does anyone really think that the gate proposal is going to happen? to do so, the developer's proposal must be submitted to the amenity authority committee for their approval and recomendation to the vccdd. they have the oppty to amend and return to the developer for review/approval; whence it will return to the acc for another go-round. when finally approved by the acc it will go to the vccdd with the recommendation to approve and the same review/revise/approve routine will take place. and after all is reviewed/revised/approved - the property must be deeded over - and only then can the gate be installed; which i guess will be dependent on when it can be delivered. i wonder if that one, new gate must go out for bid or if it can be tagged to the existing contract.

unless the town of lady lake determines that the wall must come down because it went up without a permit, i do not see this event taking place anytime soon.

meeting dates for the acc/vccdd are available on the district govt website - not encouraging.
amenity authority committee meeting schedule/agendas/minutes: http://www.districtgov.org/aac/aac.aspx
vccdd webpage with links to meetings/agendas/minutes: http://www.districtgov.org/yourdistr...px?district=vc

Then explain to me exactly what private bridge and trails are you referring to. Give us specific names and location. No broad brush off the wall undocumented wild guesses.

That will also answer Peachie's question.

I'm all ears, pray tell.

It is clear that no one can know for sure when and what will happen....I think we should all agree to "just wait and see" and go on from this post

rubicon: You might be right about breaking down the new gate by outsiders. Did not someone say that was a problem years ago when they had such a gate? I have many times thought that every golf cart should have some type of identifying sticker or plate for safety and identification reasons. A small fee for Village residents of $5.00 yearly and twice that for others outside TV. This money could be used to help maintain the trails and there would be no need for a costly gate. Just a thought. Ooops I see "shots" coming!

And while the VHS wastes a lot of time trying to implement the equivalent of a blockade into and out of public roads, it will bide time for Stonecrest to prepare their salvo.

You see, as I recently reported to everyone, the electric company that owns the land between Albi’s and WalMart has given their real estate division the go ahead to sell off the dirt golf cart path behind their distribution facility so that they can extricate themselves from the dreaded “liability Issues” that the cart trespassers present.

So the Stonecrest POA will purchase that land and place an identical access gate to the one that the VCCDD erects at their end. The Stonecrest gate of course will allow Stonecrest residents in and out but deny others. No Walmart for you TV!

So if TV residents think the VHA solution is fair, they should have no problem accepting my solution for Stonecrest.

As the old War song goes, “What will this solve? Nothing, absolutely nothing.

EdV, respectfully, Stonecrest does have access to all of the public roads in the historic section. Implying that The Villages is required to provide private golf cart paths to Stonecrest members seems implausible.

Should Stonecrest provide access for cars and carts to cut through their subdivision if there is a public road on the other side of the subdivision that would make The Villagers life easier?

This will not turn out all okay this is all huge smokescreen! I want the POA to represent me, I want I want their bias it is not motivated by money as opposed to the other organization who the Morris has in his back pocket and rules at his whim, It all boils down to one thing money And ultimately it will come out of our pockets So for my money the POA is the only organization to belong to others can just keep drinking the Kool-Aid

First of all if you let up on the pressure it will probably not happen and just fade away.

Second, this bickering between TV and Stonecrest is a diversionary tactic that plays right into the developer's hand. Sounds like another government I know!

The last I heard Stonecrest POA is not purchasing the land behind Duke (Progress Energy) Substation. Wal-Mart and the Power Company lawyers are working out the details. At this point all I know is the parties involved are still negotiating and the deal looks promising.

Ed, I'm on your side -- I have no issue with visitors using our paths, whether they are visiting family, neighbors or Stonecrest folks. All I would ask is that everyone show respect for our home by following the rules of the road and not littering.

However, I do understand other folks' concerns and issues. I had always thought the bridge crossing 441 was paid for and maintained by Villagers (at least I've never seen a public entity painting the bridge, etc.). I know we pay to maintain the paths. So, I can see the objections to using the paths (don't agree, but can see the concerns). However, I can see no reason why folks from Stonecrest and Spruce Creek would not be welcome to use the paths that are not directly adjacent to the streets (such as those on Morse vs. those on El Camino) since these are maintained by the counties and paid for by all local taxpayers.

From what I've seen and heard in my seven years here, there really aren't that many who have traveled via golf cart from your end to TV, probably less than 1% of those who used the now-closed opening to TV. I think Stonecrest would have a better argument to prevent us from using their paid for and maintained paths considering the amount of traffic they would get.

Also, it will be interesting to see what type of gate is installed. Let's face it, the gates with arms just don't do the trick -- way too easily broken. Maybe they'll turn it into a manned gate?

I really hope that once (if?) the wall is down and a gate installed it doesn't cause any more hard feelings between our visiting neighbors and TVers. Life's too short to be so petty.

We (villagers) could have broken the old gate arms...we seem to do it elsewhere.
Also, the things north of the gate are as enjoyable as the things easily reached south of the gate. Maybe golf cart accessible means Cracker Barrel, Takis, Aldis, Bealls , Firehouse Subs etc.

