A long hoped-for plan to bring safety improvements to Morse Boulevard has come to a screeching halt after the Amenity Authority Committee deadlocked on a path forward.
In May, the AAC broke a stalemate and voted 5-1 to move forward with a $1.5 million plan to widen the golf cart paths by two feet on Morse Boulevard north of County Road 466. That vote finally broke a tense back-and-forth with Sumter County, owner of the road.
When the AAC gathered Wednesday at Savannah Center, its members were set to approve a $154,855 design services contract with Kimley-Horn & Associates Inc., an engineering firm which has work for decades in The Villages. However, the $154,855 design services contract, which would have been part of the $1.5 million project, reopened old wounds and misgivings about how the work would be funded and what it would ultimately accomplish.
Lt. Christopher Thibodeau, who oversees the traffic division for the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, reminded AAC members that in 2025 there were 15 crashes on that section of Morse Boulevard, and 10 of the 15 crashes involved golf carts. There was one fatal crash, a complicated incident which involved a golf cart striking a pedestrian. By comparison, there were 17 crashes on Wedgewood Lane in 2025. Wedgewood Lane stretches from Southern Trace Plaza to Buffalo Ridge Plaza, through a heavy commercial area.
AAC member Donna Kempa clarified that the two additional feet for golf carts traveling along Morse Boulevard would come from the grassy area along the roadway, not from the travel lanes for automobiles.
AAC Chairman Richard “Reb” Benson said the additional two feet would make golf cart operators feel more comfortable.
“Is it worth spending $1.5 million to make people more comfortable? I think it is,” Benson said.
However, AAC member James Vaccaro, who was the lone holdout last month and has faced blistering criticism from county commissioners over his stance, dug his heels in deeper.
Vaccaro, a resident of the Village of De La Vista whose years of advocacy on Morse Boulevard helped catapult him to a seat on the AAC, pointed to a 2023 study commissioned by the Community Development District 1 Board of Supervisors for $116,000. That study, also prepared by Kimley-Horn, which offered options for separating golf carts and automobiles, which would have cost between $12 and $15 million. You can view the entire report at this link: Kimley-Horn report The plan died because the county showed no interest in it.
Vaccaro called the CDD 1 report the “blueprint for doing it right.”
Don Deakin, the longest serving member of the AAC, brought opposition from a different perspective.
First, he revisited his belief the AAC years ago had been sucked into a $60,000 study for improvements to the power corridor in the northern section of The Villages. Deakin said the money ultimately went for naught when Duke Energy pooh poohed the project. He said Kimley-Horn, which was paid to conduct that study, should have suspected Duke Energy might have opposed the project and should have made inquires before the AAC wasted $60,000.
Deakin’s opposition to the Morse Boulevard plan, which he supported one month ago, hinged on the fact the money would come from millions of dollars of “settlement” money paid by the Developer more than 15 years ago as the result of a lawsuit which established the AAC and gave greater control over amenity dollars back to the residents. Deakin has insisted that the AAC would be better off tapping its $80 million in reserves for the Morse Boulevard project. Deakin’s idea has repeatedly run into opposition from the AAC’s legal counsel, who contends that amenity money paid by residents cannot be used for improvements to a county road. Sumter County Commissioner Deb Butterfield originally suggested using the settlement money, as it came from the Developer, not the residents.
Ultimately, the entrenched board split 3-3 with no path forward. Benson, Kempa and Rich Cole, who serves as the Developer’s representative on the AAC, voted to proceed with the $154,855 design services contract with Kimley-Horn. Vaccaro and Deakin were joined in their opposition by William Williams, who represents the Lady Lake/Lake County portion of The Villages on the AAC.
The 3-3 vote prompted Cole to make a motion for a previously proposed $2.5 million improvement to that section of Morse Boulevard, which would include beefing up the intersections. Cole’s suggestion also deadlocked 3-3, with the same cast on each side of the vote.
The VHA President Peter Russell was in disbelief. One week earlier, he had penned a piece for The VHA Voice, praising the AAC for finally moving forward on the Morse Boulevard initiative.
“Needless to say I am disappointed. I honestly thought in the last meeting you had decided to move this forward,” Russell said when he rebuked the AAC from the podium.