A longtime Villager has been ordered to cut down hedges used to block out noise and light from a loud and rambunctious soccer field.
In 1999, Mary Santos and her late husband bought the lot at 160 Palermo Place in the Village of Valle Verde. They helped design their premier home.
The Villages, their sales representative and the Town of Lady Lake all assured the couple nothing was to be built on the land on the backside of their property, she said. However, it wasn’t long before the Rolling Acres Sports Complex was built, quite literally, in their backyard.
The sports complex is home to many soccer games as well as practice sessions.
The couple decided to let their hedges grow to provide a buffer from the light and noise from the soccer games.
Mary Santos, whose husband died 10 years ago, appeared Wednesday afternoon in a public hearing before the Village Center Community Development District Board of Supervisors.
After more than 20 years of having the tall hedges in place without any complaints, an anonymous complainer this past August reported the hedges to Community Standards.
The rule states that the hedges can be no more than 4 feet tall.
Santos said that two decades ago she received encouragement from none-other-than The Villages Vice President Jennifer Parr to let the hedges grow.
“At the time she had children who played soccer,” Santos told the VCCDD board.
Because the Santos home is at the far end of The Villages, it was assumed no one would care or notice the tall hedges.
In addition to acting as a buffer between her home and the soccer fields, Santos said the tall hedges have blocked the view of a constant stream of Villagers’ walking their dogs behind her home. The dogs usually relieve themselves there, she said.
The VCCDD board was not moved by Santos’ plight.
She has been ordered to cut the hedges down to 4 feet in height within seven days. If she fails to do so, the District will hire a contractor to do the work and charge Santos $150 per hour as well as a $100 administrative service fee.