New road is vital link for commuters
Opened segment is phase one of larger transportation project
MINNEOLA — Charlie Foss, 91, said when he moved to south Lake County in 1988 his home was surrounded by citrus trees and the new four-lane road he walked along didn’t exist.
“It was just a dirt lane that went between the orange groves,” Foss as he headed down the road to a ceremony this week to mark the opening of the stretch of Citrus Grove Road that officials view as important for Orlando commuters who use Florida’s Turnpike.
The $6.6 million project involved extending Citrus Grove Road .65 of a mile from Grassy Lake Road to North Hancock Road, where a Minneola turnpike interchange opened in June 2017 to accommodate an anticipated explosion in development in the area.
The segment that opened, funded largely through county transportation impact fees and state dollars on property donated by the landowners, is phase one of a bigger vision for
moving traffic around south Lake.
Plans are in place to widen existing Citrus Grove Road — a scenic, narrow ribbon of road — from U.S. Highway 27. Another extension, punching through on the other side of North Hancock Road and paid for by the developer, will extend the road to Montverde, officials said.
Much of the area around the new segment, which was built with a multi-use trail, bike lanes and sidewalks, is surrounded by trees. But in time those will be replaced by rooftops.
Mayor Pat Kelley said three developments nearby will bring about 10,000 new homes into Minneola, which is already growing rapidly.
The population has jumped from about 9,400 in
2010 to about 13,000 today.
Kelley said Minneola embraces its identity, vowing to be “the best damn bedroom community in all of Central Florida for Orlando.”
He noted that the Minneola City Council last year placed a five-year moratorium on any more annexation or approving more houses until infrastructure to handle development previously approved is in place.
Mike Shannon, district secretary for the Florida Department of Transportation, applauded Minneola officials’ determination to get it right when it comes to development.
“You often see the development come without the infrastructure, and it’s good to see Minneola in this area doing it right and putting the infrastructure in as they put development in so that things will flow and function better,” he said.
After officials finished with their speeches Wednesday, Foss stood up and began shouting from his perch under a tent. So that Foss could be heard, County Commissioner Sean Parks invited the widower to the podium and handed him the microphone. Unlike many in Lake County who decry development, Foss said he supports it.
Foss said he was born in Lyndonville, New York, and moved to Orlando in 1960. Like many south Lake County residents he, too, was once a commuter. He said he was a sheet metal worker for a contractor at Cape Canaveral before retiring in 1999 after years of driving back and forth in his Volvo.
“People have to have a place to live,” said Foss, who lives just off Citrus Grove Road. “They have to be able to be mobile.”