Is parking in villas a problem?

Villa parking was the subject of a recent meeting with CDDs 1-9 represented.

It would seem that many of the Community Development District supervisors don’t think so.

But CDD 7 Supervisor Ron Ruggeri disagrees.

At Friday’s CDD 7 meeting, he restated that he thinks there are some serious problems with villa parking.

Many of the problems stem from villa homeowners who use supplemental parking (meant for guests) for their personal vehicles, he said. Or they leave their vehicles on the street.

And Ruggeri believes having those vehicles on villa roadways could impede Villages Public Safety vehicles if there is an emergency.

District Counsel Valerie Fuchs has indicated that the roadways are under the county’s jurisdiction so the District would have no authority to post a sign such as “Tow Away Zone.” Enforcement powers would lie with the county, not the District, she said.

Ruggeri disagrees with her legal opinion.

“It is my belief that we as a district have complete control over villa roads,” he said.

Ruggeri said he favors “informational signs” that would let vehicle owners know what the parking is intended for.

But some of his CDD 7 supervisors wonder about Ruggeri’s theories.

“This is being blown way out of proportion. Next thing you are going to want to put parking meters in there,” said CDD 7 Supervisor Niles Getz.

District Manager Janet Tutt has said that between the months of January 2013 and

August 2014,  Community Standards had logged 13 parking related complaints in The Villages.

Here’s a look at supervisors’ assessments from other districts:

District 1:  Supervisor Kathy Porter reported that she had visited all the villa areas and no villa parking  issues were observed. However, she did speak with a resident who indicated her/his villa did experience occasional parking issues but they did not rise to the level constituting a “problem.”

District 2: Supervisor Bryan Lifsey submitted a written report and verbally advised that he found no major parking issues within the CDD 2 villa neighborhoods and road blockage issues hindering emergency vehicle access appeared to be resolved via resident and law enforcement.

District 3: Supervisor Gail Lazenby advised that he had visited all CDD 3 villas and had discussions with some of the villa residents who expressed no desire to address parking in the streets.

District 4: Supervisor Jim Brockman also visited all the villas within his district and reported that residents at one villa indicated there were on-going parking issues.

District 5: Supervisor Chuck Wildzunas advised that during his visits to each CDD 5 villa he did not observe any parking issues nor has he been contacted by or received any resident complaints in this regard.

District 6: Supervisor John Calandro said  that although he was advised by residents that there are periodic parking issues, usually around the holidays, the neighbors tend to work these issues out amongst themselves and have indicated that signage is not desired.

District 8: Supervisor Sal Torname reported that although he has received sporadic complaints regarding parking in temporary visitor lots, he has not been advised of any villa street parking complaints which is the issue at hand.

District 9: Supervisor Steve Rebecky said  he had visited all the villas within his district and was unaware of any parking issues therein.