WELLINTON, Fla. — To the people who live in Rustic Ranches, the village of Wellington is breaking a promise made 15 years ago.
“If you put that on a scale of 1 to 10 there are a lot of people who would say it’s an 11 in terms of degree of frustration,” says Carol Montgomery.
Back in 2004, Wellington annexed Rustic Ranches, Montgomery says, after making promises to maintain the dirt roads.
She says the grading of the roads suddenly stopped last fall allowing the roads to grow bumpy and get deep holes.
"I had a horse fall last week," says polo horse trainer Gus Whitelaw, who was transporting horse last week in a trailer along the roads.
“The roads the way we see it are the responsibility of the Pine Tree Water Control District,” says Wellington Assistant manager Jim Barnes.
Barnes says there was a long-standing agreement with the district that has since expired and the maintain the roads now rests with Pine Tree.
Pine Tree President Lee Wright says Wellington officials are, “Totally out of line.”
Wright says the roads are considered public and Wellington is the only entity that can maintain them.
