Duke Energy Golf Cart Path
 

It was pretty easy to find out the facts.

The no trespassing signs mean no trespassing on the property, period. NOT.......stay off the grass and stay on the path.

Anyone can call customer service and find out the facts. There was an internal Duke Energy email for the customer service personnel in case people started calling into customer service.

My call was answered within one minute, the lady knew what I was talking about and clarified the postings on the property.



Per the internal email, there have been discussions to transfer the ownership a portion of the property (more or less the path) in order to transfer the liability........but the receiving parties have not been willing.

You should have offered to be the receiving party. ;)


There goes fight club rules.

That's pretty generous of Duke. Good PR!

What is the point here?

With all due respect, and I do respect you dewilson58. If I owned property that was being used as a cut through for years and decided to not allow this practice anymore I would post signs, put a article in the newspaper and most of all take down the 12 MPH speed limit signs next to the no trespassing signs. Before your conversation with Duke it would be perfectly obvious that the signs were placed to make you think to not go over the fence into the retention pond (fenced in) or the electrical grid behind the bushes (fenced in). There was a invasion of Golf Carts when I took a spin over there to check this out. They could block this off in about an hour with several barriers. I will respect their wishes. Thanks for the investigation. :grumpy:

Maybe they mean negative 12 miles per hour.

The point is? Clarification. Thank you "duke" for letting golf carts pass through property. Now one DA will probably screw it up for the rest of us. Not me will probably never go that way in golf cart.

:thumbup:

The Duke Lady did say, they might be having some "town meetings" to meet with people to discuss and explain. Time will tell.

:highfive:

Thanks to dewilson for contacting Duke for clarification.

I will put them on cross examination tomorrow as I have to call Duke on another issue. Feel like Clark Kent, your mild mannered reporter.

Interesting the various interpretations for a NO TRESPASSING SIGN. I thought the American thinking was no meant no . How naive of me

and the beat goes on....................................

I did suggest to the Duke Lady............maybe you should have put at least one sign in the middle of the cart path, with red flashing lights, with a couple American Flags.

She did :1rotfl:

OK, so what is the penalty for using the path????

So Duke went the cheap route of putting up a sign or two ...hummm?

No trespassing means no trespassing. I think Duke energy has protected themselves somewhat. Will they prosecute those who violate, that's yet to be seen

Appears to be a first class misdemeanor unless your in possession of a weapon then it would be a felony

Florida state statue

Statutes & Constitution
:View Statutes
:

Online Sunshine

If people keep bringing this up this path is going to be closed permanently. Leave this alone and everything will be fine. Keep bringing this up and some one is going to ruin it. I have no idea why people keep flogging this horse. There is no need to clarify anything. At this point in time everyone is just turning a blind eye but keep sticking the nest and it will be closed. Stop calling Duke Energy !!!! Go play some golf.....That's what you came here to do in the first place.

:1rotfl:

Said one with skin in the game to those without.

I'm already looking at alternatives as I don't believe people know when not to kick the sleeping dog. I like being able to get to Lowes, Aldi's, Cracker Barrel, and the Doctors offices via Golf Cart. This almost came to a head with Duke about 2 years ago but the dog went back to sleep. When they did all the improvements although a definite improvement, I was afraid it might wake the Dog. Now it appears people are shaking the Duke tree again. Duke will be put into a corner and will have no choice but to act. This would be a big negative blow not only to Stonecrest and Spruce Creek but all the people in the Historic part of the Villages that work or shop at Walmart. Never good to wake the dog.....

So I took care of my Billing issue with the nice lady at Duke Energy and then asked about the no trespassing issue. She had not heard about it nor received any memo. The beat goes on. I'm not poking the nest. This is part of our routine and we want to do the rite thing. Go to the path and reference my previous post and tell me it has no merit. They don't want you in the power grid or the retention pond or on the path at over 12 MPH. They are not restricting use of the path or they could block it instantly.

Thank you Clark. ;-)

If you or anyone else is interested in talking to people with the internal memo, here is the information:

Thank you for contacting Duke Energy Florida.

We apologize; we feel your concern regarding the Golf Cart Path access in The Villages would be best handled over the telephone.

Please contact Builder Services from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday toll free at 866-372-4663 for immediate assistance. .

