Parkland is the quiet end of Broward County. Where Coral Springs is dense with condos and townhomes, Parkland was planned around large lots, tree cover, and very little commercial frontage — and the city has been protective of that character for decades. If you are moving up from a Coral Springs condo or arriving from out of state, it is worth understanding what that trade actually buys you.
A city built around low density
Parkland's defining feature is what it chose not to build. There is no traditional downtown and very little strip retail. The city sits at the northwest corner of Broward, bordered by Coral Springs to the south and the Palm Beach County line to the north, and its planning has consistently favored open space, pathways, and residential lots over commercial square footage.
The practical effect for a buyer: you get quiet, space and tree canopy, and you accept a short drive for groceries, restaurants and errands — usually south into Coral Springs. For many families that is exactly the trade they want. For others, it is the reason they stay in Coral Springs.
The communities
Most of Parkland's housing sits inside master-planned, often gated, communities. The best known include:
- Heron Bay — a large master-planned community developed from former agricultural land in the late 1990s, with well over 3,000 homes, condos, villas and townhomes. Residents have access to clubhouses, resort-style pools, fitness facilities, tennis and walking trails. It is one of the few Parkland communities with meaningful housing variety.
- Parkland Golf & Country Club — a guard-gated Toll Brothers community opened in 2006, spanning roughly 790 acres around an 18-hole Greg Norman–designed golf course, with a large clubhouse, pools, tennis and fitness.
- Cypress Head — an established neighborhood known for spacious homes on large lots, with a clubhouse, tennis courts and a pool. It skews older and greener than the newer builds.
- MiraLago — a newer master-planned community with a wider range of housing, from single-family homes to townhomes, plus a clubhouse, fitness center and sports courts.
Each has its own HOA, its own fee structure, and its own rules on rentals, pets and exterior changes. Those documents matter more here than in most of Broward — read them before you get attached to a house.
Schools
Parkland is served by Broward County Public Schools, and schools are one of the main reasons families choose the city. Assignment follows your home address, so confirm the zoning for a specific property with the district before you sign anything.
The public schools serving Parkland include Park Trails Elementary, Riverglades Elementary, Heron Heights Elementary and Coral Park Elementary; Westglades Middle School; and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a large comprehensive high school serving roughly 3,000 students in grades 9–12. Broward also runs magnet and charter options that draw from across the district — see our Coral Springs schools guide for how school choice, magnet applications and controlled open enrollment work, since the same district rules apply.
Parks and the outdoors
For a city of its size, Parkland's parks program is unusually good, and it is central to how the city sells itself.
- Pine Trails Park is the main recreation hub — multipurpose and synthetic turf fields, baseball fields, basketball courts, a fishing pier, walking trails and pavilions. It also houses the Parkland Recreation and Enrichment Center, a roughly 24,700-square-foot facility running more than 100 programs for every age group.
- Terramar Park is the second hub for youth and adult sports.
- The Equestrian Center at Temple Park has two riding rings and hosts the Parkland Farmers' Market on alternating Sundays from November through April — a genuine nod to the city's rural roots.
Details and current hours are on the City of Parkland site, which keeps park profiles and the pathway network up to date.
What this means for buyers
Parkland rewards buyers who want space, schools and quiet, and who are comfortable driving for everything else. Because so much of the inventory sits inside HOA communities with real rules and real fees, the total monthly cost is rarely just the mortgage — budget the HOA, and read the documents early.
If you are weighing Parkland against staying put, our moving from Coral Springs to Parkland guide walks through the trade in practical terms. And if you want to see what we have actually closed in the area, our closed sales page lists real transactions, including a Parkland estate that sold for $3.15M.