CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. — Most people would’ve given up by now, but a group of Citrus County homeowners have no choice.
Tuesday afternoon, they attended yet another meeting of the Citrus County Board of County Commissioners to yet again ask for help fixing their neighborhood, Inverness Village 4.
“Please, let’s put this issue to rest,” one of them pleaded.
Even though homebuyers said they were told the roads would ultimately be paved, Inverness Village 4 still has no paved streets or drainage system, so the streets have become a series of treacherous canyons and sand traps.
But it’s not just an ugly problem. They say it’s a dangerous one too.
A week ago, a Citrus County Fire Rescue fire truck got stuck in a thick patch of sand at one of the neighborhood’s worst intersections.
“Lives are at risk, yet nobody cares,” said one of the homeowners, Ross Fredericksen.
Finger-pointing between Citrus County government, a homebuilder, and the person who sold many of the lots has created a stifling stalemate, which has left homeowners unsure if the problem will ever be fixed.
Regardless of who is at fault, neighbors like Fredericksen think the county should do more immediately to make sure the neighborhood’s public roads are passable for first responders.
“It is time to get all the parties to the table and find a viable and affordable solution,” he said.
In the Tuesday meeting, an attorney for the county said even though Citrus County must maintain its public roads, that rule does not apply in Inverness Village 4, because the neighborhood’s streets aren’t technically roads.
“You have paths,” Commissioner Rebecca Bays told the group of homeowners.
“The only entity that can construct a road would be the county, and then once the county constructs a road properly — properly permitted — then the county could maintain that constructed road,” the attorney added.
Neighbors also learned the county will not give them permission to scrape and maintain the so-called “paths” themselves. However, Commissioner Holly Davis hinted the county would likely look the other way if neighbors did so anyway.
“But no one up here is going to give you official permission to do those roads, because the moment you flood another house, the official permission is going to open us up to legal action,” Davis said.
Ultimately, the message from commissioners gave homeowners little hope. Both Davis and Commissioner Jeff Kinnard said the county is not responsible for fixing the neighborhood’s messy, frustrating problem.
“I’m empathetic to their situation, but they own what they bought: a home on a dirt road,” Kinnard said.
Davis reminded the homeowners that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is investigating to see if homebuyers were defrauded when they bought homes in the neighborhood.
She said if the county were to pave the neighborhood’s streets and install a drainage system, it would be a huge cost to each household. The cost would likely bankrupt some of them, Davis said.
Meanwhile, Anton Van Usen, who owned much of the land before selling many of the neighborhood’s lots one by one, maintains it is the county’s responsibility to pave and maintain the roads.
While current owner Stu Sternberg hasn't said he's ready to sell the Tampa Bay Rays, two groups have emerged as potential buyers.
