Pasco County residents who live in the Kent Grove subdivision are surrounded by hundreds of potholes. Residents are asking the county for help paving some of the worst offenders that are also private roads.
Kent Grove resident Elicia Willis says Orange Drive is the road with the most potholes that vary from 3 to 10 inches deep.
“They’re horrible. I actually had to buy a truck to be able to exist back here,” Willis said.
Willis has lived in the area for two years and said when she moved in, the Orange Drive was just a bumpy road. But anytime after it rains, the road quickly develops dangerous potholes everywhere.
And with lack of upkeep, they continue to get worse.
“On October 26th, my neighbor Sean Stewart had a heart attack. We called for an ambulance, but the firetruck that assisted wouldn’t even come down the road to the home," Willis added. "Instead, it stayed all the way down there. It took 20-25 minutes for them to get to the house. If the roads were safer and paved, the emergency team could have gotten here in three minutes and that could have made a huge difference. But now we will never know."
Willis said you can only drive 10 mph or less to maintain control of your vehicle over all the potholes and that mail trucks and school buses refuse to drive down Orange drive at all.
So, why hasn’t the county fixed them?
Orange Drive off of State Road 52 is private. In Pasco County, unless a private road is deemed unsafe for emergency vehicles, the only way the county can step in is if all residents give up their 'Right of Way.'
And that hasn’t happened yet. But Willis argues the roads have already proven to be unsafe for emergency vehicles.
“If a fire truck tries to speed through here, they will bust an axel and then what? Then nothing is saved,” Willis said, “The only thing we can think to fix it is for the county to please come out here and pave the road. I know it’s not cheap, but we pay our taxes too.”
Another factor muddying things up is Cotee preserve.
If it was a park, then the county would be required to pave the road to it. But as a preserve, the county is not responsible. But neighbors say the preserve is treated as a public park with playgrounds and all.
When asked about what the county could and couldn’t do to help, Pasco County spokesperson Tambrey Laine said the following:
“County funds cannot be spent on private property, so Public Works cannot legally act on a request to provide maintenance on a private road, one time or otherwise. To initiate the paving assessment process, all property owners along Orange Drive would need to agree to transfer Right of Way (ROW) to the public. Once ROW is obtained, property owners can follow the paving petition process which is outlined here."
Laine went on to say specifically, the county needs at least one resident of that neighborhood to go online to the Pasco County Customer Service Department and submit a request to start the petition process.
At that point, Laine says the county would reach out to all neighbors along that road. If 100% of homeowners agree to transfer the right of way to the public, then there will be a paving petition process. After that, there are a few more hurdles to pass before any road would get fixed.
If residents can’t afford to pave the private road themselves, this is their only option right now. But neighbors say something needs to change to help keep them safe.
“I know we couldn’t get help fast enough here, there’s no way with the roads as they are," Willis said. "So if it’s criminal, you have to take matters into your own hands."
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