A roundabout at Warm Springs Avenue and Morse Boulevard was built too high, residents of Continental Country Club told Sumter County commissioners Tuesday night.
The result is that a wall built to block noise and dirt for residents is too low and ineffective.
“I live near this wall and I can hear the noise, I can smell the dirt and I can see the speeding trucks,” said Bob Finnecy.
Mike Roberts, the country club’s general manager, said the wall was built several years ago when the county announced plans to expand the road, then known as County Road 468, to four lanes. Now, he said the roundabout is two feet above the wall.
Residents said they were told the roundabout was built at its height due to Duke Energy transmission lines underneath. But they said a Duke Energy spokesman said the lines did not require the road to be that high.
“We have a very serious concern about the roundabout and it seems we get the run-around with the county,” said Tom Bartsch, president of the homeowners association.
County Administrator Bradley Arnold said residents were offered input when engineering plans for the road were considered in 2014. But local funds paid for construction, so the county was not subject to procedural requirements when state or federal funds are involved.
Commissioner Garry Breeden and other commissioners asked Arnold to research ways that the county could help residents improve the screening from roundabout traffic.
Besides raising the wall height, Breeden said, vegetation also could play a role.
Arnold said he will provide options, but warned that the county does not want to set a precedent that any residents living along a road could seek county help for buffering. He said The Villages provides buffering along its roads.
Residents also said traffic signals are needed at the country club’s back entrance near the roundabout. They said heavy traffic makes it difficult to turn left on Warm Springs Avenue.
But Arnold said residents can turn right and circle the roundabout to head north. He said the traffic volume probably would not justify signals.