A Community Development District supervisor on Friday questioned why residents’ money might be used to shore up the Morse Boulevard Bridge.
“I don’t know why you guys (Project Wide Advisory Committee) are stepping up to be the bill payers,” CDD 8 Supervisor Larry McMurry said at the board of supervisors meeting.
He pointed it out that it has become abundantly clear that residents don’t own Lake Sumter after the Dragon Boaters were bumped from the lake after years of enjoying access to the water.
“The lake is not a ‘resident’ lake. It’s more of a commercial enterprise,” McMurry said.
Residents are confused, he said.
“It’s becoming less and less obvious to me, this resident, why folks ought to step up and pay nearly a million-odd dollars for a bridge over a lake they don’t own,” McMurry said.
The Developer has declined a request to chip in on the bridge embankment.
Sumter County owns the road and the bridge.
So what do residents own? The islands on which the bridge rests. Technically, that land belongs to Community Development District 5. But PWAC was designed to share the burden and includes CDDs 5 through 12.
District Manager Janet Tutt reminded supervisors that the discussion dates back to the notice the District received from Sumter County that there was “sloughing” at the site.
“We don’t know if it was a sinkhole or just natural sloughing,” Tutt said.
She said a new pump is being installed Monday and will begin to lower the level of Lake Sumter, still high in the wake of Hurricane Irma. When the water comes down, the status of the sloughing can be assessed.
“We are in a holding pattern,” Tutt said.
PWAC had previously voted to spend more than $1 million at the site.
