* ( a binder -- tar or asphalt -- "macadamized" pavement.)

( LINK  TO  "SHOTGUN"  ANNEXATION  PAGE. )

it's  the  pits !

get out your crystal ball --- what's in the future land use here ?

            The borrow pit deal is falling apart.    Rumor has it that the owner wants to sell the land.    He's stuck with a bad commercial deal, because the enterprising companies can't get a bond to cover the filling, and damage done while hauling in the multitude truck loads of fill material.    Consider the following scenario ----

• City changes future land use map on the borrow pit property to Towncenter.

• Owner goes to sell property, but can't because of the borrow pit sitting there.   Unless the buyer has deep pockets, no one would touch the property because of the problem with the borrow pit.

• Only a private property owner could build on one half the property and leave the borrow pit on the other as is, but won't because the asking price will be too high.

• No commercial concern would want it.    They would have to FILL the pit to build on it.    Had the current owner seceded the City could've made another seizure type move on the property.

• The City is going to have to do something.     The proposed annexation of property on Orange Avenue is not contiguous, and would create a property enclave.     The legality of the annexation would be in question.    There is quite a story behind one of the parcels (Pullen) that may come forth.

• So, the City steps in and buys the pit from the owner, who sells it to the City at a really reduced rate, because the City knocked down the code enforcement fines from $186,000 to $12,500.     He may be forced to sell it to the City.    The City might even try and come back on the $186,000 dollar fine, because the anticipated fill could not take place as proposed in the annexation agreement in a somewhat devious manner.

• City now owns property sitting right across the street from a water channel that goes out to Lake Jesup.

• City builds reclamation plant on borrow pit property, lays its pipes through the channel and begins to suck the living daylights out of Lake Jesup, and perhaps the borrow pit itself.

• That City move would save them from spending over 3,000,000 dollars for the Wincey property they say the "need for park expansion, and a roadway".     It's a real park department disguise !

Put this in your future  time  capsule, and see how it plays out.

               As PFGG has so many times published, the City of Winter Springs' drastic need for taxable revenue to support their "lavish" TownCenter, has reached the ultimate in the destruction of the City's greenbelt, in the name of MONEY.   What you are about to read, and view will expose the greed of this City's management/government to rectify a project with costs  well hidden from the public's knowledge.

             As an example, has the City told you of the outlandish $1.9 million dollars cost of a street and connector within the TownCenter "tiny town"?    The premature laying of bricks on old Tuscawilla Road has hindered further "townhouse" development behind the TownCenter complex.    Those townhouses are needed, as stated by the City Manager, to support the merchants in "tiny town".

              No trickery, deception, or misuse of tax moneys has become more evident than the thrust to "Townhouse" the green lands behind the "TownCenter" project.    PFGG has repeatedly reported the exorbitant costs, and use of the taxpayers' money to further that misguided "TownCenter" project.    Yet, the City won't, and probably can't, supply the actual figures used to gloss-over the tax funds used in this project.

            The following pictures will show you just how far this City's management will go to destroy the land in order to support development trial and error attempts.   With little regard as to the financial draw of the "TownCenter" concept, other means have to be taken to eliminate the possibility of a "Winter Springs Ghost Town".   The "Shotgun" annexation supports City Manager McLemore's desire to pave over what was once the attraction of the City of Winter Springs ---- ITS TREES, WILDERNESS GREEN GROWTH, and FORESTED ENVIRONMENT.

                The picture below was taken from the top story of the Winter Springs High School, for access to this area is extremely difficult, due to the lush undergrowth and terrain surrounding this over four acre retention pond.   The depth of the pictured pond is estimated to be, in some areas, up to forty feet!    The City Manager's goal is to fill this huge volume of watered land in order to build townhouses.    Those townhouses would stretch from the soccer fields in the Central Winds Park to the brick paved (?) Tuscawilla road to the east.

            Between the greenbelt shown in the picture, lies the Seminole Trail System and the parking lot of the west side of the school's football field.   In fact, there is to be questionable use of that "Trail System" for financial gain in the filling of the pond.    Money was made with the removal of the fill dirt from this area, and now money is to be made with the filling of the retention pond formed by the removal and sale of the earth.

                As can't be seen from the grassy slope behind the high school to the huge trees in the background, is the street named Orange Ave.    Orange Avenue and the properties to the north of this pond are at a much lower level, bordering Lake Jessup.    The residents are concerned with "where will the water go once the retention pond is filled" ?     The runoff waters of the proposed townhouses can only be directed to the lower levels, which are their properties, and then into the already polluted Lake Jessup.     Winter Springs management/government doesn't really  care -- that's County property.    Those properties have wells and septic  sewerage, which could be polluted.

       The townhouses will span the area from the Central Winds soccer fields (shown) westward.    In the right side of the picture is the western slope of the retention pond that is to be filled with unknown materials.

            This picture shows the eastern side of the pit which borders the flowering trees on the left side.    The house is the first inhabited property adjoining the pit.   It would be razed for the townhouses to be built.

            The grassed slope is the Seminole Trail System, which will front the townhouse project.   This sloped picture was taken from the high school parking lot between the rear building and the football stadium.    A western portion of the County trail system is to be used for the financial venture, as a result of questionable *County vote.

(The County vote will be revealed in the "Shotgun Annexation" story. )

The area outlined in yellow represents the retention pond area.    The Seminole Trail is located just below that area, and adjacent to the high school in the lower segment of the scanned detail.

To be continued ---

THE "SHOTGUN" ANNEXATION STORY !

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