In response to Mr. Vaccaro, who seems to think a golf cart path—which is similar to a bike lane on a public road—is an amenity: As a resident here for 14 years, I thought amenities were limited to Villages residents and paid for by Villagers’ amenity fees! I don’t think of a golf cart path on a public road as an amenity.
If AAC amenity funds have been used in the past for projects other than Villagers’ amenities, that still would not justify spending funds for a public road improvement that should be paid for by Sumter County. The settlement resulting from the Property Owners’ Association (POA) suit against The Villages management was for amenity fees misdirected to south of County Road 466, as I recall. So, the settlement funds are amenity fees just the same as any other amenity fee; they just needed to be recovered via a lawsuit to correct what was going on at the time. Thank you, POA!
So, back to the original question: Who owns Morse Boulevard and the right-of-way along it? Based on the Sumter County GIS map, it appears Sumter County owns it all. If the golf cart path is located on the roadway or right-of-way, it is still not on Villages property and, therefore, not exclusive to Villagers’ use. It cannot be an amenity!
The question remains unanswered: Can AAC amenity fees be spent on any project not exclusive to Villagers’ use? I think not. All of the projects Mr. Vaccaro mentioned in his letter are facilities that are exclusive to Villagers with IDs and Villagers’ guests with a proper pass and ID. I have no idea how anyone would suggest, without a thorough review and AAC solicitor approval, that AAC amenity fees could be disbursed for this purpose.
I am not against any improvements to Morse Boulevard, but if Sumter County owns the road and golf cart path and previously accepted it, then they are responsible for fixing the problems. This is especially true since they created the issue by approving all the growth to the northeast and south along CR 466. No more ducking the responsibility—step up and fix the mess!
As I stated in an earlier comment, how much tax money is Sumter County collecting from all this growth in and around The Villages? Even though the new growth is primarily in the southern part of the county, there is still growth here in the north. Morse Boulevard is still in Sumter County and truly appears to be a responsibility of the county. The fact is, Villages residents get very little benefit from Sumter County, but Sumter County gets huge benefits from The Villages.
When was the last time Sumter County adjusted its impact fees to cover unexpected or unanticipated issues like this? This is exactly what impact fees were designed for. How much money is in reserve in the impact fee fund balance? If Sumter County failed to collect impact fees from all the apartments it has approved near Lowe’s and on CR 466 near the new Walmart, that is their fault. Clearly, no one anticipated this particular issue. What else has been overlooked?
Robert Nyce is a resident of The Villages.