A committee of Community Development District supervisors is being formed to look at the issue of parking on villa roads in The Villages.
District Counsel Valerie Fuchs and District Manager Janet Tutt recently met with representatives from law enforcement and government from Sumter County, Lady Lake, Marion County and Wildwood to discuss the districts’ parking issues.
Fuchs has concluded that the districts do not have the jurisdiction to regulate parking or enforce traffic control devices on its right-of-ways or parking areas.
Counties and municipalities have exclusive jurisdiction to enforce Florida’s Uniform Traffic Laws, including the authority to regulate parking over the streets and parking areas situated within their boundaries, Fuchs wrote in an opinion distributed to supervisors on Friday.
There has been vigorous discussion of parking at villas the past few months among CDD 7 supervisors. Earlier this summer, CDD 7 supervisors voted to look at putting in signs at supplemental villa parking to inform homeowners that the parking spaces are intended for guests.
But the parking issue received varying responses when the topic was raised Friday in four CDD meetings.
CDD 5 supervisors voiced concerns about RVs parking on roads and parking practices in the squares (something not in the CDDs’ purview.)
Some CDD 6 supervisors indicated they weren’t convinced that a parking problem exists.
“It hasn’t come up as a major issue in District 6,” said CDD 6 Supervisor Russ D’Emidio.
However, CDD 6 Supervisor Joyce Edmonds noted that if districts are going to start putting up signs “uniformity” of all districts would be important.
A committee is being formed to hold a workshop session to discuss parking.
Committee members named to the committee Friday were:
• District 5: Chuck Wildzunas
• District 6: Russ D’Emidio
• District 7: Ron Ruggeri
• District 8: Sal Torname
Torname noted that he had appeared before the Sumter County Commission earlier this year on a parking issue in the Village of St. James where he resides.
You can read about that at this link:
http://villages-news.com/commissioners-reject-call-parking-sign-st-james