Filling the gap
Filling the gap
Linda Wiggins | Jul 13, 2011, 9:26 a.m.
When Bill Higgins moved into his golf course community 27 years ago, little did he know he’d become part of a politically powerful enclave of upper-income citizens.
Residents were offered the chance to group-purchase its community-core Suntree Country Club from its bankrupt community developer, making it a rare facility owned by its members and not a corporation. The move resulted in the clout to get what the residents wanted over the years: a library, an elementary school, parks. More importantly, they didn’t get what they didn’t want: annexation, higher taxes, a connecting through-road to a once-future Pineda Causeway extension.
The residents’ unbeaten streak may be about to be broken by a new foe: themselves. Newer residents at the south end of the community – a higher percentage of them young families – savor the convenience of heading south onto the Pineda Interchange at I-95.
Nearly 280 of them – for and against a new proposal to connect the community via a road that is clearly earmarked as a future through-way – packed the Pineda Presbyterian Church on June 26 to air their passions before District 4 County Commissioner Mary Bolin.
“It’s a mob scene,” said Higgins, who is squarely in the “no” camp. The huge turnout surprised Bolin, who joked, “I should have rented the stadium.”
A show of hands noted 70 percent for the connection, and 30 percent against it. The matter will go before the County Commission for a vote in late July or early August.
For more information, call Bolin’s office at 321-632-2044.
Reply to mary@myseniorlife.com
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