A petition from residents of the Village of St. James is calling for their gate to be manned due to the rapid development of County Road 466A.
Fred Pompa served as a spokesman for his group Monday morning before the Project Wide Advisory Committee.
“We are concerned because there is going to be much more traffic on that road than there has ever been,” Pompa said.
He cited new development from the new Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market at Sarasota Plaza in The Villages down to the new Lowe’s home improvement store at Trailwinds Village.
“This is the first entrance off of 466A. We only have a regular gate, not a manned gate. It will allow people to come in and do whatever they want to do,” he said.
Pompa said putting a gate guard at the location would make a huge difference in filtering out who enters the residential area. He said the gate arm is frequently down at the entrance to the Village of St. James.
“The presence of a man with a stop sign will stop some of those people,” Pompa said. “I understand they don’t have any power and they can’t do anything. But we would have somebody that knows that somebody doesn’t belong there.”
PWAC member Chuck Wildzunas, a Community Development District 5 supervisor, pointed to a similar existing situation in The Villages.
The gate at the Village of Belvedere is right off County Road 466, he said.
“To my knowledge, they’ve not had a problem,” Wildzunas said.
It was pointed out that the Village of Belvedere absorbs a lot of traffic due to its proximity near the Villages Charter School.
PWAC member Jerry Vicenti said the gates are primarily designed for traffic control.
“They are not designed to keep people out,” Vicenti said.
PWAC Chair Peter Moeller suggested tracking crime to determine if any changes are needed.
“I am asking for law enforcement to monitor it for a period of time and then let’s take a look at it,” Moeller said.