Commissioners approve Whippoorwill Lane connection

Published:
Roadway that will see changes. (Credit: WINK News)
Roadway that will see changes. (Credit: WINK News)

A serene sight is about to change. Commissioners voted to build a connecting road through a plot of greenery.

It was a packed house earlier Tuesday. Protesters even made signs. People nearby said the area around Whippoorwill Lane is perfect for their long walks and enjoying the outdoors.

The new connection will link Whippoorwill Lane and Marbella Lakes Drive in Naples. The people there fear the estimated 2,000 additional cars that will travel along the roadway once the connection is complete.

“We expect problems getting out of our own development,” Bud Horenci said. “We expect traffic to back up within the walls of Marbella Lakes and it will certainly back up on Livingston.”

Horenci lives off Marbella Lakes Drive. Right now, it is a road drivers have no business being on unless the man or woman lives in that community. But that will soon change.

“We understand the people on Whippoorwill approve this concept,” Horenci said. “But that’s because they all want to start coming down our direction.”

The county has proposed several projects aimed at connecting Marbella Lakes Drive and Whippoorwill Lane over the last 20 years. But these projects have been met with controversy.

But not everyone is opposed.

An Avow Hospice spokesperson said he supports the $3 million concept plan.

“Our patients and families really depend on us 365 days out of the year and what we have found with that single point of access is that it causes us some issues to provide in that care,” the spokesperson said.

Even though the county said, the new plan incorporates a handful of roundabouts, medians and a traffic light to make sure people do not use it as a cut-through.

Horenci said the real problem is going unresolved.

“Fix Pine Ridge and you won’t have to do this,” Horenci said.

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