CEVA fishes for solution in Lakewood Ranch

Pam Eubanks

Country Club at Lakewood Ranch resident Mike Miller enjoys kayaking in his spare time and even has a membership to use the boat ramp and dock on Lake Uihlein, behind Lakewood Ranch Town Hall.

The membership provides access through a gate on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard that prohibits public access to the facility.

So how many members are there?

This year, Miller is one of four.

“It’s always had the potential to be a very interesting amenity,” said Miller, president of the Country Club Edgewater Village Association, the homeowners association for most residents of Country Club at Lakewood Ranch. “With that, we have been surprised and disappointed over many, many years that it doesn’t receive much use.”

On any given year, there have been one to four boat ramp members, Lakewood Ranch Town Hall Executive Director Anne Ross said.

CEVA board members are exploring options for divesting CEVA from the property and have asked the Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 2 board, which also represents some Country Club residents, if it would consider buying or accepting the property.

Miller said CEVA spends about $3,000 a year on maintaining the property. Miller said it’s a fantastic amenity, but during each budget cycle, the board questions whether it’s worth the price tag.

“We don’t want to just close it, especially when there are homeowners in Edgewater, on the lake, who bought their property thinking about the benefits of that amenity,” Miller said. “We’re looking for a win-win.”

CDD 2 supervisors at an Aug. 18 meeting said they would consider a land transfer, but they wouldn’t buy it. They probably would eliminate public access altogether and limit the ramp’s use. Only authorized users, such as CDD 2’s maintenance team or public utilities needing to access the property, would have gate keys.

Ross said the majority of the ramp’s use is related to CDD 2 maintenance needs.

Ross said the CEVA board wants to ensure its residents will have access, or at least that those with existing keys would be grandfathered into any CDD policies related to the ramp.

Miller said transferring the property to the CDD is just one idea, and CEVA is exploring all options that make sense and would reduce costs.