[chacam]

Why is the Oak Forest issue now in the Non Villages Discussion forum ? ? ? Last I looked Oak Forest is still in The Villages.

[Happy Villager]

Originally Posted by chacam

Why is the Oak Forest issue now in the Non Villages Discussion forum ? ? ? Last I looked Oak Forest is still in The Villages.

with Chacam. Also for informational purpose I received an e-mail from friends in Allahambra that said a movement has been organized to have everyone contact their district supervisor to protest the decision to banish thru traffic on Oak Forest Drive. Why are Oak Forest resdients being given preferential treatment? The real question is why any section of The Villages would be allowed to be closed to Village Residents?

[Sidney Lanier]

This was the concern I raised in my previous post on the thread that somehow moved to Non Villages even though it would seem to be part of TV. You give preferential treatment to residents of one road; there must be countless roads in TV where residents might not be happy about Villages traffic passing their homes. Though we personally aren't affected, I fear that this opens a can of worms....

[zcaveman]

I already mentioned this in one of my posts about Oak Forest.

In CDD4 (Marion County) we tried to close all of the gates to non-area traffic since we pay for the road maintenance. We had the call buttons removed. We were told that FEMA would not come into the area if there was no access. If we would have only known that we could have put up a NO THRU TRAFFIC sign, all problems would have been solved!!!

[chacam]

Z, never understood that, Seems like they could have limited access to the area and disabled the buttons and just allowed card access and then when there was a pending blizzard or hurricane on the way, than change it so the buttons would work.

This Oak Forest deal has been cooking for some time, and I understand how the residents feel. I wouldn't want that many cars passing our home either, but we don't live in a thru village so no problem. Next thing you know, there will be a similar sign on Belvedere.

[graciegirl]

I am not sure what the point to this interjection will be and I am sure I don't understand the whole deal because I don't live on that street or even live there full time yet.......

When we built our home here in West Chester, Ohio 18 years ago, we chose a street off the main drag, and thought we had made a wise choice. Since then more homes were built and a new high school was built nearby too. (Pleased about that. Great school, but I digress) Boomer's ghost is over my shoulder.

Now during school time the kids zoom by at beginning and ending of school day and occasionally the local police set up a check point and arrest the speeders and the rest of the more populated area use it for a cut through. People park on the street and it is hard to get through to the new Kroger's grocery etc. There is now five or six times more traffic because they have also built a town center nearby and it is close to everything. New restaurants etc. Our property values have gone up, or at least they had before the economic set backs, and things have changed a lot.

I guess my point is that things do change in any area or development. You can never really predict what will happen to traffic. I feel that the school and the ability for us to get on our street and go to local restaurants and Kroger is an advantage, but the added traffic and the speeders is a disadvantage.

[Talk Host]

Originally Posted by chacam

Why is the Oak Forest issue now in the Non Villages Discussion forum ? ? ? Last I looked Oak Forest is still in The Villages.

That topic was not moved. It started there.

[JohnN]

I'm near 466a and have no dog in this fight, I see both perspectives,

that said, the law is the law, period. And if a street sign says not a through street, I'd think they mean.. don't do that - doesn't mean you have to agree.

[Cliff]

Congratulations, JohnN. Finally we have found someone who realizes that laws are proposed and put into use by fairly intelligent people after much thought and reasoning. In this case, one or two people did not just think conditions were not just right on Oak Forest, so they went out and printed some signs to confuse people. You are to be congratulated for your intelligence in this matter. If Sumter County, after the Commission voted on it, and the attorney for the Commission gave his approval, placed a sign on your street saying that Cliff was not allowed to enter or use it for any reason whatsoever, I would never, never, drive on your street. In this case, only people using Oak Forest as a shortcut are being told that it is not to be used for that purpose. Not intended to prohibit people from visiting friends; not intended to cause a hardship to travelers; not intended to make people drive through minefields; not intended as a trap for the Sheriff to arrest people; just intended to give the residents of that street a break in the everyday game of life. I spent my entire working life in the Military and in Federal Law Enforcement, and was never surprised at how thick some people are when it comes to reasoning why law enforcement does what it does.

