" where things change from nice to not nice (i.e a specific road)?

Also, what is the deal with Coconut Creek? Are there any specific areas there that would be worth our time looking? That whole area where Coral Springs/Parkland/Coconut Creek come together is a little confusing.

Seems like we can shoot a dart at anything in Weston and it would be nice - but seems like quite a haul to Pompano as a daily commute. Has anyone actually done this? How bad is this commute in real life?

Am I missing anything that anyone would like to add? Thanks for your help and expertise, hope I didn't throw too much out there at once!

[Fl1150]

It seems like Parkland offers the best of what your looking for as far as good schools and communities with many young families and also check out Plantation.