An official in The Villages fears the climbing costs and grand plans for a golf maintenance building are “beginning to look like Mecca.”
Amenity Authority Committee member Jim Vaccaro, long critical of the proposed building aimed at storing a contractor’s mowing equipment at the Mira Mesa Executive Golf Course, spoke out against the project at Wednesday’s meeting at Savannah Center.
He said a simple metal pole barn could accomplish the objective, but the project continues to grow with a special road, offices and a bathroom.
“You are building Mecca out there. You can use a steel building or a hut,” Vaccaro said.
He also questioned the ever-climbing price tag and a new road he has labeled as “extravagant.”
The building originally had been lumped in with $4.56 million for course improvement projects during a budget workshop earlier this year.
The cost was listed at $1.7 million when District Property Management went to the Town of Lady Lake to formally file a site plan, even though the AAC had not even voted to approve the controversial golf maintenance facility.
Assistant District Manager Bruce Brown said the paperwork filed with the Town of Lady Lake mistakenly included an “escalation factor” and the correct estimate is $1.5 million. He defended filing the site plan with the town, calling it common practice to “get the paperwork moving,” even though the project had not been voted on by the AAC. He also said a major road improvement for the facility is necessary “so tractor trailer trucks can make deliveries.”
AAC Chair Donna Kempa said she had visited the site and defended the need for the project. She described the existing road as so rough she wouldn’t drive her car down it. She objected to the description of an “office” in the building.
“It’s not an office. It’s a room where they will have two desks and two chairs,” she said.
Kempa added it will give workers a place to sit in the air conditioning to eat their lunches.
She described seeing gas tanks and fertilizer “sitting in the hot sun” at the site.
“It can’t be safe,” she said.
Villager Patsy Oburn, a candidate for supervisor in Community Development District 1, called for a special meeting on the golf maintenance facility to air out all the details.
Villager Drew Martindale agreed the building is needed, but said the location is terrible.
“It’s a bad site. We need a better site,” he said. “That site is not where you want to put a new facility. That would lower the cost significantly.”