Gracie, you may be right, that "apartments are not awful". But I live less than a half mile up Morse Blvd. from the former Hacienda Hills Country Club site, and I have several concerns about the developer's plans. First and foremost, Morse Blvd. is woefully inadequate to handle today's traffic, let alone an increase in population that such a large apartment complex will bring. When I try to cross Morse to get to my mail station in the off-season, I usually have to wait for 15-20 cars to pass by before I can pull out. In the Winter, it's not unusual to have over 50 cars pass. It's simply dangerous, and the developer doesn't seem interested in any improvements there. I'm hoping that the local authorities will be required to hold public hearings before issuing any construction permits. In my opinion, there should be at least a traffic study by a credible agency, and an environmental impact study as well. This is my neighborhood, and I believe that my neighbors and I deserve to have some input on a plan such as this.

You are right about Morse Blvd. Every time I use that road to get to the medical facilities by the hospital I feel sorry for the people who live in those neighborhoods and have to enter/exit onto Morse without a traffic light and also for the golf cart drivers crossing the road by the Morse Gate. This is something that should have been addressed by now, as well as the inadequate traffic circle by 441/27.

Yet those that live up that way always tout the availability of shopping, restaurants, medical facilities. All those things create traffic. The responsibility for correcting that is at the County level not the Developer. If you can get large groups to go to an ACC meeting on amenity fees, why can't you get like minded people to a Commissioners meeting and express the same frustration? And while it's easier to express your frustration on here than actually participating, this isn't exactly the place where you will have you issue addressed.

Because, the current crop of commissioners had made up their minds prior to the meetings.

We'll see what happens after the 18th.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The truth of the matter is, if someone’s ox isn’t being gored, most don’t care about yours.

It will require residents in the affected area pressing to change the situation and even then, good luck.

***

Not true
 

What was clear was that the threat to install a parking garage or big box was a red herring. The Developer has invested 5 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in this project and he is not going to walk away from that.

I Was There
 

Gracie, I attended the meeting so I can vouch that the residents were threatened with a big box store or parking garage. Both of which were red herrings to scare residents.

There would be no more traffic. Parking lot would have been better. At least we wouldn't have 600 more people golfing and in squares and especially on Morse Blvd. They don't have enough nerve to ever say no.

2 Questions please
 

I have two questions if someone could be so kind and reply.
1) what are the current rental rates for the lofts, such as 1,2,3 bedroom?
2) What was stated about folks not living in the to be constructed Apartments regarding being able to use the various amenities such as pool, walking trail, any fitness stuff, etc.?
thank you very much

It will be getting so overcrowded and the developers do not care about the quality or what was promised when homes were purchased. They are driven by greed. No way a traffic study would ever pass unless they are in the pockets of the developers. Next they will be doing this at all of the country clubs.

Parking garage
 

At the meeting, it was said that the developer would put up a parking garage for the hospital and shuttles to transfer employees and visitors to the hospital.

That sounds way better to me then the apartment complex. Their threat should have been called, build the parking garage. The people getting shuttled to the hospital would not have been using the already overcrowded amenities in the area. My guess is that the non-income generating parking garage would have never been built

It seems to me that everyone commenting that they don’t see a problem are not from that area. It doesn’t effect them so it isn’t worth talking about. I will probably be 6 feet under, but I’d like to be a fly on the wall when in a few years the developers kids and grandkids decide to plop down an apartment complex where Evans Prairie or Belle Glade are now.. I think there is a reason why no Country Clubs are being built in the southern part of the Villahes.

They are building two Country Clubs in the southern part of the Villages, pay attention.