To the Editor:
At the recent District 1 meeting of concerned residents regarding Morse Boulevard from south of U.S. 441 to CR 466, the vast majority of speakers only voiced concerns about the speed of heavy traffic immediately adjacent to the portion of the roadway used by golf car drivers, AND the estimated cost of making that roadway safe. At the conclusion of the speakers’ comments only one person, District 1 Supervisor Ellen Cora, commented that the cost of affecting the safety of that six mile stretch was not out of line considering the design and construction of Morse Boulevard continuing south for several miles and the equally busy Buena Vista Boulevard.
Both of those boulevards are heavily-traveled north-south thoroughfares through The Villages and there are no reasonable and/or feasible alternate routes to replace the subject portion of Morse. What’s more, there is no inexpensive means of remedying this everlasting traffic safety issue. Supervisor Cora is precisely right about that, and the basic issue should be who should pay for the costly redesign and construction of such a project.
Unlike the continuation of Morse toward the southern area of The Villages and the design and construction of Buena Vista Boulevard, the parties designing the first part of Morse Boulevard did not utilize the often expressed “knew or should have known” factor that has now been realized.
As I understand it, the Developer designs and constructs the necessary roadways and other than the villa roads and Marion County roads, eventually turns the ownership over to Sumter County. So, who is at fault for the current unsafe condition on the first six miles of Morse Boulevard which is owned by Sumter County?
In the case of two recreation centers, the remedial correction of unsolvable problems with the Developer-designed and constructed buildings was placed in the hands of the eventual owners, the associated Districts. In the first case the District accepted responsibility and replaced the entire rec center. But more recently, the district balked so the Developer simply tore down the subject rec center. According to Kimley-Horn, being the owner of Morse Boulevard, Sumter County has so far refused any responsibility when it comes to updating the short six mile stretch of that road. I submit that instead of flatly refusing responsibility for the road the County owns, it should look to the Developer to accept mediation and arbitration of the costs issue.
If such arbitration were to come about, Sumter County should point directly to the matter of the Charter School having outlived its ability to serve the current and future students load efficiently which prompted the Developer to design and construct what appears to me to be a half-billion dollar brand new campus to replace the one not nearly as old as the northern portion of Morse Boulevard. Similarly, the developer should at least share the costs associated with the case at hand.
Lee Gilpin
Village of Liberty Park
