Morse Boulevard - history
 

Can anyone tell me the history of Morse Boulevard north of CR466, or point me to a reputable source?

Going back as far as I can on Google Earth shows just a small section leading off CR466 but nothing at the I27 end (Avenida Central is showing in its entirety).

I assume that, before the development of the area south of I27, CR466 was a single-track road, so there might have been no point in linking the two.

Also, the name "Morse Boulevard" suggests that it was built to service The Villages, unless an existing road was renamed.

Is it true that it is maintained by the county? If so, why are there gates at each end?

Thank you

While I cannot answer all of your questions, virtually ALL of the roads in The Villages are county roads, as for the gates, these are usually installed to control traffic at golf cart crossings. THIS IS NOT A GATED COMMUNITY. While I am not sure of all of the arrangements in Marion and Lake counties, the portion of the villages in Sumter county are county roads except for the villas locations, where these are private roads.

Also, Google Earth has a "history" function that allows you to go back about 2 decades (or more) to see that aerial photos for decades ago, this might help.

Yes, I looked at that, thanks VT, but the "new" version is rather confusing as all of the current roads are overlaid on the photo. The old version just showed what was actually there. Turning off the "Roads" makes it look as if it was mainly farmland, with the odd track going across.

Wasn’t all land NNW of 441/27 other side of historical side cow pasture/ farmland? When they development late 70’s and early 80’s when all streets and roads came to be? IMO unless you find some old paper map how else would you know? I seen intergrity plat map shows remains of old historical side lots sales west of Rio grand rec center with lots sold with no development. Probably why that section surrounded by villages not developed? I don’t know it lots been brought out or not?

There’s a series of aerial photos in the Rohan Recreation Center that were taken annually showing the phases of development from the beginning of The Villages. At probably show some of the details that are intriguing.

Why is that? Why would villas be private, but everything else county?

Just a guess: In order to have higher density housing, streets might not be built to standards for right of way, width, or setback

We started to come down to visit friends who lived in The Villages back in 2000. At that time Spanish Springs was the only town center and they were just building along Buena Vista Blvd, around Glenview CC and Lopez CC. And 466 was just a 2 lane country road. So Morse Blvd was just another exit to get out of that section of The Villages. And at that time, The Villages was REALLY a gated community. The entrances for guest were manned and the Residents Only entrances required a Card. There were NO buttons on the gate controls. So to get into The Villages, you had to either go through a manned gate or have a card. And during those first few years, golf carts didn't have lights and had to be off the streets by 6:00 pm. And since Morse Blvd didn't go anywhere but out to 466, the only golf cart traffic along that stretch was just the local residents in that area. Not much car traffic and very little golf carts.

When we came back down and visited our friends in 2001/2002, he inidicated that there was a rumor that they MIGHT be building some houses and a new town center south of 466. And each year we visited following, the main activity was to drive further south and say "I can't believe how far south it is". Then, around 2004 or 2005, when we came down to visit, we learned that Marion County had ruled that since the roads were public, The Villages had to provide access through all of the gates. So they left the gates but installed red buttons on the Residents Only gates. It was a short while later that Sumter County required the same thing and the red buttons were installed everywhere.

And since anyone, residents and visitors, could now use any gate there wasn't any real reason to install a manned gate in the newer sections of The Villages. In addition, I suspect that the Morse family hadn't originally planned on building south of 466, and that has created the current problem with golf cart traffic on that section of Morse Blvd. Just like they hadn't anticipated building south of 44, until they did. And the rest is History !!!!

Maybe we can get one of the people I have met who have lived here all their lives in this area to look at this thread on Talk of the Villages. And I do not mean the various teen, twenty or thirty somethings.

One lady said this was all cow pasture or farms. I am not going to mention her age though as I am likely to run into her again. She has been here most of her life though-- born and raised. Think she also said she was part Seminole or one of other Florida native tribes. She has roots.

There may not be a reason for manned gates down south but they are here nonetheless.

maybe a sales office can give you the info you are looking for. I had heard that Orange Blossom Gardens was the first actual village, built in 1968. All houses were mobile homes. That's where Schwartz lived ( the founder with his son Gary Morse). They had 3 failed tries ( bankruptcies) to establish the villages and met with Levitt ( the founder and builder of Levitown, L.I. for the returning G.I.'s ( WW2 and their families) for help. Eventually had success with the "free golf" concept.

They are not county maintained, and they are not private, they are owned by the CDDs. Why?

Because Villa roads have an inverted crown - they are lower in the middle and have storm drains in the middle of the roads, the opposite of standard roads which are crowned and the storm drains are on both sides.

The county standard is for a road to be crowned as it provides a higher drainage rate and minimizes the water pooling on the road making it safer for traffic flow. The roads in villa communities are all very low utilization roads - a limited number of houses and no through traffic, and all low speed - 10 MPH in ALL villa communities; because of the volume and speed differences they are considered an acceptable alternative.

The Villages villa community roads in unincorporated Sumter County are maintained by the CDDs because of their non-standard configuration.

Why the inverted crown? Because it is less expensive to build as the storm drains do not have to be built on both sides of the road. Looking at the history of the villa communities, they started out as a lower cost alternative to the more traditional home designs in the early days of The Villages. Villa homes built today have changed significantly from the early days and are now similarly priced to many designer and cottage homes but still remain in demand due to two aspects – pets and privacy. These same two factors have also fueled the high demand for the Veranda series of homes that The Villages started making about 10 years ago. The community layout for Veranda subdivisions is nearly identical to the villa communities, so the inverted crown road designs have remained.

Villa & Veranda roads within the city of Wildwood are maintained by Wildwood and not the CDDs or the county. The folks in CDD4 (Marion County) have the financial responsibility for all the roads (villa and non-villa) in that section of the Villages, a very expensive burden.

^ Thank you Don. As always you are the primary authority on many of these inquiries. Thank you for your contributions.

Quote: “ The folks in CDD4 (Marion County) have the financial responsibility for all the roads (villa and non-villa) in that section of the Villages, a very expensive burden.”…
Yeah, right, and it is going up by almost $25 in the next property tax bill. No Starbucks for us for a couple of days…

If you want the history of the villages make a trip to Rohan Rec Center. They have the wall full of drawings of the growth of the villages from day one to 44