Complaints from residents of Water Oak prompted the Lady Lake Commission to table a planned expansion of the 55+ community on U.S. Hwy. 27/441.
Residents are concerned about narrow roads that are clogged with Amazon and FedEx delivery vans, landscapers’ trucks and other service vehicles.
An 80-year-old Water Oaker told the commission he had been hit by a vehicle while walking near his home on Norman Street.
“I can personally tell you how dangerous it is,” Robert Galloway said.
When the Water Oak community was first developed in the 1980s, the private roads were constructed at 20 feet across. Residents said that was appropriate for a community of a few hundred homes when golf carts and dog walkers dominated the roadways.
“We originally had a couple hundred sites in the 1980s. We’re close to 1,300 sites now. We’re looking at about 1,600 residents,” said Peter Toom, who lives on Bishop Drive.
Sun Water Expansion LLC/Sun Communities Finance LP hopes to add 296 homes and more amenities including a zero-entry pool with cabanas.
Daniel Gibbs of Atwell Engineering, who is the project manager, said the rationale for keeping the 20-foot streets is to maintain “consistency” in the community.
“Just because we built something in the 1980s doesn’t mean we have to keep it that way. It is a mistake how narrow the streets are. We have no sidewalks. People have to walk on the streets,” said Commissioner Dan Vincent, a resident of Water Oak.
Commissioner Tony Holden made a motion to table the Water Oak expansion discussion until February. Vincent seconded the motion. Mayor Ruth Kussard and Commissioner Paul Hannan voted against the motion to table. New Commissioner James Rietz, a resident of the Village of Country Club Hills, proved to be the swing vote. He voted to table the discussion until February.
Water Oak General Manager Lara Parker asked, what exactly, she should be bringing back before the commission.
“A new design is what the people request,” Holden told her.
