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The Villages
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Villager in wheelchair wins permission for wider golf cart garage door

A Villager in a wheelchair has won permission for a golf cart garage door that will be wider than normally would be permitted by the Architectural Review Committee manual.

A request from Virgil and Connita Frese of 2290 Nehaul Terrace in the Keystone Villas was considered Thursday morning during a public hearing before the Community Development District 7 Board of Supervisors.

Virgil Frese, who is in a wheelchair, sought an 8-foot wide golf cart garage door at his villa. The ARC manual dictates that in that villa community, such a golf cart garage door would be limited to 6 feet wide.

The home at 2290 Nehaul Terrace in the Keystone Villas.

Carrie Duckett, resident services and communications director, said Frese’s disability is within the definition of the Fair Housing Act accommodation which is “necessary” for an applicant to have “equal opportunity to enjoy his dwelling.”

The board approved the request, with the understanding that if the accommodation is no longer needed, the homeowner will be required to bring the property back into compliance. In other words, if the couple decides to sell their villa, it would have to be retrofitted with the 6-foot-wide golf cart garage door. The couple had no objection to that restriction.

CDD 7 Supervisor Mark Gallo worried that the cost of downsizing the garage door would be “astronomical.”

However, fellow Supervisor William Vondohlen said he understood the couple’s desire to push ahead, knowing the day might come that they would have to undo the modification.

“You don’t know how much you need these things until you need these things,” said Vondohlen, who noted his wife is in a wheelchair.

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