The Sumter Landing Community Development District Board has taken a first step toward guaranteeing that trespassers in The Villages receive due process.
The SLCDD supervisors on Thursday morning agreed to schedule a public hearing on rules on trespassing in The Villages.
The board’s attorney, Scott Gerken, said the rules would apply to “people who are unruly.” He said the need for such steps was prompted by a case in St. Petersburg in which there was a challenge as to whether an individual was provided due process and how long a trespass order could reasonably remain in place.
“So would the case come back to this board?” asked SLCDD Supervisor Randy McDaniel, who is head of The Villages Charter School.
Gerken explained that an appeal could reach the SLCDD Board as part of the overall process.
The Villages has had its share of problems with trespassers:
• Villager Richard Hendricks, 82, has had multiple arrests through the years, and found himself barred from all Villages facilities, including recreation centers, town squares and movie theaters.
• 82-year-old Morris Wolff, of the Village of Mallory Square, who twice has been arrested at the Tierra Del Sol tennis courts, found himself in court on a charge of trespassing. He was sentenced earlier this year.
• A homeless man was arrested on a trespassing charge earlier this month at The Villages Media Group office at Spanish Springs Town Square.
• A Villages couple’s son claiming to be a Seminole Indian was arrested earlier this year at The Villages Regional Hospital.
