After nearly two hours of debate, the Amenity Authority Committee voted Wednesday against buying 40 acres of land in Marion County.
The 40 acres of land would have provided for expansion of recreation facilities in Community Development District 4 which will soon be home to 300 new courtyard villas.
CDD 4 resident John Chipriano made a plea for expansion of facilities.
“You’ve got 300 more houses coming in. You have to come away with the feeling that CDD 4 has been underserved. The pools are tight. We need more,” he said.
But the property has been plagued with buyer-beware warning signs.
First, the AAC would be paying $3 million for the land, which would be more than the appraised value of $2.8 million.
Second, there would be accessibility issues for the property located on County Road 42. Among ideas for providing access was a $175,000 golf cart bridge over a retention pond. Developer Mark Morse’s daughter, Kelsea Morse Manly, through her company Manly Land Holdings LLC, closed the door on possible access through property she owns there with her husband. By letter, Manly informed the AAC that she feared granting that accessibility would open the door to golf cart traffic from outside The Villages.
AAC member Gary Moyer won nods of approval from fellow AAC members when he argued the committee would be rushing to buy land without having a firm plan in place for how it would be used.
AAC Chairman Ann Forrester repeated her oft-expressed sense of duty to the residents.
“We should be spending their money wisely,” she said.
AAC member Carl Bell declared it was time to “fish or cut bait” and called for a straight up and down vote on the matter.
In the end, only AAC member and CDD 4 Supervisor Don Deakin voted in favor of the purchase of the property. Bell, seeing he was in the minority, joined with the majority and voted against the purchase.