PWAC rejects residents’ request for walking path, fearing it would set precedent

The Project Wide Advisory Committee has rejected a residents’ request for a walking path, fearing it would set a precedent.

PWAC made its decision during a meeting Monday at SeaBreeze Recreation Center.

In May, Wildwood commissioners refused to grant the residents’ request for a blacktop walking path along Okahumpka Run in the Village of St. Johns. Commissioners were acting on the advice of City Manager Jason McHugh, who noted that Okahumpka Run is maintained by Wildwood, but is in The Villages, “where amenities and infrastructure improvements are coordinated differently.”

Commissioner Joe Elliott, a Villager and a former Community Development District 8 supervisor, urged the residents to take their request to PWAC.

“PWAC needs to step up,” said Elliott.

However, PWAC members rejected the request because they believed it would obligate them to honor similar requests from other residents. That could cause a budgetary problem for PWAC, which oversees amenities south of County Road 466