The unofficial dog park behind the Rio Grande Family Pool could be the home of a new 14-acre recreational site.
An overflow crowd showed up Tuesday morning at Savannah Center for an Amenity Authority Committee workshop at which the topic was discussed.
The AAC has wrestled with the need to acquire land as residents continue to demand more recreational facilities.
In a surprise announcement, District Manager Janet Tutt told the audience that she had been notified by The Villages that they are intending to build an indoor pool. Many Villagers who have fought skin cancer and other ailments have called for an indoor pool, but the AAC has been stonewalled by residents who don’t want “their pool” converted to a shaded or covered pool.
“We do not have additional details at this time,” Tutt said. “In light of this discussion, they wanted to make sure we were aware of it.”
Recreation Director John Rohan unveiled a conceptual presentation that would include croquet courts, petanque courts, a pitch and putt course, platform tennis, pavilion, and outdoor walking trail.
The Villages owns 8.5 acres of the Rio Grande dog park and is willing to sell that property to the AAC for $103,000. Additional acreage at that location, owned by entities other than The Villages, could be acquired at $12,000 per acre, Tutt estimated.
You can read more about the plan HERE
In all, the AAC could acquire 14 acres at the Rio Grande dog park for less than $200,000.
On the other hand, property that has been eyed on County Road 42, which would be more accessible to residents of Community Development District 4 where 300 new courtyard villas are to be built, would be pricier. The owner of 40 acres on CR42 has indicated he would be willing to sell 20 acres of that property for $1.5 million.
Residents lined up at the microphone to air their concerns about the plan, which included fears about increased traffic, the fact that the property would be land locked and lack of parking. CDD 4 residents complained it would be a long hike for them to travel to facilities at the proposed Rio Grande site.
AAC member Don Deakin thanked Tutt and her staff for researching the Rio Grande property so thoroughly, but said he wished staff had similarly researched the property on CR42. That comment drew a loud round of applause from residents at the meeting.
Tutt called Deakin’s statement “an unfair and inappropriate comment,” as she said she had not been authorized to spend money to do that research.
But Deakin countered that the entire expansion was being driven by the 300 new homes going in at the Marion County section of The Villages.
“We would not be here talking about Rio Grande if we didn’t have the expansion in District 4,” Deakin said.
He said recreational facilities in CDD 4 are “grossly short” of other areas of The Villages.
