To the Editor:
The Blackmores know we are on a county road. When we moved here, what we did not know was that Lake County was across the street. (Lesson learned)
You are all coming late to the party, so let us explain.
We now live across the street from the city of Lady Lake, and there is no one to help us fight the enormous Hammock Oaks development because we don’t live in the county where it is being built. All 2,500 homes, a Walmart, and more commercial entities, which should bring an average 5,000 plus new people.
Now the entrance for this elaborate new development is, right behind The Villages last eight homes on Cherry Lake Road. The Hammock Oaks developer met with us and promised many things like the dump trucks would start to run at 7 a.m., in reality, dump trucks start at 6 a.m. and run up and down all day.
The plan includes three entrances on Cherry Lake Road and two entrances on Rolling Acres Road. Finally, an official with the City of Lady Lake nixed the request for another entrance on Lake Ella.
We were told the Villages would end at 466A but on it went and the trickle down is extensive growth everywhere. Again, when we purchased our home Lady Lake was on 441. Now as Sumter County sheriff’s patrols the road behind our houses and Lake County gets all the new taxes from this massive development. They do not care about hundreds of Village residents who live in Sumter County that back up to Cherry Lake Road.
We have been involved in many land development projects, but this one is a puzzle.
We have no voice, no Village support, and not one Sumter County official has come to help. It is up to us to protect ourselves and we don’t’ want to move. We love our neighbors, and we don’t mind traffic going 35 miles per hour, however that is not happening because there are many speeders.
Several of us have the Sumter Sheriffs Office on speed dial for the violations. Sometimes the speeds are so fast we can’t tell the color of the vehicle. When I asked to have a Sumter Sheriff, car parked on the road the Sheriffs office told me “It is not safe to put a car there.”
Therefore even more reason for us to be concerned about safety.
Please don’t pit this as a Villager against everyone else, for that is not us. We simply want the same basic considerations any resident anywhere would want. How many of you have had three fatalities behind your homes? We are not against any residents from any other neighborhood here in the Villages or elsewhere. But we do not want strangers to come into our private yard.
I did not arbitrarily decide to throw up a stockade fence I was given permission by the Assistant Director District Property Management (Dave Burgess). I have a signed receipt of his receiving my email letter in 2014 after which they came out and took a photo. The issue was resolved.
I urge all of you to ride down County Road 100/Cherry Lake Road and look at the fence that The Villages decided not to maintain. When we purchased our homes in 2006, and they did maintain it until 2013 and then they changed the policy. It is obvious when you drive down the road and look at the fence, The Villages did not care about maintaining the fence. Every Village resident that backs up to this road knows this to be the case.
We are not against growth, we would just like some help dealing with it.
Below is our letter that we gave to ARC and Community Development District 6. CDC 6 at least have given this issue some consideration and is the first entity to offer some help as we struggle with a massive new neighbor.
In conclusion we will do what the authorities tell us we are allowed to do, but times have changed, and our policies must keep pace with these changes. If they were able to change the policy in 2013, then they can change the policy again to keep up with the new developments.
Peter and Nancy Blackmore
Village of Caroline
