Four more Community Development District supervisors were selected Friday to serve on a committee to discuss parking on villa roads in The Villages.
But there are varying opinions as to whether a parking problem exists.
“Maybe today there is no problem, but this is a dynamic community with new people moving in all the time,” said CDD 1 Supervisor Kathy Porter.
Her fellow CDD 1 supervisor, Ellen Cora, agreed that the parking problem may not be obvious to some.
“There’s something simmering beneath the surface,” she said.
Some wondered if the committee might be looking into a problem that doesn’t exist.
“I can visualize a bunch of ‘no parking’ signs all over our district,” said CDD 2 Chairman Bob Gilmartin. “I wonder if we should just leave things as they are.”
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, according to an opinion written by Fuchs.
Selected Friday to serve on the parking committee were:
• District 1: Kathy Porter
• District 2: Bryan Lifsey
• District 3: Gail Lazenby
• District 4: Jim Brockman
Selected last week to serve on the parking committee were:
• District 5: Chuck Wildzunas
• District 6: Russ D’Emidio
• District 7: Ron Ruggeri
• District 8: Sal Torname
The scope of the committee will be limited to parking on villa streets.