Residents of the Haciendas of Mission Hills, concerned about their diminishing water view, appeared Monday morning before the Project Wide Advisory Committee.
Homeowners who spent an additional $100,000 or more for their water view, are concerned about the view that they say has eroded from the day they purchased their homes.
Cherry Lake is a manmade lake built on the former site of a peat mine, said Jeff Pardue of Breedlove, Dennis and Associates, who acts as a consultant to the District and under another agreement works with the Developer.
“It is not a retention pond, it is a lake,” Pardue said. “It was a marshy area to begin with and mined for the peat.”
He said 80 percent of area east of Morse Boulevard was designed to be submerged vegetation.
Mark McCarty, representing fellow residents of the Haciendas of Mission Hills, said he and his neighbors are concerned about the future of their water views.
“We are really aiming at what’s it going to be like in the future (in terms of water view),” McCarty said. “Obviously, water view is important to those who purchased the properties.”
PWAC Chairman Peter Moeller said residents have witnessed the changing levels of the lake just by walking the boardwalk at Lake Sumter.
“We’ve gone from it’s too low to run the boats to it’s almost up to the boards,” Moeller said.
PWAC member Steve Printz, a supervisor in Community Development District 9 in which the Haciendas of Mission Hills is located, said he would like to invite the residents to continue the discussion with the board.
McCarty said he appreciated Printz’s suggestion and thought residents would be well served by taking PWAC up on the offer.
“It’s a legitimate issue to have a discussion about,” McCarty said.