You could call in your order then I will drive down and hand it to you over the wall. At a small reasonable deliver charge....:-)

Great Wall Insight from POA
 

Here is the text of an email from the POA:

THE GREAT WALL OF PARADISE
Sometime between Friday evening August 9 and 6 a.m. Saturday morning August 10, 2013, the golf cart trail between Paradise Drive and The Villages Health System East Campus was closed off with two sections of concrete wall that matched the wall behind the properties on either side of the trail. This trail, which was maintained by the health system commercial property owners’ association, had been used for the last two decades by eastside residents as a way to access the medical facilities there. Over time, other businesses have sprung up just north of the medical facilities (Lowes, Beall’s, Aldi’s, Wal-Mart, Cracker Barrel, etc.) and many eastside residents have found it to be a godsend that they can satisfy many of their shopping needs via golf cart and not venture out on the always busy state road 27/441. Area residents we spoke to were beside themselves wondering how they could get to doctor appointments on the other side of the wall. While most residents have the alternative of using their car, clearly there are those who do not have a car, can no longer drive or are afraid to drive on busy roads. In some cases we were advised of couples where one uses the golf cart to get to a job at an eastside business while the spouse uses the car for other necessary trips. The recurring question we got from affected residents was Why?

The closure was done under cover of darkness, no prior notice of the closing had been given to residents and up until WednesdayAugust 14th, no one was taking responsibility for erecting the wall which is on Developer owned property. With no other recourse, eastside residents have been utilizing a section of amenity maintained property a short distance south of the closed trail, just north of the Boone gate, to access the south end of the medical campus via the parking lot of the Life Family Practice Center. Dr. Kraucak who owns the facility has been kind enough to allow golf cart traffic during this crisis. Some eastside residents were even “walled out” Saturday morning, having gone to their night shift jobs at eastside businesses before the wall was put up. Out of necessity, they had to drive their golf carts along the 27/441 grass right-of-way to get home.

On Wednesday August 14th, it was reported in the Daily Sun that the Developer indeed had put up the wall because of a concern for security and that the Developer would “donate to the district government the home site on Paradise Drive, which had previously been utilized as a golf cart path. As a condition of that donation, the district would build and maintain a gate that would allow access to Village residents only.” Not surprisingly, the Daily Sun headline stated “VHA president proposes solution to golf cart issue.” All of you who attended the “Take Down The Wall” rally Monday morning at Spanish Springs town square heard POA President Elaine Dreidame explain that the POA had engaged an attorney who had already begun working through legal channels to urge the Developer to find a solution to the problem the wall had created for residents. At this point, the VHA was still following the “party line” and denying the closing had anything to do with the Developer. Meanwhile, the POA President was also talking to AAC members and Lady Lake officials regarding alternative solutions if discussions with the Developer were not successful.

The important thing is that the wall will come down with the only change being that the amenity system will maintain the trail and gates rather than the medical system property owners’ association. If security was the only reason for concern, it seems like the solution was pretty obvious and would have saved all the time and expense it took for the Developer to cast the wall sections and have them installed and more importantly, avoided the tremendous amount of angst it created in hundreds of residents. And if security was the only concern, why was the wall put up in the middle of the night, on a weekend, with no notice to residents, and why the silence until Wednesday’s Daily Sun article ? We hope next time the Developer will provide advanced notice for changes that affect residents in such a major way, so that together they can come up with a solution before any heavy-handed action is taken. For now, it seems Eastside residents can relax without fear of losing their much advertised golf cart access to doctors and other businesses.
Property Owners' Association, P.O. Box 1657, Lady Lake, FL 32158-1657 Property Owners, Association of Florida

thanx, steve!

I would bet the farm on the truth of your comment.

Too much effort and wasted energy has been put into this thread. It will be taken care of with or without your input.

Take a deep breath, have a healthy swig of Kool-Aid, and play a round of free executive golf. No reservations are needed at this time of year.

Hey, I get a free Chick Fil A with my VHA card. That's what they are good for.

I AGREE :icon_wink:

:1rotfl::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popco rn:

EXCELLENT COMMENT AND PROBABLY THE MOST FACTUAL TO DATE.EXCELLEY ARTICLE !! WELL WRITEN AND MORE FACTUAL THAN MOST OTHER REPLIES. Of course the deed in the dark of night was intentional. Some are outraged and understandably so. I did grow weary about the comments of those "northerners" using our golf courses, swimming pools. First, surely those folk realize that while the new gate proposal will block the golf cart trail, the front gate is open to everyone. Kind of similiar to locking the back door to your home and leaving the front door standing open. Secondly, I have serious doubts that an appreciable number of "northerners " are sneaking into our pools and onto our golf courses. Soon, I expect the POA President will publish a facy filled article in their monthly bulletin. I have watched POA Elaine for several years and when she makes a statement, you can take her statements to the bank.

