TAVARES, Fla. – As growth continues in Central Florida, so do the growing pains.
A group of neighbors on Lane Park Road said for the last several months, construction crews working on the Cresswind at Lake Harris development have been using their street to get to their site. The problem is, is that they’re not supposed to according to construction plans with the city.
Rick Harrington lives in the area and said not only are the trucks speeding on their street, they say the road is not big enough to handle the massive trucks.
“We’ve had a lot of the neighbors that don’t want to go out and walk their dogs, ride their bikes,” Harrington said. “We’ve went to the city officials, to the county officials to try to do something about it. Yeah, and nobody seems to do anything.”
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According to construction plans sent to News 6 by the City of Tavares, construction crews cannot use Lane Park Road but should use Woodlea Road to access the site instead.
It’s easy to see why crews would rather use Lane Park. Woodlea Road is torn up in several places which would make it more difficult for trucks to get to and from the work site.
“It would be very easy for them to enforce it by telling the developer, look, either you stop using the road or we rescind your permits,” Harrington said. “It’s a very simple solution.”
The City of Tavares also sent News 6 a statement about the issue saying: “The City received a complaint from a resident that he has witnessed trucks using the wrong road for hauling material and trucks speeding. Local Police have been notified to increase patrols in the area and the developer of “Cresswind at Lake Harris” has been notified to use the correct road and have all contractors and sub-contractors use the correct road. The City is hopeful that this will correct the issue.”
Harrington wonders if the city’s actions will be enough moving forward.
“Some signage would be great,” Harrington said. “‘No construction vehicles through this way’, but I think it’s more putting it on the developer saying we’re going to rescind your permits if you continue.”
To see the portion of the construction agreement sent to News 6 from the city, see below.
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