A group of concerned citizens from Ocoee Mountain Club voiced their opinions to planning board members last Tuesday. Several spoke out about uncompleted roads, roads washing away, lack of drainage and lack of curbing. Planners voted last month to call in the remaining road bond money for Phase 5 of the development if the work was not completed; a special called meeting will be held September 2 to make the final decision. Road Superintendent Harold Hood and a representative from the development will be invited to attend to address residents’ questions that planners were unable to answer.

According to Ginger Buchanan, attorney for the county, County Executive Mike Stinnett sent a registered letter to Mountain Club developers on August 6^th informing them of the board’s intent to recall the remaining bond money, around $24,000. She said a copy was sent to First Volunteer Bank as well, so that if the bond was called they should have no trouble getting the money from the bank. She said the funds would then be sent to the state treasurer, who would be billed for the work.

A key concern for the residents was whether or not enough money was in the bond to get the work completed if the bond was called. Planning Board member Mark Bishop said there was a possibility the road department could do some of the work, but that there was no equipment to do curbing. He said it would be up to Hood how they would proceed.

Questions were also raised about the legality of the transfer of the remaining unsold lots to an LLC in Florida. “I’ve heard that if there is not enough money in the bonds, liens could be placed against those properties, but if they have been quitclaimed, where do you go to get the money?” Barrett asked.

“When you quitclaim a deed that is in danger, that is fraud,” Buchanan said. “If you are going to lose it, and transfer it, it will not stand up in court,” she said. Buchanan said the county would need to look into seeing if that was done in this case.

Mountain Club resident George Perez said he has been requesting copies of records for the home owners association and has been trying to talk with the accountant for the group but is continually put off. “I know it does not concern you,” he said, “But I want to give you some background.” He said he was here to stay and here to fight and was not going to stop until either the work was completed or the developers went bankrupt. He said most of the contracts they signed said the clubhouse would be completed by 2009 and that the sign for the clubhouse was lying in the dirt.

Perez said there are problems with drainage, no curbs and open manholes, and asked what it takes for the roads to be considered county roads. Buchanan said the roads would be accepted when they met county specifications. Carroll Cate said if they called the bond on the road in Phase 5, it would automatically become a county road. Barrett asked again what would happen if there was not enough money to complete the roads.

“Would it get started and not finished? We don’t know what will happen?” she asked. Another resident asked if Johnson Paving could just finish the work.

Bishop said it was their job to call the bond but they had no control over what happened after that. He said they could not speak for Hood or force him to complete the work. He said things like backfilling are cheaper for the developer, as they have other sections of the development from which to get the dirt, but that if the road department does the backfilling, dirt would have to be purchased.

Bishop also explained that once the bond was called, bids would have to be taken to complete the work. Bishop asked the group if they would rather take their chances with the county instead of the developers, to which a cry of “Is the Pope Catholic” was replied.

Barrett said she wanted to know before they left the meeting if the road would get finished.

“You can’t get a guarantee from the county,” Daren Waters said. “We can’t say what he’ll do, but we can say the $24,000 will not go into a pool of money, it will go toward this project.”

State Planner Robert Varnell explained that Hood does not get any money from the county and that as residents, they had power over a private road but that this was a different ballgame for the county. Road department budgets are based solely on the gas tax, and additional money cannot be requested from the state. He said Hood would have to figure out what money was in his budget above the bond, and that it would be a drawn out process no matter what.

Barrett asked the planners about statements announcing an intention to build condominiums made by Lou Lentine in a recent Polk County News article. Varnell said such a request would not meet current subdivision regulations.

An initial motion by Arnold Hambright to recall the bond as of September 7^th was rescinded and Hambright made a motion to schedule a meeting for September 2 at 6:30 at the courthouse with the residents and Hood so that Hood could answer questions about whether or not he would be able to complete the roads. Ocoee Mountain Club will also be invited to the meeting.