There is a path that goes from Tarrson Blvd to the Post Office. I would think that that is a Villages owned path on private property.

There is also one that connects Palermo Pl to the area that goes to the Rolling Acres Driving Range and on to the Villages wood work shop.

There is a path that connects a Turnberry Lane to the back of the Silver Lake Rec Center. I think that those are also on Villages property and are probably maintained with amenities money.

I think that those three are on private property. I think there might be more that I can't think of right now.

In what way does the VHA proposal not address the concerns of all of the Villages residents? I think that everyone that uses that gate will be very happy if there is a gate that they can go in an out of.

Whoever owns that property between the Aldi parking lot and Wal-Mart has every right to allow whomever they want to use it and every right to not allow anyone to use it. If the Stonecrest residents want to buy it and allow only Stonecrest residents through they would certainly have that right. I would bet that if Wal-Mart got wind of what was happening, they would outbid everyone who tries to buy that dirt road. Also the Villages residents would also be able to buy it and only allow Villages residents to use it.
What you have proposed here is, of course, ludicrous. The residents of Stonecrest would have absolutely nothing to gain by taking that action. It wouldn't prevent anyone from entering Stonecrest.
The golf cart gate in question is on Villages property. No one is buying it out of spite in order to prevent people from getting to a third unrelated site.
VHA stands for VILLAGES Homeowners Association. They represent the interests of the Villages residents. They have no obligation to do anything that is beneficial to anyone else.

I would have no problem with Stonecrest making any paths on their property, leading into their property for Stonecrest residents only. And I don't think that many of my fellow Villagers would have any problem with it either.

Just to let you know. StoneCrest POA is NOT buying that piece of property. Wal-Mart and Duke(Progress Energy) are negotiating who will own and maintain he property. I do not know when everything will be finalized but I've been told the negotiations are doing well. That whole debacle started because someone traveling the path tried to get Progress Energy to pay for damage to their cart while traveling over the path.

The golf cart bridge and multimodal trails. Right?

Steve, I was simply attempting to get those that see nothing wrong with installing a restrictive gate at their end, to rethink their position.

The VHA wants to eliminate "unfettered" access to their side in spite of the fact that for the past ten years their residents have been "unfettering" their carts over Ron Brown's and the Electric company's land without their permission.

Wrong. The bridge is public and maintained by Morse's commercial companies and there are no multimodal trails in any of the retail/medical areas on the west side of 441.

Peachie, more than ten years ago, the dirt path to/from OBG was engineered, graded, curbed, paved, and lighted specifically for the purpose of allowing golf carts to enter onto and exit from Paradise Dr. No such intent was ever established or provided by Stonecrest's community.

Wow!
 

Power to the People!.....Yea!:bigbow::bigbow:

If this does indeed happen, I expect it will take months to get approved and finished.

If non residents are using the golf courses or pools then starters and pool monitors are not doing their jobs. And I don't believe that to be the case. The exception is the championship courses which are owned by the developer. Nonresidents are allowed on those courses for a slightly higher fee.

Donniemac, we've owned in The Villages since 2007 and rented here several years before that. We nor our guests have EVER been carded at the pools and we frequent the pools quite often.

It would seem that not only would the owner of the Private property have an issue regarding liability for an accident on his property, but too, another issue in my mind, is whether or not there could be cause for adverse possession by the county, state or political subdivision. Perhaps, the solution would be to close off the path one day a year so that adverse possession could not be claimed.

Ok I understand your point. However the Villages have a right to restrict access to their property if they so wish. I'm glad they do frequent Wal-Mart and the other businesses. Mr. Brown has been very gracious to allows us to cross his property from StoneCrest for many years now and I thank him for that privilege. If the Villages are restricted from coming to Wal-Mart then there is no incentive for Wal-Mart to care whether that 200 feet of path remains open. So the wall really hurt Stonecrest in a way that Mr. Mores had no right to do. I apologize for being off topic on this one post.

Yep, the many lawyers of the Developer were involved in this fiasco. Lawyers and lawsuits are just a fact of life. The Developer owns a huge amount of private property within TV. It is possible for a lawyer to make you near paranoid---if you let him/her. Still, just a "little bit" of transparency would be welcomed before you affect the lives of elderly residents already living in TV.

Depending on what happens it also effects the residents of Stonecrest and Spruce creek and I'm not talking about using the entrance that has now been walled up. There is always a far reaching ripple effects when things like this are done. It also is very negative on attitudes throughout the area. No one lives in a vacuum.

This thread is becoming a repeat of all the posts on this other thread.
https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...closing-84885/

The golf cart bridge is not public, in that it is not owned or maintained by a municipality. It is private property. If non-Village residents have access to the shopping areas, they have access to the multimodal paths (and rec centers).

I was under the impression the bridge was built because the shop owners requested it. Who built and paid for it originally and who pays for its maintenance?

My use of the word "public" is referring to the legal right to use it, not who built or maintains it. WalMart owns and maintains their parking lot but access to it is open to the public and they cannot discriminate who can use it.