Winter Garden upholds March Road truck ban

Despite threats of a lawsuit from Titan America, Winter Garden commissioners unanimously voted to uphold a resolution that bans truck traffic along Marsh Road.

Residents in the neighborhoods affected by the truck traffic, Clermont officials, truck drivers and other stakeholders filled the commission chambers at the Feb. 25 City Commission meeting as city leaders discussed the ban.

The resolution passed at the Feb. 11 commission meeting prohibits Class 6 through 13 vehicles from using it and adopts certain vehicle-weight limitations on a certain portion of Marsh Road from the Lake County border to Williams Road.

However, City Manager Mike Bollhoefer said, city staff reviewed the resolution and realized there were a few minor errors in the details of the resolution. Staff drafted Ordinance 21-11 to correct them.

“One of the issues we noted with the resolution was we didn’t provide sufficient enough advance warning for any vehicles that were traveling from the west entering the city (at the) Lake County line, nor did we provide for a convenient, safe turnaround,” said Jon Williams, assistant city manager of public services.

The resolution caused a stir among representatives from the sand mine company, Titan America, as well as city of Clermont and Lake County officials. Bollhoefer recommended the commission vote to approve the first hearing of Ordinance 21-11 but schedule meetings with stakeholders to try to come up with alternate solutions.

“That way, we can go forward and see what they have to say — I think it’s fair to give them that opportunity — and then if they can come up with another system that works, this commission at a later meeting could always table and follow their ideas,” Bollhoefer said.

Tim Bates, the city of Clermont’s mayor pro tem, asked commissioners to consider tabling the final hearing for the ordinance — currently scheduled for March 11 — and delaying the start of the resolution until all involved have the chance to meet.

“The way the resolution and ordinance read right now, Clermont obviously has some objections to the items, and I’m here tonight to ask if the city would be willing to attend a workshop with the city, with Lake County, Orange County, the DOT, Titan, whoever may be involved to help come up with a solution for all of us,” Bates said.

Vic McCall, general manager of excavation contractor Bishop & Buttrey, said his company has worked with the Titan America sand mine for years, and the truck ban would be a devastating blow.

“We have outstanding contracts — over $1.3 million — that we would have to go into default with this road closure,” McCall said.

Dante Sevi, a transportation logistics contractor, echoed McCall’s concerns and added that he doesn’t see any issues with the current state of Marsh Road.

“I have personally contracted with thousands of owner-operators that are going to be affected by this ordinance out of the mines that are also being affected and have hauled probably millions of cubic yards over that two-lane Marsh Road,” Sevi said. “It never fell apart in the 34 years that I’ve hauled on it, and it doesn’t appear to me that it’s falling apart now.”

Susan Stephens, an attorney representing Titan America, promised a lawsuit on the horizon should the ordinance pass and resolution not be rescinded.

“We cannot afford a precipitous cutoff of that route,” Stephens said. “There are contracts that have prices fixed on them, and we cannot have that precipitous cutoff. … They operate on a very, very small margin. These are not big money-making deals. They are very small margins and very directly related to the cost of transportation. Every mile matters.”

Maritza Saint-Hilaire, a resident of Sanctuary at Twin Waters off Marsh Road, said residents were not trying to take jobs from Titan or truck drivers but rather asking them to be good neighbors.

“They want us to be considerate of their jobs and livelihood, but where is their consideration for us and our families when they’re not abiding the speed limit and driving recklessly on our streets?” Saint-Hilaire said. “We’re just asking that our street not be a shortcut or a pass-through.”

Bollhoefer said the main issue is that Winter Garden is receiving “an unfair share” of all the truck traffic on Marsh Road, which is more of a local road now than it was in the past. He also said there have been issues with the traffic on Marsh Road for years.

“I had this discussion 14 years ago in the Moon Cricket (Grille) with then-commissioner Bob Pool, who was a commissioner in Lake County,” Bollhoefer said. “I said, ‘Commissioner, we need to meet, because what you’re doing out in Lake County is killing us on Marsh Road. We need to work together to find a solution.’ I’ll never forget what he told me that day. He said, ‘Well, that’s not our problem, that’s your problem. You need to deal with it.’”

Bollhoefer recommended commissioners approve the ordinance in hopes of getting everyone moving more quickly to find a solution. City Attorney Kurt Ardaman said if Titan decided to sue, Winter Garden officials could “deal with that” and it would be “a bad-faith gesture.” Bollhoefer added that because the city agreed to meet with all involved, a lawsuit from Titan would be “almost an aggressive act.”