[Sidney Lanier]

Cliff, I too see your point (and presumably it's representative of the residents on Oak Forest). My only concern is that when residents of one street are 'the squeaky wheel that gets the grease,' it opens it up to countless other residents on countless other streets that are caught in the same situation--all equally justifiable. In previous posts people have made reference to Belvedere Blvd.; frankly, when we want to go to LSL, we take Morven Park Way to Belvedere and then that to Buena Vista, whether by car or golf cart. If this is considered a 'shortcut' and there's another way, we have no idea what it is....

[Happy Villager]

Sidney Lanier you are absolutly correct when you speak about the traffic situation on Belvedere. How many people realize Belvedere is used as a short cut from 466 to 301?
The speeding traffic from cars to commercial vehicles entering the Belvedere gate and taking a right onto Lynnhaven Lane to 472 out to 301 is definitely not a pleasant situation.
Not a darn thing is being done about that! Heck some vehicles don't even bother to wait for the gate to come down but sneak in with the vehicle in front that used their gate card.
I'm surprised there isn't more rear end accidents at that gate. Think the county commissioner's care about this area and will remedy the situation.

[Best Mom]

Happy Villager,
You are so right.!!!
Way too much traffic at that gate.

[Hancle704]

It is interesting how this has evolved.

I am amazed that a public road that has been maintained by the County with funds received from gas tax can now be closed to the public and turned into a private road. Does this mean that residents of Oak Forest Drive will now be responsible for maintenance and repair of their private road?

I wonder why similar steps haven't been taken to restrict through traffic from travel on Morse Blvd between the gate at CR 466 and the gate at North Morse near the Circle?

Unlike the rest of Morse Blvd south of CR 466, this road was originally planned and built to just handle traffic into residential villages. Since development was started and completed south of CR 466, it has become a main north-south artery carrying far more traffic than it was built for, not to mention the problem residents have to deal with every year, when Winter residents return. Then folks must wait for extended periods to enter and exit residential streets. The "traffic problem" has been studied and restudied for years and last year the Board of County Commissioners had traffic lights installed at Morse-Rio Grande intersection replacing the three way stop signs that had been there for years. This "solution" has failed to solve the traffic problems during the peak winter months. Little by little, Morse Blvd in this area is breaking apart and with heavy rains resulting in more broken pavement and numerous pot holes.

The County Commissioners did another study and now they are looking at a range of possible solutions and the costs. One Commissioner's "solution" calls for dropping speed limit to 20 MPH and merging all traffic (autos, trucks, golf course mowers, bicycles and golf carts) into a single lane of traffic. The explanation given by this Commissioner, is that this reduced speed limit will discourage folks from driving on this route. Surprised me that this same Commissioner didn't think to allow the road to completely break apart, leave the pot holes unfilled and become a dirt road once again, that would really discourage folks.

Now it seems that all that is necessary, is to post a No Through Traffic Sign at each end of Morse with a smaller fine and points assessed supplemental sign, for violating the traffic device (sign) This would solve the problem in no time at all, at a very small cost.

The fines raised from violators would probably be enough to keep the Sheriff's Dept. funded without any need to reduce expenses.

[Sidney Lanier]

Happy Villager: We are fairly new here, and I can't even picture how Belvedere Blvd. (coming in Belvedere gate) is a shortcut from 466 to 301; I thought Belvedere starts at the Belvedere gate (466, near the library), goes past Pimlico Rec Center, and eventually ends at the roundabout with Buena Vista. With the question raised about Belvedere being yet another street (of possibly dozens more streets) in TV being asked to be treated the same as Oak Forest, which would be an appropriate request from what I hear, what I realized is that for us to get to LSL from Village of Belvedere, whether by car or golf cart, we take Morven Park Way to Belvedere, turn right, go to Buena Vista, and then take either that road if we're in our car or the parallel golf cart trail if we're on the golf cart to get there. The only alternative I can picture would be to go out Belvedere gate and take 466 or that parallel golf cart trail to Buena Vista and then south. But this would be crazy! That's why I expressed my concern that the Oak Forest situation opens a real Pandora's box....

[Sidney Lanier]

P.S. to Happy Villager: Where in NY are you from?