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Best Regards,
Anita G.
Customer Care Specialist
Duke Energy Florida

:ho:

Since I have not been back since late June I don't know if there are any new signs but there are two 7 foot chain link fences. One around the substation and the other around the Walmart storm pond. I think the fences are self explanatory. Also why would anyone want to enter a high voltage substation area unless you have a death wish. This whole controversy started a few years ago when someone damaged their cart on the path and attempted to get Duke to pay the damages. Soon after a fence was constructed to obstruct the path. After a lot of deliberation between parties trying to get a resolution were done. The end result was no one was going to take the on the liability. So the whole ordeal quietly faded into the wood work and that is where it should stay. Every time some one brings this up with Duke there is a risk the legal department dogs will wake and there is a good chance this time the fence will stay. Out of sight out of mind. I know you are curious about the the right way of handling this and that can be celebrated in these days but when it comes to this path please do not wake legal dogs.

I think the next step is a tolll booth. About $.25 per trip should help them cover any future liability costs.

Ah Ha! Entrepreneurial thinking. I just called the number and no one knew anything about it. It's over for me & Mrs Nucky. Boo-Hoo! :(

According to the Marion County GIS system it appears that this is Duke property, and Walmart owns the property on 3 sides of the Duke substation. The path appears to be entirely on the Duke land.

Sorry I cannot paste in a copy of the plots.

Steve in all due respect I think when it comes to Duke Energy the cat's out o the bag

What a small world...............I had a cat, its name was Duke and it had tons of energy.

What are the odds??

In law those facilities are referred to as " an attractive nuisance". I would refer to the guys who drank too much and when they returned to our insureds motel chided one to saw off the lock on the grate on a below ground electric generator and descended to the electric unit where he was immediately electrocuted.

and the beat goes on............

I remember your cat. He was a pussy. He let other cats trespass in his territory.

What I know about the subject neither Walmart or Duke wants the liability. The Stonecrest POA in the beginning got the two sides together and then backed away to let them hash it out. There used to be updates on the negotiations from our POA. What happened to open this can of worms again? It went cold for a long time. Then there was a group that did a lot of volunteer work to improve the path. Did this bring this to forefront again? They moved the improvements as close to the Walmart fence as possible. The reason I thought was that Duke did not want people that close to the substation. If the Duke legal department believes some how they legally now have the liability by defacto they will close that path. I would have expected an internal memo that indicated anyone discussing this made it perfectly clear that people that used the path were trespassing. I've been involved with things like this in the past and as long as no one says something wrong, people just turn a blind eye. Once they believe it legally becomes a problem then Duke will have no recourse but to act on it. This is why I indicated do not talk to Duke and ask questions about the path because if some one gives out the wrong info its over. If I were Duke I would put a sign that indicates this is Duke Property and the path can be used at your own risk. Does not totally exonerate them from liability but gives them an argument should some one take them to court over the an incident. Guess I'll just have to see what's up when I get back down South. Not happy with any of this. Is there a new No Trespassing Sign put up by Duke that indicates no trespassing violators will be prosecuted? If so then you use that path and would be subject to arrest if they also informed the local law enforcement they want it up held. Closing this path has no positives associated with it.

Those with skin in the game should be silent to protect their own interests, those that have no interest need to ask yourselves, with all the things to do in the villages why do I read and comment on something for which I have no interest/skin?

I get it, first rule of Fight Club, right? - YouTube

That's exactly what I said in the other thread about the trail a week ago, when someone mentioned calling Duke Energy about it. :thumbup:

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...3-post121.html

Seems like they want to avoid a written statement floating around.

Yep. Corporate America. We will have to let it play out. They don't want carts on their property, but they have to figure out how to accomplish that objective.

Looks like they did not listen well........

Good advice, but it seems people will continue to poke the sleeping giant.

Steve Duke is exposed no matter what scenario you paint because an attorney, any attorney will go after Duke energy no matter what and draw them into a lawsuit. why because they are a big target (lots of $$$$$ to be had). Duke has some defense if they put up a fence but if they remain neutral or quiet on the subject a plaintiff attorney will argue that they have no claim of trespassing etc because they were lax in expressing their policies of protection against this attractive nuisance called a substation. Can't one envision the plaintiff attorney's argument now....Ladies and gentlemen of the jury this monolith of greed owning an instrument of death had the arrogance..... Bear in mind the requirements are greater burden in the case of attractive nuisance because well its an attraction

So from Duke's point of view this is both a public relations nightmare and a potential liability issue they need to effectively manage. If I was on their Board the decision would be an easy one and the implementation post haste. I wish I could say it ain't so but thems the facts