Leesburg commissioners gave their blessings to three ordinances Monday night that pave the way for a large-scale family entertainment complex to be built in the city near the newest sections of The Villages.
Scott and Mary Christley, the longtime owners of Skate World in Leesburg, plan to build the complex on a 9.65-acre site located south of State Road 44 and east of Whitney Road, near the new southern sections of The Villages. Commissioners did their part to help the effort by annexing the site into the city, amending the city’s comprehensive plan designation on the property to City General Commercial and rezoning the parcel to Small Planned Unit Development to allow for the business.
The complex, which Scott Christley said should be open sometime in the fall, will include a roller-skating rink, a 12-lane boutique bowling alley, a two-story Laser Tag arena, rock-climbing walls, mini-golf, Spin Zone Bumper Cars, a go-cart track and a full restaurant and sports bar. It also would have a second-story area that can be rented out for corporate events and things like that, he said.
“I feel great and we’re excited to get past that point,” Scott Christley said shortly after Monday night’s meeting.
Thomas Clark, who lives on Whitney Road, spoke out against the entertainment complex. He claimed to have done analysis work for NASA in the past and said he is qualified to provide analysis on the entertainment complex, which he believes will be create negative impacts on the neighborhood he lives in behind the new business.
Clark said Whitney Road, which falls under Lake County’s jurisdiction, is only about one and a half lanes wide and can’t handle traffic going both ways. And he disputed claims from a meeting last month where commissioners heard first readings of the ordinances that “hundreds and hundreds” of cars travel on Whitney Road to the “party barn” or Paquette’s Historical Farmall Tractor Museum, which holds events every year.
“The room I use in my house as an office that is 30 feet off that road and I count them every single time they go by,” he said of the traffic on the roadway. “There’s not hundreds and hundreds. There’s barely ever 50. That road cannot sustain the traffic.”
Clark, who claims to have done analyses work for the past 20 years, says he completed a study on future traffic on State Road 44. He refused to share the methods used in his study – “those are mine” – but promised traffic on the road will triple in the next nine years.
“That’s done by number of times people leave their houses and the number of times
Villagers use golf carts compared to cars and the whole bit,” he said. “They’re just going to overload that traffic and you’re going to create jams. It’s going to be a dangerous place to be.”
Scott Christley said he had a traffic study done and it says there won’t be any major impacts on Whitney Road, which will be used only for about one-tenth of a mile by his customers to get into the entertainment complex. He added that his patrons will have no reason to travel down Whitney Road behind his business because the roadway dead-ends in the neighborhood.
Christley also disputed Clark’s claim about the amount of traffic that travels on Whitney Road. He cited a recent event at the tractor museum where he watched “lines of cars and semis going in and out” of the facility.
The commission voted unanimously to approve the ordinance changes with the provision that Christley incorporate a “dark skies provision” into his building plan, which calls for lower lights directed down on his property so they won’t have an impact on the neighbors behind him. Christley agreed to the requirement and said he’s ready to move forward with the project that he thinks is long overdue.
“Our community is very lacking on things for people to do in this area,” he said. “Such a wide demographic of people will be able to come and enjoy our facility. We’re very excited about that.”
Christley said he also expects many Villagers to use the facility, especially those who are moving into the new areas of the community near his property.
“We’ve had that location for a long time, long before The Villages ever came down that far,” he said. “So I can’t say that was the reason for it, but we’re happy that they’re coming right down there with us. The timing is great.”
Resident Ronald Good agreed. He said he and his wife enjoy skating and they moved to the local area because of the new facility the Christleys are building.
“It is going to be fantastic,” he said. “We know people that are retiring from Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey and they can’t wait until this place gets built. They want to come and they’ll pack them in.”