VILLAGE OF GOLF
21 Country Road
Village of Golf, FL 33436
561-732-0236
August 10, 2010
Dear Resident:
I hope this letter finds all of you having a fun and prosperous summer. In Florida it has been hot, what a surprise, and we are having a little below average rainfall. I won’t mention the H word other than to say so far so good. I know many of you are curious as to the status of some of our summer projects so I will bring you up to date in the following paragraphs.
You may recall that the start of the Natural Gas Line installation by Florida Public Utilities (FPU) hinged upon the timing in receiving a number of easement agreements from our residents. For the most part that process went smoothly, but as you might guess did take some time tracking down people that were obviously out of town and in many cases out of the country. We presently have received all but a few of the easements and will proceed with the gas line installation without the balance by either diverting the pipe around the property, or in the case where they are at the end of a road we simply will not provide gas service to that residence.
It has been quite a battle nailing down a time frame from the FPU and we have certainly pushed hard to move its start date up as much as possible. Dealing with large utilities that are for the most part a monopoly, is never an easy task and in the big picture we are just a small project for them. We have however, finally received their construction schedule and although it is somewhat later than we wanted, we believe the project can still be completed by the early fall. Construction will commence on September 1st with a projected completion date of early November. Barring a great deal of inclement weather, that schedule seems reasonable and in fact could be completed in October. The schedule does not include the individual service lines to the homeowners that have requested service. Those services are not part of the construction contract but are rather individual requests as with any other utility.
The second major project we have planned for the summer is the road resurfacing. We obviously did not want to resurface the roads and then have the new asphalt disturbed by FPU. We are trying to coordinate a scenario that would have the roadwork being done in a particular area of the Village as soon as FPU has moved to the next section. Even under the best conditions the resurfacing project may take us well into November. We will monitor this closely and should the time frame move us further into the season the Village Council will have to discuss whether to continue work or to delay the project until next year. I believe it is extremely important to get the work down as soon as we can but it is equally important that it be done correctly and with the least amount of disturbance to our citizens.
The third project we are trying to get done is having the power poles removed that line the road in front of the Country Club. Florida Power and Light does not seem to have the same urgency as we do but we will continue to prod them. We believe the removal of these poles will greatly enhance the look of the Village and compliment the many other improvements we have undertaken the past few years. We gave FPL the go ahead to do this last March and have so far been unsuccessful in getting this project moving. They tell me they have a large number of projects on their schedule that have been there for as long as two years. I will at the very least have a conduit put across the road so that it is in place before the resurfacing.
The Village Council has not made a final decision about the installation of reuse water along Golf Road. We are acquiring some cost estimates to help them make that decision but at this time it does not appear this project will be done this summer.
On a non-construction matter, I wanted to make you aware of Ordinance 79, which deals with the condition of undeveloped lots. Our code requires that vacant lots be maintained in such a manner that the lots are covered in grass or another approved ground cover and mowed and irrigated as developed lots are. It is our intent to enforce this ordinance. Now, more than ever, it is extremely important that the overall appearance of the Village be as good as it can be. We have had some recent home and lot sales and it is obviously of paramount importance that we continue to sell homes and bring in new memberships.
It is my strong belief that the aforementioned improvements to the Village will help us maintain a Village that will attract interested homebuyers and members. In my opinion doing these construction projects now is well worth the temporary inconvenience it may cause.
Lastly, I would like to say I greatly value the opinions of our residents. Please take the time to let me know what you think about the projects in this letter or any other item you may wish to address. Your suggestions are what make the Village better for all its residents.
Cordially,
Mark Hull,Village Manager
