A homeowner in Florida is appealing to the City of Plantation to put up a guardrail on a stretch of road behind his property after cars slammed into his home on three separate occasions.
The backyard of Jonathan Phillips' home runs along the busy stretch of North Nob Hill Road near NW 6th Court in Plantation.
He said they had their first crash in 2015, which also happened to cause the most damage.
“It was a vehicle that went the wrong way in traffic and plowed through three backyards and took out the whole side of our house," Phillips said. "It crashed right through the bathroom, and my grandmother was in the bathroom moments before it happened, so that would have been really bad because the whole room looked like a bomb went off basically inside there."
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The second crash, a hit-and-run, happened two years later in 2017 at 4 a.m. Phillips said he reached out to the City of Plantation many times until a guardrail was installed in the median, but he claimed it hasn’t fixed the issue as it’s not protecting the homes in the area.
In April of 2021, another car ended up in Phillips’ backyard, and each time he’s had to clean up the expensive damage left behind.
“The first one was the most severe one where it actually took structural damage, and that was hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage, and I’m still kind of in debt today,” Phillips said.
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Phillips said he resorted to putting up storm shutters at times to protect his home from cars, but wants a new guardrail behind his house so he can feel at ease again inside his home.
"It’s not really a safe feeling in this house," he said. "Especially when you hear a car go by really fast or hear horns going off. It is kind of unnerving because you don’t know what going to happen or if somebody is going to crash again."
According to Plantation Mayor Nick Sortal, the city has heard his appeals and is vowing to do something about it. Sortal visited Phillips' house and said he has pushed for the city to approve the funds, around $84,000, to install a new guardrail in the grassy area behind the house.
“I want them to approve it. I feel like it’s in their best interest to approve it," Phillips said. "And the goal is to not have anybody get hurt so hopefully, they install the guardrail. I’m not saying that it will be a fail-safe, but it’s better than nothing."
It is up to the Plantation City Council to approve the funds to install a new guardrail. The item was on the agenda to be discussed at Wednesday's city council meeting.
