Johns Lake Rd is a corridor from Highway 27 at Wal-Mart, extending to Johns Lake, near Deer Island. The eastern corridor is about a half of a mile wide, and it extends down to Johns Lake for 2 miles or so. A “No Outlet” sign faces Hancock. A dead end county road. “Rural” parcels extend to the lake, mostly 5 acres Agricultural. Note the sidewalks on the western vs eastern ends.
Our residents live in harmony with the wildlife. The housing density has been limited by county and state ordinances to 1 dwelling per 5 acres since the postal colony days. East of Hancock we are on septic, not city sewer. Notice the difference between the east and west ends, e.g. the sidewalks and drainage. I think most of us have our own wells with excellent drinking water, no filtering needed.
The area to our north was about 4 square miles of sand mine, all the way to 50. In only a few short hears, it will be full to the walls with urban, next to existing rural homes.
Where did the native animals go?
I’ll tell you more later…
Most of the the corridor is outside of Clermont city limits, so the residents within the communities along the unincorporated corridor cannot vote in city matters, nor receive city services (with some exceptions).
The city has already annexed much of the western end of the corridor, down by Wal-Mart, and the remaining corridor is bisected (in yellow, if you zoom on the official maps) by a N-S sliver called Hancock Rd.
The sliver is the Western end of the “Enclave”, a legal term in this context. The corridor is split in two by the sliver, meaning city limits N-S down the middle.
The northern boundary of the enclave is a dirt road, a straight line all the way down to Johns Lake. Due to the elevation drop to the lake, you can see the contrasting terrain all the way down. You can see it, heading south on Hancock, when slowing for the Johns Lake Rd light. The clearing was fairly recent. Note the wall. I call it the “Great Wall of Clermont”.
The first wall was built starting at Hancock looking east. The new subdivisions will extend the wall down to the lake.
The southern boundary is along Sunburst, heading east, then zig-zagging to the lake. The map clearly shows the area is surrounded; three man-made sides and one natural.
Commercial interests have asked the city to annex parcels at the very eastern end within the enclave. Not near, but within. They want to increase the housing density from 1 to 16 homes per parcel. 62 houses on 20 adjacent acres at the very end.
Once the parcels at the end of the road are annexed, the dominoes will fall. The envelopment was very recent, and now they are dipping into the cookie jar.
Subdivisions have solid walls. A full square mile of wildlife will be cut off from their only remaining lake.
Why would anybody want to do this? In the game of chess, this would be called an envelopment, a tactic to surround then crush your opponent.