An official has blasted the ballooning cost of a 3,500-foot walking path that is expected to cost residents of The Villages $760,000 – or more.
Community Development District 10 Supervisor Steve Bova was in the audience at Monday’s meeting of the Project Wide Advisory Committee, which oversees amenities south of County Road 466.
The walking trail project at Lake Miona was originally expected to cost about $150,000. Then it grew to $430,000. And now it’s estimated at $760,000.
At Thursday’s CDD 10 board meeting, Bova called out the burgeoning expense of the 1.3-mile out-and-back loop. Thought it’s billed as an “out-and-back loop,” Bova said that, in reality, it would be about a half-mile path.
“In today’s economy, I was shocked that there were board members who wanted to vote on it that day,” said Bova.
He said he believes the cost is outrageous and urged PWAC to table or delay the project.
He does not buy into the idea that Villagers will travel all the way to Lake Miona to walk on the short path.
“Nobody is going to drive that far for that,” Bova said of the path that would exclude bicyclists and dogs.
His fellow supervisors agreed with Bova’s assessment of the project, including CDD 10 Board Chairman Don Wiley, who also serves as chairman of PWAC.
“It’s our Big Dig,” Wiley said in reference to the famously over-budget tunnel project in Boston.
PWAC has not given its final approval to the walking trail.
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