Frustration grows over lead foots at Lakewood Ranch

Lakewood Ranch supervisors asked today: what's the hold up in dealing with speeders? Shown above, from left, are Dave Emison, Jean Stewart, Tom Green and Executive Director Eva Rey. (Photo James A. Jones Jr.)

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- Supervisors of the Lakewood Ranch Inter-District Authority expressed frustration today at the slow pace of putting more muscle into speed limit enforcement.

Supervisors have sought to pay off-duty deputies to provide additional traffic control in the gated Country Club and Edgewater villages.

But recent changes in federal signage requirements have forced an overhaul of signage in the gated communities.

In response to a request from Chairman Tom Green for a status report on efforts to clamp down on lead foots, Operations Manager Ryan Heise said $4,000 worth of new signs have been ordered, following a county inspection of the area.

Once those signs are installed, Manatee County inspectors will be invited back for another look.

If the new signs get the green light, the off-duty deputies could potentially start stepped up enforcement as soon as March, said Steve Zielinski, chief financial officer.

"The people ask me, 'where is the sheriff,'" Green said. "I don't know what's behind all this."

For the past 10 years, deputies made traffic stops in the gated communities, supervisor Dave Emison said, expressing bewilderment over what has changed.

"If want to pay the sheriff to come in for additional policing, the existing signs aren't good enough?" Emison said.

Executive Director Eva Rey said that what has changed are those new federal signage requirements, and many communities have had to spend extra money to get into compliance.

"It sounds like an unreasonable bureaucracy and the taxpayers are having to pay for it," Emison said.

For more, see Wednesday's Herald.