A controversial walking path branded by an official as the “million dollar mile” was covered with mud after heavy rain this weekend.
The Lake Miona Walking Trail is under construction along Buena Vista Boulevard following the approval of the $730,000 project in April by the Project Wide Advisory Committee.
Many sections of the path were covered with mud and water after heavy rain Saturday and Sunday. One section of the path clearly had water running underneath the flexi-pave surface.
PWAC approved the project despite concerns that the price tag had ballooned since the project’s inception. PWAC Chairman Don Wiley branded the trail the “million dollar mile,” but he ultimately voted in favor of the expenditure, later incurring the wrath of the Community Development District 10 Board of Supervisors, of which he was then chairman. Wiley later resigned from PWAC and the CDD 10 board after he was appointed to the Sumter County Commission. Community Development District 11 Board Chairman Don Brozick, who succeeded Wiley as PWAC’s chairman, cast the lone vote against the trail. At the time, Brozick said he had informally polled his constituents in CDD 11 and found “not one in favor” of the Lake Miona Walking Trail.
However, walkers in The Villages filled the meeting room on the day of the decision and persuaded the favorable vote for the trail.
