Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredguy123
Most sidewalks that are located adjacent to a county or state road are located on public property. That is because, if they use Federal funding, they need to comply with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). This Federal law often requires sidewalks to be contructed in areas where they are not needed and are seldom used. People will often blame the county or state for wasting money on unnecessary sidewalk construction, when the sidewalk is required to comply with a Federal law. Courtyard villa areas in The Villages have private streets that are owned and maintained by The Villages or districts and they do not have sidewalks.
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I believe you mean that most county roads are required to have sidewalks so the county acquired the land and then built the sidewalks. First the land, then the roads, then more land, then sidewalks.
The sidewalks in the Villages were in place before the county had anything at all to do with the roads.
The Villages bought the land, the Villages built the roads, the Villages built the sidewalks, and only then did the county come into play. Some agreement was made that the county would maintain the roads. Perhaps the county purchased the roads that had been built or perhaps the roads were paid for through our bonds and then just turned over for maintenance. Perhaps the agreement was that if the county would maintain the roads then the Villages would install little red buttons so anyone could use the roads.
Turning over maintenance of the roads may not have included turning over ownership of the land the roads sit on OR turning over ownership of the adjacent land that the sidewalks sit on.