Editor:
Swamp Hammock, if approved, I lose my rights to quiet, peaceful, serene neighborhood and so will all the other residents. If you think loud music, vehicles and 10,000 people in party setting until 2 a.m. every weekend equates to an occasional hoot owl or a pack of coyotes howling, you are grossly mistaken. Please consider the amount of traffic that will be on this little West Josephine Road that is already very busy with school buses, sod, fertilizer, fruit trucks and farm employees, oh, and 100-plus tax paying homes that drive to work every day. It will certainly change the lives of all in this area.
Does Big Government have the right to change so many peoples' lives? Is it OK for them to steal our rights; our rights to easily access our homes, to sleep in a quiet peaceful neighborhood at night?
If approved there will be many major problems, one will be emergency service to this area. It will be, at times, null due to backed up traffic on a narrow road with many 90 degree turns and blind curves. On any given weekend that the mud bog festivities would take place, driving down West Josephine Road will equate to driving on I-4 in rush hour traffic. The only difference? West Josephine Road is a two-lane road.
If approved there will be many major problems, one will be emergency service to this area. It will be, at times, null due to backed up traffic on a narrow road with many 90 degree turns and blind curves. On any given weekend that the mud bog festivities would take place, driving down West Josephine Road will equate to driving on I-4 in rush hour traffic. The only difference? West Josephine Road is a two-lane road.
The noise level will not be minimal. It will be similar to the Sebring race track during any race weekend. Ask any Spring Lake resident what that is like. The difference? We were here before the proposed Swamp Hammock Mud Bog. We purchased property out here for the serenity and quiet nature of the properties. We enjoy wildlife, and the peace that comes with living out of town.
The activities and noise generated by a mud bog will directly affect everything within a 10-mile radius at best. This area is one of the last unique wildlife corridors of Florida. It contains bears, Florida panthers, deer, coyote, turkey, gopher tortoise, sand hill cranes, caracara and more. A mud bog placed in the direct path of this corridor will disrupt the nature of this unigue, last remaining wildlife corridor in Central South Florida for many endangered and protected species.
I sincerely hope and pray the commissioners of this county care about this county and the detrimental effects allowing the Swamp Hammock will have on this area and don't just chalk it up to the cost of doing business.
Dale R. Willard
Sunday, February 24, 2013 - www.newssun.com/ltr-022413-willard