CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. — It’s not getting any better. The streets in Inverness Village 4, a Citrus County neighborhood, are only getting worse, more destroyed, and more covered in deep canyons and vicious sand-traps.
Home-owners like Janeen Eddie and Ross Fredericksen are losing their patience.
“I’m at a point — we both are — everyone in here’s at a point where we’ve had enough,” Fredericksen said.
They and hundreds of others call the sprawling neighborhood outside Inverness city limits home.
Even though many home buyers say they were told roads would be paved here, they never were, and a drainage system was never installed, either.
“As you see, I mean, all we need is an inch of rain, and this is just going to continue to get worse and worse,” Fredericksen said Sunday.
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.
“Ended up being stuck for well over an hour before they could get them totally pulled out,” Fredericksen said.
According to Fire Chief Craig Stevens, even though the county’s fire trucks do not have four-wheel drive (4WD), the county has ambulances and ATVs that are 4WD-capable.
Stevens said most of the crews that work the Inverness Village 4 neighborhood know its problem spots and how to navigate around them.
He also said the fire truck involved in the recent mishap was leaving a medical call in the neighborhood when it got stuck.
“While that may be true, seeing a fire truck stuck is not a welcoming sight,” Eddie said.
Neither was the latest mishap. Saturday afternoon, a FedEx truck got stuck in the same sandy spot that snared the fire truck.
“Right up to the axel,” Fredericksen said.
A video sent to ABC Action News shows someone in a pick-up truck helping free the FedEx truck. The fire truck required the help of a large tow truck.
To Fredericksen and Eddie, the latest incident involving the FedEx truck is proof the fire truck getting stuck was no fluke and that it might happen again without an immediate fix.
“This weighs very heavy on my heart,” Fredericksen said. “Now that I have a heart condition, this impacts us just like many other people in here that are elderly and have issues going on, and it’s a major concern.”
Even though finger-pointing between Citrus County Government, the home-builder, and the person who sold many of the lots in Inverness Village 4 has led to a bitter stalemate and no real answers or solutions, Fredericksen and Eddie will yet again show up to the next county commission meeting and yet again demand action.
Until something changes, they say the roads will keep getting worse and the mishaps will keep happening.
“It’s just not okay,” Eddie said. “You know, we all pay our taxes here also, and we deserve to have a safe place to live and not fear having to make a call if we’re having an emergency.”
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